I was sent this by Andrew Emmerson who edits a journal called
"405 Alive" for enthusiasts of television history.  He received the
question in a letter from a reader.  Please reply to the digest and
to Andy directly.

> From (Andrew Emmerson) midshires@cix.co.uk.geentroep [ drop .geentroep to reply ]
>
> "In the centre of George Cushing's collection of organs at Thursford,
> Norfolk, is a superlatively restored Wurlitzer organ from, I think,
> the Plaza Leeds. Upon it Robert Wolfe gives dazzling performances
> throughout the summer. In one of them, a tribute to the Movies, he
> played Lullaby of Broadway and Jolson's Mammy, accompanying the film
> clips projected on a huge video screen.
>
> What puzzles me is that he was in tune with the film sound. Films are
> shot at 24 frames a second, but television scans at 25 frames (fields)
> a second. This accounts for the Titanic film being several minutes
> shorter on video than in the cinema and makes the sound, both music
> and speech, about a semitone higher (sharp). So how did Thursford do
> it?
>
> My Owl's Book of Knowledge tells me that musical 'A' is 440Hz, and
> 'A sharp' 466.16Hz;  thus note 'A' on film projected to video will
> be 25/24 x 440 = 458.33Hz, producing an audible dissonance even if
> transcribed up a semitone. Even Bernard couldn't tell me!"

Jeffrey Borinsky

 [ There are 3 TV transmissions standards that I remember: NTSC,
 [ PAL, and SECAM.  NTSC, used in the US, transmits at 30 frames
 [ (60 fields) per second.  24 frame per second movies are transmitted
 [ synchronously by scanning some frames more times than others.
 [ Thus there is no speed alteration.  The speed problem represented
 [ by 25 frames per second (PAL, right?) is interesting.  Since
 [ music harmony is "relative", I would expect that only those
 [ with "perfect pitch" hearing and those trying to "play along"
 [ with the tape at the piano would be bothered by the playback
 [ speed (and pitch) difference you describe.  -- Jody