Telop

A telop was a television opaque projecting device used to broadcast images directly without the use of a camera. Telops were used by CBS in the late 1950s through the 1960s until digital graphics were developed. The telop was a 4×5 black and white graphic; black background with white text. The CBS graphics department created these by using a type hot press. Metal type was set in a small tabletop press. The type was heated a pressed into a white transfer material that created the text on the background. They were used by placing each telop in a metal strip approximately 36 inches long. The strip looked like a strip of "movie" film. Six or eight frames. They were used in the "telecine" area of a local station or the network film projection area. There were 35 mm film projectors, 16 mm film projectors, 35 mm slide projectors and telop projectors called a telopticom (?). It was a two-stage device with mirrors that were flipped between stages. Each telop strip was inserted in each stage, the A and B stage. Telop 1 was in stage A, telop 2 was in stage B. To go to stage B a handle was used to flip a mirror projecting that stage on to fixed cathode Ray tube. Then stage A strip was pushed further in to the projector to telop 3. This operation continued until the last telop was reached. If more tells were needed, addition strips were loaded with the additional telops. The video signal from telecine was fed to the production control for use on air. Text may be used as a full screen black and white image, or superimposed over another video source such as a studio camera, remote, or film image. This all went away when the first electronic character generator became the standard for creating on air graphics.

The term telop is used in Japan to indicate text superimposed on a screen, such as captions, subtitles, or scrolling tickers. The name is derived from "television opaque projector".