~ The History Of Television ~

[MysteRy]

The History Of Television



The television has become such an integral part of homes in the modern world that it is hard to imagine life without television. The boob tube, as television is also referred to, provides entertainment to people of all ages. Not just for entertainment value, but TV is also a valuable resource for advertising and different kinds of programming.

The television as we see it and know it today was not always this way. Let’s take a brief look at the history of television and how it came into being.

Timeline of TV History
Different experiments by various people, in the field of electricity and radio, led to the development of basic technologies and ideas that laid the foundation for the invention of television.

In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.

Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system.

From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems came into existence: mechanical television and electronic television.

Mechanical Television History
In 1923, an American inventor called Charles Jenkins used the disk idea of Nipkow to invent the first ever practical mechanical television system. By 1931, his Radiovisor Model 100 was being sold in a complete kit as a mechanical television.

In 1926, just a little after Jenkins, a British inventor known as John Logie Baird, was the first person to have succeeded in transmitting moving pictures through the mechanical disk system started by Nipkow. He also started the first ever TV studio.

From 1926 till 1931, the mechanical television system saw many innovations. Although the discoveries of these men in the department of mechanical television were very innovative, by 1934, all television systems had converted into the electronic system, which is what is being used even today.

Electronic Television History
The experiments of Swinton in 1907, with the cathode ray tube for electronic television held great potential but were not converted into reality. Finally, in 1927, Philo Taylor Farnsworth was able to invent a working model of electronic television that was based on Swinton’s ideas.

His experiments had started when he was just a little boy of 14 years. By the time he became 21, Philo had created the first electronic television system, which did away with the rotating disks and other mechanical aspects of mechanical television. Thus was born the television system which is the basis of all modern TVs.

All the early television systems were black and white, with color television being invented much later on. Since the early invention of television in the beginning of the 1900s, history has seen many firsts in the area of television.

[MysteRy]

The History Of Color Television



Color television is something that we all take for granted today. When one talks of television, it invariably means a color television in today’s times. But before the invention of color television, it was not so. There was a time when owning a color television was considered to be the ultimate status symbol as it was not something that everyone could afford. Let’s take a look at where and how it all started.

The first ever recorded mention of a color television system was way back in 1904. A patent given in Germany provides evidence to the fact that an idea for a color television was proposed at that time. But it was just that – an idea.

Come 1925 and Zworykin also conceptualized a color television system, which again was not converted into reality and did not succeed. It was as many as 20 years later, in 1946, when the idea of color television was mentioned again.

By 1946, the Second World War was history, and people in America wanted to make up for all the time lost to the war. Black and white television was thought of as old and it was time to do something new. This is when color television systems first began to be considered seriously.

In America, the color television war was fought by two giants in the television industry CBS and RCA. CBS was the first to develop a color television system that was mechanical. This system was inspired by John Baird’s ideas of color TV. Color television was thus a reality, but this first system was not compatible with any black and white television sets.

By 1950, the FCC had announced the CBS color system as the national standard, and by 1951, CBS had started color broadcasts in the East Coast of the US. Not to be left behind, RCA sued CBS as their system could not be used with the millions of black and white televisions across America, most of which were RCA sets.

The Korean War and the very public television war gave RCA time to develop a better color TV system than CBS. Their system was not mechanical like that of CBS but electronic and far superior. Finally, by 1953, FCC gave the nod to their color television system and color TV sets of RCA were available to the buying public from 1954 onwards.

Even though color sets were finally available, not many people actually went out and bought them as there were not even a handful of color programs being broadcast. It took another decade till 1966 for people to start making color programs for broadcast, which eventually made people begin buying color television sets.

[MysteRy]

Television Facts



The television has come a long way from its initial avatar, that of a radio with visual projection capabilities. Since then, till now, the television industry has witnessed many firsts. Here’s looking at some first facts on television.

First Facts On Television Stations and Television Sets

The first mechanical television station in America was called W3XK. This station was the brainchild of Charles Francis Jenkins, who is also remembered as the father of American television. The station aired its first broadcast on 2nd July, 1928.

WRGB television station in New York is the first American station that has the honor of being a continuously operating station from 1926, when television was invented, till date. The station began as W2XB, but the name was changed to WRGB in 1942, in memory of Mr. Walter R. G. Baker, who was a leader in the radio and television industry.

The first commercially produced television sets were based on the mechanical television system. These sets were made from John Baird’s designs for television. The sets were shown to the public in September of 1928.

The first ever American electronic television sets were produced in 1938 and were an instant hit.

The first ever remote control for television was invented in 1948. Known as the ‘Tele Zoom’, it cannot be called a remote control in the true sense of the word, as the device could only enlarge the picture on the tube and not change any channels or turn the television set on and off. The Flash-matic from Zenith, produced in 1955, was the first ever real remote control that could do all of the above and was completely wireless.

First Facts On Television Programming and Advertisements

‘The Queen’s Messenger’ is believed to be the first television program in America. It was broadcast by WRGB station in 1928. We say believed because the program was broadcast to only 4 television sets in existence at the time, and thus the ambiguity.

1st July, 1941 is the day when the first ever commercial broadcast took place in America. All broadcasts prior to this day were regarded as experimental by the FCC, thus making this day very important in American TV history.

1st July, 1941 is also the day when the first American advertisement was aired. The commercial was for a Bulova Watch and lasted all of 10 seconds. It was aired on the NBC network.

[MysteRy]

The Inventors of the Television



Television was not invented or created by any one person. There was no single ‘Eureka’ moment in the invention of television, instead there were many such moments for various people. The ideas and innovations of several people led to the invention of television.

Although it is virtually impossible to say who invented television, there were significant contributions by some people in this field, because of which they have got the distinction of being called pioneers in the invention of TV. Here’s a look at some of these early inventors of TV.

Paul Nipkow: In 1884, Paul Nipkow was the first person to create a rotating disk as a mechanical scanner, which was the chief basis of mechanical television. He conceptualized the idea of the rotating disk that was used as a scanning device to scan images. One rotation of the disk was equal to one frame on television. The picture resolution was only 18 lines and thus very poor. Whether or not Paul actually developed a working model of a mechanical television is still unclear, but what is certain is that the Nipkow disk was the very foundation of mechanical television systems.

Charles Jenkins: This man is known as the father of mechanical television in America. Charles Jenkins and his association with television began in 1894, when he first described a method to electrically transmit images and pictures. By 1920, Jenkins had developed a device known as the prismatic rings, which was the main aspect of his Radiovisor television kits. This invention was basically a radio that had visual capabilities and projected pictures with a resolution of 40 to 48 lines. Charles Jenkins also started the first television station in Maryland.

John Logie Baird: Baird also used the Nipkow disk principle to invent a practical model of a mechanical television. He was the first person to succeed in transmitting live images on TV. It can be said that Baird did for British television what Jenkins did for American television. In 1925, Baird created the first televised image of a human face. For his many inventions since then, he is considered as one of the pioneers of the mechanical television system.

Alan A. Campbell-Swinton: Swinton, a British engineer, came up with the idea of using cathode ray tubes in the invention of television. Although he envisaged the idea, he could not develop a working model of his ideas, which were eventually used by Vladimir K. Zworykin and Philo T. Farnsworth to create practical systems of electronic television.

Philo Farnsworth: Philo was an American inventor who was born on August 19, 1906, in Utah. When Philo was in high school, he experimented with transmission of TV images and became keenly interested in electronic television invention. Farnsworth is the inventor of the dissector tube, which is still the foundation of all electronic televisions. Vladimir Zworykin, the inventor of the iconoscope in 1923 and the kinescope in 1929, is said to have been inspired in his creations from the designs of Philo Farnsworth.

[MysteRy]

How Televisions Work!



On average, each person spends about two and a half to four hours watching television every day. But how much time do you spend thinking about how the device that you call television (TV) actually works? What is it that enables you to see images and pictures on a screen, and even live ones at that?

The Working of TV
When TV was invented, there were two types of television systems: Mechanical and Electronic. The mechanical module was phased out years ago and all modern day televisions have evolved from the early electronic television systems, which is what we will look at.

A television has something called a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) and two or more anodes. You can consider the anodes to be the positive terminals and the cathode to be the negative terminal. Now let us first understand what the CRT is.

The C part of CRT is a heated filament known as the Cathode. This cathode is enclosed inside a glass Tube, which makes up the T part of CRT. The cathode emits Rays of electrons into the empty space inside the tube, thus the term Cathode Ray Tube.

The electrons that are released by the cathode have a negative charge and are thus attracted to the positively charged anodes. The anodes are at the end of the CRT and so is the television screen. The electrons are thus focused towards the anodes and the screen, which has a phosphor coating, because of which it glows when hit by the electron beam.

As the electron beam will hit at a point wherever the anodes are, the anodes are situated not at a specific point but in a coil form known as the steering coils. Television sets have two steering coils, one that produces a magnetic field such that the electron beam moves vertically, and the other produces a magnetic field such that the beam moves horizontally. Due to different voltage controls in the coils, the beam can be focused at any place on the television screen.

The inside of the television screen is coated with various kinds of phosphor. Once the beams of electrons hit the phosphor, they paint an image on the screen, one line at a time. This is called the resolution of the TV. There are as many as 480 lines of images on your television screen at any time. Because these lines are situated extremely close to one another, the human brain sees them as one line and thus one image.

Televisions either use Interlacing Scanning or Progressive Scanning to paint the lines on the TV screen. In interlacing scanning, the screen is painted in two passes, 30 lines during each pass. One frame is made of the two passes, and each television frame is refreshed at least 30 times per second. Because of this immense speed, the human eye does not see the changing of the frames, but only sees moving images.

In Progressive scanning, all 60 lines are painted each time on the screen and each frame is made up of one pass, which is refreshed 60 times every second. This reduces the flickering of the screen to a considerable extent.

The television receives a broadcast signal that gives it the necessary information of what an image should look like. Equipped with this information, the TV system paints the scan lines onto the screen line by line, thus enabling you to watch the images on your television.

This is how a regular television works. With advancement in technology, came Cable Television, Satellite Television, HDTV and digital television. As a consumer, you just need to wait and see what's in store for you next. Whatever it is, it's sure to be very exciting, much like all the various innovations in the television industry have been.

[MysteRy]

How Cable Television Works!



Cable television came as a boon to people who were tired of watching broadcast programs. With cable television, you suddenly had a whole host of programs and channels that you could see, day and night. Cable television saw the light of day because of the efforts of a man named John Walson. The year was 1948 and cable television has come a long way since then.

Working of Cable TV
This step by step procedure will explain how cable television works, in a very easy to understand manner.

 There are many satellites that revolve around the earth at a permanent height of 22300 miles from the earth's surface. The signals of hundreds of programs, from every corner of the earth, are relayed to these satellites.

On receiving these signals, there are once again transmitted to the local cable dish satellites that are present in your locality.

These signals are then sorted out at the station of your cable company. Once processed along with local programs and broadcasts, the signals are sent to your homes through the cable wire network that is installed by the cable companies.

This cable wire is inside the cable outlets in your house. After you subscribe to any cable television services, the particular cable company will attach another cable from the wall outlet to the television set in your home.

After this, you simply need to program your television set, or purchase a converter box if your TV is not cable ready, and you're all set to receive cable television.

The reception and picture of cable television is far superior to your local television broadcasts. Cable TV signals are relayed through cable wires and not through the air as local TV signals. Thus there is less scope for interference and blockage of signals due to tall buildings, weather etc, hence better picture quality with cable TV than local TV.

Cable Television Picture Problems
Although the picture quality is very good with cable television, you may experience problems from time to time. Shrinking picture, snow, rolling picture, and bad reception can be a problem, which can be dealt with in the following manner:

Check to see that there is adequate power supply to your TV set.

See that the cable wires are connected properly.

If using a converter box, ensure that it has set to the right channel and the wires are connected right.

Thus, with cable television, you can have access to many different programs that would not have been available otherwise.

[MysteRy]

How HDTV Works!



We have certainly moved into the 21st century and with HDTV, so has television. HDTV has fast become the talk of the entire television industry and has piqued the interest of television viewers once again. HDTV has proved that the television industry does not just rest on its laurels, but is always looking to provide new and exciting technologies to their consumers.

What Is HDTV
HDTV is short for High Definition Television. HDTV is a digital technology that is far superior to analog pictures of your regular TV or cable television. With HDTV, the screen is much wider (enabling you to see the complete picture) and you can see the images very clearly even if you are sitting too close to the television screen. Now let's take a brief look at how HDTV works.

Television works by processing the signals received and translating this information into scan lines that are painted onto the TV screen, thus giving you visual images. In regular television, a maximum of 525 scan lines are possible in one frame, but with HDTV, it is possible to have between 720 and1080 scan lines per frame. If you think a resolution of 525 lines gives you good picture quality, you can just imagine the excellence that can be achieved with double the resolution as is possible with HDTV.

HDTV has the ability to compress data that is in the digital format. Because of this, 6 times more data and information can be sent in the same amount of airwaves that is required for just one analog channel. Broadcasters only have limited airwaves at their disposal. Thus, they can multicast and send many more signals in the airwaves with HDTV, than they can with regular cable television.

How To Receive HDTV
Many new televisions have HDTV capabilities built into the set itself. However, if your TV set does not support HDTV, you can use a digital converter to convert your analog signals into digital HDTV signals, for a much better, clearer, and superior television experience.

[MysteRy]

How Satellite Television Works!



The first satellite was put into space in 1957. This first satellite, the Sputnik, and many others after that, have the ability to send and receive television signals from the earth. Due to this capability cable television was born.

Intrigued by television and the satellites that helped in relaying the television signals, a man named Dr. H. Taylor Howard, decided to do some experimenting of his very own. He went out and bought a small satellite receiver dish, an antenna and receiver unit, and went about putting together his own little system for receiving TV signals. He set up all the apparatus and was very pleased to discover that his personal satellite dish was also capable of receiving signals of various programs and channels. Thus was invented the first ever satellite television.

Setting Up Your Satellite Television

Anyone can have their own satellite television system, provided you have the following equipment required to set up the system.

1) Satellite Dish

A parabolic reflector, that is the satellite dish, is the first thing that you need for satellite TV. A dish usually comes in three sizes. The 3-4 feet KU band dish, the 7-10 feet regular satellite dish, and the 16-20 feet C band commercial dish. For home use, a dish that is 9-10 feet is the optimum size.

2) Actuator

An actuator is a motor device that is attached to the dish and enables it to move sideways and up and down. Without an actuator, your dish would be focused on just one spot and thus would be able to receive signals from satellites only in that region. With an actuator, you can swing the dish horizontally as well as vertically, so as to pick up signals from various satellites.

3) The Dish Mount

This apparatus is required to mount the satellite dish. A pipe is fixed to the ground, on which the mount is fixed, and the mount is where the dish finally sits. A Polar Mount is the preferred type of mount for satellite dishes.

4) LNB

Also known as the Low Noise Block converter, the job of the LNB is to amplify the signals received by the dish and also alter them into compatible bands of frequency.

5) The Receiver Unit

This is the machinery that transfers the signals from the LNB and supplies it to your television set, thus enabling you to receive satellite Television.

Apart from all the above, various cables and wires are required to join and put together the different equipment of satellite TV. Once you have the necessary apparatus, and you set it up properly, you can enjoy unlimited satellite television coverage.