TELEVISION...THE FIRST 75 YEARS 

• Pre 1935 (the mechanical television era) 

Invention of Morse code: About 1840, Samuel F.B. Morse of the United States invented a means of telegraphic communication that converted words into a code consisting of dots and dashes, which could be transmitted by simple electrical pulses. This code came to be known as Morse code.

Television was seen as ‘electricity meets radio wave.

The first television sets weren’t entirely electronic .

The display had a small motor with a spinning disc and a neon lamp.

Some examples are the Octagon (1928), the Baird model ‘C’ (1928), the Western Television (1929), Baird Televisor (1930) etc.

John Logie Baird gave the world’s first public demonstration of his TV on January 23, 1926.

Bell Telephone Labs and AT&T gave a USA public mechanical television demonstration over both wire and radio circuits. Pictures and sound were sent by wire from Washington D.C., to New York City. The 50-line pictures, transmitted at 18 frames per second, were received on a 2" x 3" screen.

• 1935-1941

During this period the electronic TV was perfected.

Some models include Andrea 1F5 (1939), DuMont 180 (1938), GE HM171 (1939), RCA TT5 (1939) etc.

Note: During World War II all television broadcasts were halted, the few exceptions were German broadcasts from Paris via Eiffel tower (1942-1944) and USA’s experiments with TV- guided missiles in Pacific.

• 1946-1949

Last and final birth of television

Television sales boomed post war periods in the US and England’s sales followed shortly after.

Note: Between the years 1950-1959 electronic colored TV and remote control launched and sold at an increasing rate. It was said to be the most exciting years for TV.

• 1960-Present 

Electronic colored TV evolved around this period and became real popular. Models were continuously made and improved for better quality and sound.

Televisions, in modern days, are flat and of high definition. They have evolved to the point where live television broadcast can be seen online via internet and its audience grows daily.

The Iconoscope(1) was the device that made TV possible in the 20th Century. Compared with it though, the current image pickup device used in video cameras for broadcasting has significantly improved performance; for instance, its sensitivity is more than 100 times greater than that of the iconoscope. Advancements were also being made on microphone and transmission technologies.

The research on HDTV systems, which started in 1964, bore fruit in the form of digital HDTV broadcasting after 36 years.

Following the high-quality TV research of 1964, STRL(2) initiated studies on PDPs (Plasma Display Panels) in 1971, aiming at developing a wall-mounted TV set.

On December 1, 2000 digital satellite broadcasting, called BS Digital broadcasting, started its services in Japan. It marked the beginning of a 21st century broadcasting that is driven by the two engines of Hi-Vision (HDTV) and data broadcasting.

(1) Iconoscope was an early television camera tube in which a beam of high-velocity electrons scans a photoemissive mosaic.

(2) STRL is the abbreviated form of Science and Technical Research Laboratories.

***

Additional Posts on the History of TV

History of TV

Televison: The Golden Years & More

The History of Television: The Very Early Years

TV in the 80s...Pass The Popcorn Please!

9/11, JFK & The Age of TV

From Chubby Checker to Elvis...Unforgettable TV Memories 

Television's Everlasting Impressions...The 1990's To The Present