OH what I would've given to be alive back then! Tube sets are the best! I love restoring them....they were built to LAST with AMERICAN PRIDE...non-existsant today in the foriegn-made, built-to-fail modern JUNK they make now. Yes, the stuff DOES more, but NEVER lasts! I say if it isn't wood, metal & glass...THROW IT OUT & GET a REAL TV! :) Yeah, I know...I'm accentric to say the LEAST! :) But, u kno, I've plugged in a 70-year-old set & gotten a picture & sound- think ur ipod will work in 70 yrs?
Movie cameras photograph images at 24 frames per second; television transmits images at 30fps....that's why, until RCA and DuMont perfected the "kinescope" camera by late 1947 [NBC's trademarked name for it was "Kinephoto"], which adjusted the camera's shutter speed to enable a "fixed" image to be recorded on film (without lines or flickers), very few examples of TV programs before 1948 exist on film. The ones seen in this film were "simulated".
I don't know...I don't think it'll ever catch on enough to pay for itself. Too many people are busy, and don't have time for that sort of thing. Great novelty gag for carnivals and science fairs and the like, though. ;]
This is amazing for history buffs. So far we've come in 80 years. From short distance limits to cable and satellite to internet TV from anywhere you can get a cell phone signal or internet connection. TV has evolved the most of any product I can think of.
It is not surprising that RCA would state misleading infomation regarding the scanning stats. After all, they essentially stole the finer points of electronic TV from Farnsworth. As for the Photophone process, it was not as HiFi as the W-E system.
Differences in the fps rate of film to that of video made film recording capabilities of TV images almost impossible until c.1948,the process perfected by both RCA and DuMont..
It is amazing how in the early 50's, RCA and CBS were entrenched in one of the largest lawsuits in American history over color television! RCA was started by General Electric, and G-E tried for many years to bury them, lol! I love these posts, thanks!
At that time, RCA "officially" began regular telecasts on their experimental New York TV station, W2XBS [later known as WNBT when it became a commercial TV station in July 1941; WRCA-TV in 1954; and finally WNBC-TV in 1960]. The station was initially on for about two hours each day (one hour in the afternoon, and again at night), Monday through Saturday. About 500 people had access to the station's signal, as that's how many owned TV sets in New York at the time (mostly RCA models}.
True, 16mm projectors were rare to own privately due to their high expense. Now you can grab a dozen at thrift stores for pennies.
Interesting on the opening comment that "RCA Photophone" was the largest used, yet a lot of studios used Western Electric's "Westrex" system. Later, Disney was the only one still using the "Photophone"
The electron beam scans at over 13,000 times a second? Hmm...525 scan lines in NTSC...30 frames per second (60 fields, 1/2 the scan lines)...the math just doesn't add up. Even if you count each time it deflects, you're still only looking at 1050 deflections. Something tells me RCA was using a made-up number to make it sound more impressive. Unless they had HDTV (10x more definition than today's HD) in 1939...
It is interesting that the state that television is strictly limited to the line-of-sight range, when people in their very own laboratory were watching the Alexandra Palace BBC transmissions the fall before!
Despite the opening blurb, 16mm sound projectors were almost never purchased for home use. They were way too expensive.
I wish there'd been more shots of actual TV screens with pictures. I think there was only one here, when the "kinescope" tube was turned on in the lab. The other shots used images from film.
The level of lighting that early TV required was absolutely brutal. That small orchestra would've been broiling in the unbearable heat in that studio.
The opening narrator, describing RCA's 16mm sound projector and "Photophone" sound on film process {"RCA High Fidelity Sound System"}, is Milton Cross, best known at the time as the "Voice Of The Metropolitan Opera" on NBC radio (and co-host of NBC's Sunday afternoon "cultural showcase", "THE MAGIC KEY OF RCA"). The narrator for the film itself is famed radio announcer Andre Baruch. By a coincidence, RKO-Radio Pictures, who distributed this film, was partially owned by RCA at the time...
Pictures from the sky! There IS a God!
Aaron4444444 6 months ago
OH what I would've given to be alive back then! Tube sets are the best! I love restoring them....they were built to LAST with AMERICAN PRIDE...non-existsant today in the foriegn-made, built-to-fail modern JUNK they make now. Yes, the stuff DOES more, but NEVER lasts! I say if it isn't wood, metal & glass...THROW IT OUT & GET a REAL TV! :) Yeah, I know...I'm accentric to say the LEAST! :) But, u kno, I've plugged in a 70-year-old set & gotten a picture & sound- think ur ipod will work in 70 yrs?
seatboi 9 months ago
The narrator, as I've previously noted, was radio announcer Andre Baruch. 'cats'.
fromthesidelines 1 year ago
@fromthesidelines What a dialect! Interesting how these old-school 'lost' accents aren't heard anymore. "Look to Arrr-Seee-Aaaa"
musicom67 5 months ago
My guess for the host--Ben Grauer. Anybody have any ideas?
catsnharps 1 year ago
What a history
hilarioph 1 year ago
Do you think television will "catch on"? hahaha
sportygirl869 1 year ago
Movie cameras photograph images at 24 frames per second; television transmits images at 30fps....that's why, until RCA and DuMont perfected the "kinescope" camera by late 1947 [NBC's trademarked name for it was "Kinephoto"], which adjusted the camera's shutter speed to enable a "fixed" image to be recorded on film (without lines or flickers), very few examples of TV programs before 1948 exist on film. The ones seen in this film were "simulated".
fromthesidelines 1 year ago
This tele-vision box won't catch on. Nothing will replace vaudeville.
frednora 1 year ago
I don't know...I don't think it'll ever catch on enough to pay for itself. Too many people are busy, and don't have time for that sort of thing. Great novelty gag for carnivals and science fairs and the like, though. ;]
buzzclick500 1 year ago
Nice idea but I don't think this will ever be practical.
The cameras are too bulky and the pictures are too small.
nakayle 1 year ago
This is amazing for history buffs. So far we've come in 80 years. From short distance limits to cable and satellite to internet TV from anywhere you can get a cell phone signal or internet connection. TV has evolved the most of any product I can think of.
Jasoco 1 year ago
It is not surprising that RCA would state misleading infomation regarding the scanning stats. After all, they essentially stole the finer points of electronic TV from Farnsworth. As for the Photophone process, it was not as HiFi as the W-E system.
Differences in the fps rate of film to that of video made film recording capabilities of TV images almost impossible until c.1948,the process perfected by both RCA and DuMont..
thevidiotkid 1 year ago
It is amazing how in the early 50's, RCA and CBS were entrenched in one of the largest lawsuits in American history over color television! RCA was started by General Electric, and G-E tried for many years to bury them, lol! I love these posts, thanks!
italobambino43 1 year ago
Thanks for posting!
artsykr 1 year ago
At that time, RCA "officially" began regular telecasts on their experimental New York TV station, W2XBS [later known as WNBT when it became a commercial TV station in July 1941; WRCA-TV in 1954; and finally WNBC-TV in 1960]. The station was initially on for about two hours each day (one hour in the afternoon, and again at night), Monday through Saturday. About 500 people had access to the station's signal, as that's how many owned TV sets in New York at the time (mostly RCA models}.
fromthesidelines 2 years ago
True, 16mm projectors were rare to own privately due to their high expense. Now you can grab a dozen at thrift stores for pennies.
Interesting on the opening comment that "RCA Photophone" was the largest used, yet a lot of studios used Western Electric's "Westrex" system. Later, Disney was the only one still using the "Photophone"
DSM1G90 2 years ago
The electron beam scans at over 13,000 times a second? Hmm...525 scan lines in NTSC...30 frames per second (60 fields, 1/2 the scan lines)...the math just doesn't add up. Even if you count each time it deflects, you're still only looking at 1050 deflections. Something tells me RCA was using a made-up number to make it sound more impressive. Unless they had HDTV (10x more definition than today's HD) in 1939...
dan1701a 2 years ago
It is interesting that the state that television is strictly limited to the line-of-sight range, when people in their very own laboratory were watching the Alexandra Palace BBC transmissions the fall before!
1L6E6VHF 2 years ago
I think Philo T. Farnsworth would not let his kids watch TV.
slinky460 2 years ago
A fascinating historic document.
Despite the opening blurb, 16mm sound projectors were almost never purchased for home use. They were way too expensive.
I wish there'd been more shots of actual TV screens with pictures. I think there was only one here, when the "kinescope" tube was turned on in the lab. The other shots used images from film.
The level of lighting that early TV required was absolutely brutal. That small orchestra would've been broiling in the unbearable heat in that studio.
hebneh 2 years ago
Television at a time when radio was still in it's infancy. Woody Allen made a movie called Radio Days, not Television Days. LOL!
Just kidding, this was quite fascinating.
visaman 2 years ago
The opening narrator, describing RCA's 16mm sound projector and "Photophone" sound on film process {"RCA High Fidelity Sound System"}, is Milton Cross, best known at the time as the "Voice Of The Metropolitan Opera" on NBC radio (and co-host of NBC's Sunday afternoon "cultural showcase", "THE MAGIC KEY OF RCA"). The narrator for the film itself is famed radio announcer Andre Baruch. By a coincidence, RKO-Radio Pictures, who distributed this film, was partially owned by RCA at the time...
fromthesidelines 2 years ago
Thanks for posting. Very interesting. Very skillful, were these pioneers of early broadcast.
acfinney 2 years ago