The television has been with us for a very long time. Sometimes people tend to forget just how far this innovation has come. For instance, kids who were born the other day have very little or no knowledge at all, of how their favorite past time came into existence. Well, not anymore. The following infographic shall take you through the many stages of TV invention.
Prior to the 1920s, several individuals had come up with innovations that would eventually give us the television as we know it today. However, it was not until 1923 that Charles Jenkins developed a mechanical TV which allowed radio receivers to broadcast moving pictures. He called it “Radio vision”.
After Jenkins, three more individuals made notable improvements to the invention in the years to follow. The first was Philo Farnsworth who created the dissector tube in 1927. This gave us the electronic television system. A year later John Logie Baird brought about the colour TV transmission, before Vladimir Zworykin invented the cathode-ray tube which made live TV transmission possible. It was called the Kinescope.
In 1938, we see the first electric TV set being sold for $395. In today’s economy, that would be a whopping $6,500. The TV is a DuMont model 180. The following year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made history for being the first head of state to appear on TV at the NEW YORK WORLD’s FAIR.
The 1940s came with their own set of inventions and upgrades. First was the improved images resolution standards second from 441 lines to 525 and 30 frames per second. This was in 1941 and was followed by creation of a wired remote control in 1948. The remote was known as “Telezoo” and it could only enlarge pictures.
Thankfully, in 1956, Robert Adler invented the wireless remote. This was after the first all-electronic colour television was sold for $ 1,000 in 1954 by Westinghouse and RCA. In today’s rate, the buyers were paying an equivalent of $8,700.
1960s were all about communication signals. In 1962 the first television signals are relayed through space while in 1969 Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon was broadcast live to an audience of 720 million. The 1970s didn’t have much apart from huge sales of colour sets in 1972 and the debut of JVC’s VHS home recording format.
By now most households owned a television set. TV program producers were jostling to have their programmes aired. In 1983, the last episode of MASH became the most watched TV program in history. Two years down the line, cable service became available to 68% of all households.
Satellite dishes took centre stage in the 1990s whereby they became the biggest selling electronic item in history. HDTV resolution standards were also improved from 480i to 1080i. Finally, the 200s gave us the dual-tuner DVRS (2003) which allowed live recording of programs, and the smart TVs (2009) that allowed users to access the web, apps, photos and movies.
From the look of things, this is history has not seen its end. New inventions are coming up every day. We can only imagine what the future holds for the television. Whatever it is, you can join in by getting a DSTV subscription from the best installers in Durban. We are a group of competent and experienced decoder technicians. We always make sure our clients get nothing short of the best service. Call us today on 087 551 0816 and we will sort you out by the end of day.
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