HDTV Research Paper - Grade: A- PDF

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Research paper on the creation, development, and future of HDTV in American markets....

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Allen%Dill% HDTV% RTV%457% 11/30/2012%

Television!is!a!medium!that!almost!all!Americans,!and!even!the!world,!can! relate!to.!!From!the!classic!black!and!white!tube!screen!with!turn!dials!to!the!world! of!today’s!three-dimensional!television,!people!young!and!old!have!spent!countless! hours!in!front!of!these!media!monsters.!The!subject!that!comes!into!play!here!is!high! de@inition!television,!or!HDTV.!!The!reality!of!the!matter!is,!television!has!always! been!in!high!de@inition,!well!at!least!the!highest!de@inition!possible!at!the!time.!!In! order!to!have!a!grasp!on!HDTV,!it!is!important!to!look!at!the!roots!and!timeline!in! which!television!has!evolved.!!The!hypothesis!at!hand!is!that!according!to!each! breakthrough!in!television’s!history,!TV!has!always!been!in!the!highest!de@inition! possible!at!the!time.!! ! ! The!world!can!thank!Paul!Nipkow,!a!German!engineering!student,!for!the! initial!discovery!of!television’s!mechanics.!!According!to!Mary!Bellis!of! inventors.about.com,!Nipkow!discovered!how!to!dissect!an!image!and!display!it!in! sequence,!as!to!add!motion!to!it!(Bellis).!!Nipkow!was!born!in!Germany!in!1860,!but! he!considers!his!hometown!to!be!Lebork,!Poland.!!He!attended!a!technical!high! school!and!studied!telegraph!and!telephone!communications!(Karwatka,!10).!!When! Nipkow!@irst!visualized!his!theory!of!scanning!disks,!he!was!studying!electrical! engineering!at!the!University!of!Berlin!(Karwatka,!10).!!During!the!Christmas!season! of!1883,!Nipkow!took!on!the!idea!of!using!a!disc!with!holes!in!a!spiral!pattern.!!Light! that!passed!through!the!holes!while!the!disc!rotated!could!scan!an!object!and!divide! the!image!into!pulses!(Karwatka,!10).!!This!is!where!Nipkow!developed!his!system!of! pulses.!!Karwatka!explains!the!process!in!this!way,!“His!original!disc!contained! eighteen!small!holes!of!rectangular!shape!in!a!spiral!near!the!edge!of!the!disc.!! Rotating!at!six!hundred!rotations!per!minute,!the!disc!was!positioned!between!the! subject!and!a!bright!light.!!The!light!scanned!vertical!sections!of!the!subject!and! pushed!eighteen!times!onto!a!selenium!photocell.!!Light!hitting!the!selenium! photocell!through!lenses!produced!a!small!voltage!that!varied!with!the!shading!of! the!object,”!(Karwatka,!10).!!The!electrical!power!would!then!travel!along!a!wire!to! its!destination.!Karwatka!went!on!to!explain,!“To!see!the!transmitted!image,!the! pushing!voltages!powered!a!small!bulb.!!Its!dim!light!passed!through!another!disc! that!was!synchronized!with!the!@irst,!and!the!picture!would!appear!on!a!@lat!surface,”! (Karwatka,!10).!!Nipkow!was!later!rewarded!a!German!patent!which!he!titled,! Electric!Telescope.!!There!was!one!problem!with!this!system.!His!idea!was!most! de@initely!one!of!genius,!however,!the!supporting!technology!was!not!yet!available!to! complete!his!system.!!The!problem!at!hand!was!that!Nipkow!had!no!way!to!amplify! the!electrical!power!from!the!selenium!cells.!!Because!of!this,!the!output!image! would!not!have!been!visible!(Karwatka,!10).!!Unfortunately,!Nipkow!was!never!able! to!develop!a!prototype.!!He!spent!the!majority!of!his!professional!career!as!a!railway!

engineer!and!did!no!further!work!with!television!(Karwatka,!10).!!However,!this! system!he!created,!was!the!highest!de@inition!possible!at!the!time.! ! ! Although!Paul!Nipkow!never!developed!a!television!prototype,!one! mechanical!system!did!evolve!during!his!lifetime.!!Using!a!Nipkow!disc,!John!Logie! Baird!of!Great!Britain!sold!nearly!20,000!of!his!Televisions!in!the!1930s!(Karwatka,! 10).!!As!a!teenager,!Baird!entertained!the!idea!of!wireless!images.!!After!many!failed! attempts!in!other!areas!such!as!socks,!jams,!glass!razors,!and!shoe!soles,!Baird! returned!to!his!ideas!of!wireless!images!(Museum).!!Using!Nipkow’s!discs,!Baird! produced!a!series!of!mechanical!systems!that!could!scan,!transmit,!and!receive! moving!images.!!The!picture!offered!by!this!system!was!fairly!rough,!offering!about! thirty!lines!of!de@inition!(Museum).!!Baird!promoted!public!interest!in!television! with!public!demonstrations.!His!television!@irst!functioned!by!long-distance! transmissions!by!wire!between!London!and!Glasgow!in!1925!and!later!used!short! wave!to!transmit!signal!between!London!and!New!York!(Museum).!!By!1928,!Baird! was!experimenting!with!what!was!known!as!“phonovision”,!a!way!of!recording!his! images!on!a!phonograph!type!disc.!Baird!named!his!device!the!Televisor!(Museum).!! For!many!years,!Baird!was!denied!assistance!by!the!British!Broadcasting! Corporation!(BBC).!Finally,!after!pressure!from!the!British!Post!Of@ice!in!1930,!the! BBC!began!to!work!with!Baird!(Sterling).!!However,!Baird’s!approach!was!soon! dropped!in!favor!of!a!more!advanced!model!developed!by!Marconi-EMI,!which! utilized!the!cathode!ray!tube!(Museum).!!! ! The!cathode!ray!tube,!or!CRT,!was!developed!in!1929!by!a!man!named! Vladimir!Zworykin,!which!he!called!the!kinescope!(Bellis).!!Like!Nipkow!and!Baird,! Zworykin!also!studied!electrical!engineering!in!college.!Upon!graduating!from!St.! Petersburg,!Zworykin!studied!X-ray!technology!with!French!physicist,!Paul!Langevin! at!the!College!de!France!in!Paris!(Museum).!!Zworykin!went!on!to!earn!his!PhD!in! physics!from!the!University!of!Pittsburg!and!developed!his!dissertation!on! improving!photoelectric!cells!(Museum).!It!was!soon!after!earning!his!PhD!that!the! development!of!electronic!television!caught!his!attention.!Zworykin’s!@irst!CRT,! patented!in!1923,!was!known!as!the!iconoscope,!which!produced!pictures!by! scanning!images!(Museum).!Within!that!same!year,!he!developed!the!kinescope,! which!reproduced!the!iconoscope’s!scanned!images!on!a!picture!tube!(Museum).! Because!of!this!discovery,!electronic!television!was!now!possible.!!However,!after! demonstrating!this!system!to!Westinghouse,!they!decided!not!to!follow!his!@indings! (Museum).!!In!1929,!Zworykin!found!a!company!that!was!interested!in!his!research:! Radio!Corporation!of!America,!or!RCA.!!The!Museum!of!Broadcast!Communications! explains,!“Zworykin!told!RCA!president!David!Sarnoff!that!it!would!take!$100,000!to!

perfect!television.!Sarnoff!later!told!the!New$York$Times,!‘RCA!spent!$50!million! before!we!ever!got!a!penny!back!from!TV.’”!(Museum).!Through!his!research,!RCA! also!developed!the!electron!microscope.!Zworykin’s!work!also!led!to!text!readers,! electric!eyes!used!in!security!systems,!and!garage!door!openers!(Museum).!He! advised!defense!organizations!during!World!War!II!and!also!worked!with!Princeton! professor!John!von!Neumann!to!develop!computer!applications!for!accurate!weather! forecasting.!(Museum).!! ! The!man!who!is!attributed!for!developing!the!dissector!tube,!which!is!the! basis!of!current!television,!was!Philo!Farnsworth!(Bellis).!!Farnsworth!began!his! inventing!at!a!young!age.!!At!the!age!of!thirteen,!Farnsworth!developed!a!thief!proof! automobile!ignition!switch.!However,!the!most!remarkable!accomplishment!of!his! teenage!years!was!a!diagram!he!drew!for!his!chemistry!teacher.!This!diagram! proved!to!be!the!pattern!for!his!future!experiments!in!electronics!and!helped!him!in! winning!a!patent!interference!case!with!RCA!(Museum).!!Farnsworth!attended! Brigham!Young!University!in!Utah!and!researched!television!picture!transmission! (Bellis).!In!1927,!he!transmitted!an!image!of!sixty!horizontal!lines.!The!image!that! was!transmitted!was!a!dollar!sign!(Bellis).!Through!this!process,!Farnsworth! developed!the!dissector!tube.!Farnsworth!went!on!to!invent!over!165!different! devices!including!the!ampli@ier,!cathode-ray,!electrical!scanners,!and!electron! multipliers!(Bellis.)! ! Moving!forward!to!today’s!age!of!HDTV,!the!@irs!thing!that!many!people!think! of!is!how!vivid!the!color!appears.!!To!look!into!this!subject!further,!we!must!@irst! examine!where!exactly!color!television!came!from.!!The!@irst!attempt!at!color! televeision!was!in!1925!by!Vladimir!Zworykin!(Bellis).!His!system!was!to!be!allelectric,!but!was!not!successful.!Color!television!was!@inally!demonstrated!in!1928! by!John!Baird,!and!a!year!later!by!Bell!Telephone!Laboratories!(Museum).!Now!we! have!an!example!of!high!de@inition!television!in!this!time!period:!color!television.! Broadcasting!in!color!was!@irst!experimented!with!in!1940!by!the!Columbia! Broadcasting!System,!or!CBS.!In!doing!so,!CBS!publicly!displayed!a!@ield!sequential! color!television!broadcasting!system!(Museum).!This!consisted!of!consecutive!@ields! displayed!one!at!a!time!in!one!of!three!colors:!red,!blue,!or!green.!On!the!receiving! end,!a!color!wheel!reconstituted!the!colors!in!sequence!to!reproduce!the!colors!in! the!original!scene!(Museum).!!Upon!further!report,!the!Federal!Communications! Commission!(FCC),!along!with!the!National!Television!Systems!Committee!(NTSC),! ruled!that!color!television!would!require!further!testing!before!it!could!be! standardized!(Museum).!!Further!testing!was!suspended!during!World!War!II.!! ! !

! After!the!war,!engineers!designed!a!system!that!would!operate!within!the!6! mega!hertz!standard!that!had!been!established!for!black!and!white!television! (Museum).!Unfortunately,!CBS’s!attempts!to!broadcast!in!color!fell!short!once!again.!! According!to!the!Museum!of!Broadcast!Communications,!“In!a!hearing!which!began! 26!September,!1949,!and!lasted!for!sixty!two!days,!CBS!petitioned!the!FCC!for! commercialization!of!their!6!MHz,!405!line,!144!@ield!per!second!@ield!sequential! color!system.!Due!to!the!higher!scanning!rate,!such!a!system!was!not!compatible! with!the!existing!monochromatic!standard,”!(Museum).!!Financial!costs!were!a!key! factor!in!the!FCC’s!reasoning.!!They!also!argued!that!broadcasters!could!potentially! lose!audience!members!who!could!not!afford!the!modi@ications!to!their! monochrome!receivers!(Museum).!In!1950,!the!FCC!ruled!that!a!color!broadcasting! system!was!in!the!public!interest.!!In!June!of!1951,!CBS’s!New!York!af@iliate!began! regular!color!broadcasts.!!Once!again,!this!was!the!new!standard!of!high!de@inition.!! Unfortunately,!due!to!the!Korean!War!effort,!color!receiver!production!could!not!be! increased!signi@icantly!(Museum).!!In!October!of!1951,!CBS!ceased!their!color! broadcasts!because!of!limited!numbers!of!color!receivers.! ! In!1953,!the!NTSC!was!reactivated!to!investigate!potential!color!television! systems.!!In!July!of!1953!the!second!NTSC!approved!a!compatible!color!television! system!and!encouraged!the!FCC!for!adoption!(Museum).!In!December!of!1953,!the! FCC!adopted!a!compatible!color!standard.!!The!system!that!was!to!be!used!was! known!as!the!Dot!Sequential!System!(Reiman).!!Historian!R.J.!Reiman!describes!the! system!in!this!way,!“The!tube!was!based!upon!the!shadow!mask!principle.!!Red,! green,!and!blue!phosphor!dots!are!deposited!in!triads!on!the!inside!surface!of!the! kinescope!faceplate.!!The!aperture!or!shadow!mask,!a!perforated!plate!with!one! perforation!for!each!triad,!is!mounted!just!behind!each!faceplate.!A!cluster!of!three! electron!guns!located!in!the!neck!of!the!kinescope,!are!positioned!so!that!beams! converge!at!the!mask.!The!beam!from!each!gun!impinges!on!the!dot!of!a!single!color! because!of!the!slight!off-axis!angle!at!which!it!goes!through!each!perforation,”! (Reiman).!!Surprisingly,!the!picture!quality!of!these!prototypes!was!good,!but!there! were!early!problems!involved.!!RCA!found!the!solution!in!developing!advances!in! external!circuitry!(Reiman).!!In!1954,!RCA!released!the!HDTV!of!its!day,!the!CT100.!! It!had!a!twelve-inch!screen,!had!minor!brightness,!and!sold!for!one!thousand!dollars! (Reiman).!!RCA!later!revised!the!CT100!and!released!it!as!a!twenty-one!inch!model.!! Sales!remained!stagnant!for!about!ten!years,!and!RCA!was!left!with!high!costs!and! small!revenue.!However,!in!1964,!sales!rose!from!one!million!to!nineteen!million! (Reiman).!!

! Now!that!the!CRT!display!has!been!elaborated!upon,!focus!can!be!turned!to!a! new!medium:!plasma.!!Believe!it!or!not,!the!@irst!prototype!for!a!plasma!monitor!was! invented!in!1964!(Bellis).!!The!monitor!was!developed!by!University!of!Illinois! professors!Donald!Bitzer!and!Gene!Slottow,!and!graduate!student!Robert!Wilson! (Bellis).!The!problem!that!the!men!found!in!CRT!displays!was!that!they!constantly! had!to!refresh.!!They!developed!the!@irst!plasma!display!in!1964!with!one!single!cell.!! Today’s!plasma!televisions!contain!millions!of!cells!(Bellis).!!Larry!Weber!created!a! sisxty!inch!prototype,!which!was!developed!for!Matsushita,!but!bore!the!Panasonic! label!(Bellis).!!This!model!combined!the!size!and!resolution!necessary!for!higher! de@inition!and!added!the!concept!of!thinness!(Bellis).! ! Even!though,!television!has!always!been!in!the!highest!de@inition!possible!for! the!time!period,!it!wasn’t!always!called!high!de@inition!television,!or!HDTV.!!But! what!is!the!basis!of!what!we!call!HDTV?!One!concept!is!called!interlacing.!! Interlacing!is!the!practice!of!drawing!all!of!the!odd!numbered!lines!on!a!CRT!display,! and!then!drawing!all!of!the!even!numbered!lines,!which!are!scattered!with!the!odd! numbered!lines!(Primer).!!An!advantage!of!interlacing!is!that!it!allows!higher! resolution.!!It!also!reduces!the!@licker!that!often!comes!from!a!CRT!display.!!One! reason!why!modern!HDTVs!are!in!high!demand!is!because!of!the!emergence!to! digital!television.!!Cable!companies!have!not!switched!from!analog!to!digital!signals,! and!the!signal!just!appears!much!more!vivid!on!a!HDTV.!!The!misconception,! however,!is!that!consumers!believe!purchasing!a!HDTV!will!automatically!give!them! HD!channels!(How!Stuff!Works).!!Unfortunately,!those!channels!cost!extra!within!the! cable!provider.!!Another!transition!is!that!of!screen!size.!!The!NTSC!aspect!ratio!was! 4!inches!by!three!inches.!!The!new!standard!is!now!16!inches!by!9!inches.!!Many! other!advances!have!come!into!play!such!as!LED!televisions,!the!entrance!of!Blu-Ray,! and!three-dimensional!television.!

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Today,!HDTV!is!marketed!in!a!wide!variety!of!areas,!but!only!select!amounts! are!highly!successful.!One!area!that!has!dominated!the!HDTV!field!is!professional! and!college!athletics.!In!the!weeks!leading!up!to!the!National!Football!League’s! Super!Bowl!Championship,!one!can’t!help!but!notice!the!plethora!of!television!ads! promoting!the!newest!television!technology.!According!to!the!Consumer! Electronics!Association,!Super!Bowl!XLII!drove!the!sale!of!over!2.4!million!high! definition!televisions!(AV!Rev).!!Anyone!can!enter!a!restaurant!such!as!Buffalo!Wild! Wings!and!immediately!be!attracted!to!the!multiple!HDTVs!mounted!upon!all!of! the!walls!throughout!the!restaurant,!boasting!the!day’s!biggest!sporting!events!and! highlight!shows.!Cable!providers!now!even!have!channels!dedicated!to!high! definition!viewing.!One!of!the!main!selling!factors!in!HDTVs!is!that!prices!are!

lowering.!However,!higher!sales!doesn’t!necessarily!mean!higher!profits!for! retailers.!In!a!report!by!James!Hibberd!of!TelevisionWeek !he!stated,!"Overall!sales! were!on!par!with!expectations!due!to!the!tremendous!drop!in!prices!during!the! holiday!season.!Major!retailers!such!as!Best!Buy,!Circuit!City!and!Wal-Mart!were! selling!HDTVs!at!such!low!prices!to!remain!competitive!that!profits!were!slim! despite!the!high!volume!of!sales,!according!to!several!news!reports,"!(Ford).!With! price!drops!in!such!high-market!stores,!it’s!inevitable!that!sales!will!increase.! ! It!is!hard!to!say!where!television!will!go!in!the!future.!What!will!be!the! standard!of!high!de@inition?!Will!other!senses!of!the!human!body!be!implemented! such!as!smell!or!taste?!It’s!hard!to!say.!!It!is!truly!amazing,!however,!to!see!how!what! began!as!a!perforated!rotating!disc!has!evolved!into!a!television!that!displays!a! picture!so!vivid!that!the!viewer!feels!as!if!they!are!in!the!experience.!!Television,!just! like!any!other!electronic!device,!is!always!going!to!evolve.!!We!will!look!back!on! today’s!era!of!televisions!and!laugh!at!how!pathetic!our!technology!was,!and!how! “un-high!def”!our!experience!was.!!In!doing!so,!it!will!con@irm!the!hypothesis!that! high!de@inition!television!always!has,!and!always!will!exist,!according!to!the!time! period!we!look!at.!

Works!Cited!! Bellis,!Mary.!"Television!History."!About.com.!Web.!24!Oct.!2010.!.! !!

Dean,!Jeffrey.!"When!High!De@inition!Goes!Bad."!Associated$Content$-$ Associatedcontent.com.!3!Mar.!2010.!Web.!07!Nov.!2010.!.!! Ford,!Sam.!"HDTV!Sales!Soaring!As!Prices!Lower."!MIT$Convergence$Culture$ Consortium.!Web.!28!Nov.!2010.!.! HDTV$Info$Port.!Web.!07!Nov.!2010.!.!! HDTV$Primer.!Web.!24!Oct.!2010.!.!! Karwatka,!Dennis.!"Paul!Nipkow!and!19th!Century!Television."!Tech$Directions!Oct.! 2007:!10.!Web.!! The$Museum$of$Broadcast$Communications.!Web.!8!Nov.!2010.!.!! Reiman,!R.J.!"The!Invention!of!Color!Television."!IEEE$Cincinnati$Section.!Web.!8!Nov.! 2010.!.!! "Super!Bowl!Will!Drive!Sales."!Audio$Video$Revolution.!Web.!28!Nov.!2010.!.!! Wilson,!Tracy!V.!"HowStuffWorks!"How!HDTV!Works""!How$Stuff$Works$"Electronics"! How!Stuff!Works,!1!Apr.!2000.!Web.!24!Oct.!2010.!.!!...