Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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The oldest WORKING.
Farnsworth in the US and Baird in England were doing it almost at the same time, so where TV was invented is a tossup. But Baird did work on a partially mechanical TV which, while it worked, was ridiculous. Huge and heavy, not market ready to say the least. Those would predate that set, but it is doubtful that any are working.
Farnsworth's system was totally electronic from the start, and that is considered by most to be the true invention of TV, but Baird also finally came up with an all electronic system IIRC. I do not know the exact dates right now. With standardization and improvements, Europeans have largely been enjoying higher resolution TV for decades. One notable exception being Russia. IIRC their's was even worse than ours, and was unique in that respect. Japan, as well as most of North America adopted the recently abandoned NTSC system which was in use in the US for decades. We did, however invent color TV, but of course when Europe followed suit, had a better system. The PAL system was quite a bit better, and was modeled after NTSC but with refinements, like the COMB filter. The SECAM system in use in France and a few other places was also superior, but I never studied exactly how it works. I can't say if it is a copycat of US technology or not, but the PAL system certainly was.
I had to forward that link to the pro website, I put it in the BS section because we are trying to learn about new flatscreens and all that. Some blast from the past may go over quite well. We'll see. If you are interested in this, you might want to see the history of videotape as well. Us kids were quiet whe Star Trek came on or we were banished. There were no VCRs. Well somebody fixed that. But before the Video Cassette Recorder was invented, some had Video Tape Recorders, reel to reel even. Before helical scanning was invented (try howstuffworks for that) those reels were a spinning. Some guy in England I think had a set with a VTR built in, on top.
Playing or recording, the thing moved at breakneck speed, and it took about as long to rewind a show as it did to watch it. But it did work.
Those were some of the most creative and productive times of humankind. What happened ? We used to invent things on a whim, now we couldn't invent our way out of a bag of that styrofoam popcorn they pack stuff in. We started this shit and it looks like someone else is going to finish it. That is what's really wrong with all this bailout shit and whatever. We have nothing to do. There are no factories, there is no laboratory at Menlo Park (being used). Have we really invented all we need and that is that ? So now we just put our feet up and watch old movies on the PC, drinking beverages from who knows where and guzzling potato chips ? Or is that potatoe ? Aren't you glad that Al Gore invented the internet instead of Dan Quayle ? Think of the spell checkers, won't somebody think of the spell checkers ?
[smacks self in head to reset]
I have made a hell of alot of money fixing TVs, blew it all but I did make it. The irony is that I wish the damthing had never been invented. I have held this opinion for well over a decade, and I do have a moral issue, but the bills must be paid. Something that could've been the world greatest teaching tool, full of enlightenment and information, linking the world in way yet unknown, it is phenominal what TV could have done for the species. But now it seems they just use it to turn peole's minds off and sell something. If I never saw another TV in my life it would be too soon.
No such luck though. Like a drug dealer - if I wouldn't do it someone else would. Got those bills remember ?
T
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Oldest UK TV over 80 years old - 
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