Abstract
THE recent publication of the report of the Postmaster-General's Committee on Television has aroused considerable interest in this subject not only among those technically interested in radio communication and broadcasting, but also among the general public, who now definitely envisage the prospect of being able to ‘look’ as well as ‘listen’. This interest has naturally given rise to a demand for literature, both technical and popular, on the subject. During the past year or so, however, progress in the technique of television at both the transmitting and receiving end has been so rapid that most of the books at present available are useful only in explaining the fundamental principles of television or of illustrating the historical development of the subject, which dates back some sixty years. With the object of temporarily filling this gap in the literature, the issue of the Wireless World of March 8 incorporated as a supplement a “Television Guide”, comprising a 30-page booklet giving a simple explanation of the subject adequately illustrated by diagrams and photographs. This guide assumes a knowledge of electricity and the“principles of radio communication on the part of the reader; the principles involved in television are clearly explained, together with the use and limitations of mechanical scanning systems. ‘ The manner in which the cathode ray oscillograph tube has been introduced into the art is described, with the resulting accelerated progress towards high definition television. The most recent developments of picture transmission technique are dealt with, including Zworykin's iconoscope and Farnsworth's image dissector as alternative scanning systems, and the use of the intermediate cinematograph film for the broadcasting of current events. The trend of this supplement to the Wireless World is definitely to explain the principles of the subject to the future owner of a television receiver, and as such, it may be said to form a useful appendix to the report of the Postmaster-General's Committee.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Television. Nature 135, 464–465 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135464c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135464c0