The B.BC. Rejects Television
Yet in Experimental Stage
|. ITHIN. the last few months notable developments in television have taken place in England in connection with the Baird system. Mr. John Baird, a Scottish inventor, recently floated a ' eompany to finance his inventions in television. The shares were rushed, and in a few days all were absorbed by a gullible public. ‘It was claimed that the system known as the Baird System was a ‘revolution in the science for which extravagant claims were made, 53 some time the developments were kept. ‘a elose secret, till at the Olympic ex--hibition the first demonstrations were given. As, by the regulations of the ‘exhibition, demonstrations were not "allowed to be given in the exhibition buildings, & small room near by was "chosen for demonstration purposes. ‘Some three-quarters of a mile away were the subjects to be televised. , ’ The First Public Demonstration. AN eye-witness of that memorable -.* event tells the following story of othe first public demonstration of tele--yision in the British Isles :- "JT was taken to what looked.like a fairly large vertical radio set, with a ‘sereen in the. centre. The operator then tuned the picture in-turning a ‘knob, just as-one does in ordinary tuning in-and gradually from a blur ‘came up: the image of a man who was seated. As the picture was tuned in, so did the man’s features become clear--éF-and sharper, until his hair, his eye‘brows, and eyelashes, and the curves "of his mouth were easily discernible.
"He opened his mouth and = said "Good afternoon." The voice sent over the ether by wireless’ was clear, and one would have believed the speaker to be in the room. Voice and Action Synchronised. UITEH easily and quite naturally he began talking about’ the weather and what he intended to do. At my side was a telephone connected
AUSYSEALULQSD DUAQS0UESES0OUIUQDOALEGD GG EH ADT ARC with the studio in which he was sitting. "* mT you want to talk to him, speak into the telephone,’ said the operator at my side to me. "7? ean hardly believe this is true,’ I asid. ‘Sing me a song.’ "Without a moment’s hesitation I heard the reply, ‘Sure, I will sing you a song. What would you like? "T looked at the man as he passed his hand over his forehead as if think. ing of a tune, and then, with a pleased expression, he said; ‘I know,’ and began a negro song. , "That song had none of the disadvantages of the ‘talking’ film, where the voice s .nds as if it was passing through a husky gramophone. Imagine listening in to the B.B.C. when atmospheries are absent an’ you will know how elear it was. "And I could see him all the ‘time. I noticed the way .he turned ‘up. his. eyes when trying to look pathetic, and I had to smile with him when: e guddenly ended and broke into a hearty aust. He must have guessed, this, for added: ‘I did ‘ugh, did I not? von must have laughed too.’ "The best way of describing what the picture looked like is to compare it with a kinema film taken some ten years ago. Now and again there was flicker-small lines would run up and down the gl: ‘s and little pin pricks would appear, and the whole was slightly red in colour like the. first proof of a studio photograpbh-but from beginning to end the face was always clear and the features easy to recognise." The Effeet of Distance. FURTHER demonstration took place and ‘the result remained the same. Concluding his remarks the writer says :- "The performance ’ad taken place in semi-darkness, although © the "pere fi .ners \.ere in daylight. : "T asked permission to pull the ‘tir’ tains aside and «xpose the sereen_ to the light. This I was allowed to do, but the picture remained just as clear. "sFras distance any effect on reception? I asked Mr. Baird.
*‘None at ]k,’ he answered. ‘This experiment at three-quarters of a mile distant could just as easily be done across the Atlantic. Of course, if there was much atmospheric, the voice would be affected in precisely the same way as any radio voice thrown across the Atlantic would be affected.’ "Tt was a memorable afternoon. I had taken part in a performance which is probably to be the forerunner of
an achievement that will soon take its place in our everyday ‘lives." Opinion of the English Press. HE event had been given 4 leader in an English paper, and it seemed that television had come to stay. Receiving instruments were offered for sale provisional to the Post Office granting the necessary license. One of the leading scientists, Dr. Ambrose Fleming, Hmeritus Professor ‘of Electrical Wngineering at University College, London, in a foreword to "Television," by Alfred Dinsdale, published recently, stated: "Television in 1928 is very much in the same stage of progress as wireless telegraphy: was about 1900 or 1901; but it may.not take nearly so long to bring it to practical perfection, because many of the problems inyolved have already been solved." Dr. Fleming has been intimately associated with the development of all the great applications of ‘electric science in the past 25 years. He was the inventor of the thermionic valve which made wireless telephony possible. "What the public ‘chiefly wish to know," Dr . Fleming continues, "is whether it will ever be possible for us to receive and see in our own homes the reproduction of distant events, such as the King. going to. open Parliament, or the exciting finish of the Derby race, just as:we can at:present hear by wireless .the description by speech of such events. "Tt may be said at once that there is no inherent impossibility . in it; all inventions require time for their ultimate developmént and. perfection. "The great obstacle to wireless television lies not so much in the television apparatus itself as in the disturbances caused by fading. Morse signals, atmospherics, and other causes, .vhich also mutilate . . Wireless broadcasting ‘of speech or music. "The overcoming of these obstructions is, however, largely a matter of the amount of power employed in the
transmitter. The subject of television ‘may now be said to be a ‘live’ one. It ‘has passed out of the region of merely imperfect or curious laboratory experiments into that of practical demonstration. Hence it has begun to interest the general public who attach no great importance to purely scientific investigations, but only to that which possesses in their view a practical value: -by which they mean contributing to the conveninece of life, or to its amusement or the dissemination of information and news." Another Baird Invention. R.-FLEMING discusses another invention by Mr. Baird of a gramophone with two needles-one for the ordinary reproduction of sound and the other giving the "living" picture of the people performing-which was first announced in the "Morning Post.’ He says: ' "Just as in the modern electric-cut gramophone records the electric current from a microphone is made to actuate © the cutting chisel on the soft ,or master, record and yield the records on which we can reproduce the music or the speech, so also we can use, as Mr. Baird has done, the amplified current from the photo-electric cell of a television transmitter to move this chisel and so impress on the dise a record of an image instead of a sound. . "By means of a suitable televisor this record can then be reproduced as a visual image. Also, we can at the sam@,, time record a sound or speech." y The View of the General Post Office. Y this time public interest had been properly aroused and as sets had been ordered at the Exhibition provi- ° sional to the, agreement of the Post Office anc. the B.B.C. a demonstration was arranged in order to gain the consent of the Post Office before the matter was taken to the B.B.C. A special television experiment was performed before two representatives of the Post Office. Mr. Baird sent the image of the director of the Television Press which .publishes the official organ of the Television Society, from his office to a club, where it was reproduced with success. "As a result of the demonstration, our engineers decided that the Baird television system had reached a stage where further experiments of a more practical nature might be worth encouraging." This was the verdict of the British Post Office.
TELEVISION, or should it be more correctly termed radiovision, that is the transmission by radio of moving images, has been deemed by the British Broadcasting Corporation unworthy of trial from their stations. This is not to be confused with radio photography, about which another article appears. This is an important decision and reflects the opinion of a world authority on this new science.
Verdict of the B.B.C. (THE B.B.C. were consequently ad- : vised that no objection would be raised to their instituting experimental television transmission if they desired ‘to do soa Consequently the B.B.C. asked for a test. . Asa result a demonstration was held on October 9 which was attended by Captain P. Hekersley, chief engineer to the B.B.C., and other technical and administrative representatives of that authority. ; The opinion of the representatives was that, while the demonstration was interesting as an experiment, it failed to fulfil the conditions that would justify a trial through a B.B.C. station. The corporation concluded its official verdict by stating that it would be ready to review its decision if and. when developments justified. S a result of the decision a director of the Baird Company told a newspaper representative that he and his codirectors were far from satisfied with the decision of the B.B.C., and that they would not take the matter lying down. It has been stated in the ‘Daily News" that the Baird Company do not think they have had fairplay. They may decide to go abroad and erect the necessary transmission station for the benefit of subscribers in England and other countries. Sir Oliver Lodge, Dr. Roberts, Dr. Lee de Forest, Captain Eck‘ersley, and other English experts have from time to time pointed out in clear and concise language and with strict impartiality the limits . of present television systems. There is a consensus of opinion ~ that until some radical and new | discovery is made no system of television is likely to prove of any publie service utility value. The present systems are essentially experimental, and suited only to the laboratory. Interpretation of this Decision. HIS momentous decision of such an authority as the British Broadcasting Corporation clearly indicates the position of television or radiovision today. The stand taken by "Popular Wireless," the technical English journal, in supporting the decision of the corporation, stands out in clear contrast to the views of some of the leading American journals, which in each issue vie with one another in predicting the wildest "Near Futures" of television. The last publication depicts on its cover in bright colours the receiver of the "near ‘future’’-multiple television-a receiver on which are appearing moving images from three distinct sources. The American with his customary optimism has seen more in the future of present television than has the more conservative Englishman. It remains to be seen who is in the right, if either; the B.B.C. may -be too conservative, but in announcing its decision it is bearing in mind the fact that it has the interests of the English people to safeguard, and any unwarranted move may cause consternation among licensees. The corporation is a Government or- } ganisation, and their decision denotes the attitude of the British Government, which has always been regarded as a world authority. To have aecepted a system of which it had its doubts and which might subsequently prove to be
a failure would not be conducive to the prestige of the British Government,
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Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 24, 28 December 1928, Page 8
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1,970The B.BC. Rejects Television Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 24, 28 December 1928, Page 8
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