Inventors
Color
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The Development of Color Television
A German patent in 1904 contained
the earliest recorded proposal for a color television system. In 1925, Zworykin
filed a patent disclosure for an all-electronic colour television system.
Both of these systems were not successful, however, they were the first for
color television. A successful color television system began commercial
broadcasting, first authorized by the FCC on December 17, 1953 based on a system
designed by RCA. "Between
1946 and 1950 the research staff of RCA Laboratories invented the world’s
first electronic, monochrome compatible, color television system." - From
IEEE Milestone Plaque. In 1940, prior to
RCA, CBS researchers led by Peter Goldmark invented a mechanical color
television system based on the 1928 designs of John
Logie Baird. The FCC authorized CBS's
color television technology as the national standard in October of 1950, despite
the fact that the system was bulky, flickered, and was not compatible with
earlier black and white sets. RCA sued to stop the public broadcasting of CBS
based systems. CBS had begun color broadcasting on five East Coast stations in
June of 1951. However, at that time 10.5 million black and white televisions
(half RCA sets) had been sold to the public and very few color sets. Color
television production was halted during the Korean war, with that and the
lawsuits, and the sluggish sales, the CBS system failed. Those
factors provided RCA with the time to design a better color television, which
they based on the 1947 patent application of Alfred Schroeder, for a shadow mask
CRT. Their system passed FCC approval in late 1953 and sales of RCA color
televisions began in 1954.
INVENTION
OF COLOR TELEVISION - PART 1
By 1949, monochrome television had
become a commercial success, 10 million sets had been sold, and programs
were available to the general public. A change to color television would
only be licensed if the color broadcast signal could also be received as
a monochrome signal on these sets.
INVENTION
OF COLOR TELEVISION - PART 2
The introduction of color televisioning using the CBS Field Sequential Color System had been a commercial failure
in 1951, and the intervention of the Korean War, and prohibition on production
of color television sets, let CBS gracefully withdraw.
History
of Early Color Television
Color Television System Development
- Colorcasting Development - Color Television Receiver Development
Monochrome-Compatible,
Electronic Color Television, 1946-1953
In 1946, then, RCA
committed to developing an all-electronic system designed to the same reception
standards enjoyed on monochrome sets.
The
Story of Color Television
The premier of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in September, 1961,
was a turning point, persuading consumers to go out and purchase color
televisions.
Related Innovations
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©Mary
Bellis
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