For
the average person, even a
regular television set is something of a technological marvel that becomes
almost unbelievable when considering today’s latest and greatest advances,
including the plasma TV. Take a brief look at the history of the technology
that we now take for granted.
As early as the 1950s, people
were beginning to have television sets in their homes, though the practice of a
home television set wouldn’t become widespread until the 1960s. Suddenly, the
average person could be a bystander for historic events, catch the latest news
and spend hours being entertained.
In those early days of
television, an analog signal transmitted the audio and video that would become
a picture on the home television set. The early home sets used a tube
technology – it took ages to warm up sufficiently to produce a picture. The
analog signal was prone to fuzzy pictures that could fade out completely with
various conditions. A home typically had an antenna, either on top of the
television set itself or standing outside the house. Adjusting that antenna
could help the reception of the picture.
Many things have changed since
those early days of television. Analog signals are still used, though high
definition digital signals are becoming more common.
Remarkably, there have always
been experiments and advances in the works, many appearing on the drawing
boards long before they’re introduced to the public. In the case of plasma TVs,
the idea has been around almost as long as the video technology. The first
plasma screen was actually constructed by a college professor and his student
as early as 1964. The idea was sound, but the high-end television set simply
wasn’t practical for the signal technology of the day. After all, there was
little need for a screen that could produce a better picture than the
television stations could send!
The reason for that early
development wasn’t aimed at the television industry, but was to be used for
displaying information in an educational setting. When the television industry
started looking at newer, better technology for the tube-type television sets
commonly being used in the 1960s, plasma was actually considered, though only
briefly. In the end, the more practical idea became the liquid display screen
television screens and it would be many more years before the plasma TV option
was again considered.
Summary:
For the average person, even a
regular television set is something of a technological marvel that becomes
almost unbelievable when considering today’s latest and greatest advances,
including the plasma TV.
By Malik Hammad Khan
0 Comments