{"id":2585,"date":"2013-06-14T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-14T14:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2013-06-14T10:00:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T14:00:53","slug":"the-trajectory-of-television-starting-with-a-big-history-of-the-small-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/06\/14\/the-trajectory-of-television-starting-with-a-big-history-of-the-small-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trajectory of Television\u2014starting with a big history of the small screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Though it’s a relatively recent invention, television is a pillar of Western\u2014and even global\u2014culture. Even if you’re that one guy who makes it a point to mention that you don’t watch or even own a television, your life has inevitably been shaped by the small screen to some degree. Popular culture has its moments of being swept up in the comedies and dramas of the airwaves, and television (cable news in particular) indelibly established in the minds of the world that instant access to breaking news on faraway continents is a normal thing.
\nEven as “millennials” stray away from the idea of “watching” TV in a form recognizable or understandable to advertisers, most households in the first world still have big screens in the living rooms. For more than 60 years, television has filled the role of surrogate storyteller for a world that no longer has to spend evenings huddled around open fires. Even in the so-called “emerging market” countries, television is pervasive: TVs are inexpensive, and their ability to mesmerize and entertain ensures that they are found everywhere.
\nBut how did we reach this point, and does anyone really know what comes next? It wasn’t so long ago that we chose to tell each other tales like shamans and bards, but nowadays we spend endless evenings staring at phosphors and LEDs.
\nIt came from the 1950s
\nThe development of television’s eventual core technologies stretches back into the 19th century (even farther, depending on how deep one wants to dig). But TV’s dominance and ubiquity can be traced directly to the 1950s. A post-war world found itself flush with capital and manufacturing capability, and in the USA, the black and white television exploded in popularity.
\nTVs had been around for quite some time in the country\u2014local television broadcasts started as early as 1928, though the signals were extremely low resolution (as little as 48 lines) and almost no one had a TV to watch. Less than 200 “television sets” existed in the world even by 1936, and many of those were lab-built experimental affairs with different resolutions and image display mechanisms. Widespread television adoption by the public didn’t really get underway until in 1948. That’s when RCA introduced the first mass-produced TV, the RCA 630TS.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 630TS weighed 85 lbs (38.5 kg) and had a 10-inch black and white CRT. It cost $435\u2014about as much as a new car at the time!\u2014and sold like crazy. Coupled with a boom in TV station licensing, the era of television arrived in America.
\nFull Story: The Trajectory of Television\u2014starting with a big history of the small screen | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though it’s a relatively recent invention, television is a pillar of Western\u2014and even global\u2014culture. Even if you’re that one guy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[109,1063,1154],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","tag-audio","tag-t-v","tag-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-FH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5854,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/06\/27\/supreme-court-rules-against-aereo-in-landmark-television-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":0},"title":"Supreme Court rules against Aereo in landmark television debate","author":"NCCT","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The way we watch television in this country isn\u2019t going to change anytime soon. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that television streaming startup Aereo violates copyright laws by capturing over-the-air signals using an array of mini antennas and delivering said content to subscribers for a fee. Aereo could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8991,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/08\/09\/this-week-in-tech-574\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":1},"title":"This Week in Tech 574","author":"NCCT","date":"August 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/EmZ7n5UuJ0M?iv_load_policy=3 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Om Malik, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, and David Coursey Apple should be working on new computers instead of creating reality television, Amazon gets its own fleet of cargo jets, Comcast turns its cable boxes into Olympics machines while selling \"near-worthless\" service plans, and Slingbox creator Blake Krikorian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EmZ7n5UuJ0M\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7615,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/12\/dailytech-comcast-employees-cant-stop-cussing-out-customers-woman-billed-as-b-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":2},"title":"Comcast Employees Can’t Stop Cussing out Customers, Woman Billed as ‘B’ Word","author":"NCCT","date":"February 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lucky that Comcast has those local monopolies on high speed internet and cable television service, or it might actually suffer When you're a business who's caught harassing customers, swearing at customers, and engaging in acts that might be considered tantamout to fraud, you're likely sweating bullets as you may soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/11\/comcast-slapped-with-class-action-lawsuit-for-turning-customers-routers-into-public-hotspots\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":3},"title":"Comcast slapped with class-action lawsuit for turning customers’ routers into public hotspots","author":"NCCT","date":"December 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Comcast\u2019s controversial decision to transform its customers\u2019 wireless routers into public Wi-Fi hotspots has, predictably, landed the company in even more hot water. A pair of disgruntled customers recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable, television and Internet provider in San Francisco. Toyer Grear and Joycelyn Harris claim Comcast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8771,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/12\/07\/microsoft-global-law-enforcement-agencies-disrupt-dorkbot-botnet\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":4},"title":"Microsoft, global law enforcement agencies disrupt Dorkbot botnet","author":"NCCT","date":"December 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Shawn Knight | Techspot Microsoft, in cooperation with a number of law enforcement agencies around the world, managed to disrupt a botnet that\u2019s infected over a million PCs across more than 190 countries. First discovered in April 2011, Dorkbot is an IRC-based botnet that has been commercialized by its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7594,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/06\/look-into-my-eyes-tracking-your-gaze-could-be-the-next-big-gaming-input\/","url_meta":{"origin":2585,"position":5},"title":"Look into my eyes: Tracking your gaze could be the next big gaming input","author":"NCCT","date":"February 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The bulk of today's press release announcing a March 10 release for the PC port of Assassin's Creed Rogue is strictly boilerplate. Then you get to the last paragraph and read that \"the Assassin\u2019s Creed Rogue PC development team in Kiev has partnered with Tobii Tech to integrate eye tracking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Bwfc03vm97o\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}