Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Restored from interlaced NTSC 1" production video, into a form where a lot of the subcarrier artifacts can be "cleaned up", effectively leaving a "component" looking picture. Looks a bit dead to me without the ever-present subcarrier chroma crawl I've gotten so used to again. You could see the crawl, artifacts, patterns when Johnny Carson wore a complex looking tie - you could see the NTSC color encoding. Well, engineering nerds like me. As a viewer, it was a good subcarrier-encoded color tv system, developed by RCA when CBS already had a "spinning color disk" non-compatible system approved. The electronic, and even compatible, version was a winner!
RCA is usually considered the inventor of television, and that's a legend they perpetuated with films, printed material, and on-air TV. They said their guy, Alexander Zworkyn, made the first transmission, although his Westinghouse superiors didn't agree or see anything.
I'm proud to say that I was friends with the wife of the true inventor of electronic television, Pem Farnsworth. Husband Philo Farnsworth conceived of this when he was FIFTEEN. He quizzed his chemistry professor about the system, and phosphors to illuminate the screen. Phil eventually won this GIANT lawsuit on the basics of electronic television: RCA versus little Farnsworth. But the delay from the war had Farnsworth's patents running out their 17 years. Pem was a gem, and we kept in touch by phone. She told me that Zworkyn, representing himself as potential manufacturer Westinghouse, though just starting work for RCA and David Sarnoff sent him on this sneak mission.
They showed Zworkyn everything - how to blow the glass with relatively flat fronts, something previously thought impossible, and of course all the electronics, and finally the oh, so important camera. Zworkyn has people see him hold it and say "I wish I'd invented this". He took it back to RCA of course, and really put them in good business from the beginning, with a lot of ill-gained knowledge from Philo Farnsworth. Very interesting now-documented history. At least half a dozen books and other things (Ken Farnsworth's website, if he still keeps it up) tell this story of David and Goliath. David Sarnoff was truly a ruthless person when it came to money, but mainly -- owning all the patents.
Restored from interlaced NTSC 1" production video, into a form where a lot of the subcarrier artifacts can be "cleaned up", effectively leaving a "component" looking picture. Looks a bit dead to me without the ever-present subcarrier chroma crawl I've gotten so used to again. You could see the crawl, artifacts, patterns when Johnny Carson wore a complex looking tie - you could see the NTSC color encoding. Well, engineering nerds like me. As a viewer, it was a good subcarrier-encoded color tv system, developed by RCA when CBS already had a "spinning color disk" non-compatible system approved. The electronic, and even compatible, version was a winner!
RCA is usually considered the inventor of television, and that's a legend they perpetuated with films, printed material, and on-air TV. They said their guy, Alexander Zworkyn, made the first transmission, although his Westinghouse superiors didn't agree or see anything.
I'm proud to say that I was friends with the wife of the true inventor of electronic television, Pem Farnsworth. Husband Philo Farnsworth conceived of this when he was FIFTEEN. He quizzed his chemistry professor about the system, and phosphors to illuminate the screen. Phil eventually won this GIANT lawsuit on the basics of electronic television: RCA versus little Farnsworth. But the delay from the war had Farnsworth's patents running out their 17 years. Pem was a gem, and we kept in touch by phone. She told me that Zworkyn, representing himself as potential manufacturer Westinghouse, though just starting work for RCA and David Sarnoff sent him on this sneak mission.
They showed Zworkyn everything - how to blow the glass with relatively flat fronts, something previously thought impossible, and of course all the electronics, and finally the oh, so important camera. Zworkyn has people see him hold it and say "I wish I'd invented this". He took it back to RCA of course, and really put them in good business from the beginning, with a lot of ill-gained knowledge from Philo Farnsworth. Very interesting now-documented history. At least half a dozen books and other things (Ken Farnsworth's website, if he still keeps it up) tell this story of David and Goliath. David Sarnoff was truly a ruthless person when it came to money, but mainly -- owning all the patents.
