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TV Turns 90 (axios.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: A live webcast today will celebrate the transmission of the first electronic TV signal on Sept. 7, 1927, and the man behind it, Philo T. Farnsworth, per AP: The webcast is set for 6 p.m. ET from the original location of Farnsworth's San Francisco lab. It'll be repeated at 9 p.m. and midnight. Veteran producer Phil Savenick created the site to detail the medium's history and the contributions of Farnsworth and other TV pioneers.

68 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. And after 90 years... by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is still nothing worth watching on...

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    1. Re:And after 90 years... by bobbied · · Score: 1

      PBS? Seriously?

      I rest my case....

      Now get off my lawn!

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:And after 90 years... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And after 90 years there is still nothing worth watching on...

      And all mainstream music is shit and Hollywood sucks right? The more I learn about snobs of all varieties - not just the classic intellectual snobs but also the anti-intellectual counter-snobs and even the grumpy everything was better before-snobs the more I realize they're just shooting themselves in the foot by not enjoying what other people enjoy in order to somehow feel superior to them. Take the serious for what it is. Take the silly and fun for what it is. If you go to the opera, enjoy the opera. If you go to a barn dance, enjoy the barn dance. Things get a lot more fun when you stop comparing to the things it is not.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re: And after 90 years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Having standards is a bad thing, then.

    4. Re:And after 90 years... by avandesande · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And those counter-snob-snob-snobs are the worst! You should be ashamed!

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    5. Re:And after 90 years... by code_monkey_steve · · Score: 1

      There is still nothing worth watching on...

      "90% of television is crap, because 90% of everything is crap." -- Sturgeon's Law

    6. Re:And after 90 years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      puerile

      FTFY, dumbass.

    7. Re:And after 90 years... by bobbied · · Score: 1

      And after 90 years there is still nothing worth watching on...

      And all mainstream music is shit and Hollywood sucks right? The more I learn about snobs of all varieties - not just the classic intellectual snobs but also the anti-intellectual counter-snobs and even the grumpy everything was better before-snobs the more I realize they're just shooting themselves in the foot by not enjoying what other people enjoy in order to somehow feel superior to them. Take the serious for what it is. Take the silly and fun for what it is. If you go to the opera, enjoy the opera. If you go to a barn dance, enjoy the barn dance. Things get a lot more fun when you stop comparing to the things it is not.

      Calm down.... What I posted was a paraphrase of a classic joke.. (it was supposed to be funny...)

      Why on earth it got moderated Insightful is beyond me...

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    8. Re: And after 90 years... by spun · · Score: 2

      No, thinking your standards are superior and using them to insult and belittle people with different standards is a bad thing. It's the kind of black and white thinking that you see in a lot of recovering addicts and people on the spectrum. Their brains can't handle nuance very well, and ambiguity makes them uncomfortable.

      Please, do have some personal standards. Just shut the fuck up about them and live your life. If people want to know why you are so happy and successful, they will ask, and then you can tell them all about your standards.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    9. Re:And after 90 years... by thomst · · Score: 1

      bobbied snorted:

      There is still nothing worth watching on...

      Yeah, nothing to see here ...

      ... except Game of Thrones. And Fargo. And Better Call Saul. And Orphan Black (although, to be strictly fair, that one's over now - just like The Sopranos, and Rome, and Penny Dreadful, and Babylon 5.). And House of Cards. And Mr. Robot. And The Venture Bros. And Archer. And Master of None. And Documentary Now! And ... oh ... lots of other programs nobody watches.

      But you're right. There hasn't been anything worth watching since TV was invented by whoever it was that invented it. And there never will be ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
    10. Re:And after 90 years... by bobbied · · Score: 1

      You don't need a TV for any "on demand" content...

      LOL

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    11. Re:And after 90 years... by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      10% of crap can be very entertaining or thought provoking.

    12. Re:And after 90 years... by SCVonSteroids · · Score: 1

      I fucking agree bro. Amen.

      --
      I tend to rant.
    13. Re:And after 90 years... by jonwil · · Score: 1

      The real problem with TV is that the good shows get axed before they get any chance to find an audience yet we get season after season of reality TV garbage like Survivor.

    14. Re:And after 90 years... by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Reality TV? Oh, that cheaply made, closely edited and scripted stuff made to look like it's real? Personally it seems like a bit of a fad to me, one that will hopefully end soon.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  2. fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognized by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Informative

    John Logie Baird in 1926 sent television images by radio.

    If sending by wire instead of free space is acceptable as criteria, television was invented in the mid 19th century.

  3. Wait a moment by rossdee · · Score: 2

    I thought John Logie Baird invented TV

    1. Re:Wait a moment by Solandri · · Score: 1

      His TV (mechanical scanning) is analogous to Nokia's smartphone. Technically it was the first smartphone (or Blackberry was depending on how you want to define it). But it was very different from the smartphones we use today. LG introduced the first touchscreen-only smartphone, and Apple had the most initial success with it. Likewise, every mass-produced TV until the advent of plasma and LCD flatscreen TVs was based on the electronic scanning pioneered by Farnsworth.

    2. Re:Wait a moment by jabuzz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He was the first person to successfully transmit a moving image over radio waves, which is what most people would consider to be what television is. I seem to recall that JLB coined the term television too,

      However American's don't like to think any bit of modern technology was not invented by themselves so because Farnsworth system was the one initially widely used they like to think that Farnsworth invented the TV.

      Thing is none of the TV's in my house look like either a JBL or Farnsworth system, so the idea that it was Farnsworth that invented it because his system is the one in widespread use is now looking somewhat of a feeble argument because CRT based TV's are basically yesterday's technology, with the number of CRT based TV's in use rapidly declining.

      Further Farnsworth method of capturing the image for transmission went ages ago, it's all CCD or CMOS devices today and has been for a long time now.

      Of course getting an American to actually admit that is like getting the truth out of Trump.

    3. Re: Wait a moment by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      Nah, Simon wasn't a phone.

      Now Merlin on the other hand... just look at it!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    4. Re:Wait a moment by utahjazz · · Score: 2

      For most of the history of television, Americans believed a Russian named Zworykin invented television. RCA poured a lot of money into convincing people of that, while simultaneously using their monopoly power to relegate Farnsworth to obscurity. They were very successful at that. Farnsworth's key contributions to the technology that made television feasible on a large scale were not widely recognized until relatively recently.

    5. Re:Wait a moment by quanminoan · · Score: 1

      Most Americans haven't heard of either Farnsworth or Baird, and don't care. Every country holds on to "their" inventors, don't act like it's a point of pride just for us over here. However in my opinion Farnsworth should be the one credited with the invention every adapted for use, the most accepted definition of "inventor". If you really want to split hairs you also need to include Zworykin.

    6. Re:Wait a moment by erice · · Score: 1

      For most of the history of television, Americans believed a Russian named Zworykin invented television. RCA poured a lot of money into convincing people of that, while simultaneously using their monopoly power to relegate Farnsworth to obscurity. They were very successful at that.

      Would guess this campaign took place in the 50's and did not stick. I wasn't born until the late 60's. Growing up, I never heard of Zworkin or Farnsworth. The story I heard was there was no single inventor, perhaps to avoid giving credit to the Nazi's who demonstrated television at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

    7. Re:Wait a moment by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      The key point is the invention of the whole system, not just the display unit. Farnsworth's invention was on the television scanner side of things, not the television display.

    8. Re:Wait a moment by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Hey, I had a CRT in my living room just this year!

  4. An excellent book on the topic... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Informative
    ... Tube: The Invention of Television, by David E. Fisher, Marshall Jon Fisher

    imo, well worth a read. I bought the book when it first came out, and have reread it a couple of times.

    1. Re:An excellent book on the topic... by fropenn · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'll just wait for the TV-movie version of the book.

  5. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The summary said "first electronic television signal". Which is accurate if you interpret it as meaning the first signal generated by electronic scanning (Baird used mechanical scanning).

    I feel that the much earlier fax transmissions can be ignored; most people would consider "television" as implying a frame rate fast enough to provide an "animated" image rather than a slide show.

  6. We could tell... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    TV got old and senile, is boring everyone with old stories, and sometimes rehashing them thinking we won't recognise the repeat.

    1. Re:We could tell... by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Every Story has already been told. The only things changing are the characters and circumstances that create the overarching plot narrative. There are a number of people who have quipped about it in the past, and it is largely true (more or less).

      It is the narrative of the story arc that matters anymore; the uniqueness of the characters, situations.

      That being said, the rehash of the fourth time, of Batman origins is ... tiring.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  7. actually... by HBI · · Score: 1

    We haven't been using anything resembling the original technology for at least 40 years in my neck of the woods. First, there was color TV. Cable TV followed. Then we had Plasma and LCD sets. Then there was DTV. The mode of transmission and display bears no resemblance to the original. But then again, we could say the same about telephony. The work of the pioneers was still interesting.

    I'm pretty sure Philo T. Farnsworth wasn't the guy who invented TV, though.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:actually... by dtmos · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm pretty sure Philo T. Farnsworth wasn't the guy who invented TV, though.

      Nobody claims that he did. However, he did invent electrically scanned TV, which was a big advance over the Nipkow disk and other mechanically scanned TV schemes that came before him -- including those of John Logie Baird.

    2. Re:actually... by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Am I the only person who thinks that the intro sequence to American Horror Story is whispering "Wernstrom!"

  8. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, but Baird was not American, so the Americans picked someone else. Many Americans think the car was invented by Henry Ford...

  9. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

    The article said "electronic" television, which definitely was invented by Farnsworth. Baird was mechanically-scanned and effectively a dead-end. It's a bigger difference than between spark-gap radio and continuous-wave radio.

  10. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    bullshit, the information was transmitted by electronic means. scanners and fax machines have electomechanical parts too, they aren't electronic devices?

  11. Re:Boobtube by freeze128 · · Score: 1

    I have to keep reminding my father that Televisions don't have any tubes in them anymore. Maybe he figures that eventually they will use carbon nanotubes, and his joke will have meaning again, but I kinda doubt it.

  12. And false dichotomies by fibonacci8 · · Score: 2

    1984 is about a lot more than just TV. It's about a government attempting to control reality by adjusting perceptions. Examples that aren't just TV: thoughtcrime, the ministries, newspeak, Winston's job altering records and photographs to fit the narrative. The fact that we have politically correct names for these (terrorism, TLAs, memes, and "alternative facts") means some people took 1984 as a guidebook rather than a warning.

    --
    Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
    1. Re:And false dichotomies by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Stalin was already employing people to remove the purged from history and photographs at the time Orwell wrote 1984. He was guided by what was already going on in his present, not the other way around.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
  13. Good news everyone! by Terko · · Score: 2

    As the professor would say...

  14. The real question by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The real question here is: if Philo T. Farnsworth were alive today to see what's become of television, would he be happy or sad?

    1. Re:The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Good news, everyone! Wrong Farnsworth?

    2. Re:The real question by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      That's not a question about TV, you're talking about the material broadcast in the USA as a specific and very tiny subset of the "television" that Farnsworth helped invent.

      What's there to be sad about in a device:
      - Which brings joy to millions.
      - Which allows wide spread discemination of information.
      - Which provides methods of entertainment as well as information both broadcast as video and as data.
      - Which has a critical role in protecting people during emerging emergency situations.

      If he sees his invention in a sad light then he's either narrow minded or suffering some form of severe clinical depression.

    3. Re:The real question by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      He has one friend. Online. It's Lennart Poettering.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:The real question by BlueLightning · · Score: 1

      Here's a segment from a TV show back in the 50s where he touches a little bit (in passing) on that, at least at that time:

      https://youtu.be/3cspYZyGp1A?t...

    5. Re:The real question by swillden · · Score: 1

      The real question here is: if Philo T. Farnsworth were alive today to see what's become of television, would he be happy or sad?

      Amazed and impressed. 4K, 5K, 8K, vast color palettes, high-contrast, incredibly-thin screens... the technology is pretty amazing.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  15. Re: fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recogniz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I think you are wrong. Amongst the Americans who do think, I expect many of them think that Henry Ford applied mass production to cars.

  16. Re: fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recogniz by JBMcB · · Score: 1

    I think you are wrong. Amongst the Americans who do think, I expect many of them think that Henry Ford applied mass production to cars.

    That's what we were taught in school. I remember writing a paper about it in fourth grade. I think it was Daimler who had the first commercially available motorized car.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  17. Obligatory Frank Zappa link by CrankyOldEngineer · · Score: 1
    --
    COE
  18. Of course he did by JBMcB · · Score: 1

    Of course Baird invented TV. That's why everyone used giant spinning discs to transmit TV pictures until CCDs came along.

    Or did they use Farnsworth's video tubes?

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    1. Re: Of course he did by JBMcB · · Score: 2

      Farnsworth invented video tubes; Baird invented television.

      So what exactly did Baird invent? He got the spinning disc contraption from someone else (it was pretty old technology by the time Baird was using it) He used the image processing and signal amplification circuits from Arthur Korn. He used already available photo cells. There were papers detailing the possibility of transmitting moving images dating back to the 1910s and theories on how to implement it.

      Baird was the first to transmit moving images electronically. I wouldn't say he invented television, the same way I wouldn't say the Montgolfiers invented the airplane.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  19. Re: Professor Farnsworth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, Philo is his ancestor.

  20. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    The article said "electronic" television, which definitely was invented by Farnsworth. Baird was mechanically-scanned and effectively a dead-end. It's a bigger difference than between spark-gap radio and continuous-wave radio.

    Even the electronic television predates Farnsworth. Several people had invented electronic televisons before Farnsworth. The significance behind Farnsworth is that he gave the first demonstration to the American press of a electronic television. Farnsworth wasn't the inventor of the TV or even the electronic TV.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  21. Farnsworth? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wernstrom!

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  22. Re:You stop counting birthdays when someone is dea by Ken_g6 · · Score: 1

    I was going to post something like this, but I don't think over-the-air digital media is dead. Television signals, as originally created, are dead. But over-the-air digital media is very much alive. See the related Slashdot link from the box at the bottom of the page: https://entertainment.slashdot...

    --
    (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
  23. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    no we really dont. his contributions to the auto industry cannot be ignored but most americans in no way believe he invented the car

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  24. Re: fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recogniz by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    heh, I did a PPT (well some similar program at the time anyway) on the history of cars back in the mid 90s. you are close, same company as its known today but it was actually Karl Benz who created the first practical automobile in 1893

    https://www.biography.com/peop...

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  25. Fusor by jpatters · · Score: 1

    It's worth noting that Farnsworth also invented the only device to achieve Nuclear Fusion that has ever been commercially produced.

    --
    "Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
  26. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by ploppy · · Score: 2

    Again a completely Ameri-centric viewpoint. High definition television in Great Britain (as opposed to Baird's mechanical system) was developed by EMI in the early 30s, in parallel and independently of Farnsworth or RCA (i.e. Zworykin). The EMI developed Emitron camera (patented 1932) and 405 line-system was used to start the worlds first high definition television service by the BBC in November 1936 (to the London area).

    The incandescent light bulb was developed in parallel and independently on both sides of the Atlantic. Edison in the US and Joseph Swan in the UK, with Swan patenting in the UK first.

  27. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by ploppy · · Score: 1

    You're confused, CRT based television is by definition electronic. Mechanical scanning referred to the use of a large spinning disk instead of a CRT.

    The electron beam in the CRT in 1930s era televisions was bent (or more correctly deflected) so that it scanned the screen building up a picture, in one of two ways. Electrostatic deflection or Electromagnetic deflection.

    Electromagnetic deflection uses an electro-magnet built around the outside of the electron gun. Passing a varying current through the electro-magnet varies the magnetic field produced which bends the electronic beam.

    Electrostatic deflection used X-Y plates within the electron gun, a varying voltage (not current) applied to the plates attracts or deflects the electron beam.

    Initially electrostatic deflection was used (in first gen TVs of 1936), these CRTs had small deflection angles meaning the tubes had to be very long (and thus mounted vertically and watched in a mirror - giving the name mirror lid televisions).

    Efforts to increase the deflection angle of CRTs (and thus make shorter tubes) led to the switch to electro-magnetic deflection by 1938.

  28. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    I know of those works, but anyway prefer to think of the 1920s work as "first", even though the system you mention is superior and more like what was in use until very recently with the advent of all-digital service

  29. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by jon3k · · Score: 1

    No we don't. Henry Ford is credited with the assembly line mass production of automobiles. Everyone knows the first car was produced by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a Frenchman. Or did you mean Robert Anderson who invented the first electric car? Oh you meant GAS powered car, after BOTH of them? Seems like as dubious distinction as Henry Ford's now, doesn't it?

  30. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by 91degrees · · Score: 1

    Baird didn't sue Farnsworth, so I have no idea what that has to do with anything.

    Baird's demonstration in early 1926 is widely documented. Here's a BBC article, for example

  31. Re: fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recogniz by nasch · · Score: 1

    No, but I believe his company was the first to use a moving assembly line to mass produce cars. Apparently Olds was the first to mass produce a car, with a stationary assembly line.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  32. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by nasch · · Score: 1

    most americans in no way believe he invented the car

    I hope you're right, but I am not so confident of that. These are the same people who think Europe is a country.

  33. Nice hair by nasch · · Score: 1

    I knew a relative of his (also named Farnsworth) and it turns out they have the same hairstyle. Kind of a resemblance in facial features too if my memory is serving accurately.

  34. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    You have it backwards, Farnsworth was the one in the 1930s who wanted the title and used courts.

  35. Re:fake news, Philo tried in 1930s to be recognize by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    I'm not confused, I know of even more television systems than those.

    The point is even the electromechanical systems were coupled to radio transmission, which makes it electronic television. Just as a fax machine, scanner, copier are electronic devices.