On January 26th, 1926, the first television system was demonstrated which mechanically scanned the picture lines. These systems, created and demonstrated by John Baird, used a spinning disc to show an image. The quality of the image displayed on a mechanical television was very poor in comparison with the TV's that we have today; A system nowadays can up to 1080 vertical lines in a single image which is very impressive considering a mechanical TV only had 30 lines - this wasn't ideal and the number of vertical lines developed greatly over the years.
1929 - The BBC, using Baird's mechanical Television creation began transmitting, and started showing various different television programmes which were enjoyed by the UK public.
1930 - The first TV commercial.
1937 - CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) begins its TV development.
1941 - The NTSC is the analogue broadcasting system used widely in North and South America. The first NTSC standard television was produced in 1941 but was only in black and white.
1948 - The first cable television (CATV) system.
1953 - Colour broadcasting for NTSC.1955 - ITV launched - A second UK channel featuring different programmes giving viewers a choice of what to watch.
1956 - First Remote control invented.1962 - AT&T release Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts.
1964 - BBC Two launched in the UK, giving the viewer a third channel to watch adding more variety to televised entertainment.
1969 - 600 million people tune in to watch the moon landing.1976 - Sony release the first VCR.
1982 - Channel 4 launched, another UK commercial broadcaster added (the other one being ITV).
1988 - Sky TV introduced.
1997 - Channel 5, The last UK channel introduced on analogue TV.
2006 - Freeview introduced allowing both digital and analogue signals.
2006-Present - Digital switchover begins in the UK and America - All anologue television channels will be switched off and will have to be replaced with an alternative (digital, satellite etc.).
How has the digital world changed the way we consume and create TV?
Digital Television seems like the norm in present times however it created a whole new era in the way the viewers can experience TV. Analogue TV in the UK developed greatly throughout the 20th century having 5 different choices for the viewer to watch by 1997, considering the television had only been invented in 1926, this is quite remarkable. The introduction of digital TV meant analogue TV viewers could have a choice of hundreds of different channels.
there was now channels
dedicated to these subjects,
along with childrens TV and
further channels called '+1'
which means if the viewer
misses their programme
they can see it repeated an
hour later.
Freeview is the most popular digital TV Broadcast System in the UK, the image to the right shows the range of channels that it provides which is a vast improvement on the original 5 televised on
analogue TV.
Digital Cameras were properly introduced in 1988 allowing users to take pictures and upload them to their computer via USB cable. This made it so much easier to share your photos with friends and you could print them out with the click of a button. Film cameras require patience as they take a long time to develop and having to go through a long process of using a dark room (a pitch black room) as the film cannot be exposed to the light because it damages the image, the introduction of digital cameras meant none of these things were required. The quality of a digital image relies on several factors, one being megapixels. 
Digital photography means you can take hundreds of photo's and store them on the camera, allowing you to retrieve them whenever you like or deleting any that you dislike, this is a huge improvement considering film cameras have a much lower limit usually ranging from 20-30 shots per film.
Editing has improved massively in the digital world, allowing the average computer owner the choice to download various editing software in areas such as video and music. A TV or Film crew can now edit all of their shots digitally using a computer which requires a lot less effort and makes the edits on the screen look much crisper and definitely more effective.
Apple Inc. have developed various desktop computers and laptops that run professional editing software and can be bought pre-installed with the computer at a reasonable price. Various programmes that can be downloaded via a computer include:
- Music Programmes
Logic is just one of
many Digital Audio
Workstations (DAW).
It allows you to create
your own music, edit
tracks and use
various different
effects.
Final Cut is a non-linearvideo editing programme
for creating and editing
videos, it is the most
professional software
on the market and can
be used to cut clips, add
transitions and more.
Photoshop is a very popularediting programme for
images and photos. It can
be used by magazine
companies and other such
businesses to remove
blemishes and to improve
the skin and eyes etc. on
their models.
Have online videos lowered the standards of television production?There has been a massive wave of domestically made videos that have been posted online and gained a lot of attention. Since YouTube was founded in 2005 the interest & demand for these home-made videos has risen massively however it is argued that these poorly filmed productions are taking credit when it should be the professionally made films and programmes which are clearer and easier to watch. Home-made videos will very often be edited in the owners home with the use of a with the use of a computer and then easily uploaded onto the internet.
Rude Tube is a television programme that is shown on Channel 4, it shows a countdown of the 50/100 best clips on YouTube as well as having variations of the programme including countdowns of clips in a certain genre etc.
I think that 'reality tv' is getting ever more popular and does lower the standards of television in a way however it provides entertainment and is demanded by viewers. I don't really think that it takes anything away from professionally made productions as viewers will always watch a variety of programmes.
