These sites are A+. They all have highly original and unique content. Many are experts who have done their own historical research, and/or have incredible photographs and diagrams. There are several museums and TV history organizations that are recognized. Some are reconstructors and scientists who study or reproduce early TV systems as a hobby. All of these sites will be permanently bookmarked here at this website (if they are not already). Welcome to suggestions of other incredible new sites you find, let me know at Iain810@hotmail.com.
1. Still thinking about it!
2. www.tvhistory.tv (Tom Genova’s site)
Tom Genova is a tireless researcher on the history of TV, and has amassed a vast amount of excellent material here. One of the best sites for the historian or researcher. It is also a very good site for collectors as there is plenty of material on early television receiving sets. Visiting this site is a real adventure.
3. The Official Website of the Narrow-bandwidth Television Association
U.K.-based site devoted to all aspects of early television. This site is of special interest to the more technically-minded. NBTVA are best known for their members' incredible reconstructions of early television equipment. One such member is Peter Yanczer, who has an excellent website of his own. Members' interests include:
· Historical interest in the origins of early television.
. Restoration of original equipment
. Construction of replica mechanical television apparatus
· Conventional electronic circuit design and construction
· Personal Computers and software associated with the display and production low definition television.
4. The Early Television Foundation
Another extremely comprehensive website with something for everyone interested in the history of TV technology. It also has a real-life component, which is The Early Television Museum is located at 5396 Franklin Street in Hilliard, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus). This museum is one of the best television museums in North America.
This is a badly-needed site covering the work of Hungarian scientist Kalman Tihanyi. Many of his Hungarian and British patents, published in 1930 were purchased by RCA in 1934. Interestingly, 1934 was the year before the Alexandra Palace trials in the U.K. were scheduled. Alexandra Palace was where electronic television cameras based on the "Emitron" tube would first be employed in actual broadcasting. For nationalistic reasons, at the time Marconi-EMI went to great lengths to claim independent British invention of the Emitron camera tube, despite the fact that this private company was owned in large part by RCA, and was sharing all patents with its American parent company.
Although it is not (yet) mentioned anywhere on the Tihanyi page, someone could also look at Schoenberg's possible connections with Tihanyi as well as Zworykin's, however indirect they may be. The research and development team at Marconi-EMI assembled by Isaac Shoenberg in 1932 was the first to produce a viable camera chain using what now seems to have been Tihanyi's (rather than Zworykin's or Shoenberg's) 'storage principle'. Employment of such a system in broadcasting would obviously necessitate the purchase of Tihanyi's patents to avoid infringement.
In May of 1934, the British Postmaster General appointed a television committee, made up of seven members of the Post Office and the BBC. This became known as the Selsdon Committee. They were instructed to "...consider the development of television and to advise the Postmaster General on the relative merits of the several systems and on the conditions under which any public service of television should be provided (Paulu, British Broadcasting 237)". The Selsdon Committee's report was issued in January of 1935.
"In early February 1935, "urgent" cables from RCA to Tihanyi indicate that company representatives arrived in Budapest for the signature of additional papers and that these were signed on February 15th". I am wondering if these representatives might have also been working in the interests of Marconi-EMI. Might this explain the urgency? The timing seems too close to be a coincidence.
It was later in 1935 that Marconi-EMI would publicly introduce their 405-line electronic system with fifty pictures a second.
Tihanyi's work is not a new discovery. 1930s periodicals I have read included articles on Tihanyi's work, but for the past 70-80 years or so, his full contributions to the early family of camera eye tubes, (Radioskop, Image Dissector, Emitron, Iconoscope) etc. have not been properly documented, perhaps in part due to the language barrier. Most of the evidence appears to have been collecting dust at the Hungarian patent office.
The Tihanyi page has been researched over two decades, and tells us "A thorough study of the contemporary patent literature reveals that the concept of storage and the detailed description of the technology which already utilizes the storage effect, as characterized above, was first disclosed by Kalman Tihanyi in his T 3768 Hungarian patent application, filed on March 20, 1926."
Tihanyi was definitely a major contributor to electronic television, possibly of equal importance to Farnsworth. The Tihanyi 'discovery' also takes a little bit of wind out of the sails of Zworykin and Shoenberg who seem to have never discussed the 1934 purchase of Tihanyi's patents and their significance. The early filing of these patents makes them important.
Coming soon: 'The Tihanyi Chronicles'!
(just kidding)
6. 405-Alive
An engaging rag-bag of old television facts and features, embracing technostalgia, technicalities, some classic programming, television-era culture, TV trivia, music, test cards, how to enjoy old television today, where to find further information and how to meet other crazy people. The emphasis is on British 405-line television but not to the exclusion of other countries’ television lore and additional interesting features.
7. www.tvdawn.com
Don MacLean
Don MacLean has done television history a great service in locating, preserving, and reproducing images found on Baird's Phonovision discs. These are the world's first video recordings, and these have survived and can be viewed today! A computer is needed to help to remove static and facilitate the entire process of restoring the images. It is technical at times, but the results are amazing. Recorded video is a critical part of television technology that is often not properly considered by historians. One realizes that the early 30-line TV pictures were not pure novelty, but in fact quite entertaining. There is also a link to purchase his recent book on Restoring Baird's Image.
8. History of Early Colour Television
This site details colour television development and marketing in the U.S.A. It is maintained by Ed Reitan. Reitan identifies it as a work in progress and an excerpted version of a possible future book. The book will have extensive full-color photographs and technical information on each topic.
9.
A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N D
This Australian site is another wonderfully interesting compilation site. Although articles are of varying quality and there are usually few or no illustrations, the sheer amount of material, and relevant focus of the articles here make this an indispensible reference site. It also features intriguing links about paralell technologies such as film and radio, etc.
10. TV History Through Visual Images
Incredible early photos are documented by this website. RCA’s early television, Zworykin, NBC, The 1939 New York World’s Fair, and more. The Steven Restelli collection is mostly of early NBC/RCA photos with a fair amount of text interpretation. Gives you a real flavour of the time, and the high-res is very generous. Many photos are never-before-published from Zworykin’s personal collection. The main drawback to this page is the design, particularly the 'too large' text and flashing icons on the front page which do not make it easy to read or easy on the eyes.
For further analysis of TV History websites available, please see Alexander Magoun's article: Television History in the News and on the ‘Net. Recently I had to unexpectedly move this excellent article onto Baird Television because it had expired from the Mercurians website! Please excuse the current dud links. This is going to be revised as soon as I have a few minutes.