Television set

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Television set (usually called a Television or TV set or simply just TV) is device used to to view television broadcasts, not to be confused with monitors, which are unable to independently tune into over-the-air broadcasts.

History

Braun HF 1, Germany, 1959

In television's electromechanical era, commercially made television sets were sold from 1928 to 1934 in the United Kingdom,^[1] United States, and Russia.^[2] The earliest commercially made sets sold by Baird in the UK in 1928 were radios with the addition of a television device consisting of a neon tube behind a mechanically spinning disk (the Nipkow disk) with a spiral of apertures that produced a red postage-stamp size image, enlarged to twice that size by a magnifying glass. The Baird "Televisor" was also available without the radio. The Televisor sold in 1930–1933 is considered the first mass-produced set, selling about a thousand units.^[3]

The first commercially made electronic television sets with cathode ray tubes were manufactured by Telefunken in Germany in 1934,^[4][5] followed by other makers in France (1936),^[6] Britain (1936),^[7] and America (1938).^[8][9] The cheapest of the pre-World War II factory-made American sets, a 1938 image-only model with a 3-inch (8 cm) screen, cost US$125, the equivalent of US$1,863 in 2007. The cheapest model with a 12-inch (30 cm) screen was $445 ($6,633).^[10]

An estimated 19,000 electronic television sets were manufactured in Britain, and about 1,600 in Germany, before World War II. About 7,000–8,000 electronic sets were made in the U.S.^[11] before the War Production Board halted manufacture in April 1942, production resuming in August 1945.

Television usage in the United States skyrocketed after World War II with the lifting of the manufacturing freeze, war-related technological advances, the gradual expansion of the television networks westward, the drop in set prices caused by mass production, increased leisure time, and additional disposable income. While only 0.5% of U.S. households had a television set in 1946, 55.7% had one in 1954, and 90% by 1962.^[12] In Britain, there were 15,000 television households in 1947, 1.4 million in 1952, and 15.1 million by 1968.

Components

Modern television sets consist of a display, antenna or radio frequency (RF) input (usually an F connector), and most significantly a television tuner which distinguishes it from a monitor which receives signals that are already processed. Additionally TV sets almost always include speakers. Most TV sets also feature many additional inputs for devices such as DVD players, video game consoles, and headphones; the most common types are RCA (for composite and component video), mini-DIN (for S-Video), HDMI, and SCART and D-terminal can be found in Europe and Japan respectively. Most TV sets made since the early 1980's also feature an infrared sensor in order to detect the signals sent by remote controls.

Display Technologies

Sony 11-inch OLED, released in Japan at the end of 2007

Televisions today use various display technology such as CRT, LCD, Plasma, DLP, and more recently OLED. Some front projectors, which feature TV tuners, can also be considered televisions.

See Also

• Television
• HDTV

References

1. ^ Early British Television: Baird, Television History: The First 75 Years.
2. ^ Pre-1935, Television History: The First 75 Years. The French model shown does not appear to have entered production.
3. ^ Pre-1935 Baird Sets: UK, Television History: The First 75 Years.
4. ^ Telefunken, Early Electronic TV Gallery, Early Television Foundation.
5. ^ 1934–35 Telefunken, Television History: The First 75 Years.
6. ^ 1936 French Television, Television History: The First 75 Years.
7. ^ 1936 Baird T5, Television History: The First 75 Years.
8. ^ Communicating Systems, Inc., Early Electronic TV Gallery, Early Television Foundation.
9. ^ America's First Electronic Television Set, Television History: The First 75 Years.
10. ^ American TV Prices, Television History: The First 75 Years.
11. ^ Annual Television Set Sales in USA, Television History: The First 75 Years.
12. ^ Number of TV Households in America, Television History: The First 75 Years.