Telescreen

“ In the telescreens you see cities ... peaceful scenes of people going about their business. Then the people are running, leaping out of their cars and leaving them on the street, vanishing into buildings and underground shelters. Your hand is poised over the big red button and your muscles are tightened as if your whole hand and arm were turned to wood, and you know that even if you have to, you can't push that button and destroy half the world. ”

“ Witness, the motion picture theatre screen upon which a picture is taken off and put back again forty-eight times per second without discovery by the eye; while the slightest error in a note in the orchestra is detected at once and grates harshly on the ear.
Just as the motion picture depends for success on the fact that the eye is easily deceived, so in Radio Vision the eye is fooled into the belief that it sees the radio picture as a whole, though in fact the eye sees at any one moment only the tiny spot of light by which, with almost lightning like speed, the picture is made up. ”

“ Each lens draws a line while the relatively slow rotation of the prismatic plates distributes the lines over the whole picture surface, just exactly as the plates do in the Radio Photo Camera.
The Radio Vision receiving set and the Radio Movies set are identical, and one may, therefore, see in one’s home what is happening in a distant place, an inaugural parade, football, baseball, or polo game (and we call it Radio Vision) ; or one may see the motion picture taken from the screen of a distant theatre (and we call it Radio Movies) . ”

“ When the machine of Radio Vision is turned over slowly, the little spot of light on the screen which makes up the picture looks for all the world like a tiny, twinkling star as it travels across the white surface of the screen in adjacent parallel lines, changing in light value to correspond in position and intensity to the light values of the scene before the lens at the broadcasting station. ”

“ Madison spelled out for me, wearing a lemon twist of smile.
I looked at the twin banks of gauge-facings and circuit housings in which centered TV screens picturing either Meyverik or Johnson. Red and sea-green lights chased each other around the control boards, died, were born again. On the screens the three color negatives mixed to purple, shifted through a series of wrong combinations and settled to normal as the stereo-oscillation echoed, convexed insanely, and deepened to hold. Video reception is lousy from five hundred thousand miles out. ”

“ Television viewing results from combined activity by broadcasters and viewers. Both play active and indispensable roles in the process; neither is wholly passive. The broadcaster selects and procures the program to be viewed. He may produce it himself, whether 'live' or with film or tape, or he may obtain it from a network or some other source. He then converts the visible images and audible sounds of the program into electronic signals, [19] and broadcasts the signals at radio frequency for public reception. ”

“ What more natural thing than to put on the biggest TV show of all, and at the same time take the bow out of our shoulders, the kink out of our necks, and restore the focus of our eyes to the natural one of infinity? The whole sky was going to become one gigantic television screen, in perfect focus, in full (how full we never imagined until we saw it!) ”

“ The different light values of the picture are changed into electric values in light cell 4, and broadcast. A rotating perforated disc, (3) interposed between the lens and light cell, produces a pulsating direct current which can immediately be amplified through the usual radio transformers, on its way to the broadcasting set.
In the radio camera (second illustration) a photographic negative (1) is used and a pencil of light from lamp 2. The rotating plates (3) draw the lines and the radio signals vary the light intensities of the lamp to give gradations of exposure on the negative plate. ”

“ Rick shook his head in admiration. "Rear-screen projection with a wide-angle lens. That's really using movie technique for all it's worth."
"Rear-screen projection?" Scotty queried.
"Sure. Movies and TV use it all the time. When the hero is supposed to be watching dinosaurs fighting it out, he's actually standing in front of a big screen of special plastic or ground glass, with the picture projected on it from behind. The mist acted as the screen, so we saw the image but not the projector beam. ”

“ In photo-telegraphy the length of exposure is determined by the time taken by the transmitting stylus to trace over a conducting strip on the metal print, and this time, of course, varies with the density of the image and also with the speed of transmission.
The film in ordinary photography is chosen with regard to the subject and the existing light conditions, and the amount of light admitted to the film and the length of exposure are regulated accordingly. ”

“ Wireless telegraphy is possible because mankind has discovered instruments which act as electric ears or eyes, catching and recording vibrations that had hitherto remained undetected.
The earliest known form of wireless telegraphy is transmission of messages by light. A man on a hill lights a lamp or a fire. This represents his instrument for agitating the ether into waves, which proceed straight ahead with incredible velocity until they reach the receiver, the eye of a man watching at a point from which the light is visible. ”

“ We may, one day, obtain far greater sensitivity of direction, greater carrying power, from small initial output with a degree of selectivity almost infinite, in comparison with modern working.
To use a light beam along which we can talk, to use a light beam initially and to turn it into light when required, is by no means difficult; it suggests the direct method of wireless vision, but from the mechanical aspect the problem is still less complicated. The difficulties of Radio Television to-day are constructional; in the far future it may be a question of pure physics. ”

“ Primarily, television occasions the transition from the universe of mechanics and chemistry, implicit in film making and viewing, to that of electricity, in particular electronics, and, more recently, digital technology.
Television, as a product of this change in the structure and nature of human theoretic and practical experience, results from the perceived pragmatic need to capture and transmit dynamic images. Electricity was already the medium for capturing and transmitting sound at the speed of electrons along telephone networks. ”

“ The petitioner's systems consist of antennas located on hills above each city, with connecting coaxial cables, strung on utility poles, to carry the signals received by the antennas to the home television sets of individual subscribers. The systems contain equipment to amplify and modulate the signals received, and to convert them to different frequencies, in order to transmit the signals efficiently while maintaining and improving their strength. ”

“ A very funny entrance can be made by jumping over the light, which gives [104] the appearance on the screen as if you had just dropped through the ceiling, and an exit by jumping over the light looks like flying up there again in a most weird manner. A dummy figure (suppose that of a witch, riding on the conventional broomstick) is suspended by a fine thread or wire on the side of the screen remote from the spectators. Behind this are ranged, one behind the other, and at right angles to the screen, a row of lighted candles. Being all in the same line, they throw one shadow only on the screen. ”

“ Digital signals are transmitted as compressed data in the form of binary digits, or “bits.” (Id. ¶¶ 19–20, 38) . The number of bits that can be sent in a second is known as the “bitrate.” (Id. ¶ 41) . Digital signals allow for a greater variety in television programming—because more signals can be transmitted in the same space—as well as interactive services and, often, better audio and image quality than analog television. (Id. ¶¶ 39–42) . The RS-DVR would be offered as part of Cablevision’s digital cable service. ”

“ The only real objection to a muslin screen is the loss of light which it entails. It is not only a poor reflector of light, but it allows much of the light to pass through it. With many such screens, the picture is as well visible behind the screen as it is in front of it. ”

“ This screen is slid into the first fold of the bellows of the camera, that is to say, very close to the sensitized plate, and at the moment of focusing, the position of the apparatus is so regulated as to make the image of the subject appear through the apertures in the screen and in the proper position. This process is the most rapid and is the surest. No reflection is any longer possible, and the preservation of the plate is absolute. What is no less advantageous is the sharpness of the outline, which permits of the most delicate junctions ”

“ Those who desire to experiment on radio-photography, i.e. transmitting photographs, drawings, etc., from one place to another without the aid of artificial conductors, must cultivate at least an elementary knowledge of optics, chemistry, mechanics, and electricity; photo-telegraphy calling for a knowledge of all these sciences. ”

“ The negative runs through the camera, and the positive film through the projecting machine, at a rate of about a foot per second. Now let us suppose that we have a screen sixteen feet long and that we throw upon it a picture of a car running at the rate of ten or eleven miles per hour. If the picture is a close view the image will move across our screen in just one second of time, for the speed we have assumed is at the rate of sixteen feet per second. ”

“ Nor is the screen really committing sacrilege in making use of the literary achievements of master tale-tellers. Since the movies first began to present 78photoplays based upon the world’s great novels, there has been a constantly increasing demand at our circulating libraries for the works of worth-while authors possessing the narrative gift. The telephone actually increased the vogue of the telegraph. The wireless is enlarging the working-field of the telephone. By the same token, the screen is not narrowing but broadening the realm of letters. ”

“ In using the daylight apparatus, which we will now consider, the negative is placed in the holder opposite the center of the ground-glass, upside down and facing into the work room. The room is darkened and lens uncapped. An image more or less blurred will appear on the screen. If the enlarged picture is to be only slightly larger than the negative, the lens must be racked out until its distance from the negative is but little less than its distance from the screen. To make the enlargement greater we simply rack back the lens and move the screen further off. ”

“ Manufacturing concerns offer complete detection systems which automatically record voices under almost any conditions by remote control. A microphone concealed in a book, a lamp, or other unsuspected place in a room, or made into a fountain pen, tie clasp, lapel button, or cuff link increases the range of these powerful wireless transmitters to a half mile. ”

“ As a matter of fact, this double camera and projector actually records and throws on the screen more than the eye sees. The human organ works upon the same principle broadly as the single camera, because the periodical eclipse of the eye by the lid, which is known as “blinking,” interrupts continuous vision, in just the same manner as the shutter of the lens in its eclipsing action. Although the lid falls and rises very quickly so that the interruption of sight is exceedingly brief, a certain phase of movement is lost. This is apparent when a very swiftly moving object passes before the eyes. ”

“ Graham Bell perfected his telephone here, Professor Tainter the wax cylinder phonograph, and Mr. Berliner the talking machine.
Both the typecasting machines, the linotype and monotype, were invented in the District; and here a stenographer in the Life Saving Service invented the first motion picture machine, the prototype of the projector used in every picture theatre the world over to this very day.
From the hills of Virginia, across the river, the first wireless message ever transmitted was sent into Washington; and from Washington to Philadelphia the first photographs by radio were sent. ”

“ The screen of ground glass has a black back, and is placed in the focus of a lens in an ordinary camera obscura, wherein the image may be seen by looking down upon it. The particles of the roughened glass reflect to each eye different parts of the image focused on the screen, and by this means a similar effect is produced as when two dissimilar pictures are looked at through a stereoscope instrument. One great advantage of this arrangement is that several persons may look at the image at the same time. ”

“ The subject was placed in front of the screen, the room darkened, the camera being placed in front of the sitter and screen. A Blitz-lamp exposure of five to six seconds was then made. Result--not a single specimen that equals our old silhouette. So much for our Viennese photographic cousins. In these great United States we simply tack a piece of muslin in front of a window, place the subject directly in front, shut off all other light in the room, focus, fire, and develop. Result--a good sharp profile almost all the time. ”

“ A trick slide may be employed, in which the shutter contains a positive transparency of the desired extra, held in such a manner that it can either be withdrawn with the shutter, or left in position in front of the plate when required; i.e., during the exposure, which will have to be somewhat longer than usual.
2. A similar transparency may be inserted in the camera, close to the plate, and between it and the lens, during the focussing operations. The black focussing-cloth makes an admirable screen for such manipulations, while the sitter is of necessity immobilised a few feet from the camera. ”