Modern television was developed over many decades by many different people. The first known television signal was demonstrated in the 1920’s, but these were mechanical in nature. It took the invention of the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) for displaying an image and the Iconoscope for receiving the image to create a fully electronic television system. It wasn’t until after World War Two that television really took off.

By 1950 there were 110 television stations operating in the United States. The standard used today in the United States and other parts of the world is known as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) it was established in 1941 to standardize on a black and white video signal and how to broadcast it. In 1953 the NTSC was reconvened to address the question of color television, they came up with what is called the NTSC color standard which was later adopted by the EIA (Electronic Industry Association) as RS-170a.

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) applied the standard to it’s rules for television broadcasting, it was in use up until June 12 of 2009 when all full power television stations shut down their NTSC transmitters.

Of course RS-170a is still in use as most of in home video equipment still uses it to record television programs and to inter connect the various DVD players, Video Game systems, Personal Video Recorders and such to their television sets.

NTSC or RS-170a will be around for a long time to come even if it’s not being broadcast over the air waves any more.

Overview and History

Apps4Eng

TheOLE BLOG

Tutorial Videos