World Television Day Blog

World Television Day ( 24th November )

Television is one of the most useful devices known till date, and it’s stance is nearly acquainted by everyone in the world,be it of poor lifestyle , middle class, orbureaucrat lifestyle.

It has been entertaining us at all times back since 1926, when this magical box of enlightenment was invented By John Lougie Bird. It became famous from then, although being considered as just an “Idiot Box” to some people since it didn’t give much useful resources like those of computers or books.Despite that, they used to give information of events, and happenings from different parts of world mainly as news and broadcasts,along withsome daily soaps and serials tokeep people entertained. Gradually as time progressed, televisions got acquainted with cartoons, television console games, music, and today in 2021, tv has been turned into a smart box, through which we can connect our laptops, watch web-series, play advanced games like Play-station, and do whatever we can.

Television’s Creator Mr John Lougie Bird :--

Mr John Lougie Baird, a Scottish inventor and scientist, was the mastermind behind the invention of this miracle that changed the world’s viewing experienceon screen. This viewing box of wonder, was first invented and demonstrated as a “television” in public on 26th January, 1926 by him.

He went on to also invent the first television color-picture-tube. In 1924, he demonstrated that a semi-analogue television was possible by casting of silhouette images on a screen, which can be visible to people.

He then carried on with his experiments which seemed crazy to some people. In the month of July of the same year, he received a 1000 volt electrical shock , which left his hand burnt. This meant detriment and ridiculein the eyes of his landlord, Mr. Tree.He was soon thrown out of the house. After several such mishaps, and small ups and down, he planned to carry on with his demonstration of the working televisionwith Nipkow Disk to portrayimages. Nipkow Disk was a scanning deviceinventedby Paul Nipkow in 1884.

Finally after many faults and filters, he was able to portray images and pictures in grayscale mode from the first television on 2nd October, 1925. This image was the head of a sweet Ventriloquist “Stooky Bill” which was a 32 lined, vertically scanned image on a grayscale , at the rate of 5 pictures per second.

Baird went to his office worker William Edward Tayttonand requested him to be a part of his experiment.He soon got casted on his television screen in grayscale format, becomingthe first person to be casted on screens as a monochromatic moving image.

Advantage and disadvantages of Television

From being renowned as a miraculous invention to being defamed as a mere ‘idiot-box’, this device had been through a long journey and is still surviving. This survival has to be credited to the usage time and the contents that are telecasted on a television.

Advantages of Televisions:-

Watching cartoons can be fun for children and problematic for their parents. They may make any child spoilt, and lazy. However, it depends on how the cartoons are showcased. In spite of the airing of some adult, dark scenes, cartoons definitely portraypositivity like respecting elders, nature and birds. Parents should make their children focus on the positive parts of the cartoon show rather than the darker parts which may be harmful for the child at that age.

Television is used mainly for watching news,international events like Para-Olympics, (sadly most of us ignore them) Olympics, cricket,Football and movies. In today’s world,television is used for gaming, and watching Web-series. Nowadays, Curved screen Televisions are getting smarter by direct Internet or Wi-Fi-connections. People can even connect their laptops and smartphones. Television nearly got forgotten in the rat race of advance viewing technology as information was also available in smart phones and laptops.Yet it is still holding it’s mark in the Indian Subcontinent and Overseas.

But, unlike many advantages it also has too many Disadvantages

>Everything in limit is good. Watching excessive web series may spoil our minds. Playing games continuously may also irritate the eye.

>Children and adults keeps their eyes and minds glued to the TV screens even when they have food. They don’t considerenjoying the outside atmosphere, as they keep their minds engrossed in too muchtelevision.

>Although at present times televisions are easy to handle, old setsrequire lots of cables and modems. Managing and repairing television sometimes costs a lot of money, trouble and time.

Types Of Televisions:-

· Mechanical Televisions( The first televisions 0f 1926)- In the first stage, these types of televisions were the only ones available and went on to become famous too. Mainly running on fluorescent diodes, these casted mostly black and whitepictures on the screen. These televisions were capable of producing monochromatic moving images. Gradually, the television sets began to receive sounds. This new invention was available in the late 20s and ran till 1939.

· Electronic Televisions ( The Early 40s):-

Gradually,after a certainperiod, a new type of television was introduced.

It had the capability to produce plain black and white moving images on a 21 inch screen, while the previous oneswere of only 14-16 inches. The the picture and sound qualities were improved too.

· Cathode Ray Tube Electronic Televisions ( From the early 40s) :-

These types of televisions were soon introduced, which apart from showing more clear , and distinct images, were also the first sets of color TVs in the market. People were more pleased since these aired News, Movies, Soaps and more.

· First Panel CRT Televisions( From The Early 80s ):-

In the 80s came the proper and more handy versions of televisions. These were also a cathode ray version of television boxes, but more organized with the best viewing experience.

This was the first televisions that ,

· Showcased cartoons and animations.

· Had perfect picture and sound quality.

· Could be used for playing video games

· Were Antenna detached televisions. (It was the first television set without attached antennas)

These television sets gradually maintained their position till date.

· First ,Plasma Televisions:--

These types of televisions has plasma display panels that uses small cells of electronically charged ions and gases called plasma. The image hence produced was called Plasma. It was able to produce very rich images with deeper black screens, allowing more superior controlled image ratio.

· High- Definition Plasma television was just an advanced version of Plasma televisions.

· Liquid crystal Display( LCD ) televisions:--- These televisions are popular till date. The liquid crystal display television sets contain some liquid displaycathode fluorescent lamps on which the pictures are displayed. Started in the 90s, and popularized in the 20s, these televisions are still in the running.

· Light Emitting Diode (L.E.D ) televisions:- These types of televisions are also popular now. In these, minute and innumerable electronic lights draw images.These lights are also stated as Liquid Crystals. It is said that L.E.D televisions are more prominent in showcasing their pictures and images to the viewers.

· 3D LED OR LCD televisions:- This type of television is best to view or experience images in a way as if it was right in front of us. The image or the objects are portrayed in a way where all its dimensions are visible, i.e. length , breadth and height.This makes it closest to reality.The images are of the minimum value of 1080 pixels. 3d viewing glasses are also used to make viewing more memorable. It has also been popularized in present day movie theatres.

· OLED Television or Organic Light Emitting Diode televisions:--- It is also known as Curved Television, and is perhaps the slimmest televisions and smartest television systems of the modern days. These TV screens are as slim as an Identity Card. This very aspect made this device smart enough to bring a smile on Mr. John Lougie Baird’s face. But, at presently its prices are too high such that only people from economically higher classes can afford it. At the same time,this type of television is the best and smartest for viewing images and pictures.

Finally, all I can say from my reports, is that watching television shows like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arabian Nights and many more, used to bring alive in me the traditional cultural tastes of childhood and adulthood. Watching cartoons in childhood days feels really nostalgic to us now. The excitement of watching something like a Cricket World Cup to watch India hitting winning shots was a great feeling for us too.

--- Jeet Basu