Television:
Television is a widely used telecommunication medium for sending (broadcasting) and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white")
or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission.
The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (t??e), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see,
or to view in the first person).
Commercially available since the late 1930s, the television set has become a common communications receiver in homes, businesses and institutions,
particularly as a source of entertainment and news. Since the 1970s, recordings on video cassettes, and later, digital media such as DVDs,
have resulted in the television frequently being used for viewing recorded as well as broadcast material.
A standard television set comprises multiple internal electronic circuits, including those for tuning and decoding broadcast signals. A
display device which lacks these internal circuits is therefore properly called a monitor, rather than a television. A television set
may be designed to handle other than traditional broadcast or recorded signals and formats, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV),
digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV).
History of Television:
History
In its early stages of development, television included only those devices employing a combination of optical, mechanical and electronic
technologies to capture, transmit and display a visual image. By the late 1920s, however, those employing only optical and electronic
technologies were being explored. All modern television systems rely on the latter, however the knowledge gained from the work on
mechanical-dependent systems was crucial in the development of fully electronic television.
In 1884 Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a 20-year old university student in Germany patented the first electromechanical television system
which employed a scanning disk, a spinning disk with a series of holes spiraling toward the center, for "rasterization", the process
of converting a visual image into a stream of electrical pulses. The holes were spaced at equal angular intervals such that in a single
rotation the disk would allow light to pass through each hole and onto a light-sensitive selenium sensor which produced the electrical
pulses. As an image was focused on the rotating disk, each hole captured a horizontal "slice" of the whole image.
Nipkow's design would not be practical until advances in amplifier tube technology became available in 1907. Even then the device
was only useful for transmitting still halftone images - those represented by equally spaced dots of varying size - over telegraph or
telephone lines. Later designs would use a rotating mirror-drum scanner to capture the image and a cathode ray tube (CRT) as a display
device, but moving images were still not possible, due to the poor sensitivity of the selenium sensors.
Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette images in London in 1925, and of moving,
monochromatic images in 1926. Baird's scanning disk produced an image of 30 lines resolution, barely enough to discern a human
face, from a double spiral of lenses.
By 1927, Russian inventor Léon Theremin developed a mirror drum-based television system which used interlacing to achieve an
image resolution of 100 lines.
Also in 1927, Herbert E. Ives of Bell Labs transmitted moving images from a 50-aperture disk producing 16 frames per minute over
a cable from Washington, DC to New York City, and via radio from Whippany, New Jersey. Ives used viewing screens as large as 24
by 30 inches (60 by 75 centimeter). His subjects included Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover.
Television genres:
Television genres include a broad range of programming types that entertain, inform, and educate viewers. The most expensive entertainment
genres to produce are usually drama and dramatic miniseries. However, other genres, such as historical Western genres, may also have high
production costs.
Popular entertainment genres include action-oriented shows such as police, crime, detective dramas, horror or thriller shows. As well,
there are also other variants of the drama genre, such as medical dramas and daytime soap operas. Science fiction shows can fall into
either the drama or action category, depending on whether they emphasize philosophical questions or high adventure. Comedy is a popular
genre which includes situation comedy (sitcom) and animated shows for the adult demographic such as South Park.
The least expensive forms of entertainment programming are game shows, talk shows, variety shows, and reality TV. Game shows show
contestants answering questions and solving puzzles to win prizes. Talk shows feature interviews with film, television and music
celebrities and public figures. Variety shows feature a range of musical performers and other entertainers such as comedians and
magicians introduced by a host or Master of Ceremonies. There is some crossover between some talk shows and variety shows, because
leading talk shows often feature performances by bands, singers, comedians, and other performers in between the interview segments.
Reality TV shows "regular" people (i.e., not actors) who are facing unusual challenges or experiences, ranging from arrest by police
officers (COPS) to weight loss (The Biggest Loser). A variant version of reality shows depicts celebrities doing mundane activities
such as going about their everyday life (The Osbournes) or doing manual labour (Simple Life).
Positive effects of Television on Society:
Although much of the discussion around television's impact on society has been negative, media theorist Joshua Meyrowitz argues that the medium
has less of a stranglehold pushing its viewers and more of a handhold, guiding its views to areas and subjects to which they were previously
denied access.
Before the occurring of the television, printing was considered as the main channel to access the information and knowledge. The way of
people in those days in reaching the information is limited in many ways.
Educational advantages of Television:
Despite this research, many media scholars today dismiss such studies as flawed. See David Gauntlett's article "Ten Things Wrong With
the Media 'Effects' Model." Dimitri Christakis cites studies in which those who watched "Sesame Street" and other educational programs
as preschoolers had higher grades, were reading more books, placed more value on achievement and were more creative. Similar, while those
exposed to negative role models suffered, those exposed to positive models behaved better.
Socializing children:
Children were once controlled by adults through means of literacy. The literacy level of books would often correspond with the "appropriate"
topics for children. Topics unsuitable for children would be written for a higher level of literacy and when most children would try to read
these books they would be beyond their literary capabilities.
With television, the literacy level required to understand is substantially lower as well as it being difficult to monitor a child's use of the
device and anticipate the content that will be delivered through it. However, much research and development is being dedicated to regain control,
monitor and restrict children's consumption of television.
Often, television can show children what adults may not want them to know. A key example of this is in the television show Father Knows Best
where children are let in on perhaps the biggest secret: that adults keep secrets from them.
Source References:
- Watch TV anywhere on tiny set that fits on glasses",
Reuters (May 22, 2007)
- Federal Communications Commission, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, "The V-Chip: Putting Restrictions on what your Children Watch,"
viewed 27 October 2007, http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/vchip.html
- Watch TV anywhere on tiny set that fits on glasses",
Reuters (May 22, 2007)
- Lemish Dafna,Children and Television : A Global Perspective, Blackwell Publishing, Australia, 2007
- Jhally, Sut (2000). "Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse".
Critical Studies in Media Commercialism: 27–39.
- Wikipedia.org
