TELEVISION IN LONDON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23004, 6 October 1936, Page 4

TELEVISION IN LONDON

#> "ON VIEW" AT OLYMPIA SETS COST ABOUT £IOO EXPERIMENTS NOT COMPLETED (Fnom Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, August 29. London's first television station is in being. The first 8.8. C. organised television programme was given from Alexandra Palace this week, and was received at the Radio Exhibition at Olympia. Thousands queued up for a glimpse of this latest marvel arid three free shows a day were staged. Prior to these demonstrations not more than 300 or 400 people outside the laboratories and workshops of the manufacturers had seen high definition television in England. Proof was given beyond all doubt that television, so long talked about and anticipated, has come to stay. The days when it may be regarded as a general form of entertainment comparable with wireless are fairly distant, however. For one thing, it is far more expensive than wireless; for another, it is vastly more complicated. The average cost of the smallest set is in the vicinity of £IOO, and the distance of reception is not greatly in excess of 25 miles. The cost of transmitting television, too, is heavy and the building of apparatus and the choosing of staffs and artists for several stations throughout the country is not a matter for immediate contemplation. Two years, it is estimated, are required before the novelty of television gives way to a more practical side. In the meantime valuable experience will be gained once the set programmes begin. At Olympia the public leaned over rails and watched the miniature picture screen a few feet away. It was for all the world like an ordinary talking picture, but seen from a distance and with an accentuated nickering which was somewhat disconcerting for the first few moments. But while the features of Mr Charles Laughton as Rembrandt might have been blurred slightly, and although he might show a sudden tendency to " bulge " momentarily in various directions without the slightest warning, his voice was as immaculate as ever. Films lasting 20 minutes will be a feature of the early programmes, which will also include dance "band shows, lessons on horsemanship (for riding is very popular in England these days), news items, travel and occupational talks.

TWO SYSTEMS There are two types of television systems: the Baird and the Marconi E.M.I. They differ both in type of mosaic in which the transmitted and received pictures are constituted, and also in the way in which the television scenes are "shot," although, in both systems, the delineation of the reconstituted pictures at the receiving end takes place on the screen of a cathode-ray tube. The Baird system allows for three different types of scanner. In the first a very intense spot of light runs, extremely rapidly over the object to be televised, and the system is suitable for televising subjects in the studio. The Baird intermediate film method is used for televising scenes in the large studio adjoining the camera room. Here the subject is first photographed on haW-size kinema film, then developed, fixed, and washed automatically, and finally used for producing the television signals. The complete operation from taking the picture to transmission by radio takes only 30 seconds. The third Baird method provides for the use of ordinary talkie films for the broadcasting of both vision and sound. The special feature of the MarconiE.M.I. television transmitter is the Emitron camera, which has great potentialities for the television of outdoor and extended scenes. Each system requires its own studio for televising, for the apparatus used by both is so different that interchanging is practically impossible. Naturally Alexandra Palace has been reconstructed for television purposes. The east tower, 80 feet I high, is now surmounted by a taperj ing lattice mast, 220 feet high and 30 tons in weight. At the top is the vision aerial, 600 feet above sea level I and circular in structure so as to ' radiate horizontally and equally in | all directions. The normal television staff at the j palace will be about one hundred, ! and provision has been made for feeding them and the artists. There are band rehearsal rooms, bathrooms, fireproof store rooms for ; films, very complicated equipped mechanical and electrical workshops and even a set of electric generators in case the supply from the grid through the North Metropolitan lines should fail. What a striking contrast all this presents to the first television made by Mr J. L. Baird! It was build from old bicycle parts, cocoa tins, cheap bull's-eye lens, sealing wax and string. It cost precisely 7s Bd. Mr Baird has presented it to the Science Museum. South Kensington. This year's exhibition at Olympia, universally known as Radiolympia, 1 naturally makes a feature of tele-

vision, and there are five or six firms showing sets for sale. But although these television receivers are in evidence, it is generally recognised that for some time to come it is soundbroadcasting that must be primarily catered for. Radiolympia demonstrates that manufacturers reahse that radio sets, since they are nowadays part of the furniture of every home, must combine the functional with the truly decorative; and that there is a universal movement towards the all-wave set. It is apparent that as even the small sets can "get" home and even foreign stations with comparative ease, the habit of tuning in to places far afield will grow. There are, of course, innumerable features of a show in which the exhibits are insured for £6,000,000, which costs £50,000 to stage, and from which the trade expected is in the vicinity of £30,000,000. There arc* more than 400 radio receivers to be seen, the smallest being six inches high and the largest six feet. It is the avowed policy of the promoters of Radiolympia to convince listeners than no home is complete without at least one set. It'is distinctly notable, too, that there is a general fashion for the small set, particularly of the portable type. The latest model costs only seven guineas. It is "run" by a battery and an accumulator. The battery requires renewing about once every three months, and the accumulator has to be recharged once a week, after four hours' use a day, for a charge of 3d. The advantage of these little chaps is that they can be taken anywhere, in the car, on the beach, or into the wide, open spaces, and still give the same service as the portly main set in the drawing room. Smaller still is the " pocket" set, which can be carried like a camera, in a brown leather case. Earphones are required in this instance, however, but the entire " outfit" can be acquired for a modest £4, and | the only recurrent expense comes from the battery and the accumulator. So far the police have made most use of these sets in England, but it is thought thaj they may become more used generally during the Coronation ceremonies next year, when the man-in-the-street will be kept informed of everything that is going on. Another novelty is the armchair in which the deaf, by simply leaning back, can hear without disclosing the fact that thev are deaf. To all outward appearances it is just an ordinary armchair designed in the Queen Anne style. But a deaf person, by sitting down and leaning back quite naturally, can hear general conversation with perfect distinctness or listen in to radio programmes.