HIGH HOPES

Southland Times, Issue 21606, 19 January 1932, Page 5

HIGH HOPES

WONDERS OF TELEVISION. SEEING THE WORLD FROM FHIESIDE. London, December 30. Television enabling the looker-in to sit at home and see events happening at a distance will be general in two years, if the confident expectations of some experts are realized. At a meeting of Baird Television Ltd., in London to-day, it was declared by one speaker that television would soon be supplanting mere sound broadcasts. Experts state that much progress has been made on the technical side, but has been retarded by the need for more suitable wave-lengths. Lord Amptbill, who is chairman of Baird Television, Ltd., informed the shareholders that it was now possible to transmit scenes which included several persons; it was also possible to broadcast specially written plays. It was hoped shortly to establish the broadcasting of television in England as a result of conferences with the British Broadcasting Corporation. The general technique of the system had been greatly improved, especially in connection with outdoor scenes, a notable broadcast being the last Derby. An improved form of televisor should soon be commercialized. Major A. G. Church, ex-M.P., who has done a good deal of scientific publicity work, predicted that within two years radio manufacturers would devote the greater part of their plant to the production of television apparatus for theatres and private houses. The wave-length agreement should be revised in order to give television more space in the ether. Mr Baird prophesied that television had an immediate commercial future. He considered his system ahead of anything he had recently seen in the United .States, and he hoped to find the financial means of carrying on. Expenditure during the past year had been £70,657. The wireless correspondent of The Times, describing successful New York experiments, says that high-grade images are being produced. This class of television is of limited applicability, however, and real progress is impossible on the present wavelengths.

The results attained by the Baird system exceeded those of any comparable type, and the British Broadcasting Corporation is exploring its entertainment value, which is the crux of television’s popularity.