Television

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Revision as of 07:57, 7 April 2007 by imported>Thomas H. White (Update word origin)
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Television (also informally "TV" and "telly") is the distant electronic transmission of moving pictures. In practice, most television transmissions also include synchronized sound, a common exception being surveillance cameras. In general use, the word has been expanded to refer to the receiver, and to both the video broadcasting industry and its programming.

"Television" literally means "far sight". The two parts that form the word are a combination of the Greek word τῆλε ("tele", or "far"), and the Latin word visio-n ("sight", from video, vis- to see) — its coinage followed the pattern of telegraph ("far writer") and telephone ("far talker").

Broadcasting development

After many years of research, the first regular television service in England began operation in 1936. Initially, the British Broadcasting Company alternated between John Logie Baird's 240-line mechanical system, which employed scanned film as an intermediary, and EMI-Marconi's 405-line "System A", which used Vladimir Zworykin's all-electronic setup. Tests of the Baird's system were ended after four months. And the start of the Second World War resulted in the suspension of the BBC service beginning September 1, 1939, not to be resumed until June 7, 1946.