1930s analog standard-definition television resolution standard
441-line
is the number of
scan lines
in some early electronic monochrome analog
television systems
. Systems with this number of lines were used with 25
interlaced frames
per second in
France
from 1937 to 1956,
[1]
Germany
from 1939 to 1943,
[2]
[3]
Italy
from 1939
[1]
to 1940,
Japan
in 1939,
[4]
as well as by
RCA
in the
United States
with 30 interlaced frames per second from 1938 to 1941. Broadcasts were planned in
Finland
for 1940,
[1]
but eventually cancelled due to
World War II
. Some experiments with a similar system were carried out on the
USSR
in the 1930s.
[1]
Germany
[
edit
]
After trials with a
375-line
system during the
Berlin Olympic Games
of 1936, by 1937 Germany had introduced a 441-line with 50 interlaced fields per second television system that replaced the previous
180 lines
network relayed by a special
Reichspost
(National Post Office) cable network in the country's main cities (
Berlin
,
Hamburg
,
Munich
,
Bayreuth
,
Nuremberg
). The system's line frequency was 11.025 kHz and the broadcast frequencies were 46.0 MHz for vision and 43.2 MHz for sound, using a 4 MHz channel bandwidth.
[2]
Its
image aspect ratio
was close to 1.15:1.
A project began in 1938 involving the National Post and several companies including
Bosch
,
Blaupunkt
,
Loewe
,
[5]
Lorenz
,
TeKaDe
[
de
]
[6]
and
Telefunken
[7]
[8]
that aimed to produce 10,000 receivers for the television system.
Telefunken marketed the
FE V,
announced in 1936, with a 26 x 21 cm screen and a tuning range of 38-60 MHz.
[9]
The next year, 1937, the
Heimprojektions-FSE
was introduced, with a larger 50 x 40 cm screen, along with the
FE VI
with a 26 x 21 cm screen.
[9]
[8]
In 1938, the
Tischfernseher TF 1
was released, with a 20 x 17 cm screen and a tuning range of 40-55 MHz.
[9]
In 1937, Loewe created the
FE-D
, with a 24x20 cm screen and a tuning range of 35-55 MHz.
[5]
In 1938, TeKaDe created a single model, the
FS38
, with a 30 x 27 cm screen and a tuning range of 43-52 MHz.
[6]
Other brands like Fernseh AG also created models like the
DE 6
, also introduced in 1938, with a 32 x 27 cm screen and a tuning range of 40-53 MHz
[10]
A single-channel TV receiver, the
Einheitsempfanger E1
was created in 1939.
[2]
It had a 29 cm (diagonal) screen, and consumed 185 watts when receiving television signals and 60 watts when receiving audio only.
[2]
Only a few units were built before the outbreak of World War II.
Due to the onset of World War II, only about 50 devices were installed in military hospitals and various government departments. The transmitter's aerials in Berlin were destroyed during an Allied Forces' bombing in November 1943, but the station was also relayed by a special
coaxial cable
network to "wide screen" public "TV-rooms" (
Fernsehstuben
) so it carried on this way until 1944.
- 441-line TV in Germany
-
Telefunken
FE V
television (1936)
-
Telefunken
FE VI
television (1937)
-
Einheitsempfanger E1
television (1939)
-
Einheitsempfanger E1
chassis (1939)
-
Television in a Berlin military hospital, setup by the German Reichspost (1942)
France
[
edit
]
By 1941 the "Fernsehsender Paris" station transmitted from the
Eiffel Tower
in Paris using the German 441-line system and its main technical characteristics, while however keeping the previous French
455-line
[1]
broadcast frequencies 42 MHz - 46 MHz in use from 1938 to 1940, thus with a larger
visual bandwidth
than the station operating in Berlin.
[12]
Television programs were mainly for wounded soldiers of the
Wehrmacht
occupation troops who recovered in the Greater Paris Area hospitals, but they also included French-language shows. Broadcasts were monitored in the
United Kingdom
during the Second World War to gather intelligence information from
occupied France
.
The line frequency was 11.025 kHz with vision broadcast at 46.0 MHz and sound at 42.0 MHz. Aerials were independent for audio and vision at the top of the Eiffel tower, both vertically polarized. No gain being obtained from these pre-war basic aerials, the effective radiated power was only the transmitter's peak one, i.e. 30 kW which enabled a good reception in a radius of 100 km (62 miles) around Paris. As displayed in J.M. Frost's WRTH (
World Radio TV Handbook
) editions at that time, the transmitter's frequencies (42-46 MHz) were listed as channel "F1" or channel "S" (or "Special" channel) in the
European Broadcasting Union
's official documents.
After July 1952 the 441-line transmitter was no longer broadcasting separate programs, but simply picked up the national network's picture through an 819 - 441-line "optical converter" (a 441-line camera, slightly out of focus, pointed at an
819-lines
monitor equipped with an oval spotlight
cathode ray tube
). Broadcasts were due to cease on January 1, 1958, as the 819 lines standard had been adopted in 1948 for the national network. However, after a long elections coverage night, most of the 441-line equipment was destroyed by fire on January 3, 1956. It was decided to indemnify the 3,000 owners of remaining 441-line sets and to entitle them to reduced rates for their new 819 lines receivers.
French 441-line TV technical details:
[12]
[1]
[11]
[2]
Field frequency
|
Active picture
|
Field blanking
|
Broad pulses
|
Broad pulse width
|
Front porch
|
Line sync
|
Back porch
|
Active line time
|
Video/syncs ratio
|
Channel bandwidth
|
Visual bandwidth
|
Sound offset
|
Vision modulation
|
Vestigial sideband
|
Sound modulation
|
Aspect ratio
|
Line Frequency
|
50 Hz interlaced
|
383 lines
|
29 lines
|
8 per field
|
36.3 μs
|
1.0 μs
|
9.0 μs
|
6.3 μs
|
74.3 μs
|
70/30
|
7 MHz
|
3 MHz
|
4 MHz
|
Positive
|
3
|
AM
|
1.15:1
|
11025 Hz
|
Italy
[
edit
]
Following pre-war tests in 375 lines done by a
Turin
engineer named Arturo Castellani,
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
broadcasts using the 441-line system began in
Italy
in 1939
[1]
[17]
with regular services from
Rome
using 2 kW power and
Milan
using 400 W of power in the frequency band of 40-45 MHz.
[12]
As in France technical parameters – VHF frequencies excepted – were identical to those in use in Germany.
Broadcasts were discontinued on May 31, 1940.
[18]
Japan
[
edit
]
The first television tests in Japan were conducted as early as 1926 using a combined mechanical
Nipkow disk
and electronic
Braun tube
system, later switching to an all-electronic system in 1935 using a domestically developed
iconoscope
system.
[19]
Television broadcasting started on May 13, 1939,
[20]
making the country one of the first in the world with an experimental television service. The broadcasts were in 441-lines with 25 frames/second and 4.5 MHz bandwidth.
[20]
In spite of that, because of the beginning of
World War II in the Pacific
region, this first full-fledged TV broadcast experimentation lasted only a few months. Regular television broadcasts would eventually start in 1953, using
a modified version
of the American 525-line standard.
United States
[
edit
]
In September 1938 the
Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA)
recommended the 441-line system
[21]
developed by RCA and
Farnsworth Television
.
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
Tests started a year before, in an attempt to perfect a
343-line system
,
[23]
with RCA executives petitioning the
FCC
for approval of their new standard.
[27]
In early 1938
Philco
's experimental transmitter
W3XE
in
Philadelphia
was already using the system.
[21]
[28]
[29]
[26]
TV broadcasts were publicly launched in April 1939 by
NBC
, during the
New York World's Fair
, using the
W2XBS
station.
[30]
The first pre-built TV receivers were sold on a very limited basis, mostly in
New York City
. Manufacturers included RCA,
[31]
General Electric
,
[32]
DuMont
,
[33]
and Andrea Radio Corporation.
[34]
[35]
By June 1939, regularly scheduled broadcasts were available in New York and
Los Angeles
. By October nineteen TV
broadcast licenses
had been issued, including stations in New York, Philadelphia (W3XE),
Chicago
,
Washington
,
Fort Wayne
,
Cincinnati
,
Schenectady
(W2XB), Los Angeles and
San Francisco
.
[30]
By November General Electric's station in Schenectady started broadcasts. W2XBS in New York broadcast up to fifty-eight hours of programming per month until December 1939, to an estimate of 2,000 receiving sets. Reception area was a radius of 40-50 miles (80 km) from the
Empire State Building
.
[36]
Following a decision of the
NTSC
(National Television System Committee), the
525-line standard
replaced the 441-line standard on July 1, 1941.
[37]
United States 441-line TV system technical details:
[21]
Field frequency
|
Channel bandwidth
|
Visual bandwidth
|
Sound offset
|
Vision modulation
|
Sound modulation
|
Aspect ratio
|
Line frequency
|
60 Hz interlaced
|
6 MHz
|
2.8 MHz
|
3.25 MHz
|
Negative
|
AM
|
4:3
|
13230 Hz
|
- 441-line TV in the United States
-
Ad for the beginning of RCA experimental television broadcasting (New York City, 1939)
-
FCC inspects the latest in television (Washington, D.C., December 1, 1939)
-
General Electric HM-171 television set
-
General Electric television sets from 1939: HM-185, HM-226-7A, and Model 90.
Soviet Union
[
edit
]
In the Soviet Union a specification for a 441-line system using 50 interlaced fields per second was proposed in 1940. Development of this system started in the 1930s, derived from test broadcasts from
Moscow
, using a 343-line system based on RCA equipment.
[38]
[39]
[40]
Due to World War II the 441-line system never reached the broadcast stage.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
"405 Alive - FAQ - 405-Line Television in History"
.
www.bvws.org.uk
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Einheits-Fernseh-Empfanger E l"
(PDF)
.
aobauer.home.xs4all.nl
. pp. 320?321.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 28 March 2022.
- ^
TVTechnology (2005-03-20).
"The Early Television Foundation to host convention"
.
TVTechnology
. Retrieved
2023-01-11
.
- ^
"
"Can you see me clearly?" Public TV image reception experiment (1939)"
. NHK. May 13, 1939. Archived from
the original
on January 1, 2013
. Retrieved
November 11,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"D. S. Loewe Prewar Sets"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
a
b
"Gerolf Poetschke's Site"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
"Telefunken FE-VI"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
a
b
c
"FE VI Television Telefunken Deutschland TFK, Gesellschaft fur, build"
.
www.radiomuseum.org
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Telefunken Prewar Sets"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
"Gerolf Poetschke's Site"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
a
b
"R.T.Russell: Colour Test Card Generator"
.
bbcbasic.uk
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Prewar European Stations"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
.
- ^
"History of Television | Undaradio"
. Retrieved
2023-01-08
.
- ^
Arturo Castellani (1932).
Televisione radiovisione
. Ulrico Hoepli Editore.
- ^
"Safar Prewar Sets"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
. Retrieved
2023-01-08
.
- ^
Reporter, Television (March 1937).
"Italy's Progress in the Video Art"
(PDF)
.
Radio News
: 575.
- ^
Castellani, Arturo (February 1940).
"Television in Italy - Safar Television Equipment"
(PDF)
.
Electronics and Television & Short-Wave World
: 63.
- ^
Simon, Danielle Andrea (2020-01-01).
"From Radio to Radio-visione: Italian Radio's Television Experiments, 1939?1940"
.
Representations
.
doi
:
10.1525/rep.2020.151.1.1
.
S2CID
225384571
.
- ^
Kenjiro Takayanagi: The Father of Japanese Television
Archived
June 4, 2002, at the
Wayback Machine
. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
- ^
a
b
"
"Can you see me clearly?" Public TV image reception experiment (1939)"
. NHK. May 13, 1939. Archived from
the original
on January 1, 2013
. Retrieved
November 11,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
Murray, Albert (1938).
"RMA Completes Television Standards"
(PDF)
.
Electronics
(July): 28.
- ^
Fink, Donald (1938).
"A Laboratory Television Receiver"
(PDF)
.
Electronics
(July): 16.
- ^
a
b
"Recent Progress in Television Technique"
(PDF)
.
Proceedings of the Radio Club of America
. 17, No.1 (February). 1940.
- ^
"RCA's first Iconoscope cameras & the prototype"
.
Eyes of A Generation…Television's Living History
.
- ^
Edgerton, Gary Richard (June 21, 2007).
The Columbia History of American Television
. Columbia University Press.
ISBN
9780231121651
– via Google Books.
- ^
a
b
Abramson, Albert (June 27, 1955).
"Electronic Motion Pictures"
. University of California Press – via Google Books.
- ^
Alexander B. Magoun,
Television: The Life Story of a Technology
. Greenwood, p. 65.
ISBN
978-0313331282
.
- ^
"The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search"
.
news.google.com
.
- ^
"Network TV"
.
www.aes-media.org
.
- ^
a
b
Burns, R. W. (June 21, 1998).
Television: An International History of the Formative Years
. IET.
ISBN
9780852969144
– via Google Books.
- ^
"Early Electronic Television - RCA"
.
Early Television Museum
.
- ^
"Early Electronic Television - General Electric"
.
Early Television Museum
.
- ^
"Early Electronic Television - DuMont"
.
Early Television Museum
.
- ^
"Early Electronic Television - Andrea Radio Corp"
.
Early Television Museum
.
- ^
Pine, Arthur (1950).
"Frank Andrea - Radio and Television Pioneer"
(PDF)
.
Radio and Television News
(May): 40.
- ^
Lohr (1940)
- ^
"The following are random notes about"
.
www.tech-notes.tv
.
- ^
"Participation of A.Raspletin in developing and realization of black-and-white television standards"
. Archived from
the original
on 2016-11-03
. Retrieved
2022-06-27
.
- ^
"RCA's Russian Television Connection"
.
www.earlytelevision.org
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Sharygina, Ludmila (2010).
Russian Electronics Chronology
. TUCSR. p. 47.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Lohr, Lenox
(1940).
Television Broadcasting
. New York: McGraw Hill.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Television
|
---|
Analog
| 405 lines
| |
---|
525 lines
| |
---|
625 lines
|
- System B
,
C
,
D
,
G
,
H
,
I
,
K
,
L
,
N
- Color systems:
PAL
,
PAL-N
,
PALplus
,
SECAM
- MAC
|
---|
819 lines
| |
---|
1125 lines
| |
---|
1250 lines
| |
---|
Audio
| |
---|
Hidden signals
| |
---|
Historical
| |
---|
|
---|
Digital
| |
---|
|
|
|