Side by side is a documentary produced by Chris Kenneally describing the science and art in the production of digital cinema, explaining various transitions involved in developing the current digital film making process. It also explains new fascinating technologies which are coming up in the digital technology. The documentary involves interviewing more than 70 producers from Hollywood. The video gives a detailed process in the transition of digital media. By using this video, one can describe various transitions that have taken place to in the film industry from the use of celluloid to digital broadcast. This paper seeks to relate the events and information from the documentary to analyze various transitions that have taken place in the TV broadcast, from the mechanical broadcast to digital broadcast.
The TV broadcast was invented by one Philo Farnsworth in 1927. Farnsworth was able to transmit a video image of straight line from one room to another in San Francisco (Baym 9). 20 years down the lines, scientist borrowed the principles of Farnsworth to make various back-and-whites TVs. Farnsworth did not get any financial gain from his great invention; however, by 1950, more than 6,000 people owned very expensive television sets. And by 1956, more than half the population of America owned at least one television set. The mechanical TVs were designed in a way that there was a mechanically rotating disk which was set to scan moving objects and convert them into electric pulse (Baym 9). The electric pulse was then transmitted using cables to the cathode ray tube with a screen which displayed the information. The television was of very low resolution. This type of television was first adopted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The next transition in TV broadcast was the color technology. Even though this idea came in place by 1904, the implementation started in late 1950s. Colored TV involved using the mechanical system but adding a scanning disc made of Nikon with three spirals, each containing one of the primary colors (Baym 18). A new concept in mechanical system was adopted which could make the mechanical TVs produce a colored image by use of a camera lens.
The next generation of television was Community Antenna Television (CATV) which was also known as the cable TV. The antennas were erected in places of high altitude such as on top of tall buildings or mountains. There was the central point that transmitted and broadcasted the signals while the antenna received the broadcast signals and channel it to a television screen which in turn displayed the image. There was further invention in cable TV where microwave was used to transmit the signals for to enable a long distance broadcast (Baym 29). TV broadcast therefore changed from sending video images within a given locality to transmitting the same long distances.
For a long time, televisions received signals in form of analogue radio waves. The three main modes of transmission of analogue radio waves were via satellites, airwaves or cable wires. Despite the problems such as distortions and statics the analogue system remained unchanged for more than 60 years. Around early 1990s companies, more so in Japan, started to develop a new technology which could enable a better quality format for televisions. This is when the digital television system was invented. This technology uses digital signals which convert the video images and sounds into a binary code (Baym 39). This technology uses the same principle as computers. Their frequency requirement is low but they can provide video images and sounds of high quality and resolution.
Reference
Baym, Geoffrey. From Cronkite to Colbert: The evolution of broadcast news. Paradigm Pub, 2010.
