When I got on the internet late this afternoon there was a picture of a RCA TT-5 on the MSN homepage that I recognized from the Early Televison Museum. When I clicked on the link I got this video for Mantiques about TV history (well sort of history anyway):

http://video.us.msn.com/watch/video/the-evolution-of-tvs/5j0qg6o

I always thought it was interesting that the "TT-5" designation was used by RCA for both a 5" TV receiver and a 5 kW TV transmitter, at around the same time...

They said Pre-war TV had no sound, pretty sure that's wrong.
I know some sets had to be hooked up to a radio for the audio but they still had sound.

That's a weird persistent myth. Except for some mechanical era stuff that was strictly experimental, TV always had sound.

At 1:17, they show the CT-100 as being a 5 inch set color set. Why wouldn't they spend a minute or two fact checking anything?

1:59 is a quite a facepalm, too. It's impossible to cover the subject very thoroughly in two and a half minutes, but is it too much to ask that the little bit that you do say not be filled with errors?

TV always had sound.

The sound was in AM at first. The FCC, much to RCA's Sarnoff's unhappiness, decided to change that to FM sound. No way of ever knowing, but if Armstrong mentioned to Sarnoff that FM sound would make TV a totally killer app...

Pretty lame overall, mostly an unpaid(?) ad for current and upcoming products. Yawn.

I am amazed there was anything at all on television prior to World War II. I always thought that any TV broadcasting during this era would have been strictly experimental, not intended for viewing by the general public. Were there any real TV stations on the air before the war, or was it all just experimental closed-circuit programming sent to special receivers in laboratories? I think most of us were still listening to radio until after the war ended, when the first commercial TV stations came on the air. Cleveland's ABC affiliate on channel 5 was the city's first TV station, and it did in fact sign on for the first time in 1947. Channel 3 (NBC) and 8 (at the time CBS) signed on shortly after, in 1948 and 1949, respectively.

Here it is in one panel

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/307014_535182423205574_1789986611_n.jpg

I am amazed there was anything at all on television prior to World War II. I always thought that any TV broadcasting during this era would have been strictly experimental, not intended for viewing by the general public. Were there any real TV stations on the air before the war, or was it all just experimental closed-circuit programming sent to special receivers in laboratories? I think most of us were still listening to radio until after the war ended, when the first commercial TV stations came on the air. Cleveland's ABC affiliate on channel 5 was the city's first TV station, and it did in fact sign on for the first time in 1947. Channel 3 (NBC) and 8 (at the time CBS) signed on shortly after, in 1948 and 1949, respectively.

My hometown (Bakersfield, CA) had it's first TV station in 1932, station W6XAH. There's an article on the ETF website about it. The people who own all the equipment from the station (yes, the equipment still exists) are very good friends of mine

The clip mentions the BBC TV broadcasts starting in November 1936. The system was fully electronic modern TV (405 line) and it wasn't experimental. My Dad first saw a TV in a British pub in Farnham Surrey in 1938. The broadcasts were only two hours a day in 1936 and expanded hours up to September 2,1939 when TV ceased at the declaration of War. British TV resumed on 405 lines in 1946 and the standard continued to January 1985. There were an estimated 20,000 sets in the UK in 1939. A 1936 set would work up to 1985 receiving off air signals without modification.


I am amazed there was anything at all on television prior to World War II. I always thought that any TV broadcasting during this era would have been strictly experimental, not intended for viewing by the general public. Were there any real TV stations on the air before the war, or was it all just experimental closed-circuit programming sent to special receivers in laboratories? I think most of us wertinge still listening to radio until after the war ended, when the first commercial TV stations came on the air. Cleveland's ABC affiliate on channel 5 was the city's first TV station, and it did in fact sign on for the first time in 1947. Channel 3 (NBC) and 8 (at the time CBS) signed on shortly after, in 1948 and 1949, respectively.

TV broadcasting primarily in the NY area was going on in the late thirties and much more by 1941. During the war it stopped but started up again just after. Had it not been for the war it would have developed much more quickly. There is plenty of history about it on the internet.

Large cities that had major electronics firms or radio network hubs like Chicago and LA also had prewar TV broadcasting going on.