Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Television Developments
- 3 Enter the BBC
- 4 From Experiment to Service, 1929–1932
- 5 A Service and Two Rivals, 1932–1935
- 6 Preparing for the High-Definition Service
- 7 The BBC Television Service, 1936–1939
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - The BBC Television Service, 1936–1939
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Television Developments
- 3 Enter the BBC
- 4 From Experiment to Service, 1929–1932
- 5 A Service and Two Rivals, 1932–1935
- 6 Preparing for the High-Definition Service
- 7 The BBC Television Service, 1936–1939
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The trial period
Television programmes were broadcast between 3.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. in the afternoon and between 9.00 and 10.00 p.m. every weekday and Saturday and could be seen within a 25-mile radius of the Alexandra Palace transmitter. Following the recommendation of the Selsdon Committee, the BBC was obliged to use both the Baird Television system and the Marconi-EMI system to broadcast programmes for a trial period. Edward Pawley's detailed account of BBC engineering history provides useful descriptions of both studios and systems:
In [the Baird] studio one camera was placed near the side wall, bolted to the floor and quite immobile. This took a picture of the scene on film, which was immedi¬ately developed, fixed and very briefly washed. While still wet, the film was put into the disc scanning device … in which the television signals were generated. The most rapid processing methods were used, and the operation took 64 seconds; this intermediate film system was the only way of transmitting a large studio scene on the Baird system. The camera was a 17.5mm Vinten film camera using 35mm film installed in a glazed enclosure so as to prevent pick-up of camera noise by the studio microphone. The fact that the camera could not follow the artists was a serious limitation, because the movement of artists had to be subservient to the camera rather than vice versa.
In addition, the Baird Spotlight studio was used to broadcast ‘live’ (without the 64-second delay). This depended on a moving spot of light much like in the old 30-line system and could be used for announcements and smaller-scale scenes. The studio was kept in complete dark-ness and those using it had to wear blue-green make-up to counter the sensitivity of the photo-electric cells. One area in which the Baird system excelled was in telecine, the televising of films which, although transmitted on 240-lines (as opposed to Marconi-EMI's higher definition 405-lines), were considered better-quality.
The Marconi-EMI studio ‘conformed much more closely to operational needs’, according to Pawley. ‘There were three all-electronic cameras … which could easily be moved around the studio.’
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- The Early Years of Television and the BBC , pp. 134 - 175Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2022