Inaugural address. Broadcasting: the developing technology

Abstract

As in so many other branches of electronics, the coming of the transistor has revolutionised broadcast engineering. New devices have made it possible to adopt digital coding for the distribution of television sound and radio programmes to most of the network of transmitters. The small size and low power consumption of the solid-state device has allowed the television camera and its associated equipment to become very much more mobile; this, in turn, has had a profound effect on the methods of television production. Lightweight production units, housed in a single vehicle, allow plays and series to be recorded in natural settings, away from the studio. The ability to store whole television fields in electronic memories of relatively small cost and physical size, has made possible a whole range of new technical processes. One television field can be compared with its predecessor; this is the basis of electronic conversion between the world's television standards. It is also possible to discriminate between random noise and wanted information in the image, because the latter can be correlated from field to field. While broadcasting is under constant technical development, so too are the demands on its services. There is greater emphasis on education and the need for broadcasting schedules to fit patterns of work and leisure. New services must be matched by new receiver designs allowing easy tuning and selection of programme, reliable reception and automatic recording for replay later. Inaudible control signals sent out by the broadcaster will make these possible. New forms of transmission and special services, e.g. a traffic information channel and subtitles for the hard of hearing, offer new opportunities to broadcasters and receiver manufacturers alike.