Free Television Research Articles

A VLSI controller for flicker free television display

A digital signal processing and memory controller very-large-scale integration (VLSI) chip is presented that provides a 100-Hz flicker-free television display. Only one controller chip with six standard dynamic random-access memories (DRAMs) are used. The video memory controller chip, fabricated in a 1.5- mu m CMOS process, works with all the common television standards, i.e. PAL, SECAM, D2-MAC, and NTSC. It also enables additional features such as still picture, multipicture-in-picture, and zoom.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Campaign and Party Finance in the West German “Party State”

In contrast to the United States, where there is little or no public financing of parties and candidates below the presidential level, the German “party state” grants generous subsidies in a variety of forms to the political parties, though not to individual candidates. The German Basic Law (constitution), various laws passed by the national andLand(state) parliaments, and the Federal Constitutional Court have been important factors in the development of a complex and costly system of public financing for election campaigns, parliamentary parties and party foundations and for free television and radio time and billboard advertising space. In addition, the federal government incurs large tax expenditures through the encouragement of tax deductible contributions to political parties. In spite of the crucial role which public financing has assumed, recent scandals have occurred involving illegal contributions from business interests. A revised party law of 1984 and a Federal Constitutional Court decision in July 1986 have brought about significant changes, but controversy in Germany over public financing and the impact of recent reforms continues.

VLSI realisations for picture in picture and flicker free television display

Two CMOS VLSI devices have been introduced which, through the combination of digital signal processing and external DRAMs, allow the display of television signals with higher quality and with more features. One device allows the simultaneous display of two independent video sources, while the other increases displayed picture quality by doubling the field display frequency to eliminate large area flicker. The second device also allows numerous extra features by manipulating both on- and off-chip memory. The devices can be combined within the same system to allow improved display quality plus an extremely wide range of additional display features.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Television and the Less-Interested Voter: The Costs of an Informed Electorate

In pre-television American politics, electoral research documented that less-interested voters paid little attention to newspaper coverage of presidential campaigns. The result was that many Americans went to the polls possessing little information about the candidates and issues. Relying on evidence from a panel survey conducted during the 1972 presidential election, this article challenges the common belief that the widespread appeal of television news has changed this condition and made the low-interest voter much more informed about presidential elections. In fact, the evidence clearly shows that televised network evening newscasts contribute almost nothing to the low- interest voter's election information. But the evidence also shows that another channel of television communication does inform the less-interested voter—televised political advertis ing. Televised advertising not only reaches low-interest voters, but also teaches them useful, accurate, issue informa tion. So for a candidate to get his message across to all the voters, he cannot simply rely on free television news time; he must buy costly television advertising time. The implica tions for campaign financing are obvious.