Quote and Credit

Quote and Credit

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Test Patterns The Art and Commerce of Reception







Oh, the nights I woke at 4 am with one of these casting light over my eyelids. We are all now officially digital, I guess, having converted, installed, purchased, enrolled, connected, packaged and bundled. But there was a day when television (that is television, not "flat screen") was broadcast through the airwaves which we, as citizens of the United States, not only OWNED collectively, we shared equally. The only way to receive "higher definition" was to build your antenna taller than your neighbors. I am not complaining, even if companies can now tell exactly what you are watching and when...as the above was the previous situation. I don't really like spending $100 bucks a month for 75 channels of bilge, but then at least I can see it. That is unless you have Time Warner Cable.

3 comments:

  1. I miss the profile of the Big Chief that used to appear until the station would finally shut down broadcasting and go to snow. Which by the way, that snow and the sound it made was a very nice cheap alternative to white noise machines when staying in noisy hotels/motels.

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  2. where are these from, a printed TV pamphlet on broadcast signal illo usage? or maybe a television set user manual?
    lovely.

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  3. From what I could tell, these came from a pamphlet from Sylvania called Servicing TV Receivers, published 1950. This was the start of the CBS test pattern which would later be used by other stations - not just CBS O&O's and affiliates, but also a few NBC, ABC and NET/PBS affiliates.

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