Kinematograph year book (1944)

Film Exhibition and Kinema Technique. 221 Considerable progress has been made in radio research which will result in a vastly improved screen image. Some of these important achievements were revealed by L. H. Bedford, O.B.E., M.A., of A. C. Cossor, Ltd., at a meeting of the B.K.S. He was speaking on the standard of definition of the television picture. The term " saturated definition " he defined as the figure of definition at which the structure of the picture cannot be distinguished. Mr. Bedford showed that to get completely saturated definition with a home television receiver a frequency band of 7.9 mc. was necessary with sequential scanning, or with interlaced scanning, 5.9 mc. The pre-war B.B.C. standard was only 1.9 mc, but in America the standard is 3.3 mc. — -an acceptable compromise. On the other hand, to secure a standard of definition equal to that of a kinema picture, at a viewing distance equal to four times the width, the frequency band needed would be no less than 14 mc. The experiments conducted by J. L. Baird in colour and stereoscopic television reception promise two of the most intriguing lines of future advance. The principle used is additive, and is similar to that of Kinemacolor film : sectors containing red and blue-green filters rotate in both transmitter and receiver, the latter embodying a projection type cathode-ray tube. The stereoscopic process originally involved two images which needed to be viewed through anaglyphs but Mr. Baird is working on a system where the spectacles will be unnecessary. Considerable work is being done by the experts of Scophony, the opticomechanical process, the U.S. rights of which were acquired by Television Productions, a subsidiary of Paramount in America, where progress during the past two years has been rapid. Large-size pictures with a higher light standard that hitherto would be available in the near future, according to P. Landsberg, who anticipated post-war receiving sets being made by mass production to sell at $100. This statement, made at the S.M.P.E. meeting, was endorsed by R. B. Austman, of RCA, who, in addition to other experiments, have developed a new type station, which enables the relaying of television for post-war circuit telecasting. Other major U.S. film companies concerned with television are 20th Century Fox and United Artists, an indication of the importance with which the kinema industry regard television, whether in the guise of a competitor or as a powerful accessory to the film entertainment. On the other hand, some observers believe that television will not have a tremendous effect on the kinema ; they point out that while stage shows could be televised, the extension of the principle to kinemas would, in any case, involve the making of a film, the presentation of which by television could rarely better its projection in the normal manner. Difficulties in the way of obtaining direct transmission of television subjects and particularly public interest in news events has led some American opinion to consider the use of motion picture films as subject material for commercial television. In a recent issue of the S.M.P.E. Transactions there appears a description of the General Electric television motion-picture projector, based on the E-7 Simplex projector, which has been modified to project 35-mm. film at 30 television frames per second without change in sound quality. The requirement of accuracy of registration and speed constancy has favoured the adoption of the intermittent projector rather than the continuous motion projector. The illumination unit comprises a 900-watt T-20 projector lamp ; the sound head was the Simplex design, employing the RCA rotary stabiliser. The instruction of projectionists in the operation of television equipment is engaging the attention of the B.K.S. and the C.E.A., and it is highly probable that as soon as conditions permit some form of training will be made available, first to exServicemen and, later, to existing projectionists ; the principal difficulty to-day is to find instructors.