International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1935)

16 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST sion that theatre pictures, though more detailed in structure, are necessarily far more entertaining (particularly on the small home screen) than television pictures. Probably a television picture in the home will be described by most as a "fair home movie." 3. Grain or Line Structure. Theatre pictures of reasonable size from a suitable positive show negligible grain if viewed at moderate and practicable distances, and of course show no line structure (for monochrome pictures). Television pictures show no grain structure, but may show a slight line structure if viewed too closely. However, high-detail television pictures, viewed at normally comfortable distances, will show practically no line structure — and certainly no objectionable line structure. 4. Color of the Picture. Theatre pictures are normally black in the shadows and white (bluewhite or yellowwhite) in the highlights. When projected from toned or tinted positives, they show the corresponding hue. Television pictures are also practically black in the shadows, but the highlights may be bright yellow, greenish yellow, or even a practically neutral white. The latter color will probably become common practice in television as development of that art proceeds. 5. Possibility of Full-Color Pictures. It is readily possible today to produce theatre pictures which show substantially the colors of nature or, at least, an acceptable approximation thereto, although there are definite economic handicaps in production and reproduction of such pictures. Television in fullcolors seems to be an almost impracticable proposition in the present or likely early state of that art, although small-scale demonstrations of its abstract possibility have indeed been given. Comparative Picture Size 6. Size of the Picture. Theatre pictures range in size from, say, 6 to 8 feet to perhaps 18 by 24 feet, or even more in special cases. Thus their area is between 48 and 432 square feet. Home television pictures range from about 6 by 8 inches to perhaps 18 by 24 inches, or, in special cases, somewhat more (though generally at the cost of picture detail and brightness). Thus their area lies between about 0.3 and 3 square feet. On this basis the area of the theatre picture is about 150 times that of the home television picture. A more normal comparison would be with the approximate 30-by-40 inch home motion picture, having an area of about 8 square feet, or say about 5 times that of the average television picture. 7. Picture Brightness. Theatre pictures are generally adequately bright for viewing in a darkened auditorium (that is, an auditorium with illumination about 0.5 foot-candle). The television pictures are also sufficiently bright to be viewed in a dimly lit room — but dark shades will be required for daylight hours, and for the evening as well, if street lighting is at all bright outside the home. 8. Flicker of the Picture. The theatre picture consists of 24 frames per second, each of which is generally projected twice before the next frame reaches the screen. Flicker is absent, although traces of an effect depending on picture sequence are still found in the case of rapidly moving objects and in the stroboscopic backward-turning of the wheels of pictured vehicles. Dr. Goldsmith on Television — The relationship between motion pictures and television has . . . been made the subject of numerous effusions which, even from a charitable viewpoint, must be characterized as highly imaginative and distinctly misleading. The television picture depends even more on persistence of vision than the theatre picture, being in fact nothing more than a flickering and flying dot! Television in full-colors seems to be an almost impracticable proposition in the present or likely early state of the art . . . Thus their area (television pictures) lies between about 0.3 and 3 square feet. . . . the theatre has a number of definite and inherent advantages as a showplace. People are interested in change (from the home). . . . also, people are gregarious and somehow seem to have their emotional responses enhanced by crowd enthusiasm. . . . the theatre need not be unduly apprehensive over the. advent of television. . . . given its natural advantages, a forward-looking attitude, real initiative and careful planning, there appears to be little doubt that the motion picture theatre can hold an enviable position of public acceptance and resulting prosperity in the future . . . May 1935 Television pictures may be projected in two sets of 30 pictures each, the two sets being projected in 1 second. Interlaced scanning may be used, and under these conditions a substantially flickerless picture is obtained. Despite the projection of 60 half-detail pictures per second by this method (equivalent closely to 30 full-detail pictures per second), it is possible to use ordinary 24frame-per-second motion picture film for the television subject without undue difficulty by the use of technical expedients which cannot be here described. Viewing Distance; Audience Size 9.. Viewing Distance. Taking an optimum viewing distance of 4.5 or 5 times the picture diagonal, theatre pictures may be most conveniently viewed at from 45 to 135 feet from the screen, while home television pictures will be viewed from about 4 to 11 feet from the screen. This is a ratio of viewing distances of about 11-to-l in the two cases. 10. Audience Size. Long experience has demonstrated that the comfortable size for theatre audiences ranges from 500 to 5,000 persons, with perhaps some doubt at one extreme or the other. The corresponding home audience may be expected to lie between 3 and 15 persons, a ratio in favor of the theatre of about 200-to-l. It must not be inferred, however, that the economic ratio for the two fields is anything like as high as this; indeed it has not yet been determined just what will be the cost per person per hour of entertainment for home television-telephone broadcasting. 11. Synchronism of Picture with Sound. In the theatre, the picture and sound are correctly associated within l/24th of a second, assuming proper editing and threading. In the case of home television-telephone programs, the synchronism is even closer (though this is not noticeable as an advantage), and is entirely correct and automatic. Some rather romantic writers on this subject have dilated on the "marvel" of the synchronism of picture and sound in such programs. As a matter of fact, considering the fundamentals of the processes employed, it would be even more marvelous if synchronism were not ob tained for television-telephone broadcasting reception. It is not practicable at this time, before mass production of television equipment has been initiated, to give a reliable comparison of the cost of theatre and home equipment. In a general way it may be said that theatre equipment costs in the thousands of dollars and home equipment about the same number of hundreds of dollars, thus giving a cost ratio of perhaps 10-to-l. Here again some caution must be used in interpret(Continued on page 27)