Colour Television | Electronics - Britannica

Modern colour television

AfterWorld War II the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS; later CBS Broadcasting Inc.) began demonstrating its own sequential colour system, designed byPeter Goldmark. In 1957 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved CBS’s colour television and corresponding broadcast standards for immediate commercial use. However, out of 12 million television sets in existence, only some two dozen could receive the CBS colour signal, and after only a few months the broadcasts were abandoned. In June 1951 David Sarnoff, vice president and general manager of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA; later RCA Corporation), unveiled a system that used dichroic mirrors to separate the blue, red, and green components of the original image and focus each component on its own monochrome camera tube. The RCA colour system was compatible with existing black-and-white television sets.

In 1952 the U.S. National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) set a goal of creating an “industry color system.” The NTSC system that would serve into the 21st century was virtually the RCA system. The first RCA colour TV set, the CT-100, was produced in early 1954. It had a 12-inch screen and cost $1,000, as compared with current 21-inch black-and-white sets selling for $300. It was not until the 1960s that colour television became profitable. By the early 1980s, colour television sets had largely supplanted the use of black-and-white televisions.

Key People: Vladimir Zworykin Peter Carl Goldmark Ernst F.W. Alexanderson John Logie Baird (Show more) Related Topics: compatible colour television PAL system SECAM system colour coder chrominance signal (Show more) See all related content

By the first part of the 21st century, digital television, which had emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s, had rendered black-and-white and colour television sets nearly obsolete. Among the first large full-colour digital flat-screen televisions made available to consumers, in the late 1990s, were plasma televisions, which utilized liquid crystal displays. Plasma televisions were quickly replaced, however, by other technologies, such as light-emitting diode (LED) high-definition televisions (HDTVs). Such HDTVs have various advantages over traditional colour television sets, including a sleek flat-screen design and far superior image resolution.