TV

The invention of the television--or at least, the invention of the technologies that would eventually go into making machines that modern users would recognize as televisions--occurred in 1885. Over the next 40 years or so, the basic idea would be refined and developed, but not really marketed to the public. Finally, in the 1930s and ‘40s, television began to become something that average American's could own in their very own homes.

Since then, television technology has only continued to grow. The first, and in some ways most significant, addition was made when black-and-white televisions began to be replaced by color sets. The first color broadcast was made in 1951. It was a musical variety program, and was followed the next week by a number of popular daytime series.

Since then televisions, like computers, have become more and more powerful. Unlike computers, however, they have grown larger as well as smaller. These days, you can by a simple hand-held television receiver as easily as you could by a gigantic jumbotron. One of the reasons why these sets can vary so greatly in size is because the actual mechanism of the television has become so refined.

Another recent advance in television technology is the advent of digital and high-definition televisions (HDTVs). These technologies allow for the broadcast of much higher-definition signals than the older PAL, SECAM, or NTSC formats. This is achieved by providing the television screen with a much higher density of pixels with which the transmitted image can be displayed. The difference in picture clarity and quality is significant.