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“For as long as we’ve had TVs, color has been an important metric to judge the display’s quality.” Um, no, we had TVs for quite a while before it got any color

“For as long as we’ve had TVs, color has been an important metric to judge the display’s quality.” Um, no, we had TVs for quite a while before it got any colors, in the beginning it was all gray scale.

creddit 6y ago
Yeah, but people really wanted those greys to pop!
- killjoywashere 6y ago
  Actually, yes, they did. This is why, for decades, photographers collected pieces of red, green, yellow, and blue glass, gel filters, and polarizers to put in front of or between their lenses, seeking ways to increase or mute contrast as desired. Ansel Adams' zone system of photography was all about understanding how to get colors into different zones of grey.
  - creddit 6y ago
    Actually, I know, which is why I said that :)
- lewisinc 6y ago
  Actually, yeah! One example of this is the set of the Adams Family, which famously had a ton of pinks and bright pastels despite being a supposedly gothic set specifically because those colors created the best contrast in the final medium, a black and white tv set :)
  - tdeck 6y ago
    This article has a photo: https://www.fastcompany.com/3021327/the-addams-familys-living-room-was-pink https://www.fastcompany.com/3021327/the-addams-familys-livin...
  - creddit 6y ago
    Actually, that’s why I said it! EDIT: Not the Addams family part, though. That’s new to me!
    - lewisinc 6y ago
      Cool! I'm glad I could introduce something new to you :)
lalaithion 6y ago
"Color" here is used as a broader term that includes black and white contrast and quantization noise, which certainly was a chief concern of early television design.
- anikom15 6y ago
  Did analog TVs have quantization noise?
  - dan-robertson 6y ago
    They had noise and gamma curves and physical phosphor that might be variable quality and viewing angles/vignetting which could all affect colour
  - sjwright 6y ago
    There was no quantification in the signal chain, so no.
    - anikom15 6y ago
      That’s what I thought. Just wanted to make sure (I’ve spent a lot of time modeling analog TV systems). Maybe some of the later decoder chips in the late 80s and onward operated digitally but haven’t looked into it too much.
scoopertrooper 6y ago
If we're going to be technical about the whole thing, The history of colour television dates back to the mechanical era - with the first practical unit being demonstrated the same year as the first television station launched in America. Further, the first practical all-electronic colour television was developed in 1944, long before mass adoption of the technology. Finally, by the time television adoption began in earnest (1948), the FCC was developing a standard for colour television transmission. So while it's true that for many years televisions displays lacked colour, they would have still been judged by their absence of colour by a population well aware of coming advancement.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  So while it's true that for many years televisions displays lacked colour, they would have still been judged by their absence of colour by a population well aware of coming advancement. Not even close. Black-and-white TV was the default for decades. Almost nobody judged televisions by their lack of color because hardly anyone beyond those who subscribed to Popular Mechanics even knew that color was a possibility. The 1948 date is meaningless. Most American households didn't have a color TV until the very late 1960's, or even into the 1970's. TV stations didn't broadcast in color until the late 1960's, and even then most of the programs were in black and white. I remember when color TV broadcasts first became possible and the TV networks crowing before each color show "In color!" the way they did "In stereo (where available)!" in the 1990's. When color TVs did become well-known and started becoming common, it was usually the parent's bedroom or the living room that had the big color TV, and all the remaining televisions in the house were back-and-white. Personally, I didn't have a color TV until 1983, and that was only to use as a computer monitor.

creddit 6y ago

Yeah, but people really wanted those greys to pop!

killjoywashere 6y ago
Actually, yes, they did. This is why, for decades, photographers collected pieces of red, green, yellow, and blue glass, gel filters, and polarizers to put in front of or between their lenses, seeking ways to increase or mute contrast as desired. Ansel Adams' zone system of photography was all about understanding how to get colors into different zones of grey.
- creddit 6y ago
  Actually, I know, which is why I said that :)
lewisinc 6y ago
Actually, yeah! One example of this is the set of the Adams Family, which famously had a ton of pinks and bright pastels despite being a supposedly gothic set specifically because those colors created the best contrast in the final medium, a black and white tv set :)
- tdeck 6y ago
  This article has a photo: https://www.fastcompany.com/3021327/the-addams-familys-living-room-was-pink https://www.fastcompany.com/3021327/the-addams-familys-livin...
- creddit 6y ago
  Actually, that’s why I said it! EDIT: Not the Addams family part, though. That’s new to me!
  - lewisinc 6y ago
    Cool! I'm glad I could introduce something new to you :)

lalaithion 6y ago

"Color" here is used as a broader term that includes black and white contrast and quantization noise, which certainly was a chief concern of early television design.

anikom15 6y ago
Did analog TVs have quantization noise?
- dan-robertson 6y ago
  They had noise and gamma curves and physical phosphor that might be variable quality and viewing angles/vignetting which could all affect colour
- sjwright 6y ago
  There was no quantification in the signal chain, so no.
  - anikom15 6y ago
    That’s what I thought. Just wanted to make sure (I’ve spent a lot of time modeling analog TV systems). Maybe some of the later decoder chips in the late 80s and onward operated digitally but haven’t looked into it too much.

scoopertrooper 6y ago

If we're going to be technical about the whole thing, The history of colour television dates back to the mechanical era - with the first practical unit being demonstrated the same year as the first television station launched in America. Further, the first practical all-electronic colour television was developed in 1944, long before mass adoption of the technology. Finally, by the time television adoption began in earnest (1948), the FCC was developing a standard for colour television transmission. So while it's true that for many years televisions displays lacked colour, they would have still been judged by their absence of colour by a population well aware of coming advancement.

reaperducer 6y ago
So while it's true that for many years televisions displays lacked colour, they would have still been judged by their absence of colour by a population well aware of coming advancement. Not even close. Black-and-white TV was the default for decades. Almost nobody judged televisions by their lack of color because hardly anyone beyond those who subscribed to Popular Mechanics even knew that color was a possibility. The 1948 date is meaningless. Most American households didn't have a color TV until the very late 1960's, or even into the 1970's. TV stations didn't broadcast in color until the late 1960's, and even then most of the programs were in black and white. I remember when color TV broadcasts first became possible and the TV networks crowing before each color show "In color!" the way they did "In stereo (where available)!" in the 1990's. When color TVs did become well-known and started becoming common, it was usually the parent's bedroom or the living room that had the big color TV, and all the remaining televisions in the house were back-and-white. Personally, I didn't have a color TV until 1983, and that was only to use as a computer monitor.