RCA's attempt at creating a new color television standard that would be compatible with existing black and white TVs initially faced technical challenges. However, it was an obviously great idea from a backward compatibility standpoint, and the National Television Systems Committee latched onto this idea and helped to propel RCA's idea to the real world. This is that story.
If you're anything like me, the countless light displays you'll find around the average neighborhood during the holiday season are always welcome. But there's a certain type of light set that seems to be disappearing that I certainly hope stays around a little longer. In this video, you'll learn a little bit about how fairy light sets are made, how they work, and how a particular type of light strand pulls this all together to make my far-and-away favorite kind.
Meet the grandfather of the compact fluorescent light. This device from GE is really interesting and ahead of its time, but far too weird to gain widespread acceptance. GE manufactured these adapters to shoehorn the standard circline tube into more everyday applications, and the result is kinda weird. This video's a quick exploration of this early attempt to bring the energy saving virtues of fluorescent lighting into the domestic arena.
While the CFL is pretty much done being a thing these days, it was a really great invention for saving energy. But some people claimed they caused them headaches. In this video, I explore the reason that fluorescent light can indeed cause headaches or eyestrain in sensitive people, and I explain why that wasn't an issue with the CFL. Then we explore the modern LED bulb and how it actually is bringing the cause of this flicker back.
This is a much fairer comparison than using the Panasonic unit as the VHS playback device. Many people believe that Beta was a vastly superior product to VHS, but I think this was mostly marketing prowess on Sony's part. People seemed to think that they were giving up something of quality if the went with VHS over Beta. But as this video will demonstrate, I don't think that was really the case.
The late 1970's and early 1980's were a frightening time to be a video enthusiast. Two formats are duking it out and trying to assert their dominance, and although Sony was first* to market with their Betamax machine, they were caught off guard by JVC's competing VHS system which, rather than focus on pedantic details like cassette design and technical perfection, strived to make a cheap, versatile format that worked.
In this video we discuss the Dolby Noise Reduction systems found in consumer cassettes decks and how they work. Though technically very simple, Dolby B noise reduction provides a very effective means of reducing audible tape noise, and was ubiquitous throughout the cassette's life. Dolby noise reduction was such an important part of their legacy that the company still pays homage to it in their logo. The "D"s in the Dolby Double D logo are really the shape of audio tape heads.
These days a VCR seems more quaint than anything else. But in fact, there's a device inside every VCR that solved what seemed to be an unsolvable problem. The video head drum is a fascinating solution to the complex problem of tape speed, and therefore I think it deserves to be remembered. Plus, the video head drum shares some motor technologies with modern hard disk drives. So there's that.