Mechanical Television: Incredibly simple, yet entirely bonkers

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  • Опубликовано: 24 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 2 тыс.

  • @Phredreeke
    @Phredreeke 7 лет назад +1287

    Didn't analog TV (except for France who always has to do things the other way around compared to the rest of the world) use negative modulation and as such the image would become darker as stronger the amplitude is?

    • @TechnologyConnections
      @TechnologyConnections  7 лет назад +677

      Yes, and thank you for the clarification. I myself never caught that! Plenty of graphs showing an analog video signal show black at the bottom and white at the top, with some even placing corresponding voltage levels such as the graph seen here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video
      I have to admit I always assumed it was transmitted in this fashion, but upon further research, I see I was wrong! Thanks for watching!

    • @MrJohndoakes
      @MrJohndoakes 7 лет назад +116

      The cool thing about mechanical TV is that you can transmit the signal on the shortwave bands, so the signal could cross the country, something impossible for analog VHF-UHF TV. Also, every version of mechanical television had to transmit the sound on a different frequency, so you needed a separate radio to hear the soundtrack.

    • @Phredreeke
      @Phredreeke 7 лет назад +49

      Well, that's part due to the limited bandwidth, with the added perk that the mechanical TV can transmit image 100% of the time without the need for blanking time for the electron gun to reposition itself between lines and frames, while making synchronization hell in the process. BTW electronic TV has sound on a separate frequency as well at a certain offset from the video signal (though I believe some analog satellite TV systems carried digital sound in the blanking interval of the video signal)

    • @garryiglesias4074
      @garryiglesias4074 7 лет назад +61

      +Phredreeke - I hope that you're using international system of units, instead of archaics ones to say such stupidity about French... French drive on the right side of the road, use SI units, and "what the hell" are they doing "the other ways around compared to the rest of the world ??"... USA is NOT the rest of the world... And Fahrenheit is a dumb temperature scale...
      So unless you support your stance with facts, it seems you just like french-bashing, but the uneducated way (the other way around compared to the intelligent people).

    • @OlegKostoglatov
      @OlegKostoglatov 7 лет назад +29

      The French were also the last nuclear power to ban above ground testing even after the Soviets and Chinese figured out that it was not a good thing to do. However, unlike Germany, they do understand that you can't electrically power a modern industrialized country of 50 million people with solar panel and wind farms, so they used nuclear energy, which they sell to Germany, who is shutting their plants down. So there are pluses and minuses with everyone. Secam was a good system, the only thing wrong was that nobody else adopted it, except I think that the Soviets used some modified version of it, everyone else used either NTSC, or PAL which was a modified version of NTSC.

  • @buppie2000
    @buppie2000 3 года назад +389

    I'm retiring after 35 years in TV and I've gotta say that's the clearest explanation of Nipkow for laymen. Impressive.

    • @VinnytotheK
      @VinnytotheK 2 года назад +23

      That's a long time to be in a TV man, respect!

    • @buppie2000
      @buppie2000 2 года назад +56

      @@VinnytotheK Yes, IN a TV.
      It was okay till they started making flat screens. I couldn't suck my gut in any longer. It was getting too difficult for me to crawl inside.

    • @VinnytotheK
      @VinnytotheK 2 года назад +20

      @@buppie2000 Ah okay, wow! I can definitely see how it would be very difficult in this modern age. You hung in there for a long time!

    • @C0ttageChees
      @C0ttageChees Год назад

      ​@@buppie2000 Bud I feel ya. Now try being a fat man that drives a WV Golf. 😜

    • @hawks9142
      @hawks9142 Год назад +3

      ​@@buppie2000another victim of modernization 😔

  • @bobuk5722
    @bobuk5722 6 лет назад +445

    Hi. To join the club, my Dad (I'm in my late 60's) built a mechanical scanning disk tv. Long time ago (violins play ....) well before WW2. After the BBC long wave radio shut down at 11pm there were test transmissions. Would be viewers disconnected the loudspeaker and connected a neon bulb in its place. Then a rotating disk with 64 small holes regularly spaced and arranged in a 1 inch wide spiral around the circumference was rotated in front of the neon bulb. The result, if you managed to get the receiving disk synchronised with the transmitting one in the studio (done with a piece of string wrapped around the motor axle), was a 1 inch square rather reddish 64 line TV picture. I suspect the motor speed here in the UK would have been 3,000 rpm. Originally they transmitted still images of the Kings head. Very patriotic! Dad told me all the neighbours in the road were crammed in around this small set up trying to watch! BobUK.

    • @inactiveytchannel
      @inactiveytchannel 4 года назад +8

      Wow.

    • @darkgreenambulance
      @darkgreenambulance 4 года назад +14

      Hi, Robert - appreciated/enjoyed your piece - very interesting. I think I read the motor driving the receiving disc round, was designed to reach the required R.P.M. but a second winding was fed a frequency which locked the disc to the transmitted scanning,, once the correct "dots" were lined up, so to speak. Do you know if that would be part of the existing signal - or a separate one? I borrowed an ancient book but returned it! All the best.

    • @techguy9023
      @techguy9023 4 года назад +5

      Bev Wood it could be an audio subcarrier for sync. Jenkins early fax used a slotted disk interrupting a light and photo tube to generate that signal so I think he may have tried that on his “radiovisor”

    • @darkgreenambulance
      @darkgreenambulance 4 года назад +2

      @@techguy9023 Many thanks - this re-enforces the fact that so many contributing factors have come together - sometimes in a strange and unlikely way.

    • @timotheusmiller
      @timotheusmiller 3 года назад +4

      What the heck!? That's so cool!

  • @jasonsage1417
    @jasonsage1417 7 лет назад +115

    I'm a long time electronics buff, turned computer programmer (30 years ago) - and I learned a lot about the mechanical television from this great video and I commented because I wanted to tell you how impressed I am with your narration, articulate delivery, knowledge of the subject matter and good "techniques" like humor and sarcasm to make good points "Fax before Telephone - WHA??" etc.
    Great Job!

  • @jadegecko
    @jadegecko 6 лет назад +7

    The mental image of a six-story disc bursting out of its housing spinning at Mach 6, and rolling down the interstate at a furious pace, is probably the funniest thing I've heard all day

  • @android01978
    @android01978 3 года назад +27

    Love watching this three years on; ‘I’m absolutely thrilled that this channel has over 21 thousand subscribers...’ now it’s over 1 million!

    • @frankstrawnation
      @frankstrawnation 5 месяцев назад +2

      Passed more 3 years the channel has now 2,27 millions subscribers.

  • @daver5120
    @daver5120 7 лет назад +1328

    A 75 foot disc that is taller than your building? Stop making excuses and get it done. We don't watch your channel for lame excuses.

    • @ChristmasEve777
      @ChristmasEve777 5 лет назад +24

      HA! I must have missed something though. I didn't understand why the disc would have to be that big to get high resolution. Why couldn't the holes just be much smaller and closer together?

    • @Brandyalla
      @Brandyalla 5 лет назад +62

      @@ChristmasEve777 From what I understood, he wasn't trying to increase the resolution, he was trying to get it to have a screen size of 15 cm square. The holes have to be at least as far apart as the screen is wide for only one to shine at a time. Proper number of holes times holes being 15 cm apart makes for a very large disc

    • @-Gadget-
      @-Gadget- 5 лет назад +2

      🤣🤣🤣

    • @compzac
      @compzac 5 лет назад +8

      @@ChristmasEve777 More resolution means more holes, a larger screen means larger space between the holes themselves, but in any case you can only have one hole on the screen at a given point, think of it as a CRT screen, at one point in time a CRT is only actually modifying the light value for 1 particular spot, so if you were to increase the screen size you would have to increase the space between the holes and by in large the size of the disc over all, in terms of resolution, you could make the holes smaller and put them closer together at least in the terms of space between the holes on the inner to outer portion of the disc, though my guess here is that due to the number of holes and the speed of the disc all being a needed constant to produce a picture well this probably wouldn't work to well

    • @bloodypommelstudios7144
      @bloodypommelstudios7144 5 лет назад +3

      @@ChristmasEve777 Yeah he was after size not resolution. Resolution is just as hard to achieve though. If you wanted a 0.1mp equivalent display you'd need a 100kw light source just to have 1w of light get through.

  • @WAQWBrentwood
    @WAQWBrentwood 7 лет назад +381

    My grandfather was a huge radio "nut" in the 1920s and built a couple different mechanical disk "TV"s, in the late 1930s he built (from a kit) an all electronic (CRT) set. He was obviously "bullish" on the prospect of TV, When TV was finally mainstream, he bought a "Proper" Westinghouse set, even though Pittsburgh had a grand total of 1 channel at the time! 👍 He'd be damned impressed (but not really surprised) by HD and 4K sets of today.

    • @thanthanasiszamp4707
      @thanthanasiszamp4707 6 лет назад +15

      WAQWBrentwood
      Your grandfather would mostly be damn impressed by the "digital video/digital audio" terms.

    • @loraleijessick9581
      @loraleijessick9581 6 лет назад +68

      And then he would see the actual programming and opt to go back to the grave.

    • @thanthanasiszamp4707
      @thanthanasiszamp4707 5 лет назад

      Anyone noticed that the owner of this channel has removed his background music from each video? Unless it's my idea.

    • @GewelReal
      @GewelReal 5 лет назад

      @Joe Duke kek

    • @handsomebrick
      @handsomebrick 5 лет назад +4

      Supposedly there were actual TV stations made for people with mechanical televisions.

  • @colombianguy8194
    @colombianguy8194 7 лет назад +90

    I build a mechanical TV and camera for a physics class in college, i only managed to send basic geometrics images, and the transmitter and receiver discs were hold together with a single axel and motor to eliminate sync errors. Excellent channel by the way, the analog TV video was amazing, i repaired several CRT TV's but some of the basic things had me wondering, brilliant video! greetings from Colombia.

  • @SM-ok3sz
    @SM-ok3sz 4 года назад +66

    I love how they used to draw radio waves as lightning bolts in old drawings.

    • @brianfretwell3886
      @brianfretwell3886 3 года назад +7

      A hangover from the early spark plus tuned circuit Morse code telegraph transmitters I suspect.

    • @zp944
      @zp944 8 месяцев назад

      Well, aren't radio waves just lightning bolts with extra steps?

    • @badgermcbadger1968
      @badgermcbadger1968 4 месяца назад

      ​@@zp944less steps I guess

  • @LazerJass
    @LazerJass 3 года назад +15

    I discovered this video just now when i thought i've seen them all. Hearing you being thrilled to have over 21000 subs in this video not believing this channel would ever grow that big and seeing that you've just hit one million subs in two and a half years since this video makes me very glad. Your content is pure love. Congrats!

    • @jerbear7952
      @jerbear7952 Год назад +1

      I think we are all surprised at how many of us there are.

  • @matthewrichardson828
    @matthewrichardson828 7 лет назад +355

    Two smaller discs could rotate together, synchronized with gears, and they could have holes drilled with a vernier pattern, which would reduce the disc size and rpm required, while increasing resolution.

    • @elephystry
      @elephystry 5 лет назад +46

      Nerd

    • @nthgth
      @nthgth 5 лет назад +17

      !
      Build it!

    • @fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718
      @fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718 5 лет назад +57

      Still a 37-foot disc for a 6" screen. Still way too impractical, even at 900 rpm that's still supersonic (1188 mph). And if it's faster than the speed of sound in the material it's made from = boom. It would make a better kinetic energy weapon than TV.

    • @knezderpe1254
      @knezderpe1254 4 года назад +4

      Rectangular holes will work beter

    • @johncrowerdoe5527
      @johncrowerdoe5527 4 года назад +27

      @@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718 A basic magnifying glass would allow a physically smaller disc and truncation frame for the same size viewing experience. Appropriate optics on the rear of the N disc would reduce wasted light.

  • @antonnym214
    @antonnym214 7 лет назад +176

    My grandfather worked at the FCC. He told me about early TV systems that used a spinning disc. Very cool stuff! i gave you a thumbs-up. All good wishes.

    • @matthewfranklin7541
      @matthewfranklin7541 5 лет назад +5

      My Grandad worked at Scophony Ltd who were early mechanical TV manufacturers before they became Thorn EMI. He went on to help design the Searchwater radar for the Nimrod anti submarine aircraft! collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp39370/scophony-limited

  • @ross259
    @ross259 7 лет назад +256

    Wow, I didn't know that fax machines predated the phone and I had no idea about mechanical TV. Such a great video.

    • @Gribbo9999
      @Gribbo9999 5 лет назад +9

      They just weren't called "fax" - short for fascimile. I think the police had some early versions for scanning and sending mug shots.

    • @alandaters8547
      @alandaters8547 5 лет назад +3

      Great bar question: " If you define a fax machine as something that can scan a graphic, convert it to electrical impulses, send it over wires, and have another machine create a copy, guess when the first one was made, plus/minus 50 years!" This should be good for a free drink, but be ready to "prove" !

    • @johncrowerdoe5527
      @johncrowerdoe5527 4 года назад +1

      @@Gribbo9999 I heard it was the Pinkerton's detective agency using that before federal law enforcement agencies were really a thing.

    • @statusquo9520
      @statusquo9520 4 года назад

      They still ask for a fax in some banks. How about that.

    • @MrDegsy69
      @MrDegsy69 4 года назад +4

      Ross Burke they had morse key telegraphy through wired telegraph poles in the days of the wild west. I find it amazing that somebody could send a 'wire' between towns even back then.

  • @BM-jy6cb
    @BM-jy6cb 4 года назад +98

    3 years ago: "I never dreamed I would get 21000 subscribers.
    Today's subscriber count: 830,000.
    Well done!

    • @mmmmm777x
      @mmmmm777x 4 года назад

      I know right?? I get so hype whenever he says that in older videos! He's easily one of my favorite youtubers!

    • @MattyH1992
      @MattyH1992 3 года назад +6

      And now over 1 million!

    • @jonathancrosby1583
      @jonathancrosby1583 3 года назад +4

      1.21 million

    • @RoySATX
      @RoySATX 3 года назад +3

      He's averaging between 24 and 25 thousand new subs each month! That is outstanding!

    • @johnk6123
      @johnk6123 3 года назад +1

      1.29m :)

  • @robinbockman7247
    @robinbockman7247 6 лет назад +13

    John Logie Baird is still remembered in Australia every year with the TV Week Logie Awards.

  • @JuniorJr...
    @JuniorJr... 7 лет назад +871

    I love the smart side of RUclips.

    • @lennieanderson8544
      @lennieanderson8544 5 лет назад +17

      It's not easy to find either bro . respect

    • @SweetTodd
      @SweetTodd 5 лет назад +17

      @Don Bastardo Or even the side that makes one so depressed that one would have to get antidepressants. *Cough Cough*, CNN, *Cough*, NBC...

    • @mickeymouse12678
      @mickeymouse12678 5 лет назад +3

      Only problem is my dumb brain has a hard time following along, though I do enjoy the videos.

    • @HemlockSky1991
      @HemlockSky1991 5 лет назад +2

      Same. This and Today I Found Out are my favorite channels.

    • @Ferrichrome
      @Ferrichrome 4 года назад

      haha me too but also the stupid side is great.

  • @HROM1908
    @HROM1908 7 лет назад +17

    Thanks for that. My Father machined the original mechanical discs for Baird long before WWII. I remember him describing the difficulty with that project.

    • @tonyjones9442
      @tonyjones9442 5 лет назад +1

      My grandfather remembers the public demonstration of the Baird system in London. He seems to think it was in harrods. I'm unsure.

  • @dutrekker1617
    @dutrekker1617 7 лет назад +69

    The spinning wheel was used by CBS when they developed their first color TV system. It used a rotating color wheel to create color. The FCC made their system the standard until RCA demonstrated all electronic television. This explains why CBS refused to go to color broadcasting until the late 1960's.

    • @OlegKostoglatov
      @OlegKostoglatov 5 лет назад +7

      The 1965 season actually, but other then at NBC, who was owned by RCA, there were very few colour programs produced before 1965 anyhow.

    • @compzac
      @compzac 5 лет назад +5

      To an extent this is how DLP televisions worked when Projectors and Projection TVS were getting big

    • @RJDA.Dakota
      @RJDA.Dakota 4 года назад +3

      This is correct. I remember the CBS affiliate was the last one to go colour in our area.

    • @manfredcaranci6234
      @manfredcaranci6234 4 года назад +4

      And I understand from someone who was around at the time of the CBS color wheel vs RCA all-electronic system demonstrations that the color wheel actually produced superior color. Person who told me is no longer with us, unfortunately.

    • @bangerbangerbro
      @bangerbangerbro 3 года назад +1

      But that's not the same thing as in the video is it? Just a way of getting colour from a mono CRT? Like the colour 3D thing for the Milton Bradley Vectrex video game console.

  • @Mrjcowman
    @Mrjcowman 9 месяцев назад +1

    And now you have 100 times as many subscribers! It's been fun to watch this channel grow and your production quality increase (even in Novembers) but it's also nice to come back to these older videos and see you putting just as much love and care into them as you do now ^~^

  • @markcondrey2297
    @markcondrey2297 4 года назад +7

    I consider this video to be very good. You break the subject matter down in such a way as to be understood by a layperson...not an easy task. I used to service CRT televisions for Zenith back in the day and your presentation is a trip down memory lane. I think the Sony Trinitron was the apex of this type of technology.

  • @R0n8urgundy
    @R0n8urgundy 7 лет назад +418

    This channel is amazing. Up there with Techmoan for me.

    • @badreality2
      @badreality2 7 лет назад +35

      I love Techmoan too! Have you watched the 8-Bit Guy? He has similar videos, to a lesser extent.

    • @johnrickard8512
      @johnrickard8512 7 лет назад +5

      I couldn't agree more.

    • @NashatJumaah
      @NashatJumaah 7 лет назад +27

      Add LGR to your list as well

    • @MichaelRabbitBass3
      @MichaelRabbitBass3 7 лет назад +3

      cjeckersley ooh I love teachmoan

    • @fanbladeinstruments
      @fanbladeinstruments 7 лет назад +3

      Yep, this is excellent stuff covered in a way that reminds me of techmoan, 8 bit guy, and simon whistler, but still unique and engaging with high production standards. Enjoying it a lot :-)

  • @EyeAmBatman
    @EyeAmBatman 7 лет назад +25

    Whenever i watch these videos, i always zone out, daydreaming of all the possibilities they must have thought of back then when they discovered these things

  • @josephconsoli4128
    @josephconsoli4128 4 года назад +9

    Very good explanation of mechanical television. I think what's great about it is that it's just plain ingenious. You really don't care about the definition. You're just amazed at it making any image at all. In the late '20's-early'30's it must've been downright miraculous, especially with the accompanied broadcast audio. Approximately 5,000 of these primitive receivers were sold. A relatively small number, but still more than you'd expect. I must add that typically a magnifying lens was used to enlarge the picture, and, another big negative to the definition is that these signals were transmitted over the airwaves. Likely, if you saw a dark silhouette against your reddish-orange background, you were doing good. Once word got out of all electronic television using a CRT in the early '30's, mechanical television just became a footnote in electronics history. Love to have one of those sets now though!

    • @badbeardbill9956
      @badbeardbill9956 2 года назад

      Well there were more advanced mechanical sets with over 100 lines in the mid 30s, and mechanical sets could reach 405 by 37 though I’m not aware id they were widely commercialized. They didn’t use the Nipkow disk though but rather mirrors and rotating drums/screws

  • @sophiegrey9576
    @sophiegrey9576 3 года назад +2

    Congrats on 22,000 subscribers!

  • @WMartinNI
    @WMartinNI 10 месяцев назад +1

    It's amazing to see how happy you were with over 21,000 subscribers. Look at you go now!

  • @CamStLouis
    @CamStLouis 4 года назад +28

    Man, watching these videos (longtime fan btw!) makes me a) appreciate how incredible it was that the foundations of modern communications were created with such (relatively) simple components, and b) how sad it is that so much of our world is disposable by design.

  • @CH32mix
    @CH32mix 7 лет назад +12

    Congratulations, even Ben Heck gave up on his mechanical TV, and yours works great for explaining how it works, great channel, keep the great videos coming

  • @DrBovdin
    @DrBovdin 2 года назад +10

    I just re-watched this after a few years… Still nice, but you sure have made a few improvements on your set 😉
    As a little side note, we still have a very specific use case for Nipkow discs to this day - we use them in scanning confocal microscopes. Such a microscope uses a pinhole to limit the contribution to an image by out-of-focus features in a sample, greatly improving on contrast and resolution. The principal is to image consecutive single diffraction limited spots and sequentially build up an image, just like in traditional television.
    It is possible to use crossed galvanometer mounted mirrors and a fixed pinhole, but by using a Nipkow disc of pinholes, the scanning speed can be raised and a close to real-time image can be acquired. These devices are very common in especially biological research. Due to the high out-of-plane rejection rate, a scanning confocal microscope can even build up a 3D reconstruction of a sample by scanning the third axis as well.

  • @FacetsOfSerenity
    @FacetsOfSerenity 3 года назад +1

    21000 subscribers then (22 actually) and he is as humble now at 1.03 mil. Keep up the great work.

  • @danielgoodman3578
    @danielgoodman3578 7 дней назад +1

    This long ago you had 22,000 subscribers. Today you have 2.5 million. That's a lot of people in 7 years.

  • @johnhoward3042
    @johnhoward3042 7 лет назад +160

    Seth Meyers has never looked better.

    • @happity
      @happity 5 лет назад +8

      His show is now momentarily bearable!!

    • @Dracopol
      @Dracopol 5 лет назад +2

      He's pretty dotty...

  • @The1stImmortal
    @The1stImmortal 7 лет назад +53

    The annual television awards in Australia (analagous to the Emmys) are called the "Logies" after John Logie Baird.

    • @krashd
      @krashd 5 лет назад +7

      That is where the Logies took their name from? As a Scot that is a fantastic homage to one of our icons :)

    • @MrPleers
      @MrPleers 4 года назад +8

      Here in the Netherlands me have "De zilveren Nipkowschijf" (The silver Nipkowdisc) as a price for people who done great work for television.

    • @richardfinlayson1524
      @richardfinlayson1524 3 года назад +1

      i was waiting for some aussie to say something about that, good one mate

  • @fredfredburgeryes123
    @fredfredburgeryes123 6 лет назад +71

    OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT ROLF HAD IN HIS LIVING ROOM. When you played the sound of the thing I instantly realised this.
    LiFe HaS mAnY dOoRs, EdBoY

    • @davestout844
      @davestout844 4 года назад

      What time stamp are you speaking of?

    • @AtmoStk
      @AtmoStk 4 года назад +1

      @@davestout844 He's referring to an animated tv show.

    • @davestout844
      @davestout844 4 года назад +3

      Oh I know what Ed Edd and Eddy is, I just wanted to know at what time stamp of this video it's referring to.

    • @3xfaster
      @3xfaster 4 года назад +1

      Dave Stout it’s “Knock Knock, Who’s Ed?” But at the tail end of the episode, the monster movie marathon episode. Hope ya find it!

    • @danniboi187
      @danniboi187 3 года назад

      @@davestout844 I'm not sure but I think they are talking about 8:27

  • @charlesfyler3878
    @charlesfyler3878 2 года назад +1

    In this hes in awe at having over 21,000 subscribers. He's far over a million now. :)

  • @TalenGryphon
    @TalenGryphon 5 лет назад +2

    Thank you so much for making this video. The mechanical TV technology itself was obviously hopeless, but it did manage to finally answer for me how old TVs full of diodes, ICs, and resistors still qualified as "Analog"

  • @Natalie-ez1zc
    @Natalie-ez1zc 7 лет назад +41

    television inspired by fax machines but created before telephones?
    what the absolute fuck

    • @robertfoden9972
      @robertfoden9972 3 года назад +2

      Incredible as it may sound, you'll just have to accept that all of that is true.

    • @Toastedandtoasted
      @Toastedandtoasted 3 года назад

      Hate to say it but, mandela effect is apparently real as fuck

    • @danem2215
      @danem2215 3 года назад +1

      How is that the Mandela effect? Nobody incorrectly remembers learning the fax came before the phone. You just assumed that because it sounds more logical.

  • @hotwireman49
    @hotwireman49 4 года назад +11

    Vertical hold!! I remember that! Oh god I'm ancient!! I used to fiddle with the v-hold dial on the back of my b&w tv set. When all else failed, just thump it a couple times on top with your first. Works every time! 🤣

    • @gdj6298
      @gdj6298 3 года назад +3

      Ha, I remember that. It was the era when "remote control" meant "having a child".
      "Turn the telly over, mate" (meaning change the channel from one to ...the other one)
      "Do the vertical hold thing"
      And of course, "Give it a thump"
      And in my house, dodgy volume pot sorted out with two of my Lego blocks jammed under the control.
      Do you remember the fine tuning control that was around the rotary channel selector ? - known as the Big Wheel and only to be touched in extreme circumstances.

    • @hotwireman49
      @hotwireman49 3 года назад

      @@gdj6298 YES!!! Omg you're hilarious! you must be British!

    • @hotwireman49
      @hotwireman49 3 года назад

      @@gdj6298 I'm sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office reading your reply, laughing out loud. My fellow wait-ees are looking at me like I'm insane.

    • @gdj6298
      @gdj6298 3 года назад +1

      @@hotwireman49 That's what too much telly does for you...
      I don't know why the Lego is a permanent image in the back of my mind - it probably wasn't a long term thing because we rented our set (everyone did because tellies were a} expensive, b} not that reliable), so any problem, the guy would come and either mend it, or swap our clapped-out bit of crap for another clapped-out (but recently repaired) bit of crap.
      A further memory from that era - if I was sitting in the way of the telly my Dad would say "Oi - fourteen-inch head!"
      I've just taken out a tape measure. Fourteen inch screen. We might not have had colour but we must have had good eyesight.
      Oh, and while I was at it, I measured my head. Don't ask.

  • @Jay-kc2pm
    @Jay-kc2pm 4 года назад +1

    The obvious next step is a belt with holes in it, possibly allowing for a much higher 'raster density' than what could be achieved with a disk.

  • @rfvtgbzhn
    @rfvtgbzhn 4 года назад +1

    In a CRT TV, the electron beam is not the source of light. It is only the source of energy. The source of light are atoms or molecules in the phosphor on the screen. When they get hit by the electrons, they get into a higher energy state and after that they almost immediately fall back to their lowest energy state (which is called the "ground state") while emitting red, green or blue photons.

  • @kovu159
    @kovu159 6 лет назад +3

    This is all incredible stuff. Thank you for making these videos, I hope you keep it up as your channel grows!

  • @Haruki_Aikawa
    @Haruki_Aikawa 7 лет назад +14

    Hmmmmm... A 6 story disk spinning at mk6 to produce a subpar tv image? You have my attention

  • @paulgracey4697
    @paulgracey4697 7 лет назад +29

    Mechanical television did improve beyond the Nipkow disc version developed by Baird and others. It did it with interlacing, and near the end of the contest between RCA/EMI/ Farnsworth electronic television projection display systems capable of better than 240 lines without exceeding the speed of sound were developed. Indeed, well after analog electronic TV was well established a projection system for theatrical TV was still mostly mechanical in function as CRT size was far too small and far to dim to adequately fill a movie theater screen.

    • @gunnermcgee8388
      @gunnermcgee8388 7 лет назад +3

      The most complex pre-war mechanical system was the Scophony system, i suggest you google it.

    • @RatPfink66
      @RatPfink66 7 лет назад +2

      In the US at least, none of this is as interesting to us as the primitivism of the original concept.

    • @jamesmiller4184
      @jamesmiller4184 7 лет назад +1

      Amen to that, and in a french-polished walnut A.T.C. case!
      That was a very nice presentation T-C!

    • @allmycircuits8850
      @allmycircuits8850 7 лет назад +6

      Come to think of it: DLP projectors are mechanical in fact! What's even more surprising, until powerful RGB LEDs came to play, these projectors used fast spinning cylinder with light filters to make it color (we get red image, then green image, then blue, it could be seen if one turns head quickly). So mechanical TV is alive and well on the new turn of evolution!

    • @StopMoColorado
      @StopMoColorado 7 лет назад

      AllMyCircuits - Check out the Grating Light Valve tech. With its amazing fusion of Lasers (and pulse-width modulation to control color output) and electro-mechanical principles, it appeared to have to potential to relegate DLP to the dust bin, able to reproduce a much broader and more intense chroma range, give us more sync/resolution options, all while reducing power consumption and mechanical complexity. OK, they rely on a processor to create an interference pattern (the foundation of holography, possibly even all of reality as we perceive it, but that's another topic entirely) through which the laser traveled in order to produce an image. Given its compact form factor and flexibility (and the fact it was quickly optioned/licensed by various Japanese electronics manufacturers, including Epson and Sony), it seemed to be the most promising path to practical, lens free laser projection that could fit inside of (and be powered by the same battery) a Smartphone. It's currently being used for certain high-precision lithography processes (PCB/silicon etching, for example), but the inexpensive full-RGB-color-gamut TV's and projectors that seemed imminent have yet to really reach the market (though a Laser TV by - I think, can't recall for sure - Mitsubishi was shown at once of the CESes a few years back, and the only thing I saw next were patent disputes and said manufacturer claiming not to be onboard, accusing that company of basically hacking one of their sets to create the prototype. Still seems like a tech with lots of promise, but not much commercially out there using GLV chips at present :/

  • @MrOnosa
    @MrOnosa 4 года назад +1

    Imagine having over 22,000 subscribers!
    For real this is incredible. Thank you for sharing.

  • @janmeise7507
    @janmeise7507 5 месяцев назад

    Who would have guessed that you would end up with 2.2 million subscribers only 6 years later😜
    Great work man, keep it going!!

  • @rager1969
    @rager1969 5 лет назад +4

    I watched this video when it was new and decided to watch it agian. Holy crap, you've jumped from 22K subscribers to 424K in just two years! Well done, sir.

  • @peterknutsen3070
    @peterknutsen3070 Месяц назад +4

    11:56 Just under 2.5 million subscribers as of now.

  • @Kanoshe
    @Kanoshe 7 лет назад +5

    this is seriously amazing dude great job

  • @Mike_212
    @Mike_212 4 года назад +2

    What a great channel to stumble upon. Love the way he delivers the info - in a quick, steady, monologue. Very interesting, subscribed!

  • @ReddFoxx1562
    @ReddFoxx1562 5 лет назад +1

    This may be the best explanation of how a television works out of the dozens of times I've heard one, but I still find a huge portion of these types of things to be magic.

  • @jacobhargiss3839
    @jacobhargiss3839 3 года назад +6

    This man built a television with a record, an led light, a solar light, and an mp3 player.

  • @rc55uk
    @rc55uk 7 лет назад +6

    Outstanding content as usual! UP YOU GO, INTO THE CLOUDS WITH TECHMOAN!

  • @askhowiknow5527
    @askhowiknow5527 7 лет назад +37

    Technology Connections: The Vsauce of entertainment and telecomm
    Adam Neely: The Vsauce of music
    Vsauce: the Vsauce of Vsauce things

    • @Bramman111
      @Bramman111 6 лет назад +3

      But who is the dark souls of vsauce?

    • @krashd
      @krashd 5 лет назад +5

      Tom Scott: The Vsauce of interesting things you didn't know you needed to know.

    • @GumSkyloard
      @GumSkyloard 4 года назад +1

      @@krashd *The VSauce of things you might not have known.

    • @Ferrichrome
      @Ferrichrome 4 года назад

      techmoan: the vsauce of old audio tech

  • @Phroggster
    @Phroggster 5 лет назад

    Watching and commenting again 2 years later just because your back catalog is still so hot. Holy smokes though; from 22k subs to (let's round up) 500k in two years? That's a lot of lives that you've improved. Bravo!

  • @ThisIsNeccessary
    @ThisIsNeccessary Год назад +1

    Nearly 6 years later, and you've gone from 21k to nearly 2 million ❤❤❤

  • @verdatum
    @verdatum 7 лет назад +18

    We need colin furze to get on this 7 story disk.

    • @MrDegsy69
      @MrDegsy69 4 года назад +1

      verdatum Don't! Just don't! It will be absolute carnage. 😂😂😂

  • @jeffc5974
    @jeffc5974 4 года назад +20

    "Not in a straight line, mind you, but by traveling along actual roads."
    So what G-force would you get turning a corner at that speed?

    • @3xfaster
      @3xfaster 4 года назад +2

      Jeff C enough to make guac outa anything organic!

  • @WatanabeNoTsuna.
    @WatanabeNoTsuna. 2 года назад +4

    Alec: "I'm amazed that this channel got to 21k subs"
    Me, looking at the current sub count: "That's cute..."
    😂 🤣

  • @catholiccontriversy
    @catholiccontriversy Год назад +1

    From 22K to 2.08M, you've come a long way.

  • @Psy1402
    @Psy1402 4 года назад +1

    I love that in this video you're astonished by 21k subscribers but right now you're pushing a million. Congratulations.

  • @DanafoxyVixen
    @DanafoxyVixen 7 лет назад +8

    Mirror Drums solved many of the problems regarding Nipkow disks size limit on resolution, in fact John Baird himself later ditched the disk because it was so limited. resolutions of 120-240lines were common using drums and the Scophony system could produce images of more than 400 lines which is about Laserdisk resolution.

  • @farvatron
    @farvatron 7 лет назад +8

    Top job. I can't believe even this kind of educational video can receive a few dislikes! What's wrong with people!?! Keep up the good work man! Love your vids :)

  • @TheTarrMan
    @TheTarrMan 7 лет назад +108

    What if instead of a big disk someone used a belt with the little holes? Might solve the size problem to a certain extent. . . . . might be louder too.

    • @Worstplayer
      @Worstplayer 7 лет назад +29

      It would be smaller, but not slower. The tape in your 15cm, 30hz, 480p tape-o-visor would have to go 7776Km/h.

    • @verdatum
      @verdatum 7 лет назад +29

      I think you could improve things by using multiple holes driving separate lights that cover different regions of the screen. But I'm too lazy to think through the geometry. Another improvement would be to use miniaturization on the tape/belt and rely on projection to blow up the image. In other words, the light shines on to a lens that's focused on a screen. So long as you can make the holes tiny enough, and get a light to shine through it that's bright enough to project, but not so hot that the belt melts.
      Damnit, I'm mildly tempted to make this latter idea.

    • @verdatum
      @verdatum 7 лет назад +15

      If you have high-power lasers, you can make a "mechanical" television even easier. In that case, you can just spin one mirror horizontally and one mirror vertically on a motor at 60hz and turn brighten and dim the laser. Again, shooting them at a screen. But I think that's cheating.

    • @Worstplayer
      @Worstplayer 7 лет назад +27

      @verdatum what you described is exactly how HTC Vive base stations work. In a way mechanical television did make a comeback after all.

    • @spikester
      @spikester 7 лет назад +3

      Laser printers also use this type of scanning mechanism, just a single horizontal line though without vertical, but moving the drum roller serves that purpose.

  • @QoraxAudio
    @QoraxAudio 5 лет назад +1

    In the Netherlands, there is a television award called after Paul Nipkow to honor him, called 'De Zilveren Nipkowschijf' (meaning: The Silver Nipkowdisk).
    It is oldest and one of the highest awards in the television business over there.

  • @animeAJproductions
    @animeAJproductions 4 года назад +1

    A mechanical TV as big as an apartment building? Now THAT'S communal entertainment!

  • @Games_and_Music
    @Games_and_Music 4 года назад +3

    11:42 21K subscribers eh?
    You're sitting at 627K now, who knows you might cross the 1 million in 2020.
    I hope so

  • @Lumencraft-
    @Lumencraft- 7 лет назад +4

    That was really a neat experiment. Best use of an LED I've seen all week :)

  • @dash8brj
    @dash8brj 4 года назад +7

    Imagine the size of the motor to spin up a 75 ft disc, let alone the starting current draw!

    • @BastiElektronik
      @BastiElektronik 4 года назад

      A friend (which is not really a friend, more of a person I know) of mine does something with large electric motors in his job. I showed him this video and he said that a motor with a total of 45Kw would be able to do that!

  • @jackc3205
    @jackc3205 3 года назад

    Cool video. I never knew about mechanical tvs. But watching the intro bright back memories. Reminded me of having to adjust the vertical, tune in a tv station, and getting up from the chair to go change a channel, or the volume. And where I lived there were only nine channels back then.

  • @portal_jumper_7963
    @portal_jumper_7963 5 лет назад +1

    i can't believe it took me 2 years to find this, i love ideas like this, its kinda inspiring to find alternatives to modern day standards while also being cheaper than said options

  • @JohnDRobinsonelectronicdrums
    @JohnDRobinsonelectronicdrums 7 лет назад +8

    is that a Tascam in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? lol

  • @cxx23
    @cxx23 3 года назад +3

    From over 21,000 subscribers to over 1 MILLION in 3 years.
    So damn happy for you!

  • @dtsdigitalden5023
    @dtsdigitalden5023 7 лет назад +15

    That was a terrific presentation. Extra points for encoding video as audio (listening to it provided fidget-spinner comfort), and then converting that back to video! You've earned your beer, sir. Next few rounds on me. P.S. How do you find the time to do all this sh*t? :)

  • @applegal3058
    @applegal3058 2 года назад +1

    Wow, your channel was so different back in the day...glad you ditched the green screen background.
    Love learning about old technology - thanks for the simple explanation!

  • @tiagopiazza3648
    @tiagopiazza3648 4 года назад +2

    21k subscriptions with this kind of content and effort? 2017 were dark times, bro! you rock

  • @KirbyBartlettSloan
    @KirbyBartlettSloan 11 месяцев назад +3

    Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha - Stooky Bill
    (Doctor Who - The Giggle)

  • @birdlawyer2128
    @birdlawyer2128 Год назад +5

    hey can u play doom on that

  • @grendelum
    @grendelum 7 лет назад +9

    *_Oh no, not again !!!_*
    Now I have this powerful urge to sketch out this project as I've already considered several means of synchronization twixt disc and signal... even worse, for some reason I *_really_* want to machine a disc with 3 holes coming in at different angles on the back converging into one on the front... must.. not.. make.. RGB mechanical televisor...

  • @CannedMan
    @CannedMan 3 года назад

    Three years ago: Thank you for being one of the 21 000 subscribers. Today: 1.2 *million* subscribers. How cool it is to have had the pleasure of seeing this channel grow.

  • @Upstreamprovider
    @Upstreamprovider 3 года назад

    This is well cool. Never knew virtually any of this. Thankfully there are people like you on RUclips to inform and enlighten us.

  • @tucopacifico
    @tucopacifico 7 лет назад +6

    Probably made that American Caravan album sound better, too.

  • @JamesSiggins
    @JamesSiggins 7 лет назад +4

    Absolutely love these videos. Great explanations and examples shown.

  • @gimpdoctor8362
    @gimpdoctor8362 7 лет назад +90

    These videos are great, keep em coming :)
    My only feedback is:
    well you know how some people are aural learners and some visual learners? I really get the impression that you are an aural learner because sometimes you describe things using long sentences, which could otherwise be described with a diagram of some sort. I know you're already putting so much effort into everything to make these videos, but I feel often a diagram (or even animated diagram) would go a very long way.
    Thank you again for this channel and have a nice day :)

    • @hkr667
      @hkr667 7 лет назад +7

      Totally agree. I was almost begging for a (drawn) visual example of what he meant, shown at a slower pace. This was perhaps his first video that I could not follow. I still gave a like for the effort and topic, but this was a bad-ish video for me.

    • @seanhanlon6150
      @seanhanlon6150 7 лет назад +1

      I agree.

    • @alexanderstohr4198
      @alexanderstohr4198 7 лет назад +2

      having a real world demonstration is sometimes even more worth than any sort of words or a diagram.
      but of course using all methods together might bring the most best results for a watcher.

    • @hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156
      @hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156 7 лет назад +19

      And this is what constructive criticism looks like. Wish more people were able to wrap their head around the concept.

    • @UnivegaSuperSport
      @UnivegaSuperSport 7 лет назад +5

      For example, at 2:51, you've just showed the record with the drilled holes and are describing placing "a squar(ish) mask in front of holes....you've created a device...".
      Some sort of graphic or drawing of this needed.

  • @rob_in_stowmarket_uk
    @rob_in_stowmarket_uk 2 года назад

    Fascinating, thanking viewers for getting to 22k subscribers… 4 years on (July 2022)… 1.62 million subscribers ❗️ Clearly doing at hell of a lot right! Great channel. Just love it.

  • @OtakuUnitedStudio
    @OtakuUnitedStudio 5 лет назад +1

    I was thinking "why didn't they use a drum, or a belt instead of a disc?" But that got mentioned in that pop-up note. Still not a great solution, but at least it was possible!

  • @YayapLives
    @YayapLives 4 года назад +3

    And you have to take an account that with a CRT television if you stack enough of them on top of each other and then text the signal to start your microwave the floor above these TVs to microwave a banana you'll shunt the text through time itself.
    This is a clear advantage for SERN to be able to police time itself in its future run dictatorship. So of course we have to assume that they might have had a hand in overplaying the downsides of mechanical television so it never really had a chance.
    Don't forget to drink Dr. Pepper.

  • @NipkowDisk
    @NipkowDisk 6 лет назад +9

    Precisely where my YT username came from :)

  • @technirvana4199
    @technirvana4199 7 лет назад +55

    I thought a Raster was Weed Smoking Jamaican guy!?

    • @RussellTeapot
      @RussellTeapot 7 лет назад +1

      LOL

    • @JLHunter61
      @JLHunter61 7 лет назад +31

      You're thinking of a "Rasterfarian," who is a television watching Jamaican.

    • @TheNitroG1
      @TheNitroG1 7 лет назад +6

      that's rasta...not raster. actually rasterization was also the method they used to make old FPS games like doom and hexen.

    • @technirvana4199
      @technirvana4199 7 лет назад +6

      *Sirens Wail* Way to go TheNitroG1 there will definitely not be any joke's being told when you are around!! #TheLaughterPoliceAreNoJoke :P

    • @richardwendling4030
      @richardwendling4030 7 лет назад

      only if your Australian. You may also be drinking Gidor Ide!

  • @SwapPartLLC
    @SwapPartLLC 4 года назад +1

    How about using a belt instead of a disk? The holes could be repeated multiple times on the belt, thus allowing the RPM to be reduced.

  • @DaveChurchill
    @DaveChurchill Год назад

    I love how thrilled you were at breaking 20k subs in this video. Keep up the great work man, best channel on RUclips

  • @martinda7446
    @martinda7446 7 лет назад +16

    All English speaking countries seem to pronounce Nipkow with 'cow' at the end and it makes me wince..I know it's not important really but its 'nipco' or 'nipcov' The Germans would make more of a 'v' sound but generally with East Europeans the 'v' tends to become silent. 98% of the HowtoPronounce..web sites even have the English contributions with a fierce COW at the end (is that a bull?). A fierce cow might be a bull, and it is bull.

    • @xboys_archive
      @xboys_archive 7 лет назад

      Martin D A oh

    • @Cole-ek7fh
      @Cole-ek7fh 6 лет назад +5

      irrelevant.
      germany lost the war.
      the language is ours.

    • @Mostlyharmless1985
      @Mostlyharmless1985 6 лет назад +3

      Look, English orthography is fast and loose with it's rules but you've hit on one of the hard and set rules of pronunciation. W makes a "wuh" sound. Period, full stop, end conversation. If you put w at the end of a o it makes the sound at the end of cow. Period, full stop.
      If you wanted it silent, you should have left it off. If you wanted it to be voiced, you should have made it a v. W and V has split in the civilized Saxon languages centuries ago, catch up with the times.

    • @anonUK
      @anonUK 6 лет назад +3

      Mostlyharmless1985
      Not necessarily. The English say "Moscoh" and "Glasgoh" for "Moscow" and " Glasgow".

    • @Mostlyharmless1985
      @Mostlyharmless1985 6 лет назад

      Well, that's the creeping speech impediment across your nation you call an accent. =P

  • @guys-in9vd
    @guys-in9vd 5 лет назад +3

    8:36 it sounds like an 80s pc running 3d graphics

  • @007bistromath
    @007bistromath 7 лет назад +10

    yeah, but can you play doom on it

    • @Phobos_Anomaly
      @Phobos_Anomaly 7 лет назад +4

      007bistromath Doom plays on anything. Probably even potatoes.

    • @elephystry
      @elephystry 5 лет назад

      Can it run Crysis?

  • @powellmountainmike8853
    @powellmountainmike8853 4 года назад

    I am a retired electronics engineer. I have been studying electronics since I was a kid. In my library I have a number of early radio books, which describe and show pictures of mechanical television equipment which was used experimentally by "hams" in the 1920s. Very interesting video. Keep up the good work.

  • @gdj6298
    @gdj6298 3 года назад +2

    My school library (in ~1970) had an old book called something like "The principles of modern television". It must have been pre-war, pondering the relative merits of Nipkow discs, Zworykin mirror spirals (now that's got to be a bit of precision engineering) etc. I love old tech books that discuss excitedly what was cutting-edge at the time. It's against my principles, but I wish I'd "long-term borrowed" that book !

  • @condimentking14
    @condimentking14 7 лет назад +4

    cool shirt where did you get it

    • @TheTruthRocks
      @TheTruthRocks 7 лет назад +1

      TheTubeStore has 'em:
      www.amplifiedparts.com/products/T-shirtsgifts?page=1

  • @undeadelite
    @undeadelite 6 лет назад +3

    John Yogi Bear

  • @Synthematix
    @Synthematix 7 лет назад +4

    Jesus you must live on wikipedia

    • @BigOlSmellyFlashlight
      @BigOlSmellyFlashlight 6 лет назад

      lol that's basically why I'm interested without Wikipedia I wouldn't know a thing that's going on

  • @starcrashr
    @starcrashr 5 лет назад +1

    A looped ribbon of punched tape would solve the problem of disc size, although it would add a significant challenge to durability.

  • @markokelly2494
    @markokelly2494 5 лет назад

    Good explaining. I came closer to understanding the Nipkow disk than I ever have before.