The Scanning Disc
In the mid-1920s, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird and American inventor Charles Jenkins demonstrated some of the first scanning disc systems. The top picture shows one of Baird's scanning discs, and the bottom his receiver. It may seem comical, but these systems had a resolution of only 30 lines (see VTR). (Images courtesy of www.TVhistory.TV)
Get Noctovised!
Another Baird invention was the Noctovisor, a similar system that used infrared light with subjects sitting in the dark. In this 1927 image, which looks like early science fiction, the gentleman in front of the Noctovisor camera is going to be "Noctovised" to London. (Image courtesy of www.TVhistory.TV)
All Electronic
This RCA video camera from 1939 used the all-electronic Iconoscope picture tube, but did not even have a viewfinder. That came later. Videotape recording would not come until 1956. (Image courtesy of Early Television Foundation, www.earlytelevision.org)
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