Skill Tester:
When and by which network was the first ever multi-station U.S. color television program broadcast?
Answer:
A) "Your Hit Parade" by CBS in 1950. (10%)
B) "Premiere" by CBS in 1951. (23%)
C) "The Today Show" by NBC in 1952. (24%)
D) "The Tournament of Roses Parade" by NBC in 1954. (43%)
The first ever color program transmitted from multiple stations in the U.S. was the show "Premiere" by
CBS on June 25, 1951, starring Ed Sullivan. It was broadcast from a total of 5 television stations
on the east coast using CBS' own color TV format with 405 lines of resolution. Although the format
had already been approved by the FCC in 1950, it was completely incompatible with then-current
black & white television sets -- appearing only as a blank screen -- so the only people who could
watch the show were CBS employees.
In 1953 the FCC reversed its decision on the CBS format and approved the RCA/NTSC color
format that we all know and love today. Its major selling feature was that black and white
television owners could still view all color programming. NBC's first experimental color broadcasts
were conducted during the end of 1953, though the first real telecast was "The Tournament of Roses
Parade" on January 1st, 1954, on 21 stations.
Bonus Question:
What is the standardized vertical resolution of an NTSC television image?
Answer:
A) 405 lines (6%)
B) 480 lines (32%)
C) 525 lines (49%)
D) 720 lines (13%)
As mentioned above, the CBS format had 405 lines of resolution. A standardized computer
resolution (SVGA) features 480 vertical lines of resolution, as do all DVD movies. One of the new
HDTV formats features 720 lines of resolution, however the analog NTSC format has a maximum of 525 (though
few signal sources can produce it).
The Winners!
Drum roll, please! Remote Central and AVsmarts.com are
pleased to announce that the randomly selected winner of the Philips NuVision 13PT30L 13" color television
worth $249 is M. D. from Missouri, USA! He has been contacted by email and informed of his prize.
Our second place winner of the Monster Power PowerCenter HTS2000 power filter/splitter/surge protector worth
$199 is G. W. from North Carolina, USA! He correctly both the skill-testing and bonus questions
and has been contacted by email.
The third place winner of a pair of Sennheiser RS-4 900MHz wireless headphone system
worth $199 is J. A. from Texas, USA! He also correctly answered both the primary and
bonus questions and has already been contacted by email.
Our fourth place winner of the Sima SVS-4 audio/video switcher with four S-Video inputs worth
$149 is J. M. from Ohio, USA!. He answered both the skill testing and bonus questions
correctly and has been contacted by email. Didn't win? Don't worry, a new contest
is already running!
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