Critique of F. Howard Steele’s “Television Broadcasting - Engineering or Entertaining?

John Emmanuel Abarro

The essay “Television Broadcasting – Engineering or Entertaining” was written by F.

Howard Steele, which covers the development of television broadcasting briefly, along with the
standards set in the United Kingdom. The paper also covers the relevance of engineering towards
broadcasting. The paper written by Howard Steele covers a great deal of historical feats that
prove the significance of engineers in the television industry.

The Paper

In the early years of Radio and Television Engineering, it was thought to be an unpopular
choice for a profession in engineering during the time of Captain Henry Joseph Round and
Professor James Dwyer McGee. Despite the fact that the field focused mainly on television and
radio applications, the discipline had a great development for the adjacent branches of modern
electronics and communications, such as in video recording. It was pioneered by John Logie
Baird, whose contribution has set the foundation for television, even though his work had not long
enough endured the rapid development of better television systems. (Steele, 1975)

The simultaneous advance in modern engineering owe its recent milestones to the
contributions of ideas and pursuits made in the past. What had remained to be undiscovered
ideas only resurfaced latter, when the influx of available methods and equipment made it possible
to appreciate the works initially done by notable people, such as Allan Blumlein or Valdemar
Poulsen.

During the 1930s, there was an expedition to aim for a higher definition for television
systems. The Selsdon Television Advisory Committee were to recommend a standard of having
at least 240 Lines. In 1936, the British Broadcasting Corporation made a temporary decision of
using the electro-mechanical 240-line system proposed by the Baird Company, and the fully
electronic 405 line television system alternately. This lasted for about three months as a means
to compare the two systems, in which the latter was preferred due to its ease of use and reliability.
Electric and Musical Industries Ltd., together with Marconi Company, developed the 405-line
television system that is otherwise known as the Marconi-EMI system lead by Sir Isaac
Shoenberg based on the principle of setting one of the five multivibrators to divide by 5.
 A decade later, after the Second World War, the Hankey Television Committee was
commissioned to offer suggestions for the return of television service and to consider the
developments made elsewhere. The committee initially recommended for the development of a
system of 1000 lines for cinema with color and stereoscopic effect and extend television service
coverage, noting that it was of the best time to have a change in standards while there were still
a few working pre-war receivers. From 1945, EMI worked on the 1000 lines system for cinemas
for three years. EMI also presented a 605-line system, which was rejected by the committee and
decided to go on with the previous 405 line system. It took longer before a 625-line system was
considered. (Steele, 1975)

As for the color-coding system to be used, a careful decision was made to choose from
the three existing systems – PAL, SECAM, and NTSC. Each had advantages and disadvantages
over the other. SECAM had delay lines, while NTSC had linear phase errors since it was a dated
technique. PAL, being the youngest, was preferred and had the good qualities of both. At the
period of shift for color-coding systems, colored cameras were also considered.

More advancements followed suit. The English Electric Valve company developed the 4.5-
inch image orthicon camera that provided quality black-and-white pictures. Independent
Television (ITV) introduced improvements for studio center design and ergonomics. Associated-
Rediffusion introduced the first Ampex video tape recorder which improved productions. Teletext
systems were developed for television information services. Digital Intercontinental Conversion
Equipment made it possible for intercontinental broadcasting and reception with resolved
television picture problems.

The contributions of engineers in the television industry has helped define the standards
used for the equipment and electronics of the field. The great deal of development in broadcasting
has apparently diminished the numerous tasks that engineers were required to deal with often in
operation. According to Steele, it was the engineer’s main duty to simplify the processes and the
systems and apply existing knowledge for the broadcasting service as the future trend of
broadcasting is to aim for digitalization.

Assessment

F. Howard Steele’s essay is a written work which initially aims to focus on the contributions
of television engineering to the development of the television broadcasting industry and other
adjacent fields that involve electronics and how has simplified the process which reduces the
number of analog controls needed for the television engineer to look out for. This implied
proposition of the essay was introduced at the third and fourth paragraph of the essay. His title is
with accordance to his thesis statement.

However, the entire essay does not limit to the development of the main topic, rather it
has made highlight of another. Somewhat along the few pages, majority of the paper heavily
focused about the development of the United Kingdom’s high definition television standard
according to the number of lines, in which centered upon the systems developed mostly by the
EMI. Further advancements involving the development of color in the television and the
improvement of the equipment used for recording were lightly covered throughout the article. As
these statements would contribute to the coherence with his claim, it would have been best that
each of his supporting claims had just the same amount of depth in discussion with the former.
His exhaustive discussion of Professor McGee’s encounter with the improvement of high
definition television systems overshadows the rest of the advancements made when color was
about to be introduced in televisions. This was evident when the three color-coding systems were
compared, as steele mentioned the number of ways in which each system was unique and had
advantages over the other. There was not as much elaborative discussion that would have lead
to how the decision that PAL came to be the standard set, none other than a note that it came
from NTSC and SECAM.

The paper is apparently addressed to the readers under the premise of familiarization on
historical records that pertain to the development of television before and after the Second World
War and extensive knowledge in operation of televisions and dated equipment.

The essay’s paragraph structures provide transitions inconsistently towards the

introduction of another piece of information shared. This can be immediately seen on the first
page between the recognition of Baird’s major impact in television and the advancements in
modern technology built upon the past ideas made.

There are also certain points on the article in which the author expresses his judgment
rather than being objective by means of explanations with sound evidence. One of which is his
recurring statement of the tendency for broadcasting to digitalization. Within the paper, the
absence of a direct evidence that supports his claim would simply put it as his opinion on the
matter. However, it is true that based on modern accounts of engineers concerned with the field,
television broadcasting approaches digitalization, just as popular Philippine television stations
have been progressively migrating towards digital broadcasting. (Alipio, 2018)
 Another part of the article in which the author deviates from the objective tone is his
expression of disdain for the Hankey committee and the British Broadcasting Corporation’s
decision on the television system to use on 1945 in the words of “made their classic error and the
opportunity was lost”, which pertains to the chance that the 605-line system could have been
accepted as a standard. (Steele, 1975)

The paper presents the major contributions of television engineering in the development
of technology, as well as the decisions made in setting some standards for television broadcasting
before and after the Second World War. While F. Howard Steele provides congruent statements,
the paper could use a lot more focus on the detail of television advancements than the standard
prominently discussed.

References

Alipio, M. (2018). Television Fundamentals [Powerpoint Presentation]. Retrieved from CAMS.

Baird, J. (2004). Television and Me: The Memoirs of John Logie Baird. Edinburgh: Mercat Press.

Baird, M., & Kamm, A. (2006). John Logie Baird: A Life. Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland
Publications.

Hendy, D. (n.d.). Abandoning the Baird System. Retrieved from British Broadcasting Company Web site:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/birth-of-tv/abandoning-baird

Roche, K. (2017, 6 12). How ITV Set the Pace in Color. Retrieved from Transdiffusion Broadcasting
System: https://www.transdiffusion.org/2017/06/12/how-itv-set-the-pace-in-colour

Steele, F. (1975). Television Broadcasting— Engineering or Entertaining? The Radio and Electronic
Engineer, 570-574.