Page 167 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)

Portable television

■ ■ What? Philco Safari
■ ■ Who? Philco
■ ■ Where and when? Philadelphia, US, 1959
The first truly portable TV set was the
WOW! Philco Safari, which was about the size Extendable
of a backpack and was powered by a
antenna
small battery. By 1970, Panasonic had
a handbag-sized TV, the TR-001,
and in 1978, the British inventor
Measures
Clive Sinclair released his near
4 x 6.25 in
pocket-sized MTV1, seen here. (10 x 15 cm)

Flat-screen plasma television COMMUNICATION

■ ■ What? Panasonic from thousands of tiny, gas-filled
■ ■ Who? Various manufacturers tubes that can glow red, green, or
■ ■ Where and when? Japan and blue when excited by electricity.
Sinclair US, 1997
MTV1 TV These are controlled by circuits
This flat-screen TV was thin and that make each tube vary con-
light enough to be hung on a wall. tinually in brightness to form the
The technology was invented in moving picture. It was not until
OLED 1964 by two University of Illinois 1997 that the first flat-screen TVs
television professors. The screen is made went on sale to the public.

Organic light-emitting diode
(OLED) television

■ ■ What? Sony XEL-1
■ ■ Who? Sony
■ ■ Where and when? Japan, 2008
An OLED is a device containing a plastic-like
material that glows when electricity passes through
it. The screen uses thousands of these to form the
picture. OLED TVs have incredibly thin screens
and a much better picture than any seen before.
Sony released the first version in 2008, but they
are so expensive that many people are unable
The huge, slim to afford them.
screen provides a
high-quality picture.

3-D television

■ ■ What? Viera VT20 plasma 3D HDTV ■ ■ Where and when? Japan, 2010
■ ■ Who? Panasonic
In 2009, with the release of films produce 3-D televisions, and the first sets
like James Cameron’s science-fiction film appeared the following year. It proved to be a
Avatar, 3-D seemed to be the future of passing trend, and by 2017, no one wanted 3-D.
cinema. Electronics companies rushed to
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