1.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
2.
Alexandra Palace
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Alexandra Palace is a historic entertainment venue in Alexandra Park, London. It is located between Muswell Hill and Wood Green, in the north of the city and it was originally opened in 1873 but was rebuilt in 1875 following a destructive fire. It was designed to serve as a centre of recreation, education and entertainment. Intended as The Peoples Palace and later nicknamed Ally Pally, in 1936 it became the home of the worlds first regular public high-definition television service, operated by the BBC. Although other facilities soon superseded it after the war, Alexandra Palace continued to be used by the BBC for many years and its radio, the original studios A and B still survive in the south-east wing with their producers galleries and are used for exhibiting original historical television equipment. The original Victorian theatre with its stage machinery also survives, the theatre and stage structure is on English Heritages Buildings at Risk register. Alexandra Palace became a building in 1996, at the instigation of the Hornsey Historical Society. There is also a pub, ice rink and palm court, the Great Northern Palace Company had been established by 1860 but was initially unable to raise financing for the construction of The Palace of the People, as the project was initially called. The building stock was acquired from the 1862 International Exhibition held in South Kensington. Alexandra Park was opened to the public on 23 July 1863, however, the Palace of the People, or the Peoples Palace, remained as alternative names. In September 1865 construction commenced but to a design by John Johnson, the structure covers some 7.5 acres. In 1871 work started on a line to connect the site to Highgate station. Work on both the railway and the palace was completed in 1873 and, on 24 May of that year, Alexandra Palace, the palace was built by Lucas Brothers, who also built the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington at around the same time. Sims Reeves sang on the day before an audience of 102,000. Only 16 days later, Alexandra Palace was destroyed by a fire also killed three members of staff. Only the outer walls survived, a exhibition of a collection of English pottery and porcelain. With typical Victorian vigour, it was rebuilt and reopened on 1 May 1875. The new Alexandra Palace contained a hall, art galleries
3.
Master control
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Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a control room in television studios where the activities such as switching from camera to camera are coordinated. It is also different from the studio where the talent are located. A transmission control room is smaller in size and is a scaled down version of centralcasting. Master control is the point before a signal is transmitted over-the-air for terrestrial television or cablecast, satellite provider for broadcast. Master control is generally staffed with one or two master control operators around-the-clock, every day to ensure continuous operation, regulations include both technical ones, as well as content ones. Many television networks and radio networks or station groups have consolidated facilities, many other public and private broadcasters have taken a similar approach. Network Operations Center Central Apparatus Room Transmission Control Room Analog Master Control
4.
Video tape recorder
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A video tape recorder is a tape recorder designed to record video material on magnetic tape. The first practical tape recorder, using transverse tape head scanning, was developed by Ampex Corporation in 1956. The early VTRs were reel to reel devices which recorded on reels of 2 inch wide magnetic tape. They were used in studios, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock. Beginning in 1963, videotape machines made instant replay during televised sporting events possible, improved formats, in which the tape was contained inside a videocassette, were introduced around 1969, the machines which play them are called videocassette recorders. The first efforts at recording, using recorders similar to audio recorders with fixed heads, were unsuccessful. The problem was that a signal has a much wider bandwidth than an audio signal. One of the first efforts was the Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus and this machine used a thin steel tape on a 21-inch reel traveling at over 200 inches per second. Despite 10 years of research and improvements, it was never used due to the immense length of tape required for each minute of recorded video. Many other fixed-head recording systems were tried but all required impractically high tape speed and it became clear that practical video recording technology depended on finding some way of recording the wide-bandwidth video signal without the high tape speed required by linear-scan machines. The Ampex VRX-1000 became the worlds first commercially successful videotape recorder in 1956 and it used the 2 Quadruplex format, using two-inch tape. Because of its US$50,000 price, the Ampex VRX-1000 could be afforded only by the television networks and the largest individual stations. In 1963, Philips introduced its EL34001 helical scan recorder and Sony marketed the 2 PV-100, its first reel-to-reel VTR intended for business, medical, airline and educational use. The Telcan, produced by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and demonstrated on June 24,1963, was the first home video recorder and it could be bought as a unit or in kit form for £60. However, there were drawbacks, it was expensive, not easy to put together. The Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was its first VTR intended for use and was based on half-inch tape. Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with its own reel-to-reel monochrome VTRs priced under US $1,000 for the consumer market. Prerecorded movies for home replay became available in 1967, the EIAJ format was a standard half-inch format used by various manufacturers
5.
Glass cockpit
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A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than the traditional style of analog dials and gauges. This simplifies aircraft operation and navigation and allows pilots to focus only on the most pertinent information and they are also popular with airline companies as they usually eliminate the need for a flight engineer, saving costs. In recent years the technology has become available in small aircraft. As aircraft displays have modernized, the sensors that feed them have modernized as well, traditional gyroscopic flight instruments have been replaced by electronic attitude and heading reference systems and air data computers, improving reliability and reducing cost and maintenance. GPS receivers are usually integrated into glass cockpits, glass cockpits originated in military aircraft in the late 1960s and early 1970s, an early example is the Mark II avionics of the F-111D, which featured a multi-function display. Prior to the 1970s, air operations were not considered sufficiently demanding to require advanced equipment like electronic flight displays. Also, computer technology was not at a level where sufficiently light, the increasing complexity of transport aircraft, the advent of digital systems and the growing air traffic congestion around airports began to change that. The success of the NASA-led glass cockpit work is reflected in the acceptance of electronic flight displays beginning with the introduction of the MD-80 in 1979. Airlines and their passengers alike have benefited, the safety and efficiency of flights have been increased with improved pilot understanding of the aircrafts situation relative to its environment. By the end of the 1990s, liquid-crystal display panels were increasingly favored among aircraft manufacturers because of their efficiency, earlier LCD panels suffered from poor legibility at some viewing angles and poor response times, making them unsuitable for aviation. The glass cockpit has become standard equipment in airliners, business jets and it was fitted into NASAs Space Shuttle orbiters Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour, and the current Russian Soyuz TMA model spacecraft that was launched in 2002. By the end of the century glass cockpits began appearing in general aviation aircraft as well, in 2003, Cirrus Designs SR20 and SR22 became the first light aircraft equipped with glass cockpits, which they made standard on all Cirrus aircraft. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II features a panoramic cockpit display touchscreen that replaces most of the switches and toggles found in an aircraft cockpit and they look and behave very similarly to other computers, with windows and data that can be manipulated with point-and-click devices. They also add terrain, approach charts, weather, vertical displays, the improved concepts enable aircraft makers to customize cockpits to a greater degree than previously. All of the manufacturers involved have chosen to do so in one way or another—such as using a trackball, many of the modifications offered by the aircraft manufacturers improve situational awareness and customize the human-machine interface to increase safety. Modern glass cockpits might include Synthetic Vision or Enhanced Vision systems, Enhanced Vision systems add real-time information from external sensors, such as an infrared camera. All new airliners such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 787 and private jets such as Bombardier Global Express, many modern general aviation aircraft are available with glass cockpits. Systems such as the Garmin G1000 are now available on many new GA aircraft, many small aircraft can also be modified post-production to replace analogue instruments
6.
Vision mixer
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A vision mixer is a device used to select between several different video sources and in some cases compositing video sources together to create special effects. This is similar to what a mixing console does for audio, typically a vision mixer would be found in a video production environment such as a television studio, production truck, OB Van or linear video editing bay of a post-production facility. Besides hard cuts, mixers can also generate a variety of transitions, additionally, most vision mixers can perform keying operations and generate color signals. Most vision mixers are targeted at the market, with newer analog models having component video connections. Older professional mixers worked with video, analog signal inputs. There are still a number of consumer video switchers with composite video, S-Video or even FireWire available and these are often used for VJing, presentations, and small multi-camera productions. The most basic part of a mixer is a bus. On the panel, a bus is represented by a row of buttons, older video mixers had two equivalent buses, and one of these buses could be selected as the main out bus. Most modern mixers, however, have one bus that is always the program bus and these mixers are called flip-flop mixers, since the selected source of the preview and program buses can be exchanged. Some switchers allow the operator to switch between two modes. Both the preview and program bus usually have their own video monitors displaying the video selected in their respective buses, another main feature of a vision mixer is the transition lever, also called a T-bar or Fader Bar. This lever, similar to a fader, is used to transition between two buses. Note that in a mixer, the position of the main transition lever does not indicate which bus is active. Instead of moving the lever by hand, a button can be used, another button, usually labeled cut or take, swaps the preview signal to the program signal instantaneously. The type of transition used can be selected in the transition section, common transitions include dissolves and pattern wipes. A third bus used for compositing is the key bus, a mixer can have more than one key bus, but often they share only one set of buttons. Here, one signal can be selected for keying over the program bus, the digital on-screen graphic image that will be seen in the program is called the fill, while the mask used to cut the keys translucence is called the source. This source, e. g. chrominance, luminance, pattern or split, note that instead of the key bus, other video sources can be selected for the fill signal, but the key bus is usually the most convenient method for selecting a key fill
7.
Mixing console
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In the 2010s, a mixer is able to control analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer. The modified signals are summed to produce the output signals. A typical, simple application combines signals from two microphones into an amplifier that drives one set of speakers simultaneously, a DJ mixer may have only two channels, for mixing two record players. A coffeehouses tiny stage might only have a six channel mixer, a nightclub stages mixer for rock music shows may have 24 channels for mixing the signals from a rhythm section, lead guitar and several vocalists. A mixing console for a large concert may have 48 channels, a mixing console in a professional recording studio may have as many as 96 channels. In practice, mixers do more than simply mix signals, some mixers have onboard electronic effects, such as reverb. Some mixers intended for small venue live performance applications may include a power amplifier. A mixing console is also known as a mixer, audio console, mixing desk, sound mixer, sound board. A typical analog mixing board has three sections, Channel inputs Master controls Audio level metering The channel input strips are usually a bank of identical monaural or stereo input channels. Each channel has rotary knobs, buttons and/or faders for controlling the gain, the master control section is used to adjust the levels of the overall output of the mixer. The master control section has sub-group faders, master faders, master auxiliary mixing bus level controls, in addition it may have solo monitoring controls, a stage talk-back microphone control, muting controls and an output matrix mixer. On smaller mixers the inputs are on the left of the mixing board, in larger mixers, the master controls are in the center with input faders and channel strips on both sides. The audio level meters may be above the input and master sections or they may be integrated into the input, the audio level meters indicate when the signals are clipping. Each signal that is plugged into the mixer has its own channel, depending on the specific mixer, each channel is stereo or monaural. On most mixers, each channel has an XLR input, the smallest, least expensive mixers may only have one XLR input with the other inputs being line inputs. These can be used by a singer-guitarist or other small acts, below each input, there are usually several rotary controls. The first knob is typically a trim or gain control, the inputs buffer the signal from the external device and this controls the amount of amplification or attenuation needed to bring the signal to a nominal level for processing. This stage is where most noise of interference is picked up, balanced inputs and connectors, such as XLR or phone connectors, reduce interference problems
8.
Television set
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A television set, more commonly called a television, TV, TV set, television receiver, or telly, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers for the purpose of viewing television. Introduced in the late 1920s in mechanical form, television became a popular consumer product after World War II in electronic form. The addition of color to broadcast television after 1953 further increased the popularity of television sets in the 1960s, the ubiquitous television set became the display device for the first recorded media in the 1970s, such as Betamax, VHS and later DVD. It was also the display device for the first generation of home computers, in the 2010s flat panel television incorporating liquid-crystal displays, especially LED-backlit LCDs, largely replaced cathode ray tubes and other displays. Modern flat panel TVs are typically capable of display and can also play content from a USB device. Mechanical televisions were sold from 1928 to 1934 in the United Kingdom, United States. The Baird Televisor is considered the first mass-produced television, selling about a thousand units, the first commercially made electronic televisions with cathode ray tubes were manufactured by Telefunken in Germany in 1934, followed by other makers in France, Britain, and America. The cheapest model with a 12-inch screen was $445, an estimated 19,000 electronic televisions were manufactured in Britain, and about 1,600 in Germany, before World War II. About 7, 000–8,000 electronic sets were made in the U. S. before the War Production Board halted manufacture in April 1942, production resuming in August 1945. While only 0. 5% of U. S. households had a television in 1946,55. 7% had one in 1954, and 90% by 1962. In Britain, there were 15,000 television households in 1947,1.4 million in 1952, by the late 1960s and early 1970s, color television had come into wide use. In Britain, BBC1, BBC2 and ITV were regularly broadcasting in colour by 1969, during the first decade of the 21st century, CRT picture tube display technology was almost entirely supplanted worldwide by flat panel displays. By the early 2010s, LCD TVs, which increasingly used LED-backlit LCDs, television sets may employ one of several available display technologies. The production of plasma and CRT displays has been almost completely discontinued, the cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the beam onto the screen to create the images. The images may represent electrical waveforms, pictures, radar targets or others, the CRT uses an evacuated glass envelope which is large, deep, fairly heavy, and relatively fragile. As a matter of safety, the face is made of thick lead glass so as to be highly shatter-resistant and to block most X-ray emissions. In television sets and computer monitors, the front area of the tube is scanned repetitively and systematically in a fixed pattern called a raster
9.
Intercom
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An intercom, talkback or doorphone is a stand-alone voice communications system for use within a building or small collection of buildings, functioning independently of the public telephone network. Intercoms are generally mounted permanently in buildings and vehicles, Intercoms can incorporate connections to public address loudspeaker systems, walkie talkies, telephones, and to other intercom systems. Some intercom systems incorporate control of such as signal lights. There are simple house intercoms and intercoms developed for collective apartments, some are equipped with video, and its wiring, can be connected to the outside with few pairs while controlling an electric strike. The last generations are compatible with computers and some models include TCP/IP. Video signals can be carried as well as voice, digital intercom stations can be connected using Cat 5 cable and can even use existing computer networks as a means of interfacing distant parties. Many schools and office buildings now use audio / video systems to identify visitors trying to access to a locked building. Besides fixed locations, intercom systems are used on many types of vehicles including trains, watercraft, aircraft, portable intercoms are commonly used by special event production crews and professional sports teams. Performing arts venues such as theaters and concert halls often have a combination of permanently mounted, motorsports race tracks often have both portable and permanent intercom stations mounted at critical points around the racecourse for use by race officials and emergency medical technicians. Master Station or Base Station – These are units that can control the system, i. e. initiate a call with any of the stations and make announcements over the whole system. Sub-station - Units that are capable of initiating a call with a Master Station. Door Station - Like sub-stations, these units are capable of initiating a call to a Master Station. Intercom Station - Full-featured remote unit that is capable of initiating and receiving party-line conversation, individual conversation, may be rack-mounted, wall-mounted or portable. Wall Mount Station – fixed-position intercom station with built-in loudspeaker, may have flush-mounted microphone, hand-held push to talk microphone or telephone-style handset. Belt Pack - portable intercom station worn on the such as an interruptible feedback with an earpiece worn by talent. Handset - permanent or portable telephone-style connection to an intercom station, holds both an earpiece and a push to talk microphone. Headset - portable intercom connection from a pack to one or both ears via headphones with integrated microphone on a boom arm. Paging Signal - An audible and/or visual alert at an intercom station, power Supply - Used to feed power to all units
10.
Signal generator
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A signal generator is an electronic device that generates repeating or non-repeating electronic signals in either the analog or the digital domain. It is generally used in designing, testing, troubleshooting, and repairing electronic or electroacoustic devices, there are many different types of signal generators with different purposes and applications and at varying levels of expense. These types include function generators, RF and microwave signal generators, pitch generators, arbitrary waveform generators, digital pattern generators, in general, no device is suitable for all possible applications. Traditionally, signal generators have been embedded hardware units, but since the age of multimedia PCs, a function generator is a device which produces simple repetitive waveforms. Such devices contain an electronic oscillator, a circuit that is capable of creating a repetitive waveform, the most common waveform is a sine wave, but sawtooth, step, square, and triangular waveform oscillators are commonly available as are arbitrary waveform generators. An arbitrary waveform generator is a signal generator that generates arbitrary waveforms within published limits of frequency range, accuracy. Unlike a function generator that produces a set of specific waveforms. An AWG is generally more expensive than a generator and often has less bandwidth. An AWG is used in design and test applications. New high-speed DACs provide up to 16-bit resolution at sample rates in excess of 1 GS/s and these devices provide the foundation for an AWG with the bandwidth and dynamic range to address modern radio and communication applications. Example applications include commercial wireless standards such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE, also, broad modulation bandwidth allows multi-carrier signal generation, necessary for testing receiver adjacent channel rejection. RF and microwave signal generators normally have similar features and capabilities, RF signal generators typically range from a few kHz to 6 GHz, while microwave signal generators cover a much wider frequency range, from less than 1 MHz to at least 20 GHz. Some models go as high as 70 GHz with a direct coaxial output, RF and microwave signal generators can be classified further as analog or vector signal generators. Analog signal generators based on a sine-wave oscillator were common before the inception of digital electronics, there was a sharp distinction in purpose and design of radio-frequency and audio-frequency signal generators. RF RF signal generators are capable of producing CW tones, the output frequency can usually be tuned anywhere in their frequency range. Many models offer various types of modulation, either as standard equipment or as an optional capability to the base unit. This could include AM, FM, ΦM and pulse modulation, another common feature is a built-in attenuator which makes it possible to vary the signal’s output power. Depending on the manufacturer and model, output powers can range from -135 to +30 dBm, a wide range of output power is desirable, since different applications require different amounts of signal power
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