For the average person, even a regular TV set is something of a technological marvel. When you think about the latest and greatest innovations, like the plasma TV, it's almost hard to believe. Take a quick look at how the technology we use every day came to be.
People started having TVs in their homes as early as the 1950s, but it wasn't until the 1960s that everyone had one. People were suddenly able to watch historic events, get the latest news, and spend hours being entertained.
In the early days of TV, audio and video were sent through an analogue signal that turned into a picture on a home TV set. The first home TVs had tubes that took a long time to heat up enough to show a picture. The analogue signal often gave out blurry pictures that could disappear completely in different situations. Usually, a home had an antenna, which was either on top of the TV set or outside the house. Changing how that antenna is set up could help the picture come in better.
Since the early days of TV, many things have changed. Digital signals with high definition are becoming more common, but analogue signals are still used.
Surprisingly, there have always been experiments and improvements going on, and many of them have been on the drawing boards for a long time before they reach the public. In the case of plasma TVs, the idea has been around almost as long as video technology. In 1964, a college professor and a student worked together to make the first plasma screen. Even though the idea was good, the high-end TV set wasn't possible with the signal technology of the time. After all, there wasn't much point in having a screen that could make a picture better than what the TV stations could send.
The goal of that early development wasn't to help the television business. Instead, it was to show information in a classroom setting. When the TV industry started looking for newer, better technology to replace the tube-style TVs that were common in the 1960s, plasma was briefly considered. In the end, the more practical idea was to use TV screens with liquid display screens, and it would be a long time before the plasma TV idea was thought of again.
