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The Fernseh AG television camera in actual operation at the Stadium.
Great preparations were made in connection with the Olympic Games to demonstrate to the public the progress which television had made.
The German Post Office provided a number of viewing rooms with the intention that the public should have the opportunity of watching the events through the new medium. Twenty-five viewing rooms to accommodate thirty to forty persons were established, and two theatres, one to hold 100 and another accommodating 300 persons. There were, in addition, other facilities at various points outside Berlin. The transmissions were made from the Witzleben television transmitter, with 180 line definition, 25 frames, and the accompanying sound.
A Telefunken cathode-ray projection receiver was set up in the smaller theatre whilst a receiver operating on the intermediate film system was installed in the large theatre. But results were extremely disappointing. The pictures were so poor and the average results so far below ordinary television broadcasts that even the most sympathetic members of the audience turned away. The attempt to televise the opening ceremony gave onlookers only a suggestion of shadowy and distorted forms, and the only things which came out reasonably clearly were the inscriptions on white placards carried in front of each national team in the march past. Even here the results were assisted by the announcements by a television commentator who kept saying, 'Now you see . . . .' but it was seldom that his audience could see anything identifiable.
On Sunday, the first actual day of the Games, the weather continued dull and the quality of they pictures showed no improvement. On Tuesday, the third day, the performance in the large theatre was abandoned after a long delay and the audience told that a fault in the apparatus had developed, although the engineers said good results were obtained earlier.
The projection receiver, too, was often out of use because it merely aggravated the appearance of defects with the enlargement produced by projection. In the evening, however, good results were obtained from studio transmissions.
On Wednesday, the fourth day of the Games, the scanning television cameras were still giving very shadowy pictures. The transmission of intermediate film pictures provided a pleasant change. These pictures were contrasty and quite clear, but showed a certain amount of distortion. From a film point of view they would be termed 'hard', as they showed little gradation.
Later in the week the engineers appeared to get used to their apparatus, and the men in charge at the receiving end (who were quite new to the work owing to the sudden increase in the number of public rooms from ten to twenty-seven) became more used to managing the sets in their charge.
I was able to witness an exciting game of water polo on the Telefunken large screen projection receiver (cathode ray). This was being transmitted by a television camera constructed by the Post Office engineers. The 180 line definition was unfortunately not sufficient to give great detail, but it sufficed to enable me to discern the players' caps, their movements, and the movements of the ball. Contrast was good. The question of contrast seems to be the most difficult, next to synchronisation, when using 'electric eyes'.
These television cameras are liable to give 'flat' pictures when the sky is clouded over. In Berlin three types are used: German Post Office and Telefunken examples of the Iconoscope, and the Fernseh AGs television camera, which operates with secondary emission amplification, and belongs to the family of Farnsworth-type cameras.
The intermediate film transmissions unfortunately gave badly distorted sound. It will be remembered that with this system there is a certain time lag so that sound has also to be recorded, the rapid developing; fixing and drying processes to which the film is submitted appear to impair the sound track.
It seems unfortunate that, in view of the poor demonstrations on the first days, the German Post Office should not have made it abundantly clear to the audiences how unreliable and experimental in character the results might be. This might have prepared them for the disappointment which was keenly felt by everyone present who had been attracted by the enthusiastic announcements which had been made in the Press.
A Telefunken camera photographing the finish of the 100 metre course.
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