Ever since the recording and transmission of sound and video occurred the television industry, which since 1936 had not changed, the Canadian broadcast system (CRTC) opted to adopt a full digital transmission system (Aug. 31 2011).
This world wide adoption of digital transmission opened the floodgates for innovation and seemingly unending updates and innovations in this new digital world. Along the way there were casualties. Companies that were once household icons for quality and innovation like RCA and Zenith that were slow to recognize the changing market were quickly gobbled up by new, lean competitors like Samsung and LG. These companies not only bought the brand names of these companies, they also bought the research and design divisions of these innovative companies. With any technological improvements now in their “stable” these old brand names were discarded (sold) to lesser manufacturers in emerging markets, like China that use these trade names to enter into the North American marketplace. RCA TV’s that are available today are NOT what they used to be. Even the once most recognized name in consumer television (SONY) has announced that they are getting out of the television manufacturing business!
Through all of these changes the industry has not stood still. Driven by the new players in the electronics market who require these changes to drive more sales, the initial proposed standards for high definition recording and broadcasting that were conceived in the 1990’s, have been superseded by the new UHD (Ultra High Definition) standard that was finalized and released to manufacturers on November of 2013.
What that means to the consuming public I will address in my next post.