Unlike most other inventions, no single person invented the television. In fact, it was a compilation of inventions perfected by intense competition.
This is a trend that’s still continuous to this day, as innovators – such as LG – continue to rewrite history and improve the design of TV.
However, the roots of the television can be traced back to early 1920s, when a number of scientists began experimenting with sending still images using radio waves – but it wasn’t until the late 1920s when the idea of a device that could broadcast moving images was conceived.
Cathode ray tubes
The first commercially available televisions consisted of cathode ray tube (CRT) technology. The way in which CRT worked was it had a vacuum tube that contained one or more electron guns and a fluorescent screen, which was used to view images. The tube would accelerate and deflect the electron beams onto the screen to create the images.
Naturally, the technology progressed to the point where colour televisions were created using metamerism: the principle that any colour of the human eye can be reproduced by combining the effects of the three primary colours (red, blue and green).
Liquid-crystal display
The invention of liquid-crystal display (LCD) not only allowed for thinner and flatter panels, but it changed the way that televisions worked. Gone was the CRT technology of the past, as it was replaced by the light modulating properties of liquid crystals, which possess the properties of both conventional liquid and solid crystal.
Plasma
Similar to LCD, plasma was created for thinner and flatter panels. However, the technology is significantly different from LCDs and was considered an improvement due to the capability of producing deeper blacks and wider viewing angles. With plasma, the basic idea is that the display has to illuminate tiny coloured fluorescent lights to form an image. Each pixel is individually lit, which results in the image being brighter.
Organic light-emitting diode
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology surpasses the quality offered by LED, LCD and plasma technology and sets the new standard for TV.
OLED is made from organic (carbon-based) materials that emit light when electricity is applied to them. An OLED display works without a backlight, meaning it can display deeper blacks and is much thinner and lighter than an LCD display and that, in low light conditions, an OLED display achieves a higher contrast ratio than LCD.
LG’s Curved OLED TV, for example, does not rely on complex LCD structures, but employs LG’s proprietary WRGB technology to produce exceptionally vivid, realistic images. The four-colour pixels (as opposed to the usual three-colour pixels in most televisions) light themselves, resulting in an exceptional viewing experience with natural colour and absolute motion clarity.
The future of television design is set to rapidly develop and reach new frontiers. Recently, LG unveiled a paper thin, 18-inch television prototype that can be rolled up. The panel has almost one million megapixels and can be rolled up without affecting its high-definition display. Undoubtedly, this is an innovation that will set off a chain of events that will change the shape of television forever.
