1963
PAL colour television system demonstrated
German television engineer Walter Bruch, working at Telefunken in Hannover, demonstrates the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) colour television system for the first time.
PAL was developed to overcome the colour errors that could occur with the American NTSC system. By reversing the phase of part of the colour signal on alternate television lines, errors in colour hue could largely cancel out at the receiver.
PAL became one of the world's major analogue colour television systems. In Britain, PAL was subsequently adopted for the 625-line colour television system, with regular colour broadcasting beginning on BBC2 in July 1967.
The system became particularly significant to British home computing because computers such as the ZX Spectrum were designed to produce a television-compatible PAL colour signal. The Spectrum's ULA generated the colour information required for a PAL television, allowing an ordinary domestic television to be used as its display.
Image: Philips PM5544 colour test pattern (Public Domain) — illustrative image of PAL television technology; the PM5544 was developed later in the 1960s and is not an image of the 1963 PAL demonstration.
PAL was developed to overcome the colour errors that could occur with the American NTSC system. By reversing the phase of part of the colour signal on alternate television lines, errors in colour hue could largely cancel out at the receiver.
PAL became one of the world's major analogue colour television systems. In Britain, PAL was subsequently adopted for the 625-line colour television system, with regular colour broadcasting beginning on BBC2 in July 1967.
The system became particularly significant to British home computing because computers such as the ZX Spectrum were designed to produce a television-compatible PAL colour signal. The Spectrum's ULA generated the colour information required for a PAL television, allowing an ordinary domestic television to be used as its display.
Image: Philips PM5544 colour test pattern (Public Domain) — illustrative image of PAL television technology; the PM5544 was developed later in the 1960s and is not an image of the 1963 PAL demonstration.
