The Re-emergence of Mechanical TV Techniques
Today, a mechanical system of a sort has seen moderate popularity. Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors use an array of tiny (16 μm²) electrostatically-actuated mirrors selectively reflecting a light source to create an image. Many low-end DLP systems also use a color wheel to provide a sequential color image, a common feature of many early color television systems before the shadow mask CRT provided a practical method for producing a simultaneous color image.
Another place where high-quality imagery is produced by opto-mechanics is the laser printer, where a small rotating mirror is used to deflect a modulated laser beam in one axis while the motion of the photoconductor provides the motion in the other axis. A modification of such a system using high power lasers is used in laser video projectors, with resolutions as high as 1024 lines and each line containing >1500 points. Such systems produce, arguably, the best quality video images. They are used, for instance, in planetariums.
The closest modern systems to the original mechanical scan camera is the long wave infrared cameras used in military applications such as giving fighter pilots night vision. These cameras use a high sensitivity infrared photo receptor (usually cooled to increase sensitivity), but instead of disks of lenses, these systems use rotating prisms to provide a 525 or 625 line standard video output. The optical parts are made from germanium, because glass is opaque at the wavelengths involved. These cameras have found a new role in sporting events where they are able to show (for example) where a ball has struck a bat.
Laser lighting display techniques are combined with computer emulation in the LaserMAME project. It is a vector-based system, unlike the raster displays thus-far described. Laser light reflected from computer-controlled mirrors traces out images generated by classic arcade software which is executed by a specially modified version of the MAME emulation software.
Read more about this topic: Mechanical Television
Famous quotes containing the words mechanical and/or techniques:
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“It is easy to lose confidence in our natural ability to raise children. The true techniques for raising children are simple: Be with them, play with them, talk to them. You are not squandering their time no matter what the latest child development books say about “purposeful play” and “cognitive learning skills.””
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)