The Rise and Fall of Teletext

this video was made possible by morningbro does your remote control have this button if you press it you will see teletext an additional layer to classic linear tv while teletext never existed in some countries and has been outdated in others years ago it is still popular in many places today and it is a fascinating example of a technology that despite groundbreaking changes in other areas of media consumption has remained this unchanged zombie from a different time this is the story of teletext telotex was inspired by the technical possibilities of the time as it was made possible by utilizing a gap in the transmission of the television signal crt television sets work using an electron gun that shoots out a beam of electrons towards a screen these electrons can be aimed precisely using a magnetic field resulting in a directed beam that scans across the screen as it does so the intensity of the beam varies and since the electrons make the phosphor screen light up accordingly an image is produced there are different types of broadcasting formats around the world in the uk where teletex was invented pal was used which changes the image 25 times per second creating the illusion of movement what we call video this pal system uses 625 lines horizontally however only 576 lines are actually used to transmit the image the remaining lines the invisible gap so to say is used by the television to prepare itself to receive the next image in the 1970s the idea of using this gap in order to provide viewers with additional information that would complement television arose in the united kingdom the publicly funded bbc was interested in using such a system in order to provide subtitles for their program and in 1974 the station adopted cfags the world's first teletext the viewer can select certain pages by entering numbers on the remote control the technology is limited to a certain number of pages from the main page 100 to a maximum of 899 the system became a huge success and gradually more countries started adapting this new british invention which the uk was quite proud of britain is far ahead of the rest of the world in this business of teletext that is providing written information such as news weather sports results or even special pictures on our home tv screens a recent survey showed that 98 of all teletext and view data installations throughout the world use british technology and that's something we can all be very proud of within a decade almost every television model available came with the option of having a decoder that is used to receive teletext while in the early days of teletext various different systems coexisted such as antio text in france which was developed parallel to cfx all different systems could eventually be standardized to world system teletext clearing the way for the colorful decades of teletext to begin at a time when personal computers at homes were still far from widespread teletext already allowed people to quickly access information such as up-to-date stock prices the weather forecast all sorts of sports results and live tickers as well as departure and arrival information from the local airports but especially tuna tax became popular for following current news events the us chemical waste will be processed in south wales providing there is no abnormal risk says mr shaw hmm that's going to be interesting instead of waiting for news shows to appear on television or a radio you could follow the latest up-to-date news a new way to consume as the user of teletext was an active determiner of the content that is shown on the screen clicking from page to page at their own pace and news reports came in much faster than people were used to which sometimes resulted in a few more errors as well stanley good morning what's your question please well i'm a bit amazed at the spelling and grammatical errors that occur well everybody makes spelling mistakes you have to face the fact that our sports news is incredibly fast it's going on over here at the moment so it's my friend there in the pink shirt whose fault it is if there's a mistake is it well well that's kevin and he's typing it in now and if he makes a mistake mr bradshaw though the internet works by a computer sending requests to receive information the transmission of teletext is linked to the television picture since only a small amount of data fits into each individual blanking interval the pages are transmitted in an endless loop so if you as a viewer want to look at a certain teletext page you may have to wait a while until the data is transmitted via the television signal sometimes that can take a long time more modern devices on the other hand have memory built in which continuously saves all the pages in the background which in turn enables quick selection teletext is not a pure text medium broadcasters also use the technology to display graphics with a very unique look tilt x has a fixed number of columns and rows in which characters are displayed in addition to the usual text characters there are also block characters by combining these blocks graphics can be displayed the images shown are therefore always made up of a mosaic of characters and a lot of skill is required to achieve recognizable images using this technique this process may also be reminiscent of so-called text art which later became popular in chat groups on the internet in addition to the latest news teletex is also used to provide additional information about the program for example what show is on next and it can even be an additional source of income for tv stations oftentimes competitions and lotteries are advertised in which viewers can take part via sms individual pages are also sold off as complete advertising space sometimes used by larger corporations oftentimes used by telephone erotic hotlines some broadcasters also allow viewers to have their own text messages displayed on teletext by them sending an sms to a number that charges them a fee used by people to greet their friends send romantic messages to their partners advertise their own business or share anything else with the world in addition to the content increasing in variety teletex technology was also further developed teletext level 1.5 allowed the reception of additional characters for other languages as well as more special characters and with teletext 2.5 the color palette was increased to now offer 4016 different colors and the resolution of the image content is significantly higher which is primarily used by tv stations for their logos however this standard is not particularly widespread for a number of different reasons on one hand for pages with complex high resolution content it is necessary to transmit the data over several passes through the television signals which can further lengthen the waiting times for each page in addition the teletext can only be received with a corresponding new decoder which is why it is necessary to also keep broadcasting the graphics with the lower resolution in order to guarantee a proper display on any tv set old or new teletex was most successful in europe where in some countries virtually every tv channel had its own teletech service but in countries outside europe the technology didn't spread as easily in the united states for example nbc and cbs began offering teletext in 1984 however they did not rely on the world system teletech standard used in europe but rather use their own new standard nabts this system from the start was able to display much more detailed graphics such as the station logos the disadvantage however was that a special decoder was necessary which was significantly more expansive than those used in europe in addition the television manufacturers only offered these decoders in those places where the broadcasters already offered teletext which in turn meant that neither television manufacturers nor broadcasters were willing to take the first step later some stations started further attempts this time using the british standard for example elektra teletext which was broadcasted by various u.s tv stations for 12 years ultimately however it didn't prevail the fcc an agency regulating television in the us mended that by 1993 new tv sets sold needed to be able to display closed captions tv manufacturers therefore included closed caption decoders and teletext decoding was scrapped a decline in the use of teletext can also be seen in many countries where teletex once was very popular after two very successful decades for teletext a difficult time of change began [Music] over the course of the 1990s the internet began to make its way into private households on a large scale from the beginning it also competed with teletext over which the internet was technically clearly superior and at the turn of the millennium not only did the internet lead to digitization but television would also be brought into a new era in what is perhaps the biggest transformation in the history of television nations worldwide started transitioning from analog broadcasting to digital tv a piece of broadcasting history is about to be made here the rest of the uk is going to follow suit and by 2012 the whole of the united kingdom will have gone digital the switchover was necessary at a time when modern workflows in video and sound are completely digitized and it made it possible for people to receive a greater number of different tv programs which could be transmitted in better quality for digital tv a lower frequency range is necessary with the shutdown of analog transmission those frequencies could then be used for 4g internet as time consuming as the switchover was it made it possible for television to further develop in many different ways the long-existing hd standard was finally able to really become the norm and stations developed alternatives to teletext that offered more capabilities it is possible to continue teletext even if the mode of transmission were to change but for many broadcasters it seemed much more appropriate to use this digital transition in order to bury this outdated technology as well the bbc fully replaced cfx with its red button service a more capable digital version of the same idea with a design that isn't as limited when the last analog signal in the uk was switched off in northern ireland on october 23 2012 cfax the world's first teletext also ended its service after 38 years of operation analog television has seen many technological advances and additions since the days of baird and marconi now though we enter a new era of broadcasting as this becomes a fully digital uk from the analog bbc television service good night and goodbye [Music] in this digital age many people seem to find a new appreciation and awareness for the unique look and feel of teletext in an effort to save teletex in the uk fans of the discontinued bbc cfx have even created their own crowdsourced version called tfx which can be accessed using a raspberry pi computer that feeds the signal to any home tv though these enthusiast projects are all that's left in the home country of teletext in many other european countries teletex has actually survived the digital transformation it is transmitted digitally through cable or even using the internet for the growing number of people that receive television through iptv really there's no technical reason to keep this blocky look to not expand what teletext can do but the mixed reception of teletech's alternatives has shown that many people don't want teletext to change since teletex has survived the big disruptions of the digital switchover in so many countries what really should stop it and fans of teletext have even created artwork using it in order to advocate for the artistic value in teletext the international teletex art festival was launched which cooperates with the public broadcasters in austria germany and finland the broadcasters made certain pages of their tel text available for this special festival which every television viewer could attend at home in addition artists created live teletext art as part of an exhibition in linz which was projected onto large screens visitors could also take part in this exhibition themselves and create their own artwork teletex has made it into the digital age without even having to adapt some broadcasters even offer their teletex content available on web browsers and apps but they still display it in this mock-up design of the original teletext because that's what people expect and i think there's something to be learned from this popularity technical limitations can often appear as a hindrance for designers that limits the experience that they can create for us consumers [Music] but i think that teletext is a good example that if the constraints of a medium are truly embraced the result can be a unique visual language that fits extraordinary well more technical possibilities can lead to new ways for designers and artists to express themselves but it's not the only way technical limitations also can inspire creativity when it comes to my appreciation of teletext a lot of nostalgia may have played a role but i think it still can be interesting to look at these technology cycles when teletext was introduced personal computers were not present in households but teletext was a precursor of a near future in which information could be accessed in real time and today this future has come and teletext is attracting a renewed interest for its aesthetic from artists such as dan fairmont who says to me it will always represent the future specifically that predicted by countless 80s scitec films and tv shows though they might not have been 100 correct teletex does continue to thrive as a counterpart to the internet while teltex changed the way we consume information 40 years ago today there are also new ways to stay better informed about what goes on in the world for example every morning i check out the short daily briefing by this video sponsor morning brew how it works is you register once completely free and from then on receive an email every morning which contains a well-researched overview of what's happening in the fields of business technology and other news especially when it comes to business news in the past i found it quite difficult to keep myself in the loop and follow developments with morning brews newsletter i know what goes on at the moment and over time i found that i was more aware of bigger changes and trends best of all morning brew is completely free so all you have to do is click on the link in the description enter an email address and you're set from then on not only do you support my channel for free you also get the fantastic daily news overview to stay well informed

Channel: neo

Views: 8,310

Rating: 4.9615383 out of 5

Keywords: Ceefax, Teletext, Teefax, BBC, Television, Signal, Explained, Why, How, Blanking interval, Oracle, Analog, Digital, Switchover, Documentary, Tv

Id: Aq97tTeGl14

Length: 18min 7sec (1087 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021

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