Teletext

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[Jeffhs]

Teletext must not have been very popular. I had a TV years ago (in the 1980s, IIRC) which could decode teletext information carried on a TV signal's vertical interval, but I never saw anything with the decoder enabled. (None of the local TV stations in Cleveland, as far as I knew at the time, were carrying teletext either.) I also found out, shortly thereafter, that Atlanta's WTBS-TV was transmitting teletext on a subcarrier, but again I didn't see anything with my set's teletext decoder activated. This leads me to believe the service was purely experimental; the TV station probably had no intention of activating it full time.

[zeno]

The only teletext I remember in the states was sent by WTBS Atlanta Ga.
It was carried on most CATV systems. It was built in to Zenith
"digital system 3" line of TV's. They also had a printer option. It worked
well & showed the future but the internet prevailed.

BTW "Digital System 3" sets were NTSC sets that were digitally processed.
They used a chip set from ITT. Toshiba, Panasonic, NEC & probably MGA
sold them in the US. Zenith by far sold the most. I only remember
one NEC, maybe 6 Toshibas & training on Panasonic sets.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

[old_tv_nut]

There were a few attempts at businesses based on Teletext. One was listing freight hauling jobs for independent truck owners. The idea was that teletext capable sets would be installed in large truck stops. WTBS did some experimental consumer stuff, but the audience was so small that the operator would be elated if they could get someone to call them to suggest what they would like to see on the service. WGN in Chicago broadcast teletext in cooperation with Zenith. They even had a page titled "Test for Gary," who was a Zenith engineer that worked on Teletext. It was filled with a string of alternating characters that generated the worst possible clock signal for decoding.

[ppppenguin]

Teletext was common in the UK. A few years after it was invented almost all TVs had an internal decoder. The BBC called it "Ceefax". It ended in the UK when analogue TV was switched off in 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceefax

Sometimes fragments of teletext can be recovered from VHS recordings. Not reliable due to limited bandwidth.

Viewdata used related technology over phone lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewdata Used heavily by travel agents.

In France they used Minitel extensively in pre-internet days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

[Chip Chester]

In the world of analog closed captioning, there was caption channel 1,2,3 4, and Text channels 1 and 2. All of them were required to have data related to the specific program being aired at the time. So although Text could display up to 15 lines of 32 characters each, it couldn't be advertisements for the local car wash. Program information was fine, though.

I don't think Teletext had that limitation, though I never saw it in action stateside.

There was another vertical-interval data service called, I think, Wink TV. It would broadcast URL links (within commercials) that could be embedded somewhere in Line21 caption data (Possibly XDS, station information zone). It was to be recovered with some sort of set-top box which would then display website info, either from the station, cable, or modem -- don't remember which. I recall this because some of my caption software could embed these links. Never had a customer with the need.

[ChrisW6ATV]

In about 1984-85, TV channel 36 (KICU) was transmitting Teletext in the San Francisco area, and maybe one other station as well here. Dick Smith Electronics had some stores in the USA at that time, and they had a teletext decoder kit for US$100, I remember.

Also at that time, I worked in San Francisco Airport, and there were a few video kiosks where you could see airport information, weather information, and maybe other data. This information was Teletext data, and you could call up specific pages on the keypad if you knew their number from on screen. You might have to wait 10-15 seconds or more for your page to appear from the Teletext data stream.