Early Colour

[cbenham]

Originally Posted by rpm1200

I recognized those pictures from this 1997 American Heritage of Invention and Technology magazine article: http://www.earlytelevision.org/pdf/color_wars.pdf
(They are used on the front and back covers of the magazine.)

What is not mentioned in the article is that RCA tried very hard but could not successfully make a 21 inch color CRT. The article does not point out where the 21 inch color CRT came from. It did not come from RCA.

CBS, in 1954, invented and patented the CBS Colortron which is the 19 inch tube that made the 205 possible.

RCA very quietly bought a manufacturing license from CBS and made a 21 inch version of the CBS Colortron. RCA and other manufacturers continued to pay royalties to CBS for the rights to build the 21AXP22 through 1967.

Also, Sarnoff was so firmly determined to make color television compatible that he overlooked the unintended consequence of his desire:
People with B&W sets could watch color programs without spending $$$$ to
see it. The result of compatibility is that the uptake for color dragged on for 20 years before all the networks were broadcasting full time in color and the sales of color sets took over 10 years to reach the goal Sarnoff had set in 1954.
RCA was gone by the late 1980s.
CBS is still here.
I wonder, who really won the color war?