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July 1966 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Forest H. Belt's 1966
editorial envisions a near-future where families experience immersive,
wide-screen 3D television with stereophonic sound, painting a vivid scene of
viewers reacting to life-sized, hyper-realistic action. Though fictional, the
scenario is grounded in emerging tech: holographic projection, multi-signal
channel transmission, and FCC-reviewed stereo-TV proposals already exist in
prototype stages. Belt acknowledges technical hurdles - merging 3D, color, and
wide-screen formats requires redesigning signals and receivers - but argues
innovation is inevitable. He cites color TV and stereo FM, once deemed
impractical, as proof the industry will push boundaries. The editorial
challenges manufacturers to pioneer this "worthy hurdle," teasing a race to
dominate next-gen entertainment. Belt's tone blends speculative fiction with
confident optimism, framing immersive TV not as fantasy but as the logical next
leap in electronic media, driven by the same ingenuity that transformed past
"impossible" ideas into household standards.
What's Next for Television?
 By Forest H. Belt, Editor
In a slightly darkened room overlooking Central Park in the center of Manhattan,
three people - a large man, his wife, and their teenage daughter - sit gazing at
the dim glow of a huge television screen. To call it huge is no exaggeration; the
screen stretches 13 feet across one entire wall of the room.
Near the left side of the wide, wide picture, a doorknob clicks and all three
watch the door squeak open on slightly rusty hinges as a hero-type undercover agent
slips into the room, stops, looks around, and then nods to a partner waiting in
the hallway behind him.
The watching wife suddenly "coo's" involuntarily, for her ear has caught the
metallic rustle of drapes; the eyes of the trio shift in the direction of the sound
- to the extreme right side of the room, where a TV-screen villain is silhouetted
behind the drapes, waiting for the two spies. So far, the spies haven't spotted
the trap they're walking into, and the three TV-watchers hiss warnings at them.
As if in answer to the ringside warnings, the leader stops, signals his companion
to silence, draws a long-barreled little pistol, and takes a cautious step toward
the two shoes he now sees sticking out below the curtain. A violent movement of
the drapes, a "vvvtt" as the little gun spurts from the left side of the room, a
tinkling of glass on the right as the bullet narrowly misses its mark and shatters
its way through the plate-glass picture window. The figures merge at the center,
scuffle noisily there. A loud thud - and one lively body disentangles itself from
the melee and retreats hurriedly out the door at the left. Fading foot-steps are
heard echoing down the corridor. ...
The big man pulls himself out of his TV chair, sighs, turns on a large table
lamp, and wipes his perspiring brow. His wife and daughter are both breathing heavily
from the emotion of suspense they've just been through. They've been almost literally
apart of the scene before them. Through the realism of stereophonic sound and large-screen,
three-dimension television, they've been as nearly "inside" the scene as it's possible
for anyone to imagine.
Of course, this little scenario I've just narrated is fiction. Our trio of viewers
is purely fanciful - as is the large-screen, three-dimension, stereo-sound TV receiver.
But the concepts are closer to reality than you might think. Holographic techniques
already permit projection in three dimensions and color, and other means for 3-D
television have been suggested. Ways to send more than one television picture on
a single station channel are in final stages of development. The FCC has on file
several suggestions for adding stereo sound to television programs. Giant-screen
projection (or even direct-sweep) systems would show life-size images, and changing
the picture's aspect ratio for wide screening should be a snap. The usual objections
to close-up viewing of large TV pictures could be overcome by special interlacing
techniques.
Of course, it isn't all as simple as that. The various concepts have to be merged,
and maybe even re-designed so they can be merged. The composite signal would differ
considerably from what we now transmit, and the FCC would want to approve the changes.
Receivers would be different, too, but perhaps not extremely so. And adding color
to three-dimensional projection brings still more complexity to the plan.
But don't sell the great innovators short. Our electronic age is peopled with
bright talents who make a specialty of doing what seems impossible or unlikely.
Color television and stereo FM - just germinal ideas not many years ago - are
commonplace, now. It won't be long until both of these entertainment forms have
reached saturation or "second-set" status. Do you think the far-seeing leaders of
this industry will be satisfied to leave the public with nothing more imaginative
than these? Not likely.
Wide-screen, large-picture, three-dimension, stereo-sound television sounds
like a worthy hurdle. Wonder who'll be first ... ?
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