TVs in Black-and-White

The Evolution of Entertainment Technology

As a source of entertainment and news, television sets became commercially available in the late 1930s. TV viewers saw the world in black-and-white until 1950, when the FCC approved the first color television standard.

The 12-inch black-and-white Philco console, a popular TV in its time, cost approximately $200 in the early 1950s.

(iStock Photo)

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TVs in Black-and... As a source of entertainment and news, television sets became commercially available in the late 1930s. TV viewers saw the world in black-and-white until 1950, when the FCC approved the first color television standard.

The 12-inch black-and-white Philco console, a popular TV in its time, cost approximately $200 in the early 1950s.

(iStock Photo)
3-D TV TV has seen big changes and advancements since its early years. Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and LG have plans to introduce 3-D TVs in the near future. The TV sets will allow people to view television programs the way they view their favorite movies at local theaters.

(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Cassette Tapes In its early years, the cassette tape's sound quality was mediocre, but it improved dramatically by the early 1970s when it caught up with the quality of the 8-track tape and continued to improve. The cassette quickly became a popular (and re-recordable) alternative to the 12-inch vinyl LP.

(iStock Photo)
Audio CDs In 1979, Philips and Sony joined forces to co-produce the CD-DA (Compact Disc-Digital Audio) standard. Three years later, audio CDs became commercially available.

As of 2010, CDs remain the standard physical storage medium for audio.

(iStock Photo)
Walkman Shortly after its 1979 debut in Japan, the Sony Walkman became a worldwide phenomenon. Just 10 years later, the total number of Walkman units manufactured had exceeded 50 million, and before an additional 10 years had passed, total production of Walkman units reached 150 million. Over 300 different Walkman models have been produced to date.

(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
iPods Apple's first portable media player was introduced in 2001. The iPod quickly became a popular "must-have" among people throughout the world.

Since October 2004, the iPod line has dominated digital music player sales in the U.S., and in 2008, Apple announced total cumulative sales of iPods had exceeded 220 million.

The product's lineup includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone also acts as an iPod.

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Video Cassettes ... In 1971, the world's first commercial videocassette format was introduced in Tokyo. With a price tag listing of approximately $1,400, video-cassette recorders (VCRs) remained out of reach in North America until 1977. In that year, the first VHS-VCR, JVC's HR-3300, was released and featured a two-hour recording time.

(iStock Photo)
DVDs and DVD Pla... In the early 2000s, DVDs and DVD players gradually overtook video cassettes as the most popular consumer format for playback of prerecorded video. In many countries, DVD recorders and other digital video recorders, such as TiVo, have recently begun to drop in price, which some consider to be the end for VCRs in those markets.

(iStock Photo)
PlayStation and ... With the development of new video-game consoles, it's hard to believe nearly 30 years have passed since the classic debut of Sega's SG-1000. In 1998, Sega released the Dreamcast, which was discontinued by 2001.

Released in Japan shortly after that, the PlayStation started a series of console and hand-held game devices and hence a new and improved way of playing video games. By 2005, PlayStation 2 (a successor of the first console) became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Wii In December 2009, the now-well-known Nintendo Wii broke a record as it became the best-selling console in a single month in the U.S.

As a seventh-generation console, the Wii's advanced technology allows users to live a virtual lifestyle. Wii games offer anything from bowling to your own personal trainer... and of course Super Mario and favorite classics, too.

Nintendo has targeted a wide demographic for the Wii, and in 2009, the company reduced the console's price to about $200.

(AP Photo/Gary Malerba)