A Bit Of History
The first edition of Television Technical Theory was a 275-page spiral-bound publication called Citytv/MuchMusic Television Operations Technical Reference Manual: An Inquiry Into Things Enigmatic. Quite a mouthful. A labour of love, it was the result of almost two years of part-time work - a personal quest into the way that television works. The book was printed at a photocopy shop in 1991, when I realized that there was no single inexpensive source of information that would explain how the television system worked as a whole. Moreover, it was important that I described the operation of this complex place in plain English.
A derivation of this volume was used when I began teaching at Ryerson Polytechnic University in 1994. By 1995, technology had been advancing by its usual leaps and bounds, and so the book was completely reformatted, and re-titled to reflect its new role as the main reference notes for the technical theory course that I was teaching. An updated version, encompassing digital video and compression technologies, was rewritten and reformatted in 1996. A chapter on DTV: The Future of Television was added in 1998.
In 1999, the book went through another title change to more clearly reflect its general audience: Television Technical Theory: Unplugged. This edition was also published on the Internet. This first online release was a small token of my appreciation to the hundreds of people who had contributed to its development over the first decade, and a dedication to those countless individuals who had worked in the industry with me over the last quarter century. Another completely re-done edition, Version 5.0, was released in print and online (www.danalee.ca/ttt) in 2004, featuring additional illustrations and updated text.
This new 2010 print edition of Television Technical Theory has been released by textbook publisher Kendall Hunt, and because of this, is now available to more people worldwide than ever before.
Anyone interested in television technology should enjoy this book. The more you know about something, the better you are able to appreciate it. In our industry this is especially true. The place we call a television station requires the cooperation of dozens of individuals to get a show on the air.
This book is yours to do with what you will. I especially encourage writing in the margins, colouring in the pictures - anything that will make the book your own personal passport into the world of television technology. I hope that it becomes a handy reference for things technical in your televised world.
Enjoy!
Dana M. Lee, January, 2010
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