COLOUR television came to the Midlands last night – but only for half-an-hour and to enchant an invited audience in the Alpha Television Studios in Birmingham.

About 400 people, many of them specialists, saw the demonstration which was arranged by the Midland Centre of the Television Society.

The question of when colour television will be on tap in the home remained unanswered, though it was hinted by a panel of experts that a service will probably be introduced in four or five years’ time.

In order to put on the show an E.M.I. outside broadcast van was stationed near the theatre.

Already perfect

The equipment has been used in the past for producing closed circuit colour television at hospitals so that student doctors can watch the progress of surgical operations.

The half-hour programme was projected on to a screen about the size of a large shop window and the audience saw Noele Gordon, Eulah Parker, Roy Edwards, Steve Evans and other performers in scenes which showed that colour reproduction techniques are already perfect.

The Evening Mail representative, Mac Cherry, who watched the show, found that colour fidelity and picture definition were not only far in advance of that achieved in the early colour cinema film but were equal to present-day film qualities.

When colour TV comes to the home it will be seen not on projection equipment but on specially designed sets using the cathode ray tube and the conventional viewing screen.

Trouble-free

Many questions important to the colour viewer of the future were answered.

How much will the sets cost? — Size for size, about two-and-a-half times the present set.

How reliable will they be? — The radio industry will avoid the mistake made in America, which already has colour TV. There it was at first necessary to call in the maintenance man several times a week. The first British sets will not give trouble.

Will maintenance be more expensive? — Yes, but only slightly.

Will the present 405-line system have to be changed? — Not necessarily. Good results can be achieved without the suggested alteration to 625-line definition.

The demonstration made it clear that colour television is not far away. The radio industry is already making preparations —and one of them is to test its prospective apprentices for colour blindness.

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