The Eidophore

Today, anyone looking to make television accessible to a larger audience, for example for public viewing, has the option of using either projectors for projection or large display screens from a range of manufacturers, image qualities, and price categories. At the origin of this selection is the Eidophor. The Eidophor was a television projection method from Switzerland, with its timeline spanning from its patenting (1939) through its production readiness (1959) to its discontinuation (late 1990s). This lifespan of nearly 60 years is exceptional for a single audiovisual device of the 20th century. The Eidophor (Greek for image carrier) was capable of reproducing television images in the dimensions of a cinema image. Additionally, the Eidophor transmitted live images in color at a time when home televisions primarily broadcasted in black and white.