Early Color Television

GEC 405 Line NTSC Prototype

Britain retained its 405 line TV standard after World War Two, while the rest of Europe and America adopted higher resolution systems. When the NTSC color system was adopted in the U.S. in 1953, British manufacturers experimented with adopting it for the 405 line standard. Ultimately the BBC decided not to proceed with color using the 405 line standard, and finally adopted the PAL color system with the switch to a 625 line standard in the 1960s.

This set is on display at the Broadcast Engineering Museum at Hemswell Cliff, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

Pye Experimental 405 Line NTSC Set