Comment Re:Up Europe! (Score 1) 148
Something similar happened when the 625-line television standard was proposed in Europe after World War II. That standard was worked out in large part by a German engineer (whose name I've now forgotten). One little problem, though -- the western Allies still occupied the three western sectors of Germany, and forbade all television research, so if word got around about his research he'd be in some deep doo-doo. Solution? He leaked the idea to a Swiss colleague, who could publish it without fear of retribution.
FWIW, the significance of 625 lines -- aside from the specific number, which was chosen to provide a convenient set of divide ratios -- was that the active line period was essentially identical to that of the established 525-line NTSC system, so that 525-line and 625-line TV sets could use the same deflection yokes and horizontal output transformers. (Today this happy fact also allows conversion between the two standards without having to resample the image horizontally.)
FWIW, the significance of 625 lines -- aside from the specific number, which was chosen to provide a convenient set of divide ratios -- was that the active line period was essentially identical to that of the established 525-line NTSC system, so that 525-line and 625-line TV sets could use the same deflection yokes and horizontal output transformers. (Today this happy fact also allows conversion between the two standards without having to resample the image horizontally.)
