BOOK
REVIEW
Restoring
Baird's Image
Donald
F. McLean
Institution
of Electrical Engineers
ISBN
0 85296 795 0
Hardback
pp 292
£29
Scholarly
research and "can't put it down" writing are rare companions. Don
McLean has succeeded magnificently in conveying the excitement of unearthing
and restoring recordings of Baird's 30 line TV pictures.
It
would be picking at the tiniest nits to say that the title is a little
misleading. The heart of the book is undoubtedly the discovery and restoration
of the recordings of Baird's 30 line images but there is much more than this. A
brief but perceptive tour of the history of imaging and television, a review of
later video recording systems and important thoughts on the problems of
archival permanence are all valuable elements whose presence is not suggested
by the title.
The
writing style may be informal but McLean's treatment is rigorous. Due care
taken to separate fact from opinion and I have little doubt that the historical
details are as accurate as diligent research allows. The selected bibliography
brings many useful references together in one place. I cannot really gripe
about the very small number of typographical errors which do not mislead the
reader.
The
main conclusion of McLean's work is to revise our views on the Baird 30 line
transmissions. It is now clear that they were much more than crude engineering
experiments and contained material of real entertainment value. In the world of
history "revisionism" is often a dirty word. In this case our attitude
towards Baird should have been changed as a result of genuinely new evidence.
I
have only one significant criticism. Much of the quality of Baird's images is
only apparent on moving images. Blame the lack of a CDROM on the IEE, not the
author. Web addresses are ephemeral but you can see the moving images at http://www.dfm.dircon.co.uk/.
The
IEE has published this book at a relatively affordable price and it deserves to
reach a wider audience than would normally buy IEE publications.
Buy,
read and enjoy.
Jeffrey
Borinsky MIEE CEng