Definition

Noun: A television-camera tube is a specialized electronic vacuum tube that captures an optical image and rapidly converts it into a sequence of electronic signals suitable for television transmission or recording.

Usage

The term television-camera tube refers specifically to the imaging component in older television cameras. It describes the technology that was fundamental to electronic television before the widespread adoption of solid-state image sensors like CCDs and CMOS sensors.

Examples

• The early studio cameras used a large television-camera tube known as an image orthicon.
• The quality of the broadcast depended heavily on the sensitivity of the television-camera tube.
• Modern digital cameras do not contain a television-camera tube; they use a silicon image sensor.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Context: In technical descriptions, the term specifies the type of tube, such as a or , which are specific kinds of television-camera tubes.
  • Example: The plumbicon, a lead-oxide television-camera tube, was prized for its high picture quality and was widely used in broadcast television.

Variants and Related Words

• Camera tube: A common shortened form of television-camera tube.
• Pickup tube: Another synonym for television-camera tube.
• Imaging tube: A more general term that can include television-camera tubes and other types.
• Image sensor / CCD / CMOS: These are the modern solid-state components that have functionally replaced the television-camera tube.

Synonyms

• Pickup tube
• Camera tube
• Imaging tube (in the context of television)

Notes on Meaning

This term is primarily historical and technical. It refers to a specific, now largely obsolete, piece of technology. In contemporary discussion about cameras, the component that performs the image conversion is simply called an image sensor.

Noun

1. a tube that rapidly scans an optical image and converts it into electronic signals