Fernseh AG was a German

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

company headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Founded in 1929, it did research and manufacturing of television equipment.

Etymology

The company name "Fernseh AG" is a compound of ''Fernsehen'' ‘television’ and ''

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG ) is a German language, German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e., one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria ...

(AG)'' ‘joint-stock company’. The company was mainly known by its German abbreviation "FESE". See the see also section on this page for other uses.

Early years

The company was registered in

on July 3, 1929, by

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first mechanical Mechanical television, television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the fi ...

Robert Bosch Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German business magnate, engineer and inventor, founder of Bosch (company), Bosch. Biography Bosch was born in Langenau, Albeck, in the Swabia, Swabian Highlands near Ulm. He was one of t ...

, Zeiss Ikon and D.S. Loewe as partners. John Baird owned Baird Television Ltd. in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Zeiss Ikon was a camera company in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, D.S. Loewe owned a company in Berlin and Robert Bosch owned a company, Robert Bosch GmbH, in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. It had an initial capital of 100,000 Reichsmark. In 1929 Fernseh AG's original board of directors included:

Emanuel Goldberg Emanuel Goldberg (; ; ; 31August 188113September 1970) was an Israeli physicist and inventor. He was born in Moscow and moved first to Germany and later to Israel. He described himself as "a chemist by learning, physicist by calling, and a mecha ...

, Oliver George Hutchinson (for Baird), David Ludwig Loewe, and Erich Carl Rassbach (for Bosch) and Eberhard Falkenstein who did the legal work.

Carl Zeiss Carl Zeiss (; 11 September 1816 – 3 December 1888) was a German scientific instrument maker, optician and businessman. In 1846 he founded his workshop, which is still in business as Zeiss (company), Zeiss. Zeiss gathered a group of gifted p ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

worked alongside the early Bosch company. Much of the early work was in the area of research and development. Along with early TV sets (DE-6, E1, DE10) Fernseh AG made the first "Remote Truck"/" OB van", an "intermediate-film" mobile television camera in August 1932. This was a film camera that had its film developed in the truck and a "telecine" then transmitted the signal almost "live".

Fernseh GmbH

*In 1939 Robert Bosch GmbH took complete ownership of Fernseh AG when Zeiss Ikon AG sold its share of Fernseh AG. *In 1952 Fernseh moved to

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and increased its broadcast product line. *In 1967 Fernseh, by then commonly called "Bosch Fernseh", introduced color TV products. Fernseh offered a full line of video and film equipment: professional video cameras, VTRs and telecine devices. On August 27, 1967, the first color TV program in Germany aired, with a live broadcast from a Bosch Fernseh outside broadcast (OB) van. The networks ZDF, NDR and WDR each acquired a new color OB van from Bosch Fernseh to begin broadcasting in color.

Fernsehanlagen GmbH

In 1972 Robert Bosch renamed its TV division: Fernsehanlagen GmbH (Fernseh facilities). The company supplied almost all the studio equipment for the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich. The Darmstadt HQ had over 2000 employees in 1972. In 1972 Fernseh started to manufacture

SECAM SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''sequential colour memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, Russia and some other countries or territories of Europe and Africa. ...

TV studio equipment for

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Fernseh Inc.

*In October 1979 Bell and Howell's TeleMation Inc. Division located in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, entered a joint venture with Robert Bosch GmbH, Bosch's Fernseh Division. The new joint venture was called Fernseh Inc., Bosch Fernseh Division, located in

. *In April 1982 Bosch fully acquired Fernseh Inc., renaming it "Robert Bosch Corporation, Fernseh Division". *In 1986 Bosch entered into a new joint venture with

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Broadcast in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. This new company was called

Broadcast Television Systems Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized ...

or BTS inc. Philips had been in the Broadcast market for many years with a line of PC- and LDK- Norelco professional video cameras and other video products. *In 1995 Philips Electronics North America Corp. fully acquired BTS Inc., renaming it Philips Broadcast-Philips Digital Video Systems. Philips sold many of the

Spirit DataCine Spirit DataCine is a telecine and a motion picture film scanner. This device is able to transfer 16 mm film, 16mm and 35mm movie film, 35mm Color motion picture film, motion picture film to NTSC or PAL television standards or one of many High-def ...

s. *In March 2001 this Philips division was sold to Thomson SA, the Division was call Thomson Multimedia. In 2002, the French electronics giant Thomson SA also acquired the Grass Valley Group from a private investor that had acquired it three years earlier from

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...

in Beaverton, Oregon, USA. The name of this division of Thomson was shortened to Grass Valley. The Fernseh's

factory, near the Darmstadt Train Station and European Space Operations Centre was moved a short distance to Weiterstadt,

. (Later, Grass Valley was sold to Belden on February 6, 2014. Belden also owned Miranda.) *Thomson Film Division, located in Weiterstadt including the product line of

4K, Bones Workstation, Scanity realtime film scanner and LUTher 3D Color Space converter, was sold to Parter Capital Group. The sale was made public on Sept. 9, 2008 and completed on Dec. 1, 2008. The new Headquarters was still in Weiterstadt, the former Bosch Fernseh — BTS factory. Parter Capital Group continued to have worldwide offices to support products from Weiterstadt, Germany. The new name of the company is Digital Film Technology. DFT Digital Film Technology became part of a new company: Precision Mechatronics GmbH in Weiterstadt, Germany. On October 1, 2012 Precision Mechatronics and DFT were acquired by Prasad Group, part of Prasad Studios (2012-2024). In 2013 DFT moved from Weiterstadt to Arheilgen-Darmstadt, Germany.

Products

*Home

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

sets (later moved to the Blaupunkt Division) (1930- ) *Home

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

s (later moved to the Blaupunkt Division) (1930- ) *

Vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

Tube tester *Early mechanical Camera for

Mechanical television Mechanical television or mechanical scan television is an obsolete television system that relies on a mechanism (engineering), mechanical scanning device, such as a rotating disk with holes in it or a rotating mirror drum, to scan the scene and ...

1938, "Universal mechanical scanner" * Intermediate film system for Remote Truck (

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

) *"Farvimeter" a universal electrical testing device (1947) *"Farvigraph" a universal

Oscilloscope An oscilloscope (formerly known as an oscillograph, informally scope or O-scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying voltages of one or more signals as a function of time. Their main purpose is capturing i ...

(1949) * Slide scanner for station ID and test patterns (1955) * Filmgeber film chain F16LP15 Analog * Fernseh Theater TV system, 1935 * TV transmitter 1944 * Master control, B&W Video switcher * Sound recorder — player, Diaabtaster DAT15, Fernseh * B & W film chain * OMY Color film chain - Analog * BCM-40 and B&W BM-20 2 inch Quadruplex videotape 1966-70s * B & W cameras like Videokamera s/w K11 VK9 HA * M series monitors * TV

* Video-signal generators * Television standards conversion(1970s) Analog Model NC 56 P 40, with Plumbicon tube camera inside. * Transcoder to convert PAL to

and SECAM to PAl. (1972) * BCR pre BCN VTR * BCN series 1 inch type B videotape (1979–1989) Analog VTR * KC series color professional video camera KCU-40, KCR, KCK-40, KCK-R-40, KCP-40, KCP-60, KCA, KCF-1, KCM-125, KCA, KCN92, KCN(1967–1990), * Color film chain, with KCU-40 camera * MC series color and B&W

Video monitor A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signa ...

MC-37, MC-50 MCH 51, MH 21 * OB Van - TV Remote Trucks - and Terminal Rack Equipment * RME series Mixers — Switcher -

Vision mixer A vision mixer is a device used to select between different live video sources and, in some cases, compositing live video sources together to create visual effects. In most of the world, both the equipment and its operator are called a visio ...

, Analog * FDL-60 Telecine - The world's first CCD telecine (1979–1989) * FRP-60 Color Corrector-

Color grading Color grading is a post-production process common to filmmaking and video editing of altering the appearance of an image for presentation in different environments on different devices. Various attributes of an image such as contrast (vision), ...

(1983–1989) * FDL-90 Telecine (1989–1993) (now under BTS) * Noise/Grain Reducer: FDGR, DNR7, MNR9, MNR10, MNR11, VS4, Scream, Scream 4k * KCA-110 ENG Camera * KCF-1 ENG Camera (later Quartercam, not sold) *

CCIR 601 ITU-R Recommendation BT.601, more commonly known by the abbreviations Rec. 601 or BT.601 (or its former name CCIR 601), is a standard originally issued in 1982 by the Comité consultatif international pour la radio, CCIR (an organizati ...

Products CD7, DC7, 4X4 Booster, Test Gen. Encoders, Decoders. * DD series

- D1 Mixers -

DD5, DD10, DD20, DD30 * DCR series D1 VTR DCR-100 DCR-300 DCR-500 * BCH 1000

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

1" VTR * KCH 1000 HDTV camera (RMH 1000) * FLH 1000 Telecine The world's first

CCD Telecine (1994–1996) * Quadra 4:4:4 Telecine (1993–1998) * D6 HDTV VTR Uncompressed

VTR (VooDoo)-( Gigabit Data Recorder) (2000–2006) (Now under Philips) *

motion picture film scanner A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files. A film scanner scans original film stock: negative or positive print or reversal/IP. Units may ...

and

Telecine SDC-2000 (1996–2006) also: SDC2001, SDC2002 * Phantom Transfer Engine Software for Spirit Datacine Telecine for Virtual telecine(1998-) *

Shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

HDTV Telecine STE (2000–2006) * VDC-2000 Specter Virtual telecine (1999–2002) * Specter FS Virtual telecine (2002–2006) *

4k Datacine - Telecine (2004-2014) also Spirit Spirit 2k/Spirit-HD (now Under Thomson-Grassvalley) * Bones Linux-Based Software for Spirit Datacine Telecine Transfer Engine Software (2005-2014 ) * Bones Dailies (2008-2014) * LUTher 3D LUT Color Space (2005-2013) * Flexxity (2011-2014) * Scanity film scanner (2009- ) (Now under DFT) * Phantom 2: Linux-Based transfer Engine software and workstation for Spirit Datacine (2014-) (Now under DFT) * Polar HQ a 9.3K native scanner came out in 2023.DFT Polar HQ
/ref>

Photo gallery

File:Robert Bosch mit Hut 1888 - 10031.jpg, Robert Bosch in 1888 Image:Zwischenfilmverfahren.svg, Intermediate film system for first Remote Truck (1936) - movie camera; 2 - film processor; 3 - washing bath; 4 - film drying compartment; 5 - telecine; 6 - monitor; 7 - video output; 8 - sewage; 9 - plumbing. Image:BOSCH 2 ZOLL QUADRUPLEX BCM 40.jpg, BOSCH Quad VTR Model BCM 40 Image:Films_shown_in_television_transmission,_1956_(21699275565).jpg, Fernseh GmbH Telecine with a Pantason 16 mm film projector in 1956 Image:Orthikon_television_camera,_1957_(29408138332).jpg, Orthikon Camera in 1957 Image:MTV_stúdió,_Fernseh_GmbH_gyártmányú_kép-_és_hangrögzítő_(telerekorder)_berendezés._Fortepan_56517.jpg, Fernseh GmbH TV recorder at MTV Studio in 1958 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Image:BOSCH 1 ZOLL B BCN 51.jpg, BCN 51 Fernseh VTR Image:Bcn-scanner-head.jpg, Type B video Scanner Head from DC Video

Image:Fdl60-cap-gate.JPG, Bosch Fernseh FDL 60 Telecine Film Deck and Lens Gate Image:FRP_60_Control_Panel_Bosch_Fernesh.JPG, FRP 60 Control Panel, Bosch Fernesh File:BCN 52 type B VTR.jpg, BCN 52 VTR File:BCN 20 VTR L unit playback.jpg, BCN 20 VTR with "L unit" playback with TBC. Image:BCN-20-VTR.jpg, BCN 20 VTR hand held VTR recorder. File:BCN-20-VTR-CLOSEUP.jpg, BCN 20 VTR deck File:BNC HDTV VTR-type B deck.jpg, BCH-1000 HDTV B VTR Image:BOSCH QUATERCAM.jpg, QUATERCAM BCF studio VTR (Lineplex system) Image:BOSCH BTS D1 DCR 500.jpg, D1 DCR 500 VTR Image:Bosch Fernseh en grúa.JPG, BOSCH KCK-40 Image:Hdtv-camera-Bosch-KCM-125.jpg, KCM-125 SDTV camera with a Schneider Optics Lens Image:Fernseh-Studiokamera aus den 1950ern.jpg, KOD 3 television studio camera from 1958 in the Museum Hamburg Image:Bosch Fernseh HQ Darmstadt Germany.jpg, Bosch Fernseh HQ_Darmstadt, Germany Image:Bosch street sign Darmstadt Germany.jpg, Bosch Fernseh HQ street sign Darmstadt Germany Image:Fernseh inc logo.jpg, Fernseh Inc. Logo Image:Bosch_Video_Corp_logo.jpg, Bosch Video Corp. logo Image:D6-VTR-Tape Deck-part.jpg, D6 VTR Tape Deck Image:D6-VTR-Scanner.jpg, D6 VTR Scanner, removed Image:D6-VTR-Tape Deck-inside.jpg, Inside a D6 VTR Tape Deck File:D6 VTR Full 2 parts.jpg, D6 VTR full unit Image:SDC-2000 Spirit DataCine Telecine.JPG, SDC-2000 Spirit DataCine Film Deck File:BTS Quadra 444 Telecine.JPG, Quadra Telecine Film Deck Image:Sdc-fcp-control panel.JPG, SDC-2000 Spirit DataCine Functional Control Panel-FCP Image:Spirit Datacine 4k doors closed.jpg, Spirit Datacine 4k with the doors closed Image:Spirit Datacine 4k doors open.jpg, Spirit Datacine 4k with the doors open.jpg Image:Telecine site 1.jpg, A Shadow Telecine in a color correction suite. Image:Shadow telecine (6498603509).jpg, Shadow Telecine Image:GCP-Datacine-IMG 8756.jpg, GCP for a Spirit Datacine Image:Scanity_Film_Scanner_-_DFT.jpg, Scanity Film Deck Image:Cinelicious Scanity 4k.jpg, Cinelicious Scanity 4k and work station Image:Bosch_Logo_Stuttgart.JPG, Bosch Logo

Offices

Past and current offices in the cities of acquisitions (see History): * Cergy,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(Thomson World Headquarters) *

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

- from TeleMation Inc - Bell and Howell * Beaverton,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States- from

* Nevada City,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States — from Grassvalley Group *

- from Philips - Norelco * Weiterstadt -

from Bosch Fernseh-(DFT), * In 2013 DFT moved from Weiterstadt to Arheilgen-Darmstadt, Germany.

References and notes

External links

History of Bosch FernsehEarly Camera
{{Bosch Mass media companies of Germany Cameras Video storage Film production Television technology Video hardware Technicolor SA