RCA Photophone
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RCA Photophone was the trade name given to one of four competing technologies which emerged in the American film industry in the late 1920s for synchronising electronically-recorded audio to a motion picture image. The other systems were the AT&T/Warner Brothers Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, the Lee De Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film system, and the Fox/Case/Tri-Ergon Movietone system (the DeForest and Fox systems were both variable-density sound-on-film systems). The DeForest Phonofilm Corporation folded in September 1926 due to lack of investment, and persistent sound quality problems.
General Electric called the original patent in 1925 Photophone. RCA bought the patent to create a competition for the Western Electric (owned by AT&T) system.
The Photophone system was initially inferior to the Western Electric system, but with the work of RCA engineers it eventually superceded that system. In 1928, the new RKO studio and Paramount Pictures adopted RCA Photophone for all of their movie releases. By 1950, no one was using the Western Electric system.
RCA Photophone was a variable-area film exposure system. The modulated area (width) corresponded to the amplitude of the audio signal.
References
- Coe, Brian, The History of Movie Photography, Westfield, NJ, Eastview Editions (1981), ISBN 0898600677.
- Enticknap, Leo, Moving Image Technology: From Zoetrope to Digital, London, Wallflower Press (2005), ISBN 1904764061.
- Gomery, Douglas, The Coming of Sound, London & New York, Routledge (2005), ISBN 0415969018.
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