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ABSTRACT In this paper titled ‘An investigation into whether the television is being replaced by the computer as the most popular electronic entertainment system of choice’ I will try to theoretically find the final answer to this question through various methods. Both these devices are commonplace today and are technological marvels. First of all, I had to obtain many statistics and a breakdown of the number of television sets and computers in different geographical regions. This would include those of developed countries, and those of the developing countries. Whereas most of the developed countries have and equal number of computers and television sets, the developing countries had more of the latter. Due to this, I would also have to find out the reasons for these trends. I decided to conduct a survey to people in my surroundings. A survey on whether students preferred the computer or the television when they want electronic entertainment. I polled a total of 40 people from different age groups with an equal number of men and women. It was not easy to arrive at a definite conclusion due to the differing trends in different countries, but it appeared that the television has not yet been replaced by the computer. However, at the current rate at which the computers are being used in the market, the television may soon be a device of yesteryear in the near future. CONTENTS TITLE PAGE Introduction 4 How the Television Works 5 - 6 How the Computer Works 6 - 7 The Two Entertainment Systems 7 – 8 Behavioral Interaction 8 – 9 Basics of Computer Entertainment 9 – 10 So Which of the Two is the Winner? 10 – 14 Which Do People Go to First? 14 Evaluation and Conclusion 15 Bibliography and Acknowledgements 16 Introduction: The computer is one of the most widely used electronic devices around today. These machines are used in offices, schools and homes for both working and entertainment purposes. There is always one other electronic device, also with the purpose to entertain, that vies with the computer for being the premiere entertainment machine. It is the television. Both of these devices are entertainment systems that are used by people. Is one more superior to the other? Or will one of them soon go down in history by ending its chapter of existence? Both of them are technical marvels in their own right. There are features the television has, which are not found in the computer, and vice versa. Is one a clear cut winner over the other in terms of function ability and entertainment excellence? Will this answer vary due to the geographical region or economical strength? I decided to investigate whether the television will be replaced by the computer in the coming years for being the best entertainment system around, and if so, what are the reasons for this trend. I will first be going through the fundamentals of both the television and the computer. Following which, I will move onto analysis and evaluation of both the statistics showing the current trends of both these machines as well as of my survey, before finally concluding. How the Television Works To understand what actually makes the computer and television what it is today, it is necessary to understand the basic concepts behind them. Although both these appliances may look alike at first, in actual fact they have many differences between them. Television is one of our most important means of communication. At first glance, the television appears to be exactly the same as the monitor of a computer. This is not the case, after some scrutiny, they are quite different. In order for the television to work, there must be transmission from a broadcasting station. A camera records the scene where the event is happening. This camera then changes the picture into electric signals, which are thus sent as transmission where the television decodes it back into moving pictures and sound from either the antenna or a satellite dish. This converting process is known as scanning. The television picture tube receives electrical video signals from the tuner and translates the signal back into images. The picture that we see on the T.V, are created by an electron gun in the back of the picture tube. If it is a color television, this object shoots beams of electrons towards the back of the television screen from three electron guns, which reproduce the primary colours. A metal shadow mask behind the screen has hole in order to keep each electron beam in line with the colored dots and away from dots of other colors. Hence we are able to view the complete picture with the aid of the shadow mask and through the mixture of these primary colors. The audio system consists of a discriminator, which is used for translating the audio portion of the wave back into an electronic audio signal. This translated wave is fed to the amplifier and then finally reproducing the sound to our ears through the speakers. How the Computer Works: Components of a computer are known as hardware. The Computer’s hardware includes the memory, the CPU, the bus, input devices, and output devices. Input devices may include a floppy drive, a CD-ROM drive, a keyboard and even maybe a scanner. Also present are output devices, such as printers, video display monitors, and usually a pair of speakers.
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