In the United Kingdom, Rank Precision Industries was experimenting with the flying-spot scanner (FSS), which inverted the cathode-ray tube (CRT) concept of scanning using a television screen. Rank Precision-Cintel introduced the Mark series of FSS telecines. In 1950 the first Rank flying spot monochrome telecine was installed at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios. The CRT in the FSS emits a pixel-sized electron beam which excites phosphors coating the envelope, causing them to glow in red, green, and blue. This dot of light is then focused by a lens onto the film's emulsion and finally collected by a special type of photo-electric cell known as a photomultiplier which converts the light into an electrical signal. This can be accomplished in real time, 24 frames per second (or in some cases faster). An advantage of the FSS is that color analysis is done after scanning, so there can be no registration errors as can be produced by vidicon tubes where scanning is done after color separation—it also allows simpler dichroics to be used.
In the United Kingdom, Rank Precision Industries was experimenting with the flying-spot scanner (FSS), which inverted the cathode-ray tube (CRT) concept of scanning using a television screen. Rank Precision-Cintel introduced the Mark series of FSS telecines. In 1950 the first Rank flying spot monochrome telecine was installed at the BBC's Lime Grove Studios. The CRT in the FSS emits a pixel-sized electron beam which excites phosphors coating the envelope, causing them to glow in red, green, and blue. This dot of light is then focused by a lens onto the film's emulsion and finally collected by a special type of photo-electric cell known as a photomultiplier which converts the light into an electrical signal. This can be accomplished in real time, 24 frames per second (or in some cases faster). An advantage of the FSS is that color analysis is done after scanning, so there can be no registration errors as can be produced by vidicon tubes where scanning is done after color separation—it also allows simpler dichroics to be used.