High Definition TV, Circa 1933

This image, which comes to us through the Steve Restelli collection, has GOT to be the oldest surviving screen image of a electronic test pattern ever captured. This RCA photo was taken in 1933, at a time when radio itself was relatively new, non-electronic (mechanical) television was still being experimented with, and 150 lines of resolution was already considered high-definition. Sadly, TV would remain experimental throughout the 1930's and 1940's because of the Great Depression and the Second World War.