Mechanical TV Lab — Live Nipkow Disk Simulator | Analog TV
Nipkow Disk — Interactive Lab
All 8 signal-chain passes from the iOS app running live in your browser. Every control is real physics. Use the test face, your webcam, or upload an image.
Free web preview of<br>Analog TV Simulator<br>— the physics-accurate old TV simulator for<br>iPhone & iPad<br>and<br>Mac.<br>Beta — improving over time. Best on a large screen.
☺ Face<br>📷 Cam<br>⟲ Flip<br>↑ Upload
Lines
30
Speed
750 RPM
All Controls ↑<br>⏺ Rec<br>↗ Share
Historical Presets ▾
Baird 30 BBC · 1929–1935<br>Jenkins 48 USA · 1928–1931<br>German 90 Fernseh · 1932–34<br>German 180 Berlin · 1936<br>CBS Colour USA · 1950<br>Nipkow Patent Theory · 1884
Subject / Input ▾
Test Face<br>Webcam<br>⟲ Flip<br>Upload
Test face active
Disk Geometry ▾
Lines 30
Holes in disk = scan lines per frame
Outer Radius 220 mm
Radius of the outermost hole
Radial Span 50 mm
Inner = Outer − Span
Aperture Width 35 mm
Slit width — controls duty cycle & arc curvature
Hole Fill 0.48
Hole height / pitch ratio (0.48 = Baird Televisor)
Vertical scan (portrait)
Rotate disk 90° — aperture at 9 o'clock, holes sweep top-to-bottom. Burns (2000) §8.4
Motor ▾
Motor Speed 750 RPM
12.5 fps · 1 rev/frame
Speed Trim 0%
−100% = disk stops. Causes rolling/tearing
Motor Jitter 0.00
Band-limited speed fluctuation
Cogging 0.00
Synchronous motor torque ripple (8-pole at 12.5/15 fps; 4-pole at 25 fps)
Signal ▾
AM Noise 0.08
Gaussian amplitude noise on waveform
Lamp Persistence 0.30
Neon deionisation smear (intra-line)
Bandwidth 1.0×
Scales IF filter cutoff (1× ≈ 33 RPL for Baird)
Display ▾
Lamp Type
Neon (NE-2) — orange-red<br>White LED — modern<br>Mercury Arc — green-white<br>Kinescope CRT — warm white
Glow 0.40
Neon discharge penumbra bloom
Threshold 0.05
NE-2 striking voltage black-crush
Gamma 1.0
V→I transfer (1.0 = linear per GE manual)
Arc Curvature 1.0
Parabolic arc sag from Nipkow DE30105
Flicker 0.50
Geometric mode: flyback dark depth (disk holes cover N × holeTangFrac of revolution; remainder is dark). Random mode: per-frame discharge noise (Davidse 1969 §6.2)
Water Lens 0.00
Baird's cylindrical water-tank magnifier (GB292185)
Advanced ▾
Photocell Type
K/Na Hydride (pre-1930, UV)<br>Cs-Ag-O S-1 (post-1930, flat)<br>Cs-Sb S-4/5 (late 1930s, blue)<br>Rec.709 Luma (synthetic)
Spectral sensitivity of the flying-spot sensor: K/Na deep-UV (~410 nm peak), S-1 broad/flat (red-extended), S-4/5 blue-peaking. Zworykin & Wilson (1934) §3.2
Aperture Blur 4
PSF triangle kernel samples (aperture × hole convolution)
Phosphor Screen 0.00
ZnS:Ag phosphor screen persistence (Leverenz 1950) — physically accurate for CRT-display receivers; anachronistic for direct neon-lamp viewing
Causal IIR only (no zero-phase)
Forward-only RC lowpass — trailing edge smear per physical amplifier. Off = zero-phase (forward + backward pass). Parks & Burrus §2.2
Radial velocity gradient
Outer holes travel faster → proportionally higher bandwidth. Models real variation across disk radius. Nipkow DE30105 §2
Sync pulse (Denton 1933)
Blank the first line for 8% of scan as a frame sync signal. Denton (Elect. Eng. 1933)
Jenkins silhouette mode
Threshold to pure black/white — matches Jenkins' original "radiovision" which could only transmit light vs. dark. Jenkins (1926)
Silhouette Threshold 0.50
Luminance cutoff for Jenkins silhouette binarisation
CBS Colour Wheel
Enable colour wheel
Phase Offset 0.00
TX/RX wheel desync (Goldmark 1942)
Transition Zone 0.05
Soft blend at segment edges — reduces colour fringing at wheel boundaries. Goldmark et al. (1942) §5
Save PNG<br>Record GIF<br>Record Video<br>🎤 Off
Reset to Preset
FERNSEH 180 · 1500 RPM<br>⏺ REC
Baird 30<br>Jenkins 48<br>German 90<br>German 180<br>CBS Colour<br>Nipkow Patent
Save PNG<br>Record GIF<br>Record Video<br>🎤 Mic Off
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Signal Chain — Subject → Lamp → TX Disk → Sensor → Signal → Neon → RX Disk → Image
Lines30
TX RPM750
Bandwidth12.4kHz
Duty Cycle12.3%
Raster29.7mm
Aspect2.33
Recording GIF…