science

Telestrator

Telestrator is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Telestrator rather than just read about it. In short: A telestrator is a device that allows its operator to draw a freehand sketch over a moving or still video image. Also known as a video marker, this device is often used in sports and weather broadcasts to diagram and analyze sports plays or incoming weather patterns.

Key takeaways

Telestrator belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Telestrator to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Telestrator from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A telestrator is a device that allows its operator to draw a freehand sketch over a moving or still video image. Also known as a video marker, this device is often used in sports and weather broadcasts to diagram and analyze sports plays or incoming weather patterns. The user typically draws with a finger, stylus or pen on a touchscreen or graphics tablet. From the touchscreen or the tablet, the drawing signal is communicated to the telestrator, which overlays the video image with the drawing and outputs the combined signal for broadcast or display. Today, the telestrator is used in a wide variety of applications (from educational, boardroom, church and military presentations to telemedicine conferences), where it can be used by both the near and far ends to annotate precise details of microscopic images or other medical images that are under consultation. The telestrator is also used in courtrooms to communicate details of multimedia images presented to a jury.

History

The telestrator was invented by physicist Leonard Reiffel, who used it to draw illustrations on a series of science shows he did for public television's WTTW in Chicago in the late 1950s. The original Telestrator consisted of a storage tube oscilloscope with a television camera aimed at it. A storage tube is a special cathode-ray tube (CRT) that retains its image until deliberately erased. A second device was used to decode X and Y positions of a pen-like device held on a metal plate. These produced varying voltages that moved a corresponding dot around the face of the oscilloscope. Normally this was at low voltage, too low to "write" the image onto the CRT. When a button was pressed, the voltage was increased and the image began to be stored. The image was picked up by the television camera and mixed with main display, using a beam splitter or video mixer. A variety of methods were presented that allowed the pickup to be placed directly over a display of the main signal. After he had been using it to help illustrate details to his young science audience, he approached Chicago's CBS affiliate WBBM-TV suggesting it be used in sports and weather. Chicago Bears football player-turned-sportscaster Johnny Morris, who worked for Channel 2, began using it as did the station's chief meteorologist. According to Reiffel, "After that, New York began to hear about it, and it went on from there." The user interface for early telestrators required the user to draw on a TV screen with a light pen, whereas modern implementations are commonly controlled with a touch screen or a graphics tablet. The late NFL color commentator John Madden famously used a telestrator during football games for many years, boosting the device's popularity. Because the telestrator was used for NFL game coverage as well as in former NFL player O. J. Simpson's murder trial, this fact was exploited to humorous effect on a 1995 episode of Saturday Night Live, with Simpson inadvertently writing out "I did it" by using a telestrator as he explained a passage of play. During his time as a color commentator for NBC and TNT of the NBA, Mike Fratello has been referred to as the "Czar of the Telestrator" by Marv Albert for his masterful way of diagramming basketball plays on screen. Howie Meeker, NHL hockey color commentator and studio analyst, used the telestrator for many years on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada to analyze plays during intermissions. He was famous for shouting instructions to the "boys in the truck" – such as "Back it up! Back it up!" and "Stop it right there!" – in his trademark squeaky voice. Wrestling announcer Bobby Heenan briefly used a telestrator while in the then-World Wrestling Federation, calling it the "Brain Scan". He would usually use it during post-match replays to doodle derogatory pictures or comments. Reiffel won the 2004 National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy for his invention. He is one of two individuals to receive the award, which is usually given to companies and groups. Today, telestrators are widely used in broadcasts of all major sports. They have also become a useful tool in televised weather reports. They are also used by Ian Waite on Britain's Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two and humorously on the U.S. reality game show Wipeout, mostly by John Henson.

See also Computer-mediated reality Overhead projector

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Telestrator

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Telestrator claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Telestrator before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Telestrator ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Telestrator

In research: Telestrator appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Telestrator in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Telestrator is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Major League Baseball on television, NBA on television, NFL on television, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Telestrator outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Telestrator in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Telestrator means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Telestrator out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Telestrator in simple terms?

Why does Telestrator matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Telestrator?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Telestrator.