Vitaphone

Vitaphone was a sound-on-disc system that synchronized gramophone recordings with motion pictures. Warner Bros. used it for feature films and short subjects in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Sound-on-disc: A motion-picture sound system that stores audio on a disc played in synchronization with film. Vitaphone was a prominent commercial sound-on-disc system.
Don Juan (1926 film): A 1926 Warner Bros. feature with a synchronized orchestral score and sound effects, but no synchronized dialogue. Its release introduced Vitaphone to feature-film audiences.
Warner Bros.: An American film studio founded in 1923 by brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. The studio adopted Vitaphone and financed its major releases.
Movietone sound system: A sound-on-film system that records an optical soundtrack alongside the motion-picture image. Movietone avoided Vitaphone’s separate-disc synchronization problem.
Gramophone record: A flat disc that stores sound as a groove read by a stylus. Vitaphone recorded each film’s soundtrack on synchronized gramophone records.
The Jazz Singer: A 1927 Warner Bros. film featuring synchronized songs and spoken lines alongside silent-film conventions. Its success made Vitaphone and synchronized speech widely famous.
Western Electric: An American electrical and manufacturing company that developed sound-recording and amplification technologies. Its engineers and equipment helped create Vitaphone.
Photophone: RCA’s sound-on-film system, which recorded an optical soundtrack on the film strip. Photophone competed with Vitaphone using sound carried with the image.
Intertitle: A printed title card inserted into a silent film to convey dialogue or other text. Synchronized spoken dialogue reduced the need for these silent-film aids.
Lights of New York: A 1928 Warner Bros. film generally recognized as the first feature-length all-talking picture. It demonstrated Vitaphone’s use for sustained synchronized dialogue.

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