The Television Research Laboratory was established under David D. Holmes in 1977, as part of a major reorganization of RCA Laboratories. From 1979 to 1983, it was known as the Consumer Electronics Research Laboratory (not to be confused with the laboratory of the same name that operated from 1966 to 1973).

Jack S. Fuhrer replaced Holmes as director of the Television Research Laboratory in the mid-1980s and continued into the beginning of the 1990s. Robert H. Plummer directed the lab in the early 1990s and was succeeded by Terrence R. Smith in 1993. Smith led the lab (renamed the Advanced Television Research Laboratory in 1996 or 1997 and soon changed to the Advanced Television Systems Research Laboratory) through the end of the decade.

The lab’s primary focus was on improving television and video quality through signal processing techniques, formats, and circuitry. Along with several other laboratories at the David Sarnoff Research Center, it developed key technologies that led to the successful Grand Alliance high-definition television (HDTV) system introduced in the 1990s.