Old TV Thread

[Jack]

And I had a console TV with a wired remote control... how many remember upgrading their black and white to a color TV?

[tajoe]

I guess I drifted your thread a little Jack, but I'll end by saying I hated throwing away my Curtis Mathis  console, (in the early 2000s), because it was a beautiful piece of cabinetry. Unfortunately the 2 little antenna screws wouldn't allow my surround sound, tape played, and DVD player to work properly. Plus the screen was going too. 

And the Zack Efron comment, (I had to look that one up too) But I refused to go looking for rappers.

[5th T/A]

Regarding old TV's

It was a big deal when we got our first color TV, I think in the late 60's. There were still a lot broadcast in B&W. The colors were not very accurate and often you had to manually adjust the color and tint levels after changing channels. When I told my kids we only had four channels when I was young, they said "boring".

How about the stations signing off with the star spangled banner at midnight and displaying the test pattern until early the next morning.

Yeah, I guess I am old!

[kentucky yeti]

Regarding old TV's

It was a big deal when we got our first color TV, I think in the late 60's. There were still a lot broadcast in B&W. The colors were not very accurate and often you had to manually adjust the color and tint levels after changing channels. When I told my kids we only had four channels when I was young, they said "boring".

How about the stations signing off with the star spangled banner at midnight and displaying the test pattern until early the next morning.

Yeah, I guess I am old!

Quasar “works in a drawer” color tv was our first.  Green tinted people and dingy colors

[76455sd]

My grandmother had arthritis pretty bad so she got one of the earliest remote control TVs.  It was an RCA console and the dial was motorized.  The remote had several free floating steel rods that were impacted whem\n you pushed a button and they vibrated at a defined frequency and the tv responded to the sound.  If you tossed a key ring onto a hard table sometimes the keys would hit the right pitch and the tv would respond and turn on/off or change channels.  This was the late 60s early 70s.

[Jack]

I'm going to look it up, that sounds pretty cool.

[Jack]

Okay I'm not sure how this post turned into remote controls but I find this stuff fascinating... never knew there were so many types.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_control

[5th T/A]

Great article Jack,

I had not head the term “Space Command” for years, along with the term “works in a drawer”. I think I woke up some old memory cells.

Funny how solving one problem created new ones. Like where is the remote, then digging through the couch cushions to find it. Or needing a remote for each device and grabbing the correct remote until multi function remotes came out.

Now because of remotes, we can sit on our butts for hours consuming high calorie junk food. The down side is we have to join health clubs to get the exercise program we would have received by getting up to change channels the old fashioned way.

[76455sd]

Okay I'm not sure how this post turned into remote controls but I find this stuff fascinating... never knew there were so many types.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_control

Yup.  The space commander was the remote she had.  I could’ve been wrong on the tv manuf.  it could’ve been a zenith.   

[roadking77]

What do you call it?  Clicker, flipper, remote, buttons, Etc.   
Its 'the buttons' in my house.

[Jack]

It must have been 1985 or so when my father decided to get a satellite dish. If I remember correctly it was 10' in diameter and needed to be 8' above grade. My brother and I dug a 4' x 4' x 4' pit for the foundation and got a company to form and pour concrete including the 12" x 12" column to support this thing. I also remember how hard it was to lift this massive dish and bolting it on the concrete encased shaft. We used it for few years until every channel on there got scrambled... the good old days, I'll see if I can find a picture.

[roadking77]

Jack, around the same time period pop did the same. He was the kind of guy that would strike up a conversation with a tree if he had the chance. Anyway, he was at a fast food joint and saw these 2 'huge' guys. He started talking to them finding out they were ex NFL players. They had a business installing satt. dishes. Dad bought one. It was like you described, about 10'or 12' across. At first all of the content was free. Turn the dish a bit and you could pick up all kinds of crazy stuff. THEN, they started doing random scrambles. The installers sold him a 'descrambler'. It was one of those not exactly legal kind of things but it worked. THEN, that thing started to be scrambled and there were some 'trick's to keep the channels tuned in. After a quite a few years everything was scrambled and it became yard art.

[ryeguy2006a]

Haha, I remember upgrading from our low Definition 36" color TV to our 1080p HD 55". That was a big deal in our house. I also remember upgrading from Dial-up to DSL internet.

[kentucky yeti]

Jack, around the same time period pop did the same. He was the kind of guy that would strike up a conversation with a tree if he had the chance. Anyway, he was at a fast food joint and saw these 2 'huge' guys. He started talking to them finding out they were ex NFL players. They had a business installing satt. dishes. Dad bought one. It was like you described, about 10'or 12' across. At first all of the content was free. Turn the dish a bit and you could pick up all kinds of crazy stuff. THEN, they started doing random scrambles. The installers sold him a 'descrambler'. It was one of those not exactly legal kind of things but it worked. THEN, that thing started to be scrambled and there were some 'trick's to keep the channels tuned in. After a quite a few years everything was scrambled and it became yard art.

We went through that in the mid-80’s.  We had a 10’ round fiberglass dish.   The receiver had digital numbers that you dialed in to watch various satellites, like 112.65, etc…. We had a local descrambler guy for a couple years, and had to visit him 3-4 times a year when the satellite folks sent out the “killer” signal to burn up the box filters.  Fun fact:  If you ever travelled down a highway between 10 pm and 6 am, and the dish was pointed straight up (no pun intended) then you knew they were watching the  XXXtacy  channel.

[Jack]

Jack, around the same time period pop did the same. He was the kind of guy that would strike up a conversation with a tree if he had the chance. Anyway, he was at a fast food joint and saw these 2 'huge' guys. He started talking to them finding out they were ex NFL players. They had a business installing satt. dishes. Dad bought one. It was like you described, about 10'or 12' across. At first all of the content was free. Turn the dish a bit and you could pick up all kinds of crazy stuff. THEN, they started doing random scrambles. The installers sold him a 'descrambler'. It was one of those not exactly legal kind of things but it worked. THEN, that thing started to be scrambled and there were some 'trick's to keep the channels tuned in. After a quite a few years everything was scrambled and it became yard art.

We went through that in the mid-80’s.  We had a 10’ round fiberglass dish.   The receiver had digital numbers that you dialed in to watch various satellites, like 112.65, etc…. We had a local descrambler guy for a couple years, and had to visit him 3-4 times a year when the satellite folks sent out the “killer” signal to burn up the box filters.  Fun fact:  If you ever travelled down a highway between 10 pm and 6 am, and the dish was pointed straight up (no pun intended) then you knew they were watching the  XXXtacy  channel.

That's funny, ours must have been newer (or older) it was aluminum as I sold it for scrap along with aluminum window frames.

[aussieta]

still using my crt in the shed
i only updated to flatscreen because we moved house 5 years ago
if it aint broke dont fix it

[roadking77]

I think it was 1978-1980. There was a huge innovation in tv programming. We got a system call 'Super TV'. It was a small straight line annt. that mounted to the top of the roof. It had movies only. Cant remember if there was a programming time but I think it was 24 hrs. It pretty much only picked up one channel not like there was a choice of movies to watch, just what they gave you. And yes late night they had adult stuff. I would sneak down after bed many a night, LOL.

I think that just went away, the reason dad got the big satellite dish.

We got our first VHS machine around the same time. It was a top loader unit. My oldest brother was in the army and bought it with a big discount whilst overseas. I recall that it cost something like $800!

The closest Video store was in the next county, about a 30 min round trip. Tapes were something like $5 for the weekend. Friday evening would be a trip to the store, take those movies back sat evening and get another round. And the place was packed.

[Jack]

Kerry you just brought back memories of the video rental stores, one was opening up every other week, with a separate adult only room they charged you $0.50 for not rewinding the tape and my father would yell at us for returning the tape unwinded or returning it late.

[roadking77]

Ah, the infamous room behind the curtain, I always wondered what was in there