# Remember those old TVs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527 "2012-12-29T22:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/1 "2012-12-29T22:28:51Z")
We just replaced the last CRT in the Bricker household. Everything is flat screen now. And I just had a moment of quasi-nostalgia for that wonderful old gigantic black and white in my house when I was a kid. We bought it used – no money for new TVs in those days for us – and I remember my dad getting out the screwdriver and going behind the set to adjust the VERT and HORZ screws, mysterious rheostats that required a mere breath of pressure to go from a visible, clear picture to a rolling set of frames. I remember changing channels by the dial, which was numbered 2 to 13, and we only got 4, 5, 7, and 9 anyway. It’s all much easier today. And I wouldn’t trade my 1080p for that fuzzy b&w picture, of course. But sometimes, I wish I had appreciated those times more than I did. My dad died in 1985, and I still miss him. Papito, I hope heaven has TVs that let you adjust them. You were always able to get a clear picture. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/2 "2012-12-29T22:36:54Z")
My dad was always able to get a clear picture, too. He told me to adjust the antennas and then stand there so I became part of the antennas. It’s amazing how well your body conducts RF energy. The picture? great. Me? Not so much. But hey, that what kids were for back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/3 "2012-12-29T22:39:18Z")
We drove past a Goodwill store yesterday that had a big sign out front: All TVs $5!! I’m guessing they have a buttload of CRT sets taking up space. We have 4 - a 13" in my studio, a 19" in my husband’s wood shop, and another 19" in a closet - it’s so old, AmVets didn’t want it. We have a 27"CRT in the guest room, but it’s not hooked up - we rarely have company so we never got around to it. It’s a good set - we used to have it in the bedroom and it would wake us with the news every morning. The big TV in the living room and the one in the bedroom are flatscreens. They get the most use. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/4 "2012-12-29T22:48:50Z")
I grew up in a cutting edge family. We were the first in the 'hood to get a color tv. This was 1967 and I had just turned thirteen. My sister, brothers and I were extremely popular for a couple of years. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/5 "2012-12-29T23:19:27Z")
I, of course, mourn the passing of the cathode ray tube. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/6 "2012-12-29T23:57:20Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > My dad was always able to get a clear picture, too. He told me to adjust the antennas and then stand there so I became part of the antennas. It’s amazing how well your body conducts RF energy. The picture? great. Me? Not so much. But hey, that what kids were for back in the day. That and getting up to change the channel. At least I could read it from across the room. 😛 I can remember sitting down low in the chair and being as quiet as a mouse so my father wouldn’t know I was there and have me jumping up every few minutes to adjust something. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/7 "2012-12-29T23:58:23Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > I grew up in a cutting edge family. We were the first in the 'hood to get a color tv. This was 1967 and I had just turned thirteen. My sister, brothers and I were extremely popular for a couple of years. 😃 I remember the first time I saw the _Wizard of Oz_ in color. The horse of a different color actually changed colors! ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/8 "2012-12-30T00:07:28Z")
When we lost color, my dad would remove the back of the TV, remove some tubes, and head for the hardware store. He would plug them into the [testing machine](http://www.retroaudiolab.com/pictures/tubechkr1.JPG), get a new tube, and put it all together again. Why, then, he wouldn’t order a new knob when one stripped out is beyond me. We kept a set of pliers on the TV to change channels with. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/9 "2012-12-30T00:33:54Z")
We used to have an old TV where the volume was a switch you moved up or down on the TV set itself. As a prank, sometimes my sister and I would move the switch to the highest volume while the TV was off, so the next person to turn on the TV would have it blasting at them until they turned the volume down. Also, I think this TV either didn’t have a remote control, or we lost it. My mother would tape a show on the VCR. When watching the tape, she’d go up to the TV to fast-forward through the commercials on the tape. When the show came back on, she’d stop fast-forwarding, and walk backwards to her seat so she wouldn’t miss any of the show. My sister and I found the backwards walking hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/10 "2012-12-30T00:34:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > And I just had a moment of quasi-nostalgia for that wonderful old gigantic black and white in my house when I was a kid. We bought it used – no money for new TVs in those days for us – and I remember my dad getting out the screwdriver and going behind the set to adjust the VERT and HORZ screws, mysterious rheostats that required a mere breath of pressure to go from a visible, clear picture to a rolling set of frames. > > I remember changing channels by the dial, which was numbered 2 to 13, and we only got 4, 5, 7, and 9 anyway. So, you grew up in the NoVa area. Me too. I had a tv before you(1948), but I certainly did fiddle with the screws for horizontal and vertical. Taking tubes over to the drugstore to test, buying a new one. Using pliers when the channel selector knob failed. Being frustrated when the HAM radio opertor in the next block got on. His signal wiped out our picture/sound. Interferrence was horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/11 "2012-12-30T00:37:11Z")
I started a thread on old TVs somewhere around here not too long ago. Don’t know where it is, though. We watched _Men In Black 3_ last night. It amused me to see K’s old three- (or four-?) button Sylvania remote control. ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/12 "2012-12-30T00:58:39Z")
not to change appliances but my g-parents had one of these floor model Crosley radios in their house. We g-kids all thought it was some weird kind of TV at first. [http://www.google.com/imgres?q=old+floor+model+radio&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=731&bih=351&tbm=isch&tbnid=xNSJcJsf1-wAVM:&imgrefurl=http://dominionantiques.com/sept112.htm&docid=rEJZNLxeMWx5RM&imgurl=http://dominionantiques.com/sept11%252520(47).JPG&w=1443&h=2004&ei=D5HfUMiaOMWPqwHO44CIDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=467&vpy=-29&dur=359&hovh=265&hovw=190&tx=94&ty=245&sig=101690574478766507423&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=93&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:102](http://www.google.com/imgres?q=old+floor+model+radio&hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=731&bih=351&tbm=isch&tbnid=xNSJcJsf1-wAVM:&imgrefurl=http://dominionantiques.com/sept112.htm&docid=rEJZNLxeMWx5RM&imgurl=http://dominionantiques.com/sept11%252520(47).JPG&w=1443&h=2004&ei=D5HfUMiaOMWPqwHO44CIDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=467&vpy=-29&dur=359&hovh=265&hovw=190&tx=94&ty=245&sig=101690574478766507423&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=93&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:102) ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/13 "2012-12-30T01:21:04Z")
I remember one of our televisions would occasionally need a smack on the right side to bring the picture back. My Dad would tell me to go “adjust the tv” when the picture got ugly. I also remember dialing in UHF channels on the knob that didn’t have ‘click’ stops. Between moving the rabbit ears around and twiddling that damn knob, you might get a barely watchable picture of some weird show. ---
**Author:** ![Dano83860](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Dano83860](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dano83860)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/14 "2012-12-30T03:13:16Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > When we lost color, my dad would remove the back of the TV, remove some tubes, and head for the hardware store. He would plug them into the [testing machine](http://www.retroaudiolab.com/pictures/tubechkr1.JPG), get a new tube, and put it all together again. > > And he had to remove and test all the tubes because you didn’t know which ones might be the problem. > > Why, then, he wouldn’t order a new knob when one stripped out is beyond me. We kept a set of pliers on the TV to change channels with. I reber a pair of channel locks on the tv for a couple of weeks before mom and dad could decide on a new one. I didn’t know about color tv until I spent the night edit at a friends /edit and watched Star Trek with them. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/15 "2012-12-30T03:20:24Z")
We had a pretty nice 19" B&W for years. I remember my brother and I sitting with an earplug pressed between our ears so we could watch Saturday morning cartoons without waking our parents up. And the first time I saw Star Trek in color on someone else’s set, arrrgh, the colors had my eyes bleeding. I did not have a color TV until the early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/16 "2012-12-30T03:40:46Z")
People are giving away old tube TVs on craigslist around here. I picked up a huge (40" maybe? I don’t remember) set and have it hanging in my shop. About 70lbs and right over my priceless pinball machines. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/17 "2012-12-30T03:48:32Z")
In the early '50s, we had a black-and-white Zenith with a 12" round screen. It was on that TV that I watched Elizabeth II’s Coronation and Eisenhower’s first inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/18 "2012-12-30T04:44:23Z")
ISTR the grocery store on the corner had a tube tester, where you could take your vacuum tubes and plug them into the correct socket to see if they were still good. Not for display CRTs, though. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/19 "2012-12-30T05:04:24Z")
I remember having an antennae on the roof of the house, that could rotate its orientation by adjusting a knob. It would freeze up in the winter time. I got a 19" CRT in the bedroom as my 2nd TV that I got after Mom passed away. It still works well, except the on/off switch on remote does not work all the time. Thinking seriously of replacing it and I am seeing 32" -37" flatscreens that cost the same as that TV did 30 years ago. [hijack]Why would I need a TV that is Wifi compatible?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527/20 "2012-12-30T05:28:47Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > [hijack]Why would I need a TV that is Wifi compatible?[/hijack] I’ve just been in the market for a TV myself, and as near as I can tell, a television that just showed TV programs would be as old-fashioned as button shoes. Want to watch something from Netflix on-demand? Your TV would talk to the router over WiFi and get to Netflix that way. It can probably do things like upgrade its own OS, too. The next generation of sets will be able to watch themselves and won’t need you anymore. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-old-tvs/645527.md?page=2)