# When did you stop watching B&W TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385 "2010-09-11T06:12:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/1 "2010-09-11T06:12:14Z")
Our family didn’t get our first color TV until 1985 when I was ten. I did occasionally watch b&w portables at my grandmothers house until it stopped working around 2000. When did you last see B&W television, and do you remember getting your first color TV? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/2 "2010-09-11T06:38:28Z")
I was four when we got a color TV, so 1981. After that, I got to have the black and white TV in my room, which is why I now hate the Wizard of Oz - I watched it, and the TV broke, it didn’t seen conicidental to me at the time. Kidding, I would have hated it even if the TV didn’t break right afterwards. A few years later my grandfather gave lil bro and I a black and white TV too, and we had that until the late 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/3 "2010-09-11T06:52:47Z")
I got my first color TV around 1983. I still had a B&W up till 1991. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/4 "2010-09-11T07:02:20Z")
I thought I was late. My mother gave us a color TV (small) for our first anniversary in 1979 - that was our first. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/5 "2010-09-11T10:50:47Z")
Some time around 1978-79. Certainly by 1980, because I remember my father looking forward to watching the Winter Olympics in colour, and then saying that they were just as boring as they were in black and white. The old black and white set was relegated to a spare room and continued in use for at least another ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/6 "2010-09-11T11:07:17Z")
Do they even make B&W HDTVs? ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/7 "2010-09-11T11:17:18Z")
I was using a Ford-Philco portable black and white set for a bedroom TV in 1993. I owned color sets at the time (and had my first personal color set at the age of 11 in 1985), but they were on desks or tables, not suitable for watching in bed. I still have a couple of black and white sets in storage; one is for use with my collection of early Pong-era consoles, and a couple are spares for use in repairing early-70s arcade games. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/8 "2010-09-11T11:33:56Z")
2001, when the small black and white tv my grand dad gave me finally died. I wish I could find a black and white HDTV. Some shows are just better in black and white instead of color. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/9 "2010-09-11T11:38:04Z")
My little b&w portable is still in my room at Mom and Dad’s house. Haven’t watched it since I moved out in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/10 "2010-09-11T12:36:12Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > 2001, when the small black and white tv my grand dad gave me finally died. I wish I could find a black and white HDTV. Some shows are just better in black and white instead of color. HDTVs should still have saturation/color controls that you can turn down to zero. I’ve heard reports that it’s not exactly the same, but it should produce black-and-white. Also, I thought I was going to win this this thread with 1997. That was when I finally got a color TV in my bedroom. It was mostly for video games, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/11 "2010-09-11T12:40:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > HDTVs should still have saturation/color controls that you can turn down to zero. I’ve heard reports that it’s not exactly the same, but it should produce black-and-white. They do, and I use my tv that way sometimes, but yea, it’s not the same. The shades are off is the best way I can describe it. Plus, it’s a hassle to keep switching from black and white to color. Easier just to have one tv of each. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/12 "2010-09-11T12:42:56Z")
So how does Black and White TV look on a 1080p HDTV? I mean stuff they still air, like the Addams Family and so forth. I assume B&W movies on Blu Ray look great. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/13 "2010-09-11T13:18:10Z")
1988, when my partner and I got an apartment together. He had a Proton VT-210 set that was practically state-of-the-art back then, and i had an old malfunctioning B&W. We still have the Proton, in the bedroom and rarely used. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/14 "2010-09-11T17:05:49Z")
I believe there was still a working black & white TV in my family home up until there was a house fire in 1987. I’ve posted about this on the boards before. When I was a kid Wizard of Oz was shown on broadcast television once a year. In our home it was an event, For a couple weeks before hand my mom could use it to keep us in line. “Be nice to your sister or you won’t be allowed to stay up…”. I loved it. In 1974 we moved in with my grandparents who at that time already had a color TV. The first time I saw Wizard of Oz there I wen bananas. My grandmother, who’d never bothered to watch it on TV because she’d seen it in the theatre (many times apparently) took a few moment to understand my reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/15 "2010-09-11T17:11:50Z")
I have a friend right now with a working (second, in the kitchen) TV that’s B&W. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/16 "2010-09-11T17:18:15Z")
I went away to college in 1973, and at that time we had 1 TV in the house, and it was a B&W set. I got a slightly used B&W set sometime during my college days that I had until 1984 when I bought my very first Sony Trinitron Color set. At a full 20", it was HUGE!!! I upgraded to a 32" set in 1995, and that thing weighed a ton. My 50" plasma weighs much less. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/17 "2010-09-11T17:20:18Z")
I’ve had a color TV in the living room forever, but until quite recently I had a small B&W TV in my bedroom that I watched only occasionally. I bought a bigger digital-ready color TV for the bedroom maybe six months before the digital transition. So maybe summer of 2008? I never had color TV as a kid. My parents didn’t get a color TV until after I went away to college in 1987. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/18 "2010-09-11T17:21:00Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > So how does Black and White TV look on a 1080p HDTV? I mean stuff they still air, like the Addams Family and so forth. > > I assume B&W movies on Blu Ray look great. You have to reprossess the TV show or movie to get true high def. And the show had to have been shot in a format that is at least equal to high def. For instance, a show shot in 35mm is better quality than high def so you could reprocess that, but it’s costly. Otherwise it’s just upconverted. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/19 "2010-09-11T17:26:48Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > In 1974 we moved in with my grandparents who at that time already had a color TV. The first time I saw Wizard of Oz there I wen bananas. My grandmother, who’d never bothered to watch it on TV because she’d seen it in the theatre (many times apparently) took a few moment to understand my reaction. I was 20 years old before I realized part of the Wizard of Oz was in black-and-white and part in color. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385/20 "2010-09-11T17:27:19Z")
I got my own TV in the bedroom when I was 9 (1972), a hand-off from my parents who were too frugal to throw it away when they bought the big color console. It was an enormous B&W TV with a UHF/VHF changer and a channel dial that made a clunking sound when it turned. I kept that until 1981 when I went off to college. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-stop-watching-b-w-tv/553385.md?page=2)