View Full Version : Ignorant people.


Thyratron
07-31-2007, 11:57 PM
Another day, another overheard conversation of a small group ridiculing "those 19 inch TVs" with "that wood trim" and "those knobs that go 'click'", and how "I remember when you had to get up to change the channel, ha ha ha," all the while glorifying the latest "HD" set to roll off the boat from China. It's even more frustrating when the group generally appears not even old enough to remember a TV with manual tuning, never mind tubes. Just had to get that off my chest!!

jedo1507r
08-01-2007, 12:03 AM
They'll soon realize there is zero tolerance for dropping that large plasma (or LCD) television. :smoke:

radiotvnut
08-01-2007, 12:52 AM
Another day, another overheard conversation of a small group ridiculing "those 19 inch TVs" with "that wood trim" and "those knobs that go 'click'", and how "I remember when you had to get up to change the channel, ha ha ha," all the while glorifying the latest "HD" set to roll off the boat from China. It's even more frustrating when the group generally appears not even old enough to remember a TV with manual tuning, never mind tubes. Just had to get that off my chest!!

I know what you mean. Most people my age (and some older) think I'm some sort of nut for collecting vintage electronics. The conversation recently come up among a group of friends at church that I wanted old TV's with rotary tuners and vacuum tubes. One person replied, a little sarcastic, that he didn't have anything old enough to have a rotary tuner and he didn't even know what a vacuum tube was. I remember the first TV in my bedroom that was actually MINE (early '90's) was an old tube type 17" RCA B&W with no UHF tuner. I was on cloud nine after fixing that thing. I later sold it to a young married couple for $20, and, they were happy to get it. In 2007, most people would turn their nose up at anything less than a 32" with remote and stereo sound. My high school still had one of those 23" RCA tube type "Mural TV's" in one of the classrooms. I can remember my teacher turning it on to view something, and, one of the students asked why the TV didn't come on instantly. That was in about '93. What really irritates me is when I ask the local TV shops for older TV's and they usually tell me "those sets were junk when they were new" or "why do you want that old garbage." Well, my old sets will probably be kicking when they are on their fifth LCD set!

Sorry, I just had to let off some steam

Bryan

Tubejunke
08-01-2007, 01:15 AM
I have posted this before but it fits here. Once a single Mom friend of mine metioned her teenage son badly needing a TV for his room. I had an extra 19" color set with a manual tuner that I offered her for FREE. She declined the gift saying that he would not watch a TV without a REMOTE!!!!!! Give me a break!! Not just is kid somehow entitled to his own personal color television, he also has set standards for what is acceptable. Geez!! Actually I think it was more the Mom's attitude than the kid. Reason being is I spoke to Alex who at 14 was smart enough to know that you can hook up a VCR or a cable box to any old set and have remote control. By that time somebody had already PURCHSED the poor child a REAL tv.

I'm 38 and I remember well getting up EVERY time you changed the channel and it really didnt matter. Really I kind of miss those days. We had a TV guide and a FAMILY tv. We knew at 6:00 Dad would want to watch the CBS or NBC news. After that we would progress to watch a few of the sit coms of the time that WE liked till around 9:00 when the evening movie would come on or some other "special". We only had about 4 or 5 channels to begin with, but that was ENOUGH. As far as a remote goes again it really didnt matter. We might have had to get up 3 or 4 times in an evening. OHHH the torture!!

Imagine not having a freaking TELEPHONE everywhere you go!! This is another modern day trend that I think is ridiculous. I walk around sometimes and feel like I'm in some bad 70's sci-fi movie or something where everyone is talking (or just playing with) a telephone EVERYWHERE you look. As if THAT werent bad enough they came out with that Hounds Tooth or whatever goes in your ear so you can go around looking like some kind of escaped mental patient munbling to your other personality. I really believe people buy those ear devices just to freak people out looking all crazy. I mean COME ON, how important are you, or how busy is your life that you have to have MA Bell wired directly into your brain? I just don't get it!

I guess I'm just missing the days when things just seemed a little more simple and NORMAL. We once had sense enough to figure out that a car door was "AJAR", or that a lit heater was HOT, and the phone was to "reach out and touch someone" and not to be a walking, talking, telecomunication network. It rang a few times a day, or week and I dont remember minding at all putting my finger in the little hole and turning the DIAL.

I'm going to quit before I get into LAPTOP'S..............

mr_fixer
08-01-2007, 02:00 AM
I agree, Tube Junkie, since i've gotten older and wiser "i hope!" I 've found that keeping up with fads is tiresome and futile. about 3 years ago i shut off the homephone and went cellular and cable modem, but i started to leave the cell phone at home. I found it wasn't really necessary to have a umbilical cord connected to my every friend. The only advantage of the cell phone to me was it was cheaper have it , with voicemail and long distance, than to go with Ma Bell for the same services. The worst part is, as time goes by quality seems to get worse, my old phone had 12 ring tones built in, free of charge. and no real features to speak of. The new phone has 1 ring tone unless you purchase extra. WTFlip? Can I buy a simple cell phone today without some over priced, power draining, impractical features? Whew!, Rant over, had to get that off my chest. Logan

JimJ[VT]
08-01-2007, 02:10 AM
People aren't entitled to their opinions about older technology?

We had a TV guide and a FAMILY tv. We knew at 6:00 Dad would want to watch the CBS or NBC news. After that we would progress to watch a few of the sit coms of the time that WE liked till around 9:00 when the evening movie would come on or some other "special". We only had about 4 or 5 channels to begin with, but that was ENOUGH.

The programming found on the local channels here is awful. If someone's willing to pay for it, I don't see the issue with having hundreds of channels available.

I mean COME ON, how important are you, or how busy is your life that you have to have MA Bell wired directly into your brain? I just don't get it!

I'll agree with you there. A good portion of the cell phone use I see is useless, but I don't have a landline phone so I'm not about to throw my cell out either.

I'm going to quit before I get into LAPTOP'S...

Well, if there's a way for me to carry a desktop around campus, I'd like to hear it :D

Celt
08-01-2007, 08:13 AM
I have posted this before but it fits here. Once a single Mom friend of mine metioned her teenage son badly needing a TV for his room. I had an extra 19" color set with a manual tuner that I offered her for FREE. She declined the gift saying that he would not watch a TV without a REMOTE!!!!!! Give me a break!! Not just is kid somehow entitled to his own personal color television, he also has set standards for what is acceptable. Geez!! Actually I think it was more the Mom's attitude than the kid......

I know what you mean. I too, could rant on about this type of mindset, but will leave it alone.

Sandy G
08-01-2007, 08:36 AM
When people come to my house & see all the various & sundry One-Eyed Monsters of varying vintages staring back at them, they get a look on their faces like the mousy guy in all the Horror Flicks you've ever seen does when he realises he's in the House/Clutches of the Mad Scientist, & there's No Escape...

radotvguy
08-01-2007, 11:22 AM
Well , i suppose we all have our views on modern times and past times . However i will say this , the new stuff seems to be pure junk , however it will go for 6 years or so usually with no problem . Unfortunatly we are living in the the age of make it cheap and sell it cheap . Thats kinda what our country is coming too . Its just the way it is ,we cant change that . Thats why so many tv repair shops went out of buissness , for what it would cost to get something repaired , you go to walmart and for a few bucks more , buy a new tv . I will say the older sets were built a hell of a lot better and built so a technician could work on them , however i guess if you took a 1960s zenith, it would cost a arm and a leg to buy it if they still made them like that . Now a days , its just make it cheap and fast . I seem to like the old sets still better then the new ones, becuase of the workmanship in them . You will never see the new stuff being made like that again .
Funney story , but a few weeks back my neighbor threw away all the tvs in their house . A few 19 inch tvs and a 32 inch tv . I asked "why are you throwing all these tvs out , whats wrong with them . She replied , there was nothing wrong with them , her kids wanted flat screens throughout the house . So i took the the 32 inch zenith , basically just had to put new batteries in the remote . Just goes to show you how much waste there is in this country .

zenith2134
08-01-2007, 12:22 PM
I distinctly remember going into an AV shop in the Marine PArk section of Brooklyn around 1 year ago. I asked the elderly gentleman if he had any vintage audio equipment, or tube-type televisions he'd be willing to sell. His reply was "What, you like that old crap?" I'll never forget that phrase. I turned around, said thanks and left disappointed. The mentality is really a shame, especially when the repair force doesn't recognize the value of older stuff. Meanwhile, he had a shelf in that store with a stack of silver stereo gear, and he refused to let me have a look, since the store was a mess and the shelf was inaccessible. That shop has since closed down.

dr.ido
08-01-2007, 12:26 PM
When people come to my house & see all the various & sundry One-Eyed Monsters of varying vintages staring back at them, they get a look on their faces like the mousy guy in all the Horror Flicks you've ever seen does when he realises he's in the House/Clutches of the Mad Scientist, & there's No Escape...

I remember at least one movie (Far From home?) where one of the bad guy's "hideout" was full of old TV's that he repaired. Watching it when I was a kid I remember being more disturbed when the other guy followed him there and busted up the TVs than when various people were killed, etc. :scratch2:

Around here 16:9 flat CRT sets in working condition are starting to be dumped. These were high end sets no more than 5 years ago. The things that people just throw out never ceases to amaze me. I'm not complaining though, all the furniture and most of the gear in my place is stuff that other people have dumped. There are several guys around here who make their living picking up what people dump and selling it.

Cell phones drive me nuts, but with the ever increasing charges for a landline here a cell phone is cheaper if you rarely make a call (the telcos have responded by charging $20+ more for cable internet if you don't have a landline service). If the batteries still held charge I'd be happy with one of my old Nokia's with a mono display and simple beeping ringer. The color display in my current phone is unreadable in daylight and the ringer isn't loud enough, but it can display stupid animated graphics and play distorted music clips if I subscribe for the to some service that costs more than I spend on calls in a month. :thumbsdn:

I wouldn't be without a laptop, but I'll stick with the 7 year old IBM Thinkpad that cost me $25 from one of the guys picking up rubbish. I did repair a flashy Acer Pentium 4 laptop that I found, but the keyboard/mouse felt so flimsy I couldn't stand using it and gave it to a friend.

Thyratron
08-01-2007, 11:06 PM
Excellent posts here, guys, especially Tubejunke (I agree 100%). I guess what annoys me so much when I hear people putting down the old sets is that they're often assuming it's "junk" or "inferior" just because it's old, when in fact, though the picture quality might be somewhat better on the modern set (or it most definitely might not be, in many cases), the build quality and component quality of the old sets is usually far better. And, as radotvguy mentioned, the old ones are actually meant to be repaired. Enjoy whatever type of set it is you like, but don't assume a TV should be in a landfill just because it has a curved screen!

JimJ[VT]
08-01-2007, 11:15 PM
It's all in what you're going to use it for. To someone who watches a lot of DVD's, a 19" black and white set is inferior.

Tubejunke
08-01-2007, 11:48 PM
;1273994']Well, if there's a way for me to carry a desktop around campus, I'd like to hear it :D

Somewhere in the confusion of the past two decades or so we redesigned our method of doing everyday business and education around a freaking PC. So now you need a portable office to function in an enviornment that not that long ago required only a pen, a pencil, a few notebooks, and maybe a spiral binder. Maybe you needed a bag, briefcase or whatnot to transport these items (now I think at school they use backpacks). I'm sure many will agree that from an educational standpoint we got a better result in the "old school". There are far too many examples of HS diplomas being handed out to kids who wouldnt pass the 8th grade 30 years ago

I guess my original point was more to remind us that we CAN do just fine without a lot of the creature comforts that so many of us have the attitude of being some kind of a birthright or something. I also know there are positive benefits of a lot of things like cell phones and laptops. I know that unfortunately the teaching method has changed in schools to center its self around the use of a computer and a student MUST have a PC or laptop to function AT ALL!! I think its insane, but the person seeking education can't help it. Its insane that my girlfirends daughter will be using a PC to learn in the FIRST grade!

I work for a major retail business and it is bizarre that virtually NOBODY on the front line knows what to do in the event of a computer crash, or for that matter what to do if the lights go out. I'm serious, there IS a procedure called STANDALONE but due to cutting personell and training there is no time to go over issues that fortunatly don't happen a lot. Its cheaper to post a HELP DESK phone #.

Geez all we hear is terrorism these days! :uzi:Hell nobodys got to die! All someone will have to do is find a way to smoke every microprocessor in the U.S. and the country will come to a hault. At least long enough to relearn how we got by all those years without any of these things we just cant live without.:saywhat::worried:

I'm NOT really on a PC rant but more the fact that we have leaned a LOT to heavy on what basically is a toy to RUN our country. Now from a political standpoint I would rather have a 200mhz. Pentium processor with 8 megs of RAM in charge anyday than what we are stuck with, but thats a whole different story.:dammit:

I personally enjoy my PC quite a bit as a form of entertainment. As a kid I used to enjoy looking through what we used to know as an encyclopedia, so to me the internet represents a hyperaccelerated version of that. Pretty exciting!!

Oh well I guess I can just be glad to be old enough to know that I CAN function without a lot of todays technology, but I am young enough to still be able to catch on and enjoy the things I find use or entertainment in.:yes: Back to my original point in my first post I still think life for everyone would be so much simpler and in the end EASIER if our work and home lives were not centered around technology. All we really accomplished was speeding up the business world and in some ways our home life to unrealistic expectations, this is SO true in the business world. Its like we were walking, now we are running and if you stop for a second you are doing major damage to your bottom line. Too many irons in the fire to make sanse of it all. So we have MICROmanagement!!:scratch2:

I'll stop here and go puke

Thyratron
08-02-2007, 12:04 AM
Another great post, Tubejunke. As you were referring to, the problem today isn't even that some people are "addicted" to technology, it's that they can't FUNCTION without it! People need to try, if only for a day, to turn off the cell phone, keep the computer shut down, and pick up the road map instead of the navigation system. You will make it to the next day, trust me!

Tubejunke
08-02-2007, 12:32 AM
Funney story , but a few weeks back my neighbor threw away all the tvs in their house . A few 19 inch tvs and a 32 inch tv . I asked "why are you throwing all these tvs out , whats wrong with them . She replied , there was nothing wrong with them , her kids wanted flat screens throughout the house . So i took the the 32 inch zenith , basically just had to put new batteries in the remote . Just goes to show you how much waste there is in this country .


A lot of people today talk about raising the minimum wage so just MAYBE all people WILLING to work will be able to make ends meet. OK idea I guess. To me anyone who is willing to get up everyday and at least give life a try should be guaranteed to earn enough to make ends meet and have SOME means of preparation for health issues and retirement. That should be a MINIMUM standard incentive. As opposed to popping out babies and waiting on monthly government checks and using the medicaid system to hit up doctors for free prescriptions to sell for extra cash. Then on the other end of the spectrum you have Mom trashing a house full of color TV's because the KIDS wanted better ones!!! Coomme OONN!! There must be a ballance in this country, some how, some way. I have an answer!

I say for now don't raise the minimum wage. LOWER THE MAXIMUM WAGE!!!!!

As for those kids I would go out and purchase a house full of 13" Black and White sets and donate their awful 19" and larger color sets to the old folks home.

radiotvnut
08-02-2007, 01:15 AM
As for those kids I would go out and purchase a house full of 13" Black and White sets and donate their awful 19" and larger color sets to the old folks home.

Just make sure they are tube type B&W sets with a weak CRT and, maybe, some sync issues. Oh yeah, take away their cable as well.

Our family TV until the mid '90's was a basic 19" color set and I could just see me telling my dad to throw it out because I wanted the latest technology.

radotvguy
08-02-2007, 11:15 AM
Well Tubejunke , you hit the nail right on the head . Unfortunatly we live in a time where everyone is dependent on computers, laptops, cellphones etc . Me myself , i do find the computer a useful tool in many aspects but i did live without it for many years . I actually did not have a computer till late 2000 . I didnt even have a cell phone till this year and i only bought one becuase i do a lot of driving pretty far too and there are not any more pay phones around .
But i will say this , these computers in a work place seem to complicate things more . What i mean by this is , it seems that before we had all this modern crap , things seemed to work smoother but now with these computers things seem more complicated . God forbid the computers go out at my job , everyone goes into a panic and its like the world has stopped , lol .
My personal motto is " less is best " . Growing up we didnt have all these fancy things and yet we were just fine and happy . Nowadays the kids need computers , cell phones , video games , etc , etc . Hell , i dont even have cable/tv . People are spoiled today and dont even know it .

mr_fixer
08-02-2007, 02:45 PM
Speaking of technological dependency , did anyone here watch the tv series "Jericho"? I wonder if a EMP bomb that could black out North America could really exist? Logan

JimJ[VT]
08-02-2007, 03:26 PM
People are spoiled today and dont even know it .

But it's all relative. Every generation thinks the ones following it are spoiled, after all, growing up you would have used convienences people in previous generations would have scoffed at.

RVonse
08-02-2007, 06:53 PM
Its pretty obvious when comparing the past that just about everything in our lives is better technology wise but somehow life is still much worse from a quality standpoint. I can still remember years ago when you could actually call a business and get a real person at the other end of the phone. And that person could actually have a conversation with to you. That kind of quality has been removed from the workforce now and in its place we speak to robot voices and tape recordings. Only an idiot would prefer a phone system to a real person, yet somehow the business world has to operate this way now.

So when it comes to having newer technology in my home, I think I prefer the video technology today vs yesterday. But when it comes to seeing what technology has done to business and this country, I think I prefer the old days much better.

similost
08-02-2007, 07:03 PM
Man does this bring back memories...

I sure do miss the days of watching my father pull the TV away from the wall, grab a few tools and take the back off... then sit there with a mirror in front of the TV trying to get the picture just right while twisting all the cool little things inside..

And the best entertainment of all.. .Seeing him fly back about 3 feet against the wall because the screwdriver slipped out of the do-hickie and zapped him...

That was always so much funnier than anything that was ever on the screen!!! I guess kids today just don't have the same sense of humor...

ChrisW6ATV
08-02-2007, 07:14 PM
JimJ, you got it right. Today's kids are eventually going to be ornery old coots who will whine about their lazy grandchildren. Those eventual grandparents will stubbornly stick to phones with keypads and maybe satellite or cable TV. They will complain that the youngsters do not even know how to use a phone by punching in a separate phone number that you have to remember or write down for each person you want to call, and the kids don't even know you used to have to recharge your phone every few days. They will describe how some phones even used to be connected to wires inside the walls of houses! This group will also describe going to stores to buy movies, books, and music in individual pieces as a normal, everyday practice. They will mention TV "networks" that made up advance lists of shows that would run live, nonstop at the same time all over the country, and the kids will think, "How silly was that? TV shows went by even without someone ordering them? You had to program a digital recorder in advance to save shows, or you could miss the show and have to wait for the network to decide to show it again?? What a ridiculous idea! And, some people didn't even have the recorders and they had to actually decide to be at home at exactly 8 PM every Thursday night to watch a show? That must have been like the Stone Age."

similost
08-02-2007, 07:18 PM
JimJ, you got it right. Today's kids are eventually going to be ornery old coots who will whine about their lazy grandchildren. Those eventual grandparents will stubbornly stick to phones with keypads and maybe satellite or cable TV. They will complain that the youngsters do not even know how to use a phone by punching in a separate phone number that you have to remember or write down for each person you want to call, and the kids don't even know you used to have to recharge your phone every few days. They will describe how some phones even used to be connected to wires inside the walls of houses! This group will also describe going to stores to buy movies, books, and music in individual pieces as a normal, everyday practice. They will mention TV "networks" that made up advance lists of shows that would run live, nonstop at the same time all over the country, and the kids will think, "How silly was that? TV shows went by even without someone ordering them? You had to program a digital recorder in advance to save shows, or you could miss the show and have to wait for the network to decide to show it again?? What a ridiculous idea! And, some people didn't even have the recorders and they had to actually decide to be at home at exactly 8 PM every Thursday night to watch a show? That must have been like the Stone Age."

I remember one day a kid came to school, and was telling us about this machine his father would put a tape in, and it would record a show on the TV so you could watch it later...

We all called him a liar.. everyone knows there's no such thing... :tears:

Keefla
08-02-2007, 09:08 PM
I remember one day a kid came to school, and was telling us about this machine his father would put a tape in, and it would record a show on the TV so you could watch it later...

We all called him a liar.. everyone knows there's no such thing... :tears:


that reminds me of a conversation i had with a friend in about march 1997 or so when DVDs were just coming around. He was reading a magazine article from popular electronics or something about the technology and whatnot. I said theyd never catch on "noone will want them cause you cant record on them, its gonna be like video discs and lazer discs, people already have everything on tape and wont switch formats.". he still reminds me to this day that i was wrong. :D I was right about his now useless minidisc player thow:banana: they failed both times sony tried to launch them.

wa2ise
08-02-2007, 10:06 PM
JimJ, you got it right. Today's kids are eventually going to be ornery old coots who will whine about their lazy grandchildren.

Back in the mid 60's my grammar school teachers absolutely hated television. Today they probably hate video games and internet surfing...

rca2000
08-03-2007, 07:59 PM
They'll soon realize there is zero tolerance for dropping that large plasma (or LCD) television. :smoke:

Plasma tv's SUCK!!! Besides the VERY fragile PDP panel, and the extreme susceptibility to burn-in, and such...


Recently, I had to work on several of them. ALL of them had MAJOR problems!! ALL of them were less than THREE years old!! one of them had a bad PDP panel (and that means it is basically JUNK now), the other 3 ALL had bad sustain and buffer boards.(about $750 in parts avg. apiece.). There is NO SUCH THING as a "cheap repair" on a plasma tv.

I tried to warn AK about the unreliability of plasma (really FLUORESCENT) tv sets a couple of years ago, but no one took me seriously.

Elfasto
08-03-2007, 09:34 PM
:dammit:I for one must be an anachronism in a modern world. I have a cellular phone that's only a phone. I have a HUGE 26" RCA Colortrack 2000 Television (made in 1989), I haven't stepped up to component video and I'm still stuck with S-Video, still play Vinyl, OWN 2 VCR's, only 2 DVD players (one of them is a Playstation 2), still use Cassettes, and I have more movies on Laserdisc than I do on DVD.

And I must be the last person on Earth that doesn't believe in driving and yacking on a Cellular Phone.

I should be stuffed in a museum. :p:

JimJ[VT]
08-04-2007, 09:48 AM
JimJ, you got it right. Today's kids are eventually going to be ornery old coots who will whine about their lazy grandchildren. Those eventual grandparents will stubbornly stick to phones with keypads and maybe satellite or cable TV.

And whatever form AK may take then...you can be assured...we'll be complaining, er, posting on it :lmao:

Bill R
08-04-2007, 08:20 PM
Minidisc didn't actually fail. It is still in wide use in the pro/ concert touring world. You would be surprised how many bands (A acts included) use minidisc players on stage and only pretend to play their instruments. It just never had a real use in the home market.

I see people all the time buying calculators for the little tykes in school. The hand held electronic calculator hadn't even been invented when I was in grade school and amazingly we all still learned to do our math. The newest calculators can even graph the results. I had to use pencils and graph paper. I think kids got a much better education back then. I didn't need to know all about computers in school, but I did have to learn to read and comprehend what I had read. With that knowledge I could learn all about computers on my own.

I best not get started on the school system and modern teaching methods.

Bill R

old_tv_nut
08-04-2007, 10:16 PM
I stood in line at the Aquarium 2 weeks ago while three guys in front of me tried to figure out their total cost for tickets at $24.95 each. One was punching the numbers into the calculator function of his cellphone and showing it to the other two, who weren't too sure if the result made sense (it was correct). I can't say if their dysfunctional math arose from having no training at all, or to life-long reliance on calculators, and I couldn't figure out a way to determine that without probably pissing them off. It was entertaining, in a morbid way.

Regarding cell phones, I carry one, but it's only on when I really need to make an outgoing call, or when I'm traveling on business and need to be reachable. I don't WANT to be always reachable. I started carrying it constantly after I had a heart attack and the nurses suggested keeping it handy just in case.

By the way, for personal phone use, Miss Manners says the phone should never interrupt face-to-face conversations, and the answering machine or equivalent is a courteous convenience to provide for callers so they don't have to call repeatedly. So, when people comment that they HAD to leave a message (poor inconvenienced souls) I just ignore the comment.

I agree that businesses should be just the opposite, with phone answering set up for the convenience of the caller. However, it's just unaffordable, with what people are willing to pay, for a phone company to do what Illinois Bell did, for example - hire enough service reps so every call was answered by a person between the second and third ring. You will not see those days again.

simplynuts
08-04-2007, 11:28 PM
i grew up with tube sets and remember spending time with my father fixing an old round tube black and white console so many times that my mother wanted something new. My first color set was given to me by a building super. It was a round picture tube rca with a tuning fork type remote. It was a great set that only needed a break in a circuit board jumpered to get it going. i like the build of the old stuff and that they are easier to repair. I had a lcd portable player that I rarely use just die recently. I paid $150 and the company would send me a new one for $70 becuase it was out of warranty. Told them I won't buy their products again becuase I can buy a complete new one witha new battery for that price. Most of the stuff i get from garage sales or street finds. I left a pair of pilot speakers on the curb today with a free sign (no one would take them unless they were marked free). They sat the whole day until my 18 year old came home from bowling with some friends. They asked why the speakers were there and then took them. Maybe all is not lost on the young.

Telecolor 3007
08-05-2007, 04:20 AM
People here think I have nothing better to do than collect old tvs. Unfortnley, my mom is one of them. She's with the new products, why buy old ones, the new ones have warranty... When I will have my own apartament (this will not be soon beacuase I don't have money) I hope I will get me some newer (post 1987-1990) tv sets, to show other people what qualty really means! The most easy way to destroy a people confidence in itself, is to destroy it's history, and this is valable in the case of the consumers - the corporations want to make us to think our products our obsolete, in order to make us, the consumer to buy thyer 2 dollars junks! . They think if I'm young (I'm 24) I'm another kid that is fashionable and will buy theyer's junks, but I ain't going to fell in theyr's trap. Why? Because I had the chance to know what a good product is!!!
A funny thing: people say that my old East-German radio that I use as an amplifier isn't good, but when they hear it they like it

About those kids: theyr's parents never talled them about V.C.R.'s? :eek:

Wonder why people prefer to buy new junks in stad of good old things? O.k., at a tv sets the tube may be used, an V.C.R. may be "absolete", but an radio?

Elfasto
08-05-2007, 07:59 AM
Wonder why people prefer to buy new junks in stad of good old things? O.k., at a tv sets the tube may be used, an V.C.R. may be "absolete", but an radio?

Good point. Radio hasn't changed much since 1920 for the AM band, and very little since around 1970 for the FM band. Shit, some of the really old radio sets from the 1920-1940 range absolutely kick the crap out of a new receiver on the AM band for sensitivity, sound quality.

andy
08-05-2007, 11:40 AM
I've never owned a new TV. Even my computers are all put together from surplus stuff. I don't own a VCR that was made after 1988. I think it's more fun to see what turns up at garage sales, flea markets, surplus stores, and even the trash than to just go shopping. There's no fun in it if anyone can just go out and buy one. I enjoy collecting and using things that were the best you could get at the time they were made.

Tubejunke
08-06-2007, 02:06 AM
Does anyone get the impression that the DVD player is the exception to the rule when it comes to the normal high to low quality life span that trendy home entertainment devices usually have. It seems like they flooded the market with cheap DVD players from the get go. I tend to wait a while to jump on the bandwagon of creature comfort so I might have missed $200 DVD units. I think the market wanted to eradicate VHS badly. What better way to do it than make the latest "must have" available to the working (or not) poor. You would be hard pressed to find someone on welfare in America without a DVD player and a movie club card. Get my drift?

The best VCR's certainly were made in the 80's. I think that decade saw the peak of VCR quality production. I have a mid 80's Panasonic that refuses to stop. I cleaned the switch inside once that makes them go crazy perorming the wrong function at the right time to lock up. For about the past 10 years you can go pick up a one pound $40 Magnavox at Wally World that might last 2 or 3 years.

TV's have certainly been on a downhill trend in quality pretty much since the point of solid state technology. Actually for the first 10 or so years of solid state television you got a really good product. That brings us to some point in the later 80's when industry changed to the modern tactic of PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE/AND OR FAILURE WITHOUT HOPE OF REPAIR.

By the 80's I think the electronics industry relized that for one they had perfected the technology of solid state technology. With that perfection of a product that was likely to perform without fail in the case of a TV until the CRT finally burned out. Our 1984 Sears 27" console JUST got to the point of needing its first repair last year. Thats 23 YEARS and its NOT the CRT!! I still have it trying to decide if I want to see if a repair shop (exists) will repair it, a set that has proven its worth. Or should I go throw Wally world a couple hundred for a Chinese set thats CRT will go in 5 years.

Even home Stereo equipment got crappy somewhere in the 80's. I'll take my 70's Marantz Receiver anyday over just about anything else. I have not yet progressed to Surround or whatever. I'm happy with what I have. Furthermore I have an old Quadraphonic receiver in the closet that has FOUR channel stereo instead of three like surround.

I'm not meaning to be flying a solid state flag as far as what I prefer although in the case of Television for heavy use solid state is/was indestructable. Personally I love tube equipment. For Television it is more from a nostalgic standpoint. Now for sound/music equipment I would prefer nothing but tubes. People give me a funny look when I tell them that the most high end audio equipment available on the market is tube operated. It really can't be beat. Sure it takes maintenance but to me thats part of the fun. I feel like I have beat the system in a way when I can repair my own equipment, plus a sense of accomplishment.

Elfasto
08-06-2007, 10:33 AM
Speaking of technological dependency , did anyone here watch the tv series "Jericho"? I wonder if a EMP bomb that could black out North America could really exist? Logan

Any fission detonation (bomb) releases a huge amount of electromagnetism in the ELF range (EMP).

JimJ[VT]
08-06-2007, 12:05 PM
It seems like they flooded the market with cheap DVD players from the get go.

I remember DVD players being somewhat pricey when they first came out...just like what's going on with HD DVD players now. But they hit critical mass pretty quickly.

Even home Stereo equipment got crappy somewhere in the 80's.

Going to have to disagree with that one, unless you're talking about completely mainstream stuff sold at the consumer level, the Best Buys and the Circuit City's. Unless you limit yourself to that market, there's a ton of very high quality stuff still being made everyday. Rotel, NAD, Forte, Classe, ARC, CJ, Marantz, Parasound, etc, etc. Too many to name.

DENNYDOG
08-06-2007, 12:35 PM
Imagine not having a freaking TELEPHONE everywhere you go!! This is another modern day trend that I think is ridiculous. I walk around sometimes and feel like I'm in some bad 70's sci-fi movie or something where everyone is talking (or just playing with) a telephone EVERYWHERE you look. As if THAT werent bad enough they came out with that Hounds Tooth or whatever goes in your ear so you can go around looking like some kind of escaped mental patient munbling to your other personality. I really believe people buy those ear devices just to freak people out looking all crazy. I mean COME ON, how important are you, or how busy is your life that you have to have MA Bell wired directly into your brain? I just don't get it!


A couple of friends and I stopped by a fastfood joint to get something cheap to eat after the nascar race a couple weeks ago. We were sitting down and eating when we saw this younger guy and gal come in to order. He had a spiffy suite on and she was dressed up too. After they got their order and walked passed us to sit down, I notice this thing sticking out of the guys ear when they were sitting down, when I quietly said, "What is that, a hearing aid?". The guys broke out in laughter!! He must have been trying to impress the girl with his bluetooth sticking in his ear like he was all cool. If he was trying to impress her with his bluetooth and dressing up in a suit, why would he take her to a fast food place to eat? We all thought it was funny as hell!!:lmao:

Tube Radio
08-06-2007, 01:45 PM
What really bugs me is the quality stuff people throw out just because the newest model has one extra button on the remote. Most of my stuff except the computer and DVD/VCR player is stuff from flea markets and like places.

similost
08-06-2007, 02:08 PM
A couple of friends and I stopped by a fastfood joint to get something cheap to eat after the nascar race a couple weeks ago. We were sitting down and eating when we saw this younger guy and gal come in to order. He had a spiffy suite on and she was dressed up too. After they got their order and walked passed us to sit down, I notice this thing sticking out of the guys ear when they were sitting down, when I quietly said, "What is that, a hearing aid?". The guys broke out in laughter!! He must have been trying to impress the girl with his bluetooth sticking in his ear like he was all cool. If he was trying to impress her with his bluetooth and dressing up in a suit, why would he take her to a fast food place to eat? We all thought it was funny as hell!!:lmao:

That is a hilarious observation!!!...

But remember how cool we all used to think that thing sticking out of O'Hura's ear was and wished we could have one instead of using a Communicator? mmm.. and to think we have the option of which one to use now...

Telecolor 3007
08-06-2007, 04:32 PM
If you love old stuff (not necessary electronics) in Romania most of people will laught of you. Some idiots even gave me add on yahoo messenger to sworn me because I like good old things. Usually I don't have problems with the people who likes new things, but it seems they have a problems with me.

Elfasto
08-06-2007, 04:46 PM
If you love old stuff (not necessary electronics) in Romania most of people will laught of you. Some idiots even gave me add on yahoo messenger to sworn me because I like good old things. Usually I don't have problems with the people who likes new things, but it seems they have a problems with me.

Dude, that is complete BS on the other peoples part. Just because something is old does not mean it's crap. If one of your items is old, but it still performs to factory specs, or it does a better job than a new one, then it's not crap. Doesn't matter what it is. Hell, my dad still uses a Sunbeam toaster that is 35 years old because it still works and it doesn't turn the bread into a chunk of charcoal.

Elfasto
08-06-2007, 04:48 PM
That is a hilarious observation!!!...

But remember how cool we all used to think that thing sticking out of O'Hura's ear was and wished we could have one instead of using a Communicator? mmm.. and to think we have the option of which one to use now...

Yeah, but the new bluetooth stuff looks like Borg technology. Makes me have the opinion that we are becoming a populous of drones.

pilotprose
08-06-2007, 04:55 PM
Duh, I guess that I am really going to sound old.....I worked in a television studio when b/w was still the standard......worst yet, I produced the first 911
commerical and, ready for this, it was recorded on a Sony 1/2" reel to reel helical scan tape deck! The camera was made by Ball, uh huh, the same folks that made the Ball/Mason jars...I am or will be officially 60 young years old on 8/7. It was remastered on an Ampex 2600, a 1" helical scan "broadcast" unit.

waltchan
08-06-2007, 08:06 PM
I'm a VCR collector who collects VCRs from the very first one with knobs to Wallyworld's special $40 Funai/Emerson VCR, and the highest peak quality year appears to be 1987. Nothing is better than 1987. 1986 is next, and then 1988 is next.

andy
08-06-2007, 08:54 PM
I'm a VCR collector who collects VCRs from the very first one with knobs to Wallyworld's special $40 Funai/Emerson VCR, and the highest peak quality year appears to be 1987. Nothing is better than 1987. 1986 is next, and then 1988 is next.

I think it depends on brand. For example, I'd say Pansonic peaked in 1986 to mid 1987 (before they went to that awful single motor design). 1985 Panasonics are almost as good, but have one more rubber parts and tend to lack some of the features of the later ones.

waltchan
08-07-2007, 12:47 AM
I think it depends on brand. For example, I'd say Pansonic peaked in 1986 to mid 1987 (before they went to that awful single motor design). 1985 Panasonics are almost as good, but have one more rubber parts and tend to lack some of the features of the later ones.
True, but they use switching power supplies with capacitors that need replacement every 8-15 years. Check out the Panasonic AG-1810, NV-H70PX (I have one), or the Canon VR-HF720A unit. It uses the same chassis but with a linear power supply (big transformer), and it looks and works like a consumer model than a commercial model. Frank Fendley at Studio Sound Electronics (http://www.studiosoundelectronics.com) is the place where you can buy replacement rubber belt kits and he can tell you what's good and what's junk. I e-mail to him all the time.

The most reliable Panasonic VCR ever made in history is the 1984 PV-1730 and 1986 AG-1950 units. They use direct-drive motors for each changing function with no belts needed and use no surface-mount capacitors. I'm not sure if you are familiar with these two models.

The highest life-longevity you can get in a Panasonic VCR (not reliability) is the one made from 1981-1982 with a brushless capstan motor (e.g. PV-1770). The chassis and electronics (if maintained properly) are designed to last for 50 years max.

Despite the switching power supplies Panasonic used in their VCRs, I consider Panasonic to be like Toyota of quality. There hasn't been one bad, lemon Panasonic VCR year yet for 25 years now.

If you think 1988 is the beginning year for the one-belt G-chassis, think again. This chassis was first introduced in 1987 and was put in the Panasonic AG-1820 and Canon VR-HF800A units (I have the Canon). Although you may not like the G-Chassis, according to Frank at Studio Sound Electronics, it's considered to be the most reliable mass-marketed Panasonic chassis ever made, and there are a lot more G-Chassis units out there still in operation today than the mid-80s two-belt chassis.

I wouldn't consider 1986 the peak quality year on VCRs because there were more units with idler tires than in 1987, and idler tires do crack and break. 1988 is not better than 1987 because Hitachi went from the rugged six-belt chassis to the one-belt chassis with mode-switch and power supply failing all the time.

Arkay
08-07-2007, 02:23 AM
Yeah, it was bad enough when they began putting those metal pipes and fancy porcelain bowls INSIDE the house. It used to strengthen the constitution to go outside in winter and work the pump handle when you wanted to wash, and it built character to have to trudge to the outhouse through the snow. Outhouses used to be safely placed away from the home, kitchen, etc..., which was hygeinic. Now there not only aren't any outhouses, you wash the sh*t away into pipes that go through the walls to who-knows where. Just the thought of that creeps me out. What if one day they spring a leak?

Then they got those fancy squawk-talk things, uh, -- telephones! Like it would hurt your lungs to yell over the back fence when you wanted to talk to your neighbour, or hurt your legs to walk into town when you wanted to find out if the store carried something you needed. At least when they started, you could talk to the sweet-voiced hello girls at the switchboards [Madeline always sounded the sexiest, but Mabel was the kind you'd wish was your Mother. Only Harriet reminded me too much of my old teacher!].

Radio used to be simple: hook up three batteries, dial in three knobs, and you could hear the station. Then it got more and more complicated, and sometimes sounded a little better, but for years now it has all been going to hell. The music has, too. The noise they put out now isn't really music. Doesn't matter much, though, since kids today don't really dance: they just sort of sit there and bounce like bobble-head figurines. Now they've made music controls simple again with iPods - just one round thing like putting the old knobs together -- but the sound is awful, even compared to the old horn speakers we used to listen through.

Okay, I'll stop there...shift gears:

We live in the future. Okay, so we aren't flying around in Jetsons-style hovercars yet, but GPRS is pretty amazing and would have fit right in there. Our mobile phones aren't strapped on our wrists like Dick Tracey's radio-wristwatch, but they serve very much the same function of keeping us connected everywhere. And we still have the choice of leaving them at home or turning them off (even if some people resent it when we do). We live in yesterday's future. Unfortunately, we kept some of the "cartoon joke" aspects in the transition, as regards some measures of quality. iPods are much more portable than 22XX or SX-series receivers or even boomboxes. But they are more fragile, have poorer sound and won't last as long. One step forward, one or two steps back.

There are many and complex reasons why the world is going the way it is -- some of them inevitable, but some quite lamentable nonetheless. Hundreds of millions of increasingly affluent consumers in India and China are driving up the price of basic raw materials, metals, etc... to unprecedented levels, and that process will continue for years to come. Imagine if all those people were buying SX-1050ss instead of little iPods or plastic-cased radios. The wooden cases for those receivers alone would destroy most remaining forests within a decade. If all their cars were made from heavy sheet steel like 1950s cars were, imagine what steel would cost today, trying to keep up with demand.

If everyone is going to have a television, stereo system, appliances and entertainment, most of the goods HAVE TO BE mostly made from cheap plastic, and engineered-to-the-minimum-cost standards. Yes, it would be nice if we each bought one TOTL last-your-entire-life radio and that was the end of it -- that might even work in terms of demands on resources-- but it would be boring and would make it hard for many companies to stay in business, would tend to stifle innovation and put a limit on potential lifestyle improvement (even if much of what results is NOT an improvement) and consumers would go without many things for longer periods of their lives. These days, most people will not defer satisfaction that way. Long-term, the world will inevitably continue to change, sometimes in ways we do not like, because there are "too many" people in the world for it not to!


Hopefully we will (individually and collectively) find ways to achieve a good balance. For many of us on this board, that includes retaining, repairing and preserving some of the higher-quality older gear. My steam iron is an old industrial-grade unit from a garment factory. FAR out-performs the best of the new ones in the department stores (I know, I had one of those too). But it isn't realistic nor practical for us to expect or demand that most of the population follow that path and that manufacturers continue to turn out that quality. Perhaps it is better in many ways if most of them don't. I'm sad, too, to see these changes in society. But I accept that they may be inevitable. I don't participate "fully" in the modern economy, but find my own "balance point", consuming some new products but mostly recycling the older versions that I perceive to be better in absolute quality, and much better value-for-money. I'm glad there are others here who follow a similar path, but don't expect nor hope that the whole world does so.

Telecolor 3007
08-07-2007, 03:19 AM
Dude, that is complete BS on the other peoples part. Just because something is old does not mean it's crap. If one of your items is old, but it still performs to factory specs, or it does a better job than a new one, then it's not crap. Doesn't matter what it is. Hell, my dad still uses a Sunbeam toaster that is 35 years old because it still works and it doesn't turn the bread into a chunk of charcoal.

I will still use my old stuff, no matter what they say! I live with the hope than one day more and more peple will understand what true qualty means.
I wished that people here would love old things too - even that they are not Made in Romania or the former Eastern Block. But we have one exception: second-hand cars - but here is also about the price.

Talking about cell phones, mynes are about 5-6 yrs. old. The only thing that bothers me abot them is that they don't ring so loud-so somtimes when I'm on the street or riding public tranpsortation I can't hear them - and I can't block some phone numbers in order thhat people can't call me.

An BIG Off-topic: in the factory near the high-school that I learned was a computer repair shop where they had a lot of old computer components: keybords from the '80's, magnetic tape for computer memory, 386 type computers, computer monitors from the early '90's, 5.25" F.D.D., Romanian made desktop electronic calculators. Because they where forced to moved they dumped all those things... :tears: And omse people would have comite murder to have those things... In Romanian, schools, high-schools, univeristyes, state owned companies can't sell the old computers. They must destroy them. The people who are ruling Romania shoul be imprisioned for a long time and theyr's belongings should be confiscated, because they did almost nothing good for the country.

peverett
08-07-2007, 09:53 PM
A few things to remember about plastic:
1. Most of it is made from oil, which is getting less cheap all the time.
2. Most of it cannot be re-cycled filling up our landfills. Almost all metal can be re-cycled.
3. There are many applications where metal was used in the past and worked far better than the present plastic that is used-car hubcaps, car radiators, etc. I speak from experience-my 1978 Mustang radiator lasted 25 years, the hubcaps are still the originals. On my wife's car, the plastic hubcaps and radiator began failing at 5 years. I do not think the weight difference is enough to justify this kind of crap.

Many times, US industry takes a very short term view. Plastic may seem cheap in the short term, but will actually turn out to be more expensive for the consumer and society as a whole long term.

This said, the most irritating use of plastic to me is it's use in packaging. You have to practically cut the packaging off, and then it goes straight to a landfill-what a waste. Cardboard would work just as well and could be re-cycled.

Thyratron
08-07-2007, 11:55 PM
I think what a lot of us are frustrated about the most, myself included, is not so much that there is so much cheap stuff being manufactured today, but that there is often no alternative to the cheap stuff. I'd be more than happy (thrilled, actually), to spend a little more to get an American-made item of lasting quality (and help the local economy in the process), but almost every time I check the back of a package, it's the same old thing: Made in China, silver plastic, laughable components. It's for this reason that I choose, in most cases, to buy the old stuff; it's built to last, built with quality parts, more stylistically pleasing. I just wish that the high-paid executives at these companies that are so quick to ship production out of the country would realize that there ARE many of us who look at the labels, and that NOT everyone is looking for the cheapest items at the lowest possible cost regardless of anything else; in fact, the real COST to us seems to be coming quickly as our manufacturing dries up to nothing.

bre's dad
08-08-2007, 07:55 AM
I can't argue with much posted here. I'm glad to finally find others who share my feelings... I remember when my dad would have to work on an old RCA console TV we had in the mid 70's. He got it when he worked for FCA in the 60's... even had the new fangled sonic clicker remote that rarely worked. It caught fire in our living room and was shortly replaced with a zeinith console, which was replaced with another RCA color track around '83. I was wondering why it had a calculator on the front of it and how you changed the channel. Dad is retiring at the end of the year and went out and bought a 42" Hitachi plasma screen. Mom still screams wanting the old Zeinith back...

I picked up an old 1949 Arvin floor tv from a friend awhile back. It doesn't work and is awaiting for someone to redo it (I don't know what I'm doing). I went to alocal tv repair shop and told them what I had. The guy, though somewhat of an ass, smiled and said he hadn't worked on anything with tubes for about 10 years... said "either people throw 'em out for foreign crap or they'll run another 30 years and he'll be dead before they need rebuilt again." He then showed me his small collection, including an original betamax that was the size of a honda.

I have always had an afinity for the old and archaic. I remember as a kid sitting by (or on when mom wasn't around) the old Maganavox and listening to records. Damn that thing sounded good. Over the weekend, I couldn't help but stop at a yard sale a few blocks over and look at an old Arvin console stereo. The lady said her mom brought it home when she worked at the Arvin factory in town (what once built great electronics equipment now makes little screws...) Well it is now sitting in our basement. Its solid state and needs a lot ot TLC (very scratchy controls, t-table makes no sounds), but the fm sounds good. My 4 year old looked at it before it was opened and wanted to turn it on and dance to it... really cool she knew what it was before anyone told her. Perhaps there is hope? Well, we fired it up and she danced around like a goof ball with her sister, reminding me when I was that age and did the same thing...

bre's dad
08-08-2007, 08:19 AM
I would agree that alot of the stuff these days isn't as good or reliable as what it replaced. But too, there was alot of junk way back when too. Main difference was that it was mostly made in the USA rather than China, Korea or some other third world country you can't pronounce. We've pissed away alot of our manufacturing ability and have let foreign investment chip away at this country. Hell, now China is threatening to crash the already falling dollar. That and look how a lot of the goods made in China are being recalled due to too much lead in the paint, cardboard in the food, etc. We went camping a few weeks ago & I took the old green Coleman camp stove that's probably at least 50 years old. Well, after refilling it at the site the O ring on the fuel tank cap fell apart and the stove was useless (wouldn't hold pressure. On those, you pump air into the fuel tank to pressurize it.) I ended up at Wal Mart to look for a new stove, doubting I could find a new seal for a 50 year old camp stove. They had a few models, mostly cheap Chinese made crap that requires a small propane can to screw into the side of it. THey also had a newer version of the old one I had, so we took it home. Still made in the USA. Not only did it work well, but the gas cap (and other parts) would work on the old stove. They said they sell more of that model than the others and often have the others returned. Thought that was cool.

We also have 2 coke machines. Yeah, real ones, the center piece of the shrine to the soft drink also known as our kitchen. One is a 1950 Vendo 88, fully restored and works. Well, it would if plugged in. It had more steel in it than most new cars on the road. We also have a (cheaply made) Chinese reproduction of a 40's Westinghouse Jr. that was designed from original plans (you can take parts off this and use on an original & vise versa.) That thing, though having a nicer powder coated finish than the big one, is already starting to rust and its about 3 years old... Functional and still looks cool. We recently sold a mid 40's original Westinghouse WD-5 cooler (similar but larger than the Jr.) It was made int he USA and weighs a ton, but it had no rust (other than some surface rust, acceptible after 60 years) and gets colder than the 3 year old cheapo Chinese forgery...

OK, that wasn't audio equipment but illustrates some of the points made here that just becasue something is old doesn't make it obsolete and alot ot the Chinese stuff is junk.

I'll stop now...

NowhereMan 1966
08-12-2007, 12:28 PM
I have posted this before but it fits here. Once a single Mom friend of mine metioned her teenage son badly needing a TV for his room. I had an extra 19" color set with a manual tuner that I offered her for FREE. She declined the gift saying that he would not watch a TV without a REMOTE!!!!!! Give me a break!! Not just is kid somehow entitled to his own personal color television, he also has set standards for what is acceptable. Geez!! Actually I think it was more the Mom's attitude than the kid. Reason being is I spoke to Alex who at 14 was smart enough to know that you can hook up a VCR or a cable box to any old set and have remote control. By that time somebody had already PURCHSED the poor child a REAL tv.

I'm 38 and I remember well getting up EVERY time you changed the channel and it really didnt matter. Really I kind of miss those days. We had a TV guide and a FAMILY tv. We knew at 6:00 Dad would want to watch the CBS or NBC news. After that we would progress to watch a few of the sit coms of the time that WE liked till around 9:00 when the evening movie would come on or some other "special". We only had about 4 or 5 channels to begin with, but that was ENOUGH. As far as a remote goes again it really didnt matter. We might have had to get up 3 or 4 times in an evening. OHHH the torture!!

Imagine not having a freaking TELEPHONE everywhere you go!! This is another modern day trend that I think is ridiculous. I walk around sometimes and feel like I'm in some bad 70's sci-fi movie or something where everyone is talking (or just playing with) a telephone EVERYWHERE you look. As if THAT werent bad enough they came out with that Hounds Tooth or whatever goes in your ear so you can go around looking like some kind of escaped mental patient munbling to your other personality. I really believe people buy those ear devices just to freak people out looking all crazy. I mean COME ON, how important are you, or how busy is your life that you have to have MA Bell wired directly into your brain? I just don't get it!

I guess I'm just missing the days when things just seemed a little more simple and NORMAL. We once had sense enough to figure out that a car door was "AJAR", or that a lit heater was HOT, and the phone was to "reach out and touch someone" and not to be a walking, talking, telecomunication network. It rang a few times a day, or week and I dont remember minding at all putting my finger in the little hole and turning the DIAL.

I'm going to quit before I get into LAPTOP'S..............

I'm 41 and remember all the stuff you talk about. I remember when "The Tick" was on in the late 1990's, someone joked that the TV in the Tick's and Arthur's apartment "had knobs." All I can say is those Hounds Tooth (Blue Tooth, IIRC) people make me feel like I'm Woody Allen who just woke up in "Sleeper." They sort of remind me of Star Trek Borgs. Who knows, maybe in 2000 years, we will be "The Borg." In my mind, the song "In the Year 2525" popped into my mind and you know what, it really makes you think.

holmesuser01
08-12-2007, 01:09 PM
I just tried to give my 7 year old nephew a 13" TV/VCR combo that I found and repaired. New flyback. Even had the remote. Took it to his house, hooked it up. Nephew said nothing. Later, I got it back. Kid wouldnt watch it. Not big enough. Wants at least a 32" set! I DONT EVEN HAVE ONE THAT BIG! Mine is a 1990's 27" Sony!

I gave the TV/VCR to another friend, whose 16 year old son seems to appreciate the gift. He thanks me for the TV everytime I see him, and that makes me feel good.

I manage a movie theatre. Many times, someone will be on the phone and buying tickets at the same time. Cant they even stop talking long enough to get the deal made for the tickets? Its so RUDE!

radiotvnut
08-12-2007, 02:07 PM
I just tried to give my 7 year old nephew a 13" TV/VCR combo that I found and repaired. New flyback. Even had the remote. Took it to his house, hooked it up. Nephew said nothing. Later, I got it back. Kid wouldnt watch it. Not big enough. Wants at least a 32" set! I DONT EVEN HAVE ONE THAT BIG! Mine is a 1990's 27" Sony!

I gave the TV/VCR to another friend, whose 16 year old son seems to appreciate the gift. He thanks me for the TV everytime I see him, and that makes me feel good.

I manage a movie theatre. Many times, someone will be on the phone and buying tickets at the same time. Cant they even stop talking long enough to get the deal made for the tickets? Its so RUDE!

Let's see, I turned 7 in Dec '83. That was about the time my parents let me use their spare 9" GE B&W TV in my room. No cable, no remote; but, I was thrilled to death! Heck, our main TV, at that time, was a 19" RCA color with a rotary tuner. I didn't have a color set in my room until I was a teenager. The problem with some kids today is that they are given whatever they want by their parents and they think they deserve the best (for nothing). I was raised by older parents and they always taught me to thank others for their kindness. Had you given me a 13" remote control TV/VCR at age seven; you would have heard me squeal with delight all over town. Even to this day, there is not a TV in the house bigger than 19" and it suits me just fine. If I ever have kids; they can watch what I provide for them or do without.

I want even comment on the phone issue...

NowhereMan 1966
08-12-2007, 04:55 PM
I just tried to give my 7 year old nephew a 13" TV/VCR combo that I found and repaired. New flyback. Even had the remote. Took it to his house, hooked it up. Nephew said nothing. Later, I got it back. Kid wouldnt watch it. Not big enough. Wants at least a 32" set! I DONT EVEN HAVE ONE THAT BIG! Mine is a 1990's 27" Sony!

I gave the TV/VCR to another friend, whose 16 year old son seems to appreciate the gift. He thanks me for the TV everytime I see him, and that makes me feel good.

I manage a movie theatre. Many times, someone will be on the phone and buying tickets at the same time. Cant they even stop talking long enough to get the deal made for the tickets? Its so RUDE!

Glad you found someone to appreciate it. I know myself when I was 9 in 1975, I got my first TV set, an RCA 12 inch B&W portable and I was happy as a pig in mud. I'd love a 13" combo if I was a kid or even today. I think we live in too much of a "gimmee" society and this will be our downfall if we don't watch it.

dr.ido
08-13-2007, 05:10 AM
I also got my first TV set when I was 9, though that was in 1987 for me. It was a Kriesler 9" B&W solid state set that came with a pair of pliers to change channels (I never did find a knob for it). I couldn't have a bigger set, my parents wouldn't let me. I had to turn down a Healing 23" B&W hybrid set that someone offered me.

bgadow
08-13-2007, 12:32 PM
In about 1980 my sisters and I got a tv of our own-a 1961 GE bw portable. It was in their room so not much fun for me. A couple years later I got a tv of my own. Wow, I was lucky! A 1967 GE table model color set, big 23v set! I did complain about it a lot, though. Terrible color, cataracts, the UHF didn't work. I later saved up enough to by a 12" bw Midland from Western Auto, the only new tv I have ever bought.

bre's dad
08-13-2007, 01:04 PM
my first tv was a b&w RCA (15-19" I think) portible my dad had fixed. I don't remember if he got it from grandma when she got a color tv of not, not that it matters. it was an old one even in the mid 70's. In the early 80's, someone gave my dad a 12-14" GE color tv that was broke. He fixed it (and many times thereafter) and gave it to me. It lasted until my parents bought a 19" Emerson for my high school graduation. I was in hog heaven, as it had a remote and my parent's tv didn't!!! It died a horrid and untimely death 6 years later.

I was in hog heaven when I was in college and found an old vcr w/ no remote at Radio Shack for something like $20... they were cleaning out the back of the store and found it. Good vcr too, not stereo, but good picture.:banana:

I was in Target awhile back and a mother was tv shopping for her kid. She was looking at your run of the mill 20" w/ built in dvd player for about $150. The kid said "No... I want this!!!" pointing at an lcd tv. Made me appreciate that old B&W RCA.

Thyratron
08-15-2007, 12:07 AM
I think you really have to worry about this current generation of kids that are coming up not having known life without a computer, cell phone, etc. Will they know what to do if theirs breaks down or there is not one within reach of easy use? There comes a price to this "convenience," especially when it is suddenly not available.

radiotvnut
08-15-2007, 12:59 AM
I think you really have to worry about this current generation of kids that are coming up not having known life without a computer, cell phone, etc. Will they know what to do if theirs breaks down or there is not one within reach of easy use? There comes a price to this "convenience," especially when it is suddenly not available.

Out of all the people in my age group (20's-30's), I'm the only one who does not own a cell phone. The people I know could not function (or, they think they couldn't function) without one. And most of them don't own a basic phone. They have these fancy phones that will do everything but wipe your butt. Me personally, I have caller ID and an answering machine. If I'm not home, leave a message or call back. I've even been sitting in church and heard cell phones ringing during the service! Now, how rude is that! As far as computers, most retail stores couldn't do things "the old way" if the system failed. It's almost to the point where the idiots at our local fast food joint can't do anything right with a computer. I'll admit that my computer with Internet access has come in handy; but, I could do without it should a situation arise.

dr.ido
08-15-2007, 01:51 AM
I've had internet access for 8 years now and it would be very hard to do without it now. There have been a few occasions where my connection was down for long enough that I had to throw the laptop in the car and go looking for WiFi.

I would dump my cell phone if I could, but here it's a lot cheaper than a land line when you make so few calls.

NowhereMan 1966
08-15-2007, 04:27 PM
I think you really have to worry about this current generation of kids that are coming up not having known life without a computer, cell phone, etc. Will they know what to do if theirs breaks down or there is not one within reach of easy use? There comes a price to this "convenience," especially when it is suddenly not available.

True. Not to get apocalyptic but what if a situation like "Jericho" (the TV show) happens where we are tossed into a 19th Century lifestyle overnight? We'd really be in a world of hurt by then.

JimJ[VT]
08-15-2007, 08:09 PM
I've been in situations where I've needed to make phone calls and had to resort to "other means". I had a tire blowout a few years back on a remote section of road on my way to school...I was in the shadow of a mountain so my cell coverage kept dropping out. Got out a copy of a VHF/UHF amateur radio repeater directory, found one within range that had a public access autopatch, got on the radio and used it to call AAA to get help.

Same thing happens during any widespread emergency, pretty much; cell networks can't handle the extra load, and your Razr suddenly makes a nice paperweight. Meanwhile radio gets through...