I have a color TV

[lnx64]

Has anyone been gotten caught in a conversation about TV's with their co-workers? My co-workers were talking about their big screen LCD's and everything, and then one of them asked me, what do I have?

My response was simply: "I have a color TV."

My co-workers were confused, and said "Of course it's in color, but what do you have, LED backlight, multi HDMI imports, 3D?"

Then I responded: "I have a cathode ray tube that's 19" and has dual RF inputs, one VHF and one UHF."

This of course severely confused them, because they are so ignorant about TV tech that they themselves probably used 20 years ago. I had to basically pull out a picture of the wood-grained 80's TV that I use with it's 300 ohm twinlead inputs.

My boss asked if I needed help buying a new TV. I told him: "Nope, this is the TV I want."

They just couldn't get it.

[radiotvnut]

I run into the same thing. Some people just don't understand how I can watch anything less than a 60" flat screen. I was raised on various color and B&W TV's that ranged in screen sizes between 9" and 25". For the longest time, our main TV was a 19" set and we didn't get anything bigger until we got my Uncle's 25" Zenith console when he died in '94. I don't feel like I missed any information by watching such small TV's and I don't feel like I'm missing anything now. The main TV I currently watch is an '02 20" Sony wega trinitron. I also have no problem with watching a B&W TV. When I was about six, my parents stuck a 9" GE B&W in my room and I was very happy to get it. Now, kids have big HDTV's in their room and wouldn't be caught dead with a B&W TV.

[lnx64]

I've owned (in order of when I owned it):
1980's 19" Sears TV with electronic tuning (with a knob).
13" RCA from the early 90's - XL100
19" Philips Magnavox from 1998 -- This TV's RF jack snapped off in 2001 just before 9/11.
13" Sears LXI Series TV from mid 80's with digital tuning via LED's on the bottom of the set. We had this TV in the family since I was born, but I used it to replace the above TV for a while. This was the FIRST TV I ever owned that had something other than RF. It had composite input.
20" Apex Digital from 2001 (This was the permanent replacement for the 19" Philips Magnavox) - This TV sucked. It wasn't rotated right, it's OSD menu "shook" after it warmed up, it's AGC was just terrible. But, it was the first TV I had that had S-Video, and for DVD's I LOVED it.

All the above TV's were given to me or bought by my parents. I never bought those.

Then, I bought my own TV with high school graduation money -- AGAINST my fathers wishes. I don't think he still ever forgave me for doing this.

27" Prima from 2006. It was a 4:3 CRT, but was HD, and supported native scan rates of 540p and 1080i. It did the following scaling mapping:
480i to 540p
480p to 540p
540p to 540p (Scaler shuts down. Though the OSD says 1080i which is strange.)
720p to 540p (Yes, a DOWN grade)
1080i to 1080i (Scaler shuts down)
1080p to 540p (Gah! Another DOWN grade.)

That was an odd TV, and I gave it to my mom. She complained it kept loosing vertical deflection down to a line. Turns out it was a cold soldering joint, of which I fixed, but the damage was done-burned phosphors. TV still works though, but I won't use it though, why use a TV with damaged phosphors? It's a Samsung CRT.

Then, my first LCD.

40" LCD, Samsung, full 1080p in 2008. This TV had capacitor problems. After a while though, I got "home sick". I missed CRT's, and oddly, I missed old CRT's with woodgrain..........just like my FIRST TV from when I was a child.

That's when I went literally, from a 40" LCD, directly to:
13" Hitachi from 1980 that I had when I joined this forum, and swapped it with an earlier Hitachi chassis that was a hybrid. I just loved the tube/SS combo chassis better, far different color demodulation.

And then now, the 19" that I have in my sig, that to this day still don't know it's DOB because the TV never had the DOB stamped on it, internally or externally.

It's funny, because I literally went from 40" LCD with 3 HDMI ports, etc, and went right back to the woodgrain RF TV's that are severely old.

No one understands this. Now I never owned a black and white TV, and while I personally have no problem with it, the phosphors they use, appear too blue to my eyes and give me headaches. If they were more "warm" I'd have no issue with it.

[Adam]

The newest set I've ever had is a '91, the newest TV I have now is an '80, and it's b/w!

Every tv I ever owned (I probably left out a few):

46 rca 630 ts 10"
46 rca 630 ts 10"
47 dumont ra103 doghouse 12"
47 hallicrafters 10"
**47 rca 721ts 10"
47 rca 730tv 10"
48 admiral 10" console
48 admiral 10" combo
48 emerson 7"
48 emerson 10"
48 hallicrafters 12"
48 ge 10"
**48 motorola 7" ts4j
48 motorola 7" ts4j
48 motorola 7" ts4j
48 motorola 7" ts4j
48 pacific-mercury (silvertone chassis) 12"
48 rca 8t244 10"
**49 admiral 12" console
49 hoffman 10"
**49 motorola 7" suitcase
49 motorola 8"
49 motorola 8"
49 rca t100 10"
*49 zenith 12" porthole console
**50 airline 7" porthole
50 dumont 19" ra112
*50 rca 6t65 16" console
50 rca 19" console
51 motorola 14" bakelite
51 teletone 11" bakelite
52 motorola 16" bakelite
52 rca 17" console
**54 westinghouse 21" 'the capri'
56 bendix 17"
56 ge 14" metal white/red
*56 rca 8" 8PT... metal red
**56 rca 8" 8PT... metal white
56 zenith 21"
57 ge 17" metal brown uhf
57 emerson 21" console
57 philco 21" metal
*57 rca 14" metal white
58 philco 17" 'predicta'
*58 rca 17" metal blue
58 rca 21" console
58 sylvania 17" metal brown
59 magnavox 24" combo
59 magnavox 24" combo
59 setchell-carlson 21" console
59 olympic 21" combo
**59 rca 17" metal black
**59 rca CTC 9 'the kenbridge' remote uhf
59 zenith 21" console
60 rca CTC 10 'the wynnewood' remote
**60 zenith 21" console
**60 zenith 17" metal SC300
**61 zenith 23" console
**61 zenith 23" console SC300
**61 zenith 19 metal
63 airline 23" combo
63 philco color combo (ctc15 chassis)
**64 zenith 19" metal SC300
65 magnavox color combo remote
65 rca CTC 15 combo
65 sony 5" portable
*65 zenith 19" metal
**65 zenith color 25MC33 SC400 'the orientale'
**66 zenith 19" metal SC300
67 magnavox 12" plastic
67 magnavox color 23" console
**67 zenith 19" metal
67 zenith color 25" console
68 ge portacolor
68 emerson 12" plastic
68 motorola 12" plastic
68 viking (panasonic) color 19" plastic
68 zenith color 21" metal
69 rca 12" plastic vhf only
7? rca 21" plastic tube
7? rca 21" plastic tube
70 zenith color 25" console hybrid
71 curtis mathes color 21" plastic remote tube
71 zenith color 19" plastic hybrid
**71 zenith 23" metal tube
71 zenith 19" plastic SC100 tube
72 ge portaclor
7? zenith 16" plastic tube
74 ge 12" plastic tube green
**74 zenith color 25EC58 ss SC600 'the avanti'
*75 rca 5" white plastic with clock radio
75 rca color 25" metal
75 rca color 19" plastic
76 hitachi color 25" wood table
76 sharp color 19" plastic
76 supremacy color 13" plastic remote
76 zenith color 19" 'the avanti' SC600
76 zenith color 19" plastic SC600
77 zenith color 19"
78 jvc 3" portable
78 sony color 19" plastic
78 rca color CTC92 25" remote console
78 zenith 9" plastic white
**78 zenith 9" plastic red
79 zenith color 19" plastic
8? hitachi 12" plastic
80 rca 12" plastic
**80 zenith 16" plastic
81 rca 13" remote plastic color
82 zenith 12" plastic
82 zenith color 25" console
83 zenith color 25" metal remote
84 rca color plastic 20"
84 zenith color console 25" remote
85 motgomery-ward 5" portable
86 zenith color plastic 19"
86 zenith color plastic 19" remote
87 hitachi 9" plastic
88 admiral 12" plastic
88 goldstar color 20" remote plastic
88 goldstar color 20" remote plastic
88 sony color 20" remote plastic
88 toshiba color 13" plastic remote
89 casio 2" color portable
91 rca color 20" plastic remote

All TVs B&W unless otherwise specified.
* = a set I have now
** = a set I have now that is actually all put together and working

[AiboPet]

My "what do you have" question always gets the "I don't really watch TV...but I have like seventy sets", and then walk off.

I do have a big beautiful Samsung 55" "touch of color" LED set from like four years ago now, and it IS pretty much my main set. Also have a 23" version of the same "touch of color" set in the bedroom. I have to admit that I typically DO watch these two sets. The big one during the day...and the bedroom one on it's timer at night.

I do find that when I'm doing something on the coffeetable (my workbench), I tend to turn OFF the big LED set and watch whatever I have sitting on the table (Right now a little 5" color Maggie CRT set). I do have the "BORING" 12" GE b/w set in the kitchen that does come on anytime I'm in the kitchen.

I then have three areas where the "crazyness" is. One corner of the front room with about 25 micro/small sets that I can turn on all at once with an X10 controller (powerstrips). Then I have the credenza thing with like 20 of the "Coby" sets....all the same except all different colored cabinets. The bedroom has like 40 sets ranging from the tiny Panasonics to the big "briefcase" boombox things, including a color JVC 500U. These also can ALL come on via an X10 controller.

I don't really watch all the "collection" sets all the time...but they do all see about an hours worth of action about once a week just for fun, and to see if any of them are sick (The Travelvision TR1030 suddenly has a focus/brightness problem).

I don't really watch much TV. I turn on the news...might watch that "Big Bang theory" thing that comes on after the news.....and then I just find something "not annoying"...which usually is something on Discovery/TLC/History that does NOT involve pawn shops, storage lockers, motorcycles or hot rods.

[sampson159]

i get this all the time.when someone stops by the garage,they see my projects and my watchers."those are vintage" they say."those are video excellence" is my reply.they chuckle and watch the screen.commenting on how good the pictures are,etc.occasionally they will say that the picture is better than their home set.even had a neighbor or two come over and watch football on my zenith chromacolor.

[marty59]

Originally Posted by sampson159

i get this all the time.when someone stops by the garage,they see my projects and my watchers."those are vintage" they say."those are video excellence" is my reply.they chuckle and watch the screen.commenting on how good the pictures are,etc.occasionally they will say that the picture is better than their home set.even had a neighbor or two come over and watch football on my zenith chromacolor.

Yep!

[AiboPet]

All I get is "wtf?" looks from neighbors....because I have no garage. They will come by to see what I'm doing to one of the cars I have in the driveway, and will IMMEDIATELY notice I am watching an old Outer Limits episode on the Sony S8-301. I choose to bring THAT set downstairs JUST for the shock value. I wish the CRT had a bit more life to it so it would be a brighter picture. I think they are amazed it's working at all....and not aware of the whole "inhouse transmitter" thing upstairs, so curious WHY the Outer Limits is on :-P

[maxhifi]

There's no need to justify anything to anyone... Just do what you want to, it's your time and your money, spend them however makes you happy - I usually don't bother saying I listen to LP records, let alone watch black and white tvs!

That's a pretty impressive collection Adam!

[Zenith26kc20]

Way too many here. Love my little Motorola's! They get plenty of odd looks, especially out of the cabinet.
The superbowl is generally the Zenith MC roundie. A good deal of use every weekend is a KCS166 RCA portable that was adopted about 8 or more years ago. (new deflection yoke and some horizontal capacitors and resistors). Great picture and some odd looks too!
Kitchen TV is a JVC 3 inch "3050" that has a million hours on it!
And of course, an LG 42" plasma living in a closet because my girlfriend literally hates it. (the one that eats it's sustain modules).
Wait till the 8 inch Motorola is up and running.......

[Dave A]

I am lucky to run a full HD stadium with scoreboards, control room and 750 HD tv's on my own cable plant. And who do they come to when something analog jumps up? I give them the evil eye and then fix it. Trying to find a place to display our 1999 Sony plasma. Stuck for now on one project. Gotta find a Hi8 deck to rescue a 1994 tape. Gotta go. Pizza is done and the Cotton Bowl is on in the kitchen GE 10".

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

There's no need to justify anything to anyone... Just do what you want to, it's your time and your money, spend them however makes you happy.

My sentiments exactly. I had CRT TVs all my life until I bought a flat screen almost two years ago, but no one forced me to do so "just to keep up with the times" or because most people I know have flat TVs. (It all worked out for the best, as I like the sharper, more finely detailed pictures HDTV offers much better than the TV pictures I watched for decades on my old NTSC sets.)

I still have my Aiwa bookshelf stereo which I bought in 1999 (still works except for the dual cassette decks, which quit about seven years ago; replaced them with a 1977-vintage Radio Shack stereo cassette -- 36 years old and still works), several 1960s-vintage tube radios, several '60s-'70s vintage transistor sets, and even used Windows 98/98SE on my computer until two years ago (I have an XP system now, an old computer given to me by an accountant friend of mine when he upgraded his office to Windows 7, and will probably use XP the next ten years because I don't want the problems associated with upgrading to Win7 or 8, and a story I am presently writing -- and have been writing the last 25(!) years -- is formatted so it can only be read by my 13-year-old Lotus word processor and a qvp32 standalone file viewer).

No one has ever (yet) questioned my preferences in radios, TVs or computers (or anything else for that matter), given me funny or downright nasty looks, or anything like that. If anyone ever does wonder out loud why I still have and use '90s and earlier (much earlier) technology, I will simply ignore them.

[rose14]

Those of you with 19''or20'' sets.any trouble with losing sports info on the screen with a 4x3 picture. Also if you can change the aspect to 16x9 do you find the picture too small?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by rose14

Those of you with 19''or20'' sets.any trouble with losing sports info on the screen with a 4x3 picture. Also if you can change the aspect to 16x9 do you find the picture too small?

I watched all the Packer games on my 14" Toshiba flat screen CRT set or my Sony Wega 27". Both are Thrift shop specials.
I'm using DTV convertors. One Digital Stream and one Zenith.
Excellent picture on both.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I run into the same thing. Some people just don't understand how I can watch anything less than a 60" flat screen. I was raised on various color and B&W TV's that ranged in screen sizes between 9" and 25". For the longest time, our main TV was a 19" set and we didn't get anything bigger until we got my Uncle's 25" Zenith console when he died in '94. I don't feel like I missed any information by watching such small TV's and I don't feel like I'm missing anything now. The main TV I currently watch is an '02 20" Sony wega trinitron. I also have no problem with watching a B&W TV. When I was about six, my parents stuck a 9" GE B&W in my room and I was very happy to get it. Now, kids have big HDTV's in their room and wouldn't be caught dead with a B&W TV.

I'm the same way, we only buy when we need it. I have a 1982 Zenith that we used since we got in new in early 1983 and a 1999 Sony 36 inch my aunt gave us. When I hooked a Blue Ray to the Zenith through an RF modular, my friends think I'm weird, but hey, I feel I'm not missing anything. If the program is good, I can watch it just as well in 405 line British as I can with 1080 HDTV.

I was lucky to have a 12 inch B&W in my room too. I remember watching everything form the Six Million Dollar Man to Evil Kenievel.