this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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By the mid 80s and 90s, CRTVs took just seconds to show output on the screen. Even the really old tube TV my grandma had would warm up within seconds.
I once got gifted a TV from a nice elderly guy. The TV had been edge of technology when it was built: It had a wireless remote! Although the remote worked with ultrasound instead of infrared...
This beast took several minutes before it actually showed a picture.
Must've been a REALLY old one. I'm old as dirt, and they've taken mere seconds all my life. Even fast TVs now take longer to show a picture than the console ones we had when I was a kid, although I did see some from the 50s and 60s that took quite some time.
The original “clicker” remotes were really neat tech! The way it worked unfortunately limited the number of buttons you could have, but still ingenious.
https://www.theverge.com/23810061/zenith-space-command-remote-control-button-of-the-month
I used to have one of those black plastic (or was it Bakelite?) Space-Commander 400 remotes, pictured in the black and white ad.
I was walking home from grade school. Somebody was getting rid of their ancient TV, and had left it on the curb. The boxy, awkwardly shaped remote was in its “holster” on the TV, so I grabbed it and took it home. Before then, I had assumed that only infrared wireless remotes existed.
The idea that a remote could work by ultrasound fascinated me, and the fact that it didn’t even need batteries absolutely blew my little mind.
Let me tell you how shitty they were, and why they probably put this thing to the curb:
The "Receiver" part of that thing was so limited, that it basically interpreted all kinds of ultrasonic sounds as "commands". Whenever I pulled my curtains open or close, the TV went nuts. It turned off, or it turned the volume to 11, or whatever. I was working on a small piece of metal on my desk, and with every stroke it changed channels, either up or down. This thing was annoying.