Why do you like old tv sets?

[Dude111]

God bless you Billy

[kramden66]

Like for reasons already stated but here's a good mention , if you have a DVD that's not remastered or not newly remastered it will look fine on an old set , no smear or wax paper over the screen look however if it is remastered some of the old beasts will show lots of detail in the image

[decojoe67]

I originally was impressed with the look of old radios and the idea that you could actually play and enjoy using them. Later I saw some photos of early TV's was even more impressed. I had no idea TV went so far back. I liked how the early ones had that transitional look from a deco radio cabinet to a deco TV cabinet. Once again, I thought it would be even more fun to be able to use and enjoy one. One, led to two, three, etc. I love the 1946-1950 sets the best. Whatever I watch on them is all the better just for the experience of seeing it playing on an early set. All these years later I still get a kick out of it!

[AlanInSitges]

For me it's a combination of nostalgia for my innocent youth when I worked in a TV repair shop, and an appreciation for the aesthetics and design effort that went into TV's golden age (like 1955-1962). I would love to have one of those Predicta Full Dress consoles, a Miss America, one of the GE Coaxials, or anything similar. Not just to fix and turn on once in a while, but to put in my living room like God intended, preferably right next to a Motorola Three-Channel Stereo console, and use on an occasional basis.

I'm glad to see so many people on this forum. It's a little distressing to think this hobby/interest/expertise might some day fade away, especially looking at the photos of the ETF meeting, swapmeets, etc., and realizing that most of us are not spring chickens. I know we have a couple of young people here, and think we need to do more to encourage them and help the hobby grow.

I ran across a video the other day on YouTube of a kid who got his hands on a Predicta and "restored" it (it was pretty butchered by the time he was finished) but it made me so happy to know that he had the interest and made the effort.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by AlanInSitges

I'm glad to see so many people on this forum. It's a little distressing to think this hobby/interest/expertise might some day fade away, especially looking at the photos of the ETF meeting, swapmeets, etc., and realizing that most of us are not spring chickens. I know we have a couple of young people here, and think we need to do more to encourage them and help the hobby grow.

I ran across a video the other day on YouTube of a kid who got his hands on a Predicta and "restored" it (it was pretty butchered by the time he was finished) but it made me so happy to know that he had the interest and made the effort.

Hopefully that won't be the case. I have seen a few younger people get on board in recent times. As for me, while I'm not exactly young the TV I use everyday is older than I am, and it's an early solid state set.

I'd say that kid in the video got a better start than I did. At least one of my sets didn't survive an early restoration attempt.

[ISawItOnTV]

Not really sure. Maybe because of an elderly black neighbor, c. 1961/62.

My little brother and I were caught in a severe summer thunderstorm while we were out roaming the neighborhood (I was around 8, he was 6). During the downpour, "Mr. Webster" (Webster Forbes) yelled to us to get in from the rain storm. As we went in, he was sitting near his TV, which was not on. I asked him if we could watch TV, and he said it didn't work. He said he couldn't afford to get it fixed, and that it didn't matter if it worked or not, he just liked having a TV because most everybody had one.

As I got into "old tvs" years later, I often thought of him and that old non-working TV of his (don't recall what kind it was). I named the Predicta I restored a few years ago after him.

[reeferman]

They have character.

[mbates14]

1. They are part of our legacy, and 2, I want something that LASTS. :-)

[init4fun]

"Why do you like old TV sets ?"

Cause they're much more fun to play with than old ladies ....

[mr_rye89]

I like old TVs because I'm LARPing as a 1960s TV repairman........

Also watching The Andy Griffith Show on a modern TV is dumb

And old color TVs (when fixed up) look like Kodachrome.

[Sandy G]

Another rather evil, but still fun thing is ushering a jaded young kid, or for that matter, a smartarse, jaded hipster type who knows it all, & THINKS he's "Seen it All", into my "Ships' Radio Room", where I have my Boatanchor collection, & my 1950 12" Zenith Porthole, & chuckle as his eyes & tongue pop out in utter amazement. NO WAY could the pre-historic people back in Antediluvian 1950 have had something like THAT... They didn't have the Internoot, texting or NOTHING Kewl like we have today...A LOT of these younger folks today have never seen a B&W set, either, or if they have, its a teeny, tiny one-And they never have seen anything that looks like my Porthole... You try to explain that it was a fairly expensive item having a TV in 1950 was still a pretty Big Deal, there were few stations, no cable to speak of, is just hard for them to wrap their 2019 minds around it... The fact its likely older than their grandparents-And STILL Works- usually gives them pause, too. They know little else but electronic trinkets that often won't make it much longer than this time next year.

[Gleb]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

The fact its likely older than their grandparents-And STILL Works- usually gives them pause, too

Yes, I like that moment too

Even though I'm not very old (38 now), I managed to use an old television set for its intended purpose. Moreover, we've become close friends back then.
Our house has an attic, but initially the attic had no heating (I made it much later when I grew up), so our family had used the attic not for living but as a lumber room and, from time to time, as a guest bedroom. When I entered my teens, I discovered the need of some private space where the parents don't come very often, as it usually happens in that age. One summer I fitted the attic out, and began to use it as my personal 'summer appartment'.
There I found a very old tabletop television sitting on a narrow commode in the corner. It was named Radium (mid-late 50s), my Dad said that it came many years ago from his sister's first husband, and it definitely doesn't work due to the age:



Unlike my Dad, I was a pretty technical boy. I found out quickly that the television works well, and the only thing it really needs is an antenna The picture tube (an unusual metal-cone beast for me then) was rather weak but still being watchable comfortably in a darkened room.
I liked my new place, so I decided to live there until the cold chases me away. I found another nice thing there, an army wadded sleeping bag that allowed me to sleep comfortably with no heating right till late November. I liked the television as well. Exploring it deeper, I found out that it's reliable as hell, and it is not afraid of either cold or damp. It has a bare-bones layout - no phenolic PCBs that tend to warp from the cold. Paper capacitors have a metal-porcelain design that makes them reliable and insensitive to moisture. No any modern television could survive and work there beside my 'old chap' Our neighbors, the ones who tried to use or keep televisions in unheated houses, had spoiled the most of them. Russian winters are harsh!
The early 90s were a time of booming of music television, a non-usual format for previous Soviet times. Russian division of MTV was established then, along with some domestic music channels. Music meant a lot to me as a teenager, and my lovely television set helped me in a very significant way, involved me to the musical culture. I've spent many nights in my cozy place watching it and listening to its sound, warm and mysterious...

P.S. I found out later that the television was made at the factory where my Grandpa worked half his life. He told me a lot of technical details about it.
P.P.S. Forgot to mention that the television has an onboard FM radio, imagine how valuable it was for me then!

[zeno]

Great story Gleb. Same story you may hear from the USA. Shows you how
close we really are. The Radium sounds much like our Zenith brand TV's.
They were well built with better components & still hand wired into
the 1970's. Many are still found running after 60 yrs with only minor
repairs needed. Maybe some time you can post pictures of the insides ?

BTW if you like harsh Russian weather you may enjoy this site. Watch it
for a few weeks & watch the WX conditions. It will keep you warm !
73 Zeno
LFOD !

Originally Posted by Gleb

Yes, I like that moment too

Even though I'm not very old (38 now), I managed to use an old television set for its intended purpose. Moreover, we've become close friends back then..............!

[Gleb]

Originally Posted by zeno

Great story Gleb

Thanks!

Originally Posted by zeno

Maybe some time you can post pictures of the insides ?

If you're interested, I can try to make a photo review of the Radium.

Originally Posted by zeno

BTW if you like harsh Russian weather you may enjoy this site. Watch it for a few weeks & watch the WX conditions. It will keep you warm!

It seems that the URL is lost, what site do you mean?

[6GH8cowboy]

There is a nostalgic component to be sure. When friends see one of my early TV's working there is a sense of amazement when they can see the mechanics and the tubes lit. Lets face it, old tv's and radios can be very visual. When the local NBC station was ready to throw the big red switch on digital, a photo journalist came by and did a story on my then 61 year old TV that survived the era. The camera guy said "I've seen these in museums but never saw one working". He asked to shoot some video of the insides so I removed the back and he went "wow". He saw the glowing tubes, round things, square things, coils, colored wires and the picture on the screen from the back amid the shiny things. I was interviewed sitting next to it and a scroll kept rolling across the bottom of the screen- 'If you can read this your TV is ready for the digital age. It was on a digital hd converter. I also have a AA5 radio PC board version mounted on a board as a visible radio kind of thing. That shiny tuning capacitor is the money shot every time.
The picture was from a public Christmas display featuring one of my sets