Quote:
Originally Posted by kx250rider
All of the lift-lid RCA projection set (641-PV, 741PCS, 8PCS41, etc) had a kill switch. Later sets had a jewel light exposed on the face of the cabinet to shine when the TV was on. I can't think of any direct-view TVs of the 40s and 50s with kill switches, though. I'm sure there were some. Some color sets, including many Motorolas, had a loss-of-signal power kill. So if you fell asleep, or left home and forgot to shut the set off, the TV would turn off that night when the station went off the air.
Charles
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I had an Emerson table TV in the late '80s with that feature (automatic shutoff when the station you were watching signed off for the night). Never used the feature very much, but I do think it had something to do with a strange quirk in this set's operation: it would shut itself off during any severe electrical storm, even if the storm did not interrupt my electric service. Strange.
I've never seen a TV with this particular feature since then, although nowadays it would be pointless to have it since most TV stations (except perhaps a few PBS stations on shoestring budgets) operate 24/7, and do not sign off--even for maintenance. The only way I could see this automatic shutoff working in a TV so equipped these days would be if the station were knocked off the air for any reason, and remained such for any appreciable length of time. The shutoff system would interpret this as the TV station having signed off, and would shut the TV off as intended.