Here's a 1976 Popular Mechanics article that talks about Magnavox Star and digital readouts: http://books.google.com/books?id=cuI...0tuner&f=false

I got a kick out of them explaining typing "04" for channel 4. I will say in my experience, and I was pretty young in the 70's, that I remember remotes being rather rare. I used to ride with my grandfather on service calls during the summers and I only remember people with high-end Quasar consoles with them. I remember clearly going with my dad in 1985 to shop for a new tv and the RCA dealer asking him if he wanted a tv with remote. My dad promptly replied, "no, that's what kids are for." I don't think they got remote until the early 90's when my sister moved away (lol)!

About 1976 micro-processors and LED's/vac florescent displays must have gotten a lot cheaper because there was an explosion of them in products. Chrysler came out with the first digital tuned car radio in 1977 and the first computer controlled engine system. Early digital games like electronic football and Merlin came about then. Amana came out with the Touchmatic microwave and a lot of appliaces started getting digital readouts. GE came out with a programmable clock radio too. All before 1980. I guess engineers were pretty busy then.