Anybody here who only watches black&white tv?

[zenith2134]

Lately I've been running my monochrome sets more often. I just enjoy watching them. Most have high contrast and acceptable dc resto. So, I really have no use for scheduled TV broadcasts, and run a few agile modulators. I enjoy using b/w portables the way they were intended to be used.

In my yard and porch I sometimes carry out a small b/w portable and beam movies such as 'the Big Heat' or 'Panic in Year Zero', which were black and white anyway. I recently found a late seventies GTE Philco 19" b/w tv which was made in Taiwan. However it has seen very little use and makes an extremely bright picture with perfect linearity and ample video gain. It's a nice example of a sturdy black and white set which will last forever or damn near close to it.
But the cream of my monochrome crop are my 60s sony portables, my mid fifties Westinghouse in the metal cabinet, and my mid sixties Admiral 19" tube portable.

Is there anyone on the board who only watches black and white sets?

[Doug E.]

Count me as one. Since childhood, I've always liked 16" black and white portables, especially RCAs and Zeniths. My current daily watchers are an RCA AH054A and a Zenith L1615L. I also have a Zenith B & W console (I think it's a Z2417 -- in any case it uses chassis 14N22 like most late 60's Zenith consoles). Like you, I don't have much use for broadcast TV any more and watch mostly DVDs. Maybe it's just force of habit, but I never got used to widescreen. I like 4:3 for most TV viewing.

Most of my childhood was spent watching TV in black and white, so I even enjoy vintage color shows in monochrome. Also, I think that old black and white movies look best on a monochrome CRT set.

Doug E.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Doug E.

Also, I think that old black and white movies look best on a monochrome CRT set.

Doug E.

I was just mentioning this sort of thing to my mom the other day, wondering how her old B&W movies would look on an actual B&W TV.

[zenith2134]

I certainly agree that old black and white films look best on a monochrome CRT. I have been watching the solid state Philco to keep hours on my older sets. But the effect is the same when the DVDs or tapes are black and white content.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

I was just mentioning this sort of thing to my mom the other day, wondering how her old B&W movies would look on an actual B&W TV.

If the gray scale is perfect on a color set, B/W programing will be perfect, as well.
I do posses several B/W TV's. I do run them at times, to make sure, they're working well, but I still like a high quality color picture. It just adds more dimension to the program.
I still maintain, the best quality TV picture, using a non hi-def source is a CRT set, in good condition.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

If the gray scale is perfect on a color set, B/W programing will be perfect, as well.
I do posses several B/W TV's. I do run them at times, to make sure, they're working well, but I still like a high quality color picture. It just adds more dimension to the program.
I still maintain, the best quality TV picture, using a non hi-def source is a CRT set, in good condition.

Mom's aught '6 Toshiba CRT set displays her B&W films crystal clear. My B&W portable pictures are crap in comparison, but then again I was running color movies through them so interference from the chroma signal could have had a lot to do with that.

[Boobtubeman]

I'll bring out one of the old B/Ws for a classic movie. Still think the funniest thing i saw on a classic set was an adult movie... Had to do it... Just looked SO weird on that era of tv hahahaha

SR

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by Boobtubeman

..Still think the funniest thing i saw on a classic set was an adult movie... Had to do it... Just looked SO weird on that era of tv hahahaha

SR

The mind boggles!

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Boobtubeman

I'll bring out one of the old B/Ws for a classic movie. Still think the funniest thing i saw on a classic set was an adult movie... Had to do it... Just looked SO weird on that era of tv hahahaha

SR

If it was a pre-Mc Carthy set it would not seem as odd to me. With how racy ads got in even something as bland as electronics mags after the war I kind of wonder how much of that was able to penetrate in to TV...

I've watched adult material on tube color sets, but I can't recall if I ever ran a monochrome set while playing such material.

I watch so little monochrome content, and dislike watching color video in monochrome so my mono sets see very little use.

[jr_tech]

And I maintain that a good BluRay transfer of a classic B/W movie shown on a decent sized HDTV will "knock your socks off".

jr

[Eric H]

I waited too long to get color TV to go back.
It's fun to occasionally watch something on a B&W set but I'm not going to make a habit of it.

[Kamakiri]

I switch off, but I try to catch the morning news every day on whatever B&W I feel needs some run-in time. Lately, it's been one of my 7" sets, either the Admiral or the Motorola. I had been watching my 23" Zenith B&W every morning for half a year, but now that's sold and soon off to Maryland to be enjoyed by one of our new members, Coshi. As I've mentioned, selling my most used set I figured was a push for me to get going on one of my "problem children" here

Wife passed out on the couch watching SVU the other day, so I took the opportunity to haul the Motorola VT-71 up from the basement and set it up on the coffee table....at least till she woke up

What you watch can be determined by one question, what's more important to you at the time, watching the TV, or the program on the screen? The only thing that I can't do is watch cooking shows on B&W. Reminds me of the shower scene from "Psycho".....

[zenith2134]

Playing a VHS of "The Invisible Man" on the old Admiral 19" portable. I taped it off TCM in 1998 or so...edited out the commercials which I kind of wish I didn't do..and this was off analog cable at the time, with a 4 head hifi stereo Sony machine & TDK T120 tape..the picture is quite good still.
Good point regarding greyscale on a color set. Also, if the edge convergence is slightly off, black-and-white material can have annoying color fringing effects.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

The only thing that I can't do is watch cooking shows on B&W. Reminds me of the shower scene from "Psycho".....

For me, anything in gray wouldn't look very appetizing.

[David Roper]

Pretty much every day. Even with a 40" flat panel downstairs, I still give one of the tube sets upstairs its spin in turn, usually The Daily Show. There's a peculiar issue with that particular HD channel while its analog counterpart comes in fine.