80's Sharp Linytron Score

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

It's interesting to me that your TV's remote does not have the mute function. Most TVs with ultrasonic remotes did have the mute feature, either as a fourth position of the volume stepper relay (mute, low, medium, high volume), or as a completely separate button on the hand unit. This interests me because the first TV remote control by Zenith, the ill-fated and short-lived "Flash-Matic" of the mid-1950s, did have a photocell that activated the mute function when the ray-gun style controller was pointed at it. Why Sharp decided not to include sound muting on some of its Linytron TVs, however, is a mystery to me. Linytron (which I think stands for in-line color CRT) sounds like it must have been one of Sharp's premium sets of the '80s, so it should have had all the bells and whistles, including mute and OSD.

I have many ultrasonic remotes that lack a mute function. Some also have color controls which I think is overkill.