Oh ! the Horror

[shimniok]

Originally Posted by leadlike

I don't know if it's a generational thing so much as something for young people to do-my dad used to smash tvs in the junkyard and he wasn't supposed to go near the back alley by the tv shop because it was full of crt glass from kids smashing them as well-and all this almost fifty years ago.

Darn young whippersnappers.

I wonder how many more sweeping generalizations about "these darned kids these days" will be posted today.

I agree it is a generational thing. Humankind has at least a slight tendency for destroying stuff. Kids are often stupid. Add the two and you get SOME kids destroying stuff. But not ALL kids destroy ALL our precious vintage gear.

I'd rather go listen to my vintage gear and relax than comb youtube and worry about some piece of equipment I'm way too late to save.

Plus you're getting a skewed sample/perspective. YouTube doesn't represent what the majority of people do!!

Do you see any you tube videos of kids sitting around being respectful of antiques?? Picture in your mind's eye --- a group of teens videotaping each other sitting on the sofa, staring at grandad's old console... "Yeah guys, that's grandad's console" "oh." ... protracted silence ... "It's old." "Huh. Probably worth something" "Yup." .... more silence, slightly awkward this time .... "Huh." .... "does it work?" ... "yah..."

You don't see these videos.

Because it would be stupid and boring.

But I am sure the vast majority of kids are *reasonably* well behaved, respectful, etc. The ones I have met are. They are still kids and act more like kids than adults sometimes. And some are bad apples--just like some people are bad apples.

I got enuf to get spun up about without adding this...

Michael

[Carmine]

Well, that might be what you say, but I know these kids today with their long shaggy hair and rock and roll music!

Those kids sneak off into the woods to look at dirty magazines, smoke marawanna cigarettes and smash wonderful old television sets with rocks.

If you are defending them, it can only be because you are doing the same things! I can gaurantee you there were no kids smashing tv sets back in the 30s when people had respect for things.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by shimniok

Do you see any you tube videos of kids sitting around being respectful of antiques?? Picture in your mind's eye --- a group of teens videotaping each other sitting on the sofa, staring at grandad's old console... "Yeah guys, that's grandad's console" "oh." ... protracted silence ... "It's old." "Huh. Probably worth something" "Yup." .... more silence, slightly awkward this time .... "Huh." .... "does it work?" ... "yah..."

You don't see these videos.

Because it would be stupid and boring.



Michael

A more interesting version would be a couple of kids showing the camera what a record looks like, and then the kid shows the placement of that record on the turntable or record changer. Maybe it's an old Lawrence Welk album or similar "square" music. then the record starts playing, the kids laugh for a while, and one, who plays electric guitar, decides the music would actually sound good done heavy metal style (if such is in fact possible) and goes to his guitars and amps and starts playing it...

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by shimniok

YouTube doesn't represent what the majority of people do

I have to agree. I have two college-age sons, and they don't do things like that. Their classmates don't do things like that.

Ranting about "the younger generation" just tags you as an old geezer, probably out of touch with today's young people.

If you're curious, volunteer at your local YMCA, Boy Scouts, Future Farmers of America, soccer team, high school science club, whatever, and see whether those kids are doing anything that would attract a lot of attention on YouTube. Probably not.

That said, I confess that when growing up in the 1960s, my friends and I used to bring our .22 rifles to the dump and shoot rats -- along with anything breakable, such as dishes, vinegar bottles, and probably even a few old radios. We may have tried to shoot a few TVs, but a .22 would just ricochet off the typical CRT face. I'm sure I would remember if any had imploded.

Today's electronics are cheap, disposable commodities, for the most part. It is often cheaper to get a new one at Fry's than to have the old one repaired. The last time we had a TV repairman come to our house, he basically laughed at me while writing out the bill. If you have to throw the piece of junk away, why not have a little fun and smash it first?

Phil

[Oldstuff78]

I didn't mean to start a controversy here. All I meant to say was that it's a shame that people destroy old things for fun. I admit that I'm not into 1970's/80's era stuff and grew up with it. I just meant that if they are doing it to that era of stuff, imagine it happening to a roundie or 60's console stereo etc.....

I'm blessed to have my 64 Magnavox console stereo and 69 Sylvania console TV. I treasure them because they are part of an era that I was unfortunately not a part of.

I'm just a vintage junkie and I'm also a professional Archivist. So it's drilled into me to preserve the past.

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by jetblack

if one were to use a d/a converter, what characteristic of the early tv would result in a superior pic to the new tv's

Nothing.

Technology has advanced a lot in the last 60 years . . . duh.

Even a cheap 2009 television will vastly outperform a 1949 television in picture quality, sensitivity, stability, reliability, you name it.

People also forget that vintage TVs required constant maintenance. I remember the local TV guy coming out to our house a couple of times a year, on average.

Picture quality is not why people collect and restore vintage TVs. Here are my reasons:

1. History (including broadcasting history).

2. Technology (interesting to learn about early designs).

3. Accessibility: Even a fumblefingers like me can learn to restore them, unlike modern TVs.

4. Style: They ain't makin' 'em like this any more!

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[jeyurkon]

I'm with Phil, nothing.

There might be one area though. I seem to remember some earlier posts about vintage color CRTs having better color rendition. In particular, emerald green looks emerald green on a roundy, but washed out on a plasma or LCD. I think it was said to be a tradeoff to get a brighter more vivid screen that reproduces skin tones better since we notice that more readily.

I hope someone corrects this if I misremembered.

John

[Captain Video]

"Time travel experience" :

I know, the way I named it sounds crazy, but it's quite true: watching a movie or a TV program recorded in the 1950's or 60's in a TV set of that era... it's an amazing experience!!! One really feels like he is in the 50's or the 60's again!!! Very entertaining.

[Aussie Bloke]

Originally Posted by Carmine

Well, that might be what you say, but I know these kids today with their long shaggy hair and rock and roll music!

Those kids sneak off into the woods to look at dirty magazines, smoke marawanna cigarettes and smash wonderful old television sets with rocks.

If you are defending them, it can only be because you are doing the same things! I can gaurantee you there were no kids smashing tv sets back in the 30s when people had respect for things.

I have to say for the first sentence, I personally have long hair and I love my heavy metal from Black Sabbath to Judas Priest to Metallica and I admit I look at porn and have had smoked the odd cone at a couple of parties, but I ain't no TV smasher lol.

It's true that there is lesser respect amongst a lot of the youth of today compared to the youth back in the days of the conservatism and morals, probably because of the trends in pop culture to "be wild" with the help of drugs and alcohol and a lot of teens follow what's consider as "cool" and smashing things and animal cruelty and getting smashed/high seems to be the popular trends amongst wild out of control teenagers unfortunately. It's like there's a lot of Beavis and Butthead personality types out there in amongst the youth.

[AUdubon5425]

Call me an old geezer - I'm 33 - but I came up and live in a working class neighborhood, where our parents would have had a stroke if we would have busted something up, even if it was sitting out for the garbage.

I remember when an appliance (including a tv or stereo) broke or was unwanted, there was always someone who would come get it and fix it for a needy neighbor or relative. That's just how we were. I'll never forget how happy & grateful the janitor at my grandma's apartment building was when I gave him a cheap BPC Soundesign stereo when I was 14.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

I just don't understand what kind of thrill the younger generation gets out of destroying so much stuff. It's not like they're chopping something up because the garbage wouldn't otherwise take it off - I could understand that. No, they have this maniacal joy in destroying anything.

They obviously never had to work and save to buy anything. I have come to the conclusion that the age of maturity has receded ten years. Lastly, I don't have a manicured & landscaped lawn, but if my yard looked like the ones in many of these videos I sure wouldn't be showing it to the world on youtube!

I think that's it, they take things for granted and it seems in society, the age of maturity is really set back these days. Heck it has even changed from the 1980's when I was a teen. I know when my grandfather (born 1901) was a kid, he had to go to work at 13, when you got that age, at that time, you had to accept 80 or 90 percent of adult responsibilities.

It also helps to understand the value of things since I was raised by a single parent after my parents divorced because of the scarcity of some things. Even now, things are tight so perhaps to these kids, my 1982 Zenith is junk but to me, it's priceless.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Captain Video

"Time travel experience" :

I know, the way I named it sounds crazy, but it's quite true: watching a movie or a TV program recorded in the 1950's or 60's in a TV set of that era... it's an amazing experience!!! One really feels like he is in the 50's or the 60's again!!! Very entertaining.

I know the feeling when I watch RTN, Retro Television Network on the 1982 Zenith.

Me in 1983, 16 years old, sitting on the couch watching A-Team on a 1982 Zenith.

Me in 2009, 42 years old, sitting on the couch watching A-Team on a 1982 Zenith.

BTW, I did save some stuff, at work, one of the younger co-workers was going to toss the VCR into the trash, he said, "I'm not sure if I works or not" so he asked me if I wanted it. I took it, it works although I'm trying to get it to tune the analogue channels, but so far, no success, but it works fine with a digital tuner connected to it. I don't care if the tuner doesn't work or not, it is moot point with digital TV coming out so I just use it to tape programs so I can watch them later as well as a VCR for my room. So I got a free VCR.

[bgadow]

Somehow watching tv on a color set made 40-50 years ago is intriguing. If tuned up well, the picture, I don't know, is unexpectadly good? Maybe it isn't more "correct" but it looks cooler. You can get down to things like truer color reproduction with certain phosphor combinations, maybe black level issues....but for the most part, that's not why we love them.

[Oldstuff78]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I know the feeling when I watch RTN, Retro Television Network on the 1982 Zenith.

Me in 1983, 16 years old, sitting on the couch watching A-Team on a 1982 Zenith.

Me in 2009, 42 years old, sitting on the couch watching A-Team on a 1982 Zenith.

BTW, I did save some stuff, at work, one of the younger co-workers was going to toss the VCR into the trash, he said, "I'm not sure if I works or not" so he asked me if I wanted it. I took it, it works although I'm trying to get it to tune the analogue channels, but so far, no success, but it works fine with a digital tuner connected to it. I don't care if the tuner doesn't work or not, it is moot point with digital TV coming out so I just use it to tape programs so I can watch them later as well as a VCR for my room. So I got a free VCR.

I watch RTN too. They show a lot of programs that just aren't rerun anymore. I have my 1969 Sylvania in my office and have RTN on during the day when I work.

There is something about watching old shows on a old set. When I first got mine I watched 1969 episodes of Love American Style on it and some old Color network logos like the 60's NBC Peacock, CBS in Color, ABC.

Having a old console also brings back childhood memories. I was born in 78 and we had a RCA console in the livingroom while growing up. I use to watch Bewitched, Gilligans Island, I Dream of Jeannie, N@N etc.....WGN has been showing Bewitched and Jeannie and it's like I'm 6 again.

I think the TV is a treasure, but most people ignore it. They probably just think it's a old out of date set that I probably dug out of the trash or was given to me. Same way with my old 64 Magnavox console stereo.

[Jeffhs]

I know that feeling as well, although here I speak of listening to older music on a radio of the same vintage (I no longer have any of the old TVs I had before I moved here nine years ago. ) I sometimes listen to an oldies radio program on weekends; I swear, it sounds better to me on my Zenith K731 or C845 than through a modern radio, or even my Aiwa stereo (1999 vintage). I guess it may be because of the better audio circuitry, larger speakers, better bass response, etc. of these old sets. They certainly don't make them like that anymore.