Retro Awesomeness (sort of) ;)

Cool story.
My first ever tv in my room I believe was back when my grandpa died (dec 95, i was 11), I got his radio/tv
heres a picture of it (so happy I found a pic of it online!)
http://retrothing.typepad.com/photos...nic_popup2.jpg

I used to have a samsung 16" silver tv (flat screen tube tv) sadly it broke in october 2008 I believe. So I got a 20" RCA tube TV from walmart (It was $150, I didnt want to pay double that price for a flat panel) its good has digital tune rbuilt in, id love to somehow get to the overscan controls (it cuts off like a centimeter or so) its all black, which I was dissapointed in since I loved having a silver tv, but its all good, my genesis games look good on it.

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Originally Posted by Jasper061992

Nice old sets.

Makes me feel sad. We used to own (was it called ferguson?) TV my Mum got used back in 1999 that had real authentic wood which was i think was about (29") i think, that was mid 80's looking with an oversized remote control with billions of buttons on it, Autotuning feature with red digital numbers on the front panel with full featured TeleText and lacked a Scart port, just RF. lol.

What happened? We left the thing at our old home alongside a broken old Sony 21" because the Attic hatch door "wasn't big enough to fit the TV through for storage".

What a nice set it was, i would have used that for my older game consoles and prolly would have complemented an Atari 2600 i'm planning to get in the near future. It was quite a big son-of-a-bitch though lol.

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Hmm, that sounds a bit like the Sanyo my Granpa (dad'd dad, -VCS was my mom's dad's -who had a massive Mitubishi rear projetion set) had up until a few years ago, ~25-27" mid/late 80s set, wooden case, non-cable ready RF (screws) only, big build in speakrs on either side as I recall as well. Had a flip-out membrane keypad with the channel controls somewhat like this zenith does. I'm not sure if it was still working when he got rid of it, but I'd immagine it wasn't. A little (~15") Sany of a similar age which he'd given us ~1993 died around the same time he replaced his set I think. (and another ~20" Sanyo of similar age -all had interchangeable remotes, I killed ~1993 just after we moved, by turning it on and off rapidly and repeatedly for a rather prolonged period while my parents weren't watching)

I think MN12BIR found a nice bif old RF only cabneted set too (left as trash), he had a video of it a while back. (mentioned using an RF modulator for newer consoles -of course most people actually in such a situation would have probably used the VCR as a modulator BITD -or now too, as a used VCR can often be had for cheap to free compared to a dedicated modulator)

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Originally Posted by ooXxXoo

Neato tv's you got there, and really nice set up....Reminds me a bit of my younger days....Although believe it or not, my first tv was a black & white one.....
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Did it happen to be a newer set than that portacolor (which by all indications apears to be from '66/67)?
Solid state I'd immagine as well. (BW sets persisting for a long time, and color vs screen size being a big trade-off)

This is only the 2nd time I've had a TV in my room, albiet now useless for broadcast TV (without a converter box), that portacolor was the only other I've ever had, and that stopped 7~8 years ago, and same for havig game consoles set-up in my room, that SNES and Genesis are new acquisitions too (and I've only had the Sega CD and other genesis since last spring).
Then again, I've had my own PC since 1/1/2000 (my dad helped me assemble my own on new year's eve), and for several years I had a working TV tuner installed as well. (so games and TV through that -plus DVDs and CDs, etc)
So I suppose that's a compromise. ;)

All our consoles were otherwise in the family room, occasionally in the dining room as well (that's where the portacolor first was, and later the little Sanyo from my grandpa -now a phillips SD LCD). Well that, and the SNS moved to my parents' bedroom TV for a month or so in the mid/late 90s while my dad was engrossed in Zelda: ALttP.
In fact, I think the only time that game was beated was on that TV -a cheap mid 90s RF only Sanyo -which replace a horrible ~1993 Zenith, which replaced the ~20" 1980a Sanyo I broke. (that cheap sanyo got replaced by a 20" VGA monitor and a PC with TV tuner -also the first "TV" to have a digital receiver in our house; a 32" Sanyo 720p LCD HDTV -1360x768- replaced that monitor, which is effectively a glorified PC monitor -antenna line to their room had been busted since before he bough it -on sale last year)

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Originally Posted by EddieJ1984

Cool story.
My first ever tv in my room I believe was back when my grandpa died (dec 95, i was 11), I got his radio/tv
heres a picture of it (so happy I found a pic of it online!)

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Oho! neat. That thing looks liek soem kind of "space age" high-level tech from the early 60s. :) (any idea on its real age)

Actually that Zenith was from the estate of my freind's late grandpa, maybe a little weird in that respect, but again, they (my freind's family) were happy with the deal, and really have a lot of stuff they got from that estake that they don't know what to do with. (clutting the house, which is already fairly cluttered with a bunch of young/little kids there) Probably more info than I need to mention though. (it's found a good home, and probably better for the wear given the mud that was starting to creep onto it in the grage where it was stored)

However, that TV you've got there reminded me of something else from his grandpa. something they have in use at home now, they call it the "bat phone" and it's this weird, almst custom looking neat phone tha does rather look like something off the set of the Adam West batman show. (old high-tech look, black plastic, metal switches, buttons, and strips/brackets, and a rotary dialing mechanism -or maybe buttons in a rottary pattern, I need to take another look)

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I used to have a samsung 16" silver tv (flat screen tube tv) sadly it broke in october 2008 I believe. So I got a 20" RCA tube TV from walmart (It was $150, I didnt want to pay double that price for a flat panel) its good has digital tune rbuilt in, id love to somehow get to the overscan controls (it cuts off like a centimeter or so) its all black, which I was dissapointed in since I loved having a silver tv, but its all good, my genesis games look good on it.

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Our main faimly TV is a 27" Sanyo CRT from ~5 years ago (when out ~1990 trinitron died), it's silver and has the full array of AV inputs, rather liek a lot of newer trinitrons (including an overpriced one currently at goodwill), and a ~32" Trinitron that same friend's family got to replace their old trinitron (similar age as ours, but bigger, like thir new one, and pretty worn out -aweful color bleeding in composite video, and high red level -the latter possible being needing a pot adjustment)

I like how sony seems to put the input select (TV/Video for Sony) button on most of their sets 9all trinitrons I've seen), I really wish that was a standard feature (if the video inputs can't be cucled through the channel select as soem sets do), I though most older sets did, but this Zenith prooved me wrong. (luckily it seems universal remots will work from what I've read)

As for overscan, older sets would be adjusted manually with pots (sometimes externally accessible), but modern stuff is mostly digitally controlled, so you'll need to access it via the service menu, assuming your set offers one (really cheap sets may not), I think you input the code with the remote to access that menu. (TmEE mentioned this -and also that he has his TV adjusted to show all overscan)


And speaking of overscan, it looks like I was right on with my statement about square pixels like Fusion, Sonic 2 has everyting perfectly round rather than vertically stretched: loops, rolling/jumping sonic/tails, etc. (so pixel aspect ratio in 320 pixel wide mode is about 1:1 rather than ~.91:1 on a propperly calibrated TV, so great for games that were programmed with 1:1 PAR in mind, except 256 pixel wide games, which will look even more stretched than usual -any anything properly adapted for TV aspect will not look much off) I think a round sonic might be worth it though. ;)
I do see soem graphical garbage menat to be in overscan as well. (of course, I miss out on the horizontal overscan)
Interestingly, some NES games extend the screen to full vertical scan (as far as this TV shows anyway -which is close to 240/480 lines), codemasters games for example. (I need to test some more though)

Another weird thing I noticed, was with Star Fox for the SNES: the sides of the screen window (smaller than full screen, so black boarder all around) change shape as I move my ship around (pull up , center, or push foreward), the screen kind of bulges out towards the middle when centered, but shifes the bulge when you move -such that it undulated when you're moving around the screen in normal gameplay. Really weird.
Then again, it's not that annoying, unlike trying to play NES Codemasters/Cameric products (including gamegenie) on our 27" Sanyo, it must have sensitive video timing which the 10NES disabling voltage spiking screws up. (looks like a bad VHS tape or VCR with bad tracking) Cutting pin 4 of chip 3193A didn't help either. (though lockout was disabled successfully)

Haven't heard from others though, so that may be uncommon.

Oh yeah, I also remember when i was a kid, my dad also used to own this small silver black and white set. Looked like it was from the 70's that was roughly under 14". I never saw the thing work in real. And my dad just chucked it back in 98. I assumed it didn't work at that point.

Well online this one person says its from 1978. So I guess the late 70s. Its a shame tho that tvs like that are now mostly useless since analog is dead (well in the us)
For the hell of it heres the list of tvs I have had in my room
1) Panasonic B&W radio/tv (Got it around 1996) (as pictured a few posts up) sadly it just stopped workin, I probably couldve gotten it fixed oh well
2) Some B&W TV (Got it 97 I think), screen around the same size (5 inches?) shame I cant remember who made it. I dont think it broke
3) Emerson 13" color TV...got it when my grand uncle died in 1998 or 99 (shame I got 2 of my tvs when someone died :( ) It was from the early 90s . I think the sound started actin up or the picture was black and white.
4) I wanna say Phillips Magnovox 13" TV got it from my uncle in Ill say early 2000s (02 or before), who I guess didnt need it, color of course. Now both the emerson and this tv only had RF input. I think this may have started actin up, or I just wanted a tv with a/v inputs (even tho at the times I would use a/v from the vcr I had)
So here is a Picture of said tv and one of the next tv I would get
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2...compare3uk.jpg
5) Samsung 16" TV - loved this tv, got it in early 2005. Finally had a/v inputs on the tv (Of course id used the one son the vcr and evebtual dvd/vcr) Sadly in oct 2008 it stopped workin (The board on the bottom somehow cracked, I probably put it on too hard on the stand thing its on). Back to VCRs Now when I got this TV I had a DAEWOO VCR (Which I think is somewhere in the basement still....possibly coulda gotten thrown out) I would get a Sony DVD/VCR Player that I still have.
6) RCA 20" TV (October 2008) built in digital tuner, so now in the house we have a extra converter box lol. But this has been great only thing like I said is I wish I could get to the overscan option, oh well. Heres a picture of it (took it today)

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9055/...seball2020.jpg

The next TV i do get will be a flat tv, probably 22" or 26", but for now I am fine. Also you can see the shelve stand thing I have my TVs on, got it when I had the 2nd 13" tv. I guess I can see if I plop a tv too hard how it may have caused my samsung to break. Luckily tho it wont be too small if I ever get a flat tv lol.

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Originally Posted by EddieJ1984

Well online this one person says its from 1978. So I guess the late 70s. Its a shame tho that tvs like that are now mostly useless since analog is dead (well in the us)

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Well they'll work fine for anyone with cable/satallite with the standard low-end decoder boxes. (which are RF/composite only, previously RF only) Such that anyone using such services and opting for the cheap box loses pretty much all advantages of High Definition and Digital transmition. (in some cases looking better on SD sets due to filters and video scalers on HD sets)

And of course there's common DTV receivers for use with older sets as well. (we have 2, one of which going to the phillips LCD as it's SD only and analog broadcast receving only as well) Just as well to have the box with that phillips though, the dtv box changes channels far faster than it could with analog broadcast.

True, actually it may be better since now for those old tv's without remotes, you can use a remote to change channels.

Yeah, but like in my case, many sets need remotes to select video inputs. :( Props to sony for that though. (trinitrons at least)

And no problem for RF only sets, other than the RF only limitation. ;)