• MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Our first tv with a remote control that wasn’t me or my sibling using small vise grip on channel knob had a telephone included in the tv.

    Like this was in 1982 so not a modem … just a tv with a land line phone built in that you have to use the remote to make or receive a call.

    • SOB_Van_Owen@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Yes! Those channel knobs were so easily broken. I thought we were the only ones turning channels with pair of vice-grips clamped on the nub.

  • n2burns@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    This was mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the Vergecast. I was wondering if someone was going to get assigned the article, and here it is!

  • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I had a Heathkit TV that used a variation of this design! If you held it really close to your ear then you could actually hear it emitting.

    • sawdustprophet@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Never seen or heard from anyone using tape to mask their remotes. Is this really a thing?

      Not this exactly, but my grandparents had a guide taped to the backside of their remotes to make it easier to use.

      The tape strategy has some appeal, though, mainly in that I use maybe 5 buttons 95% of the time.

  • Llcooljessie@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Those don’t take batteries and your click generates the electricity for the signal. Right? Like a wind up radio.

    • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      No, it’s a tuning fork that produces 4 seperate tones, one for each “button.” The TV had a microphone listening for tones and would respond accordingly. You didn’t actually have to point the remote at the TV, which later became a problem, as the mic on the TV was technically always listening for a tone.

        • indun@feddit.uk
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          1 year ago

          Unfortunately, you violated the law slightly by asking a question!

          Cunningham’s Law states “the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”

  • nanook@friendica.eskimo.com
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    1 year ago

    What I loved about these remotes is you could take out a set of car keys and shake them and watch the channel changer go berserk.