Black and white tvs etc..

Ann22

Anyone else remember having a black and white tv? It was about '82 or '83 before we got a colour one- much excitement especially with the remote control:) - oh joy! We always rented our tvs so every so often we'd get an upgrade, we used to love getting a new tv though they'd be fairly basic ones - black and white with buttons on the front. I remember one had a dial to change the channels that was like a washing machine dial-I could never use it properly:(. I found it a huge novelty to see programmes in colour in my friend's house:o..seeing Kermit the frog in green was a revelation and 'The Wizard of Oz' when Dorothy opened the door after landing in munchkin land:).
I remember when we called the radio the 'wireless', don't hear many using that term now...and when the tape recorder came out-what fun that was...my sister got one, one Christmas with two tapes 'Adam and the Ants' was one. When you'd depress the first and fourth buttons you could record. We had great crack taping each other sneakily:D.

Wishbone Ash

Ann22 wrote: »

they'd be fairly basic ones - black and white

Yes - watching the snooker was a bitch!

humberklog

Janey I can even remember that we'd colour in the early 70's. Crystsal tips and Mr. Benn must have been rubbish in B+W.
Saying that we did have a B+W in the caravan in Skerries (this of course before Skerries oddly moved to fairly near Dublin as in the 70's it was miles away).

But, but and but (and Ann I don't wanna hijack thread) all tv's were rented! And you'd know the families that ran them by first name as they'd be in the house about three times a year!! It was The Mackeniffs around our way. One hollowe'en he came out and at the same time the piano was being tuned (by the Redmonds). The all fell asleep on the floor after getting sozzled on the fathers (and brothers) home brew and didn't wake 'til morning. The TV wasn't fixed but the piano was tuned and the night turned into a big sing-song.

Ann22

Really? :)A shop in town where I live 'Lally's' they were called, I think we rented our tellys from them. I remember at times there'd be problems and the repair man would call out in his overalls and all would be sorted in 5 mins.

humberklog

He told us once that the people lived in the tv. He pointed at a little box inside and said 'that's where they all are'. I believed it for years. Still want to!

Ruu_Old

Lallys are still going I think (annoying ads on the radio if it is the same one). We got ours from a place called McEntaggerts(per surname post) in the small town I lived in.

Mr.Lizard

Never had a BW tv but I do remember in our house we rented for years and years. One xmas we finally bought a tv and it was amazing to have a set in the house that was all sleek and black and didn't look like a piece of crap. We also got out first VCR and the tv even had teletext (wow!) so it was REAL big deal.

humberklog wrote: »

He told us once that the people lived in the tv. He pointed at a little box inside and said 'that's where they all are'. I believed it for years. Still want to!

When I was a kid I used to believe there was a man (or some living thing) inside the radio that made all the voices and sounds. I had no comprehension of broadcasting or the notion of radio waves travelling thru the air from some remote location to our little reciever. The irony of it all is I went onto get an Engineering Degree in telecommunications which means I now pretty much know how it all works now.

I think I was happier back when I didn't!

Lizzykins

We got our first colour TV in 1976 for the Montreal Olympics! It came with a lovely glossy hard back book on the history of the Olympics. Happy days! And the TV was bought on a rental purchase agreement as none of us had any money!

deadhead13

Black and white TV. One TV Channel. Started around 3pm finished before 12. Each day ending with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem - oh happy days.

Ann22

'...and I remember a little white dot that used to be on the screen for a wee while after you turned it off:o.

gipi

We used to rent TV from RTV Rentals - who had a shop in Nth Earl Street up to recently if I remember!

My folks also used to rent their radio (they were expensive back in the day!).

Friend of mine remembers when he first realised that colour TVs were all around his neighbourhood - the 1970 world cup in Brazil (so late night matches), he could look out of his bedroom window and see the TVs in the houses round him - all ablaze with green!

I remember renting our first VCR (early 80s) with a remote control....which was attached to the VCR by a cable! It cost IR£25 per month to rent (about €31 euro) and the minimum rental was 1 year! Just shows how much they cost back then if it was cheaper to rent it!!

bullets

Remember the ol B/W's alright.

My father was a techy lover so we had the colour TV's as
soon as they were out. That was for the main TV of course.

The 2nd TV was B/W, a off white/creamish plastic body with
a black face and huge clunky dials to tune in the channels.
Looked similar to this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poisoncontrol/2591106065/
I remember too a few years afterwards every house having
colour TV's that was all well and good until we went on hoilidays to the arse end of no-where (caherdaniel Kerry)
where the only Telly was B/W and there was a travelling
van that supplied you with video tapes with movies to play.

I also remember for years my Grandfather had a
portable B/W telly about the size of a small neat
double deck that had a screen size of about 3 inches
and you needed to tune it in via an analog dial

~B

silverharp

ah the memories , waiting for the repair man to come out to replace a blown valve.

Whosbetter?

Telly rentals!
My Dad used to rent tellys back in the '70s & ''80s.

Coincidentally, Mrs Whosbetter?'s Grandad used to be in the same line of work in Dublin. Pretty well known in their day,esp in the Liberities area.

Made for good conversation on our first date:D

Firetrap

Funny. Back in the 80s, people bought their houses and rented their TVs. Now it's the other way way round

Before we got a colour TV I remember holding conversations with my classmates about that colour Bosco's hair was and that kind of thing. Some people had got the colour TVs before the rest of us and they were quizzed on important things like that. First time I saw Bosco in colour, i was amazed at the yellows in the studio.

I seem to remember as well us going to a relatives' house to watch Charles & Di getting married. They had the colour

TheBigFella

Ann22 wrote: »

'...and I remember a little white dot that used to be on the screen for a wee while after you turned it off:o.

and the sound of someone rubbing their finger around the top of a wine glass that lasted for ages.


I remember having a VCR that was supposed to have a remote control but this was attached to it by a wire that ran across the floor. Many a person broke their neck across it.

1966

Ann22 wrote: »

'...and I remember a little white dot that used to be on the screen for a wee while after you turned it off:o.

not forgetting the static & rabbits ears either !

darkdubh

Ann22 wrote: »

Anyone else remember having a black and white tv? It was about '82 or '83 before we got a colour one- much excitement especially with the remote control:) - oh joy! We always rented our tvs so every so often we'd get an upgrade, we used to love getting a new tv though they'd be fairly basic ones - black and white with buttons on the front. I remember one had a dial to change the channels that was like a washing machine dial-I could never use it properly:(. I found it a huge novelty to see programmes in colour in my friend's house:o..seeing Kermit the frog in green was a revelation and 'The Wizard of Oz' when Dorothy opened the door after landing in munchkin land:).
I remember when we called the radio the 'wireless', don't hear many using that term now...and when the tape recorder came out-what fun that was...my sister got one, one Christmas with two tapes 'Adam and the Ants' was one. When you'd depress the first and fourth buttons you could record. We had great crack taping each other sneakily:D.

We dident get a colour telly till ,91 when we got Sky.

nlgbbbblth

I was born in 1972, had black and white television until 1979 when we bought a second portable set for the kitchen.

Only drawback was the portable was also black and white!

Finally succumbed to colour in September 1981. Just before the All Ireland hurling final between Galway and Offaly. No remote control.

That television still works - my sister took it to college with her in the early 1990s and then donated to her nurses' home. It's still there.

nolo77

I remember being on holidaysin a caravan in West Cork and in the evening my mother would givethe five of us the price of a bottle of lemonade and we'd go to the Owenahincha Hotel and buy a bottle of Tanora each in the bar and head for the resident's lounge to watch Mannix in colour. Sometimes, if the colour was on the blink, Mannix would have a green face but it was still in colour! The bottle of Tanora would be stretched out as long as possible because we couldn't get a second one! Happy Days!:)

mikemac

Don't remember a B&W TV but I do remember we were the first in the area to get a VCR.

Madly expensive so it was, I'm don't know the price but they were horrendoulsy expensive when they were first on the market.

You get neighbours calling down with blank VHS tapes and asking for certain programmes to be taped, usually the soaps as they'd be working in the evenings.

And of course you could only tape it once so the neighbours would share the VHS tapes.

nolo77

I remember buying my own video tape to record my programmes. No one was allowed to touch it because it cost me £13.00. Anyway, I went away for the weekend & my brother found it and recorded over my stuff. There was war!

Mr.Lizard

£13 in which year? If you're talking mid 80's then that pretty expensive for a bit of plastic.

Firetrap

I remember when Murphy's Micro Quiz M was on TV in the 80s, they used to do some sort of a draw involving television licence numbers. I think if your licence number came up, you'd win a Goblin bagless vacuum cleaner or something. The colour licences started with a C I think and the black and white ones with an M.

Tchaikovsky

We had a colour tv in the sitting room and a Black and White one in the kitchen. We got it from my grandparent's house and it had the clunky washing-machine knobs and we could only get RTE 1 and Network 2. I can clearly remember watching Sports Stadium every Saturday evening while at the dinner table
That was well into the 90s by the way :pac: