Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
July 30, 2023 2:34 PM Subscribe
The Zenith Space Command, one of the first wireless television remotes ever to exist, is a monument to a time before we took the remote for granted. It also just so happened to contain one of the most influential and intriguing buttons in history.
(Appropriately enough, I also watched "Star Trek" first run episodes on this same TV. )
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:47 PM on July 30, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:47 PM on July 30, 2023 [13 favorites]
No batteries???? This is freakin' brilliant!
posted by Mogur at 2:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 2:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
One of my best friends had a whistle-operated remote. It was on / off only and it would work with anything you plugged into it (it fit between your device's plug and the wall socket). It was usually used for the TV in the parents' room and we would amuse ourselves walking by the closed door and whistling randomly.
posted by chavenet at 2:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 2:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Oh we had the earlier one that looked exactly like a space weapon.
posted by emjaybee at 2:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 2:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
The TV at my grandmother's house was a Zenith with one of these. I used to amuse myself by trying to press the buttons as gently as possible so as not to cause the channel or volume to change.
Also not mentioned in the linked to article, a channel change also resulted in a the activation of a servo motor in the TV that turned the actual channel selector by one detent. I recall it being a very satisfying mechanical "ker-CHUNK."
My great-grandmother, who was bed-ridden by the time I knew her, had this whole thing, too. I can readily recall that ker-CHUNK sound. It being central New Hampshire in the 1960s and early '70s, there were two channels to choose from. but she could go back and forth between them like nobody's business.
posted by briank at 3:03 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also not mentioned in the linked to article, a channel change also resulted in a the activation of a servo motor in the TV that turned the actual channel selector by one detent. I recall it being a very satisfying mechanical "ker-CHUNK."
My great-grandmother, who was bed-ridden by the time I knew her, had this whole thing, too. I can readily recall that ker-CHUNK sound. It being central New Hampshire in the 1960s and early '70s, there were two channels to choose from. but she could go back and forth between them like nobody's business.
posted by briank at 3:03 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
I'm old enough to have used one of these as a kid. Before these I was the remote control. "Can you change the channel for me?"
The remote was basically a tuning fork. You can see the ends of the four different length aluminum tuning fork 'tines' in one of the pictures.
posted by eye of newt at 3:04 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
The remote was basically a tuning fork. You can see the ends of the four different length aluminum tuning fork 'tines' in one of the pictures.
posted by eye of newt at 3:04 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
My grandparents had a color TV with a battery-powered ultrasonic remote. As a child, I could hear a faint high-pitched noise when they used it, probably a subharmonic of the actual tone.
Their dog hated it and ran out of the room whenever they used it.
I remember what it looked like but am unable to find any images of it on Google. I don't remember the brand name and have no idea when they bought it other than that they owned it in the early 80s.
posted by Hatashran at 3:26 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Their dog hated it and ran out of the room whenever they used it.
I remember what it looked like but am unable to find any images of it on Google. I don't remember the brand name and have no idea when they bought it other than that they owned it in the early 80s.
posted by Hatashran at 3:26 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Damn that’s clever.
And dropping soda in the thing didn’t permanently fuck it up?
posted by Artw at 3:40 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
And dropping soda in the thing didn’t permanently fuck it up?
posted by Artw at 3:40 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
"... well, why don’t you encode the signal? We can’t encode the signal because we can’t use 100 vacuum tubes."
I love this.
posted by mhoye at 3:42 PM on July 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
I love this.
posted by mhoye at 3:42 PM on July 30, 2023 [8 favorites]
Zenith Space Command had nothing on Zenith Space Phone.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Cool! And I thought my 1980s wired cable remote was fancy.
posted by metasarah at 3:50 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by metasarah at 3:50 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Our first VCR had a wired remote. We rearranged our living room furniture to make it reach to the coffee table.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Now today, of course, you say, well, why don’t you encode the signal? We can’t encode the signal because we can’t use 100 vacuum tubes. It was a trap. And I came up with ultrasound because I knew that ultrasound in the air would not go through walls, so it was like ordinary speaking…
Think about all the stuff we do today that was once either done as an electro-mechanical thing or by a custom ASIC. Now we can just brute force stuff entirely in the digital domain using chips that cost pennies.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 4:12 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Think about all the stuff we do today that was once either done as an electro-mechanical thing or by a custom ASIC. Now we can just brute force stuff entirely in the digital domain using chips that cost pennies.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 4:12 PM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
My first TV (bought at a surplus sale) had a very chunky VHF dial and a UHF dial. I stole procured a broomstick from the garage and cut a slot in the end of it, and made my own remote control for that thing.
posted by xedrik at 4:52 PM on July 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by xedrik at 4:52 PM on July 30, 2023 [15 favorites]
My story is the mirror image of all yours. When I was a kid, we lived in the country and TV reception was kind of shitty. The station that came in best was Channel 7, the local CBS affiliate. So now, decades later, my mother has a satellite dish and a TV that can pick up hundreds of channels. She never changes the channel. To this day she just watches whatever is on Channel 7.
posted by Naberius at 5:34 PM on July 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 5:34 PM on July 30, 2023 [24 favorites]
This is how my cat got stuck in a tree. My dad was fixing one of these in his workshop while the cat sunbathed, click click, orange blur, and the cat is at the top of the tallest tree in the yard.
Definitely not pet friendly.
posted by adept256 at 5:42 PM on July 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
Definitely not pet friendly.
posted by adept256 at 5:42 PM on July 30, 2023 [11 favorites]
Bob Adler was my dad's boss at Zenith. We had all sorts of experimental tvs and stereos that came home to test. Oddly enough I don't remember having one of those remotes but my father rigged a guillotine switch to silence ads. Dad also had a patent on an automatic volume increaser so that if something loud like a plane overhead happened the tv would automatically increase the volume until the noise was gone. I don't think Zenith ever built that into any tvs though.
In the late 70s Zenith decided to save money by getting rid of their entire research department. My father and his co-workers bought the rights to their patents from Zenith and started a company building flat panel displays. That company was poised to go public in 1987 when the market crashed and they went bankrupt instead. Had they been able to go public we'd all have had flatscreens years earlier. Bob Adler was not part of that endeavor- I think he had passed away by that point.
posted by leslies at 6:19 PM on July 30, 2023 [77 favorites]
In the late 70s Zenith decided to save money by getting rid of their entire research department. My father and his co-workers bought the rights to their patents from Zenith and started a company building flat panel displays. That company was poised to go public in 1987 when the market crashed and they went bankrupt instead. Had they been able to go public we'd all have had flatscreens years earlier. Bob Adler was not part of that endeavor- I think he had passed away by that point.
posted by leslies at 6:19 PM on July 30, 2023 [77 favorites]
Oh my, my grandfather had a zenith tv in the 60s with this exact channel changer. It was a miracle to me! And the sound it made was EXACTLY ker-CHUNK :).
posted by bluesky43 at 6:33 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by bluesky43 at 6:33 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm another that mostly grew up being the remote although, with only two channels on NZ TV the task wasn't that arduous - I can't imagine how anyone could manage modern TV without a remote. I am glad remotes are tending away from a zillion buttons that each do one thing to on-screen displays or muti-function buttons, but I'm still frustrated at the lack of any standards around remotes so a single remote can control whatever devices you add.
posted by dg at 6:54 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by dg at 6:54 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
And to think engineering advanced to such heights as to provide us with this stunning example of clean, purposeful design.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:03 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 7:03 PM on July 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
> Bob Adler was not part of that endeavor- I think he had passed away by that point.
...Robert Adler lived to be 93 and died in 2007. So yeah, still probably retired by 1987.
And jessamyn pointed me toward this article. I immediately had a perfect memory of how those remotes felt, looked, sounded—but not how they worked! This has filled in a nice gap in my memory I didn't even know was there. Freakin' buttons an inch tall. God I remember the PRIVILEGE of getting to hold the remote (at that age), never mind USE it.
posted by not_on_display at 7:10 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
...Robert Adler lived to be 93 and died in 2007. So yeah, still probably retired by 1987.
And jessamyn pointed me toward this article. I immediately had a perfect memory of how those remotes felt, looked, sounded—but not how they worked! This has filled in a nice gap in my memory I didn't even know was there. Freakin' buttons an inch tall. God I remember the PRIVILEGE of getting to hold the remote (at that age), never mind USE it.
posted by not_on_display at 7:10 PM on July 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
But in the age of Roku, streaming devices have largely stripped the TV remote down to the new essentials: play, home, volume, and voice control. We’re back to a minimalist aesthetic for the quintessential coffee table gadget, embodying some (but not all) of the values the early Space Command delivered.
But all of the menus and submenus on the TV itself, OY! At least I only need a couple buttons to get unlost. But that's a whole different "evolution of such-and-such..." conversation. At least the remotes have gotten simpler again, but the haptics don't even come close to a good ka-CHUNK
posted by not_on_display at 7:19 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
But all of the menus and submenus on the TV itself, OY! At least I only need a couple buttons to get unlost. But that's a whole different "evolution of such-and-such..." conversation. At least the remotes have gotten simpler again, but the haptics don't even come close to a good ka-CHUNK
posted by not_on_display at 7:19 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I can't imagine how anyone could manage modern TV without a remote.
Voice controls. Mine is compatible with alexa and google home. It's plugged into a gaming rig though, so I don't use the built-in OS. I set up the HDMI connection and haven't touched the remote since. I use voice control to turn it on and off.
I guess the wireless mouse and keyboard count as remotes.
posted by adept256 at 7:46 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Voice controls. Mine is compatible with alexa and google home. It's plugged into a gaming rig though, so I don't use the built-in OS. I set up the HDMI connection and haven't touched the remote since. I use voice control to turn it on and off.
I guess the wireless mouse and keyboard count as remotes.
posted by adept256 at 7:46 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't remember the Zenith remotes, but do remember the wired one that came with our first VCR -- it had two settings, play and pause. We only ever used it for skipping commercials when recording stuff off the TV.
posted by Ickster at 7:48 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ickster at 7:48 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Okay... I have a story that must be shared in this context.
When I was in college in the late 80s, I needed a TV. A young lady I was friendly with sold me an old family TV of theirs, a 1970s JCPenney model, for $20, and it served me well enough. The remote control had been long lost -- according to her, dropped into a glass of Coca-Cola years prior and rendered inert -- but the onboard buttons still worked, so that was fine.
Cut forward to the mid-90s. A new program had just come out on PC called Williams Arcade Classics, which was the first major commercial product emulating actual arcade content on home PCs. (I believe there was a slightly older variant on Macs from the same folks.) I rushed to the local software store like the Burlington Zephyr and returned with it, fully intent on playing arcade-accurate Joust, Sinistar and such until my fingers bled.
I installed it, ran it, turned on Sinistar...
...and the TV went BALLISTIC.
The volume shot straight up by itself. The channels changed on their own. It was as if someone was activating its major functions all at once, except that no one was within six feet of the TV and, as noted above, I didn't physically possess a remote control for it.
I ran over and turned the volume down before my eardrums split, shook my head in confusion, and returned to my game.
And it happened again.
Bewildered, I posted my experience to USENET and got a reply from one of the developers. Apparently, this TV was old enough that it had an ultrasonic remote like the Space Command, not an infrared one, and the weird video mode that they made Sinistar use made my monitor emit _just the right frequency_ to trip the TV's sensors. "Only you could have found a side effect like this," the guy said.
I tested it years later with the same game emulated in MAME, which used different video drivers. No haunted TV.
FWIW, my Vectrex occasionally -- but not always -- had the same effect on that TV, depending on the game being played.
posted by delfin at 7:56 PM on July 30, 2023 [34 favorites]
When I was in college in the late 80s, I needed a TV. A young lady I was friendly with sold me an old family TV of theirs, a 1970s JCPenney model, for $20, and it served me well enough. The remote control had been long lost -- according to her, dropped into a glass of Coca-Cola years prior and rendered inert -- but the onboard buttons still worked, so that was fine.
Cut forward to the mid-90s. A new program had just come out on PC called Williams Arcade Classics, which was the first major commercial product emulating actual arcade content on home PCs. (I believe there was a slightly older variant on Macs from the same folks.) I rushed to the local software store like the Burlington Zephyr and returned with it, fully intent on playing arcade-accurate Joust, Sinistar and such until my fingers bled.
I installed it, ran it, turned on Sinistar...
...and the TV went BALLISTIC.
The volume shot straight up by itself. The channels changed on their own. It was as if someone was activating its major functions all at once, except that no one was within six feet of the TV and, as noted above, I didn't physically possess a remote control for it.
I ran over and turned the volume down before my eardrums split, shook my head in confusion, and returned to my game.
And it happened again.
Bewildered, I posted my experience to USENET and got a reply from one of the developers. Apparently, this TV was old enough that it had an ultrasonic remote like the Space Command, not an infrared one, and the weird video mode that they made Sinistar use made my monitor emit _just the right frequency_ to trip the TV's sensors. "Only you could have found a side effect like this," the guy said.
I tested it years later with the same game emulated in MAME, which used different video drivers. No haunted TV.
FWIW, my Vectrex occasionally -- but not always -- had the same effect on that TV, depending on the game being played.
posted by delfin at 7:56 PM on July 30, 2023 [34 favorites]
"ker-CHUNK"
Gosh, I woulda loved that in a remote! (The first version I can recall was a corded version, with modern-style silicon-pimple-y buttons...)
Never with the boob tube, but that "ker-CHUNK" was front and center in the radio dial in my first car. Push a button & the radio dial would, definitively and satisfyingly, CHUNK into place horizontally to the appropriate bandwidth. I didn't know if there's industry specific lingo to describe the dial I so fondly remember, but this forum thread indicates there was (a) some novel engineering going on, and (b) there was, apparently, no name for the mechanism beyond "Oldey-timey radio buttons".
Related: newly purchased vehicle in the Johnson household has a touchscreen for everything to the right of the steering wheel. If Mrs. Johnson is riding shotgun, it's fabulous, I pilot, she customizes. If I'm solo... it's an awkward/uncomfortable experience, at best. (Never unsafe, not trying to sensationalize)
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 8:29 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Gosh, I woulda loved that in a remote! (The first version I can recall was a corded version, with modern-style silicon-pimple-y buttons...)
Never with the boob tube, but that "ker-CHUNK" was front and center in the radio dial in my first car. Push a button & the radio dial would, definitively and satisfyingly, CHUNK into place horizontally to the appropriate bandwidth. I didn't know if there's industry specific lingo to describe the dial I so fondly remember, but this forum thread indicates there was (a) some novel engineering going on, and (b) there was, apparently, no name for the mechanism beyond "Oldey-timey radio buttons".
Related: newly purchased vehicle in the Johnson household has a touchscreen for everything to the right of the steering wheel. If Mrs. Johnson is riding shotgun, it's fabulous, I pilot, she customizes. If I'm solo... it's an awkward/uncomfortable experience, at best. (Never unsafe, not trying to sensationalize)
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 8:29 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
oh man so when i was a kid we had 2 zenith tv's (one tv in the den one tv in my folks's room and one vcr in the den) they all came with the same remote. it was called zenith space command but i'm pretty sure it was regular IR as this was the mid-late 80s to early 90s.
so like i said my parents had a zenith tv in their room and we had a zenith tv in the den. the 2 tv's had the same remote. my younger brother and i used to play a game called CHANNEL WARS where we would each have a remote, put the den tv on channel 15 and see who could get to channel 31 or channel 0 the fastest. it really was an enjoyable pastime until ONE DAY the channel would not stop changing. no matter what. oh no. we broke the tv. we have to tell mom and dad. mom and dad were not best pleased
we broke the tv and got in trouble and the guy who came over to fix the tv was the dad of the boy i had a crush on in school. and he asked "how did this happen" and i had to tell him about "channel wars." it seems kind of funny now but omg it was not, to me, at the time.
posted by capnsue at 8:51 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
so like i said my parents had a zenith tv in their room and we had a zenith tv in the den. the 2 tv's had the same remote. my younger brother and i used to play a game called CHANNEL WARS where we would each have a remote, put the den tv on channel 15 and see who could get to channel 31 or channel 0 the fastest. it really was an enjoyable pastime until ONE DAY the channel would not stop changing. no matter what. oh no. we broke the tv. we have to tell mom and dad. mom and dad were not best pleased
we broke the tv and got in trouble and the guy who came over to fix the tv was the dad of the boy i had a crush on in school. and he asked "how did this happen" and i had to tell him about "channel wars." it seems kind of funny now but omg it was not, to me, at the time.
posted by capnsue at 8:51 PM on July 30, 2023 [10 favorites]
I'm old enough to remember these too, but my family never had one. I joke to my wife that only rich kids had them (she was a surgeon's kid and they had one). She still calls it a "clicker" too.
posted by readyfreddy at 8:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by readyfreddy at 8:55 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
my family called it the blabber
posted by brujita at 9:17 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 9:17 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I believe (but I haven't been able to confirm) that there's a weird, pace-breaking, completely out-of-character and out-of-place scene in the 1967 Lee Marvin movie Point Blank, in which the protagonist takes a break from his violent rampage across California by plonking his butt in an easy chair and picking up a Zenith Space Command remote. And clicking through a few channels for what feels like entirely too long.
Could it be that it was product placement? Or could it be that I've imagined the scene?
posted by Western Infidels at 9:35 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Could it be that it was product placement? Or could it be that I've imagined the scene?
posted by Western Infidels at 9:35 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
My grandparents had these. Problem was we were never allowed to watch TV at their house bc we were visiting and should be spending time talking and interacting with grandma and grandpa. But, we used to push the buttons just for the sound and the spring like action.
Then, when we first got cable TV, Cablevision, we had a box with 3 rows and about 25 buttons across. Long wire we could pull all over the room. Then to the infrared and battery remotes. Now, I lost the remote in one room so I use the VZ fios app that has a remote simulator. I can actually change the channel from a different town. My son was staying with me and used to text me when he was watching to change the channel bc he was too lazy to download the app and login.
We've come a long way from the small black and white TV with no remote I had in my room growing up.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:48 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Then, when we first got cable TV, Cablevision, we had a box with 3 rows and about 25 buttons across. Long wire we could pull all over the room. Then to the infrared and battery remotes. Now, I lost the remote in one room so I use the VZ fios app that has a remote simulator. I can actually change the channel from a different town. My son was staying with me and used to text me when he was watching to change the channel bc he was too lazy to download the app and login.
We've come a long way from the small black and white TV with no remote I had in my room growing up.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:48 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Shango066, crt television resurrector, is on the case!
posted by diodotos at 10:00 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by diodotos at 10:00 PM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
It just struck me that this operates on the same principle as audio-animatronics.
I also miss the ker-chunks and other satisfying sounds of mechanical controls on things like the tape recorder and the rotary phone.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also miss the ker-chunks and other satisfying sounds of mechanical controls on things like the tape recorder and the rotary phone.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:11 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Three things:
TV commercials were already so long and annoying in 1956 that TV manufacturers used avoiding them as a selling point!
As a cable TV tech in the mid-80's, I participated in the remotification of America - many times I installed boxes that had the first remote the customer had ever seen, often providing a few minutes of instruction, comfort and encouragement.
My mom, also years ago, about remotes, "If I'm too lazy to get up to change channels, I probably shouldn't be watching TV"
posted by mmrtnt at 10:13 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
TV commercials were already so long and annoying in 1956 that TV manufacturers used avoiding them as a selling point!
As a cable TV tech in the mid-80's, I participated in the remotification of America - many times I installed boxes that had the first remote the customer had ever seen, often providing a few minutes of instruction, comfort and encouragement.
My mom, also years ago, about remotes, "If I'm too lazy to get up to change channels, I probably shouldn't be watching TV"
posted by mmrtnt at 10:13 PM on July 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
What is the consensus as to the best TV remote app for Android right now?
posted by Keith Talent at 10:46 PM on July 30, 2023
posted by Keith Talent at 10:46 PM on July 30, 2023
On our monster sized console TV in the 60s, we could change the channels remotely by jingling some pennies. Great when our brother wouldn't let me and my sister touch the remote.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:49 PM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I love this kind of thing. I'm an embedded software developer, and left to my own devices I attempt to solve most problems with a single board computer and various devices, coupled with custom software that leverages the power of the countless massive libraries available out there. And then time and again I stumble upon elegant solutions like this one. I couldn't make you a non-wired, battery-less remote if my life depended on it.
posted by Harald74 at 12:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 12:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
jingling some pennies
The key thing I remember about ultrasonic remotes! Pun intended, a parent's keys was also good for it.
The newer TV had a wired clicker, though, no shenanigans.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:41 AM on July 31, 2023
The key thing I remember about ultrasonic remotes! Pun intended, a parent's keys was also good for it.
The newer TV had a wired clicker, though, no shenanigans.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:41 AM on July 31, 2023
Our first VCR had a wired remote. We rearranged our living room furniture to make it reach to the coffee table.
We also rearranged our furniture for the wired Jerrold remote control that came with early cable TV.
posted by fairmettle at 12:53 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
We also rearranged our furniture for the wired Jerrold remote control that came with early cable TV.
posted by fairmettle at 12:53 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am glad remotes are tending away from a zillion buttons that each do one thing to on-screen displays or muti-function buttons
They've gone altogether too far at this point. My latest TV has a tuner, but doesn't have numeric buttons on the damn remote. Or a button to bring up the OSD so you can see what you're watching.
I'd rather have paid an extra $2 and gotten numbers instead of buttons for various streaming services. (Well, given that it runs Android TV, the YouTube button was probably the price of admission for that...feature, but you get the point)
My last one was just a big monitor (it's not a TV if it doesn't have a tuner) with a Chromecast soldered on the board (functionally, not literally), so the cut down remote didn't bug me. At the time it was released the remote was basically useless anyway since it had no UI for anything but changing inputs. All the settings were hidden in a phone app until they realized the SoC that had been running CastOS could run an HTML engine and they could get Pluto, Tubi, and the like to give them money if they turned it into an actual "smart" TV and featured their services. They actually mailed me a new remote with more than 8 buttons on it when they released the firmware update.
posted by wierdo at 2:36 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
They've gone altogether too far at this point. My latest TV has a tuner, but doesn't have numeric buttons on the damn remote. Or a button to bring up the OSD so you can see what you're watching.
I'd rather have paid an extra $2 and gotten numbers instead of buttons for various streaming services. (Well, given that it runs Android TV, the YouTube button was probably the price of admission for that...feature, but you get the point)
My last one was just a big monitor (it's not a TV if it doesn't have a tuner) with a Chromecast soldered on the board (functionally, not literally), so the cut down remote didn't bug me. At the time it was released the remote was basically useless anyway since it had no UI for anything but changing inputs. All the settings were hidden in a phone app until they realized the SoC that had been running CastOS could run an HTML engine and they could get Pluto, Tubi, and the like to give them money if they turned it into an actual "smart" TV and featured their services. They actually mailed me a new remote with more than 8 buttons on it when they released the firmware update.
posted by wierdo at 2:36 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
More apropos to the actual topic, there was an episode of Dennis the Menace or other sitcom from the black and white era that featured a plot line about Dennis or whoever making their neighbor think their TV was haunted using a remote control from outside the window. Until I saw that on Nick at Nite I had assumed that wireless remotes were a more recent invention.
posted by wierdo at 2:42 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by wierdo at 2:42 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
By the time I was growing up in the 80s, no one in my family still had a TV old enough to use sound-based remotes. But even still, I grew up using “clicker” as the default term for a TV remote control.
posted by thecaddy at 3:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by thecaddy at 3:38 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
photo of the tuning rods in question
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:05 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:05 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
It also just so happened to contain one of the most influential and intriguing buttons in history.
I remember all the buttons on late 1980s cable box remotes that did nothing because whatever on-screen services they supported either weren't available here or my uncle didn't bother having a plan that included them. Below the standard numerical keypad there were a dozen or so buttons with cryptic labels that when pressed only flashed the little red LED on the top corner of the remote.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:00 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
I remember all the buttons on late 1980s cable box remotes that did nothing because whatever on-screen services they supported either weren't available here or my uncle didn't bother having a plan that included them. Below the standard numerical keypad there were a dozen or so buttons with cryptic labels that when pressed only flashed the little red LED on the top corner of the remote.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:00 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
Oh, wow. We had a similar faux-wood Jerrold wired remote. We'd just moved to a new house and the eccentric former owner had been one of the first adopters of cable in town. It was early enough that the cable company hadn't quite figured out how to shut off service yet, so we just kind of had free cable (with HBO! And Showtime!) for about a decade.
if you fiddled with the fine-tuning knob on the scambled-porn channel, once in a while you could decipher a boob
posted by phooky at 5:07 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
if you fiddled with the fine-tuning knob on the scambled-porn channel, once in a while you could decipher a boob
posted by phooky at 5:07 AM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
At some point, we had a wired remote, and I think it was a specific thing we bought, that was a set-top tuner type thing that really only existed for the purposes of running wired remote, but then later we got a VCR that had a non-wired remote. But the earlier remote was also part of a VCR? I just remember that the jump from ' go change the channel!' (there were only 2, so that was enough instruction) to my Dad being able to change it himself was a marked improvement in living room hostility levels.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:25 AM on July 31, 2023
posted by jacquilynne at 5:25 AM on July 31, 2023
Electrohome color TV (late 70s early 80s) with a hidden touch panel that swung down on a meaty hinge with a solid click. Under that cover were a wealth of little knobs and a couple of set screw potentiometers.
vert hold
horiz hold
contrast
brightness
and things called "electro-tint, electro-colour, electro-lock"
I was absolutely forbidden to open this panel and touch the knobs so naturally I did it all the time. My father would quiz me obsessively: "why is the TV a little ORANGE? Were you twiddling those goddamn knobs again?"
it was game over the day I found a little screwdriver in an end table drawer and fiddled one of the set screws and couldn't reverse whatever I had done, and a repair guy had to be called. Deep deep trouble!
posted by hearthpig at 5:40 AM on July 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
vert hold
horiz hold
contrast
brightness
and things called "electro-tint, electro-colour, electro-lock"
I was absolutely forbidden to open this panel and touch the knobs so naturally I did it all the time. My father would quiz me obsessively: "why is the TV a little ORANGE? Were you twiddling those goddamn knobs again?"
it was game over the day I found a little screwdriver in an end table drawer and fiddled one of the set screws and couldn't reverse whatever I had done, and a repair guy had to be called. Deep deep trouble!
posted by hearthpig at 5:40 AM on July 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
and of course now I have flashed on two more memories:
. holding my eye up close to the tube to see the little rgb squares in the warm glass
. attaching a vcr or video game to your tv with two little forks under the antenna screws at the back of the tv. man, that just feels like frikkin WITCHCRAFT now.
posted by hearthpig at 5:42 AM on July 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
. holding my eye up close to the tube to see the little rgb squares in the warm glass
. attaching a vcr or video game to your tv with two little forks under the antenna screws at the back of the tv. man, that just feels like frikkin WITCHCRAFT now.
posted by hearthpig at 5:42 AM on July 31, 2023 [10 favorites]
One of my best friends had a whistle-operated remote. It was on / off only and it would work with anything you plugged into it (it fit between your device's plug and the wall socket).
Clap on! Clap off! Clap on, clap off... The Clapper.
posted by The Bellman at 6:48 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Clap on! Clap off! Clap on, clap off... The Clapper.
posted by The Bellman at 6:48 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
holding my eye up close to the tube to see the little rgb squares in the warm glass
You’ll ruin your eyes!
posted by Artw at 7:31 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
You’ll ruin your eyes!
posted by Artw at 7:31 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Which one was the influential button? Mute? I'm so confused, and I read the article.
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:32 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:32 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
The one my grandma had used only two buttons: on/off and channel up. I remember a little round vent on the front I thought was for IR. Turns out it was to let the sound pass through the remote!
posted by slogger at 7:34 AM on July 31, 2023
posted by slogger at 7:34 AM on July 31, 2023
Which one was the influential button? Mute? I'm so confused, and I read the article.
I was confused too. I thought they were referring to a specific function on the remote.
I'm glad the Space Phone remote was mentioned upthread. I've seen pictures of Zenith remotes from that era and I've always wondered exactly what exactly what was going on.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:47 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was confused too. I thought they were referring to a specific function on the remote.
I'm glad the Space Phone remote was mentioned upthread. I've seen pictures of Zenith remotes from that era and I've always wondered exactly what exactly what was going on.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:47 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
the company didn’t want customers to think a TV was broken when the battery died
My grandmother went into a screaming rage in the 80s when I muted the ads on her TV using the remote because she was certain I'd broken the TV.
posted by Candleman at 7:55 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
My grandmother went into a screaming rage in the 80s when I muted the ads on her TV using the remote because she was certain I'd broken the TV.
posted by Candleman at 7:55 AM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
a time before we took the remote for granted.
Cf the first garage door remotes, brought to market in 1931. (I only know this because my grandfather the architect designed a house about that time for which the doohickey was a wow factor selling point.)
posted by BWA at 9:48 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Cf the first garage door remotes, brought to market in 1931. (I only know this because my grandfather the architect designed a house about that time for which the doohickey was a wow factor selling point.)
posted by BWA at 9:48 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I never got to play with one of those Zenith remotes, but growing up my dad got a tape deck that had an ultrasonic remote for the pause function. Nothing else, just pause. It was electronic and took batteries, but when you pushed the button a solenoid would physically engage/disengage the pause lever with a satisfying *K-Chunk* Endlessly entertaining for a young indexy.
posted by indexy at 9:50 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by indexy at 9:50 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
In the late 90s, my partner and I owned a TV that was so old one could easily change channels manually despite the existence of a remote. Will never forget the evening I stood up and walked to the TV to change the channel. My husband thought it was stupid to skip the remote, and thus an argument was born. Arguments about remotes is one of the reasons, dear readers, I no longer cohabitate with him. Appreciate the history from leslies and others. Great post, thanks brundlefly!
posted by Bella Donna at 10:10 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 10:10 AM on July 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
I loved playing with my grandpa's ker-CHUNK remote, loved taking it apart and playing with the metal rods (I think you could drop them on some surfaces and get the TV to respond).
And loved how you could just shake Grandpa's keys and something random might happen to the TV. That was the compromise with my sister. One of us got the remote, but the other one got the keys and could add some chaos to whatever the remote-haver was trying to do.
posted by straight at 12:45 PM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
And loved how you could just shake Grandpa's keys and something random might happen to the TV. That was the compromise with my sister. One of us got the remote, but the other one got the keys and could add some chaos to whatever the remote-haver was trying to do.
posted by straight at 12:45 PM on July 31, 2023 [4 favorites]
“I didn't know if there's industry specific lingo to describe the dial I so fondly remember...”
I don't recall a technical term, just "dial" and "button". But button-selection analog radio dials is why the ubiquitous UI element is called a "radio button".
“if you fiddled with the fine-tuning knob on the scambled-porn channel, once in a while you could decipher a boob”
I think many of us who were teenagers during that era are experts at fine-tuning a scrambled channel to get a slightly off-center, wobbly, b&w view of boobs.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
I don't recall a technical term, just "dial" and "button". But button-selection analog radio dials is why the ubiquitous UI element is called a "radio button".
“if you fiddled with the fine-tuning knob on the scambled-porn channel, once in a while you could decipher a boob”
I think many of us who were teenagers during that era are experts at fine-tuning a scrambled channel to get a slightly off-center, wobbly, b&w view of boobs.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:20 PM on July 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Oh that clicker hurts my ears! I'm glad we've moved on from that.
In the 80s, we had a large console Zenith TV that used this remote. I can still remember how it felt in my hand, and the amount of pressure needed to push the buttons. I believe it used infrared.
posted by hydra77 at 1:23 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
In the 80s, we had a large console Zenith TV that used this remote. I can still remember how it felt in my hand, and the amount of pressure needed to push the buttons. I believe it used infrared.
posted by hydra77 at 1:23 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I deeply regret not knowing about the key thing. I really missed out.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:23 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:23 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
My first TV (bought at a surplus sale) had a very chunky VHF dial and a UHF dial. I stole procured a broomstick from the garage and cut a slot in the end of it, and made my own remote control for that thing.
I once spent a night in a police lock-up after refusing to pay a fine on principle (long story) and one of the "services" our esteemed custodians provided for us was a TV, mounted high on the wall outside the wire mesh separating the cells from the corridor, tuned to a channel none of us wanted to watch and turned up loud. Judging by the tone of the interactions between cops and detainees, it seemed to me that the cops were getting a kick out of making us miserable in as many petty little ways as they could devise.
I endeared myself to my fellow inmates by taking one sheet of the week-old newspaper that nobody seemed interested in reading, rolling it up very very tightly and gluing down the edge with soap to make a paper stick a little over two foot long, and using that to reach out through the mesh and operate the buttons on the front of the TV. Turned it down to a comfortable volume and flipped channels until we found the footy coverage. Life was good until feeding time.
Lots of gritty little bone bits in those rissoles. They called us dogs, and they treated us like dogs, and I've always suspected them of feeding us accordingly.
posted by flabdablet at 9:20 AM on August 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
I once spent a night in a police lock-up after refusing to pay a fine on principle (long story) and one of the "services" our esteemed custodians provided for us was a TV, mounted high on the wall outside the wire mesh separating the cells from the corridor, tuned to a channel none of us wanted to watch and turned up loud. Judging by the tone of the interactions between cops and detainees, it seemed to me that the cops were getting a kick out of making us miserable in as many petty little ways as they could devise.
I endeared myself to my fellow inmates by taking one sheet of the week-old newspaper that nobody seemed interested in reading, rolling it up very very tightly and gluing down the edge with soap to make a paper stick a little over two foot long, and using that to reach out through the mesh and operate the buttons on the front of the TV. Turned it down to a comfortable volume and flipped channels until we found the footy coverage. Life was good until feeding time.
Lots of gritty little bone bits in those rissoles. They called us dogs, and they treated us like dogs, and I've always suspected them of feeding us accordingly.
posted by flabdablet at 9:20 AM on August 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
Another victory for the Giant Poking Device (GPD).
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:36 PM on August 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:36 PM on August 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
I am a big fan of the GPD as a form.
Well before that episode of Friends was first broadcast, our next door neighbours installed a large above-ground swimming pool. They had a lot of fun with it that first summer, but as the weather cooled and enthusiasm waned, it got less and less maintenance. By early April it was kind of tea-coloured and had started to breed huge clouds of mosquitoes.
My mother had always been the designated mozzie target in any group, and she was getting bitten a lot. And her birthday was in early April. So I went to the pet shop and brought home half a dozen little goldfish in a plastic bag.
I taped three broomsticks and a kitchen strainer together and put a plastic bag over the end of the strainer to turn it into a great big spoon. Late in the evening on Mum's birthday, I put some water in the spoon and the fish in the water and the two of us hid amongst the rhododendrons and carefully extended this wonky contraption out over the side fence and dumped the fish in the pool.
Goldfish are apparently quite voracious; Mum stopped getting attacked after about three weeks. Give them lots of room and lots of detritus to feed amongst and they grow quite fast as well. Heard from over the fence in December: "Hey, I found another one! This is the biggest one yet!"
In completely unrelated news, cutting a V into the side of a tin can and then taping the can to the end of a stupidly long pole makes a tool that works really well for retrieving ripe mulberries from parts of a tree that the neighbours have never shown any interest in harvesting.
posted by flabdablet at 11:31 PM on August 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
Well before that episode of Friends was first broadcast, our next door neighbours installed a large above-ground swimming pool. They had a lot of fun with it that first summer, but as the weather cooled and enthusiasm waned, it got less and less maintenance. By early April it was kind of tea-coloured and had started to breed huge clouds of mosquitoes.
My mother had always been the designated mozzie target in any group, and she was getting bitten a lot. And her birthday was in early April. So I went to the pet shop and brought home half a dozen little goldfish in a plastic bag.
I taped three broomsticks and a kitchen strainer together and put a plastic bag over the end of the strainer to turn it into a great big spoon. Late in the evening on Mum's birthday, I put some water in the spoon and the fish in the water and the two of us hid amongst the rhododendrons and carefully extended this wonky contraption out over the side fence and dumped the fish in the pool.
Goldfish are apparently quite voracious; Mum stopped getting attacked after about three weeks. Give them lots of room and lots of detritus to feed amongst and they grow quite fast as well. Heard from over the fence in December: "Hey, I found another one! This is the biggest one yet!"
In completely unrelated news, cutting a V into the side of a tin can and then taping the can to the end of a stupidly long pole makes a tool that works really well for retrieving ripe mulberries from parts of a tree that the neighbours have never shown any interest in harvesting.
posted by flabdablet at 11:31 PM on August 2, 2023 [6 favorites]
The old Zenith Display Salon on Chicago's Michigan avenue had one of those embedded in the store front window, passer by-ers or passers by (whatever, geeze) could turn on a display tv and change channels, etc. (I honestly don't remember if the volume could be heard or changed). I remember a friend and I returning from some revelry the famous moon landing night in '69 and watching one of the endless repeats of One Small Step, etc. along with a bunch of business men and night workers.
posted by Chitownfats at 2:37 AM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Chitownfats at 2:37 AM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
In completely unrelated news, cutting a V into the side of a tin can and then taping the can to the end of a stupidly long pole makes a tool that works really well for retrieving ripe mulberries from parts of a tree
My Dad built a similar apparatus for picking apples.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:58 PM on August 3, 2023
My Dad built a similar apparatus for picking apples.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:58 PM on August 3, 2023
> I endeared myself to my fellow inmates by taking one sheet of the week-old newspaper that nobody seemed interested in reading, rolling it up very very tightly and gluing down the edge with soap to make a paper stick a little over two foot long, and using that to reach out through the mesh and operate the buttons on the front of the TV. Turned it down to a comfortable volume and flipped channels until we found the footy coverage. Life was good until feeding time.
I will remember that trick the next time I'm waiting at the gate in an airport, it seems like there's a blaring TV every 30ft, while I'm trying to chilllllll.
My previous phone had IR out and could function as a remote, but that was pre 2020.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:22 PM on August 3, 2023
I will remember that trick the next time I'm waiting at the gate in an airport, it seems like there's a blaring TV every 30ft, while I'm trying to chilllllll.
My previous phone had IR out and could function as a remote, but that was pre 2020.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:22 PM on August 3, 2023
it seems like there's a blaring TV every 30ft, while I'm trying to chilllllll
Do something for democracy. Make them blare something that isn't Fox News.
posted by flabdablet at 10:35 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
Do something for democracy. Make them blare something that isn't Fox News.
posted by flabdablet at 10:35 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
My previous phone had IR out and could function as a remote
I wouldn't be surprised if the ultrasonics that the Space Command remotes rely on are inside the audio band that a modern phone's mic and speaker will handle. Might be fun for anybody with access to one to experiment with using a recording app to run replay attacks.
posted by flabdablet at 10:39 PM on August 3, 2023
I wouldn't be surprised if the ultrasonics that the Space Command remotes rely on are inside the audio band that a modern phone's mic and speaker will handle. Might be fun for anybody with access to one to experiment with using a recording app to run replay attacks.
posted by flabdablet at 10:39 PM on August 3, 2023
Mod note: Hey, this post has been added to the sidebar, Best Of page, Mefi.Social, Facebook, Insta, Threads, and TikTok.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:21 AM on August 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 9:21 AM on August 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
I couldn't make you a non-wired, battery-less remote if my life depended on it.
Big Clive shows how it can be done with electronics.
posted by flabdablet at 9:58 AM on August 4, 2023
Big Clive shows how it can be done with electronics.
posted by flabdablet at 9:58 AM on August 4, 2023
knew that ultrasound in the air would not go through walls,
They would travel through duct work though and, so I've heard, plumbing pipes so in a multi residential building it was possible to change the channel on a tv several units away by pointing your remote down the air vent.
posted by Mitheral at 9:15 AM on August 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
They would travel through duct work though and, so I've heard, plumbing pipes so in a multi residential building it was possible to change the channel on a tv several units away by pointing your remote down the air vent.
posted by Mitheral at 9:15 AM on August 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
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Also not mentioned in the linked to article, a channel change also resulted in a the activation of a servo motor in the TV that turned the actual channel selector by one detent. I recall it being a very satisfying mechanical "ker-CHUNK."
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:44 PM on July 30, 2023 [30 favorites]