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The First Couch Potato — Parallax Forums

The First Couch Potato

ercoerco Posts: 20,259
edited 2012-09-20 08:24 in General Discussion
... was skinny and quite a dish in her day! A great old ad for the first TV remote control: the 7-function Wireless Wizard!

I didn't catch the brand name, though.

Comments

  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2012-09-19 15:03
    7 Functions?? Who needs that many functions??

    Were those the remotes where 'clicker' came from or were they mechanical?

    I don't know about, "not touching fine tuning again" though. I love to make people sit for at least 5 minutes while I fine tune the image before watching a movie.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-09-19 15:17
    I believe Zenith's "Space Command" remote predated this one, but it wasn't electronic. It worked by striking little metal bars, which emitted ultrasonic signals that were picked up by the TV. It might be with that unit where the term "clicker" originated.

    -Phil
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2012-09-19 15:20
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    I believe Zenith's "Space Command" remote predated this one, but it wasn't electronic. It worked by striking little metal bars, which emitted ultrasonic signals that were picked up by the TV. It might be with that unit where the term "clicker" originated.

    -Phil

    Ah yes, thank you.
  • ratronicratronic Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-09-19 15:23
    The brand name in that video was R.C.A. Victor. When I worked for RCA in the early 80's we were still servicing internal tube type T.V.'s under service agreement. I carried a bunch of different tubes in my service case.
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2012-09-19 15:44
    Funny how when the big wooden cabinet went away, and then the depth from the CRT went away, the freq response went away too. I bet that TV sounds better than a $5000 flat panel using the built in speakers.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2012-09-19 16:19
    Nice wooden cabinets definitely made for better sound. Back then the best sound was from those big TV/Radio/Record Player consoles. They would have good amps and speakers.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-09-19 16:29
    I think nowadays most people just hook the TV audio to their sound system.

    -Phil
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2012-09-19 16:55
    We had one of those ultrasonic remotes. Drove a big motor on the rotary tuner. Also drove the dog crazy.

    About the same time we got the Amana RadarRange Microwave, (1967-68).
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2012-09-19 20:42
    It's interesting the inventor Eugene Polley died just this year (May 19th, 2012)

    There was an earlier remote he came up with that resembled a garden hose sprayer that used light called the "Flash-Matic" (1955), and depending on the area of which you aimed it at the TV it provided various functions.

    Since there were lighting problems with the first model, he later came up with the 'clicker' or the "Space Command" (1956) that literally had a small hammer striking a metal rod to produce various ultrasonic tones. ... There were 3 and 4 button versions, the 4 button version allowed you to adjust the volume, where the 3 button version were Power, Channel Up, and Channel Down.


    Reference:
    http://www.who2.com/blog/2012/05/couch-potatoes-in-mourning-eugene-polley-inventor-of-tv-remote-dead-at-age-96
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148331/Eugene-Polley-dead-Remote-television-control-inventor-dies-96.html
    http://www.zenith.com/about/
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2012-09-20 00:28
    My grandparents had one of the ultrasonic "clickers". After showing my siblings and myself how it worked my brother spent more time "clicking" than watching the TV. My grandmother got irritated by my brother's non-stop use of the remote so she took it away and we had to use the manual controls. My brother soon figured out he could still get the TV to change channels etc. by making sounds with his tongue and teeth (I never was able to do this myself). He didn't have much control over which function his sounds would produce but he could consistently make the TV do something (IIRC, the most common outcome was a change of channel). My grandmother was not happy with my brother's new found skill.
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2012-09-20 08:24
    So what is the future of remote control? Brain-activity sensing technology must be close to being there now...
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