Playing With Knobs
Not those knobs…What are you
thirteen!
I’m talking
about Knobs on the TV, knobs on the radio, and knobs and those slidey things on
your stereo…remember them?
Today TV’s
all seem to come with a perfect picture.
We used to have to play with the knobs.
“More
contrast…make it brighter… too much red… now back it up…now it’s out of focus…there,
perfect!” Of course you usually ended
with the same picture you started with, but there was such a feeling of
control.
Remember the
horizontal and vertical controls? Just
as you got it right the picture would slowly start to do that flipping thing,
or you could twist the picture like a fun house mirror. We only had five channels to choose from, but
we could always play with the knobs.
The radio
was interesting, especially in the car.
How there were not more accidents I’ll never know. Tuning in a station took a delicate touch,
and if you were traveling you had to find and tune in a new station often.
Today’s
electronics are so boring. On/off,
channel up, channel down, volume, last station…that is it and nothing to
experiment with. Radio stations either
come in, or are out of range, there is no tuning. Stereos are…what the heck is a stereo?
Modern
electronics are great. There is no fiddling
with switches, knobs or slidey things.
Turn on and enjoy. The picture or
sound is what it is; you can’t make it any better. What a convenience.
Still, I do
miss playing with the knobs.
made me smile. the vertical/horizontal on tv was always so frustrating! and the balance slidey things - i'm with you. never knew what they really did, but it was fun pushing them around, usually to settle close to the center. :)
ReplyDeleteLife was so simple when all you had to do was walk over and turn the knob. Now I have to think -- turn the box on first, then the television. When turning it off, turn off the television first and then the box. God forbid you get it backwards!
ReplyDeleteI hated getting my car back from a service call and being blasted out of my seat by the new setting on the sub woofer.
ReplyDeleteI remember the knobs. So very well. Analog is probably the issue. I don't know but I could relate to everything you talked about.
ReplyDeleteOur new wheels don't have knobs. To turn on the radio it's all touch screen. Way different.
I'm on a roll visiting here. Firefox updated three days ago and I guess you're okay to visit again. I'm happy about that.
Have a fabulous day Cranky. ☺
Loved the knobs. Loved our first VCR, too. It was built like a tank and the control buttons had a solid thunk to them when pressed.
ReplyDeleteI was in knob twister's heaven in the Navy.
ReplyDeleteRadar scope has lots of adjustments and we had radios, too.
As a long time ham radio operator, I know all about knobs.
ReplyDeleteKnobs, switches, slidey things---how am I, as a layman, supposed to understand all those technical terms?
ReplyDeleteOh how I'd forgotten about the television screen flipping.. as soon as you thought you got it to stop, it would slowly start moving in the opposite direction. Fun memories.. mostly because we no longer have to deal with them. Thanks for this post. :)
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh! Knob-fiddling is becoming a lost art. Those slidey things remind me of "Risky Business," when Tom Cruise went immediately to the stereo when his mom and dad left, after specifically being told to leave it alone.
ReplyDeleteHa - you brought back a lot of memories of the "good" old days. And remember that the picture always seemed to come in best if you touched the rabbit ears with your fingers? We have an antenna again...now it looks like a thin large iPad thingie and it's taped to the sliding door in the living room.
ReplyDeleteThe television set of my childhood was a big old Admiral. I can still recall, with crystal clarity, the ker-chunk sound it made when you changed the channel.
ReplyDeleteTell someone under twenty about having to physically get up to change the channel. It's a surefire way to get a kid to either laugh derisively or stare at you with a gaping jaw.
Hubby loves gadgets that need tweeking. If there aren't knobs and sliders he opens things up and tweeks the guts.
ReplyDeleteI do indeed remember those knobs and sliders and such. Just when you thought you had it all in sync, atmospheric conditions (or some such techie talk) would change and send you back to square one. Grrr!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, while I might chronologically be 65, emotionally I'm still, well, you know. ;)
"...every single slidey thing smack dab in the middle..."
ReplyDeleteexcept for the bass which had to be raised a notch or two. In my house anyway.
I loved those sliders, being able to customise each song was great.
I tried to comment on this yesterday on my iPad but for some reason it wouldn't let me. Anyhow, I enjoyed this story. I think I said that most of the folks in organized crime here in Alabama are in the State House in Montgomery.
ReplyDelete