• LrdThndr@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My grandmother had one of these.

    I somehow discovered that if I took this magnetic screwdriver, and this bent piece of coat hanger and slapped them together, her tv would turn off.

    I fucked with her so much she took her tv to a repair shop because she thought it was broken.

    Good times.

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I think this is hacking in its purest form. You’ve discovered a new way to do something unexpected, and you went ahead with it just because you could.

  • MayorMcCheese@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    We had one of those TVs when I was a kid… and our dog had one of those metal link collars, and when she would shake her head the TV would change channels, and the volume would change. :). I had forgotten all about that.

    • Name is Optional@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yep, my neighborhood friend had one. I discovered that my keys, when shook, would hit the frequencies to do stuff too. His dad was annoyed by it and I don’t know if he figured out how his TV would spontaneously change to channels

      • quicksand@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Reminds me of getting trolled by my friend with an IR blaster on his phone. Took me way too long to catch on. Simpler times…

  • Ddhuud@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My grandpa had a tv store around the time, and he always told the story of him pulling someone’s leg by making them believe the tv was voice activated, with that thing in his pocket. So he covered the click sound by yelling at the tv.

  • rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Funny, when I was a little kid my grandmother had a Zenith TV with that exact remote. I still remember the long throw and clank of those buttons. TV remotes were uncommon then so I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Yeah dating myself here.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      It just feels so much more clever than the modern stuff, even if it’s much more complicated overall now.

  • Legendsofanus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Again, it required no batteries — much desired by Zenith, as the company didn’t want customers to think a TV was broken when the battery died.”

    Was this really that big of a concern? Did people really think that LMAO

      • Legendsofanus@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Where remotes are scarce? What do you mean by that, are you talking about the time when they came in or now

        • joby@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          They were talking about the device from the article, when a non-wired remote was a new and neat idea. Also, standardized, long-lasting batteries may not have been as common as we’re used to these days.

          That’s the world where the original engineers decided not to go with an electronic device, so they didn’t have customers buying the bleeding edge tech and thinking it had bricked a couple of months after purchase because “did you change the battery?” wasn’t a consideration they were used to yet

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      If you’re planning on selling 1 million units, a half of a percent of people making that mistake means a big headache.

  • Thadrax@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Interesting purely mechanical design. Our first remote (that didn’t have a cable connection) used sound as well, but it was battery powered and as a kid, I could hear at least some of those sounds. It had way more than just 4 buttons though, maybe the mechanical design hits a limit there at some point (or electronics just got cheaper).

  • realaether@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Would it have been possible for the speakers of the time to emit those frequencies? Imagining the equivalent of a Twitch raid: “I’m done broadcasting so I’m going to send you to the next channel.”

    • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Not really sure, doesn’t seem like they’d bother to deaign speakers that make sounds we can’t hear or broadcast them but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t possible

    • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It would have been possible, but it would have been expensive and required electricity to work. The fact that they accomplished their goal with what amounts to a set of tiny spring-powered mechanical bells is a marvel.

      • realaether@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I meant it more in the sense of one channel, when shutting down for the night, emitting the “next channel” tone such that every viewer’s set would change to a channel that was still broadcasting.

    • MayorMcCheese@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      We had a TV that used ultrasonic sound to control the TV, When I was young I could fairly hear the tone from a couple of the buttons, though super faintly, but the dog would cock its head when certain buttons were used.

  • Korkki@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Quite ingenious and simple design, even considering the limitations of the time.

  • GooseFinger@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I thought this thing was a gag at first, but that’s actually really clever. I wonder if dogs would hate it.

    • DrMango@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The article does indicate that animals were sensitive to the noises:

      “It did have its flaws: people found that jingling keys or coins could be picked up by the TV’s microphones and accidentally change the channel, and the high-pitch frequencies from the remote were discernible by pets.”

    • Billy_Gnosis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I say this to my son sometimes. “Throw me the clicker.” The first time he looked at me like WTF are you talking about. Told him it’s another name for the remote, but didn’t tell him why, so he still has no idea

  • unixpoweredvic@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    My parents had an appliance/electronics shop when I was growing up and they took used items on trade occasionally. Someone turned in one of those zenith sets and I actually got to use that remote. Bear in mind we were well into the age of infrared remotes by this point (late 80s).

    It was definitely interesting and I think I could just distinguish the difference between the sounds of the buttons.