The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
The Space Command fixed problems we still live with today.
Give me a Technology Connections (@TechConnectify@mas.to) video on it
I like the sounds of the tines! It's basically just a tuning fork, so wild.
I’m old and still call the remote “the clicker”. My 7 year old wondered what the heck a clicker is.
Cue old dad “back in my day, the remotes actually clicked” story.
@reverendz @dingus, when I was young, I was the remote
Our first tv with a remote control that wasn't me or my sibling using small vise grip on channel knob had a telephone included in the tv.
Like this was in 1982 so not a modem ... just a tv with a land line phone built in that you have to use the remote to make or receive a call.
Yes! Those channel knobs were so easily broken. I thought we were the only ones turning channels with pair of vice-grips clamped on the nub.
I had a Heathkit TV that used a variation of this design! If you held it really close to your ear then you could actually hear it emitting.
This was mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the Vergecast. I was wondering if someone was going to get assigned the article, and here it is!
That's fancy. Our clicker only had two buttons for channel changing.
Never seen or heard from anyone using tape to mask their remotes. Is this really a thing?
Never seen or heard from anyone using tape to mask their remotes. Is this really a thing?
Not this exactly, but my grandparents had a guide taped to the backside of their remotes to make it easier to use.
The tape strategy has some appeal, though, mainly in that I use maybe 5 buttons 95% of the time.
Those don't take batteries and your click generates the electricity for the signal. Right? Like a wind up radio.
No, it's a tuning fork that produces 4 seperate tones, one for each "button." The TV had a microphone listening for tones and would respond accordingly. You didn't actually have to point the remote at the TV, which later became a problem, as the mic on the TV was technically always listening for a tone.
Nope! It's the sound that does the work. The TV has a microphone in it.
What I loved about these remotes is you could take out a set of car keys and shake them and watch the channel changer go berserk.
@igalmarino In my childhood our remote worked by emitting electronically generated ultrasonic sounds. It looked like that one: kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/tel…