The static on old CRT TVs with rabbit ears was the cosmic microwave background. No one in the last 25 years has ever seen it.
I have an old mini tv(the kind that took C cell batteries) that can still pickup the good ol CMB!
I was born after 2000 (though not too long after) and this is actually one of my core memories. I think about the sounds of the static and the sound of the CRT turning off.
Also, we had a really old tv in our basement till at least 2008 that had no remote, just knobs and I remember messsing with the “hue” dial all the time trying to figure out how it worked.
The only reason that tv worked so late is that we had a black box connected to the antenna which I later learned was converting the digital signal to analog for the TV.
Also, you’ve just reminded me that I remember the switch from analog to digital. Specifically, I remember watching Elmo talking with some adult on TV about the change. Now I really want to find that video. I think the guy was wearing a suit had short dark hair and glasses. I also think the background was pinkish purple. I want to know how accurate my memories from so long ago are. (I’ll add the link to the video in an edit if I can find it)
DAE remember that movie White Noise? The climax was fucking horrifying and I have to admit that it haunted me for quite a while.
For better or worse, kids today probably won’t get it.Is it worth scarring myself to know the context?
Dude I was born after 2000 and this is firmly planted in my memories. Maybe people born after 2010 haven’t but 2000?
they have to watch HBO shows to compensate
Surely you mean the much worse “Max”.
Sixth and Seventh Generation video game consoles were still using scart/composite/component outputs for CRT up until their discontinuation in 2017 so I’m pretty sure a lot of kids would have had a CRT to game on as well was watch TV in their rooms.
Remember, kids typically get the hand me downs when the adults get new shiny.
By the way, the picture illustrating the post isn’t actually displaying the real thing - the noise in it is too squarish and has no grey tones.
TV static in recent movies and shows that are set in the past almost always instantly pull me out of the narrative because no one seems to be able to get it right and some are just stunningly bad. It’s usually very subtle, so much so that I’m not sure I could even describe what’s wrong. Makes me feel old to notice it.
I think the problem is because CRT displays didn’t have pixels so the uniform noise which is static was not only uniformely spread in distribution and intensity (i.e. greyscale level) but also had “dots” of all sizes.
Also another possible thing that’s off is the speed at which the noise changes: was it the 25fps refresh rate of a CRT monitor, related to that rate but not necessarily at that rate or did the noise itself had more persistent and less persistent parts?
The noise is basically the product of radio waves at all frequencies with various intensities (though all low) with only the ones that could pass the bandpass filter of the TV tuner coming through (and being boosted up in intensitity by automatic gain control) and being painted along a phosphorous screen (hence no pixels) as the beam draw line by line the screen 25 times per second so to get that effect right you probably have to simulate it mathematically from a starting point of random radio noise and it can’t be going through things with pixels (such as 3D textures) to be shown and probably requires some kind of procedural shader.
Umm… I had a CRT until 2009 and even sold it to someone.
Was it just me or has anyone seen or make out patterns while staring at it? I sometimes found it amusing
It really isn’t though. It is thermal noise.
Random radio sources, but a small part of the signal is CMB. I wasn’t sure what you even meant by thermal noise but I believe it’s a phenomenon of flatscreens. I found something that said it was “similar to snow on analog TVs” - so apparently there’s a difference.
Funnily, Google AI says, “In the 1940s, people could detect the CMB at home by tuning their TVs to channel 03 and measuring the remaining static after removing other sources. This allowed them to prove the Big Bang before scientists did.” So they had that going for 'em, which is nice.
Maybe not directly on their TV set, but there are more than enough references to it in TV and film media that it’s still known almost universally.
Everything from old beloved films to Modern period shows. Its literally an overused way to establish the narrative isnt taking place in the present.
If they ever watch Poltergeist they’ll know it’s the TV people trying to get out.
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. - William Gibson, Neuromancer
One of the most beautiful opening lines to a novel.
One of the most beautiful opening lines to a novel.
Abundantly clearly not.
This is it:
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."Torrents >> TV
If you remember that it was written in 1984, the color is obviously black and white static. If you don’t think about the year, you might be lead to believe it is blue.
CRTs were fairly common until the early-mid 10s
I’d say born after 2008ish aren’t likely to be familiar with them, except seeing the odd one in their grandparents bedroom
I have seen this on a much newer TV last year. It didnt just disappear
Except for that most of it was not.
A lot of the noise on the screen (and speaker) was affected by radiation from nearby stuff.I’d think that nowadays, it would be even more so, with way more WiFi and mobile phone signals everywhere. Now sure, different frequencies mean they would affect less, but the cumulative effect would still be more than the CMBR.
