The loss of the commonplace

[SAmadei]

So after watching the Jammin Me music video, and seeing the artistic manipulation of TV static, I had to laugh about a whole generation who have never seen real static on a TV.

I don't think I've seen any for years with analog TV switching to the blue screen with no signal... and now that analog TV is dead, I suppose there will never be static.

How many of our younger readers have never seen it?

Or never heard a real dial tone. Or will future folks who will never hear the sound of a modem handshaking. Or the GSM radio interference though speakers (Which is what I want for a ring tone).

Anyone think of any others?

[the_yellow_dart]

They didn't kill analog TV in Canada. I still have it. Screw paying $40-50 a month for basic cable when I can get 5 channels for free. The amount I watch TV, that's all I need.

[loki]

today's "static" in tv is when sections of the picture get majorly pixelated and pause for a second. with analog you could at least still hear the sound if you got anything.

i think i read somewhere that in the past few years cd recording has gotten too good, or the highdef music... whatever. they've started adding a little background hiss/static to make it sound a tad more "realistic" compared to vinyl.

i've seen ads on webpages that ATT thinks it will have highspeed internet to 100% of it's customers here by 2014. i myself hear modems handshake at work, cause my boss has to see what the markets do, after it's closed typically.

but the last time i had dial up at home was about 5, maybe 6 years ago.

we still get analog cable here in my house.

[Robert Hall]

Haven't had home dialup since '01. Had DSL for a year, then cable internet since '02.

Other things of the past I remember...

Remember the sound of a VHS player rewinding a tape? Been over 10 years since I've regularly watched VHS tapes.

Or the dialing (and ring) sounds of a rotary dial phone? Probably 30+ years on that one..I remember 'em.

Or a 'party line'? Remember those from rural Ohio, probably 30 years ago again.

Or TVs w/ dials for UHF and VHF---channels under 13 and those over 13?

Print newspapers. Haven't subscribed to one since '01. About the only time I ever buy one is at the airport if I can't get decent wireless. I read the news from a wide range of internet sources, don't really need a print paper..

Edited December 18, 2009 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Intrepidation]

Static is awesome, snow as some call it. Been a long time since I saw "real" static (not generated static).

[SAmadei]

today's "static" in tv is when sections of the picture get majorly pixelated and pause for a second. with analog you could at least still hear the sound if you got anything.

While I agree its the "new static", its just not the same thing... Their called artifacts... I suppose the process would be artifaction... or arties. ;-)

i think i read somewhere that in the past few years cd recording has gotten too good, or the highdef music... whatever. they've started adding a little background hiss/static to make it sound a tad more "realistic" compared to vinyl.

While this may be going on, the problem with modern cd recording is too little low end definition... there is just not enough bits to represent the low frequencies. Add to the the awful mixing, called the "The Loudness War" in which even the silent passages are blaring, and modern music is just sludge to the ear... and most people are too IPod tone deaf to understand the problem. There was an article on Digg a year or so ago which compared a Metallica track off the last album and the same track on Rock Band... the difference is insane. Lars should fight that, not people copying music.

[SAmadei]

Remember the sound of a VHS player rewinding a tape? Been over 10 years since I've regularly watched VHS tapes.

Good one. whizwhizwhizwhizWhizWhIzWHIzwHIZWHIZ *Thump* Wrrrrrrr.

Or a 'party line'? Remember those from rural Ohio, probably 30 years ago again.

These were always pretty rare in NJ... but I do remember when the phone had its own special space in the home... and you only got ONE.

Or TVs w/ dials for UHF and VHF---channels under 13 and those over 13?

Especially without remotes... I can still remember the tactile feel of the knobs and the exact twist needed to to get from ch 17 to ch 29 to ch 48... back when we had a whopping *7* channels (and we got a lot of channels in Jersey). I even vaguely remember a remote control demonstration of jangling keys and causing the TV to freak out... back then remotes used sound.. i.e., "The Clicker".

I thought of another technology slowly fading... fax machines. It has been a bumpy 150 year journey for the fax, shame they peaked and then nearly became useless. I understand there are alot still out there... but they are rarely used for faxing... most multifunction fax/scan/printers I see aren't even in a house with a land line.

[Robert Hall]

I remember from about age 6-9 or so changing the TV channel to UHF channel 59 Pittsburgh to watch old Star Trek and Twilight Zone reruns..

Another thing I wonder, like the fax, is the pager...do they sell pagers anymore..with cell phones, I don't see the point of pagers.

[loki]

While I agree its the "new static", its just not the same thing... Their called artifacts... I suppose the process would be artifaction... or arties. ;-)

While this may be going on, the problem with modern cd recording is too little low end definition... there is just not enough bits to represent the low frequencies. Add to the the awful mixing, called the "The Loudness War" in which even the silent passages are blaring, and modern music is just sludge to the ear... and most people are too IPod tone deaf to understand the problem. There was an article on Digg a year or so ago which compared a Metallica track off the last album and the same track on Rock Band... the difference is insane. Lars should fight that, not people copying music.

arties. lol

yes dynamic range has been slowly killed over the past..10 years. the hidef mediums are the next format to conquer, if it continues. the only station that has dynamic range here is NPR, where 90% of it's music is classical. the loudness war ..sucks.

party lines... my mom talks about those when she was younger... maybe 40 years ago or more.

faxes. my work still uses them... seems that 1/2 of what it spits out is useless though.

when i was younger we had a cable box, Zenith. push the button corresponding to the channel. dials that i remember in my families house, only one, but i'm not sure if it was given to us or if it was actually bought.

[SAmadei]

yes dynamic range has been slowly killed over the past..10 years. the hidef mediums are the next format to conquer, if it continues. the only station that has dynamic range here is NPR, where 90% of it's music is classical. the loudness war ..sucks.

Are you hearing the lastest in lousy radio? Song compression? They are speeding up the music to fit more commercials. My local station is advertising "Real Time" music, as they play it at the proper speed.

[Robert Hall]

Are you hearing the lastest in lousy radio? Song compression? They are speeding up the music to fit more commercials. My local station is advertising "Real Time" music, as they play it at the proper speed.

I've heard about compression.

Also, it seems so many people listen to music mostly in the form of MP3s through crappy ear buds...I do at work..so they get used to compromised music? Is listening to CDs or vinyl at home on a good sound system or in the car on CDs a dying pastime?

Edited December 19, 2009 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[trinacriabob]

The amount I watch TV, that's all I need.

Ditto.

I watch about 50 hours of TV ... in a YEAR.

[SAmadei]

I've heard about compression.

Also, it seems so many people listen to music mostly in the form of MP3s through crappy ear buds...I do at work..so they get used to compromised music? Is listening to CDs or vinyl at home on a good sound system or in the car on CDs a dying pastime?

No, no, this is time compression, not lossy quality compression. I've been fine with quality compression, as in MP3s... I rip at a decent rate and it sounds fine. I'm talking about simply time compression... playing a song, 5% too fast... so it plays in 3 mins instead of 3min 10 seconds... something you could do with a 33 rpm record player playing at 36 rpm. I'm not completely sure I was detecting that, or if my timing was getting off, but it seemed like my music timing was slow... and now there seems to be something to it.

[balthazar]

I count myself lucky to have been in touch with things well after they were considered 'unfashionable' - it lends one a perspective that most people lack.

My B-I-L has lived in the house his mother & aunt's grew up in (since 1917) since 1997. He only dropped the party line there within the last maybe 7 years, and not only does he still have a single rotary phone, but he RENTS IT FROM THE PHONE Co. OK- he's a strange one.

I just replaced my 1980s rotary 2nd landline phone with a pushbutton one last year. Dial >< button- who cares ??

I still have a 3rd 'Cyclops Eye' 1941 rotary phone in the study closet- infrequently used but online. It's an 'extension' phone- it has no ringer bells. OK- that one dials amazingly slow, but it's fun... and the sounds of it makes doing it are priceless.

[A Horse With No Name]

Ditto.

I watch about 50 hours of TV ... in a YEAR.

You actually probably watch more than I do.

Our TV is a crappy old 13" color set that the kids use for video games.

By deliberately NOT buying a decent TV our children...read...play with animals...talk to friends...play games...hang out...write...do schoolwork...

All things that would be commonplace for a child in the early 1950's.

I do go to a friends house or a sports bar once in awhile to watch a sporting event.

Chris

[SAmadei]

Our TV is a crappy old 13" color set that the kids use for video games.

By deliberately NOT buying a decent TV our children...read...play with animals...talk to friends...play games...hang out...write...do schoolwork...

All things that would be commonplace for a child in the early 1950's.

So all your kids' friends think your Amish. ;-)

[loki]

Is listening to CDs or vinyl at home on a good sound system or in the car on CDs a dying pastime?

pretty much the only time i listen to music is in my car...more than 90% of it. glad i invested in some polk db's for my monte carlo and a decent pioneer cd mp3/wma player several years ago.

[mustang84]

I've been a witness to static. My parents recently got rid of their 1980 RCA turn-knob TV they had up their bedroom. I think it had something like 33 channels on the dial, although we have had it hooked up to a cable box for 15+ years.

I bought my dad a vinyl-to-MP3 player/converter for Christmas. He was a disco DJ in the late 70s & early 80s and has dozens of vinyl records up in the closet. I should flip through them sometime...may have some old rock records mixed in.

I've always heard about vinyl having a particular richness that can't be duplicated by digital recordings such as CDs. I haven't used a record player since I was a kid, so I may try out his Christmas gift to see if there really is that much of a difference. I'm curious to know.

Edited December 20, 2009 by mustang84

[loki]

I've always heard about vinyl having a particular richness that can't be duplicated by digital recordings such as CDs.

it's called analog. hehe. it deteriorates over time, being used, but can be fairly easy to copy, though i've never don it myself.

if you understand sampling rate and digital levels, you understand the limitations of cds. SuperAudio cd's are supposed to have a sampling rate of a gigahertz+ i think, not sure what exactly it is though, and maybe a digital range of 32bit, have to look that up though.

[knightfan26917]

Or TVs w/ dials for UHF and VHF---channels under 13 and those over 13?

Oh my....

Along with that ... black'n'white TVs.

I remember as a kid, we'd have to use the black'n'white TV in the basement to pick up Channel 32 in Chicago ... to watch FAME (The TV show) on Saturday nights. At that time, it was an old white set ... can't even remember the namebrand. But, that one went bad and Mom and Dad replaced it with another black'n'white set, a Zenith. Meanwhile, upstairs, the color TV was RCA ... that they bought in 1972 to watch the Olympics that year. I was always "confused" by the Zenith slogan back then: "The quality goes in before the name goes on" ... or something like that. Never understood it as a kid, but now, of course, I know what it means ... lol.

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[Robert Hall]

Oh my....

Along with that ... black'n'white TVs.

I remember as a kid, we'd have to use the black'n'white TV in the basement to pick up Channel 32 in Chicago ... to watch FAME (The TV show) on Saturday nights. At that time, it was an old white set ... can't even remember the namebrand. But, that one went bad and Mom and Dad replaced it with another black'n'white set, a Zenith. Meanwhile, upstairs, the color TV was RCA ... that they bought in 1972 to watch the Olympics that year. I was always "confused" by the Zenith slogan back then: "The quality goes in before the name goes on" ... or something like that. Never understood it as a kid, but now, of course, I know what it means ... lol.

I remember my folks having a couple small black and white TVs back in the '70s, we had a small portable 9 inch one in the motorhome and an old 25 inch Zenith console in the basement, an a 25 inch Zenith color upstairs. No remote controls. For years, 25 inch was the largest TV my folks ever had..even today, my Mom only has a 32 inch.

A couple other 20th century artifacts that are dissapearing now that I remember are home land lines and paper phone books. Haven't used either in years.