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Technical Help & Discussion => AV Lounge => Topic started by: GillE on November 08, 2018, 22:41

Title: Black & White Television
Post by: GillE on November 08, 2018, 22:41
According to TV Licensing, more than 7,000 people in the UK still view television on old black & white TV sets.  I thought all television nowadays was broadcast digitally and that analogue broadcasts (which these old sets receive) have been switched off.   So how can people still be viewing TV in black & white?
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Simon on November 09, 2018, 00:04
Beats me, Gill.   :dunno:
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: davy51 on November 09, 2018, 00:39
Probably by using an adapter
Some in the USA use them on older sets
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: daveeb on November 09, 2018, 11:47
Probably by using an adapter
Some in the USA use them on older sets

Yes, I would imagine they will be using an old style digital STB that plugs into the aerial socket.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 09, 2018, 13:10
Our first colour TV was a 13" Sony back in 1971. :D
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: daveeb on November 09, 2018, 15:10
Our first colour TV was a 13" Sony back in 1971. :D

You had colour in 1971  :woot: I had to wait another seven or eight years and even then there was an evens chance that the grass would be blue etc on any given day.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 09, 2018, 18:31
I was so deprived that I didn't have black and white until 1967.   :laugh:  We actually rented the 13" for five years at a cost of £5 a month.   But it was a fabulous picture and never went wrong.  There were no presets.  There was a tuning knob like a radio set but there were only three channels to worry about in those days anyway.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Den on November 09, 2018, 21:59
Now I'm feeling very old. My parents bought our first TV (single channel) in about 1951-2. All the kids I knew would come to watch Kit Carson or Hopalong Cassidy at tea time.

The only problem was they would turn up wearing Cowboy hats and gun belts.

I had a friend just down the road and they had a black and white tv with a colour filter that you could put in front of the screen with a blue filter at the top and a green one at the bottom. Great for cowboy films in a field.  ;D
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 10, 2018, 15:02
I used to visit  a friend whose parents had a thick plastic magnifier over the screen to make the picture larger.  I think I saw Quatermass on it.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: daveeb on November 10, 2018, 15:13
I used to visit  a friend whose parents had a thick plastic magnifier over the screen to make the picture larger.  I think I saw Quatermass on it.

Hope you told him to get off it, they were quite fragile. Cheek of some people  :crazy:
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 10, 2018, 16:26
I would have been too scared in those days.  :laugh:  Quatermass was edge of the seat stuff.  A bit like Doctor Who.   ;D
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 10, 2018, 16:36
Anyway, the answer to Gill's question about how people with black and white sets can view TV when analogue has been switched off is that they connect a Freeview box to the TV.   o:)
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: davy51 on November 10, 2018, 19:11
Now Im feeling old
Never saw a tv until I was 9 years old that was in 1961 it had a 5inch oval screen
We lived in an area that didn't get tv reception
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: daveeb on November 10, 2018, 20:34
I would have been too scared in those days.  :laugh:  Quatermass was edge of the seat stuff.  A bit like Doctor Who.   ;D

You're right, I really enjoy the Quatermass films even now, being in black and white just adds to the suspense.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 10, 2018, 21:46
Now Im feeling old
Never saw a tv until I was 9 years old that was in 1961 it had a 5inch oval screen
We lived in an area that didn't get tv reception

Then one day you woke up to find a TV transmitter in your back yard.  And then you realised that the only thing they show on TV is adverts.   :facepalm:  I must admit I felt left out of it when all my school chums were singing "The Esso sign means happy motoring" and "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth in Pepsodent".  Now I haven't a clue what the advert is trying to sell me.   :ack:

You're right, I really enjoy the Quatermass films even now, being in black and white just adds to the suspense.


My favourite horror film was the black and white Night of the Demon which is a stalwart of the Talking Pictures channel that is run from a garden shed by a father and his daughter.  It's one of the few "amateur" channels that makes money. 
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: davy51 on November 10, 2018, 23:35
No one I knew had a TV
The first time we saw one we thought it was real life lol
We all lived in a very isolated community in the mountains
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 11, 2018, 09:56
Sounds idyllic to me Davy!   ;D
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: davy51 on November 11, 2018, 12:46
Sounds idyllic to me Davy!   ;D


It was we could run all over town without worries of strange people and had time to just be kids
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 11, 2018, 16:20
What I remember was being able to see so many stars that it was difficult to recognise the constellations.  I only had to go for a short walk away from the street lights and the Milky Way could  be seen arching over the sky.  There is now so much light pollution that I can't remember the last time I saw the Milky Way from the UK. 
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: GillE on November 12, 2018, 19:15
That was one of the big differences we noticed when we moved from the West Midlands to Lincolnshire.  There's a little light pollution where we are but a short drive into the Wolds and there's practically none.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 12, 2018, 22:36
That seems wonderful to me Gill.  Seeing the night sky is Nature's greatest free spectacle.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: GillE on November 13, 2018, 14:11
I just wish my hubby knew how to use his telescope!  :laugh:
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 13, 2018, 15:53
Telescopes are not at all easy to use Gill.   Get him a nice pair of 10x50 binoculars.  Amazon often sell Nikons for £100.  If he finds them too heavy go for 10x40 instead.  Don't get anything else or they will be unusable.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: GillE on November 13, 2018, 16:24
He's already got a good pair of Nikon binoculars - perhaps I ought to remind him.  What he dreams of doing, though, is connecting his camera into the eyepiece of the telescope  (he has an adapter) and taking photographs.  I think he may have to join an astronomy club to learn how to do that, though.
Title: Re: Black & White Television
Post by: Clive on November 13, 2018, 18:21
In order to take photos, he will need quite a sophisticated telescope.  It must extremely stable and motor driven to keep up with the Earth's rotation.  If he wants to join a local astronomical society I can tell you where they are in your area.  You could also look online at a website such as The Federation of Astronomical Societies.