"I picked up that RCA cable you asked for"

Who needs an expensive pattern generator when I can make something out of old parts. Raspberry Pi 1B, perfboard, and some pushbuttons from old VCR scrap boards. 4 buttons cycle through patterns by category: solid colours, bars, hatches, and resolution. 5th toggles a 1KHz test tone.

I got around to replacing one of the older modulators in my Cable Headend setup with a newer, 4 channel one. It's up to 13 analog channels now, plus the digital OTA stuff. It's been surprisingly reliable. The only issue is these Raspberry Pi's tend to crash if the video file has any errors.

Did not expect to see a Zenith Healthview CRT TV in the waiting room today

“Hello and welcome to episode one of cooking with David Mitchell. Today I’m attempting eggs benedict, a breakfast so needlessly elaborate it could only have been invented by people with a profound misunderstanding of hunger”

I brought home something that I don't have room for. A Zenith colour all-tube TV from the mid-1960s. Unfortunately the CRT is pretty weak, although it's waking up as I use it. Will need a bunch of work, but other than the weak CRT everything else is solid. Model# 8322-6 Chassis# 25MC36

This Realistic SCT-7 tapedeck was so hungry it appears to have eaten an entire cassette's worth of tape.

(Not so) fun fact. In Windows File Explorer, if you use cut/paste to move files, then hit undo (files are now in "cut" limbo), then do a further action in Explorer (wiping out redo), those files are now gone. Not in the original folder, not in the Recycle Bin...Completely fucking gone.

Sony CVC-2100A camera from 1968, plugged into a Sony CVM-950 from 1969. TV has just been fixed up with a tube-swap since this one had a dead CRT. The camera will need a full re-cap, as it's full of those grey ones. And then I can start working on my CV-2200 open reel video recorder from 1968!

Found this oddity while getting rid of duplicate copies of movies I own. Two copies of the Malofilm release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The sleeves are completely identical, and yet one these is recorded in EP, while the other is recorded in SP. Same number and everything.

With all the problems, some things in the future (now) are pretty sweet. Like spending $2 CAD for a 3D model of a cam gear I can 3D print to get this reel-to-reel up and running.

New vintage calculator acquisitions! Radio Shack EC-2010 (cat no. 65-960, from 1985), Sperry-Remington 665 (from 1974), Brother 807 (from 1974), and Unitrex 89SLW (mid 1970s?). The Radio Shack came with new D batteries! Unfortunately the Brother has battery corrosion, which I'll need to deal with.

This remote came with the original batteries from 1984. Somehow they never leaked, though they're stone dead.

This ad for a cheap Funai VCR on marketplace had an completely incorrect AI description (image1), because they googled the Funai UL Listing number (image2,image3) which scraped an ebay listing for a DTV box that also used the UL Listing number (image4). The internet is eating itself and I'm tired.

Forget the 12 days of Christmas, I want this.

What's everyone's thoughts on this? This wasn't the only corrosion, so the VCR must have been stored in a damp environment. I used an extremely mild abrasive to remove any surface marks, and it's polished and working great now. Will corrosion like this continue once it's started?

I love it when devices have secret remote codes that weren't used on the original remote. This Sony SL-2710 responds to eject and the numberpad on the later Sony remotes just fine, despite the remote in came with not having those buttons!

A TV Show from 1976, being played on VCR from late 1976, and shown on a TV from 1976. Sorry for the vertical video, it was the best way to fit the extremely tall TV!

I have never heard it called a "Phone Answerer" before.

Huh, I just assumed Memorex was a fancy sounding name with no meaning.

Decided to dip my toes into using an ultrasonic cleaner on knobs. This was just the cheapest one you can find I got for $10 at the thrift store, but it did a damn impressive job. I'm sold.

I'm an adult, yes, but not a very mature one.

I couldn't resist this for $1, even though I already have too many projects on the go. No info online for the model (BPC2009W) or chassis (CT1928UB), but I think it's early 1970s. Screws never removed, all RCA branded tubes, and it works reasonably well. Still needs some new caps for the linearity.

Definitely needed a good cleaning. Unfortunately the paint is in rough shape, so it's not going to look much better, but at least the 30+ years of garage dirt is gone.

I've wanted one of these for ages. Had to pounce when this came up locally.

Anyone know what this information is stored on the sides of this TV signal? It's recorded from a PayTV channel (WSBK out of Boston) on our local cable in the 90s (present from at least 1993-1996). Not visible at all with overscan on a CRT, but my capture card shows it.

VFD meters are always lovely. Bonus points if anyone recognizes what model VCR this is.

Great for listening to some classic rock, or getting called to the principal's office.

Do you trust your VCR repairman?

A perfectly accurate RDS time signal.

Welp, my Google Pixel 7a experience went from annoying (countless software bugs, locked settings, lack of customization) to shit. Battery died a few times and now it's starting to swell. Guess I need to buy a new phone sooner than planned. This was the first and last Google phone I'll ever buy.

For your perusal - almost an hour of me mucking about with a budget VHS VCR. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHBS...

Printers are in season at the thrift store

I finally figured out why the camera audio on my Pixel 7a is often so muffled. The 2 audio channels are slightly out of phase from each other and I've been converting to mono since the left channel is flaky. Setting the right channel as a mono source seems to fix this. So many bugs with this phone

Dragged home a broken RCA TV from 1976 that has these factory castors on the bottom. One capacitor and one fuse later and it works! Despite the CRT being tired, I really like this TV. RCA FA465B 19" XL100 from 1976

I picked a cheap little 19" LCD TV at a garage sale this weekend, and my expectations were low. But wow, it still surprised me. No deinterlacing on the analog inputs, the worst viewing angle, and it defaults to overscan ON for digital signals (Why do flat panel TVs do this??).

"Is that a hair on the telecine?" "Ah, who cares"

Moistens

Rare doesn't necessarily mean good. But in this case it's something that is (in my opinion) really cool. This Marantz VR-200 is the only Beta VCR they sold and was the only consumer Beta VCR to offer linear stereo. It was made by Sanyo, so probably nothing special performance-wise.

This right here is why I've fallen out of love with new tech. Requiring an internet connection, an app and an account, and putting a dang computer in everything! If I ever need to replace my dishwasher I'll need to make sure I buy a "dumb" one (and not a Bosch). www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_h...

This is the most 1970s calculator I've found to date. It looks like an AMC Gremlin from the same year.

Hyper obsession complete. I have them all except for the cerise/orange one that is super hard to find. I did however find a very neon orange variation instead, that I can't seen to find much info on.

Someone was bored at the thrift store...

I gave some new life to an e-waste record player: youtube.com/watch?v=LJgaSVlinqg

Who says there's nothing good on AM anymore...

Not always, but almost always.

Canadians right now