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.
Cosmic microwave? Is that what you are calling “ants in a snowstorm” these days?
I have actually, we had a big old crt tv way back when
As person born after 2000, I used to play a lot of games on them Wii and GameCube mainly. The image and responsiveness really felt different. I do kinda miss them
2002 here, we still had such a TV. For quite a while actually, since we never upgraded and just started using phones and computers instead. It became my console monitor.
Yeah OP full of shit. My three sons all born after 2000 have seen this. Hell my flat screen will show snow if I turn it to antenna and there nothing for single to pick up. Also I have console tv for our old gaming systems so they seen that as well
They also know how a vcr works and what a payphone is. We are not that far removed from that technology. Hell my middle son 17 has a record collection and cds. Also we have the cassette audiobook version of Stephen King Dolores Claiborne.
Modern Tv project fake static when there is no siginal because of fimilarity. OTA broadcasts are all digital, either you get a siginal or you dont.
Some TVs may project fake static.
Just because OTA broadcasts are digital doesn’t mean you are stuck with all or nothing. You can definitely have poor signal and see or hear something other than what was intended. Doesn’t manifest as analog static, but depending on your decoding and error correction schemes, you can have cut audio, frozen frames, iframe inconsistencies, and stuttering.
Tube TV’s remained in common service well into the 2010’s. The changeover from analog to fully digital TV transmission did not happen until 2009, with many delays in between, and the government ultimately had to give away digital-to-analog tuner boxes because so many people still refused to let go of their old CRT’s.
Millions of analog TV’s are still languishing in basements and attics in perfect working order to this very day, still able to show you the cosmic background, if only anyone would dust them off or plug them in. Or in many retro gaming nerds’ setups. I have one, and it’ll show me static any time I ask. (I used it to make this gif, for instance.)
In fact, with no one transmitting analog television anymore (probably with some very low scale hobbyist exceptions), the cosmic background radiation is all they can show you now if you’re not inputting video from some other device. Or unless you have one of those dopey models that detects a no-signal situation and shows a blue screen instead. Those are lame.
Also, a lot of kids don’t have the slightest idea of what the “save” icon in their apps represents. They just know it’s the save icon because it’s everywhere
To be fair though, many kids nowadays have never seen a save icon as autosave is now practically everywhere. For example take anything on an iPad or other touch device.
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?
Many likely haven’t seen a channel sign off for the night with a test pattern up til they come back on
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” - William Gibson, Neuromancer
Gibson describes the static as metallic, silvery gray in an interview.
“The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel.” - Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
I remember the white static myself.
It is entirely possible for people born after 2000 to have grown up with CRTs.
It is, but those late model CRTs often had a lot of digital circuitry that displayed a solid color on channels with nothing on them. Unless there was a much older CRT around, they never would have seen it.
Most of the CRTs are going to be older
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.
My grandpa always just called it “The ant races”
I saw on ‘how it’s made’ a conveyer belt of a bunch of apples and it reminded me of the TV static the way they all rolled around forming random structures like a crystal. From then on I always think of apples on a conveyerbelt when I see static.
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 all the time.
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)
Edit: I cannot find the video :(
Opening line of Neuromancer doesn’t make much sense any more "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
“The sky above the port was blue, with a grey rectangular box with writing saying ‘No signal found.’”
