Life in monochrome

[Guy Profumo]

7,000 households still watching black and white TV

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46125741

[Patrick Thistle]

I've never understood why a black and white licence is cheaper. It's the same broadcast.

Anyway, has anyone compared the number of black and white telly households with the number of people with total monochromatic colour blindness?

[Jah Womble]

How many of those 7,000 have one of those illusory dual-coloured skins to put over their B&W screen, I wonder?

(As modelled by Stan and Hilda back in the early seventies, for anyone confused.)

[N est à?]

I had an old black and white set at university. Literally the only student i ever met there who actually paid the tv licence.

[N est à?]

Can old black and white sets even receive broadcasts now the analogue signal has been switched off? Is it possible to rig one up to a freeview or whatever box? Or do they still make b&w sets?

[anton pulisov]

You can convert SCART signal to coaxial I think. Then you can 'tune in' the Freeview box as one of the channels. Like how the old video recorders used to connect to the telly.

[WOM]

Aha...

Neither does TV Licensing carry out checks of households claiming to watch a black and white set. "It's entirely done on trust," a spokesperson said.

[Stumpy Pepys]

A 'proper' black and white telly:

1. Should take about 15 seconds to warm up
2. On being turned off, its picture should disappear into a persistent white dot.

[Felicity, I guess so]

A 'proper' black and white telly:

1. Should take about 15 seconds to warm up
2. On being turned off, its picture should disappear into a persistent white dot.

and it should suffer from jaggy lines on the screen ('continental interference') during major end-of-season live football matches

[Patrick Thistle]

Most tellies are black and white these days aren't they? I mean, those old wooden surrounds are well out of fashion.

[Jah Womble]

My eleven-year-old daughter told me recently that she 'liked' the test card and white noise of old TV.

I was torn between being hugely impressed and concerned that this might be some kind of pre-teen hipster thing.

(NB Shouldn't this thread be in...etc?)

[WOM]

They say cassettes are making a comeback...

[Stumpy Pepys]

They say cassettes are making a comeback...

They never quite went away. Second-hand players for hi-fi systems still seem to go for at least €80.

[WOM]

I'm constantly on the lookup for a garishly large '80s style boombox at garage sales. No love so far.

[Eggchaser]

I remember watching The Usual Suspects on a black and white telly back in my University days. It seemed even better.

[Hot Pepsi]

I learned today that after he bought the rights to the Watergate story from Woodward & Bernstein, Robert Redford wanted to make All the Presidents Men in B&W and with obscure actors. Warner Brothers said, no, it will be in color and you'll star in it.