• @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    1031 year ago

    The problem with RCA cables wasn’t the colors, it was the fact that the back of the tv was huge and you really wanted to not have to get back there. HDMI you can install by feel

    • Hroderic
      link
      fedilink
      81 year ago

      Also some devices would have like 5 sets of these connectors. You’d be playing around with the remote and plugging and unplugging stuff until you found the right one.

    • Mario_Dies.wav
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      You can? I can’t. They have to be perfectly aligned, and I can’t get HDMI or DP cables to connect without visually seeing the outlet and plug.

  • Captain Aggravated
    link
    fedilink
    721 year ago

    I miss the silver plastic era of AV equipment. Like in the mid-to-late 2000s when every TV was made of silver plastic, and it had that set of composite jacks under a flap on the front, so you could temporarily plug things in, like when your buddy brought his PS2 over. There was a button near the channel and volume buttons that switched between inputs, and it didn’t take a digital act of congress to figure out which setting would get it to display on the TV.

    • Captain Aggravated
      link
      fedilink
      371 year ago

      Now everything is a black rectangle with bullshit software and almost two HDMI ports in the back, except one has the sound bar plugged into it, and the labels are stamped into the black plastic and not painted on, and with the shadows behind the television you can’t read them. And it doesn’t work when plugged in anyway. Its easier to just not have friends so that you never have to plug other electronics in. Stare at your phones alone.

      • @Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        So just don’t use the built in software. I don’t have any of my TVs connected to the internet or use their built in OS. I have a couple of Apple TVs plugged in and run everything off that. Never even set the things up beyond plugging them in and switching to HDMI 1.

        There’s also the Chromecast TV if you use Android.

        If you use a separate smart tv device like those, then the only thing you need to care about on the TV itself is resolution, refresh, and number of ports. Or if you want to spend a chunk of change then you can look into things like OLED. But the separate devices make the TV OS irrelevant.

        • Captain Aggravated
          link
          fedilink
          11 year ago

          My personal TV is a Samsung commercial display unit; it isn’t Roku or Tizen or whatever else. It’s still very much a computer though, it still has a network port and keeps pestering about connecting to the internet and registering it and all that shit.

          I drive it with a Raspberry Pi running Kodi.

      • Ook the Librarian
        link
        fedilink
        91 year ago

        My plastic flap is still intact. Probably because I only ever had it open since I couldnt be bothered to use the rear ports.

  • @Pr0v3n@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    651 year ago

    I mean to be fair, usually these were tucked away in the back of a heavy, wooden TV cabinet where it was dark and difficult to reach into to match the colours, even with a torch; and you couldn’t just feel your way around the back to plugging them in because they all felt the same.

  • When I was 8 or so I watched three old ladies one of whom was my great aunt try to figure out how to connect a DVD player to a tv and just couldnt. I even told them to stick to the same row for all the cables but noooo I was a kid and they knew better, I was sent to my room. Twenty minutes later they figured it out, im 24 and still fucking annoyed at that shit.

    • @Decq@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      I’m envious! They at least try. My mom usually buys something new, continues to use the old one till it breaks or not at all (if I don’t intervene). Because attaching a hdmi cable and power cord is too much hassle to even start thinking about. I’ve only last week connected her old cd player and amplifier that was still standing there after she moved 3 years ago. I would do it sooner but she even hates it when I start doing. Oh and not like she’s actually going to use the audio equipment… Radio on the TV sounds just as good, obviously… Ah when she was moving I discovered she had a whole new stereo set still in boxes that she never bothered to even unpack! You know, in case the one she wasn’t already using died or something…

    • @Raine_Wolf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      41 year ago

      Parents being dicks to kids because “ow, my pride!” Is SUCH a pet peeve. Sorry you had to deal with that, broski

  • DreamButt
    link
    fedilink
    English
    521 year ago

    The best part was the color coding. You’d crawl back there and hook it up and your grandparents would look at you like you were a wizard

    • unalivejoy
      link
      fedilink
      English
      2
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      They were faking it. When I was 12, I was pretty smart with tech, but I was not allowed to touch my grandpa’s projector. (It’s because if you didn’t turn it off properly, the bulb would burn out).

      He also did some work with ibm back in the 80s, and he didn’t really like kids, so that might have something to do with it.

      • @9point6@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        20
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Anything during the 90s to early 00s sold in Europe came with a SCART connector as the main AV connector. If it wasn’t a direct-from-the-unit SCART cable, there would have been an adapter block to turn the RCA into SCART.

        It wasn’t uncommon for cheap TVs to only have RF and SCART.

        Also “is this something I’m too X to understand” is a meme format, I’m aware of other connectors.

      • @4am@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        11 year ago

        If I may interject here, but in actuality the system users are using is not, in fact, “Linux” but is actually GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux

  • The Menemen!
    link
    fedilink
    271 year ago

    The struggle was, when the power was already attached and not easily reached without moving furniture and you had to switch something, thus trying to this without seeing.

    • Lemminary
      link
      fedilink
      9
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Idk about everyone else but these were heavy-ass blocks of metal and plastic that were placed on these tiny-ass desks that felt like they’d tip over if I turned them around enough. I literally had to put my head against the wall to be able to see between the little gap I had to work with. lol

  • @TheBlackLounge@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    261 year ago

    They’re often too tight or too loose, and you have to reach behind closets so you can’t see the color to match, and you have to put them in at weird angles.

    • @simple@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      51 year ago

      I haven’t used a single TV/receiver back in the day that worked first try. You’d have to twist that one port, pull the other one out slightly, or constantly try to push it upwards to get a good signal. Kids really don’t know how good they have it with HDMI.

      • @DagonPie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        41 year ago

        I completely forgot about that but youre right. I remember plugging these cables in at my aunts house and needing to balance a vhs tape on them to apply down pressure so the signal on the tv wasnt black and white.

  • @Asswaterpirate@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    201 year ago

    Just do it in alphabetical order. ®ed, (W)hite, (Y)ellow. If it doesn’t work, do it reverse because it’s upside down. Two tries max.

    • @Dozzi92@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      221 year ago

      I remember trying to plug them in and feeling like I’m screwing it in, and letting pressure off and it just flops out. Break time.

  • @Boxtifer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    121 year ago

    This has nothing on component. Bring me that dual red connectors while trying to figure out which one was video or audio.

      • @Buffaloaf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        131 year ago

        And every component cord I’ve used had some way of separating the two audio cords from the three video cords. I’ve struggled more trying to figure out which way is up on an HDMI.

  • UltraMagnus0001
    link
    fedilink
    81 year ago

    I worked at Best Buy and you’ll be amazed at how many people couldn’t figure that out. I was also a genius for showing my in-laws how to select input to display their dvd player.