You could get color if a weak signal drifted in (and had a color TV), but generally it was black and white. OP needs to take that pixelated mess back and fix it.
We had a really old tv in my basement when I was young. If you messed with the hue knob while on a non existent channel you could get a lot more colorful static
Gibson talks about this in his prologue, and other anachronisms in Neuromancer (specifically his lack of imagination regarding phones)—he was envisioning the dull grey of a dead tv signal of his childhood, not the crazy black and white static of the late 20th and early 21st century; but the sentiment tracks even though he probably wasn’t event thinking that about any of the implications, given his displeasure of even being lumped in with cyberpunk as a genre (which I think is really confoundedly stupid on his part).
Beat me to it. I was going to ask whether any non-science fiction readers would know this famous opening line. IIRC, Gibson himself notes how the interpretation of the line changed with the change of technology.
Gibson has said that he was imagining a TV from when he was growing up. Quote:
"I actually composed that first image with black and white video static of my childhood in mind, sodium silvery and almost painful, [...] the texture and color of a signal free channel on a wooden cabinet motorola with fabric covered speakers.
35 Comments
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 72 pts · 98d
Yall had color static? I only remember seeing black and white static.
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 46 pts · 98d
You could get color if a weak signal drifted in (and had a color TV), but generally it was black and white. OP needs to take that pixelated mess back and fix it.
prettybunnys@piefed.social · 10 pts · 98d
I had a tv that output static with the colors when signal was missing, it did NOT make the fuzz sound tho.
This was the early 90s
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 4 pts · 98d
I think early digital may have done that, but not analog.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 98d
Digital is either on or off. You need analog to get static.
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 4 pts · 98d
Right, it was simulated static, instead of the blue screen.
prettybunnys@piefed.social · 1 pts · 98d
For the tv we had my recollection was that it only happened when there was no input plugged into the UHF.
Or if the Nintendo inline was plugged in and the Nintendo was off, and no other input.
We had cable since that late 80s so I don’t recall ever dealing with signal loss beyond VH1 becoming scrambled at 9:30 for the playboy channel.
redsand@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 98d
OP was playing with magnets
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 98d
We had a really old tv in my basement when I was young. If you messed with the hue knob while on a non existent channel you could get a lot more colorful static
Donebrach@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 98d
Gibson talks about this in his prologue, and other anachronisms in Neuromancer (specifically his lack of imagination regarding phones)—he was envisioning the dull grey of a dead tv signal of his childhood, not the crazy black and white static of the late 20th and early 21st century; but the sentiment tracks even though he probably wasn’t event thinking that about any of the implications, given his displeasure of even being lumped in with cyberpunk as a genre (which I think is really confoundedly stupid on his part).
chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world · 63 pts · 98d
Neuromancer if anyone is curious. One of the best opening lines in literature.
balderdash9@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 98d
Beat me to it. I was going to ask whether any non-science fiction readers would know this famous opening line. IIRC, Gibson himself notes how the interpretation of the line changed with the change of technology.
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 26 pts · 98d
Neuromancer reference, btw
helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 98d
The scariest part about this is realizing there was less time between 1985 to 2005 then there is from 2005 to now (2026).
fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip · 21 pts · 98d
ONLY JUST BARELY GODDAMNIT
inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 98d
Well that is wildly upsetting.
theinternetftw@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 98d
Gibson has said that he was imagining a TV from when he was growing up. Quote:
So like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_7yUDne8fg&t=260s
Hackworth@piefed.ca · 18 pts · 98d
They all fit pretty well as cyberpunk, particularly 2025. The quote's held up well, really.
flandish@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 98d
there are two too many towers in the post 1985 skylines.
mech@feddit.org · 19 pts · 98d
That's not New York.
Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 98d
Bonus points for anyone who knows where Neuromancer does start, go!
Hackworth@piefed.ca · 8 pts · 98d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiba_(city)
inari@piefed.zip · 4 pts · 98d
It is a bit funny because Chiba is fairly rural, definitely no cyberpunk metropolis
teslekova@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 97d
Yet
DrBob@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 98d
Night City.
flandish@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 98d
pfft. still two too many.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 98d
Praytell, which city is that?
mech@feddit.org · 2 pts · 98d
No idea, I don't know the skylines of all cities in the world and it could be fictional.
silentjohn@lemmy.ml · 8 pts · 98d
Should have just been the Roku City haha
BigDiction@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 98d
Take me down to Roku City, where the remote is good, and the advertising pretty!! Awwww will you please take me hommmeeee!
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 98d
Why was it blue and not another color
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 98d
Same reason they use blue for maxipad commercials
DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 98d
Fantastic 😂
Dan68@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 97d
The color was a very flat gray color.
wifiron@mast.lat · 1 pts · 98d
@AMillionMonkeys 😀