Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

quarters.captaintouch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 47 posts

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#11

Post by mingus88 »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #3

Growing up in the 90s, television was a different experience. You turned on the TV, and whatever was playing at that moment would become your entertainment. Strangely enough, I miss that feeling of having something selected for me, something I cannot influence. I grew up a few decades before and I lack the author's nostalgia. I think some of that is because my exposure to OTA TV was much longer. Some was because I mi…

Yeah, I grew up on a rural OTA antenna with one clear channel and two dodgy ones.

The live experience was better for zoning out. That’s about it. You had no choice.

Today I can spend 20 minutes just browsing and never settle on anything. I’m never able to just zone out.

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#12

Post by DonHopkins »

I'd love to have a database of once-annoying but now-nostalgic TV commercials to intersperse between the shows, and insert into commercial breaks. (Those dramatic pauses in Star Trek TOS just aren't the same without a Crazy Eddie interruption.)

HEAD ON: Apply Directly to the Forehead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE

W.E.T. P.E.T.S.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbsZU83ajc

Fine Corinthian Leather:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0diMFShiUU

Bic Banana Ink Crayon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv5O2zwyQGo

Flea Market Montgomery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk

Crazy Eddie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6S2yiuSWE

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#13

Post by ghaff »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #3

Growing up in the 90s, television was a different experience. You turned on the TV, and whatever was playing at that moment would become your entertainment. Strangely enough, I miss that feeling of having something selected for me, something I cannot influence. I grew up a few decades before and I lack the author's nostalgia. I think some of that is because my exposure to OTA TV was much longer. Some was because I mi…

Certainly as an adult I was never really a channel surfer I had a lot of programs I wanted to watch and if I cared enough I would set the VCR once those were available.

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#14

Post by ghaff »

5555624 wrote: post #8

>Growing up in the 90s, television was a different experience. > >You turned on the TV, and whatever was playing at that moment would become your entertainment. > >Nowadays you yourself are in control, you choose what you want to see, whenever you want. You had some control back then, too -- you could change the channel. I don't know anywhere that had a single OTA channel in the 1990s. (And "Stargate SG-1" was on cab…

I had zero when I moved into my current house in the mid 90s until I was able to get cable maybe a couple years later. (And now I have zero live channels again since I cut the cord.)

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#16

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

joshmarinacci wrote: post #7
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #6

I have long thought Netflix should offer such a service. Have a sitcom channel that plays constantly from a slowly evolving list. Even better if I could just pick say Seinfeld and get random episodes from an episodic show. I do not want to have to expend energy picking a season+episode, just trying to decompress.

Netflix wants you to watch their own shows, not TV from the 90s that they have to pay licensing fees for.

Ah of course. Naturally there is an economic incentive to not deliver the product I want.

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#17

Post by [deleted] »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #6

I have long thought Netflix should offer such a service. Have a sitcom channel that plays constantly from a slowly evolving list. Even better if I could just pick say Seinfeld and get random episodes from an episodic show. I do not want to have to expend energy picking a season+episode, just trying to decompress.

[deleted]

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#18

Post by starkparker »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #6

I have long thought Netflix should offer such a service. Have a sitcom channel that plays constantly from a slowly evolving list. Even better if I could just pick say Seinfeld and get random episodes from an episodic show. I do not want to have to expend energy picking a season+episode, just trying to decompress.

Isn't this just Pluto TV? Like, https://pluto.tv/us/live-tv/633354b63df9700007f6a1b7 is the sitcom channel, https://pluto.tv/us/live-tv/66ba495ffe11e5000881f049/details is the channel of just Cheers and Frasier, etc. Just playing non-stop through one episode after another on a schedule as quasi-"live" TV.

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#19

Post by starkparker »

DonHopkins wrote: post #12

I'd love to have a database of once-annoying but now-nostalgic TV commercials to intersperse between the shows, and insert into commercial breaks. (Those dramatic pauses in Star Trek TOS just aren't the same without a Crazy Eddie interruption.) HEAD ON: Apply Directly to the Forehead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE W.E.T. P.E.T.S.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbsZU83ajc Fine Corinthian Leather: http…

Probably looking for https://www.retrojunk.com/ then, or https://www.clipland.com/

Re: TV Time Machine: A Raspberry Pi That Plays Random 90s TV

#20

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

starkparker wrote: post #18
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #6

I have long thought Netflix should offer such a service. Have a sitcom channel that plays constantly from a slowly evolving list. Even better if I could just pick say Seinfeld and get random episodes from an episodic show. I do not want to have to expend energy picking a season+episode, just trying to decompress.

Isn't this just Pluto TV? Like, https://pluto.tv/us/live-tv/633354b63df9700007f6a1b7 is the sitcom channel, https://pluto.tv/us/live-tv/66ba495ffe11e5000881f049/details is the channel of just Cheers and Frasier, etc. Just playing non-stop through one episode after another on a schedule as quasi-"live" TV.

That is exactly what I imagined! However, I would prefer a service I already use, free of commercials.

Definitely going to consider using this.

Post reply on HN