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

The Seiko TV watch

sabukaru.online

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 138 posts

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#121

Post by masswerk »

thfuran wrote: post #114
masswerk wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just imagine what kind of statements this products allows its owner to make: You have made your fortune, as may be clearly seen by the fact that you could obtain this product. (That is, it was affordable to the middle classes, but who knows, this must have been as expensive as it is futuristic!) You are aware of and interested in modern developments, which probably relates to how you made your fortune. You're not som…

You get all that? All I get is "feckless blowhard".

Well, the night has just reached that imperceptible pivot where 2 am turns into 4 am (© Jay McInerney, Bright Lights Big City), you enter that downtown in-place and in effortless elegancy you navigate to the bar like Brian Ferry. Some say, you look like Mikey Rourke, while you haven't quite the looks (however, in a favorable light the mirror never lies, especially, when the hair style is just perfect). Casually you place your hands on the bar top, by this revealing your wrist – it's a Seiko TV watch! Clearly, you're not one of those indulging Patek Phillipe types, who just happen to retract their arms with a sour expression on their face. ;-)

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#122

Post by gwbas1c »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #117

My dad was a huge fan of Sony’s Watchman series of portable TVs. He had 2 or 3 different models. In the 1990s, I would steal them when I’d go on school trips in elementary school so I wouldn’t miss my TV shows. The limitation of antenna stuff made it less than ideal in a moving vehicle, but being able to watch Melrose Place on a bus in third grade instead of Homeward Bound or The Sandlot was pretty dope. Which is all…

I remember my watchman worked very well in a car.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything good on when I brought it into a car.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#123

Post by amelius »

Stratoscope wrote: post #14

Try this exercise: Hold your arm so a watch strapped on top of your wrist would be facing toward your eyes for easy viewing of its display. If you have a smartwatch, or any kind of watch, you do this many times a day. Now hold your arm in that position for 30 or 60 minutes to watch an entire TV show. You can take a break during the commercials. Enjoying that? Probably not. With a [smart]watch, you only glance at it a…

Seiko should have just placed the screen on the contraption that the watch needs for TV-reception.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#124

Post by filmgirlcw »

gwbas1c wrote: post #122
filmgirlcw wrote: post #117

My dad was a huge fan of Sony’s Watchman series of portable TVs. He had 2 or 3 different models. In the 1990s, I would steal them when I’d go on school trips in elementary school so I wouldn’t miss my TV shows. The limitation of antenna stuff made it less than ideal in a moving vehicle, but being able to watch Melrose Place on a bus in third grade instead of Homeward Bound or The Sandlot was pretty dope. Which is all…

I remember my watchman worked very well in a car. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything good on when I brought it into a car.

Yah, in a general area I think it would be fine. The TV in my grandfather’s van in the early 1990s was great from what little I remember of it. More of an issue when you’re crossing state lines on a 6 or 8 hour bus trip

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#125

Post by el-salvador »

rob74 wrote: post #50

"UKW" radio is the German term for FM radio (which is broadcast over "ultrashort" or very high frequency / VHF waves, "Ultrakurzwelle", thus UKW). I wonder where that came from in the article? Also, I wonder where you could still use this thing after you paid ~500 $ for it. Are there any analog NTSC channels still broadcast over the air anywhere in the world?

> Are there any analog NTSC channels still broadcast over the air anywhere in the world?

Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and parts of Costa Rica are still using analog SD NTSC.

In El Salvador the delay was caused due to first proposing ATSC on the mid 2000s and then switching to ISDB in the mid 2010s for what I believe were 'political reasons'.

The first batch of TV sets sold were NTSC+ATSC. And only the newer ones are NTSC+ISDB. OTA digital TV has never been used by more than a couple of channels or for test transmissions.

I think we've leap frogged this technology though. There's still no analog shutdown date and HD content from the local TV stations is usually available in YouTube or Facebook live.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#126

Post by rexreed »

What no one could forsee is how many different devices and gadgets the smart phone would subsume:

* Camera & Video recorder

* Calculator

* GPS

* Video streaming device (aka "TV")

* Game device

* Email and communication device

* Radio

* and so so so much more

Each one of these devices in the 1960s-1990s (even early 2000s) were multi-billion dollar industries in their own right.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#127

Post by drdeadringer »

With today's technology, how might this translate into a functioning 1980s Dick Tracy Watch -- the upgraded version from the original "radio watch" which includes video communication as well.

"But that's just Facetime on your phone but on your wrist."

"What's wrong with current smart watches?"

You still need a smartphone on or near your person. Maybe sometimes I want to be available for contact without the rest of the dizzle-dazzle in a retrofuturistic manner [flip phones aside].

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#128

Post by scarface74 »

drdeadringer wrote: post #127

With today's technology, how might this translate into a functioning 1980s Dick Tracy Watch -- the upgraded version from the original "radio watch" which includes video communication as well. "But that's just Facetime on your phone but on your wrist." "What's wrong with current smart watches?" You still need a smartphone on or near your person. Maybe sometimes I want to be available for contact without the rest of th…

Apple has had a cellular version for four (?) years. Adding a camera would be theoretical possible. But I can’t imagine it being that useful.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#129

Post by albrewer »

Stratoscope wrote: post #14

Try this exercise: Hold your arm so a watch strapped on top of your wrist would be facing toward your eyes for easy viewing of its display. If you have a smartwatch, or any kind of watch, you do this many times a day. Now hold your arm in that position for 30 or 60 minutes to watch an entire TV show. You can take a break during the commercials. Enjoying that? Probably not. With a [smart]watch, you only glance at it a…

If it was rotated 90 degrees and could be rotated to the inside of your wrist that could work pretty well.

Re: The Seiko TV watch

#130

Post by drewzero1 »

masswerk wrote: post #54
masswerk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This assumes that this was intended as a truly practical item. However, this is a product of a watch manufacturer. Its usefulness is also defined in social terms. It's an expensive novelty item, a status symbol, a conversation piece, an icebreaker, etc, then it's also a practical item. This one doesn't achieve these social functions by mechanical complications, a multitude of jewels or fine engravings by monk-like ar…

Just imagine what kind of statements this products allows its owner to make: You have made your fortune, as may be clearly seen by the fact that you could obtain this product. (That is, it was affordable to the middle classes, but who knows, this must have been as expensive as it is futuristic!) You are aware of and interested in modern developments, which probably relates to how you made your fortune. You're not som…

There's a scene in season 1 of Halt and Catch Fire where rich grandparents give one as a gift[0], which seemed to say they felt that their daughter had married below her station.

0: https://www.theverge.com/2014/6/30/5855632/close-up-halt-and...

Post reply on HN