80s Flashback: When TV Watches Were All the Rage | Flashback | NBC News

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  • Опубликовано: 24 апр 2016
  • Long before the Apple Watch, gadget-lovers of the 1980s were armed with a hot, new fad: the tiny TV.
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    80s Flashback: When TV Watches Were All the Rage | Flashback | NBC News

Комментарии • 122

  • @westep4273
    @westep4273 5 лет назад +81

    Feels weird watching this on a phone

  • @jerlewis4291
    @jerlewis4291 3 года назад +27

    In 1989 I got a Casio mini-tv, it was color and had a fantastic picture. I took it to football games to watch the replays. Wound up putting it away at my parents' house because my two-year-old son could not leave it alone. Seventeen years later I was going through a box and found it. Put batteries in it and it still worked, but couldn't get a picture because of digital TV.

    • @holobolo1661
      @holobolo1661 Год назад +1

      Wow that's really sad in a way. The analog tech era is quickly becoming a forgotten time.

    • @Daniel-79
      @Daniel-79 6 месяцев назад +1

      It’s too bad what they did with all the old television technology. The really made it obsolete

  • @pancudowny
    @pancudowny 6 лет назад +47

    When I first saw a Sony Watchman in a General Mills television ad--around 1984--I wanted one, but certainly couldn't afford one. When I saw Casio's television watch on display in a store window at the local mall, I was impressed... until I later saw in a magazine how big the attached tuner unit was.
    In 1998, with money to burn I bought a Casio pocket-sized color television... for a mere $50.00, on-sale a local Radio Shack. Despite it's screen being only 2.2" it served me well for many years. Some time later, I bought a digital-compatible pocket television with a much larger screen through eBay. Digital television reception being what is, it didn't serve me as well and saw little use.
    Now, with smartphones like the one I'm typing this comment on and subscription television apps, and accessories for smartphones like a armband holder that fits my wrist... I can easily watch clear, smooth-streaming television anywhere on a screen far larger than that of any vintage device, just by glancing at my wrist and touching the screen.
    Looks like I got my T.V.-watch after all!😊

  • @mugpush4816
    @mugpush4816 2 года назад +6

    I miss the 80s....much simpler times....

    • @bill42608
      @bill42608 Год назад

      I remember I got a desktop tape recorder. When I was almost 10 in 1980 tons of fun recording people without there knowledge ads long I was in the room hey RI has a one party consent and since I was party to such conversations I would be ok with the law but my father on the other hand 😭

  • @Antonio---
    @Antonio--- 4 года назад +8

    My mom worked for Sony she got a portable tv for xmass gift, Those good old days.

  • @elizabethpeterson1644
    @elizabethpeterson1644 Год назад +2

    My mother had this one TV with a radio on the side of TV that was portable. It was a black and white screen. I remembered tuning to this one station that played music videos on. That was in our 1982 Ford conversion van. I sat in the back to watched it. My sister usually goes the back of the van to sleep with one of our cats. I was in the middle with the other cat. Both of my parents in front. We had 2 cats back in the early 80’s to the early 90’s. Both cats were red tabby cats.

  • @thetrustybutterknifean80sa19
    @thetrustybutterknifean80sa19 7 лет назад +23

    Wanna go back to the fall of 1985 on an adventure of a lifetime?

    • @erinasherton8411
      @erinasherton8411 5 лет назад

      The Trusty Butter Knife: An '80s Adventure That’s where I’m heading To later on, Not exactly In The fall but somewhere In The warmer month’s.

    • @MrMelgibstein
      @MrMelgibstein 3 года назад

      She's not wearing her glasses,her eyes are all over the place .

  • @Larry
    @Larry 5 лет назад +28

    Never knew Sinclair sold their TV's in the US.

    • @jordanvelazquez6321
      @jordanvelazquez6321 3 года назад

      Wow now we have smart watches and small tech now.

    • @AckzaTV
      @AckzaTV 2 года назад

      Sinclair was big brand in usa . We used to be europhiles in 80s ...then we visited europe lol

  • @ChuckD79
    @ChuckD79 4 года назад +7

    The Watchman was also a frequent obstacle course prize on Double Dare during its first year (86-87)...back then, what kid wouldn't want a TV they could hold in the palm of their hand?

  • @rudylittlewolf
    @rudylittlewolf 5 лет назад +4

    I have had this TV Watch since 1988, and I wouldn't give it up for any price. It is just a nice collector item and who knows what it will fetch in the years to come. Other than that, it's just going to stay in my family, or sold to a collector when my time is up on earth. My mom got it for me as a Christmas gift in 1988. A man from NY brought it to my town after my mom had searched for one. He said it was a display model in some famous NY store. She paid $150 for it!

  • @scratchdog2216
    @scratchdog2216 5 лет назад +4

    I had a Sony Watchman around 1984. It worked well enough for what is was.

  • @clintmillent
    @clintmillent 4 года назад +7

    So thats where the applewatch came from

  • @tickedoffnow
    @tickedoffnow 3 года назад +4

    Watching this on a tablet in late 2020 😂

  • @Daehawk
    @Daehawk 2 года назад +2

    I have a pocket tv..someplace. Had it since my wife got it for me around 1991.

  • @boat6float
    @boat6float 3 месяца назад

    It's amazing that it took so long to get to the smartwatch if they were already around in the 80s

  • @stevesibaja3123
    @stevesibaja3123 5 лет назад +6

    80's Gadgets they where Awesome

  • @hoppinggnomethe4154
    @hoppinggnomethe4154 Год назад +1

    Ah, the 80s, when a mobile TV is smaller than a cellphone

  • @jcampton1
    @jcampton1 7 лет назад +18

    I would rather have a tiny tv rather than an apple watch because you cannot watch RUclips, Netflix, Snapchat on Apple Watch. On a tiny tv you could watch any channel anywhere 24/7

    • @chiefmangas2367
      @chiefmangas2367 6 лет назад +2

      James Campton true. Old technology would seem more enjoyable than everything being so easy for everyone to use like modern technology.

  • @MattyIcecubes
    @MattyIcecubes 5 месяцев назад

    My grandpa was a truck driver, and he got a Sony WatchMan for Xmas 1986 and thought it was the greatest thing in the world.

  • @jazzbollywood
    @jazzbollywood 5 лет назад +4

    I never saw anyone in the u.k with those watches. The first time I saw the watch was in the movie dragnet and I was like how come we don't have them.

  • @jamesa6494
    @jamesa6494 5 лет назад +2

    It's surprising that portable TVs didn't catch on to a greater degree given their convenience. I used to have an walkman that came equipped with an audio only tv tuner and even that was extremely handy.

  • @lymarie1974
    @lymarie1974 6 лет назад +3

    what in the world!!!!! im a kid of the 80s all i wanted was my mtv. never knew about these watches.

    • @briankelly9347
      @briankelly9347 5 лет назад

      Not all white folk had the latest state of the art tech

  • @hamesh3474
    @hamesh3474 Год назад +1

    I remember that when I was 10. Man did I want one 👍

  • @orangebetsy
    @orangebetsy Год назад +1

    omg i remember my big bro getting the casio calculator watch but i DON'T remember the watch!!!

  • @Isaac-gh5ku
    @Isaac-gh5ku Месяц назад

    Who else miss having a portable and compact TV?

  • @mjrodriguez8670
    @mjrodriguez8670 Год назад

    Back in 1987, when I was 12 years old, I bought a Citizen LCD Pocket TV with a clip-on backlight. The screen was 2.5 inches. I watched it indoors and outdoors. However, it drained my batteries after 3 hours of continuous use. So I used the AC adapter as much as I could. Today that pocket TV, which I really miss, is now technologically obsolete. I now watch TV shows on my Amazon Kindle Fire 8.

  • @n1k3inthehouse
    @n1k3inthehouse 2 года назад +1

    Now we have smart watches lol

  • @ernandstevensune9036
    @ernandstevensune9036 3 года назад

    We had this before and I still kinda want it now

  • @beavacuda
    @beavacuda 7 лет назад +35

    I think they positioned that lady to compensate for her lazy eye

    • @aboutagirl13
      @aboutagirl13 6 лет назад +3

      She had eyes?

    • @subtletones3926
      @subtletones3926 6 лет назад +2

      I think they positioned her eyes to compensate for the reporter's lazy story

    • @SAMEntalhealth
      @SAMEntalhealth 6 лет назад +1

      BEAVACUDA lmao

    • @jcp012000
      @jcp012000 6 лет назад +1

      One is looking at you and the other is looking for you

    • @believeachieve2847
      @believeachieve2847 5 лет назад +2

      i think she's GORGEOUS tho!

  • @skatintod
    @skatintod Год назад

    Can't wait to get one

  • @unknownuser1357
    @unknownuser1357 5 лет назад +7

    Ah good old american memories when stuff was built good and well organized and nothing was fake from China

    • @erinasherton8411
      @erinasherton8411 5 лет назад +2

      Unknown User That’s why tiny tv’s were made In Japan, Because The Greatest Country on earth Japan know’s how To do It better while all other one’s lie That They’re better, They’re really not.

    • @Phineas1626
      @Phineas1626 5 лет назад +1

      erin Asherton Right. Buy your televisions there. Just don’t buy the 4-hour battery back-up for your nuclear plant.

  • @gavinthecrafter
    @gavinthecrafter 3 года назад +3

    Not even modern smartwatches can do this. I've tried.

    • @jasonspades5628
      @jasonspades5628 3 года назад

      Have you tried smacking my mother in the face? That just might work.

    • @richardjohnson9543
      @richardjohnson9543 3 года назад +1

      The original TV watch failed because the technology wasn't there yet to make it self contained and even now, it would be difficult to put all that into a watch for a reasonable price. And battery life would be an even bigger problem at that size.

  • @stevesibaja3123
    @stevesibaja3123 5 лет назад +4

    80's Technology Devices

  • @theomegaman218
    @theomegaman218 3 года назад

    It was great.

  • @saharabaker7852
    @saharabaker7852 2 года назад

    All you have to do is switch the antenna to digital

  • @Susie4Jesus
    @Susie4Jesus 4 года назад +1

    Love her hair!

  • @AckzaTV
    @AckzaTV 2 года назад +1

    Wow lcd tech is old

  • @lazarusblackwell6988
    @lazarusblackwell6988 Год назад +1

    Cool retro tech.
    These days its obsolete.

  • @tomservo5007
    @tomservo5007 4 года назад +1

    she's the senior tech writer ? like a senior in high school?

  • @HarryPotter87
    @HarryPotter87 2 года назад

    Hey! That's before we watch Netflix via our phones!

  • @karlastafford9623
    @karlastafford9623 3 года назад +1

    Little did people know back then that years later that they would be having a computer device called smartwatches on their wrists.

    • @ibobeko4309
      @ibobeko4309 Год назад

      If someone would tell them, they would have a camcorder, walkman, phone and a supercomputer in one device in the size of a wallet, nobody believe them.

  • @sadalite
    @sadalite 11 месяцев назад

    Would have been nice to know the date this aired. 86? 88? Does anyone know???

  • @Nightweaver1
    @Nightweaver1 2 года назад

    Yeah, and when was the last time you saw ANYBODY using a smart watch? Exactly.

  • @MrJWTH
    @MrJWTH 7 лет назад +4

    Somethings simply aren't meant to be that small.

    • @okamijubei
      @okamijubei 6 лет назад

      Mr. JH and yet they still watch them in that size... And cheaper as well.

    • @OutOnTheTiles
      @OutOnTheTiles 5 лет назад +3

      You sound like my wife when she first pulled my trousers down.

    • @AtticTapes14
      @AtticTapes14 4 года назад

      Apple watch.......

  • @angelav9838
    @angelav9838 6 лет назад +2

    Only at radio shack...

  • @wop8184
    @wop8184 10 месяцев назад

    "The Japanese " lol

  • @M4SON24
    @M4SON24 Месяц назад

    Good thing a tiny hand held portable mobile device isn’t going to be released in 2007 called the iPhone one 😮‍💨phew

  • @tascabron6462
    @tascabron6462 6 лет назад +1

    With those prices ..no wonder I never had one 200 dollars like 600 right now

    • @briankelly9347
      @briankelly9347 5 лет назад

      Look that ain't,much if you make 45'000 bucks a year you can,spare 200

  • @octaviussludberry9016
    @octaviussludberry9016 4 года назад

    Mostly landscape screens too.

  • @kirk1968
    @kirk1968 4 года назад +2

    Was Chuck Todd even alive when this tech was featured? I still have a working Watchman, although it's now useless since everything went digital -_-

    • @johnnyballenatl
      @johnnyballenatl 3 года назад

      Chuck was in elementary or middle school at the time.

  • @johnw2026
    @johnw2026 2 года назад

    Well even if you had one of those old tv watches today, and it actually still worked, you couldn't watch tv on it because of the switch to digital. Those would've only picked up analog tv.

  • @deleteduser121
    @deleteduser121 19 дней назад

    When they put the tech out a little too early

  • @bill42608
    @bill42608 Год назад

    Well I won't tell you how I got my first small tv I was a bad boy sometimes.

  • @OutOnTheTiles
    @OutOnTheTiles 5 лет назад

    Does that watch phone have picture in picture? If it doesn’t it’s no good to me.

  • @stevesibaja3123
    @stevesibaja3123 5 лет назад +3

    Today we have Smart Watches the Technology is advancing

    • @steventopper9310
      @steventopper9310 4 года назад +1

      Smart watches social media cell phone's are all that's ruining 2k20 with this pandemic going on the riot's! In the late 90's life wasn't as complicated as thing's are today thing's have changed over the years whatever happened to using Landline phone's? whatever happened to going to your local video store buying your favorite movie on VHS and watching it?. Nobody talks to each other it's only through texting nobody really makes phone calls anymore either! We're stuck in the digital age were thing's are online miss the late 90's so much.

    • @stevesibaja3123
      @stevesibaja3123 4 года назад +1

      In the 90's we had the Casio Databank watch

  • @dayman4753
    @dayman4753 Год назад

    Love the comment in the video at 2:00 'The Japanese know exactly how many shopping days there are until Christmas'.
    Just LOL. Turns out they have calendars in Asia too, eh?

  • @lemasculin8831
    @lemasculin8831 5 лет назад

    1980 Ice watch

  • @nigelcarren
    @nigelcarren 4 года назад

    Susan Moody seemed pretty Moody concerning her husbands TV addiction... I would like an update please NBC. Did this couple stay together long enough to appreciate the shared joy of a front-loading VHS or did they falter during the top-loading Betamax era? If they are both reading this comment on a 60" smart-TV I shall weep with joy... though I would like to take this opportunity to remind Mr Moody that it wouldn't hurt him to do the dishes occasionally.

  • @paperchasindude6578
    @paperchasindude6578 5 лет назад +3

    Anyone else feel creeped out about anything in the 1980s

  • @lanabyk8012
    @lanabyk8012 4 месяца назад

    Anyone here a TV fanatic?

  • @dietdr.cheeznipsanthology1705
    @dietdr.cheeznipsanthology1705 4 года назад

    the lady in the beginning and end look like Phil Swift

  • @TrueVintageRnBFan
    @TrueVintageRnBFan 2 года назад +1

    Is she cross-eyed?

  • @SoCalFreelance
    @SoCalFreelance 2 года назад

    Is orange girl blind? Why isn't she looking at the camera and communicating to the audience? o_0

  • @davejay6855
    @davejay6855 Год назад

    If only they knew what would happen...

  • @AckzaTV
    @AckzaTV 2 года назад

    I miss when we had these smart Japanese keeping us on our toes in biz warz

  • @mwildthing5525
    @mwildthing5525 3 года назад +1

    The crosseyed chick is cute

  • @vincentdelareux1630
    @vincentdelareux1630 4 года назад +2

    Who is she lookin at?

  • @luislopez-tx4tl
    @luislopez-tx4tl 2 года назад

    Old people really act like they dont know how things work

  • @jaishemajames4554
    @jaishemajames4554 3 года назад

    She watched too much small TV...she cross-eyed

  • @TheEvilganon4
    @TheEvilganon4 7 лет назад +14

    Lazy eye

  • @pedroparamo7563
    @pedroparamo7563 11 месяцев назад

    The problem was the litium

  • @AntajuanGrady
    @AntajuanGrady 3 года назад

    I'm surprised the TV watch didn't last as there was NO such innovation of it really until the 2010s aka the smart watch.

    • @richardjohnson9543
      @richardjohnson9543 3 года назад +1

      It didn't last because you had to hook it up to a tuner the size of a portable cassette player to use the TV and that defeated the purpose. Plus it cost $500. For $200 you could just buy a portable TV with a much better picture and with a built-in radio

  • @subielife4life
    @subielife4life 3 года назад

    Why do I feel weird when I look at the reporter/host eyes? Her eyes look weird or something.

  • @jasonhuntley4203
    @jasonhuntley4203 7 лет назад

    now if only they had the cell phones back then that would of been something

    • @ChrisG3253032
      @ChrisG3253032 7 лет назад +5

      Cell phones did exist in the 80s. They were expensive, heavy, bulky and battery tech wasn't too great. Think "big lebowski", remember that huge cell phone the dude was carrying? that was an Ericsson Hotline [circa 1988] (or similar) and it weighed 4kg believe it or not. Another cell phone that appeared in tv and movies alot during the late 80s early 90s was the motorola dynaTAC. Such a brick it could have served as a wheel chock for a truck ;-)

    • @blackentertainmenthistory8601
      @blackentertainmenthistory8601 4 года назад

      Rich People had cell phones in the 80's

  • @Terminxman
    @Terminxman 7 лет назад

    Is that ser barristan?

  • @clubgothica
    @clubgothica 5 лет назад +2

    Oh look, something on NBC that wasn't fake news.

  • @alanwilder2624
    @alanwilder2624 Месяц назад

    you know i wanted to watch an old news cast... not some lady chiming in... Kinda takes the nostalgia out of it

  • @alexisrivas9105
    @alexisrivas9105 3 года назад

    She crossed eyed

  • @amangadpale6251
    @amangadpale6251 5 лет назад

    Aahhh????

  • @lemonfridge5119
    @lemonfridge5119 5 лет назад

    Where’s the crack? Or heroine? Didn’t see in this video

  • @Playafly540
    @Playafly540 4 года назад

    Why y’all got that crossed eyed woman on there?? Lol

  • @PatricKruiz
    @PatricKruiz 8 лет назад

    boring

  • @buildingglocks5797
    @buildingglocks5797 Год назад

    The first Apple Watch