TVs, VCRs, Stereos, and the Technology of Our Youth | KnockBack, Episode 255

KnockBack is technically about anything, and we've naturally focused a great deal of our energy on video games. But there are other technologies vital to our childhoods that have nothing to do with our beloved consoles or handhelds. This episode of KnockBack is dedicated to that tech. What TVs did we grow up with? VCRs? What were our first stereo setups, and when did we finally get a Walkman? Did we have a home theater? When did computers enter the picture, and how did we interact with them? Today, we're surrounded by technology galore, but the Brothers Moriarty came up through decades where all of these various pieces were slowly being added, piece by piece. So let's put the puzzle together with some good, old-fashioned storytelling.

[@xwers1234]

Love me some Knockback. This show is timeless

[@imthemoeron]

Severe nostalgia here. Thanks for the knockback in time

[@coolkid1597]

You guys provide the soundtrack to my life on most days. Thank you.

[@CheddarBayBaby]

There’s a major chain of video stores in the Midwest, Family Video, that I actually worked at for a few years, that literal finally went out of business in 2020. The main reason was that there were no new releases coming during the pandemic from them to make actual money off of. They were a conservative business model and owned every store property, unlike Blockbuster that was probably paying rent and had tons of debt. When I was working there up till 2015 they literally had over 750 stores I think. Today they’ve mostly been converted to Dollar Generals. You can tell right away because they had a distinctive glass block obelisk out front of every store and green metal roofs. The point is that the DVD business and rental stores lasted way longer than people on the east coast think. Even in 2015 I remember them pushing initiatives to add pizza stores to the video stores so you could get pizza and a movie delivered. Game rentals were also a huge source of profit. By the end they were selling CBD products like every janky cornerstore, but I seriously think they would have kept going a few more years if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I actually am still a subscriber to Netflix DVD (believe it or not) which is finally going away this September. DVDs had a very long cool down. That being said, I think DVDs and Blu Rays might last a bit longer just because of how cheap they are to make. At Walmart and Target there are still people willing to pay 20 or 30 for a new Marvel movie, and now you get the DVD and the Blu Ray in the same pack (imagine they used to charge that for them separately). That tells me there’s still a little gas left in the tank unless the corporations literally deliberately kill them off to herd the last holdouts onto streaming.

[@jonesygrets6029]

Brilliant topic. Thank-you gents!

[@tchallaw3st]

Dagan is so pleasant to listen to.

[@bdre5555]

One thing I'm really happy about, is that my kids are old enough that they went with me many times to Blockbuster and Hollywood video when they were little to rent movies. They still remember it well and talk about it often. It's an era that will always be locked in the past. I live about 4 hours away from Bend, Oregon. I really need to make the pilgrimage out to the last Blockbuster on Earth some day.

[@drgonzo123]

I was born in 86 and am an only child so I have great memories of whenever my parents would get a new tv, I would get their old set. I started with a tv with nobs and no remote with a Nintendo and over the years inherited slightly better tvs every so often.

[@goblingirlgaming]

I ran a repair shop for all these electronics. It was a lot of fun working with the vendors for parts.

[@bryceneuberger3460]

Boredom isn't a matter of things to do, it's a capacity for creativity.

[@user-dj9iu2et3r]

Colin you unlocked a memory of a very ingenious younger version of myself that ALSO had that PS1 spring thing! I bought it (somehow got my parents to order it when I was like… 9 years old) SOLELY to play this JAPANESE version of Dragonball GT “Final Bout” that I ALSO somehow got my parents to order from Japan. I remember the day I got that disc to work… It was fucking amazing. That fighting game was just top notch Dragonball. I remember not being able to fully play the game because I couldn’t fucking read Japanese 😂.

[@bdre5555]

To this day, I still buy a handful of CDs at the least each year. To support the band's I enjoy, but also nothing will ever replace the experience of physical media in any medium. Physical media for life

[@maratsglad]

y’all getting me thru the tuesday

[@David-ys4xb]

I was born in '93 and my older brother and me would hump the consoles back and forth from our designated area (which was this weird hallway that must have been a room at some point b/c it was hilariously wide but no doors) to the living room so we could play on the big TV when the parents weren't home. Also, during the PS2 days with the separate network adapter you'd screw into the back, I remember frequently disconnecting the modem from the PC and dragging it upstairs so we could play Socom online.

[@johnnada6855]

I remember too, when i was a child in the 80s, non of our TVs had remote controls., we had two, a small TV that was the"color", it didn´t had buttons., it had like switches., like 10 metallic switches., you pressed one for one channel and the other switches stand up, like you could only press one switch at the time, and only for 10 channels, no more., we also had a bigger BLACK AND WHITE TV, that one you had to turn the circular switch like a washing machine to pick the channels and also only 10 channels, many people don´t remember but most TEENs used to play videogames in black and white TVs, i remember that i used to game in one of those

[@bdre5555]

This will be fun, since I fall between the ages of The Two Hosts. I have gone through a lot of technology in my time as far as movies. VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray and streaming of course. And I still love Blu-ray and 4K flu Blu-rays, which look gorgeous on the PS5

[@bdre5555]

I remember subscribing to those cassette tape and CD clubs through the mail. Where you could pick 12 albums, and then they would get shipped to you. And you would pay back the bill overtime. But getting that initial load of cassettes or CDs was almost orgasmic haha.

[@killerdude35]

I remember when TV broadcasts werent on 24/7. Channels went off at midnight and all you got was snow until...I dont remember when it came back on the next morning. Maybe 7:00am.

[@igpx07]

Love this episode! Actually started a side job and had about 50 clients so far. Been converting peoples or tapes to digital (easy enough since I’m a video editor) and did my own family tapes which is how it started! Love this topic

[@David-ys4xb]

Bradlees at Fox Run Mall in Newington! Fox Run is still standing as a mall, somehow.

[@crackcorn0404]

I had a young mother, so my Atari 2600 and NES were in the living room.

[@johnmichaeladelman1113]

28:20 - No way, my grandma's name is Betty Ann😯

[@john-wj4ks]

Colin, along time ago, you had me convinced that new movies should come out to a streaming service simultaneously with theatres. Now, with the ability of streaming services to alter movies, similar to how cable nixes content from movies for run time or content, I have gone back to owning particular movies on DVD/blu ray so if I ever want to watch them in their original form I can.

[@N7Null]

I still have my original PS1 with the spring in it and the Action Replay cartridge you plugged into the parallel port to play bootleg games. I remember we took it to some random gangster looking dude at the local swap meet when I was a kid and he set it all up. I think if you had the Action Replay or GameShark cartridge in the back you didn't need to pull the spinning disc out because you could stop it through the cartridge's menu. We used to go there and buy games off of him too for 5 bucks a pop. I remember playing a bunch of random shit like Tobal 2 and Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout Good times.

[@SplendorSolis]

You'd be surprised, those flat screen Sony Trinitrons are worth quite a bit of money nowadays; especially the big professional models.

[@Nilly-tube]

My dad got me a portable CD player and albums I wanted for Christmas when I was in 9th grade. It skipped with the slightest movment. I told him how awful it was and he swapped it out for a Sony with skip protection for like double the price. I used that badboy for years. Great Christmas - Thursday's Full Collapse and (Long Island's own) Glassjaw's Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence.

[@Jumpman67]

It's funny Colin mentioned that 1899 flowers is a big long island company. I live in NH and new a girl here. She moved to Ling Island and that's exactly where she works.

[@asviskagaliu]

cool

[@PlayLaughLogan]

It was kinda a random throwaway line but I just gotta say that Colin you really are insane if you genuinely think Game Pass should be like $99/monthly lmao 😅 Given the size of AAA games & schedule of the average user (assuming they work 9-5 or at least 40hr weeks), most probably can only play through 1 AAA title a month, maybe 2 which at that point makes the service no longer a deal. Not to mention that would also ruin the benefit indie titles get from being on the service because people wouldn't want to be spending $99 every month just to play indies, so will start sticking to the AAA offerings causing indies to lose the spotlight and the "oh well its on gamepass so I'll check it" status. $15 a month is the perfect price range because the average gamer only buys a few AAA games a year anyway at most & the subscription service provides guaranteed income instead of relying on periodic ala cart sales of new releases.

[@nickkarasch]

CRTs are making a comeback with retro gamers. I get it. Also this new 21:9 ultra wide monitor can go to hell, I still see 16:10 as the best.

[@vacuumblink2300]

Does anyone know what couch Colin has in his room?

[@grashoprsmith]

"Dorf"

[@bdre5555]

Dagan don't start with pronouncing Mario "MAYrio". That should be a crime!

[@hanes2]

. I grew up with cd and cassettes, but now it’s irrelevant and gone back to vinyl.

[@MyManJFKTV]

I would have loved if Dustin gave some Pittsburgh/Western Pennsylvania input on Iggle Video from Giant Eagle…or maybe he may have been too young for that.

[@scarrantsandreviews]

Dagan kinda sounds like Joe Rogan