Serving the greater Ft. Worth area, Tarrant, Denton, & Wise Counties since 1992.

Some Interesting Facts

In 1992:

- The resolution on televisions was 220 _ 440 at best. Now new TV's are 720 to 1080.

- Laser Discs were on the way out and DVD's were not on the map yet. But VHS was definitely in!!! In 4-head stereo.

- Satellite systems costs were $1000 _ 3500. Depending on features. The dishes were 10 feet in diameter and required a city council vote in some towns (Trophy Club).

- Big televisions were 52" and weighed a ton. They took up a lot of space and had to have cabinets built around them.

- In-ceiling speakers were what you bought from Radio Shack and sound like a tin can.

- Recording was done on a Hi-Fi 4-head VCR.

- Universal remotes were mini-computers and took a degree to operate.

- A/V receivers featured "Dolby surround sound" in four channels.

- Great audio speakers were towers - literally. Subwoofers were end tables.

- Mounting a TV on the wall, was cutting a hole out of the wall, making a shelf on the backside, and then sliding a "tube" TV in and masking it with a frame.

- Whole house audio was either a boombox, your 2 channel hi-Fi in the bedroom, or a $10,000 system.

- CD's were for computers only. Cassette tape players were a must for any family room system.

- One big television per household, with maybe an older bedroom television and/or kitchen television.

- All local programming was off of aerial antennas installed either in the attic or on top of the house. Every house had an antenna. And the channels were FREE!!!!

- Telephones were wired!

- Computer networking was for big corporations.

- Fiber was the type of material you were sewing with.

- Plasmas were used by the military and cost in the tens of thousands.

- LCD was on microwave.

- DLP hadn't been heard of yet.

- Laptop was board with a cushion under it to set your book on top of to read.

- World Wide Web was for computer techies who still used DOS.

- CB Radio, Shortwave Radio was still very popular. Especially with electronic buffs and truck drivers.

- Two-channel amps were the most expensive amps and still had tube circuits - a must for an avid audiophile.

- New movies came out once a month at the video store and had a 6-8 month lag time behind the movie theater. The tapes costs $60 to $80. And they were tapes!

- Sports was on two channels _ ESPN and sports-southwest.

- Movies were on two channels HBO and Showtime _ unless you had satellite and then you got east and west feeds.

- You could catch "raw" feeds from national events/disasters/live sports on satellite channels _FREE.

- Wall plates came in two colors _ white and ivory. And you either had a TV outlet or a phone outlet. Not both in one.

- Volume control was a knob on your TV.

- Remotes were "clickers".

- Radio was AM and FM.

- Televisions lasted as long as the family dog. Now they have expiration dates.

- Great family entertainment was making a bowl of popcorn and everyone sitting in the family room watching a movie.

- Electronic games consisted of playing Mario Brothers on the Nintendo hooked up to the old 19" tube in the kids room.

- There might be one "cordless" phone in the house

- Mail actually took a week to get and came to a box outside your front door.

- Contacting someone actually meant talking to them on the phone _ live.

- To research something, you went to the library.

- You actually used the phonebook to find someone.

- You read a newspaper or watched the 6 o'clock news to find out what was going on.

- You looked through the paper for sale ads on televisions or checked the yellow pages for the nearest dealer.

- The only "Big Box" electronic store was Incredible Universe in Arlington owned by Radio Shack. There were 2.

- There were TV repair shops to take your TV to. And weren't they lovely too.

- Companies actually answered the phone at their offices in their city.

- Electronics were still being built in America.

- "TV in the car" meant you were transporting it from one place to another.

- Televisions were major purchases. You went to the store, choose a color and style and size, purchased it with either cash, check, or your credit card (you only had one, remember), and then had it delivered because it was so big!!!!