The static on old CRT TVs with rabbit ears was the cosmic microwave background. No one in the last 25 years has ever seen it.
They haven’t?
I have a TV from ~2010 that still gives me static when something isn’t connected.
If they ever watch Poltergeist they’ll know it’s the TV people trying to get out.
The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel…
Dude Flatscreen HDTVs were expensive even in 2008, and cable actually got worse for higher price so most people were hooked into local broadcast.
Well, if they had watched any HBO show, they kind of saw it !
I still see it sometimes when connecting my Steam Deck to my TV
People born before 2000 think older technology just evaporated the minute the millenium ticked over.
Like when the black and white world suddenly got colorized! My grandpap told me about them old days - when the lawn, the sidewalk and the sky were just different shades of gray.
uhhh, yes i have? I’m pretty sure some of my younger cousins have lol
2001 here literally grew up with CRT static, you have your years a bit off there.
I was about to say, i think we had a CRT till about 2010. My grandma still has one upstairs so even my youngest cousins still grew up with it.
It really isn’t though. It is thermal noise.
Could it not be both?
Random radio sources, but a small part of the signal is CMB. I wasn’t sure what you even meant by thermal noise but I believe it’s a phenomenon of flatscreens. I found something that said it was “similar to snow on analog TVs” - so apparently there’s a difference.
Funnily, Google AI says, “In the 1940s, people could detect the CMB at home by tuning their TVs to channel 03 and measuring the remaining static after removing other sources. This allowed them to prove the Big Bang before scientists did.” So they had that going for 'em, which is nice.
Last time I thought about static I wondered why colour TV didn’t show colour static.
Turns out the colour signal was on very specific frequencies, and if it wasn’t present, it would assume it was a black and white signal and turn off the colour circuit.
Say that to my three CRTs. I was born in 2003.
Cosmic microwave? Is that what you are calling “ants in a snowstorm” these days?
Salt and pepper fighting.
“War of the Ants”, where I’m from (sweden).
ok Sweden wins this one
Ask your friend which side is winning, say you’re rooting for the black ants, then turn off the TV and claim victory.
Ant races
Umm… I had a CRT until 2009 and even sold it to someone.
Was it just me or has anyone seen or make out patterns while staring at it? I sometimes found it amusing
2002 here, we still had such a TV. For quite a while actually, since we never upgraded and just started using phones and computers instead. It became my console monitor.
Yeah OP full of shit. My three sons all born after 2000 have seen this. Hell my flat screen will show snow if I turn it to antenna and there nothing for single to pick up. Also I have console tv for our old gaming systems so they seen that as well
They also know how a vcr works and what a payphone is. We are not that far removed from that technology. Hell my middle son 17 has a record collection and cds. Also we have the cassette audiobook version of Stephen King Dolores Claiborne.
Modern Tv project fake static when there is no siginal because of fimilarity. OTA broadcasts are all digital, either you get a siginal or you dont.
Some TVs may project fake static.
Just because OTA broadcasts are digital doesn’t mean you are stuck with all or nothing. You can definitely have poor signal and see or hear something other than what was intended. Doesn’t manifest as analog static, but depending on your decoding and error correction schemes, you can have cut audio, frozen frames, iframe inconsistencies, and stuttering.
No digital is all or nothing. What you are describing is some digital packets making it through and the algothrim is designed to accept some packet loss and has error correction. Its more complicated then i make it out, but thats the jist of it.
It is nothing like analog thats being drowned out by background radiation.
