9 ms·

I urge every one in HN to give this masterpiece a read - "Made in Japan". It's an autobiography of the founder of Sony himself and there is a section in the boo

by neya 9y ago

I urge every one in HN to give this masterpiece a read - "Made in Japan". It's an autobiography of the founder of Sony himself and there is a section in the book where he talks about the engineering and spirit that went behind these TVs. In fact, he talks a lot about the engineering spirit that made Sony the Apple of its era. If you liked Steve Job's biography, you'll certainly love this.[1] Cheers. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Made-Japan-Akio-Morita-Sony/dp/0451151712 https://www.amazon.com/Made-Japan-Akio-Morita-Sony/dp/045115...

Unklejoe 9y ago
Cool. This isn't related to TVs, but I have a couple pieces of old Sony HiFi equipment from the very early 1970's and I'm always amazed by the quality and attention to detail Sony had back then. I feel like it's back when Sony had something to prove. This may have been the case for most consumer electronics manufacturers back then though. One is a TA-1130 amplifier, and the other is a reel-to-reel tape player (I forget the model). The most amazing to me is that the reel-to-reel still works fine after nearly 50 years, considering all the moving parts.
- petepete 9y ago
  The record player in my dad's mid-80s Sony hifi recently stopped working. He called the local Sony store to buy a spare part and the assistant was born after the part ceased production. Begrudgingly he had to replace the record player. Every (remaining) part of that old Sony is beautiful, unmistakably 80s but so well designed and finished it's still a joy to use; plus it sounds great.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    > the assistant was born after the part ceased production I can't help but wonder if there's some correlation there. Perhaps the assistant's father was so dismayed at the part's cessation that the only comfort he could attain was in the arms of his wife.
    - bladecatcher 9y ago
      Did you mean causation and not correlation here?
      - StavrosK 9y ago
        I did, thank you, although causation implies correlation as well.
  - Torgo 9y ago
    Sometimes you can buy brand new "old stock" of Sony equipment like that on Ebay.
    - rbanffy 9y ago
      I think I saw boxed Trinitron tubes for sale there the other day.
supersrdjan 9y ago
Yes, this is an excellent book. I like how it gets boring towards the end as the discussion turns to USA-Japan import/export issues and other less inspiring subjects. As the book slips into being boring it coincides with the decline of Sony so it's symbolic. But it's only perhaps the final third that is boring. Otherwise, it's a great read that rarely gets mentioned online.
ousta 9y ago
for me sony is not the apple of its era but much more. It is simply spoken the greatest electronics company that ever existed and their peak was the AIBO
- frou_dh 9y ago
  Sorry to be a grouch, but I had an AIBO (2nd gen) and the thing was overall corny and very limited, even at the time. Lightyears away from inducing any suspension of disbelief. (It's that robotic dog, for anyone wondering)
- astrodust 9y ago
  No love for the PS2 which was the champion of its era? By the time the PS3 rolled around Sony was getting a little too full of itself, lacking the competitive fire that made products like the Walkman and the Trinitron screen. It was a good console, but not one that redefined what a console was.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    Another thing that happened in that time was the infighting between the media production branches and the electronics branch.
  - laumars 9y ago
    > No love for the PS2 which was the champion of its era? Champion perhaps in terms of sales, but the Dreamcast felt like the more forward thinking console of that generation. It introduced the console industry to online gaming, downloadable content (it was free on the DC though), the idea of games being able to write portable mini games. Ok, that was badly executed but the VMU still had other cool quirks which was new for its era, like an LCD screen showing in game graphics. The PlayStation 2, as nice as it was, was really just a hardware upgrade rather than a paradigm shift
    - rbanffy 9y ago
      The Dreamcast ran a version of Windows CE. It's kind of a recurring pattern - you partner with Microsoft, they learn from you, help you design just the perfect API for your use case, then they launch either a competitor or something that allows their licensees to compete against you. At the time we called it a bacon and eggs partnership where they are the chicken and you are the pig.
jimmies 9y ago
Sony was so legendary in terms of their CRT. There is a saying in Vietnam that goes "Sharp/Fine like a Sony," when someone talks about an act, a product, or a person so fine. That's in the context of a culture that does not (as) often associate products with brands (for example, they say photocopy instead of xerox, clasp locker instead of zipper, permanent marker instead of sharpie,...)
rasz 9y ago
You might also want to watch Frontline: Coming From Japan [The Fall Of The US Television Industry] (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJTsZqm6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJTsZqm6c and read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/30/japan-and-the-big-squeeze/0fb1617e-8756-4390-a776-f1619d59869a/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/30/j... to understand what happened in home electronics, especially TV sector. It was an economical revenge for WW2.

by neya 9y ago

Unklejoe 9y ago

Cool. This isn't related to TVs, but I have a couple pieces of old Sony HiFi equipment from the very early 1970's and I'm always amazed by the quality and attention to detail Sony had back then. I feel like it's back when Sony had something to prove. This may have been the case for most consumer electronics manufacturers back then though. One is a TA-1130 amplifier, and the other is a reel-to-reel tape player (I forget the model). The most amazing to me is that the reel-to-reel still works fine after nearly 50 years, considering all the moving parts.

petepete 9y ago
The record player in my dad's mid-80s Sony hifi recently stopped working. He called the local Sony store to buy a spare part and the assistant was born after the part ceased production. Begrudgingly he had to replace the record player. Every (remaining) part of that old Sony is beautiful, unmistakably 80s but so well designed and finished it's still a joy to use; plus it sounds great.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  > the assistant was born after the part ceased production I can't help but wonder if there's some correlation there. Perhaps the assistant's father was so dismayed at the part's cessation that the only comfort he could attain was in the arms of his wife.
  - bladecatcher 9y ago
    Did you mean causation and not correlation here?
    - StavrosK 9y ago
      I did, thank you, although causation implies correlation as well.
- Torgo 9y ago
  Sometimes you can buy brand new "old stock" of Sony equipment like that on Ebay.
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    I think I saw boxed Trinitron tubes for sale there the other day.

supersrdjan 9y ago

Yes, this is an excellent book. I like how it gets boring towards the end as the discussion turns to USA-Japan import/export issues and other less inspiring subjects. As the book slips into being boring it coincides with the decline of Sony so it's symbolic. But it's only perhaps the final third that is boring. Otherwise, it's a great read that rarely gets mentioned online.

ousta 9y ago

for me sony is not the apple of its era but much more. It is simply spoken the greatest electronics company that ever existed and their peak was the AIBO

frou_dh 9y ago
Sorry to be a grouch, but I had an AIBO (2nd gen) and the thing was overall corny and very limited, even at the time. Lightyears away from inducing any suspension of disbelief. (It's that robotic dog, for anyone wondering)
astrodust 9y ago
No love for the PS2 which was the champion of its era? By the time the PS3 rolled around Sony was getting a little too full of itself, lacking the competitive fire that made products like the Walkman and the Trinitron screen. It was a good console, but not one that redefined what a console was.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  Another thing that happened in that time was the infighting between the media production branches and the electronics branch.
- laumars 9y ago
  > No love for the PS2 which was the champion of its era? Champion perhaps in terms of sales, but the Dreamcast felt like the more forward thinking console of that generation. It introduced the console industry to online gaming, downloadable content (it was free on the DC though), the idea of games being able to write portable mini games. Ok, that was badly executed but the VMU still had other cool quirks which was new for its era, like an LCD screen showing in game graphics. The PlayStation 2, as nice as it was, was really just a hardware upgrade rather than a paradigm shift
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    The Dreamcast ran a version of Windows CE. It's kind of a recurring pattern - you partner with Microsoft, they learn from you, help you design just the perfect API for your use case, then they launch either a competitor or something that allows their licensees to compete against you. At the time we called it a bacon and eggs partnership where they are the chicken and you are the pig.

jimmies 9y ago

Sony was so legendary in terms of their CRT. There is a saying in Vietnam that goes "Sharp/Fine like a Sony," when someone talks about an act, a product, or a person so fine. That's in the context of a culture that does not (as) often associate products with brands (for example, they say photocopy instead of xerox, clasp locker instead of zipper, permanent marker instead of sharpie,...)

rasz 9y ago

You might also want to watch Frontline: Coming From Japan [The Fall Of The US Television Industry] (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJTsZqm6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aesJTsZqm6c and read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/30/japan-and-the-big-squeeze/0fb1617e-8756-4390-a776-f1619d59869a/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/09/30/j... to understand what happened in home electronics, especially TV sector. It was an economical revenge for WW2.