4 ms·

That’s a later development in CRT TVs, where if there’s no signal you get a flat blue generated by the TV instead of noise. Hence the often quoted tidbit that G

That’s a later development in CRT TVs, where if there’s no signal you get a flat blue generated by the TV instead of noise. Hence the often quoted tidbit that Gibson’s line “The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel” (close enough) doesn’t scan as a grey sky for younger readers.

wruza 7y ago
Hmm, I do remember both. It was not even grey, static is high-contrast flickering of b/w dots or short lines with an amount of random grey between them (maybe soviet static was staticker, idk). For me and sky, blue makes sense, static just doesn’t. If I read it before blue screens appeared, maybe it could. https://www.canstockphoto.com/real-tv-static-10531607.html https://www.canstockphoto.com/real-tv-static-10531607.html
- jacobush 7y ago
  I think you are supposed to view the CRT from a bit afar, then you'd get that gray feeling. Also these "bands" were either jumping too much up and down to be noticable or not appearing at all on the old purely analog sets. As I remember them, the static was truly chaotic, no lines.
  - wruza 7y ago
    I guess it may depend on a signal saturation. Some empty channels were relatively dim and sparse, and some screamed white morse at you. That picture is not exactly what we should have seen, for one I cannot count 500+ lines in there. It must be only a part of a screen or a non-standard resolution (or a very short expo that captured half-frame?). Couldn’t find a good one quickly.
- taneq 7y ago
  > static is high-contrast flickering of b/w dots or short lines with an amount of random grey between them Like snow, even. Hence 'Snow Crash'. :) I imagine the sky in a predominantly cold, snowy or rainy place could look a bit like static. Dry sunny climates are tend to be more "A/V 1" blue. :)
  - jameshart 7y ago
    Static also has the quality of lacking scale, and containing spurious signal that your visual cortex tries to lock onto but never can. I always read the neuromancer sky as having that same kind of depthless gray and false motion that I associate with tv snow. A color you can see but can’t rest your eyes on.
    - taneq 7y ago
      Exactly! It’s white noise in visual form. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
- woobar 7y ago
  HBO still uses this "static analogue flickering" in their logo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Oh7HizY5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Oh7HizY5I

wruza 7y ago

Hmm, I do remember both. It was not even grey, static is high-contrast flickering of b/w dots or short lines with an amount of random grey between them (maybe soviet static was staticker, idk). For me and sky, blue makes sense, static just doesn’t. If I read it before blue screens appeared, maybe it could. https://www.canstockphoto.com/real-tv-static-10531607.html https://www.canstockphoto.com/real-tv-static-10531607.html

jacobush 7y ago
I think you are supposed to view the CRT from a bit afar, then you'd get that gray feeling. Also these "bands" were either jumping too much up and down to be noticable or not appearing at all on the old purely analog sets. As I remember them, the static was truly chaotic, no lines.
- wruza 7y ago
  I guess it may depend on a signal saturation. Some empty channels were relatively dim and sparse, and some screamed white morse at you. That picture is not exactly what we should have seen, for one I cannot count 500+ lines in there. It must be only a part of a screen or a non-standard resolution (or a very short expo that captured half-frame?). Couldn’t find a good one quickly.
taneq 7y ago
> static is high-contrast flickering of b/w dots or short lines with an amount of random grey between them Like snow, even. Hence 'Snow Crash'. :) I imagine the sky in a predominantly cold, snowy or rainy place could look a bit like static. Dry sunny climates are tend to be more "A/V 1" blue. :)
- jameshart 7y ago
  Static also has the quality of lacking scale, and containing spurious signal that your visual cortex tries to lock onto but never can. I always read the neuromancer sky as having that same kind of depthless gray and false motion that I associate with tv snow. A color you can see but can’t rest your eyes on.
  - taneq 7y ago
    Exactly! It’s white noise in visual form. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
woobar 7y ago
HBO still uses this "static analogue flickering" in their logo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Oh7HizY5I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Oh7HizY5I