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It's a well done storytelling, but two odd thoughts/questions about it... As I was watching it, there was the drama of whether it would be saved from imminent

by neilv 2y ago

It's a well done storytelling, but two odd thoughts/questions about it... As I was watching it, there was the drama of whether it would be saved from imminent destruction, and it actually seemed unlikely that they could, but their approach was to be... secretive about it. It turned out that they wanted it for themselves, and didn't that create a conflict of interest? By keeping it quiet, they increased the chance that they would obtain it themselves (and the YouTube story to tell about it), but increased the likelihood that the TV would be lost entirely (because other efforts wouldn't be brought)? Fortunately the gamble worked out, and the TV wasn't destroyed. There's also a possibly related matter, in how Sony stopped talking with them. Is it possible that Sony and/or Japanese government aren't very happy to learn that a possibly unique museum piece, of one of the heights of Sony achievement, was quietly removed from the country, to the US, by a YouTube influencer? I applaud preserving this rare artifact, and compliment the storytelling, but did have these couple odd thoughts.

II2II 2y ago
With respect to keeping quiet about it: it may not have been selfless, but it may also have drawn so much attention to it that the owner of the set wouldn't have wanted to deal with it. After all, he had already dealt with one person who didn't follow through. As for the Sony not talking bit, it can probably be chalked up to corporate policy. Large organizations rarely let staff speak on matters when it may be construed as being speaking for the corporation.
- neilv 2y ago
  True. Although, would a call to a museum of Japanese technology/industry, or to Sony HQ, have had a better chance to preserve it? (More likely to save it, less likely for it to be destroyed in handling and shipping.) As well as keep it in country? Perhaps the current owners will be reached by a museum, and decide to repatriate it. I imagine that the right museum home could be a win for everyone.
  - Laforet 2y ago
    The other parties you mentioned would probably have less motivation to preserve it, let alone restore it to a fully functional state. I find it rather bizarre that many posters here seem to think that it’s morally preferable for the TV set to rot in Japan rather than getting the proper care in the hands of an American collector, all because of some imaginary cultural baggage.
    - patcon 2y ago
      Heh it strikes me that while the stakes of this "relic" are kinda low, it echos the conversations about institutions like the British Museum possessing historic artefacts :) some claim there is moral argument for it keeping its artefacts, because Britain can best preserve them and protect them from damage. Responsibility and autonomy to preserve one's own heritage (with the associated risk of failing to do so) is a longstanding ethical dilemma between cultures, and the answers aren't so clear imho! (This argument is much more compelling for museums, rather than Sony)
      - RhodesianHunter 2y ago
        I just don't think ancient artifacts are comparable to an old TV.
        bratwurst3000 2y ago
        hmmm i dont know. ancient artifacts sometimes highlight the technical and artistic possibilities of the time. In my opinion this tv represents very good consumer culture in the 80s as do amphitheaters in rome and greece their consumer culture.
      - Laforet 2y ago
        Yes, I am aware of those arguments and I am inclined to agree with you. Compared to cultural artifacts which are mostly neutral in terms of externalities, relics of the industrial era suffer more from the cobra effect. Others in this thread have bought up the future of ICEs and classic car preservation. Back in the early 2000s the US government offered people cash incentives to dispose of their fuel inefficient cars, and by disposal they meant running the engine with an abrasive liquid instead of oil until it is totally ruined beyond repair. Mechanics will tell you horror stories of rare car models being destroyed this way so the owners can claim a few hundred bucks from the DOT. I'm sure car collectors had a field day back then but with such a glut in the market they could not save everything that's worth saving. Shank Mods was able to obtain a copy of the service manual in English from somebody in the US. This fact probably means that the TV was sold on (or imported to) the domestic US market for a while. (Sony have always allowed individuals to order parts through an authorised service centre, and the latter often insist on requesting a repair manual first even if you are 100% sure of the part number) It's very likely that a number of them existed in the US only to be unceremoniously thrown out by their owners when LCD TVs became more popular. I bet nobody batted an eyelid when that happened.
2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
I agree. At the beginning I thought this was a conservation effort. Turns out to be the modern equivalent of colonisers stealing local artefacts. Why export this at all!?
- throwawaysleep 2y ago
  This example is what makes much of the "stealing" claim bogus, both for this and many artifacts. The Japanese owner wanted it gone and considered it trash. It wasn't some beloved item. Even Sony didn't care. And so much of what is considered "stolen" was given away by someone in that culture as trash.
  - yehat 2y ago
    That's the standard excuse of a thief. "I'm not stealing it, I'm saving it". Better stop the excusing.
    - throwawaysleep 2y ago
      Except that the owner is the one giving it away. The current owner doesn't claim theft. The only people claiming theft are a third party that never owned the property in question or at the time gave it away freely.
- xp84 2y ago
  Today I learned that carefully preserving an artefact that neither its owner nor anyone else in its origin country wanted = “colonizers stealing.”
  - throwawaysleep 2y ago
    This is the same for a lot of supposed “theft” by museums. Lots of “priceless” objects now were at the time junk, so they were thrown away.
    - 2y ago
tantalor 2y ago
> conflict of interest (nit) Please don't use "conflict of interest" that way (casually). It should only apply to situations where there are actual legal or ethical obligations in opposition. Nobody owes the online CRT community anything.
- neilv 2y ago
  Point understood, but do you think there's no obligations to communities or societies, other than those codified in law, contracts, or some (professional?) ethics? If those other obligations existed, could we say "conflict of interest" about them, or is there a better term or phrasing?
  - foobarchu 2y ago
    Not who you were responding to, but I think there is no conflict there. If he was a known member of some preservation society, then maybe there would be a conflict of interest of the ethical variety, but as far as I know this person is just an enthusiast. They serve their interests and no other, with respect to this particular space.
kcb 2y ago
Eh, what standard are we holding people to? You ever shop for a used car(maybe even some rare spec of a sports car)? When you finally found a good deal did you shout in the streets and put out an ad to make sure no one else is around to make a greater offer?
- ranger_danger 2y ago
  ~~Plus, who plays out a mental moral dilemma with a historical museum any time they want to buy something?~~ Actually I think this might be a false equivalency OP, because this isn't just any old used car. I think it's fair to at least stop and question whether this should go to some greater good or not.
  - pantalaimon 2y ago
    It’s the equivalent to an old sports car that was impractical when it was first released, but the pinnacle of its time.
rjmill 2y ago
From the interview with the TV's original owner, this seemed like his ideal outcome. The owner had seen discussions of the TV online and knew it was a big deal. But he still couldn't get rid of it until this guy came along. The owner even said he wanted the TV to go to someone who would use, appreciate, and take care of it. The video clearly demonstrates all of the above. If the TV ended up in some museum, forever powered off, that would be even more tragic in some ways. I didn't get the impression that anyone was bamboozled or cheated.
- rasz 2y ago
  > But he still couldn't get rid of it until this guy came along Yep. There are always droves of "it belongs in a museum" crowds, but when you ask if they want it there is only silence.
  - gyomu 2y ago
    The sad reality is that there are countless more things in the world that belong in museums than there is museum space/staff to properly take care of it.
    - syntheticnature 2y ago
      Or money. Note the Living Computer Museum basically collapsing after Paul Allen's death.
      - walrus01 2y ago
        This was, sadly, a conscious choice made by Allen long before his death. Same as with his airplane and tank collection. He had plenty of time and legal advice to set it up with an endowment that could allow for its continued yearly operational budget and chose not to do so. His heirs don't care about his personal toy collection so it's been sold off.
        ghaff 2y ago
Aurornis 2y ago
They posted on Twitter to find people who wanted to get involved > With no time to lose, Shank posted a call for help on Twitter, hoping someone in Osaka could investigate. Enter Abebe, a stranger who volunteered to check the location. The restaurant was about to be demolished. I don’t see any problems with this process or outcome. I think you’re comparing this outcome to an imagined alternative reality (going into a museum) that wasn’t even an option.
- philistine 2y ago
  Ultimately, Indiana Jones does not exist. Only collectors.
- msephton 2y ago
  Exactly. The idea alone is worthless. The guy in the video has the idea and executed on it.
ranger_danger 2y ago
It's interesting that they say they had such a hard time finding help, I have never heard about this entire endeavor until now, and the video mentions them desiring contacts at Sony with the display division, which I happen to have, and would have helped if I had known about it.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  It's not too late! I recommend that you reach out to him on Twitter or Facebook. If he really could secure that interview, I am sure he could release a follow-up video, or update his original video to add a final chapter.
  - nicolas_17 2y ago
    There's no such thing as "update the original video" on YouTube. Unless you're like, Linus Tech Tips size and contact your YouTube "account manager"; and there's probably limits to what you can use that power for.
thousand_nights 2y ago
i don't get the skepticism, yes a youtuber did a thing but without them probably no one would have cared and the TV would've ended up destroyed in the rubble of the building he even went to the lengths of calling up different CRT experts trying getting them to fix it all this negativism just feels like older people being all "zoomers bad" because the medium is not what they prefer. maybe we should just be happy to pass the torch and glad that younger generations even have interest in this sort of thing
- jonny_eh 2y ago
  The negativity struck me as jealousy. I honestly don't get it though. The YouTuber went through significant effort to save a very cool artifact, and then shared it with the world via a well made video. Bravo I say!
unscaled 2y ago
> There's also a possibly related matter, in how Sony stopped talking with them. Is it possible that Sony and/or Japanese government aren't very happy to learn that a possibly unique museum piece, of one of the heights of Sony achievement, was quietly removed from the country, to the US, by a YouTube influencer? I didn't read that as Sony being pissed off by. Occam's razor says it's more likely to be your regular corporate dysfunction. Japanese corporations do seem as a whole to be more concerned about preserving their history than US ones, and Sony did have a small museum called ソニー歴史資料館 (the Sony Archive), but that Museum closed down in 2018[1]. Meanwhile, Toyota has six different Museum dedicated to its history and the history of the industries it participated in (including textile — Toyota was a major textile machinery manufacturer before it was an automotive company). Sony still seems to display some of the archive's content in its headquarters, but I'm unclear how much of it. In general, closing the museum shows that preservation is perhaps important, but not very high on their priority list. But even if preservation was a top goal, you still can't expect every employee on the PR department to be dedicated to that. PR departments are generally more concerned with current events, and may view such an interview as a distraction that isn't worth their time. [1] https://nakamura.yokohama/sony-history-museum-36870.html https://nakamura.yokohama/sony-history-museum-36870.html
mrob 2y ago
If I was in charge of a big corporation that still made displays, I would not want to preserve CRTs because it could hurt the narrative that modern technology is strictly superior to old technology. If people thought about CRTs in a positive light they might realize that no modern display can match them in latency and motion quality when it comes to displaying 60fps content (as found in console and arcade games). I'd prefer that all CRTs were destroyed and forgotten.
- to11mtm 2y ago
  Good point TBH.
- Springtime 2y ago
  As much I appreciated the experience of no input latency CRTs they always gave me headaches after some hours due to the refresh rate flicker. LCDs were an immense relief even despite having very noticeable input latency for the same Hz (eg: cursor movement, which one gets accustomed to).
  - geerlingguy 2y ago
    And that high frequency whine that many people (myself included) can hear, that gets infuriating after a few hours of a TV remaining on.
    - ToucanLoucan 2y ago
      And the elephant in the room (literally): A moderate-sized CRT weighed a TON, burned through power, and took up substantial desk real estate. They definitely have their perks but I only own one CRT for retro gaming, and I wouldn't trade any of my newer monitors or TV's for a bulky old tube if you paid me. Hardest conceivable pass please.
      - neuralRiot 2y ago
        I used to run a dual 23” crt monitor setup, the day I replaced them with IPS LCDs I couldn’t believe how much desk was freed. On a side note i used to work on CRT TVs and i remember the 36” and how massive and heavy they were, I imagine this beast, specially being a trinitron as they were heavier than other brands of the same size, probably because they were flat on the vertical axis so the glass had to be thicker. Tri-tube projectors were also popular and you could project 150” easily on a dark room, the Sony models were mostly analog so probably the lag is not that bad.
giantfrog 2y ago
That’s not a conflict of interest, it’s just an interest
to11mtm 2y ago
> It turned out that they wanted it for themselves, and didn't that create a conflict of interest? By keeping it quiet, they increased the chance that they would obtain it themselves (and the YouTube story to tell about it), but increased the likelihood that the TV would be lost entirely (because other efforts wouldn't be brought)? Based on the timeline there was limited time to act. Additionally, given they did some public 'reach-out' posts (that wound up finding them the thing) there were theoretically others that could have tried to handle it via their own channels. Per the YT video's 'sponsorship', I'll note that shipping a ~450 pound TV and ~150-200 pound stand overseas in general is not a cheap, or easily logistical task given the timeframe. Esp if it's on the 2nd floor of a building to start (can't just do a simple hand hydraulic lift for the hard parts.) > There's also a possibly related matter, in how Sony stopped talking with them. Is it possible that Sony and/or Japanese government aren't very happy to learn that a possibly unique museum piece, of one of the heights of Sony achievement, was quietly removed from the country, to the US, by a YouTube influencer? Overthinking it perhaps. Sony has a lot of divisions and it's hard to get live assistance from them even if you are a current user of their products, at least speaking from personal experience with a couple different lines. ----- That said, the YT video drew things out way too much for drama's sake and it made me glad I have ad-free.
- reassembled 2y ago
  Arcade collectors are practically liquidating Japan of many valuable arcade cabinets and PCBs. Nobody cared about much of these items 10-15 years ago. The YouTube and Reddit subcultures have grown a new younger audience for retro gaming, who often have a lot of money to throw around buying up rare items. There are also IG accounts of folks in places like Dubai, who clearly have wealth, amassing large collections of Japanese retro game tech. If Japan, Sony or any other individual wanted to save this CRT for themselves, it would have been snatched up by now. The fact stands that the creator of the video is the only person on earth who did the detective work and put boots on the ground to make it their own rare CRT. Good work, I say!
  - rasz 2y ago
    >Arcade collectors are practically liquidating Japan of many valuable arcade cabinets and PCBs Funny you say Japan when same thing is happening to US Arcades :) Here an interview with Euro importer: '453: Resurrecting Arcades: Meet Europe’s Biggest Arcade Importer - The Retro Hour EP453' - The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast) 1 Nov 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzfVLY5Ag3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzfVLY5Ag3s One of the stories is him buying out half of Las Vegas rare arcades auction for pennies because he was the only one willing to sit all night clicking on bids.
ahartmetz 2y ago
I also had an odd feeling avout several other enthusiasts travelling to the guy's place presumably at their own cost, spending a lot of time to repair / tune up the thing, and in the end, our hero just adds it to his collection.
- cheema33 2y ago
  If I were passionate about something, I would fly in to play with it and tweak it on my own dime. Did you get the impression that somebody was swindled in this process?
  - alibarber 2y ago
    Being able to physically mess around with something I’m passionate about, and learn and share info about it - without any of the overhead of actually storing the thing or the logistics behind it or whatever is something I actively seek out. Heck, legit museums charge entry for that.
  - ahartmetz 2y ago
    No actually, he just didn't mention any favors going the other way. Well, I don't really know how that community works, but I remember reading about the restoration of an old pinball machine where parts, money and favors were exchanged, not just given / taken.
- roywiggins 2y ago
  Getting a chance to work on this unique device is probably its own reward for them.
- chiph 2y ago
  Just knowing it still exists and is owned by someone as passionate as the YTer would be enough for me. And the possibility of paying visits and playing classic games on it. What got me was the four-player game where each player effectively had their own 21" monitor. Mind-boggling.
eboynyc32 2y ago
Oh god who cares!!
LastTrain 2y ago
The email he shared that he was sending to Sony was obnoxious “this is a chance for some wicked awesome free PR for Sony..” so it is kind of no wonder they stopped talking to him. Other than that, he never said he was doing it for the good of humanity or anything, he just wanted it and found a way to make it happen, I admire the pluck.
- nharada 2y ago
  It might be pretty on the nose but I don't see why that would make them stop talking to him. Wouldn't that be the reason they'd approve a corporate interview in the first place? I doubt they'd do it for no reason
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
hbarka 2y ago
You’re overthinking it. Sony is no longer the same Sony.
fennecbutt 2y ago
Quietly removed from the country but if they truly were worried about that then they only have themselves to blame. Only giving value when something is already gone is kind of a toxic trait. It means you don't actually value it and you have other motives.

by neilv 2y ago

II2II 2y ago

With respect to keeping quiet about it: it may not have been selfless, but it may also have drawn so much attention to it that the owner of the set wouldn't have wanted to deal with it. After all, he had already dealt with one person who didn't follow through. As for the Sony not talking bit, it can probably be chalked up to corporate policy. Large organizations rarely let staff speak on matters when it may be construed as being speaking for the corporation.

neilv 2y ago
True. Although, would a call to a museum of Japanese technology/industry, or to Sony HQ, have had a better chance to preserve it? (More likely to save it, less likely for it to be destroyed in handling and shipping.) As well as keep it in country? Perhaps the current owners will be reached by a museum, and decide to repatriate it. I imagine that the right museum home could be a win for everyone.
- Laforet 2y ago
  The other parties you mentioned would probably have less motivation to preserve it, let alone restore it to a fully functional state. I find it rather bizarre that many posters here seem to think that it’s morally preferable for the TV set to rot in Japan rather than getting the proper care in the hands of an American collector, all because of some imaginary cultural baggage.
  - patcon 2y ago
    Heh it strikes me that while the stakes of this "relic" are kinda low, it echos the conversations about institutions like the British Museum possessing historic artefacts :) some claim there is moral argument for it keeping its artefacts, because Britain can best preserve them and protect them from damage. Responsibility and autonomy to preserve one's own heritage (with the associated risk of failing to do so) is a longstanding ethical dilemma between cultures, and the answers aren't so clear imho! (This argument is much more compelling for museums, rather than Sony)
    - RhodesianHunter 2y ago
      I just don't think ancient artifacts are comparable to an old TV.
      - bratwurst3000 2y ago
        hmmm i dont know. ancient artifacts sometimes highlight the technical and artistic possibilities of the time. In my opinion this tv represents very good consumer culture in the 80s as do amphitheaters in rome and greece their consumer culture.
    - Laforet 2y ago
      Yes, I am aware of those arguments and I am inclined to agree with you. Compared to cultural artifacts which are mostly neutral in terms of externalities, relics of the industrial era suffer more from the cobra effect. Others in this thread have bought up the future of ICEs and classic car preservation. Back in the early 2000s the US government offered people cash incentives to dispose of their fuel inefficient cars, and by disposal they meant running the engine with an abrasive liquid instead of oil until it is totally ruined beyond repair. Mechanics will tell you horror stories of rare car models being destroyed this way so the owners can claim a few hundred bucks from the DOT. I'm sure car collectors had a field day back then but with such a glut in the market they could not save everything that's worth saving. Shank Mods was able to obtain a copy of the service manual in English from somebody in the US. This fact probably means that the TV was sold on (or imported to) the domestic US market for a while. (Sony have always allowed individuals to order parts through an authorised service centre, and the latter often insist on requesting a repair manual first even if you are 100% sure of the part number) It's very likely that a number of them existed in the US only to be unceremoniously thrown out by their owners when LCD TVs became more popular. I bet nobody batted an eyelid when that happened.

2muchcoffeeman 2y ago

I agree. At the beginning I thought this was a conservation effort. Turns out to be the modern equivalent of colonisers stealing local artefacts. Why export this at all!?

throwawaysleep 2y ago
This example is what makes much of the "stealing" claim bogus, both for this and many artifacts. The Japanese owner wanted it gone and considered it trash. It wasn't some beloved item. Even Sony didn't care. And so much of what is considered "stolen" was given away by someone in that culture as trash.
- yehat 2y ago
  That's the standard excuse of a thief. "I'm not stealing it, I'm saving it". Better stop the excusing.
  - throwawaysleep 2y ago
    Except that the owner is the one giving it away. The current owner doesn't claim theft. The only people claiming theft are a third party that never owned the property in question or at the time gave it away freely.
xp84 2y ago
Today I learned that carefully preserving an artefact that neither its owner nor anyone else in its origin country wanted = “colonizers stealing.”
- throwawaysleep 2y ago
  This is the same for a lot of supposed “theft” by museums. Lots of “priceless” objects now were at the time junk, so they were thrown away.
  - 2y ago

tantalor 2y ago

> conflict of interest (nit) Please don't use "conflict of interest" that way (casually). It should only apply to situations where there are actual legal or ethical obligations in opposition. Nobody owes the online CRT community anything.

neilv 2y ago
Point understood, but do you think there's no obligations to communities or societies, other than those codified in law, contracts, or some (professional?) ethics? If those other obligations existed, could we say "conflict of interest" about them, or is there a better term or phrasing?
- foobarchu 2y ago
  Not who you were responding to, but I think there is no conflict there. If he was a known member of some preservation society, then maybe there would be a conflict of interest of the ethical variety, but as far as I know this person is just an enthusiast. They serve their interests and no other, with respect to this particular space.

kcb 2y ago

Eh, what standard are we holding people to? You ever shop for a used car(maybe even some rare spec of a sports car)? When you finally found a good deal did you shout in the streets and put out an ad to make sure no one else is around to make a greater offer?

ranger_danger 2y ago
~~Plus, who plays out a mental moral dilemma with a historical museum any time they want to buy something?~~ Actually I think this might be a false equivalency OP, because this isn't just any old used car. I think it's fair to at least stop and question whether this should go to some greater good or not.
- pantalaimon 2y ago
  It’s the equivalent to an old sports car that was impractical when it was first released, but the pinnacle of its time.

rjmill 2y ago

From the interview with the TV's original owner, this seemed like his ideal outcome. The owner had seen discussions of the TV online and knew it was a big deal. But he still couldn't get rid of it until this guy came along. The owner even said he wanted the TV to go to someone who would use, appreciate, and take care of it. The video clearly demonstrates all of the above. If the TV ended up in some museum, forever powered off, that would be even more tragic in some ways. I didn't get the impression that anyone was bamboozled or cheated.

rasz 2y ago
> But he still couldn't get rid of it until this guy came along Yep. There are always droves of "it belongs in a museum" crowds, but when you ask if they want it there is only silence.
- gyomu 2y ago
  The sad reality is that there are countless more things in the world that belong in museums than there is museum space/staff to properly take care of it.
  - syntheticnature 2y ago
    Or money. Note the Living Computer Museum basically collapsing after Paul Allen's death.
    - walrus01 2y ago
      This was, sadly, a conscious choice made by Allen long before his death. Same as with his airplane and tank collection. He had plenty of time and legal advice to set it up with an endowment that could allow for its continued yearly operational budget and chose not to do so. His heirs don't care about his personal toy collection so it's been sold off.
      - ghaff 2y ago

Aurornis 2y ago

They posted on Twitter to find people who wanted to get involved > With no time to lose, Shank posted a call for help on Twitter, hoping someone in Osaka could investigate. Enter Abebe, a stranger who volunteered to check the location. The restaurant was about to be demolished. I don’t see any problems with this process or outcome. I think you’re comparing this outcome to an imagined alternative reality (going into a museum) that wasn’t even an option.

philistine 2y ago
Ultimately, Indiana Jones does not exist. Only collectors.
msephton 2y ago
Exactly. The idea alone is worthless. The guy in the video has the idea and executed on it.

ranger_danger 2y ago

It's interesting that they say they had such a hard time finding help, I have never heard about this entire endeavor until now, and the video mentions them desiring contacts at Sony with the display division, which I happen to have, and would have helped if I had known about it.

throwaway2037 2y ago
It's not too late! I recommend that you reach out to him on Twitter or Facebook. If he really could secure that interview, I am sure he could release a follow-up video, or update his original video to add a final chapter.
- nicolas_17 2y ago
  There's no such thing as "update the original video" on YouTube. Unless you're like, Linus Tech Tips size and contact your YouTube "account manager"; and there's probably limits to what you can use that power for.

thousand_nights 2y ago

i don't get the skepticism, yes a youtuber did a thing but without them probably no one would have cared and the TV would've ended up destroyed in the rubble of the building he even went to the lengths of calling up different CRT experts trying getting them to fix it all this negativism just feels like older people being all "zoomers bad" because the medium is not what they prefer. maybe we should just be happy to pass the torch and glad that younger generations even have interest in this sort of thing

jonny_eh 2y ago
The negativity struck me as jealousy. I honestly don't get it though. The YouTuber went through significant effort to save a very cool artifact, and then shared it with the world via a well made video. Bravo I say!

unscaled 2y ago

> There's also a possibly related matter, in how Sony stopped talking with them. Is it possible that Sony and/or Japanese government aren't very happy to learn that a possibly unique museum piece, of one of the heights of Sony achievement, was quietly removed from the country, to the US, by a YouTube influencer? I didn't read that as Sony being pissed off by. Occam's razor says it's more likely to be your regular corporate dysfunction. Japanese corporations do seem as a whole to be more concerned about preserving their history than US ones, and Sony did have a small museum called ソニー歴史資料館 (the Sony Archive), but that Museum closed down in 2018[1]. Meanwhile, Toyota has six different Museum dedicated to its history and the history of the industries it participated in (including textile — Toyota was a major textile machinery manufacturer before it was an automotive company). Sony still seems to display some of the archive's content in its headquarters, but I'm unclear how much of it. In general, closing the museum shows that preservation is perhaps important, but not very high on their priority list. But even if preservation was a top goal, you still can't expect every employee on the PR department to be dedicated to that. PR departments are generally more concerned with current events, and may view such an interview as a distraction that isn't worth their time. [1] https://nakamura.yokohama/sony-history-museum-36870.html https://nakamura.yokohama/sony-history-museum-36870.html

mrob 2y ago

If I was in charge of a big corporation that still made displays, I would not want to preserve CRTs because it could hurt the narrative that modern technology is strictly superior to old technology. If people thought about CRTs in a positive light they might realize that no modern display can match them in latency and motion quality when it comes to displaying 60fps content (as found in console and arcade games). I'd prefer that all CRTs were destroyed and forgotten.

to11mtm 2y ago
Good point TBH.
Springtime 2y ago
As much I appreciated the experience of no input latency CRTs they always gave me headaches after some hours due to the refresh rate flicker. LCDs were an immense relief even despite having very noticeable input latency for the same Hz (eg: cursor movement, which one gets accustomed to).
- geerlingguy 2y ago
  And that high frequency whine that many people (myself included) can hear, that gets infuriating after a few hours of a TV remaining on.
  - ToucanLoucan 2y ago
    And the elephant in the room (literally): A moderate-sized CRT weighed a TON, burned through power, and took up substantial desk real estate. They definitely have their perks but I only own one CRT for retro gaming, and I wouldn't trade any of my newer monitors or TV's for a bulky old tube if you paid me. Hardest conceivable pass please.
    - neuralRiot 2y ago
      I used to run a dual 23” crt monitor setup, the day I replaced them with IPS LCDs I couldn’t believe how much desk was freed. On a side note i used to work on CRT TVs and i remember the 36” and how massive and heavy they were, I imagine this beast, specially being a trinitron as they were heavier than other brands of the same size, probably because they were flat on the vertical axis so the glass had to be thicker. Tri-tube projectors were also popular and you could project 150” easily on a dark room, the Sony models were mostly analog so probably the lag is not that bad.

giantfrog 2y ago

That’s not a conflict of interest, it’s just an interest

to11mtm 2y ago

> It turned out that they wanted it for themselves, and didn't that create a conflict of interest? By keeping it quiet, they increased the chance that they would obtain it themselves (and the YouTube story to tell about it), but increased the likelihood that the TV would be lost entirely (because other efforts wouldn't be brought)? Based on the timeline there was limited time to act. Additionally, given they did some public 'reach-out' posts (that wound up finding them the thing) there were theoretically others that could have tried to handle it via their own channels. Per the YT video's 'sponsorship', I'll note that shipping a ~450 pound TV and ~150-200 pound stand overseas in general is not a cheap, or easily logistical task given the timeframe. Esp if it's on the 2nd floor of a building to start (can't just do a simple hand hydraulic lift for the hard parts.) > There's also a possibly related matter, in how Sony stopped talking with them. Is it possible that Sony and/or Japanese government aren't very happy to learn that a possibly unique museum piece, of one of the heights of Sony achievement, was quietly removed from the country, to the US, by a YouTube influencer? Overthinking it perhaps. Sony has a lot of divisions and it's hard to get live assistance from them even if you are a current user of their products, at least speaking from personal experience with a couple different lines. ----- That said, the YT video drew things out way too much for drama's sake and it made me glad I have ad-free.

reassembled 2y ago
Arcade collectors are practically liquidating Japan of many valuable arcade cabinets and PCBs. Nobody cared about much of these items 10-15 years ago. The YouTube and Reddit subcultures have grown a new younger audience for retro gaming, who often have a lot of money to throw around buying up rare items. There are also IG accounts of folks in places like Dubai, who clearly have wealth, amassing large collections of Japanese retro game tech. If Japan, Sony or any other individual wanted to save this CRT for themselves, it would have been snatched up by now. The fact stands that the creator of the video is the only person on earth who did the detective work and put boots on the ground to make it their own rare CRT. Good work, I say!
- rasz 2y ago
  >Arcade collectors are practically liquidating Japan of many valuable arcade cabinets and PCBs Funny you say Japan when same thing is happening to US Arcades :) Here an interview with Euro importer: '453: Resurrecting Arcades: Meet Europe’s Biggest Arcade Importer - The Retro Hour EP453' - The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast) 1 Nov 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzfVLY5Ag3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzfVLY5Ag3s One of the stories is him buying out half of Las Vegas rare arcades auction for pennies because he was the only one willing to sit all night clicking on bids.

ahartmetz 2y ago

I also had an odd feeling avout several other enthusiasts travelling to the guy's place presumably at their own cost, spending a lot of time to repair / tune up the thing, and in the end, our hero just adds it to his collection.

cheema33 2y ago
If I were passionate about something, I would fly in to play with it and tweak it on my own dime. Did you get the impression that somebody was swindled in this process?
- alibarber 2y ago
  Being able to physically mess around with something I’m passionate about, and learn and share info about it - without any of the overhead of actually storing the thing or the logistics behind it or whatever is something I actively seek out. Heck, legit museums charge entry for that.
- ahartmetz 2y ago
  No actually, he just didn't mention any favors going the other way. Well, I don't really know how that community works, but I remember reading about the restoration of an old pinball machine where parts, money and favors were exchanged, not just given / taken.
roywiggins 2y ago
Getting a chance to work on this unique device is probably its own reward for them.
chiph 2y ago
Just knowing it still exists and is owned by someone as passionate as the YTer would be enough for me. And the possibility of paying visits and playing classic games on it. What got me was the four-player game where each player effectively had their own 21" monitor. Mind-boggling.

eboynyc32 2y ago

Oh god who cares!!

LastTrain 2y ago

The email he shared that he was sending to Sony was obnoxious “this is a chance for some wicked awesome free PR for Sony..” so it is kind of no wonder they stopped talking to him. Other than that, he never said he was doing it for the good of humanity or anything, he just wanted it and found a way to make it happen, I admire the pluck.

nharada 2y ago
It might be pretty on the nose but I don't see why that would make them stop talking to him. Wouldn't that be the reason they'd approve a corporate interview in the first place? I doubt they'd do it for no reason

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

hbarka 2y ago

You’re overthinking it. Sony is no longer the same Sony.

fennecbutt 2y ago

Quietly removed from the country but if they truly were worried about that then they only have themselves to blame. Only giving value when something is already gone is kind of a toxic trait. It means you don't actually value it and you have other motives.