My Dad didn't have his first remote control until 1984.

The first remote i remember was a sonic thing, I believe a Zenith "Space Command". It used 3 simple buttons, and emitted some kind of ultrasound to the set. Crude, but it worked.

The thing this overlong, unbelievably boring "commercial" also reminded me of was the "color" and "tint" knobs. They often were silkscreened with the colors on the knob and I loved to play with them as a kid. I got very good at fixing the color.

This announcer reminds me of a particularly boring teacher I had. About as exciting as a colonoscopy.

Point two: Why don't the TV's today have those handy dandy remote holders? We keep losing ours in the couch.

Now I have one question...where was this video meant to be seen? Think about it. This was before vcr's, so I don't get what the distribution method was.

That thing next to the TV looks very familiar to me in that they were everywhere when I was a kid, mostly as knick-knacks. It's some type of brass beverage container for coffee or tea. Not quite an authentic samovar, but good for retaining heat because it's metal.

When you mentioned magnovox, I thought for sure that you were going to talk about the first remote I remember. I grew up with a wired remote--went from the TV, around some well placed furniture, to the rocking chair I preferred viewing the original Star Trek from, facing the TV. This remote had a speaker, a dial channel tuner, and other small dials that I don't remember what they might have done, except for one that did volume and on and off. I guess I'm just too old.