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Post by kokovec on Oct 23, 2013 12:41:04 GMT -5
I'm at a broadcasters convention in Hollywood and attended a day-long seminar of the future tech of television.
We discussed mostly the transition to UHDTV but one presentation got me thinking of the Vectrex.
The presenter put up a slide showing the decline of the CRT. No one mass produces them anymore although they are still present in some high end equipment (medical, test, etc). Also, plasma displays will no longer be manufactured. It seems that the world is moving towards OLEDs and Quantum-Dot (QD) displays.
I was saddened by the fact that eventually the number of working Vectrex units will start to sharply decline. I've repaired one of my Vectrex units but most people will simply throw them away. This is such a waste because there are most likely some salvageable parts that no longer exist on the market (like the CRT and flyback transformer).
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Post by gliptitude on Oct 23, 2013 13:08:55 GMT -5
Maybe you can stock up on 9" CRT's salvaged from thrift stores? Although that is a pretty unusual dimension.
I have several non-working Vectrex's that I'll definitely be holding onto. I'm afraid of the Vextrex expiring also, but at least it is a more stout machine than the Adventurevision. Those are so rare I've never even seen one, but apparently most of them are broken and the rest will be likely to break eventually, and the technology is so obscure that fixing them would be an adventure in itself.
I think the internet has a positive effect on the survival of Vectrex, in numerous ways, and you should feel some relief at the consequences of that. Of course it has enabled communities to organize and share information and develop new games and hardware. But also the vast virtual market (mainly ebay) has really revolutionized the trade of antiques of every kind. I think there are positives and negatives to this. But in this case it is nothing but positive. I think because of ebay, and because everyone knows about ebay, a majority of people who stumble on a Vectrex will do so with curiosity and recognize it as something they could sell.
The internet market for used goods makes it so that anyone anywhere can offer anything to anyone else anywhere else INSTANTLY. ... If I decide today that I want to buy a Vectrex I can do it. 15 years ago I would have had to search far and wide, perhaps never finding one, and probably be forced to buy the first one I found, without knowing what it should cost or what sort of things should work or be included.
So at least Vectrex's are currently fairly easy to attain and assess.
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Post by 50tbrd on Oct 23, 2013 15:19:55 GMT -5
I wouldn't doubt that there are some people that would and do throw away Vectri just as people still crush classic cars but non-working Vectri still up on ebay from time to time, non-work controllers and busted up loose boxes too, and people still buy them.
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Post by VectorX on Oct 23, 2013 15:43:41 GMT -5
The presenter put up a slide showing the decline of the CRT. No one mass produces them anymore although they are still present in some high end equipment (medical, test, etc). Also, plasma displays will no longer be manufactured. It seems that the world is moving towards OLEDs and Quantum-Dot (QD) displays. That's just the way it is with the advances in technology, unfortunately. I had read a pretty interesting article in the last year of some country (forgot where) that had sent their last telegram ever, then shuttered the service. There was just no point any more in continuing an outdated (as hell!) technology with continuously declining revenue that wasn't getting much use any more. I was saddened by the fact that eventually the number of working Vectrex units will start to sharply decline. Stephanie McKeon (if I spelled that correctly off the top of my head) made a video several months ago of salvaging a Vectrex destroyed by Hurricane Katrina (or if not Katrina, some other hurricane; when you live in the southern States and get a lot of them at times, you tend to get them mixed up) and converting it to an iCade, I think it was. As long as people like her are fixing them they'll keep on running for a while. |
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Post by jfmateos on Oct 24, 2013 2:27:14 GMT -5
Sure our vectrex will die soon or later (let´s wish more later than soon)...
But Vectrex is for ever becouse someone somewhere sometime will make a Vectrex clone... this guy was very near (http://vectex.itherm.cz/)
It would be nice to develop a vectrex laser adaptor, and play our favourite games projecting them on a huge building.
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Post by vectrexmad on Oct 24, 2013 18:26:43 GMT -5
And there is competition for Vectrex parts by non Vectrex users. Today I just stumbled across a website which took a CRT from a broken Vectrex and used it to make a mini Asteroids cabinet! see www.e-basteln.de/asteroids/asteroids_intro.html |
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Post by VectorX on Oct 24, 2013 18:45:30 GMT -5
Nuts, that'll be the second link to add to the vector links page in one day!  Because I had totally forgotten about the guy that jfmateos had posted about (as well as yourself a while back), as I added his site there. |
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Post by gliptitude on Oct 24, 2013 21:38:36 GMT -5
But Vectrex is for ever becouse someone somewhere sometime will make a Vectrex clone... this guy was very near (http://vectex.itherm.cz/) Hey cool. I had not seen that before. ... I also notice lower down on this page (6.4.2011), he says that all that was necessary to adapt PS2 controllers was to replace the cable, and to rewire existing components inside the controller. Is this true? Would this also be the case on the real Vectrex? I'd love to try it. Wow that looks awesome! ... Reminds me also, (RE: Vectrex cabinet projects and the previously discussed idea of using fresnel lenses), I looked at some used overhead projectors today at a thrift shop. Most of them have a large (and removable) fresnel lens inside. At $6 for the whole projector, this might be the cheapest way to get a lens of this size, (I think about 11" square). ... Some had thin sheet plastic ones but others had nice thick (also plastic) ones. |
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Post by kokovec on Oct 28, 2013 10:27:11 GMT -5
That does look awesome and very clever in solving the small-signal bandwidth issue.
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Because I had totally forgotten about the guy that jfmateos had posted about (as well as yourself a while back), as I added his site there.