IEEE Spectrum October, 2012 - 26

tools & toys

26

ClaSSIC lookS: A 1974 marantz receiver
[above left] is more robust than similarly priced
modern receivers. For those who prefer film to digital,
this bell & Howell movie camera [above] will accept
Super 8 film, while a real historical oddity [left] is
the Fisher-price pXL-2000, which recorded images
captured by a ccD onto audio cassette tapes.

as-catch-can. There are no
magic decades, for instance,
of film cameras or televisions
that put present-day video
technology to shame. But
there are individual product
lines and quirky one-offs that
can make the hunt back in
time worthwhile. And there
is no better chronicler of
vintage tech on the Internet
than the blog Retro Thing.
The site's two editors,
Bohus Blahut and James
Grahame, each has his
own favorite categories and
gadgets. Grahame notes that
vintage Super 8 film cameras
and Soviet-era still cameras
are coming into their own

NA * iEEE SpEctrum * OctObEr 2012

for their value as purely
mechanical, clockworkwonder gizmos. Specialty
websites like USSRPhoto.
com and SovietCams.com
detail the camera models to
seek and the ones to avoid.
Old Super 8 cameras are
more widely available on
sites like eBay. Although
getting film developed is not
as easy as it used to be, once
again the Internet provides:
Grahame recommends online
film developing houses
such as Dwane's Photo, in
Kansas, and Spectra Film
and Video, in California.
Blahut, a Chicago-based
filmmaker and TV producer,

enjoys early electronic
video technology. He says
he spent years hunting for
the Fisher-Price PXL-2000
(PixelVision), a 1987 toy
camcorder that recorded
wildly wonky and distorted
images to audio tapes.
(Though he could have paid
a premium and bought a
PixelVision on eBay at any
time, Blahut says he much
prefers shopping for vintage
tech in its native habitat-
thrift stores and garage
sales.) There are a surprising
number of active PixelVision
users, and there have even
been PixelVision film
festivals in recent years-
spectrum.ieee.org

clockWise from toP left: tim Whyte; ssPl/Getty imaGes (2)

Amplifiers "had to do
one-third of the rated power
for 30 minutes and not blow
up, which is considered a
ridiculously hard test by
today's standards," says
Whyte, who has been
working full-time since 2007
refurbishing and selling
classic stereo components.
"As a result, these things
were built like tanks."
Today's home stereo
components with fourfigure price tags will likely
outperform these veterans,
but Whyte argues that in the
range of US $400 to $600,
refurbished 1970s amplifiers
and preamplifiers sound as
good as or better than any
new equipment. And the
classic components, built for a
lifetime of use, can be expected
to outlive their 21st-century
equivalents. They're also often
more easily repaired. Owners
looking to replace a vacuum
tube, for example, will find a
flourishing market for tubes,
often still in their original
packaging, from companies
like VacuumTubes.net
and Vacuum Tubes Inc.
Outside of stereos, retro
electronics is more catch-
http://www.SovietCams.com http://www.VacuumTubes.net http://spectrum.ieee.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum October, 2012
