The TV Zone

While you're admiring your new flat-screen LCD HDTV, take a moment to remember and revere the old-time tubes that brought us here.

Television History: The First 75 Years memorializes the cathode-ray receiver since before it was a cathode-ray receiver, going all the way back to 1920s transmitters of primitive video discs. But the most interesting info and photos cover the sets we might remember seeing in grandma and grandpa's basement -- boxy old wood pieces of humongous '40s furniture with teeny-weeny screens; later '50s "portable" sets the size of mini-fridges; space-age transistorized sets of the '60s; then color TVs and finally even Sony's pocket-size Watchman.

The site has photos galore, old magazine articles and ads, technical data like owners manuals, and timelines to show how television sets evolved. Plus links to many other sources of ancient TV info. It's a wallow in eras when TV sets had style to burn -- just not the greatest picture or sound. I'll take my high-tech LCD screen any day. But looking back is a cool treat, too.