One Of The Rarest TVs In Existence Is On Ebay

The Teledyne Packard Bell Cartridge Television System plays ancient Cartivision video tapes

At first glance, this might look like any old 1970s television, its modest-sized screen encased in a massive wooden console. But look deeper and you’ll see that it’s actually one of the rarest and most special televisions in existence.

The brand is Teledyne Packard Bell, which, as Twitter’s resident hardware necromancer Foone points out, isn’t that special. What is, they explain, is the Cartrivision player it holds.

In an era before video stores and the inevitable Netflix, if you wanted to watch a feature film at home that wasn’t broadcast on network television, you typically had to roll out an old-fashioned movie projector. But if you lived in the early 1970s and happened to love bleeding-edge gadgets, you could get a TV console with a Cartrivision player built in.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME AUCTION
Do you see this TV? do you realize why it's special? pic.twitter.com/gaMMsskzTl

— foone (@Foone) August 5, 2021

As Foone explains, Cartrivision was a short-lived analog format for which videos came on massive cartridges. It wasn’t the first proprietary home video technology—those date back to the 1960s—but it was the first to let people rent Hollywood feature films for home viewing. Since there were no video stores, renting was done through a catalogue, and the cartridges were sent via snail mail.

Source: Kotaku