TV compatibility

[ElQuapo]

Does anyone know how far back TV's are compatibly. I mean, if I was to find a Black/White television from the fifties at my grandmothers house - would I in theory be able to just plug my vcr (dvd might be a problem because of SCART cables I thought) into it and watch movies. Would I be able to plug cable-tv into it?

My first thought was yes, I can do all this, but it still got me wondering - if the answer i yes, then technology hasn't improved much has it?

(I live in Europe btw, in case their are differences between PAL/NTSC in this matter)

[guns1inger]

I hooked up a DVD player to my aunt's old colour set. The set was at least 20 years old, and all I had to do was get a bnc-rca cable. It will only take a PAL signal, so the DVD player had to be configured to convert NTSC to PAL (or pseudo-PAL), but it all works.

The basic technology in CRT televisions hasn't changed much. The components have become smaller, and extra digital circuitry helps improve picture quality, but otherwise the fundamentals are the same.

If you don't have at least an RCA or BNC connection it becomes a bit harder, but an RF-modulator should allow you to plug it in through even a standard connection. The audio might be a bit trickier in the really old TVs that didn't have audio in - in which case you just need a simple bookshelf Hi-Fi system.

[johns0]

All you would need is a vcr with cable and fm adapter with the old screw type terminals.