Adjusting A Televisions Horizontal And Vertical Holds
| Field | Adjusting televisions |
| Went Obsolete | 1970s |
| Made Obsolete By | Automatic adjustment |
| Knowledge Assumed | How to turn a small knob or wheel |
| When useful | If an old TV picture starts rolling around on the screen |
Many old TV sets would sometimes lose their vertical (or horizonal) 'hold' with the result that the picture frame would begin crawling slowing across the screen from top to bottom (or, less frequently, from left to right). The solution was to slowly adjust the proper knob to bring the picture back into alignment again. One common problem was that when the adjuster stepped away from the set, removing their own EM field from the area, they would discover they had adjusted too far and the screen would begin drifting in the opposite direction. Another careful fine adjustment would have to be made....
When watching re-runs of the old tv series "Outer Limits", this is what the introductory voice-over referred to with their famous "We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical."
A certain cheap Philips television had 3 adjustment wheels for this. One for horizontal columns that could be tilted, one for horizontal rolling, one for vertical rolling. During the time the TV got warmer this had to be readjusted. Older more expensive TVs? like Tandberg had this done automatically.