OpenTube

We Bought A Vintage Coin-Operated TV Called VEND-O VISION

SpaceTime Junction

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A quarter-powered TV from the 80s showed up at my door: a Panasonic black-and-white set locked inside a metal box that literally vends you minutes. We unbox it, battle vintage Styrofoam that tries to become part of the casing, hunt down the missing keys, and crack open the case to see how the timer and coin mech actually work. Then we rig up an antenna/coax setup, feed it a signal, and test it with the only sensible calibration tool: Back to the Future. Finally, we run a full “quarter compatibility” experiment across decades of coin designs to see what this thing will accept. It’s pay-per-view, but for your eyeballs.

LINKS
GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE - https://www.backtothefuture.com/
MINI-TV USA, Inc. Corporate Info - https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/Cor...
FTC vs. MINI-TV USA, Inc. - https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/...

TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 - Snagging The Vend-O Vision
00:02:58 - Exterior Review
00:05:12 - Interior Review
00:11:06 - Audio/Video Hookup
00:15:43 - It Needs Feet
00:16:22 - Quarter Compatibility Test

OUR LINKS:
DeLorean Rentals https://TimeMachineRental.com
Facebook Facebook: SpacetimeJunction
Instagram Instagram: spacetimejunction
Twitter Twitter: spacetimejnctn
YouTube @spacetimejunction

20 Comments

@kitsunebrainfog 7 months ago

Back to the Future? That thing needs Days of Our Lives with an ashtray and bloody mary sitting on it.

@BoldGameStudio 7 months ago

Back to the Future has a runtime of 1h56m, or $1.50 at the highest setting or $3.00 at the lowest setting. The original
Back to the Future film made its network television premiere on NBC on November 20, 1988. $3.00 in 1988 is $8.11 in 2026. I would suggest watching BttF 37 times to get your money's worth.

@David-h5r1x 7 months ago

This is back in the day when every electronic device had schematics inside for consumer repair. 😢

@divergentthinkingproductions 7 months ago

Now you just need to buy one of those plastic seats that used to be in every bus station and mount that bad boy.

@tomorrowboy01 7 months ago

In 2007 I stayed in a capsule hotel in Japan where each capsule had a small TV. You could watch most channels without paying anything, but there was a coin slot for three ahem "adult content" channels.

@M0UAW_IO83 7 months ago

Oh that brings back memories of airports with futuristic uncomfortable chairs made from fibreglass mouldings with horrible vinyl covered 'cushions' and built in coin op TVs

@vandencrowe 7 months ago

The C415A on keys identifies them as a standard key used in cams locks fitted to all sorts of things. It's one of the mostly widely used standardized cuts out there, and replacements can be had all over the internet, if you've bought a locking file cabinet or office desk with a locking drawer you probably already have some floating around.

@mephitusincognito7918 7 months ago (edited)

tip?: since you have the advantage of the 'metal box' tuck the 300 ohm cable and '300 to 75 adapter' itself into said box running only coax in... will help with interference.. ...ofc if you can actually get to the TV itself the best thing to do would be a composite input mod for a nice crisp picture... bonus if you can make the media player run alongside quarter insertion (fill it with 20min videos that play at random each time a quarter is inserted)... edit: think of a cartoon playing piggy bank..

@jayhays8267 7 months ago (edited)

My dad bought one of these TV's back in the day (no metal case!) so that my sister and I could watch TV while on long car rides. It worked great while parked, driving down the highway... not so much.

@IndirectHydrox 7 months ago

Needs a pay toilet and a Magic Fingers bed to go with it

@TR47 7 months ago

These are from 1981, which explains why it reminds me a lot of the pay videophone used by Deckard.

@chefwolf77 7 months ago

I remember these at the Greyhound station in the 80s specifically at the Sacramento station you could sit in a chair put quarters into it and watch TV

@MrMegaManFan 7 months ago

I'm old enough to remember USING one at an airport.

@YgorTheTerrible 1 day ago

I am old enough to know that these were not in diners and airports. They were in low cost motels.

@nintendolunchbox 7 months ago

Airports are money printers when they have a captive audience.

@newrecs4969 7 months ago

as someone that collects crt tvs, seeing this coin op one in working condition made my day. thank you.

@mjc8248 7 months ago

I loved going to the laundromat with my mom so i could watch this tv and play the standup demolition derby arcade game. I also developed an addiction to zaxxon and dig dug at the same laundromat. That led to getting zaxxon on cartridge for my c64.

@MaxPaxton 7 months ago

This guys script is gold, Jerry! Gold!

@HerrDark 7 months ago

You have no smartphone no wifi, those little TVs were a life saver for having some entertainment when you had a layover(plane, train, or bus) for an hour to three hours. Considering it cost only $1.75 for 2 hours and 20 minutes it was cheaper than renting a new release from the video store. It was a wonderful device to have available at the time.

@JohnWatkinsUK 7 months ago

The long side / short side thing for the coax coupler isn't for plugging into different things. The long side is designed to go through a bulkhead (e.g. the box of a TV) and have a nut fitted to hold it in place. That's why it's a bit longer.