March 29, 2026
Tiny screen, BIG feelings
Siclair Microvision (1977)
Pocket TV dream that dazzled then flopped — commenters yell "SINCLAIR"
TLDR: In 1977, Sinclair launched a bold 2-inch pocket TV that looked futuristic but ultimately failed to sell. Commenters roasted the misspelling, cited Wikipedia to prove the flop, and joked it was “Steve Jobs meets Ron Popeil,” splitting between admiration for ambition and shrugs over reality.
Sir Clive Sinclair’s 1977 Microvision — a tiny 2-inch “pocket TV” with a sleek black steel case — is back in the spotlight, and the comments instantly turned into an all-caps spelling bee. The thread’s first wave? Pedants pounding their keyboards with “SINCLAIR, not Siclair!” while dropping Clive Sinclair receipts. Meanwhile, the nostalgia crowd swooned over the design flex: 300 transistors, low power, rechargeable batteries, and a sci‑fi claim that a 2-inch screen up close could feel like a 24-inch TV from across the room. Big vibes for a very small screen.
Then came the reality-check squad. One commenter slammed down the Wikipedia verdict: it flopped, hard — thousands unsold and a painful loss. Cue the meme cannon: “Steve Jobs meets Ron Popeil,” joked another, summing up the product’s mix of visionary ambition and infomercial energy. Skeptics dragged the original press demo too — the company wouldn’t even let reporters take it outside, fueling jokes about the “pocket TV you can’t pocket.” The debate split cleanly: team “bold, ahead of its time” versus team “cool idea, terrible market fit.” In the end, the tiniest TV sparked the biggest reactions — part spelling war, part history lesson, all delicious drama.
Key Points
- •Clive Sinclair demonstrated the Microvision, a 2-inch portable TV emphasizing low power consumption and portability.
- •The custom AEG Telefunken CRT uses electrostatic deflection and ~2 kV EHT from an oscillator, with brightness noted as barely acceptable.
- •Multi-standard support includes Bands I/III/IV/V, 625/525 lines at 50/60 Hz, IFs of 4.5/5.5/6 MHz, with features like gated AGC, AFC, and flywheel sync.
- •Power consumption is ~750 mW at 4.8 V from four 1.2 V rechargeable cells, offering ~4 hours; options include AC adaptor, 40-hour pack, and car battery.
- •Design details include ~300 transistors, five ICs (three custom by Sinclair), two SGS ICs for audio, and compact 6 × 4 × 1½ in steel case assembly.