Anthony DeanTVs used to be bulky boxes with DVD-level picture quality (at best). Older models had numbered physical dials on them you had to walk over to the TV and manually twist to get the channel you wanted (thus expressions like "turn the channel" or "flip the channel"). Some of these TVs even only were available in black-and-white, not color.
Vegetvs@dtgeek DVD-level?! Talk about an overstatement. DVD-level picture quality is what you get today, with most YouTube videos. The TVs you're talking about would often have very bad reception, meaning the image would often lose color, shape or even sync. Most had a "vertical" dial, so that you could try and tune them so that the picture would not keep scrolling vertically. Fun times.
@vegetvs I did say "at best" (say, with cable TV or strong reception).