Japanese Color TV set without a tricolor tube
 

Hi folks! In the mid 1960s, in Japan a cheaper color television set was available which contains three b/w crt's and a mirror system instead of a tricolor shadowmask tube. Who is able to give more informations about it? Did such a tv set survive until today and is it possible to display a picture of it in working condition?

I've seen one, or one using the same system, on a site but I can't remember where.

And we thought projection sets were particular about where the viewer sat. This set would have one hell of a small 'sweet spot'. Like watching tv thru a tunnel...

That looks like a Mitsubishi logo on the front of the set under the picture tube.

- Pete

Sorry, I was wrong with the date. This color tv set was bought by Walter Bruch in 1955 at the airport of Tokyo. It is working with NTSC. Here is a look inside it. The drawings on the metal plate show the b/w screens. Above the vertical crt's there are two colored mirrors which reflect the picture to the front screen. The third horizontal crt at the top of the left side has a color filter too. It is a Mitsubishi tv set. Do there exist any sets like this today?

I still can't figure out why they went this route-looks like 3 CRTs, the mirrors/filters, additional circuitry, would have made it almost as expensive as sticking in a color CRT-even in 1955. And rotsa ruck aligning all that monkey-motion up & getting a decent picture...Still wouldn't mind having one for the historical/novelty value. -Sandy G

More questions than answers?
 

Eyeball Observations:


The line cord and its plug (foreign-style to us on this side of the pond) provide a sense of overall size.

Three CRT’s, their magnetics, and the optics occupy three-quarters of the internal volume of the case.


Fact:

Even a ‘reduced tube’ CTC4 of 1955 had two dozen tubes.


Question:

Is this little guy also transistorized? four years before the Safari?

Was there a second electronics package that held the tube circuits?


?

On the ETF page
http://www.earlytelevision.org/color_prototypes.html
there is a triniscope prototype (RCA Triniscope #2, 1950) which looks very similar to that Mitsubishi tv set. Did somebody saw such a triniscope set ever working? They were developed in the early 1950s as an alternative to the very expensive tricolor kinescopes.

No, the tricolor kinescope was developed soon after as there was no alternative. The earlier, massive trinescope was totally impractical on so many levels.

1955?
 

Just looking at the cabinet, logos, knobs ect. This set looks to be of a later design then 1955.
I also recall a previous post of this or a similar set some time back, but can't recall where.

-Steve D.

Mitsubishi showed a trinescope at the NY World's Fair, in the Japan pavilion. Even as a starving student, Iwas fascinated enough to spend two slides worth of film on it. There was also a demonstration of the dichroic mirrors, which I took a picture of, but now I don't know if that was in the Japan pavilion or maybe in the Hall of Science, which had some exhibits on color.

One advantage the trinescope had was that it was BRIGHT, and with that tunnel, you could watch it in daylight.

Look in my gallery for all 3 pix

Does anyone else see the resemblance of the "nudie" photo to the typical home computer?

Anthony

That set must be mid 1960s, not 50s. I would think the CRTs are maybe 5"? And I expect it IS transistorized.

I think you are correct. The pictures were taken from the book "PAL - Das Farbfernsehen" by Walter Bruch and Heide Riedel, p. 32. On page 33 was written:

"In der Zeit, als es noch keine Dreifarben-Bildroehre gab, also in der ganzen Entwicklungszeit fuer NTSC, musste man solche Empfaenger benutzen. Und auch dann noch, als die ersten Dreifarbenbildroehren noch knapp und teuer waren, verkaufte man solche Farbempfaenger fuer NTSC. Ein derartiges Geraet hat der Verfasser 1955 in Tokyo am Flugplatz gekauft."

Translation:

"In the time when no tricolor kinescopes exist, i.e. in the entire time of development of the NTSC system, one had to use such trinescope color receivers. And later in the time where the tricolor crts were rare and expensive, such trinescope color sets for NTSC were sold. One of these trinescope sets the author (i.e. Walter Buch) has bought in 1955 in Tokyo at the airport."

I think the time has to be 1965. "1955" had to be a type writer error. And 1965 lies within the range of time were Walter Bruch travelled all around the world to demonstrate his PAL color system.

Fascinating. I find the old World's Fairs very interesting. So many new things to see...if we could all go back for a day.