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Old 12-14-2012, 10:08 PM
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Found this "capehart" in the alley today

While driving down the alley behind my place, I spied this little color set and decided to bring to home.

I was made in Taiwan around 1985 I think. Anyone know anything about it ?




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Old 12-14-2012, 10:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bandersen View Post
While driving down the alley behind my place, I spied this little color set and decided to bring to home.

I was made in Taiwan around 1985 I think. Anyone know anything about it ?





It is very likely a Taiwan-built set with the Capehart name put on the base of the CRT mask; it is almost certainly not a true Capehart, as none of the real Capeharts were solid state (Capehart's heyday was in the early-mid-1950s). Moreover, the original Capehart TVs never had the words "Cape-Scan" on their front control panels, and none of them, to the best of my knowledge, ever had remote control or were table models.

This set is typical of most TVs today with once-famous TV manufacturers' names on them -- RCA, Zenith, GE, Magnavox, et al. -- but don't let the name fool you. These are simply offshore-manufactured sets. The famous name is, almost literally, slapped on them to fool the buyer into thinking he or she is buying a quality TV. They will find out it is junk when the set breaks down after a year or two, and no service data or parts are available -- same as with today's flat screens.

Does this set work at all or just sit there doing nothing, except possibly click (a power relay opening and closing) or, worse, blow a fuse, when turned on? If the latter, that may be exactly why it was left in the alleyway behind your apartment. It probably isn't worth repairing, otherwise I'm sure the original owner(s) would have kept it and would still be using it today -- on a cable box or with an OTA converter box.

BTW, this is the first remote-control TV I've ever seen with a mute button on the front panel. Most televisions with remotes have that button on the hand unit, not on the set. The idea of the mute button, after all, is to mute the TV sound during commercials, etc. without having to getting up from your chair or couch to do it. Maybe this TV was designed this way just to be different from the competition.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-14-2012 at 11:00 PM.
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Old 12-14-2012, 10:46 PM
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I have the same thing but with tuning knobs, makes a great pic, I got it for my wife back as a kitchen set, very little use so the CRT is still very strong.
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Old 12-14-2012, 10:49 PM
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CRT needs to be straightened up a little. But that's the OCD kicking in.
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  #5  
Old 12-14-2012, 10:53 PM
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I don't know Jeff - the Capehart name was sold off in the late 1950's and quickly became a nameplate slapped onto outsourced product. By the time this set was made there were way more of the "cheapo" Capehart tvs and stereos out there than the old-line quality Farnsworth sets, any of which still in service would have been pushing thirty years old by then.

The Capehart Corporation which IT&T sold the name to in 1956 survived until 1980. Wakefield Industries bought the company and within several weeks laid off 3/4 of the employees and folded themselves in a year or so. Sometime around 1984 or so NATM was using the name and did at least into the early 2000's. NATM is a buyer's group of several discount stores that is still around - Brandsmart and Nebraska Furniture are two of the members I can recall.

Last edited by AUdubon5425; 12-14-2012 at 11:00 PM.
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Old 12-14-2012, 11:35 PM
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Looks like a possible candidate for Video Arcade CRT donation.
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Old 12-14-2012, 11:38 PM
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That's a rebadged AOC TV and I think the same TV's were also sold under the Dumont brand. AOC is referred to by many as "Admiral Of China". I'm not sure of the connection; but, I think there was some connection with the old American Admiral brand and I think AOC picked up when American Admiral ceased making TV's in '79.

I saw quite a few AOC TV's in the '90's and I wasn't impressed with them. Most of the ones I found had bad flyback transformers and replacements were usually not available, not even in a generic brand.
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Old 12-14-2012, 11:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs View Post
...
Does this set work at all or just sit there doing nothing, except possibly click (a power relay opening and closing) or, worse, blow a fuse, when turned on? If the latter, that may be exactly why it was left in the alleyway behind your apartment. It probably isn't worth repairing, otherwise I'm sure the original owner(s) would have kept it and would still be using it today -- on a cable box or with an OTA converter box.

BTW, this is the first remote-control TV I've ever seen with a mute button on the front panel. Most televisions with remotes have that button on the hand unit, not on the set. The idea of the mute button, after all, is to mute the TV sound during commercials, etc. without having to getting up from your chair or couch to do it. Maybe this TV was designed this way just to be different from the competition.
Thanks for the info. I haven't tried powering the set up yet. I'll post more once I bring it inside and pop it open.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric H View Post
Looks like a possible candidate for Video Arcade CRT donation.
Fine by me, but it's only a 13". I think arcade games are 25" ?
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Last edited by bandersen; 12-14-2012 at 11:54 PM.
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Old 12-15-2012, 01:41 AM
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This is how I found the Capehart along with another newer BPC set. I won't be surprised if it still works like most other stuff I've come across in the alley. A lot gets left behind when folks move.
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Old 12-15-2012, 04:10 AM
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A lot are 19" actually. I am basing this on the fact that the CRT in my Samsung in my sig, was the same CRT used in Ms. Pacman, which I see as the most common size actually.
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Old 12-15-2012, 06:18 AM
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I'd'a got the BPC one, too: it's a good one because it even has handholes at the top. They were thinking of the poor consumer who has to lug it around. The big heavy ones with no handholes are next to impossible to herniate up onto the bench. I use a handtruck on some of them: wish it had a lift feature.

I've found them that worked right off the bat, others that needed a fuse, others that needed more.
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Old 12-15-2012, 08:35 PM
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saw many of these sets.admirals rebadged as capeharts.very good performers.the only weakness was caps in the vertical.other than that,were as good as any set from that era
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Old 12-15-2012, 08:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
That's a rebadged AOC TV and I think the same TV's were also sold under the Dumont brand. AOC is referred to by many as "Admiral Of China". I'm not sure of the connection; but, I think there was some connection with the old American Admiral brand and I think AOC picked up when American Admiral ceased making TV's in '79.

I saw quite a few AOC TV's in the '90's and I wasn't impressed with them. Most of the ones I found had bad flyback transformers and replacements were usually not available, not even in a generic brand.
AOC Admiral Overseas Corporation.
Admiral corporation opened that plant in Tiawan in the late 60's, to build smaller, lower end products.
Rockwell Corp sold it when they phased out Admiral.
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Old 12-15-2012, 09:20 PM
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nice ... i have a soft spot for 80's vintage sets, even the bargain sets
looks like it is misssing the cover for the aux controls
i remember the capehart name on sets of that era ... one of the most eye appealing sets i have ever seen was a capehart console lowboy, low and wide it was, on 4 legs at the corners
sure wish i could stumble across one now
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Old 12-16-2012, 12:17 AM
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I did a search for "AOC" and found that the company is still alive and well, making flat screen TVs and computer monitors. I see AOC monitors advertised in the Best Buy ad flyers in my Sunday paper as well.

I did not realize that AOC made the chassis for TVs sold under the DuMont brand as well as Capehart. Again, it is another case of Chinese/offshore junk with once-famous American brand names on the cabinets. Heaven help anyone who purchases one of these, thinking they are buying an excellent television (since DuMont was TOTL in its heyday), only to find out that their "DuMont" set burned up after only six months to a year, or even less. I once had a small (12") b&w tube-type portable TV that worked well for three years after I bought it, then it started smoking; out to the trash it went. The brand name was Kenco (house brand of the now long defunct Kennedy and Cohen discount store chain), but under that Kenco label was the name "Broadmoor"; the latter was the company that probably actually built it.

By contrast, the set which replaced the Kenco portable, a 12" solid-state Zenith b&w portable set, lasted 22 years (from the day I bought it in 1978 until the year 2000) and it was still going strong when it was replaced in 1999 with an RCA CTC185 color set. The CTC185 went for over a decade before being replaced with my present flat screen TV, and still works to this day. I also have a 17-year-old Zenith Sentry 2 which still works and still has its original CRT.

Go figure...or maybe not. The foregoing just goes to show how quality in televisions, computer monitors and everything else these days has gone out the window. What really gets me is when I read on FP TV manufacturers' websites and even the consumer advocate sites all the complaints being registered against these FPs with once-famous names, some of which sell for $1k or more. I read horror stories on these sites all the time in which people tell of spending $1k or more for a large-screen flat panel TV, only to see the set break down within a year or less, and the repair parts are no longer available (NLA) or the parts are available, the TV is fixed and it works, but the set breaks again shortly after being repaired; by now the owner often feels the TV isn't worth repairing again, so out to the trash it goes. The really sad part of this is that, in many cases, these people discarded or have otherwise gotten rid of their old CRT TV when they bought the new flat screen (and they cannot afford a new set), so when the new set breaks down they are without television -- as I also read (all too often) on these consumer websites.

Will we ever again see the day when TVs will last more than just a year or two (or until the warranty expires), as TVs used to last years ago? As I have stated in other posts, most people simply cannot afford to buy a new TV every couple of years. If this trend continues, as I also stated previously, many if not most flat screen TV manufacturers will find themselves out of business -- forever and for good.

I realize slap-dash assembly and use of low-quality parts in many if not most of today's flat-screen TVs is the so-called "new normal" these days, but still I think it is ridiculous. What wouldn't I give to go back to the old days, when one could buy a TV with confidence that it would last 15-20 years or more? My grandmother had a 1951 GE 16" console b&w TV that lasted 20 years, until she bought a color set that lasted, now catch this, three decades (the color set actually outlived her). She didn't use the color set much (just for news, sports, MASH, and religious programs), but still, for the set to last 30 years with no trouble whatsoever (it finally burned up in 1985) is downright amazing.

No TV made today could or would ever match that record of reliability, and we may never see the day when a flat screen bought new in 2012 is still working 30 years later. (I certainly don't expect mine to last anywhere near that long.) The LCD display panels in Zenith and other flat screens are rated for 60k hours of life to half brightness, based on eight hours of use per day; well and good, but the electronics will poop out, either on their own or due to power surges, lightning strikes, etc., long before the panel does.

Oh well.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 12-16-2012 at 12:23 AM.
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