Just Inherited a Late Model Zenith Console TV - Videokarma.org TV - Video

uxwbill · #1 02-06-2021, 11:07 PM

I recently inherited my late grandfather's Zenith 25" console TV, model B25A74R (and serial 141-44240487 if anyone cares). To my great surprise, it was assembled in the US!

He and my grandmother bought it new in late January of 2002 after their 1995 Zenith console died in the night. (Perhaps rather surprisingly, the old TV had a great picture right up to the very end. Whatever conked out, went out in a big way, judging by how badly darkened the fuse was...)

I don't watch much TV, nor do I need high definition, surround sound or any of that fancy stuff. (I also wound up with the Sears 4 head stereo VCR and their DTV converter box.)

This TV is in very good condition and I'd be surprised if it has run for even a thousand hours. The picture's still outstanding, but that's what worries me. I know of (and was unfortunately bitten by!) the very short-lived Zenith 25" and 27" picture tubes. I'm hoping (but not too optimistic) that this set might have somehow dodged that bullet. I'd like to keep it around for a while. (To my surprise, it actually has an S-video input! I do wish it had more than one set of video inputs, but it was still early days for that and I suppose many console TV buyers never used them.)

Side note: I still find it amazing that it's considered acceptable in this day and age to supply a TV with extremely poor speakers and expect someone to buy an external speaker just to get acceptable audio volume and quality. That's certainly something that won't be a problem with this console!

Side note #2: This seems to have been one of the "last gasp" console TVs. As best I remember it, Zenith was the last company making console TVs and the party finally came to an end sometime in 2004. I think that's too bad...if the trend weren't to have TVs as big as movie screens today, I'd buy a flat panel set in a nice console cabinet. I suppose that's a very old fashioned viewpoint, though.

dishdude · #2 02-06-2021, 11:35 PM

iirc, those last Zenith consoles had Thomson CRTs. Very solid sets, the Zenith boards were reliable.

radiotvnut · #3 02-07-2021, 01:02 AM

I think Zenith closed their CRT plant in '98 (thank goodness). At that time, they started using bonded yoke Thomson/RCA tubes and LG-Philips tubes. Those tubes usually hold up well and I know where 2 or 3 of these later consoles are that are still in use and still have decent tubes in them. The most common fault on those later consoles is a small electrolytic capacitor in the power supply that will dry up and the power supply will not start. I believe 2004 was indeed the last year for a Zenith console and RCA also had a console as recent as 2000-2001, at least. Zenith and RCA both had a large senior citizen following and that was the demographic who was likely buying most, if not all, of the new consoles by the 2000's.

zeno · #4 02-07-2021, 09:20 AM

Yup this one probably uses the Thompson tube. They were no problem.
Zenith built the most reliable CRT's from the mid 60's to about 1993
then they became the worst. Gold Star was getting control of Zenith
& thats probably related.
We sold quite a few of these sets. Most went to old folk. Also sold a
lot to immigrants from the islands like Haiti etc. Nobody stocked them
in the Boston area but us. Mom & Pop stores were out of sales &
big box couldnt be bothered.

73 Zeno

LFOD !

zeno · #5 02-07-2021, 10:45 AM

This is basically you set. From RTV nuts videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyGbEfa9CHI&t=259s

NowhereMan 1966 · #6 02-15-2021, 03:02 PM

Haven't been here in a while, life got in the way, but I also have a late model Zenith console from 2002 to compliment my 1982 model, it is probably the same or similar to yours.

uxwbill · #7 03-20-2021, 02:46 PM

Thanks to everyone who replied here. I'm pleased to know that I ought to be able to enjoy this TV for a while yet.

I'd been meaning to come back here for a while now and post a picture of the set in operation (not that it's probably hard to find one, but...). So, here's one now.

Interestingly, my Sencore VG91 was not too happy when I powered it up. The colors in picture tests using them were grossly incorrect. I took it apart only to find a "bodge" wire had popped loose from a pin on a small logic IC. Not having any means handy to put it back, I just put the thing back together...and it worked. The S-Video connector still outputs incorrectly colored video, but composite and RF work fine. A project for another day...if anyone has some documentation or a schematic for it...

Note to post viewers both present and future: if Videokarma supports access over a secured connection or ever mandates such, you won't see the picture. (Modern browsers won't load "mixed" secure and non secure content by default. My server doesn't do HTTPS and making it do so looks far too much like work, and too much work at that, for a feature I don't need.)

NowhereMan 1966 · #8 03-25-2021, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uxwbill

Thanks to everyone who replied here. I'm pleased to know that I ought to be able to enjoy this TV for a while yet.

I'd been meaning to come back here for a while now and post a picture of the set in operation (not that it's probably hard to find one, but...). So, here's one now.

Interestingly, my Sencore VG91 was not too happy when I powered it up. The colors in picture tests using them were grossly incorrect. I took it apart only to find a "bodge" wire had popped loose from a pin on a small logic IC. Not having any means handy to put it back, I just put the thing back together...and it worked. The S-Video connector still outputs incorrectly colored video, but composite and RF work fine. A project for another day...if anyone has some documentation or a schematic for it...

Note to post viewers both present and future: if Videokarma supports access over a secured connection or ever mandates such, you won't see the picture. (Modern browsers won't load "mixed" secure and non secure content by default. My server doesn't do HTTPS and making it do so looks far too much like work, and too much work at that, for a feature I don't need.)

Looks exactly like mine, mine was made in 2002 IIRC. My grade school buddy's brother in law was throwing it out when he got a flatscreen. Shame, it works perfectly. BTW, when Mom was still alive, she would choose this model to replace the 1982 model that I still have. I'm the furthest from a greenie, but we are wasteful as a society, tossing a perfectly functioning TV away. I guess it is because I came from a single parent household with Mom and both parents were Depression babies who remembers WWII so we used our things until it was worn out and fixing it was no longer an option.