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  #46  
Old 07-14-2016, 05:43 AM
kvflyer kvflyer is offline
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I remember seeing some tubes not lighting in a few 60's RCA color sets. It was often solder cracks at the ground connections on the edge of the boards no doubt caused by heating/cooling cycles. Reflow of solder was an easy fix. Kinda goes with the bad tube socket issues.
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  #47  
Old 07-15-2016, 03:39 PM
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In short, if you owned a color TV set, you budgeted for 3-4 repairs a year early on, and buying a manufacturer service contract was a good investment. You averaged between $120-$230 a year in repairs on a daily watcher color TV assuming you had to pay a technician. When the late 1960's began coming in, and hybrid and early solid state sets got introduced, the reliability began getting better and the repair calls gradually got reduced to 1-2 a year, then usually many sets became 1 every few years repairs unless lightning damaged or CRT issues.
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  #48  
Old 07-16-2016, 11:45 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007 View Post
Wow. In just 2 years the number of color tv sets sold increased 3 times.
The number of color sets sold overcome the number of black and white set sold in 1972 as far as I know.
In Western Europe it took about 10-12 years for the number of color sets to outnumber the numer of b & w sets. But Europeanens got a little bit less costly production methodes and where closer to more modern tehcnologies (solid state sets, in line picture tubes). In Eastern-Europe the number of color sets increased only after 1989.
Yes, a lot of old set where expensive, but the people got jobs manufacturing/assembling them... now in a lot of countries those jobs are gone
As we get close to modern times, the time of adopting new techology is decreasing. But it's strange how modern technology is not uniting people... it's making them become lonlier. Oh, it's a pitty that isn't like in the old days when you invited people to you in order to see movies on V.H.S., L.D., D.V.D.

@ EricH : why it took so long for your family to get a color set?
In Romania... but that's another story.

Yeah, we did not get color until 1971, around the time when 50% of U.S. homes had color sets. My aunt had a color set since the early 1960's. As to technology and society, I do remember hearing a commentary form the old NBC radio program "Monitor" where John Chancellor (IIRC), a famous newscaster, made the point where radio and later, TV, helped unite the country and society. It is like where the Ed Sullivan Show for example usually had acts for everyone like circus type performers and so on, but it also provided acts for people who like comedy (George Carlin and Bob Newhart), then the next act was an opera piece or concert for those who are into classical music, after that, the teens and young adults would be treated to the Beatles, The Doors, Rolling Stones and so on. The young kids would be treated to Topo Gigio, Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog and other muppets (pre-Sesame Street). Things like that bring people of different tastes together and helps unite the country. Chancellor made the point where it made all of us feel more America and not just a Chicagoan or wherever one was from.

Cable TV and now the internet changed that where we are able to break apart into different tribes of different tastes and so on. In some ways, that is good if you are like a sci-fi or anime junky but still it can make us more apart.
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  #49  
Old 07-16-2016, 11:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by N2IXK View Post
We got color TV as soon as our area got Cable, because the OTA reception was just barely adequate for B&W (down in a valley, in an apartment complex that forbid outdoor antennas). In the early/mid 70s, when CATV came to town, almost everyone bought new color sets to enjoy all the new channels and snow-free pictures.

Was a boom time for a young kid trashpicking parts from discarded sets to build electronic projects...
I lived in a flight plan to the airport, heck, the planes flew directly over my house a few hundred feet up. Mom said that when we get our first color TV, we are going cable, that was in 1971.
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  #50  
Old 07-16-2016, 12:45 PM
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One other factor that seems to be ignored here: Set replacement.

Before 1965, when an existing TV set was deemed "spent" (i.e., not worth repairing in the eyes of its owner), the typical owner would note that color sets were far more expensive, needed more repairs, that most programs were black-and-white, and a new black-and-white set would still be as useful as it had been forever (they will still work in 2016, provided a converter box, with the added benefits of remote control and all-channel tuning).

Thus, all but the wealthiest viewers, and real TV fans, would replace their 1951 Muntz with a 1964 Zenith B&W.

Just a few years later, the number of people who bought their sets in the mid fifties went from a trickle to a flood, right around the same time that the big three networks went to full-color schedules. Household income was also higher as prices were reasonable (the percentage of households with discretionary income had reached an all-time high and after a few years started falling ever since).

The "chicken-and-egg" paradox had been broken.

Last edited by Robert Grant; 07-16-2016 at 01:00 PM.
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  #51  
Old 07-17-2016, 04:56 AM
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Basically, this is a classic example of "Capitalism" (free/mixed market economy) VS Soviet Communism (Military first command economy)

Color TV was a luxury when it was introduced in 1954 by RCA. In the early years Wealthy people mostly bought color sets because they could afford them.

Telecolor:
Here in the USA there was never a clearly imposed class line between the "proles" and the "Nomenklatura". My grandfather grew up dirt poor in Appalachia, fought almost to the death at the battle of Monte Cassino as a squad leader carrying a BAR, became an X-ray technician at Huron Road Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio after WWII VIA the GI Bill, and married my grandmother (she was a nurse there) . He used his new found wealth to build a house in the Cleveland suburbs, buy a 1959 Buick Invicta, and later a Zenith color Roundie TV in 1963. My dad grew up being the first house on the block with Color TV. 25 years earlier his father was doing back breaking farm labor for a bag of biscuits and butter for his family.

Grandpa's last car bought new was a 1964 Buick Wildcat...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSq8WEoZMU
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Last edited by fsjonsey; 07-17-2016 at 05:41 AM.
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  #52  
Old 07-20-2016, 09:37 AM
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The Chicago Tribune Sunday supplement always had a lot to say about color tv back in the day. We used to buy it every Sunday.

Here is a link to a November 14, 1965 edition.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...e-for-everyone

This will give you an idea of the mood of the country at that time. It was a full color spread.

After reading that and other articles at the time, it was hard to resist buying a color TV. I had to wait another 9 months to save up for my first purchase.
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Last edited by etype2; 07-20-2016 at 09:56 AM. Reason: Add info
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  #53  
Old 08-30-2016, 11:50 AM
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The 6GH8 became very popular around that time, shops stocked lots of them, then came the 5gh8 for portables which was even worse.
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  #54  
Old 08-30-2016, 01:45 PM
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What "Miniature" color sets were available in 1965? The Portacolor doesn't go back that far does it?

Edit: this article came out in November of 65 so the Portacolor may have been available or soon to be available.
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  #55  
Old 08-30-2016, 02:06 PM
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I got my first GE Portacolor in 1966. The Sams for it (#883) is dated 5/67 which is about right.

The original Portacolor had an 11" CRT (11SP22) and did cost about $250 when introduced.
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  #56  
Old 08-30-2016, 06:17 PM
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Also bought my GE Portacolor from the GE distributor here in L.A. the first day they were available for sale. The exact model seen in the ad. A model w/o handle or wood grain was also available for less money.
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  #57  
Old 08-31-2016, 01:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric H View Post
What "Miniature" color sets were available in 1965? The Portacolor doesn't go back that far does it?

Edit: this article came out in November of 65 so the Portacolor may have been available or soon to be available.

Yes, you could see the Portacolor in stores in late 1965. I was shopping for my first color set at the time. I passed on it because of the poor resolution.
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  #58  
Old 08-31-2016, 03:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Zenith hybrids can be extremely reliable, case in point my 16" chromacolor from '73
I'll second that! Heat was a major fail factor in most all tube sets and IIRC, Zenith, Sylvania and Motorola (mostly 19-inchers) were about the only good hybrids.
RCA went from sets loaded with tubes straight to SS in 1972 as did Philco and some other domestic sets.

The RCA's from 1965 to 1969 had many fails of flyback transformers, giving Zenith even more momentum as the new leader in quality. RCA did not recover until the XL-100s came out in 1972 or so.

Since late 1965, GE portacolor sets were affordable and repairable, becoming the first color set for many folks.
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Last edited by DavGoodlin; 08-31-2016 at 03:41 PM. Reason: RCA comments needed
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  #59  
Old 08-31-2016, 07:40 PM
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The original Portacolor used the 11SP22 CRT. Later versions used the 11WP22 which had a finer dot pitch - much better picture.
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  #60  
Old 09-26-2016, 08:01 PM
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They were still to expensive for my parents to afford a new one in the late 60's, too
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