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  #1  
Old 08-26-2019, 08:59 AM
vortalexfan vortalexfan is offline
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1970s Advent Videobeam TV for free near me

Hello everyone today I was looking through Facebook Market Place and I saw someone was giving away a mid 1970s vintage Advent Video Beam TV System for Free. Should I go get it?

Anything I should know about this system before I pick it up?
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Old 08-26-2019, 11:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vortalexfan View Post
Hello everyone today I was looking through Facebook Market Place and I saw someone was giving away a mid 1970s vintage Advent Video Beam TV System for Free. Should I go get it?

Anything I should know about this system before I pick it up?
It is useless without the screen

Which model is it?
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Old 08-26-2019, 11:17 AM
vortalexfan vortalexfan is offline
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Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
It is useless without the screen

Which model is it?
It has the original screen, so no worries there. Have no idea what model it is, if it helps it has a wood grained cabinet with a built in tuner of the knobbed variety.
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Old 08-26-2019, 12:18 PM
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It has the original screen, so no worries there. Have no idea what model it is, if it helps it has a wood grained cabinet with a built in tuner of the knobbed variety.
Sounds like an Advent VideoBeam 710, the little brother of the 750. I have a 750 I got working earlier this year. Being honest, get it only if you like playing with old technology - the image it produces is about 5% as good as my 2000 vintage Runco HDTV projector, which also uses 3 CRTs.

The VideoBeam is based on a modified console TV chassis, and works well for what it is, but the tubes are dim, and the picture just isn't that great. It also has to sit on the floor in an awkward location. You are forced to sit off center, because the projector itself takes the best seat. It is also extremely likely that the (unobtainable) tubes are old and tired, because after all, it is 40 years old and was very costly new, so the original owner likely used it a lot.

I had fun with mine, but if you're buying it as something to use rather than to play with, I'd say pass. It is very nicely made inside, and fun to work on. It also has a neat acoustic suspension speaker which will need new foam.
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Old 08-26-2019, 01:29 PM
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There's one of these sans screen (unless he hid it) in one of the sheds at the location that holds the Madison WARCI swap meet....Saw it yesterday looked at it in curiosity, paused to contemplate asking for a price, and decided I wasn't interested enough to bother asking...
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Old 08-26-2019, 02:19 PM
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The price is right !
It was a milestone TV being the first successful projo that sold well.
They either have a Sylvania or Electrohome chassis. Both
are easy to repair & most parts are common.
BUT I can almost guarantee one if not all 3 tubes is weak or bad (& NLA).
They were the weak point of all projos. Also even if perfect you need the
shades pulled & all lights of to get a decent picture.


73 Zeno
LFOD !
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Old 08-26-2019, 03:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post
The price is right !
It was a milestone TV being the first successful projo that sold well.
They either have a Sylvania or Electrohome chassis. Both
are easy to repair & most parts are common.
BUT I can almost guarantee one if not all 3 tubes is weak or bad (& NLA).
They were the weak point of all projos. Also even if perfect you need the
shades pulled & all lights of to get a decent picture.


73 Zeno
LFOD !
More like the first color/modern projection set to sell well.

Just after WWII and into the early 50's RCA, Philco and Norelco each had their own projection system and sold a variety of models for several years (21"-30" direct view sets kinda stole their market share)....the early monochrome projection sets sold well enough that a number of other companies bought CRTs and optics from the OEMs to sell paired up with their chassis.

Advent wasn't the first success so much as as they were the Nintendo NES (which brought the game console market back from the dead after Atari, or more accurately their lack of control of 3rd party game software, crashed the market their 2600 had created) of their technology.
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Old 08-27-2019, 10:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
More like the first color/modern projection set to sell well.

Just after WWII and into the early 50's RCA, Philco and Norelco each had their own projection system and sold a variety of models for several years (.
I wonder what those installations actually looked like, and how many were actually in people's houses. Did any of them project onto a screen located some distance away? How big were the pictures? I've never seen a single photo of a 50s projector in a domestic setting.

The thing which really worked well for the VideoBeam, was it came into existence at roughly the same time as the VCR - making a video based home movie theater possible.
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Old 08-27-2019, 10:22 AM
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The RCAs and Philcos mentioned were usually consoles with a rear projection screen of about 20 inches, thus their demise when direct view tubes that size became available.
EDIT - they were late 40s and were discontinued by the early 50s.

Some off brands were larger and aimed mostly at bars and clubs.
Some of the largest:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/old_tv...57633550644772
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Old 08-27-2019, 10:28 AM
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The RCA and Philco systems were high end home consoles and we're mostly in the homes of the rich... someone posted a picture of an RCA set in a 40s house here in the last year. Most of the sets had the screen built into the cabinet and looked like a normal 18-24" TV only with an abnormally flat square corned screen for the time. Norelcos protelgram system was the only one to be commonly used with a screen separate from the cabinet...it was probably most commonly sold as an add on in the form of an end table that you wired into the yoke and video circuits of a 10-16" RCA 630 chassis TV or a similar table model set and would project a 3'x4' image on a standard film projection screen (common in homes back then) or a wall painted in a light color.

Protelgrams are a bit more common than the American sets, and there seem to be more Philco 2500s around than most RCAs.

The ETF has pictures of a lot of these sets. Most were rear projection screen in cabinet sets and had sub 21" screens so once brighter 21" CRTs became cheaper they conquered the market fast and only the systems talked for much bigger projection screens held market share.
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Old 08-27-2019, 10:36 AM
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Ah, I've seen lots of info on the rear projection TVs of the 40s and 50s. The Norelco system I've seen lots of ads for it towards the back of old magazines, but never actually photos of a nice domestic installation. A 3x4 foot image most certainly qualifies as big screen - have you ever seen on in operation? That would be wonderful to involve a real RCA 630 in a home theater experience that way.

Old_TV_Nut - thank you for the link to photos! I had a look at the projection TVs, but How about that Sylvania Dualette console - WOW, that thing is prettier than a Predicta!
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Old 08-27-2019, 11:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Ah, I've seen lots of info on the rear projection TVs of the 40s and 50s. The Norelco system I've seen lots of ads for it towards the back of old magazines, but never actually photos of a nice domestic installation. A 3x4 foot image most certainly qualifies as big screen - have you ever seen on in operation? That would be wonderful to involve a real RCA 630 in a home theater experience that way.

Old_TV_Nut - thank you for the link to photos! I had a look at the projection TVs, but How about that Sylvania Dualette console - WOW, that thing is prettier than a Predicta!
I've seen protelgrams in home use in pictures in 50s electronics magazines.

I have 2 protelgram add on units. One NOS/NIB one beat to crap...I plan to get one going eventually. I have so many projects and so little time. One day if I can get 3 beat examples I hope to build a color protelgram like the home made one the ETF has.
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Old 08-27-2019, 11:06 AM
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I've seen protelgrams in home use in pictures in 50s electronics magazines.

I have 2 protelgram add on units. One NOS/NIB one beat to crap...I plan to get one going eventually. I have so many projects and so little time. One day if I can get 3 beat examples I hope to build a color protelgram like the home made one the ETF has.
Be sure to post lots of pics if you get it going. I'm very curious how well they perform.
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Old 08-27-2019, 12:27 PM
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I will make in the monochrome section. Unless I croak in the next 4 years I it is not so much a matter of if I get one going, but when...lve got 2 complete units and a spare CRT, so I ought to have plenty to make one live.

I've got a1 of 7 Motorola 21CT2 color sets known, a CT-100, Philco TV-123, CTC4 and 5, an EH Scott Phantom and a couple of other goodies ahead of it in line...

Going to be interesting choosing a set to couple it to, I've got an RCA 8TS30, Stromberg Carlson TV10 (which is a Dumont RA103 in a really cool mid 30s deco looking cabinet ), a Philco 48-1000 (with an 11 pin octal yoke plug on the back which would make the connection easier), all working and an RCA 8tr29 (basically a table model 630 with an AM/FM radio and phono input) that needs a resto as driver set candidates.
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Last edited by Electronic M; 08-27-2019 at 12:41 PM.
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Old 08-27-2019, 12:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Ah, I've seen lots of info on the rear projection TVs of the 40s and 50s. The Norelco system I've seen lots of ads for it towards the back of old magazines, but never actually photos of a nice domestic installation. A 3x4 foot image most certainly qualifies as big screen - have you ever seen on in operation? That would be wonderful to involve a real RCA 630 in a home theater experience that way.

Old_TV_Nut - thank you for the link to photos! I had a look at the projection TVs, but How about that Sylvania Dualette console - WOW, that thing is prettier than a Predicta!
This is a good time for a plug for the Early Television Foundation. If you haven't been there, you should add it to your bucket list.
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