Which color set came first?

[holmesuser01]

A friend of mine is telling me that Admiral was first with their color television. I say it was RCA.

Am I right, or is she wrong?

There might be money riding on this!!

Thanks, guys!!

[Alastair E]

Almost certainly RCA....

After all, They made the CRT's and licenced out the design to other makers--even in other countries like to Mullard here in UK!

--Having said that, Maybe I'm wrong--what do I know, I live in the UK!

[jr_tech]

Do you mean "first to market" a CRT type color set ? Westinghouse:
http://www.earlytelevision.org/westinghouse_color.html
RCA was a few weeks later:
http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_ct-100.html
jr

[holmesuser01]

This lady is insisting that the Admiral came on 12/30/53. I've never heard of this before.

[holmesuser01]

Originally Posted by Alastair E

Almost certainly RCA....

After all, They made the CRT's and licenced out the design to other makers--even in other countries like to Mullard here in UK!

--Having said that, Maybe I'm wrong--what do I know, I live in the UK!

I was born 3 years after this event!!

[jstout66]

Not sure, but from what I've read, the first color set was CBS (color wheel), but RCA came to market like 2 seconds after with a color CRT set.
It had to have been RCA. I don't think Admiral would have had the money to beat RCA to the market. I could be wrong, but most other color sets of that time-frame were of an RCA design. (licensed from RCA)

[David Roper]

There definitely was an advertisement for fuses published around New Years of 1954 that illustrates the Admiral 15" set (an example of a big thing protected by Littlefuse). That's proof that the set had already been designed and at least a pilot production built, but it isn't proof that any had been sold yet.

[John Folsom]

While RCA played a primary role in developing the CRT and some of the technology for the NTSC color system, they were NOT the first to market with a set.

Zenith claims to have sold the first color TV in the fall or '53, but as NTSC had not yet been approved, and all the other 15" sets they build were not offered for sale, I don't think this counts as first to market.

Admiral announced there set December 31 1953. Here is the announcement (thanks Steve Dichter!)

Subject: Admiral 15" intro
Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2005 10:47 PM
From: Steve Dichter <stevetek@webtv.net>
To: <ereitan@novia.net>
Conversation: Admiral 15" intro

New York Times: Thursday Dec.31, 1953
Page 22, Section L.

"First Admiral Color TV"

Admiral Corporation Introduced yesterday its first color television
receiver. It has a fifteen-inch tube and will retail for $1,175. Also
added to the company's line were several new black-and-white receivers,
including a twenty-one-inch model to list for $179.95. Joe Marty Jr.,
general manager of Admiral's electronics division, said the company
expects to turn out 30,000 color television sets next year.

I am not sure when Admiral actually had set in dealer showrooms for sale, so I am not sure if they can really claim to be "first". Anyone know?

This is quoted from Steve's website

http://community.webtv.net/stevetek/StevesCT100

"... Starting in early 1954 NTSC 15" color receivers were first offered for sale to the public. Westinghouse in Feb. '54, $1200. And RCA Victor's CT-100 in April, 1954, $1000. Other companies soon followed with very limited pilot runs or prototype demonstration units. Sales were dismally low. Few color programs were available. "

So technically RCA was not first. But RCA did produce 200 prototype sets (the Model 5) in the fall for 1953, but they were not marketed to the public.

RCA and Westinghouse were the only ones who produced 15" color sets in any quantity; RCA about 5,000 CT 100s and Westinghouse about 500 H840CK15s.

[Pete Deksnis]

Not everyone agrees with me, but it is my belief that if you had a fist-full of dollars you could have commercially purchased the Admiral. Or soon thereafter the Westinghouse. Where I insist upon RCA being first, even though production did not begin until late March 1954, is in the true-production quantity argument:

Where millions and millions of b&w sets were manufactured by then, an unknown pilot production run of a few sets, even if it were a few hundred in the case of Westinghouse, does not override the true production run by RCA in Bloomington of over four thousand CT-100's. I believe it is RCA that deserves the credit for producing the first 'production' NTSC color television set.

Pete (and okay, yes I did once work for RCAS.)

[Steve D.]

Thanks John Folsom for including my posts on Admiral's intro of color tv. And David Roper's mention of the Admiral tie in ad with Littlefuse. I did extensive library research that included back issue newspapers from both coasts. Other than the Admiral Corp. article cited by Folsom. And the tie in ad cited by Roper, I could not find one ad in any of the newspapers I searched that offered that Admiral color set for sale or available to the public. I did find one Jan.'54 ad for a Philco color set demonstration at the Wanamaker Dept. Store in NYC, but conclude that was a prototype set that shows an artist's rendering of a TV set. Taking Pete Deksnis' argument that RCA produced several thousand CT-100's starting in March, 1954 and were available to distributors & dealers by late April,'54 does not trump the fact that the public could could go into a Westinghouse dealer and purchase a color tv in Feb. 1954. There are dept. store. newspaper ads that feature the Westinghouse color set for sale from that date. The very set that is currently the subject of a VK thread. I would have to conclude, IMO, that fact alone makes Westinghouse the 1st color TV available for sale to the public. In fairness, stats show that in the 1st 30 days, only one Westinghouse color set was sold.

-Steve D.

[Steve McVoy]

I think that a few field sequential sets were sold to the public. If so, they would beat the Westinghouse.

[holmesuser01]

I've won $3.

I love this site!

[Sandy G]

Let's go to Biltmore Dairy, you can buy me a chocolate shake ! (grin)

[Mal Fuller]

My first boss, Amelio (Mel) Fragassi of Deerfield, Illinois had worked for Admiral during the early days of Admiral's color TV development and production. RCA was very anxious to involve other manufacturers in color TV production. According to what Mel told me, RCA actually lent engineers to Admiral to help Admiral launch its production of color TVs. RCA also sold major components such as CRTs, yokes and convergence yokes. It's my conjecture that Admiral was not the only TV manufacturer so assisted by RCA. The Admiral color sets I am personally familiar with employed the 21AXP22 CRT. I suspect that RCA recruited competing manufacturers during the earlier era of the 15GP22.
The 21" Admirals were unique in that the 21AXP22 CRTs were chassis mounted.

[Steve D.]

[QUOTE=jr_tech;3062903]Do you mean "first to market" a CRT type color set ?

Steve McVoy,

I guess, technically, holmesuser01 does win the $3.00. Just wish he had answered jr_tech's question quoted above. As to which was the 1st NTSC color receiver marketed to the public? I stand by the Westinghouse or was it the Admiral?? To be continued........Lol.

-Steve D.