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Old 05-24-2016, 12:08 PM
ELzekio ELzekio is offline
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1987 Zenith System 3 SD2767H

Hello everyone, while browsing a thrift store I recently found this beast. Never owned a vintage looking television like this and so because I always liked old electronics, it was like love at first site. Taking a closer look it is obvious that must have been sitting for well over 10 years but for the whopping price of $5 I was not going to pass it up.

I just got done cleaning it and it is one of the most disgusting jobs I've ever done.

In the limited research I have done it seems that people who knew televisions say that zeniths build quality dropped off during the late 1980s and people did not like servicing them.

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this television for a similar model.
Do you consider it a good television for the time?
Is there anything specific that commonly goes bad with this model?

It seems to me that this had to be one of the top of the line models of zenith system 3 televisions for the time. I never knew a television this old that had two RCA video inputs after I used it a while and got it back up and running I could tell the picture quality is very good (for the time) very similar to many of the late 1990s CRT televisions.

Zenith System 3 SD2767H
May 1987

Attachment 191153

image.jpg

Last edited by ELzekio; 05-24-2016 at 12:15 PM.
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Old 05-24-2016, 12:23 PM
ELzekio ELzekio is offline
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Attachment 191158


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Last edited by ELzekio; 05-24-2016 at 01:51 PM.
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Old 05-24-2016, 01:14 PM
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zeno zeno is offline
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At the time only the zenith "Digital System 3" was above this.
It was digitally processed but the pix is about the same.
Dont remember any problems but the membrain keypads
did give some problems. Just use the remote. Still a high
quality set built better than most at that time. The bad
Zeniths started in early 90's as Gold Star was slowly taking
over. Mostly bad CRT's & cheapend chassis.

73 Zeno
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Old 05-24-2016, 02:11 PM
RCAZenith RCAZenith is offline
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That's a nice pick up there. I picked up a Zenith TV made in 1987 also recently. It was a "Custom Series" 19" set with a keypad tuner and coaxial input.


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Old 05-24-2016, 06:55 PM
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About the only problems I've seen on those are bad solder connections and bad capacitors in the power supply and vertical sweep circuit. When the CRT is good, they produce nice pictures. The really bad ones started around 1990 and the quality continued to get worse, until the bitter end.
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Old 05-24-2016, 07:21 PM
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Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
About the only problems I've seen on those are bad solder connections and bad capacitors in the power supply and vertical sweep circuit. When the CRT is good, they produce nice pictures. The really bad ones started around 1990 and the quality continued to get worse, until the bitter end.
I have a Zenith SMS1917SG "Sentry 2" 19-inch table model TV, built in 1995. I must have been extremely fortunate to have gotten a set with a good CRT, as this TV still makes as good a picture today as when it was new, over twenty years ago.

One reason my set is still working well with its original tube, however, may be that I only used the set as a daily watcher for about four years, after which time I bought an RCA 19" table set and put the Zenith in storage; I do not use the Zenith set much anymore since buying a flat screen five years ago.

It could very well be that the 1990s Zenith TVs which had all the CRT problems were heavily used, or else the SMS1917SG and other Sentry 2 sets of the same model, as I said, may have been shipped with a "good" tube that did not short (if there actually was such a thing, which I doubt; from what I have read about those tubes, including your observation, they were bad news almost from the beginning). When the CRTs shorted in these TVs the damage (so I have read in Zenith forums elsewhere on the Web) was extreme, including destroying the entire video output system, if not the power supply and other parts of the set as well.

I wonder if the "Zenith" branded flat screen sets, made by LG, were just as bad from a quality standpoint. Since these TVs were not made by Zenith (which was long out of business by this time), I doubt the FPs had bad LCD panels. Of course, I am referring to flat screens made by LG just after the DTV transition; today's LG sets may be much more reliable than the post-Zenith ones.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 05-24-2016 at 07:33 PM.
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Old 05-24-2016, 09:38 PM
ELzekio ELzekio is offline
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When I first got this the picture quality looked real bad, but as time went on and I broke it in a bit the picture drastically improved to where I'm not very impressed with it.

I cleaned it up using lots of blow off duster and surface cleaner so it is obviously not prefect but I bet it helped.

If I wanted to take a closer look and touch on the solder joints should I be real concerned about getting an electric shock from the television. I know the process of De energizing the CRT is pretty strait forward, but it still concerns me because if you mess one small thing up you can be killed.

This is my first ever pre 90s TV so just wondering, is it common for these televisions to need to take about 60 seconds to turn on of they have been unplugged for a while?

Is it common for you guys to get a wired red glare with section colors on the television?

At first I thought it was the television itself causing it but I then realized that when it is a bright day and the sun s shining on it the red glare will be visible. Close the shades or watch tv at night and there is no glare.

Is there any specific adjustments in the innards of the TV that you guys recommend to get the best performance ( like a tuner alignment or adjusting the bias), but for a old television?

Last edited by ELzekio; 05-24-2016 at 09:44 PM.
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  #8  
Old 05-25-2016, 01:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ELzekio View Post
If I wanted to take a closer look and touch on the solder joints should I be real concerned about getting an electric shock from the television. I know the process of De energizing the CRT is pretty strait forward, but it still concerns me because if you mess one small thing up you can be killed.
None of the board joints are at or near HV especially if the set is unplugged and has been off for 10 seconds. The highest voltage HV connection is the red wire from the fly to the top of the CRT....It should be around 25KV. Current kills, NOT voltage! The 25KV supply can't kill you, unless you have a heart condition....Trust me, I've gotten bit by the HV supplies of several TV sets and lived to type this...It just hurts bad (but don't last like a solder burn), and may trigger your reflexes....You are in more danger messing with the 120VAC from your wall outlets (since you can draw over 20A and not trip the breaker) than the 25KV from a TV. It takes about 30mA to kill. The average CRT draws 1-3mA MAX and the supplies are not designed to source any more current than the CRT can use.

A good portion of sets made after 1973 had internal bleeder resistors that would discharge the CRT within ~ 5 seconds of switching the set off.
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Old 05-25-2016, 08:26 AM
RCAZenith RCAZenith is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs View Post
I have a Zenith SMS1917SG "Sentry 2" 19-inch table model TV, built in 1995. I must have been extremely fortunate to have gotten a set with a good CRT, as this TV still makes as good a picture today as when it was new, over twenty years ago.

One reason my set is still working well with its original tube, however, may be that I only used the set as a daily watcher for about four years, after which time I bought an RCA 19" table set and put the Zenith in storage; I do not use the Zenith set much anymore since buying a flat screen five years ago.

It could very well be that the 1990s Zenith TVs which had all the CRT problems were heavily used, or else the SMS1917SG and other Sentry 2 sets of the same model, as I said, may have been shipped with a "good" tube that did not short (if there actually was such a thing, which I doubt; from what I have read about those tubes, including your observation, they were bad news almost from the beginning). When the CRTs shorted in these TVs the damage (so I have read in Zenith forums elsewhere on the Web) was extreme, including destroying the entire video output system, if not the power supply and other parts of the set as well.

I wonder if the "Zenith" branded flat screen sets, made by LG, were just as bad from a quality standpoint. Since these TVs were not made by Zenith (which was long out of business by this time), I doubt the FPs had bad LCD panels. Of course, I am referring to flat screens made by LG just after the DTV transition; today's LG sets may be much more reliable than the post-Zenith ones.


My parents had a Zenith set - 27" but similar to yours made in 1996 or 97. It ran strong until a Walker Texas Ranger re-run in January 2010 when the green gun probably shorted and caused the picture to go purple. Now that tv was there from the time I was in Kindergarden until I was a freshman in college and used 4-6 hours a day. 13 years of service is a lot to ask from anything when it is a daily grind. Given the bad reputation of those sets, I am shocked that it lasted, but it was a tough son of a gun.


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  #10  
Old 05-26-2016, 08:50 PM
ELzekio ELzekio is offline
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My parents have a 27" 1997 Big Black zenith television that is still going strong.
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