The worst solid state color TVs ever made

[radiotvnut]

Here are my entries for the junkiest and/or most overrated solid state color TVs. Your opinions may differ, and you may want to add some to the list.

1. Just about any GE made prior to the introduction of the "PC" chassis. I especially didn't like the "YM", which was the first chassis to use a large-screen inline jug (that didn't last) and these always ate flyback transformers (they were not cheap). Then, there was the "EC" (19" portables) and the "EM" (25" sets). At least the "EM" had a VRT power supply and was cold (the "EC" was hot), but both were full of griplets and were hard to service because of the way the boards were arranged. The "YA" and "YC" were sort-of OK, but I ran into a lot of bad yokes and bad focus dividers on those. The "AA"/"AB"/"AC" chassis that was used in 10", 13", and 17" sets was somewhat OK, after you fixed the griplets. The "PC", which was one of their last, was a good set that could usually be fixed by replacing a handful of capacitors in the vertical sweep and power supply circuits, but I saw many of those with weak tubes towards the end of me seeing those. It seems like the early "PC" sets with the grey-faced tube held up better than the later ones with the dark-faced tube. I think I saw one "PM" set, which was basically a "PC with a switching power supply. I saw a few "QA"/"JA" sets, as well as one "MA" 25" console, and none of those impressed me, either. Even the "CD"/"C1"/"C2" chassis color hybrids were not that great. I recall seeing one 19" GE hospital set and I think it used a "JA" chassis variant with a delta-gun tube and it wasn't very impressive.

2. Curtis Mathes was the most overrated, overpriced pile of junk TV that was ever made. The tube sets, what few I saw by the time I started fooling with TVs, looked to be a rip-off of an RCA design, using cheap parts. The solid state sets usually had an NEC chassis paired with an RCA or Westinghouse (depending on the age) jug. I'm told that they bought reject jugs from the big tube manufacturers and that could explain why I saw so many bad ones. Even when they worked, I never saw one with a picture that blew me away. I recall one monster TV/stereo combo from 1974 that had an NEC solid state modular chassis that was full of problems, a dead 23V delta-gun jug, cheap stereo components that would make an Electrophonic seem high-end, and a cheaply-made particleboard and plastic cabinet. For what someone paid for that junk heap, they could have bought a nice Zenith combo that likely would still be working.

3. Any solid state Warwick-built set. I've known of no technician that had a good thing to say about them and Sears eventually dumped them as a supplier, because of their declining quality.

4. Samsung/Goldstar/Sampo junk. Those were not usually hard to diagnose, but the diagnosis usually sent them to the junk pile. They were a discount set to begin with and they usually had a decent picture, but when the flyback or jug went, the owners rarely had them fixed because the cost of repair would approach or exceed what they paid for the set.

5. Early Magnavox solid state. I don't remember the chassis number, but it was their first solid state portable chassis that was used in 17" and 19" sets. It used a bonded-yoke inline jug, and these sets would develop bad connections in the sweep circuits, causing a dot to get burned in the center of the screen. The T979 was their first large-screen solid state color chassis and it had a good picture, but I seem to remember it having a lot of under-sized resistors and there were issues with the module contacts. The next one was the T989, which was an improvement. Their best was probably the T995 modular chassis with a 25V delta jug. The T815 was OK, except for the tri-focus inline jug, like what Zenith used, that didn't hold up all that well. The T991 and T809 19" modular sets were OK, as long as you kept spare safety capacitors on hand and re-soldered all of the module connectors (on the modules and on the main board). I did not care for the C3 and C5 sets from the '80s (overly complicated power supplies and they liked to eat flyback transformers).

6. I really should not have an opinion, since I recall only working on two Admiral color sets in my life, but I've heard some not-so-great things about Admiral. The two I worked on was one of those little 12" color hybrid sets from the early '70s and I managed to get a fair picture out of that one. The second one was a 19" Montgomery Ward-badged set from 1979 (the last year for Admiral). That set used a single-board chassis with a 19" RCA inline jug. After replacing a shorted tripler and making the usual adjustments, that one had a nice picture.

[zeno]

Not a simple question. What makes a good or bad set is a moving target.
Its not just a good pix. Its Pix, audio, serviceability ( both physical & circuit
design ), parts availability, tech back up, and on ........

So a little finger pointing now.
Warwick ( sears ) are all toilets but well designed.
GE improved with SS sets. first ones OK. The EC chassis was trash due
to griplets. The PC chassis was a solid great running set but when
they finally got it right they pulled out of TV.
Same with Admiral. The M10 chassis was highly unreliable. Other chassii
for consoles were very good sets. Latter AOC chassis one board sets
were very good for a few yrs. Then they decided to limit the FBT's life
( smoke ! ) to 2 years !!
Maggy sets were decent but prone to MANY cold joints. The best they
built was the C-1 chassis that was as good as anything out there.

Enuf fer now
73 Zeno
LFOD !

[old_coot88]

Before even reading rhe text, the first thought that came to mind was the GE portables with griplets.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

Not a simple question. What makes a good or bad set is a moving target.
Its not just a good pix. Its Pix, audio, serviceability ( both physical & circuit
design ), parts availability, tech back up, and on ........

So a little finger pointing now.
Warwick ( sears ) are all toilets but well designed.
GE improved with SS sets. first ones OK. The EC chassis was trash due
to griplets. The PC chassis was a solid great running set but when
they finally got it right they pulled out of TV.
Same with Admiral. The M10 chassis was highly unreliable. Other chassii
for consoles were very good sets. Latter AOC chassis one board sets
were very good for a few yrs. Then they decided to limit the FBT's life
( smoke ! ) to 2 years !!
Maggy sets were decent but prone to MANY cold joints. The best they
built was the C-1 chassis that was as good as anything out there.

Enuf fer now
73 Zeno
LFOD !

Warwick was taken over by Sanyo!
The Philco built solid state sets were no treat either. The last sets they made before Sylvania took over.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Before even reading rhe text, the first thought that came to mind was the GE portables with griplets.

Once we figured out what was going on they made us a ton of $$$
(AA, AB & AC chassis) and ran decent for the $$. I would take one
over the tube Portacolor ANY day.

Zeno

[zeno]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Warwick was taken over by Sanyo!
The Philco built solid state sets were no treat either. The last sets they made before Sylvania took over.

Fortunately there was very little Philco coming in. IMHO Philco SS color
sets were the only ones that got worse going SS. The former hybrid chassis
was an excellent set. Really nice with a better jug. They also made SS B&W
sets that were foot ball or UFO style at the end. As good as any.

For Warwick they designed a good set but put nothing into the chassis itself.
The module plugs were NFG. We would solder them in they were so bad. Sanyo built Sears sets were mostly very good in most respects.


Zeno

[old_coot88]

*Deleted for being off topic (tube Portacolors).

[radiotvnut]

I've had my hands on three Philco-Ford solid state color sets. One was a 19" ex-motel set that had no HV and the jug was dead, so no effort was put into that one. The next one was a 19" color set that had a good picture, but had HV regulation issues and I gave it to a TV repairman friend. The third was a big 25" TV/stereo combo and as the owners were unloading it off the truck, they bumped the neck of the jug and that was the end of it. From what they described, it had horizontal sync issues, but they did not want to replace the jug and they picked it up to use as a stereo.

I know I'm derailing my own post, but I did not care for GE Portacolor sets and I've never met a technician who did. In fact, most technicians got so they would not work on them. I was told that at a GE seminar, it was announced that the 10HE chassis tube Portacolor was being discontinued and everyone in the room stood up and started clapping.

[Telecolor 3007]

About "GoldStar" or "Samsung" or both there was a talk in the past and I wondered how in U.S.A. the tv sets made by the companies where bad.
In Romania there where imported tv sets from both of them. "GoldStar" had the advertising with ˝"GoldStar", nobleţea aurului˝ - nobleţea aurului = the noblese of the gold.

I don't know much about "GoldStar", but "Samsung" tv sets where quite good sets. Lasting 15-17 years. Not as much as more expensive sets ("Samsung" was expensive in Romania), but still quite fine. I think some lasted 20 years.
They where also assamble in Romania, specially a series models called 'BioVision'. One of the models of the series runned to a dental clinic at least 8 hours a day, 252 days a year from at least 1998 to 2010 or 2012. The last time, it still offered a good image. Got replaced by and L.C.D. one... The old "Samsung" was young and restless.
At a hotel, it was also a '90's "Samsung". Stil in use in a lobby in 2009 or 2010.
"Samsung" made quite long lasting picture tubes too. In early '90's, at 'Elecrom' tv sets ('Elecrom' was a Soviet tv "Elektron" tv set with a P.A.L. decoder aded) "Samsung" pictures tubes where put, because the Soviet ones didn't las long.

[ESigma25]

I've never used a Samsung color TV but the old Samsung portable black and white TVs from the late 70s, those things just can't be stopped I guess. I once had a "Bohsei" (rebranded Samsung) from 1978 and I wish I had that thing back because it was super bright and strong for its age.

[Pio1980]

Any comments on NAP CRTs?

[ARC Tech-109]

I seem to remember Panasonic had a few atrocities. The Quintracolor (?) with an SCR regulated power supply module, every one of those sets I recall had burned down the red gun. The other was the early 80s attempt at surface mount resistors and that coarse offset strip CRT, don't recall the chassis but they were not service friendly. I had a number of these come across my bench that were used in the school production studio and all but a few were condemned.

[AlanInSitges]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I've had my hands on three Philco-Ford solid state color sets.

Shango did one of these in his "pulled out of a ravine" series, a 19" set. Once he hosed all the mud and wasp nests out of it I was surprised at how well-engineered it seemed to be: modular, SCR horizontal, and a pretty advanced switching power supply for the 1970s. I seem to remember it had a pretty decent picture, all things considered.

I thought Philco was pretty much coasting by that point, so it was unexpected to see them taking big swings like the design of that set.

[Alex KL-1]

For me, for servicing, is not a maker individually, but bad decisions about mixing techs at time (examples will be mentioned below). Since one of best TV I serviced was a Philco, and the worst also...
But for owners here... maybe Cineral and CCE, since these make a bad fame itselfs... makes these early Samsung and Goldstar seemed a tank machine and a breeze to fix.

Based on my relatively little time I worked with TV sets, used and new (early 2000's):
80's Philips: blue cap disease, some with circuits difficult to diagnostic for a newbie technician (on this include some Telefunkens).
Early 2000's Philips: bad solder joints, very small solder area for non-SMD parts
CCE, Cineral: local makers know to cut costs at any costs... so a miryad of problems
Philco (then Itautec, former Hitachi and Ford): like local makers, cutting costs using some SMD on very large common phenolic ordinary PCB without chassis metal clamp, prone to flexing and making various SMD parts fail.
Early 480p TV: terrible to diagnose processing boards.
And too many makers to mention...

BUT when LCD TV started to appear, I furtunately found another job! those SMD in these is a PITA to fix, and makers love to sell modules only, if any.

[DavGoodlin]

Thanks for the great thread R-T-P-N, you sure DO know your GE, ditto my experiences

Some manufacturers of otherwise quality SS TV made blunders too. My experiences are mostly working on solid state in the 1980s, mostly knob-tuned.

Sony's 26" was heavy and expensive but CRT's had much shorter life than smaller models. There was no fixing a Sony using replacement semiconductors from ECG-NTE-SK, OEM parts were very expensive.

Quasar did not have very durable tuners, continued through Matsushita's takeover of Motorola. I was never really impressed with the pictures, just enjoyed working on the WID sets. TS934-938

RCA 19" CTC101s had many bad flybacks, but little else went wrong with Colortrak.

MGA (Mitsubishi) gave little trouble but when anything failed, the CRT was so soft, it was game over. An area dealer pushed them hard against Sony but it caught up to them as they only lasted 5-7 years

Zenith may have gone downhill after the CRT fails of post 1993 sets, but still managed to steer clear of many pitfalls others fell victim to. I hated those one-knob varactor tuners for UHF especially