Predictas?

[Charlie]

I was wondering how many of us have Predictas? It recently occurred to me that we rarely see them here on AK... which is a little surprising to me since there's a lot of Predicta trading on ebay. I have the 17" model, and I think I recall Tim having a 21" model. Who else here has them?

The one i have makes a good picture... when you hold the tubes in place. There are about 3 tube sockets needing changing. Being that this set is such a pain in the butt to take apart, I've just left it as is. I have considered sending it to someone that works on these sets because I simply don't feel like dealing with it.

Any others?

[bgadow]

I have a 17" "motel" model. (the cheapest way to get into a Predicta!?) Works but has a vertical problem (short raster, gets shorter as it warms up) and I just don't feel like pulling it apart.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by bgadow

...and I just don't feel like pulling it apart.

I don't feel alone anymore!

Was there a major difference with the motel models? Did they have an extra accessory or something?

[Kamakiri]

I've had every model they made with the exception of the two piece deal and the one that looks like a rocketship. Beautiful to look at, but all else purely electronic junk

[Chad Hauris]

We have a couple of them at the shop that are in our collection but have not got to working on them yet. One has no drive to horizontal output tube and another has some kind of an HV or damper problem. Managed to get a raster on one of them and then HV quit.

[Steve K]

I just sold a 17 inch version on eBay and have a blonde barberpole model. I will keep the barberpole set but I don't ever want another Predicta! Tim is correct about the electronics. Predictas are the most miserable sets to repair.

Steve

[andy]

...

[Sandy G]

Is the original finish on a Predicta kinda, well...,"cheesy" ? I found a rather sad specimen in a junque shoppe in Knoxville a year or 2 back that I thought was tacky,tacky, tacky. It was a hideous blue/green more towards turquoise, w/"old gold" knobs, & that horrid 1950s fabric that had little strips of metal in it. Of course, it didn't work,& I didn't see paying $200 for a smallish B/W TV that didn't work, and was quite fugly to boot.-Sandy G.

[Eric H]

I've got a 21" "Holiday" in Mahogany. It's been recapped and works, sorta.
The CRT is wrong (but like new) and the neck is a little too long so you have to put spacers between the housing and rear cover.

I agree with everyone who says these are a PITA and don't really have much interest in fooling with it anymore.

I have the feeling these are more popular with the "Retro" designer crowd rather than the TV Collectors.

[Indian Head]

We have a total of 9 Philco Predictas and 2 Safaris (the portable, solid state Safari came out in 1960, the same year as the last Predictas). We actually have an example of every model they made. We find them to be enjoyable and fun to watch. They were made in 1959 "G" series (all 21") and 1960 "H series" (17" and one 21"). The 1959 sets (all with wood cabinets) are not as good as the 1960 models. The '59's have the tubes wired in series, thus no transformer and are slow to warm up. Almost all of the '59's have or had vertical problems. The '60's had a transformer power supply and just worked better. The biggest problem with the '59's was the 21" picture tube...Philco literally replaced 50% of the picture tubes under warranty. Most would go dim and burn out within the first 6 months. It was the first 110 degree deflection tube and had a 2.36v filament. The filament was weak and the cathode lost emission quickly. This severely damaged Philco's reputation for quality. The 17" and 21" tubes were much improved and last as long as any other make. The 17" 1960 sets all had metal cabinets. The "Rocket ship" set (their only 1960 wood cabinet, named "Continental") was the only 21" set in '60.

When a Predicta chassis is restored, they have a very good picture and nice sound. And are actually quite stable. And the wood cabinets are no worse, IMHO, than any other "painted finish" cabinet from the era. The swivel picture tube is neat and are always a conversation piece. It almost has an eerie look to the picture, 'floating" above the cabinet. For those of you looking for the "2 piece" unit (called "Tandem"), it is a 1959 model. One thing for sure....they have become the icon for '50's televisions.

[Charlie]

It's ironic that Predictas are always sought after, but as far as the most of us here are concerned, they're not worth the trouble to work on. On ebay, they always bring a nice pocket of change... even if they don't work. I think Eric is right... probably folks looking for a classic design are the ones buying them. I also agree with Indian Head... restore a chassis and it will play quite well.

On my set, I had replaced many capacitors that made a hell of a difference in the way it played. I was indeed impressed. However, tube sockets not making good contact keep me from playing it. I turn it on once in a while, but not for long. The sound output and damper sockets need replacing. Seemed almost impossible to get to the sound socket. They're just too much of a pain in the ass to deal with. I'd rather pay someone else to fix it.

I've seen people advertising "send us your chassis for rebuild" on the internet. I've come very close to sending mine in. Seems I recall those folks were on the west coast.

Seems that they could have used something else other than a 6BQ5 for sound. That particular tube simply gets too damn hot to be sittin on a printed circuit board.

My favorite as far as looks go is the Continental. Always thought it was a sharp looking set.

For those of you that have had the 21" verticles (Continental, Pedastal, etc), are the chassis in those easier to get to?

[Sandy G]

Yeah, I read or heard somewhere-prolly here-that Philco lost so much money repairing Predictas & the attendant slide in sales, that was a major cause of them being sold to Ford. They nearly went under... Too bad the Predictas weren't color...now THAT would have been something-a Roundie Predicta !!!-Sandy G.

[bgadow]

My model is a cheaper version that does not tilt up and down, just side to side. Where that cross bar would be attached on the sides of the crt shell there are just metal plugs. I have read that LOTS of these sort of sets were made for sale to motels, etc. I bought mine cheap, under $50 IIRC. To get it working I had only to replace the fusible resistor. I'm sure it just has a bad cap or resistor but its so hateful to fool with. Its a conversation piece, though. My wife loves it and is always telling people about it. Interesting that the next line of sets to come out of Philco was the "Cool Chassis" line, designed especially for airflow. Lesson learned? I really like Philco but they sure seemed to lose their way as the 50s went on.

Hi there guys, I am a vintage TV collector in the Netherlands and new to the forum.I have 6 different Predictas and I've restored about 20 of them in the last 10 years or so.Once you get used to the peculiarities of the chassis,they are no different to restore than "normal" TV's.You have to remove the PCB from the chassis to do a decent repair job.This takes about 10 to 15 minutes and from then on it becomes a standard recap and check all resistors job.The vertical couplets that can cause various vertical instability problems can be made from a few resistors and caps and a piece of perfboard.I have even succesfully rewound a flyback for a 17 inch Princess once, with a little help from a friend who has a transformer factory.
Cabinetwise, the photofinish can be problem, it's always best to try and find a good one , of course.I resprayed a Holiday once in a nice creamy ivory color which looked very nice, not very original, but it turned a hopelessly flakes and scratched cabinet into something that looked brand new.
Metal 17 inch cabinets are easily resprayed of course.I've also made some repro stands for the 17 inch models, they don't look complete without them.
Although my main interest is early round screen sets, the Predicta series remain one of the most interesting TV designs ever made and every TV collector should have at least one of them!

[Steve K]

Hi Monochromeman:

Welcome to AudioKarma! I have restored several of the Predictas and you are correct that once you get it apart it's pretty much standard recapping and those vertical couplets are kind of fun to build but I still prefer a standard TV chassis! I recently finished recapping a friend's 17 inch Predicta and it turns out that the flyback was bad. I don't think that I would try to rewind it though as I'd probably end up with a bigger mess than which I started.

Steve