A Little Flat Tube Fun - Videokarma.org TV - Video

bgadow · #1 10-24-2009, 10:04 PM

I'd wondered what those tubes looked like! Well worth that price, I'd say.

I have a service manual for the Zenith version of one of these, don't know the model without looking. If anyone wants it let me know.

jeyurkon · #2 10-24-2009, 10:40 PM

We used to use 9 track tape drives to store data from our experiments. There were a few occasions where the software said the data was being written to tape when in fact the drives were doing nothing. There's is a limited amount of beam time given to each experiment so this was serious.

Their solution was to put a TV camera on each tape drive and they used a Sony flat tube walkman type monitor to watch the drive.

John

jr_tech · #3 10-25-2009, 12:09 AM

Sounds like an unusual application that Sony probably never thought of.... MIBL? NSCL?

jr

jeyurkon · #4 10-25-2009, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Sounds like an unusual application that Sony probably never thought of.... MIBL? NSCL?

jr

NSCL. I had to look up Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory. I thought you were making a joke like "Men In Black Laboratory." Wish there was one, I'd apply.

John

jr_tech · #5 10-25-2009, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeyurkon

I thought you were making a joke like "Men In Black Laboratory." Wish there was one, I'd apply.

John

Indeed, that sounds like it would be a cool place to work!

jr

kx250rider · #6 10-25-2009, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow

I'd wondered what those tubes looked like! Well worth that price, I'd say.

I have a service manual for the Zenith version of one of these, don't know the model without looking. If anyone wants it let me know.

Magnavox had one, and I think I've seen a J.C. Penney housebrand one too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr_tech

kx250rider... Did the FD210 use the flat or the curved screen version of the tube?

jr

I think this one is flat. It's also the smallest one I know of, at slightly under 2" diagonal. (I said 1.5" earlier; mistook it for the Panasonic pocket sets with the 1.5" standard tube)

Charles

jr_tech · #7 10-25-2009, 01:27 PM

kx250rider...Cool, that is indeed a flat phosphor screen! I must watch for a 210, since it appears to be the first, it would seem to be the most collectible. There is one on eBay right now, but it has a missing (or broken) volume control knob. Wiki says 1982 for this model... did you perhaps buy your first one in Japan earlier?

Even with the Zenith and Magnavox models added in, I suspect that a collection of ALL the the models of Flat CRT TVs could fit into a shoe box

Some of the "monitor" versions have appeared on eBay*, but the BIN price is above the 10 bucks (or so) that I like to pay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-WatchCam-Ey...item1c0d11d344

* not affiliated, etc.

jr

compucat · #8 10-25-2009, 03:13 PM

I have a mint FD-40A that uses the flat tube. It works great but the screen geometry is not perfect as is to be expected on these tubes. It is still a remarkable achievement considering it was the 1980s. When LCD became practical and in color, there was no real market for black and white sets with these tubes.

jr_tech · #9 10-26-2009, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compucat

I have a mint FD-40A that uses the flat tube. It works great but the screen geometry is not perfect as is to be expected on these tubes. It is still a remarkable achievement considering it was the 1980s. When LCD became practical and in color, there was no real market for black and white sets with these tubes.

Yes, It appears that it was a pretty short run... This website states that the last tube Sony Watchman was the FD-280 in 1990. I suspect that perhaps the "monitors" were sold for a bit longer, but don't really know.

http://www.taschenfernseher.de/e-history.htm

Picture 1 is the odd shaped FD-280 from that link.

jr

*zenithfan1* · #10 09-06-2012, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Yes, It appears that it was a pretty short run... This website states that the last tube Sony Watchman was the FD-280 in 1990. I suspect that perhaps the "monitors" were sold for a bit longer, but don't really know.

http://www.taschenfernseher.de/e-history.htm

Picture 1 is the odd shaped FD-280 from that link.

jr

They went until at least 1992, I have the same model from that year

(old thread but a fun one

)

jr_tech · #11 09-08-2012, 07:42 PM

Some recent additions to my small TV collection:

1. "sports" versions... CW from 8:00; Green Bay Packers FD-2A, Tampa Bay Buccaneers FD-30A, San Francisco 49ERS FD-30A (the 30As have a decent AM/FM radio built in), LA Raders FD-20A. There are many more Football teams, as well as Baseball teams... I don't intend to collect them all.

2. 2.6 inch models... Continuing CW from 2:00; FD-230 (thick set), FD-270 (nice, thin set) and the weird palm-grip FD-280.

3. Red white and blue FD-10 series... I don't have the white yet.

4. Odd Digital Clock TV/FM FD-3A. Clock is not functional on this sample, so I can't tell if it can be used as an alarm clock radio/TV... anybody here know for sure?

jr

kx250rider · #12 10-26-2009, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr_tech

kx250rider...Cool, that is indeed a flat phosphor screen! I must watch for a 210, since it appears to be the first, it would seem to be the most collectible. There is one on eBay right now, but it has a missing (or broken) volume control knob. Wiki says 1982 for this model... did you perhaps buy your first one in Japan earlier?

I got it at Christmas of '81, so it probably was a 1982 model year. The one I have now was made in Feb '82. The owners manual is copyright '80, so likely as you point out, it was available in other countries prior to here.

Charles