Unusual Collection? 5" & 8" Portables!

[Arcanine]

Even before the death of Analog broadcasting, I can remember small portable TV sets being easy to come by at Thrift Stores, Flea Markets and the like. Some of my sets I have had for many years now. 8" is as big as I ever purchase.

I tend to avoid buying Black & White sets unless they really stand out to me. I'll usually buy them if they're a name I know, and appear to be in nice shape, or are very old. If I see a 5" Color set, regardless of brand I always buy them. Mind you, this only applies when I'm thrifting.

I'm currently, very specifically, seeking out the small number of 5" Trinitron sets Sony made. I made a massive score on this effort on eBay last night (See below for picture)

Sony sets I am currently seeking (if anyone has a spare)
KV5000
KV5200
KV5300

Since threads are not interesting with out pictures and a little back information, I figured I would include some! 56k Warning~

Sony KV 25TH:

Thanks to this site, I knew that this set was well before I found it. I didn't think I would ever stumble in to one, since collectors covet this set pretty heavily. This one is complete, it has all the special goodies that were supposed to be with it, with it. This is so new to me, I don't have it in my hands yet. This is the photo from eBay. I'm waiting to hear back from the seller on faster shipping.

Hitachi CK-200:

Found at a Flea Market. Paid $7 for and is one of the best performing little sets I own. Interesting little fact worth noting. It's my only 5" set with a 75 Ohm F-type connection.

Sony KV5100:

My favorite set! Purchased this off eBay recently. It cost me $40 which I felt was reasonable. Came with the original Manual. Sadly a high hours set. I'll make a thread on this one later for some help I need on it, but it works!

Toshiba C059

Offered to me when I went to pick up my KV8100 locally, got it for $20. It's a really attractive little set which works very well. Setting the tuner is very confusing.

Panasonic TR-545

Another Flea Market find. Got it for $20 with manual and original cord. Really neat with the way the TV pops out of the shell. Didn't work when I got it. Took very little to get working again. Mostly just cleaning the potentiometers and repairing the Cord safety switch.

Sony ???

I don't even know what model this set is or how old it is. All the paper labels are totally gone. Ripped completely off. Interesting little set, bigger than I usually buy at 8", but neat never the less. It works, but the tube is tired, the picture is not very bright. $3.99 at Goodwill years ago. I remember testing it at the store and getting a signal over the air.

Sony KV8100

Purchased on eBay, and I drove down to Chicago to get it, since it was local. Very nice set. Made in 1986 and has nearly no hours on it. Was supposedly given to the original owner back in the 80's as a bonus for where ever he worked, and he had no use for it, he just kept it in a closet. I watch this one on a regular bases.

The TWINS, Contec KBR-1541 & SPECTRA CTV-5:

I don't normally buy duplicate sets, but the Contec sets I got years apart from each other. The set to the far left was my first ever color portable TV and was given to me almost brand new when I was a really little kid. It still works to this day. The one on the far right, I found at Salvation Army for $7.04, and is in almost brand new condition. It works even better. The spectra sets I got together from the same local thrift store. No idea why someone had two, but I bought them both, and they both work fine. Despite being cheaper feeling, they both put out a fantastic, sharp picture. Interestingly enough, these four sets are my only Portable 5" sets that have A/V inputs!

The Entire Collection:

The sets I didn't mention are on the top. Three are Emerson, one is a Sony Watchman, and a Goldstar. All good working sets, but I very seldom use them. Two of the Emersons have internal issues. I don't have the cord for the Watchman, and the Goldstar has very brittle plastic.

And lastly:

My Blonder-Tongue! I have it hooked to an outside antenna, and it reaches 4 blocks by it self. I use Channel 13. This little set up is how I utilize my little TV's. The VCR is a Sony SVO-1430, and is very high quality. The Nintendo Wii sitting on the top is modded so it can do DVD movies and downloaded on to SD Card video, and Netflix. The A/V switch lets me change between these. The original Nintendo Wii came out before Analog TV was dead, and before the death of Tube Television, so it is set up to natively work with them. The picture it gives to my old sets is amazing, and allows me to be able to use modern media on the classic sets. it has WiFi, and the remote is totally wireless, so I can mess control the Wii pretty far from any of the sets.