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  #1  
Old 08-13-2015, 10:15 PM
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Sony Collectability?

I've started to wonder; Are Sony sets really sought after collectibles now?

I watch eBay frequently for all the old 5" sets. KV5000 though KV5300, and admittedly, I have been sucking up all the ones that appear cheap (under $50) lately.

So far I scored a KV5100 for $19.99 that was easily repaired and readjusted, a KV5000 for $34 and some change that works well with only minor adjustments. Another KV5100 for $99 that is almost in brand new condition, inside and out.

I watched the "Sold" items pretty closely, because there are sets I will pass up, as to not have too many duplicates. And it seems like some vanish as fast as they appear.

Are these little sets really popular collectibles now?
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Old 08-14-2015, 01:35 AM
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Sony was the top of the market for small TV sets (color and B&W both), so they should be the most desirable sets for the collectors that do like portable sets.
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Old 08-14-2015, 10:15 AM
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I think some are going to be used again. Like
" I need a small quality NTSC color to ( fill in the blank )".
IIRC there are also a few here that specialize in smalls.
Also if you have one you hang on to it. Dont take up room.......
And a few are rare. They may be picked up by non collectors
as a show off or investment.

73 Zeno
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Old 08-14-2015, 12:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post
I think some are going to be used again. Like
" I need a small quality NTSC color to ( fill in the blank )".
IIRC there are also a few here that specialize in smalls.
Also if you have one you hang on to it. Dont take up room.......
And a few are rare. They may be picked up by non collectors
as a show off or investment.

73 Zeno
Yeah. I figured having a couple of each version, no harm in it.

Incidentally I ended up with three KV5100's. Once was to cheap to pass up so I snatched it.

I have two of all the others. Just bought my second, and far nicer KV5300 today. That 5300 is a very hard set to find.
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Old 08-15-2015, 04:54 AM
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Originally Posted by Arcanine View Post
I've started to wonder; Are Sony sets really sought after collectibles now?
I don't know about that. My local Goodwill has had a Mega Watchman FD-500 for several weeks. At $6.99, no one has bothered with it.
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Old 08-15-2015, 03:27 PM
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Sony's earliest sets are more collectible, their first TV, the B&W 8-301 for example is highly sought after, the early Trinitrons are sought after and the little Indextron sets sell for hundreds of dollars. A lot of the 4 & 5 inch sets from the late 70's & early 80's seem to have a following but are still common enough to not bring big bucks.

The later stuff like Mega Watchmans are still too new and plentiful to attract much attention, and they weren't really significant in any technical sense either.

The Trinitron tube was a game changer when it came out, I don't think anything on the market then could touch it for picture quality.
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Old 08-15-2015, 04:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric H View Post
Sony's earliest sets are more collectible, their first TV, the B&W 8-301 for example is highly sought after, the early Trinitrons are sought after and the little Indextron sets sell for hundreds of dollars. A lot of the 4 & 5 inch sets from the late 70's & early 80's seem to have a following but are still common enough to not bring big bucks.

The later stuff like Mega Watchmans are still too new and plentiful to attract much attention, and they weren't really significant in any technical sense either.

The Trinitron tube was a game changer when it came out, I don't think anything on the market then could touch it for picture quality.
I have a largely complete collection of the 5" sets from the 70's and 80's now. I even have doubles of each model. They are still common, but uncommon in really top condition.

I still need to find a good KV4000 that's not commanding a ton of money. I already have a KV4100 that's near mint condition.
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Old 08-15-2015, 08:14 PM
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The later stuff like Mega Watchmans are still too new and plentiful to attract much attention, and they weren't really significant in any technical sense either.
The little Flat Tube Watchmans might possibly be an exception because the unusual CRT design was a technological marvel. Here is an old thread that I started on these little sets:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=246309

These are still mostly cheap and plentiful, except for the first model ( FD-210) AND they don't take up a lot of space.

jr
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Old 08-15-2015, 09:23 PM
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A lot of the late 80's and 90's kids have grown up knowing that anything with a Sony tube had an incredible picture. A lot of them then make the connection that their older products must be just as good, which they generally are.

There's a group of console gamers who blatently refuse to play unless it's on a Trinitron, citing things I generally only hear out of nutty audiophiles.
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Old 08-15-2015, 09:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jr_tech View Post
The little Flat Tube Watchmans might possibly be an exception because the unusual CRT design was a technological marvel. Here is an old thread that I started on these little sets:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=246309

These are still mostly cheap and plentiful, except for the first model ( FD-210) AND they don't take up a lot of space.

jr
Those are more interesting, though I think that flat CRT idea goes way back to the early 60's and wasn't Sony's invention.

The Mega Watchman type sets are just small CRT sets and not particularly interesting in the innovative sense, some of them look kind of neat though so I can see someone collecting them.
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Old 08-16-2015, 12:58 AM
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Originally Posted by MIPS View Post
A lot of the late 80's and 90's kids have grown up knowing that anything with a Sony tube had an incredible picture. A lot of them then make the connection that their older products must be just as good, which they generally are.

There's a group of console gamers who blatently refuse to play unless it's on a Trinitron, citing things I generally only hear out of nutty audiophiles.
Yeah. I'm one of them. It's called the PVM Club. I'm a member. Many of my consoles are set to do RGB on a PVM.

And yeah. I grew up on Trinitrons.
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Old 08-17-2015, 09:28 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric H View Post
Those are more interesting, though I think that flat CRT idea goes way back to the early 60's and wasn't Sony's invention.

The Aiken tube was the first flat CRT from about 1958. It was sold in very limited numbers for military use, but it was never commercialized.

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/flat-...-in-1958/#more

The Sony FD 200 was sold in Japan, January, 1982, 6 months ahead of the FD 210 for the American market. These two models were the first commercialized true flat black and white CRT's.

The ED 15 CRT used in these two models was an incredible 5/8 inch thick and the only true flat CRT. All later Sony Watchman sets had a slightly curved screen and were slightly thicker because of the curvature.
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Old 08-17-2015, 06:07 PM
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I just wish that guy in Ohio would send me back my KV7010U... No questions, no calling the lawdogs, just send me my TV back, & we'd be square w/each other. Of course , I realize that a better bet would be to see 10" of Snow tomorrow, too..
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Old 08-17-2015, 07:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Sandy G View Post
I just wish that guy in Ohio would send me back my KV7010U... No questions, no calling the lawdogs, just send me my TV back, & we'd be square w/each other. Of course , I realize that a better bet would be to see 10" of Snow tomorrow, too..
If it meant that much to me, I would take a drive and knock on his door and ask for it back in person.
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Old 08-17-2015, 08:44 PM
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I'm scared... He might be BIGGER'N me... (grin)
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