Sony Collectability?

[Eric H]

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.

[Arcanine]

Originally Posted by Eric H

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.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Eric H

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

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

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.

[etype2]

Originally Posted by Eric H

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.