But other sets from the same period developed the same problem.
Electronic tubes that generate heat installed on p.c.b. isn't the best ideea.

RCA's had issues with solder joints and other things failing from the heat. Zenith, Packard Bell, and Setchell Carlson at least used point to point wiring in the mid to late 60's (Zenith kept at it till mid way through the 70's) and I'd say their color TV reliability was comparable to an average monochrome set of the period...I'd say that you could get a GOOD brand tube color of comparable reliability to an average monochrome set by 1964.

PC boards and tubes, don't mix. Tube heat and PC boards the issue.

Like those PC boards in the Tanberg tube reel to reel machines would really cook & warp!

What menat relaibility for an avarage tv set in 1964-1966?

I remember seeing some tubes not lighting in a few 60's RCA color sets. It was often solder cracks at the ground connections on the edge of the boards no doubt caused by heating/cooling cycles. Reflow of solder was an easy fix. Kinda goes with the bad tube socket issues.

In short, if you owned a color TV set, you budgeted for 3-4 repairs a year early on, and buying a manufacturer service contract was a good investment. You averaged between $120-$230 a year in repairs on a daily watcher color TV assuming you had to pay a technician. When the late 1960's began coming in, and hybrid and early solid state sets got introduced, the reliability began getting better and the repair calls gradually got reduced to 1-2 a year, then usually many sets became 1 every few years repairs unless lightning damaged or CRT issues.

Yeah, we did not get color until 1971, around the time when 50% of U.S. homes had color sets. My aunt had a color set since the early 1960's. As to technology and society, I do remember hearing a commentary form the old NBC radio program "Monitor" where John Chancellor (IIRC), a famous newscaster, made the point where radio and later, TV, helped unite the country and society. It is like where the Ed Sullivan Show for example usually had acts for everyone like circus type performers and so on, but it also provided acts for people who like comedy (George Carlin and Bob Newhart), then the next act was an opera piece or concert for those who are into classical music, after that, the teens and young adults would be treated to the Beatles, The Doors, Rolling Stones and so on. The young kids would be treated to Topo Gigio, Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog and other muppets (pre-Sesame Street). Things like that bring people of different tastes together and helps unite the country. Chancellor made the point where it made all of us feel more America and not just a Chicagoan or wherever one was from.

Cable TV and now the internet changed that where we are able to break apart into different tribes of different tastes and so on. In some ways, that is good if you are like a sci-fi or anime junky but still it can make us more apart.

I lived in a flight plan to the airport, heck, the planes flew directly over my house a few hundred feet up. Mom said that when we get our first color TV, we are going cable, that was in 1971.

One other factor that seems to be ignored here: Set replacement.

Before 1965, when an existing TV set was deemed "spent" (i.e., not worth repairing in the eyes of its owner), the typical owner would note that color sets were far more expensive, needed more repairs, that most programs were black-and-white, and a new black-and-white set would still be as useful as it had been forever (they will still work in 2016, provided a converter box, with the added benefits of remote control and all-channel tuning).

Thus, all but the wealthiest viewers, and real TV fans, would replace their 1951 Muntz with a 1964 Zenith B&W.

Just a few years later, the number of people who bought their sets in the mid fifties went from a trickle to a flood, right around the same time that the big three networks went to full-color schedules. Household income was also higher as prices were reasonable (the percentage of households with discretionary income had reached an all-time high and after a few years started falling ever since).

The "chicken-and-egg" paradox had been broken.

Basically, this is a classic example of "Capitalism" (free/mixed market economy) VS Soviet Communism (Military first command economy)

Color TV was a luxury when it was introduced in 1954 by RCA. In the early years Wealthy people mostly bought color sets because they could afford them.

Telecolor:
Here in the USA there was never a clearly imposed class line between the "proles" and the "Nomenklatura". My grandfather grew up dirt poor in Appalachia, fought almost to the death at the battle of Monte Cassino as a squad leader carrying a BAR, became an X-ray technician at Huron Road Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio after WWII VIA the GI Bill, and married my grandmother (she was a nurse there) . He used his new found wealth to build a house in the Cleveland suburbs, buy a 1959 Buick Invicta, and later a Zenith color Roundie TV in 1963. My dad grew up being the first house on the block with Color TV. 25 years earlier his father was doing back breaking farm labor for a bag of biscuits and butter for his family.
http://i.imgur.com/HoJzUMb.jpg
Grandpa's last car bought new was a 1964 Buick Wildcat...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZSq8WEoZMU

The Chicago Tribune Sunday supplement always had a lot to say about color tv back in the day. We used to buy it every Sunday.

Here is a link to a November 14, 1965 edition.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1...e-for-everyone

This will give you an idea of the mood of the country at that time. It was a full color spread.

After reading that and other articles at the time, it was hard to resist buying a color TV. I had to wait another 9 months to save up for my first purchase.

The 6GH8 became very popular around that time, shops stocked lots of them, then came the 5gh8 for portables which was even worse.

What "Miniature" color sets were available in 1965? The Portacolor doesn't go back that far does it?

Edit: this article came out in November of 65 so the Portacolor may have been available or soon to be available.

I got my first GE Portacolor in 1966. The Sams for it (#883) is dated 5/67 which is about right.

The original Portacolor had an 11" CRT (11SP22) and did cost about $250 when introduced.

Also bought my GE Portacolor from the GE distributor here in L.A. the first day they were available for sale. The exact model seen in the ad. A model w/o handle or wood grain was also available for less money.

Yes, you could see the Portacolor in stores in late 1965. I was shopping for my first color set at the time. I passed on it because of the poor resolution.

I'll second that!:thmbsp: Heat was a major fail factor in most all tube sets and IIRC, Zenith, Sylvania and Motorola (mostly 19-inchers) were about the only good hybrids.
RCA went from sets loaded with tubes straight to SS in 1972 as did Philco and some other domestic sets.

The RCA's from 1965 to 1969 had many fails of flyback transformers, giving Zenith even more momentum as the new leader in quality. RCA did not recover until the XL-100s came out in 1972 or so.

Since late 1965, GE portacolor sets were affordable and repairable, becoming the first color set for many folks.

The original Portacolor used the 11SP22 CRT. Later versions used the 11WP22 which had a finer dot pitch - much better picture.

They were still to expensive for my parents to afford a new one in the late 60's, too

Speaking of realibity, the color sets assambled in Romania with East-German components (<<Telcolor>> 3007 was one) had an issue with flyback transformer. They needed replacemnet from time to time. And sometimes some of them would have had electronic issuses too. But overall, they where lasting sets. And they had modular construction.

From 1965-1966 made sets, what models where the most relaible? Any of 'em was a roundie?

Zenith would be the best in my book, possibly Setchel Carlson...Zenith was still offering roundys back then.

It's kinda like today with cars.. They've been producing electric cars for over 10 years, and hybrids even longer, but yet people are still buying all gas cars the most.. But then again I don't think the technology is there yet with 100% electric cars or they are still way too expensive for average consumers..

In the states hybrids were rare till the end of the 60's....A decent number of sets had 1-2 transistors between 1962-68 but most all were majority tube or majority SS. Most all mostly SS sets prior to 1968 were portable monochrome sets. SS sets were typically twice as expensive as their based tube equivalent models.

Really it was all economy of scale...In the early days color sets were expensive and little was on. they tried to keep the price the same or make it cheaper over time, and as the number of receivers increased programming increased, and so did demand eventually demand reached economies of scale that put color in a competitive position with monochrome, and then color took off.
When the late 60's color boom (/tv shortage) hit most color sets were all tube and all sets except GE portacolors were deltagun.

If you have need x employees in a factory, they are making 10 sets a day when it would be possible for them to make 100 or 1000 what happens to TV set price when consumers decide they don't want enough for 10 a day anymore, but more like 100 or 1000 a day?