Eric,
Thanks so much for posting the photos. That is a VERY cool TV. I agree with Dave A....I gotta have one!

It seems Mitsubishi recycled this idea for a portable set. I was flicking through an old issue (79 or 80 from memory) of Electronics Australia the other night and found an atricle on new portable sets coming out of Japan. One of the sets used 3 small CRTs projected onto a screen that could be flipped down when the set was transported. They claimed this made smaller and it used less power than if they had used a single CRT the same size as the flip up screen. The article didn't mention if it was in production of just a prototype.

I've got my scanner working again, so I'll see if I can find the article again.

Here it is in Japanese on a website there. Not the Mitsubishi site though.

http://sts.kahaku.go.jp/sts/detail.p...21645&APage=79

Here is the google translation of the page.

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DN

And just for fun check this...a Mitsubishi rectangular color CRT from 1960;

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Den%26sa%3DG

I hope all these long address strings work.

Dave A

6ct-333
 

Here are some pictures of Mitsubishi 6CT-333.
:thmbsp:
Attachment 46671Attachment 46672Attachment 46673Attachment 46674

These sets are really cool.

It is quite interesting to look at the differences in styling from US sets to the sets from Japan.

The Japanese sets seemed much more utilitarian while the American sets were much more ornate and focused much more on the asthetic. It really shows the differences in culture. Just from the designs, it seems that the Japanese viewed these sets as much more of a kitchen appliance; while the Americans wanted much more ornate cabinetry and tended to treat the tv's they were in love with as a piece of furniture and a focal point of the home.

Quite fascinating. Of course now, the tv IS just another appliance or at least that's how it seems.:D

I wonder if the styling changes are related to the fact that all the sets are no longer made in the USA.

Bill R

Differences in the set?
 

Ita, is the set in your photos an earlier production model or a prototype? It looks to have a metal cabinet and some much simpler trim than the other photos and the Worlds Fair picture. And it looks like it is on wheels and has the more square screen than in the photos from Triniscope.

Were many of these ever sold in Japan?

Dave A

It's hard for us in the U.S., especially those not born before 1970, to visualize that the typical postwar Japanese lifestyle (and resultant utilitarian approach) was much different than ours. It would be equivalent to the Southern States circa 1870 or so. The place was in ruins, the average family had a meager income, and the typical Japanese home was small compared to our spacious lifestyle. I still remember seeing a film about life in contemporary Japan as a school kid. The housewife would actually keep a piece of cloth over the modest TV as if it were an heirloom. The televisions produced back then, as well as the radios, were simple out of necessity. It was the economic necessity of adapting those products to American tastes that made them look more typical later on.

Compare that to the advertising for television in the 1940's and early 1950's. Men wore dapper suits, ladies wore evening gowns, it was a formal gathering for TV night! TV was, at first, truly a trophy for the affluent person, in a richly-appointed cabinet, often making up a sizable part of the cost!

I would agree with the above, but I also think there is a big culture gap between eastern/western thinking... If that set were built in Germany, it would have had a nice cabinet. The English weren't exactly rollin' in dough after WWII either, but they still had some style in their manufactured goods.

I don't know if Australia was effected much one way or the other by WWII, but their products look the most "American" of anything other than the real-deal.

This communual "global" sell-in-every-nation crap makes for some pretty boring stuff.