Any truth to this Predicta legend?
 

"Initially introduced in 1958 for the Holiday Inn hotel chain and rolled out for general consumers shortly thereafter"

I've seen several references to this on the internet, and to me it make no sense. I know Philco sold many Predicta TVs for hotel/motel use, but the claim that they were first introduced to Holiday Inn and then made available to consumers just doesn't seem right. The claim was made again online in this article dated 1-24-2019: https://www.vintag.es/2019/01/predic...p5-Qi5Duzria5w

Does anyone have any information to prove/disprove the Holiday Inn legend? Did they in fact have these TVs before showrooms were selling them to the public?


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I've been into vintage TV's for decades and will say that's false. Philco seemed to be very proud of the Predicta right from the start in it's advertising to the public. The short necked 21" CRT proved not to be reliable and, unfortunately, the set got a bad reputation. In '59 they tried to recover with a better 17" CRT, but the damage was done even though it was quite a good set. That's when they sold large numbers of these to hotel chains, possibly Holiday Inn. The 17" sets, not the 21's. They usually where cream colored with antenna delete and an instruction panel sticker on the top right of the cabinet.

Considering that half the photos in that "Gallery of Predicta photos" are not, in fact, Predictas, I'd say the article is not a reliable source of info.

Trying to trace back the start of the legend, I found the text referencing the Holiday Inn is also in Wikipedia, which is often unreliable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicta

The notes there suggest they sourced that information from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. That traces it back to at least October 22, 2017.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1548519108

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18715437/



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:scratch2: An open question to the group here , did Philco use the Predicta name on TVs other than the ones with the picture tube in it's separate enclosure (either mounted to the base containing the electronics or the "Tandem" with it's 20 foot cord separating the two) ?

I ask because I have a (possibly mistaken) memory of a regular "wooden box" TV , with the picture tube and the electronics all in the same enclosure , named Predicta . It's very possible I'm mixing up the Predicta and Miss America models ...

Apparently, see this thread:

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=255495

jr

I don't buy any of that and I've read long articles on the Predicta's. I've heard for years that Predicta's were sold up into '61, but there's not a shred of evidence that they were sold past '59. The 21" set were produced in '58 and the 17" in '59 and that was it. I dare anyone to find an ad for the Predicta past '59.

Philco Full Dress TV.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1548534179

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1548534693

:) Thank You Jim and jr_tech for the answers , I really appreciate them . It was many years ago that the TV I was thinking about was owned by a family member and the predicta name stuck with my memory of that TV .

As to whether predictas were sold up till 1961 , could it be that Philco stopped producing them by 1958 but the dealers were still selling sets already in stock , possibly as late as 1961 ?

Well, even though I've been researching vintage TV's for about 35 years, I guess I should just stay out of these discussions and leave it to the experts. Sorry if I interrupted.

:saywhat: I do not understand this response , I have not disallowed your input here , I simply asked if sets were sold past 1958 , could they have been leftover stock ? I see no reason why my question would be the source of your obviously hurt feelings ....

I don't see anything here either to deserve such a response.

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There were a number of Predicta sets, including the Predicta Townhouse console (no, not that one, the other one...they were big fans of that Townhouse branding) as well as a couple of others.

Here is an old thread with some good info, and here is a picture of the ad in question showing the different models. The Predicta branding is a little ambiguous, which is surprising considering Philco were much better at branding than building TVs.

HEY IS THAT YOUR BEAUTIFUL BLONDE FULL DRESS?!?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope, just a picture I found on the internet.

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I’ll tell you all what’s crazy to me, the lack of literature about models produced... like the more obscure models have little to no literature. That’s crazy. Gotta save every Predicta thing we come across at this point.

Just stumbled across this thread and wanted to chime in as I've worked on a couple dozen of these sets.

They may have stopped running ads, but they absolutely continued making them into 1961.

I can offer you a few pieces of hard evidence.

Firstly, there's the chassis numbering system.

9L37/38 used in the early 21: sets. "9" for 1959.
10L43 used in the 17" sets and 21" Continental. "0" for 1960.
11L43 used in the last production run Debutantes. "1" for 1961.

The 11L43 chassis was an evolution where they put in a removable cutout under the IF board. They also enlarged the chassis openings. Both made servicing easier.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a39f3c9c_c.jpg

11L43 left. 10L43 right.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...480882bd_c.jpg

Here's an original set of tubes from an 11L43 chassis. Note the 6137 date code. 37th week of 1961.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f7093dee_c.jpg

That was a pretty good "mic drop". The tubes don't lie.

So I guess my question shouldn't have been seen as any kind of challenge, given the newfound evidence of Predictas being made in 1961......

Regarding the 11L43 chassis. It is a bit of a mystery as it seems no official service info was produced. Nor is it covered by Sams and Riders service info had ceased a year or two prior. I imagine everything was scrapped at Philco when Ford took over.

I've reverse engineering bits of it. Notable differences being the elimination of the local/distance switch and a new tuner. The new tuner has different power requirements so there are some changes in the B1 terminal strip wiring.

Here's the tube chart and my crude diagram of the B1 terminal strip wiring changes.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f73ca6b4_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4db4e3fe_c.jpg

As long as the subject is Predicta lore, has anyone ever seen a wood cabinet Princess? I ran across this one years ago and have never seen another. Interesting that the chassis has no chassis number, which is usually stamped on the rear frame to the right of center.

I asked on the FB Predicta group and it seems this is the Mexican version.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4f19480c8d.jpg

Interesting. I thought it may be a foreign model. Thanks Bob.