1970s? GTE Sylvania 25" color Console TV just picked up at a Garage Sale near me
 

Hello everyone today I just picked up a 1970s vintage GTE Sylvania Color TV console that looks to be a 25" for $5 and it says it's solid state on the front panel but I'm not sure if that's referring to the whole TV or just the Tuner section (as I'm aware that some of these TVs from that time period had solid state tuner sections but tubes for the high voltage and vertical and horizontal sections).

It's a model CL4267DA and it has a knob style tuner, that is backlit.

any information about this TV would be appreciated

Pictures of the TV posted below.

I believe by that time it may be solid state tuner, IF and color demod. not sure of sweep circuits but quite possibly all solid state. the sylvania GTE on the back may be a giveaway.

You could always remove the back and look and see if there's any tubes on the chassis

Actually now that I took a closrt look, that looks like an inline CRT. Definitely all solid state by that time. But interesting how it still has mechanical tuners. Could be a replacement CRT. Looks alot like a Zenith Rauland CRT black matrix inline. Popular in the mid 80s

IIRC the D16 chassis was the last hybrid color Sylvania, and this looks a good bit newer than that.

I remember seeing ads for the Sylvania GT-Matic TVs when they were first introduced in the 1970s. Some of those sets had a control panel behind a front-panel door which could be locked after the controls were set to the viewer's liking. The TV owner kept the key; once the door was locked it was impossible to change the control settings. The TV probably had circuitry which monitored the picture, and would correct the settings if they drifted for any reason.

GE went one step further with its "VIR -- Broadcast Controlled Color" system, which used a signal in the vertical blanking bar to adjust and correct the color settings if necessary. However, one drawback of the GE "VIR" system was that the TV station or network to which the set was tuned had to be transmitting the VIR signal in the blanking interval; without that signal, the VIR system could not and did not work. I had a great-uncle who owned a GE VIR TV, but he never used the VIR function; in fact, I don't think he was even aware that his TV had the feature in the first place.

I did not know abour GE's VIR system. Ove seen it, but just assumed it was like RCAs accucolor. Learn something new every day!

This TV does have a control panel that does seem to have a locking mechanism on it. But have no idea if the owner has the key for it. The owner is my next door neighbor who bought it brand new and had it in their basement.
They are holding it for me until I can get my workshop put back together, because I was planning on moving my workshop into a bigger room in my house but that room had black mold in it so my landlord had to have the mold abated and is now getting the room put back together.

There's been discussion of VIR in other threads here. A major problem with it was that proper use was not mandated by the FCC and was seldom adhered to by the broadcasters. It should have been inserted at the studio and then not touched all the way through the final transmitter. However, stations sometimes inserted it down the line, so it was then unrelated to the video. Some stations inserted it just before the transmitter feed so it could be used to correct any distortions on the studio transmitter link and in the transmitter. The result of all this is that VIR had a good chance of making the color worse when you turned it on in the set. TV manufacturers that looked at it often decided that without regulated use, VIR would be on average a detriment to their product line.

It's too bad. It could have gone a long way towards fixing the variable color performance of analog cable TV systems.

I believe VIR stood for "vertical interval reference" and by the way that Sylvania looks pretty nice. You will have to put a picture of it working so good luck with it.

Its a mid 70's GT-Matic 100% solid state. Probably the 3
module chassis. They were the first sets to use a master osc for
the horz & vert. That went on to be industry standard. A basic
set to work on so easy.
Other thing is it uses the "Dark Light" CRT & it looks OEM. If it has
a strong CRT it can give a fantastic pix BUT the CRT's were a weak
point. When anything black was on the screen you saw BLACK. Not
greys but BLACK ! Super high contrast if you like it that way.
BTW the key was a sales gimmick. You can open the door with a screwdriver.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Quasar also made sets with VIR, for about two years in 79-80. They were introduced during the transition from SuperModule to DynaModule chassis. The main difference between these and the GEs is that if you had VIR turned on (it was a slide switch) on the GEs and the station wasn't broadcasting the VIR signal, the TV would interpret whatever else was in there as a control signal and use it to adjust hue and color levels all over the place. We had a GE that regularly showed bright blue faces, etc. on the local ABC affiliate.

The Quasar sets would disable VIR when the reference wasn't detected on the 19th line, delivering a "normal" picture.

I think everyone just turned it off after a short time.

this looks like the first solid state sylvania set.consumer reports rated it the best picture
that year.has the "dark matrix" crt that produces a stunning picture.fine,well built sets that s only weakness was the crt life.i have one of these sets as a garage watcher.my crt bit the dust so it has a zenith chromacolor jug in it.very good score!

What year was that ? Sylvania also had an earlier all SS set that was not
modular but had plug in semis ( like the latter modulars). I would guess
that was abt 1970. Only saw a few but a nice set. The dark-Lite CRT was a black matrix CRT like the Zenith Chromacolor with a very dark face plate.
I think the CRT's didnt hold up because they had to over drive them to
overcome the dark face plate but I have no proof. After "G-T Matics"
came "Super Sets" also with dark-lite. The CRT's were built down to 13"
in lines and they all could throw a spectacular pix IMHO.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

This TV from what my neighbor told me still works well yet and they were using it in their family room in their basement up until just recently, it does have a repair shop tag on the back so it could very well have had the original picture tube replaced on it.

My neighbors said they were the original owners of the set.
They bought it brand new in the early 1970s.

Do you know if these TVs ever came with some sort of remote? The push-button style power switch makes me think this might of been a remote control TV.

I dont think this one is remote. IIRC the remotes used varactor tuners.
To be sure see if there is a motor on the tuner & extra remote reciever
chassis.

Ok, will do. The reason why I asked was because I know Philco and Zenith and Motorola had remote control TVs with the old Knob style tuners.

OK so I picked up the TV today and brought it over to my place and when I looked at the back it seems that this TV may very well be a remote controlled TV as it has a provision in the back for a switch to enable and disable the remote.

Also I asked the original owners of the TV about a key that may have came with the TV at one time and they said that they didn't recall whether or not it had one, but I looked at the control door, it definitely looks like it had a locking mechanism installed at one time but then it was removed so now the door stays open all the time.

So I'm guessing that maybe there was a key at one time but the original owners lost the key and just removed the lock so that they didn't have to fuss with it anymore.

Here's a picture of the TV running with everyone's favorite video game Super Mario Bros. on the NES.

I think this TV may be using its original or second to the original jug, because just as Zeno pointed out this TV defnitely has black blacks, and has a great picture.

I had a DTV Converter Box hooked up to it last night and the convergence was horrible and I thought I was going to have to redo the convergence on the TV but then when I hooked my NES and Sega Genesis up to it, the Convergence was fine, which means it was just the converter box and the fact that apparently Digital Signals have horrible convergence (because apparently with flat panel TVs convergence is non-issue unlike it is on a CRT TV so they don't care how crappy the signal looks.)

I was able to take the back off the TV and get some nude shots of the inside of the TV.
Unfortunately this TV didn't have remote control capabilities installed from the factory.
Good news is that this TV still has its original jug installed yet! :yes: :thmbsp: :banana:

pictures below of the inside of this TV.
Unfortunately its a little dirty inside so don't mind the dirt in the pictures.

1974 model year.to get the best picture you would have to turn the contrast to max.this was because of the crt.blacks were black!had a friend that used that crt in a zenith flat chassis set.best picture ever on a delta gun set.these sylvanias are all gone here in central ohio.we had the largest sylvania dealer in the country back them and thousands were sold.everybody had a sylvania.they looked good,stylish cabinets and priced about 100.00 less than other sets.of course the other sets were not high leven zeniths,rca or magnavox models.triplers,ho transistors and crts were 95 persent of repairs to these sets.the crts from the lower level sets and the hybrids lasted much longer.i ve seen them go 30 years or more.they made a fine picture.the 25vdmp22 made the best picture but had a short life.

just saw the picture of it in action.needs some soldering on the end board and crt looks tired.it might wake up for you.this will be a nice set when you get the bugs out.if not,send it to me.i like those sylvania sets

What's the end board, and is that an easy fix?
Also I think the picture tube just needs to wake up a bit as the TV hasn't been used regularly since before the DTV transition.

the end board with the vertical and color controls.the plugs for the convergence and vertical need soldered under the module.remove the module and look under the plugs.resolder all contacts.make sure you install the 4 screws at each corner of the module.if not you will have several lines at the side. common issue.thats what is making the lines at top off picture.these crts are very delicate.might warm up but good chance it wont.hope it does for you.still a great set to have.at the etf,there are still a few 25v tubes there.i ve gotten 3 and all were excellent.

I might be getting a tabletop version of this TV from a coworker at work. Do those have the same issues as the floor model units or not?

This looks GT-Matic era. Definitely all solid state save for CRT.

Picture tube is original to the TV not a replacement, take a look at my photos I posted of the inside of the TV set showing pictures of the ID stickers on the picture tube.

the table modal will have same issues.seamed like they all came to the shop with the identical issues.rarely did we find a bad flyback,etc.mostly crt weak and the problems listed in my previous posts.a few vertical module failures but they were were cheap-28.00 jobber price.these sets were designed simple with nice looking cabinets and fabulous pictures when right.had sylvania would have made a longer lasting crt,those sets would be out there today.i try to get all these i can.it was a great era for tv.from 1955 to 1984,television was a great business to be in.i miss those days

Great to know, my co-worker at work I dont think watched TV too much so the TV may be still in the same condition as the console I have. But when i do get it I'll check those things out on there.

if you have no issues,dont be concerned.keep this for future reference.love to see one with a good 25vdmp22.its been more than a few years since