Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve McVoy
Another thing I've speculated about is why there are over twice as many surviving American prewar sets than British (as a percentage of sets made). The two reasons I've come up with are 1) American houses are generally larger and 2) There was a lot of destruction during WW2 in England.
Anyone have any other possible explanations?
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Yes.
Sets sold in the UK before the late-1960's (and virtually all sets sold before 1964) were configured for what was then TV system for the UK: 405 lines, 50 fields, positive video modulation, AM audio 3.5 MHz below the video carrier, and VHF channels.
The UK went through an "analog transition". Receivers since the mid-to-late 1960's are designed to receive only UHF transmissions on a different standard (625 lines, 50 fields, negative video modulation, FM audio 6 MHz above the video carrier, and PAL color optional for transmission and reception). The two standards were not compatible with each other (some late 1960's sets were actually dual standard!).
For more than 15 years (15 November 1969 to 1 January 1985), BBC1 and ITV simulcast their programmes on UHF color and VHF monochrome transmitter networks.
So, Imagine yourself in your UK home (smaller on average than the US home), with a TV set that is not only black and white, but only gets two of the three (later four) TV networks. Furthermore, in 1985, virtually useless altogether.
In the US, the addition of NTSC color did not obsolete existing 525 line sets. Even the addition of UHF stations could be dealt with by using a UHF converter. This way, the older sets in the US were still useful long enough for people to keep them, in some cases, until they became so old as to be "classics".
Rob