Just watched the episode.
Well, at least it wasn't fishtanked. It still lives on as a TV set. Was kind of hoping that the dad's reaction during the unveil was "What the $%&^ did you guys do to that beautiful, rare original set?!?!"
The cabinet work actually looked pretty good to me, but then I'm not a great woodworker/cabinetmaker. Didn't care for the DVD loading slot through the grillecloth. I might have tried to make the bottom wooden molding removable, and hide the DVD player behind it. In a corporate lobby application, why not just have provided a signal input, and put the DVD player in the reception desk or office area?
The mounting bezel for the flatscreen was pretty nicely done. I probably would have taken the flatscreen apart, as mounting a bare LCD panel would be easier and take up less room than dealing with the plastic cabinet. A larger LCD might have fit inside the CRT housing if they removed the LCD cabinet.
I hope that they at least saved the guts for future restoration work or gave them to somebody who will. If the owner was dead set on using an original Predicta 8 hours a day in a commercial setting, conversion was probably the smart way to go. Those sets weren't all that reliable when they were new, and limited repair parts availability makes maintaining a "daily driver" an iffy proposition. I agree that one of the Telstar repros would have been a preferable choice to what they did, and maybe cheaper?
Had to laugh at the comment about remote controls being a lab curiosity at the time of the Predicta. Guess they never came across a Flash-Matic or "Lazy Bones" Zenith then? Cringed a bit when the guy had the bare CRT (which might have been in great shape for all we know) sitting on a workbench, tilted back onto the neck...
