Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy G
little more than a "Lab Special" that somehow got put in production.
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It's not quite accurate to think that RCA "dumped" the CT-100 and replaced it with completely different TVs. The 21" models that immediately succeeded it did have a bigger CRT and a somewhat simpler (and cheaper) color decoding section. But in other ways they were much the same TV. If you compare schematics for the CTC-2, CTC-4, and so on, you see a gradual evolutionary process. Sure, they substituted a bigger picture tube as soon as it was available; similar upgrades were made in the early days of B/W TV, and that change in itself didn't require big changes in the electronics.
RCA gradually made their color sets more affordable and reliable during the years when they were waiting for the chicken-and-egg problem to resolve (i.e., for enough color programming to become available to create strong consumer demand). I think it's hard to fault their strategy in releasing the CT-100 when they did. It helped RCA establish early leadership in color TV. That led to a pretty strong market position by the time that selling color TVs -- finally! -- became a money-making activity.
Just my $0.02.
Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html