Quote:
Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007
How common where "Philco" color tv sets when this one was manufactured and how good/bad they where compared to "R.C.A." and "Zenith"?
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That set was made in 1955, was Philco's first 21" color.... back then you could buy a REALLY nice used car for what a color TV cost. According to the ETF only 500 were made(which was a decent number for a color TV model then). Build quality and circuit design we're on par or better than RCA.... Zenith saw the limited demand for color TVs and did not sell any color sets to consumers until the 1962 model year.
Until the early 60s color TV sales were miniscule and the plethora of makers that had color prototypes in 1953-4 and consumer sets in 1954-7 pretty much dropped color from their lines for around 4 to 5 years till the market improved or in some cases sold rebadged RCA sets. In that time only RCA and Motorola offered new color sets... And Motorola simply made the same set unchanged from 1957 to 1962. RCA owned key patients and sold color sets at a loss for over a decade to try and build the market so they could reap royalties from an entire industry. They also over built in the beginning...The CT-100 had enough unsold surplus that many were given away to repair shops as a learning aid for color TV service.