Beauty is in the eye of the.... - Videokarma.org TV - Video

maxhifi · #1 08-18-2011, 10:31 AM

Went back to the guy I bought my Silvertone roundie from, to pick up some more test gear. Brought home a bunch of chassis from colour consoles, including admiral, zenith, rca, and I think another fleetwood.

Also got a B&K pattern generator with a missing photomultiplier tube, and this TV. It's a Canadian Admiral 19" B&W set - about half compactrons, and half 9 pin tubes. Works great, appears that it may even have DC restoration, or at very least great contrast and brightness - certainly the best B&W picture I've seen (which isn't too many!). Sound is a bit fuzzy, but I think my cable box just has a cheap RF modulator in it.

I'm still working on "appreciating" the cabinet style, and figuring out a use for it! I'm starting to think if I really clean it up, it might make a nice bedroom TV. Is it some sort of a milestone as a collector, when you realize that you no longer can justify a use for so many TV sets?

zenith2134 · #2 08-18-2011, 04:25 PM

This looks just like my '66 Admiral b/w portable 19...controls atop and on the side...except mine had the speaker mounted atop too.

ctc17 · #3 08-18-2011, 04:27 PM

I like the little cheapy tube bw sets. They are always fun to work on. Takes me back to being a kid.

maxhifi · #4 08-18-2011, 06:17 PM

i will post a picture of the inside later on... It gives bpc tvs a run for their money in terms of cheap build quality. The picture is great though, the tube is strong and all the small tubes original, so it must be low hours. Note the high budget plug in the uhf tuner's spot. It's made in port credit ontario, very close to toronto... i drove through there when i was in toronto for work a couple months ago and saw an interesting mix of old factories and redevelopment, i saw lots of signs for a microbrewery - it looks like a nice community now, but shame we don't make our own stuff anymore.

maxhifi · #5 08-18-2011, 08:33 PM

Pictures... finally got my real camera charged.

Sandy G · #6 08-18-2011, 09:10 PM

Funny how even "Bargain-Priced" goods back c.1965 were made to last...Can you see modern BPC lastin' for 45 years ?!?

ctc17 · #7 08-18-2011, 09:28 PM

Looks good! I remember when these were everywhere at the swapmeets and thrift stores. I would buy them for a few dollars just to get the tubes. I kinda wished I had kept them all. They really dont have any use, they are just cool.

Username1 · #8 08-18-2011, 09:32 PM

Well, to really answer the question, you would have to know how many were made/sold, and how many are really still alive, and what level of repairs are considered acceptable for the survey. I have 2 Black Plastic Crafted tvs and plan to get a few more and use them as daily sets for as long as I last. I think now a day a bad crt usually means the scrap yard, but back in the 60's a set may get one or more crts in its life. Today crts are definitely longer lasting on average than they were in 50's to 70's. In my opinion the repairs are on average smaller parts, less expensive today on late model crt sets than they were in the tube days. Consider a crt as a really major part of the set. I think you guys just don't like the plastic cabinet tvs for no good reason. My Sanyo cheapy from walmart that I went through with a fine tooth comb doing convergence has a very amazing picture. I think the number of tube sets still alive after 40 years would be much smaller then bpc's. The big difference today are the consumerism virus where stores like Best Buy run commercials saying you need to "Upgrade" your TV TODAY! ! ! ! ! ! Millions of tvs today are being junked while they are still fully functional. Compare that to years ago before the word upgrade was invented. What a stupid word................

maxhifi · #9 08-18-2011, 09:36 PM

I've been watching it for a couple hours tonight, and the vertical linearity went all off after it had a chance to warm up fully.

Now when I put a circle on the screen, the top half of it is a little pointy and egg shaped, even with the v.lin. control fully counter-clockwise. Turning it clockwise just makes the defect more obvious.

When I agreed to take the set for free, I did it thinking hey at the very least it's an output transformer and a 4" speaker - I really doubt I'll let myself part it out though, it's starting to grow on me.

Electronic M · #10 08-18-2011, 09:37 PM

I like how one of the wires from the CRT socket connects to the tuner. It makes me think of tube amp schematics I've seen where a wire from the output transformer feeds the signal back to the preamp stage. If I was not fairly certain that wire is for the heater I'd joke that the tuner feeds the CRT video directly and all those tubes on the main chassis are for sound, deflection, and HV only! I guess that even a few inches of wire costs money.

maxhifi · #11 08-18-2011, 09:40 PM

The only "BPC" TV set I ever owned from new, was a 1997 Panasonic 20"

It has been extremely reliable, I only retired it from daily use this year, after it started to randomly shut itself off.

zenith2134 · #12 08-18-2011, 09:49 PM

The strangest part for me is that I was thinking of that Admiral tv just the other day. It, with some others are in storage.

And why all the bashing? Sandy's right...this is over 40yrs on...(!)

maxhifi · #13 08-18-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

The strangest part for me is that I was thinking of that Admiral tv just the other day. It, with some others are in storage.

And why all the bashing? Sandy's right...this is over 40yrs on...(!)

I have no problem with the quality.. it's amazing how well it works 45 years after it was made, with all original capacitors, after being stored in an unheated shed for 15 years!

It's just been "value engineered" to the point of being totally bland - like those super cheap early 60s AA5 GE radios, where they even eliminated all the screws to save money.

Electronic M · #14 08-18-2011, 10:00 PM

Maybe we have electronic ESP?
I was having a dream last night that the hard drive on my laptop died again (I think my school has replaced it 4 or 5 times since I got it last year). Then today I picked up from the curb a desk top that is missing it's hard drive, and seems to power up, but won't send any video to the monitor.

bgadow · #15 08-18-2011, 11:12 PM

Admiral really did a booming business in the 60s with these portables. I've had a few, still have one or two stored away. Not the most exciting things but they do have a little bit of character and they can work pretty decent. The nicest one I had was similiar to this one and was a 21". Worked great-I have no idea what I ever did with it!