Oddball 13" Zenith and other '80's TV's

[radiotvnut]

A friend bought a bunch more electronics from someone and he passed them along to me. There are a few interesting TV's in the bunch.

The first one is an early '80's 13" Zenith, using a 9-160 module, that features "omni electronic tuning"; which, features a variable tuner similar to what's on the smaller B&W sets. In 25+ years, I've only seen one other Zenith with this type of tuner. It works; but, needs some help to work better. I'll probably keep this one.

The second one is a 13" KTV knob-tuned color TV from August, '91. It also works; but, needs help. My only motivation for keeping this one is because it was made towards the end of the knob era.

The third is an '88 19" Zenith. The only thing I can say for it is that it's in a woodgrain cabinet. If it works or can be made to work easily, I'll probably let my flea market friend sell it. I think this is one of the first sets to use the STR53041 regulator IC and I remember it having two electrolytic caps in the power supply that would dry up and sometimes blow the IC. Otherwise, they were decent sets.

The 4th one is a Thomas 13" TV/VCR combo from '87. Looking at the outside, it's probably either a Funai or Orion-built unit. It's much heavier than the later model Fuani units that we all hate. I'll probably sell this one, if it works.

[TVTim]

That's a nice catch.

You seem to always do pretty good when you get a bunch like this.

[radiotvnut]

I got the '88 Zenith 19" cleaned up and fixed. The original problem was a vertically stretched out picture. The culprit was a defective 22 uf cap in the vertical circuit; but, I also replaced a 100 uf cap and a 470 uf cap in the vertical circuit that were questionable. I also replaced a 100 uf cap in the power supply that was weak. The 22 uf cap in the regulator circuit was fine; so, I left it.

I think this was the first Zenith that used a single board "module" for the chassis, instead of multiple modules. I think this one and the 9-470-based 19" Zenith's were the last to use an LED channel readout and were made until around '91.

I'm probably going to let my flea market friend try to sell it for me. It has a nice picture; but, I'm running out of room and I'm really not into collecting TV's this new.

Video shortly on the Zenith.

[radiotvnut]

Here we go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdOKmGuPUE

[davet753]

Nice Zenith you got there. I used to sell those for $299 for the remote control model. The "big box" stores advertised the non-remote model for $199 to get people into their stores.

[radiotvnut]

In '88, $299 was a good price for a 19" remote TV. Of course, the price of TV's gradually went down as the years passed.

[davet753]

Yes, it was. I advertised that particular set quite a bit at that price, but there wasn't much profit in it, maybe $30 or so. Thankfully, some people who came in to look at the 19" model could be "upsold" to a 25" set. If I had to rely on profit from portable tv sales, I would have closed up long before I did.

The only models we made a decent profit on were consoles, projection sets, or (in the later years) 32" TV's.

[radiotvnut]

Well, it looks like the 19" Zenith may be going into the spare TV pile. I advertised it for $30 with no takers. Then, I modified the ad a little (as seen on one of the facebook buy/sell pages):

"FS: 19" Zenith color TV in working condition - was $30, now $20 FIRM (I can't believe I'm selling a working color TV for $20 - I used to get more for 12" B&W sets). Located in Meridian and must be picked up at my residence."

Back in the mid '90's, I would have laughed at anyone who suggested that there would come a time that I couldn't even get a lousy $20 for a set like this (back then, I could have easily gotten $75-$100, maybe $125, for this set).

However, as we all know; people are a lot harder to please than they used to be. About a year ago, I tried to give a '93 RCA console to a "needy" person; but, she turned it down when she found out it was a console (I guess she was wanting a flatscreen). Hell, if I was needy, I'd be happy if someone gave me a 9" B&W. It also does not help that modern-day culture has pretty much programmed society to believe that they must constantly buy the latest things to be cool. Also, the price of new junk has come down to the point that nearly anyone who wants a new TV can get one (even if they have to finance it or get it from the "rent-a-rape" $9.99/week for 20 years store.

[Jeffhs]

I've had an interest in Zenith TVs, stereos, audio, anything Zenith for years, and still do (had a large collection of Zenith TVs at one point and still collect Zenith radios, not to mention reading anything I can get my hands on pertaining to Zenith entertainment gear), but until now I never knew they had an "omni electronic tuning" color set. Was the electronic tuning for UHF only or did that tuning knob work for VHF as well? If the latter, this TV is indeed unusual, as the only other type of televisions that had continuous all-channel tuning at that time were (and still are) the small 5" offshore-built battery-AC portables with AM-FM radio. I'd keep it, if only for the novelty of the tuning system.

BTW, I agree that TVs, like everything else, have come down drastically in price these days. Today, more than ever, or so it seems, it isn't practical to have a new TV repaired once it is out of warranty; the repairs would cost more than the set sold for when it was new, except in the case of huge flat screens that sell for thousands of dollars. The latter are worth repairing perhaps once or twice out of warranty, but after that, considering depreciation and other factors, the sets wouldn't be worth repairing a third time. Then again, maybe the very large flat screens are made using quality components, such as Nichicon capacitors, that do not fail after just a year or two, so they will easily last five years or so. You get what you pay for.

Your comment regarding the person who turned down a 1993 RCA console color TV made me wonder if the person realized the set will not work without either cable or a converter box. My best guess is that person, if they had accepted the TV, would have been very disappointed when they found out the set does not work on an antenna. Even today, almost five years after the DTV transition, there are still people who just don't understand why their old CRT TV doesn't work unless it is connected to a converter box or to cable. The "needy" person you mentioned seems to fall squarely into that category.

[radiotvnut]

A while back, my friend who still has a little luck with selling old TV's, said that someone asked him if he had a knob tuned TV. They went on to say that some elderly member of their family was used to that type of TV and would be confused by a remote. I told my friend that I could fix them up with such a TV; but, they would likely be bringing it back once they found out that it wouldn't receive anything without some sort of box that is operated by remote control.

Around here, if you're on cable or satellite, you must have a box regardless of how new or old your TV is (the only possible exception are newer TV with cablecard provisions.

The Zenith TV with "omni electronic tuning" uses the same variable knob for VHF and UHF, with a rocker switch to select between VHF and UHF. In the old days, it would probably tune some of the cable midband channels between VHF channels 6-7.

[sampson159]

got a 27 inch system 3 with a text writer last week from captain moody.it got damaged in transit,so did my remote magnavox tube console.crt busted.the zenith had a break in the board.got it going but the picture was a mess.thank got dwight wrote all the the settings down on the manual.also got an extra glass for it.turned out very good.as for the magnavox,anyone have a 23v crt?anyway,those zenits are nice.the one with the roller tuner is a keeper.i had several and they were fine,fine sets.

[radiotvnut]

Two days ago, I finally sold the 19" Zenith for $20 to a lady who appeared to be in her 30's. She said that she and her children had just moved into a trailer and the impression I got was that they didn't have much and were trying to start over.

It only took almost two months to get $20 for a 19" color TV. I've got a 25" Samsung that was part of this same pile of TV's that has no vertical deflection and I don't even know if I'm going to bother with it. It will certainly be low on the priority list if I do fix it and the copper scrapper junk collector came by tomorrow, I'd probably give it to him.

[Robb]

$20 bucks for that set is fair.
There's a buyer for everything you know... you just have to find them !
Heck, sometimes I even buy Made in China products like underwear. Do I want to ? Heck no. But sometimes you dont have a choice !
The 'Made in China' tag usually takes the brunt of my smelly farts though.

[sampson159]

its a real shame that we cant get anything from a working set these days.i have dlp,lcd,plasma,etc in my home but i still enjoy the old crt sets.i watch my sylvanias and zeniths out in the garage all day.20.00 for a zenith with a really good picture is a steal to me.

[radiotvnut]

I'm still friends with a guy who sells stuff at a roadside yard sale and he can still sell old TV's; but, they don't bring much. When I first met him in the early 2000's, he had an actual store that he opened every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. He'd come over on Wednesday and pick up several TV's for Thursday and he'd usually sell every one of them on Thursday. He'd come by when he closed up and get more for Friday and the process would repeat itself. Back then, it wasn't this $10-$20 BS, either. He usually had people waiting on him to show up with TV's and he often didn't even have to take them inside the store. Generally, 12"-19" B&W's were in the $15-$25 range (those were the cheap TV's back then). 19" color TV's were in the $50-$75 range. 23"/25" consoles were in the $75-$125 range and I remember getting as much as $175 for a 26" portable. Once, the local TV shop gave me a 36" Toshiba console with a dead red gun in the CRT. Otherwise, the set worked. My friend came over, saw it playing, and asked what I was going to do with it. I told him that the CRT was bad and that I was going to scrap it. He said that someone would buy it like it was; so, we loaded it on his truck and he sold it the next morning for $100. The people who bought it thought it looked great and he said that people were almost fighting over it.

Things have been getting worse since around 2005 and now, he's doing good to get $25 for any CRT color TV. In fact, I'm now to the point of not bringing any TV's home that don't interest me. As far as resell, it's not worth me dragging something home, taking the time and money to fix it, advertise it for $20, and have it sit here for months before it sells.

From talking to other people who fix TV's, they are telling me that people are getting picky about what flatscreen they'll buy. If it has a few years on it, they don't want it. As for me, I'm not too willing to fix and resell flatscreens due to their fragile nature and due to them not being as reliable. I don't want to sell one and have it come back in a week because they bumped up against the screen and now it doesn't work due to a broken panel.

The problem with selling used TV's is that the market is over saturated with old CRT TV's and why would they want to pay me $20 for something they likely already have or can get off the street for free? Also, owning an old TV would be too embarrassing and flatscreens have come down enough in price that most anyone can afford one (Even if it's a $9.99/week "rent-a-center" TV).