1981 Zenith System 3 Video Hi-Tech

[ELzekio]

Hello everyone.

Looking on eBay, I see there are a couple of listings for these 1981/1982 Zenith Video Hi-Tech System 3 Sets. The 1981 (N1974P5) model does not have a remote, while the 1982 (SY1975P4) one has a remote. Never seen a Zenith like these before and am interested in learning more. Definitely look like top of the line sets with the digital tuners, external speakers, and on screen tuning on the remote set.

I was just wondering if anyone had anything to chime in on these sets? Did these have a reliable chassis? How was the CRT?

Can’t find anything on Sams Technical Publishing based on the model numbers, anyone know what modules it used?

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[zeno]

From an earlier thread

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26572820166...4AAOSwV5RioM3T
Price is stupid but this is the first consumer TV / monitor from Zenith.
Model SN1975P
9-160 system 3 chassis with beefier audio & on off timer.
If you ever get one watch out for the vol knob, they snap off easy.
When it was a year old model the dist found 24 of them in a corner.
I bought them all for a song & the boss was pissed.
Got free freight & 90 days free floor planning. Sold them all in 3 mos
& made a cool $150 on each, double the usual profit on a 19".
Oh those were the days !

&&&&

The N set is super rare, ( but not valuable) almost anyone would get the remote model.
the SY set is probably a carry over. Odds are only the model ## changed.
Big chassis change coming that fall.
CRT reliability very high. I still have a perfect 13" from 1980.
Chassis is high. Most problems are known & easy. They sold millions of the chassis over 4 years so lots of parts out there. 100% modular too !


73 Zeno
LFOD !

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by zeno

From an earlier thread

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26572820166...4AAOSwV5RioM3T
Price is stupid but this is the first consumer TV / monitor from Zenith.
Model SN1975P
9-160 system 3 chassis with beefier audio & on off timer.
If you ever get one watch out for the vol knob, they snap off easy.
When it was a year old model the dist found 24 of them in a corner.
I bought them all for a song & the boss was pissed.
Got free freight & 90 days free floor planning. Sold them all in 3 mos
& made a cool $150 on each, double the usual profit on a 19".
Oh those were the days !

&&&&

The N set is super rare, ( but not valuable) almost anyone would get the remote model.
the SY set is probably a carry over. Odds are only the model ## changed.


Big chassis change coming that fall.
CRT reliability very high. I still have a perfect 13" from 1980.
Chassis is high. Most problems are known & easy. They sold millions of the chassis over 4 years so lots of parts out there. 100% modular too !


73 Zeno
LFOD !

Zeno, I tried the link you mentioned (for the Zenith SN1975P) but it returned a message: "We looked eveywhere (error 404) . . . but couldn't find that site." I don't know if there is a technical problem with the link or just what would cause it to fail like this.

BTW, on the subject of TVs with "perfect" CRTs from the 1980s, I once owned two Zenith 13" color portables, both from the eighties, which were working very well while I had them. Unfortunately, I had to give up both sets when I moved to a very small apartment in late 1999. I replaced them with an RCA 19" table model, which I used until TV went 100-percent digital in 2008. Both sets had their original CRTs and were making excellent pictures. This was likely some years before Zenith CRTs were failing left and right (both my sets were made in the early 1980s); as well, the 19" Zenith color set in my bedroom must have a CRT made before the tubes in Zenith televisions became utter junk, as that set still has its original "jug" and, the last time I used the set (years ago), was still making an excellent picture

The RCA set, however, still works, except the coax antenna connector snapped off the tuner PC board (for the second time(!)) several years ago. This doesn't matter to me anymore, since I eventually replaced that set with a 19" Insignia HDTV, and some years later replaced that set with a 32" HDTV of the same brand; the latter is my daily watcher now, with the 19" set being saved as a standby set.

[zeno]

Jeff
The System 3 first & second gen sets used EFL CRT's Basically 3
focus grids instead of one. The bad CRT's were regular in line guns.
They made them for about ten yrs & they were fine. Then abt 1993 they went to hell. I blame Gold Star. They got more & more control over Zenith
& kicked them under the bus. IMHO all they wanted the HDTV patents that
Zenith held, almost all of them.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by zeno

Jeff
The System 3 first & second gen sets used EFL CRT's Basically 3
focus grids instead of one. The bad CRT's were regular in line guns.
They made them for about ten yrs & they were fine. Then abt 1993 they went to hell. I blame Gold Star. They got more & more control over Zenith
& kicked them under the bus. IMHO all they wanted the HDTV patents that
Zenith held, almost all of them.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Thank you for the info on Zenith CRTs and why they failed when they did. However, I was wondering why I get an error 404 (the text of the error message is "We looked all over for that site . . . " when I click on the link which is supposed to open the page with the information on the Zenith TV you mentioned). That particular Zenith TV was a new one to me, as I had never seen one until it was mentioned here; that is, I've seen a lot of Zenith televisions, radios and audio systems and owned quite a few, mostly trash finds until I bought my first Zenith color portable in the early 1980s (Zenith was and still is my favorite brand of TV, stereo and audio), but the SN1975P is a new one on me. What happened to the link to that site?

IMHO, Gold Star must have wanted to take over Zenith in the worst way imaginable, if they grabbed all the control over the company they could, not to mention seizing every patent for HD television right out from under Zenith's collective nose. I am amazed Zenith didn't fight back more than they did.

[dishdude]

To be fair, Zenith was bleeding money starting in the early 80's and would have gone out of business long before they did without Goldstar heavily investing in them. The HDTV patents were essentially deemed worthless, but Goldstar did get their distribution network and some patents on hotel TV distribution, Pro Idiom.