1951 rca kcs-47

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by TUD1

If that's the image a KCS-47 produces, what's the point of buying it in 1951?

That image was probably taken from a set which was far from being in peak operating condition, with leaky or open capacitors and such; however, some people will watch their TVs with absolutely terrible pictures (oversaturated colors, too bright, shrunken ...), and won't mind it a bit, as long as they can see their favorite shows. (I knew a family some years ago who was like that.) Don't forget, television was still a novelty in the early 1950s. The state of the art was nowhere near as advanced in 1951 as it is today; everyone had to make do with what was available at the time. This means that even when the set was in perfect (!) working order, it still did not produce that great a picture by today's standards; however, given the state of the TV art in the 1950s, the picture may have been regarded as very good.

The KCS-47 chassis can produce excellent pictures (given a decent signal), and it probably did when it was new. I used to watch one years ago (long before DTV); it had a great picture on all three (at the time, 1970s) Cleveland VHF television stations and using rabbit ears as an antenna.

Remember that VHF television stations in the 1950s did not have much power (this was long before the age of super-power UHF stations with signals in the megawatt range). Most folks used outdoor antennas to get the signals, although if you were close to the towers (within twenty miles or so), you could probably get by with rabbit ears. I had an aunt who lived in Independence, Ohio, which is quite close to Cleveland's TV towers; she could get every Cleveland station in color just by using a short length of wire on one of the antenna terminals. My grandmother, who lived in the city of Cleveland near the suburb of Shaker Heights, got excellent reception of all three network stations on her '51 GE 16" console, using only rabbit ears, in the 1950s until she got a color set in 1969. Even then, she was getting excellent color reception, even on the PBS affiliate (then NET), with just an indoor antenna.

Of course, these days, with almost all TV being on cable and/or streaming video, the reception issue is fast becoming a moot point. As I read in an issue of TV Technology a few minutes ago, before starting to write this, the FCC wants to eliminate broadcast TV altogether, since so many folks are watching TV via the Internet and other platforms which do not rely on RF signals.

The day may come when there will no longer be any such thing as over-the-air television. I think that day may come sooner rather than later, given the popularity of streaming video over the Internet. I personally do not watch OTA TV anymore, since getting a Roku player over a year ago (I upgraded mine late last year, and still have my first one). I hooked up the little box to my 19" flat screen and did not look back. The only reason I have a cable account with Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) at all these days is so the Roku Spectrum TV app will receive local channels. No cable account (the cable need not, however, be physically connected to the television), no local TV. That's just the way it is and has always been with this cable operator. I think (in fact, I am almost certain) they are doing it this way to be able to pay for the privilege of carrying local TV signals (in any area served by Spectrum, not just northeast Ohio) through the Spectrum app. They could never get away with it otherwise.