1970s? GTE Sylvania 25" color Console TV just picked up at a Garage Sale near me

[zeno]

What year was that ? Sylvania also had an earlier all SS set that was not
modular but had plug in semis ( like the latter modulars). I would guess
that was abt 1970. Only saw a few but a nice set. The dark-Lite CRT was a black matrix CRT like the Zenith Chromacolor with a very dark face plate.
I think the CRT's didnt hold up because they had to over drive them to
overcome the dark face plate but I have no proof. After "G-T Matics"
came "Super Sets" also with dark-lite. The CRT's were built down to 13"
in lines and they all could throw a spectacular pix IMHO.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

Originally Posted by sampson159

this looks like the first solid state sylvania set.consumer reports rated it the best picture
that year.has the "dark matrix" crt that produces a stunning picture.fine,well built sets that s only weakness was the crt life.i have one of these sets as a garage watcher.my crt bit the dust so it has a zenith chromacolor jug in it.very good score!

[vortalexfan]

This TV from what my neighbor told me still works well yet and they were using it in their family room in their basement up until just recently, it does have a repair shop tag on the back so it could very well have had the original picture tube replaced on it.

My neighbors said they were the original owners of the set.
They bought it brand new in the early 1970s.

Do you know if these TVs ever came with some sort of remote? The push-button style power switch makes me think this might of been a remote control TV.

[zeno]

I dont think this one is remote. IIRC the remotes used varactor tuners.
To be sure see if there is a motor on the tuner & extra remote reciever
chassis.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by zeno

I dont think this one is remote. IIRC the remotes used varactor tuners.
To be sure see if there is a motor on the tuner & extra remote reciever
chassis.

Ok, will do. The reason why I asked was because I know Philco and Zenith and Motorola had remote control TVs with the old Knob style tuners.

[vortalexfan]

OK so I picked up the TV today and brought it over to my place and when I looked at the back it seems that this TV may very well be a remote controlled TV as it has a provision in the back for a switch to enable and disable the remote.

Also I asked the original owners of the TV about a key that may have came with the TV at one time and they said that they didn't recall whether or not it had one, but I looked at the control door, it definitely looks like it had a locking mechanism installed at one time but then it was removed so now the door stays open all the time.

So I'm guessing that maybe there was a key at one time but the original owners lost the key and just removed the lock so that they didn't have to fuss with it anymore.

[vortalexfan]

Here's a picture of the TV running with everyone's favorite video game Super Mario Bros. on the NES.

I think this TV may be using its original or second to the original jug, because just as Zeno pointed out this TV defnitely has black blacks, and has a great picture.

I had a DTV Converter Box hooked up to it last night and the convergence was horrible and I thought I was going to have to redo the convergence on the TV but then when I hooked my NES and Sega Genesis up to it, the Convergence was fine, which means it was just the converter box and the fact that apparently Digital Signals have horrible convergence (because apparently with flat panel TVs convergence is non-issue unlike it is on a CRT TV so they don't care how crappy the signal looks.)

[vortalexfan]

I was able to take the back off the TV and get some nude shots of the inside of the TV.
Unfortunately this TV didn't have remote control capabilities installed from the factory.
Good news is that this TV still has its original jug installed yet!

pictures below of the inside of this TV.
Unfortunately its a little dirty inside so don't mind the dirt in the pictures.