1966 TV Buyers Guide

[old_tv_nut]

This was the year of the major switch from color roundies to rectangular.

Some things to note:

GE had a console where the door flipped up and into a slot instead of folding or sliding to the side.

Tube sizes were still listed as overall diagonal and square inches picture area instead of viewable diagonal.

RCA ad featured three roundies and one rectangular entertainment center in Armoire format (I had seen Magnavox in this format in the 70s, but didn't know RCA made one).

Sears ad shows only roundies.

Color set prices range from $380 leader to $1200 for high end stereo combo. You could buy a Mustang with small V8 for about $3000.

Prime time program schedule is over 50% color on average for the big 3 networks.


http://www.bretl.com/tvarticles/docu...uyersGuide.pdf

[Eric H]

That's really interesting, thank you for posting it.

Two things I noted, they figured the average life of a color TV at eight years, not sure what constituted the end of life back then, maybe major repairs like a CRT or Flyback.

I also loved the little war between RCA's PC board construction and Zeniths hand wired sets, Zenith referring with a sneer to the "Plastic PC boards" and RCA saying PC boards were the future.
Well RCA was right about them being the future but as to quality I think time has proven Zenith correct.

Neat stuff! There were a lot of choices back then and it would have been tough deciding which one to get.

Originally Posted by Eric H

I also loved the little war between RCA's PC board construction and Zeniths hand wired sets, Zenith referring with a sneer to the "Plastic PC boards" and RCA saying PC boards were the future.
Well RCA was right about them being the future but as to quality I think time has proven Zenith correct.

I can't speak to RCA because I don't have any of their stuff from that time period, but GE had a lifetime warranty for their PC boards back then. Of all the GE TV's and radios I've got from the 50's and 60's not one has had an issue with foil separation or anything else that I can see.

[Steve D.]

Wayne,

Thanks for posting. I remember pouring over TV Guides yearly report on the new sets. Truly a nostalgic look back.

-Steve D.

[ISawItOnTV]

Cool article. We were still watching our 1950s Admiral in 1966 (retired it in 1969).

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Eric H

...Two things I noted, they figured the average life of a color TV at eight years, not sure what constituted the end of life back then, maybe major repairs like a CRT or Flyback...

The 8 year figure is probably from industry statistics on how long people kept their sets.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

The 8 year figure is probably from industry statistics on how long people kept their sets.

That may be true. I have read that today most people keep their main TV about seven years before upgrading to the current technology.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I also loved the little war between RCA's PC board construction and Zeniths hand wired sets, Zenith referring with a sneer to the "Plastic PC boards" and RCA saying PC boards were the future.
Well RCA was right about them being the future but as to quality I think time has proven Zenith correct.

The latter didn't take much time at all, even by the 70s the boards in a lot of these RCA colour sets were dried to a crisp from tube heat.

[orthophonic]

RCA made those Armoire models up into the early 70's, there has been a
1967 model on my local craigslist for several months.

[Kamakiri]

Great stuff, thanks for posting!

Someone should write an update to this, "The 2013 guide to buying a 1966 television"

[etype2]

I bought that very issue of TV Guide (still have it) among other publications to help me make a decision on buying my first color set. It ended up being a 1966 19 inch RCA consolelette CTC 19 with a Danish modern walnut cabinet. Nice looking set.

Didn't keep it long, bought a Sony in 1969.

[earlyfilm]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I also loved the little war between RCA's PC board construction and Zeniths hand wired sets, Zenith referring with a sneer to the "Plastic PC boards" and RCA saying PC boards were the future.
Well RCA was right about them being the future but as to quality I think time has proven Zenith correct.

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

The latter didn't take much time at all, even by the 70s the boards in a lot of these RCA colour sets were dried to a crisp from tube heat.

The RCA printed boards and Zenith crimped-cone connectors reminded me of a conversation over 50 years ago, and I have a question that is like remembering a joke, but forgetting the punch line.

Back sometime between 1957-1959, an older non-working B&W TV set with a brand name unfamiliar to me came into the shop. My boss took one look at the set, muttered a cuss word, and he told me to not to start repairing the set, but pull the three IF tubes and use a vector adapter and measuring from the cathode, to see if any of the IF tubes had plate voltage on the control grids, and to confirm that there was plate voltage on all the plates.

I followed his odd instructions, and told him that the voltages were normal for pulled tubes. He told me that it then was OK to work on the set.

Dumbfounded, I asked him what was the problem this set had and he replied with the story:

RCA had a bright idea to eliminate the need for separate IF transformers in TV and designed a wide band TV circuit that used printed IF transformers. RCA never used these circuit boards in sets they made, but sold or licensed them to this company, who used them. Almost all started failing within a year or two. Between the cost of the warranty failures and the bad publicity from the out of warranty failures insured the demise of the company. In addition to this problem, the shields for the printed transformers often had cold soldered connections and to be sure I tapped them while watching the picture when I got the set working.

Which TV manufacturer got shafted by these bad circuit boards?

All I can remember about the set was it was a good looking walnut console in rather clean condition from a family that did not smoke and the chassis was made from very thin punched steel.

James

[reeferman]

Love the chicks and their outfits.
The scarey part is it seems like it was only yesterday.
Good stuff.
Thanks
Phil

[DavGoodlin]

Loved seeing my luggable 19" Philco on page 3, at $470 that's $5 per pound.

Thanks for Posting Old TV Nut

[ChrisW6ATV]

VERY cool guide. Thank you for posting it, old_tv_nut.