50th Anniversary of Rudolph on a CTC-11

[Sandy G]

There was ALWAYS a BIG "To-Do" at the church when this typically aired, & my Mom was one of those who thought if the Church's Doors were Open, WE needed to be inside of 'em, so I NEVER got to see this when I was a kid. I honestly don't remember if I've EVER seen it thru..

[jsowers]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If a VCR can tune more than the local channels, then you can tune the TV to the RF out channel of the VCR, connect the VCR RF out to the TV, and watch all the analog channels you can get on the TV through VCR...It also adds remote channel control if you have a newer VCR. I do this with all my vintage sets, and can attest to how well it works.
It should not be too hard to fix that set if the CRT and flyback are still good. Since GE liked to use as few parts as they could that means there is less to go wrong, troubleshoot, and replace...

Yes, I have done the VCR thing with that TV many times with a couple different VCRs over the years, to make it able to tune above channel 13. It worked very well. Playing tapes on it would sometimes yield the retrace lines at top, but cable channels were perfectly fine. I've had cable since 1988 and using a VCR was the only way I could get all the channels without the ugly converter box until I finally got a cable-ready TV.

I should have also said I have an entire working chassis and tuner from another KE chassis GE, but a 25" model. It has all the same tubes--all those Compactrons and likely the same flyback, but I haven't compared them. So I even have spare parts. But working on that monster is something I never liked doing. It's in a TV-stereo cabinet now and hard to remove. I've replaced the diodes in the power supply twice when it was hit by lightning (the instant-on always got hit) back when we still used it daily.

Back to Rudolph, thanks, Ampico-kid, for the info on the DVD including the commercials. I'll have to look for that. I didn't know the commercials were originally B&W because in 1964 we had a 1962 GE 19" portable as the family TV. I have a vivid memory of watching that TV intently in 1965 when the new fall season premiered in color, which in those days was a major event. I was 7 years old--what did I know? I thought that the shows would be in color on the B&W TV. I was one disappointed little boy!

When we finally got the color TV, it was glorious to watch those same shows like Rudolph, Charlie Brown, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella in color. Children today will never know that thrill.

[Electronic M]

Those lines at the top on that only come from tapes are from the macrovision copy protection (read prevention) they put on tapes and DVDs.

It has been a long time since I've seen Rudolph or any of the other Christmas specials...I eventually lost all interest in Christmas programming sometime in my teen years.

[jsowers]

Well, the rebroadcast tonight of Rudolph made me try the old GE. I hooked it up to cable and plugged it in to warm up the tubes and got my camera. I was rewarded with a picture and great sound, but the horizontal and maybe the vertical too are out of sync. The horizontal hold is in the back and if you look at the edges of the picture, you can see it's in a large stereo cabinet and I can't get it out without a lot of help. You can see part of my couch too. A lot would have to be moved just to get to the back.

So watching it tonight is out, but hey, at least the 45-year-old girl still works and I get full horizontal and vertical and color. The picture tube is still bright too, but a bit on the green side at the edges. See the attached picture.

I don't want to hijack this thread about Rudolph and turn it into a repair thread, so if I need help on it, I'll make a separate post. I just wanted to show the old TV trying its best.