First truly practical color television set?

[Hagstar]

I'd say it's, of course, the 1969 RCA G2000 with the first 100% solid state chassis. CRTs were kind of okay but clearly tubes were a kluge of sorts in all the color sets I have seen. They ran hot, gradually destroyed the PC boards with that heat, and often ran at the limits of their ability.

The whole center of their appeal to me is the fragility and bold daring of building color sets anyway though reliability and performance suffered so in the tube era. It appalls me on forums to hear people praise the cranky tube sets as built to last, unlike sets today (which only fail because they are now made so cheaply and few would be willing to pay for reliable components). IF tube sets are so reliable why was there a repair shop on every corner then and none now?

John H.