EVBoy
Super Member
Check this out. Noaf.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beautiful-v...961?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c40a5d871
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beautiful-v...961?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c40a5d871
Vintage TV's are worth money
- Thread starter EVBoy
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OldKingCole
Member
Expensive coffee tables...
canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Wow that is beautiful! If I had $1300 I'd buy it. It would go great in my future 1950s room.
Sandy G
Retired Member
The "Holy Grail" is a working 1954 RCA CT-100... They have a 15" screen, we know of about 125 survivors, non-working, but good cosmetic examples CAN go for up to $1500... WORKING examples-There are approx. 25 of those, change hands rarely, but at prices of $8-12 THOUSAND.. They demodulate the entire old NTSC spectrum, they are reputed to have absolutely FABULOUS color. The more familiar 21" "Roundie" tube, which was introduced in late 1955, & was made til about 1968 or so those sets were often NEVER set up correctly, in the hands of somebody who can REALLY "Tweak" one, they can produce an incredibly good picture, too.
Not to dink on you, Sandy - but NTSC (Never Twice the Same Color) is nothing to brag over (grin). Even on my old Trinitron.
I'll take the image on my 70" Aquinos from a good bluray over any of the stuff we suffered with back in the 50s and 60s ...
That said, I'm sure those folks on ebay were happy to get $1300 for that old heavy standard TV.
Its a pretty wood box, and the RCA decals look immaculate.
I'll take the image on my 70" Aquinos from a good bluray over any of the stuff we suffered with back in the 50s and 60s ...
That said, I'm sure those folks on ebay were happy to get $1300 for that old heavy standard TV.
Its a pretty wood box, and the RCA decals look immaculate.
ggregg
Super Member
Sandy is right though. You guys (and gals) would be amazing looking at a properly set up 50's or 60's color TV. It's almost like the tube/solid state argument. Early color sets have a very vibrant, warm, picture when operating properly. Getting them that way takes some doing though. You can play DVD's through them with an RF modulator.
If you haven't seen it, you don't know what you are missing.
If you haven't seen it, you don't know what you are missing.
I'm not trying to ding you folks - but truthfully, my experience is not average.
I worked in CATV and Home satellite gear in the 80s (before videocyphers and digital encryption).
I've seen FM video directly from Network feeds out of New York and other major hubs.
A football game directly off a studio feed is amazing.
So was the Simon and Garfunkle Live in Central park show on a headend monitor directly off the bird. Live.
If you have not seen studio grade video, you don't know what you are missing.
I DO know what I am missing with typical NTSC TVs.
I worked in CATV and Home satellite gear in the 80s (before videocyphers and digital encryption).
I've seen FM video directly from Network feeds out of New York and other major hubs.
A football game directly off a studio feed is amazing.
So was the Simon and Garfunkle Live in Central park show on a headend monitor directly off the bird. Live.
If you have not seen studio grade video, you don't know what you are missing.
I DO know what I am missing with typical NTSC TVs.
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jt01
Well-Known Member
FYI - there is a lot of info on early TV at the Early TV Foundation and Museum in Hibbard, OH. Tremendous detail on early TV sets, experiments, now-obsolete transmission and reception methods, etc. Well worth a look - no aff.
Sandy G
Retired Member
The history of Early TV is almost worthy of a modern TV potboiler. You had intrigue, money, politics, the whole 9 yards. The major players all just about couldn't stand each other. The guy who ran the FCC hated all of them, ESPECIALLY David Sarnoff, the Big Dawg at RCA, who held most of the patents in both radio & Television. Sarnoff's (in)famous quip was reportedly-"I don't GET Ulcers, I GIVE them..." The FCC at 1st approved CBS' system, a Hot Mess of rotating color wheels, electronics galore,
it was incompatible w/the earlier B/W system. It was soon shown to NOT really be practical outside a laboratory either. The onus was on Sarnoff & RCA to come up w/a compatible system that would work in B/W or color, fortunately, they did, & in Dec 1953, the FCC gave it their blessing, & the color age had arrived.
it was incompatible w/the earlier B/W system. It was soon shown to NOT really be practical outside a laboratory either. The onus was on Sarnoff & RCA to come up w/a compatible system that would work in B/W or color, fortunately, they did, & in Dec 1953, the FCC gave it their blessing, & the color age had arrived.
Old HiFi Guy
Well-Known Member
I was born in 1951 and only watched color TV at friend's homes until I bought my first one at the age of 27 in 1978. It cost me $299.00 and was a 19". I just bought a new 32" LCD for $189.00 delivered to my door. It is the difference between a Model T and any 2014 model car. In 1978 dollars my new TV cost me about $75.00. Every color TV I ever watched in the 60's & 70's was a POS including mine.
Tube TV sets were all fussy and high maintenance, no question about it. When they were right, they worked well, but they were often not right. I appreciate them for the revolutionary technology that they were, but I don't want to babysit a 50 year old TV set to keep it reliable for daily use either.
ggregg
Super Member
Don't then, but there are plenty of guys that don't mind it though. And the later fifties sets are not near as fussy once they are recapped and checked out as the CT-100 and other very early ones. There are still some stories of guys finding them, to this day, in OK to good running condition, as found although that is usually not the case. Check out AK's sister site, Videokarma, if you have any interest at all.
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Chip Chester
Super Member
Just a note that the Early TV Museum is in Hilliard, Ohio (not Hibbard), which is just outside Columbus.
Chip
Chip
