Vintage TV's anyone?

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Pssssssssssssssssssttt ! ! !

"And by the way, I was GIVEN a Vizio phlat skreen set several years ago. I HATED it so much that I gave it away."

Tellya what . . . When you get sick and disgusted with those green pieces paper with pitchas of dead presidents on 'em, drop 'em in an envelope and send 'em to me ! ! !
 
I'm with Dave, in that I prefer the CRT TV. If it wasn't for my husband, I wouldn't have a flat-screen TV. As far as over the air TV, I don't care about it. I mainly use my DVD player, VCR, and my laserdisc player.
 
Thank you, Countryford

You have some magnificent sets there! I love that roundie on picture 11 of the first set. It looks like a Philco or Sylvania? And the Zenith with the built in Trans-Oceanic must be very rare! I've never seen one.
 
I like 2K-4K resolution OLED sets as well-but I do have a place in my heart for the vintage machines-no,they can't reproduce modern HD but they would be good for watching 4X3 movies and older TV shows.I could live with both--heck you could always use the old console to hold your new OLED TV then use the old set to view old episodes of "Leave It To Beaver","Dennis The Menence" or even orig "Outer Limits" on the old set!Then we could see the new movies on the OLED TV.Best of both! I think they could live together.And by the way like the pictures of the old sets just shown.Makes me think of the small collection I used to have.And I have a collection of pictures of old TV transmitters that would broadcast to these sets.A TV station offered to sell me their 1948 RCA transmitter for a dollar a watt-12Kw,$12 K .But the Tx needs 208-230V 3 ph to run it and a dummy load since I couldn't put it on the air.It could only broadcast monochrome-color wasn't heard of when that Tx was made.But it was a thing of beauty to see it demo'ed-the pretty mercury vapor rectifiers and the all glass tubes.The final tubes in it were an orig RCA design--internal anode-water cooled.At the time that Tx was shown didn't have any cameras-now I would have taken shots of it with my IPhone!Guess I drifted enough-back to old TV's!If I see any nice ones at yard sales or swap shops-will get them.
 
Those are some beautiful TV sets there. All of mine are CRT. I wouldn't mind having one flat screen, but is it normal for the figures on a flat, wide screen to be squashed so that everyone looks fat? Maybe it's just the one set I see like that. I have a friend with a 17" plasma set that looks wonderful. I know they don't make plasmas anymore. If I make the move to something new, it would be about the same dimensions as a 27" CRT picture.
 
Ya got that bassakwards . . .

" I wouldn't mind having one flat screen, but is it normal for the figures on a flat, wide screen to be squashed so that everyone looks fat?"

The olden-days logic that TV adds 15lbs. to everyone is based on the convex bow of the front of the CRT screen. I had a flat-screen CRT Proscan monitor that did not distort image linearity and proportioning.

The ONLY time what you say would be true is if the aspect ratio was incorrectly set on the cable, DVR, or satellite box . . .
 
The set is not set up properly same could be with the source-like DVD player,cable,sat box,etc.Go into their setup menues and set them to generally 16X9.Then strange figures go away.The curved screens on CRT sets can distort even more.In CRT sets you have the "pincushion" adjustments to try to cure this-but doesn't always work-some sets its OK,others not.
 
The 'short, fat' look occurs if you have the TV set to stretch a 4:3 image to fill the screen horizontally. My flat screens also offer two non-distorting options for 4:3 images. One option is to show the full 4:3 image without stretching it horizontally. The screen is filled top-to-bottom but has blank space on the sides, kind of the reverse of when movies were shown in "letterbox" format on 4:3 CRT screens back in the '90s. The other option is to zoom the image to fill the full screen side-to side and cut off a bit at the top and bottom. I usually do the former. The blank space at the sides doesn't bother me.

Vintage TV sets are cool as historical artifacts but unlike, say, vacuum cleaners, technology has passed them by. To me, an older, even 1990s vintage, TV set just isn't a workable option anymore but I do prefer older household appliances like vacuum cleaners, mixers, stereo equipment, etc., because they function better, are built to last--and more importantly are designed to be repaired--and can be had for a fraction of the price of their modern plasticrap counterparts.

That said, I do think digital broadcast TV is a total crock in that reception seems to be pretty much all-or-nothing. And I really have to laugh at how predictive of modern digital TV stutter Max Headroom was back in the '80s. I'm fortunate where I live that I can pick up about eight stations with an antenna, giving me about 24 channels and sub-channels, but my girlfriend, who lives only four miles away, can pick up only one station. For me, Internet connectivity is key to TV viewing. I stream pretty much everything these days, watching it on MY schedule. Thanks to my ROKU box, 'Nothing on TV' is now a technologically obsolete concept.
 
Thanks for the input, it's the way the set is adjusted then. I intend to look at one before I buy it. The one I saw where the images are distorted is hooked up in a storage company, for the entertainment of the manager, not for serious watching. I remember the "TV adds 15 lbs thing from years back, so when the flat screen is set so people and other images look natural, I would have no problem with it. I do know too, that new broadcasting has black on the top and bottom of the picture, which doesn't bother me. Letterbox movies don't bother me either, unless there's more black on top and bottom than there is image. 
 
Don't get me wrong I adore the styling of vintage televisions and the nostalgia behind them but we all know technology has had the greatest impact on quality of sets recently. With vacuums we can say they were potentially better performers than some new stuff but we all know the picture quality only gets better with time on a television.

I'd love to retrofit an old set with a modern hd tv screen.


Also can't argue the weight benefits of non crt flat screen televisions haha. I sure don't miss moving those beasts anymore.
 
"I'd love to retrofit an old set with a modern hd tv screen"

WHY‽‽‽ You would RUIN that vintage TV! I just do not understand all this crap about how technology has progressed with TV's. The picture on my 1966 RCA Victor is PERFECTLY FINE!

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Why delete? I may not agree with others opinions on TV, they are entitled to them. I also don't agree with destroying a beautiful vintage TV, just to install a flat-screen TV, but in the end, it is their TV and they can do with it as they please.
 
The oldest color set I ever saw( not working) was a Crosly color caster prototype from 1948. The guy I used to buy my rebuilt CRTs from was given it in the early 50's and his son told me he remembered watching the Rose parade back then when it was one of the first color broadcasts in Portland. Had a tiny round color tube, probably around 15 inches and a tall skinny cabinet with probably multiple chassis.
Oldest set I had that worked was a 48 Stromberg? that had mostly 6 volt radio tubes running it.
I like my newish 50" Sony led set and really want a OLED like I said becuase they have the best black levels and color of any flat panel set and look as good as a CRT set in that regard.
The oldest sets need to be saved just to show young folks where we came from, and the first prototypes were built and working in the early 20s.
 
Ill weigh in on this

The color on a vintage set, especially a round tube is MUCH more natural than the new stuff, the new TVs look garish and too bright, its kind of like watching Gone With The Wind, the color is so much more natural than any new movie....Of course I hate ANYTHING new!
 
Where to find Replacement CRT tubes???

I am considering the purchase of a vintage matched set of early '60s (I think) Zenith Credenza console television and separate console stereo. Record player doesn't turn (I can fix that) but the TV doesn't get a raster. I know the tuner works because I when looking I over managed to get the sound of a low power analog.

Is it possible to obtain replacement CRT picture tubes and if so where.

I do know that the CRT is a worst case scenario, but I would like to bet conservatively with my 100 dollars.

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