I dropped off a bunch of unwanted LP's at the SA and saw a 19" knob tuned color MGA TV in a wooden cabinet. I was in a hurry and couldn't see a date; but, it looked like it could have been made between the mid '70's and early '80's. It did have the old grey tint CRT face.

My experience with MGA's has mainly been with late '80's and newer sets and I wouldn't have one if you gave it to me. They've always got a multitude of leaking caps that can eat the foil on the PC board. Does anyone have any experience with older MGA's and is this one I should get if the price is right. I can probably get it for $20 (or less). Actually, I would have probably gotten it today; but, my Mother was with me and she let it be known that I was to drop off the records and come out empty handed. I can always go back with my neighbor if need be.

There were 3 older 12" B&W's. One was a late '70's 12" RCA AC/DC set. There was also a little 5" B&W from the '80's.

My prediction is coming true. TV is going digital and people are dumping their old sets at the SA. They either don't have snese enough to know that a converter box can be used or they just want to keep up with the guy next door.

While I was looking, I heard the manager tell one of the employees, "he's a good guy and he's liable to buy a TV from us and then donate one to us the next time he comes in". I know he probably thinks I'm some sort of nut case.

If it's from the 70's grab it! Those are built like tanks! I have a '75 and it has a steel chassis, vertical modules, lighted dials, everything can be unplugged and removed for ease of service (IF it ever needs it) and it has a BEAUTIFUL picture. I have had mine since my very first apartment. It was the only tv I used there. The only thing I have ever done to it besides use it is clean the tuners, that was in 2001.

As far as I know that was published by Consumer Reports, Mitsubishi (or MGA) was rated #1 in TV reliability from 1978 to 1984. It's kind of unusual and surprising, because I originally thought Panasonic or Sony would be the most-reliable in the first place. Early-1980s Mitsubishi VHS VCRs were really troublesome.

Got it for $20. It's a CS-1901 from '77. '77 must have been a magical year for TV's because I'm sure finding a lot of '77 models lately. The little 12" RCA was an '81; so, I left it alone. Pictures to follow.

I worked for an appliance store in 79-81, they sold Zenith, RCA and Mitsubishi sets.
The Mitsus had the fewest problems of them all, in fact Zenith sets were coming back at about 10-1 ratio for warranty repairs at that time, those were the chassis with the large mother board and those horrible interconnects that snapped on the edge of the boards.

The RCA's were better but they had a lot of Flyback problems.

Glad you grabbed it! You won't be disappointed. And yes, it seems that there were a lot of good sets made in '77. I have found quite a few and all going strong that I know of, I have gotten rid of some of them.

Here it is with no antenna just as I found it.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_0225mga0004.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_0225mga0005.jpg

I played with the CRT bias and drive controls as well as cleaned the tuner and other controls and I now have a better picture. I can tell, however, that the CRT is starting to show it's age. The chassis is of the single board type and it uses an oddball inline CRT (510MRB22). The back uses the standard AC interlock with the notice something like "this cover is provided with an AC interlock to prevent dangerous electrical shock. Remove back cover completely for servicing." You'd think since this is a SS set, it would have the "no user servicable parts inside" warning. I don't know what I'll do with this set. I guess it depends on how hard up for money I become in the near future.

While we were at the SA, my neighbor saw two 5" B&W portables. One was an almost current $14.99 Chinese special. The other was a '92 Bentley Korean special. He wanted the newest one; but, I told him that he'd be better off to leave that one alone. He asked the clerk about the Bentley and she said $25. Since these portables will no longer be portable very soon, I tried to get him to hold off. He wound up buying the set anyway when he got them down to $15. He said that he was buying it for some kid in his family and it would only be used on AC power. Heck, I could have given him a 12" B&W had I known his intentions before paying $15 for a soon to be paperweight. Personally, I wouldn't give them $15 for every B&W in the store since they are all '80's crap.

Also, the manager hit me up about fixing a 27" Panasonic TV/DVD/VCR combo with vertical sweep problems. I told him it would probably cost $75 to fix it. He said he'd consult his superior because he felt like he could get $200 for such a TV. I'm sure they thought I'd fix it for nothing or very cheap; but, I'm not going down that road again. I've already "been there and done that" when my Brother-in-law was involved with a church ran thrift store. I wound up fixing all of their broken TV's for free or for the cost of parts. It got to the point where they took my services for granted and expected me to drop everything for them. Also, they tried to charge me $100 for a late '50's Zenith console stereo and when I told them that was too much; I was told that I could either pay the marked price or leave it. I figured they'd be willing to work with me on the stereo since it was DONATED to them and I was DONATING my time fixing all of their junk; but, nope! I told them that I'd remember that the next time they had a load of crap TV's for me to fix. One day, my BIL contacted me about repairing some more TV's and I told him it would be $45 labor + parts for each TV. I wasn't bothered by them again! So, I'm sure you can see why I don't want to get roped into anything at the SA.

That's a real shame about the attitude of those "religious" people. I think God addressed greed several times in the Bible.

Re: the Bentley portable - I remember my Dad won one in a sales contest in the late 1980's - I think we used it once - it was such a poor performer it sat in his closet for years until he pitched it.

I'm going back to see my mother soon - the thrift stores up there had several sets of this vintage from $3-$15. I passed on a 9" B&W Philco (Taiwan) from 1984 for $2.99 simply because I had no room in my wife's car.

Wonder why that MGA set has the chassis-interlock. Good thing us TV guys always have a cheater cord lyin' around, right?

My local thrift is overpriced sometimes, especially with TV's. My theory is that the workers assume the set is worth 25 bucks or more just because it works, totally ignorant to the fact that the transition is coming... And when you try to talk sense into them, they are either uninterested or standoffish.

Guess I'd be the same way if I didn't know about broadcasting standards and whatnot. I do like that the money goes to a good cause, but the line has to be drawn somewhere!

Wonder why that MGA set has the chassis-interlock. Good thing us TV guys always have a cheater cord lyin' around, right?

My local thrift is overpriced sometimes, especially with TV's. My theory is that the workers assume the set is worth 25 bucks or more just because it works, totally ignorant to the fact that the transition is coming... And when you try to talk sense into them, they are either uninterested or standoffish.

Guess I'd be the same way if I didn't know about broadcasting standards and whatnot. I do like that the money goes to a good cause, but the line has to be drawn somewhere!

I did find it strange that they originally quoted my neighbor $25 for a POS 5" B&W, the same price they quoted me for a 19" color set. I offered $20 for the color set and the boss was happy to accept. As far as those 12" B&W's, they'd be lucky to get $5 each (assuming that they work). Heck, I was struggling to get $10 for them in the mid to late '90's. I also saw a couple of 25" early '80's single knob tuned RCA consoles. I don't know what they want for them; but, they'll probably be there awhile! I just wish something with tubes would show up. I'm getting tired of seeing '90's BPC, '80's consoles, and loads of computer monitors everytime I visit.

At least I can work with the SA (for now). That could all change the next time they get a new store manager, which seems to be frequent. Besides the SA, there are 4 other thrift stores. One is a "for profit" store, one is a charity store that benefits an orphanage, the other two are ran by so called preachers that claim to be doing the Lord's work; but, I have an idea that they are lining their own pockets. I really have not found much at the orphanage run store other than some $1 LP's and a mid '70's Fisher receiver for $8. Everything else there is overpriced BPC. The "preacher" run stores think beat up records are worth $5/ea and any sort of TV or stereo that groans or lights up is worth $50+.

Pre-80s Mitsubishi sets are kind of rare... The earliest one I remember seeing was a 25" tube-type console from the late 60s, and it was branded "MELCO" for Mitsubishi Electric Co. Then later they were MGA, then Mitsubishi. When the World War II veterans' generation was the main TV buying public, the Japanese companies tried to hide their ethnicity by "De-Japanizing" the brand name (Melco=Mitsubishi, Delmonico=JVC, Panasonic=Matsushita, etc... Sanyo, Toshiba and Hitachi were showing up here as store brands such as Sears, Wards, Artone, Supre-Macy, Bradford, etc). And same with cars... Until the 80s, all the Mitsubishi cars were sold here as Plymouths. Tokyo-Rokiko sent their cars here as the Mazda, which Americans thought of as a GE light bulb subsidiary, and Nissan sent us the Datsun, which was designed to look British with a non-Japanese name.... I guess Mitsubishi was extra-sensitive to the anti-Japanese generation since they were the builder of the Zero; the planes which bombed Pearl Harbor.

Charles

At some point when I was starting to drag home old TV sets I spotted a 19" MGA color console from around 1970. I can't remember where; I didn't get it, anyway.

I used to wonder if there was a scam behind those Bentley sets. As most of you have probably seen, there was a device for showing films (super 8, or was it a slide viewer?) that was sold under the Bentley name and at first (or even second) glance it is hard to tell them from the TV set. Often these were sold cheap in credit card stuffers, newspaper ads, etc. I always pictured folks running to buy that $19.95 Bentley TV only to find when it arrives that it was a "useless" photo viewer.

A couple years ago we did some volunteer work for a preacher and his wife who run a little thrift store. Genuinely nice folks, and well-meaning, but the pricing was all wrong. They just didn't know any better. They were constantly deluged with real junk that was donated to them (easier than carrying to the dump?) and so I guess when something decent looking showed up, they wanted to make sure and get top dollar for it.

Yeah, that Bentley 'tv projector' is even worthless as a projector! Bentley made that fake portable tv as a companion to their camera, which looks a bit like a late 70s video camera (the pistol shaped type). This was the super 8 format, and the Bentley consistently tops the lists for worst movie camera ever made. I have been able to play with a couple of new in box projectors and none of them ever worked, just shredding film. The fit and finish is unbelievably cheap. The screen image is very dim. bgadow, you're probably right about this being a scam tv as it was so useless otherwise.

And what a name! Bentley? They should be called Kia or Geo instead. :D

Or Daewoo!!