View Full Version : Weird TV with three CRTs....Whatsit??


AiboPet
07-04-2012, 10:14 PM
I could not get a picture of it, but it was the weirdest old set I ever seen.

It was at a thrift shop with a "sold" tag on it (rats!!!)

A Color set...looked like an '80s style cabinet.

Had one large color picture (maybe 19"..but coulda been smaller)
and it had TWO little 5" or so b/w CRTs just right of the large one!! It was NOT running, and it was behind a counter (and THEN about ten feet away). I could tell the big CRT was color, and was pretty obvious the little 5" CRTs looked the same as all my little 5" sets. They were not flat CRTS, so this set couldn't have been too new.

Anyone SEEN this sort of configuration before? Is it seperate tuners....monitors? I REALLY wanted to take a pic of the thing, but it was right behind all the staff at the counter....and sold already (again...RATS!!). Even not being a "micro" (not even CLOSE)...I woulda bought this thing in a heartbeat JUST to see what it was.

Otherwise....Thrift shopping here in San Diego is a real letdown. ALL the "old" sets are like from the '90s and newer....NOTHING at all interesting, and nothing "small" at all (like 9" and under). I went to like seven thrift shops today and only saw this REAL weird set at a Salvation Army...and couldn't have it!

Eric H
07-04-2012, 10:24 PM
I'm pretty sure it was a Sampo, that's the only one I can think of.
The two smaller screens are B&W.

Edit: yes, Sampo, here's one on eBay no one wanted. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=item4d019b32c5&item=330739430085&nma=true&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&si=8UILxFTqYUjnk%252FLIDh2jF0R6%252FFg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Link may not work because it's a closed item and you have to be logged in to see it. try copying and pasting it or look up item number 330739430085

old_tv_nut
07-04-2012, 10:29 PM
Can't find a reference right now, but there was a set (Japanese, I think) like your description that allowed watching three stations and switching either of the smaller pictures onto the large one.

The Japanese manufacturers were fond of actually producing these sorts of "gee wiz" things and might even sell a few; they had engineers to burn with their policy of lifetime employment, so they could be put to work on these kinds of projects because they weren't contributing to anything money-making anyway. One item that was shown to us by a Japanese manufacturer (at Motorola in the late 60s or early 70s) was a small black and white set with a magnetic disc frame-grabber. That's all it did; let you grab a still frame, and then look at it as long as you didn't grab another one. I doubt they ever sold any, but it was a completely designed set ready for production.

[Edit - I see someone found it while I was typing - thanks!]

AiboPet
07-04-2012, 10:34 PM
Well THAT was fast!!

Yes!...It was this set FOR SURE. I thought it was something professional until I saw it wasn't some sort of monster rackmount thing. The two smaller CRTs just made it look like some sort of REAL fancy monitor. I'll hafta read more about it and find out if this had seperate tuners or what. The pic seems to show the SAME pic on the upper b/w as the color. Maybe that was just the only available OTA channel.

Sandy G
07-05-2012, 05:50 AM
Sony made a similar contraption back in the late '60s-early '70s that had 3 13" B/W screens...Never saw one, wondered why it wasn't color, the guy at Bondurant Bros.-The Sony distributor said "You'd THINK it was color from what it cost..."

wa2ise
07-05-2012, 01:54 PM
TV network execs would have setups like this, though usually 3 color displays and a switch to select the sound. So they could see when the competition played commercials and such. But these setups were usually custom built by their technician depts. The only consumer applications I can think of would be hard core sports fans, say if a baseball game and a football game were on at the same time. rather small market.

The above set would predate picture-in-picture sets.

Eric H
07-05-2012, 04:47 PM
It's an interesting oddity but in the end it's still a Sampo.
I'd have to think hard before I dropped $20 on one if I came across it.

Well, Okay, I probably would but just so I could pass it on to someone else.

AiboPet
07-05-2012, 05:32 PM
I woulda paid some bucks for it....but NOT because I really wanted any 19" 1980's set.....or two 5" b/w sets.

I wanted it because it was WEIRD...and that was really the only reason. I deffinately have enough sets around to turn one on if I wanna watch The Big Bang Theory or some other silliness WHILE using the 55" Samsung as a computer monitor in the front room. I wouldn't "need" this set for this sort of "watch two things at once" task...no matter HOW much I don't wanna miss any particular football game (soccer to you guys).

I'm into "quirky" and otherwise just unusual. I don't have yet quite a few 70's-80's sets I would like...like the Videospheres...Panasonic flying saucers, a Predicta (would be my first tube set if I didn't get another)...or the funny little JVC pyramid I just missed out on. These sets get up past $100 on ebay and at that point I have to have been saving "on purpose" to score something like this.

I was really hoping to find something "fun" to work on at one of the thrift shops...but ended up just finding common "castoffs" like you find sitting in alleys.

In the end.....not sure if I would care if it was a Sampo, or an Orion...or even a Coby. Just that it was cool, I never seen one...and they weren't asking something TOO crazy for it.

Komet
07-05-2012, 06:54 PM
Reminds me the various models of Nordmende with four screens...

http://historische-elektronik.piranho.de/Hyperlink%20C/Spectra%20Color%20Studio%20S.htm

AiboPet
07-05-2012, 07:02 PM
COOL!!

Especialy those three big long chassis for the little b/w sets.

Username1
07-07-2012, 07:40 PM
it was picture in picture before they could do it electronically. Squint till the two small screens blend into the larger one, your brain will even fill in the color that ain't there.
--- and now a few confirmation comments from Sandy ----

Sandy G
07-07-2012, 08:33 PM
it was picture in picture before they could do it electronically. Squint till the two small screens blend into the larger one, your brain will even fill in the color that ain't there.
--- and now a few confirmation comments from Sandy ----

Yeah, a good Snootful of 151 Rum & you could make it have 3 COLOR CRTs & ONE Monochrome one, should you desire...

Eric H
07-07-2012, 09:28 PM
If it has inputs for each screen you could use the other two for a Baby monitor or Security camera.

Jeffhs
07-07-2012, 10:04 PM
TV network execs would have setups like this, though usually 3 color displays and a switch to select the sound. So they could see when the competition played commercials and such.

Ah! So that's why no one can get away from TV commercials these days. I've often wondered how the television networks did it (all four showing commercials at the same time). They must use a system like that Sampo set to monitor one another, so that when three networks are showing commercials, that would be the cue for the fourth to go to a commercial itself (for example).

Sheeesh..........the TV networks sure have a captive audience for their commercials as well as their shows these days, as always, although years ago we didn't have the strings of commercials we have on TV today; TV stations used to be limited to a minute or so of commercials every hour, including station ID, which most TV stations don't have now. I guess they don't want people changing channels between programs, so they run one program right after another without breaks.

I wonder how the TV stations get away with failing to show a station ID (audio as well as video) every hour. Here in northeastern Ohio, the stations just show a promotional announcement for one of their local shows (what few of them are left -- most so-called "local" shows these days are syndicated tabloid talk programs), with the call sign and city of license shown in tiny type no one can read at the bottom of the screen. The stations used to have real announcers doing the station IDs too, but that's another story.


What's next -- subliminal commercials, showing commercials in a banner across the top or bottom of the screen, brand placement within shows, or even the networks silently jamming the mute buttons on viewers' remotes (using a special signal sent over the network/local station or cable system) so that the commercials cannot be silenced? :scratch2:

bgadow
07-07-2012, 11:43 PM
I remember many times in the early 80s seeing those 3-screen Sampo sets as a prize on The Price is Right. My memory says it was a console model that they usually gave away?

jhalphen
07-08-2012, 02:56 AM
Hi to All,

Sampo tri-screen color tv - see pictures (not mine, Internet capture).

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

tubetwister
07-08-2012, 07:08 PM
I think the White House During Pres. Johnson era had 3 custom full size TV's built in to the oval office so he could see the 3 networks at once.

old_tv_nut
07-08-2012, 08:21 PM
I think the White House During Pres. Johnson era had 3 custom full size TV's built in to the oval office so he could see the 3 networks at once.

http://www.lbjlibrary.org/collections/photo-archive/photolab-detail.html?serial=A7160-16A

old_tv_nut
07-08-2012, 08:24 PM
http://www.iancfriedman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Screen-shot-2010-02-26-at-11.07.35-AM.png

tubetwister
07-08-2012, 08:29 PM
http://www.lbjlibrary.org/collections/photo-archive/photolab-detail.html?serial=A7160-16A
Thanks for the link :banana:

tubetwister
07-08-2012, 08:45 PM
I'm just curious as to what brand of TV's pres. Johnson had in the library I wonder if they were Curtis Mathes only because he was from Texas and may not have known any better.
I`m sure the white house would have no trouble getting a tech. to fix them , or RCA ,Zenith , Magnavox ,Admiral , GE ? because they were popular then. i enlarged the picture a bit.

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=175367&stc=1&d=1341798782

old_tv_nut
07-08-2012, 09:39 PM
I thought I recalled Motorola donating a set or sets to the White House at one time, but someone here will be able to identify that control layout, I'm sure.