View Full Version : Very early colour sets?


Combwork
10-19-2012, 05:13 AM
I think I've asked this before but can't find the thread.

I remember reading that the first generation field sequential sets sold to the public were recalled when the system folded. Did any survive?

Just curious. Although John Logie Baird was born in Scotland I think the chances of finding an experimental colour set in a shed somewhere are pretty remote.

Steve McVoy
10-19-2012, 06:53 AM
A number of field sequential sets survived in the the U.S. Here is a database:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/color_database.html

Some of them are now operating, thanks to standard converters made by Darryl Hock.

Here are pictures of field sequential sets:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/field_sequential_prototypes.html

old_tv_nut
10-19-2012, 11:21 PM
It doesn't look like any of those listed were really mass produced for the public before the CBS system folded.

There were some black and white sets that had connections for a converter (and were advertised to be ready for color), probably manufactured for only one year, and I seem to recall some of those have been found to have only a hole in the chassis for the attachment plug and no wiring at all. Maybe someone here can clarify that.

mstaton
10-19-2012, 11:30 PM
I have a Pacific mercury set from about 1953 that has a place to connect a color converter.

Pete Deksnis
10-23-2012, 04:17 PM
There were some black and white sets that had connections for a converter (and were advertised to be ready for color), probably manufactured for only one year, and I seem to recall some of those have been found to have only a hole in the chassis for the attachment plug and no wiring at all. Maybe someone here can clarify that.

Here's a related story from my site:
http://www.earlytelevision.org/Deksnis/Fifty-one_Admiral.html

stromberg6
10-23-2012, 04:29 PM
The first TV chassis I was "allowed" to have at the age of twelve by mom and dad (they were afraid I'd kill myself with one before that lol) was a 17 inch Olympic with an octal socket designated for a color converter. Guess the manufacturers wanted to be ready for CBS color, and it could also have been used as a selling point: "Ready For COLOR!!" or something like that.
Kevin