Col-R-Tel acquisition

[Steve K]

This past January I purchased a Col-R-Tel contraption and had it in storage until last week. I bought a 12 inch Philco (50-T1404) at this past ETF convention and restored it and shipped it here to California. I recapped the converter a few days ago and got it working yesterday. It doesn't look too bad and the wheel stays synced very well. In fact, I just finished watching it for the past hour and it did not go out once. As you can see the convergence is perfect!

Steve

[Sandy G]

Wow...Just- Oh, Wow....That thing's even more "Majic" than a REAL color set...

[treserious]

weird....

[jeyurkon]

I'm envious. I've been looking for one.

John

[zenithfan1]

And that set was full of mouse crap amongst other horrors, wonderful restoration and excellent use of the Col-R-Tel. I'm very happy this all worked out for you. Looks awesome Steve!

[ceebee23]

this is so cooooooooooooooooool

[N9ZQA]

Great pictures. I'm amazed that these things work as well as they do. Good picture on the Philco. I've got a 16" with the split chassis that may someday produce a picture.

Although the technology is back in a modern form - DLP sets use a color wheel in much the same fashion. Guess everything old is new again sometime.

How well does this system deal with motion? Although I'd have to agree with Sandy - MAGIC.

-Jim

[Steve D.]

Steve,

Super restoration on both the Philco and the Col-R-Tel. That picture tube really provides a nice bright picture through those color filters. The sync is really locked in.

-Steve D.

[tubesrule]

Looks great Steve! Very nice job on the restoration of that rough Philco.

Darryl

[John Folsom]

your Col-R-Tel look fabulous, Steve. One just has to love anything with a spinning color wheel! Great Job.

[yagosaga]

Hi Steve,

this is a wonderful restoration project, thank you very much for sharing it with us. Can you post a photo of the color wheel?

What chroma signal do you use for input? NTSC or CBS field sequential?

More photos and reports are wellcome!

Kind regards,
Eckhard

[firenzeprima]

interesting topic, but I do not understand how to operate the color wheel in sync with the signal "all electronic" as far as I remember broadcaster must have the same standard. clarifications are welcome

[julianburke]

Motion has very little to do with it as the picture is "already there". The disc spins fast enough to accomodate the color shift. If done right, you almost cannot tell that you are not watching a "real" color TV as this technology works quite well. The later ones are so good that you cannot tell as the one demonstrated at the ETF meet a few years ago with a 14" monitor was so good (and quiet) that I could not actually tell the difference if I didn't know any different.

I wish I could find the electronics for my Color R Tel. Anyone know of one??

[Steve K]

Thank you all for the kind replies regarding the resoration!

I'll try to answer a few of the questions.

Eckhard, I did not take a photo of the wheel but it is just 6 segments of filter material glued together. It is not a rigid wheel but rather quite "floppy" as you could not stand it on end.

The converter converts NTSC to field sequential. The sync pulse is taken off the vertical and the converter knows what color is in front of the CRT from a mechanical commutator at the hub of the wheel. BTW, that arrangement causes a lot of noise in the picture.

Julian, don't confuse this with the CBS sets at ETF. This wheel runs at 600 rpm whereas CBS is over 1400 rpm. There is considerable flicker in the Col-R-Tel picture and fast movement causes the color to break up. That can even happen when the viewer blinks!

Steve

[kx250rider]

GREAT restoration!!!! I've never seen a wheel on NTSC in operation. Some time, I'd like to invite myself to come see it

Charles