Found this "capehart" in the alley today

[sampson159]

as i stated before,the aoc sets werent bad at all.didnt care for the dumont sets made in the 80s but the capehart branded sets were pretty good.the 25 inch floor models were zeniths.those were good performers too.always had caps in the horizontal supply and occasional crt.you can still find these sets in thrift stores and basements.although supposed low quality,pretty damn good sets.not a zenith or rca,but still good value for the money

[Norbert]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

This set is typical of most TVs today with once-famous TV manufacturers' names on them -- RCA, Zenith, GE, Magnavox, et al. -- but don't let the name fool you. These are simply offshore-manufactured sets. The famous name is, almost literally, slapped on them to fool the buyer into thinking he or she is buying a quality TV. They will find out it is junk when the set breaks down after a year or two, and no service data or parts are available -- same as with today's flat screens.

This is a very interesting observation. Definitely and eye opener for many of us TV collectors who are unaware of this misleading concept that is practiced in the industry today. I would have thought for sure this was a real Capehart, but after reading your post, it makes me wonder now...

[wa2ise]

once-famous TV manufacturers' names on them -- RCA, Zenith, GE, Magnavox, et al. -- but don't let the name fool you. These are simply offshore-manufactured sets. The famous name is, almost literally, slapped on them to fool the buyer into thinking he or she is buying a quality TV.

30 years ago when I worked for RCA Labs we called RCA "Relabeling Corp of America" as we slapped "RCA" labels on Japanese VCRs.

[lnx64]

I really can't wait to see the insides of this TV.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

30 years ago when I worked for RCA Labs we called RCA "Relabeling Corp of America" as we slapped "RCA" labels on Japanese VCRs.

RCA did that? I could see something like this happening after RCA was bought out by Thomson in the late '80s and '90s, but not in the early 1980s. I was very surprised to find this out, but maybe I shouldn't have been, as this may have started just after Thomson took over RCA's television/video plant. I have an "RCA" branded Thomson-built color TV with the infamous on-board tuner, and yes, I did have the set repaired twice, at my expense, for the same problem (broken antenna connector). The ground points around the tuner were resoldered after the second repair. The TV has continued to operate flawlessly since, although it is now in storage after being replaced with a flat screen almost 18 months ago.


I know there have always been private-label TVs (I had one that burned up after just three years), but to put RCA badges on cheap offshore-made VCRs...... I wonder who actually built those VCRs in the first place. I do know that "GE" branded VCRs were made by Panasonic in the mid-'80s; I had one that lasted six years before the heads wore out. Today I have a true Panasonic VCR that has lasted over 10 years, with no problems whatsoever -- though I had a Panny VCR before that one that ate a tape and had to be nearly wrecked to get the cassette out.

Too bad, since that VCR had VCR Plus and would have been a classic by now. Today's DVRs do not have anything like the VCR Plus system, to the best of my knowledge; in fact, the entire system must have been scrapped and forgotten, as I no longer see VCR Plus codes in my newspaper or in TV Guide magazine. I would think today's DVRs would have something similar, in addition to all the other bells and whistles most of them seem to have.



However, as to "RCA" branded cheap offshore-made VCRs, I don't know. Could have been manufactured by literally any one of 1001 offshore companies.

[RobtWB]

... I do not recall ANY vcr ever manufactured on American soil ...

look into the history of the vtr / vcr ...

see who invented and had the patent rights

and a huge number of the "cheap offshore" machines are still damn fine machines ... decades after their original build date

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by RobtWB

... I do not recall ANY vcr ever manufactured on American soil

and a huge number of the "cheap offshore" machines are still damn fine machines ... decades after their original build date

Cartrivision?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartrivision

And I agree about the overuse of the "cheap offshore" label. I bought my first Sony TV in 1972 and never looked back.

jr

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Cartrivision?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartrivision

And I agree about the overuse of the "cheap offshore" label. I bought my first Sony TV in 1972 and never looked back.

jr

The first RCA VCR's were Panasonic. Then they outsourced to Samsung. I don't remember if they rebadged Hitachi's, like GE did.
I have a few later RCA's, assembled in Mexico. Not sure if they're Daewoo's or Samsungs. They seem to work fairly well.
Those newer RCA's were a lot better than the Funai offerings of the time.

[Jeffhs]

How about flat screen TVs that quit after two years or after the warranty expires? These are also made offshore by obscure Chinese, etc. manufacturers, and are very cheap in stores. I have seen FP TVs priced as low as $99 (which are almost impossible to repair when they go bad, and to find service data on them is even worse) in ad fliers in my newspaper. If those aren't "cheap offshore" products, I don't know what are. Just because a TV has the "RCA" block-letter logo, the lightning-bolt Z for Zenith, etc. on the display bezel (for example) does not necessarily mean it is a quality television, meant to last years or decades like the original RCAs, Zeniths and other TVs made by these manufacturers back in the day.

The store brands are even worse. Insignia TVs, for example, have a very poor reliability record; many people have had nothing but trouble with these sets, as I have read online on the company's website (Insignia is actually a house brand for televisions, A/V gear, etc. sold by Best Buy) and have switched to other brands when their Insignia TV quit. I may do that myself if or when my own Insignia 19" TV quits; who knows when that might be?

I wish I had known about Insignia's problems (other than low volume) before I bought my set; if I had, I would have bought a better make such as Vizio, Samsung or the like right off the bat. Other than its poor reliability record, my Insignia TV has served me well so far and I like it, but knowing it may konk out before (or soon after) the warranty expires doesn't settle well with me. If it fails within what is left of its warranty, I may have it repaired, but if it quits when the set is out of warranty, out it will go and I'll get a better make -- as mentioned, Samsung, Vizio, or any other make with a better reputation than Insignia FPs have had.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by lnx64

I really can't wait to see the insides of this TV.

I'll get to it later this week. I'm really swamped at work lately. Plus my new 630TS is very distracting

[sampson159]

i had a 19 inch pennys solid state set back in the late 70s.got it in a trade.it was an rca xl100 with the pennys name on it.date of manufacture was 1975.i remember this one all too well.i had just rebuilt the tuner and reinstalled it in the set.i forgot to tighten one screw.my wife told me so i took off the back and went to work.as soon as my tool touched the screw,ZIPPPP!still dont know what happened but i shorted this set out.took out the power supply module.set was unplugged.cant figure it out to this day.never heard the end of it.everytime there was a disagreement,i heard about it

[dieseljeep]

Vizio is the private label branding for Wal-mart and Sam's Club.
The Insignia DTV convertors are the same as the Zenith and have proved to be very reliable. So what's in a name?

[mpatoray]

RCA was rebranding Sony and Bosch VTR's on the broadcast side in 79. The sony BVH-100 became the TH-100 and the Portable BVH-500A became the TH-50. The VHS VCR's they started selling in 1977 where rebranded Panasonic's.

Zenith did the same thing rebranding Sony Betamax VCR's

In the computer industry there was almost a panic sweeping through with a high level of the NIH (Not invented here) syndrome. Which gave us such lovely things as the Apple Twiggy drive on the Lisa 1, and the DEC RX-50 drive on the Rainbow and Professional 350 PC's.

[vinljnkie]

Vizio is not a private label set. It is also sold at BJ's and other stores. It's an American owned company based in Irvine, CA, but has their sets built in primarily China. I have heard that they are the most returned brand at Walmart for having problems right out of the box. Don't know if this is true or not but since Vizio is the #1 lcd tv brand in the US it's possible that beacuse more are sold than others more would come back bad.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by mpatoray

The VHS VCR's they (RCA) started selling in 1977 where rebranded Panasonic's.

Indeed, In fact when the "4 hour" VHS machines first came out in the fall of 1977 some large department stores sold both brands side by side, with the Panasonic usually commanding a premium price. In the NW, the RCA sold for about $1000 ($999?) and the Panasonic for $100 more. These were well made solid machines, with solid castings, that weighed perhaps 35 lbs! I suspect that at that time, very few factories were capable of producing such a device!

RCA:
http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcol...delvct200.html
Panasonic:
http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcol...elpv-1000.html

Not what I would call "cheap offshore junk"

jr