Just curious... is this set "mechanical color"-ready??

[Joel Cairo]

Is this one of CBS's mechanical -color sets, without the mechanical attachement?

Here's the listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=3638

If so, anyone interested in it live near Oklahoma or New York? It appears you get free delivery from overseas to either of their warehouse sites, and then you pay for shipping from there...

-Kevin

[Steve D.]

I think this is just an early 50's CBS-Columbia B&W console. This was at the time CBS was trying to market their spinning wheel sequencial color system. CBS along with several other companies, Admiral comes to mind. Simply put, they added the color jack for use with a separate CBS color adaptor chassis that sat atop the set and included the color wheel. Needless to say CBS gave up their color system after they failed in marketing a fully self contained color wheel set in 1951. The system was revived briefly by NASA in the early 70's for use in the space program.

[Eric H]

It's just a regular set with a socket for a color wheel system that never happened. Other companys had a similar socket.

One special thing is that it's a 27" CRT in that set, can you imagine how big the color wheel would have to be !

[Steve D.]

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu:80/a...012-72dpi.jpeg This url will go to a 1951 Admiral ad that promotes their color jack adapted set.

Originally posted by Eric H
One special thing is that it's a 27" CRT in that set, can you imagine how big the color wheel would have to be !

During the FCC color hearings in Washington (1949-53) DuMont demonstrated one of their standard 21" console b&w sets, equipped with a custom built color wheel and adapter. The color wheel was six feet in diameter, and was driven by a 5 HP motor.

When the set was turned on, the current draw from the motor blew a fuse and the meeting room was plunged into darkness. The FCC commissioners were furious at what they considered to be an attempt to ridicule and embarrass CBS, but the point had been made (DuMont should have used a Royal Sovereign for this demo)!

At another hearing, someone accidentally jarred a CBS color set that was operating, and the color wheel came loose and exited through the top of the cabinet!

[Steve Hoffman]

I was always taught in my "History of Broadcasting" classes in school that the CBS system actually had the best color picture of the two systems. I can't imagine this, but has anyone here an opinion?

[Steve D.]

Hi Steve,
While I have never viewed an actual CBS color system picture in action, I have also heard that when everything was in sync and operating perfectly the picture was very good. In fact the word dazzling, has beeen used to discribe the color.

[Steve Hoffman]

Wow. I can't imagine what it must have looked like.

[Eric H]

Originally posted by Steve D.
Hi Steve,
I have also heard that when everything was in sync and operating perfectly the picture was very good. In fact the word dazzling, has beeen used to discribe the color.

Yes, but dazzling isn't the same as accurate.

Many people seem to like their color cranked up till everything glows an unnatural color

The CBS color pictures probably did look dazzling compared with early demos of the RCA system. RCA had horrible registration (convergence) problems in their early experimental cameras and receivers of 1949-51, a flaw completely absent in the CBS system. Color sync was achieved manually in early RCA demos, with an engineer holding a pot in his hand attached by a cable to the receiver to try to keep the color oscillator in phase. When this proved unsuccessful, the color burst signal was invented.

On the other hand, the CBS system lacked the resolution available in the NTSC system once it was perfected. A major CBS flaw was color fringing on fast-moving objects. RCA amply demonstrated this flaw by having a girl twirl a silver baton in front of a CBS camera at one of the hearings. On the screen, it looked like she was twirling several red, green, and blue batons at once!

Another annoying CBS defect was flicker at high brightness levels. This was especially noticable if a large area of the picture consisted mainly of one of the primary colors. CBS usually conducted their demos in dimly lit rooms, with the brighness turned low on the receiver to hide this defect.

So, overall the CBS color picture probably was best in 1951, but certainly would Not have been in 1961!

[Steve Hoffman]

Quite interesting.

Thanks, Bill and all.

[Steve D.]

Bill,
I also extend my thanks for your information on the CBS system. The "color wars" as they came to be known had some hard fought battles between RCA and CBS. Both companies employed less then scrupulous tactics when demonstrating (selling) their color systems. The brilliant CBS color pictures were many times a "still life" bowl of fruit so as to avoid any trailing movement or flicker. In any case CBS never stood a chance against RCA's David Sarnoff's deep bench filled with lawyers and engineers and a seemingly endless supply of money. Steve

Steve and Steve,

Our color system is now 50 years old. The pictures today are far better than even 30 years ago, yet the standards are the same as in 1953. Only the hardware has improved. I think it has served us well.

[Jeffhs]

CBS Columbia was not the only TV manufacturer to put a color socket in its top-line B&W sets. I once had a book of 1950s TV tube and chassis layouts which showed many sets, including CBS and others, with a color adapter socket. Offhand, however, I don't recall if RCA was one of them.

In the late 1960s, several companies came out with mechanical color adapters (crude knockoffs of CBS's color-wheel system), one of which used a moving mylar belt with downward-sloping, diamond-shaped openings rather than a color wheel. The set was placed behind the adapter's screen; the adapter itself was connected to a B&W television by means of a plug sandwiched between the CRT base and the socket. The plug was wired to the adapter; the latter sent sync pulses to sophisticated control circuits which regulated the movement of the belt.

Another firm, whose name escapes me for the moment, also came out with an all-electronic color adapter in the early '60s, if I remember correctly. The unit carried the trade name Colordaptor.

These adapters produced so-so (if not downright poor) color pictures. They may not have been flops per se; however, they and all other color-adapter schemes (including all-electronic ones such as the Colordaptor) faded quietly into oblivion when color TV set prices dropped in the '70s.

One would be hard-pressed to find color adapters of any sort today, even on ebay. (I look at the Bay's antique TV listings regularly and haven't seen even one color adapter to date; oh well, one of these days they are bound to show up.) I would think these adapters would be very useful to collectors of early TVs, although the adapters would work poorly at best on the current NTSC system and probably not at all on the new ATSC (digital) standards.

Kind regards,

Jeff, WB8NHV

[Steve Hoffman]

Jeff,
I remember one of those being advertised when I was a kid. I never saw one though. Interesting.