The GE PE250 Early Color Television Camera

[julianburke]

Although I collect about everything in broadcast electronics, perhaps nothing interests me more than TV Cameras! They have interested me since I was about 7 or 8 years old and in my warehouse I have stuff packed away that I haven't seen in years but still collected. As my interests change or "mature", I start thinking about what I have (and sometimes what I might have or found looking for something else) and start digging into it and want to learn more about it. What seems strange to me is the fact that we know more about vintage stuff today than we did 20 or 30 years ago!

I would like to briefly cover a GE PE250 "Live Color Camera" that not much is known about it today and is seldom talked about in contrast to RCA's. It came out about the same time the RCA TK44's were introduced and used Plumbicon tubes like the RCA TK44 which because of those tubes, never produced a sharp color picture. Plumbicons were the standard of the industry at that time and also brought an end to production of image orthicons. (IO tubes, 5820's and 2P23's etc) RCA's first Solid State color camera was the TK42 after the '41. The RCA '42 was terribly cumbersome and although it was modular, it needed "extendo cards" to help service the modules. GE's 250 was their early solid state color design and seemed much simpler to service as it did not require the extra cards or other cumbersome parts to service. RCA was (at that time) dominant in the broadcast industry and "The General" (Sarnoff) was adament in saying "We don't pay royalties, we collect them". That statement and attitude was reflected in what they built & sold and was also simultaniously changing about that time perhaps mostly by lawsuits. All this being the same time RCA was losing ground in the mid 60's to other manufacturers, GE had a very good product line in broadcast gear. They had a great promotional department and seemed to excel in certain regional areas and among the many, Dallas, TX was one area that had a lot of GE product. GE had a great and strong selling transmitter line and some are no doubt in use today. Their film chain cameras were also highly desirable in the industry.

The 250 used plumbicons which were a breakthrough at that time and were mainly designed to downsize the camera as well as work better in lower light levels which they did. They produced fair color pictures but were still no match for say the RCA TK41. NBC kept their RCA 41's for a long time because the newer generation of solid state cameras were inferior to the original workhorses!! I have a UTube URL below that will show you how a GE PE250 performed in a studio. (Joey Bishop Show)

This GE camera had a few features that I like better than the RCA line. For starters, the side doors opened easily and without unscrewing or pushing any latches to open. You just pulled on the top and it would open without binding or bending. All circuit boards were right in front of you and all would open for any parts replacement or measurements. It also had a built-in voltmeter and rotary switch to test the various supply voltages involved. You simply switched to desired voltage and set the meter to the center green area. What a neat little camera!

Of its' greatest virtues, no one can deny the functional ability of the Zoomar lens built into this camera. Instead of a enclosed cable that most cameras used, it had a solid mechanical shaft that went straight to the lens assembly, and there was absolutely no forward or backward backlash or slop in that mechanism. It would spin freely and had a short ratio that when turned, it got you there quick. Every camera operator who used one of these cameras will tell you that the zoomar lens was a treat to use and it was trouble free with no jerking or binding. The crank handle on the lower right side (shown in picture) has the "ZOOMAR" logo on it that suggested Zoomar was contracted to design it. (zoom lens in the RCA TK42 was a disaster)

All circuit boards have plug in transistors. Yes, these sometimes gave intermittant trouble but depending on the quality of the socket would translate into the amount of trouble it would have. Mil-spec sockets were used here. While on this subject, the circuit boards have a distinct resemblance of IBM computer boards that were in production around the same time. 5% resistors (gold band or better) were common throughout. (high quality)

I am trying to find out the production numbers of this camera but usually hit a dead end. They are very scarce to find today and what is most interesting is the data plate label inside the body. Mine (pictured) is a stick-on plastic label that only says "LIVE COLOR CAMERA" with either the serial number, revision number and/or production run on it. It was printed with a standard PICA typewriter which possibly may have been pre-production. Nowhere in the camera does it say GE PE250. Mine may be an early one as the later PE350's had a usual data plate screwed on but still never gave the model number. (odd!)

I'm sure the later 350's had updated circuitry but you can immediately tell the difference between the 250 and the 350 by a few cosmetics: The 350 had two small tally lights on the front lower part of the lens housing. This was in addition to the one on top. Seems like this would be more of a distraction than useful. The 350 had a large GE logo on the side in the upper right corner in addition to the one on the center band. There was also a retrofit available from GE for 250's that came as a parts kit to make it a 350. You could install it yourself in the shop or you could return the camera to the factory for refit. It was a little tedious and there were a lot of sloppy jobs done to 250's out in the field that were not sent back to the factory. (factory jobs were perfect) If interested, I will write more when I find out more so now on to the pictures for you to click on below!

Pictures were taken in a darker area of my warehouse so excuse the poor quality of pictures. First one shows the camera with its' original lens cover on and there is some stuff stacked on top of it. The voltmeter and rotary switch are seen in picture 2 left of the color registration controls. Picture 6 shows front inside of camera and the mechanical shafts for the zoom control. Another feature for this camera are pull out handles on the bottom for ease of carrying and setting it up on a pedestal. No one else did this.

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-1.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-8.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-7.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-6.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-5.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-4.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-3.jpg
http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nt=GE250-2.jpg

Here is a Joey Bishop show that was supposed to have been shot with GE PE250's. Regis Philbin is in it and dig the Nehru jackets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdyDRjpPftU
Look carefully in this scene!! It's in there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMXpa...eature=related
More good stuff:
http://www.broadcasting101.ws/anselmo3.htm