Is there a such thing as a reliable tube color TV?

[Jeffhs]

I think the "flat screen televisions last only two years" cliche has been repeated over and over so often it is now believed as truth, and is now all but worn out. The early FPs may have lasted only two years or less, but today's flat screens can and should last much longer than that, especially when one considers that very large flat screens are very expensive--over $1k for 40-50-inch sets. The 70-inch ones go for $4k+, a large enough sum of money that most people can only afford to spend once (if that much) on a television. The smaller sets tend to last the longest. I see posts to Insignia's support forum from people who own mostly larger sets, 50 inches and up; very rarely do I see posts for service advice on sets 19 inches or less. My own Insignia 19" FP is just out of warranty, is in daily use for a couple hours each day (it isn't on eight to ten hours a day as some FPs are), and still works every bit as well as the day I bought it.

The brand name on the set may have some bearing on the TV's longevity. Polaroid, Craig, et al. flat screens may have very cheap electronics, cheap capacitors that will swell and bulge after a year or even less, but Panasonic and other well-known brands, including Vizio, should last somewhat longer than just two years. However, FPs are more sensitive than older SS and tube CRT sets to power surges, lightning strikes and the like, so perhaps some of the two-year life span reports are legitimate, coming from people whose FPs have been damaged or even destroyed by such (these sets are probably not protected by surge protectors , but plugged directly into AC outlets, which can and often does shorten the life of the set). I know someone who has several 52-inch flat screen TVs in her house, all of them well over two years old; every one of her sets are still working quite well, the last I heard. There are large FPs in use in stores, offices, doctors' waiting rooms, etc. that are on eight hours a day up to six or seven days a week; one doctor I see regularly has a large-screen Vizio set in his waiting room (used for patient information, not program viewing), installed just less than a year ago, and the last I saw it, it was working fine.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by wkand

So, Kamakiri, did you original question ever get answered?

Sure did. And more importantly, I got to bitch and moan, and talk to others who understand....and I appreciate that more than words can say

That said, time to start rounding up some tubes for the CTC-36

[oldtvman]

Tube sets had two major areas that caused problems. First you have the heat build up and shortens the life of the set and then you have all the potentiometers and coils that can get noisy or just fail. And oh yeah don't forget about all those vacuum tubes.

[davet753]

Lots of comments about Sony and how dependable they were. They were a pretty good set, but they had their fair share of problems (I used to work on quite a few of them).

I remember I always admired Sony's build quality, but when they had a problem they were sure not the easiest chassis to troubleshoot. I also remember Sony replacement parts being way overpriced and not easily obtained like other brands. Not that it mattered much to me at the time......I made more $$ on the Sony jobs because their owners would spend good money to fix them. When a guy spends more to buy a certain kind of TV, he'll generally pay more to get it serviced.

Plus, I also got Sony repair work referred to me by my competitor (who wouldn't touch a Sony repair job).

[compucat]

I have found reliability of tube TVs to be a mixed bag. My Motorola 9VT1 8" electrostatic set has been very reliable needing only a few repairs in the 14 years since I first restored it. My 8" RCA metal portable has been even more reliable in about as many years. The Zenith color roundie (25MC33 chassis) has been a bit more maintenance intensive. I even considered getting rid of it at one point because I felt it needed too much attention. The color sets are always going to need more tlc because they are more complex and the is simply more to go wrong, need periodic adjustment, etc. I do like my Zenith as it is my only tube color set but I would not want to own more than one or two at the most. As it is the Zenith has always had a vertical problem where it looks like it is about to colapse for a fraction of a second. Sometimes it starts to roll or even goes to a line for a second or two. I still have not figured out what is causing that. Despite the maintenance would not want to be without tube technology in my life. Even my Bakelite five tube radios bring me so much enjoyment and they rarely have problems except the occasional need for a tube or at least a good chassis removal and cleaning once every couple years.

[timmy]

flat screens suck, color quality and burns your eyes, nothing like a crt tv. flat screens do only last 2-5 years because the power supply caps dont hold up they bulge and fail, ive fixed many of them, even the ones i picked up at the local dump recapped the power supply and sold them. got a 1996 rca 36 inch color and it refuses to die over all these years its needed 2 flybacks 2 1kv caps and a zener diode for the pip and the crt is so bright and crystal clear one would never think it was a solid state tv from 1996.

[Wyatt]

i love to collect antiques but i don't have any old tv set because it's useless and you can't watch it and it takes more power than other lcd and led

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

i love to collect antiques but i don't have any old tv set because it's useless and you can't watch it and it takes more power than other lcd and led

You do realize this IS a vintage television forum, right?

I deleted the spam link in your signature, by the way. Either you're very creative at spamming, or you got off the bus at the wrong stop

[jstout66]

Love this thread!
I've probably repeated this story many a time in different topics, but....
I worked with my Uncle in his sales repair shop in the late 70's early 80's.
We sold Zenith, but our county was RCA-land. My Uncle's bread and butter were RCA repairs. At the time, fairly simple, the usual 6GH8A's.. and summer always kept us busy with flyback replacements. Most of my observations have been stated in previous posts in this thread by the techs that worked during that era, and I can especially relate to Zenith26KC20's post about the dread of working on Magnavox, but have seen a FEW that still survive with NO issues (must have been a good day on the assembly line).
Never saw a Motorola color set that wasn't a POS.....
It was interesting to see how some of these sets were about shot in their 10-14th year (circa 1980)
IMO... all tube sets are gonna require continual upkeep at this point. (they were getting unreliable 33 years ago) For most trouble free, I'd stick with a Zenith.. a 4-tube hybrid would be ideal.
Also.. a bit off-topic, but it's interesting to see now that much time has passed, the quirks the solid state sets have.
Example: early RCA XL-100 and Zenith CC2 are somewhat of a pain now, due to how the modules are mounted, and Sylvania and Sony's didn't have the longest lasting picture tubes......

[holmesuser01]

I had several Motorola consoles come through my shop... several were the same chassis that I grew up on... with zero repairs... these customer sets had issues with vertical problems, and color, from what I can remember. I'm still amazed that the set we had never gave problems, besides the dreaded 23V CRT failures.

RCA's were always the bread and butter. I tried to keep flybacks in stock for them.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by holmesuser01

I had several Motorola consoles come through my shop... several were the same chassis that I grew up on... with zero repairs... these customer sets had issues with vertical problems, and color, from what I can remember. I'm still amazed that the set we had never gave problems, besides the dreaded 23V CRT failures.

RCA's were always the bread and butter. I tried to keep flybacks in stock for them.

The Motorola I'm thinking of is the ETS908, which is the first color set I owned. My family ran the set for about ten years, until the 23EG got pretty weak.
The tuner needed cleaning every so often and I replaced about eight of the twenty eight tubes used in that chassis. It still had the original horizontal output tubes, when we quit using it.
That chassis wasn't as trouble prone as the smaller nineteen tube chassis.

[holmesuser01]

Diesel. did your Moto have the neat little 'color indicator' neon lamp on the front panel that turned on when a color program was being broadcast?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by holmesuser01

Diesel. did your Moto have the neat little 'color indicator' neon lamp on the front panel that turned on when a color program was being broadcast?

That was probably one of the big selling points!
IIRC, the set was built four months before Motorola quit building the chassis.
IIRC, the color circuit had seven tubes in it, most being 6BL8's, but wasn't hard on them. It still used a 6AL5, which seemed strange.

[vintagecollect]

I had a 25mc33 bought at a thrift for $35 or something similair, cleaned the controls and used it for 6 months unrestored.



The RCA's I had lost interest in since they routinely fried resistors and tubes . Sold Zenith since had cheap cabinet, SHOULD of had custom cabinet made, best roundie ever had, great picture too.

RCA's have crapola designs pushing parts to operating limits one prolific collector I know restores them just to keep for static display,which is what RCA's basically good for.........................

[mstaton]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

i love to collect antiques but i don't have any old tv set because it's useless and you can't watch it and it takes more power than other lcd and led

It is not necessarily true new sets use less power. My 2007 Sony LCD TV uses over 300 watts! Most color tube sets use 350. It depends on the size of the set of course(in both cases). The only difference between LCD and LED is the backlight. They are both LCD TV's. People often make that mistake. Yes you can still watch older sets with a converter box. Everybody here who has a set does.