Videokarma.org

Go Back   Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums > Rectangular Screen Tube Televisions

We appreciate your help

in keeping this site going.
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:22 PM
rca2000's Avatar
rca2000 rca2000 is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: cincinnati,ohio
Posts: 2,090
The Zenith/LG tube debacle--ON PURPOSE?

I am just curious--is there ANY chance...that the LG tubes made for Zenith.,..were PURPOSELY designed to die--as soon as they did ?

WHY...would LG do this you ask ?

Remember...at the time..they were working on GETTING TOTAL CONTROL..of Zenith. And BEFORE..the LG tubes..Zenith CRT'S were WELL KNOWN..for long-life..ESPECIALLY in the delta era !! SO..when someone bought a Zenith tv--they were USED to it lasting at LEAST 10 years..often a LOT longer..

WHAT BETTER WAY... to totally DESTROY a company..that people WERE used to hanging on to their tv sets for often a GENERATION...than to SABOTAGE..the CRT going in them !! Not ONLY ...do you cost that company a WHOLE LOT of MONEY this way...but you ALSO RUIN their REPUTATION !! And AL of this was going on...at a time when RCA sets often had nearly BULLETPROOF tubes in them !! Not QUITE CC tube quality...but maybe ONE step lower ..

Any thoughts on this ???
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:28 PM
Jon A.'s Avatar
Jon A. Jon A. is offline
Don't mess with Esther.
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,267
I guess it was a sign of things to come. Buy the latest, watch it die just out of warranty, then rinse and repeat. It's what drives today's economy.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:33 PM
dishdude's Avatar
dishdude dishdude is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 821
Are you talking about the tubes made from '93-'95? They were designed and manufactured by Zenith - LG had nothing to do with it.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:38 PM
andy andy is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,004
...

Last edited by andy; 11-20-2021 at 03:17 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:41 PM
rca2000's Avatar
rca2000 rca2000 is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: cincinnati,ohio
Posts: 2,090
I thought it WAS the other way around..so those terrible tubes were made by ZENITH? The SAME Zenith...who made nearly INDESTRUCTIBLE CC delta tubes ?
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
  #6  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:43 PM
rca2000's Avatar
rca2000 rca2000 is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: cincinnati,ohio
Posts: 2,090
Quote:
Originally Posted by dishdude View Post
Are you talking about the tubes made from '93-'95? They were designed and manufactured by Zenith - LG had nothing to do with it.
Actually it was more like 91-late 98..THEN Zenith began to use some tube that did NOT have a brand name on it..which was NOT too bad. i
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 02-27-2016, 03:50 PM
dishdude's Avatar
dishdude dishdude is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 821
I found the worst by far to be '93-'95. '92 seemed to hold up pretty well, and by '96 the failure rate had dropped quite a bit. They closed Melrose at the end of 1998 so that was the end of Zenith made tubes.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-27-2016, 04:37 PM
Eric H's Avatar
Eric H Eric H is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: So. Calif
Posts: 11,565
They were probably trying something new, something that cost less, TV history has many New and Improved CRT's that were disasters, 15GP22, 9QP4, 12WP4, Short Focus Predicta tubes.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 02-27-2016, 04:46 PM
andy andy is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,004
...

Last edited by andy; 11-20-2021 at 03:17 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 02-27-2016, 08:28 PM
radiotvnut's Avatar
radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Meridian, MS
Posts: 6,018
I remember reading somewhere that the the factory where the tubes were made was not nearly as clean as it should have been and the contamination had a lot to do with these tubes failing.

I've worked on a few '90's Goldstar TV's that had the same crappy Zenith CRT's in them.

The main problem these tubes gave was intermittently shorting/arcing; which, would often take out the power supply and/or video output components. You could fix the chassis and the set might work for a minute, hour, day, week, or month and then the tube would arc and blow up everything that was replaced. The tubes also got weak way too quickly. In fact, I've seen brand new sets that looked like the tube was bad right out of the box. I can also tell you that the replacement tubes were no better. Generally, the only time the CRT was replaced was under warranty. Usually, when the tube failed out of warranty, the set was junked.

Starting in about '98, Zenith started using a mix of LG/Philips and RCA/Thomson bonded yoke CRT's; but, by that time, the damage had been done and in '99, LG took over Zenith totally. Personally, I've not seen a bad Philips or Thomson tube. I know of a couple of Zenith consoles from the early 2000's that are still in service. They contain non-Zenith CRT's and they still look fine.
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
  #11  
Old 02-27-2016, 09:22 PM
sampson159's Avatar
sampson159 sampson159 is offline
sampson159
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: columbus,ohio
Posts: 2,170
saw tons of those zenith crts.hit or miss.i have a couple of 25 and 27 inch in the garage.these are excellent.i think zenith made products from the 60s to the 80s,too good.no need to replace them.a set that lasted 25 to 30 years?i still watch a flat chassis and a metal cabinet set daily.if you bought a new set every 7 to 8 years,maybe zenith wouldnt have died.the quality got bad towards the end.sad to see this happen
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 02-27-2016, 09:24 PM
rca2000's Avatar
rca2000 rca2000 is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: cincinnati,ohio
Posts: 2,090
I KNEW...I thought they were using phillips tubes... Sometimes IIRC they did NOT have the NAP label though..

Now..I HAVE seen a FEW bad NAP or Thomson tubes...but ONLY a FEW.. INCLUDING a VERY few bad BRAND new ones. A bad NEW tube means it is not good....and you should NEVER try to hit one--as it will NEVER be any good...

But all in all..Phillips tubes were not bad. Same with Thomson tubes.. NONE were quite to the quality of the Zenith delta CC tubes or round Zenith color tubes...but then was there ANY consumer-type CRT made....EVER...that WAS?
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 02-27-2016, 09:30 PM
rca2000's Avatar
rca2000 rca2000 is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: cincinnati,ohio
Posts: 2,090
Quote:
Originally Posted by sampson159 View Post
saw tons of those zenith crts.hit or miss.i have a couple of 25 and 27 inch in the garage.these are excellent.i think zenith made products from the 60s to the 80s,too good.no need to replace them.a set that lasted 25 to 30 years?i still watch a flat chassis and a metal cabinet set daily.if you bought a new set every 7 to 8 years,maybe zenith wouldst have died.the quality got bad towards the end.sad to see this happen

I too..have ONE 25 inch Zenith console set from 92...with a VERY good CRT. I got it to use as a jig for another 32" chassis... It worked WELL for that purpose. Good cabinet...just could not part it out..

BUT...I have to say...that the 100 degree Zenith "tri potential " tubes from about 77-81 or so...are NOT NEARLY as good as the Dleta tubes....oR the in-lines that followed the 100 degree tubes...till about 90 or so...THEN they went to SHIT...
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 02-27-2016, 11:01 PM
radiotvnut's Avatar
radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Meridian, MS
Posts: 6,018
With the early Zenith inline tubes, I've never seen a bad 13" one. I've seen a few tired 17" and 19" ones; but, most of them were still watchable and the ones that were not would often take a hit. I've seen a lot of weak 23" and 25" ones and those were often so bad that they no longer produced anything close to a good picture.

In recent years, I've seen a few weak; but, usable Zenith delta gun CCII-era tubes. I've only seen one dead 25" Zenith CCII-era tube and it was used in an early upright chassis set with instant on. However, it bounced back and gave a decent picture, after I rejuvenated it.

As far as RCA tubes, I've seen a lot of weak delta gun RCA tubes from the pre-'77 time period; but, they usually respond well to rejuvenation. It seems that from about '77-'80, RCA had a "bad run" of CRT's (especially delta tubes) and these often won't rejuvenate well. Once RCA went fully inline and continuing into the Thomson-era, their CRT's seemed to hole up. Yes, I've seen some bad ones from those years; but, not many.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 02-28-2016, 08:27 AM
sampson159's Avatar
sampson159 sampson159 is offline
sampson159
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: columbus,ohio
Posts: 2,170
those rca deltas would respond well to hit or two.the last deltas in the late 70s were pretty bad though.never saw a delta zenith that was unwatchable.saw many sylvania dark matrix that hit the skids prematurally.the first 25 inch zenith inlines were fairly good.i have two spares that are very good.the zenith crts from the 80s are ok,but nowhere near as good as the deltas.had a zenith 27 inch console from 1994 that had an orion crt.it was a replacement and it looked bad!tested good but was dim in the set.watchable but not really good.as i ve said before,sad to see this happen to the best manufacture of television
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:21 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.