Today, I picked up this April, 1981 vintage GTE-Philco (Sylvania) 19" color TV (E32 chassis) from an elderly lady that I've been fixing TV's for since I was a teenager. She said she bought it used around 20 years ago for $75 and it just now died. I'd say she got her money's worth! The CRT was weak but rejuvenated well and I still need to clean the tuner and controls. Notice the makeshift tuner repair by the owner. But first, I've got to track down an elusive intermittent shut down problem. At first, I thought it was going to be easy because I saw a power resistor that was just barely making contact with the PC board and I also found many other bad looking connections. Every time I think it's fixed, I can tap the underside of the chassis and off it goes! I think I'll pull the Sams Photofact and check some things. At least that should tell me what circuit is causing the shutdown. I think this must have been one of the very last GTE sets before the Philips buyout. In fact, I've seen this same chassis in some NAP (Magnavox, Sylvania, and Philco)TV's. Looking at this set from the outside, I figured it was from the '70's until I found the date. I know I've seen some '70's GTE sets in this exact same cabinet; but, with a different chassis. I think this TV will make a good picture once I get all of it's problems solved!

Here's one you don't see everyday. Even thought these chassis are used in a wide variety of TVs they still don't pop up that often.

Had an '81 Sylvania that looked just like this one....worked but infested with ants as found. Tossed it sadly.

Judging by your photo, and the darkening near the flyback, this was a heavily used set. Good to hear the crt rejuve'd nicely. These really are some workhorses. IIRC, mine had a great pic in the brief period when I used it in my garage.

Here's one you don't see everyday. Even thought these chassis are used in a wide variety of TVs they still don't pop up that often.

Had an '81 Sylvania that looked just like this one....worked but infested with ants as found. Tossed it sadly.

Judging by your photo, and the darkening near the flyback, this was a heavily used set. Good to hear the crt rejuve'd nicely. These really are some workhorses. IIRC, mine had a great pic in the brief period when I used it in my garage.

Yes, this TV looks like it's had a zillion hours of use. The CRT was probably a decent built tube; just used to near death.

I used to see a few of these chassis back in the '90's. I think the last one I saw was in a hospital set about 5 years ago. That one had digital cable ready remote tuning and made a good picture. IIRC, the PC board in the hospital version was a little more robust than what's in the consumer version. I think the hospital set had a blue PC board and the one in my set is green. There were also some 25" consoles and some 13" portables that used the same basic chassis.

I think I got it fixed. I soldered, soldered, and soldered some more and it now stays on and does not go off when I touch the chassis. The only problem is that the fine tuning gear is broken. The fine tuning knob just spins. Fortunately, all the channels except 6 and 13 are tuned in correctly. All I really need is 3 and 4 anyway. BTW, I can thank this Philco for discovering that we now have RTN on a digital subchannel. I connected the converter to this set and something told me to do a rescan on the channel memory. It found RTN and some all-weather channel. All I got on RTN was a blank screen with no EPG information; but, the signal is strong. I guess they are still working on this. I know I'll be excited when I actually see programming on RTN!

Yeah, I keep hearing great things about RTN but don't think we have it in the city.

So how's the CRT looking after the rejuvenation?

Yeah, I keep hearing great things about RTN but don't think we have it in the city.

So how's the CRT looking after the rejuvenation?

I just hope RTN don't go to heck in a handbasket like TV Land did! I tried it again today; but, still no programming. I get a black screen with channel info and a strong signal.

The Philco seems to be holding it's own. I played it all day without problems. The CRT arced a couple of times; but, that's to be expected after rejuvenation. That junk in the neck breaks loose and falls between elements and causes the CRT to short or arc.

I guess I'll sit it in a corner for a spare or give it to some needy person. Of course, some of the needy would even turn their nose up at such an old set.