Picked up this little but very heavy Toshiba C388 Portable today, build date March 1978.

It must be a very low hour set because the tube comes on quickly with a perfect grey scale and picture.

The cabinet is near mint with only a trace of the yellowing that white plastic sometimes gets.

I didn't notice till I got it home that it's a remote set! The tuner is a push button, each press advances the channel one number and apparently only in one direction, channels are selectable with individual tuning knobs inside the cover, any channel on any position not that that matters now.

There's a knob on the back to shut it completely off and adjust the gain of the remote.

Love American Style... damn, now I feel old! :)

Scott

Nice find, Eric! CRT looks excellent. I had (have?) a 1980 Blackstripe 19" which also had a fantastic picture on it. They are fairly ruggedly built inside too from what I remember, with big heatsinks and to-3 devices throughout. Bet it is a heavy TV for it's size.

EDIT: I still have the set. It's in the attic, and as I recall had an electronic ultrasonic remote with a little hook on the back of the TV for safekeeping! As time marches on these Japanese sets are going to get more and more collectible, IMO...And I feel Toshiba and Hitachi were some of the best from this time frame.

The thing that caught my eye most about this set was the Mod white cabinet, it really stood out in the sea of 80's Woodgrain sets at the Thrift.

That's a great set Eric! I like the Toshiba's too, they have a great picture and last forever. I have not ever seen a remote set like this one, excellent save! Now you need to find that dang remote!!

toshiba always made a great set.i have 2 36inch sets that are twins and they have been on non stop for over 8 years now.the crt still looks new and they wont die! my sons 27 inch has been going nonstop for over 15 years.they keep going and going.................................

Yeah, as I recall, my Blackstripe needed nothing but a good cleaning and the usual adjustments.

But a friend brought by an early 90's tabletop set one time and it had vertical collapse due to a BUNCH of weak caps. Good CRTs though.

Those blackstripes have wonderful pictures. I had a 76 lynatron made for wards that had a black stripe tube in it. Amazing the contrast you could get out of that CRT.

About every toshiba I've seen with high hours either develops a vertical output or trippler failure. Don't know what it was about toshiba a vertical foldover failures. I sure have seen alot of them.