Hello,

I am looking for the first all-transistor color tv set in 1968. I have found two sets, the Motorola TS-918 and the RCA TransVista with CTC-40 chassis. Do you have some more informations, which of these sets was the first, and when did it appear on the market?

Kind regards,
Eckhard

I think the Motorola was first. Came out in '67, IIRC.

Ad from November 1967...

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c49/Hawkwind02054/OldColorTV/OldColorTVAds/Motorola_11_1967.jpg

I have a CTC40 that my parents bought in mid-year 1970. The CTC40 might have come onto the market as early as late 1969. But, Motorola was considerably earlier with their all transistor product. (The CTC40 wasn't a truly all transistor model since it still used a vacuum tube HV rectifier.)

The early Motorola SS sets also used a tube HV rectifier. I had an early RCA CTC40 that still had "RCA Victor" instead of the block "RCA" logo on the front panel. Actually, the layout looked just like a CTC38 tube set. I think RCA went to the block logo in early '69. At any rate, the Motorola was the first SS US color set.

I don't have the exact date it was released in 1967 but I believe the world's first all transistor set was the Thorn 2000 series. This was marketed in the UK in a variety of models (Ferguson, Ultra, Marconiphone). The EHT rectifier was a solid state tripler which was driven from a its own separate flyback system.

Hello,

thank you all for your replies and the fabulous ad.

Kind regards,
Eckhard

Agreed on the Motorola being first. The RCA CTC-40 also had a rectifier tube, but the CTC-44 was 100% Solid State. One question remains: It's my understanding that the New Vista line was called such because it used the Nuvistor as the RF amp. That's a vacuum tube indeed, but is in a metal case. Did the CTC-40, which I've seen with the New Vista Color name, use the Nuvistor? The CTC-47 (G-2000) was a 1968 model, and used an all-electronic tuner with no Nuvistor. I can't remember now if that set said New Vista or not. I have the manual on it; just too lazy on a Sunday morning to dig it out.

Charles

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The CTC40 used the newly available high frequency "dual gate MOSFET" in the front end of the tuner. These were supposed to provide RF amplification at a very low noise figure through the Channel 13 frequency requirement and should have produced much better reception in fringe areas with less "snow" (UHF tuners were mixer units feeding into the VHF). I'm not certain that the improvement (if any) was that evident to the viewer- at least not to me.

RCA adopted the term 'Trans Vista' for the 44. 'New Vista' was used for the 40. It's on the bezel.
Kevin

The old CTC40 that I had said "new vista color solid state" on the front panel.

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Interesting, radiotvnut.That 40 you had might have been a later production set. Mine says New Vista; it's a 40-A chassis, not that it would make a difference. Maybe they were using a different bezel on the early sets. Anyone else notice this discrepancy?
Kevin

Not entirely true. It was only the ealy CTC-40s that were called "New Vista". They switched to Trans Vista when they introduced the modern RCA logo.

It seems to me that the 40s with the conventional control panel were "New Vista Color Solid State", and the ones with the tilt-out panel were the "Trans Vista". Now I'm having a brain-fart, as I can't remember what wording the CTC-47 used... It came out in December 1968; '69 model year, making it earlier than either the 40 or 44, if I'm not mistaken? The 47 has the new RCA logo on the front, but has RCA Victor and the Nipper logo on the back. I'm 73.8% sure it said Trans Vista Color.

Charles

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My grandma had a set with a flipout like that, only tube. anyone know what tube chassis had the flipouts?

I've also seen sliders in there on tube sets...

Here are two shots of the front of my CTC-40. It just gets more interesting.
Kevin

Oh, and it has a side-opening door, not a flip-out, to boot!
Kevin

My grandma had a set with a flipout like that, only tube. anyone know what tube chassis had the flipouts?

I've also seen sliders in there on tube sets...

The late production CTC38's and most all the CTC39's had the tilt out control bin. The 38's were around in the '68-'70 period and the 39's were around from about '70 until the end of RCA tube TV's in '74. The tilt out controls were also used on the early solid state XL100 sets up until about '74-'75.

These are views of the CTC40 that I had earlier mentioned as purchased new in 1970 (April-July period). I remember the year because it was the year I graduated. It has "Trans Vista Color" just below UHF selector.

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That's the exact model I had when I was a teenager that I'm now looking for!

Me too! I've been looking for a Lundberg for quite a while - we had one from 1970 until around 1990. It said "Trans Vista" on it like the pictures.

This one is only a few miles from Virgina and North Carolina in the very tip of Tennessee- a long way from Austin or New Orleans.

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The CTC-40 that I owned had the best reception of any set I've played with. It was the older style, "New Vista". I have seen some lesser RCA sets (portables) that were New Vista but without nuvistors, later tube models.

I have been following your blog about the first color TV's. I have an interesting question if anyone can answer it. My friend says her grandpa invented some components for RCA in 1964 or 1965. His name was Glenn H. Price and he is said to have invented the "transistor color generator" and a "transistor color television". Does anyone know anything about these parts and/or this guy and these inventions. I am a newbie and have very little or no knowledge of this stuff. This is for genealogy purposes to help us locate info about her grandpa. I would like to contact RCA and see if they know anything about him but did not want to do this cold turkey without a reason or idea to start with. Again, these items were called the "transister color generator, and/or television" itself.

Stay tuned, someone might know? Sounds like a good story! That time period was a very busy one in the electronics field. The big players (including RCA) were working towards all transistor color sets; I don't know which model first used at least some transistors in the color circuitry. I know the CTC-31 did, only because I toyed with one. There are various ways of researching it, I suppose. Patents, contemporary trade journals, some service literature.

A search of IEEE pubs did not show up anything. Search of the US patent office didn't either, but patents before 1976 are not searchable by inventor.