On my pilgramage on videos shot in the '50's I found an 1959 documentary about tv manufacturing in theyr factory in New Jersey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TF2DZ0E0Q4&feature=relmfu

This has been posted before, neat video though.

I always love watching that.

Now, I'm POSITIVE that ALL the factories in China that make those Video Display Devices-It PAINS me to call 'em "Televisions"- have equally as extensive Q.C. & customer service departments...And I also have a Bridge in a large northeastern metropolis that I'd like you to buy...So sayeth The Easter Bunny....

Almost positive the little cheap chinese "Coby" or "jellybean sets".....are only spot checked for QC at best. I've gotten a few "new in box" that end up DOA, usually with no vertical. Almost ALWAYS they turn out to have some REAL pedestrian problem like cold solder joints. I've run across a few where the yoke is REAL OBVIOUSLY not even level...and find the yoke not at ALL loose..and even cemented in that position with that rubbery goop.

I certainly wouldn't mind a "Made in New Jersey" TV. Alas. those days are long gone. The thing thats frustrating with the TVs today is that they come close to a solid product. If Samsung tested capacitors like in this video, their TVs might have lasted more then 3 years.

Please realize that this thing is propaganda, and probably reflects the desired situation rather than the actual one at the time.

I have worked in industry long enough to see much of the abuses and lies and cheating that occur. The pressure from the CEO and Board of Directors to turn an increased profit each year is very strong.

Please realize that this thing is propaganda, and probably reflects the desired situation rather than the actual one at the time.

I have worked in industry long enough to see much of the abuses and lies and cheating that occur. The pressure from the CEO and Board of Directors to turn an increased profit each year is very strong.

Just turning on a TV (or radio) these days exposes you to propaganda, much of it detrimental to our well-being. At least this is from a once-great American company.

To paraphrase F.D.R.:

They're S.O.B's, but they're OUR S.O.B's.

I've seen plenty of crapola in my electronic manufacturing career as well, what to do?

I'm 100% sure even those old tv's were not tested nearly as many times as they say they were in this film. NO WAY! And with the stories of RCA redesigning an set just to save one resistor, and compromising aspects of performance to save that one resistor, shows they were into cost cutting just like they are today. And with RCA suing Zenith to keep them from making color sets for 10 years shows they were no different then, than Apple and Samsung are today suing over their phones. Now years ago I do believe they did strive to make a quality product, but RCA was the top cost cutter, just like GM. And my old '73 Ford, where quality actually was "If you can't see it, don't paint it!" NO way was transformers tested to 3X voltage, or Caps tested to 2X! Go get some nos caps and do the 2X voltage and see what you get. This was a good entertaining propaganda film, thats it. But this is a great film, in that it shows a great time in this country when we made stuff, and did a good job doing it. And were proud of a days work.

The true test is the test of time and it doesnt really take much to get an old rca going.
Sure its propaganda but the quality is far better than anything made today.

Of course its Bullshyte, but wasn't it well-done ?!? (grin) And I DO have a set of books somewhere that is RCA's more-or-less "Official" history/account of how they developed electronic TV back in the Thirties, up til around 1949 or so.. Apparently, AT ONE TIME, they really did all the jazz about interference, signal propogation, yada, yada, yada...Have guys in natty 1930s suits go out "In the Field" & measure all this stuff... That's somethin' else..Its 96 effin' degrees here right now, I'm in a T-shirt, even with the A/C on...You see photos of people back in the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, & they ALWAYS have their "Sunday-Go-To-Meetin'" clothes on-Shirt, tie, vest, suit coat...HOW THE HELL did they STAND it, since NOTHIN' much was A/C-ed back then...Makes me hot just thinkin' about those poor devils...

I don't really believe it, mostly because I don't want to try it. But- I was listening to NPR the other day and they were talking about those mid eastern fellas wearing lots of layers of clothes in the middle of all that sand and with the full billion watt incandescent sun up in the sky. And they said you feel cooler wearing layers, and with the dark stuff on top. The guy said your outer layer gets hot, and you don't..... I wish I paid more attention to the story...... I guess I'm just a dickhead.

I work with people from all over the world. I'll have to ask someone from out that way how they do it, if I remember, what with the A/C blowing n my face and all...

My granmother told me her father was a farmer, & he ALWAYS wore a BLACK suit when he was plowing, threshing, anything... But he was reputedly one of the MEANEST, nastiest men in NE Tennessee back then...I don't know when he lived & died, but she lived from 1889-1992, & there were 8 or 9 children in her family...He OBVIOUSLY took that damn suit off a FEW times...(grin)

Of course its Bullshyte, but wasn't it well-done ?!? (grin) And I DO have a set of books somewhere that is RCA's more-or-less "Official" history/account of how they developed electronic TV back in the Thirties, up til around 1949 or so.. Apparently, AT ONE TIME, they really did all the jazz about interference, signal propogation, yada, yada, yada...Have guys in natty 1930s suits go out "In the Field" & measure all this stuff... That's somethin' else..Its 96 effin' degrees here right now, I'm in a T-shirt, even with the A/C on...You see photos of people back in the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, & they ALWAYS have their "Sunday-Go-To-Meetin'" clothes on-Shirt, tie, vest, suit coat...HOW THE HELL did they STAND it, since NOTHIN' much was A/C-ed back then...Makes me hot just thinkin' about those poor devils...

a little too cynical there..
Transformers did and still do get high-potential tests - required for safety; and capacitors are (or should be) tested to 200% voltage also. (Not clear to me if the failure problems in cheap Chinese caps is due to temperature and general aging more than voltage.)

Regarding field tests, they have always been done, but with an eye to gradually replacing them with lab tests as the field conditions are understood. For example, motor and ignition interference, first tested in the field, could be produced in the lab with a vacuum cleaner motor attached to an automatic double-cycling speed control (varying both the speed and rate of change of the speed). These days, designs can be subject to computer simulation of the same thing before any money is spent on actually producing chips.

The inception of digital TV started a massive effort on field testing like the early days of NTSC. Things found in the field led to huge improvements in decoder chips. At the same time, it was learned that some things were not important and could be traded off for better performance in other situations. There are both lab-generated conditions against which new designs are generally checked and a set of recorded off-air RF signals that can be used to check for things that the lab tests don't show. When a new variation is developed, like mobile digital TV, it gets subject to all the old tests plus new field tests specifically to test the new function. These eventually can become new lab and computer tests.

--- Another note
The RF emission field test facility is interesting - it really did cost a mint. In the early 70's, Motorola consumer products built one at Moto's new campus in Schaumburg, IL. The shack itself cost $27,000 at a time when a house went for maybe $40,000. It had to be built without nails because they would disturb the measurements. It sat at the center of an array of copper ground radials to make it as ideal an open field as possible. Sets had to be measured from all angles, so a turntable operated by ropes was used (no electric motors allowed).A few years later, Moto put up buildings a few hundred feet away, which disturbed the site calibration.

We used this facility to measure the radiation from the channel 3 modulators in early VCRs, helping to establish the FCC rules for these devices. We had to do this from midnight to 5 am, when channel 3 in Kalamazoo was off the air.

Some companies (Zenith, e.g.) set up measurement sites on the top of their building, with the steel structure being part of the ground plane. It was tricky getting calibrated and correlated with other test sites so that the FCC could accept the results.

I certainly wouldn't mind a "Made in New Jersey" TV. Alas. those days are long gone. The thing thats frustrating with the TVs today is that they come close to a solid product. If Samsung tested capacitors like in this video, their TVs might have lasted more then 3 years.

I had understood that RCA sets were built in Indianapolis, way early. I don't think the TV's were built in Camden. I think the engineering and testing was probably done there.
RE: RCA's cost cutting: They were one of the last firms to discontinue the use of a power transformer in their TV's. Them and Admiral.
I always liked Motorola products, but I didn't like the idea of all the hot chassis designs, both series string and heater transformers. :no:

Almost positive the little cheap chinese "Coby" or "jellybean sets".....are only spot checked for QC at best. I've gotten a few "new in box" that end up DOA, usually with no vertical. Almost ALWAYS they turn out to have some REAL pedestrian problem like cold solder joints. I've run across a few where the yoke is REAL OBVIOUSLY not even level...and find the yoke not at ALL loose..and even cemented in that position with that rubbery goop.

One of my buddies worked at Olson electronics in Milwaukee, in the late 60's. He was the service tech for them and I would help him with some of the bench work. Lot of the hi-fi and stereo equipment, didn't work right out of the box. I couldn't see how some of the stuff could even work. Wiring errors, loose connections, you name it. We also had to rewire some of the power supplies, because it failed early from overvoltage. The equipment was built for the Japanese 100 volt mains. :yes:

I had understood that RCA sets were built in Indianapolis, way early. I don't think the TV's were built in Camden. I think the engineering and testing was probably done there.


They didn't mention the RCA Sarnoff Lab. But maybe they didn't do any TV work there in 1959, color TV was already out.

That was a fun little film. I always appreciated the Jam Handy Industrial productions.

I work with people from all over the world. I'll have to ask someone from out that way how they do it, if I remember, what with the A/C blowing n my face and all...

Swiss-German with farmer ancestry handle heat a bit better than those with English-Scots-Irish ancestry, but I'm all the above and still can't stand blazing sun or humidity. I soaked 4 tee shirts repeatedly climbing my newly-installed antenna tower this weekend.:sigh:

The Amish farmers around here wear black (wool???) and layers of cotton underneath. I don't understand how they do it but a few have credited their diet of lots of vegetables, etc.

I had understood that RCA sets were built in Indianapolis, way early. I don't think the TV's were built in Camden. I think the engineering and testing was probably done there.
RE: RCA's cost cutting: They were one of the last firms to discontinue the use of a power transformer in their TV's. Them and Admiral.
I always liked Motorola products, but I didn't like the idea of all the hot chassis designs, both series string and heater transformers. :no:

I think RCA built color tv in Bloomington Indiana in the 50's and later at 600 N Sherman in Indy. Maybe somebody knows if they only built B&W in Camden.

My grandfather worked at RCA Camden 1936-39, knew little about electronics, but did final alignments on the radios.
He had to quit and move back to Central PA when the union tapped him to be a "rabble-rouser".
The union invited him to a huge party to "talk strategy", some broad came up behind him with 'er knockers, then the party got busted and he went under the table until everyone left. He told me the story just before he passed in 1993, but never my grandma.:D She woulda given him hell for havin' a good time and leaving her at home. Funny, they only bought Zeniths after that:scratch2: