I got this TV many years ago at a thrift store. I still use it to this day, and I love it. I had a vizio flat panel thing :yuck: that I hated, so I gave it away. I think this one needs to be recapped because you can see bleeding from color to color sometimes. One day, I will be cleaning the dust out from in between the ribs in the speaker area. Unfortunately, I was born in 1998. I have no nostalgic memories of all the cool old 80's technology. But I do have a four year old sister who already knows the words "VCR", "Tape", and even "Betamax!"

Man, that's pretty sweet. Screen size?

She's a 14".

Nice set! It looks like you have the highest end 13" set from that era, with space command cable ready tuning. I have 3 similar Zenith's; one with standard two-knob tuning, one with the single knob varactor tuner, and one with "omni electronic tuning" (a variable tuner like what's on a radio or those little 5" B&W sets). Your color bleeding problem is likely due to either a weak CRT, misadjusted CRT bias controls, or an issue with the video output stage.

I've got the knob tuned version and had the chance to get one of the omni electronic tuned versions once. MY knob tuned version works like new.

What you see might be a convergence issue.

Nice! I have several Zenith 19" but nothing smaller yet.

Ive still got one, my only real TV left. Got it new in abt '81
still works fine. When your ready to deal with the color
prob put up some screen shots & a chassis photo. This
is from when there was a major chassis change.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Okay, I will probably take some screen shots this afternoon. How would I go about taking the back off this thing?

Okay, I will probably take some screen shots this afternoon. How would I go about taking the back off this thing?
2 or 3 1/4 screws along top, 2 or 3 along bottom, usually one
at control door & near antenna connector. If it has a rear
control door you just gotta get it in the right spot & the back comes off.
Post model # also, if its faded out there are more inside usually
a little tag on the CRT.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Model No. SZ1319W(7). This TV turned 30 years old last month.

Looks like the smaller version of my 19".

Congratulations on such a great find.

Model No. SZ1319W(7). This TV turned 30 years old last month.
Happy birth day !
Few if any of the TV's sold today will live to see 30 yrs.
But sets from the mid 70's - abt 1990 can last almost
forever & stay for the most part repairable.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Just like my SZ1927W.. a superb performer. Sadly, I threw one of the same model (had two at that time) out for no reason.

She's got a nice picture with minimal bleeding.

Such an ironic screenshot, that's exactly what the man wants all of us to do with our old sets.

:dammit: I didn't even bother to read it. The TV was on mute, and I was intruiged with all the pretty colors. Now I'm embarrassed.

I liked Zenith TVs while the company was still around, and would still collect them if I had the room in my apartment. However, I do have a bunch of antique Zenith tube radios, along with two solid-state Trans-Oceanics (one AM-SW, one AM-FM-SW).

When I had the room to collect old TVs, I had two 13" Zenith portables, a knob-tuned L1310C from 1979 and a 1982 model with one-knob electronic varactor tuning. Back in the late '60s-very early '70s I had a bunch of old Zeniths, including a K2739 23" b&w VHF-only console from 1963, which I really liked because I had practically retubed it from the ground up (when I found it on a treelawn at the end of the street I grew up on, all but two tubes were missing). I'll never forget the first time I turned the set on after I installed the last new tube, and connected the set to the attic antenna in the house at the time. The picture was absolutely gorgeous (for b&w) and the sound was excellent as well. I expected the latter since the set had a large 6x9 oval speaker in the base of the cabinet below the CRT, a 6BQ5/6BN6 audio system, and a full-range tone control.

Unfortunately, Zenith started its downhill slide in the '90s (or perhaps even a few years before), with the sets that had the bad CRTs. However, I have a Zenith "Sentry 2" 19" table set from 1995 that still has its original tube; the last time I turned it on, it made a great picture. (To this day, I'm convinced I just happened to get a set with a good CRT simply by the luck of the draw, considering all the problems with Zenith CRTs of the period.) My set has a label on the back cover bearing the partial address of Zenith's main plant at the time, in Glenview, Illinois; however, the TV itself was probably assembled in Mexico, as were my two small Zenith color portables and even a 12" solid-state b&w Zenith I had in the late '70s. That little set lasted me 22 years, and was probably still working when I got rid of it in 2000 (no room for three TVs in this apartment). I left it near the trash barrels behind the building; the next day it was gone, so someone might have picked it up and used it a few more years. Just as well if the set was used another few years after I junked it, as it was working perfectly (only thing wrong was a jammed UHF tuner) and had a very good picture.

:dammit: I didn't even bother to read it. The TV was on mute, and I was intruiged with all the pretty colors. Now I'm embarrassed.
Don't worry about it, just an unfortunate coincidence. It's another reason cable today sucks.

She's got a nice picture with minimal bleeding.

Really decent picture. I like it, a lot!!

Congrats on your find.