Great propaganda film from Zenith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ENdQorVniU

Stumbled across it. Hadnt seen it before.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Saw this a few weeks ago, was going to share it but forgot. Really neat film! Almost converted me to a full blown Zenith fanboy! (Almost)

Great video I'm going to have to download it.

Saw this a few weeks ago, was going to share it but forgot. Really neat film! Almost converted me to a full blown Zenith fanboy! (Almost)

With all the things I've read about Sarnoff I'll always be more of a Zenith person... Color set wise both can produce comparablely spectacular pictures... longevity wise having ran both daily for years Zenith sets average longer between failures in sets with comparable mileage on the clock.

C'mon TUD be a convert ! Cant beat an old Zenith for pure life expectancy.
Actually I wish some of the cats here found some of the early SS sets besides
the usual RCA & Zenith. Admiral, Philco, Sillyvania, Maggie, GE, Wells Gardener, Electrohome, Moto, etc.
Those late 60' through the 70's SS sets were the cats ass. Hmmm I smell another tread.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Saw this a few weeks ago, was going to share it but forgot. Really neat film! Almost converted me to a full blown Zenith fanboy! (Almost)

Don't get me wrong. I love my Chromacolors and Chromacolor II's, there's no doubt about that. Definitely very robust sets with amazing pictures. The Zeniths that AREN'T my favorites are those made between 1966 and 1969. I've had FOUR come and go over the years, (1) 20X1C38, (1) 20Y1C50, (1) 16Z7C50, and (1)16Z7C19, and every single one had a RUBBISH picture. Compared to my CTC-25's and CTC-28 of the same era, there was NO competition. Even my CTC-31 craps on the 20Y1C50, they sit side by side and the picture quality difference is very obvious. HOWEVER, 1961-1965 sets I do very much like. I had a 25MC36 with a million hours on it last year, and it performed very well for the horrible shape it was in.

To hear them say "color TV is out of the experimental phase", I was surprised to see the sets they were pitching (no pun intended) were not roundies.

To hear them say "color TV is out of the experimental phase", I was surprised to see the sets they were pitching (no pun intended) were not roundies.

At the time this film was made, there was still a lot of public sentiment about "waiting until color TV is perfected."

When people would ask "when do you think color TV will be perfected?" I always said I hoped it never was, because that was my job!

Perfection is impossible, practicality is what matters. By the late 50's color TV was practical...Albeit expensive, and not for less-than-savy users.

Don't forget Zenith tube radios. I got three of 'em!

The best looking color picture I ever had was on this 1968 Zenith console I swapped a later model chromacolor CRT out of a 77 Zenith console into.

Of the three color Zeniths I have now from the rectangular tube/hybrid era two have bad CRTs: the 25" 14A9C50 console with the SC600 (1970), and the 25" 23XC36 with the SC600 (1967) in the white french provincial cabinet. I got another 1977 Zenith 23VATP22 chromacolor CRT that's going in the 14A9C50 later this summer. And I got an RCA 25XP22A from 1980 I have to de-cateract that's going to go in the 23XC36.

Looks great Adam, the CRT does matter with the earlier rectangular Zeniths.

When I went to work in the TV biz as a teenager, the guy I worked for had been an RCA authorized servicer for over 30 years. He knew RCA's inside and out, and loved them.

But what kind of TV did he have at home? A "works in the drawer" Quasar console and a 4-tube hybrid Zenith. Despite his being an RCA guy, he even admitted Zenith had the edge on quality and dependability. The longer I mess around with this stuff, the more I understand his wisdom.

We were a Zenith / Admiral shop. For years in the center of town an
RCA factory service van was there. One day it pulled up in front of
the shop & he came in & bought a 19" System 3. Said he liked them
better & didnt care about a discount.
Sarnoff must be rolling in his grave. Dude in RCA uniform bringing home
an arch enemies TV in an RCA van with RCA's gas.
Treason !!!

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !


When I went to work in the TV biz as a teenager, the guy I worked for had been an RCA authorized servicer for over 30 years. He knew RCA's inside and out, and loved them.

But what kind of TV did he have at home? A "works in the drawer" Quasar console and a 4-tube hybrid Zenith. Despite his being an RCA guy, he even admitted Zenith had the edge on quality and dependability. The longer I mess around with this stuff, the more I understand his wisdom.

Interesting how they called PCBs a "manufacturing shortcut."

Granted, printed circuit boards were not very good at first. And, I know Zenith really pushed their "handcrafted" approach.

Interesting how they called PCBs a "manufacturing shortcut."

Granted, printed circuit boards were not very good at first. And, I know Zenith really pushed their "handcrafted" approach.

Yeah, Zenith pushed hard on the "handcrafted" angle, and to a certain extent, I'd say it paid off. PCB's make perfect sense for solid state construction, but not so much for tubes and all the heat that goes along with that. Zenith started phasing in printed circuits as construction methods advanced, and even then reserved them mostly for solid state circuits.

A man started smoking at 1:54, so that was as far as I got.

Interesting how they called PCBs a "manufacturing shortcut."

Granted, printed circuit boards were not very good at first. And, I know Zenith really pushed their "handcrafted" approach.
Zenith made tube type PC board radios in the mid 60's. Seemed like only one year. The boards were very poor quality were heat sensitive. The first Royal 500's with PC board construction were alright.
Any radio collectors have or seen the early 40's Zenith radios that have the molded bakelite chassis. the chassis was mounted upside down in the cabinet and it was rather trouble-prone. It didn't do Zenith's reputation any good!
As I understood, they were calling them back to the factory. :scratch2:

Zenith made tube type PC board radios in the mid 60's. Seemed like only one year. The boards were very poor quality were heat sensitive. The first Royal 500's with PC board construction were alright.
Any radio collectors have or seen the early 40's Zenith radios that have the molded bakelite chassis. the chassis was mounted upside down in the cabinet and it was rather trouble-prone. It didn't do Zenith's reputation any good!
As I understood, they were calling them back to the factory. :scratch2:
I has one of those but it works, a 1939 model 6D414 and the upside-down tube are not loctals either:sigh:

A man started smoking at 1:54, so that was as far as I got.
The dude behind him had lit up by 1:39. No need to push tobacco anymore, the addiction just spills from one generation to the next and never really lets go.

0:57 What, was that her first time outdoors?

5:14 Who is he talking to?

Zenith made tube type PC board radios in the mid 60's. Seemed like only one year. The boards were very poor quality were heat sensitive. The first Royal 500's with PC board construction were alright.
Any radio collectors have or seen the early 40's Zenith radios that have the molded bakelite chassis. the chassis was mounted upside down in the cabinet and it was rather trouble-prone. It didn't do Zenith's reputation any good!
As I understood, they were calling them back to the factory. :scratch2:

I had an AA5 PCB Zenith aside from the bad lytic the thing still worked fine as found...Possibly the easiest recap I've done...Was a good set while I kept it.

As a very light smoker, I can't help but laugh at the comedic overreactions of anti-tobacco folks...There comes a point where they go so far as to become a spoof of themselves. :D

Comment Deleted.

As a very light smoker, I can't help but laugh at the comedic overreactions of anti-tobacco folks...There comes a point where they go so far as to become a spoof of themselves.

Me too. I was making a joke... I watched the whole thing, enjoyed it and shared it.

Thanks for posting Zeno. :thmbsp:

0:57 What, was that her first time outdoors?



Now that was funny!

Now that was funny!

Yes, freakin' hilarious! I noticed that too - but I'm so used to how these films were made and the outrageous statements made for drama. Some of my favorite sit-coms of the era had some cringe-worthy moments, probably why I keep them to myself. Thanks Zeno!!!

I was 4 when this film was probably made and my grandparents in Florida had a 23XC38 Zenith in Italian Provincial (I'm pretty damned sure, orange-lit channel numbers on the banana-knobs, vol-color-hue, horizontally below) so I KNEW the silly, preening NBC peacock was really in color thanks to both WPTV-5 and WSVN-7. Sure back then, everyone smoked and we even laughed at the cig commercials like Benson and Hedges and Doral!

It would be 4 years until my Grandma up here traded in the CTC5 (no, I never saw it on) for a 1971 25V chromacolor (12B14C50 - usually on a game show) , then my dad took the plunge 6 months later on a discounted 23V in a half plastic front dark cabinet (12B14C52). We were a 3-Gen Zenith family, but nobody I knew had the deluxe or SC models seen in this film.

My cousins up the hill and clear of the forest had a Zenith roundie 24NC31 that pulled in all the Philly UHF from the day they moved there. They had cartoons in color and my Aunt had Soul Train, Bandstand and Steel Pier in color. She ignored soaps.
Meanwhile our 6 years newer CC only got the 4 VHFs from the JFD "non-combo of a roof antenna" until a 4-bay bowtie and amp was added to our rig. What did the VHF channels have at that time? Soaps and talk shows, sucky for a kid getting home from school. Probably why I got aluminum fever early, I just KNEW our new Zenith was NOT the issue.

I'm curios if those chassies where relaible as they say.

I'm curios if those chassies where relaible as they say.
Longest lasting best describes it. Hand wired sets have a massive steel
chassis thats like a heat sink. They almost never dry up like PCB chassis
do. You almost never get bad connections, bad tube sockets etc. As for
reliability they were probably a little better due to running cooler.
Some PCB sets were so bad when old if you pull out the hoz output
tube the socket starts to come out too ! And you cant resolder them
right so you need to use a new socket & wires.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I'm curios if those chassies where relaible as they say.

I've bought several color Zeniths in the last few years from that era that with all original caps (but some tubes changed) that still produced a watchable picture...Heck even Zenith's first color roundy from 1962 that I got a few years ago was somewhat watchable as found.

Zenith also engineered a lot of tolerance for failure into their tube TVs...They can have several parts bad and still work acceptably (albeit below their as new performance).

So they where made to last.
I have an tube radio with P.C.B. and on the audio P.C.B. I got problems (on radio P.C.B. no, but there isn't so much heat).

The thought just struck me to wonder where this kind of film was shown. I'm guessing not on TV, but as part of a service providing free 16mm films to social and church groups. I wonder what other venues?

The thought just struck me to wonder where this kind of film was shown. I'm guessing not on TV, but as part of a service providing free 16mm films to social and church groups. I wonder what other venues?
Maybe intermission at the passion pit ? Also they had a UHF in
Chicago so I bet $100 it played there.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Let us not forget that back in the days it was easier to display moving images from an 16 m.m. film than from an electronic screen. Well, you could do videotaping and retroprojection, but for 30-40 shows around different areas it was easier to move around with an portable 16 m.m. movie projector. You could show it to people that didn't had a colour tv, you could show them to business.
Plus, films (even 16 m.m.) could offer a better images then a television camera and videotape back then. From a 16 m.m. you could get 720p... back then 720p was a far away dream on television.

But I wonder about the colours. They don't look so vivid. Or the film deteriorated due to it's age?

[QUOTE=zeno;3200410]Maybe intermission at the passion pit ? Also they had a UHF in
Chicago so I bet $100 it played there.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Who do you mean by "they?" As far as I know Zenith never had a UHF station.

If you mean the fairly early UHF station WFLD in Chicago, it had a well-liked program consisting of industrial films (Films With a Mind of Their Own), hosted by the Tribune theater/movie critic Richard Christiansen, and it's possible it was shown there. The films I recall were generally more informative about manufacturing while touting the company along the way.

I was thinking about there FM sry. I have seen a programing guide
for a Chicago UHF that had Zenith all over it. Maybe Doug
will pipe in, havnt heard from for a while & clarify things.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

[QUOTE=zeno;3200410]Maybe intermission at the passion pit ? Also they had a UHF in
Chicago so I bet $100 it played there.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Who do you mean by "they?" As far as I know Zenith never had a UHF station.

If you mean the fairly early UHF station WFLD in Chicago, it had a well-liked program consisting of industrial films (Films With a Mind of Their Own), hosted by the Tribune theater/movie critic Richard Christiansen, and it's possible it was shown there. The films I recall were generally more informative about manufacturing while touting the company along the way.

If you watch the Zenith film 'Fog Over Portland' on youtube they IIRC claim to be the first broadcasting UHF in Chicago, and I'm pretty sure they operated experimental UHF transmissions there in the 50's...whether that lasted into the era of color I do not know.

Let us not forget that back in the days it was easier to display moving images from an 16 m.m. film than from an electronic screen. Well, you could do videotaping and retroprojection, but for 30-40 shows around different areas it was easier to move around with an portable 16 m.m. movie projector. You could show it to people that didn't had a colour tv, you could show them to business.
Plus, films (even 16 m.m.) could offer a better images then a television camera and videotape back then. From a 16 m.m. you could get 720p... back then 720p was a far away dream on television.

But I wonder about the colours. They don't look so vivid. Or the film deteriorated due to it's age?

Some colour films (eastman) fade like crazy over time, ending up with pinkish picture, with all the green and blue gone. Fuji tends to fade to purple. Others (Technicolor, post 1982 eastman, kodachrome), will look great forever. For a film collector, the film stock is really important. I personally prefer to collect black and white films, because they don't fade, and it avoids the whole discussion.