INTEQ by Zenith, Anyone had/have one?
 

I have found no mention by anone else about the INTEQ by Zenith.
I found a brochure while trying to find an 84 Zenith brochure.
Does anybody remember the INTEQ series with the 32 & 35" Invar picture tubes? What year was this?
I don't see the word "Zenith" mentioned anywhere in the brochure. Only the Glenview, IL address gives it away. Plus the cover letter sent by Bill Sims has "Zenith" in minute print at the bottom. There is no date on anything that I have.
"from a 27" to 60" tv, dvd or vcr".
4 crt tv's. A 27, 32, 35 table model & 35 table model. All with Dolby Pro-Logic Sound. 2 projection tv sizes. A sub woofer base for table models, tower surround sound speakers, a dvd player and a VHS-VCR.
Here is a scan of a couple of pages from the brochure.
Has anyone ever seen one of these sets or know what year they were ??????????????
http://www.theadamssfamily.com/index/INTEQ.pdf

I remember those... But I think they were only made for 1 or 2 years circa 1992. I don't think it was the 80s. And I think Circuit City may have had an exclusive on them. They were supposed to be a counterpart to RCA's ProScan, and Panasonic's Prism. Just hype.

Charles

I remember Inteq from about '97 or '98. Zenith's attempt to do what RCA was doing with ProScan.

Yes, it was late '90's. I used to have a promo ball cap with the logo on it. The company I did VCR service for sold those at 3 locations. I was too busy with VCR's then to worry about televisions. Guess you can probably guess what all that VCR repair knowledge can do for me today.... :rolleyes:

I seem to remember reading about those Inteq sets from the mid to late '90's. I don't remember actually seeing one. I do remember some Zenith sets boasting "advanced video imaging" from the mid '90's. Of course, the CRT's were just as bad as the lower end models.

It's amazing that VCR repair / sales was a hot business not too many years ago; but, no one is interested in having them fixed anymore. I remember when VCR's cost several hundred dollars and now you can get a cheap plastic throw away VCR/DVD combo for $60 or less. A friend of mine told me that he used to get $150+ for a good used VCR but now he's doing good to get $15 for one.

Not to disagree totally with the late 90s people, but I remember a big fight with a customer in the '94 Earthquake... It was a 1-year old Inteq set with the CRT neck smashed in, and he accused me of fraud when I delivered it repaired having replaced the CRT with a factory-new one that said Zenith. He wanted a CRT that said INTEQ, which of course didn't exist. But try to convince an idiot.......

I didn't pay attention later, but I do know they were around at least as early as '93.

Charles

Now, I've heard it all!!!!

Those CRT's... Jeez... what a major disaster. I didn't work on that many TV's back in the day but I remember the TV service guys in the shop commenting on those tubes...

Yep, back in the late '80's you gave a VCR service estimate of $150-200 and you got a warm "Thank you" and a bottle of booze for Christmas. Then, about the late '90's-early '00's you tell someone they need minor alignment and a cleaning for $29 and they get all pissed off. I was so OUTTA THERE in '01!!!

Hi, Charles;

I wouldn't argue about when they FIRST came out. Our service organization was around for a long time before buying a few local Zenith TV dealers starting in '95. It was that time, or shortly after (and based solely on my crappy memory) that they started buying/selling Inteq sets. I just meant that I hadn't HEARD of Inteq before that date. Sorry...

The only Inteq DVD's I saw went back to Zenith for software updates. :thumbsdn: Inteq did have VCR's, didn't they? The only one I ever saw was an IQVB423 in 2001 which I think was made by Goldstar. Oh, I'm sorry, LG :D

Anyone know if the Inteq name is still around?

And didn't Sharp have their Optronica, Optima, opti... opti-something??? in the '80's or early '90's.

Yes, it's called "Optonica." I don't know if there was an Optonica TV, but some Sharp VCRs carried the name "Optonica" in several models, like VC-G980 (VHS) and VC-G990 (SVHS). I used to own the VC-G990, and I regretted selling it a few years ago.

How on earth did he know what the CRT said? I'd have thought he would be happy to have the set working again, regardless of what's on the tube.

He saw it on the warranty card, then demanded to have me take the back off. I have a friend who got sued as a mechanic because some lady had her Volvo tuned up, and then a month later the transmission failed. She sued because my friend put Bosch spark plugs when he did the tune up, and she wanted Volvo plugs. (Volvo doesn't have their own; they use Bosch)! He won the case, but it was a trip downtown and a wasted morning.

In my case, the Inteq owner grudgingly paid me, then he sued Inteq for fraud. I hope he doesn't buy a Lexus and find out it's a Toyota.

Charles

He wouldn't have gotten anywhere with Inteq, either. Does something say they guarantee to supply a certain brand name of part? No. Some people have nothing better to do. :no:

VCRs aren't even worth repairing anymore. My first VCR in 1984 was a GE, built by Panasonic, for which I paid $400 new. The heads went bad after six years; the repair shop gave me an estimate of $250 to replace them. I wound up throwing it out and getting a new one. Some years later I had a Panasonic VCR with VCR Plus+ that lasted three years, IIRC, then a cassette jammed in it (just hours [!] after I'd taped a program, a movie of some sort--I never saw the show). Had to practically wreck the machine to get the tape out. My present VCR is also a Panasonic, no VCR Plus+ but it's still working well, next to my DVD player, after three years (knock on wood).

My next VCR will almost certainly be a combination VCR and DVD player; I don't think stand-alone VCRs are available anymore, except on the used market. I may get one even before my present VCR goes bad, as I hear these combo units are selling for dirt-cheap prices--almost. I heard or read somewhere that these combo players are going for $30 in some stores, but there's a catch--they don't last all that long and aren't worth repairing when they do break down.

Our first VCR was a Magnavox by Panasonic from around '86. It worked for years until It got so that anything recorded on it had static and popping in the audio for the first several minutes of the tape. The problem kept getting worse until my Dad just bought a new one. I continued to use the old one in my room for just a player and it would still played fine when I gave it away.

I've seen those Funal made DVD/VCR combo units for $50-$60 at Wal-Mart. They weigh about 2 lbs. and do not have an RF output. The only way you can record with one is to feed it a line level signal from a converter box, etc.
I've seen others that have a built in RF modulator but still no tuner. I think the more expensive ones have a digital tuner built in. If I buy one, I want it to have a built in tuner. I've had friends bring me those low cost Funai made units for repair and I usually won't even bother to open them. I just explain that they are meant to be thrown away when they break.

My current VCR line-up is a late '90's Sharp that I bought from my neighbor and a 2-3 year old JVC that I bought new for $59, I think. It was the last one on the shelf.

That sounds exactly like my Panasonic VCR with VCR Plus+ and also the one I have now. The Pana VCR that replaced the first one is also one of those cheap things with plastic parts, but since it still works I'll hang on to it until it goes bad. Even if it gets to the point where it won't record, I'll keep it so I can play my 60+ VHS cassettes I've recorded over the last 25 years or so. Other than that, I really have no use for a VCR, as most of my favorite old shows and movies are on DVD and the Internet (hulu.com, et al.) these days (I have had a subscription to Netflix since shortly after getting my DVD player almost three years ago and just recently discovered hulu.com); no one bothers with VHS movie rentals anymore and no one can buy hit movies on VHS any longer either. I guess we have to face facts; it's as I read somewhere (I don't remember exactly where)--VHS is a dead or dying format. The price of blank VHS cassettes bears that out; at Big Lots one can find blank VHS tapes for under a buck. Those cheap DVD/VHS players apparently do not record either, unless they are fed an external signal from, say, a digital cable box. Until now I didn't know that. How much more than a combo player without an RF tuner would a unit with a digital tuner be? The latter will be what I'll get to replace my VCR; I'll probably be killing two birds with one stone if I go that route, since with a digital tuner in the DVD/VCR combo I won't need a cable box. I have digital cable but no scrambled movie channels (oh, please! I had HBO about 15 years ago and could not believe the garbage [read XXX-rated filth] I saw there, not to mention they showed the same thing over and over again; I had the service disconnected after a month--after that I made up my mind: never again), so a VCR/DVD player with a digital tuner would not only replace the cable STB (set top box) I currently rent from Time-Warner Cable (no more monthly converter rental fees--I don't think), but would open up at least three spaces in my entertainment center as well: where my DVD player is now, where its RF modulator is presently sitting (next to the STB), and the space where the STB itself sits.

I will admit, I used to resist the idea of digital television with great zest, but now I can hardly wait for 02.19.2009. It will be interesting to see what will actually change on that date; I don't think we'll see that much real change, save for having to get used to watching HD programming in letterbox format on a standard analog TV (unless the STB from your cable company has conversion circuitry to downconvert 16:9 to the old 4:3 aspect ratio) and having to use a cable STB ahead of the old set to get the new channels once the analog stations sign off for good. The only folks who will have anything to really worry about will be those few who still get their TV reception over an outdoor antenna or rabbit ears; these are the folks for whom the government's converter coupon program is meant. Note, however, that if you already have cable you will not need such a box ahead of your TV; in fact, those converters have nothing to do with and will not work with cable.

BTW, I laughed out loud when I read a post from kx250rider, in which he said the customer for whom he replaced a CRT in a television set actually got upset when the customer found out the CRT was branded Zenith, not Inteq.
I've been in electronics as a hobby over 40 years and have never, in all that time, heard of "Inteq" CRTs. Inteq was a video-enhancement system used in high-end Zenith color TVs of 1980s vintage; it was not the brand of and in fact had nothing whatsoever to do with the CRT. I also laughed my head off when I read about the person who demanded Volvo spark plugs in her automobile of the same name, and got upset when she found out the replacement plugs were branded Bosch. Obviously she did not realize that there is no such thing as "Volvo" brand spark plugs; the poster mentioned that Volvo automobiles are factory-equipped with (and those plugs are meant to be replaced by) Bosch brand plugs. That person looking for Volvo plugs was probably (almost certainly) misinformed. And that little sentence at the end of the post that said, "I hope he doesn't buy a Lexus and find out it's a Toyota"--I laughed out loud at that one as well. The crazy ideas some folks get....sheeeesh!

I have a 32" Zenith AVI from around 1995. It has been perfect and the picture is every bit as good as that on a newer Sony 36" WEGA that I own. I did find an undated owners manual for "Zenith Inteq TV" Looks like after 1st year, they added the Zenith name to it. My Inteq brochure only showed 1 DVD player and 1 VCR.

...

Thanks, I'll remember that if I run into the problem again. I forgot to mention that my Dad took our VCR in for repair and the technician kept giving my Dad the usual runaround like "what I thought was bad really was not" and "I'll have it fixed tomorrow" and "I ran into this problem and it will take another week." My Dad finally got PO'd and called the shop and told him that he was coming after the VCR in one hour and it had better be back together. The VCR that replaced the Magnavox was a Thomson/GE (also made by Panasonic) that was a POS. It didn't last near as long as the mid '80's Magnavox.