1970's Hitachi console
 

Or , what a beast part 2 : http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=261135

So I picked this up yesterday. Got it from a young couple that just moved in their newly aquired house in the old Lévis neihgborhood (1950/60's part of the city). When they moved in the set was still in the living room, so it's possible that it was used well into the 2000's!

The good part : cabinet is almost mint, or at the least very very well cared for, all the knobs are present and acounted for, and every one on them look pristine! The TV works BUT the tube is shot. The blue and red gun are very weak (picture to come). Picture tube is an RCA 25VBEP22.

A quick look around the web and I found this website that seem to have a few of NOS CRT : http://www.earlytelevision.org/crts_for_sale_color.html
Did anyone do business with them, are they reliable? I really wish to make this the best set I have, and I am strongly considering buying a NOS picture tube for it.

Any input would be greatly apprciated!

Is that a POWER TRANSFORMER--in the center rear of the cabinet ?

The ETF is a VERY reliable source for ANY tv-related items.

Early
Television
Foundation

Hilliard Ohio.

It's more like Beauty and the Beast.

Not sure what the transformer is for, but this is a hot chassis set. I reckon it's slightly older than the beat-up example I had; the CRT in that was a 25VCXP22, also shot.

Any model number tag? With these you're pretty much lost for service info without one.

If you were in my neck of the woods I'd offer you a good 25" CCII CRT I've got.

I'd have never guessed Hitachi made such a set; I wonder if these were sold in the US as well?

You could get them but the consoles were rare. One of our
parts suppliers wholesaled them. The 19" sets were regular
guests at the shop. A lot more of them seemed to be sold
in Canada.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Yep!

She's a real beauty that's for sure! But, I did not diagnosed the TV correctly ; the tube is fine. All those dirty pots and switches, that's what's wrong!

A lot of numbers inside, will check some more.

Hey thanks mate! It would be a lot easier for me to have acces to parts if I was to live south of the border. I sent an email to the early television foundation for a NOS RCA tube, and shipping via FedEx to my neck of the wood would be 280$...haha. Of course the point is moot now, but its a bit depressing that I can't count on that option for later.

Even better. I reckon this makes up for the disappointing condition of the Chromacolor console, not to mention the cabinet design. It's the nicest Hitachi I've seen, bar none.

The convergence board pots probably have divots in the tracks from sitting in one place so long, so getting those back into the proper positions after cleaning should be like falling off a log. The convergence panel saved from my Hitachi has that issue.

Yes , it seems that Hitachi sets over 19'' inches, where not as popular in the states as they where in canada. Did you have 80's Hitachi console, or where they as rare as the 70's ones? Any idea why they did not sell in the states...lack of distributor?

I've seen one '80's Hitachi console and it had a bad flyback (common problem for '80's Hitachi TVs).

I dont remember any Hitachi consoles before the 80's & not
many. Not sure why but Hitachi sold less than almost any major
Jap brand in the states it seems. It may also be a regional thing.
Some sets were rare in New England Setchel-Carlson, Packard Bell,
Wells Gardener, MGA etc........

73 Zeno:smoke:

I think zeno is right. Hitachi consoles were very rare then. I think distribution was lacking on them or price might have been less than competitive. Hitachi's smaller sets sold well. And some brands were very regional in popularity then. Packard Bell seems to be more common out west. Wells-Gardners tend to be seen as store brands mainly. MGA was uncommon here in Tennessee, but you see a few here and there. The 1980's was when I began to see more Hitachi sets here in East Tennessee. However, RCA and Zenith were big, and Magnavox for us were locally made sets. I agree that Hitachi was the smallest selling of the Japanese brands. In TV you saw many more Panasonic and Sony sets.

There's a commercial on Youtube from Iran for Hitachi consoles, circa 1970.

Sears had some floor model sets with wide control panels like that
Hitachi......... I don't remember any other set that had a look like that
except Motorola....

This was the '80 Sears Catalog....

.

It reminds me of the late 60s-early 70s Sylvanias.

I believe that Sanyo was the main supplier for Sears television in the late 70's early 80's. Always loved the sears branded television, and one like in this add would really make me an happy camper.

I have been messing around for a while with the convergence/greyscale of this tv, and I gotta say this one does not let itself converge easily. On both my zenith it was rather easy, on this one it's almost impossible to get an acceptable one (acceptable for me that is!)

Another thing I find mildly annoying is the focus "selector". You can see it in the top right corner of the right board. This one doesn't use a potentiometer but an 8 position focus pin. I can't really see how this setup can give you the best focus possible out of this tv because the sweet spot is probably midway between 2 adjusments...maybe I could stick a potentiometer in series with the focus pin to be able to fine tune it?

Yup those are Sanyos. Very good sets. Looked good & held up well.
Easy to fix too. Best from Sears at the time.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Focus jumper is the only one I have heard of in a 25" color.
Stupid idea. Also I cant see having 6KV on the PCB. Hints
at the CRT being a low focus tube but again never seen one
bigger than 19".
For convergence look for very small electrolytic on panel. The 19" sets
had one threw the blue off IIRC. If not try turning the bright &
contrast down in darkened room & try it. If its better the CRT
is probably weak. Once you get the feel of a delta tube center
convergence falls into place in seconds without a pattern.
Side and T&B take some time often.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I have seen a lot of remotes for those sets, most of them very worn so it's likely the sets can stand up to very heavy use.

I like the one in the plainest cabinet.
So that's what that's for. I always wondered why that board from mine had what looked like a tube socket.

I just looked at my board; I just noticed the wire going into that socket and that "focus" is clearly marked next to it and on the back side. I was wondering how you knew that was a focus jumper. Very strange feature.