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Anthony I won't shoot any messengers here, but I think you're missing the point...
At one time, TVs were a complicated household appliance... Much the same way that a central A/C unit is today. You wouldn't expect the average Joe to drag one of those home and be chillin' in an hour?
Back in the days when American sets were the only game in town, you would likely need to re-set purity, convergence after shipping. Then maybe sell the customer a decent antenna. Sorry, but the technology for "plug and play" just didn't exist back then.
By the time that Japanese sets came on the scene in the later, they were selling 99% hybrid color portables (vs. big monster consoles). How can you fairly compare the two eras? I can't imagine a 19" Zenith SS table model from the 70s requiring a whole bunch of set-up... In fact I know it didn't, because I can remember my parents loading one into our '70 Dodge Dart at Fretter's in 1975. That "piece of inferior junk" lasted us until 1984 without trouble, and then we only got rid of it for a remote Sylvania (the Zenith went to the basement and later a relatives cottage). The NAP Sylvania, which I suspect was full of Japanese ICs lasted 6-years, until it became useless. They switched back to Zenith in '90, and that set is still in my living room (albeit in a rather differnt cabinet).
IF American-branded sets from the 70s were still being set up in the home, it was largely because television servicemen/dealers were the primary retailers of these traditional brands, not do-it-yourself stores like Best-Buy, etc.
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