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Originally Posted by tv beta guy
I dunno... for me, those 12" B&Ws don't particularly interest me. Depends on what is special about it. If it has tubes in it, I'll definately take it.
I have 3 12"s right now. One is a late 60s Panasonic Speed-o-Vision. One is a late 70's JCPenny (RCA), but I kept that one as I like the woodgrain finish with the big dials, has a removable screen shield, headphone jack, and AC/DC power. The latest one I own is a 1982 Zenith 12", but it is the one with the digital tuner.
I have one of those mid 70s 9" Zeniths you always see on Ebay as well. It seems rather well built.
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I bought a Zenith 12" solid-state B&W TV in 1978 that lasted 22 years, and was still going strong when I threw it out in 2000. (By contrast, I bought a 12" tube-powered portable TV marketed by the former discount chain Kennedy & Cohen in 1975 that lasted only three years before it burned up.) The only problem I ever had with it was the UHF channel selector detent mechanism, which broke and froze the UHF tuner on one channel (as bad luck would have it, a blank station in my area). TV itself was working incredibly well--excellent picture, sound and everything else on its monopole antenna, and I lived in a semi-fringe area at the time. I had even recovered the ebony cabinet with woodgrain contact paper. The last five years or so I had it I was using it as a monitor for a Commodore 64 computer. The only reasons I pitched the set when I moved in 1999 were, one, I moved into a very small apartment and found I had no room for three TVs (I brought my Zenith Sentry 2 19" with me and bought a new RCA shortly before moving into the new place), and two, the Zenith had awful reception on its monopole antenna with no provisions for cable (the TV reception here is terrible, which is why almost everyone in this town has either cable or satellite). However, I wish now I had held on to that Zenith b&w portable, as it was one in a million as portable TVs go. I paid only about $60 for it at a discount store near my former home, but never had five minutes worth of trouble with it, the fact that it had a circuit board notwithstanding (in fact, the entire set, IIRC, was on one huge PCB--including the flyback). This was one of the best little TVs I've ever had. I don't know if either of my color sets will even come close to lasting 22 years
, though my Sentry 2 Zenith was made almost 11 years ago and is still going great, good picture on cable and all. It's in line to replace the RCA when the latter eventually goes belly up. Who knows, the Zenith just might make it. Hmmm.
I'll just have to wait and see.