Zenith System 3 W/ Zoom and Space Command

[zenith2134]

Hey tv people- I have A Zenith Console, SL2513W, from 1979 that I recently fixed by resoldering the legs of a few transistors. Anyway, It gets a marvelous picture, but since I found this set, The Space Command ultrasonic remote is gone (DAMN) and I wanted to know if there is any way to operate the zoom without it?

I looked online but there is no replacement or NOS remote available, and I know it has zoom because there is a tiny window titled "ZOOM" under the control door. Maybe there is a way to jumper in a switch? Its certainly hard to tell without a manual or schematic. It's a shame because its a very nice set with a perfect picture, Color Sentry, and digital tuner. thanks to all of you who know much more about these sets than i do.

[bgadow]

I'm pretty sure I have one of these remotes laying around. It's a mechanical remote with Zoom, that much I know. PM if interested.

[kx250rider]

Those do show up on eBay now & then, and I bet that any old TV repair shop has a couple of them in your area. I don't have one to show a photo of, but it is rather thin, about 2" x 6", black plastic on the back and aluminum-color painted front. Uses a weird "J" battery.

If you want to try the Zoom, you could take the cover off the relay and poke it closed with a pencil, I would think. It's on a separate small module. But watch out, because I think the 900 volt boost may be going through that relay

Charles

[bgadow]

Will the older mechanical remotes with the zoom feature work with this model or does it have to be the electronic version?

[zenith2134]

Hey I was poking around again , and decided to do what Kaye suggested and take the relay cover off. The zoom really is a cool feature. Anyway about the remote- On the back sticker it claims 114 watt power consumption manual and 161 watt remote. Other than the little microphone receiver under the control door, I cannot tell anything else. ALso, this set has color sentry with photocell.

[Chad Hauris]

This set would use an electronic ultrasonic remote transmitter I believe, the functions would be power on/off, channel up and down, volume up and down, zoom, and mute. (7 functions). The mechanical remote transmitter will work some of the functions but not all of them and the functions do not correspond exactly.

On the 4 button mechanical unit I have and the 1979 Chromacolor II (designed for an electronic transmitter):

Channel lower and higher=same function
Volume=mute
Off-On=volume down

[3Guncolor]

I have a "J" line set with zoom and it uses the electronic ultrasonic remote I believe they all used 9 volt batteries. The early electric LED remotes did use the J battery I remember the Zenth cable boxes did. My set has zoom I never use it and as I remember when the sets were sold customers didn't use it either same goes for the Space Phone that replaced zoom.

[brokenbroken]

I have an extra ultrasonic remote from a chromacolor 2 with zoom. You're welcome to it

[jstout66]

I have a 1979 19" System 3. It has zoom. It uses a large square remote that says "computer space command". It has a number keypad, enter, vol up-down,mute and Zoom. It does not have a channel up/down button. You have to enter in the channel number and hit enter. It uses a 9 volt battery.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by 3Guncolor

I have a "J" line set with zoom and it uses the electronic ultrasonic remote I believe they all used 9 volt batteries. The early electric LED remotes did use the J battery I remember the Zenth cable boxes did. My set has zoom I never use it and as I remember when the sets were sold customers didn't use it either same goes for the Space Phone that replaced zoom.

You're right... I was wrong on the J battery. The last Ultrasonic remotes with the 0-9 keypad DID use the 9-volt battery.

Charles

[nasadowsk]

Ok.

What's Zoom?

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by nasadowsk

Ok.

What's Zoom?

The Zoom feature, offered for only two or three model years on Zenith color TVs in the early 1980s, allowed the viewer to expand the picture at the push of a button so as to give the effect of zooming in on a portion of it. This feature, like Zenith's Space Phone of the same era, did not last long, disappearing from the company's TVs by 1983 or so.

Space Phone, BTW, was another short-lived feature introduced in Zenith color TVs about the same time as Zoom; in fact, many high-end Zenith console color sets of early-1980s vintage had both features, and a full-function remote that operated the whole thing. Space Phone allowed the viewer to receive and make telephone calls right through the television, but the feature was not all that popular, so it was discontinued shortly after its introduction. To increase public awareness of the Space Phone feature, there was a national magazine ad for Zenith Space Phone in the '80s showing three men sitting on a couch in a suburban living room, watching a football game on a Zenith Space Phone TV. Suddenly the sound of a ringing telephone cuts in over top of the audio; one of the men on the couch at this point hands the remote to the man in the middle and says, "Hubie, answer the television." Darndest thing I ever saw. I laugh out loud just thinking of it.

[zenith2134]

What's up guys?
Today I was cleaning the set out some more and found that some module-wire connectors werent making good connections, in fact one was half-off! This seems pretty unbelievable, since the set was playing for 2 hours earlier, and exhibited no problems at all. I know this since i was watching.. others in my house wouldnt be able to tell, I am sure due to the fact that they watch misadjusted crap and enjoy cheap stereo systems Needless to say,I deox-ed some pins and the such, also the boards with the zoom and User picture controls, as well as the crt neck board plus adjusted the RGB Backgrounds to a Nice B&W pic, thus the beautiful good ole' Zenith Color TV Picture I later enjoyed.

It was funny, actually because it looked as if someone had previously worked on the tv, as the degaussing cord was unplugged from the mainboard and tied around the yoke wires, plus the zoom board to the right of the set was not bolted down at all when I initially picked up this heavy beast.

The Focus pot is a weird one, maybe its busted but its like a white knob witha hole in it and The Flyback is the corncob looking white tall one(Ill look up some numbers tommorow...). I am having a problem adjusting the focus which is a little off, does anyone remember how I can get at it? Thanks again to all.

[JCFitz]

I used to have a Beta video tape from Zenith(may still have it.It's been damaged a little as used as a test tape for Beta vcrs)with Orson Wells describing the Space Phone feature,Zoom and other features.

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The Zoom feature, offered for only two or three model years on Zenith color TVs in the early 1980s, allowed the viewer to expand the picture at the push of a button so as to give the effect of zooming in on a portion of it. This feature, like Zenith's Space Phone of the same era, did not last long, disappearing from the company's TVs by 1983 or so.

Space Phone, BTW, was another short-lived feature introduced in Zenith color TVs about the same time as Zoom; in fact, many high-end Zenith console color sets of early-1980s vintage had both features, and a full-function remote that operated the whole thing. Space Phone allowed the viewer to receive and make telephone calls right through the television, but the feature was not all that popular, so it was discontinued shortly after its introduction. To increase public awareness of the Space Phone feature, there was a national magazine ad for Zenith Space Phone in the '80s showing three men sitting on a couch in a suburban living room, watching a football game on a Zenith Space Phone TV. Suddenly the sound of a ringing telephone cuts in over top of the audio; one of the men on the couch at this point hands the remote to the man in the middle and says, "Hubie, answer the television." Darndest thing I ever saw. I laugh out loud just thinking of it.

[colortrakker]

That Orson Welles Beta sounds awesome. I don't use my Space Phone much, but it sure does impress people when I tell them about it - and call them on it!

Space Phone wasn't full-duplex, so you couldn't talk until the other person was finished and vice-versa. That's why the Privacy button came in so handy. Plus it was pulse-only at a time when touch-tone was really taking hold. But it was very cool to have a 2-number memory with on-screen display. Ah, if they only had Caller ID back then.