Lost in space!

[Einar72]

Hi newcomer! I'm the AK/VK unofficial import-basher. I sit with my jaw on the floor scratching my head (what a picture that brings to mind) why folks are drawn to Sony and other imports like lemmings. Motorola used to make TV's in Canada as well. Sorry to see those jobs evaporete as well, but I cannot find info on when or exactly why those jobs were lost.

As far as lying about being 100% solid-state, you have to remember that in 1961, semiconductor technology was still in its adolescence. There were Thyratrons still doing what SCR's would one day do, and vacuum-tube rectifiers were still cheap to produce (and fairly reliable) versus their evolving SS counterpart. There was also an attitude at other manufacturers that transistors would NEVER replace vacuum tubes in many applications! It probably contributed to the concept that an HV rectifier didn't count.

As a builder of hobby projects since 1963, I can personally attest to the fragility of Germanium devices back then. Ironically, Motorola, which is unfairly treated in this thread, was a pioneer in silicon transistor development, leding to one of the world's most-used transistors, the 2N2222 - shown off at the IRE convention in 1962...

As for Knowledge is King (nice that you didn't say Cash), havva look at this - a transcript of the PBS Frontline documentary on the fate of the Motorola TV factory in America:

http://www.bcit-broadcast.com/monash/matsushita.pbs