What was the 1st TV you purchased NEW?

[old_tv_nut]

First set was a Motorola 20 inch color hybrid table model, metal cabinet with soft vinyl walnut-grain wrap, bought at employee sales when I started there in 1966. Once a year, replaced the horizontal output and damper to get the picture brightness back. This was one of the first smaller color CRTs, with internal magnetic shielding allowing a reduced cabinet size.

Many subsequent sets (at Motorola and Zenith) were home observation units - had to observe and report on performance for some months to a year, and then it would be sold to you at a used price if you wanted it. At one time, I had two identical 19 inch Motorola sets side by side, one with a new CRT phosphor formulation. The new formulation was attempting to duplicate the latest Sylvania process, in which they had used an especially thick slurry to get more brightness. The problem was that Moto's slurry-swishing machines could leave swirl marks with the thicker slurry, and they wanted to find out if untrained viewers (the engineers' family members) would notice any swirl pattern.