My Sony Indextron is off to Andy right now...

[Dave A]

I will try the pix here. Late news. Go back. It worked in the previous post with downsizing.

Dave A

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Dave A

And if you really want a version of this, RCA built two camcorders using an index CRT in the viewfinder with a Hitachi tube. Good hunting.

I have one of those viewfinders. I wondered what the LEDs near the CRT were for; I thought maybe it was for some kind of auto-hue feedback. Now you got me interested to pull it back out again. I had it working with an external video input maybe 10-15 years ago and it has sat stored in a box ever since.

[YamahaFreak]

This is very interesting technology.

[Dave A]

And another Indextron mystery. I found this reference tonight to a Walkman Indextron. Could it exist? The link is a dead end, but was there really a Walkman version?

http://www.partstore.com/PartSearch....1189&x=18&y=11

A search of the Sony USA site did not find anything.

Any ideas?

Dave A

[Findm-Keepm]

Heck, call UED.net - they claim they can ship it on 8/22/07

https://www.ued.net/ued/addItems.do?...e=SNYCTV171189

Both they and the Parts Store don't actually stock much in my experience with them. I needed a Phototransistor for a Sony, and they wanted to sub a 2SC945 - not a phototransistor, and not even close.

I've got some 1980's Sony lit - I'll see if I can find any reference to any Indextron stuff. This thread and all the stories with the sets is W-a-y Cool!

Cheers

[YamahaFreak]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Heck, call UED.net - they claim they can ship it on 8/22/07

https://www.ued.net/ued/addItems.do?...e=SNYCTV171189

Both they and the Parts Store don't actually stock much in my experience with them. I needed a Phototransistor for a Sony, and they wanted to sub a 2SC945 - not a phototransistor, and not even close.

I've got some 1980's Sony lit - I'll see if I can find any reference to any Indextron stuff. This thread and all the stories with the sets is W-a-y Cool!

Cheers

"Sorry, No Image Available". Darn, I wanted to see that!

[Findm-Keepm]

Anybody know what this is? It's a Korean site:

http://tinyurl.com/2kgtjw

It's Sony, but is it an Indextron?


Cheers,

[Findm-Keepm]

Found my own answer - apparently, Sony made an in-car TV using the Indextron system - models XAV-U50 and XAV-U51. They seem to be Asia only sets, with one exception found on an auction site in New Zealand. Here's a real good shot of one:





Possible alternate source for those hard to find Indextron parts...

Cheers,

[fujifrontier]

:hmm:

[drchucksgas]

Now that all this underengineering of an obsolete idea has been discussed, why all this allegiance to something that does not even have a good contrast ratio and at best shows pictures that look washed out? $999.00 buy it now?
In the vintage mode, I am perfectly okay with my trouble free KV 4000, 5000, 5100, 5200, 5300 and my Panasonic CT 3311 and 101, that I paid far less for.

[Dave A]

Just think if Philco had come to market with their original design of this tube, code-named "Apple". If the washed out pix had been 21" big, imagine the failure in the market for Philco. If they had bet the ranch on this color system, it probably would have sunk them...earlier.

I for one appreciate the preservation of obsolete formats and the sometimes-brilliant-but-unworkable engineering in them. Think Col-R-Tel wheels, Bing Crosby videotape, Selectavision, Cartrivision, the original Sony Mavica digital camera (recalled like the Indextron),et al.

In this case, the cure was worse than the disease. Philco found a way to get rid of the limits of the shadow mask but created a whole new set of problems. Sony tried to ressurect it with some engineering advances, but the price point in the mass-market doomed them.

Failure is not always failure. Sometimes just something that did not work well. Ask the owner of a Tucker automobile.

I also take great delight in being in the exclusive club of owning a working Indextron. Only about 10 of us world-wide, most with Andy's help. And sorry to read that one of the club needs to sell his. Good luck! I know he will miss it.

Dave A

[jhalphen]

Hi! to All,

For ChrisW6ATV:
Here is a block diagram of the Beam-Index color VF in the Theory of Operation section. Near the screen, those are not LEDs but 2 photocells, one sensitive to UV light emitted by the beam-index stripe at each color triplet, the other being sensitive to green. Both are used to close the color sync servo-loop and keep the color presented on the CRT's grid at instant X in sync with the color scanned at the same instant by the electron beam.

For drchucksgas:
Come on! why spoil our fun? Sure beam-index CRTs are outdated, but people here have an open mind and are curious. Personally, i got interested in this technology to understand why following sizable research investments in the 1950s and great promises (simple B&W gun structure, no convergence), it never became a market success.
Correction! it was used in avionics displays before LCDs. Thomson-CSF of France made Beam-Index & Color Penetration tubes well in the 90s.

If you look at the picture, a still from "The Wizard of Oz" DVD (Courtesy & Thanks! to John Folsom Jr) the detail and color are quite remarkable considering it's a 1.5 inch CRT.

And BTW, over the last 18 months, John and myself have had great fun tracking down the camera models, sourcing documentation (TOUGH job!) and making them work. I am currently working on a hybrid TV with the VF circuitry in a Plexiglas cigar case and NTSC reception via the RF/IF circuitry of a dead Sony CRT Watchman.

For Findm-Keepm, Hi! Brian
Here is a picture of the Sony XAV-U50, i found one in the UK. I am hoping to find some service data before tinkering with it. From previous discussions on this forum, the general opinion was that it is only a RGB display with no NTSC decoder nor RF section.

Brian, your tiny.url shows me nothing; could you please capture the pix & post here; Thanks!

For Dave A: Your post filled me joy, for now i know that i am nots nuts, there was indeed a Watchman flat color CRT version. I always thought it was a single prototype for trade shows, but if the CRT was referenced by major parts distributors, small market quantities must have been produced. Where are they! not seen ONE in 10 years of E-Bay.
Maybe some of our members understand Japanese and could search on Japan/Asia sites.

Last but not least, Sanyo sold a very limited quantity of the 30-CTV1 4" Beam-Index color TV in the US, 1986. Saw one in the LA area in a pink case, had spent all my $ on a CT-101 and couldn't buy it. Gone forever!

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

[kx250rider]

I think the seller of that set is fishing for a sucker. That's double what the average price has been, and his doesn't seem to have any original accessories, paperwork, or anything. But let them fish... After all, if somebody has the $ and wants that set, it could go for $999.

Charles

[andy]

....

[jhalphen]

Hi to All,

Saw this Sony "VidiMagic" (and not VidiMatic as labelled by the seller).

It's a single-tube video projector.

Several members of this forum kindly pointed out to me last year that Sony products bearing this name use an IndexTron tube as the heart of the device.

Maybe a chance for one of you to dable in Indextron technology without it costing an arm & a leg.

If it's like its clock-TV bedside counterpart, it probably needs a good shotgun full recapping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Vidimatic-V...QQcmdZViewItem

Not my auction of course and i won't bid, no room for a bulky projector!

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

PS: Hope to see all of you soon at the ETF, i will wear a "dog-tag" tradeshow ID