eBay beginning to show flood of NTSC pocket TVs - Videokarma.org TV - Video

kx250rider · #1 09-06-2008, 12:26 PM

I wonder if other have noticed how many, MANY 1980s-current model 5" & under portable TVs are being "dumped" on eBay? Those Sony FDL-xx LCD color Watchman sets used to sell for $60-$100, now there are dozens of them for much less. And I've been able to grab some NICE KV-4000/4100 and KV-5000/5100 Trinitrons for pennies on the dollar lately.

I bet that the (non-TV collecting) public is getting scared of the 2009 syndrome, and is starting to "git while the gittin's good" on selling these sets while they'll still work for another few months. Face it, nobody has offered (yet) a battery-powered ATSC converter, and nobody wants to have a pocket TV on AA batteries connected to a plugged-in box 5 times the size of the pocket TV

So I guess now's the time, if any of us want to pick up some collectible, or future collectible, pocket and small portable TVs!

Charles

dtuomi · #2 09-06-2008, 01:17 PM

I hadn't thought of that it's a very good point. I'm going to go over to eBay and start to look around at them.

It would be interesting though to start a thread on which models of these 80's portables are going to be the most collectible in a few years.

It'd be neat to be able to look back and see if our guesses are right.

David

markthefixer · #3 09-06-2008, 02:08 PM

It will be interesting to note which of these can accept a composite video input, and thus would make handy little hand held monitors for bullet type cameras used in new and strange ways (security, inspection, monitoring or who knows what).

Cameras are getting pretty cheap for fooling around with.

I'm thinking of one on a pole to inspect the gutters on my house without a ladder.

Sandy G · #4 09-06-2008, 03:00 PM

NOW maybe I'll be finally able to score a KV-5000 that ain't all beat-to-shite, or has 50 zillion hours on it for reasonable money...

superdeez · #5 09-07-2008, 08:33 PM

I work for a hardware store, and seems that most of my co-workers became aware of the switch at the same time as most of the general public. Our store has it and I've seen a few Wal*Marts and whatever else that have clearance racks with these sets going for pennies. Of course, no one's really buying.

I can see getting a TV/Radio combination. Better yet, as was mentioned before a set with an input so it could be turned into a monitor after the switch.

Actually, my current daily watcher is a little 5" Emerson B&W TV/FM-AM radio/alarm clock combination. The only problem is that the tuning mechanism for the radio side is broken, so that unit will be out of service unless I can fix that after the switch.

jhal · #6 10-11-2008, 11:05 AM

Someone needs to come up with a battery powered set with a built in digital tuner, or a lot of people will be in a pinch when the next hurricane or other disaster hits. I know Insignia had one, but it was discontinued (and overpriced for what it did). Yes, I know some converters will work off of DC since they use a wall-wart, but come on, who needs a tangle of wires and crap when all they want to see is the weather report?

markthefixer · #7 10-11-2008, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhal

Someone needs to come up with a battery powered set with a built in digital tuner, or a lot of people will be in a pinch when the next hurricane or other disaster hits. I know Insignia had one, but it was discontinued (and overpriced for what it did). Yes, I know some converters will work off of DC since they use a wall-wart, but come on, who needs a tangle of wires and crap when all they want to see is the weather report?

I've already got a tv and converter set up running on a UPS.

ChrisW6ATV · #8 10-13-2008, 12:52 AM

The Insignia ATSC portable has returned to Best Buy with their current Dynex house brand, for a lower price than the Insignia version. It is available online only, though. I wonder if that is because it would be nearly impossible to properly demonstrate it inside a store?

compucat · #9 10-15-2008, 11:17 AM

I got rid of most of my handheld pocket TVs for this very reason. I kept one as a collectible, a Thompson built RCA LCD color with a 1.8" screen. I still keep my 5" sets however I won't likely be buying any more. The ones I have with radios in them will always be useful and I can see hooking one to a converter for tabletop use. I would like a pocket ATSC set if there ever is such a thing but for now I'm content to use a USB digital tuner with my laptop for portable TV.

Phil Nelson · #10 10-15-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhal

Someone needs to come up with a battery powered set with a built in digital tuner

How about this one from Radio Shack?

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-buy-the...i-2855063.html

Phil Nelson

ChrisW6ATV · #11 10-15-2008, 05:12 PM

That Radio Shack TV appears to be the same as the one Best Buy sells:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1210377520598

Not surprising, though, that RS charges $50 more. However, RS has them in stores and BB does not. As I mentioned in another discussion, it may be nearly impossible to make one of these sets work inside such stores unless it is connected to the in-house TV signal system.

Dave A · #12 10-15-2008, 06:07 PM

I picked up the RS version and if you are not too far from the tower, it is fine. I am miles beyond that in a valley and the on-board VHF stick antenna does nothing digital. I put a set-top double bow-tie UHF in the attic and it gets a few digitals. Enough to get through a snowstorm. That helps as the analog tuner does nothing out here. Much worse than any other portable.

I did check it in the city with a view of the towers and the VHF stick got most of the digitals. The same bow tie pulled in everything but was very directional. A good roof-top VHF/UHF antenna should be fine.

When it picks up the hi def channels and digital sub-channels, the picture is not hi def quality though. It is a rather coarse low res picture. Think Porta Color.

The rechargeable battery is sealed in. No idea what is in there. I do like the F connector on the side. Even the VHF antenna has a pigtail to connect to it. It also has a zoom function to change screen sizes. I used the channel scan for both off-air and cable and it appears to hold both separately so I left it scanned from the city and have all the possible channels onboard.

The RS store help was useless and the set did nothing inside the store a bit more than a mile from the towers.

Any port...able in a storm.

kbmuri · #13 10-15-2008, 10:49 PM

Ok, I took the bait too.

Watching FOX HD on it now. It's no better or worse than the typical DTV converters. Real easy to get it to block up and no-signal. I'm in an urban area right now and it picks up DTV ok inside a wood-frame building. Will try countryside reception pretty soon. Analog reception is poor so far.

It's not much bigger than a remote but it came with a remote too which was interesting. You wouldn't normally sit more than a few feet from it so I don't know how useful the remote would ever be. The volume control and brightness are regular pots, so they're not remote controllable either. It has an AV-in port, so it would make a good bullet-cam monitor. RF-in port for external antenna. Little 1-inch speakers are pretty tinny, but headphones sound pretty good. Setup menus and channel selection are comparable to the DTV converter boxes. No signal strength meter.

HD channels are nice and clear, but not enough pixels to do full HD clarity. But clarity seems as good or better than, say, a Trinitron from a decade ago. Pretty good contrast for an LCD. It's a good deal for the money.

Probably will have to have an outdoor antenna setup with a cable end available in the storm cellar, to use it as a bad-weather set. I don't think it would get anything on its own underground.

And the Phillies just won, game over for the Dodgers, so I'm out.

kbmuri · #14 10-20-2008, 10:08 AM

Completely useless out in the "sticks". 15 miles from the tv towers might as well be 150. Maybe after the mythical "full power" sometime next year...

kx250rider · #15 10-20-2008, 12:35 PM

I think we already have "full power" DTV here in the Los Angeles area. In fact, I'm about 45 miles from Mount Wilson, where all the Los Angeles area towers are mounted, and 45 miles southeast of Santa Barbara (next nearest TV source). I get better Los Angeles DTV signal than standard! I also get more channels. (This is on rabbit ears!!!!!) I do notice, however, that I can only get 1 or 2 Santa Barbara (I think) DTV channels, whereas I get nearly all of the SB standard ones. What really amazes me is that being such a high frequency, I'd have guessed the signal would never be able to travel as far as VHF. Analog UHF reception is for the birds out here. We're in a long, narrow valley surrounded by 1500-3000 foot peaks, but we do have line of sight to Mount Wilson. Santa Barbara is completely beyond a mountain range, so I guess I'm getting a bounce off of Anacapa Island, or ? For regular TV, we can't even get Dishnet because their satellites are below the line of the steep hill to our south. DirecTV is what we have, and it's fine. The line of sight for the air signal from Mt. Wilson is a bonus.

Charles