When did TV manufacturers stop using model names on TV sets?

[AUdubon5425]

How about a hip-hop line of sets? The C-Color, the 2-Flat and the Stole.

[Username1]

I think Jeffhs answered his own question. Most of the tvs that were worthy of an advertising campaign because of some special feature were given a name. In the case of the early wood cabinet sets we may group them into a chassis number and then further classify the set with the "name" which designated a cabinet finish. Wega and Dynaflat were some technological distinction. And it carries into the flat pannel sets where some sets are now thinner than others, more yellow now with the fourth color I think its got a Quintro something name. Its easy to remember, Who is going to design an advertising campain around "DS258XP" and expect the customer to remember and ask for that in the showroom? "Get your new CTC5 color tv with the larger 21AXP22A 21" picture tube in a beautiful Oak cabinet called Wingate" How much of that will make it into the ad...? My favorite tv is my Zenith 20cc50 23" boring wood cabinet floor model tv. But since seing Doug's pdf and a video he put up on copyright-tube I saw all kinds of cool advertising points that made the set special. I think a better topic for discussion would be at what point, and what made people interested in just replacing for example Zeniths "hand crafted Hand wired" sets with cheaper sets that had no reason to keep long term. Kind of again trading naming a set for a model number. Maybe trading the naming process for a model number was the manufacturers way of getting us ready for throw away sets. I know all US manufacturers of everything thought they would sell more stuff if it needed to be replaced more often. My second favorite tv, our daily watcher for tons of years, Our Sharp 25kt35 25" Simulated Wood Grained Linytron has both a cool wood "portable" cabinet and She has a Name!!! and you guys lovingly gave Black Plastic Crafted tvs a name too....... Again pointing to the sets features. I for one am impressed with the technical features of Wega CRT sets and Dynaflat electronics as well. I think if CRTs were still made and getting competitive electronic development the picture would still outperform all the other flat stuff, maybe even LED's as well. I don't know I have not seriously looked at LED's yet.

[wa2ise]

I liked my RCA CTC-101 (with fake wood pattern printed on the black plastic cabinet) I had back in the 80's (yes, the one with the infamous flyback), and the CTC-121 (real wood veneer) was also nice. Oh, they had model numbers, but I don't think they had names.

[Blast]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

How about a hip-hop line of sets? The C-Color, the 2-Flat and the Stole.

Dawg! That's the sheet, AU-man!

[Phil Nelson]

In the 1940s & 1950s, many names signified the cabinet design. I guess they could have used cabinet numbers, but names sound cooler. For instance, my DuMont RA-103 came in a Meadowbrook cabinet, one of five available styles:

http://antiqueradio.org/DuMontRA-103...ion.htm#Design

All five had the same model number (identifying the chassis) but different cabinets. Even a TV with one cabinet option might have a cabinet name. RCA model CT-100s came in only one cabinet, the Merrill.

Radio maker E.H. Scott had a sort of menu approach. Pick your chassis from column A, your cabinet from column B, and they'd build & ship whatever you ordered.

Phil Nelson

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

I guess that I have to question the cost vs benefit of using the "elegant" names... were customers in that time period actually lured into buying what were perhaps more expensive models because they had fancy names like "Asbury," and " Ventura,"? What purpose did the "elegant" names serve?
jr

The point of the names was that they identified cabinet furniture styles (sometimes alluding to a region of the world, sometimes just unique from others in the manufacturer's line). When everything became basically the same black plastic, there was no point in distinguishing one cabinet from another.