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

[andy]

...

[waltchan]

Very nice fine, Andy, and thanks for saving this Indextron. What about the color and the pincushion issues?

[Richard D]

"business-savvy outfit like Sony would purposely spend megabux to bring something like this to market, only to have it crash 'n' burn so spectacurally"

To me it seems like that's the way GM does business, rush something to market before it's ready, piss off everyone who buys one, then when you get it right pull it from the market. Such as, Pontiac Fiero, Cadillac Allente, Chevy Vega, Buick Reatta, 1996 Impala SS, Oldsmobile Aurora, Oldsmobile diesel(just kidding, it was always junk) and more I can't think of or spell correctly.
Richard.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by Richard D

Oldsmobile diesel(just kidding, it was always junk)

Hey, hey... I like that 350 Diesel! They're actually pretty reliable, as long as you replace the head bolts with the upgraded ones... But you're right about rushing it to market. They should have done more testing and upgraded those bolts before it went to production!

Evidence on that engine being desireable is that nowadays, they go for about 3x what the same car with the gas motor goes for on eBay. A '79 Seville just went for $13000 this year with that 350 Diesel in it.

Charles

[andy]

...

[Richard D]

So many large companys do this, Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic. For the cost difference of hardend head bolts over the grade normally used GM bean counters caused the entire engine line to be remembered as a disaster instead of the leap in technology it should have been, small block V8 Diesel while the imports had shaky, underpowered inline fours. When done correctly though the results can be good. How long did the GE Porta-Color line remain in production? Did they have the best picture quality, no. But for the most part they worked a long time and were cheap to manfacture and buy.

[andy]

...

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by andy

Here are some pictures of the screen. The first two illustrate how critical sharp focus is for good purity. The beam has to be small enough to hit individual stripes since there's no shadow mask to prevent spillover. As you can see, the picture is still sharp, but not sharp enough for good color purity. Even after adjusting the beam landing and focus, the purity is far from perfect. It's not noticeable on normal program material though. It's better than it was (this was contributing to the green tint). The actual picture looks better than in the pictures, but the black level isn't very good. In many way it looks a lot like an early LCD set.

I'm amazed it works as well as it does. It has to alternate between red, green, and blue as the beam passes over the phosphor stripes. That requires much higher bandwidth than a normal video output stage. The electron gun also has to be capable of much sharper focus than a normal small screen TV.

Looks good. Overall, would you recommend this Indextron to someone, or is it not worth the high price since the picture quality isn't so great?

[Keefla]

In my opinion, if i had the money to buy this set, knowing that i was buying a piece of TV history (maybe a dark spot for sony, but still innovative), and better yet to have it be WORKING...id definatly go for it. some may say its a lot of money, i say if you got it use it.


good score on the TV waltchan, and great job keeping it going Andy!

[Sandy G]

I've heard they're rare as hen's teeth, Sony supposedly withdrew them from sale, & tried to recall the few that had been sold. Ones that work-this is the only one I've ever heard of that actually works. These things may actually be even more rare than CT-100s...

[andy]

...

[kx250rider]

They are VERY rare, and it's true that they were recalled. And ALSO YES, this is the only working one I've ever seen or heard of, except possibly for one in the hands of a TV collector in France.

Charles

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

They are VERY rare, and it's true that they were recalled. And ALSO YES, this is the only working one I've ever seen or heard of, except possibly for one in the hands of a TV collector in France.

Charles

The collector at France already said it no longer works.

[Keefla]

Originally Posted by waltchan

The collector at France already said it no longer works.

are they all brought down by bad caps?

[waltchan]

You would not believe this, but I received an e-mail from a collector, and he is insterested in buying the Indextron from me for $2,000. Should I accept his offer? I do really like it. If you own it, would you let it go for $2,000. I'm stuck.