Symphonic mini B&W TV

[Chad Hauris]

The original Symphonic that would have sold this set went out of business in the early 70's...was an American owned company I believe, but this little set may have been made in Japan.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by CELT

Speaking of Funai Ltd., they now have control of the Emerson, Magnavox and Sylvania nameplates. I bought a little Emerson TV/DVD stereo combo last year (...)

I think all Emerson TVs and VCRs are made by Funai, but I don't think that's true of Magnavox and Sylvania TVs. I think the Magnavox brand name is still owned by Philips, and Philips makes their 'regular' TVs. I used to think the Sylvania name was also owned by Philips, but now it seems to be owned by Osram instead (or did Osram own it before, but sub-licensed it to Philips..?), but I dunno who still makes their TVs. However, I think Funai is one of the few companies that makes combo TVs, so most combos you see are made by Funai regardless of the nameplate.

Speaking of Funai, I bought a Symphonic (Funai) Hi-Fi VCR a few years ago to use as a spare. Out of curiousity I opened it up a while back and just couldn't believe how few moving parts there were inside that thing..! Wow. Especially when you consider how the typical VHS VCR from the late 70's had such an incredible maze of belts and motors and gears, it's amazing to see how simplified they've managed to get these mechanisms. Also interesting about this VCR is the almost complete lack of connecting cables on the inside-- the mechanism portion of the VCR basically just "plugs into" the PC board just by pressing the mechanism down onto its mounting points and driving the mounting screws in place. Some of the microswitches and even the tape-end IR LED and sensor are actually mounted directly on the PC board itself rather than attached to the mechanism, presumably to reduce the number of electrical connections even further.

[andy]

Those Funai VCRs tended to have power supply failures. Typically, they would lose regulation for one reason or another. Since they lacked any overvoltage protection, this would destroy the power supply along with the rest of the VCR. They also had lots of mechanical problems.

I used to HATE those VCRs when I repaired VCRs as a teenager. So many people would pay about twice as much for the Magnavox name only to get the same VCR as a Symphonic! Even Sony used a Funai mechanism in some of their mid 90's VCRs (although it was an 80's Funai design).

Sylvania and Philco VCRs were always made by Panasonic in the 80's, but I know Philips was behind them. It wasn't until the 90's that they switched to Funai.

Most Emerson TVs and VCRs I've seen were made by a company called Orion. They weren't quite as bad as Funai. Some even used rebranded Zenith CRTs.

Believe it ro not, Funai is a Japanese company, but they made junk that put today's Chinese junk look pretty good.

[Chad Hauris]

I have one of those Magnavox Funai VCR's that I got as a Christmas gift back in 1996 or so, it's still working, although I can count on one hand the time I have actually played video tapes since I got direct TV and DVD.

[bgadow]

I think the deal with Sylvania was that when GTE sold the consumer electronics arm to Philips they did not sell the name, only licensed it. If you look at an old parts box or ad for NAP from the 80s it will list Philco/Magnavox/Sylvania, but Sylvania will have a little (r) next to it. Eventually GTE sold the rest of Sylvania to Osram. I was wondering if maybe Osram had discontinued the agreement with Philips & just leased the name to Funai. In the last year the big-box stores have filled up with new Sylvania junk.

[andy]

Sylvania is listed on Funai's home page as one of their brands. It looks like they also own the Emerson brand now. I wonder what happened to Orion?

[jstout66]

I'm not sure Andy, but I bought a "higher-end" 13" Toshiba TV/DVD Combo. The damn thing broke within 2 months. (worked fine when I turned it off and the next time I turned it on it was deader than a door nail, except for a loud hum and tripping a circuit breaker) Took the back off to have a look and it had an Orion picture tube in it. Was surprised as I thought Toshiba still used the "Black Stripe" tube branding. So I would guess Orion makes the combo's for Toshiba? Anyway.... took the set back and exchanged it for the same model. Got that set home, and the TV worked but the DVD part was dead. Returned the damn thing and got my money back.

[andy]

Come to think of it, most of the TV/DVD combos I've seen lately were made by Orion. That included Toshiba and RCA. I forgot all about that.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by jstout66

I'm not sure Andy, but I bought a "higher-end" 13" Toshiba TV/DVD Combo. The damn thing broke within 2 months. (worked fine when I turned it off and the next time I turned it on it was deader than a door nail, except for a loud hum and tripping a circuit breaker) Took the back off to have a look and it had an Orion picture tube in it. Was surprised as I thought Toshiba still used the "Black Stripe" tube branding. So I would guess Orion makes the combo's for Toshiba? Anyway.... took the set back and exchanged it for the same model. Got that set home, and the TV worked but the DVD part was dead. Returned the damn thing and got my money back.

For Christmas of 2002, I bought Mom a DVD/VCR combo at sears, the Toshiba model and the VCR record function died. I could play DVD's and tape but cannot record. Don't know when it died, must have been early 2003 because at the time I fell on ice getting out of my truck, cut my left hand open on the pinky side, got stitched, got infected with strep (I almost lost my hand or part of it, got a huge scar, nerve damage and it feels awkward), spent time in the hospital for 5 days including surgery and long therapy sessions. Well during my ordeal, I was going to buy the warranty but I did not go for it since I had to deal with all of this. Well, I took it back to Sears and after talking to them and listened to my story, I was able to return it and get another Toshiba, one that is a little better. Well, at least I had a positive experience although for a little while, I thought I was headed to a fight.

[domfjbrown]

Originally Posted by andy

Come to think of it, most of the TV/DVD combos I've seen lately were made by Orion. That included Toshiba and RCA. I forgot all about that.

You still get Orion stuff here in the UK as well - mainly through Littlewoods catalogues (and the like) and Index (a bit like our Argos catalogue shops on the high streets). I always assumed they were crap...

So Tosh combis are Orions too? What about Samsungs?

I've always been a seperates guy myself

BTW - I had TWO Sony VHS machines in 1996-97 - both of which died (one after the other, both rented machines); I'm willing to BET the mechs in those were Funai - bloody mechanical noise, and the first machine developed noise on the hifi recordings as well. I've NEVER gone near Sony for anything other than MD or TVs since (had bad experience of their DVD and CD players).

As an aside, last time I was at our old school (for a reunion, summer 2004) they STILL had their original 1978 Panasonic top loading VHS - STILL going strong! The only thing that broke on it was the usual belts, and it needed a new head in 1985 IIRC. Now THAT'S craftsmanship! I still miss that "vrrrooooup!" noise the head drum made as the motor for it span up - it used to break through into the audio while the tape was lacing up - pure class!

[veg-o-matic]

I got a Sansui combo VCR/DVD writer. Sansui, mind you. Not that I was expecting a really high-class machine, but imagine my shock when I saw that it was made by Orion!

Orion, couldyoudie?

[andy]

When Sony sold TV/VCR combos, they were made by Goldstar using a Sony CRT. They made the on screen display look like Sony's. They even added a delay to blank the screen for the first 10 seconds after turn on to simulate Sony's auto CRT bias circuit.

[jstout66]

jeezzzz even Sony? I shouldn't be surprised. I know this is somewhat off this topic, but I found out some newer Sony's don't even use a Trinitron tube. They can't even afford to put out the once outstanding quality device they used to. Some of their sets use standard cheap off brand tubes. In another post awhile back I vented on how I returned my new 24" Sony Wega after 3 days because the picture was so AWFUL.

[maxm]

My grandparents have a "Zenith" 19" TV/VCR in their bedroom. The CRT is made by Orion, but I don't know who made the rest of it. It's about 5 years old, and made in Thailand.

I have a Symphonic SE436D VCR from 1996. It was an xmas gift. But amazingly, it is still in use by me 9 years later. And I use it a lot (although it is just one of like 15 VCRs I have as I collect older VHS/Beta VCRs.) Amazingly, this one actually handles the tape much better than some of my VCRs, and the HIFI audio sounds great on it. It even tracks extremely well. But mine seems to be just the exception, not the rule. I don't understand why mine works so well. People have given me so many of those Funai VCRs to fix. Junk... My parents had a spare Symphonic, and it either ate tapes (cheap mode switch problem), the HIFI audio never tracked correctly, and it went into the garbage the day the worm gear on the loading mechanism broke in half.

I also have a Go Video (Goldstar) DVD+VHS combo from 2 years ago that is actually hooked to all my TVs via a video distribution amp. I am actually surprised at that thing too. It was cheaper than other combos in price. Yet it works extremely well. Although right when I bought it, I had to take it back because the DVD drive was dead.

But it seems like most VCRs after the early 90's went to junk. Those older VCRs were real VCRs. I got VCRs older than me that still work great on all original parts aside from new belts and a cleaning. A coworker gave me a 1985 Magnavox (Panasonic clone). A rather feature rich model that has linear stereo with Dolby B noise reduction, microphone inputs, etc. All it needed was a new rubber tire on the idler after all those years. I am surprised that almost all of the prerecorded VHS tapes all have linear stereo with Dolby B, even as of late.