History of max CRT sizes?

[yagosaga]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

It seems like 23" was the standard for the largest rectangular screen color sets from 1964-1973 or so and then the more rectangular 25" took over then in popularity.

In my collection I have a rectangular 26" hybrid color tv set from 1969 with a 90 degree CRT, and since 1971, the 27" CRTs had 110 degree CRTs. Especially the 27" 110° monster Tv sets by Philips in 1971 had a power consumption of more than 400 watts:
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/photoalbum42.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/photoalbum16.html

[Giulio Maiocco]

Hi,

Maybe this isn't the right forum, if so, please feel free to delete this reply

I have an Italian set with a 27RP4.. That thing is huge and very heavy (about 80 Kilos). At the time the set was introduced (1956), it costed as two cars. Two problems actually don't let me use it:

1- It doesn't pass through the doors
2- It is missing the flyback

If someone, just for laughs, want to see some photos, just let me know

Cheers

Giulio Maiocco

[yagosaga]

Originally Posted by Giulio Maiocco

If someone, just for laughs, want to see some photos, just let me know

Oh, I am curiously and hungry for photos.

[Sandy G]

Welcome Giulio, to our merry band of TeeVee nutz here on AK ! Yeah, I think I speak for all of us-We'd LOVE to see pics of yr "baby"...What other ones do you have? When did TV start in Italy? What about color? When did you guys get color? Are you PAL or SECAM? You'll prolly get allsorts of questions...<grin>-Sandy G.

[Giulio Maiocco]

Hi Yagosaga and Sandy G,

thanks for the warm welcome, it is very appreciated.

No problem for the photos, when I come back from work this evening I will post two or three photos of the monster (oh, it has also a wire remote control!!). Now I have about 15 TV sets, mainly late '50 Italian sets, but I have also a Saba projection set with a MW6/2 CRT and a '54 Geloso TV (the first year of TV in Italy). At the moment I have no TV color sets, as color TV here in Italy started pretty late, 1976 or 1977 if I remember right, so no tube type color TV sets were produced... The Italian color standard is PAL and I think that if my aunt, that lives in Chicago IL, find a color TV set (and I want one, maybe roundie ), I will have some problems to have it working with our standard.

If you have any other questions, please ask, I will be more than happy to answer

Giulio Maiocco

[Giulio Maiocco]

Hi guys,

here are the photos of my Italian 27" I promised. Let me know what do you think about it. The set is complete, except the flyback and it uses a parallel of 6AV5's as line output and a pair of 6W4's as a damper. The vert. output is a...6SN7!! From what I can tell, the chassis could be of American idea

Thanks

Giulio Maiocco

[Giulio Maiocco]

Hi,

A little update, especially for you Yagosaga:


I met Avalon1308 on sunday (very very nice guy!! ) and I showed him the beast, he was really surprised for the phisical dimensions. He brought his two tube testers and the 27RP4 turned out very weak.. Doh!! I showed also my working projector, the tube seems healthy still!!

Just let me know what do you think about the baby in the photos

Giulio Maiocco

[Sandy G]

Suh-weet ! Very American looking set-could easily pass for a Zenith or RCA or Motorola of the era. Maybe there's someplace in the EU that rebuilds CRTs-maybe they're even still making that size in the old Comblock somewhere. This stuff has a way of turning up in the oddest places...Have you gone thru it & replaced the caps? That is usually the first order of business bringing one of these old beasts back to life.-Sandy G.

[David Roper]

Not as tall as a side-by-side fridge, but I'll bet it takes up darn near the floorspace!

[Giulio Maiocco]

Hi Sandy G and TDRyan,

I'm happy you have seen the beast.. I personally like it (especially the look)very much.

Sandy G: I'm recapping it, it has about 25 paper capacitors and a few electrolytics, but this shouldn't be the hard part. The biggest problem is to find another flyback (missing from the chassis), but this model was produced in only 100 pieces... If the picture tube turns out to be not useable as is, I certainly (sp?) will search for a tube rebuilder, it's a shame not to use it just for the almost dead CRT..

TDRyan: The beast is 90 cm deep, 1 meter long and 1,40 meter tall, so it isn't an easy task to move it, as a fridge

I will keep you up to date with the progress!!

Giulio Maiocco

[domfjbrown]

Maybe the secret of the Dumont's success is Vacu-seal??

40" CRTs though - that's a scary amount of glass/vacuum to have in a room...

[andy]

I just picked up a 38" wide screen CRT set from the side of the road (with a lot of help from a friend!). It's probably the widest CRT ever made.

[David Roper]

Yes, again, the Royal Sovereign had not a 40", but a 30" round tube. That's two-and-a-half feet diameter. I read once that Dr. Du Mont said around the time of the Sovereign that he would next develop a 42" inch direct-view CRT, but that never happened. In fact, nobody even knew if he was serious.

[Chad Hauris]

Originally Posted by andy

I just picked up a 38" wide screen CRT set from the side of the road (with a lot of help from a friend!). It's probably the widest CRT ever made.

Andy is that an RCA HDTV set? We used to have one when I worked at a radio and TV station that was converting to digital TV. I remember having to lift that thing on to a table and man was it heavy, even with help! This is the first report of a wide screen set landing in the trash yet I have heard of. Hope it's not too bad of a fix.

[andy]

Yes, it's an RCA DTV306. It's easily the heaviest set I've worked on. Even a 35" 4:3 set isn't quite as bad to move. It was next to the dumpster at an RCA dealer in town. It's only 3 years old and has already been trashed. $4000 doesn't buy what it used to. There's no evidence that anyone even took the back off before they junked it. I wonder if they were displosing of it for the customer after delivering a new TV, or if it had been taken in for repair? They trash a lot of nice TVs. I don't bother with that many TVs now because my family has all it wants and no one will buy a used TV any more.

It has no horizontal deflection and only about 4" of vertical. It's a complex set with about 5 power supplies and separate horizontal and HV output circuits. I suspect that one of its many micro controllers isn't doing what it should be because it runs the HV supply all the time. I might have to get a service manual for this one.