GE Widescreen 1000 ad, circa 1979

[jlindsey86]

I dont think I have ever posted in any of the television forums before, I mainly hang out in the Pioneer forum, but I thought this was an interesting TV and wanted to share it with you guys and see if anyone had any info about it. The ad is from the back of a "LIFE" magazine from January, 1979.



Looks quite impressive though there is no telling how much this thing would have cost. I imagine it would be pretty rare to find one today.

[Chad Hauris]

I think this set used a single 13"? color crt rather than the standard 3 projection tubes and that its performance did not measure up to the 3-crt system.

[tgunner]

No sources then were in a widescreen format. Most things would look somewhat stretched on this TV.

[andy]

I don't think it is actually wide screen, it just looks that way because of the camera angle. "Wide screen" has only meant 16x9 in recent years, back then it just meant big.

[rcaman]

that set used a 13" tube capeable of handling 40,000 volt of high voltage. our dentist had one when i checked it out the picture tube was going out and a replacement was about $300.00 my cost he didnt fix it. dont know where it ended up. but it was a big son of a gun. truley something in it,s day. steve

[nasadowsk]

I think this set used a single 13"? color crt rather than the standard 3 projection tubes and that its performance did not measure up to the 3-crt system.

Well, the did state it was GE Performance television

[andy]

Originally Posted by rcaman

that set used a 13" tube capeable of handling 40,000 volt of high voltage. our dentist had one when i checked it out the picture tube was going out and a replacement was about $300.00 my cost he didnt fix it. dont know where it ended up. but it was a big son of a gun. truley something in it,s day. steve

I would hope it had a fine dot pitch CRT too! I'd be curious to see one of these working.

[jlindsey86]

Originally Posted by andy

I would hope it had a fine dot pitch CRT too! I'd be curious to see one of these working.

As would I. It's a very handsome set except for that yellowish colored strip to the right of the screen. They should have used brushed aluminum instead. I wonder what kind of player/rec that is?

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

I think this set used a single 13"? color crt rather than the standard 3 projection tubes and that its performance did not measure up to the 3-crt system.

I worked on one in the early 90s. Had a bad focus divider.Luckily it was still available.The picture was not very bright.The performance didn't measure up imo.The only advantage it had was it didn't have 30 or more convergence adjustments to contend with.I bet the convergence looked really terible if the ring magnets were even slightly off.the GE's 3 tube rear projection model that came out a couple of years later wasn't a great performer either but it was better than the single tube model.That set was a beast. I would hated to have to move one.BTW If I remember right the tube itself was in that box on the right side along with most of the electronics.The lenses and mirrors were in the big box part with the screen.I only worked on and saw 1 set like that.

[Keefla]

Originally Posted by jlindsey86

As would I. It's a very handsome set except for that yellowish colored strip to the right of the screen. They should have used brushed aluminum instead. I wonder what kind of player/rec that is?

ad says its an optional VHS player, musta been an $$ option. And agreed on the brushed aluminum.

[andy]

The VCR looks like a Panasonic. They made GE's VCRs until the late 80's. I've never seen a GE VCR that old though.

[kx250rider]

I've worked on 2 of those... Reilable, but awful picture. We replaced the CRT in one of them. It was a nightmare!

The only thing they did that was smart was to make it with a removable chassis; CRT included. It's inside the leather bench at the right.

Another collector was interested in one of the two that I recalled working on, so I gave him the address. When he got there, the owner had passed away but the TV was still in the house. Still working fine. But it couldn't be removed without taking a window out of the house. So he left it there. This was about 3 years ago.

Charles

[bgadow]

This was at about the height of GE as a TV maker. They seemed to be selling quite a number of sets, at least around here, right up there with RCA & Zenith. I used to run across quite a few broken down GE consoles this age, but never this monster!

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by bgadow

This was at about the height of GE as a TV maker. They seemed to be selling quite a number of sets, at least around here, right up there with RCA & Zenith. I used to run across quite a few broken down GE consoles this age, but never this monster!

Isn't this one of their first sets with VIR? I wonder why that didn't really catch on.

[slow_jazz]

pretty amazing technology at the time. i wonder what it cost new??