Here's a Color Predicta for ya! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

***Eric H*** · #1 12-28-2005, 06:53 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/Philco-Predicta-...QQcmdZViewItem

Very cool but too pricey for me. Was the Colortrak chassis any good in 98?

jstout66 · #2 12-28-2005, 09:40 PM

they are still available. Altho the prices aren't listed, I believe they are cheaper than this sellers reserve price. He very well may have paid over 2000 in 1998, but I doubt they are that much now. Colrtraks I think were fine in 1998, as long as it isn't that dam CTC-175 (IIRC) chassis. Here's the link to the Predicta site. http://www.predicta.com/index.shtml

David Roper · #3 12-29-2005, 12:27 AM

The one in the auction is not (wrap your head around this phrase) a genuine Predicta reproduction. The current production Predictas are scaled up so that the 25" color screen is in the same proportion to the base as the old 21" b&w screens were. Plus the real new Predictas' knobs are functional.

***Eric H*** · #4 12-29-2005, 02:27 AM

By golly you're right! The Telstar models look more authentic with the green band around the CRT and they actually carry the Predicta name.
So who made this one?

daro · #5 12-31-2005, 05:16 PM

The one on e-bay looks like non Telstar replca predicta because of the very squareish CRT used & the show knobs on the front.

Did you notice in the first season of Stargate Atlantis they were using the classic Philco Predicta's as working props in a couple of episodes.

Then there was the very much fake predicta in American Dreams which was so dodgy in it's very appearence.

Charlie · #6 12-31-2005, 06:19 PM

I have a brochure from the company that made the sets in 98. I am not home right now, so i can't go look. I'll find it tomorrow when I return home. Seems I remember the company being called GCI Electronics... or something like that. They were located in the northeast... possibly New Jersey. I remember the 25" models were roughly 2300.00, and the smaller Princess models were around 1700.00! Back then, I had thought about buying one... until I found out the pricetag!

***Eric H*** · #7 12-31-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie

I remember the 25" models were roughly 2300.00, and the smaller Princess models were around 1700.00! Back then, I had thought about buying one... until I found out the pricetag!

For that much I'd rather buy 5 or 6 original Predictas... Wait a minute, what am I saying, no I wouldn't!

Jonathan · #8 12-31-2005, 07:45 PM

I wouldn't buy a color reproduction. Now if they were exact reproductions of the originals, I can see how they may have some value, but for that? No way I'l wasting my money on that. I'd rather waste it on a TT-5 or a 621TS.

Jonathan

andy · #9 12-31-2005, 09:03 PM

Did you notice in the first season of Stargate Atlantis they were using the classic Philco Predicta's as working props in a couple of episodes.

I was impressed to see working Predictas rather than adding the picture in post-production, or using reproductions. It was funny to see such a recognizable item being used as alien technology. They've shown up a couple of times this year too.

vintagecollect · #10 01-01-2006, 02:21 AM

I was interested in TV, but not when knobs were useless mockups with no function.

The newer ones aren't probaly that much cheaper as custom work for cabinets and modifications to tv are still expensive. Sounds much more aunthentic for a color clone.

kx250rider · #11 01-01-2006, 01:29 PM

There's a dealer for those in Palm Springs, CA. It's a retro store called "The Modern Way" on Hwy 111 at the north end of town. I don't have the phone or web address handy, but they can be looked up by 411 if anybody is interested. He doesn't always have stock on them, so call first.

Charles

Charlie · #12 01-01-2006, 03:08 PM

Okay... I'm home now and found the letter I mentioned earlier. My memory must need some new 6GH8's as it's apparently getting bad... my previous post with prices, company name, and location was way off!

However, I also remember contacting the people at that Predicta website... it's been online for about 5 or 6 years and it's likely that the prices I mentioned earlier could have been from them isntead of the people at CB Electronics.

According to the letter from CB Electronics, their units were being sold at that time for $1445 and $1699... I'm guessing that the lower priced unit is the table model.

Whirled One · #13 01-01-2006, 08:01 PM

Here's a picture of another type of fake Predicta that I saw at Elgin this year. [Well, the Radiofest is not actually in Elgin anymore, but I figure this way more people know the event to which I'm referring...]

Basically it's a 13" color TV / DVD combo unit in a super-fake-fifities-style plastic cabinet. I dunno who actually made this thing; the brand name on it is "RetroVision". The seller had the original box with it; wish I had thought to take a picture of the box, because it was actually more "goofy" than the unit itself. Has anyone here ever seen one of these in stores? Sounds like the sort of thing that would find its way among the fake-old-radios-with-CD-players and other such retrophony, but I've never seen one of these fake sorta-kinda-Predicta-inspired things anywhere else.

On a related note, anyone else remember the RCA UVU from around 1992..? It was a 25" table-model color TV in a black plastic cabinet, but the design was a bit different from the usual run-of-the-mill modern square box TV. The cabinet was more rounded in shape, and the speakers were mounted in these rounded bulges on either side of the picture tube, sort of reminicent of the way the arms mount on the sides of a Predicta's picture tube housing. Sort of made me think of what a Predicta-shaped TV might look like if it was conceptualized today instead of the late 1950's. Also, the UVU had the old round ("meatball") RCA logo prominently printed on its front rather than the modern RCA logo. Really distinctive. I gather it didn't sell very well, though; I think it was intended as a sort of "special edition" model and was priced higher than RCA's other 25" table sets. The funny thing was that I *almost* actually bought one of these; it was fall of 1993, and I was looking for a new TV, and noticed one of these weird RCA's with a "clearance" tag on it at the local Montgomery Wards store. I ended up getting a Zenith instead (I really wanted to get a Zenith at the time...), but sometimes I wonder if I shoulda taken another look at that RCA UVU-- I've never seen another one since then!