My RCA beam-index color viewfinder is HERE!!

[rca2000]

I got the camera today. It came with a nice bag, 2 rf cords(which WILL find other uses, )and a movie light. The camera looks like it has seen little use.

As for the EVF, it is a BIG thing!! a box, probably about 2" thick, and about 5" square!! And the crt takes up VERY little of that!! This thing is PACKED with circuitry!! there are THREE boards in it, in a sandwich format. Each one, is about 3-1/2" by 4-1/2". One has 2 SMD chips on it, of decent size. I figure, if it was one board, it would probably be about 10" square!! The bottom board has the flyback and deflection ckty, and some video, the middle board looks like the index control board, and the top one is probably video abd chroma, as it has controls on it, for tint, contrast and color.

As for the CRT, it is in a sleeve, hiding most of the 'goodies" on it(such as the index pickup sensors and such. )I will try to remove it, IF i can do so safely. I do NOT want to ruin it. The cover has a notice claiming 7.5 KV, for the anode, on a 1.5" tube!!

I WILL get you all some pictures of this thing. I CANNOT guarntee how good they will be, as my camera sucks. i will do my best, maybe someone can "enhance" them.

I have not "lit if off", yet, as I need to dig up that old portable vcr in the basement(which has been there for about 10 years or so, it may be as dead as a stone, for all I know, but the basement is ehated and cooled, so, It MAY be salvageable. )I am eager to do so, though!!

[Kamakiri]

So what the devil is this thing, Jack?

[rca2000]

Her eis ONE picture of the "innards".

[Richard D]

Hi Jack, I just got my RCA viewfinder today as well, and of course after testing it(it works fine) I took it apart and took some snapshots, they are posted right above your post. Mine had similar in red ink warning about 7.5 kv for the anode and for X-Ray protection blah blah blah. I think mine is from 1982 or 83. Same tube thats in my Panasonic CT101 TVs.

[rca2000]

AS you can (maybe) see, this CRT is NOT a normal shadow-mask type, NOR is it a Beam-index typle like in the sony vidimagic, that has a green index phospor on the back of the main one, and has a green glow behin the screen from that index phospor, for the photocells on the bell of the tube. NOT on this one. There is NOTHING on the bell, and there are 2 photocells in FRONT of the CRT-- with some kind of box behind a mirror that they must connect to. I surmise, that SOMEHOW, they "read where the beam is," and therefore, send that information to the control ckty, to activate the gun for the proper color. This seems to me to ba a VERY rube-goldberg method!!

ALSO-- MINE has 3 circuit borads, and is probably a bit older than RIchard's is("early" production, perhaps)

[rca2000]

My camera works, too, as I have now hooked it up to my old clunker vcr portable. The vcr will power the camera ok, but the tape will not play(the take-up reel is not turning, idlers all dried-up). The camera works on all functions, as far as I can tell, but needs a fair amount of light to turn off the "light low" warning in the VF. Auto focus works pretty well, and the MOS pickup seems perfect. Zoom works pretty well, and AF responds to it fine. ( I DO have the owners manual with this!)

Anyhoo, about the color VF-- the color is NOT as good as a "normal" in-line crt would be, IMO. (with as much circuitry as is in this thing, it would seem to me that a normal crt setup would had been a better idea.) BUT-- the REALLY funny thing is, that if I place my finger in front of ONE of the sensors in front of the screen of the crt, the color gets all "weird". If I place it in front of BOTH-- the color turns into "confetti", as I assume the index system does not know where the beam is!!

My tube is plenty bright(too much so, IMO), and has plenty of life left, I imagine. I doubt this thing has seen much use, ever.