RCA Lyceum Colortrac

[jstout66]

A friend gave me a 19" RCA Lyceum Colortrac that was sitting in an office supply warehouse. I have a few questions about it. Were the Lyceum sets for "industrial" use? I thought I may have read that in an old post, that they may have been used in schools and libraries. This set has a ton of odd input jacks in the back, and has the longest, 3 pronged power cord I have ever seen on an electronic piece of equipment. Other than that, it looks like an average 80's set. It's in a woodgrained cabinet, and has the keypad tuner, which is cable ready. It's got an inline tube, and the electronic eye in front. It has a fantastic picture. My other question, It has a 1985 manufacture date in the back. I can't remember when the "real" RCA went under. Is this set one of the last sets they put out or would it be Thompson?

[Whirled One]

You're right about the "Lyceum" sets; that was the name RCA put on sets intended for such markets as schools/education and (I think) industrial markets. [There was also an RCA "Mural TV" line for hotels and hospitals and such; wasn't that name originally used on a line of custom-install sets..?]

Yep, 1985 would probably be the last year for a "real" RCA set before GE took over everything. I don't know what year GE farmed out all of their TV manufacturing to Thompson though. In any case, I'm sure it's not a Thompson set. Cool find though-- it's not often that you see one of those fancier Lyceum sets with all the extra input jacks..!

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by jstout66

My other question, It has a 1985 manufacture date in the back. I can't remember when the "real" RCA went under. Is this set one of the last sets they put out or would it be Thompson?

It would have been a genuine RCA in 1985. I worked for RCA Sarnoff Labs back then. GE took over RCA December 1985, and I got canned in early 1987 when GE decided they didn't need no stinkin' research lab.....

GE sold off RCA's consumer electronics devision to Thompson in 1988 or 89. GE wanted RCA's defense contract work and the NBC TV network, and the other stuff RCA had was equivalent to the stuff in the bottom of the box of stuff containing a desired item but the seller says you gotta take it all.

[jpdylon]

I found a Lyceum Colortrac two years ago for 20 bucks. It was the first set I'd seen with a 3 prong plug. It had 3 a/v inputs, as well as audio input and outputs, speaker outputs, and inputs for strange component video (RBG, Y). I think the date was 1983.

Replaced some Grid resistors on the CRT board and It still gives a great picture. It will probably go another 10 yesr if not more.

Great find!

[andy]

Originally Posted by jpdylon

component video (RBG, Y). I think the date was 1983.

Great find!

If you really want to see a good picture, you should get a DVD player with an RGB output, or a device to convert component to RGB. This will bypass all the chroma and comb filter circuits resulting it the best picture you will ever see on that set. It will look as good as a modern set with a component input. The only US DVD players I've seen with RGB are sold under the "classic" or "mustec" brands. You could probably find one on ebay for $20 or so. There's also a Samsung model that will output RGB if you replace the firmware with the European equivalent.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Classic-DVD-102-...QQcmdZViewItem

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by jpdylon

inputs for strange component video (RBG, Y). I think the date was 1983.


Great find!

As mentioned above, I worked for RCA back then. About that time they had a set that had RGB inputs but those were not normal video, but intended to accept TTL level 1 bit digital input signals. Intended for teletext decoders. To see if your set's RGB inputs are this or are analog, try injecting a luma signal into the G input. If you get a normal looking (except being green and black) picture, then a modified DVD player would work. If you get either all black or patches of green, it's probably the TTL input type.

[jpdylon]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

As mentioned above, I worked for RCA back then. About that time they had a set that had RGB inputs but those were not normal video, but intended to accept TTL level 1 bit digital input signals. Intended for teletext decoders. To see if your set's RGB inputs are this or are analog, try injecting a luma signal into the G input. If you get a normal looking (except being green and black) picture, then a modified DVD player would work. If you get either all black or patches of green, it's probably the TTL input type.

I'll have to give that a shot next time I had the entertainment center apart. Thanks for the info.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Whirled One

You're right about the "Lyceum" sets; that was the name RCA put on sets intended for such markets as schools/education and (I think) industrial markets. [There was also an RCA "Mural TV" line for hotels and hospitals and such; wasn't that name originally used on a line of custom-install sets..?]

Yep, 1985 would probably be the last year for a "real" RCA set before GE took over everything. I don't know what year GE farmed out all of their TV manufacturing to Thompson though. In any case, I'm sure it's not a Thompson set. Cool find though-- it's not often that you see one of those fancier Lyceum sets with all the extra input jacks..!

I worked as a volunteer on my high school's A/V crew in the seventies (1972-75). We had a CCTV system which used an RCA Lyceum TV (25-inch, IIRC) as a control-room monitor when we put our first color channel in the system. Good set with a great picture, even from our old Sony AV and CV-series VTRs (we didn't get our first VCR in the CCTV system until just before I graduated in 1975), but I don't think it was ColorTrak; I remember it had two small push buttons near the VHF channel selector panel. I think one of them may have been for AccuTint, though I'm nowhere near sure of that after all these years (it's been over thirty years since I graduated).

The Lyceum series definitely was genuine RCA, which didn't sell out to Thomson until the mid-1980s (RCA sold the NBC television network to GE in 1986). The NBC television network has not been the same since, but that's another story for another thread.

New RCA TVs (made during the Thomson era) have full automatic color control systems, with contrast/color tracking, etc., but the system is no longer referred to as ColorTrak. I have a Thomson-built RCA manufactured in 1999 which has such a color correction scheme, but there is no name associated with the system that I know of. Today's RCA CRT TVs have a fully-automatic color control system they call Advanced Color View, which I would imagine is the third generation of the former ColorTrak system.

However, I have read in this forum that the early ColorTrak control systems (and those used in other makes of televisions, like Zenith's Color Sentry) were not very good; in fact, in many cases the set owner could do a better job by turning off the automatic system and adjusting the colors, etc. manually. There were several models of GE televisions made in the '70s with a system they called VIR, for Vertical Interval Reference (a term which was then and is now gibberish to most set owners). This was a system which read a special signal the television networks sent in the vertical blanking interval, and used that signal to lock in proper flesh tones, which are the most difficult colors for any color TV to reproduce accurately. If your picture's flesh tones are correct, so will be the rest of the picture. However, VIR did not work nearly as well as GE had hoped (not all stations/networks carried the signal the system keyed on, and I don't think the VIR system itself was that accurate), so after a couple model years it quietly disappeared from all GE TVs.

The modern color correction systems used in Thomson-built RCAs work much better. The system used in my set (CTC185A7, model F19261) is excellent; I haven't had to readjust the on-screen color controls in quite a while (years), even with my old VHS tapes and DVDs.

I think we have finally reached the era of set-and-forget color TV, not a moment too soon. Say what you will about Thomson, but at least they got it right as far as making their sets darn near fully automatic is concerned. They also finally got it right as far as the tuner goes when they started mounting the tuner separately from the rest of the chassis, rather than using an on-board design. My set has an OB tuner which I had to have repaired two months or so after purchase, when the RF port snapped off the tuner PCB; the technician repaired that and also resoldered every ground point around the tuner--the TV has worked flawlessly ever since, almost seven years now. The set even has its original CRT and makes an excellent picture on the cable system in my town. The Indians baseball games are broadcast in HD in Cleveland over the air and on cable. My set, even though analog using a digital cable box (Comcast cable), shows a picture darned nearly as sharp as HD. You can thank the station, and a local cable channel called Sportstime Ohio, for that as they are using state-of-the-art digital equipment to broadcast the games in as high definition as the current state of the art allows.

IMO, there's hope for Thomson yet. The only thing I can't figure out is why it took them so long to correct the tuner issues.

[Chad Hauris]

I think there was one Lyceum model made under Thomson-owned RCA...this one would have been the chassis to come after the Colortrak 2000 model.
When I was in high school in the early 90's around 1993 I can remember helping unpack the new Zenith sets at school. They were wood (particle board) cabinet 25" sets called the "New Horizons" series. They used to always use RCA Lyceums but around this time I think they quit being made.

[AlwaysLyceum]

If you can't tell from my pic, the RCA Lyceum TV is my most favorite TV. I have 2 genuine Lyceum sets, one from 1985 and one from 1987. One I received from my university, and the other was on the side of the road for trash pickup. I’ve had the 1987 set for over a year, and was used as my main TV, and it works perfect—the picture is so crisp! I remember using this TV to watch videos on in 4th grade!! Is anyone else using this TV as their main set? I’m also quite interested in learning more about the crazy, huge input/output panel on the back of the set. I do have a manual, but it’s not really speaking my language. What is that odd VTR plug on the back, and what exactly is the sync plug? It’s not too often to find older TVs with bass/treble controls.

Also, on the same day I received the 1985 Lyceum on the side of the road, I also found a 1986 RCA Colortrak 2000, model USA1986T—basically identical to the RCA Dimensia FKC2601T. The Lyceum and the Dimensia TVs are definitely cousins. The CT2000/Dimensia is a manual I would LOVE to get my hands on. Is there a PDF out there explaining either of these TVs? I’m dying to know what the Text/Graphics input (output?) is on the back. I guess it’s for a teletext decoder—what exactly is that?

The things that people throw away!

A wonderful site…
http://www.cedmagic.com/museum/dimensia/dimensia.html

Look how solid this TV is!!

[nasadowsk]

Weren't some of RCA's ColorTrak TV sets full I/Q demod sets? As were some Panasonics back in the 70's/80's (quadracolor?)

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by nasadowsk

Weren't some of RCA's ColorTrak TV sets full I/Q demod sets? As were some Panasonics back in the 70's/80's (quadracolor?)

I am pretty sure it was the CTC-101, and maybe the CTC-120. Ed (Colortel) knows the answer, so maybe he'll weigh in.

I wasn't aware of the Panasonics! I remember them having good color, but they had pale white face CRTs that I didnt' like for lack of contrast. I'll sift through some Sams for Panasonics and see if I can find details.

Charles

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by AlwaysLyceum

I’m dying to know what the Text/Graphics input (output?) is on the back. I guess it’s for a teletext decoder—what exactly is that?

A wonderful site…
http://www.cedmagic.com/museum/dimensia/dimensia.html

Look how solid this TV is!!

In the early 80s, for a few years, a lot of high-end TVs had extra inputs for computers. Sony had a huge zillion-pin RGB socket on the KX series, with a kit included to make your own plug for your Apple or Commodore computer. RCA I think had the same thing in mind. They had a line of 15" ColorTrak sets in about 1982 or 83 that had that huge jack panel with just about every kind of input and output except gas!

It would be fun to get an old Commodore computer and hook it up to one of those sets, and get an old Z-channel box too!

There are PLENTY of those RCA Dimensia sets still in use. I know of several of the 26" sets, and there's a 40" projection Dimensia at the Turkish consulate in Van Nuys, CA.

Charles

[AlwaysLyceum]

Originally Posted by Kaye-Halbert TV

Sony had a huge zillion-pin RGB socket on the KX series, with a kit included to make your own plug for your Apple or Commodore computer.

Do you think I could find a manual for the Dimensia beast somewhere? I wonder why the Dimensia and Colortrak 2000 are pretty much identical. I read RCA wanted to do away with the Dimensia title due to the closeness of the mental illness.

Do you know any model numbers to a Sony KX series TV? I wouldn't mind learning more.

[kx250rider]

I'll look around for a Dimensia manual, I think I saw one at a TV shop in West LA.

The KX "PROFEEL" component TV series was Sony's flagship line in 1981, and I think up to '83. They came in 3.7" (KX-4200), 12" (KX-1211HG), 19" (KX-1901), and 25" (KX-2501). The monitor was just the monitor, and you could get two versions of matchin tuner boxes for it (VTX1000R and VTX-1100R). Also, you could get all kinds of factory accessories for it including MPX box (sets were stereo-ready but not full stereo), matching stands, and 4 or 5 versions of matching speakers. They were probably among the best TVs ever made, and most are still working. Sadly, the bigger ones are worthless. Saw a free one on CraigsList yesterday....

I put a post here about them a couple months ago:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=63735

I have a 19" and a 25" that I'd let go of for a nominal price, to a good home.

Charles