chromacolor
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2006
- Messages
- 137
Sort of....
On Motorola color sets, the Motorola branded tube sets were ALL junk. Then they got in the "solid-state" game early and those sets were branded "Quasar *by Motorola" The picture quality wasn't as bad as those on the Motorola tube chassis sets, but the Quasars used HUGE modules that were trouble-prone and expensive to replace. They called this "works in a drawer". We repairmen called it "junk in a drawer" after 74 they used up the stock and were mostly made in the US, but I think by 1976 they were rebadged Panasonics.
Curtis Mathes sets were never that good and mostly were rebadged NEC sets. They had a great gimmick tho. They had the longest warranty and in advertising used the slogan "expensive and darn well worth it". In reality they were expensive because you paid out the ass for that warranty.
Since I'm a TV nerd, another brand that was expensive and pure junk during that time-frame was Magnavox. Magnavox purchases were usually made by the lady of the house, because they had the most beautiful cabinets on a console set. Expensive cabinets and the junkiest "innards" in electronics.
There are exceptions to every brand out there. I'm sure a few of those troublesome sets ran for years, and some of the top ones probably cranked out some lemons, but for the most part, for reliability, you always went with Zenith or RCA.
On Motorola color sets, the Motorola branded tube sets were ALL junk. Then they got in the "solid-state" game early and those sets were branded "Quasar *by Motorola" The picture quality wasn't as bad as those on the Motorola tube chassis sets, but the Quasars used HUGE modules that were trouble-prone and expensive to replace. They called this "works in a drawer". We repairmen called it "junk in a drawer" after 74 they used up the stock and were mostly made in the US, but I think by 1976 they were rebadged Panasonics.
Curtis Mathes sets were never that good and mostly were rebadged NEC sets. They had a great gimmick tho. They had the longest warranty and in advertising used the slogan "expensive and darn well worth it". In reality they were expensive because you paid out the ass for that warranty.
Since I'm a TV nerd, another brand that was expensive and pure junk during that time-frame was Magnavox. Magnavox purchases were usually made by the lady of the house, because they had the most beautiful cabinets on a console set. Expensive cabinets and the junkiest "innards" in electronics.
There are exceptions to every brand out there. I'm sure a few of those troublesome sets ran for years, and some of the top ones probably cranked out some lemons, but for the most part, for reliability, you always went with Zenith or RCA.