Vintage TV's, a new hobby?

[Kevinpreston3]

Speaking of slides....

Here's an odd one. Chalk this one up to one of those things that some people probably will not believe!

My uncle in the 70s had a big console TV. I believe it had a stereo built into it too. Anyways, it was a long cabinet affair with a good sized TV in it.

Here is the unbelievable part. There was some sort of mechanism in it that let you SHOW SLIDES ON THE TV!

No, he did not project slides onto the screen. The unit did it somehow. I don't know if he used a standard projector or interfaced something else to it. All I remember is he was able to show his slides on the TV screen.

Is that bizarre or what? I hadn't thought of that in years...now this conversation (no not the water pipe part of the thread!) got me thinking about it.

 

[veg-o-matic]

I've never seen one in person, but I believe the slide-shower TV was a Sylvania.
Anyone remember what they called it? I'm sure it was something funky!

veg

 

[dalangdon]

Slide Shows on TV's

I worked for the University of Iowa's cable channel when I was in College, and there was some sort of gizmo we used to cablecast slides. It amounted to a slide projector with a video camera pointed at the lens. I can't remember the name of it, but it was something sort of kitschy.

That must have been quite a high-end setup to have something like that included in it, but I imagine there were quite a few well paid professionals (doctors, photographers, etc) that would find such a feature mighty handy.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Sylvania is right!

Thank you for that memory jog. It absolutely was a Sylvania. I remember that clearly. Time to do some research!!!!

 

[tolivac]

At a PBS station in Rapid City S. Dak-the station had a film-slide projector chain at the TV station.also called "film Islands"The operator could select which projector he wanted to show on the air by using a soleniod operated mirror or prism to select the projector to show into the film chain camera.These were standard color or Monochrome studio cameras modified with the special screen-lens assembly required for use with the slide or film projector. The one I used had 2 16MM film projectors and 2 slide projectors.At other stations they had a pair of 35MM projectors as well-thats how the station could show some feature movies on the air.Now all these cool devices have been replaced by digital still storage devices and video storage devices(hard drives)
I would be interesting -indeed-to see the slide projection device in the sylvania TV.At that time-it would be expensive.

 

[kenmore1978]

films

Remember those coordinated film strip/record player setups in schools?

And "overhead projectors"?

 

[jasonl]

YES

They used those up until the 70s. In the 80s, it was mostly cassette/slide projector combos. The record or cassette would use some kind of beep or boop to signal the projector to advance the slide.

It was always a treat to walk into the classroom and see the projector setup or the TV (usually a Zenith) in the front of the class. It was like YAY! No work today! Woohoo.

By the late 80s, most of the record players and movie projectors were gone. It was VCRs and cassette players.

 

[tolivac]

Filmstrip projectors

Yes--remember those-beleive a company called "Graflex" built the majority of them.Remember one of those machines in a college reading class I had to take.--there was no record or tape to go with the filmstrip-was used for reading training and practice.The projector would project the film onto the screenhad text on the film-a shutter in the projector revealed the words as it ran-I could read and comprehend the text at the max speed of the machine-the instructor then let me use the class as a study hall.Was great to play with the projector though-he let me play around with one while others in the class used another for their reading lessons.I thought the fimlstrips and projectors were still around and used.Good for safety equipment "demos" and quizzes.
I too liked the fimstrip programs-some instructors were really BAD "projectionists"Sometimes they would let a student serve as a "projectionist"

 

[jasonl]

I remember in a reading class way back in the 70s, a filmstrip projector that would automatically flip through the frames rapidly so the students could repeat the words on the screen. It was silver in color and had the letters EDI on the back of it.

I also remember one called "Audix" or something like that. The filmstrips were in a little plastic cartridge that was loaded up. Once on the start frame, you turn on the built-in cassette and it was automatically advance. I remember something like a click or a snap when it would RAPIDLY advance. Then at the end of the flimstrip, it would automatically rewind "click click click click click". I was more fascinated with the machine than with the subject matter of the filmstrip.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Here it is....

This is my uncle's TV! A great guy emailed me about this thread. If you join the site, you can see a pic of the TV.

This is the exact one, it is all coming back.

KP

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audiokarma.org

 

[kenmore1978]

Uncle's Sylvania

Time to get in touch with that long-lost Uncle.

 

[drmitch]

Kevin

My TVs on there too!

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www.audiokarma.org

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Kenmore....

You know the funny thing is he is not long lost. However, he lives in North Carolina and I am in California. Big question is whether he still has it or not.

My parents fly out to see him and my other uncles who all live nearby every year. Next time they go out I am going to ask them to ask him about it.

My whole family is the kind that likes to hang onto things and keep them in excellent condition. My mom still has her 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood with like 95,000 miles on it, you have seen that I still have our family Zenith from 1965, and I bet he still has that TV in his den, if he moved it from Illinois. He may have left it behind, not sure.

On a related note, my parents still have their huge 1959 Curtis Mathes Hi Fi with record player, magic eye in the tuner, and the record player that as the needle moves to go to the record a brush automatically flips up to clean the needle!

I can get pictures of that next time at my parents if anyone is interested.

KP

 

[kenmore1978]

Uncle

Dont leave it up to a "third party", get on the phone and talk to him. Then casually work the Sylvania into the conversation, and at least get a promise of you getting it if he ever gets rid of it andn to take good care of it while he has it. Might mitigate that famous line, "I just got rid of it last month, didn't think anyone wanted it"

 

[tolivac]

Curtis Mathes Stylus cleaner

I would be interested in seeing how the CM stylus cleaner works.Never heard of that on an automatic TT before.Would love to see how it works.

 

[spiralactivator]

Rounded screens

I've always wondered about those screens with the rounded corners (or the porthole screens on certain '50s TVs). Is the picture distorted to fit the screen, or is it cut off at the edges?

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Misc answers

Spiral----

It cuts the image off. My new (well one year old) Predicta does that too, but not nearly as bad--and that is more of a bezel issue. Yes, they make brand new Predictas, and they are awesome.

Tolivac--it seems to me that is it purely mechanical, connected to the play arm as it makes its first pickup and movement to the record/record stack. It is cool to watch. Of course, when you grow up with something, you think that thing is everywhere, and then you are surprised how rare it is (like the slide playing TV).

Their CM is stunning. I know this sounds hard to believe, but it looks new. The doors covering the record player, which comes out on a drawer, and the controls and tuner, are tambour, and the green "tuning eye" is amazing.

This of course will go into "The Collection" when they no longer want it.

 

[tolivac]

kevinpreston3-The CM Hi-Fi sounds REALLY nice-Is it stereo?Bet it sounds really good.Can its tuner recieve FM?I haven't seen many CM sound systems.Only one that I could remember-and it isn't the same scale as yours.Was pretty plain.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

CM Comments

I am going a bit on memory, as I have not gone into their den and really looked at it for a while.

I don't think it's stereo, I think it predates that. This was one of the first BIG things my parents ever bought, I think it was 1959, I will ask this weekend when I see them.

It has AM and FM. It also has a "multiplex" setting...or I think that is what it is. Not sure what it does.

The control knobs are in this beatiful gold plate. They are brown and gold. The "tuning eye" glows green in the middle of the tuner scale. This eye lights in greater area in proportion with the strength of the signal.

The turntable comes out on a drawer and is on springs. There are beautiful gold tabs that stick up on either front corner, one controls the 16/33/45/78 speed setting, and the other has a manual and auto setting. If you push that tab to manual, it turns the table on and you move the arm to the record yourself. If you push it to auto, it will drop the record and put the needle on the record itself...after of course, it is swiped by the brush that pops up.

The speaker cloth is an interesting mesh, and it's original. They also have the original 45 rpm spindle adapter and its box! Needless to say, this turntable has the high spindle that holds the records up, even in a stack.

I will take pics this weekend if you like.

 

[kenmore1978]

Curtis Mathes Multiplex

Stereo, at least for records, was introduced about 1957. In some of the early consoles, FM "Multiplex" (Stereo) was an option, just as UHF tuners were in TV sets. My Grandparent's Packard Bell "Early American) style console (no TV) had the optional FM Stereo tuner AND a "Reverb" setting (that never worked). The multiplex part was a separate small chassis that plugged into the main tuner chassis using RCA jacks