Widescreen/HD TV; your take on it

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One option some like: take a nice drive along a country road

A lot of people in our area must have had the same idea. When I take a walk in the woods I see places where there are 2-3 traditional TVs abandoned.

My sister bought mom a Vizio flat screen 4 years ago and even though it is only SD I notice that some older TV shows there is too much detail. For example, once I watched a color "Gunsmoke" episode from 1971, late in the series, that you could tell there were Fake Z Bricks. Gunsmoke must have had a very good costume designer, as all the ladies costumes looked good even with the improved detail.

By the way, I always found Westerns rather boring, maybe they were kind of like a soap opera?
 
I still have

a 20" Magnavox tube TV I bought in 1989 (and was assembled right here in TN) that still has a terrific picture.  It's in my sleep room.  Our 31" RCA tube TV that I bought in 2001 started getting dark...meaning if we were watching a scary movie that took place at night, you couldn't see much because it was too black.  Bright shows were still fine.  I couldn't even lighten it up.  But it still worked, and Goodwill wouldn't take it, so we gave it to Tony's nephew to play video games on and last Feb tax time I got us a new 42" LG LED TV.  I didn't want to fork out more money for a new TV stand, so I just engineered our entertainment center that just fit the 31" and screwed some boards to it to mount the TV to.  Looks like it belongs there!  So far we like the LG.  Our bedroom has a 32" Samsung LCD in it that has held up well, other than the "cable disconnected" message that I've read is a common problem...I just switched ports and cables and that went away too.
 
GAMMA......

.... in practice, compresses or stretches blacks according to where it's set. To see what it does and whether you like it, you need a static scene that is overall dark. For the most part, you don't need (to alter) it. If there is important picture data in the darks, the director of photography should have exposed them where they're visible or fixed it in post. Detail in black can also appear as noise you may not want to see.

Honestly, I think that some of the settings offered by digital signal processors are just there because the chipset makes them available at no extra cost, and gives obsessive (retentive) users something to fiddle whilst imagining how much better theirs looks than their neighbors'.

A clearer example would be settings for 'noise reduction'. Um, digital video doesn't HAVE noise. If one sees what one thinks is noise, pretty safe bet the artist meant for it to be there. But if the owner doesn't like it, 'there's an app for that'. (eyeroll)
 
We were over at a friends last night and we were house sitting for the evening while they were out of town. They have a Sony Bravia 50 inch HDTV connected to DirecTv, We watched a few television programs on it while we were there. Initially we noticed the improved picture. But after about 10 minutes, it didn't seem that special. Sure it was nice seeing a program on a big screen, but my question at the end was it worth it spending big bucks for a television that you hardly notice the improvement on? For my purposes out 32" Sony Wega CRT set fits the bill. But that unit finally totally died now.

I think that we are going to try and get a Panasonic 40 incher that will fit in our entertainment center. So far that seems to fill our needs pretty well on a price/performance basis.
 
I guess that is kind of the point I was trying to make...

You get this new television and now you see all the entire show, "warts and all" like the fake bricks on Gunsmoke - did you really want to see that? It actually distracts from the story. Which brings up how are shows today going to stick to a budget? Makeup and hairstyle and costumes are going to be more expensive and what do they do about sets? I am sure that back in 1971 the set designer never dreamed that people today would be looking at fake bricks and that he would have to hire a real bricklayer. Sometimes the definition is so clear I actually see a few hairs on top of Dr. Phil's head! I wonder if he knows that.
 
I know that when HD sets first appeared on the market a lot of shows were using blue in the set design of HD shows. Why? It just looks better in HD.

I haven't noticed fake bricks yet, but my HD viewing experience is limited to under 6 hours so far.
 
After dinner I dreamed I was in a 3 Stooges stage performance. As Curly. But that's just me.

If the 23" WEGA (CRT) still worked I wouldn't have replaced it. The 19" Emerson was a poor substitute; besides being almost 20% smaller it was overscanned whereas the Sony displayed the entire 4:3 image dead-balls accurate. It's an industry term. (My Cousin Vinny.)

But note! After 15 years of inflation, the old/smaller Sony cost almost a third more than the HD/widescreen new one. As much as I relish complaining, just can't manage to squawk about that.

Can/do squawk about GRIEVOUS transposition errors among standards but that was inevitable. With the 'wide' button you can find a tolerable display of most anything.
 
I have to laugh because until about ten years ago. I was using one of these. A fully vaccum tubed Magnavox from 1972. It was a set that a "customer" of sorts gave up on and gave it to me in 1977. I was around 8 years old. I kept it running until the Horizontal Output tube got too expensive and I just couldn't justify putting another one in it. I had to pull it down once a year for maintenence. I still have the set in storage and every now and then I still miss that set.

The color on this set was incredible, much much more to true to life than to today.

 
>I still have the set in storage and every now and then I still miss that set.

In your position, I'd be tempted to revive the set. Given the maintenance, it might not be something one might want to use every day, of course. Wear out a cheap modern set on watching news and talk shows!

>The color on this set was incredible, much much more to true to life than to today.

Interestingly, some graphic art types held onto CRT monitors longer than the rest of us, citing IIRC color quality.
 
horizontal output tube

If your old Magnavox uses a common type I might have one in stock used. I bought up all the used tubes I could find at garage sales as when I started repairing sets tube and hybrid sets were still common so had to have lots around for repairs.
My favorite sets as far as picture and reliability were Zeniths back in the day. Magnavox did make a pretty nice looking solid state set in the 80's as I rebuilt and sold a few and gave one to my parents.
The earliest working color set I had was a 61 RCA or something similar with a round tube, earliest b/w set was a 47 13 inch Dumont.
 
Reply #47 and 49

Thanks for posting the Youtube Magnavox ad, enjoyed it!

"My favorite sets as far as picture and reliability were Zeniths back in the day." - Terry, I think you're right. My dad bought a Zenith monster size tv/am/fm/TT stereo console (walnut with Danish finish and set off the floor with legs. It was a great stereo, great tv, and I wish I could find one like it again.

I like using both flat and crt screens, depending on what you're watching, as someone mentioned many times here in the aw.org pages.
 
@lordkenmore and dartman,

It uses a 6JE6, but the bigger problem was having to replace the damper (6DW4) AND the HO tube at the same time, that was a requirement, if one went, you had to replace the other one. It was pretty much mandatory according to every tech I talked to, the set had been rebuilt, properly adjusted, caps replaced, etc.

And for some reason, I couldn't keep the video output tube in it, (12HG7 I think) that was another problem area. I could count on replacing that one every 18-24 months. I suspect though I might gotten a bad batch (I had bought essentially a case, all the same brand. Earlier tubes lasted about three years).
 
I always just replaced the bad tubes, but some sets just weren't designed as well so things just didn't last as long.
I've got a couple of Beltron CRT rejuvinaters I used to use regularly, quite a few pro and military tube testers, and used to keep dead chassis and common parts around to replace bad parts cheaply.
Never heard you had to replace everything in the hv circuit and those tubes usually lasted a long time with the horizontal output tubes going out first.
More then likely still have one of those in my boxes out in my mini barns loft.
The tube sets suck power and eventually bake themselves to death anyways. A newer solid state set with a CRT would run cooler and last longer if properly designed.
All of my last CRT sets were solid state, the biggest one is that 34" Toshiba HD set. Mom had a 36" Sony that weighed 260 pounds.
I had to rejuvenate the tube and it looked great for about a year then went flat again. Sony tubes never held up well in their big sets and they usually didn't clean or rejuvenate well either.
A Zenith made CRT would rejuvenate well then play like new a very long time if done carefully. Very easy to over do it and kill the tube.
 
We had a round tube Zenith color tv growing up that worked fine until the early 80's, when picture went dark and was replaced with an RCA Colortrac, long after I moved out. The fine details seen on todays big screens would never matter to my family as long as the tv set works and its got reception, Relatives had one of the same Magnavox console models in the video.
 
6JE6/6LQ6 tubes,6DW4 tubes.These can still be found.The first two were common in some low cost "Ham" linear RF power amps.A few very high power audio amps use the 6JE6/6LQ6 tubes in their output stage.6 of these will develop like 350W RMS!Some OTL audio power amps used them,too.6DW4 was used in some power supplies for the sweep tube linears as rectifier tubes-so still used together!Many TV techs replaced both tubes as precaution to prevent callbacks.Cheaper in the long run.I often did this.Look for the 6LQ6/6JE6 and 6DW4 in "Ham" radio parts sites.Often they are there.Tubed sets can run cooler if they are given room to "breathe" often folks shoved them too close to the wall and put other furniture around the set-this caused the tubed set to overheat-in rare cases even catch fire!GIVE THEM ROOM!!!and they are fine.Elcom-Baur used to use 6CD6 tubes in the RF driver stages of their older AM transmitters.5Kw,10Kw.The sweep tube drove a single 4CX5000 or a pair of them depending on power output.Nice sturdy transmitters!
 
My parents always had Zenith sets, we did too for that matter until 1991. That was when Zenith was taken over by Samsung. That set had a power supply problem at least once per year. It finally caught fire one night while we were sleeping.I think it was about five years old when that happened. Then the brand disappeared completely.

My parents had a 65 Zenith 25", a 72' Zenith 25" and finally a 1981 25". The 65 set would need the rectifier tube replaced annually. But the other sets were bullet proof. It seemed like most sets in the 60's were Zenith or RCA's with a sprinkling of GE and Magnavox thrown in. I didn't see many people with GE or Sylvania color sets. Anyone remember the great GE color TV radiation scare?
 
My Mom used to have a 1950's Zenith metal cabinet "bucket" model table set.Us kids had to watch the green screen Hoffman in the basement when the Zenith was new.If a special show came on that everyone wanted to watch-we could see it on the Zenith!MUCH better than the Hoffman.The Zenith as far as I know was opened only once--by me to clean the tuner contacts(eary 70's).All the tubes in the set were Zenith marked.That TV ran for over 20yrs on its orig tubes!The set was traded in during the early 70's for an RCA Colortack.Sort of missed the Zenith-monochrome horror-sci fi movies looked so good on it!Watched a lot of lae night monochrome TV in the early 70's.Now watch those shows from DVD-Too bad I don't have a monochrome TV like that Zenith!It was a tough ol' set!!Esp to last thru us kids later!Lots of hours put on it.Zenith ran their tubes and parts conservativly so their life was longer than other TV's.The RCA died in Florida from a bad lightening strike-was replaced by another one.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. If I dig the set again, I'll take the advice. I think I need to a closer look at the video output section and go through the resistors/caps again to make sure that my tube eating issue there is not related to failing components. It was rebuilt in the 80's.

No joke about the heat. I didn't have to run the heater in the winter in that room when I was running that set.
 
>That set had a power supply problem at least once per year. It finally caught fire one night while we were sleeping.I think it was about five years old when that happened. Then the brand disappeared completely.

Evidently, Zenith quality was no longer going into before the name went on...
 
>until 1991. That was when Zenith was taken over by Samsung.

I think it was LG (although then they were using Goldstar--at least, that was a common name then, and that was the name I seem to recall from articles in the era).

I remember the buy-out--last company to be bought out sort of thing. Sort of sad... But I guess times changed, and no matter what happened, Zenith wouldn't have been able to make the same products it made in the 1960s.
 

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