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HellsKitchenmanNYC

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I'm very excited! I was online looking for replacement parts for my original table top model and I ran across this:The Official Predicta Television Site! I almost had a stroke I was so excited!:biggrin1:

PS my birthday isn't till Rocktober so y'all have plenty of time to save up! I'll take the Corona model. :D
 
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D_Tintagel_Demondong

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This is so...

~ahems~

New York. :tongue:

I like the Debutante. I wouldn't be willing to give up me DVI-HDMI hookup to my HDTV, but it might make a nice kitchy conversation piece. I have photos that I can scan of old radios and TV's (with no solid state at all) that I used to fix. They were like furniture. Beautiful cabinets. They predate this style, but I can appreciate the design. I'd be looping some '50's country or rockabilly (true rockabilly, not the wannabes) on that thing.
 

vince

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My grandparents had a Philco that looked like the Danish Modern model. By the seventies it was consigned to the the cottage/guest house. Being black and white us kids wrote it off as obsolete and un-cool. I don't what happened to it in the end. Maybe it's in the attic since my cousin never throws any thing away.
 

D_Tintagel_Demondong

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My grandparents had a Philco that looked like the Danish Modern model. By the seventies it was consigned to the the cottage/guest house. Being black and white us kids wrote it off as obsolete and un-cool. I don't what happened to it in the end. Maybe it's in the attic since my cousin never throws any thing away.
Black and whites were still very common when I was a kid. Since they had no pixels (just raster lines), they were much more clear than color TV's. I'd watch hockey on them and you could actually see the puck. I loved old monster and kung fu movies, which were mostly black and white, so I never asked for a color TV. I had a 14 incher when I was 12.
 

HellsKitchenmanNYC

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Black and whites were still very common when I was a kid. Since they had no pixels (just raster lines), they were much more clear than color TV's. I'd watch hockey on them and you could actually see the puck. I loved old monster and kung fu movies, which were mostly black and white, so I never asked for a color TV. I had a 14 incher when I was 12.

They were very common when I was a kid too. Considering most tv was still black and white well into the 60s it's no surprise theres alot of them around.
 

jason_els

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It would be great if they made HDTVs. It looks like their site hasn't been updated in a while. Are they still in business?
 

pym

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Those reproductions look like fun........though it should be noted that cosmetics aside, they are very different internally from the originals.
Starting with the fact that original 50's vintage models were Vacuum tube Analog circuits.
This is NOT replicated in the reproductions. It's a convincing look-alike though.
Having restored MANY vintage vacuum tube Amplifiers and a few old televisions and the like, i can tell you a few things regarding true vintage models from the 50's and 60's.
First and foremost.....should you come across one of the older units in an attic somewhere......DO NOT just plug it in!
First off, an original unit of that vintage will have an un-grounded 2 prong electrical cord. On the HOT-LEAD side of that cord.....just inside the chasis will be what is known to Vintage sluts like myself as the "DEATH CAP". These were installed years ago to provide a floating ground, that all the circuits could be commonly GROUNDED to. These caps{Capacitors} will have certainly failed, and will put the chasis at 110 volt potentials. Touch any part of that tv in your bare feet, and you could be KILLED. This has actually happened to the Guitarist from STONE THE CROWS in the early 70's for exactly the same reason. He was killed dead. This is easily prevented by installing a replacement 3 prong power cord with the GROUND connected to the chasis.
Also all the Power supply Filtering Electrolytic capacitors will have dried up internally decades ago and present an eminent short circuit fire hazard! They also must be replaced! Before powering up the unit!
Furthermore.....any and all diodes in these units will be PRE silicon era devices, GALENA and Germanium types that are also a weakpoint in circuits and need to replaced with modern era SILICON diode replacements.
Also being a CRT{cathode ray tube} it will have a flyback transformer with somewhere in the neighborhood of between 5 and 25 THOUSAND volts connected to the picture tube!
Also all the internal vaccum tubes will have in the area of 200 to 500 volts on there respective anodes.
Surprisingly the vacuum tubes themselves that were made in that era may still be good! The best tubes ever made were manufactured from the 40' thru the 70's.
The CRT{screen} is gonna be hit or miss depending on how many hours the TV had on it originally. It is a cathode device....and all cathodes eventually deplete{stop emitting electrons, thermionically}
These old units are a joy for a guy like me to restore......but not to be adventured into litely.......they can and have KILLED unskilled amatuer repairman!
And so.......NEVER plug an older unit into the wall that has been lying dormant for decades......Chances are you will destroy a potentially restorable unit.
I am available for questions regarding old electronic projects.
 
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D_Tintagel_Demondong

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Furthermore.....any and all diodes in these units will be PRE silicon era devices, GALENA and Germanium types that are also a weakpoint in circuits and need to replaced with modern era SILICON diode replacements.

You don't need solid state in any old TV. You can probably find old tubes online. You can also get old tubes custom made. I prefer to avoid solid state whenever possible.

Also being a CRT{cathode ray tube} it will have a flyback transformer with somewhere in the neighborhood of between 5 and 25 THOUSAND volts connected to the picture tube!

Hmmm. Are you trying to scare people away from old TV's? The CRT needs a very high voltage for the electron guns. Even a TV from the '80's will have this kind of voltage.

Also, the CRT won't get "poisoned" from disuse. Loss of vacuum is the main concern. I wish that I could find an antique or classic TV that has hardly been used!

These old units are a joy for a guy like me to restore......but not to be adventured into litely.......they can and have KILLED unskilled amatur repairman!

I've been working with them since I was 13. If it's unplugged, and you avoid all capacitors, then it's totally safe.

And so.......NEVER plug an older unit into the wall that has been lying dormant for decades......Chances are you will destroy a potentially restorable unit.

Sometimes the dialectric leaks, but I don't find this too common. If a cap is blown, they are easy to replace -- much easier than, say, a vacuum diode, picture tube, or a bad tuner.