Family had a 1968 New Vista RCA 23" console. Then in 1978 got a 25" console RCA. I used the 1968 tell 1990 as a 2nd TV. Then bought me a 25" Color Trak. Used tell 2003 and gave to older lady. Next a 32" RCA. I miss my tube TV
It's amazing how much TV sets changed from the early to mid 80s to 1990 or so. I always felt like sets like this RCA had a higher quality, more sophisticated look. -Timmy
I enjoyed this. Informative and entertaining. I appreciate that you don't use flashy channel intros and shill products for corporations and are not all about branding as so much of youtube seems to be about these days . I just see a guy here who enjoys his hobbies and has no other motives than to share them with others. It's a breath of fresh air and reminds me of what this site was about when it first started
I remember the tv's at school were Panasonic they had the pigtail for the coax. and they had the red channel display. i used to adjust the color controls on them trying to make them look better.i think they were from the mid 80's. so they must have lasted a long time because i was in middle school in the mid 90's. they also had some top loader vcrs hooked to them.
Thanks for the video! I got this TV for free in a yard sale a few years ago and couldn't figure out what year it was made until now. I love it. I use it to watch some VHS movies while I'm working. 🙂 By the way, it came with the old remote control (only two batteries).
As usual, a great video on a killer set. That woodgrain and those bright red digital letters always take me back, and I love the curved screen to boot. I think the only other set that would get a similarly powerful nostalgic reaction out of me would be those sorts where you push a big clicky button on a big column to select a channel. Hella impressive that you managed to fix the tuner like that - I wouldn't have known the first place to start. Love how the channels look on this thing.
I don't think RCA ever used pushbutton selectors for the channels. They always had the single rotary knob for the TVs with the varactor tuners. I did have a small Sony that had those pushbutton selectors, though they were along the bottom (google Sony KV-1221R).
I have a Quasar set from 1985 that has a similar setup with the VHF matching transformer, but instead of placing bare wire in the 75 ohm input, a cord with a metal piece on the end is put in
I've always loved the early 80s RCA color TVs... Those were the last of the real RCAs before GE got involved and then sold it to Thomson. But this era of RCAs always got fantastic color, and the audio on the console TVs, especially the Colortrak sets, were phenomenal.
My childhood TV was from 1986 (tail end of "good" RCA), but was functionally identical to this set. It had phenomenal colour and excellent sound, as you said. We replaced it in 2001 when the CATV portion of the tuner started to fail, but it lived 5 years or so out at the cabin receiving VHF and UHF just fine. I think we only replaced it when we got a better set for free, and gave it away to someone else.
RCA was a rare brand in Europe, we were up to our ears in Philips, ITT Schaub-Lorenz, Grundig, Telefunken, Bang & Olufsen, Tandberg and a bunch of other brands you've probably never heard of. You know... weird and obscure European brands. I do appreciate the reverence you have towards the RCA equipment from the 70/80s and to be honest, it mostly looks more premium than the European counterparts. The midrange RCA VCRs look more advanced than the European top-models (e.g. the mid 80s) ... it was when everything American was big and fancy and European things were small and budget oriented. Good times!
RCA was huge over here, even into the 1980s. They made a lot of really cool stuff. Look up the RCA Dimensia here on RUclips. Someone uploaded a demonstration of their 1985 Dimensia system and it was super ahead of its time. Interestingly, RCA never actually manufactured any VCRs. No US brand did. Early RCA VCRs were made by Panasonic/Matsushita and then by the mid-1980s were made by Hitachi. From what I've heard, most VCRs sold under those European brands were also made by Japanese manufacturers (aside from Philips) and that JVC was the most common OEM, vs Panasonic over here.
The discussion is old but let me add that these European brands were not so tragic. Especially Philips , Grundig and Blaupunkt, Loewe and Bang&Olufsen.
@@probnotstech "I've heard, most VCRs sold under those European brands were also made by Japanese manufacturers (aside from Philips) and that JVC was the most common OEM, vs Panasonic over here." Yes, but in addition to Philips, Grundig-Lextronics also made their own VCRs. Google Video 2000 VCRs . And their early VHS VCRs vide Grundig VS 200. In the second half of the 1980s they used Panasonic decks but often in combination with their electronics. An important Oem manufacturer of VCRs was Toshiba which was in alliance with Thomson to whom they just supplied VCRs, cameras and Hi Fi audio. Thomson, however, sometimes helped them with design and added its own components to these machines. He designed the video head technology known as "Chroma Pro" I and II, used by Toshibe as "Chroma Duo." Regards.
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I remember these sets as well. The fact that this works very well after 40 years says something about the quality of this tv and the components.
Family had a 1968 New Vista RCA 23" console. Then in 1978 got a 25" console RCA. I used the 1968 tell 1990 as a 2nd TV. Then bought me a 25" Color Trak. Used tell 2003 and gave to older lady. Next a 32" RCA. I miss my tube TV
It's amazing how much TV sets changed from the early to mid 80s to 1990 or so. I always felt like sets like this RCA had a higher quality, more sophisticated look. -Timmy
I enjoyed this. Informative and entertaining. I appreciate that you don't use flashy channel intros and shill products for corporations and are not all about branding as so much of youtube seems to be about these days . I just see a guy here who enjoys his hobbies and has no other motives than to share them with others. It's a breath of fresh air and reminds me of what this site was about when it first started
I’m about to get this very model and I’m really excited!
I remember the tv's at school were Panasonic they had the pigtail for the coax. and they had the red channel display. i used to adjust the color controls on them trying to make them look better.i think they were from the mid 80's. so they must have lasted a long time because i was in middle school in the mid 90's. they also had some top loader vcrs hooked to them.
Thanks for the video! I got this TV for free in a yard sale a few years ago and couldn't figure out what year it was made until now. I love it. I use it to watch some VHS movies while I'm working. 🙂 By the way, it came with the old remote control (only two batteries).
I had the exact same set. And as I recall the tuner was a problem too.
Perfect for the bedroom, den or kitchen! Cool!
Then 39 years old, now 40!
As usual, a great video on a killer set. That woodgrain and those bright red digital letters always take me back, and I love the curved screen to boot. I think the only other set that would get a similarly powerful nostalgic reaction out of me would be those sorts where you push a big clicky button on a big column to select a channel.
Hella impressive that you managed to fix the tuner like that - I wouldn't have known the first place to start. Love how the channels look on this thing.
I don't think RCA ever used pushbutton selectors for the channels. They always had the single rotary knob for the TVs with the varactor tuners. I did have a small Sony that had those pushbutton selectors, though they were along the bottom (google Sony KV-1221R).
I have a Quasar set from 1985 that has a similar setup with the VHF matching transformer, but instead of placing bare wire in the 75 ohm input, a cord with a metal piece on the end is put in
I have one almost identical; it says xl-100 where yours says ColorTrak, and has a different remote. I've had it since new in the 80's.
11:42 Wahh wah waaaaaaaaahhhhh moment there.
I've always loved the early 80s RCA color TVs... Those were the last of the real RCAs before GE got involved and then sold it to Thomson.
But this era of RCAs always got fantastic color, and the audio on the console TVs, especially the Colortrak sets, were phenomenal.
My childhood TV was from 1986 (tail end of "good" RCA), but was functionally identical to this set. It had phenomenal colour and excellent sound, as you said. We replaced it in 2001 when the CATV portion of the tuner started to fail, but it lived 5 years or so out at the cabin receiving VHF and UHF just fine. I think we only replaced it when we got a better set for free, and gave it away to someone else.
Seems your cat has taken a liking to it
How did you get the channels on this tv set? I'm surprised you get a picture on that tv.
An overly complicated setup to recreate old-school cable TV: ruclips.net/video/ot-gYEIWNJs/видео.html
RCA was a rare brand in Europe, we were up to our ears in Philips, ITT Schaub-Lorenz, Grundig, Telefunken, Bang & Olufsen, Tandberg and a bunch of other brands you've probably never heard of. You know... weird and obscure European brands. I do appreciate the reverence you have towards the RCA equipment from the 70/80s and to be honest, it mostly looks more premium than the European counterparts. The midrange RCA VCRs look more advanced than the European top-models (e.g. the mid 80s) ... it was when everything American was big and fancy and European things were small and budget oriented. Good times!
RCA was huge over here, even into the 1980s. They made a lot of really cool stuff. Look up the RCA Dimensia here on RUclips. Someone uploaded a demonstration of their 1985 Dimensia system and it was super ahead of its time.
Interestingly, RCA never actually manufactured any VCRs. No US brand did. Early RCA VCRs were made by Panasonic/Matsushita and then by the mid-1980s were made by Hitachi. From what I've heard, most VCRs sold under those European brands were also made by Japanese manufacturers (aside from Philips) and that JVC was the most common OEM, vs Panasonic over here.
The discussion is old but let me add that these European brands were not so tragic. Especially Philips , Grundig and Blaupunkt, Loewe and Bang&Olufsen.
@@probnotstech "I've heard, most VCRs sold under those European brands were also made by Japanese manufacturers (aside from Philips) and that JVC was the most common OEM, vs Panasonic over here." Yes, but in addition to Philips, Grundig-Lextronics also made their own VCRs. Google Video 2000 VCRs . And their early VHS VCRs vide Grundig VS 200. In the second half of the 1980s they used Panasonic decks but often in combination with their electronics. An important Oem manufacturer of VCRs was Toshiba which was in alliance with Thomson to whom they just supplied VCRs, cameras and Hi Fi audio. Thomson, however, sometimes helped them with design and added its own components to these machines. He designed the video head technology known as "Chroma Pro" I and II, used by Toshibe as "Chroma Duo." Regards.