Page Five Trinitron

Continuation of Vintage Micro Television, this is page five. Here, you will find miscellaneous information including a photo of a Sony Chromatron and the first Sony Trinitron televisions sold in the United States. The Sony KV 1310 was the first Trinitron model launched in Japan in October, 1968. The Sony KV 7010UA and Models KV 1200U, KV 1210U and KV 1220U were previewed in the United States in late 1968 and the 7 inch KV 7010UA was the first Trinitron model to go on sale in the United States in spring, 1969, followed shortly by the KV 1200 series. The Trinitron is considered to be the finest color cathode ray tube ever developed and Sony was the first television manufacturer to be awarded an Emmy by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1973 for the development of the Trinitron. Scroll down to read more.

Magazine Cover

Popular Science August, 1959

Original magazine purchased by me. It features the world’s first true portable transistor television, the Philco Safari. See Page One.

Magazine Cover

Mechanix Illustrated May 1963

Original magazine purchased by me. The cover featured a three inch combination radio/television under development by RCA labs. A ” new kind of television tube was being developed ” is as far as the article went. This set never made it to market.

One more RCA prototype television shown 1965. It is not know if this set was a working model or just a mock up. Never entered the market, however George Heilmeier’s team at RCA’s Princeton laboratory was secretly working on LCD development for flat screen television. See the story on PAGE ONE.

Magazine Cover

Original magazine purchased by me, the cover of the February, 1966 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, features a working prototype, dual sided, six inch color television.

The tube was 2 3/8 inches thick and could be viewed on both sides of the set. The set measured 10″ h x 6″ w x 3 1/2″ d and weighed 6 pounds.

This television was developed by the Intertel Corporation in Los Angeles. The article said it would be sporting a famous maker label and would be available by Christmas 1966 for about $200.00.  Looks suspiciously like a Sony designed set, doesn’t it? (Look at 1965 Sony 4 204UW television on page one.) Never happened.

My First Color Television, 1966 RCA 19 Inch Bremanger Nordic Consolette

I could not find actual photographic evidence, but this is a advertisement by RCA of the actual model and cabinet style I purchased in the fall of 1966, a 1966 RCA color. The casters were removable. The advertising pitch: “24 thousand volts of power for the sharpest picture in the industry, all copper circuits for space age reliability, automatic tuning” Amusing to read today. :-)

1966 Sinclair Microvision Prototype

The year was 1966 and Sir Clive Sinclair demonstrated his first prototype pocket TV at trade shows. He called it “Microvision”. Due to production setbacks, his dream first came to fruition in 1977 with the introduction of the MTV 1. The photo below appeared in Life magazine. See PAGE ONE for information and photos on the MTV 1.

1966 General Electric Porta Color

This urban legend by General Electric has the distinction of incorporating the first inline 3 electron gun color CRT in the world and the first portable color television. The second claim is questionable, one could lug around this 28 pound set from room to room, it did have a handle and one could plug in to the nearest power outlet, however no self contained battery or battery pack, so I would call this television transportable, not portable. Advantages of this CRT, increased brightness, lower power consumption, fewer convergence adjustments and smaller cabinet size and weight. Unfortunately, the first generation models suffered from poor resolution due to the large holes in the shadow mask. GE still used the conventional hole arrangement even though the CRT was now inline. The holes of the shadow mask were to big for the screen size of 10 inches. Later year models adopted the slot mask approach used by it’s contemporaries. In 1966, I was shopping for my first color set, the uniqueness of this new CRT design and low price for the time ($249.95) were attractive, but the images produced by this set fell short of my expectations. Because of poor resolution, contrast and faded colors, opting instead for the 1968 Sony Trinitron KV 7010UA shown below. One look at the Trinitron gave immediate reactions, this was something special, commenting to my friends that viewing a Trinitron was like looking at moving picture postcard images. In addition the Sony had superior cosmetics, leather and metal cabinet with brushed chrome accents and glass cover to protect the CRT, while the Porta Color cabinet was plastic with average detailing. Produced until 1978 with some unconfirmed reports of 1979 and 1980 models, the Porta Color went basically unchanged through it’s years of production still using tubes when it’s contemporaries went all solid state. The slot mask was adopted along with cosmetic, color and trim options. The GE Porta Color had an additional distinction, being that Sony had considered licensing the CRT for it’s first color televisions. The story of that decision follows below.

I cheated a bit, the images below are that of a 1976 model. When the original 1966 model is found, images will post here. Meantime, a photo from a December, 1965 magazine of the 1966 GE Porta Color.

This television acquired in November, 2011, measures 17 3/4″ W x 11 1/8″ H x 16 1/4″ D and was manufactured April, 1976. The set is in excellent condition and operates well. This set has a slot shadow mask, unlike the hole mask seen on the original 1966 model I viewed some 45 years ago, but unfortunately still exhibits poor color rendition as the original. I’m not able to achieve properly saturated colors, inaccurate colors and trailing images with saw tooth edges. All plastic cabinet, the set is finicky, but it is interesting to see the warm glow of a tube television after all the years with solid state. See screen shots below.

Note the saw tooth jaggies, on left hand side as well as severe over scan. Room reflections in upper left hand corner. The best screen shot I could obtain. Most skin tones have a green cast which can not be eliminated by a full compliment of user and service adjustments at the front and rear panels. I also see trailing images which may possibly be corrected by restoration internally. I have observed the same trailing images on other Portacolors.

Close up of slot shadow mask with black matrix for improved contrast. Original Portacolor sets used hole system without the black matrix.

Rare 1967 Sony micro television prototype. Have you seen this set?

Sony demonstrated this polished working prototype micro TV in the summer of 1967.  Only one year earlier, Motorola and Sinclair both demonstrated working prototype miniature televisions, the race was on, who would be the first?  The answer, Panasonic with their TR-001 introduced in spring, 1970.  Note the similar design cues in the production Panasonic TR-001.  (see it on page one)

This image was taken from the cover of my Popular Electronics, October, 1967 issue.  To the best of my knowledge, this set never sold in the United States, but may have been marketed in Japan only. It was some what common to create market specific products.  If anyone has seen one, please contact me.

Sony Chromatron Prototype

These two images were taken from my September 1967 issue of Popular Science magazine. In the first image, Sony co-founder Akio Morita on the right is demonstrating the newly developed Sony Chromatron 7 inch color television which main advantage is a very bright image, even under bright flood lights. Popular Science magazine reports this is to be the first Chromatron sold in the United States. The set was called “Microcolor”. * I believe the article is in error, because it it was well know that Sony gave up on the Chromatron in the fall of 1966. The Chromatron had production problems, yielding only 3 good tubes out every thousand. It sold for 198,000 yen ($550.00) in Japan, but cost Sony 400,000 yen to build each set. In Japan, plagued with problems, Sony sold only 13,000 Chromatrons from 1965 to 1966. (Information from the book “Sony”) I believe this television is a pre-production version of the 7 inch Trinitron introduced by Sony in 1968 and discussed below. You can see differences in the control arrangement, the carrying handle and smaller trim pieces on the sides from the final production version shown below.

* Update: The below images are indeed that of a Chromatron, however a modified redesign of the Chromatron. Because of the failure of Sony’s Chromatron in Japan, financial losses from the Chromatron development and mounting pressure from Sony dealerships to introduce their first color set, Sony’s chief engineer and CEO launched an aggressive campaign to develop a new color tube. Sony took inspiration from the 1966 General Electric (GE) Portacolor and considered licensing the design, but in the end insisted that they design a new CRT which had the Chromatron benefits of high brightness. Early RCA color CRT’s and shadow masks blocked as much as 85% of the light energy. The Portacolor had a unique 3 beam, 3 gun, inline color CRT, but Sony engineers devised a way to create 3 inline beams within one gun for the first time. The three electron beams focused though the center of a newly developed single large lens instead of though three small lenses. This resulted in a much improved, focused image in the same way as a photographer closes the aperture of the lens, using just the center of the lens to obtain the sharpest image. The center of the lens is the sharpest. A side benefit is fewer convergence adjustments. In December of 1966, Sony developed the 7 inch Chromatron prototype as pictured below. Sony had to work out additional technical problems with the Chromatron, and it’s engineers worked day and night to meet a self imposed deadline: SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOP A NEW COLOR CRT FOR MARKET RELEASE BY OCTOBER 1968. They created a new type of shadow mask which had unbroken vertical slots or stripes instead of the round holes of a conventional shadow mask, allowing much more light to pass trough. Sony called this mask the “aperture grill”. On the evening of October 15, 1967, the new tube, with the inline 3 beams, 1 gun, lens and aperture grill were assembled and tested. It was a success and a new color tube was born and named “Trinitron”. “Trini” for 3 electron beams, “tron” from Chromatron the original inspiration. On April 15, 1968, the Trinitron color television was announced at Sony corporate headquarters. Trinitron is the son, born from the Chromatron and the first Trinitron to go on sale in the United States was the 7 inch KV 7010UA which is very similar to the Chromatron prototype as below. I wish to credit Sony and the author of the book “Sony” for some of this information. This writer had just graduated from high school in January, 1965 and went directly to work in his new career. I wanted to purchase my first color set in 1966. I spent months of evaluation on the color televisions available at that time. Zenith, Motorola, Magnavox, Slyvania, General Electric, RCA, Admiral, Packard Bell, Curtis Mathis and others were evaluated. Eventually, settled on the RCA as shown above, but was not satisfied with it. After seeing the first two Sony sets, a 7 inch and a 12 inch in 1968, I looked no further. They had the best color imaging available at the time and blew everything else away in my personal opinion. It was to me, a quantum leap improvement in quality.

The integrated antenna/handle design was carried forward in the 5 inch Sony Trinitron KV 5200 introduced in 1980 and shown on page TWO.

1968 Sony publicity photo with live screen shot of Model KV-7010UA. Now virtually identical to the final production model with the exception that this photo shows “Micro Color” with no three-color logo above the viewing screen. The sales brochure below, shows “Trinitron Color” with rectangular three-color logo above the viewing screen.

Trinitron color system illustration from a Sony owners manual.

Sales Brochure 1968 The Worlds Smallest Color Television

In October, 1968, Sony introduced their first Trinitron color TV and the world’s smallest color TV at the time. It had a revolutionary new 7 inch CRT described in detail on PAGE ONE.

This is an original four page sales brochure for the first Sony Trinitron television sold in the United States, the seven inch KV 7010UA. It became available for sale in the fall of 1968. I purchased new in spring of 1969.

Scans of vintage analogue 35 mm color print photographs taken shortly after acquisition of my original Sony KV 7010UA purchased in 1969.

Live Screen shots from the moon photographed August 2, 1971 taken off the Sony KV 7010UA. The mission, Apollo 15, carried two astronauts, Commander David R. Scott and LM pilot James B. Irwin, the seventh and eighth men to walk on the Moon. These images are photos of the actual 35mm color prints I took on that day.

Original Sony KV 7010UA 4 color service manual, block diagrams, wave forms, etc. Drop me a line if you would like a copy.

Sales Brochure

An original four page sales brochure for the second Sony Trinitron television to go on sale in the United States, the 12 inch KV 1210U. (This model was also available as a KV 1200U with basic vinyl cabinet and the premium KV 1220U with a larger walnut cabinet, larger speaker and “Sky Tune” a tuning aid.) My future wife wanted a personal color TV, I urged her to purchase this model, she did in 1969 and it served her well. Still working, she gave it to charity in 2006. It never required servicing in 37 years!

The picture on the screen is an actual telecast image. Most TV manufactures superimposed a false picture on sales advertisements, Sony did not have to. Look at that image and this was in 1969 ! I was very impressed by the Trinitron system, it blew everything else away at the time. After learning that the KV 7010UA would be available in October, 1968, I went to a preview demonstration of the KV 7010UA and the KV 1210U, the only two Trinitron models available at the time, on preview display at Sony’s New York City show room. After the demonstration, purchased the 7 inch model, $499.95, and it arrived at my home in spring of 1969. My wife purchased the 12 inch model a few months later in the same year. It has been consistently reported on many websites that the 12 inch Trinitron was the first Sony color television, even on Sony’s website. When I met with the sales representatives at the New York showroom in 1968, I was told the 7 inch would be released first. 1967 and 1968 magazines reviewed the upcoming 7 inch Trinitron with no mention of the 12 inch. In my home town the first model in retail stores was the 7 inch KV 7010UA. The 12 inch KV 1210U came later in the same year. Been a fan of Trinitron ever since, recognizing the superior picture quality, could not wait for larger screen sizes. Purchased the first 17 inch models, the KV 1720 and model KV 1722 which was 17 inches and had a 114 degree deflection angle, making it the thinnest larger screen television at that time (1973) and moved on to larger screen sizes as they became available. Not a micro TV, but for historical purposes, I wanted to add this to the website.  See Page One for the next Trinitron model and full description of the system.

The original Sony KV 1210U purchased in 1969, $319.95.

1969 Sony KV 1220U

First 12 inch Sony Trinitron color television sold in the United States in premium cabinet with “Sky Tune” tuning aid. I was fortunate to find this 43 year old television in near mint condition March, 2012. The set looks like it was never used and in storage for the past 40 plus years. All controls are clean and free from noise or static, turn smoothly and no hum. The cabinet is pristine and the chrome is polished like new. The CRT is very strong having a spot on color decoder, displaying the famous Trinitron image quality with excellent detail, focus and depth of field. See below screen shots evidencing the image quality. The first generation 12 inch Sony Trinitron sold in 1969, available in 3 models, the KV 1200U with basic vinyl covered cabinet, the KV 1210U in walnut cabinet as shown above and this premium KV 1220U. The set add 2 earphone jacks on the front panel and measures 20 1/4″ W x 13 9/16″ H x 15 1/2″ D. Click on first image for full view.

Sony KV 1220U screen shots captured on the fly, March 30, 2012 from the ME TV network of Mission Impossible episode 15 “The Falcon Part 2″, season 4, originally aired January 11, 1970. This is what you may have watched on your new Sony KV 1220U. :-)

The screen shots below were captured on the fly, March 27, 2012 from the ME TV network. Bonanza television series, season 1, episode 9, originally aired November 7, 1959, title “Mr. Henry Comstock”

1969 Sony KV 9000U Trinitron is shown on Page One.

This was my third Sony Trinitron television model KV 1720, purchased fall of 1970. 17 diagonal CRT and the largest Trinitron to date.

My wife mistakenly gave away my prized Sony KV 7010UA and the Sony KV 1210U as above, in 2006 prior to a relocation. She wanted to reduce our relocation expenditures. They went to a Goodwill store and if not sold, died in a land fill. Oh well … ! To this day, I remind her of it and she tells me “to get over it.” :-) They both were in perfect operating condition after 37 years of use. Since then, I have been searching for replacements. Recently found a 1971 Sony KV 1212U which was the next generation version of the 12 inch KV 1210U. It is similar but obviously not the original.

1971

Sony KV1212U

This 12 inch color model is the second generation version of the original KV 1210U. Now lower, but wider, measuring 12 1/2″ H x 18 1/2″ W x 15 3/8″ D. New control layout with the addition of an auto AFT switch on the front panel. New carrying handle and trim modifications round out the changes. This television has the outstanding focus and depth of field that I remember seeing on the original. I found this set December, 2011 in excellent condition as shown below.

Look at these amazing screen shots from a 40 year old Sony KV 1212U Trinitron, an analogue, standard definition image. The actual images look better them the camera could capture. The image almost rivals high definition and for those who remember, compare this image quality to the competing color televisions in 1969. Television has superior focus and depth of field.

The original Sony KV 1722 purchased in 1973, is still in my possession and working fine. See screen shots below. Never serviced in 38 years, it only has a small purity issue in the upper left hand edge of the screen. The set had heavy usage, recently taken out of 10 years of storage. 17 inch Trinitron CRT with a 114 degree deflection angle, made it the thinnest larger screen television of this time period. Illuminated channel indicators and secondary controls are hidden behind the front panel door. Vertical space saving design for smaller footprint. Premium champagne gold brushed aluminum panel with walnut veneer cabinet.

The KV 1723 model, (not shown) a variation, had slightly different cosmetics, being light gray trim instead of black, brown handle inserts instead of black and the “Econoquick” feature.

1975

Sony KV 1214 Trinitron Color

Model KV 1214 was the third generation 12 inch Trinitron. New channel selectors with government mandated detent or click stop UHF channel selector, replacing the continuous rotary UHF dial. The television measures 18 1/2″ W x 12″ H x 16 3/4″ D. The set is in very good condition and operates well. Found this television March, 2012.

The Sony Television Story

A 1975 18 page booklet promoting the Sony Trinitron cathode ray tube (CRT)

On the right page, Sony describes a flat screen television it developed in 1975 and call it “the television of the future” An accurate foretelling of the future of television. This 1975 Sony laboratory prototype is a gas discharge 7 inch panel, only 1/4 inch thick. Two glass panels sandwich 212 horizontal cathodes and 282 vertical anodes forming over 60,000 pixels. A gas mixture fills the gap between electrodes and when current is applied, the gas emits ultraviolet light making the vertical rows of red, green and blue phosphors glow. Barrier ribs prevent interaction between the adjacent picture elements which also absorb ambient light, improving contrast. The 7 inch panel consumes 15 watts and provides 7 ft-Lamberts of luminance with a 20:1 contrast ratio. Interesting to note that in 1975, Sony claims it can build a 40 inch panel of this design, a forerunner of today’s modern plasma televisions.

Advertisement Seiko TV Watch

I saved this full page news paper ad from the San Francisco Examiner, Wednesday, October 12, 1983. I purchased my TV Watch about the same time, but the model pictured in the ad is different. It has a dark band around the screen display and the bracelet has indentations which my watch does not have. You can see it on Page One.

1983

XV-3000 LCD Television

Very rare model and not much known, except it has a 1.5 inch LCD display, with AM/FM radio made by EXP Research, Torrance, California. One of the earliest LCD televisions and retailed for $270.00

Unfortunately after 20 relocations, some excellent historical data were destroyed by me. A few things still to post …

In the fall of 1988, Sony introduced their first Video Walkman product, the GV 8. This product also introduced their first LCD panel in a consumer product. I purchased this product new in that year, but sold it to purchase the upgraded GV 300. Still have this set. Here is an interesting technical paper published by Sony in July, 1988. It describes the theory of Thin Film Transistor Active Matrix LCD, first introduced by Seiko in 1984. (see Page Two) If anyone asks you what was the first Video Walkman? … this is it.  The GV 8 had a three inch panel, next came the GV 9 and the GV 300 with four inch panel. The successor to these products can be seen on Page Three. Read about GV 300 accident.

Screen shots from Sony Video Walkman GV 300 four inch active matrix TFT display, 92,160 pixels. GV 300 introduced 1990. Scaled to be actual size on a 1600 x 1200 resolution monitor. If viewed on a 1024 x 768 monitor, screen shots will be enlarged.

1991

Worlds first hang-on-the-wall flat television by Sharp Corporation

In June 1988, Sharp Corporation demonstrated a 14 inch flat hang on the wall color TV. This television convinced the electronics industry that the dream of color, flat, hang on the wall TV was now a reality. It spurned the LCD from a niche market of small devices, to full fledged home television.

It was a prototype only but set the stage for the worlds first flat hang on the wall production color television introduced in 1991.  Available with three designer frames, the CRYSTAL SERIES, the ART SERIES and the OBJET SERIES. The color TFT LCD panel was 8.6 inches, the largest consumer LCD television to date. The CRYSTAL SERIES model shown below, available in several colors, sold for a whopping $3,600.00 dollars! The ART and OBJET SERIES were higher priced. The panel contained 437,760 pixels and was driven by 2 thin film transistors per pixel for redundancy. No other LCD panel previous to this model had this redundancy. The tuner module attached to the rear of the set with a total depth of 3 inches. Sharp executives intended these televisions to be used as “visual art display devices”.

This television was the forerunner of larger color LCD panels which in the beginning were exclusive to Sharp. The competing electronic giants like Fujitsu, NEC, Pioneer, Panasonic, Philips and others eventually caught up, but the Sharp corporation pioneered flat, large panel television.

My main viewing room television. Sharp 65 inch LCD 2005 first generation. Hope to upgrade soon. Click on image for full view.

* Update December 12, 2011: Replaced this set with a new Sharp Quatron 70 inch LED LCD 3D. Photos will post soon.

Sharp 65 inch LCD 2005 Screen Shot. Click on image for full view.

Sharp 2005 first generation 65 inch LCD screen shot, Natalie Morales NBC Today Show 2008. This TV/ Monitor has been used on the NBC Today Show since 2006. Only last week, June 7, 2010, NBC switched out this first generation model with the third generation Sharp 65 inch “Cornerstone” design. The first generation set flanked the podium on both sides during the 2008 Academy Awards Show. This set can also be seen on a daily basis on WGN America News Casts from Chicago. Later in 2010 Sharp will introduce a 68 inch model called the “Quatron” (46, 52 and 60 inch models now available) It adds for the first time a fourth sub-pixel, yellow. This will increase the color gamut, brightness and resolution. More then 2 million pixels will be added to the display, a 25% increase in display density for a sharper image, no pun intended. Update, just learned that a 80 inch model is now available, November, 2011 ! Click on image for full view of the 2005 set’s, screen shot, no crushing of black values and nice shadow detail in her black blouse. The quality of this image will be limited by your monitor settings. Is your monitor calibrated? ( I will try to add calibration tools to this web site.)

Screen shot from 2011 Sharp 3D Quatron 70 inch LCD Model LC70LE735U.

SONY 2009 XBR6 46 INCH LCD HD SCREEN SHOT

Universal Power Cord

Have a vintage micro television with a missing power chord?

Don’t despair, forget about spending a lot of money on EBAY for a vintage power chord. Just detach a standard AC power chord from a household appliance you no longer need. Strip the insulation from one end, tin and solder to a pair of alligator clips and slide the red insulators back in place. You now have a universal power chord that will clip on to virtually all power leads of various design.

The first photo below, shows my beat up jumper chord and the second photo shows the alligators clipped on to the two AC power blades of a Sony KV 5100 Trinitron Television.

ONE MORE THING …

WHAT’S NEXT?

In the short term, Mobile TV start up in late 2010 and 2011. Twenty two cities are included in the initial roll out. Right now in the U.S. we can enjoy free over the air digital portable television but if one moves the set, the signal is lost. Mobile TV allows the digital signal to be received in high speed moving objects. Once again, we will have hand held television devices for free over the air television. As of this writing 3 manufactures have introduced products. Look for more, as the roll out is implemented.

OLED, (organic light emitting diode) display technology is here in limited quantity. Superior in all performance perimeters to LCD and Plasma. Look for a break though in the manufacturing process to bring prices down. Sony, LG and Samsung have OLED products on the market now with larger screen sizes promised. Sony just introduced in 2011 a 25 inch OLED color monitor for the professional market.

2K, 4K and *8K. 2K is double the 1920X1080 high definition standard and 4K has 4 times the resolution of the 1920X1080 HD standard. 2K and 4K monitors and projectors are now in use by Sony and others for professional use and in movie production and theaters. The Japanese government has funded research into display technology that gos beyond 4K. Watch for eventual mainstream implementation.

* Update: At the IFA 2011 trade show in September, Sharp Corporation demonstrated their stunning 8K 85 inch LCD television. It has 33,177,600 pixels! Read about it at this link with photos. http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1315414379&newsletter

In the future, the holy grail would be full size, color, holographic television images that would appear suspended in your living room like Star Wars. You could walk around them and see all angles just as a real world object.

Actually this may not be to far off. Already, there exists systems for video-conferencing in board rooms that project holographic images but they are not full size. Will we live to see such a wonder in our homes? I for one, certainly hope so. :-)