The Thorn 2000 was a work of art, the first fully-transistorised large-screen colour TV in the world, I think. The transistors in the line output/EHT stages were only just up to the job and failures were not unknown. There's an amusing story in 'The Setmakers' by one of the development engineers, about how he slowly worked his way through 'a jarful' of the special transistors, seeing them all blow up until he found the safest way of using them.
The 3000 and the later 3500 were excellent.
I wonder if Mr Wills is one of those blokes that regularly get in the papers with this kind of BS?
Yes I heard this when I went to an exhibition at the Science museum in the early 1980,s A Thorn 2000 colour TV was on display with a audio recording by the design team. It seems the state of the art (1966) R2009 Texas transistors were costing the company £5 a time and they were filling a jam jar with blown devices every day before they got the design right!
Does anyone remember (what I can only describe as) a motorised tuner. My grandfather had a new ULTRA monochrome TV in '64, '65, '66.....? I can remember being fascinated by it at the time. Pressing the buttons and it would "whirr" and "clunk" to each channel. I think there was only BBC & ITV at the time but it was obviously made with more in mind
This was the only one I ever saw like this. Obviously it didn't catch on. Would like to hear more about them if anyone does have any information.
The Sony Trinitron set the standard in the seventies. When launched in 1971, it undercut its British rivals by £ 60 and was totally solid state, when most British sets still used unreliable valves. Also the FST technology ensured a far better picture. I have seen 15 year old Trinitrons from the seventies that were still working.
Wrong. Some Jap sets were still hybrid state sets (valve and transistor), even though they claimed to be "solid state", many of the earlier ones which claimed to be, actually weren't.
Does anyone remember (what I can only describe as) a motorised tuner. My grandfather had a new ULTRA monochrome TV in '64, '65, '66.....? I can remember being fascinated by it at the time. Pressing the buttons and it would "whirr" and "clunk" to each channel. I think there was only BBC & ITV at the time but it was obviously made with more in mind
This was the only one I ever saw like this. Obviously it didn't catch on. Would like to hear more about them if anyone does have any information.
I came across one or two of those in my early days in the TV trade (around 1969/70). The sets had a normal channel-change knob, but also a button that caused the mechanism to 'clunk-clunk' around.
IIRC they were Ecko or Ferranti sets. Cream plastic front panels.
The Sony Trinitron set the standard in the seventies. When launched in 1971, it undercut its British rivals by £ 60 and was totally solid state, when most British sets still used unreliable valves. Also the FST technology ensured a far better picture. I have seen 15 year old Trinitrons from the seventies that were still working.
By the time Sony arrived, many UK colour sets were already entirely solid state - which the first Sony ones here weren't (there's been a thread on this recently).
There were three 'big' names in UK TV.
Thorn - always were solid state(2000 dual standard, 3000 single standard), NEVER made a valve colour set.
RBM - dual-standard sets were hydrid (CTV25), single standard sets were all solid state.
Philips - most valve prone of the top three, made single standard valve sets as well. The G6 dual standard was probably the worst colour TV ever made - they were truely horrible, had more valves than any other set, and were terribly unreliable.
Trinitrons weren't FST, they WERE flatter than conventional tubes, but the non-PAL decoders of early Sony's meant the pictures were inferior in many ways to UK sets.
I came across one or two of those in my early days in the TV trade (around 1969/70). The sets had a normal channel-change knob, but also a button that caused the mechanism to 'clunk-clunk' around.
IIRC they were Ecko or Ferranti sets. Cream plastic front panels.
Ekco were certainly one of the manufacturers to make cable remotes - as said, a half inch thick cable, and I seem to remember it plugged in an octal type socket?.
One of our engineers (part time, as he was doing a degree - and now works for the BBC) did a similar mod to a Thorn 3500 for his parents, the one with the varicap tuner.
They've had quite a few of "what was this or that set from my childhood?" recently.
I would but as I can't remember any more details I'm only likely to get the same answer as earlier in the thread. I spoke to my sister and between us we seem to think it might have been a Ekco.
Today's mail has an oldest known working fridge article, claimed to be 92 years old. US import brought over in 1923 after a few years use over there. No mention of the voltage/frequency problems. Wonder if this one is as inaccurate.
The first fridges i ever experienced in the UK were American Westinghouse designs fiitted as standard in prefabs in the post war period. They used the absorption principle which basically was just a heater to start a thermal siphon. As such the only mod was to replace the 110V heating element with a 200V one and thus independent of frequency.. A service call involved inverting the fridge a number off times to dislodge scale blocking the thermal siphon. Electrolux afaik where the first UK makers to emulate these. The claim sounds reasonable to me.
Thorn - always were solid state(2000 dual standard, 3000 single standard), NEVER made a valve colour set.
Er are you sure about this? My brother in law who was very well off rented a Radio Rentals colour set in 1967 (yes 1967 definitely*) that was I assumed made by Thorn and had a Sylvania circular shadow mask tube. It was massive and full of valves!
*Visit was made just after i got married (for the first time). Watched Wimbledon in Colour with curtains pulled!
Your brother in laws rented set was probably a modified US import. As far as I know circular colour tubes were never used on UK sets. Tube technology had moved on by the time the UK got colour.
My impression is that indeed square form all glass large tubes were introduced late in 1967 but the first colour sets offered by RR and other rental companies to the UK public in mid 1967 were based on round metal/glass tubes. As you say they may have been modified US sets but as I remember were branded Baird which I always thought were manufactured by Thorn. So was the Thorn 2000 introduced in 1967?
Radio Rentals made their own colour sets in 1967 - the Baird 700 series which was indeed full of valves but used conventional colour CRT. They didn't start to "badge" Thorn colour stuff until the Thorn 3000 came along in 1969 as far as I'm aware. You can find some great pics on this website including some of the old Baird 700 and all. http://www.oldtechnology.net/
If you click on the "old tv" icon on the left it will take you to the gallery pages.
Er are you sure about this? My brother in law who was very well off rented a Radio Rentals colour set in 1967 (yes 1967 definitely*) that was I assumed made by Thorn and had a Sylvania circular shadow mask tube. It was massive and full of valves!
Radio Rentals made their own colour sets in 1967 - the Baird 700 series which was indeed full of valves but used conventional colour CRT. They didn't start to "badge" Thorn colour stuff until the Thorn 3000 came along in 1969 as far as I'm aware. You can find some great pics on this website including some of the old Baird 700 and all. http://www.oldtechnology.net/
If you click on the "old tv" icon on the left it will take you to the gallery pages.
Many thanks for the link, Tazman1966. There's some lovely stuff on there!
As has already been pointed out by Tazman1966 last night:rolleyes:
However when was the Thorn 2000 introduced? Although i was not in the business in 1967 I was a subscriber to (Practical) Television magazine and closely followed the introduction of Colour TV in the UK having seen some atrocious colour TV in the US a couple of years earlier. I also remember the 405 line NTSC trials in the late 50's and early 60's. I do not remember a full solid state TV being available at that time and had the impression that this was around 1969.
As has already been pointed out by Tazman1966 last night:rolleyes:
However when was the Thorn 2000 introduced? Although i was not in the business in 1967 I was a subscriber to (Practical) Television magazine and closely followed the introduction of Colour TV in the UK having seen some atrocious colour TV in the US a couple of years earlier. I also remember the 405 line NTSC trials in the late 50's and early 60's. I do not remember a full solid state TV being available at that time and had the impression that this was around 1969.
The manual for the 2000 has long since been dispatched to the attic
I remember reading this news article last year about a 1936 Marconiphone 702 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8159406.stm that's hooked up to a Freeview STB. Now that is old!
I remember reading this news article last year about a 1936 Marconiphone 702 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8159406.stm that's hooked up to a Freeview STB. Now that is old!
And entirely misleading - a 405 line (BBC1 only?) set hasn't worked for decades.
Adding a Freeview box AND a 625/405 digital converter with Band One RF modulator is hardly 'still working'
And entirely misleading - a 405 line (BBC1 only?) set hasn't worked for decades.
Adding a Freeview box AND a 625/405 digital converter with Band One RF modulator is hardly 'still working'
I dont think this is mis-leading at all - given a 405 line signal on 45MHz it works!
The owner is to be congratulated on firstly maintaining this set in working order and adding a modulator/ standards convertor/Freeview box. He can then enjoy his favourite programmes in black and white on a historic piece of equipment.
Comments
This was the only one I ever saw like this. Obviously it didn't catch on. Would like to hear more about them if anyone does have any information.
Wrong. Some Jap sets were still hybrid state sets (valve and transistor), even though they claimed to be "solid state", many of the earlier ones which claimed to be, actually weren't.
Ask here:
http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/index.php
They've had quite a few of "what was this or that set from my childhood?" recently.
I came across one or two of those in my early days in the TV trade (around 1969/70). The sets had a normal channel-change knob, but also a button that caused the mechanism to 'clunk-clunk' around.
IIRC they were Ecko or Ferranti sets. Cream plastic front panels.
By the time Sony arrived, many UK colour sets were already entirely solid state - which the first Sony ones here weren't (there's been a thread on this recently).
There were three 'big' names in UK TV.
Thorn - always were solid state(2000 dual standard, 3000 single standard), NEVER made a valve colour set.
RBM - dual-standard sets were hydrid (CTV25), single standard sets were all solid state.
Philips - most valve prone of the top three, made single standard valve sets as well. The G6 dual standard was probably the worst colour TV ever made - they were truely horrible, had more valves than any other set, and were terribly unreliable.
Trinitrons weren't FST, they WERE flatter than conventional tubes, but the non-PAL decoders of early Sony's meant the pictures were inferior in many ways to UK sets.
Ekco were certainly one of the manufacturers to make cable remotes - as said, a half inch thick cable, and I seem to remember it plugged in an octal type socket?.
One of our engineers (part time, as he was doing a degree - and now works for the BBC) did a similar mod to a Thorn 3500 for his parents, the one with the varicap tuner.
Brilliant!!!
I would but as I can't remember any more details I'm only likely to get the same answer as earlier in the thread. I spoke to my sister and between us we seem to think it might have been a Ekco.
The first fridges i ever experienced in the UK were American Westinghouse designs fiitted as standard in prefabs in the post war period. They used the absorption principle which basically was just a heater to start a thermal siphon. As such the only mod was to replace the 110V heating element with a 200V one and thus independent of frequency.. A service call involved inverting the fridge a number off times to dislodge scale blocking the thermal siphon. Electrolux afaik where the first UK makers to emulate these. The claim sounds reasonable to me.
I guess there's nothing going on in Afganistan or Iraq that anyone wants to read about these days.
Cant you see that all media is biased and the government can say what they want to report, because it is mostly lies anyway.
This man probably got a very menial sum, if any money out of this poor story.
By the way if i have an old bush radio circa 1950's and it has been restored could i pretend to .........
eh bad idea..........
Back to the dole que it is then
Er are you sure about this? My brother in law who was very well off rented a Radio Rentals colour set in 1967 (yes 1967 definitely*) that was I assumed made by Thorn and had a Sylvania circular shadow mask tube. It was massive and full of valves!
*Visit was made just after i got married (for the first time). Watched Wimbledon in Colour with curtains pulled!
My impression is that indeed square form all glass large tubes were introduced late in 1967 but the first colour sets offered by RR and other rental companies to the UK public in mid 1967 were based on round metal/glass tubes. As you say they may have been modified US sets but as I remember were branded Baird which I always thought were manufactured by Thorn. So was the Thorn 2000 introduced in 1967?
http://www.oldtechnology.net/
If you click on the "old tv" icon on the left it will take you to the gallery pages.
It wasn't made by Thorn
Many thanks for the link, Tazman1966. There's some lovely stuff on there!
However when was the Thorn 2000 introduced? Although i was not in the business in 1967 I was a subscriber to (Practical) Television magazine and closely followed the introduction of Colour TV in the UK having seen some atrocious colour TV in the US a couple of years earlier. I also remember the 405 line NTSC trials in the late 50's and early 60's. I do not remember a full solid state TV being available at that time and had the impression that this was around 1969.
The manual for the 2000 has long since been dispatched to the attic
However, it was 1960's not 1970's
And entirely misleading - a 405 line (BBC1 only?) set hasn't worked for decades.
Adding a Freeview box AND a 625/405 digital converter with Band One RF modulator is hardly 'still working'
I dont think this is mis-leading at all - given a 405 line signal on 45MHz it works!
The owner is to be congratulated on firstly maintaining this set in working order and adding a modulator/ standards convertor/Freeview box. He can then enjoy his favourite programmes in black and white on a historic piece of equipment.