rgbrgbrgbrgb rgbrgbrgbrgb rgbrgbrgbrgb

that didn't exactly come out right, stack all three lines

solid solid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole
solid solid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole
solid solid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole
makes
blue red green blue red green blue red green blue
blue red green blue red green blue red green blue
blue red green blue red green blue red green blue

but you can also do:
solid solid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole
lid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole
solid solid hole solid solid hole solid solid hole

and get
blue red green blue red green blue red green blue
green blue red green blue red green blue
blue red green blue red green blue red green blue

each row is still in horizontal order, but successive rows are staggered, see? :yes:

Here is thhe first solid-state tv:
http://news.sel.sony.com/digitalimag...hoto_id=131380

In Germany it was the Graetz Faehnrich in 1975. A color tv set with a Japanese 20" delta shadow mask CRT and tubes in the horizontal output unit. I will get one of these last tube sets in the next weeks for 30 EUR.

Let's not forget the FIRST 100% SOLID STATE console color American set... The RCA Two Thousand from '68. (Model G-2000). That not only was the first solid state American color TV, but also the first all electronic tuner with no moving parts.

Charles

For first solid state TV, period, Philco's Safari beat out Sony by a few years. Now, I'm curious - but was the Philco the only solid state set made in the 50's?

Was there ever an all solid state B&W console? When was the first?

Heh, a cheapie TV set with tubes in the 80's? I always thought the portacolor was last, though I suspect the cheapie TV market took longer to go all solid. I recall years ago tearing apart a late 70's looking set and it was all compactrons, even bringing the Horz output plate (the tube combined the output + damper!) through the socket. didn't Zenith do that a lot later on?

I've also seen tube sets with triplers on the HV (Sylvania comes to mind).

...

Motorola did build a solid state B&W TV in the early 1960s. I am not sure if it was earlier than the Philco Safari or not. I believe that it was called the Astronaut or something like that.

I am not sure when Motorola built their first solid state color TV. I do believe that they did build the first rectangular screen color TV.

If I remember correctly the Philco Safari has HV rectifier tubes in a tripler arrangement so it is almost solid state.
The Astronaut was a large screen (17 or 19") portable which came in a leatherette zippered case which could be zipped up like a suitcase. It also had a rechargeable built in battery pack and was solid state but may also have used a n HV rect. tube.
The GE b/w tube type sets along with many other small portables used a 33GY7 or in more robust applications a 38HK7 which is a single ended HO and damper tube.
The first series of GE portacolors used a single ended HO tube (with separate damper tube) but later ones went to one with a plate cap.

The Zenith 4-tube color sets used a tripler. There are some very late model RCA tube type portable color sets (ctc-63 I believe) which used a tripler and high focus voltage CRT. These probably gave the best performance of any RCA tube type set.

Earlier someone mentioned the date of the last tube type GE portacolor sets. I have several later ones, one of which is dated on the back to February 1977.

Moto's solid state Quasar color set (with Works In A Drawer) came out in '67, predating the G2000 by 2 years.

When I joined Moto out of school in 1966, they were well into the all-solid-state design -- have to look through my adverts collection to get a date of when they were first sold, but it may be 1966.

Moto did a lot of development of the solid state horizontal sweep and high voltage. If you have seen the Varo-built high voltage rectifier they used, you will recall it having two tapered fins on the sides. These were not only for heat dissipation, but also to equalize the capacitive current among the many (100 or so?) lower voltage diodes that were stacked up inside. Moto also did a lot of work on the high voltage, high speed, large-safe-area horizontal output transistors. For the large screen sets they still had to use two in parallel, plus do a lot of black magic in the chassis design to survive CRT arcs.

The Moto TS915/919 was a milestone in solid state design. All transistor, modular, and RGB drive to the crt cathodes, all this in 1967! The horizontal sweep module was so well designed that it was revived around 1971 for the TS938 with switch mode power supply - the dual HOT's had been paired down to one device with improved characteristics but still 100% interchangeable with the earlier module. I'd say thats a pretty good run. I have in my collection the TS-919. 934, 938, and 941. That covers juat about all the pre-Panasonic chassis variations (and I think it also satisfies my Quasar jones!). The module family used in the 941 seem to be the most reliable but they lack the personality(weaknesses?) of the earlier ones. I'm starting to see small signal transistor failure in the 915/919 IF modules. Looks like the vintage silicon doesn't last forever(increasing reverse junction leakage). But i digress......

Motorola taught themselves a lot about plastic (epoxy) encapsulated transistors. The consumer electronics div. found that some were failing prematurely and worked with the semi division to devise accelerated tests and then the fix for the early failures. Transistors that met military specs requiring a long shelf life but short use life were not appropriate to a TV application that required 10 year life with many of those hours under use (bias voltage, heat, and humidity). The only environment more stressful is automotive. Pressure cooker tests were developed, and contracts written such that parts would have to be re-qualified if any changes were made to the production process or materials.