1965 Zenith Roundie on Youtube
 

I finally own a Zenith roundie and WOW am I impressed with the quality. This set is an unrestored original and still works great. I planned to do a full restoration but it works so well as is I'll work on other projects first. I posted a short clip of the TV playing the color 1957 TV special with Bing and Frank.
Check out the videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcBiGttE_As
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfG3Z8xEG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDOwKN3pS5Y
Jim

WOW is the word
 

That is simply amazing-a picture like that after all these years!
Can't wait to get one of my own...

Way too cool!!!:thmbsp:

beautiful color! another roundie saved. i am happy for you and also a little jealous! congrats!!!!

Its last owner must of loved that TV...

Man...There's just "something" about a roundie, isn't there ?

Yes there is.:D

That looks like the same chassis that is in mine. I can tell you from experience that is a good set. I restored mine in June and it is doing well in regular service. The color is simply amazing. I like the cabinet on yours too. Just yesterday I was thinking of posting a video of mine on YouTube. You beat me to it.

It's a 25MC33 chassis, I followed the posts and progress on your 65 Zenith, great set! Please post a video, I would like to see a restored one in action. It is difficult to get an accurate reproduction of color with a camcorder, compressions etc.. I had the best luck using a bright light directly above the tv, Dim lights in the room and knocking down the exposure slightly on the digital camcorder.
Jim

I've updated the youtube video and link above.
The original video was squashed because I had the wrong video dimensions. The new video is longer and has various date appropriate clips.
Jim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfG3Z8xEG0

What an awesome picture! Great subject matter on it also. I hope the Zenith roundie i just got will play as nice when i'm done with it.
-Tony

I really enjoyed the revised video. I watch Star Trek on my roundie too as well as Bewitched, I Dream Of Jeannie, etc. I will have to set up my video camera and try to get a good video of it working. The problem I have is that any attempt to film or photograph a color tv picture always turns out too blue. I can't properly capture the warm color tones these round sets naturally have. I will try to work on it though. Was your picture tube rebuilt or original? I had Hawkeye rebuild mine.

That video brought back lots of memories. Thanks for posting it!:thmbsp: This is one of my favorites AK threads even though I know absolutely zero about restoring those vintage TVs. I've made it a goal to score one (mint of course) in the new year.:yes:

Absolutely stunning picture quality for a 40 year old roundie in original condition. Beats any new set by a long shot!

I am amazed at how good the picture looks after 40 years. As far as I know the CRT is original (21fjp) I haven't tested the CRT yet but suspect it may be weak. The brightness needs to be turned up all the way and there's too much contrast, right now the contrast is turned all the way down. I also notice images or backgrounds that should look crisp white have a more gray tones than white. But I'm not complaining, how many tv's today will still produce any kind of picture in 40 years??? I'm always searching for new programs to watch on my vintage sets, I think color episodes of Get Smart or Lost in Space are must haves. "Great pianists/Violinists of the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-67" DVD's are nice to watch on roundies and were shot in color.
Jim

Thanks for posting this! Because of this, I bought the DVD of the Frank/Bing show and while researching it I discovered that it wasn't a special but an

episode of Franks short-lived 1957 TV show:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050017/

Here's an article about the episode from 2002:

By Scott Huver, Hollywood.com Staff

For diehard fans of Frank Sinatra, it may be the ultimate Christmas present.
Earlier this year, the Chairman of the Board's daughter Nancy Sinatra made a
most welcome discovery among the dust-covered items in her father's still
uncatalogued archive: an extremely rare 35 mm print of a long-lost holiday
episode of the ambitious but failed 1957 ABC television series, The Frank
Sinatra Show. The episode, "Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank," teams Ol'
Blues Eyes with the popular crooner who preceded him in the public eye, Bing
Crosby.

The rest of the article (with an interesting explanation as to why it was filmed in color) can be found at this link:


http://groups.google.com/group/alt.f...d6b95ac02f5e07

Great set!!! I am on the hunt for a color roundie myself.
Dan

Me too, for B/W as well as color.

When I was still using a 35mm film camera to take photos for my website, I got a blue filter to compensate for shooting under indoor lights using daylight (i.e., "outdoor") film. That worked for the overall picture. Maybe it would help the blue-screen problem, too.

Now most of us are using digital cameras, which may not accept filters or have appropriate color adjustments. It's worth poking around your camera's user guide, or experimenting with whatever settings it has, anyhow.

Oh -- and I just remembered that I have a powerful (250W) blue photographer's light bulb that gives the same effect indoors as using a blue filter. I haven't used it in ages because it throws off a fierce amount of heat and I don't have a good lighting stand for it.

If you bring your camera to a decent camera store and explain your goal, maybe they can fix you up with something.

For still pictures of B/W sets, in some cases I have said, "The heck with it," and just copied the screen portion of the digital photo, changed it to monochrome, then pasted it back into the photo. Maybe that's cheating, but the result looks like the TV set when you actually view it.

A similar trick is to put the camera on a tripod and take two photos -- one with the TV turned off, to get the right cabinet colors, and another with the TV turned on. Paste the screen shot into the cabinet photo, and voila!

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

With film, you had to get the white balance by trial and error with filters - but with a digital camera (or camcorder), you should be able to do it with the white balance setting of the camera. You need to find the menu where you point the camera at a white object and press a button to set that to white. Do this while the camera is pointed at the screen with a bright scene and the color turned all the way down. Preferable to have a DVD with a white test pattern playing.

New youtube video added
 

I just added another youtube video of the 1965 Zenith roundie, Have a look: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=nDOwKN3pS5Y
Been watching Lost in Space on it with my 8 year old son, He's hooked on the show. I suppose I should re-cap the set eventually, we're running it a few hours a day regularly now.
Jim

Great video! I can't wait 'till mines done. Best picture I've ever seen on an unrestored set!:thmbsp:

My babysitter had a Zenith roundie very similar to that set when she kept me in the very early '80's. That set was still their daily watcher and I was all the time playing with the vertical hold, horizontal hold, etc. Her hubby would come home and turn on the TV just to find out I'd been messing with it. Needless to say, he got a little upset! I ran into her about 7 years ago and she said she had been holding on to that set for me all these years. Well, it's seven years later and it's still sitting at her house (I hope). I always hear "my house is a mess" when I offer to go get it. Or, it's "I'll get my son to bring it to you in his truck." I'm just afraid the dang thing will wind up getting dumped! I'd be really angry if that happens because that was the first TV that got my attention and it needs to be here, not hidden in her junk room! I told her once that I could care less what her house looks like, just please let me come get the TV! Her son called me a few weeks ago wanting me to fix a bigscreen. I told him to bring it AND the old Zenith over at the same time. Heck, the bigscreen repair may be very cheap if he has the Zenith with him! We'll see what happens, I guess.

WOW! Those clips were great. It is just like watching my own Zenith. Roundies are a peephole into paradise.

Cool videos, Lost in Space is one of my favorites for watching on a roundie too.

That looks like my first color set I acquired used around 1966 or 1967. Mine just had a metal cabinet and in 1970 i built it into the cabinet shown above. Wish i still had the tv. My parents had a Zenith roundie that was the first with all the controls below the picture tube. Never had as good of picture as my older set. Plus mine had the seperate tinted safety glass and their set had the etched safety glass bonded to the tube.

That was very generous to put such a great thing up for all to see.
 

Many come very close but nobody will ever top the level of showmanship displayed by the great men shown on your cool as can be Zenith.
I love Dean Martin so much I almost feel kinda funny at times. I'd love to see that whole show.

Did anybody else think Jack Benny was likely to be giv'n the bird to Bob Hope to try to make him mess up? They were known for having such fun. When he opens the violin case his middle finger stays there kinda long.

I also love Jack Benny so much I almost feel kinda funny sometimes.

"Get Smart"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcBiGttE_As