Porta-Color II

[Eric H]

Didn't know there was such a thing.
I'm not sure but I think it might be ugly?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-GE-Porta...QQcmdZViewItem

[Adam]

I think the porta-color II was a soild state version of the porta-color.

[veg-o-matic]

Oooh, I might have to bid on that one.

veg

[bgadow]

Yep, solid state, a rare piece! But, nope, not pretty! Maybe that's why they didn't sell many. Of course, they would have been a lot more expensive than the plain Portacolor, too.

[Sandy G]

If they're the ones I'm thinkin' of, I have 2, they're SS all right, use that same coarse-pitch CRT the Tooob Porta-Pottys do. Not a very good picture, no frills, about all you can say for 'em is yes, they ARE color sets. Mine were made in '84, IIRC, in Portsmouth, Virginia-Maybe the LAST TVs made in America...

[andy]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

If they're the ones I'm thinkin' of, I have 2, they're SS all right, use that same coarse-pitch CRT the Tooob Porta-Pottys do. Not a very good picture, no frills, about all you can say for 'em is yes, they ARE color sets. Mine were made in '84, IIRC, in Portsmouth, Virginia-Maybe the LAST TVs made in America...

The portacolor IIs are from the early 70's and completely different from those 80's GE portables.

[dtuomi]

I rather like that one.

David

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by andy

The portacolor IIs are from the early 70's and completely different from those 80's GE portables.

Correct-- the JA-chassis Portacolor II is entirely different from the AA/AB-chassis sets that were introduced in the late 70's and made through the mid-80's. The JA chassis is from the early 70's, and uses the same CRT as the tube Portacolors from that same time. The 10" version of the AA/AB sets have a CRT that is similar to that of the stripe-phosphor version of the Portacolor CRT, but it's not identical-- the neck is shorter and the convergence assembly is different. I'd suspect they're pin compatible though I don't know for sure. [I do sometimes refer to the 10" AA/AB-chassis sets as the "Portacolor III" though... ]

The Portacolor II was GE's first attempt at a solid-state version of the Portacolor, and must have sold rather poorly, because they're not very common today. They were probably a lot more expensive than the regular tube-type Portacolors. I tend to suspect they only made them for one model year, and it was quite some time before GE tried again with the AA-chassis.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Portacolor II is actually slightly larger (and boxier in shape) than the tube-type Portacolors, despite being solid-state.