I still can't quite believe it works, after so much neglect in the desert. They sure knew how to build 'em...once upon a time. It'd really be something if the set's previous owners ever saw this video. Even though it's not a restoration, I'd treat that poor old TV to a new yoke. Surely it has earned that much just by refusing to die.
Im poor dont have a lot of money like ever, i always look around for electrical things to help in the house .I think its disgraceful what people just throw away, i had 17 years out of one of the tvs i found and fixed i find what you have done fasinating
RAD PC When the Analog to Digital transition happened, we had tvs lining the roads for trash pickup. Being a scrapper, I picked up what my truck bed and cab could hold. You'd be surprised how many of them still worked perfectly other than not being able to get an analog channel anymore. (I still can get a ham radio tv transmission once in a purple moon) I think only 2 sets didn't work out if all them. I've also picked up working computers, monitors, laptops, vacuum cleaners, drills, etc.... People don't understand that just because it's 2 years old doesn't mean it isn't useful.
It really is. I’ve found so many good crt television sets, radios, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners tossed in the trash typically for a bad cord, clogged filter (especially with a vacuum or air conditioner). I recently grabbed a 1955 magnavox console television from an older person’s home that was tossed to the curb. Just needed two capacitors and a new rectifier tube. We live in such a disgustingly disposable society.
My specialty is much more towards digital electronics, but I'm in the same boat. It's incredible what people throw away! Almost all of my parts come from junk electronics.
You need a camera with manual shutter speed setting. Set it to 1/60s to capture one field, or 1/30s to capture two fields (both odd and even lines) in one camera frame.
The CRT looked so much better when you reseated it back in. I too was in shock with the picture quality. Nice sharpness, contrast, and brightness. Great work.
not really they were well built as in built to last so some ppl thought maybe we will go to the moon our TV's need to be good enough to work in space, that's why it stil works built to last
Is because nowadays there is an awful trend that manufacturers seemingly love called "Planned Obscolescense". If you make a TV set to last and resist, people would get happy, but unfortunately companies really need money. So Nowadays they make their things with small defects that works as a kind of calendar, so the device breaks after a preset time ranging from 1 to 5 years.
Great video! I love it, this TV was setting in the desert for probably 30 years and came right back to life. I have a similar story although with a much newer TV. I was helping someone clean out an old falling down barn and in it was a TV. I still have it, but I can't remember the model. I'm quite sure it was from 1986, possibly an RCA. I know it has a little sensor on the front to adjust the picture based on the light in the room. Actually now that I think about it I believe it is a Selectavision. Anyways, the part of the barn it was in had no roof and the TV was covered in dirt and dust. They were just gonna trash it so I thought why not take it and see if it works. I did absolutely nothing to it at all, just took it home and plugged it in and it fired right up! The only problem is the colors are off a bit, but still amazing that a TV that has been basically exposed to the elements for what I would guess is at least 20 years or so would fire right up and display a picture. It is true what they say, they don't build'em like they used too!
Dude, that's amazing. That TV deserves to be preserved in some kind of TV retirement home or spa. Love your channel, by the way. My wife hates it, though. :P
With such a sharp picture it might be worth a full restoration. Regardless it's a good example of how something that has been exposed to harsh conditions for 40 years can survive. I doubt a flat screen TV could do that.
*Amazing!* Many of the people shown on the screen of that TV set were either not born yet, or were *a lot* younger the last time that TV set was in operation (I know I was). Manufacturers *really* knew how to make good TV sets back in those days.
That's one of the things I like most about your vids. You get into some things that I'd likely not have seen any other way. Thanks for being bold. We all appreciate it! Cheers! Michael
I think it would be fun to run the crap out of this set. It would need to be monitored under close supervision. It would be cool to see what failures show up and how long it took them to appear. Keep a log on the hours. I would never have bet those sun baked electrolytic caps working at all. Interesting video.
I like the idea of it reasonably cleaned out and functional. Then play it an hour or two here and there. They don't make them anymore. Running it to failure is definitely an interesting question. It will fail probably many times. But eventually a part that may be very difficult to acquire could fail and render the set inoperative. That I'd regret. But I'd accept that if the hours of use were to someone's enjoyment. God Bless
Everything's small, delicate and complicated. While there certainly is some lack of quality, it's mostly a complexity issue. While these TVs were often quite complex for their day, modern TVs are much more complex. Also, even compared to early transistor equipment, tube stuff has huge tolerances.
That is amazing ! Incredible good picture after all those years outside in the weather. and as often happens, if it works don't touch it. It de-harmonizes the status quo of the device. Brilliant video.
I haven't found a discarded compactron set in over 15 years now :(. Man they used to be a dime a dozen. Came across a 50's RCA console not too long ago at the curb but there was nothing salvage so I drilled out the sockets for project use. My best barn resurrection ever was a late 50's ('58 I think?) weak CRT Admiral round screen colour 3 chassis set with electronic (22-1/2V) ultrasonic remote - thing must've cost a Cadillac the year it was manufactured. Having fun going through your channel. Seems like we both have a fetish for hollow state.
Astonishing! Indeed a tribute to the build quality. I wonder how much that TV cost new in today's money.I wonder what the outcome would have been if the cabinet was not plastic. I rescued a wooden cased radio (Pye P45) riddled with woodworm and the cabinet base was beginning to succumb to dry rot. The chassis was brown with rust with thinning of the metal in places but all the TXes and coils were unaffected, probably because they were somewhat potted in wax. The paper speaker cone was almost completely gone with just the voicecoil and dust cap remaining. I fitted an new Altai 8 inch driver. A full recap and one new electrolytic and it works a treat. I think the set had the occasional drenching in water as some of the dial printing has slipped on the glass but that could be to wildlife residing in the set at the time.
that camera sync was interesting; i have never seen a circular pattern like that before. i've seen my fair share of lines and diagonals, but never circles. great job by the way!
That TV definitely works great for all it's been through. I've seen several yokes from Sharp monitors where the horizontal winding arced out. The adhesive that was used to hold the rubber wedges in place had broken down and ate through the windings. As for the corners being blank with the replacement yoke, it's possible that it needs to come forward more, or it's from a tube that used a different deflection angle. I run into that problem a lot when doing CRT swaps. At least with black and white sets, you don't have to do convergence :-)
I'd call it a Zombie TV. Cool how it still wants to work, almost have to just "use" it over a period of time and then see what will fail. Maybe after a bit of cleaning so you don't get a accidental fire.
O.o purple lightning?! that's a first neat! dargh we've enter some portal on a 60's doctor who ep ahhh! it wants to speak but it can't this is fun watching these things come back to life!
Thanks Shango for another great video. You mentioned what other countries think about USA TV shows! Well I live in Perth Western Australia (I don't know if you have heard of it) and we get a lot of shows being pumped out over our TV sets from you're fair country. I myself stopped watching BC-TV some 12 years ago because of all the bad TV shows being shown on TV. There are a lot of things that the US does and does very well but TV shows are not one of them. I spend a lot of my time like you do and most days I'm lucky to find time to watch a TV set. In fact my TV was brought and junked without ever being turned on. This was because we went to full digital TV 16th April 2013 with no stations broadcasting analogue TV signals anymore. I brought a new TV 3 months before that time and never used it. I tried to sell it for $10.00 as it was still in it's box but no one wanted it. I ended up buying a new DTV set and even this set has less that 50 hours on it. Why you may ask, well I get 28 channels of crap and I just won't watch it. I do watch a lot of You Tube video's in the evening on my PC but other than that Perth gets too much USA type TV shows and it looks like my country is starting to make them just like your country does. I see why you don't clean up these vintage TV's sometimes just a dust-out can end a good TV set. A shame it ended like that. Cheers.
You are amazing, love your video's. Love to see you go about and find these poor old baby's and try to make them sing again. The effect of weathering on video is fascinating. Keep up the good work, much appreciated and greetings from The Netherlands :D
Well, if you get this working, it won't be used often since TV is garbage anymore. It a shame that we have high definition, but nothing worth watching. In the old days, we had small screens, but good programming.
Shango - To help you get better video when recording with your video camera, just remember this...here in the states, AC mains works on 60hz (as you know of course), TV's refresh at 60hz, so you need to set your camera shutter to 1/60th of a second. The reason you get black banding and other anomalies as such is because the camera is set to *auto*, when you change your angle, you are changing your environment, since the camera is in *auto*, the shutter changes from low to high, so you can expect total black (high shutter speed) to a smeary picture (real low shutter speed). For those cameras that you can not change the shutter speed, look for settings that will allow you to set it for low light, this will slow down the shutter, however, if you're shooting in daylight, you may have a blown out picture....but atleast you have an idea of why it's happening and how to fix it.
I think the way that the set worked it looks like a low hour set. I think it's worth restoring. I don't know if it's the camera or if it's because of the fact that these videos are shot at 30 progressive frames, the scan lines on that TV look stationary, like a 240p video game.
Great resurrection - really enjoyed following along. Gotta hand it to you for determination. I wonder how a modern flat screen TV would hold up after 30 years in the desert? Cheers, John
Amazing resurrection! If that set had been inside protected, it probably would not of worked. Plus it being thrown into that pile of junk...The baking heat may have kept the caps in good condition. Yes, that's quality of design and assembly.
I have 1973 rca tube powered tv and first I got it , the water was coming out of it and I thought I was going after those radio tubes but it worked it own!
My late father sometimes referred the TV as an "idiot box". And that was since the 70's. (He was born 1930). He is right. But hey, how else could we amuse ourselves. And this is a great video about a baked idiot box. :)
I should have waited to comment until watched the whole thing, before commenting. Wifey and I unplugged the TV 22 years ago and never looked back. When people at work talk about the latest and greatest crap-show, I haven't a stinkin' clue what their talking about. We pick some good movies, mostly British or German, and that's all we need. And yep, I think their putting something on our food! Cheers! Michael
Very rugged TV, the quality is impressive. I would even consider a more proper electronic repair, just so it's not on the edge of death all the time. In cable TV we get a lot of american shows, given that they are the same networks, it's no surprise. Same stuff, just in spanish, of course most of the time they don't broadcast shows that would only make sense to the american public. For those shows, we get our local ones which are equally boring crap. At least cable TV is not as horrible as the aerial channels. Those are just heavily biased news and turkish-themed drama series all day, with an ocassional movie or the Simpsons. I have a flatscreen they gave me for xmas a few years ago. Never use it, just turn it on from time to time and leave it on to make it less likely for fungi to infest it.
This set was a bar room survivor - judging by the amount of crud and dust built up inside! Just remember, brightness controls black in a CRT and contrast controls white and total picture output.
LOL at 16:55 she grew up in Lake Worth Florida.. Exactly where I'm located.. Small little town in Palm Beach... I can't believe you got that thing going in that condition...
Same thing in Germany, the content on TV is unwatchable. I don't think that this is an country specific issue, imho people are just getting dumber - or less "pretentious".
I have talked to people that have said "America is like a retarded cousin nobody wants to admit they have" I can't stand TV either. That's why we love your videos. Yes the second camera looks a lot better. Good work Shang.
UNFARKING BELIEVABLE! My mind is blown! If you're going to be performing resurrections, maybe you should consider changing your channel name from shango666 to Lazurus777. Ha! Cool to know those magnets help with the vertical pincushion.
I had a friend that used crack on Ernest Ainsley's frequent statement,"Put your hand on the television and feel the power of Gawd!" by saying, "Put your hand in the back of the television and feel the power of Gawd!"
Restoration vs resurrection---I don't know if you're into old cars or not, but there's a guy here on RU-vid that buys cars out of the junkyard (only 40's/50's vintage) and does just enough to get them running. They don't see the road, he just drives them around his farm once in awhile. Some of them have been sitting in the junkyard for 40-50 years.
absolutey! ive actually brought home a bed with the large ones before (didnt have any cables handy) also while im at it another plus 1 to shango for getting that tv to work for a bit, that was really cool to see.
+Carl Burgess I could see one working after a weekend (if its try). But probably works best for a fire with all the plastic. But they sure not made to last. 10 years is what they do if your lucky (and that's only cause of laws that we have here in NL).
+Carl Burgess You have to consider the complexity of a modern tv. You'll find controlled impedance busses, high frequency chipsets with ball grid arrays and the voltages have to be spot on, for it to boot. This old RCA doesn't care if voltages are off 15%...
Used to see a lot of old sets with a line burned in the crt because the owners chose to listen to their programs while the sets had no vertical output.
