Sinclair MTV1 Handheld Television 

Sinclair one of our UK mad geniuses'. Love it Fran 👍👍

Clive Sinclair was a genius,

Was your comment about Sinclair quality meant ironically, because from watching this I am confident that this device is the highest quality product _ever_ to come from Sinclair, with metal case, metal chassis, and non-sandpapered-off IC labels. The tube is a wonderful electrostatic-deflection device, unlike most TV tubes which use magnetic deflection. The voltage ladder caps look quite modern - replacements perhaps? I knew Clive Sinclair (he convinced me to join Mensa, one of the most boring experiences of my life), and he was a good bloke, who was more interested in getting his ideas to market than making a fortune. Here in UK people with capital do not want to invest in ideas unless they can make an immediate return, and they believe that their money contributed more to the product than the ideas of its creator. So it was with Sinclair - he developed prototypes and had to sell them early to make money, so most of his stuff was shoddy and tawdry, but with genius hidden within. By the way, the word "tawdry" comes from the town, St Ives, where Clive's factory was - in the old mill by the river Great Ouse (technically it is in the parish of Fenstanton). The Abbey of Ely was founded in 673 by Etheldreda (Audrey), who was canonised, and Ely became a site of pilgrimage. The route of pilgrimage passed through St Ives - along what is now St Audrey's Lane, and along this way stall-holders sold fingers of St Audrey in boxes of a dozen, together with other rubbishy St Audrey ('tawdry) relics and goods. I have the later 1B version of the TV, which has a plastic case, was built to a price (£0.01) and is so insensitive it can only pick up transmissions from immediately below the Sutton Coldfield transmitter mast. But after watching this video I'd quite like a 1A.

I was practically screaming at the phone that antenna had to come out! 😂

I used a later model, possibly smaller still, in 1984 when I worked for a TV news crew. The power came from single-use batteries produced by polaroid (as used in some of their cameras?). Our receiver was used as a simple off-air back-up. It was small enough to fit in a reporter's coat pocket to prompt them during live handovers. The only snag was having to quickly fade down the earpiece sound, otherwise the slight terrestrial delay would be distracting to the reporter during his spiel. Still not as extreme as satellite delay times though. It really was revolutionary, at a time when our 'mobile' phone (no screen!) was built into the car dashboard, and the TV camera ran from a battery that was way heavier than Mr Sinclair's entire TV.

How awesome! My parents won a Sinclair MTV1 as a raffle at a New Years Eve Party in 1979. I hijacked it and used it through 1982. I have a very distinct memory of watching the movie Catch 22 on it. It wasn't the best way to watch a movie, but if that's all you have, that's what you use! Thanks for posting.

I actually won one of these in a tech competition (first prize) back when they first came out. Its long gone now, but it was the thing to have in those days and ahead in technology!

Looks like the same CRT they used in the SC110A portable oscilloscope - very unusual to have electrostatic deflection in a TV. There is a service manual for this online with schematics.

Wow that put real tears in the tear down. 😢😅

Wow. Your covering Sinclair. Such a big part of my childhood growing up with my father owning the first calculator that used the pulsed battery cycle, then the watch. He also had a host of computers from the ZX80 to the toast rack 128K. I remember the microdrives and tape loading. We also owned the ill fated QL. Sinclair is just so iconic here in the UK and ironically I live less then a mile away from the Sinclair research mill road headquarters. Great to see you covering something like Sinclair as most do Timex who they partnered with. It's interesting as Sinclair research ltd really was in many ways a mirror of apple. They started off hifi and radio based, moved into calculators, watches,TVs,then home pc market, portable pc then electric vehicles. Obviously apple is successful but one could argue that Clive Sinclair was just trying to bring things to the masses ahead of their time.

It'd be great to see that CRT running in some other project. The rest looks pretty crusty. They were really pushing the limits of technology. Cool!

I noticed right away it had no magnetic deflection so I found the PDF online and yep, a form of electrostatic deflection like a scope, rather unique for a TV in that time frame. It would make a good restore project for someone dedicated to that kind of stuff.

It would be cool to see this restored and up and running, just for the novelty of a tiny tv! This reminds me a little bit of the old Sony Watchman I had back in the late 80's.

I bought my Sinclair micro vision new in the late 70s. I use it for about two months and it broke when I showed it to my senior aged uncle. I still have it but I have no idea where it is. I haven’t seen it in 35 years. Fran, I just want to tell you that me and my wife really enjoy your videos. Keep it up the best to you!

these things are so adorable!

Back in the day, I integrated a Sinclair Computer with a Sinclair flat screen television and an aftermarket keyboard into what would today be called a laptop computer. The frame that held the television was on a bracket attached to the aftermarket keyboard and could be closed against the keyboard. I even added a micro cassette recorder as a memory. Sometimes all that is required is the recognition of an innovation.

I have one of these on the shelf in very good condition. I actually didn’t know there were batteries in it so thanks very much for this tear down information.

What a cool device - considering that they had to pack in both high voltage and electronics for the range of TV channels. If the batteries hadn't ruined everything it would have been cool to connect it to a converter and see a current TV station on it.

Very Sinclair 😄. Thanks for a lot for posting Fran..👍

Fantastic, the video I wanted to see but didn't exist! I have the same television, I tried to open it but immediately gave up so as not to disintegrate it. Now I know how to do it, finally I can try to revive it. Thank you Fran!

Aaaah sir Clive's obsession with miniaturization ... got almost all his computers, but not going after his TVs and calculators ... though his C5 might tempt me 😁

I was hollering at ya to remove vhf antenna! Gases from battery degradation seems to have done its work well. Thank goodness it was kept in a semi-air tight bag or else all those gases may not have done their work creating corrosion. Love ya and your vids!

THAT, was a lot of fun! Thanks, Fran!

Thank you very much Fran for another wonderful video!

I actually had one of these, my parents bought it for me in the late 70's. I had a great interest in long distance tv reception particularly in the summer months on band I. I received signals from all over Europe from Iceland to Russia. Never manged any reception from the US though, but others did in the UK I believe.

Amazing engineering & design - - with all the discrete & mechanical components it's practically a miracle product given it's size and that's especially considering it's a TV in the days of CRT technology.

It was a cool tech gadget for the day. I remember seeing the adverts for them. I just couldn't imagine trying to watch any show on that small screen. They really packed everything in tight into that brick. I didn't think the gunk and corrosion was that bad for a device made in 1978. I've seen some battery leakage that was just over everything. Obviously not much thought was given to much repair access, as those batteries are right in the middle, and only a few adjustable pots at the back. Sinclair came out with some very unique things, back in the day. Though their reliability left much to be desired.

I am still stunned at *_"Made in England,"_* as late as 1978.

I never thought I’d see the insides of one of these. Thanks for doing this teardown!

I have designed and built few simple tube amplifier projects, and have always had the most problems trying to cram everything into an enclosure in a way that it'll be serviceable later. Enormous respect for the engineers that designed this thing. It looks a little janky, but it had to have taken a lot of effort to get all that stuff crammed into that little box and actually have it work. A pain to disassemble for sure, but everything is still accessible. Shame it was in such bad condition though.

Certainly a serviceman’s nightmare! Love that beautiful CRT, nice to be able to see all the detail of it’s internal elements, pity that unit is in such a poor condition.

I am very fond of Sinclar. In my freshman year of college, I had a Sinclar calculator. It served me well. Later I changed to an HP calculator, but both used the same logic and was an essay adoption.

I used to work at the Sinclair factory in St.Ives as a Technician repairing these Microvision TV's - I spent almost a year working on the main circuit boards that failed production test - that was al long time ago back in the late 70s :)

I love these old tech tear downs. It’s impressive to see how small they got a crt down to back then. Reminds me of the tricorder blueprints from the Star Trek tech manual printed around the same time.

Best teardown i've seen in a while

I have one of these, and used it in 1985 to watch Live Aid from Tallinn Estonia, which was in the Soviet Union at the time, picking up the signal from Finland. With no more analog broadcasting, it's pretty much a doorstop at this time.

Again, I love when you tear stuff down. I could almost smell the old electronics.

lovely video,on such an old relic of technology. 👍

I owned the one after this model which was about half the width but the same length in 1978. Worked great! and used regular AA batteries. I was working in London and got home by train at about 7:30pm. Before getting that job in London I used to sit in an armchair at home watching the nightly news so I bought a Sinclair mini TV and sat watching the news on the train on my way home. Just swapped an armchair for a train ride and extra overtime pay! Thanks to Clive Sinclair, a very clever man (except for the C5!)

Sinclair stuff was always a little bit shonky, but they were always ahead of the technology curve. You have to admire Clive though. If he could have given us smart phones, he would have.

Still adore that stuff and can't get the ZX Series of Computers out of my head, the C5 also, Clive Sinclair RIP.

Neat. I had a Casio tv-21 from childhood. I want more.

Usually when I hear "Sinclair" with "television" it's bad news, but this is awesome! I love the little baby satchel.

Hi Fran, As soon as I saw this TV I grabbed my Elvis Costello album "This Years Model" because I was sure at first glance that I had grown up never owning one, but saw it often. It's in the album's sleeve cover and shows a rubber glove hand holding this TV with what appears to be Costello and the Attractions playing Radio Radio on stage. To funny. I haven't looked at that sleeve cover in 15 years until now.

A thing of beauty! I wish Fran could work some magic and get it going again!

Yes! You said 'warm leatherette'! You are •so• our kinda kewl!

My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 with 2K of memory

Warm leatherette .....

I had the very first zx spectrum from Asda with the silky smooth rubber keys. Much simpler days when things were made by hand.

Sir Clive = genius.

I still have one of these...Complete with the box it came in.

I had one,,,watched ,Mork and Mindy on it

My dad had one of those installed in his 1979 Ford Tbird back in the day.

The flat screen mini Sinclair TV was novel, it used a standard electron gun but the beam was bent by 90 degrees to hit the phosphor. It’s battery was a flat pack thing, almost like a modern chewing gum lithium battery.

Thanks, Fran! Another great teardown of an iconic piece of historic technology. Sinclair made several of these way-ahead-of-their-time electronic gadgets. I had a pair of terrific-looking walkie-talkies which never actually worked but they were impressive looking. 🙂 The other iconic portable TV receiver was the Sony 8-310W. a 5-inch CRT all-transistor (except for a couple of HV rectifier tubes). consumer product widely sold to the general public (vs. Sinclair which likely was popular only among the geek population.) Phil's Old Radios has a good web page teardown, photos and restoration. Proud to be a Patreon supporter of Fran's Channel.

As a kid I had s Sinclair Micro 6 radio,revolutionary small.for the 60s!

loved the old tvs i even had radio shack color pocket tvs

You missed the most significant thing about the set. It has an electrostatic CRT! There is no flyback. Their was two sets of voltage multipliers one for the for horizontal deflection and beam acceleration and the other for vertical deflection. Way cool tare down. I've never seen an electrostatic CRT that small.

I for one would love to see it restored and connected to a digital converter for over the air TV once more.

nicads are notorious for causing damage, big problem on old pc motherboards and amiga 500+ s ..., that doesnt look too bad, compared to my amiga 500+ ,😢

i like the reference of money for nothing

New subscriber just checking in to say what a find this channel is! Thank you for the content Fran.

I remember the Sony Watchman models. REALLY wanted one, heck, still would love one of the mini TVs.\

That CRT is sought after for repairs, so please make sure it gets to someone that needs it :)

Cute little picture tube!

Clever UHF antenna. Good packaging all around. Nice to see the accessories too.

I’m glad you didn’t edit out the painful process of getting the insides out from the cover. I’ve had equipment like this that took me an hour or more to figure out

Kudos for "The Normal" reference!

It may be bashed because the tube in these suffered from very fragile glass construction inside break off moving around and shorting. Had to keep knocking it to make it work. I've a family relative used to work for him. Very very nice guy

I have one just like it apart from the fact it is brown. Sadly no longer works in Uk as no AM transmiddions any longer. I used it for a while as a mini monitor.

bonus points for vintage ear sqidge!

That green surface corrosion visible on external metal surfaces is typical of PVC damage. The vinyl carrying case outgassed Chloride which reacts with atmospheric moisture to produce hydrochloric acid.

Wish I understood electronics. Fascinating stuff.

Warm...leatherette......warm......leatherette......... A cool photo of this thing was on the inner sleeve of the 'This Year's Model' LP by Elvis Costello circa 1978.

Fantastic thanks

It was interesting to see the tare down.👍👍

Love The Normal reference Warm Leatherette 🤣🤣🤣

Warm Leatherette 😅😅😅😅 Hear the breaking glass, beneath the underpass 😊

I'm so curious as to how TV looks on such a small screen! This was a fun video

those three resistors look more like an impedance-matching bridge, than a voltage divider.

I,actually,HAD one of these !!!

Clive Sinclair is a kinda hero. More Sinclair! For a show an idea I discussed with Chat GPT... User can i make a logic circuit with ONLY diodes? ChatGPT Yes, you can create simple logic circuits using only diodes. Diodes can act as logical gates by allowing or blocking the flow of current based on their properties. Here's a basic overview of how you can use diodes to create logic gates: AND Gate: You can create an AND gate using diodes. Connect two or more diodes in series, and the output will be active (allowing current to pass) only when all input signals are active. OR Gate: You can create an OR gate using diodes as well. Connect two or more diodes in parallel, and the output will be active if any of the input signals are active. NOT Gate: A NOT gate can be constructed using a diode and a resistor. When the input signal is low (0V), the diode blocks current, and the output is high (1). These diode-based logic circuits are quite basic and have limitations, such as voltage drop across the diodes and slower response times compared to modern integrated circuits. However, they can serve as educational examples of how diodes can be used for basic logic operations. For more complex logic functions and faster response times, integrated circuits like logic gates (using transistors) are more commonly used in modern electronics. Fran, do it. I double dog dare you. It would be fun!

When i was a kid my mom would dumpster dive and bring me things like this to disassemble and trash again when i was done tearing it up. I loved it, learned a lot

OR - You could have done a search for the service manual which I found in about 20 seconds hmmm.. but, coulda woulda shoulda huh ? Love the fact that Sir Clive Sinclair has superimposed his image on the test screen in the manual .

I remember he was first trying to get a portable TV out in the 60's. There was a picture in either Practical Wireless or Wireless World.

The extension antenna is likely for VHF, the loop is UHF. The Sinclair PC was my first step into the flip-flop fandango probably 40 years ago. 😂

This sure was interesting and if my memory serves it seems to me that Sony introduced their LCD T.V. ,the Watchman around the same time as this Sinclair was made. I hope those circuit boards might be used for other sets that need them for repair. Cool video!

I would give it a try. I would just remove the dead NiCads, clean all the pins and power it on using a variable DC PSU to see what happens. I wouldn´t be surprised at all if the TV turns on. The corrosion damage is very limited, so it isn´t unsalvageable.

Now, THAT, was a lot of fun, Fran! Taking stuff apart is cool. Too bad I'm not so good at putting those things back together! Keep on Franin'!

Warm leatherette, cool song

This disassembly gave me anxiety. I've never seen anything like this TV....very cool.

Interesting build. 😎😎

Good Stuff Boss THANKS Fran

Looks like the TV in the inner sleeve picture of Elvis Costello's album This Year's Model!

I dreamed of this when I was a kid. Well, until the wristwatch tv came out!

"Hersteller" means manufacturer so this unit might be sold in western germany back in the days.

Howdy. Nostalgia. I have an analog 12 V portable black and white TV. Its inputs are 300 ohm VHF and UHF. It works but there is a lot of signal adaptions to be made. First I need an older model digibox. It converts cable or antenna to SCART. Second I need an analog SCART to carrier modulator. Finally I must use an impedance matcher transformer to match 75 ohm to 300 ohm. The concotion setup actually works. Fortunately I had the brains to buy the adapting stuff when still available. Regards.

I'm glad I saw how that antenna came out 👍

Impressive!

RSVP that Sinclair MTV1. I was cringing when you were snapping the plastic because I was holding onto the hope that it's not so bad inside. But after seeing all that corrosion, it's definitely not worth restoring. It would take days of scrubbing, replacing connectors and parts, then more days of troubleshooting to get working. And in the end you'll still just have a Sinclair. Sure it's ridiculously small for a CRT TV, especially in the era before everything was integrated into a few chips, but Sinclair was never known for producing the highest quality devices. At least we got to see the teardown in the end.