12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

While recently looking online at old catalogues I've been surprised by the lack of 12 inch colour sets.

The early colour portables seemed to be at least 14 inches, & when technology improved colour sets usng 5 to 10 inches tubes were common.

Oddly 12 inches was a common screen size for PC colour monitors, which makes things even more of a mystery, or have I not just looked hard enough.

Re: !2 Inch Colour TVs
 

Did the colour monitor CRT have a much better resolution than TV CRT’s. Some Mono monitors I worked on required video bandwidth of around 12Mhz.

That would make the CRT more expensive, not something TV makers would be happy with.

Re: !2 Inch Colour TVs
 

Early Sonys were nominally 13".

Re: !2 Inch Colour TVs
 

I think 12" (29cm visible) was only a somewhat common monitor size (maybe because it was a common size for monochrome monitors). Never seen 12" colour TV tubes.

N.B. Except early Trinitron ones as mentioned below.

Re: !2 Inch Colour TVs
 

It seems the early trinitron tubes (those used in KV-13xx sets) were indeed a bit smaller. I think they were even marketed as 12" (visible diagonal) in the US.

Generally, small size TV sets of most brands were usually marketed as 13" in the US and 14" in Europe. Always 33 to 34 cm visible depending on the exact tube.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Somehow the Sony 13 inch colour sets slipped my mind, though they normally had a large body for the size of screen.

In the USA 13" was the largest screen size that didn't need to display Closed Captions.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Just to reverse Richard's thread a little [if that's ok] back in the eighties a standard screen was 21". I didn't want this "big" size [sounds strange I know] and had a requirement for a smaller colour set but with access for one of the new VCR's. The smallest size was 14" available then but the price was extremely disproportionate in relation to readily available to 21" models. Even if you found a 14" colour "portable" [they weren't really] they didn't have Video sockets.

Eventually I went into the well established TV/Radio dealers on the corner of Shudehill near the Arndale in Manchester. The shop closed long ago but the frontage is still there [as it was] as I go past on the Metro Tram! In 1982 I set out my requirements and to my surprise, the chap said yes we've got this JVC colour 14" with bnc sockets [no scart then]. I paid £300 for it! I've still got the receipt and the set, although it needs repair! Interestingly, when flat screens first began to appear, the same thing happened and for a short while it was very expensive to get the smaller size. Nobody seems to recall this now though!

I notice there is a bit of a crossover with the current "Longevity"
thread [eg post 27*].


Dave W

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Entered into Google "12AXP22 color CRT". Don't know if such a tube exists but most of the answers related to monitor tubes. Certainly no results for domestic TVs.

DFWB.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

There was an eleven inch CRT colour TV set. The GE Porta Color. Sold in Germany as a Kuba Portacolor.
http://www.earlytelevision.org/ge_portacolor.html

DFWB.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

The smaller Trinitron tubes were 330AB22.

Delta and inline tubes for TV 370..22 or A37-...X, later A34xxx00X or sometimes A33xxx00X.

12" monitor tubes probably M34-...X, later M29xxx00X.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

I remember that shop being open until about 15 years ago.

Until the second half of the 1980s it was hard even on larger sets to have any kind of AV input.

The c1984 Pye badged 21" Philips set I was given by my Aunt & Uncle in the late 1990s only had a DIN output for sound, but there was a blank moulding on the back for a SCART socket.

I did wonder if smaller set being disproportionately expensive was due to need to squeeze the necessary electronics to fit a smaller space.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

A UHF only version badged "Granada Colorette" may also be found.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

We used to sell a 10" colour tv back in the day ,I cant remember what make it was although it may have been Sony, but it was mains/12v DC , people used to buy them for caravans and lorries etc .

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

I hadn't thought of the "smaller space" angle Richard but I don't know whether it would have applied in the same way with the the more recent FS technology??? I thought [in 82] that the high price either reflected a limited production rate/demand or some sort of opportunism. I still paid up though and got a few decades out of the set, so like my £200 Sony Walkman Recorder [which lasted for two decades] the relative cost actually reduced with each year ;).

My recollection is that [of course] most people wanted the biggest [21"] option. I think the JVC was the first set I actually bought. In the previous decade it had seemed better to rent and I had a very affordable package from Granada TV Rental [not the Broadcaster for those unfamiliar with the North of England] consisting of a Finlandia Colour TV bundled with VCR, that seemed to be very luxurious then. I was delighted to find that the VCR enabled me to "dub in" sound as well. This was useful when I had some 8mm film footage transferred Video Tape at a shop in Bury.

There was a very great advantage to "brand new " rentals in those days, as economies of scale also meant there was no risk. You got up-dates on new models and instant repair or replacement if anything failed. If you wanted to buy it was a big investment only undertaken by the "well heeled" with severe repair costs always a possibility.

Dave W



"Hit The North" Marc E Smith-The Fall !
[Now dead a year already]

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Did TELETON make a 12" portable with the Toshiba compactron valves? J.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Indeed, the Teleton 'Super 12', although there was nothing particularly super about it. It was also known as the VX-1100, so the exact screen size may not be 12".

Interestingly, this set uses unusual decoder techniques which were originally developed for single gun colour tubes. It isn't at all like the Sony decoder, the green issue of Gordon King's Colour TV Servicing Manuals explains how it works.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

In the early 80's, Panasonic had their TC800G, which was a TV and had phono/BNC sockets, 8" colour screen too.

I have a vague memory there was also a TC1200 (12") colour TV, but an internet search shows less than useful hits, the TC800G ceratinly had a bigger brother, though only by a few inches.

These TV's were part of the Quinrix range of 'portables.

Great little tellies.

EDIT:- Have since found a TC1100

Mark

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

I have a 10" colour set badged 'Silver' probably made by Goldstar or Daewoo. I think they sold one in Uk as Akura or Nikkai or something.

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

Does anyone know how the price of these 12" models, that have been identified, compared with larger sets? Was there as big a differential with those as I found with 14" sets?

Dave

Re: 12 Inch Colour TV's.
 

All part of the very large Granada enterprise started by Sydney Bernstein in 1935.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granada_plc