Keracolor TV's are being made again? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

TrevorM6TSE · 25th Apr 2006, 7:32 pm

Hi All,

I don't know whether you've seen this or not, but it appears Keracolor TV's are being made again?

I found this site: http://www.keracolor.com/main.html After a search on EBAY

It claims that this new company (which appears to be a bit of a garden shed job and by this I mean small numbers made) have purchased the moulds and are making new GRP cases and mounting a standard modern TV inside. Prices start around £1,000!!

Hope it is of interest and starts a discussion.

Cheers,

Trev

Paul Stenning · 25th Apr 2006, 7:39 pm

The URL should be http://www.keracolour.com/ (UK spelling of colour)

stephanie · 25th Apr 2006, 8:15 pm

Both URLs work.

Paul Stenning · 25th Apr 2006, 8:38 pm

The first one didn't for me earlier, but does now. It's sensible for them to have both though.

stephanie · 25th Apr 2006, 8:45 pm

Of course y'all realize it's just a cheapie 200-quid sorry-state chassis stuck inside a fancy case...

I wish that if someone were to make a reproduction of a vintage electronics device -- especially one costing 1,000 pounds -- that they'd make an effort to have the electronics be of the same quality as the original they're paying homage to.

Don't give me the cheap five quid transistor radio stuck in a sawdust box. Sure, if you're going to make it transistorized, that's fine. But at least use quality switches, controls, a real chassis, etc.

evingar · 25th Apr 2006, 8:48 pm

I wish them the best of luck

I guess there will be a small "retro" market for them, and as they have SCART at least they won't be in the tip when analogue goes, although fitting a desktop box may be a problem

tvden · 25th Apr 2006, 8:57 pm

good luck to them I see they are making spare parts for the originals, which could make them a few bob

Paul Stenning · 25th Apr 2006, 9:19 pm

It would be good if they stated what make of TV chassis they were using. It would help inspire confidence in people spending £1000+ if they knew they were getting something decent like Panasonic or Sony rather than Alba or Goodmans...

Having said that though, Steve Ostler used Nikki and Alba chassis in his repro TV22s and says he hsn't had any failures.

ColinB · 25th Apr 2006, 9:47 pm

Looks similar to these

http://www.predicta.com/index.shtml

making repro philco predictas

ianj · 26th Apr 2006, 6:36 pm

Yes, Ive looked at these; the chassis does look very cheap;and there is no new moulding around the squarer flatter modern tube, so you can see that its reengineered--nonethe less, its nice to see--brings back zany memories of the early 70s!!!!!!! ianj

Lowemission · 26th Apr 2006, 8:33 pm

If i remember correctly (probably wrong!) wasn't the Keracolor name plus moulds etc up for auction on ebay sometime ago.

I thought there was a discussion about it on this forum but couldn't find it in the search, just thought as it was in the "ebay" section it's probably been deleted.

Julian

Panrock · 27th Apr 2006, 5:35 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Stenning

Having said that though, Steve Ostler used Nikki and Alba chassis in his repro TV22s and says he hsn't had any failures.

I've since had one actually.... it was a transistor in the regulator section in one I bought back for resale. The B+ volts were well down and the customer hadn't even noticed.

A few years ago I was approached by a businessman from Richmond who wanted to re-start producing Keracolors. I gave him a quote but nothing came of it.

BTW I'm bringing my all-plated '93 'Imperial' to the next NVCF. You can glimpse it HERE.

Steve

Steve

JoshWard · 27th Apr 2006, 5:55 pm

I look forward to it Steve! Its a shame that the retroviser was released before I became interested in radio + TV as I would really like one! (hint, hint!). Josh.

Mike Phelan · 28th Apr 2006, 7:56 am

Isn't it strange how fickle these fads are? At the time when they were. say. ten years old, we found that the few Keracolors that turned up in part exchange were virtually unsaleable, and went to the dealers or the chassis were kept and the cabinet scrapped!

Something like a Bradford or G8 would be refurbished and sold!

Ian - G4JQT · 17th May 2006, 1:16 pm

Just looked at the Keracolour site and the TV specifications. I wish the guy luck. Prices seem high, but set-up costs, research etc. aren't cheap. But I would have liked to see what chassis is being used...

No mention of a digital (DTT) tuner. If I got one I'd like it to still be working after 2012 without an extra set-top box...

keracolor · 29th May 2006, 11:35 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanie

Of course y'all realize it's just a cheapie 200-quid sorry-state chassis stuck inside a fancy case...

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanie

I wish that if someone were to make a reproduction of a vintage electronics device -- especially one costing 1,000 pounds -- that they'd make an effort to have the electronics be of the same quality as the original they're paying homage to.

Don't give me the cheap five quid transistor radio stuck in a sawdust box. Sure, if you're going to make it transistorized, that's fine. But at least use quality switches, controls, a real chassis, etc.

Thanks for all your comments about the new Keracolor, good & bad!

I would first like to say that the reason we have not put what chasses & tubes we are using is that all the TV are built to order and we use different types mostly Philips CTR with Sanyo chasses with custom build control panels to individual customer requirements for the 25” model. The 20” is most made up from Thomson components many due to the shape of there CRT, but again we up grad the speaker and make custom controls, all have Scarts, AV, ect…

The reason for the “high” price is all the cabinets are made for Class1 Fire retardant GRP, There is a custom made shelf that again is fire retardant, custom made swivel brackets, control panels ect……then we have most of them sprayed by a profession body shop in any colour to a very high standard, I could go on all day, but as most of you will appreciate the amount of time required I will leave it at that.

Due to conditions of the original mould they need a lot of work to get them up to a usable condition, as well as a little reshape to the front to get the CRT to sit correctly.

As for quality any of you are more that welcome to come and have a look for yourselves, the finish in my opinion and everyone else that has seen one up close is fault less!!! But I will leave it up you to make your own minds up.

We are currently working on LCD models with built in DVD players, Playstations, ect, but again we are having to rework some of the moulds & have just started work on a all new Keracolor case.

If anyone would like to read the Keracolor history page on the web site the user name is Keracolor password john99.

If any of you have any question, please PM me on here.

Regards

John
Keracolor Televisions

Panrock · 30th May 2006, 8:40 am

All the above very reasonable IMO and I do understand the challenges and the sheer time involved in 'getting it right' in small-scale television production.

Good luck, and I hope you find an eager market for your product.

Steve ('Retrovisor')

slidertogrid · 30th May 2006, 10:23 pm

The best of luck

I am sure you find a good market for your sets , I remember repairing the original version and lets face it it was only fitted with a mainstream Decca/ Plessey chassis, not a B&O or anything. Also the modern version has to conform to modern standards, im sure no one wants one to go up in smoke ! that would be taking originality a bit too far

It is odd how fasion changes I remember buying loads of Philips Nouveu sets for next to nothing because they had white tops and rosewood sides

people thought they were hideous! but a bit of teak fablon later.....

The original Keracolour only had a limited market, you might end up selling more repos than originals! anyone know how many Decca versions were made?

evingar · 16th Aug 2006, 1:06 pm

What is happening to this project ? Their Web site is still up, but this is on eBay :-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KERACOLOR-SPHE...QQcmdZViewItem

Panrock · 18th Aug 2006, 2:03 pm

Doesn't look good, does it ?

In this era of widescreen there is an intrinsic problem for anyone wanting to market a 'new' 4 x 3 design.

Also television is not like radio in one crucial respect. Whereas people are happy to admire the look of their quaintly-styled radio as it does its stuff churning out sound - when they're watching television they can't do this - they're watching the picture on the screen instead.

Yeah, I know this is not how we 'collectors' think - but we represent a tiny market. This is how the general public thinks. When it comes to television, the general public are used to paying low real prices for a high level of functionality with the drive behind the sale coming from the latest gizmo and feature content. They won't pay loads extra just for the 'look' of a tv set and will get confused if this is the marketing message on offer. For them, anything that looks 'old' must be old - and therefore it isn't cool.

I speak from bitter experience....

Steve

25th Apr 2006, 7:32 pm	#1
TrevorM6TSE Heptode Join Date: May 2003 Location: Old Tupton, Derbyshire, UK. Posts: 539	Keracolor TV's are being made again? Hi All, I don't know whether you've seen this or not, but it appears Keracolor TV's are being made again? I found this site: http://www.keracolor.com/main.html After a search on EBAY It claims that this new company (which appears to be a bit of a garden shed job and by this I mean small numbers made) have purchased the moulds and are making new GRP cases and mounting a standard modern TV inside. Prices start around £1,000!! Hope it is of interest and starts a discussion. Cheers, Trev __________________ I'd just like to say "Good luck, we're all counting on you"

25th Apr 2006, 7:39 pm	#2
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? The URL should be http://www.keracolour.com/ (UK spelling of colour) __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

25th Apr 2006, 8:15 pm	#3
stephanie Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: New Bern, North Carolina, USA Posts: 346	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Both URLs work.

25th Apr 2006, 8:38 pm	#4
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? The first one didn't for me earlier, but does now. It's sensible for them to have both though. __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

25th Apr 2006, 8:45 pm	#5
stephanie Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: New Bern, North Carolina, USA Posts: 346	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Of course y'all realize it's just a cheapie 200-quid sorry-state chassis stuck inside a fancy case... I wish that if someone were to make a reproduction of a vintage electronics device -- especially one costing 1,000 pounds -- that they'd make an effort to have the electronics be of the same quality as the original they're paying homage to. Don't give me the cheap five quid transistor radio stuck in a sawdust box. Sure, if you're going to make it transistorized, that's fine. But at least use quality switches, controls, a real chassis, etc.

25th Apr 2006, 8:48 pm	#6
evingar Octode Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Newbury, Berkshire, UK. Posts: 1,770	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? I wish them the best of luck I guess there will be a small "retro" market for them, and as they have SCART at least they won't be in the tip when analogue goes, although fitting a desktop box may be a problem __________________ Chris

25th Apr 2006, 8:57 pm	#7
tvden Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Halesworth, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 413	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? good luck to them I see they are making spare parts for the originals, which could make them a few bob

25th Apr 2006, 9:19 pm	#8
Paul Stenning Administrator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Cardiff Posts: 9,071	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? It would be good if they stated what make of TV chassis they were using. It would help inspire confidence in people spending £1000+ if they knew they were getting something decent like Panasonic or Sony rather than Alba or Goodmans... Having said that though, Steve Ostler used Nikki and Alba chassis in his repro TV22s and says he hsn't had any failures. __________________ Paul Stenning Forum Admin/Owner and BVWS Webmaster

25th Apr 2006, 9:47 pm	#9
ColinB Heptode Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Newton Abbot, Devon, UK. Posts: 761	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Looks similar to these http://www.predicta.com/index.shtml making repro philco predictas

26th Apr 2006, 6:36 pm	#10
ianj Heptode Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire, UK. Posts: 525	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Yes, Ive looked at these; the chassis does look very cheap;and there is no new moulding around the squarer flatter modern tube, so you can see that its reengineered--nonethe less, its nice to see--brings back zany memories of the early 70s!!!!!!! ianj

26th Apr 2006, 8:33 pm	#11
Lowemission Tetrode Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Merstham, Surrey, UK. Posts: 98	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? If i remember correctly (probably wrong!) wasn't the Keracolor name plus moulds etc up for auction on ebay sometime ago. I thought there was a discussion about it on this forum but couldn't find it in the search, just thought as it was in the "ebay" section it's probably been deleted. Julian

27th Apr 2006, 5:55 pm	#13
JoshWard Octode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Near Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 1,962	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? I look forward to it Steve! Its a shame that the retroviser was released before I became interested in radio + TV as I would really like one! (hint, hint!). Josh.

28th Apr 2006, 7:56 am	#14
Mike Phelan Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Near Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Posts: 4,609	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Isn't it strange how fickle these fads are? At the time when they were. say. ten years old, we found that the few Keracolors that turned up in part exchange were virtually unsaleable, and went to the dealers or the chassis were kept and the cabinet scrapped! Something like a Bradford or G8 would be refurbished and sold! __________________ Mike.

17th May 2006, 1:16 pm	#15
Ian - G4JQT Octode Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Reading/Fakenham, UK. Posts: 1,323	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Just looked at the Keracolour site and the TV specifications. I wish the guy luck. Prices seem high, but set-up costs, research etc. aren't cheap. But I would have liked to see what chassis is being used... No mention of a digital (DTT) tuner. If I got one I'd like it to still be working after 2012 without an extra set-top box...

30th May 2006, 8:40 am	#17
Panrock Nonode Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Worcestershire, UK. Posts: 2,533	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? All the above very reasonable IMO and I do understand the challenges and the sheer time involved in 'getting it right' in small-scale television production. Good luck, and I hope you find an eager market for your product. Steve ('Retrovisor') Last edited by Paul Stenning; 30th May 2006 at 5:29 pm. Reason: Removed unnecessary quote

30th May 2006, 10:23 pm	#18
slidertogrid Octode Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1,898	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? The best of luck I am sure you find a good market for your sets , I remember repairing the original version and lets face it it was only fitted with a mainstream Decca/ Plessey chassis, not a B&O or anything. Also the modern version has to conform to modern standards, im sure no one wants one to go up in smoke ! that would be taking originality a bit too far It is odd how fasion changes I remember buying loads of Philips Nouveu sets for next to nothing because they had white tops and rosewood sides people thought they were hideous! but a bit of teak fablon later..... The original Keracolour only had a limited market, you might end up selling more repos than originals! anyone know how many Decca versions were made?

16th Aug 2006, 1:06 pm	#19
evingar Octode Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Newbury, Berkshire, UK. Posts: 1,770	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? What is happening to this project ? Their Web site is still up, but this is on eBay :- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KERACOLOR-SPHE...QQcmdZViewItem __________________ Chris

18th Aug 2006, 2:03 pm	#20
Panrock Nonode Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Worcestershire, UK. Posts: 2,533	Re: Keracolor TV's are being made again? Doesn't look good, does it ? In this era of widescreen there is an intrinsic problem for anyone wanting to market a 'new' 4 x 3 design. Also television is not like radio in one crucial respect. Whereas people are happy to admire the look of their quaintly-styled radio as it does its stuff churning out sound - when they're watching television they can't do this - they're watching the picture on the screen instead. Yeah, I know this is not how we 'collectors' think - but we represent a tiny market. This is how the general public thinks. When it comes to television, the general public are used to paying low real prices for a high level of functionality with the drive behind the sale coming from the latest gizmo and feature content. They won't pay loads extra just for the 'look' of a tv set and will get confused if this is the marketing message on offer. For them, anything that looks 'old' must be old - and therefore it isn't cool. I speak from bitter experience.... Steve