When were these made ?

[60 oldjohn]

I have these various items and would like to know the year they first went on sale.

Philips Discoverer TV (AX1 Chassis IIRC)
Philips 4307 4track R-R
Philips VR2022 VCR
Philips Laserdisk, VLP600 & 700
Hitachi VIP101P CED player.
Commodore PET 4032. computer.

There may be more to date during the next few weeks.

TFL, John.

[camallison]

We built Commodore PET 4032 for the European markets in Eaglescliffe from 1973 onwards. Over the following 4 years they went through many revisions and we had several back for up-version rework.

Colin

[60 oldjohn]

Thank you Collin, That is a lot earlier than I expected, thank you. I am trying to glue the long really thin foil strip badge back under the screen, It has already split once I wish they were still available.


John.

[TonyDuell]

I have difficulty believing that date for the Commodore 4032, given that neither the 6502 microprocessor nor the 16K*1 DRAMs were available in 1973.

[Cobaltblue]

I used to work part time for a Computer dealership (in Torquay) and my memory was that we stated to get the PET2001 in very late 1977 and the PET4036 in around 1980.

Could be wrong

Cheers

Mike T

[evingar]

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

I used to work part time for a Computer dealership (in Torquay) and my memory was that we stated to get the PET2001 in very late 1977 and the PET4036 in around 1980.

This would seem to confirm that date :-
http://oldcomputers.net/pet4032.html

[camallison]

My apologies, I overlooked the model number. In fact, the 4032 was released in October 1977, the year I left Commodore.

Once more, apologies for misleading you - a senior moment.

Colin

[60 oldjohn]

Thank you, Anyone have a list of Philips products, with dates. ?




John.

[kevinaston1]

My copy of the Philips N4307 service manual is dated July 1968, hope that helps.


Now, this will amaze you. Tucked away on my test media shelf is a pristine copy of the Pioneer GGV1011 Reference Laser test disk. It doesw not look as though it has ever been used.


Regards.


Kevin

[hamid_1]

When were some of of the other items made? I can help with a few dates.

The Philips Discoverer TV - uses the GR1AX chassis. I remember seeing the Discoverer advertised on MTV Europe satellite TV channel in 1991. The advert showed the set in the home of a motorcycle enthusiast (it's shaped like a crash helmet). It was marketed as "YourTV", a television to match your personality.

The Hitachi CED player - are you sure the model number is correct? I reckon it's this one. According to cedmagic.com , all the PAL CED players came out in 1983. They were a marketing flop and soon disappeared.

I own the above two items. I also remember the Philips VR2022 video recorder. Video 2000 system, which used double-sided cassettes, about the same size as VHS but not compatible. Another flop, Video 2000 was launched in 1980.

[60 oldjohn]

Thank You, Kevin and Hamid1 that has helped me a lot. CED is VIP101P. I think your date will apply to this player. I suppose not many test disks around now.


John.

[Marconi_MPT4]

Originally Posted by 60 oldjohn

Philips VR2022 VCR
Philips Laserdisk, VLP600 & 700

Hi John,
Philips 2000 system was advertised long before it appeared for sale due to delays caused by a number of technical problems. If memory serves we started selling these first quarter of 1980. Reliability was poor. In that time VHS and Betamax had firmly established themselves in the market.

Like all Philips products the Laserdisc release date has a question mark over it, but according to my records these appeared in the Autumn 1980 product range. Expensive, limited titles and disc quality issues, with dropout being the main complaint. Disc degradation became a problem too! These players had a high power laser making service and repair interesting. As it was the only disc in the workshop, all the engineers knew Animal House backwards!
Rich

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by 60 oldjohn

Thank you, Anyone have a list of Philips products, with dates. ?

The first year of sale requires studying of catalogues, but the actual year a Philips set was built, can be determined from the serial number on the type label (at least from the mid 1970's on) or for earlier sets sometimes from separate factory labels (especially on recorders, sometimes on TV sets and mostly on record players).

That said, I would guess the GR1AX helmet TV went on sale around 1990 and the VR2022 videorecorder around 1981/1982 (short lived predecessors were VR2020 and VR2021). The VLP players will be from the early 1980's. In general, but especially for VCC and VCR videorecorders, I collect serial numbers of Philips sets (along with the full type number of the set, such as VR2022/05). I can also show how to decode the manufacturing date from them.