Dynatron Televisions

[Philips Fan]

Dear All

Thanks to John and Richard at the Dynatron Museum I have been able to further develop the Philips Derivatives (Dynatron page) on the website.

Clearly these sets were the Rolls Royce of colour TV of the period and the wooden cabinets look amazing. They must have cost (and weighed!) a fortune at the time!

http://www.philipstv.org.uk/blog/ear...ives/dynatron/

If you have anything you can add to help develop the page please do get in contact with me.

Kind regards

Robert

[Peter.N.]

Sadly not many years later these sets were piled up at some ex rental TV outlets for very little money or even free in one case I remember, this was largely due to the logistics of handling them and the fact that there were not enough customers with the space for them.

Peter

[Alan Stepney]

They also made an 18" "portable" colour TV, with wired remote control.
(I am sure someone will recall the number and details.)

I once sat watching one and chatting with Prince Philip.
(And drinking G & T's.)
Apart from that, and once having a CTV22 on long-term loan, I know nothing about them.

[Philips Fan]

Fascinating stuff chaps. Thank you.

Slightly like a Rolls Royce then!

Kind regards

Robert

[bobbyball]

I have several Dynatron sets, all based on either the Pye "Hybrid" (697 in this case) chassis or the later solid state 110 degree delta chassis. Nice cabinets but not the best chassis in the world. They are distinguished from their "Pye/Invicta" cousins by having such things as switched tone controls, "picture sharpness" and "tint", also headphone and/or tape recorder or amp outlets.

[Philips Fan]

Have you any tip top or even clean examples you could take some photos of (inside and out) I wonder Robert? I'm missing any real life shots of the beasts...

Also, was the 697 related to any of the Philips chassis mate?

Thanks

Robert

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi Robert
No - the 697 was the last outing for the grandly titled Pye Colour Television Chassis from 1967 which was their dual standard colour. It became the single standard 691, then 693 before gaining a printed timebase panel which resembled toast after a few years. Basically a good design became an unloved chassis as production costs were slashed amd corners cut. I'd like to think the Dynatron versions were 'specially selected', but realistically I think they lasted longer because the typical Dynatron viewer watched less TV!
Glyn

[Samba1360]

I remember doing a P.J. back in the late '70's to repair a "newish" Dynatron, it turned out to have an old Pye 205 chassis in it, the customer being told it was a nearly new TV, told her to take it back!

[Philips Fan]

Thanks Glyn

I'll have to have a look at the 697 it sounds an interesting chassis.

Have you got much info on it?

Cheers

Robert

[bobbyball]

There is of course no correlation between "Philips" and "Pye" chassis through much of the 1970s, as, although Pye had been "assimilated" into the Philips empire, the "deal" as far as I can make out was to allow them to keep using their own designs until such and such a date, after whcih "Pye" branded sets were in fact Philips designs - such as the G11 for example. I think there were at first separate factories making the "same" chassis as there were definitley "Philips" G11's and "Pye" G11's for a while.

The first Dynatron sets were indeed the Pye hybrid chassis which continued through it's many incarnations as Glyn descibes, until the Pye "solid state" 110 degree delta tube chassis was similarly "tweaked" and given a fancy cabinet and the Dynatron name. Eventually the G11 chassis was used in Dynatron sets and finally, if memory serves me right, the K30 chassis which was one of the "Kleuren" (might have spelt it wrong) series chassis designed and produced not in the UK, the G11 having been "our" swansong....

[Philips Fan]

Good background info many thanks.
Regards
Robert

[dazzlevision]

Hello,

In 1967, Philips took a controlling interest (70%) in the then ailing Pye and they gave an undertaking to allow Pye a degree of independence for ten years and that is why Pye designed and produced their own colour TV chassis until the arrival of the G11. Even so, Pye chassis very soon began using Philips tuners, LOPT and scan coils. There was the "co-production" of the 18" colour sets using the mix of Philips and Pye printed panels and (after their 625 lines only hybrid mono chassis) Pye produced large screen mono sets using Philips designed chassis.

The Pye factory was in Lowestoft and the Philips factory in Croydon. When the G11 arrived, the Pye sets were made in Lowestoft and the Philips sets in Croydon. Pye sets had serial numbers begining "HU" and Philips "BA". I'm pretty sure that G11 Dynatron sets would have been made in Lowestoft and a check on their serial numbers should confirm this.

In fact, UK production (but not design) continued after the G11 and I have a 26" Philips K30 chassis set with a "BA" serial number.

The Pye Lowestoft factory closed in 1982 and the Philips Croydon in 1988.

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[slidertogrid]

Very interesting to hear about the Philips takeover, I worked for a Pye dealer during the late 1970s and wondered why the Pye 205 series was produced alongside the G8 , and yet they did a 20" Philips that looked like a G8 but had the cheapo nastio pye 713 chassis with picture size and brightness on the same control!
I really disliked the 731 series they seemed to cook up really early in life, I can remember a not so old Dynatron with a 731 chassis being stripped out and a new set put in the cabinet for the customer as the original chassis had been so unreliable that they were fed up with having it constantly repaired for different faults.
The last version 725? reverted back to a 90" tube and was much more reliable and worked well sold as a basic model when new, I bought loads from a dealer when they were around 6 years old because the tubes looked past their best, I found two carbon resistors on the crt base in series with the heater supply they looked a bit cooked with flaking paint, replacement gave the crt a new lease of life, did very well out of them!
I cut my teeth on the Pye 205 and admit that they were not the best chassis but they worked quite well and were very fixable.
The firm I worked for got a good 10 years out of the 205s, they were the offered as decontrolled rentals in the days when the rental of a new set required a large deposit.
I went to the Len Briggs lecture when the G11 came out and left thinking " a point three call rate?" we shall soon be out of a job! the reality was very different, the good old (new) G11 provided us with loads of work !
By the time they were a few years old and had all the mods done and the cap changed new button unit etc they became quite reliable and again slogged on for years. Its just a shame it was so poor from the start!
Not sure if Dynatron sets got the G11 chassis but I always thought it was a bit of a rip off to put a cheap set in a posh box and charge loads for it!
at least when you paid over the odds for a B&O you got the money spent on the chassis...

Rich.

[dazzlevision]

Hello,

Are you sure the 20" Philips set was a Pye 713 inside? There was a 20" version of the G8 (i.e. the "cost improved" later 550 series, rather than the original 520 series) produced that looked very much like the 18" Philips set fitted with a Pye 713 chassis inside.

Yes, the Pye 725 90 degree solid state chassis was derived from the 110 degree 731 series chassis.

G11 chassis were fitted into several Dynatron colour TVs (I have the service manuals).

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[Philips Fan]

Thanks again Daz!

I'll start my Pye page (this will be a massive project which I have been putting off!) with your text and credit you as always.

Kind regards

Robert

[bobbyball]

I have a Dynatron set with the "697" chassis in pieces in the upstairs workshop at the moment.

I'll take some pictures...

[Philips Fan]

Thanks for your info Rich I stick it on my Dynatron page!

Done! http://www.philipstv.org.uk/blog/ear...ives/dynatron/

Regards

Robert

[Philips Fan]

Originally Posted by bobbyball

I'll take some pictures...

Many Thanks Robert
Robert

[ntscuser]

I remember a full page colour advert in the early 1970s for a limited edition Philips in period style cabinet which was quite obviously supplied by Dynatron. There was a choice of three styles, Chippendale, Sheraton and another I can't remember the name of?

I think the chassis was a G8 judging by the front panel controls. It was definitley a Philips chassis though and not a Pye.

[trickie_dickie]

Buying a Dynatron or B&O is like going into Harrods only to find the item you bought came from Tesco.