Color Me Solid-State
Color tv sets are among the most expensive pieces of entertainment technology that most of us will ever buy. Their sophistication parallels their price tags and often the buyer has no idea of what he’s getting for his money. Our own ignorance about color tv technics is compounded by the star trek jargon favored by American and Japanese set manufacturers and the riffs about negative matrix and solid state that pour out of the store salesmen’s mouths.
The CREEM Archive presents the magazine as originally created. Digital text has been scanned from its original print format and may contain formatting quirks and inconsistencies.
Color Me Solid-State
REWIRE YOURSELF
Richard Robinson
Color tv sets are among the most expensive pieces of entertainment technology that most of us will ever buy. Their sophistication parallels their price tags and often the buyer has no idea of what he’s getting for his money. Our own ignorance about color tv technics is compounded by the star trek jargon favored by American and Japanese set manufacturers and the riffs about negative matrix and solid state that pour out of the store salesmen’s mouths.
Screen-size: The basic rule in tv shopping used to be the bigger the screen the more expensive the set. This is no longer a strict rule. Color set prices are now in three categories: under $300, $300 to $500, pver $500. Today other factors determine whether a 17” set will cost $295 or $595.
Screen-shape: TV screens used to be made from fish-bowl molds. Sony changed all that and screens now have practically square corners and practically flat surfaces - as close as they’ll ever come and still use a tv picture tube. Beware of sets that bulge in the middle and have round corners, the picture will be fuzzy and out of focus at the edges.
Solid-state: Almost all set manufacturers have 100% solid-state sets in their line. No set is 100% solid state so long as it has a picture tube, but some sets do have 100% solid-state circuitry. This is preferable over hybrid tube-transistor sets or all tube sets. Transistors are more dependable, cheaper, require less power, and last longer. The ideal set is one with solid-state circuit boards mounted as replaceable modules so a
bad one can be taken out and a new one slid in.'
Negative-matrix: Sony’s bright, sharp Trinitron color system shook American set manufacturers and most have responded with negative-matrix or blackmatrix picture tubes. This produces a much brighter, sharper picture than older or cheaper non-matrix sets.
Instant-on: Instant-on sets are always on - a low voltage is applied to the picture tube to keep it warm and ready to go. This costs you money, is a potential fire hazard, and isn’t necessary if you can wait fifteen or twenty seconds for your tv to warm up. Avoid instant-on models. -
Digital-display: Taking the lead from Heathkit, many manufacturers offer sets that display the selected channel number on the screen at the push of a button. Some also display the time. This is a useful novelty, but an extra usually available only on top-of-the-line, $500 plus models.
Remote control: Turning your tv set on and off, changing channels, and adjusting volume while sitting on your ass across the room from the set isn’t a new feature, but the method of doing it has been improved. Magnavox’s Star System, for instance, supplies you with a pocket calculator-type module for selecting channels where you just punch up the number and the set automatically (by computer) gives you that channel - no clicking from 2 to 4 to 7. Remote control boxes of this type won’t work if you have cable tv.
Automatic tuning: Beware of sets that claim to fine tune each channel as you switch to it. Some of them do manage to tune in the signal'but none give you absolute fine tuning of every channel each time. A nice idea but not perfected in current products.
Detent tuning: We’re familiar with the click stops on the knob that let us select the VHF channels (2-13) and the dial that we spin to find the UHF channels (14-83). Recent government rulings require the UHF band also have a channel by channel click selection. This makes remote control work on UHF and also makes UHF a little more legitimate. No big deal at present.
Automatic Brightness Control: An electric eye built into some sets that adjusts the picture brightness in relation to the room lighting. If you get this be sure you can over-ride it manually.
In-line guns: This is the U.S. version of Sony’s single gun picture tube, almost. It give a sharper picture across the entire screen area and makes for less complicated and less expensive adjustments of color (3 setting rather than 12).
Sony Trinitron: Still the best tv for my money in the 17” and under sizes. I’ve seen the 19” and 25” Trinitrons and they seem to be fuzzy; you’ll do just as well with a black matrix high quality U.S. set above 17.”
Video projectors: The latest alternative in tv technology. Still expensive -Sony’s Video Projection System is $3,045 and Advent’s VideoBeam is $2,700, but you get a screen measured in feet rather than inches. Will change your sense of what tv is. The Sony system is not as bright as the Advent but requires less space (five feet as opposed to nine feet) to set-up and operate. The Sony screen is smaller.
If you want to buy a good color TV spend as much money as you can afford. A cheapie color set will cost more to run and require more frequent repairs; an expensive one may give you up to 10-12 years of non-trouble service. Cut corners with extras like remote control and automatic adjustments. Considerable savings are also to be had if you buy the best TV you can afford in a plastic rather than wooden cabinet.
