1953 Compatible Color TV Announcement

[declaration963]

I remember when i was a kid, many hotels and motels have a huge sign that say "WE HAVE A COLOR TV !" (yeah... on the lobby, not on the room) -LOL-

[Creationswhisper]

Watching this makes me laugh.. the transition betweeen b/w and color is sort of like us and how we full transitions into HD TV... and look at the prices, we are paying about the same prices for TV.. betwen $300-$1000. Something is wrong here...

[nathanmoser1]

Neither can I!!- Thanx 4 telling me the great news!!!

[simwrangler]

Wow, I'm gonna to buy one of those new RCA color TV. I can't wait to finally watch TV in color.

[Potomacstud]

That's a real con man

[OaktownABQ]

Thanks for posting this. I remember the first color program I ever saw. It was the 1967 Super Bowl between the Packers and KC Chiefs, and it was on my aunt and uncle's set.

I also remember when the only part of Bonanza in color was the opening where the map of the Ponderosa Ranch burns. The rest of the show was in black and white.

[Alternatevil]

Very soothing presentation. Too bad advertisers nowadays only care to beat consumers over their heads with false promises...

Oh what am I talking about...Advertising technique is timeless...

[supernumery]

NTSC (RCA system) gave the world colour tv. PAL, SECAM are all derivatives of it and it served us all until now. Well done RCA!

[dubtafoo]

Vaporware! They've been talking about color television for years! It'll never happen.

[rolex452]

My grandpa bought an RCA 21 inch Color TV in 1957 (I was 5 years old). He told me it cost him over $1,200.00. I remember that NBC was the only station (in New York City) to broadcast in color, and that was on rare occasion until at least 1959 (Bonanza, etc.). You should have seen how many freaking vacuum tubes were in that set! The TV technicians back then had to know where every wire, resistor and capacitor was located and how to repair them. The color picture itself back then? Crummy.

[goqwertygo]

this is so interesting to watch this piece of history

reminds me of the digital conversion

[IDMWEIGHTSIDM]

will it have 720p i wouldent by it if it dident have 720p

[alz3eeam]

only if they knew about 3-d tvs now.

[TheCaleyman]

As an ex TV engineer here in the UK, I find these USA clips fascinating. Your COLOR TVs were so different from our COLOUR TVS which we had on the PAL system from 1967.

[thelazycomic]

$239.00 in 1953 for a black & white set ?? Isn't that like $4,000.00 in today's cash? Well, just grease my butt and call me honey.

[SWalkerTTU]

@thelazycomic Actually, closer to $2000. Checking at Dollar Times, $239.95 then is roughly $1969.74 now. For that you can now get a flat-screen HDTV that's nearly as big as the fellow is. (Well, 55" diagonally, anyway.) The quoted prices for new color sets ($6400 to $8000 in 2011 dollars) would get you TWO 60" plasma sets. Ah, progress.

[peugteobike]

I wish i lived back in those years

[battleax86]

haha this happened on December 17, 1953...my mom was born the very next day...

[bioshock901]

i still have a tv from 1965 or 1966 the color is so faded when you watch it

[BobWXXI]

Interesting they used a veteran NBC newsman like Richard Harkness to voice and present what amounted to an infomercial for the forthcoming color TV system--which was the only system America had for 55 years, until we went all-digital with wide-screen color and stereo sound in 2009.

[tvhedeen]

Can you imagine what $239.00 was in 1953 dollars? You could add a zero to the end and that's what it would cost today.

[lemonlimestiv]

IT'LL NEVER TAKE OFF!

[redradiodog]

Early color tv's sucked. Every time you turned to another channel you had to reset the color.

[luridplanet]

At least you didn't need a converter box like going analog to digital

[ratatulsuprem1]

the rca victor may have been more than an inspiration for the soviet temp series?

[whizbang47]

donwert is correct, I believe. His info corresponds with Gilbert Seldes' account in "The Great Audience" (1950.)

[CoolConejo]

Hi old people i am 9. you are old, Give america all your money so we can fix it. Th ank you!

[Starcastle2009]

First color television broadcast was November 22, 1953 Colgate Comedy Hour starring Donald O'Connor. There were no color televisions in consumer homes, but this broadcast was done to prove the RCA system was compatible with Black and White. No color record of the telecast exists, only a black and white kinescope.

[vwestlife]

It's nice to see that momentary roll and jump of the picture when they switched studios, because I'm far too young to remember the days before "genlocks" made seamless switching between video sources possible.

It's true that color TV took a long time to catch on, but it would've taken even longer if the FCC had stuck with their original choice of that disastrous non-compatible "spinning disc" CBS color TV system.

[starletdempsy]

NOOOO, "black and white" televsion is turning color? First, those damn talkies then THIS! What is the world coming to? I want to go back to silent cinema and the good ole' days of radio plays. Anything this this pile of baloney!

[Cruiseomatic1989]

Little did anyone know that the current system would remain until 2009 when this HD shit was manditory. I still don't see a difference in the two. Analog looks the same as digital,and a flat face CRT looks better than a LCD and deffinitly plasma. But I guess since its "Modern" or "Digital" that its automaticly better and everyone must love it. Which is probably why I still watch a 1953 Packard Bell 20" set everyday. I miss the 50's.......Wish I could go back.

[torchkit]

$1,000 for a 14" color TV? In 1954 dollars that was over 2 month's gross income for an average household.

[hilarioph]

Are you sure RCA is in the states until

due to the DTV? As same in the Philippines

RCA is still going strong i think

[thevidiotkid]

Harkness later on in the fifties became the local newscaster at WRC TV CH.4 in Wash.D.C. He aged quite quickly or so it seemed to me as a kid.

[mavivirgie]

IM WAITING FOR 3D TV

[Gerogiancounty]

Where can I get this ? I need a TV bad :(

[tankbukkake]

the brainwashing began!!!

[majortom321]

I prefer flatscreen

[Chepo760]

wasnt it a mexican that made collored tv possible??...rasit old bastered!!

[tzeleer]

Does anyone know if this cock-eyed dude is saying RCA spent $2.25 Mil or $225 Mil? Never heard the term pronounced like this... $225 Mil in the '40's-early '50's seems pretty staggering!

[educortazarc]

WTF??? colored tv was invented by a mexican

[DrBuzz0]

If you mean Guillermo González Camarena, he invented a variety of field sequential color television which was never used in the US system of color television. It was not the first color system either. He improved field sequential color tv and made it workable, where it had previously been impractical, but in the end the RGB system won out.

[educortazarc]

oh ... well thx for the info :P

[boludovos]

@DrBuzz0 IT WAS AN ARGENTINIAN, IF THE NAME IS SPANISH DOESNT MEAN IS MEXICAN

[Prolia13]

@boludovos ARGENTINA: PAL, COLOMBIA: NTSC/PAL, MEXICO: NTSC, ESPAÑA: PAL.

[chivasgreaser]

@boludovos it was a MEXICAN his name is GILLERMO GONZALEZ CAMARENA hi was born 17 /2/1917 in GUADALAJARA JAL . MEXICO , hi was 23 years old and his,  patanted is 40235 check it uot ... VIVA MEXICO !!

[joebradio]

can you imagine trading in a TV today? They just keep getting moved to other rooms at most houses or possibly on the lawn for a garage sale .. and most of the ones people own need converters

[TotoFrancey]

Black and White broadcasts did not officially end until June 2009 when HDTV transmissions became mandatory. Today, when you watch a black and white broadcast, it is just an altered color signal in digital. Black and White television had a life cycle of over 79 years here in the US. It has served us well.

[MIKON8ERISBACK]

@TotoFrancey It's not purely HDTV, it's just digital. Digital terrestrial television is used for both standard and high definition broadcasts. DTV is also used for the rebroadcast of vintage black and white shows as well.

[binoyrakesh]

@TotoFrancey thats information about black and white transmission.. I would otherwise never know. Thanks.

[sandhgreen]

This makes me sick. RCA stole the work of Philo Farnsworth, who invented electronic television.

Everytime I hear the words "General David Sarnoff" I want to throw up. Sarnoff was not a General, except in his own mind.

He was nothing but a peddler who stole half the patents he used. Because of "General Asshole Sarnoff" we still have AM radio, which was obsolete in 1934!

Burn in hell "General" Sarnoff.

[murielsartre]

By US standards my family was working class in the 70s (I was born in 1969). We got a 36" GE colour set for the living room in 1973. No cable, no remote. No TV in my room until I was 14; it was used, tiny, B/W. My grandparents had a mid-60s big Zenith cabinet colour TV at their house with a wired remote!

I'm too young to remember any announcement of a show being in colour, so anything up to 1973-74 is all history to me.

[mrgears]

What? In 1973, the biggest TV screen available was 25" to my knowledge. I'm not saying you're wrong but I'll have to look it up to be sure. In the 1960s, they usually announced if a show was shown in color. NBC called it "living color"

[murielsartre]

Maybe it was a 27" inch - it looked huge to me. I could be totally wrong! Things always look bigger to a little kid. :D

[ikevyoiPhone3G1996]

I Went to Best Buy to buy a Color TV they told me never to come back again

[ikevyoiPhone3G1996]

I'm Going to Buy one right now at Best Buy

[crd721]

Thats nice, if you planned on buying a tv just before color became available, RCA told you to not worry and buy a TV anyway, what a surprise!

[jjbjjohn]

My parents are from villages in India, so I had no idea they had TVs back then. My first television was a Sony Trinitron 22". Probably 1990-

[miamivicepastels83]

oddly we had a b/w TV in the 80s for the longest b4 we got a color....when i was growing up....

[slinky460]

Our first TV was a 21 inch Hoffman about 1957. Never had a color TV as most color TVs back then were expensive to buy and to repair. Reqular B and W TV s were expensive enough anyway, about like computers when they first came out. I finally broke down and bought a new color TV in 1988 as I could not find tubes any more for a old Sears Silvertone B and W TV I had. I liked the Black and white set better. I think there may be some way to kill the color on these new digital sets.

[sandhgreen]

My family did not have a television receiver until 1970, and then a big B/W console.

It had a variable frequency control for the UHF channels. There were no local stations there, but I did hear amateur radio operators on the edges which was fun to listen to.

[fiftiesflashback1953]

What's the big deal? I needed color then like I need HD now. I'm still watching the same old B&W shows from TV's Golden Age. I originally watched most of those shows on an RCA console with double doors to hide the screen when not in use. To this day some 50+ years later I still house my television set within a cabinet to hide it from sight when not in use.

[MissSkymin]

My aunt does that too. And my Grandmom still uses her 1969 RCA color set.

[rswilso10]

As low as $239...that was no small investment back then

[Alex052480]

DAM kids these days so spoiled that , they dont understand the historical significance of a color tv, i just turned 29yrs old and i KNOW!, I COME from a 3rd world country.., and growin UP!, I remember my mom watchin her little black n white tv, because not everybody could get a color tv, so we had them little ones with the big KNOBS!, she would be watching her soaps !. wow time flies..

[SteelCity1981]

Many people don't understand that back then color TV was like having an HDTV 1080p TV back then.

[carborundum1]

Yes, it was a very big deal back then. I'm assuming you didn't live through that era and can't appreciate how important it was for the transition from black and white to color TV be "compatible". Had the rival CBS system won, instead of the RCA system, everyone in the country would have had to replace their TV sets, which numbered in the millions, and that was not an option. At least today's digital transition allows for convertor boxes to bring old sets up to speed, once properly connected.

[sandhgreen]

True, but it's very interesting to note that Sarnoff had no problem making all of Armstrong's FM receivers obsolete by getting the FCC to move the FM Broadcast band.

Money hungry BASTARD, that's what David Sarnoff was.

[joeydelac]

@carborundum1 umad

[brainysnaeha]

@carborundum1

You're 64 and my dad is only 57 so you sure knew what it's like back then!

[thecooldude9999]

@carborundum1 and theirs still some (religious/some major networks) analog brodcasts going on.

[tkoizumi]

Are you serious? This was a big deal back then? lol. It's funny now we're going to digital age, they're banning analog receiver to not function in few months time.

[J3sst44]

Yay for His Masters Voice lol. I got an old valve radio from the 40's by His Masters Voice.

[chetmcgee]

i remember when i was about ten, a family in our neighborhood got the first color tv on the block, everybody went to see their set, but the colors were so bright, mostly red and blue, rather blurry, so few shows were even in color, i think the disney show was about it, and a few advertisments, for color tvs actually, while impressed, no other family got a color set for years after that.

[johndhackensacker]

AKA "contemptible color" (according to the hilarious movie "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter").

[WindsorFox]

Between $800 and $1000, in 1953! Eeeep!!

[altfactor]

Richard Harkness was not "an NBC spokesman", but a longtime NBC News correspondent.

I have heard that once NBC learned that the FCC gave the NTSC (largely developed by RCA) color system the official go-ahead on December 17, 1953, the network broke-into "Howdy Doody" (sometime after 5:30 P.M. EST) to broadcast a news bulletin announcing the decision, and that the bulletin ended with the unveiling (in "compatible color") of the NBC "color chimes" logo the network would use for several years.

[fromthesidelines]

This originally aired on Sid Caesar's "YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS" of December 19, 1953, when RCA sponsored one of the half-hour segments of the show {there were usually three advertisers during the 90 minutes the show was on}. Yes, RCA had won approval from the FCC for "compatible color" transmissions, effectively discarding CBS' incompatible method of color broadcasting, which the FCC had previously favored. Unfortunately, very few people went out and bought RCA's color sets at the time...

[donwert]

@fromthesidelines The truth is that the CBS system was offered well before the country had been saturated with B&W sets. Moreover, the color reproduction of the CBS system was far superior to that of the RCA system. Had the FCC moved promptly, color TV of great quality would have become the norm 2 decades before it did. It wasn't until the late 60's that the RCA system approached the quality of the CBS system. But RCA's lobbying and lawsuits delayed the FCC ruling...

[ericinwisconsin]

@donwert I couldn't say if the CBS system was superior, but the compatibility issue was indeed a deciding factor in choosing the RCA system. By the end of 1953, almost 2.5 million sets had been sold. Granted, nothing compared to today, but still enough to make the compatibility important.

[aussiebeachut]

Thanks for posting !!

Classic piece of TV History !!

Look forward to more.. cheers ;-)

[MerleOberon]

Imagine trading in your old TV....

[laylacalif]

It reminds me of the Peanuts gag that stated that compatible color is when you have color TV but you don't invite Charlie Brown to come over to watch it.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

When they talk about early color sets being expensive...the first mass-produced color TV set, the RCA CT-100 (the 'Merrill')cost one thousand dollars(that's US currency)..which was enough to buy a car in the early 1950's.

[BLIMPTV]

THIS CLIP IS FROM DECEMBER, 1953...NOT 1955

a GREAT one, by the way!  Thank you for posting it!!

[carborundum1]

The tape it came from was dated 1955, but Wikipedia says 1953, so I have made the correction. Thanks for catching this. History must be accurate!

[J3sst44]

Don't forget Wikipedia can be edited at any time by anyone.

[BrianHamiltonTV]

Exactly: It's not a reliable or definitive source. Few, if any, academic institutions accept it as a reference in research.