This must be one of the very first remote controlled TVs. I'd LOVE to know when the VERY first colour broad cast was & where in the world this took place. I suspect it may have been in the USA for some reason.
I used to have an almost identical TV when I was young. It didn't have the Space Command remote, though. It did have a wired remote that plugged in the back of the set, and a perfect picture. I didn't have a choice of what to watch on it as most of the stations where I live are UHF, and my TV didn't have that, so I was stuck with channel 13, or snow, until I got a VCR.
My dad purchased this exact set for his bedroom back in Brooklyn, NY in 1960. I once pointed the remote out the bedroom window and later on heard stories of a lady living across Ocean Parkway in an apt building complaining that her TV would change channels all by itself. She owned a Zenith like this one! haha
I had a Zenith like this when I was in preschool in my bed room! I got it at a yard sale for 50 cents in 1988. I had it until I went to high school, when the tube went out, but I traded it up with a TV repair guy for color Zenith "portable" TV it was about the same size and weight almost 30 pounds but it had a handle on top so you could take it with you. Sadly it died last christmas, and I got a HDTV has a gift... I think My old Zeniths had better pictures.
@LordOrwell2 Or you could hookup a VCR to it, and hook the VCR to Cable. If the set had UHF and VHF you could buy a 2 way splitter and 2 transformers and hook those up in the respective VHF and UHF ports and get up to 81 channels. I did that once.
I have a related video on YouTube you might be interested in about how television sets were sold from the 1950s-1970s entitled, "TV MAN: THE SEARCH FOR THE LAST INDEPENDENT DEALER."
Is this set valve powered? is that remote control really wireless? Was the remote control a stock part of that TV set when new? When did America get colour TV? Can you adjust the volume with the remote? What frequency does the remote operate on?
I remember the hand-squeezed remote from my youth and, even as a kid, it seemed really funky, but fun, to press a rubber bulb in order to move the channel dial to its next position.
Those vintage TV sets as well as vintage stereo systems for some reason tend to have stronger tuners compared to the cheap crap that is manufactured today. (ESPECIALLY IF THE DEVICE COSTS LESS THAN $900 dollars.)
some one gave me this old tv remote that had tiny bars of metal in it and when you pressed the buttons it would snap little hammers against them. sadly I don't remember which tv that went to nor do i still have it :(
Zenith, sadly, was the last manufacturer to make their television sets in the U.S. before they were sold to Samsung in the early '90s (hence your set being made in Korea).
Does anyone remember, and I'm not making this up, a remote control that was nothing more than a plunger that pushed air through a rubber tube and the air-flow changed the channel ! Channels moved up one at a time--from channel 2 to 3, 3 to 4 etc.
We had one almost like that, the screen was more squared off and there was no channel knob, just a grey disk, onto which the channel number was projected and a button to advance it. If you wanted a channel that wasn't "configured" , you could turn the disk with 2 thumbs, but it was awkward. In 1970, my father brought it, and a second set that was the same thing without remote into the shop; they both had no vertical output. A simple fix, but the guy said to scrap both; what a waste!
Off the subject here, but could someone please explain to me why there seemed to be a period about early 1960s when black&white TV was so much clearer & well-defined compared to what came before or after (with the poss. exception of today's HDTVs)?
I'm no technician so I can't explain it precisely, but when I see older video of some shows from the early 60s, it seems some shows were so much more crisp & vivid, even though it was in B&W. Was this due to certain cameras, broadcast equip, what???
I think it is incredible that vintage TV's like this are able to survive all the way up to the digital age. By the way drh4683, I've seen the other TV's in your collection. Very impressive!
The remote controlled mechanical channel changer with the auto scan is really cool.
With watching the videos of the vintage TVs, the warm up time surprises me every time, I'm so accustomed sets from the late 70s on up being able to come on almost instantly.
I had about 50 of these sets to keep repaired in a hospital. They were roll arounds...I would tune the circuits to work with a given remote only to find that the other remotes were slightly different in frequency and wouldn't work. Drove me nuts for awhile until I figured it out...
we had a set like this one ...ours did not have the remote...was a good set and as i remember we replace a tube about every two weeks...we never put the back on it as my dad would keep extra tubes in a shoe box and replace them as needed ...no one could ever find the problem with why that one tube died every other week ...we only watched a few shows each night due to the cost of the tube.
It's very interesting seeing those computers and stuff on that TV's screen considering it was manufactured when computers took up entire rooms and commonly used punch cards and teletypes rather than video displays.
Tube, with transistor remote control receiver. The remote control has a mechanism which strikes a tuned quartz crystal, creating an ultrasonic pulse. Like a piano's action, the crystal is struck and allowed to vibrate until the button is released.
And I bet the dogs choke chain changed channels every time he had a shake nearby! (The sound made by a chain is full of harmonics resonating throughout the whole of the audible and not so audible spectrum.
That's a really neat TV. I noticed that when you changed the channels, it would scan through the empty ones and stop on the active ones. Does that work based on how long you hold down the channel scan button or is it programmed inside the TV set somehow to make the channel selector stop on certain channels? Every channel that you showed was really clear. That set must have been made before UHF was known.
I agree, Screenjims,,, ALL quality and character seems to be gone from televisions and appliances nowadays! And its funny how they try to pass and sell Cost cutting measures as Conviences!
This must be one of the very first remote controlled TVs. I'd LOVE to know when the VERY first colour broad cast was & where in the world this took place. I suspect it may have been in the USA for some reason.
bestrickie2 3 months ago
I used to have an almost identical TV when I was young. It didn't have the Space Command remote, though. It did have a wired remote that plugged in the back of the set, and a perfect picture. I didn't have a choice of what to watch on it as most of the stations where I live are UHF, and my TV didn't have that, so I was stuck with channel 13, or snow, until I got a VCR.
DrFruikenstein 5 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Back in the day fuckin sucks!!!! I wish nothing happened before I was born!!! what a bunch of bullshit!!!
HaakonAnderson 6 months ago
how much is one worth today?
TysonIsaHunter 6 months ago
My dad purchased this exact set for his bedroom back in Brooklyn, NY in 1960. I once pointed the remote out the bedroom window and later on heard stories of a lady living across Ocean Parkway in an apt building complaining that her TV would change channels all by itself. She owned a Zenith like this one! haha
EMBpodcast 8 months ago
@EMBpodcast HAHA LOL GOOD OLD ZENITH REMOTES! i want to interfere with anothers tv
1FenderGuy 1 month ago
Very interesting that Chicago had 5 VHF stations, most midwest cities had only 3
paulnadra 8 months ago
@drh4683 I forgot how good Zenith tv's used to be thi one looks beautiful even in black and white!
MrAlexprm 9 months ago
That is such a stylish set!
bruised 1 year ago
is this one of the models that the remote had bells in it?
LordOrwell2 1 year ago
does that need to be degoused.....that twilight zone swirl pattern
inkey2 1 year ago
I had a Zenith like this when I was in preschool in my bed room! I got it at a yard sale for 50 cents in 1988. I had it until I went to high school, when the tube went out, but I traded it up with a TV repair guy for color Zenith "portable" TV it was about the same size and weight almost 30 pounds but it had a handle on top so you could take it with you. Sadly it died last christmas, and I got a HDTV has a gift... I think My old Zeniths had better pictures.
ybunnygurl 1 year ago
i want one of these
gayboytommy20010 1 year ago 3
Comment removed
dvieneira 1 year ago
I grew up watching one of these and would get very scared when dad put on Outer Limits.
bbcart1 1 year ago 4
it looks like youve some serious distortion in the picture.
suedebear 1 year ago
I'd love to watch The Twilight Zone on this set.
oooowwwwdddd 1 year ago
is it me or does it look like the kind of thing you put rustlers or uncle bens rice or some shizz like a telewave? =S
beastlymarshmallow 1 year ago
No more analog.
MrTabby5000 1 year ago
@MrTabby5000 not broadcast analog. Cable would still work with it. Up to channel 13 anyway.
LordOrwell2 1 year ago
@LordOrwell2 Or you could hookup a VCR to it, and hook the VCR to Cable. If the set had UHF and VHF you could buy a 2 way splitter and 2 transformers and hook those up in the respective VHF and UHF ports and get up to 81 channels. I did that once.
willdav713 11 months ago
@willdav713 true if you don't mind a separate box. Personally, i'd use a micro-cable box or tivo. I've got tivos hooked to both my tvs.
LordOrwell2 11 months ago
thats why some folks call the remote a "clicker" the old remotes clicked loudly. sound activating the tv
cablegrease 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I have a related video on YouTube you might be interested in about how television sets were sold from the 1950s-1970s entitled, "TV MAN: THE SEARCH FOR THE LAST INDEPENDENT DEALER."
stevekosareff 1 year ago
Is this set valve powered? is that remote control really wireless? Was the remote control a stock part of that TV set when new? When did America get colour TV? Can you adjust the volume with the remote? What frequency does the remote operate on?
Lachlant1984 2 years ago
not too bad ,but i feel like im watching "the time tunnel" again.
silverbird58 2 years ago
lol hell yeah but its chicago under snow, icy street , winds ( usually ...0 and HELLLLLL!!!!
gr8 gr8 clip huh ?
patmix 2 years ago
Thanks MediaWatchDawg.
I'll look for that in the movie.
I remember the hand-squeezed remote from my youth and, even as a kid, it seemed really funky, but fun, to press a rubber bulb in order to move the channel dial to its next position.
50 years can make a world of difference--no??
ipmoic 2 years ago
A wonderfull tv set !!
basie80 2 years ago 2
Those vintage TV sets as well as vintage stereo systems for some reason tend to have stronger tuners compared to the cheap crap that is manufactured today. (ESPECIALLY IF THE DEVICE COSTS LESS THAN $900 dollars.)
GONZARoller 2 years ago 2
some one gave me this old tv remote that had tiny bars of metal in it and when you pressed the buttons it would snap little hammers against them. sadly I don't remember which tv that went to nor do i still have it :(
kakureru 2 years ago
Zenith, sadly, was the last manufacturer to make their television sets in the U.S. before they were sold to Samsung in the early '90s (hence your set being made in Korea).
vividwatch47 2 years ago
Zenith is now LG.
vikingscool 2 years ago
no Zenith was sold to Goldstar which is now LG
musickeys8 2 years ago
Wrong! According to Witkopedia, L.G. acquired a controlling share in Zenith in 1995 and the entire company in 1999.
vividwatch47 2 years ago 2
Got news , type in predicta . telstar electronic has done their home work . it isnt cheap but its made here.
silverbird58 2 years ago
Does anyone remember, and I'm not making this up, a remote control that was nothing more than a plunger that pushed air through a rubber tube and the air-flow changed the channel ! Channels moved up one at a time--from channel 2 to 3, 3 to 4 etc.
ipmoic 2 years ago 2
yes there was such a thing , i think the very first zenith remote in the 50's
musickeys8 2 years ago
A "wired" remote was featured in the movie "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.
MediaWatchDawg 2 years ago
cool man thanks
steve89z 2 years ago
We had one almost like that, the screen was more squared off and there was no channel knob, just a grey disk, onto which the channel number was projected and a button to advance it. If you wanted a channel that wasn't "configured" , you could turn the disk with 2 thumbs, but it was awkward. In 1970, my father brought it, and a second set that was the same thing without remote into the shop; they both had no vertical output. A simple fix, but the guy said to scrap both; what a waste!
lrd9999 2 years ago
Off the subject here, but could someone please explain to me why there seemed to be a period about early 1960s when black&white TV was so much clearer & well-defined compared to what came before or after (with the poss. exception of today's HDTVs)?
I'm no technician so I can't explain it precisely, but when I see older video of some shows from the early 60s, it seems some shows were so much more crisp & vivid, even though it was in B&W. Was this due to certain cameras, broadcast equip, what???
IamaKinsey06 2 years ago
I like the dial system, is it run by a solenoid or a motor?
cutebikerwannabe 2 years ago
wow that tv is in gvood shape
andy23r 3 years ago 2
wow a remote!
adb140275 3 years ago
Nifty! I've never seen a black & white TV with a remote control.
JZTCZZO 3 years ago 2
I think it is incredible that vintage TV's like this are able to survive all the way up to the digital age. By the way drh4683, I've seen the other TV's in your collection. Very impressive!
dgwaters 3 years ago
The remote controlled mechanical channel changer with the auto scan is really cool.
With watching the videos of the vintage TVs, the warm up time surprises me every time, I'm so accustomed sets from the late 70s on up being able to come on almost instantly.
weasel2htm 3 years ago
a modern channel in a early 60s tv
HaloFreak100000 3 years ago
That moving number dial is really strange. Awesome TV, keep it running.
TVperson1 3 years ago
I had about 50 of these sets to keep repaired in a hospital. They were roll arounds...I would tune the circuits to work with a given remote only to find that the other remotes were slightly different in frequency and wouldn't work. Drove me nuts for awhile until I figured it out...
K4BOJ 3 years ago
this is a cool TV, and I like the way you know what youre saying, no studdering, no hesitation, no saying um and long seemingly awkward pauses.
Qthedude16 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
who cares about old tvs
powerbandthriller495 3 years ago
we had a set like this one ...ours did not have the remote...was a good set and as i remember we replace a tube about every two weeks...we never put the back on it as my dad would keep extra tubes in a shoe box and replace them as needed ...no one could ever find the problem with why that one tube died every other week ...we only watched a few shows each night due to the cost of the tube.
hymnsforjesus777 3 years ago
That's a classic!
cat333pokemon 3 years ago
It's very interesting seeing those computers and stuff on that TV's screen considering it was manufactured when computers took up entire rooms and commonly used punch cards and teletypes rather than video displays.
blinkingblythe 3 years ago 2
Thats the first B&W set I seen with that has a remote control.
Membrane556 3 years ago
cool ;)
In 1960's we have in poland tv only with cable remote control (Tosca, Tosca- lux, Szeherezada etc.)
It's tube or transistor TV?
pzdr from poland ;)
mikixb 3 years ago
Tube, with transistor remote control receiver. The remote control has a mechanism which strikes a tuned quartz crystal, creating an ultrasonic pulse. Like a piano's action, the crystal is struck and allowed to vibrate until the button is released.
douro20 3 years ago
I read about ultrasonic remote some time ago ;). It calls "Lazy Bones" ;D. (Sorry, my english is on 'medium' level ;/...)
mikixb 3 years ago
And I bet the dogs choke chain changed channels every time he had a shake nearby! (The sound made by a chain is full of harmonics resonating throughout the whole of the audible and not so audible spectrum.
m1dlguk 3 years ago
Watch Family Guy in B&W!
TheGeek1028 3 years ago
That's a really neat TV. I noticed that when you changed the channels, it would scan through the empty ones and stop on the active ones. Does that work based on how long you hold down the channel scan button or is it programmed inside the TV set somehow to make the channel selector stop on certain channels? Every channel that you showed was really clear. That set must have been made before UHF was known.
musicman0150 3 years ago
I agree, Screenjims,,, ALL quality and character seems to be gone from televisions and appliances nowadays! And its funny how they try to pass and sell Cost cutting measures as Conviences!
Dreambro1 3 years ago
hey why did you change the channel? i was watching wgn news.
jb55236 3 years ago
Very nice space command function! I haven't actually seen one of the b/w space command sets in operation before.
retrochad 4 years ago