1947 RCA Model 648PV Rear Projection Console Television

[DoctorMeh]

it's beautiful

[Michtario]

This is absolutely amazing. I had no idea television sets like this even existed in the 1940's. After watching all of these videos on here with 40's tv sets I'm destined to have one of my own one day!

[SmokyPondFarm]

@Michtario Be careful though! Collecting old electronics is a disease! ;-)

[Inflec]

@SmokyPondFarm I know that! :-)

[quaxk]

this seem almost unreal

[bluedoris88]

I remember watching 'the cisco kid' on this kind of TV, my uncle had one

in early 50's that was in Stratford East London England. We had the

small 'normal' type at home with a much smaller screen. Only ONE! channel then.BBC

[nobody4u2]

how much did it cost back in it's day?

[SmokyPondFarm]

@nobody4u2 $2100 when it was introduced in late 1946, but it was reduced down to $1600 by early 1948.

[sideslide23]

first big screen TV invented.

[MattTheSaiyan]

This looks like a cool way to watch shows from the DuMont Network (yes, I realise the oddity of wanting to watch DuMont shows on an RCA set. But Admiral sponsored a show on both NBC and DuMont called "Admiral Broadway Revue" or something like that, which is pretty funny!)

[raulazarias]

Wooo, Very very Nice, Congratulation

[mathuetax]

Wow, wonderfully sharp for such an old projection tube. Excellent job with the restoration work.

[djmhyde]

wow, have one of these in 40's is like have a 71" LCD TV today...

[eldorado303]

not big fan of projection tv, but this one is way cool. love the cabinet

[mathiasvolta]

Very nice !! 5*

[SmokyPondFarm]

29kV, which is about 20kV higher than the average direct-view sets from this period.

[douro20]

What is the acceleration voltage on the CRT? I'd imagine it's in the 60-70kV range.

[MowgliX]

WAY ahead of its time! Incredible. Thanks for uploading this!!!!

[RetroCaptain]

Good day

Very good resto on this set, man!

Excellent picture. I've seen a few mirror reflectors but not that style.

I have a 1953 Electrohome set similar,(a radio,record changer in a fancy maple "weighs a tonne" cabinet. Has cover doors.

Would like to play period movies on it.

Surprised the picture does not "flag",..a common thing when using a DVD on a tube set.

[SmokyPondFarm]

@RetroCaptain The sync system in this vintage RCA set actually handles Laser Discs, CED's and DVD's quite well, but the flagging is terrible with VHS tapes.

[Inflec]

@SmokyPondFarm What you say about the stability of the various video disc systems with a set this old is no surprise. Any of the disc formats--analog or digital--inherently provide a stable signal due to the fact that everything comes through one signal pickup. Very unlike the *two* pickups (the spinning video heads) in a typical home videotape machine and the timing errors that inevitably arise when the signal pickup is switched from one head to the other. BTW, *nice* restoration job!

[endriolazaro]

awesome set, plane screen at 1940's!, very nice!

[2point6x4]

thats awesome!

[inkey2]

yeah, I am floored....projection TV in the 1940s?????....and the picture looks damn good.......does it look good in person?

[SmokyPondFarm]

@inkey2 Yes. It looks very good in person, and it has good audio too. The white-out or blooming that you see in the video is due to the camera's light metering not tracking the scene properly.

[44eelz]

kinda gives it a theater like feel

[gentil79]

flat screen tv in it's earlier form.

[Aussie50]

that's just incredible that they had RPTV in the 40's! I've seen the small console TV's before but not this!

[energie030303]

revolutionary lol

[EastAngliaUK]

WOW looks really advanced for that time.

did not know they had them that back way back then.

[BobWXXI]

Looks really good playing a video (presumably a tape or DVD) of a 1960s episode of Patrick McGoohan in "Secret Agent".

[SmokyPondFarm]

@BobWXXI The source is a DVD player attached to the set via an RF Modulator.

[metalmanin]

i had a tv from 1951 that was 30 inch it used a 30BP4 picture tube

[coondogtheman1234]

can this set take a standard video input from say a DVD player or video game?

[SmokyPondFarm]

@coondogtheman1234 It has no video or audio inputs. I use an RF modulator with video/audio inputs that routes the signals the antenna input via the old analog TV channels 3 or 4.

[coondogtheman1234]

@SmokyPondFarm

That would work. Imagine playing the video game GTA San Andreas on PlayStation 2 on an old TV like this.

so far I haven't seen any vids of that.

[bluetoxin82]

It would be so cool to crack out a Bette Davis or Leslie Howard flick and watch it on this! Very nice!

[SmokyPondFarm]

@bluetoxin82 We watch the old classics through it all the time!

[MIKON8ERISBACK]

The screen looks more like something out of the 1980s.

[paulbrockenhagen]

excellent restoration job!!

[grodenbarg]

@clemsontigers95 If you hack one and put a modern HD projector, there you go LOL ;)

[Davez621]

LOL there wasn't any TV in 1947. It didn't arrive until mid '56.

[SmokyPondFarm]

@Davez621 Huh?

At 2:29 p.m. on July 01 1941 New York City NBC affiliate WNBT aired a 10 second spot before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, displaying a Bulova watch over a map of the U.S., with a voiceover of the company's slogan "America runs on Bulova time!"

The Bulova commercial was the world's first legal television commercial and cost the Bulova Watch Company $9.00 USD.

... and that's just the first TV commercial, not the beginning of TV.

[Zylstra555]

@Davez621 @Davez621 According to Wikipedia:

"In television's electromechanical era, commercially made television sets were sold from 1928 to 1934 in the United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union"

It is an interesting history.

[mitch19636]

@Davez621 in Australa.

[Edbo]

Now there is a TV which was way ahead of its times...I can just imagine how expensive it was.

[masters902]

playing crysis2 in this

[Lockemeister]

One of the most awesome Youtube Videos I've seen. I think I saw a film of David Sarnoff demonstrating this projection set. It's really Realy nice. The tape recorder is fantastic too.

[DavidRLocke]

You could get a good picture and sound on those old sets. The drawback was that whenever you switched it on nobody else in your neighborhood could make toast.

[CoolConejo]

@DavidRLocke lol are you being sarcastic or is that true? haha

[sheaner18]

i betcha the hydro meters just a spinning around

[lemonrind]

That is actually pretty incredible.

[discronificator]

holy crap its a 25" flatscreen  about 70 years ahead of schedule

[fabregas404]

in working condition as well nice 1 man :D

[hddr3]

nice. a 25 inch projection tv in 1947, thats way futuristic, now only if it were color i would use it :P

[plavins1]

awesome but it is in a really big ass box!!

[boagley1]

What I would give for THAT! I'll start the bidding with my house, AND car! lol

WOW! Thankyou SO much for sharing this WONDERFUL piece!

[johanlaurasia]

Yeah, obviously the cost was way outside the typical ability to afford one. All things being equal, I'd have opted for that over those tiny 10" screens of the day back then as I imagine most others would have too. Amazing though.. never knew rear projection tvs existed that for back!!! Great job on the restoration too.

[jrcstudios]

I saw the tape recorder video first, and then this! I would trade my entire antique collection for this.. Where did you find such a excellent condition machine?

[av3ed]

Nice work.

[yknot10]

Send shivers down my spine watching this, sure its b&w, but 25", rear projector t.v. from RCA in their heyday! How the hell does that thing still work and my 6 year old RCA hd projector is a complete pile? Wonderful device keep it forever, don't ever let anyone touch it, just watch it.

[LuigiGodzillaGirl]

That thing is gorgeous! I didn't know they made Rear Projection TVs back then. It must have been quite the beast in its time.

[S0lidState]

Didn't know they made such things back then.

[samib21]

MUSEUM HOUSE HAAAHAAAAAA

[cassielynnejo]

That is really cool! Its amazing 60 yrs later and it still works.

[douro20]

Was this the first projection TV to go into production? Back in 1940 John Logie Baird demonstrated a 600-line color projection TV- way ahead of its time.

[canuckcurt]

I just picked up one of these last week in San Diego (mine doesn't have the radio or record player part in it). The electronics are in sad shape, it has no back, but the screen is intact, the electronics are complete (I think) and the cabinet overall is in surprisingly good shape.

[AnalogRocks]

Cool! Secret agent man!

Patrick McGoohan excellent actor.

[Jake199415]

That tv was 50 years ahead of its time

[raymondleeleggs]

The 40's equivelant to a home theater in a box!

[1DanielChristensen]

Wow for 1947. Just out of WW2; not even the booming 50s yet, and that....

[ElisVlog]

that must of been a HUGE screen for the time

[SmokyPondFarm]

@ElisVlog Yes it was. Many folks were watching 7" and 10" screens (measured diagonally). This one has a 25" screen.

[aronricardovideo]

Felicito a Ud. señor por mantener este equipo en funcionamiento.

Se parece a un moderno monitor LCD

[SmokyPondFarm]

@aronricardovideo Thanks! In order to justify having a piece of equipment of this size taking up space (and to keep the peace at home), it had to be functional.

[Willd86]

very old but gold...heheh

[SmokyPondFarm]

@Willd86 Thanks! It's the pride and joy of my collection.

[peugteobike]

How much is this set worth?

[SmokyPondFarm]

Not sure. It's a large set so that makes it somewhat undesirable to the TV collectors. If I had to guess, I'd say whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

[classicphile]

@SmokyPondFarm

"If I had to guess, I'd say whatever someone is willing to pay for it"

Well, in that case, and since you dont know what its worth...

I'll give ya five bucks for it (you pay for shipping) ;-)

[Vinylrecordsneverdie]

Projection TV in the 40s? No Way! This is beyond COOL! :D

[fromthesidelines]

..and there were no "filmed" situation comedies or dramas in 1947. Virtually everything (except the old obscure films used to fill time) was LIVE. Variety, cooking shows, interviews, simple game shows ["charades" was a favorite format], children's shows, and news [mostly read by announcers in front of a mike with a simple backdrop, and occasional film footage to illustrate certain stories]..and sporting events (mostly boxing, wrestling, baseball, football, and an occasional rodeo event)...

[fromthesidelines]

To afford a model as this in 1947, one would have been VERY wealthy, indeed- at least "FOUR FIGURES" (I won't say exactly what they were, but I'm certain only a limited number of these were actually sold). And there were very few channels and programs to watch when this was manufactured; you were lucky if if you saw anything WORTH watching at the time. And no "first-run" movies- Hollywood wouldn't allow TV to have its "A-pictures" televised....lots of "B" and "C" films, imports, old westerns...

[bctvguy]

As the sidebar says, at best, most sets in 1947-49 had 10" (diagonal) picture tubes.

This set displayed a much bigger picture and the quality looks great. 62 years later, it's still working.

How many of the sets coming out of China and Mexico will be working even 10 years from now?

[Jo0ngle]

Thats indeed amazing. What a beautiful set! It's surprising to see how far ahead some companies & products were ahead back in the days.

[1DanielChristensen]

That thing is insane!

[AMOVIEROOM]

Man THis is great! I remember tv like this but bigger in the early 80's but this is fantastic!

[SmokyPondFarm]

Thank you. Do you have any pictures or better yet, videos of your TRK-12?

[GreenTea200]

how cool is that TV.

[chrisstv1979]

Is the TV restored or what? It looks good to be 62 years old! I want to get my hands on that type of a TV to preserve a piece of history.

[SmokyPondFarm]

I did a completete electronic restoration. The cabinet was in great shape. A little furniture polish made it look nearly new. The TV portion was fairly straightforward after mastering the optics. I managed to locate 2 NOS projector tubes in England. But the FM tuner gave me fits! You can see some of the pics that I took during the restoration process at the link near the bottom of the "info" listed to the right of the video. RCA made several models of their early projection sets. Good luck!

[CassetteMaster]

AMAZING! That is quite up there for 1947!

[tayishere202]

Amazing

[pmscompany]

Ohh great image. Fantastic bright ! U have pics the lens sistem and face of crt ? Nice work

[SmokyPondFarm]

For pictures of the internals of this set, as well as diagrams of the lens system, click on "(more info)" in the description area to the right of the video window, then select the last link in the description.

[mangadehi]

thanks for sharing.

[curlyqhomie17]

lol taht shit looks hd

[retrochad]

That picture is great...it reminds me of watching a black and white film from a film projector. Some time maybe you can give a demonstration of how the chassis looks.

I have some of those paper-based reel to reel tapes too. They still play but are very brittle.

[windoes98se]

wow

[HughTVDX]

Great TV.Very advanced for its time!