The Oldest Working TV SET You Know Of

[Markxxx]

I have my current set from 1995, it's probably got a few years left in it, even though it is, of course, analog.

Just wondering what is the oldest WORKING TV set that you know of? Does your Grandmother have her set from the 60s still?

The thing is it has to be working, of course if you have a really old one without UHF that's cool as long as it works and receives TV

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

In the bedroom at my apartment, I still have a 13-inch RCA XL-100, manufactured in 1989, which still works perfectly.

My parents still have, as a bedroom TV, a 13-inch GE "Performance Television" made in 1980 which still works to this day.

 

[landtuna]

25" RCA XL-100 console bought in 1979. Still working fine. No repairs, ever.

45" Sylvania rear projection big screen console bought in 1987. Still works fine. One audio board replaced 10 years ago.

 

[Stanislav]

My 80-year old mother's TV must be at least 15-20 years old. It is an early cable-ready (analog cable, that is) 19" RCA. (She's sleeping in the same room with it at the moment, else I would check the model #.) No A/V inputs, no stereo or SAP, no closed captioning. It has never given her a bit of trouble, and during the last few years (as she is an invalid now), it is on pretty much 24/7 most of the time (she tends to fall asleep with it on).

 

[radiorob2.0]

12/88 RCA Colortrak 2000-The picture still looks perfect. Using an HD signal fed into the composite input produces a rich deep color picture. I plan to purchase a new flat screen but haven't decided what to do with the swivel console monster. It will probably go in the den.

Thrift stores area a great source if they had an electronics section. You would find vintage sets that still worked and sometimes had a perfect picture. If I had space I would adopt them for a collection. You Tube has videos of collectors showing off their working vintage televisions. Here is a sample.

http://www.youtube.com/user/drh4683

 

[radiorob2.0]

This is the coolest TV I've found, a 1964 Zenith Color Television with Space Command.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Ch077-nM8

 

[w9wi]

This is the coolest TV I've found, a 1964 Zenith Color Television with Space Command.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Ch077-nM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvRxmIWBibQ purportedly shows a 1938 TV in operation. (I'm broadband-challenged so haven't watched it)

In general there seems to be quite a bit of interest in pre-war TV in the UK. The country changed TV standards in 1985, but now a group of enthusiasts is trying to get a licence to operate a test transmitter under the *old* standards in London to broadcast to the pre-1939 receivers...

 

[vibe]

Not the oldest but my 2" color HH is 20+ years old but still works. I'll keep it in for instances where camping out west may allow me to watch some of the local translators...

 

[therealjm12]

I have a 13" Sony which I believe I bought in 1984. It was used mostly used as a bedroom set. It is cable ready but only to ch 36. It sets on a shelf in a closet nowdays but works perfectly. I recently connected up to a digital converter box and its off air picture just seemed perfect. I have no plan to get rid of it.

 

[dxnemo78]

13" RCA B&W, purchased circa 1982. Stored in my basement, hasn't been plugged in for at least 7 years. Last I knew, it worked fine.

12" Emerson B&W, purchased 1984. Like the RCA, hadn't seen a current for maybe 7 years until about 2 months ago. Works as good as it ever did, although the UHF knob has disappeared.

19" Philco Color, purchased 1988. Seen better days, but not quite ready for the junkpile. Took to the HD converter like a fish to water...

 

[TexasTom]

I've got a working 13" Panasonic color TV that I bought in 1977 -- it's already hooked up to a converter box in anticipation of next February.

 

[fybush]

Until last year, when it was replaced with a 14" LCD set, my kitchen TV was a Zenith 12" B/W set that came from my grandmother's old apartment. I'm pretty sure it was the set she bought when she moved there in 1982. Still works, though the volume control's a little scratchy and the VHF knob broke off a few years ago, and still has the channel list taped to the top that I typed up for her when her apartment complex got its own MATV system in the mid-80s.

I'm pretty sure my dad is still using a set (in the basement rec room) that came from his aunt's apartment, and was new when she moved in there in 1978. Can't recall the brand off the top of my head - another Zenith, maybe? 19" color set, in any case, left on channel 3 and tuned through a cable box on the other side of the room.

But those are nothing, really - if you're in (or passing through) Hilliard, Ohio, just west of Columbus, take a few hours and visit the Early Television Museum (http://www.earlytelevision.org/museum_information.html) and see working sets from as far back as the forties. Want to see a CBS color wheel set? They've got them. Mechanical-scan TV? Yup (in reproduction form). The very first RCA color set? That's there too, and looks really good. Highly recommended.

 

[RadioMan203]

My chiropractor restores antique televisions and I know he has some really dirt-old wacked out brands that nobody would remember (including myself) but I do recall one as it was a design that was out of the ordinary. He has at least 1 working Philco Predicta television, a black and white unit dating back to around 1958 or so.


Reference for those who have never seen this beast:

http://antiqueradio.org/philc12.htm

 

[FreddyE1977]

I have a 19 inch Gold Star color set with the detent rotary tuners that go all the way up to ch 83.
I bought it towards the end of 1990. I got it from a Fretter store near Detroit, and it blew it's
power supply a month later. I was highly steamed at Fretter because they would not exchange it
for me in the store. They insisted on sending it down to their shop in Detroit for a warranty repair,
and I was without it for another month. They must have fixed it good though, because it has not
skipped a beat since. It was my primary set until we went HD a couple of years ago. I watched
many Super Bowls and World Series games on it, every first-run episode of Seinfeld, news coverage
of 9-11, and my kids watched all of their Disney VHS movies on it when they were small. I still have
it hooked to a DirecTV box in my basement as a spare.

I also had a 12" Sears B&W TV in my bedroom for many years. It was purchased in 1980, and
gave up the ghost only around a year ago. Sadly no one was still in business in my area who
wanted to touch it, and I did not have the skills to fix it. I also have a Maganavox 13" color
set from 1995.