First colour TV broadcast in Australia - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 06:17:47 am
content: I suppose it's now only a footnote in engineering and broadcast history, but this month marks 50 years since Australian consumers began to watch colour TV (and yes, Australians use the British spelling of colour with a "u")https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/revolution-will-be-televisedWhilst I appreciate Australia's contribution to electronics manufacturing, I don't think manufacturing TVs was ever a good idea for Australia!Even if domestic manufacturing has taken on greater focus recently, with tariffs and trade wars and everything.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 06:37:11 am
content: I thought the first color TVs were made during the tube era, predating solid state.Was Aus behind the rest of the world here?

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 07:18:55 am
content: Quote from: Andy Chee on March 11, 2025, 06:17:47 amWhere were we going to get them from? The Chinese Cultural Revolution still had a year to run.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 08:16:39 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 11, 2025, 06:37:11 amWe waited for PAL, none of this NTSC rubbish here. ;-)

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 09:40:38 am
content: NTSC - Never Twice the Same ColourSECAM - System Essentially Contrary to the American MethodPAL - Peace At Last.I started my working life as an apprentice for a long gone TV Rental company, and this was one of the first things I learnt from the other engineers.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 11:01:13 am
content: That's a K9 chassis shown, the first full solid state chassis from Philips.Here's a bit more about why it took so long:https://theconversation.com/a-late-start-then-a-big-boom-why-it-took-until-1975-for-australians-to-finally-watch-tv-in-colour-251363

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 12:12:07 pm
content: My Aunt was one of the first to own a color TV in 1975 it was a rank-arena. with the same fake wood veneer TV cabinet as in the video.I'd watch Batman & Robin tv series, Fat Cat & Friends in color.the first color CRTs had poor image definition compared to the old black-&-white image. -My Aunt would complain about it.roof top TV antenna needed 75 ohm coax. not the old 300 ohm ribbon cable.at the time there was a lot of scams & misinformation about what is a color TV antenna.some unscrupulous was painting TV antennas multi colors to be sold as color antennas.I found lots of dumped old black-and-white tube TV sets at the metropolitan Adelaide landfill as more & more people upgraded to color sets.but I was limited in what one can carry on a bicycle at 1 AM as a teen back home.so just the case & tube electronics. -would make for a good VHF receiver for taxi & aircraft bands if the IF was tapped.them tube electronics cases had up-to of 400v even when the CRT Kv HT was disconnected.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 05:49:02 pm
content: Quote from: woofy on March 11, 2025, 09:40:38 amI always heard that as "not the same color", but same difference.

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 07:09:18 pm
content: Quote from: wilfred on March 11, 2025, 07:18:55 amPost war USA, Japan & Germany had a booming electronics manufacturing industry. It would’ve been better if Australia had not tried to compete with them.

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2025, 11:26:17 pm
content: I'm wondering what TV will be like in 50 years from now. Will anyone still be watching?

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 12:25:10 am
content: Quote from: fzabkar on March 11, 2025, 11:26:17 pmFrom an abstract point of view, yes, people will still be consuming content.However, I don't think brain upload technology ala "The Matrix (Keanu Reeves)" or "Total Recall (Arnold Schwarzenegger)" will be mature enough for mass market in 50 years.So I think it's a safe bet that people will still be consuming content via visual displays, perhaps 3D volumetric holograms?

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 01:10:09 am
content: Quote from: Andy Chee on March 12, 2025, 12:25:10 amsome speculationpossibility that the big box TV form factor will make a comeback with new type of 3D multiplane visual displays in a box that you look into its window.without the need for 3D goggles or glasses. some type of microscopic pixels suspended in space on a glass plane one behind the other giving depth to the image.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 02:56:08 am
content: Quotethe way the size of screens has gone you wont have wall paper, it'll just be floor to ceiling telescreens on every wall

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 03:44:23 am
content: Quote from: themadhippy on March 12, 2025, 02:56:08 amAnd they'll be 2-way.Just like in1984.Just wait and see.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 10:35:20 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 12, 2025, 03:44:23 amI think the idea of Big Brother from 1984 was a product of the conceivable technology of the time. The internet and big data gathering along with electronically traceable money transfers and gps tracking of phone and so on is an even more effective incarnation of Big Brother. At least cash is anonymous if you ignore the cameras in many retail establishments.

author: cunningfellow
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 09:57:16 pm
content: Quote from: jonovid on March 11, 2025, 12:12:07 pmHer name wasn't Jack by any chance?

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2025, 10:15:03 pm
content: Video content seems to be configured for home-theater size screens and pocket-size phones.

author: JMK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 07:54:07 am
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on March 11, 2025, 11:01:13 amNot quite the first solid state chassis from Philips. Their last monochrome TV was also solid state. It had a linear regulator with a, wait for it ....2N3055 in a TO3 case.

author: JMK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 08:51:13 am
content: Quote from: Andy Chee on March 11, 2025, 07:09:18 pmI'm not sure of your age, but TVs were built in Au from 1955. TVs were a progression from radios and radio-grams that were built in Au. I still have a transistor radio relic built by Astor that pre-dates the Japanese stuff. It uses a 5inch long 9V battery. CTVs were just another progression. Some brands were full imports, some imported the design and tooling, some were even locally designed, tooled and assembled. All components used and blank PC Board were imported from Europe and Japan. Some of these CTVs were good, some were barely average.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 08:59:33 am
content: note the 23 adjustment potentiometers at 1:19 some color set's of that time had even more.one of the first design changes was to add a push button VHF-UHF tuner with pre-set adjustment knobs behind a doorfor the first UHF TV broadcasts late 70s

author: JMK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 09:26:01 am
content: Early 1976 the varicap UHF/VHF tuner and AFC module along with the preset tray and either push button or capacitive switching were introduced. Sound activated remote control for channel switching, volume, colour saturation and brightness was also available for the expensive models. (Infrared LEDs with enough power to cross a room were still not commercially viable products yet)Late 1976 brought about the K11 chasis. In line guns in the CRT, most convergence deleted and what was still required was located on the output board. That convergence board was deleted.Ah, the memories of a junior engineer at the Philips assembly plant in Victoria.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 01:15:52 pm
content: Quote from: JMK on March 13, 2025, 09:26:01 amI should have written "first solid statecolourchassis"The capacitive switching was famous for the ability to switch randomly or be killed by static electricity.QuoteNot only good for remote controlling your tv but also the cat!I remember being attacked by one when demonstrating the set at a new owners place.QuoteServicing Philips products for 10 years when I was a lot younger.

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 01:29:28 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on March 13, 2025, 01:15:52 pmOh yes, terrible things. Here in the UK we have little bugs we call thunder flies that would crawl in the buttons and kill them. I replaced dozens during the summer months.

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 05:06:25 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on March 13, 2025, 01:15:52 pmA friend related the story of a particular Philips TV that would randomly change channels on its own. He was unable to reproduce the problem in the workshop, but the set continued to misbehave. When he visited his client, he noticed that the set would change channels whenever the cat walked past. It turned out that the bell around the cat's neck was the culprit.

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2025, 07:20:17 pm
content: Ah, the days of ultrasonic remote controls. I've had that too. I was called to a customer who was reporting the TV changed channels a random. I went along but nothing was obviously wrong. While sitting there having a cup of tea and chatting with the customer, the dog who was laying in front of the blazing fire, looked up and yawned. At that moment the TV changed channels.Those were the early days of remote control, just two buttons, change channel and mute sound. The ultrasonic sensor was capacitive, not piezo, and had a very wide bandwidth. I could rattle my car keys in front of the TV and mute the sound.