RCA Portable TV/Radio/Clock

[@punktexas]

I had one of those when I was a kid. Musta been 1980. It came with a sun screen for the picture tube. It fit inside the little groove around the tube and stuck out like a lens protector. . I remeber loosing it and being so bummed out...lol. I also had a unit that was similar and sounded GREAT. Very loud and clear. It was a JVC (?). The JVC was stolen and the RCA was the replacement. The JVC (?) was much better. I saw an RCA model at a flea market this weekend.

[@EmergencyChannel]

I had a TV,Phone,Radio(am/fm) and clock receiver in the early 80's. I can't remember who made it, perhaps Panasonic. It was truly the "smart" phone of the 80's!

[@AdamBluntTech]

analog the best tv format ever

[@vwestlife]

@uxwbill Your room looks even more green in HD! :-) And if you miss the sharp contrast that the D8 camcorder's built-in "edge enhancement" gives its video, you can go into the HC7's Camera Set menu and turn up the sharpness all the way, which really helps to crispen up the image.

[@PRLambert63]

Thank you so much for this video. Got one of these today and knew nothing about it till now.

[@GMfwdSpence]

Holy crap, my dad used to have one of those! I remember was my first ever TV when I was a little kid :P. Wow I didnt think I'd ever see one of those ever again.

[@EmergencyChannel]

Also, if you set up a converter box you can cutoff and wrap the coax around the arial antenna on sets that have no inputs to watch tv. That or a TV sending unit that broadcasts on UHF, but they are getting rare.

[@vwestlife]

@uxwbill I have access to a copy/print room and binding equipment at work, so I can easily make those books when no one's looking. :-) And considering that the HC7 originally sold for over five times as much as the TRV280, I think the 280 holds its own remarkably well. Even today, Sony has more of an egalitarian approach across its lineup than some other brands, which have really started to drastically cheapen-out their entry-level camcorders, such as downgrading them to monaural sound!

[@hanksgarage_]

Man we had one just like that for the longest time, It was a sony though possibly around 1987 or so, It was used all the way till we got rid of it, around the time gov went to digital over analog, pretty sad to see it go, it was useless though aside from the radio. I think it had av inputs though I can not remember... Good vid.

[@vwestlife]

@uxwbill If you right-click on the video and choose "Show video info", KZbin will display an info panel showing various statistics, including the resolution and bitrate at which the video you're currently watching was encoded (by KZbin, not by the uploader).

[@Chu3505]

This thing must cost a pretty penny in 1984,it design and functionality not that bad looking.

[@filipmac1545]

if only analog tv broadcasting still excited, it was more convenient than digital. NO MORE PORTABLE TVS

[@tipsygypsy1064]

Filip Mac They don’t make portable digital antennas?

[@Thrillowatt]

Why not just make a little 4g tv?

[@redneckbryon]

It's to bad that little old tv's like that don't work anymore!

[@Lachlant1984]

Hmm, that's awesome, I wonder if that LED clock will run on batteries as well as AC. I know Tandy sold something like that with a cassette player, the blurb in the catalogue said it used 9 D cells and a 9V battery for the clock I assume it only kept the clock circuit running and didn't operate the LED readout as is usually the case, it's interesting that you must hold the button down to keep the clock display running.

[@MxArgent]

That's a lot of D Batteries! It's a shame the TV bit isn't functional anymore, but seems like it would make a fairly serviceable radio/alarm.

[@fortyfiveplayer]

That CandyHam has amazingly good audio!

[@KingEastCoast]

this remind me of a Portable TV/Radio I had back in the day. It broke unfortunately

[@Firthy2002]

Not a bad little unit, although I think having to hold down the light button to see the clock is a bit of a design flaw.

[@Blacklight8001]

of course, about a milenia after this video was made I found a DC car connectir for this set at a thrift store.

[@XeonProductions]

Back when RCA was a decent brand. I call them "Really Crappy Appliances" now.

[@CoolDudeClem]

How about hooking that to the RF output of a VCR or something if possible? So we can see the TV part working.

[@randomrazr]

that is exactly what i have lying in the basement LOL great video as always uxwbill!

[@Comptekhs]

I wonder if when it is on battery power the clock function will work. Maybe they made it so when you click the light button for the clock to save battery power. I know on regular alarm clocks with battery backup the alarms usually still function but you do not get any display of numbers when AC power is out.

[@davidbaker234]

I have a Quasar TV/radio from 1986

[@stereomann83]

Do you know the Pinout for the power cable I just bought one of these & it did not come with a power cord

[@CarnelProd666]

@uxwbill Strange, somone told me Eton was a 100% Canadian company. They sell NOAA weather radios here, among other cheap trinkets and doodads.

[@ForgetfulCollector]

I have one of these that's still in the box.

[@wwsols]

hi - do you have an idea of when your next blogtv show will be? I enjoyed the last one, thanks

[@aly369]

@uxwbill Haha, I thought the "New Jersey Handycam Research Laboratory" had something to do with it. Yes I have had battles with rendering in 720p myself. Oh and on another subject I picked up my first amp. Its a Sony ta-ax44 from 1982-81 I believe. Sounds great but could do with a good clean.

[@V8Jagnut]

it would have been good in its day.

[@Lachlant1984]

Were you using the MiniDV HandyCame Vwestlife sold you or were you using something newer? I see this video is in high definition, I didn't think those 1990's MiniDV HandyCams recorded in HD, or am I missing something that should be staring me in the face?

[@joshuamillerschannel6971]

Cool

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

I have a Chinese Special that's in the same genre as this thing. TV clock radio! I must admit, some effort into it, as there's some clever design going on, along with the extreme cheapness and cost reduction. The TV part doesn't work though. The main chip died.

[@MrJ0mmy]

I GOT THE MOVES LIKE JAGGER I GOT THE MOVES LIKE JAGGER

[@randomrazr]

@randomrazr mine says it was manufactured in 1981 though lol

[@eliw4232]

Is this uploaded in real high definition? The picture quality looks great.

[@yupimbackk]

I love your vids, Keep up the good work.......

[@tomshotdogs6645]

Still got one of these; but it's not FULLY working (radio is totally dead it seems). Mine also seems to be wood paneled. I'd love to restore it and maybe change up the internals a bit, if you've got any more info about it.

[@uxwbill]

I'd start by looking at any electrolytic capacitors, especially if it hasn't been used in many years. Stuff from the late 1970s and early 1980s finally seems to be suffering the early stages of failed electrolytic capacitors.

[@tomshotdogs6645]

That's kind of what I was thinking. The thing hasn't been used in ~15 years or so; and from what I can tell, MOST things work. I was also thinking about maybe ripping everything out, including the screen, and replacing it with a small LCD panel (and a frame to match, not gonna make this a hack job, y'know?) and popping a Raspberry Pi in there, and wiring the switches to the Pi. As much as I'd love to keep it with all original parts; that doesn't really have much real use these days, unless I built my own VHF/UHF transmission station; which is probably still fairly illegal. What do you think? EDIT: another reason to rip everything out, as opposed to replacing caps? I royally suck at soldering. =p

[@uxwbill]

I think it'd be a mistake to rip out the original parts, even though these aren't particularly rare or valuable sets. (Although I haven't seen the woodgrain variant anywhere.) Sometimes you can still find a low power translator or otherwise exempted analog TV station on the air, and there are some digital converters that lend themselves very readily to a battery power modification. (Perhaps rather ironically, one such easily converted DTV converter was sold under the RCA name!) Out in the land of eBay and similar places, there are dozens of Blonder-Tongue (amongst others) analog TV RF modulators that can broadcast on almost any channel you choose. Bide your time and they're cheap. Technically I suppose they're illegal to operate, but they're flea powered and most won't get beyond the walls of your home. I also can't think of a better way to improve your soldering skills! (If you trash it beyond all repair, it's not like you've lost anything and then you would have an empty chassis just waiting for conversion.)

[@JayarFlores]

wow 1080p! Impressive "D

[@ncrdisabled]

Lets see july on 1984 I was under the Atlantic ocean on the USS Andrew Jackson SSBN 634 I was aa IC3 SS at the time counting down the days until we get back to home port we had 26 days left of the patrol 90 days long under water . We pulled in early got a port call Port everglaves in florida 2 weeks Rented a car went to jacksonville FL partied my butt off . Had 3 days off till my duty . Man those were the days. I then had 2 days off thn 1 day but on duty not on watch I could go to the pierfood

[@TheCanadianToast]

Because of the conversion from analog to digital, portable TV's are now useless.......... :( But this RCA set is pretty good for a clock and radio... :D

[@spongygryphon]

I FINALLY KNOW WHAT THE RIBBON ON THE BACK OF THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT DOES!!! :P (2:35 for anyone wondering)

[@aly369]

720p ? Is there a new camera ?

[@CRXJDM88]

I have seen one or tho for sale don't no if I should buy it

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

i wanna see a composite mod!

[@WrainTravels]

Looking at one of these on Ebay. Can you set the Tv to be triggered by the 'alarm' function?

[@uxwbill]

I _think_ so, but don't quote me or make your buying decision solely on that. It's also worth considering -- and maybe you have -- that you'll need an analog TV signal source of some kind, such as a digital converter box or a low power analog TV transmitter.

[@WrainTravels]

@@uxwbill i have a converter box, i'm just wanting one of these clock tv units as long as one of them can use the alarm to switch on the tv, instead of the radio. If one exists

[@drdos4]

They must have been smoking when they designed the clock. Who wants to press a button to see the time?

[@fibersilkington]

me

[@MichaelOKeefe2009]

9 size-D batteries to power that? Now that thing is the definition of a true battery hog, better yet a glutenous battery guzzling machine!

[@denzel387]

crt tv RCA Portable TV/Radio/Clock

[@bhstone1]

When you pick up really old radios and turn them on do you hear broadcasts from the 80s?

[@jimmym1453]

What don’t you know Ho a radio works idiot I picks up a signal from an existing radio station so it’s impossible to here prod casts from the 80s

[@bhstone1]

@@jimmym1453 Nah, I'm pretty sure they pick up broadcasts from when they were made.

[@ncrdisabled]

@uxwbill Funny thing I had been in the NAVY for 1.5 years at the time first 1 year was great bootcamp sub school ICA school MK 19 gyro school Electronics school NUCK school then my firs sub .The first patrol is the hardest if you can make it tru that and get qualified which is the hardest thing in the NAVY on subs. The was my second patrol I went on the make 8 more patrols during which I had also to go on a fast attack for 42 days as The one of the IC guys got hurt so I was offered freeleave

[@danklumi3550]

Awww

[@T0424-g7x]

@bhstone1 are you serious?

[@PeterSchneemann]

Tv not working?

[@PeterSchneemann]

Sorry, I don't know what means analog broadcasters. May be they transmit the tv signal in a different way today, so if I buy a portable tv with an antenna I wouldn't be able to watch tv?

[@phillies4100_mainsite]

+LB22peter No if you buy a post 2007-TV you can get TV.