The History of PHILCO PREDICTA

Welp here it is folks, an exhaustive breakdown of the history behind Philco's beloved atomic age "problem child".
Actual surviving footage includes : Philco Predicta Commercials, RCA "Worthington" Commercial, Philco Early Transistor Marketing.
As with any documentary some liberties were taken, as this is my interpretation of 3rd party research, internal employee newsletters, and very little surviving market data.
FINALLY-
A huge thank you to Mr. Jon O, as he did the majority of actual footwork in the early 90's documenting what survived. Without him and his hardwork, this documentary would not of been possible. (Also wanna thank Cody Dickson and Kyle Painter, both were instrumental behind the scenes in getting this updated documentary released.)
more soon.
-PhilcoBAH
P.S.
*BACKSTORY
I had initially rereleased the original "HISTORY OF PHILCO PREDICTA (MINI DOC)" as standalone video to my channel after so much critical acclaim from it being a middle segment in the 2nd video ever uploaded on this channel, "THE PHILCO SAFARI (RESTORED DEMO)". That complete video is still up, however I had discovered that I had accidentally initially misquoted someone. As this video was all I knew as available regarding the minutiae of this subject matter, I had to fix the error.
-ENTER THIS LONGER, MORE FUN, CONCISE UPDATE(REMAKE)
*Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “Fair Use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. “Fair Use” is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

[@jerryg50]

I remember when I started working in TV servicing the Predicta series was not long term reliable. The reason for the softer picture was the cable length, and how the cables had to be bundled together to pass through the tubing coming from the video amplifier output to the CRT socket. To fix this in design they would have had to have the video amplifier stage closer to the CRT socket and also not have the video signal wires not bundled. Because of the compactness of the assembly, the main circuit board had to have a heavy shielding under to prevent scan radiation from getting to the sound and video amplifiers. If this shield was to be removed the sound would have buzzing noise, and there would be visible oscillations in the video image. Because of the heavy shielding and the tight enclosure of the casing there was a lot of internal heat from the vacuum tubes. This made for the capacitors on the circuit board to run to warm, and eventually fail sooner than they should have. The CRT being tightly enclosed caused it to run excessively warm. The deflection coils sitting on the neck of the CRT added to the heat along with the electron gun heater located inside the neck of the tube. With the regular normal size floor model TV sets Philco had some excellent models that performed extremely well and were very reliable. They were competing up against other manufactures like RCA, Dumont, Zenith, Admiral, Motorola, and Philips. Competition was fierce. All of these manufactures made terrific TV sets. I serviced many of these sets when past warranty. Most of the time the regular type TV sets went at least two to three years before requiring some servicing also depending on the hours of usage. Very often servicing was simply changing some warn out vacuum tubes. The Predicta had poor reliability in comparison to the others. Servicing the Predicta was very time consuming because of how the set was assembled, and thus making servicing costly. The Predicta is popular with antique television and radio collectors. It is probably the most unusual and interesting TV set ever designed.

[@crankychris2]

I was in the last vaccuum class at Governer' Island NY, and there was a Predicta on the bench sort of a class ptoject. Since we were trained to maintaining commercial SSB and LORAN, we found this quaint artifact interesting. Yes perf/reliability were sacrificed for the snazzy style and we had installed a fan on ours! Thanks for the look back...

[@skybot9998]

Interesting,thanks for sharing.

[@dmoore7519]

Back when a hit on the cabinet of a TV might “fix” a problem. For a short while.

[@skybot9998]

@@dmoore7519 and the antenna had a gob of steel wool on the end of it,lol.

[@worthington5687]

I wonder if Philo owned one.

[@scottjohnson5415]

I found one in a yard sale back in the early 90's. I was able to get it working again. I lived in St. Louis and they had a huge electronics store with lots of old tubes, capacitors, etc.. I wished I would have kept it instead of selling it.

[@worthington5687]

Did it only play the good old 1960s TV shows?

[@olradguy]

That had to be McGee Radio or Burstein-Applebee, loved them you could get any thing electronic, could not wait to get a new catalogs

[@billolsen4360]

We stopped for the night at a motel in Idaho during the family summer vacation in 1968 there was a Predicta in our room. My sister said it looked like the "telescreens" in George Orwell's novel 1984.

[@jimlocke9320]

When Philco went bankrupt, I understand that motel chains bought a lot of the Predictas still in warehouses. I had a similar experience as yours, staying in a Holiday Inn in 1968 in the midwest and having a Predicta in my room. The swivel CRT was a nice feature. You could turn the screen for viewing from different parts of the room. That was my only hands on experience with a Predicta. Predictas came with a VHF rod antenna. Motels typically had master antenna systems. The rod antenna was often removed prior to use in motel rooms. As a result, many of the surviving Predictas do not have their rod antennas.

[@billolsen4360]

@@jimlocke9320 Makes sense the motels bought them up by the truck load. Bet those penny-pinchers at Travellodge bought a bunch. Often wondered if Philco was kind of named after Philo Farnsworth.

[@haweater1555]

@@billolsen4360 According to Wikipedia, Philco was already established as the Philadelphia Battery Company before the turn of the century. Philo Farnsworth was actually employed by Philco in the early 30s (they wanted to work with his TV tube patents), but left after a few years to open his own company. The Philco name is now owned by Philips. The name just comes around, and goes around.

[@billolsen4360]

@@haweater1555 The name's no dead yet! I didn't realize Farnsworth actually worked for them. Recall seeing him on youtube in a replay of a 1960's game show "I've Got A Secret" when he was really up in years.

[@aaroncapricorn5867]

exactly what they are for - programming you

[@alan1071]

I spent $400 about 15 years ago on my working Predicta table model in excellent condition from an TV collector/repairman and it still draws immediate attention from everyone. He recommended I don’t run it too much to avoid burning out the tube but rather play it a few minutes every month or so to keep the tubes dry. I have it connected to a DVD player which runs a video of period Philco tv commercials!

[@sunbeam8866]

Philco's 17" 'briefcase' TV was closer to the wave of the future. That style became very popular during the early to mid '60s. While growing up during the early '70s, friends of my folks gave me a 1962 Admiral portable, complete with a metal roller-stand. This was a 19" set, so it was more like a 'suitcase' TV. And heavy, with a tube chassis completely surrounding the picture tube, inside a slim metal case. The sound was dead, but it turned out to be an easy diagnosis - someone had spilled a drink into the top-mounted speaker. But not so easy to fix, as it was a tight squeeze getting the dead speaker out and the new one in. Anyway, I used it for a several years, though with all those tubes on a steel chassis, inside that sheet-steel case, it almost doubled as a space-heater!

[@johnhpalmer6098]

One thing to keep in mind with many of the old metal case/chassis sets where many were budget sets, may or may not have a transformer, may or may not be series strung and may have a hot chassis potential due to the lack of polarized plugs. Most jurisdictions by the early 60's require all new residential construction to have grounded outlets, but most sets still were not polarized, let alone have grounded cords/plugs. I think by the mid to late 60's many of the live chassis issues were eradicated in new sets but don't hold me to it. The one exception were tubed electric guitar amps, which is why many building codes by the late 50's required grounded outlets in laundry rooms, perhaps in the kitchen and definitely in garages and basements where bare concrete and electricity may exist as all it took was being in bare feet and playing an electric guitar to get an electric shock though the strings and if the floor is even damp, you can get a jolt of electricity, enough to perhaps kill as many of these units barely had any safety mechanisms to reduce this potential and what safety caps were not what many thought they were. So when you restore one of those amps, you replaced the original safety cap with a modern X cap, no exceptions.

[@jimlocke9320]

I really think the Predicta was more of a novelty than a practical TV set design. The swivel screen had some practical value which probably wasn't necessary in most homes. An alternative approach was a console TV set on casters for easy swiveling. As shown in the video, the screen and cabinet were separate on one model and connected by a cable. This arrangement provided an early form of remote control. However, in many homes, the cable had to stretch across a floor or doorway, causing a safety hazard. Viewers had to get used to hearing voices come from the cabinet in one place and seeing the face with moving lips in another. Philco addressed the problem by offering an optional remote speaker, to be placed near the screen. I've seen the Predicta in displays of vintage electronics. One time, I saw an operating Predicta in a Las Vegas casino. A fan for cooling had been added. I recall seeing the Predicta used as a prop in a movie.

[@johnstone7697]

Certainly ahead of its time. But trying to make a compact chassis with circuit boards and vacuum tubes was a recipe for disaster. The old phenolic boards and their components literally baked themselves to death. This design was crying out for solid state technology, but the timing was off by a few years. Philco would introduce the solid state Safari portable less than a year later. But it only had a small CRT, requiring much less power. The problem for Predicta was that the horizontal and vertical deflection amplifiers needed to drive a large high deflection angle CRT had to be capable of considerable power . Transistors from that era simply weren't available with that kind of power capability, so the transistorized tv's of the era all had small screens. At best, the Predicta would have been a hybrid,combining both tubes and transistors, and likely, a lot more expensive. It's also interesting to note that printed circuit boards in tvs were nothing new. RCA had been using them since the early 50's in their own tv's, but confined their usage to the signal processing boards where only small tubes were needed, and heat was much less of an issue. And these boards tended to be quite reliable. By concentrating so much heat in such a small area, Philco drastically shortened the life of the boards and the components on them. As for the CRT, the likely culprit for such short life was the wide angle design, that required considerably more drive current.

[@worthington5687]

Fans would have helped I'd think. It's even shaped like a room fan sorta.

[@altfactor]

Perhaps the most wanted TV set among collectors of vintage electronics.

[@timtim8468]

The design is appreciated, but collectors who get inside these sets know these are made from the cheapest parts, and made as cheap as possible.

[@JRNipper]

Yes, just like the Ford Edsel...hummm, is there a similarity here with Ford owning both?

[@jamesslick4790]

I saw a working Predicta table top model (likie the one in the opening scene) at a garage sale in the mid 1970s for $15! (then it was just an "elderly" TV!, But I was tempted because I thought it was cool- I was a dumb, broke teen and used the money on a used bike!) Worst $15 purchase that I did NOT make! 🤦‍♂️

[@HotDogRock]

Much better to have a bike than an old TV. You chose function over form

[@jamesslick4790]

@@HotDogRock True for the time, but the TV would be worth some bucks now. LOL

[@JRNipper]

I spent my allowance on old TV's and on parts and tubes to fix them way back when, but alas, never had the oppt to get a Predicta...such as life

[@jamesslick4790]

@@JRNipper I was then and am still a collector of old radios and record players. (And, yeah, I too spent some good change on tubes, capacitors and such - I was popular at Radio Shack in the 70s, LOL) But I knew that particular TV was significant and just so damn COOL. I KICK myself today for NOT buying it. I do have two vintage TVs today, a 1957 vintage RCA portable and A 1962 Vintage Magnavox console. True to the name the Magnavox has AWESOME sound even NOW (of course it's mono though.) Fun for watching old TV shows and ads from a VHS! I use a 1939 Zenith console radio to play 1940's music and radio shows from an MP3 player as it has an audio input - Marked "Television"! It's really just a late 1930s "AUX port" it uses two "pin" connectors, so I just modified a 3.5mm headphone wire (soldered the left and right together!) and BOOM I'm partying like it's 1939! Old tech CAN mix with new if you know what you're doing! 🎶😊🎶

[@lawrenceshadai4966]

6 month life on a B&W picture tube ?!?! That is a scandal- 6 YEARS was considered short back then. 16 years was more common. It was also expected that a B&W should be much sharper, crisper than color CRTs. Short like and lacking sharpness was a death sentence considering the competition. Great video.

[@mstcrow5429]

Sounds like it did do a list of firsts. So not surprising much of it was severely flawed.

[@broeheemed32]

It's even worse when you consider that the price for one of these would equal over $3,000 today. Now that gets you a screen the size of a garage door.

[@jerryg50]

I worked about 2 decades in the TV industry starting back in the vacuum tube days using CRTs. (I am sort of old). I was also working in R&D for circuit design for a TV manufacture, and later on doing engineering support on broadcast TV systems. CRTs were lasting 20,000 to 30,000 hours with proper emission. After that they would start to decay in performance. With using the TV for about 10 hours per day the CRT should last about 6.5 years average. During that time there would be necessity for some servicing, mostly for changing regular type tubes. Most of the time it was the horizontal output tubes, vertical deflection tubes, and audio output tubes that would go quicker. Then there were the IF, sync, H and V oscillators, video amps, and etc. After about 4 to 6 years it was common to start having capacitors starting to fail and thus needing shop service. In my time during TV servicing I am sure I changed over 200 picture tubes, and many more of the smaller tubes on the chassis. I must have changed many hundreds of capacitors. I am speaking about over 20 years of doing shop service in TV sets. I was putting in 14 hour days at it. With my own TV sets I installed fans to cool under and above the chassis. With my console colour TV set I run it with the back cover removed, and had fans blowing inside of it. This helped a lot.

[@jgrab1]

First Macintoshes only had 128K and most of that was taken up by the OS. Documents could only be 5 pages long. Loading a file from another disk took forever as you had to swap the "System Disk" (which held the OS) with the file, which sometimes required five minutes and involved a dozen swaps. All to load a five-page document! Early technology often has a lot of problems like that.

[@ronaldwilliamson7963]

True. TVs were mainly sold on credit. But so are they today.

[@trainluvr]

Always wondered about these sets. thanks for the video. I grew up with a 1950s Philco window a/c and it was run for 20 years.

[@cgschow1971]

$299 in 1958 is comparable to $3000 in today's costs.

[@jerryg50]

You are very accurate with the cost equivalent. TVs and radios back in those days was a major purchase. The colour TV sets were averaging in the range of $600 to $900 depending on the size of the screen and type of cabinet. It is difficult to imagine today to pay about $6000 to $9000 for a vacuum tube type 17 inch to maybe a 21 inch CRT colour TV! And the picture reproduction was not nearly as good as the TV sets of today.

[@thomasjefferson7359]

Yes, that likely doomed it from the start. You could buy a car for that kind of money back in 1958.

[@Qboro66]

@jerryg50 You're definitely getting more bang for your TV bucks nowadays... I don't think anyone in 1958 would imagine the advancement in technology in today's television, let alone home theater...

[@agostinodibella9939]

Even with today's inflation, the prices of TV's are way down compared with the old days, and the technology is far better.

[@jerryg50]

@@agostinodibella9939 True... The cost of technology went down over the years at a greater rate than the inflation increased costs. Net result was being able to have more elaborate and advanced technology in relation to cost including inflation.

[@michigandon]

You should have added a blurb about the "new" Predicta TVs. I saw them at a jukebox show about 25[?] years ago? Gorgeous units. Unfortunately the advent of hi-def and flat screens killed them off after just a couple years.

[@gertraba9806]

As a 4 yr old dad went to buy tires for the Chevy. Lined up down the aisle were TV's and featured by the philcos were. This one. Looked like the Jetsons and awfully hot

[@olradguy]

I started doing tv repair in the early 70s, never had to work on any predicta's and only perhaps one seventeener, I hated the seventeener, hot running, cramped, hard to work on, and the crt's were known to be prone to premature failure if used hard.

[@jerryg50]

I serviced my share of Predicta TV sets. Lots of capacitor failures because of the heat issues. If they customer wanted to pay the cost I installed a fan. Increased reliability.

[@Megollyen1]

Really great stuff! :) Keep making them, man!

[@hebneh]

I was 4 years old when these were introduced, so I had no memory or knowledge of them till the early 1970s when I saw a "50s ad from LIFE magazine for the Predicta Tandem. A few years later I went into a small appliance store in a little rural town and saw original 1950s TVs still packed in their original boxes. Up on a shelf was a mint, unsold Predicta table model. The owners of the store said they'd plugged it in when they first got it, smelled smoke, and never used it again - nor would they sell it. The following year I returned to this town, determined to buy that Predicta...and discovered the store had burned down. However, before that happened, someone had successfully bought the Predicta, so it was saved. This was in about 1979 so I have no idea if that gem still exists today, someplace.

[@haloeffect67]

A neighbour gave me a Philco Predicta TV. Sadly, it doesn't work, but it looks pretty cool. I love the design.

[@jerryg50]

If you can find the right tech person who can source the tubes and parts, your set is serviceable. It will be a bit costly.

[@haloeffect67]

@@jerryg50 Thank you. I may look into getting it repaired one day. It's a beauty.

[@nb7466]

I know someone with one in their living room. It doesn't works but it's all there

[@worldtraveler930]

Let's put this on today's terms 3000 bucks for a pitcher tube that would most likely die in 6 months..... Dear Lord!!! 😳

[@joestrike8537]

"A radically new semi-flat picture tube...the long-awaited wall-type TV"....well, it took a few more decades for technology to deliver an actually flat wall-type TV, but it was worth the weight. Side note: I collect lapel pins and one of them is of the Predicta

[@oliverharris7366]

I was only 3 years old at the time but heard they got a lower resolution picture because of the short gun on the CRT.

[@cool386vintagetechnology6]

The picture resolution problem was due to the capacitance of the excessively long wiring between the video amplifier and the CRT. The Tandem version used a cathode follower to improve on this with its much longer cable.

[@rongaunt8348]

Thanks Blake - great job!

[@Tom-pc7lb]

The design people of that era, the mad men. What an era.

[@larrygilbert7273]

When I was a kid my aunt had a Predicta Tandem in her guest bedroom. The console was next to the bed, like a nightstand, and the CRT was on a dresser across from the foot of the bed, connected by a honking thick umbilical. You could watch TV while lying in bed AND change between the four available channels without getting up. Amazing! I though it was so cool and opulent.

[@haweater1555]

What wasn't mentioned that the Predicta basically broke Philco as an electronics and appliance maker, it was sold to Ford soon after and the brand was used on their car radios.

[@philcobah]

actually that’s not entirely true, review the thesis on the decline of philco wrote by an MIT student in the 90’s. philco was overdiversified and mis managed. predicta was just another nail in an already built coffin.

[@billolsen4360]

@@philcobah Ugh. Sounds like the predicament that Lumen/CenturyLink is in now.

[@jerryg50]

In my early days I had a 1968 Ford Galaxy LTD. It has a Philco AM/FM radio in it. The radio in its time was terrific quality. I kept that car for about 7 years. Before I sold it, I bought a regular AM/FM universal type radio and removed the Philco radio. I bought a 12 Volt power supply and some speakers, and an antenna for it. I set it up as a terrific AM/FM radio in my work room. Excellent sound and quality. I still have that radio.

[@kinseymilkbone]

My old man worked for Philco-Ford in the mid-'60s He bought a B&W Philco console TV in a colonial-style cabinet which was popular back then. He kept it through multiple cross-country moves, refusing to splurge on a color TV until after I left home in the late '70s. I remember being totally shocked that The Wizard Of Oz was mostly in color when I saw it in my dorm.

[@haweater1555]

@@kinseymilkbone Our family didn't get a colour set until 1983. My memories of the "V" miniseries (aliens plotting to take over Earth) are entirely in B&W. The General Lee in the "The Dukes of Hazard" looked pretty nice turned from grey now to orange.

[@BlondieSL]

It would have been amazing if Philco would have made a Color version of the Predicta. However, there are some out there who have reworked the Predicta and use an LCD as the screen.

[@JRNipper]

Shipping close to 30KV for the pix tube would have been difficult for a color Predicta. Frankly, I'm amazed Philco was able to ship the ~20KV for the B&W CRT without electrocuting their owners.

[@BlondieSL]

@@JRNipper Oh yes. I've been curious how there were no massive reports of electrocution. I've seen some of those project mods using LCD panels and some do look cool. During my time as a tv repairman, I only repaired 1 predicta and that was a table model.

[@sharonlee4773]

Its amazing how much America was ahead of us Brits! We STILL l dont have a swivel TV!

[@chrisnurczyk8239]

Always thought this was the coolest TV design I ever saw - never knew about the engineering/heat problems until I saw this (Jerryg50's comments were even more elucidating). Like so many other things - push existing technology too far, you've got problems. But it sure was cool while it lasted - a touch of the future at the end of the 50's.

[@RogerBarraud]

Thanks for this one. I think I actually had one of the suitcase models - in New Zealand! IIRC it was 110V and I didn't have a step-down transformer for our 230VAC supply to run it. I was hoping to use it as a monitor for homemade computers. Sadly I think it ended up in a dump in Hamilton.

[@marcusvaughn7019]

I always liked the style and futuristic design of these sets. I've actually never seen one in working condition, and the very few I've seen for sale, needed to be restored. Nevertheless, I still wanted one. It would be great if someone would create the design, but up grade it with todays modern features, and picture quality. I think they would sell like hotcakes.

[@mr50sagain55]

Thank you for the awesome video! I always wondered why the Philco Predicta line was so short lived and you provided a thorough explanation!! I would love to read the referenced article “Philco, 1958: An Era of Unique TV Designs”, but can’t find it online. Any advice on how to obtain a copy?

[@garoldcarlisle5637]

Very cool. Love technology history. I saw one of these in an antique store in Brevard NC a couple of years ago.

[@karenhensley8745]

Good job really like the video please make more

[@elultimo102]

Amazing how comparatively expensive appliances were back then. Some higher end sets cost half the price of a small car. Then again, most non-electronic products lasted far longer than the "designed to die" appliances we're forced to buy now.

[@luisreyes1963]

The Philco Predicta, the Edsel of TV sets. 😆

[@luciagordini7424]

Quando ero giovane negli anni 80 90 ho avuto un televisore Philco Color e mi ha servito per ben 23 anni e quando ha smesso di funzionare nel preciso momento che l'ho preso per sostituirlo con un altro televisore non ci crederete ma mi sono messa a piangere come se avessi perso una persona cara perché gli ero veramente affezionata!!

[@davidroosa4561]

the design was gorgeous. had many innovations in then technology too. Just ahead of its time I guess

[@Greedy_Gh0ul]

Still a beautiful looking tv I love retro tech in this style

[@echodelta9]

We had a high school flea market in '71 and I tried to get a Predicta working the school had in the donations. I knew something even then that Philco's were crap guts and funky odd tubes. I kept it and told the shop teacher what I knew, I got it going but it was janky. Within my collage years I gutted the chassis and was looking for Zenith guts to drive the picture tube and def coils. It never got done. I still have the tube and case in storage, I need to get it out. The tube should be good? A wide screen inside with larger areas blank at top and bottom would at least good for modern use but not I Love Lucy.

[@Qboro66]

I want a Philco "Suitcase" TV...🤣

[@ChrisCanary]

I had one. It fell out the window, where I had it sitting while cleaning house.

[@Tom-pc7lb]

Betcha Don Kirshner wrote that jingle. Man what a time in history.

[@heru-deshet359]

$329395 from 1958 would be $3417.32 today. A hefty amount for a middle clas family to pay.

[@trudygreer2491]

The median income in 1958, acc'd. to the dept of Commerce, was $5100.00, which is equivalent to aout $53,000.00 today.. so while a lot of goods seem costly (to us today) they weren't necessarily out of reach for an average consumer.

[@citizenkang2524]

That Philco Predicta model shown was proto-type of today's flat screen televisions. That suitcase model was also intriguing. Ah, when entertainment appliances were built to last forever before television transitioned from the analog to digital age. Also when standard television sets doubled as furniture.

[@petebeatminister]

The design looked pretty cool, the typical "Space" look, that could be found in many things in the 60s. But its all useless if the set only lasts 6 month, of course. And $300 was quite a bit of money for the average Joe back in the 60s. On top of that, the color TV was already visible on the horizon at the time, so a b&w set was predictably obsolete soon. May be thats what the name meant... :)

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Before I was born, but I think they are great. If I were wealthy, I'd buy one completely restored.

[@Thomas-yr9ln]

Growing up as a kid I would see a lot of philco TVs out side of the donation box of the thrift store. Everyone I picked up as a kid had a bad CRT.

[@cynthiaclarke3979]

Must been hard back then..minimum wage wise,I was told back in 1955..you could buy a new car for $1,600.oo.Present day..tv's are all over the house.

[@ContentWizard]

Wow!! One of my dreams is to get one of these TVs one day…

[@gregoryclemen1870]

just remember to bring your wallet, and expect a non- functioning set!!!!!.

[@ContentWizard]

@@gregoryclemen1870 I have noticed that most of the (still very expensive) sets currently for sale on eBay are nonfunctioning. It appears you have to spend $1500-$2000 at least to get a working set.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

@@ContentWizard , if you get one(( not working), and you want it working, you have got to check the "C.R.T." first, to make sure it is not a "DUD"( before you buy it), those tubes are no longer being manufactured, and I do not know of any shops left that rebuild "C.R.T.'s". that is why I stopped repairing T.V. sets. the "NEW/ OLD STOCK" of repair parts has dried up. you have to be careful when testing "PHILCO PICTURE TUBES", the heater voltage is either 2.3/ 2.6 volts, you put the common 6.3. volts to the heater, you will "SLAM/KILL" the heater in the tube. as for the rest of the set, the best thing to do is re- resister/ re-cap,/ rebuild the package circuits and replace all of the tube sockets on the printed circuit board. you have to remove the board to access the foil side. I would be very skeptical of sellers on "EBAY", unless the seller can provide documentation that it truly is a "WORKING SET", and then the T.V. set must be carefully packed so it can survive the rough handling when in transit, otherwise you will wind up with a pile of broken parts!!!!.

[@albear972]

Oh man! I remember seeing one of these in person, only one time. Back in 1986 when I was 12 years old at an antique store. I have always loved that design of that TV but I didn't know that they were trash. Seriously? the CRT lasting only 6 months?

[@haweater1555]

Most all web sites of owners who have restored them say that they installed a cooling fan to crack the heat problem, especially for floor pedastel models.

[@fytghggyungf7601]

I’ve often wondered if Steve Jobs used this as the inspiration for the iMac G4 in the early 2000’s.

[@casemarte1]

What is that tune and artist at the end of the video?

[@msgfrmdaactionman3000]

In the 80s I would sell off label TVs and I think Philco was one of them along with Sylvania, both owned by Phillips. It was a bait and switch retailer, those were crazy salesman days for me. The customer comes in for a 20" RCA TV for $199 and I had to "step them up" into a Philco or Sylvania 19" for $249!

[@ronaldwilliamson7963]

Those prices are why everything moved to Japan.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

yep, now china!!!!

[@jimmyohara2601]

Those said prices were so fing fkn way too high😐🤐

[@jsivco3sivco785]

$250 - $300 back then was a LOT of money! It's like spending $2000+ today for a small Black & White TV.

[@chuckjohnson4750]

Looks like an interocitor !

[@niladrimukherjee2098]

Loved the backgriund nusic What is the namevof the band ? Hey am from India and I love American big band music.

[@mstcrow5429]

Seventy-five percent market saturation? I say No! First, one-hundred percent! Then two TVs per home! Three!

[@litoboy5]

Great

[@xXBLAKGOATXx]

The dust bin of history

[@rustyrobinson8027]

we had one when I was a kid

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

I have the mahogany Holiday model it’s missing the brass feet and the brightness contrast, V hold knobs on the side.

[@bluenorm]

philco's edsel. nice

[@gregoryclemen1870]

yep, that it was!!!!.

[@gertraba9806]

Looks like the. Jetsons

[@spacemissing]

Sometimes "the future" is ugly and ultimately impractical, as Philco proved. I would not be surprised if there was a lot of crossover between Predicta and Edsel buyers.

[@martin-fc4kk]

someone should make a new LCD Predicta, with exactly the same exterior design, just for fun.

[@gwcrispi]

Local restaurant here had two (recreations I'm sure) of these. I thought they were cool and retro.

[@garyfrancis6193]

I remember seeing them and thinking they were ugly. Still do.

[@raccoon681]

When did you see them?

[@trudygreer2491]

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder!

[@garyfrancis6193]

@@raccoon681 Probably when they were new and in used goods shops in the 60’s. Why does it matter?

[@raccoon681]

@@garyfrancis6193 was just wondering.

[@ronmackinnon9374]

So 1958 gave us both the Edsel AND the Predicta?!

[@qzorn4440]

wow very nice. I want one. I think to get a new set I would to buy it from Russia as this is their latest cutting technology. 🤣 thanks for the memories. 😎 Looks like Miss America out lasted the TV for a year. ooops.

[@UQRXD]

A working one goes for around 1500.. to 2000.00. But better have a spare picture tube.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

these units were not exactly "SERVICE FRIENDLY". the component parts used( tube sockets ,caps, resisters, package circuits) were poor quality( sourced the lowest quality parts). the sets were all show and no go!!!!.. the p.c. boards had to be removed from the base unit to gain access to the foil side of the board for component replacement. thank god we were not a "PHILCO" servicing dealer, it got to the point that the shop would no longer take these sets in for repair, they just did not hold up. when it came to quality, these sets got the "FAUL BUZZER"!!!, WHAT JUNK!!!!!.I can see why "PHILCO" was having issues with trying to stay alive in the market , they really had their head up their "TAILPIPE"!!!. many of these units did not even get out of the warrantee period. ZENITH was the only T.V. set manufacturer that was not using printed circuit boards at the time( hard wired).,and used top quality parts.

[@Tom-pc7lb]

Curtis Mathis go baby

[@gundamforever6109]

I was wondering why you never those TVs anywhere. Only lasting a few months would explain that.

[@j.s.connolly8579]

What seems to be missing from this is WHERE the Company has gone to or "Who owns the rights to the 'Predicta' now?" I can tell you that easily. My friend Mike Scott of West Allis Wisconsin and his partner used to own it?! And they made BRAND NEW ONES with "State of the Art/Up to Date" Electronics in them! These were NOT Refurbished old ones, but totally NEW from the ground UP, including things like VHS/DVD Players.

[@15743_Hertz]

Bandersentv? Bandersentv are you seeing this?

[@1mctous]

Besides the Philco engineers at the time, no one better understands the design flaws and limitations, right down to the foul-smelling Tenite!

[@sQWERTYFALIEN2011]

4:28 Who's that Kid ? !

[@sorarmojoanakket.5615]

whose chere from that pawn show lol @whatphoto

[@DonaldBeasley]

so funny The History of PHILCO PREDICTA

[@grantmorrey5138]

$350 then was about $4,000 now. This was not a cheap television

[@henrikrolfsen584]

The 1950s were a time of utter convention, and conformity: Americans did not like surprises. The Philco Predicta was the Ford Edsel of televisions!

[@haweater1555]

The promotional film is one of cheesiest ever for a 1950s consumer product.

[@Lisa1111]

GAHHHHHHHHH I was 3!

[@trudygreer2491]

Now you're 67! GAHHHH!! 😱

[@Lisa1111]

Math? 🤣

[@trudygreer2491]

Whatever, Gurl. You're old. Nobody cares. 🤣

[@Lisa1111]

Wrong 😝

[@ajctrading]

Well that was predictable

[@benitopussolini544]

A very stylish way to get your programming/brainwashing and current propaganda!

[@keeshahdarkfurr8328]

all style, no substance

[@akmc3313]

i like the portable even a female can carry it.

[@broghad8241]

Well this video was useless lol