As I was trying to decide what to write in this blog concerning television, I remembered that my dad worked at a Philco plant when he was young. I realized how much television has changed in the last decade even within the last few years.

One of the most exciting changes has been with the screens and resolution. We remember the big bulky sets that stuck out very far in the back and caused all kinds of problems and now they have been replaced with thin flat screens.

There are many things in life that we often choose to skimp on and buy the least expensive model of the item that we can. With televisions, however, if you watch a lot of it, the better idea is definitely spending a little more, whatever your budget can handle, and getting a good television with excellent resolution.

While my mind was still in the past and thinking about the old televisions, I remembered how the older people were always talking about "tubes" in their television sets going bad. It was difficult to afford bringing a repairman in or even buying the tubes themselves in those days, so often Walter Cronkite missed the family dinner because the "television set was on the blink."

Anyhow, the more I thought about it, the more curious I became about whatever happened to all the old Philco sets that my Dad helped to manufacture. They surely must be scattered in landfills all over the country. They are all long ago buried and to say something about Philco to today's generation would most likely produce a question of "Phil who? Who's he?"

So I explored. My first thought was that no matter how obsolete something seemed to be, chances were that someone from somewhere in the world would be selling it on eBay. I had to smile when I put the word into the search engine and all kinds of things came up from the television sets themselves to a great variety of those tubes that used to give our parents and grandparents so much trouble.

I had fun looking around the online auction site and my curiosity was aroused more and more as I wondered why anyone would *want* a television set that kept blowing out tubes that were nearly non-existent now. Well, except on eBay, apparently, that is! If anyone reading this wants to actually bid on an ancient television set that's about a bajillion years old, have no fear because eBay sells those tubes to keep it going, too!

More abundant on eBay, I noticed, were the old Philco radios. I hadn't realized that the company (formed in early 1892) was manufacturing radios before they started with the television sales business. The company had changed hands and names a few times but in 1919, the trademark of "Philco" was chosen and they started selling batteries.

When radios became all the rage in the early 1920s, Philco was set up to get in on the boom because of their product, batteries. In the mid 1920s, they were making AC tubes and then started with the manufacturing of the radio itself. By 1930, no other manufacturer in America was selling more radios than Philco with the introduction of its "Model 20 Cathedral."

By the end of the 1930s, Philco had expanded to manufacturing air conditioners (this fact greatly surprised me that such a thing was even available in 1939!) and then refrigerators soon after. With expansion came more plants and soon Philco products were sold around the world.

Philco actually started testing and researching television in the early 1930s. A television station for experimentation was licensed to them in 1931. In 1945, WPTZ was the first television network in America. It was owned by Philco.

WWII stopped production of television sets for a while and resumed after wartime. A tiny 7 inch screen television in 1948 cost $350 which would equal about $2,500 today! And that was black and white, of course.

I have to wonder what one of the "fathers of television" named Philco T. Farnsworth would think about the magnificent choices we have in television sets today, just about half a century later? Oh, the Philco Company? It went through even more changes of hands and names and was bought by Ford Motors at one point. Did you think the company is obsolete? In 1988 the name changed to Ford Aerospace Corporation and was sold to Loral Space Systems, Inc. in 1990.

Written by James Fohl

If you are looking to purchase a new television set, or have just recently purchased a new television set, than you will probably be surprised at all the hook ups that are on televisions these days, whether you are buying a cheap twenty inch or a huge projection television.

Looking back just five years ago, if you were to purchase a twenty inch television for around a hundred and fifty dollars, then you would get a pretty basic television set. The only type of inputs these cheap television sets would have would be a cable / antennae input, and if you were lucky a video and one channel composite input.

Today however if you went to purchase a twenty inch television, you could get a lot more bang for your buck. First off, you could get a flat screen television, so the picture is more sharper and produces less glare from sunlight. Not only that, but you would have a wide variety of inputs on the back, sides, and even front of the television set. Most twenty inch television sets in the one hundred fifty dollar price range come with the standard cable / antennae input, a handful of composite video and stereo inputs and outputs, and a large percent also have a S-video input.


You are probably wondering what you are going to do with all of these inputs. Well, you know how the old saying goes, more is always good. That statement is true if you want to use a bunch of VCRs, DVD players, and video game systems with your television set. Gone are the days of when you have to switch and swap cables in order to use different components with your television set.

First off, the cable / antennae input is pretty much standard on all television sets that are manufactured in the last twenty years. This input is for connecting the cable television cable into the television, however you can also use this input for your antennae, or your VCR.

Next you have your composite cables, which are the three color cables; red white and yellow. Red and white are for two channels of sound, while yellow is for a video signal. Most DVD players, and game systems utilize this type of input, which is why new television sets usually ship with two or more inputs.

Some television sets also have composite outputs. A lot of people accidently plug their DVD players into the outputs and find themselves curious to why their DVD players are not working. Composite outputs allow you to output the television sound to a home theatre system, which is really convenient.

Another new type of input that is starting to pop up in entry level television sets is the S-video input, which stands for "separated video" and is aimed to be the direct successor to the old yellow composite video. S-video splits the video signal apart, so the picture it delivers is a lot better than the old composite video cables. Unfortunately, S-video is only available for video, so while many people use a S-video cable for their DVD players for video output, then still have to use composite audio cables in order to output sound. This can become a problem with some television sets, because while you have the television set to output video from the S-video cable, it is ignoring the composite audio signals. Because of this, many people find that they either have to go back to using composite video cables, or output the DVD player's sound to a home theatre system.

As you can see, a lot of things have changed in smaller television sets in the past five years. Prices have dropped on smaller television sets, while the amount of inputs and overall features have dramatically increased. A lot of people in the past wanted to purchase smaller twenty inch television sets, however they were forced to purchase bigger television sets in order to attain all the desired inputs, but now times have changed, as smaller television sets are becoming as feature rich as their larger, more expensive counterparts.

So if you were thinking about purchasing a new smaller television set, then get ready to do a little comparison shopping. Lots of new models of televisions are available with all kinds of inputs and features that will make everybody happy.