When did you first get a color TV and what was your reaction

We had a console B and W Fleetwood vintage '61 model which played very well, but we were way behind the times. I had to push and push until we finally got a color set in 1976, if you can believe it. (Dang it, I missed seeing the "living color" NBC peacock intro in color back in the day). I had seen other people's color sets, so my reaction was not as big as when we got our first stereo TV in the 1980s. But what I'm interested in is the reaction of those who got their sets in the 1960s, and for the more adventurous out there, in the 1950s.

(If this thread has appeared before, please consider this an update for those who didn't contribute to previous versions)

 

Mid 70's like you here.... Still loved it though...

 

1972. Saw 'Speed Racer' as it was the first time we had UHF as well.

 

Mid 60s.

My family went to town to my uncle's (the doctor...natch) home to see "The Wizard of Oz" on an early Sunday evening. It was an RCA with a very round picture tube (but very lovely cabinetry ).

I remember wondering for the first 15 minutes or so just what the big deal was about color TV. Then, Dorothy's house landed. Wow!

 

I clearly recall the delivery men bringing in our gigantic RCA solid state color TV/phonograph/radio console. The thing must’ve been 6 feet long! This was around 1968 when I was 4.

Being so young I don’t recall my reaction to seeing color TV, but I do remember that the record player sounded great when I used to crank my Monkees records.

At some point in the very early ‘70s one of the speakers stopped working, and my folks never bothered getting it fixed. They didn’t listen to music much at home, and TV broadcasts were still mono, so I guess they didn’t care. I don’t know whatever became of that old console, but I’m guessing it was ditched just before we moved from New York to Massachusetts in 1972.

 

In 1968 our family got an RCA 23' console color TV. It cost 450 dollars with the discount my father got because he worked for RCA. My parents thought that was too much money so my brother and I, even though he was 14 and I was 11 years old, each contributed 150 dollars towards the cost.

 

We didn't get a color TV until 1977. I remember my best friend's family got one a few years earlier. I remember getting to watch the first hour of "Dr Doolittle" in color at his house, and then being really disappointed when I went home and watched the second half in B&W!
We had a 25" b&w Zenith before my father bought a 19" color RCA. I remember him being so proud of his purchase once he got the antenna connected and tuned in a ball game. Then Mom came in the living room and said something like "Oh, the picture's so small", and Dad shooting back "But it's color! You can't have everything!" and then being grumpy for the rest of the day. Now that I've been married, I understand how he felt.

 

I was born in 1968 and we always had color television in the main room of the house (as far as I can remember, anyway).

However, I had a black and white television in my bedroom until I was about 12 years-old. At that point my parents upgraded my system to a 12" color T.V. from Wards. I loved that store back in the day!

Crazy as it may sound to some of you younger forum members, in 1980 televisions were quite expensive and having one in your bedroom (at age 12) was a fairly big deal. Most of my friends did NOT have their own T.V.'s at that time. I was an only child and benefitted nicely from that!

 

We got our first color TV around 1968-1969. I think it was a 'Zenith', and 25", but to be honest, I was only around 7 years old at the time, and didn't pay attention to make and model. All I cared about was that it was in color.

We got our first TV with a remote in the early 70's. I remember that TV was a 'Magnavox', and the remote was nearly the size of a brick. You had to really push down on the buttons, and the TV made a loud clunking sound when the channels changed.

 

I bought my first TV with my own money, in 1980. It was a 'GE' 19", with no remote. That sucker cost me over $300, and back then, I had to pay cash, because most places didn't give credit to an 18 year old.

 

If you're old enough, you may remember the following:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3GohWSsFCkw

 

1965. It was a Zenith console. Took my dad what seemed like an eternity of tinkering and adjusting and fine tuning before he'd let us come in and sit down and watch anything. But finally he declared our color TV operational, my mom made popcorn, and we sat down and watched "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" in glorious Technicolor on Saturday Night at the Movies.

 

This may be off-topic, but what's the story on the attached? Did RCA hold a patent on color TV technology at one point, and NBC had to display this logo whenever airing a color program?

 

Mid 60s, RCA set, and the first color show we watched was "The Virginian".

We looked like one of those Disney Ads with the kids sitting about a foot away from the set. I can still remember how vivid the colors looked that night.

 

1966, my parents bought a Magnavox 25" (seemed enormous at the time). Man, did that thing require lots of maintenance. The TV repair guy was at our house every few months - I was fascinated by the tool he used to demagnetize the picture tube. After a couple of years the picture tube had to be replaced! Of course, it was on about 18 hours every day...my mother always was, and still is, addicted to TV watching.

I remember watching Gilligan's Island, Batman, and The Wizard of Oz - the first time I saw that transition from B&W to color was a real thrill.

In the early 80s when it was beyond further repair I gutted the console of everything except the speakers, built a platform inside for a smaller TV to fit in the opening where the picture tube had been, and hooked my parent's stereo up to the speakers. Not exactily hi-fi , but it looked good and they enjoyed that setup for many years.

 

I was wondering if the question was when I got my first color tv, but I guess it is when did my mom and dad get their first color tv.

Gosh, hard to remember the exact year. Had to be around 1970. It was an Admiral 25" console. Nice picture.

 

Me too!

 

Late 70s. Color TV was banned in Venezuela but most broadcasters had the equipment. They would broadcast filtering out the "color burst" pulse. But if you knew how to keep open the right transistor you would get full color.

Had a Canadian (Electrohome) pro monitor (25 inches, huge by then standards), bought together with a Sony B&W video camera and portable recorder (30 minutes with open reel tapes). Put a jumper from a voltage source in the board to one leg of a transistor and WOW! The Rookies in full color!!!!

 

Early 1970s. There was only one television set in the house, and my father wouldn't buy another one until the black and white set broke and couldn't be repaired.

 

My buddy's dad got the Cadillac of color tv's for 1967, a Curtis Mathis, and we all sat and watched Super Bowl 1 on it.

A couple of months later, our black and white TV went out, and had to go to the shop for repairs. The local repair guy gave us a color tv for a loaner and a teaser to get us to buy one from him.

I remember the must watch color shows of the day were Bonanza and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. The colors were over driven, blaring and garish, but we thought they were wonderful. When the old set was repaired, the old man decided the color set had to go back.

A few months later, the old set must have started acting up, or Dad just decided that he wanted a color set, and we got one. Probably around August of 67.

 

Got my dad a Sony Trinitron in the early 80s. I just couldn't believe the sharp intense colors. Then I went over to my neighbors house and he had a new 27 inch Sony trinitron and it blew my mind. It was so B I G !! I never saw anything like it. Like it just filled up the whole living room! It just blew me away. It was just so B I G !!

Now-a-days 70 inches is normal!! LOL :>)

"And the times they are a changing"

But...I remember the emotion I had when I saw that 27 inch tv still!! It just blew me away!!

I was mesmorized!!!! It just doesn't get any better than this!!!

 

I think my folks got one in 1965. I remember watching the installer adjust the color because you couldn't just plug and play. As it was, everything was a bit greenish and we all spent a lot of time adjusting the set, even from station to station. Flesh tones were nearly impossible to get right. So many things were still B&W that it was quite exciting when even a commercial would come on in color. One of the local stations had some color fillers that they used to put on to fill unsold ad time and they were typically color scenes of waterfalls and such. That was pretty cool. And the NBC Peacock was the best.

 

By the by...what year was all network programming in color? I seem to remember 1967. I do remember it was a big deal.
Anyone else recall the last few years before all B&W programming faded away when "...In color!" ("Next, The F.B.I.--In color!") was as important an advertising tag line as "new and improved"?