Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16: No. 19 ?.l Net Profit Sales Consumer Electronics Group (9 companies) -) 8.3% +13.8% Components Group (8 companies) +10.8% +14.1% Semiconductor-Tube Group (3 companies) +25.4% +26.7% Diversified Group (4 companies) + 8.0% + 2.0% AGGREGATE 25 COMPANIES +10.8% + 5.8% TV-RADIO PRODUCTION: EIA statistics for week ended April 29 (17th week of 1960): April 22-29 Preceding wk. 1959 week '60 cumulative '59 cumulative TV 110,499 101,809 92,157 2,003,155 1,779,801 Total radio 301,665 317,964 225,218 5,698,505 4,637,859 auto radio 97,682 105,218 117,422 2,262,582 1,786,168 Hayakawa’s TV Line: This year’s World Trade Fair, now in progress at N .Y. Coliseum, failed to reveal anything excitingly new in prospective consumer electronic imports, despite advance ballyhoo about a Japanese picture-on-thewall TV set and a Polish-made TV, which were to have been displayed to importers. In 2 visits last week, the only TV sets we could find were displayed by Hayakawa Electric Co., which is seeking U.S. distribution for them. The 3 sets shown all contained innovations, and so far as we could ascertain, are not yet in mass production in Japan. Displayed by Hayakawa, under the “Sharp” label, were an 8-in. transistor portable TV, a 21-in. color set and a 17-in. b&w table model with wireless remote. A spokesman said no price ranges had yet been established for any of the sets. The battery-operated 8-incher, weighing about 14 lb., differs from previously announced & shown sets in that it operates on sealed wet cells — said to be easier to recharge — instead of dry batteries. The color receiver — designed to retail initially in Japan for “more than $1,000” — has one gadget we’ve never seen on any set before. It’s a “color indicator” — red pilot light which glows when a color program is on the air to prevent the viewer from accidentally watching the color show in black-&-white. The 17-in. table model had a wireless remote unit, with a separate remote receiver which can be plugged into any Hayakawa TV set, according to a company spokesman. The remote receiver chassis may be placed under the set or behind it. The spokesman said this development makes it possible to sell any Hayakawa set with or without remote. As for the mystery of the picture-on-the-wall TV, it was unsolved at week’s end. Advance press releases for the World Trade Fair reported that a Japanese manufacturer (otherwise unidentified) would display a TV set using a bent-neck picture tube so slim it could be hung on the wall. But we didn’t see it, and none of the exhibitors seemed to know anything about it. The Polish TV set wasn’t there eiher, although the Poles did display several table model & portable radios. Strike was averted at 3 Philco plants early last week >vhen members of 2 lUE (AFL-GIO) locals ratified a oneyear contract 2 hours before strike deadline. Some 6,000 workers are affected by the pact which provides a 6^* hourly increase plus another 54 an hour in hospitalization, severance & vacation benefits. Skilled members will receive an additional 54 hourly boost in Aug. & 64 in Nov. Semiconductor developments: (1) GT&E Labs and Sylvania jointly announced the development of a tunnel diode capable of operating at frequencies above 4,000 me, said to be 4 times the range of previously announced tunnel diodes. GT&E Labs developed the device, Sylvania will manufacture & market it. (2) RCA demonstrated the first galliumarsenide transistor capable of withstanding temperatures as high as 250° C, compared with a ceiling of 175° for highest-temperature silicon transistors. (3) Philco announced that a life test of its type 2N1500 MADT germanium transistors indicated a failure rate as low as .0005% per 1,000 hours at 40° C under controlled conditions. (4) Electron Tube Information Council, formed last year by 7 large tube manufacturers to fight the inroads of semiconductors into the use of tubes (Vol. 15:13 p21), published a book. Tubes & Transistors: A Comparative Study, discussing advantages & limitations of both components. Address: 554 Fifth Ave., N.Y. 36. Japanese-Irish radio firm, Sony Ltd., has been formed in Shannon, Ireland, and will begin production of transistor radios in June, reports Britain’s Wireless & Electrical Trader. “They will produce about 1,000 sets a month for the first few months, and expand by the end of this year to between 5,000 and 10,000 a month,” notes the magazine. “The Irish plant will begin assembling the Sony products locally with parts sent by the Japanese firm, but later it will use locally-produced parts. The Shannon factory is aiming at opening new outlets in markets where direct exports from Japan are difficult . . . Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and African countries.” The Japanese-Irish company reportedly was formed with a capital of $140,000. TV viewing conditions in classrooms are far different from home viewing, it was reported by John H. Wentworth, G. J. Whitley and H. X. Shoaf, all of RCA, in a paper presented at SMPTE’s Los Angeles convention. They said that in classrooms it is normal to find more viewers per receiver, greater viewing distances, more ambient illumination, greater ambient noise and poorer acoustical treatment. There is evidence the most satisfactory classroom receivers will use standard 21-in. direct-view picture tubes, they added. RCA’s ETV receiver, known as the Lyceum, employs a 21-inch aluminized tube and a chassis comparable to those used in home receivers. Radio interference with operation of Army electronic equipment will be studied under an over-all $18-million Signal Corps research contract with Bell Aircraft Corp.’s Avionics div. and Pan American World Airways. As part of the 2-year research. Pan American will set up an electronic environmental test facility near Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.