Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1963)

8-TELEVISION DIGEST OCTOBER 14, 1963 added: "It has been proved that retail prices on fair-traded products are higher in states with resale price maintenance laws than in adjoining states which do not have these laws." He continued: "H the vital element of competitive pricing is removed from a significant part of our economy, what remains is not competitive, but a price -controlled system, with resale prices of branded articles set by manufacturers." Subcommittee hearings continue Oct. 14, FIRST COMMERCIAL FLAT COLOR TUBE: Initial shipments of 2 -color display tube 2-in. thick, with 4x8-in. viewing surface, are scheduled in about 4 months. Tube, which can be viewed from either front or back, is designed for civilian oscilloscope & instrumentation use— not for color TV. Nevertheless, it's significant in that it is clamed to be forerunner of 3-color thin picture tube which its promoters say will be developed in 2-3 years. Developer of flat 2-color tube is Video Color Corp. (729 Centinela Ave., Inglewood, Cal.), which is working to combine Kaiser Industries' thin tube with color display principles of Dr. C. Willard Geer. Kaiser thin tube, developed principally by William Ross Aiken, now affiliated with Video Color, was first reported in these pages in Jan. 1955 (Vol. 11:3 plO). Dr. Geer, ex-Hoffman Electronics, is engineering vp of Video Color, Video Color has non-exclusive license from Kaiser for development & production of thin tubes for military & industrial use, and option for license to develop home TV 3-color version, as well as ownership of Geer's color patents. Both Kaiser & Video Color have been supplying thin tubes to military. Geer color principles were explored jointly by Technicolor & RCA in 1950 r&d program, and by Hoffman in 1953. They involve various methods of utilization of screen itself to separate the 3 primary colors. Video Color's 2-color tube has glass screen in center of bulb, with red phosphors on one side, green on other. There are no major technical barriers to development of "Video Color Thintube" for home color TV, we were told last week by Video Color Pres. Harold W. Berger, ex-consulting engineer and former Martin Co. & Northrop Corp. executive. 'We were never more certain than we are now that this approach makes. much sense for color TV," he said. 'We know how we can do it." Three-color home TV Thintube would be about 3 3/4-in. thick, Berger said. Because it would require no shadow mask— "nothing between the gun and the phosphor"— he claimed it could be built with 5 times brightness and better resolution than current tubes, at con^etitive prices. Video Color has no plans to produce color tubes for home TV on large-scale basis, but rather to license others while maintaining prototype capability for further development. Kaiser presumably could also manufacture & distribute similar tube, since it has been granted non-exclusive license under Geer patent by Video Color. Although Video Color' s Thintube has yet to be proven out in any home TV version— and it's just one of many proposals for new-principle color tubes— its unique shape & possibilities are arousing industry interest. CRISIS IN COLOR PICTURE TUBES: Industry is going into Christmas selling season gasping for more color tubes— and with no prospect of relief. Shortage could last through next year. Here are simple facts: Color TV is where the profit is. It's TV's high-end, TV's only major high-markup item (even despite recent color price cuts). There is still only one manufacturer of color tubes— RCA— and its tubes are strictly on allocation. Some major manufacturers who entered color late are understood to have been allotted as few as 12, 000 color tubes for entire year of 1963. Three other tube manufacturers are urgently trying to crank up color tube production, but their output this year— if any— will be mere drop in bucket. Sylvania has sent out samples, but realistically doesn't expect to make more than 15,000 this year. Zenith's Rauland, too, is having start-up troubles, 1