Colortrak was a trademark used on several
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
color
televisions beginning in the 1970s and lasting into the 1990s. After RCA was acquired by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
in 1986, GE began marketing sets identical to those from RCA. GE sold both RCA and GE consumer electronics lines to
Thomson SA Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson M ...
in 1988. RCA televisions with the Colortrak branding were mid-range models; positioned above the low-end
XL-100 series but below the high-end
Dimensia and
Colortrak 2000 series. RCA discontinued the Colortrak name in the late 1990s, with newer models badged as the Entertainment Series.
Design quirks
During the early 1980s, RCA responded to increased demand for
component television Component television is a form factor in which a television set is sold as a system of separate components, similar to audio components.composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...
and
S-video
S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video ) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chann ...
inputs to the Colortrak lineup. These inputs allowed owners to easily connect a stereo audio/video source, like a
Video Cassette Recorder,
LaserDisc player, or with use of an RCA
SelectaVision CED videodisc player to the television. For example, early composite video-equipped RCA sets were to coincidentally be tuned to Non-broadcast channel 91 to display a composite video signal, if a set was equipped with more than one input, subsequent inputs are designated to channels 92 to 95, which are usually accessed from the
remote control
In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such ...
. Later models abandoned this design, favoring A/V inputs which were accessible by pressing the channel up/down buttons, or A/V inputs which were controlled by their own button.
Tuner Issues
After Thomson SA acquired the GE and RCA brand names, they began designing a new chassis for RCA and GE televisions, which debuted in 1993 models. Instead of using a tuner module soldered to the circuit board, Thomson decided to integrate the tuner into the board itself. Due to the heating and cooling cycles of the circuit board and tuner from normal use, the solder connections between the tuner and the board would fail, causing an intermittent picture or no signal from the coaxial connector. This is easily repairable by desoldering the tuner shield and re-flowing new solder to each connection inside.
[{{Cite web, title=Repair of a 1993 RCA Colortrak 26" cabinet model TV using the CTC177 chassis, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQxGrd-nnA, date=10 May 2013, website=YouTube, publisher=radiotvphononut, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301075010/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQxGrd-nnA , archive-date=2020-03-01 , access-date=20 May 2020]
See also
*
Colortrak 2000
*
Lyceum TV
*
RCA Dimensia
''Dimensia'' was RCA's brand name for their high-end models of television systems and their components ( Tuner, VCR, CD Player, etc.) produced from 1984 to 1989, with variations continuing into the early 1990s, superseded by the ProScan model l ...
References
RCA brands
Television technology