As you all well know by now, I have a penchant for all things Thorn, and they quite predominantly feature in my vintage collection. I Not surprisingly I seem to have an awful lot of Ferguson. Starting right back with the Thorn world first all transistor offering, the 1967 2K,3700. Along with many other firsts, the first SMPSU 3000, SYCLOPS, first sub £200 CTV etc etc.
For a long while, I've wanted to find Thorn's first pocket 'Active' LCD TV, the PTV01. The reason I've been looking for ages is not that they are particularly rare, but a complete one with accessories in good condition is, that is, until this week. One turned up, original owner, with sales receipt, box, instructions, all the accessories and most importantly, in mint condition.
The PTV was announced internally in the October 1987 issue of Ferguson Feedback, stating it would be released soon. I've no idea of its actual release date, but the sales receipt I have is dated 6th April 1990 and cost £149.00. Which is the equivalent of £343.75 in 2023 money.
So what's in the box
- PTV01 2.6" Active LCD
- TA182 Mains Adapter/Charger
- TA181 Rechargeable Battery Pack
- TA180 Aerial Adapter
- Headphones
- Soft Leather case
- Carry strap
It looks to have been hardly if ever used, the battery pack equally looks to have never seen the light of day, I wonder if it will charge? A little later I will see what is what and feed in TCF, maybe it will work. Another nice addition for the CrustyTV museum.
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maybe it will work
Well sort of, I've test tone and signal, but it looks like the LCD has a fault. What a shame, it looks like the LCD would have given a nice bright picture from what I can see.
Edit:
o/c in three places on the ribbon to LCD, looks like someone has been in here before as well, missing screws. I'l look out for another/scrapper to salvage a new interconnect.
OH well, for now, a static display item it is.
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Oh, that’s a shame! I have a Sega Game gear that has a similar fault, but that’s because it got dropped and cracked the edge of the display. Could just be a connection issue, disconnect the display and give the connector a clean see if it helps. Maybe a scruffy one that works will show up and you can swap the display!
I have quite a few pocket telly’s, but not a Ferguson one! It’s quite interesting looking at how the displays have developed over time, some early ones were pretty awful, and by the time these things came to an end they had got displays that were actually not bad!
I always wanted a pocket TV when I was little, then eventually managed to badger Mum into getting me one, it was a Citizen from Argos, I think it was about £60 or £70, quite expensive really! I was all excited to unbox it and stick some batteries in it, but that excitement was very short lived when I discovered just how crap the TV signal was in Daventry, I couldn’t get anything on it at all! It came on a few holidays where it worked fairly well, particularly at the east coast, but the batteries never lasted very long. I remember taking it into college and it being passed round the room with the World Cup on it during a lecture! I still have it, and it’s still in its box!
Regards,
Lloyd
Yes don't write the display off just yet. Go through the ribbon connectors (carefully)!! and wizz around the electrolytics with an ESR meter. It's got to be worth spending an hour or so looking over it.
The ribbon connectors looks fairly similar to the original Nintendo Gameboy. There's various custom ribbon cables available for the Gameboy which do all sorts of exotic things like adding backlights, so I wonder if these could be brought into service here?
I remember saving all my pocket money for a Casio TV400 which was £99 from Rumbelows in 1990. I desperately wanted a colour TV but remembering how awful the 2" LCD screen was I would've been far better off with a black and white CRT-based TV. I could've had a 5" black and white TV for about half the price...
I have managed to find another so, all being well, from two I should be able to make one. I'll update progress once I have it in my possession. Gotta love the mini florescent tube for backlight.
Would anyone know if Thorn ever produced a circuit for the PTV01, or is this when the rot set in, and even they stopped supplying circuit info?
CrustyTV Television Shop: Take a virtual tour
Crusty's TV/VCR Collection: View my collection
Would anyone know if Thorn ever produced a circuit for the PTV01, or is this when the rot set in, and even they stopped supplying circuit info?
I've only ever seen one of these, I remember it and the later PTV02 were available as a special order. Never saw any information on servicing these as repairs were centralised at Nottingham. I believe they were designed and manufactured by Seiko.
John.
I've got 3 portable TVs like this, one being a B&W Sony with a CRT like a Sinclair FTV1. I think think the other 2 are Seikos, but they are currently in storage & I haven't done anything with them for a while.
I have managed to find another so, all being well, from two I should be able to make one.
Err.....that'll be a big fat no! The second one has the identical fault!
There is another up for sale and a photo of that one powered up, it also shows the same lines across the display despite them having the brightness up high to try and mask it. Therefore, this looks to be a stock problem with the PTV01, I can't believe it's a coincidence on all three.
Other than checking the few surface electros within, as already suggested, it's a poke and hope without a cct. To be honest, I really can't be arsed to faff about with it or the surface mount rubbish that's inside. So much for "modern" TVs!!! Easily fix a 1969 colour CRT TV but not so a 1989 pocket LCD, sort speaks to how the trade eventually panned out.
CrustyTV Television Shop: Take a virtual tour
Crusty's TV/VCR Collection: View my collection
I was no longer a Ferguson dealer by the time these sets were made but I am pretty sure there was no service information or spares as such. Under warrantee the whole thing would be returned for repair or exchange I think. The disposable TV was here!
We sold a few of the entry level (read as cheap and nasty) camcorders marketed by Ferguson, the one where the view finder was just a tube you looked through that was the case with them only accessories, instructions and batteries were available. Once it was out of guarantee it was pretty much unserviceable beyond cleaning the heads.
Freemans mail order sold loads!
Aw bums! Was looking forward to seeing how this progressed 😔
I honestly can't remember seeing these back in the day and I was really interested in handheld TVs back in the late 80s/early 90s.
