Panasonic CinemaVision CT 4000

[PanasonicTVMan]

I was wondering if anyone on here has any information on a 1982 Panasonic projection TV, model # CT-4000? This is a 40" projection TV. Apparently, this TV was either produced, or only sold in the UK. I'm from the US, and this TV was given to my wife many years ago, and since I can't seem to get any information on it at all, joined this forum.

I tried to contact Panasonic USA, and was on hold forever, and when the person came back on the line, told me that the reason why they were having so much trouble finding this particular TV, is because it is from the UK. She told me to contact Panasonic UK, to get more information. I originally tried to send them an on-line message, but couldn't when I put down my country as the USA. I had to lie, and say I was from the UK, to even get a chance to type in a message. In the message, I did tell them where I was from, and the trouble I was having just to get an owners manual, and any possible production information. To my surprise, the next day I received an e-mail from them, with the owners manual attached as a PDF file! But, I did not receive any other information I requested, like production numbers, etc.

But, now my curiosity is getting the better of me, and I'm wanting to know everything I can about this TV. This seems to be a very rare set, as there is NO information available on this TV, on the internet AT ALL! Apparently, Panasonic's model number assignment is based on what type of set it is. For example, their projection TV's are assigned the model prefix of "PT", for projection TV. That is why the person had a hard time trying to get info on this TV, as the model prefix is "CT". She even went as far as saying that this was NOT a Panasonic TV! And, if it was, then it was not a projection TV! I have detailed pictures of the back of the set (included), that shows it being a Panasonic projection TV. But, apparently the UK version has different model numbers, as apparent with this TV.

I got curious about this, as when my wife and I were dating, this set was in her house. The picture was less than desirable, but the stereo sound coming from those speakers was terrific! I'm guessing that maybe this set has Bose speakers/or sound system? Anyway, when she moved in with me, I already had a good working Zenith 36" "regular" TV, in a nice cabinet, so her TV went into my heated garage.

A few weeks ago, my neighbor came over, and told me how he took the back of his projection set apart, and cleaned his bulbs/mirrors, and now his picture is WAY better. (between you and me, his picture was horrible, and after cleaning, just became tolerable!) But, we took the back off of this TV, and saw that there was an half an inch of 'gunk' on the bulbs, and the mirrors were dusty. So, after cleaning everything, we both couldn't believe the quality of the picture it now produces. It now rivals my Zenith 36". Because of the terrific stereo sound, I'm now contemplating putting this TV in my living room! My neighbor was shocked when we saw the production date (1982). He didn't think that projection TV's even existed back then. That is another reason why I'm now so curious about this set.

So, if anyone knows anything about this TV, I would really appreciate getting some feedback.

Thanks,
John

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
I don't know much about these sets, but it can't be a UK model as it shows in your pics that it's for 120volts 60Hz, the American mains standard. UK electrical supply is 240volts 50Hz so it wouldn't work in the UK. It'll also be designed for the NTSC broadcast standard, it's PAL for the UK & Europe. I've also spotted that it's got UL approval mark but no European approval marks, for example, CE.
Hope this is useful to you.
Cheers Pete

[PanasonicTVMan]

Thanks for writing back. What I'm thinking, is that maybe this set was manufactured in the UK, but was an 'export' model to the US? I know some of the parts (the RCA hook up panel) say "made in Japan", but like anything, the parts might be made there, but the TV itself was made in the UK? Just throwing that out there.

Thanks,
John

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
Sorry I can't help further. If it was made in the UK for export overseas I'd expect "Made in England" to appear somewhere.
Once the old telly fans get their teeth into your thread, I'm sure your questions will soon be answered. Good luck!
Cheers, Pete

[michamoo]

If you read all the text in the first picture it clearly states there that it was assembled in the US from Japanese components. Also the cabinet styling isnt very European in appearance.

[PanasonicTVMan]

Yep, I finally (embarrassed!) looked at that, and see that it was made approximately 50 miles away! So, the question is, why did Panasonic tell me that it was an UK TV? And, what is this "Matsushitsa" corp? Is that a division of Panasonic, or did this company make these TV's for Panasonic? And, lastly, why did Panasonic UK send me an owners manual for it? I don't understand why it's not in any Panasonic database here in the states?

Thanks,
John

[paulsherwin]

Panasonic was a brand name of Matsushita, but the company has now been renamed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic

As others have said, the styling doesn't look very European, and large console projection TVs were never very popular here. Matsushita did have a plant in South Wales at one time making TVs for the European market, but I think all the projection sets came from Japan.

It would be very unusual for the European plant of a Japanese consumer electronics company to make products for the American market, especially if they also have a US manufacturing facility, though it's not impossible.

[Michael Maurice]

In agreement with Paul, considering the market of the US and Canada compared with western Europe (In 1982 Eastern Europe was still behind the iron curtain) it would not have made sense to build them in Europe and ship them 4000 miles to the US.

Surely if a product was bought in the US from a US dealer, in other words not a grey import, then it should be supported by Panasonic US.

The fact that it is 28 years old may be that Panasonic have removed the product from its records.

I did a quick check on Euras and that model number did not exist.

[PanasonicTVMan]

After seeing the place of manufacture in the picture, I went ahead, and called Panasonic back. I was transferred back, and forth numerous times, but was finally sent to the sales department, where they said the owners manual was not available online, but I could order a hard copy from them. Of course, it is on back-order, and it will take at least 2 weeks. But, I went ahead and ordered it anyway, even though Panasonic UK sent me the UK version of the owners manual. It will only cost me $9.15, so it's not a big deal. I still could not get any other information from them. All they would say, is that it is a discontinued item (duh!), and no further information is available.

So, I have no idea why I was told that this was an UK model, from the same people a week earlier.

I've also joined a couple of US vintage TV forums weeks ago, and no one on there knows anything about this particular TV. So, all I can think is that this is a very rare set, that had a very limited production run.

So, I'm sorry to have posted a thread on here, as apparently this IS a US TV.

Thanks,

John

[dave walsh]

Well actually you did get some willing and expert input John and as the US side of thing is still unresolved, it might be interesting to hear how you get on with the manual info. Just cleaning things up seems to have been significant in itself!
Tackling these projection sets is perhaps relatively rare in the UK as most of them seem to have gone into large venues ie pubs [bars] but some enthusiasts appear to have them! Dave W

[John123]

I'm guessing it probably would've cost a small fortune in 1982, so it might've been aimed more at business or corporate use. If there's no on-board tuner, then that's usually a good enough clue (bit like the tuner-less Plasma TV's you see in a corporate environment nowadays).

[paulsherwin]

A related 625 line PAL model may have been sold here, but as John says it would have been very pricey then and would have been a specialist product. It's not impossible that the models sold in the UK were actually made in the American plant, as the US market for these thing was obviously much bigger back then, but my guess would be that the UK model (if it existed) came straight from Japan.

Significant modifications would have been required to modify the 525 line 60 Hz NTSC version to work with PAL I or PAL B/G. Nowadays it's much easier, as so much is controlled by firmware.

[PanasonicTVMan]

Originally Posted by John123

I'm guessing it probably would've cost a small fortune in 1982, so it might've been aimed more at business or corporate use. If there's no on-board tuner, then that's usually a good enough clue (bit like the tuner-less Plasma TV's you see in a corporate environment nowadays).

Some of what you guys are saying are going right over my head! I'm not an electronics guy, but more of a 'gear head'.

I don't know what you guys mean by "525 line", or "625 line PAL", but what "John123" said about 'tunerless', if you mean that there is no channel tuner on the set, then there is. I am using (in my garage) the set with the selector on either 'video 1', or 'video 2' (I also have a VCR/DVD recorder/player hooked up). I can use the TV/CATV switch, but then I do not get the fantastic stereo sound. Apparently, the coax is strictly mono. When I first hooked up the digital box (for broadcast TV [no more analog stations here]) I first used the coax. I wasn't too impressed with the sound, until I used RCA cables, and switched over to 'video 1'. Then, the sound blew me away! Even on just broadcast TV! Pop in a DVD, set it to 'video 2', and it's truly amazing! That is why I'm almost certain there is some sort of Bose system in there! I've never heard a TV sound like that before!

But, since you guys know your electronics, I do have a couple of questions. How do the pixel (?) size, or whatever would be used to determine the picture quality back in the day compare to newer projection TV's? Not the plasma, or LCD, but the last 'old fashioned' form of rear projection TV's, like mine?

Also, when there is writing on the screen, in the middle is nice and clear, where on the corners, it's a little fuzzy. Is that the color bulbs going out? Or, is it just the fact that it's old technology? All of the adjustments for color, and vertical/horizontal holds are on the front of the set, and we have them adjusted pretty well. On the lower right corner where the station identifier normally is, it's a little fuzzy. The picture (when it's in HD, and there are the black spaces on top, and bottom), almost seems to be 'concave', to where the black line appears to go 'into' the set, in the middle, then curves back out on the ends, instead of straight across. Hopefully, you understand what I'm trying to say? There almost appears to be a light in the middle of the screen, and is brighter than the sides. Again, I don't know if that's color bulbs, or just old technology?

Thanks,
John

[Danny]

Hi the 525 and 625 are the diffrent line scanning standards and the pal and ntsc are diffrent colour encoding systems that are used by your country and ours. thay are not compatible with each other. the three bulbs you mention are actually small crts one red one blue and one green these make up the primary colour spectrum. the slight fussyness is because the three tubes are not quite converged at the corners . this is probably the best it can be coverged so dont mess with it ! . there will be a hidden door or panel that you have to remove to reveal the convergance controlls but as ive said dont go there unless you are an expert. what is meant by converged is when all three tubes pictures are overlapping on the screen. as for the sound system i doupt it will be bose but probably well thought out by a hifi boffin for panasonic. as these sets were expensive when new. Danny
Ps the brighter patch in the middle of the screen could be a design error causing what we call a hot spot. or dust on the mirror. but dont over clean or use solvents as this will be serface silvered and the coating will come off.

[John123]

I agree, it's really easy to mess everything up when attempting to make adjustments, call a specialist repair company if you want it re-converged. Also, I found some product info for the TC-4500U, in a German language product brochure (1981/ 82), you an view these here and here.

The set shown there supports PAL and SECAM broadcast standards, and a modified form of NTSC (NTSC4.43), for the playback of NTSC video cassettes (in colour).

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
Our friends here in the village had a Thompson back projection TV and it had all the picture imperfections you describe. Some of them were due to a layer of dust in the optical system, but mostly it was just old technology. The patch of light in the centre was particularly annoying. It meant that "blacks" were never black but light grey. I don't think they could get it any better back in the day.
I asked them if I could have it for bits when they changed over to an new LCD telly, but it was taken away by the guy who delivered the new one . Shame, there would have been lots of goodies in there.
Cheers & Marry Christmas, Pete

[PanasonicTVMan]

Originally Posted by Danny

Hi the 525 and 625 are the diffrent line scanning standards and the pal and ntsc are diffrent colour encoding systems that are used by your country and ours. thay are not compatible with each other. the three bulbs you mention are actually small crts one red one blue and one green these make up the primary colour spectrum. the slight fussyness is because the three tubes are not quite converged at the corners . this is probably the best it can be coverged so dont mess with it ! . there will be a hidden door or panel that you have to remove to reveal the convergance controlls but as ive said dont go there unless you are an expert. what is meant by converged is when all three tubes pictures are overlapping on the screen. as for the sound system i doupt it will be bose but probably well thought out by a hifi boffin for panasonic. as these sets were expensive when new. Danny
Ps the brighter patch in the middle of the screen could be a design error causing what we call a hot spot. or dust on the mirror. but dont over clean or use solvents as this will be serface silvered and the coating will come off.

On the UK owners manual that I have, it talks about the 'convergence' you mention. But, it shows how to do it on the instructions, and that is what we were doing with it, to adjust it. It has blue horizontal/vertical, and red horizontal/vertical. There is even a 'test pattern' switch, that when you press it, looks like a big cross in the middle of the screen. When you move the knobs, the cross goes up, down, or to the sides. It says in the instructions how to adjust it, and how the cross should be white, with all the colors blended together. We can even see the difference if we adjust it while the TV is on the video mode. Depending on what knob you turn, you can see a blue, or red 'shadow' going one way, or the other from what's on the screen. I found something on a DVD, that had printing on it, and paused it. We then went and adjusted everything as close as possible. That is how we got the printing to be so crisp in the middle, but the sides were still fuzzy.

So, I don't see any other 'hidden' panel, for adjustments. I've had both back panels off, and didn't see anything on the bottom, where all the electronics are.

In terms of everything being clean, like I originally said, we just got through cleaning the three bulbs, and the mirrors, with a mild eyeglass lens cleaner, nothing harsh. Even though it's in my garage, I haven't swept the floor since I cleaned the bulbs, mirrors, so there wasn't even any dust flying around.

I also tried opening the links that 'John123' sent, but they won't open. I don't know if it's because I'm using Google chrome as my browser. I will try using Mozilla.

Thanks,
John

[PanasonicTVMan]

I was finally able to open 'John123's links, and can see the TV. That one is a little bigger than mine (45.3" vs my 40"), and the cabinet is a little different, but the screen looks the same. I wish my picture looked as good as the one on the photo!

Thanks,
John

[Maarten]

I've had a look at the labels (nice and clear pictures), and they're very US-like. Other region's labels, especially European, don't look anything like that so I can confirm what was already clear: it's a US set. I tried decoding the serial number, but I'm not entirely sure so I can only make a wild statistical guess and state that at least 5000 and more likely two times that number of sets were made (or maybe sets using the same chassis), which is quite a large production run even though RPTVs have always been popular in the states (so that's why I'm saying it's a wild guess).

[paulsherwin]

The French text on the labels is probably for the Canadian market. Canada uses the same TV system as the US.