Panasonic CinemaVision CT 4000 - Page 2 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

PanasonicTVMan · 27th Dec 2010, 6:12 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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).

I'm sorry, but I'm a little confused about your statement. Are you saying that 5000 might have been built, or are you saying two times that number (10,000) might have been built?

I know that you are only guessing, but if you are saying that it is a 'large production run', it's amazing to me that I can not find any information on these sets at all! Again, when I go on Panasonic US' website, the model numbers end at CT-3600, or thereabouts. I'm also assuming that those TV's are 'tube' TV's, not projection sets. I'm still waiting on my hard copy owners manual (I'm guessing I won't see that until the end of Jan.), so I may find out more info on it. Even when I ordered the owners manual, the people there still questioned me on the model number, when I told them it was a projection TV. I'm also guessing that when I called the other week, and that person told me that it was an UK model, she just wanted to get rid of me, so she told me that! I wish I would have paid attention to the back of the set at that time, and could have told her where it was made. I would have liked to have heard her excuse then!

John

P.S. Thanks for the compliments on the pictures! I just bought an Android 'smart phone', and it has an amazing 8 megapixel camera built in! So much better than my puny 3.2 megapixel 'regular' camera I own! It even takes HD video! But, on the video side, you can not zoom in. At least on the camera side, you can. The video is still way better than my Sony handi-cam!

Maarten · 1st Jan 2011, 6:43 pm

Sorry for confusing you!

I'm basing my statement on the following premises:
- the second part of the serial number is the actual production number, starting at 1 (the first part in that case being some sort of date or location code as it is in many other cases). In that case at least this number of units would have been produced: around 5000.
- finding 1 sample gives a statistically most likely total series size of (1+1)/1 * the highest serial number found, so around 10,000 units.

Since this seems a lot, a realistic possibility would be that the serial number isn't correlated to this exact model, but to the chassis instead. The chassis is most likely used in smaller sized RPTVs or other brand names (I think Quasar was one of those) as well.

On the other hand, the US is a large area so 10,000 may not even be that large a number, and bulky items like this may have been scrapped on first defect by their owners so that would partially explain their rareness.

Another possibility is that I'm not correctly interpreting the serial number. In that case anybody's guess is as good as mine.

In any case, it's worth wile to hang on to it.

1st Jan 2011, 6:43 pm	#22
Maarten Dekatron Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Haarlem, Netherlands Posts: 4,199	Re: Panasonic CinemaVision CT 4000 Sorry for confusing you! I'm basing my statement on the following premises: - the second part of the serial number is the actual production number, starting at 1 (the first part in that case being some sort of date or location code as it is in many other cases). In that case at least this number of units would have been produced: around 5000. - finding 1 sample gives a statistically most likely total series size of (1+1)/1 * the highest serial number found, so around 10,000 units. Since this seems a lot, a realistic possibility would be that the serial number isn't correlated to this exact model, but to the chassis instead. The chassis is most likely used in smaller sized RPTVs or other brand names (I think Quasar was one of those) as well. On the other hand, the US is a large area so 10,000 may not even be that large a number, and bulky items like this may have been scrapped on first defect by their owners so that would partially explain their rareness. Another possibility is that I'm not correctly interpreting the serial number. In that case anybody's guess is as good as mine. In any case, it's worth wile to hang on to it. Last edited by Maarten; 1st Jan 2011 at 6:51 pm.