"Trinitron" is practically a household word, and one readily associated with Sony color TV sets. The 1210U was the first Trinitron model sold in the USA.

By the way, that colorful "Push and Turn" label is actually a removable cardboard shipping tag designed to show the customer how to properly fine-tune a color program. I've removed the tag for other pictures on this page.

Even in this slightly fuzzy photo, you can see it's still in pretty good working order too.

Here's a close-up of the tuning knobs (with continuous UHF dial) and Trinitron nameplate.

Here's a look inside the cabinet. It may be (nearly) solid-state, but it sure looks a lot more crowded inside than the all-tube GE Portacolor (or later-model Sony Trinitron sets, for that matter). This set is also considerably heavier than the PortaColor, though admittedly it also has a slightly larger screen.

I recently (2/2004) obtained another 1210U with a higher serial number, and noticed a few minor cosmetic differences between the two sets. For one, it has a different speaker grille. As shown above, my earlier 1210U has a flat metal grille with round holes. The speaker grille on my 'new' 1210U has slot-shaped holes, and has a waffle texture that lends it a "cheese grater"-like appearance. I would guess that the slotted speaker grille pattern was intended to "echo" the slot mask design of the Trinitron picture tube.

Also, my early-production 1210U has its manufacturer and model information directly molded into the plastic cabinet back, with the serial number printed on a tiny paper sticker. My later 1210U instead has all of the information (including serial number) printed on a large metallic sticker affixed to the back of the set.

Note that the moldings on the earlier set are fully inset into an incised rectangular area similar in size/shape to the big label on the later set. I have not attempted to remove the big red label to see if those same moldings can actually be found behind it.

This 'new' set came to me in poorer condition than my first 1210U, and while it did function, it did have some minor performance problems. While poking around the inside of this set, I noticed something I had (amazingly!) missed when I had the cover open on my first 1210U:

Indeed, this set is not quite as "SOLID STATE" as the front panel would like to have you believe. It does have one tube-- a 3AT2 used as an HV rectifier, tucked away inside the fully-enclosed HV cage. See?

Perhaps they should have called it "95% Solid State" instead.

[Afterwards, I re-checked my earlier 1210U, and it does indeed also have a 3AT2 for an HV rectifier.]

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