Commodore.ca: The PET, VIC, 128, 64 & More Forum

G'day all,

As a collector of vintage television sets, I always keep in contact with the local recycling centres. Last week, I dropped by and found something special for $10 - a 14" Commodore CB-336H colour portable television, presumably from the 1980s. I haven't found out much information about it, but I believe it is a re-badged Samsung unit. I've heard mention of a similar set made by Samsung, this particular unit uses Samsung components and it uses the same model numbering system as Samsung. According to a friend of mine who used to sell televisions in the 1980s, these were sold at Big W department stores for a limited time, and despite their lower quality, had a decent price tag which was justified by the "Commodore" brand name proudly displayed on the front.

Does anyone else know anything about these, or has anyone else seen or owned one? I've heard that Commodore sold a variety of products covering a range of the electronics industry, but this is the first Commodore myself and multiple other Commodore collectors have ever heard of. I have to wonder why Commodore ventured into the television market, and if they offered any other models?

I have a video of the television in question uploaded here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTZl4Jn ... yLu6yvVOag

I also have a photo uploaded to my "work in progress" website:
http://thyhumbletoll.webs.com/televisioncollection.htm

Thank you,

Chris

Very interesting! I never knew that Commodore had televisions produced! I didn't know that Samsung produced t.v.'s in the 1980's. (To the best of my knowledge, the Samsung name didn't come into prominence until the 1990's here in the U.S..)

I don't recognize the name, "Big W," as the name of a department store here in the states. Is/was this department store in... maybe Australia?

I see on your webpage that the Commodore t.v. has the notation that it needs servicing? What kind of servicing? Because it is a rare product (in my opinion), I'd say get it fixed by all means!

Merry Christmas!

Hi mate,

I've heard of 1980s Samsung televisions from North America, though probably from Canada. Big W is a large department store chain here in Australia, selling all sorts of goodies. Similar to Walmart, though on a smaller scale. The only issue I've noticed is an intermittant fault in the audio circuit. I believe it's the result of a cracked solder joint of damaged cable around the composite jacks on the rear, as fiddling with the audio cable around there seems to temporarily rectify it.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

Chris

Fairlane500 wrote:The only issue I've noticed is an intermittant fault in the audio circuit. I believe it's the result of a cracked solder joint of damaged cable around the composite jacks on the rear, as fiddling with the audio cable around there seems to temporarily rectify it.

Oh, just a small, easily-fixed problem. Now all you have to do is put a C64 signal into it and have it display the C64 start-up screen.

Merry Christmas!

I don't have any Commodore computers to use! I do have a 1992 Macintosh Classic, but it's not exactly in a working state... I've been offered some Commodores (C64s I think) for around $50, with everything but the monitor. Being a television/CRT collector though, the monitor's all I really wanted. At least I now have a "kinda sorta maybe" television/monitor I can use though!

Chris

Hi Chris;

If I had to guess, I would say that Commodore was simply paid by someone to use the brand. Commodore did this with Thermostats and Telephones as you can see in http://www.commodore.ca/commodore-galle ... -hardware/ . This is another great Commodore find.

administrator wrote:Commodore did this with Thermostats and Telephones...

And I have both a Commodore thermostat and a Commodore phone.

Merry Christmas!