Colortrak was a trademark used on several

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

color televisions beginning in the 1970s and lasting into the 1990s. After RCA was acquired by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

in 1986, GE began marketing sets identical to those from RCA. GE sold both RCA and GE consumer electronics lines to

Thomson SA Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

in 1988. RCA televisions with the Colortrak branding were mid-range models; positioned above the low-end XL-100 series but below the high-end

Dimensia ''Dimensia'' ( ) was RCA's brand name for their high-end models of television systems and their components (tuner (radio), tuner, VCR, CD player, etc.) produced from 1984 to 1989, with variations continuing into the early 1990s, superseded by th ...

and

Colortrak 2000 Colortrak 2000 was a brand names, brand name used for RCA's high-end television models produced from the early-1980s to the early 1990s. Colortrak 2000 was situated above the less expensive ''Colortrak'' line, but below the more expensive Dimensia l ...

series. RCA discontinued the Colortrak name in the late 1990s, with newer models badged as the Entertainment Series.

Design quirks

During the early 1980s, RCA responded to increased demand for component televisions with monitor capabilities by adding composite and

S-video S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chann ...

inputs to the Colortrak lineup. These inputs allowed owners to easily connect a stereo audio/video source, like a

Video Cassette Recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to ...

, LaserDisc player, or with use of an RCA SelectaVision CED videodisc player to the television. For example, early composite video-equipped RCA sets were to coincidentally be tuned to Non-broadcast channel 91 to display a composite video signal, if a set was equipped with more than one input, subsequent inputs are designated to channels 92 to 95, which are usually accessed from the

remote control A remote control, also known colloquially as a remote or clicker, is an consumer electronics, electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operat ...

. Later models abandoned this design, favoring A/V inputs which were accessible by pressing the channel up/down buttons, or A/V inputs which were controlled by their own button.

Tuner Issues

After Thomson SA acquired the GE and RCA brand names, they began designing a new chassis for RCA and GE televisions, which debuted in 1993 models. Instead of using a tuner module soldered to the circuit board, Thomson decided to integrate the tuner into the board itself. Due to the heating and cooling cycles of the circuit board and tuner from normal use, the solder connections between the tuner and the board would fail, causing an intermittent picture or no signal from the coaxial connector. This is easily repairable by desoldering the tuner shield and re-flowing new solder to each connection inside.{{Cite web, title=Repair of a 1993 RCA Colortrak 26" cabinet model TV using the CTC177 chassis, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQxGrd-nnA, date=10 May 2013, website=YouTube, publisher=radiotvphononut, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301075010/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQxGrd-nnA , archive-date=2020-03-01 , access-date=20 May 2020

References

RCA brands Television technology

Design quirks

Tuner Issues

See also

References