Richtige Fernseher haben Röhren!

Richtige Fernseher haben Röhren!

In Brief: On this site you will find pictures and information about some of the electronic, electrical and electrotechnical Obsolete technology relics that the Frank Sharp Private museum has accumulated over the years .
Premise: There are lots of vintage electrical and electronic items that have not survived well or even completely disappeared and forgotten.

Or are not being collected nowadays in proportion to their significance or prevalence in their heyday, this is bad and the main part of the death land. The heavy, ugly sarcophagus; models with few endearing qualities, devices that have some over-riding disadvantage to ownership such as heavy weight,toxicity or inflated value when dismantled, tend to be under-represented by all but the most comprehensive collections and museums. They get relegated to the bottom of the wants list, derided as 'more trouble than they are worth', or just forgotten entirely. As a result, I started to notice gaps in the current representation of the history of electronic and electrical technology to the interested member of the public.

Following this idea around a bit, convinced me that a collection of the peculiar alone could not hope to survive on its own merits, but a museum that gave equal display space to the popular and the unpopular, would bring things to the attention of the average person that he has previously passed by or been shielded from. It's a matter of culture. From this, the Obsolete Technology Tellye Web Museum concept developed and all my other things too. It's an open platform for all electrical Electronic TV technology to have its few, but NOT last, moments of fame in a working, hand-on environment. We'll never own Colossus or Faraday's first transformer, but I can show things that you can't see at the Science Museum, and let you play with things that the Smithsonian can't allow people to touch, because my remit is different.

There was a society once that was the polar opposite of our disposable, junk society. A whole nation was built on the idea of placing quality before quantity in all things. The goal was not “more and newer,” but “better and higher" .This attitude was reflected not only in the manufacturing of material goods, but also in the realms of art and architecture, as well as in the social fabric of everyday life. The goal was for each new cohort of children to stand on a higher level than the preceding cohort: they were to be healthier, stronger, more intelligent, and more vibrant in every way.

The society that prioritized human, social and material quality is a Winner. Truly, it is the high point of all Western civilization. Consequently, its defeat meant the defeat of civilization itself.

Today, the West is headed for the abyss. For the ultimate fate of our disposable society is for that society itself to be disposed of. And this will happen sooner, rather than later.

OLD, but ORIGINAL, Well made, Funny, Not remotely controlled............. and not Made in CHINA.

How to use the site:
- If you landed here via any Search Engine, you will get what you searched for and you can search more using the search this blog feature provided by Google. You can visit more posts scrolling the left blog archive of all posts of the month/year,
or you can click on the main photo-page to start from the main page. Doing so it starts from the most recent post to the older post simple clicking on the Older Post button on the bottom of each page after reading , post after post.

You can even visit all posts, time to time, when reaching the bottom end of each page and click on the Older Post button.

- If you arrived here at the main page via bookmark you can visit all the site scrolling the left blog archive of all posts of the month/year pointing were you want , or more simple You can even visit all blog posts, from newer to older, clicking at the end of each bottom page on the Older Post button.
So you can see all the blog/site content surfing all pages in it.

- The search this blog feature provided by Google is a real search engine. If you're pointing particular things it will search IT for you; or you can place a brand name in the search query at your choice and visit all results page by page. It's useful since the content of the site is very large.

Note that if you don't find what you searched for, try it after a period of time; the site is a never ending job !

Every CRT Television saved let revive knowledge, thoughts, moments of the past life which will never return again.........

Many contemporary "televisions" (more correctly named as displays) would not have this level of staying power, many would ware out or require major services within just five years or less and of course, there is that perennial bug bear of planned obsolescence where components are deliberately designed to fail and, or manufactured with limited edition specificities..... and without considering........picture......sound........quality........
..............The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of todays funny gadgets low price has faded from memory........ . . . . . .....
Don't forget the past, the end of the world is upon us! Pretty soon it will all turn to dust!

Have big FUN ! !
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©2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Frank Sharp - You do not have permission to copy photos and words from this blog, and any content may be never used it for auctions or commercial purposes, however feel free to post anything you see here with a courtesy link back, btw a link to the original post here , is mandatory.
All sets and apparates appearing here are property of Engineer Frank Sharp. NOTHING HERE IS FOR SALE !
All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within Fair Use.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

PHILIPS I12T620 PORTOFINO AUTOMATIC YEAR 1969.

 
 


The  PHILIPS  I12T620  PORTOFINO AUTOMATIC was First real little 12 inches portable B/W television from PHILIPS in 1969.

First fully transistorized television chassis for PHILIPS portable set allowing relatively light weight and comfort.

The mechanical turret approach to television tuning has been used almost exclusively for the past 60 years. Even though replete with the inherent disadvantages of mechanical complexity, unreliability and cost, such apparatus has been technically capable of performing its intended function and as a result the consumer has had to bear the burdens associated with the device. However, with the " recent "  Broadcast demands for parity of tuning for UHF and VHF channels, the increasing number of UHF and cable TV stations have imposed new tuning performance requirements which severely tax the capability of the mechanical turret tuner. Consequently, attempts are now being made to provide all electronic tuning to meet the new requirements.

The set has rotary selector for both VHF and UHF channels and this selector was called "Speed Tuning" allowing continuous tuning search for all stations. Pushing down the button allows fast band exploration, releasing it allows normal fine tuning search.

The set can be powered from 12volt source or normal way via mains 220V.

Semiconductors and the televison technology reality changing......................

So far the history of television development has been entirely radio (and picture) valves centric. And it would stay so for another decade. In the background, however, an entirely new development was taking shape: semiconductors. Especially the concept of semiconductor diodes was not entirely new. 
During the war both in Germany and the US some diodes were developed as detector in radar systems, but they remained exotic. In 1946 the US war effort on these type of materials was published and available to its allies in a 28-volume overview. At Philips Research this triggered one group under dr. Piet Haaijman in the sector of Herre Rinia to a few researchers working on metal-based detectors, using such materials as selenium and germanium. These activities came into a completely new perspective when in 1947 the the transistor was invented by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley of Bell Labs. This sent a shock through the world of electronics, and also within Philips kicked off semiconductor research. In 1948 Evert Verweij, one of the three NatLab directors, visited the US and concluded that research should be focused on germanium as base material. 
The group of Haaijman was extended to accelerate the work on germanium diodes, whereas a second group under F. Stieltjes started work on the transistor. One of the young researchers in this group was J. Tummers, who would be the leading developer of transistors within Research. Especially the transistor was a hard nut to crack, and progress was slow, also because Bell Labs had disclosed only a minimum of details on the engineering of their transistor, while also the US Department of Defence pushed hard to keep it top secret. It was only by 1952, with the famous Bell Licensees Symposium, that Bell Labs shared the "transistor cook book" to a selected set of companies with which it has cross-license agreements. From Europe this included Philips, Siemens, AEG-Telefunken and GEC. So far the NatLab had worked on the point-contact transistor, but these were very sensitive and unreliable, and after the Bell Symposium they switched to grown junction transistors.

Quite quickly after the announcement of the transistor invention it became clear to the Philips management that this was an important development that the company could not ignore. By 1949 the research activities of the group of Piet Haaijman resulted in what was thought to be a producible germanium diode. At this point the HIG Elektronenbuizen decided it would create a dedicated Industriegroep Halfgeleiders (Industrial Group Semiconductors) with their HIG. On the one hand this was to give it the proper attention and focus, on the other hand it was to protect the radio valve group from distraction, giving its massive effort to role out the new families of television valves. At this time Jan van Vessem had succeeded Gerrit Alma as head of the Radiobuizen Labs, while ir H. Hazeu was the technical director of the HIG after Theo Tromp moved to the Philips board of directors in 1946. Hazeu and Tromp got along very well, and jointly pushed innovation, the importance of radio valves and picture tubes, but also recognized the importance and opportunities of semiconductors. Leader of the semiconductor activities became dr. Jan van der Spek. A production facility was built in Eindhoven and in 1950 the first products were delivered; the OA70 and OA50 diodes. The OA70 used germanium with a higher conductivity and consequently had a high bandwidth, making it fit for video detection. The OA50 was made or "regular" germanium and was a low frequency detector, so suitable for audio or synchronization signal detection. Because production was still unstable, the output was "binned" with lesser products sold as OA51, OA52 and OA56. By 1952 they were succeeded by the OA60 and OA61. Almost as soon as they appeared the germanium diodes were used by the Apparaten Lab for the functions as described. They were part of the TX1422 platform released in 1952, and thus in commercial sets from 1953.

As soon as the first generation diodes came available the company struggled with production capacity. The small-scale Eindhoven production facility was soon too small, and a second site was opened in Heerlen, but even that was not sufficient to cope with the demand. By the end of 1952 the pressure increased when, after the Bell Symposium, better transistors were in development. In a policy meeting where neither Tromp nor Hazeu were present especially the NatLab representative Herre Rinia proposed a massive switch from radio valves to semiconductors, with 50% of the HIG Elektronenbuizen R&D budget to be allocated to semiconductors. When he heard this Hazeu was shocked, and together with Tromp was able to reverse the decision. But it was decided that the HIG would put more resources into semiconductor development. Furthermore the Philips board gave the green light for the construction of a brand new large semiconductor factory in Nijmegen, construction of which was started immediately. It was also decided that all semiconductor developments were to be concentrated in Nijmegen too. By 1955 this plant had grown to 1100 employees, of which 122 in development.
Transistor developments in the meantime proved more problematic.
 The NatLab had, after initial work on point contact transistors, switched to the so-called growth or double-doping transistors, based on the information obtained after the Bell Symposium. By the end of 1952 they had made 100 transistors and proposed these be taken into production by the IG Halfgeleiders. The director of the Radiobuizen Lab Jan van Vessem and his staff were, however, not convinced of the reproducibility of this technology.
Van Vessem was convinced that the RCA technology of alloy junction transistors was much better. 
Due to rather blunt behaviour by Philips in the negotiations it took almost a year to obtain the desired license from RCA. 
Although a three first transistors were announced already in 1953, the OC10 to OC12, these were hardly producible and effectively never cae beyond the sample status. 
The first production transistors out of Nijmegen were the OC70 and OC71. Both were germanium PNP transistors in a glass encapsulation, suitable for audio and other low frequency applications, and launched in 1954. However, where the germanium diodes were adopted very quickly, it would take much longer for transistors to appear in the Philips television and we won't see them in the next platforms.


Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics Inc.), most commonly known as Philips, (Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) is a multinational Dutch electronics corporation.

Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2009, its sales were €23.18 billion. The company employs 115,924 people in more than 60 countries.

Philips is organized in a number of sectors: Philips Consumer Lifestyles (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems).
he company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs and other electro-technical equipment. Its first factory survives as a museum devoted to light sculpture. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name).
Philips was also instrumental in the revival of the Stirling engine.

As a chip maker, Philips Semiconductors was among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.

In December 2005 Philips announced its intention to make the Semiconductor Division into a separate legal entity. This process of "disentanglement" was completed on 1 October 2006.

On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. The sale completed a process, which began December 2005, with its decision to create a separate legal entity for Semiconductors and to pursue all strategic options. Six weeks before, ahead of its online dialogue, through a letter to 8,000 of Philips managers, it was announced that they were speeding up the transformation of Semiconductors into a stand-alone entity with majority ownership by a third party. It was stated then that "this is much more than just a transaction: it is probably the most significant milestone on a long journey of change for Philips and the beginning of a new chapter for everyone – especially those involved with Semiconductors".

In its more than 115 year history, this counts as a big step that is definitely changing the profile of the company. Philips was one of few companies that successfully made the transition from the electrical world of the 19th century into the electronic age, starting its semiconductor activity in 1953 and building it into a global top 10 player in its industry. As such, Semiconductors was at the heart of many innovations in Philips over the past 50 years.

Agreeing to start a process that would ultimately lead to the decision to sell the Semiconductor Division therefore was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Management ever had to make.

On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the expanded consortium headed by KKR that is to acquire the controlling stake in the Semiconductors Division.

On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new semiconductor company founded by Philips is NXP Semiconductors.

Coinciding with the sale of the Semiconductor Division, Philips also announced that they would drop the word 'Electronics' from the company name, thus becoming simply Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Royal Philips N.V.).
PHILIPS FOUNDATION:

The foundations of Philips were laid in 1891 when Anton and Gerard Philips established Philips & Co. in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company begun manufacturing carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century, had become one of the largest producers in Europe. Stimulated by the industrial revolution in Europe, Philips’ first research laboratory started introducing its first innovations in the x-ray and radio technology. Over the years, the list of inventions has only been growing to include many breakthroughs that have continued to enrich people’s everyday lives.



In the early years of Philips &; Co., the representation of the company name took many forms: one was an emblem formed by the initial letters of Philips ; Co., and another was the word Philips printed on the glass of metal filament lamps.



One of the very first campaigns was launched in 1898 when Anton Philips used a range of postcards showing the Dutch national costumes as marketing tools. Each letter of the word Philips was printed in a row of light bulbs as at the top of every card. In the late 1920s, the Philips name began to take on the form that we recognize today.



The now familiar Philips waves and stars first appeared in 1926 on the packaging of miniwatt radio valves, as well as on the Philigraph, an early sound recording device. The waves symbolized radio waves, while the stars represented the ether of the evening sky through which the radio waves would travel.



In 1930 it was the first time that the four stars flanking the three waves were placed together in a circle. After that, the stars and waves started appearing on radios and gramophones, featuring this circle as part of their design. Gradually the use of the circle emblem was then extended to advertising materials and other products.



At this time Philips’ business activities were expanding rapidly and the company wanted to find a trademark that would uniquely represent Philips, but one that would also avoid legal problems with the owners of other well-known circular emblems. This wish resulted in the combination of the Philips circle and the wordmark within the shield emblem.



In 1938, the Philips shield made its first appearance. Although modified over the years, the basic design has remained constant ever since and, together with the wordmark, gives Philips the distinctive identity that is still embraced today.

The first steps of CRT production by Philips started in the thirties with the Deutsche Philips Electro-Spezial gesellschaft in Germany and the Philips NatLab (Physics laboratory) in Holland. After the introduction of television in Europe, just after WWII there was a growing demand of television sets and oscilloscope equipment. Philips in Holland was ambitious and started experimental television in 1948. Philips wanted to be the biggest on this market. From 1948 there was a small Philips production of television and oscilloscope tubes in the town of Eindhoven which soon developed in mass production. In 1976 a part of the Philips CRT production went to the town of Heerlen and produced its 500.000'th tube in 1986. In 1994 the company in Heerlen changed from Philips into CRT-Heerlen B.V. specialized in the production of small monochrome CRT's for the professional market and reached 1.000.000 produced tubes in 1996. In this stage the company was able to produce very complicated tubes like storage CRT's.
In 2001 the company merged into Professional Display Systems, PDS worked on LCD and Plasma technology but went bankrupt in 2009. The employees managed a start through as Cathode Ray Technology which now in 2012 has to close it's doors due to the lack of sales in a stressed market. Their main production was small CRT's for oscilloscope, radar and large medical use (X-ray displays). New experimental developments were small Electron Microscopy, 3D-TV displays, X-Ray purposes and Cathode Ray Lithography for wafer production. Unfortunately the time gap to develop these new products was too big.


28 of September 2012, Cathode Ray Technology (the Netherlands), the last Cathode Ray Tube factory in Europe closed. Ironically the company never experienced so much publicity as now, all of the media brought the news in Holland about the closure. In fact this means the end of mass production 115 years after Ferdinand Braun his invention. The rapid introduction and acceptation of LCD and Plasma displays was responsible for a drastic decrease in sales. Despite the replacement market for the next couple of years in the industrial, medical and avionics sector.
The numbers are small and the last few CRT producers worldwide are in heavy competition.

Gerard Philips:

Gerard Leonard Frederik Philips (October 9, 1858, in Zaltbommel – January 27, 1942, in The Hague, Netherlands) was a Dutch industrialist, co-founder (with his father Frederik Philips) of the Philips Company as a family business in 1891. Gerard and his younger brother Anton Philips changed the business to a corporation by founding in 1912 the NV Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken. As the first CEO of the Philips corporation, Gerard laid with Anton the base for the later Philips multinational.



Early life and education

Gerard was the first son of Benjamin Frederik David Philips (1 December 1830 – 12 June 1900) and Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands; he was a first cousin of Karl Marx.



Career

Gerard Philips became interested in electronics and engineering. Frederik was the financier for Gerard's purchase of the old factory building in Eindhoven where he established the first factory in 1891. They operated the Philips Company as a family business for more than a decade.



Marriage and family

On March 19, 1896 Philips married Johanna van der Willigen (30 September 1862 – 1942). They had no children.

Gerard was an uncle of Frits Philips, whom he and his brother brought into the business. Later they brought in his brother's grandson, Franz Otten.


Gerard and his brother Anton supported education and social programs in Eindhoven, including the Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Association), which they founded. From it the professional football (soccer) department developed into the independent Philips Sport Vereniging N.V.



Anton Philips:

Anton Frederik Philips (March 14, 1874, Zaltbommel, Gelderland – October 7, 1951, Eindhoven) co-founded Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He served as CEO of the company from 1922 to 1939.



Early life and education

Anton was born to Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921) and Benjamin Frederik David Philips (December 1, 1830 – June 12, 1900). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands. (He was a first cousin to Karl Marx.) Anton's brother Gerard was 16 years older.



Career

In May 1891 the father Frederik was the financier and, with his son Gerard Philips, co-founder of the Philips Company as a family business. In 1912 Anton joined the firm, which they named Royal Philips Electronics N.V.

During World War I, Anton Philips managed to increase sales by taking advantage of a boycott of German goods in several countries. He provided the markets with alternative products.

Anton (and his brother Gerard) are remembered as being civic-minded. In Eindhoven they supported education and social programs and facilities, such as the soccer department of the Philips Sports Association as the best-known example.

Anton Philips brought his son Frits Philips and grandson Franz Otten into the company in their times. Anton took the young Franz Otten with him and other family members to escape the Netherlands just before the Nazi Occupation during World War II; they went to the United States. They returned after the war.

His son Frits Philips chose to stay and manage the company during the occupation; he survived several months at the concentration camp of Vught after his workers went on strike. He saved the lives of 382 Jews by claiming them as indispensable to his factory, and thus helped them evade Nazi roundups and deportation to concentration camps.

Philips died in Eindhoven in 1951.



Marriage and family

Philips married Anne Henriëtte Elisabeth Maria de Jongh (Amersfoort, May 30, 1878 – Eindhoven, March 7, 1970). They had the following children:

* Anna Elisabeth Cornelia Philips (June 19, 1899 – ?), married in 1925 to Pieter Franciscus Sylvester Otten (1895 – 1969), and had:
o Diek Otten
o Franz Otten (b. c. 1928 - d. 1967), manager in the Dutch electronics company Philips
* Frederik Jacques Philips (1905-2005)
* Henriëtte Anna Philips (Eindhoven, October 26, 1906 – ?), married firstly to A. Knappert (d. 1932), without issue; married secondly to G. Jonkheer Sandberg (d. September 5, 1935), without issue; and married thirdly in New York City, New York, on September 29, 1938 to Jonkheer Gerrit van Riemsdijk (Aerdenhout, January 10, 1911 – Eindhoven, November 8, 2005). They had the following children:
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, October 2, 1939), married at Waalre on February 17, 1968 to Johannes Jasper Tuijt (b. Atjeh, Koeta Radja, March 10, 1930), son of Jacobus Tuijt and wife Hedwig Jager, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, April 3, 1946), married firstly at Calvados, Falaise, on June 6, 1974 to Martinus Jan Petrus Vermooten (Utrecht, September 16, 1939 – Falaise, August 29, 1978), son of Martinus Vermooten and wife Anna Pieternella Hendrika Kwantes, without issue; married secondly in Paris on December 12, 1981 to Jean Yves Louis Bedos (Calvados, Rémy, January 9, 1947 – Calvados, Lisieux, October 5, 1982), son of Georges Charles Bedos and wife Henriette Louise Piel, without issue; and married thirdly at Manche, Sartilly, on September 21, 1985 to Arnaud Evain (b. Ardennes, Sedan, July 7, 1952), son of Jean Claude Evain and wife Flore Halleux, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, September 4, 1948), married at Waalre, October 28, 1972 to Elie Johan François van Dissel (b. Eindhoven, October 9, 1948), son of Willem Pieter
Jacob van Dissel and wife Francisca Frederike Marie Wirtz, without issue.



(To see the Internal Chassis Just click on Older Post Button on bottom page, that's simple !)





A comment...........of a 1996 reality ..................
Philips, which seems to be a perennial walking wounded case. The company had appeared to be on the mend after a worldwide cost- cutting programme which was started five years ago when Jan Timmer took over as chairman.
 But, following a sharp profits fall, with the company's first quarterly loss since 1992, a further shake up is being undertaken.
The difficulty is that the company operates in a mature market, in which prices are falling at an annual rate of six per cent. Manufacturers are competing by cutting costs to gain a larger share of static demand. It's not a situation in which any firm that does its own manufacturing can achieve much. Philips' latest plan involves an overall loss of 6,000 jobs in its consumer electronics business, with far greater reliance placed on a group of external suppliers which are referred to as "a cluster of dedicated subcontractors".

This is an approach that was pioneered many years ago by major Japanese manufacturers. Rather than make everything yourself, you rely on subcontractors who, in return, rely on you for their main source of work. It is hardly a cosy arrangement: the whole point seems to be that the major fain can exert pressure on its subcontractors, thereby - in theory - achieving optimum efficiency and cost-effectiveness. What happens when lower and lower prices are demanded for subcontracted work is not made clear.

The whole edifice could collapse. However that might be, this is the course on which Philips has now embarked. The company is also to carry out distribution, sales and marketing on a regional rather than a national basis, and has said that it will not support Grundig's losses after this year.

But Philips' chief financial officer Dudley Eustace has said that it has "no intention of abandoning the television and audio business". One has to assume that the subcontracting will also be done on an international basis, as major Japanese firms have had to do. There is a sense of déjà vu about this, though one wishes Philips well - it is still one of the major contributors to research and development in our industry.

Toshiba, which has also just appointed a new top man, Taizo Nishimoro, provides an interesting contrast. Mr Nishimoro thinks that the western emphasis on sales and marketing rather than engineering is the way to go. So the whole industry seems to be moving full circle. Taizo Nishimoro has become the first non engineering president of Toshiba. Where the company cannot compete effectively on its own, he intends to seek international alliances or go for closures. He put it as follows. "The technology and the businesses we are engaged in are getting more complex.
 In these circumstances, if we try to do everything ourselves we are making a mistake." Here's how Minoru Makihara, who became head of Mitsubishi Corporation four years ago, sees it. "Technologies are now moving so fast that it is impossible for the top manager to know all the details. 
Companies are now looking for generalists who can understand broad changes, delegate and provide leadership." Corporate change indeed amongst our oriental colleagues. Major firms the world over are facing similar problems and having to adopt similar policies.
In a mature market such as consumer electronics, you have to rely on marketing to squeeze the last little bit of advantage from such developments as Dolby sound and other added value features. The consumer electronics industry has been hoping that the digital video disc would come to its aid and get sales and profits moving ahead.
 
The DVD was due to be released in Sept 1996 , but we are unlikely to hear much more about it yet awhile. There's no problem with the technology: the difficulty is with licensing and software. There is obviously no point in launching it without adequate software support. But the movie companies, which control most of the required supply of software, are concerned that a recordable version of the disc, due in a couple of years' time, would be a gift to pirates worldwide. Concessions have been made by the electronics industry, in particular that different disc formats should be used in different parts of the world. But a curious problem has arisen.
 The other main use of the DVD is as a ROM in computer systems. For this application flexible copying facilities are a major requirement. But the movie companies are unwilling to agree to this. At present the situation is deadlocked and the great hope of an autumn launch, all important for sales, has had to be postponed. Next year maybe? It's a great pity, since the DVD has much to offer.
There's a lot of sad news on the retail side as well. Colorvision has been placed in administrative receivership, with a threat to 800 jobs at its 76 stores, while the Rumbelows shops that were taken over by computer retailer Escom have suffered a similar fate. The receivers have closed down the UK chain with the loss of 850 jobs at some 150 stores. Nothing seems to be going right just now.
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