RE: Re: vector: 25" Amplifone tube DAG connector/spring?

You can spot those HVTs a mile away -- they are very characteristic in
shape/color, and were only used on Atari vector monitors. Atari bought
Amplifone, the manufacturer, and those HVTs were specific to the Atari
manufactured XY monitor.

The primary reason that the red HVTs fail is because an "all-powerful"
(at least in *his* mind) Atari exec was smoking in the manufacturing
plant, against the rules and advice of the managers. Anyway, he threw
his butt in the trash, started a paper fire, which ended up setting off
the sprinkler system, getting water all over the supplies. The bonehead
exec then insisted that they continue manufacturing the units, in spite
of the damage. The theory is that the moisture from the sprinklers
leads to the decay of the shellac coating on the internal wirings,
eventually leading to it shorting out. It is not known exactly how many
HVTs were affected by this exec's brilliance, but it is at least
hundreds, if not thousands...

Not that this was the only problem, most HVTs only last so long anyway.
Vector monitors have a tendency to drive the HVTs pretty hard, and even
those HVTs that weren't damaged in fire incident would only last several
years of constant use anyway. After Atari saw this, and all the bad
publicity surrounding Vector monitors, they commissioned an outside
source (PennTrans) to make a replacement HVT -- they beefed up the specs
as well to make it virtually fail proof (WinTron still manufacturers
them for $190 ea.). The good news is that the new HVTs are built so
well that they don't fail -- there aren't very many documented stories
of one of these failing. It was a little too late, though, vectors were
labeled as high maintenance liabilities, and demand dropped *sharply* --
Atari dropped vector development shortly after.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-vectorlist@synthcom.com
> [mailto:owner-vectorlist@synthcom.com] On Behalf Of Mark Shostak
> Sent: Thursday, August 1, 2002 12:40 PM
> To: vectorlist@synthcom.com
> Subject: VECTOR: Re: vector: 25" Amplifone tube DAG connector/spring?
>
>
> Ah, how silly of me.
> I couldn't ascertain it was vector from the information available.
> How can you tell it goes to an Amplifone vector monitor?
>
> > It's the original (highly prone to failure) HVT unit Atari
> used for the
> > Amplifone monitor and some say is partly responsible for
> vector games
> > becoming extinct. As the widespread failures kept
> occurring, operators came
> > to think of all vector games as 'unreliable'.
> > Anyway, my original post (only 49.95!) is meant to be
> ironic because even a
> > new one is not worth buying at any price. It can take other
> parts of your
> > monitor with it when it goes (and it will).
> >
> > See
> >
> > www.gamearchive.com/video/manufacturer/atari/vector/
> > monitors/amplifone/amplifone_faq_1_2.pdf
> >
> > For more gory details / hearsay.
> >
> > -Douglas
> >
> >
> > on 8/1/02 1:46 PM, Mark Shostak at shostak@augustmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > Um, what exactly does the HVT in that auction go to?
> > > -Mark
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Chris Wopat <lists@falz.net>
> > > To: <vectorlist@synthcom.com>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 5:23 PM
> > > Subject: Re: VECTOR: 25" Amplifone tube DAG connector/spring?
> > >
> > >
> > >> HVT:
> > >>
> > >> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2127048725
> > >>
> > >> ----- Original Message -----
> > >> From: "Bret Pehrson" <bret@infowest.com>
> > >> To: <vectorlist@synthcom.com>
> > >> Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 5:02 PM
> > >> Subject: RE: VECTOR: 25" Amplifone tube DAG connector/spring?
> > >>
> > >>>> There's a NOS one up on e-bay right now. Only $49.99!
> > >>>
> > >>> One *what*??? DAG or HVT? I didn't see either in
> Arcade on eBay.
> > >
> > >
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Received on Thu Aug 1 13:56:56 2002