ETF - Compagnie Des Compteurs (CdC) TV-49

Compagnie Des Compteurs (CdC) TV-49

This was originally designed before World War Two by the French television inventor Barthelemy. When the Germans occupied France during World War Two, the Paris transmitter was converted to 441 lines. After the war the French continued with the 441 line standard until they introduced their 819 line system. This set was made in 1949 and is one of the earliest postwar French sets.

David Winter provided the following additional information:

Finally, more information from Mr Poinsignon concerning your CdC TV. After I got him on the phone, I learned that your CdC TV is a true 441 line TV (if you restore it, you will eventually verify in the V-hold circuits). There were three production runs: two runs of 20 sets and a last run of 30 sets, yours being part of this last one. Therefore, only 70 sets were ever made, which makes yours quite rare. The TV-49 model does not refer to 1949 but just stands for the 49th specimen because there simply was NO real model! This means that you own the 9th specimen of the 3rd run. Mr Poinsignon worked for Barthelemy and was present during the manufacture of these sets, and their destruction, since they had to be returned once the 441-line emitters got destroyed. Remember, these sets were only experimental.

Recently another collector reported that he had a TV-49. He sent a photo of the identification plate on the back of his set that showed a serial number of 570. Our set's plate has a serial number of 562. Our set has 1949 dates stamped on the electrolytic capacitors, indicating that the set was made in 1949. It is likely that Mr. Poinsignon was confusing our set with an earlier prototype, which was probably in a similar cabinet. Ours appears to be a production set rather than a prototype.

A 1945 picture of a similar set

(Courtesy of Jerome Halphen)

Thanks to David Winter for his help in procuring this set