Facts

An early color set with weird inputs. I've seen them before but don't know what they are called. It uses vacuum tubes instead of ICs to run, and is very, very, heavy. It has a very nice wood cabinet with a big speaker. There are many picture adjustments hidden beneath a panel on the front like hsync, vsync, color, contrast, and more. My model does not work (it appears to me that the previous owner purposfully tried to destroy it,) as it is missing a vital vacuum tube that connects to basically everything. Given its age, it could probably use a recap. This is not something I want to do, as the bottom wiring (where most of the caps are) looks like a rat's nest of wiring. Moving on to my conspiracy theory: I think the previous owner tried to destroy the TV. When I found it, there were actually two very similar Zenith models right next to each other on the curb. The backs of both of them had been removed, and it looked like the neck of the tube had been dropped into the ground. On the other model (which I did not take,) this had unfortanately caused the neck to snap. On the one I took, however, this had just caused dirt and grass to get stuck in the pins where the neck socket would be inserted. This tube has not lost its vacuum, as i have turned it on and seen the cathode glow (though no image due to lack of high voltage.) There is also only one vacuum tube missing from the entire TV, and it's not one that would be readily available. It is a vital part of the TV, that is connected to tons of things (specifically the FLYBACK!) and it is hidden behind the flyback. It seems like this tube was purposefully removed due to it being connected to nearly everything. The original power cable was also missing.

How I got it

I had a day off of school (my mom was getting new furniture and wanted help moving it so my brother and I got to stay home) and my mom's friends mom called my mom saying "hey I know one of your sons likes old TVs, I saw one on the side of the road," and then it was quite a while of driving around until we found where it was. As mentioned in the above paragraph, there were two, and I took the one that was in better condition. Because of their age, I immediately assumed neither worked (I was correct,) but eventually got the X4214 home. If you care, the model number of the other one is X4120.

Review

I give this TV a 7/10, despite it not working. It has a very cool design, and is also very easily servicable. There are no screws, just some plastic twisty dealies that let the back fall off. The vacuum tubes are easy to remove, and I like them more than having to desolder components. Its also very new to me and more exciting.