Following the release of the Sinclair Microvision MTV1 (or TV1A) in 1977, Sinclair Radionics continued to work on developing a true pocket-sized television. In December 1978 the MTV1B was brought out in the UK for the much lower price of £99.95.

The smaller unit also had a 2-inch screen, and was powered by four 1.5v AA batteries, or 6v DC mains supply. It lacked the VHF tuner so was not available in the US until the TV1C was developed for the US market. The TV1D was also developed for the European market.

However, the MTV1B was not as successful as hoped. Sinclair Radionics were struggling at the time due to the failure of the Black Watch, and low sales of the micro televisions. The National Enterprise Board (NEB) had been injecting money into the company since the mid-1970s. By Spring 1979 the NEB had invested nearly £7 million, and decided it would not invest any more money, but would try to work on improve the successful parts of the business. However by the summer the NEB had decided to split Sinclair Radionics into three parts, and Clive Sinclair left the company to set up Science of Cambridge. The manufacturing rights for the MTV1B/TV1B were sold to Binatone. By January 1980 Sinclair Radionics no longer existed.

Clive Sinclair would continue to work on pocket televisions, and in 1983, Sinclair Research, his company at the time, produced the TV80/FTV1.

This example in our collection was donated by Chris Wilding, a former employee of Sinclair Radionics. It does not have the label on the bottom of the unit that production models feature. On its frequency tuner it also has a MHz radio scale, which is something Sinclair were looking at adding to increase sales of the Microvision. The radio had the same FM tuner design, including the same transistors, as a previously discontinued hi-fi tuner. However, it was never sold with the added radio feature.