Reading up on the 2009 digital "conversion" lately (not exactly crazy about it; don't get me started) has led to an interesting thought. Many of us make a lot of our old tv finds at the local thrift stores and similar places. Well the "warning" disclaimers have already started showing up attached to the older tvs in many of these places; I would almost take a guess that, come 2009, many of the thrift stores will simply be dumping the "obsolete" tvs that come in, rather than putting them on the shelves only to sit for extended periods of time. I wonder if it's better to stock up now on the good finds that we come across, or will there be a huge surplus of stuff for free/extremely cheap (on the roadside, etc.) once the deadline comes? I'm just afraid that anything that even looks remotely old will end up being tossed in the dumpster before it even has a chance to land on the shelves, due to being "unusable" in the minds of much of the population. Any thoughts?

Reading up on the 2009 digital "conversion" lately (not exactly crazy about it; don't get me started) has led to an interesting thought. Many of us make a lot of our old tv finds at the local thrift stores and similar places. Well the "warning" disclaimers have already started showing up attached to the older tvs in many of these places; I would almost take a guess that, come 2009, many of the thrift stores will simply be dumping the "obsolete" tvs that come in, rather than putting them on the shelves only to sit for extended periods of time. I wonder if it's better to stock up now on the good finds that we come across, or will there be a huge surplus of stuff for free/extremely cheap (on the roadside, etc.) once the deadline comes? I'm just afraid that anything that even looks remotely old will end up being tossed in the dumpster before it even has a chance to land on the shelves, due to being "unusable" in the minds of much of the population. Any thoughts?

My advice would be to stock up NOW! Around here; the thrift stores (mostly church or charity related) are real picky about the used TV's they will accept because they don't want to get stuck with something broken or even a working set that may sit on the shelf six months before someone buys it. I asked the lady that runs one of the shops to please call me if anything old comes in and she said she would. I asked a guy at another shop and he was a real smart @_ _ and told me they would not have time to call me for every broke piece of junk they found and that it would go to the trash. There will probably still be elderly people that have older sets on hand because they may not have the means to dispose of the things. I have run ads in the paper offering free pickup of non working TV's and most of the replies I get from such ads are from the elderly. Even with the ads; I have not picked up a tube set in several years. The oldest sets I find are usually from the '80's. The '90's were a different story. I got sets from '50's B&W's to modern sets. I could just kick myself for not hanging on to some of those older sets. All I can do now is start searching again and promise to do better at keeping some of the stuff I find. Oh, and don't get me started on the digital conversion, either...

In the early 90s I was dragging home tube tv's by the truckload. The key was that those sets were still worth something. Not much, mind you, but you could set up a table at the flea market or haul a load to the auction and somebody would buy them. Every ramshackle used furniture store could be counted on to have one or two in the back. As the prices dropped on new sets the old stuff rapidly went worthless. And the point is well taken: if we think they are "worthless" now, just wait a couple years. There is going to be an avalanche of 80s/90s sets-and newer. This is an era that doesn't interest me-yet. Someday I'll probably wish I had some of that 80s stuff. As for older gear, there is going to be less and less of it coming out of the woodwork. Very, very few people could be left out there using a tube set as a daily driver. Most of the stuff still around exists because it is too much trouble to throw out. I suspect when the deadline gets here local governments will have large electronics recycling drives. Colortraks and System 3's will be hauled away by the tractor trailer load, never to be seen again.

There probably will be a mass-dumping of old TVs, but here in CA, I bet they will get sold to Mexico. Already, Mexican brokers come to all the TV shops with big trucks, and pay $10 for later model TVs that can be taken to Mexico, fixed & sold. '

In places where that isn't happening, I bet there will be TV all over the alleys and curbs. But here's another thought that might not be as sad: The old roundies are already out of use, and stored in basements, barns & garages where they probably will sit, unaffected by the change. It's the (worthless) 3-4 year old sets presently in livingrooms that will be the dumping victims.

Charles

In the early 90s I was dragging home tube tv's by the truckload. ...


I wonder what happened to all the 60's color portables that used to be EVERYWHERE. These days I see more roundies, and 50's B/W portables. Even 50's color sets show up on ebay pretty often. I've seen several 40's sets (that were too big for my apartment) at estate sales since I moved to CA, but not a single 60's RCA color portable that used to be so common. When I was a kid in the 80's and early 90's, that was pretty much all I found at yard sales and the side of the road. I'm hoping to find a few nice examples of these before they're all gone (if they aren't already).

my thoughts exactly andy. The roundies are much more common to find now as far as vintage color sets go.

Those color portables and table models do not appeal to anyone. The consoles are still around as their owners liked the cabinets so much and couldnt throw them away. Thats why I find them from time to time. Besides, the portable/table sets were easy to throw away as they were easy to move and they didnt mean anything to the owner as it had no other function other than being a TV. I think we might be the only people who could still appriciate a broken table TV and justify keeping it around!

Heres a perfect example, last weekend I was at estate sales and found a zenith 4 tube hybrid. It was NOT found at an estate sale though! I found it in a dumpster a few doors down from the house. Someone basically cleared out the entire contents of the home into a large dumpster in front of the house. Amazingly the set was at the top of the dumpster, thats how I spotted it. I could not belive it! that set could have easily been at the bottom of the dumpster and never known it and would have been gone forever. If I wasnt there to save it last saterday, that would have been yet another smashed and gone table TV. It did suffer dumpster damage though, the antennas and antenna mounts broke off the cabinet as it was tossed in and the set landed on its back against some wood chairs. It was also out in the rain but dry when found it as it was very hot last saterday. If the darn guy would have had an estate sale instead, it would have been a nice undamaged find. I get very angry when I see people basically throw everything in a home into a dumpster. So much nice stuff is junked. Its a shame. Go figure though, Zenith 4 tuber still works!

my thoughts exactly andy. The roundies are much more common to find now as far as vintage color sets go.

Those color portables and table models do not appeal to anyone. The consoles are still around as their owners liked the cabinets so much and couldnt throw them away. Thats why I find them from time to time. Besides, the portable/table sets were easy to throw away as they were easy to move and they didnt mean anything to the owner as it had no other function other than being a TV. I think we might be the only people who could still appriciate a broken table TV and justify keeping it around!

Heres a perfect example, last weekend I was at estate sales and found a zenith 4 tube hybrid. It was NOT found at an estate sale though! I found it in a dumpster a few doors down from the house. Someone basically cleared out the entire contents of the home into a large dumpster in front of the house. Amazingly the set was at the top of the dumpster, thats how I spotted it. I could not belive it! that set could have easily been at the bottom of the dumpster and never known it and would have been gone forever. If I wasnt there to save it last saterday, that would have been yet another smashed and gone table TV. It did suffer dumpster damage though, the antennas and antenna mounts broke off the cabinet as it was tossed in and the set landed on its back against some wood chairs. It was also out in the rain but dry when found it as it was very hot last saterday. If the darn guy would have had an estate sale instead, it would have been a nice undamaged find. I get very angry when I see people basically throw everything in a home into a dumpster. So much nice stuff is junked. Its a shame. Go figure though, Zenith 4 tuber still works!

The last 4-tube hybrid I saw around here was at the dump. The sad part was that the "sledge hammer crew" had already gotten to it before I did. They busted the back in, smashed the tube, and robbed the yoke. There are a group of idiots that go around busting up discarded TV's for the copper. That Zenith probably worked before they got to it. I would have given them more money for the set had they left it alone than the few cents the copper would have brought. Makes me so mad I could just cuss...

I'm guilty of sending more than a few RCA portables to the dump when I was a kid. It's ironic that I'm now looking for some to save. I guess I'm nostalgic for some of the things that got me interested in electronics.