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  #16  
Old 09-25-2015, 07:35 PM
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Go back in a week or two and this will change. My local SA said no TVs without RCA jacks. Went back a few weeks later there were two older TV sets. No RCA jacks. Go figure.
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  #17  
Old 09-25-2015, 08:24 PM
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I have an Insignia 19" flat panel, bought new in 2011. Works fine, going on five years old, not one bit of trouble with it from the day I unpacked it. I don't use it that much, so I'm expecting it will last a while yet. I read somewhere that if a TV set (for example) lasts through its warranty period, it will continue to work well indefinitely.

My set is already well past its two-year warranty and still works very well, so I am not expecting it to give me much if any trouble for at least a while yet. I've read on Insignia's support site of sets that have lasted well beyond the five-year mark, although some sets are beginning to show problems at this point such as lines in the raster, screen half light and half dark or completely dark on one side, and the like. Many flat-panel TVs fail simply because of accidents or even deliberate acts, such as throwing things at the screen in anger (this can and often does happen during football season when a fan gets upset because of a bad call), knocking the set off its stand or falling off a wall mount, power surges, etc., but if a flat panel manages to escape these hazards I don't see why it cannot last at least five years. Many flat screens go bad and are scrapped simply because of defective power supply capacitors, which I understand can make a very loud noise (akin to a bomb going off) when they explode--so when one goes, you will know it. However, replacing the bad capacitors is quite often all that is required to restore a "dead" flat screen to normal operation, although most non-technical folks don't know this and think that when they hear that sound or when the screen goes dark, the TV is worthless from that point forward.
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  #18  
Old 09-25-2015, 08:46 PM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TVTim View Post
Go back in a week or two and this will change. My local SA said no TVs without RCA jacks. Went back a few weeks later there were two older TV sets. No RCA jacks. Go figure.
They probably have a lot of customers that buy the older design sets, plus their inventory was low on TV's.
Better have a few sets on the floor, than none.
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  #19  
Old 09-25-2015, 09:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TVTim View Post
Go back in a week or two and this will change. My local SA said no TVs without RCA jacks. Went back a few weeks later there were two older TV sets. No RCA jacks. Go figure.
With Goodwill it is probably a national corporate decision. I hears someone got hurt handling a CRT set, and that is why they stopped accepting them in 2014....Been almost a year now and the only CRT sets they take or sell are 5" portable sets.....And the occasional random karaoke machine.

If they were sued and lost or settled, they probably will not take CRT sets that are not antique again.

The local SA never seemed to reject any TVs, but they have been gone 1-3 years now....and the others are quite a distance away.
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  #20  
Old 09-27-2015, 07:41 AM
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The Goodwill here still takes in crt sets. They usually have around 10 or so at a time. Prices between 1$ and $15. As for flat panel sets, i imagine one could last awhile if it were not used much but use it every day and watch what happens. They dont hold up like crt sets and they never will. They're simply junk with a price tag thats too much. I've had 3 of them and i wont touch another. Didnt care for them and sold them while i was able too. I read somewhere that theyre made cheaply so they dont last long and theyre not practical to fix so consumers will go back out and buy another. This is how they make money. They income stops rolling in if everybody bought the set they wanted and it lasts 30 years. They know what they're doing.
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  #21  
Old 09-27-2015, 07:26 PM
Phototone Phototone is offline
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I think the real reason for the decline in thrift stores taking CRT TV's, is you can't receive any over-the-air channels without an outboard tuner. Those customers that have $20 for a TV, may not have the $35 to $65 for a ATSC tuner.
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  #22  
Old 09-27-2015, 08:45 PM
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Also, new ATSC tuner boxes are getting hard to find as new items in a local walk-in store. Around my area, everyone had them for a few months. Then, they basically went away. I'm sure that was done on purpose in order to force people into buying a new TV.
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  #23  
Old 09-28-2015, 07:16 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
Also, new ATSC tuner boxes are getting hard to find as new items in a local walk-in store. Around my area, everyone had them for a few months. Then, they basically went away. I'm sure that was done on purpose in order to force people into buying a new TV.
Sorry, but not everything in this world is a conspiracy. Sales went way below sustainable levels years ago, so production stopped and sales continued on existing inventory, which is finally being depleted. Very simple - manufacturers have to recover costs or else close the doors.
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  #24  
Old 09-28-2015, 10:03 PM
Chip Chester Chip Chester is offline
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They're now pretty much a garage sale staple.

Also, the new go-to ATSC tuner solution is the integrated OTA tuner/DVR. Less than a hundred, but records un-encumbered transport streams automagically.

Chip
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  #25  
Old 09-28-2015, 11:30 PM
centralradio centralradio is offline
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Yea .Who wants CRT TV anymore.I found 6 sets including a projection set in one night driving the next town over.

About 3 weeks ago somebody dropped off two CRT sets in front of the Goodwill container in front of the supermarket.I was afraid to touch them and take them away because its like stealing from the poor or getting arrested .

A month ago somebody dropped off a WEGA widescreen CRT set in front of the Goodwill container.

VCR's will be next to be eliminated at the goodwill center.If have already.

Last edited by centralradio; 09-28-2015 at 11:37 PM.
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  #26  
Old 09-29-2015, 01:32 AM
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I havn't seen a tv at a thrift store for a few year's now. Hell, there's no stereo/radio equipment either. No real point for me to go to them anymore. There either throwing the stuff out or selling it online without putting anything on shelfs.
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  #27  
Old 09-30-2015, 12:10 AM
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ATSC->NTSC converter boxes are still around on eBay. I was browsing that site earlier this evening and found several such converters, some without remotes but otherwise complete and operational.

BTW, until I read the posts in this thread, I was not aware that the demand for new converter boxes had decreased so much in recent times, but on the other hand it doesn't surprise me. I see Craig-branded HDTVs advertised for almost dirt-cheap prices in, of all places, the ad flyers for Rite Aid Pharmacy in my area, and other brands of HDTVs are coming down so much in price these days that it hardly makes sense to try to convert an old CRT set to DTV. This makes me think long and hard as well about trying to use one of my CRT sets with a Roku player and a Blu-ray player, which in turn means I may not even attempt such a thing when my current flat set quits--whenever that may be. I think of what jr_tech mentioned in his reply to one of my recent posts on this subject, and he is right on the mark. I do like the sharper, clearer pictures I get from my Roku, cable and DVD on my flat screen TV and probably wouldn't like having to go back to a CRT set, although I may have to for a short time if I must replace the flat set.

For the present time and as long as it works, however, I will enjoy my little Insignia 19" FP, as it still makes an excellent picture and has given me absolutely no trouble in the four years I've owned it. Given the reports I have read online regarding these TVs going bad within months, not years, of initial purchase, I think my set could set a record for longevity; I will just have to wait and see what happens. Many of the failures of these sets I read about on Insignia's support site involve TVs much larger than 19 inches, which leads me to believe that the larger sets are more prone to early failure than smaller ones. I once read somewhere in this very forum, several years ago, of someone who had a 15-year-old Coby flat panel that was still going strong; this was in response to a question I had asked regarding the life span of these sets. In fact, I think it may have been the owner of that 15-year-old Coby FP who told me my set could last that long. I don't use my TV that much, only for an hour or so in the evening to watch the news and, depending on what's on the networks or on cable, a program or two in prime time, although I honestly do not care for most of what is on prime time TV these days; for those times I have my own collection of DVDs and VHS tapes, mostly '60s-'70s TV series, which I watch on occasion, but again, not to excess.

I believe flat screen TVs that are used many hours a day are much more likely to fail early in their lives than sets which are used moderately (as in my case) or hardly at all. That I don't use my set for hours and hours every day may be one reason it has lasted as long as it has.

I'm sure if I did use it eight to ten hours a day or more, the set would have failed by now. The larger FPs will fail sooner than smaller sets because of the higher voltages and currents required to operate the screen, which means more strain on the often underrated components.

In simple terms, I am trying to say that very large flat screens, and by "large" I mean 60 inches and up (this includes the new curved 4K "UHD" sets), are more likely to fail within their warranty period than much smaller sets. I think this is a darn shame, as much as these TVs cost new (I've seen large-screen UHD sets priced very high, upwards of $1000, and Samsung's curved 4K UHD sets, not to mention their S-UHD monsters, can run even higher, depending on where you look).

I also believe that, if a TV (for example) lasts through its warranty period, it will continue to operate well for quite a while afterward. This is why I am not concerned about my own set failing any time soon; after all, the set had a two-year factory warranty, which has long since expired. The set is now in its fifth year of service, and still works every bit as well as it worked the day I unpacked it in August 2011. The TV will actually be five years old in May of this year, as that is the month the set was manufactured.

I have absolutely no idea what brand of capacitors are used in my set's power supply, but since the TV has lasted this long with no problems, I wouldn't be surprised if those caps are Nichicons or some other brand of high-quality capacitor that won't fail within weeks or months of being installed. This is not to say these capacitors, of whatever brand, will never fail; it does mean, however, that whatever brand of caps are in my FP right now have been good enough to last four years, and they could last longer. As little as I use my set, as I mentioned, I would not be surprised if I am still watching it a year or two from now.

The cheap sets found at discount stores, however, are another story. I give those sets six months, a year at most, before they suffer failures that will put them out of commission permanently. At the rates TV repair shops charge just to look at a set before taking the back off, let alone the actual charges for parts and service labor, it is hardly worth having such sets diagnosed, much less repaired--the cost of the diagnosis alone could well equal or even exceed the price of a new set.
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Last edited by Jeffhs; 09-30-2015 at 12:16 AM.
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  #28  
Old 09-30-2015, 07:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut View Post
Sorry, but not everything in this world is a conspiracy. Sales went way below sustainable levels years ago, so production stopped and sales continued on existing inventory, which is finally being depleted. Very simple - manufacturers have to recover costs or else close the doors.
But the result is still the same--once the supply of converter boxes runs out (this includes the ones currently on eBay), people will be forced to get a flat screen TV once their old set quits, whether they like it or not. Let's face it, the age of NTSC 4:3 TV has ended. We are now in the age of digital everything, including television, and there is no turning back.

HDTV is not all bad. I've had a flat screen set for over four years and I like it, a lot (much better picture and more channels than I ever dreamed would have been possible with analog), and my Roku player and Blu-ray DVD make my viewing experience even better yet. (How did I ever get by before HDTV?) One quirk in my personality is that I do not adjust to change easily, but eventually I do, and once I am past that block I'm OK with the changes; this is how I'm dealing with the changes, sometimes one after another, occurring these days in TV technology. The longer I have my flat screen, the more I like it. The only thing I can honestly say I do not like about HDTV is the fact that the sets don't last as long as the old NTSC CRT TVs did.

When my set quits, I may well get a larger one, although since my apartment is quite small, I might decide to get another 19-incher if they are still available. I say this because, with the switch to 4K "ultra-HD" television not far off, the makers of today's flat screens may well stop making 19" and smaller sets altogether. I read somewhere recently that 4K resolution does not display well on 19-inch TVs, if it will display at all, so the 19-inch and smaller flat screens may go the way of the ATSC->NTSC converters eventually, with no new sets of this size being manufactured after a certain date.

For jr_tech: I apologize if my post in which I all but said outright that I was dead-set against HDTV, after stating in another post that I liked the improved picture quality afforded by HDTV over analog NTSC, confused you in any way. As I mentioned above, it is just that I don't adjust to change easily. Now that I have a flat screen, a Blu-ray DVD player and a Roku player, however, I am enjoying television more than I ever did in the days of 4:3 NTSC, and I would probably miss it if it ever reverted to the old standards. Thank heaven the latter will never occur, since time and technology only move forward. One of the opening screens on my Tagital tablet PC, in fact (the last one that shows before the tablet's home screen appears), states "Tablet PC. Keep moving forward." This is what we all must do in this day and age, lest we are hopelessly left behind.
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  #29  
Old 09-30-2015, 07:40 PM
Olorin67 Olorin67 is offline
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my TV viewing is still exclusively 4:3 standard def... but I'm definitley in the minority, I havnet had cable since 1998...just use VHS and DVD. Just before the local Goodwills stopped taking TVs i got a Sony 32" CRT high def set for $10 (still 4:3) but I don't have a digital video source to hook up to it yet. takes up a lot of space though, I may get rid of it once I get one of my vintage tube color sets up and going.
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  #30  
Old 09-30-2015, 09:09 PM
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... have never been fortunate enough to find anything worth rescuing at a GW
... seldom stop there anymore ... have seen nothing but useless stuff people can not get rid of in a yard sale the last few times I did stop in

... here is a story from the local ABC station

http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/Goo...330190761.html
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