Hey there... My name is Charles Passy and I'm a feature writer for the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fl.

I'm doing a story about, well, my TV -- a 25-inch Sharp Linytron console TV that I purchased in 1986 (for the then pricey sum of $399) and that has continued to serve me well through today. Great picture, only has broken down once, the thing is a rock.

But I recently succumbed to the lure of new technology and bought a 50-inch plasma. I can't bear the thought of departing with my beloved Sharp.

All this has got me thinking why a TV can last 21 years and still have a great picture while so many other consumer electronics products I've purchased have died within years, if not months! Is this what they call planned obsolesence? Or did I just get lucky with my Sharp? Or were those Linytrons really known to be amazing TVs? (From what I read on a message board here, they're not supposed to be all that great, actually.)

In any case, I'm looking to interview electronics fanatics, old TV fanatics or just anyone with an old TV who might have a similar story to tell. If you can enlighten me as to why old TVs (or old electronics in general) might be better, I'd really be grateful. (Or if you can explain how I just got lucky, so be it). So far as I can tell, audiokarma is about the only site where these kind of matters are discussed.

If you'd like to talk, feel free to email me at my work address ([email protected]) or call me at (561) 820-4589. I'd enjoy hearing from folks.

If you'd just like to sound off on this message board, I'm also glad to hear any thoughts, but since I'm not much of a technophile, I'd love to do a few phone interviews.

Thanks!

Posting this message on the board 5 times will not get you 5 times the responses. Please do not do that again...

Posting this message on the board 5 times will not get you 5 times the responses. Please do not do that again...

I was wondering what the hell was going on!

Just figured I might be dealing with different audiences for TV and audio and general matters. No harm intended. My apologies.

In my house; we have two '94 13" Sharp TV's, a mid '80's Sony 19" TV, a 13" '86 KTV with rotary tuner, and a '76 19" Zenith Chromacolor II with rotary tuner. All of these are in working order and I plan to use them as long as they can be repaired. When analog TV gets cut off; I'll obtain some converter boxes and go right on. I collect old radio's and TV's as a hobby and, for the most part, find the older products superior to the new junk. I'm currently trying to restore a 25" '74 Zenith space command color console TV. The chassis (25EC58) in that monster is made of steel with a great deal of point-to-point wiring (similar to the old tube type sets). What circuit boards are used are actually small plug in modules that plug in the top of the main chassis. There is actually not much wrong with the set (just need to find the time to get back on it). OTOH, the newer imported garbage is built on a cheap printed circuit board with cheap "under rated" parts, and, often poor soldering. In many cases, these newer sets are not meant for repair. If they die under warranty, you may be able to get it replaced or repaired through the manufacturer. If the warranty expires, forget it! I've heard several horror stories about people purchasing expensive ($1K+) TV's just to find out that parts are not available when the set dies after a year or two. Many of the older sets are easier to find parts for because the components used in the older sets are more generic in nature. The newer sets use more speciallized parts that are designed for a particular chassis. It goes without saying that I'm not one to buy the most modern TV because of it's "looks" or because the industry says it's the "latest" technology. I'm sure my older sets will still be going when the majority of LCD, DLP, Plasma, or "whatever" is in the dump.

May I first comment on a pet peeve? I'm hoping that since you are a writer, maybe you & I can help stomp out the incorrect usage of the term...

Planned Obsolesence does NOT mean "planned lifespan", or that a part is designed to fail after a certain time period. It means that after a few years, you'll be "shamed" into buying a new model. Most often, it is applied to automobiles, but to a degree it holds true for any consumer product. When automobiles improved to the point of NOT wearing-out fast enough to force consumers to buy another, (1930s), styling became the motivator for a purchase.

As to the TV sets...

I have some "modern" sets like a 70s & 90s Zenith* simply because the color picture rendered is superior (if admittedly smaller) to what I've seen on LCD/Plasma/etc sets. Beyond a certain size, the picture just looks like garbage no matter what the format is. I won't trade off picture quality for size, but I acknowledge that puts me in the minority. I also refuse to support a slave-labor economy or communist state, so that effectively puts me out of the new TV market.

I have the older (40s/50s/60s) sets because I appreciate the craftsmanship, and visual beauty involved in their build. I also enjoy the challenge of squeezing every last bit of picture quality out of them that I can.

*For the "TV novice", you should know that as highly regarded as Zenith products were from the early 20s to late 80s, they turned into pure sh&t around 1993. So don't take my statement to mean "they were all good".

Edit: wrong post!

Short -n- sweet.

1. Made in China (to a price-point). Not necessarily 'planned' obsolescence, but poorly made to begin with. Engineers who design things are, in general, pretty proud of their work, and would like to see it last. The actual execution of that design, however, is rarely what the engineer had in mind.

2. Complexity. Simple designs = longevity. Complex designs = more things to go wrong.

The state of consumer electronics and manufacturing in general has gone down the tubes, basically. The industry has gotten into the mode of companies trying to undercut each other in pricing rather than come out with quality products. The dramatic rise of importers bringing in loads of off-brand Chinese junk (as opposed to name-brand Chinese junk--it's nearly all made in China now) without any concern other than failing out of warranty asn't helped. You can take a look at almost any newer electronic unit and see where corners have been cut.

Consumers seem to be playing along, I regularly hear people talking about how they only need their TV or washing machine to last a couple years as long as it's cheap in the first place. I was actually in Sears a couple years ago and the salesman told me their $40 DVD player would only last a couple months--he was right, by the way.

Along with reductions in cost, the higher tech of today's electronics require the use of lots of integrated circuit packages and robot-assembled parts. These rarely can be repaired at all, and replacement parts are usually sold only as large assemblies. Whether it's intentionally or not they often cost more than the entire device.

Something else you don't hear talked about a lot is the actual manufacturing process. EU laws banned lead, so now most electronics are made with lead-free solder. It doesn't hold up well and can't be easily repaired.

I have a 20 inch Toshiba built in 1986 that only needed a fuse aand is still going strong. I also have a 32 inch sony built in 1987 that had a manufacturing defect that I was told by an old time tv repairman that it was worth fixing for $128. It would go on for another twenty years he said. he couldn't find the board it needed so he rebuilt i9t down to the board replacing surface mount chips etc. I have a dlp projector that i am happy with, but still like the old crt's better. My two teenage sons also agree when we look at tv's in the stores. Today's electronics are throwaways because they are designed not to last or not cheap to repair. We live in a throwaway society. i picked up a sony mini component system that someone tossed because a disc was stuck inside. I find that to reduce costs many circuits rely on one another where there were beefier power supplies heftier components and discrete circuits. One part blows and takes the whole board with it. I have an older cd player that no one wanted becuase it was old, but it was still going strong when many newer units broke within a year.Many of the members like the older stereo equipment for the same reason.

Ever notice the wording on your new toys Remember when they thanked you for your purchase and how it would give you years of enjoyment? I had a product that once wrote hours of enjoyment for an electronic device rather than years.

I recently bought a new TV. Not a big-screen plasma type, but the top-of-the-line Bang & Olufsen from about twelve years ago. Why did I do this? Several reasons:

(1) A reasonably big screen (approx. 30 "), even if not as big as the newest flat screens. When I want to watch really BIG screen TV, I use a projector, whose projected image exceeds the size of any flat screen by a couple of feet.
(2) A great picture quality: colors look accurate and rich, and it is pleasant to watch.
(3) A surprisingly good sound from a TV (although I usually listen through a home-theater system)
(4) Very good, solid build quality. This TV with its metal frame weighs 102 pounds, and barring accidents should last for several decades with only occasional preventive maintenance or repairs.
(5) If and when repairs are needed, they can be done by me or any technically capable person, at home, relatively easily and for low cost. Good design makes it a relatively easy TV to work on.
(6) Longevity. I see more and more flat-screen televisions being scrapped, even though they are only a few years old. I conservatively expect the B&O to last around 30, perhaps 40 years. The screens on flat-panel TVs have much shorter lifespans than CRT tubes, typicallly around ten years, as opposed to 30-40 years. When the screens on flat-panels start to go bad, most of the time they are irrepairable, and then the entire TV must be scrapped.
(7) My TV is an almost iconic design "classic" that will always find a market not only as a television, but as a decorative item of modern (or gradually retro-modern) decor.
(8) I paid only US$100 for this TV, used. Amortized over a decade or two or three, my television is so cheap it approaches being free. Compare that with the prices of the new flat-screen televisions, especially when you figure that you'd buy several of them over the lifespan of the B&O (or similar CRT-type) TV.

I'm not against the new flat-screens at all. I just think I got much better value buying what I did. The money I saved is buying me more vintage audio gear. Unlike TVs, where there are trade-offs and in several ways (most notably screen size) the newer models are better than older ones, with audio gear there is little question that the older gear is actually better than all but perhaps the most expensive new stuff.

I still have and use a 1989 RCA Colortrack 2000 console Television. I think it was one of the first RCA models to have a S-Video input. After doing a tune-up on the guns (Focus in the corners, sharpness, etc) it still has a picture that will keep up to a new CRT, and in some cases blows it away. The stereo amplifier isn't a powerhouse, but the preamp line outs are excellent.

I've looked at new Televisions, but so far they just don't seem to turn my crank so to speak. The one's that did it for me cost $4K +, which is kinda ridiculous.

I agree with another poster that we live in a disposable society, and it kinda makes me sick. Nothing today seems to have any value, since it's cheaper to buy another than have your existing (put your product here) repaired, unless you have a antique radio from the 1930's, or a Integrated Amp or Receiver built in the 70's to late 80's. New audio and video (with exceptions) are piss-poorly made, look cheap, feel cheap, and they don't last.

Gimme a sunbeam toaster made in 1969 anyday!

Look back at what television and radio were to most people years ago. They were treasured household posessions that connected us to the world at large, brought the family together (when there was only one tv in the house) and was an integral part of the home decor. Today's sets are mere appliances. They have no asthetic quality. They are all black or silver boxes. There are no more wood cabinets in various furniture styles. The craftsmanship that inspires pride in design and build has been replaced by automated assembly.

Look also at how television sets were advertised. In the '50s through '70s, cabinet beauty, reliability and often ease of service were considered selling points. Sets were advertised in all sorts of mainstream periodicals and reliability and longevity are often the only key points depicted in the ads. People bought sets based on the need for fewer repairs, build quality and brand reputation. Today purchase decisions are based on two factors, price and screen size. Who makes it, how it's built, cabinet style, reliability are seldom considered.

I have found that when properly restored, my vintage tv and radio sets will outlive anything made today. A tube table radio from 1947 is better built, simpler to service and requires fewer repairs compared to a fancy digital table radio. For example, the much lauded CC radio is known for having problems with button and display failures. A display failure on an antique radio means you just have to replace a dial light.

It is true that a tube tv will need more frequent servicing than a modern solid state set. The real difference, however, is that the modern sets suffer from a lack of available parts. They are just not expected to be serviced, therefore parts support is minimal at best. The generic, descrete components in tube tv sets makes them far more serviceable over the long run. I expect to be able to keep my 1965 21" Zenith round tube color console working for at least another twenty to thirty years. That may seem overly optimistic but I believe it is possible.

Today's sets could be made just well and just as serviceable as sets of yesteryear but there is no profit in it and that level of pride in workmanship no longer exists.

Well said, Compucat !

The whole industry is so greedy it seems. Build the equipment as cheaply as possible, and still sell it for a nice chunk of money. I'm talking about tv's especially by this statement. My sony wega 27fs120 cost a little over 400 bucks in 2004, and after the first month was going into IK shutdown. They give the consumer the illusion that the tv is high-quality, meanwhile large numbers of em break down right after warranty runs-out. Throw in misleading specs for amplifier's power outputs and we are dealing with a scam of sorts. Unless of course you know better, which unfortunately many consumers do not. It's not their fault. Same as the people who bought up the early 90s Zenith's with the faulty guns, since their old Zenith lasted 25 years! Things change, and we must move with the times, but I hereby refuse to spend any money on junky, disposable electronics. I see everyone around here buying tv/dvd combos because they are such a deal; Beachradios that can't pick up any stations; etc...Then when they stop working right they buy the exact one again new,since they are so cheap. Gimme a transoceanic!!!

Modern business models don't take pride into account. Pride in your work isn't "efficient". Today, if you take pride in what you're doing, you'll likely be shown the front door and be outsourced. If you take pride in your work in some other countries, you're just shot dead and replaced.

I travel for a living, all over the country. I do it in a 1991 Chevy Corvette on which I've racked up 230,000 miles and counting. Its predecessor, a 1984 Corvette, I put 207,000 miles on and then traded it up, still running strong. I'm sure it's still out there. The people who design the Corvette still take pride in their work. The Bowling Green, Kentucky plant is the last American car company. No doubt someday they'll be made in China too, but until then they're built like a rock and run forever (and look great doing it), because fiberglass doesn't rust and titanium doesn't rust or bend, and aluminum doesn't rust and doesn't weigh anything. They run forever because they've got a slow-thumping big-block V8 running cool, instead of trying to squeeze blood out of a 3-cylinder at 9000 RPM with a turbo and half-a-million lines of code in an overheated computer. Plan B is cheaper and more efficient (and disposable). Plan A is pride in your work.

Unfortunately, most people would rather buy a Hyundai (or a Chery or a Geely) and throw it away after two years or whenever it breaks, whichever comes first. Like we didn't learn anything from the Yugo.

I'm sure they made some crap in the 50's and 60's too, but it's long gone. What's left to today's collectors are the "corvettes" of the day. Zenith roundie '60s color sets. 50's RCA consoles, or better yet the DuMonts, Capeharts, Stromberg-Carlsons of the late 40's or early 50's. Pride, overbuilt like tanks, last forever. And look good doing it. The same is true of radios and cars and audio gear and electric guitars too. If I can make one observation, I'd just say that the pride-to-crap ratio has steadily declined over the last half century, just so subliminally that nobody notices until suddenly a newspaper reporter is asking why a TV set should last more than a year.

This summer my Corvette broke a serpentine-belt tensioner. The original one lasted sixteen years. I bought a foreign-made replacement part that had a 90-day warranty. It lasted 91 days. Because some Operations Researcher optimized all the costs and materials and outsourced the labor and got the part made two-cents cheaper than humanly possible and thereby just made it last out the warranty, which is all the staff of lawyers said it had to do. Nice work. Nice profit margin. Great quarterly-earnings report to the shareholders. Pat him on the back. The first belt tensioner was made with pride in Kentucky. The difference between the two tensioners I think really tells you all you need to know to write a good article. TVs or toasters or whatever. IMHO.

Why cant we standardize IC's like we did with tubes? it would be great to actually have an industry group that would establish identification numbers for common IC's, that could be used by all major manufacturers. Having them mounted onto a removable socket like a computer processor would also be a great thing for the service industry. Sets would be more serviceable with interchangeable parts and replaceable semiconductors.

If I were to design a tv chassis today, I would mount the pc board(s) to a metal frame. Boards or modules would be interconnected with cables and plugs like those used in computers. Heat generating components like transformers, power resistors, power transistors, etc would be mounted to the metal frame and wired to the board for better heat dissipation. ICs would all be socketed for ease of replacement and descrete components used where possible. Tact switches would be high quality and able to withstand millions of cycles before getting mushy and failing.

Cabinets would be made of attractive, durable materials and threaded bushings would be used to receive screws so as not to strip wood or plastic threads. Brushed aluminum with anodized finishes would be used for trim with the brand name proudly displayed in elegant lettering. Also, I'd put decent speakers in the set with at least a five watt amplifier with tone controls.

Even the remote would be made of brushed anodized aluminum with chrome buttons.

I think I got back into old electronics because I have been burned on newer sets. Instead of flipping burgers while in school, I worked at a TV shop. Not only is it something to do, restoring protects somebody's investment. I like seeing something that hasn't worked in years light up again after I recap it. Our tube sets will outlast this modern junk easily.

I tried to fix a 90's era Zenith and failed miserably. This was before I had internet access. The net is how I found out about the bad tubes Zenith was making.

I feel some quality issues with the major manufacturers during the tube and early solid state era contributed. Zenith lost a ton of cash because of safety caps that failed to open. This caused the high voltage to triple and would burn a hole in the CRT. Flybacks in RCA color sets were coated with the same material they used for the BW sets. These are notorious for burnthrough. This is correctable if caught as it happens. These are just examples.

I choose tube sets because they can be serviced, and most importantly, because I can do it.

Why cant we standardize IC's like we did with tubes? it would be great to actually have an industry group that would establish identification numbers for common IC's, that could be used by all major manufacturers. Having them mounted onto a removable socket like a computer processor would also be a great thing for the service industry. Sets would be more serviceable with interchangeable parts and replaceable semiconductors.

I agree. It's now to the point where you are likely to see a certain IC type used in a certain chassis only. When the IC fails; you'll probably be up a creek trying to find one. I heard that RCA has a chassis with the microprocessor and the jungle built into one chip. I think the days of socket mounted IC's in TV's are gone since the TV's are not meant to be fixed in the first place & the fact that adding sockets would exceed the budget. BTW, I remember the older solid state sets that used more generic plug in IC's, plug in transistors, plug in modules, etc. The main problem this caused was the socket becoming dirty and causing poor contact.

Our last TV was a Phillips 27" from around 2003. The Horizontal deflection circuitry began to fail last summer. When we chucked the set, the tube still tested at 100% on all three guns on my b&k 465. Nowadays, picture tubes outlast the rest of the set.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RCCG83JWL._AA280_.jpg

I use whatever TV I can get for free or almost free.

Right now I use a 22" JVC (around 1994) that I found in the trash about 7 years ago. Fixed a bad solder joint and it's worked fine ever since.

Our last TV was a Phillips 27" from around 2003. The Horizontal deflection circuitry began to fail last summer. When we chucked the set, the tube still tested at 100% on all three guns on my b&k 465. Nowadays, picture tubes outlast the rest of the set.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RCCG83JWL._AA280_.jpg


All that was probably wrong with that set was an electrolytic cap in the horizontal drive circuit. There is a cap that will fail and cause all sorts of horizontal deflection problems and this cap will take out the HOT if not replaced. I think you can buy the kit for about $5 or $6 that contains the HOT, a couple of electrolytic caps, and a couple of transistors that fail in these sets.

All that was probably wrong with that set was an electrolytic cap in the horizontal drive circuit. There is a cap that will fail and cause all sorts of horizontal deflection problems and this cap will take out the HOT if not replaced. I think you can buy the kit for about $5 or $6 that contains the HOT, a couple of electrolytic caps, and a couple of transistors that fail in these sets.

My father is one of those, IM NOT PUTTING MY MONEY INTO CRAP!!!!!111 kinda guys. So, he goes out and buys new crap...

I think one issue is that in the "old" days you could not make a functional color TV cheaply even if you wanted to...maybe a Portacolor was relatively cheap, but to make a console it took a lot of raw materials. Plus, I don't think as many foreign factories (in areas where labor is cheaper) were technologically advanced enough to build products such as TV's.
Since almost all TV's were more expensive to make, I think people expected it to be more of a high-cost item and there was more room for a higher level of craftsmanship.

Why cant we standardize IC's like we did with tubes? it would be great to actually have an industry group that would establish identification numbers for common IC's, that could be used by all major manufacturers. Having them mounted onto a removable socket like a computer processor would also be a great thing for the service industry. Sets would be more serviceable with interchangeable parts and replaceable semiconductors.

You'd be surprised that there is a fair amount of standardization among ICs. If you crack open a dozen cheap DVD players (that were actually made by different companies), you'll probably only find 3 or 4 different DVD decoder ICs. A lot of DVD players use IDE DVD-ROM drives which can be replaced with a standard computer drive.

Large ICs are the price we pay for things like DVD and HDTV. If you built them out of 1980's technology a DVD player would be the size of a dishwasher. I was reminded of this today when I worked on a 1986 Panasonic H-Fi VCR (you can get one for $45 today, but they were $1000 back then). They actually had to make the chassis larger than their regular VCRs to hold all the extra electronics needed for the stereo audio. The board that does the Hi-Fi audio is as big as the entire main board for a VCR just 6 years newer. That newer VCR's Hi-Fi board is the size of a credit card.

Fortunately, those huge custom ICs rarely fail. In fact, today's big ICs are far more reliable than the ICs from a few decades ago. That's amazing when you consider that they are 1000 times more complex now.

Sockets seem like a good idea, but the sockets are almost always less reliable than the ICs in them. Reliable IC sockets are expensive and rarely get used in consumer electronics.

I can't remember the last time I junked something because it needed a big IC. Big ICs get blamed a lot, but it's almost always something simple like a bad cap, or bad soldering.

I hate cheap junk as much as anyone, but that's what happens as technology matures. I'm sure people said the same thing about 1960's AM radios compared to 1930's ones. Fortunately, we have a choice. We can choose to own items that were made when they were still high-tech and people took pride in them.

You'd be surprised that there is a fair amount of standardization among ICs. If you crack open a dozen cheap DVD players (that were actually made by different companies), you'll probably only find 3 or 4 different DVD decoder ICs. A lot of DVD players use IDE DVD-ROM drives which can be replaced with a standard computer drive.

Large ICs are the price we pay for things like DVD and HDTV. If you built them out of 1980's technology a DVD player would be the size of a dishwasher. I was reminded of this today when I worked on a 1986 Panasonic H-Fi VCR (you can get one for $45 today, but they were $1000 back then). They actually had to make the chassis larger than their regular VCRs to hold all the extra electronics needed for the stereo audio. The board that does the Hi-Fi audio is as big as the entire main board for a VCR just 6 years newer. That newer VCR's Hi-Fi board is the size of a credit card.

Fortunately, those huge custom ICs rarely fail. In fact, today's big ICs are far more reliable than the ICs from a few decades ago. That's amazing when you consider that they are 1000 times more complex now.

Sockets seem like a good idea, but the sockets are almost always less reliable than the ICs in them. Reliable IC sockets are expensive and rarely get used in consumer electronics.

I can't remember the last time I junked something because it needed a big IC. Big ICs get blamed a lot, but it's almost always something simple like a bad cap, or bad soldering.

I hate cheap junk as much as anyone, but that's what happens as technology matures. I'm sure people said the same thing about 1960's AM radios compared to 1930's ones. Fortunately, we have a choice. We can choose to own items that were made when they were still high-tech and people took pride in them.

As far as sockets go, i was thinking more along the lines of the locking ZIF sockets used for computer processors. It may be pointless for something like a $20 walmart DVD player, but not for a $2400 1080P Sony LCD panel
http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/CDE/_ZIF.JPG

Putting sockets back on PCBA's is actually going back 10-20 years. I witnessed all the sockets go away on many products I used to work on. Most consumer gear uses a mix of LCC, PLCC, SOIC and BGA (replaces the PGA socket above) footprints for cost savings. Ever try de-soldering this stuff? Anyone know when you've correctly replaced a BGA part? The rat-race to the bottom has resulted in PCBA's that really aren't worth the effort to fix, and I can't even do those 2mm resistors without a microscope, let alone a good set of soldering pincers; the days of using your soldering gun are gone.

We have to expect cheaper and cheaper products simply because that is the way to greater economic gains for those who have the money invested. The fact our cub reporter needs to take away from this is simple. The juggernaut we are faced with will not stop at any reasonable point, and it's not limited to televisions or DVD players or even game consoles, every 6-year-old's next iPod will have to be affordable and durable. if you thought the 1980's My First Sony campaign was aggressive, wait until My First iPhone comes along. We will have cradle-to-grave marketing of silicon until WWIII reduces us back to sanity.

A lot of good stuff here! Well, there are many issues a play.

Once, most consumer electronics used to be sold by independent operators-little TV shops, smaller department stores & furnture stores, plus locally operated (sometimes locally owned) stores like Western Auto and the little catalog stores of Sears & Wards. There was a lot of markup involved and a tv set was a big investment. In many places, store owners were a part of the community. Gradually, though, big boxes took over. Partly they did it by cutting out the middleman (the distributor) and selling the sets to the public for about what the independent stores were buying them for. I doubt, today, that a small time operator could buy sets from a wholesaler for a price much different than what Wal*Mart sells them for. This has driven a steady deflation in prices of electronics and also most major appliances. The price of a 19" color tv has steadily dropped since the 60s, while the product grew much more advanced. It is debatable as to how much better the new set is, but in many respects it is a better set. Now, a TV set built like the Sharp that was mentioned...even a set like that, today, would be overpriced. They have cheapened the construction since then. Look at something like a 1972 Zenith solid state set, or a Motorola Quasar "works in a drawer" set-those were expensive to build-how much would they cost today? A horizontal chassis solid state Zenith might cost over a thousand dollars, compared to a "Changchong" at Wal*Mart that sells for under $100. Thing is that the general public is not that perceptive of quality to pay ten times more for the better crafted set. As others have said, reliablity/quality is not on their minds when they make the purchase. There were a number of "quality houses" that dissapeared from the tv business long, long ago-the orginal DuMont, Stromberg-Carlson, Andrea, etc. As far back as the fifties they found themselves struggling to keep afloat in the market because their products, as nice as they were, didn't do that much more than did a cheap Muntz. Which brings this point: TV sets became a commodity. It started to happen as far back as the 50s. By the middle of that decade a black and white tv was about as good as it was going to get. It took a lot longer for color to reach that stage, but certainly it had by the eighties. It didn't matter, by the time the Sharp was built, which brand you bought. They were all good. They all had a good color picture. Once the public notices that a Chevy drives the same as an Oldsmobile people stop paying more for the name. Once people discovered that a Zenith doesn't do anything that a Changchong can't do, well, Zenith was in trouble.

My father is one of those, IM NOT PUTTING MY MONEY INTO CRAP!!!!!111 kinda guys. So, he goes out and buys new crap...


Sad refrain...on a similar set.

A guy who is involved with my radio club told me last year that he heard of a school that was tossing a bunch of those 32" philips sets. He got one out of the trash, took it home and was not sure of the problem. I told him about the drive cap and the transistor it sometimes kills, and what to get to fix the set. He later told me I was right...and he had made a deal to get a BUNCH of those sets from the custodian of the school BEFORE they hit the dumpster, for fixing one or two for him. Last I heard, he had fixed a couple for the guy with the cap and maybe the transistor , and was now going to get a number of them to fix and "flip" for himself. Most likely ALL of them will have the same problem. It is unfortunate tha the school decided to trash them and buy new flat screen sets--when he could have fixed their old ones a lot cheaper, and MORE reliably than the disposable flat screen LCD sets!!

I have a 1982 Zenith System 3 that is a daily watcher since we get her in 1983. Just think, I was a 16 year old sophomore in high school when we bought it and now I'm 41 and still watch the same TV. I think it is sad we live in a disposable society where if the TV breaks, get a new one. Inside every TV are parts made from Mother Earth, some of them rare metals, some of them toxic to the environment. We need to get back to a fixable item and recycle parts that are still usuable. Earlier this year, I went "dumpster diving" and brought home a console stereo CD player, a GE model made in 1984. The only thing wrong with it is that the CD tray does not eject, reason, the original belt is worn out. If I order a new one or use a rubber band as a stopgap, I'm back in business. Yet, it was tossed because of it.

I think the "bottom line" in today's business world is hurting us, we lost our factories to Mexico and more often, Red China. I might be getting a little political here but I believe we are committing national suicide by sending our money to Red China as we buy their products and one day, it will come back and hurt us big time. Already, Red China holds a lot of bonds and if they call them in, our economy is sunk (although it is already). Although this has gone on a long time, I think between the Clintons and the Bushes, both have sold out the average American and has bankrupted this nation. We don't have a value added economy anymore, just a service one that pushes the money around like a game of Monopoly. Plus most jobs that are left are ones that pay a lower wage than the ones we lost and there are times the workers cannot buy what they make or would have made because they don't have enough money. We are seeing this with the General Motor Delphi planet in Ohio where the wages have been lowered so much that they would be lucky to buy the entry level GM cars if at all.

Sorry for the politics there but I just wanted to say that we need to get back a value added economy where we take raw materials from the earth and make something with it, thus adding value to it. Instead we ship our raw materials to other nations and they add the value to it, in short, we are reduced to an economic colonial status much like the British did in the 1700's.

Again sorry for the rant with politics in it, but I had to vent and this gave a me chance to say my piece. In short, "that ain't no way to run a railroad."

most of todays electronics are disposable.my son works for a company that handles returns-they refurbish or destroy. over 60% are destroyed!many high end plasmas,lcd,etc. the older things were built to last and when they didn t work you had them repaired.the old tv man was like a part of the family.we are all so fast paced and pressured that there is no leasure time. i have a 15 year old toshiba that has ran non-stop for the last 13 years. my son never turns it off. my set is a 106 inch infocus dlp hd projector that i am very happy with. i do have a 21 round ctc12 rca from 1962 that is still working. most homes had one tv and the whole family would watch it together. hd is nice, i like the roundie!