Found a Samsung TXB1940 H on the curbside.
 

This TV is a testiment to Samsung making high quality stuff, even in their basic models!

It's a basic TV with mono sound and no AV inputs, but the picture tube is still very strong. (made in December 1994. Zeniths from that era have awful tubes, as most of us are aware of :) )

The TV came with the remote, which works pretty good. This TV has two features which REALLY stand out for me:

It brings in local channels with no antenna attached. Here's a couple screenshots:

Channel 20: (normally need a loop antenna or a small piece of wire)
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/samsung1.jpg

Channel 62: (normally need a paperclip)
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...0/samsung2.jpg


The other feature is that there's actually a fine tuning ability, like on the older dial TV's! You can use the remote to fine tune the channels!

Man, if the 2009 switchover wasn't going to happen, I'd keep this TV even though it's only a 19 inch TV and doesn't have AV inputs. I'll probably eventually sell it... but I think I like this TV already.

People throw out such nice TVs. I'm a fan of Samsung also. My first tv ever was a 1982 13" color with remote.

Too bad about 90s Zeniths. I wouldn't judge them based on that era though. Was this set made in Taiwan or Korea by the way?

Hm. The info on it says it was assembled in Mexico.

I've seen a few of those Samsung's over the years and that one was a decent set. Mostly just had the usual power supply and vertical problems that all sets have. I you decide to sell it, now is the time. I can't give away a 19" set anymore. In fact, I can't hardly give away a 27" set. You should just keep it and just use a modulator and a converter when that time comes.

In the early 80's I used to see a lot of 12" B&W and 13" color Samsungs with bad flybacks and the build quality was not that great either. They have come a long way though. Our living room TV is a 27" Samsung CRT HDTV. We have had it for two years and it works great. Only the digital reception is poor (probably not the fault of the set). Today I would definitely recommend Samsung. If that set you have is that good, keep it and put a converter on it. Used TVs have no resale value today. In the late 1980s I used to be able to get an easy $25 for a 12" B&W after I had gone through it and made it look and work like new.

That set looks great. I live in Los Angeles in a very strong signal area and I need to have some sort of antenna to get anything. I have satellite so the change to digital is not really an issue for me but I plan to run my present TVs till they die and that seems to be a ways off!! Long live the CRT.

I'm going to keep the TV, at least for a little while. The presence of the original remote helped me to come to this decision. I got it set up in a room I use fairly often.

An RF-input-only TV sold in 1995? Very surprising, I had no idea they were still available that late, especially in a size bigger than 13". '95 was the first year I remember seeing TV sets "surprisingly cheap", when Fry's put a 13" remote-control, cable-ready TV on sale for $100. It was a brand-X set (Starlite/Randix), and I had to go through three of them to get a good one, but I still have it and it works like new.

I have a 27" '99 RCA and a 27" '98 Magnavox that are both RF input only TV's.

I've even seen a few stereo TVs with RF only.

Family member has a 25" RCA from 1997 with rf-only too

A new development with this TV:

I took the remote control apart to clean it, as some of the buttons needed to be pressed pretty hard to make contact. I then tested all the buttons. The remote worked beautifully. The last button I tested was the power button. The TV turned off, but it won't come back on... not even pressing the power button on the TV will turn it on...

Interestingly, around the same time, one of my compact flourescent bulbs fried itself. I think I had a bit of a power surge...

Check the AC fuse in the set and the diodes in the power supply. You may have just gotten lucky and end up with a blown fuse.

No, the fuse isn't blown.

TV's very clean inside. A cursory inspection hasn't turned up anything burnt looking yet.

EDIT: I removed the fuse to test it. It tested good. I put the fuse back in and plugged the TV back in, and now it's working...


EDIT 2: Turned it off with the remote, then tried to turn it on again and it won't come on now. O_o;;

Can you hear the relay click when you turn the TV on? If not, it's probably a loose connection or a failing cap in the stand-by power supply. I've seen loose connections of the relay itself in some sets. If you hear the relay click, it's probably in the power supply or horizontal circuit.