Quote:
Originally posted by Chad Hauris
I think some of those old-time brands like Emerson, Packard Bell,
Admiral, Philco, had had it by about 1975 or earlier. This is when solid state sets pretty much displaced all of the tube sets made (except for GE). I own or have seen Sharp, Hitachi, Sony, Mitsubishi and Panasonic sets from the late 60's through the mid 70's and all have good performance.
These days sets are not repaired, they are trashed when they quit. I got a 2000 model Sylvania from the large-trash pickup last year! Problem with the switching power supply. These sets are selling from $60-100 at Wal-mart and it is not economical for people to send them out for repair.
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Chad,
I honestly believe the "throwaway" television era began about the same time Philco, Admiral, et al. went out of business, if not earlier. Case in point: I bought a 12" tube-powered TV in 1975 which was manufactured by Broadmoor and marketed by Kennedy and Cohen, the latter being a now-defunct retail chain which went out of business at the end of the '70s. My set worked for three years, then something shorted out (I don't know to this day what it was), the set started to smoke, and I put it out with my trash. By contrast, I bought a Zenith 12-inch monochrome portable in 1978 which was still working like a champ in 2000--22 years later. I threw it out that year, as in 1999 I had moved to my present very small apartment and had no room for any more sets (I already had, and still have, my two color sets, my RCA XL-100 in the living room and my Zenith Sentry 2 in the bedroom; the Zenith has worked with no problems whatever since it was new in 1995.)
In K-Mart's flyer in my Sunday paper I saw an RCA 19-inch TV for $119. Good grief, that's less than what I paid for my RCA XL-100 four years ago!
You are correct, Chad; there is no sense in having sets repaired these days, with new ones selling almost dirt-cheap. The RCA 19-incher I saw advertised by K-Mart sells for just one dollar less than what I have already put into my set; further, I just purchased a service contract on the TV which, again, cost just about as much as you or I would pay for a new set.
That's another issue which kinda' bothers me, now that I think of it. With new televisions of every Japanese, Korean, etc. make to be had for such dirt-cheap prices these days, why did RCA even bother offering me an extension on my present 3-year service contract? It doesn't make sense, considering the foregoing. I think RCA is simply trying to make money on service contracts, no more and no less, like everyone else. Further, I think (in fact, I am reasonably sure) these sets are being sold so cheaply because the stores want to get rid of their stocks of tube TVs ASAP--to make room for new shipments of widescreen HDTVs. Out with the old, in with the new, you know.