Newspaper reporter working on story about old TVs, new TVs and planned obsolescence

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

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.