The future of the C.R.T. tv's

[Telecolor 3007]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

That's probably true. The LG/Goldstar/Zenith tubes of the '90's were the worst I've ever seen. In fact; I've never seen too many Goldstar tubes that were that great.

"GoldStar" in the early '90's where very good tvs in Romanian. Most of them still are in working condition.

[andy]

Zenith was actually the problem with those CRTs. All the really bad CRTs were made in Il in Zenith's factory. The ones Goldstar made in their own factories were fine.

[Ultra-Hog]

Corning had a huge factory in our town that produced CRTs for televisions. They were one of the largest employers in the area. It closed several years ago. It was too expensive to re-tool in order to make a different product. All of the production equipment was packed up and shipped to China. The equipment is gone. So are the jobs. Maybe the Chinese will be making CRTs for their own market, or making them and shipping them back here. Check the electronics department at a Wal-Mart near you.

[Sandy G]

Still wish I'd latched on to one of them 40" Trinitrons...Anybody here have one ?

[avguytx]

At least the flat panels will take up less space in the landfills than the old CRT's. It's kind of sad in a way that they are going away but thus is the times. I definitely won't miss lugging one of those old turds around when I move or rearrange!

[andy]

Originally Posted by Ultra-Hog

Corning had a huge factory in our town that produced CRTs for televisions. They were one of the largest employers in the area. It closed several years ago. It was too expensive to re-tool in order to make a different product. All of the production equipment was packed up and shipped to China. The equipment is gone. So are the jobs. Maybe the Chinese will be making CRTs for their own market, or making them and shipping them back here. Check the electronics department at a Wal-Mart near you.

I lived in State College when that happened. I almost had a chance to tour the factory many many years ago, but I was too young at the time (I think you had to be 13).

[andy]

Despite how unreliable people say flat panel TVs are, I have yet to see a single one in the trash, or for sale cheaply. People seem to pay hundreds for ones with smashed screens.

[peverett]

From what I have read, the LCD flat screens are fairly reliable. Also from what I have read, the plasma ones are not. Do not know about DLP. As I have not yet figured out where to put it, I have not yet bought one.

I do have a flat screen computer monitor at home and at work. These both have been reliable.

However, one comment. The signal to a HDTV set can make all the difference. The flat screen TVs at our local Radio Shack's and Walmart's look like color CRT type sets with poor focus adjustment-bad. The remaining CRT sets look better. In contrast, the flat screen TVs at Sears and Fry's look great.

[dr.ido]

I've been seeing a lot of dead LCD monitors at the junk auction lately, I don't know if LCD TVs are anymore reliable. The most common faults seem to be dead backlights, but I've yet to pick one up and have a look inside.

One problem with LCD and plasma displays from a scavengers point of view is they are less likely to survive the rough handling when they are thrown out than a CRT. Many of the LCDs and all of the plasmas I've seen junked are cracked. I've salvaged several CRT TVs/monitors that have been suffered impacts hard enough to crack the cabinets that work fine after patching the cracks in the PCB. No Plasma/LCD is going to survive being dropped into an empty dumpster.

The problem LCD/plasma sets have displaying anything other than a perfect signal is the biggest downside to me. I've seen some of these sets hooked up an HD STB and on some over-the-air programming the picture is amazing, but it's pretty useless when more than 90% of what I watch isn't available in HD. Cable here barely manages SD at times, let alone HD.

[Thyratron]

Well, personally, it's CRT or nothing for me. I have no interest at all in "flat-screens," plasma, etc. etc., and if one of my old ones goes, it's often not hard to fix it or find another relatively cheaply. Besides, it's more about the fun of using old TVs than the actual programming for me, so even if the things somehow became unusable it wouldn't really be a huge loss. I could still watch pre-recorded stuff through 'em!

[McMagMan]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Still wish I'd latched on to one of them 40" Trinitrons...Anybody here have one ?

ME I bought my 40" Trinitron in 2003 and I'm very happy with it. It will be awhile before I give it up. Hey, at least if I have a break in nobody is going to walk off with my 320 pound set. I remember when it was delivered they just barely fit through the door with it.

[Telecolor 3007]

L.C.D. still dosen't reproduce black colour, only grey . And still haves respindig time over 0 second. On the other hand, plasma (I'm making fun of it and call it palalasma) is reporudicng black colour and haves a respondig time of 0 seconds (like an C.R.T.). But since is more expensive to manufacture, you won't find a plasma less the 39" - for my living room, where I stay 1.8-2 yards away from my tv that will bee to BIG. B.t.w., an L.C.D. can't work bellow minus 10 degress Celsius (14 degress Fahrenheit).

[jhalphen]

Hi to All !

Just to share some info on Plasma screen reliability, i have a Fujitsu 40" plasma since May 1999, and it's been running perfectly for 8 years.

I purchased a Fujitsu because i saw that company exhibit prototypes every year at the NAB, starting in 1985. They had access to very important funding from the Japanese MITI, the Ministry of Industry. I figured that if these people had actually developped the technology from day one, i could do worse than buying their product.

Having a modern flat screen is not a contradiction to loving & restoring vintage sets from all eras....

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

[radotvguy]

Unfortunatly Crt tvs are becoming dead . Back in the late 80s and early 90s , i use to sell at a local flea market and i usually brought 13inch, 19inch tvs , as well as consoles and they usually sold quickly . By the end of the day , i was sold out of them . However now in 2007 , i cant seem to give CRT tvs away . I have some nice digital remote control tvs and no one wants them , no how . Usually when my town has a clean up , there are tons of good working tvs in the trash. All crt type tvs . New era i guess , new generation.

[dr.ido]

It hadn't occured to me that the 1st generation plasma sets are almost getting to around 10 years old now. Is anyone else running a "vintage" plasma set?

I wonder are they any better at displaying analog sources than currrent models (after all HDMI wasn't around in 1999). Have you taken any precautions to avoid burn in (I've seen some very burnt in store displays that would have been no older than 2 years)? I'd imagine that as there was no such thing as a cheap plasma in 1999 they're probably better built than the ones I've seen in discount stores.

I will admit that despite my preference for CRTs I'd probably buy an old 4:3 plasma if I found one for the right price. I remember seeing ads for 4:3 plasma monitors, but I've never seen one in use anywhere (not even in commercial applications where aspect ratio would be irrelevant).

There is still some life in the used CRT set market here, but not much. When new CRT sets start at $89 for 14" no-name set the price for used sets has to be adjusted accordingly. I usually sell a couple of sets a week, but to be viable you have to pick the dead ones up for nothing and use salvaged parts. I certainly wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy repairing them. I was shocked a couple of months ago when a nothing special 21" set I listed on eBay sold for $160 (I thought someone was trying to scam me, but it was picked up and paid for in cash), $30 to $50 is more typical.