How much cheaper can they make tvs?

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by andy

Here's one brand we won't be hearing from for a while:

http://www.cyberhome.com/

LOL. I have one of those.

[Adam]

For dvd players lately I've been using dvd/vhs combos with broken vcrs but working dvd players that I've got for free. The good thing about the broken vcr dvd/vhs combos is that even if the vcr doesn't work, you still get a working tuner, and that can double as a uhf converter for your vhf only sets.

[radiotvnut]

Slightly OT; but, there's something that's now harder to get rid of than used TV's: microwave ovens. About ten years ago; a friend of mine couldn't keep a microwave and he could usually get his price. He's got a couple right now that he's had for several years that he can't get $20 each for.

As far as VCR's go; I try to keep a few broken ones around just to use as a tuner. They will make a non cable ready set cable ready and a non UHF set able to receive UHF. I've also used them with newer sets with with A/V jacks and bad tuners. Of course, that will all come to a stop on 2/17/09. That's not far off when you think about it.

[Jeffhs]

I have a CyberHome CH-DVD300 DVD player (Christmas gift in 2005) that still works well. The only thing I don't like about it is that it only works with its own remote. Can't get it to work at all with my AllForOne universal, but then again there was a warning on the company's web site when the player was new that these units will not work with any kind of universal remote. I don't know if it will work, either, with the Philips learning remote, but I can't afford something like that right now so I may never know. My next DVD player may well be a combination VHS/DVD dubbing deck, or else an established brand of standalone DVD player such as Toshiba. The combo dubbing decks (off brands like Emerson, et al.) are selling for fairly cheap prices now, so I'll be better off getting an entirely new unit than having my current DVD player repaired when it eventually goes belly up. Like everything else these days, it will probably, even likely cost more to have mine repaired than it would to get a complete new system with a factory warranty. I ran into just this kind of problem when the cassette decks went bad in my Aiwa bookshelf stereo. Took it to a local TV repair shop, only to find out the repairs would probably cost close to what I paid for the unit when it was new, then seven years earlier. I finally gave up and bought a used Radio Shack stereo cassette deck online (John Kendall's Vintage Electronics, www.vintage-electronics.com) for $20, not including shipping. I connected this late-1970s vintage deck to the MD input of my stereo system, and it worked. I now have a cassette deck in my stereo once again, for a fraction of what it would have cost me to have the decks in the system repaired. I did this as well with a Zenith stereo system I had in the '80s. The single cassette player went bad after perhaps 15 years of hard use, so I found an older cassette deck on the curb in my old neighborhood and connected the deck to the aux input. Again, it worked, and saved me money on repair charges. The RS deck doesn't have auto-reverse or full-logic as did the decks built into my stereo, but the older deck works well with the system, which is really all that matters to me.

Too many older stereo systems, TV/VCR combos, etc. are put out for the trash every week because their largely non-technical owners do not think of using external devices to replace the built-in ones when the latter eventually wear out (but the rest of the unit still has plenty of life left in it). If more people did this, we would see far fewer newer units on curbs and eventually in landfills after only a few years.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Adam

For dvd players lately I've been using dvd/vhs combos with broken vcrs but working dvd players that I've got for free. The good thing about the broken vcr dvd/vhs combos is that even if the vcr doesnt' work, you still get a working tuner, and that can double as a uhf converter for your vhf only sets.

Since all new DVD recorders, VCRs and televisions must be equipped with ATSC (digital) tuners, if you have one of these you won't need a digital set-top for non-scrambled digital cable. This type of unit can replace your standalone DVD player and analog VCR as well, reducing the number of cables and interconnects you more than likely have in your current system. This will become important after February 2009 when analog VCRs become obsolete by virtue of their 70- or 55-channel NTSC tuners, if you have an older TV that works well and don't want to lease a digital set-top from the cable company. Of course, older VCRs will still be useful for many years after the cutoff date for time-shifting (recording in analog format, of course, using a set-top ahead of the deck for channel tuning) and viewing your old VHS tapes--if you haven't already dubbed the latter onto DVDs.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

LOL. I have one of those.

We may never hear from CyberHome again under that exact name, since the company is now out of business--its domain name is currently for sale.

For current owners of CyberHome DVDs, myself included, the fact that the company is now history means the units are, of course, no longer supported; once they fail, unless it is something relatively simple such as a bad capacitor, most if not all these players will wind up in the trash and, ultimately, in a landfill. As with almost everything else these days, as I have said here many times before, it is not cost-effective to have these players repaired--the repairs will cost at least as much if not more than a brand-new unit. The fact that many devices today, not only DVD players, do not seem to last much longer than the warranty, however, is another story.

[andy]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I have a CyberHome CH-DVD300 DVD player (Christmas gift in 2005) that still works well. The only thing I don't like about it is that it only works with its own remote. Can't get it to work at all with my AllForOne universal, but then again there was a warning on the company's web site when the player was new that these units will not work with any kind of universal remote.

They work with my $10 Philips univeral. It even has codes for it. Any learning remote should work with it.

[Earlsays]

On the subject of cheap-o DVD players...no, I would not buy one...just not worth it, IMO...something I've noticed would be the portable DVD players, with the little LCD on them...remember when those first came out? It made more sense to just buy a laptop computer with a DVD drive, and watch DVD's, among other things, on that. No more...those are now cheap throw-away items as well.

I do wonder how long my 5 disc sony DVD player will last...bought it new in 2006, so, I've had it almost two years...we shall see...

[andy]

A lot of the name brand DVD players are just as bad (if not worse) than the no-name players. More and more of them are made by the same companies that make the throw away players.

I bought a Philips player from a thrift store a few months ago. Inside it reminded me of a $10 clock radio. It had cheap crowded boards and nothing remotely Philips. Even though it worked, it was so full of bugs that it was basucally unusable. I ended up throwing it away, rather than re-donating it, to prevent anyone else from wasting money on it.

[dr.ido]

Very true. There is a certain DVD mechanism and matching decoder board that was VERY popular with many different manufacturers. I have found the same drive and decoder board in players from many different brands. It almost seems that most of the name brands (and a few off brands) who doesn't make their own drives (Pioneer/Panasonic/Sony) used it at some point. It was used by Rowa, Philips, Grundig, Marantz, Harman Kardon, Loewe, Yamaha and possibly others I haven't seen. The more expensive units sometimes got a better power supply and analog board, but the rest is tha same and the remote from one will work on another.

On a couple of occasions I've stripped the drive out of the cheap Rowa or Philips version to fix one with a more expensive label on it.

At least this makes for cheap and easy repairs, unlike most of the Pioneer/Panasonic/Sony players that find their way here.

[Chad Hauris]

Here is a really good page about Cyberhome and other DVD player/recorder repair:
http://www.drx9000repair.netfirms.com/

[radiotvnut]

That was some good information. I may have to examine the P/S in the next throw away model I find. About the only thing I've done to a DVD player is replace blown fuses and shorted rectifier diodes. I just never was too interested in repairing them because they were so cheap. BTW, my flea market friend just sold an early '90's 27" Magnavox with stereo sound, external speaker connections, and all sorts of A/V jacks for $30 working! You could tell the CRT was showing it's age a little; but, it still made a decent picture. He said the buyer tried to get him to go lower; but, he refused. In the early '90's, a good 19" B&W tube type would bring $35 without much effort. I think the days of making any real money real fast on ordinary TV's is over.

[bgadow]

I've given away a couple 25" color table model sets in the last month. Decent shape, worked fine, and it took me several tries to find a taker. Still I can't find a home for the nice late 80s RCA console I have. Great picture. If it's here too much longer I'll have to drag it over to the Goodwill.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Slightly OT; but, there's something that's now harder to get rid of than used TV's: microwave ovens. About ten years ago; a friend of mine couldn't keep a microwave and he could usually get his price. He's got a couple right now that he's had for several years that he can't get $20 each for.

You know, though, while it seems like you can hardly even give away an old microwave oven anymore, someday some people may think of early microwave ovens the way we think of early color TVs. I still encounter late-70's microwave ovens (usually Amana Radaranges from the RR-8 through RR-10 series) fairly regularly, but anything much older than that seems to be pretty rare. A few weeks ago, I found a 1971 Sears Kenmore (made by Toshiba, as it turns out, and apparently the first year Sears offered microwave ovens) at a thrift store, and that is by far the earliest microwave oven I can recall ever sighting "in the wild". [It's pretty neat, but I'm still looking for an Amana RR-1 or RR-2 though..!] Granted, microwave ovens didn't become really popular until the late-70s/early-80's, but at least the *cookbooks* that came with many of the earlier models have survived in fair quanities; apparently people tended to keep the cookbook around even after they got rid of the oven itself.

[Thyratron]

Originally Posted by Whirled One

You know, though, while it seems like you can hardly even give away an old microwave oven anymore, someday some people may think of early microwave ovens the way we think of early color TVs. I still encounter late-70's microwave ovens (usually Amana Radaranges from the RR-8 through RR-10 series) fairly regularly, but anything much older than that seems to be pretty rare. A few weeks ago, I found a 1971 Sears Kenmore (made by Toshiba, as it turns out, and apparently the first year Sears offered microwave ovens) at a thrift store, and that is by far the earliest microwave oven I can recall ever sighting "in the wild". [It's pretty neat, but I'm still looking for an Amana RR-1 or RR-2 though..!] Granted, microwave ovens didn't become really popular until the late-70s/early-80's, but at least the *cookbooks* that came with many of the earlier models have survived in fair quanities; apparently people tended to keep the cookbook around even after they got rid of the oven itself.

Not to change the subject, but Whirled One, is there anything to watch for if you come across one of these old ones to indicate if it is in worthwhile buying condition? I saw a huge chrome-faced one (two feet wide or so) a while back, but left it due to not being able to tell if it was functioning or not (short of plugging it in and seeing if it powered up). It looked nice, though.