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#1
03-23-2009, 09:42 PM
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CRT sets on clearance at Wal*Mart
I happened by the local Wal*Mart store and noticed that most of the remaining "last-gasp" CRT ATSC TVs are being closed out. Included were the 14" RCA (a fairly cute square-cornered CRT set), the 13" Magnavox with DVD player, both versions of the 20" RCA (with and without built-in DVD) and at least one of the 27" sets, but I forget which. The 20" Emerson was still at regular price. [Note that all of these have ATSC digital tuners, but are standard-definition (480i) only, of course]
Anyway, your local Wal*Mart may vary, but these models are almost certainly going to be among the last CRT-based TV sets being offered in the USA market. May be worth picking one up just for the history value. 
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#3
03-23-2009, 11:06 PM
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If you bought one of these and kept it in it's box for 50 years, I can promise you that you'd have one of the few surviving working examples.
In my area, I think walmart is about the only place that still has CRT sets. I know this whole digital flat screen deal has helped used CRT TV sales. Many people can't afford several hundred $ for a flat panel set; and, new CRT sets are getting hard to find. They now don't think a thing about dropping $100 on a good used 27" CRT set. Of course, that will all change in a couple of years when they start selling LCD sets for $59.99.
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#4
03-24-2009, 08:37 AM
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Couldn't pay me to take one of those DVD/TV combos. They all break down quickly from what I've seen. Not to mention the picture usually sucks...
Let the CRT die with some dignity! 
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#5
03-24-2009, 10:48 AM
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I hate to think this is the end of an era. But there is a possibility that it isn't. The LP record and the turntable were outdated in the mid-80s, and quicky disappeared. Now, every time I go to Fry's, they have another new turntable added to their inventory. Cheapies from China, but hey: They're once again being made & sold after a 25-year hiatus. Maybe the same with CRTs and VCRs. There will always be a market for VHS machines, since families 30 years from now will unearth Grandpa's home videos and want to play them.
I do believe that the ATSC CRT sets will be MAJOR collectibles in the future, since they have been (will only have been) made in very low production and only for a couple years. Think how rare the Zenith black & white, cable-ready, digital remote sets from the mid-80s are! Quote:
Charles
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Collecting & restoring TVs in Los Angeles since age 10
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#6
03-24-2009, 10:40 PM
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Sopmething like a turntable can be made in low quantities if desired, but color CRTs require too much specialized tooling at each stage. I think very unlikely to come back except if it can be supported by at least one large glass factory and CRT manufacturing plant. (Of course, if the military wanted one at any price...)
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#7
03-25-2009, 03:55 AM
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Making turntables in 2009 makes sense in that vinyl records are still being issued, especially 12" dance singles for DJ use, and, of course, many people are stuck with a valuable record collection and an old broken turntable.
The same isn't probably going to happen with other formats like cassette tapes, VHS tapes, CRT TVs and, i think, CDs, these have little if any sentimental or collectable value for most people, and will just become obsolete and forgotten in the next few years, in most cases, manufacturing plants are being converted to other more modern productions, the machinery needed for their manufacture has already been scrapped out or will be shortly and there's no coming back from this. Think about reel to reel tapes, 8-track tapes and super8 films, they're still collectable for sure, but if you want to listen to your collection of 8-track tapes or watch your old super8 movies, you're stuck with using old surviving players and projectors, and they disappeared from the stores in the early-mid 80s or even earlier in the case of domestic low speed reel to reel machines
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#9
03-25-2009, 11:25 AM
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We got one of those unreliable CRT/DVD combos a couple of years ago -- a Toshiba -- and thus far it's been holding up well. The set downstairs is a 12-year-old 27" RCA that's still doing fine. My wife and I don't watch much television and are in no real hurry for flat screen, home theater, HDTV etc.
It never really crossed my mind at the time we got it that we were getting one of the last ones that would ever be made.
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#11
03-25-2009, 02:49 PM
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CRTs can certainly display an excellent picture. The few HD-capable ones I've seen look exceptionally good.
Shame to see that SACD is dying... Guess people just don't see the point in upgrading their hardware and paying slightly more for the music. 
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#13
03-25-2009, 06:36 PM
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Thinking about it, one thing that might keep CDs alive in the future is that you don't need fancy expensive equipment to press your own CDs, you just need a PC with a CD-R drive, the same is true for cassette tapes though.
Although virtually all CRT sets made in the last few years are pure junk, it's sad to see 80 years of TV engineering going in the toilet, there will be no more flybacks, no more yokes, i think i'll miss that high pitched whine you hear whenever you walk near a house where a CRT TV is on.
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#14
03-31-2009, 04:57 PM
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Has anyone noticed that when you go to an electronics store, they purposely have a bad connection on the CRT sets, and they mis-adjust the colour so they look worse than the flat screens in comparrison?
I was in future shop a while ago, and I noticed all the TVs had a gross fuzzy snowy picture, with the colour adjusted waaay too high, and the tint was way off. They do this on purpose so people would see them, think CRTs are crap, and fork out the fortune for a plasma that will last about 5 years.
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#15
03-31-2009, 07:00 PM
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Quote:
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