It's getting bad...

[radiotvnut]

As far as selling used TV's, that is. I recently took out a $15 ad in one of the mailbox stuffer classified papers that I usually have good luck with. I advertised an '07 35" Sanyo for $150 and an older 27" RCA CTC169 for $75. I listed them at a high price on purpose for the benefit of those who like to haggle. Just a few months to a year ago, I would have had no problem with unloading those 35" sets; but, now, I have not gotten a single call. I did get a call on the 27" and the guy offered $60; which, I accepted. Once upon a time, I would have laughed him out of the shop and he wouldn't have gotten it for under $150.

Then, I saw an ad from one of our local electronics stores and I was reminded why I didn't get any calls on the 35" sets. They were advertising a 32" LCD TV for under $300. People see that and the first thought is, "Why pay him $150 for an obsolete CRT TV when i can get an HD flatscreen for $299".

Every CRT TV that I've sold during the past year has been to people who have expressed a dislike for flatscreens. I sold one guy a bunch of 19" sets for $25/each and a 27" set for $75. He told me that he works for the cable company and sees too many of the newer flatscreens in the trash and he said his own 2 year old expensive flatscreen was starting to fail. He said that he'd rather spend $25 on an "old school" TV and when it fails, he's not out much. Heck, the $25 CRT set will probably outlast most flatscreens, anyway.

As far as the 35" set, I listed it for $125 in one of the free papers. If it doesn't sell, I'll keep lowering it. It will be interesting to see what I finally have to drop the price down to before it will sell. Heck, I may end up having to give it away.

I wish I could rewind back to 1990, when any kind of working TV was still sellable for decent money and people weren't so picky. Just the other day, I offered a clean mid '80's 19" Sony Trinitron to a guy for $25. He wouldn't buy it because it didn't have A/V inputs. I told him how to use a VCR or RF modulator to do the same thing; but, he said that was too much trouble. Back in the early '90's, I would not have considered $25 for such a set. Back then, that would have easily been a $100 TV.

I have a flea market friend who used to sell loads of TV's for me at good prices. Now, about all he can sell is 13" and 19" sets for $15-$25 each. And, they must be late model sets. Even at those prices, I think his days are numbered because that same place that was advertising the 32" LCD TV for under $300 was advertising a 13" LCD for $99. Before long, you'll probably be able to buy a 40" TV for $125 brand new.

[Beachboy]

I scour the local Craig's List daily for CRT TV's. I've purchased a nice late 1990's vintage Sony 20" for $20, similar vintage 19" Panasonic and 19" Philips-Magnavox for $15, and a 13" JC Penny for $5. The general rule of thumb I've heard for pricing used CRT TV's is $1 per inch of screen size. I'm only half-joking when I tell people I'm stocking up with enough older CRT style TV's to last the rest of my life. At first, the new flat panel models looked sleek and sexy, but lately, the looks just aren't grabbing me. Maybe I feel like I should have some bulk and heft to accompany a $1000 purchase. As much as I ridiculed older folk's wood console TV's back in the day, at least they had something to show for their purchase other than a black plastic framed piece of glass.

[radiotvnut]

Yeah, and many of those old consoles are still going and will be fixable when they fail. Can't say the same about much of the newer TV's. There's a '79 Sylvania 25" superset console that's turned on right now and I'd like to find it a home (which, probably won't happen). I'll probably end up wrapping it in plastic and storing it in the basement because, even though it's old, it's too nice of a TV to toss and it's made to a degree of quality that we'll never see again.

I'm doing the same thing as far as keeping some older CRT sets for my own personal use. I'd keep these 35" sets; but, I don't have the room. I may just have to apply the $1/inch rule with them.

Several months ago, I saw an older 13" Emerson TV at a flea market. It was one of those models from the early '90's that required the remote to program the channels. I know the seller and he had something like $15 on it and was begging me to buy it. It was getting late and I told him there was no way I could touch it at $15. He asked me if $1 was too much and he even produced the original remote. The TV worked perfectly and I think I got $15 out of it.

[stromberg6]

We have a 36 inch Sony Trinitron in the living room that my wife watches all the time. I have my collection in the basement, and the daily watcher is a 13 inch Toshiba with a super-good picture. It's right next to the computer desk, so the size is perfect. The only flat screen in the house is a Toshiba 22 incher in the kitchen. It takes up little room on the kitchen table, and that's why it's there. I also have an RCA CTC-136B in the family room, and it's a prize to me. CTC-135 (Taiwan) in my daughter's room. Great picture, too. I'm going to start looking for better quality CRT sets so I can also have a supply for the future.
Also have CTC-5N, CTC-7B, and CTC-4. Those are the fun sets!
Kevin

[radiotvnut]

About the only trouble those CTC135/136's gave were loose connections inside the MTT tuner control module and a leaky off/on transistor inside the same module.

[ctc17]

I must admit I am surprised anyone would pay a dime or even want a crt tv. Maybe its because I see so many of them on the street and crt sets are so low resolution. Not saying thats bad, I love my tube crt sets, but to the average user the new stuff has a much better picture.
Then you have to deal with the hdtv signal issue, the 'box' whatever it is. Most people hardly have the aptitude to deal with rabbit ears forget a dtv converter box. (maybe these are new enough they have the tuner) If you have the money to pay $50 a month for cable/satellite then why not buy a new flatty.
I really wish you the best with it. If anyone deserves to make a few bucks its you. And if you manage to move these I would recommend you not delay selling any more of that style sets you may have. I cant see their being any kind of market in the future.

[miniman82]

FWIW, I wouldn't pay $150 for a 35" CRT set either- same logic. I had a 36" Trinitron given to me, but if I can't get the voltage regulator chip it needs, that will go to the trash heap in the sky as well.

[andy]

...

[jbivy]

I think you need to have hd service for there to be a better picture than average, on your hdtv. Ive a 52" hdtv sony from 2004? that my brother initially bought and couldnt pay for, so i took it off his hands and paid for it. It was simply too large in my living room and i thought the picture was no better than a crt set. So it has been in my garage, unwatched, for the last few years now.

I personally dont care for the look of the flatscreens, i keep tinking they will fall over in an earthquake or such.

But im an odd guy, i want to drive my 55 stude till the day i die. Get my old 1980 magnavoz's vertical problem solved, so she can be my living room tv again. Get my 1950 motorola as my bedroom tv. Try and keep them alive forever. So i realize im not usual.

but if i cant gte my magnavox working and if and when my bpc tv goes out, ill simply find another comparable one on craigslist for 40-50 bucks. I see no reason in paying the money for a potentiall better picture, if i dont subscribe to hd tv and i mainly watch old films on dvd, that would be in the same quality if played on a crt set.

[radiotvnut]

By the late '90's-early 2000's, I was hearing "$50 for a 19" TV! I can get a new one with a warranty for $99!" I usually wouldn't argue with them. I'd just tell them to go get it.

Then, when CRT sets started to be phased out and flat screen sets were still high, I experienced a brief period of getting somewhat decent money for CRT sets from people who could not afford a new HD TV.

Now, like what's been said, flatscreen's are getting cheaper and cheaper by the week. Most people can now afford one, rather than "settle" for an obosolete used set. And, if a big CRT TV is now only worth a few bucks; then, it's really not worth bringing it home and wasting my time to repair it. Even on the BPC sets that I do fix, I don't spend much time on them. If it's not a routine problem that I can solve in 30 minutes (or less), it gets tossed. A long time ago, I'd work on one until I either fixed it or determined that it would cost too much to fix.

Last Wednesday night, a guy at church was telling me that his 8 year old RCA 36" TV (probably a CTC203) had developed an intermittent picture. As most technicians know by now, this is caused by loose connections, especially on a small coil in the horizontal driver circuit. Failure to fix the problem will result in the HOT shorting and possibly taking out the power supply. I told him that it would likely be a simple fix now and I warned him what would happen if he continued to use the set. He said that since it was so heavy and was probably close to the end of it's life, he'd probably just dump it and buy a new TV.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by jbivy

I think you need to have hd service for there to be a better picture than average, on your hdtv. Ive a 52" hdtv sony from 2004? that my brother initially bought and couldnt pay for, so i took it off his hands and paid for it. It was simply too large in my living room and i thought the picture was no better than a crt set. So it has been in my garage, unwatched, for the last few years now.

I personally dont care for the look of the flatscreens, i keep tinking they will fall over in an earthquake or such.

But im an odd guy, i want to drive my 55 stude till the day i die. Get my old 1980 magnavoz's vertical problem solved, so she can be my living room tv again. Get my 1950 motorola as my bedroom tv. Try and keep them alive forever. So i realize im not usual.

but if i cant gte my magnavox working and if and when my bpc tv goes out, ill simply find another comparable one on craigslist for 40-50 bucks. I see no reason in paying the money for a potentiall better picture, if i dont subscribe to hd tv and i mainly watch old films on dvd, that would be in the same quality if played on a crt set.

That's the way I feel. Most of what I watch long predates HD. And, I can't see spending the money on something that will be dumpster material in a few years. At least I can repair the old 19" Zenith CCII that I still use.

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

By the late '90's-early 2000's, I was hearing "$50 for a 19" TV! I can get a new one with a warranty for $99!" I usually wouldn't argue with them. I'd just tell them to go get it.

Then, when CRT sets started to be phased out and flat screen sets were still high, I experienced a brief period of getting somewhat decent money for CRT sets from people who could not afford a new HD TV.

Now, like what's been said, flatscreen's are getting cheaper and cheaper by the week. Most people can now afford one, rather than "settle" for an obosolete used set. And, if a big CRT TV is now only worth a few bucks; then, it's really not worth bringing it home and wasting my time to repair it. Even on the BPC sets that I do fix, I don't spend much time on them. If it's not a routine problem that I can solve in 30 minutes (or less), it gets tossed. A long time ago, I'd work on one until I either fixed it or determined that it would cost too much to fix.

Last Wednesday night, a guy at church was telling me that his 8 year old RCA 36" TV (probably a CTC203) had developed an intermittent picture. As most technicians know by now, this is caused by loose connections, especially on a small coil in the horizontal driver circuit. Failure to fix the problem will result in the HOT shorting and possibly taking out the power supply. I told him that it would likely be a simple fix now and I warned him what would happen if he continued to use the set. He said that since it was so heavy and was probably close to the end of it's life, he'd probably just dump it and buy a new TV.

The new flatscreens are getting so cheap it's hammering the nails in the coffins of both the used tv market and repair market,used flatscreens included.They're kicking the broken 2 yr old flatty straight to the curb without even having them checked out and going straight to the store.

I don't think they're actually putting them on the curb because I don't see any but it's sure strange how we're not even getting flatty work like we were a couple of years ago.The bigscreens have dropped off to the occasional diehard repairing the one he owns or was given to him. We refuse any offered to us as well as just about any crt set as only the owner hoping to save his tv will spend any money on it.Gave up trying to sell them a year or more ago.

Right now we can't even sell a Toshiba 50"flatty plasma with a brand new y sustain board for $300.

Manufacturers are discontinuing parts left and right also. had to resort to ebay to get a color wheel for a friend's 5 yr old RCA DLP tv. RCA discontinued it already.

[radiotvnut]

My town used to be full of TV repair shops. Now, there are only 2 or 3. One does mainly warranty work on new TV's and will not accept any CRT based sets for repair. I think the 2nd one will work on CRT and flat panel sets; but, he requires something like a $65 check out fee up front (can't say that I blame him). The third will still work on everything except the old style big screens. I'm sure it won't be too much longer before these shops are gone. It's going to get to the point where sets will simply be replaced, even if they are under warranty.

I've also "been there and done that" with parts that are NLA for fairly new TV's. Most of the time, their owners act like they don't believe me and that I'm just trying to beat them out of their TV. And, these newer TV's use so many special parts that are common to only a few models. With the old Zenith CCII, it uses mostly generic parts that will probably still be available for quite some time.

You wouldn't believe the number of people who try to give me the old projection sets and, sometimes, I'm actually asked to repair one. They are too big, heavy, and too much of a headache for me to worry with. I have a young friend at church who has an older one that he says has a bowed in picture. I told him that I'd check it; but, I don't care to extend the invitation to anyone else. Hopefully, his set only has a bad cap that can be easily replaced.

In fact, I'm about to the point of refusing to repair anything that either isn't mine or belongs to someone close to me. In the past, it was nice to pick up a little extra repair money on the side. Now, people drop stuff off and getting money out of them is like pulling hen's teeth. About 7 months ago, a woman brought by a ratty looking mid '90's RCA console that she just had to have fixed. It needed the regulator STK IC and the B+ diode off the switching transformer replaced. I tried calling many times to give her an estimate and she'd either not answer the phone or would not return my calls. I finally had a belly full and tossed her TV. In about a year, she'll probably show up and threaten legal action when I can't produce it. I could have fixed the thing anyway; but, why? No one buys floor models anymore and they are certainly not going to buy one with a trashed cabinet. More recently, a guy brought me a late '60's Audiotronics classroom record player for repair. I gave him an estimate and he told me to fix it and that my money was waiting. He never showed up and every time I'd call, he'd give me some kind of sob story. Last Monday, I called and told him that he had until Friday of this week to pick it up or it would be sold for charges. He said he understood and he would come up with the money before Friday, if he could. Of course, it's still here. Heck, I probably won't be able to get the $35 that he owes me out of it. I've got stuff of my own that I'd rather be working on, instead of dealing with these deadbeats who don't pay.

[radiomojo]

Originally Posted by ctc17

I must admit I am surprised anyone would pay a dime or even want a crt tv. Maybe its because I see so many of them on the street and crt sets are so low resolution.

The main reason I like CRT TV is that I do not like the 16:9 widescreen format. Maybe if I could get one in 4:3 I would think about it. Also, there is much more to picture quality than resolution and I haven't seen a flat screen yet that looks good in gray scale. If I could find a good new 27" CRT TV I would pay more for it than I would a flat screen.

Rod

[radiotvnut]

I have a 19" Sanyo LCD set from '07 that was given to me. From what I was told, it only saw a few hours use before it died. Now, the only sign of life it has is the green power light will turn on and off as the power button is pressed. I checked all the caps and the power supply appears to be working; so, that leaves the main board. The board cost more than what I could get for the set; so, I'm holding on to it in case another set comes along with a good board. Sometimes, having two junker TV's is the only economical way to get one good set.

I had another Sanyo, a 37", with inverter problems. After replacing one of the transformers, that had an open winding, it still would not work. After not finding anything else wrong, I tossed out the set.

Many of my TV repairman friends are always telling me that caps are the most common failure in newer LCD TV's; but, I have not experienced that, yet. The few I've gotten have been dogs with problems that required board replacement.