WHICH OF YOUR TV SETS LASTED FOR YEARS AND YEARS ?

[gregg75]

In the early 80's I ordered a 19" color Samsung TV from a credit card bill insert. That set was
still working last year when I gave it away. A friend once spilled a bowl of soup right on the
top of the set and some even dripped inside. I thought for sure the set was fried, but it
started right back up, like nothing had happened. It must have cost me less than a penny a
day over the years for that set. I think it was made in Korea.

 

[davect]

We bought a RCA 25" console TV in 1977. It was used daily for 11 years. My parents still have it in their basement and it still works.

 

[gregg75]

I forget to ad that the Samsung was never even taken to a repair shop! It was used daily
for about 14 years and then occasionally.

 

[landtuna]

I have a Sylvania 45" rear projection console (HUGE!) purchased in 1987. Moved five times and still works perfectly and has the best sound ever from a TV set.

 

[cd637299]

I bought my first ever color TV (at age 21) in 1980, in a nice electronics shop near Yokota Air Base, Japan. It was meant for the Americas' channel system. 'Twas a 9" Sony Trinitron, and had a nice sharp picture that IMO coulda rivaled HD, at least in my eyes. Lasted until maybe 2002-03.

BTW nearly a year later, I saw the same model in a local store, for twice the price! I got mileage outta that TV. It was good for DXing as well.

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[LKellerIII]

I bought my first ever color TV (at age 21) in 1980, in a nice electronics shop near Yokota Air Base, Japan. It was meant for the Americas' channel system. 'Twas a 9" Sony Trinitron, and had a nice sharp picture that IMO coulda rivaled HD, at least in my eyes. Lasted until maybe 2002-03.

BTW nearly a year later, I saw the same model in a local store, for twice the price! I got mileage outta that TV. It was good for DXing as well.

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A 17 inch Sony Trinitron - bought about 1978, rotary dial, no remote. It lasted into the mid 90s, when I gave it away...it was still working fine and was never repaired or serviced. For all I know, it's still in operation somewhere.

 

[kenglish]

RCA XL-100, 19" Commercial-Grade TV and Monitor....had a 3-wire AC cord, and two sets of A-V connectors on the back.
Bought it in 1982, it had the flyback and the H-output transistor replaced about a year after I bought it.
The volume control is scratchy, and one of the channel selector buttons is a little flakey, but I still use it as a video monitor, and it looks good.

 

[therealjm12]

My parents bought a Sentinel 24" back in about '54 or 55. It was their 2nd TV and was state of the art of the time. They were very proud of it. They kept it forever, refusing to bow down to the pressure of color TV. They kept saying they would buy a color set when it was perfected. Usually they were pretty smart $$ wise but kept pumping money into this relic well into the 70's. They couldn't even buy picture tubes anymore and would buy re-conditioned tubes that would last a year or two. Finally I almost got killed on a motorcycle (someone took a left into me) and took the settlement and bought them a color 25" Zenith. They almost seemed mad that I bought it for them. Later on they did become adjusted to it and would never have parted with color for b&w. I could never figure out their attitude about color TV. They loved their programs and both especially loved watching baseball.

I bought a Sony 13" Trinitron back in about '82. That TV did a LOT of traveling with me. It's now in my neice's cellar. She watches it while working out. It still has a beautiful picture. I'm watching a Sony 32" Wega now.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I got a 12" (measured diagonally ) Sony Trinitron in 1973 and it remained the
primary TV untill 2005 when it was replaced by a 27" Sony. The old 12-incher
still works fine today, but is of course outdated by DTV and limited connection
options on the set.

 

[Marckd]

I have a 12 inch B & W Philco TV set we bought in 1977 when I was 8. It was used plenty till the mid 80's and then used as a monitor for Cuing VHS Tapes until 2006. It still worked until DTV replaced analog. Its in a closet somewhere now - works but is no longer used.

 

[ercjncpr]

I would say our family's Motorola 26 inch black and white screen with a Drexel cabinet. My grandparents bought it around 1955 and it was in use until 1974, when my parents finally decided color tv's were cheap enough for them to finally get one!

 

[radiorob2.0]

Funny this subject comes up as I just answered my question of the age of my living room TV. It's a 27 inch RCA Colortrak 2000 console television on a swivel base. The date code is 12/88 and was purchased in 3/89. It was a family set and I inherited it in 1996. Despite the age it still has a sharp picture. This is especially true when I run an early 2000 DTV (technically a Direct TV) receiver into one of the composite inputs. The down converter of this box does a wonderful job. Yes, an actual HDTV would produce a much better picture but this twenty-two year old picture tube still produces deep colors. It even has a multi-pin connector for a future use that never materialized.

My other TV is a 1997 Phillips motel television that was never used in a room. The menu is hidden by a code sequence of the channel, volume and power buttons. Additional menu items include a start up channel and volume.

 

[Wright County Guy]

Our family got a 13" RCA XL100 13 inch color set that was in heavy use almost all of its life. My mother reported it went kaput last summer.

When I bought a house in 2002, a previously owner left a ... surprise ... 13" RCA XL100 13 inch color set, almost the same set. It's now at mom's house in the guest bedroom and, yes, it works just fine with a DTV converter box and a sturdy set of rabbit ears!

 

[fybush]

There are a pair of 19" Panasonics in my parents' house that have been going strong for 20 years now. One came out of my apartment in Boston and then ended up with my grandmother for a while; the other was my dad's den TV until we replaced it with an LG flatscreen a few years back. Both sets got very heavy use for many years and are still as good as new. One of them is their bedroom set now, where it replaced a 13" Toshiba color set that I think went all the way back to their wedding in 1969. They also got a 25" Zenith for their wedding, which didn't make it to the 20-year mark, if memory serves. My grandmother had a 12" Zenith B/W set that she bought as a bedroom TV in 1982. It ended up as my kitchen set for a while, and was retired after the VHF tuning knob broke. It's in the attic now, but still worked when last I checked. My current bedroom TV, a 13" Sony Trinitron, is going strong after 15 years, and will probably be replaced with an LCD long before it gives out on its own.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I had a little Sears B&W portable that my parents bought to take to a fishing cabin in 1980.
It ran like a champ until sometime in the middle of 1998 when the picture tube blew. And at
that point it was not worth fixing, even if you could have found a 12 inch B&W picture tube
anyplace on the planet.

Also have a Gold Star 19" color set I bought in 1990. Still works, although the RF connections
through the coax lead are now kind of shaky. I rarely use it anymore as I have a couple of
newer sets now.

 

[TexasTom]

There are a pair of 19" Panasonics in my parents' house that have been going strong for 20 years now.

Panasonic made some fairly robust televisions.

When I was 14 (1977), I saved up my money to buy a 13" Panasonic color TV. With a converter box connected, that TV still works, and is sitting in my office. I'll have owned it for 34 years next month.

 

[hipman2]

I had a small 12 inch Hitach black and white TV from 1977 that my father gave me as a gift. In 1984, when I replaced it with a color TV, I gave the B&W TV to my sister. I'm not sure how long it worked since then.

 

[imhomerjay]

A JC Penny 5 inch portable B&W set that was a present in 1982 kept going until rendered obsolete by the DTV transition, every bit as good on that final day as it was on day 1. Also had an RCA XL 100 that lasted years and years; it's been packed away but at last check still worked. Also rendered useless as a practical matter by the transition, two handheld TVs: a B&W Watchman and a great pocket Casio unit, which I actually used at the time of the signal shutdown to watch the analog go to snow.

 

[Kent T]

1957 Second Chassis RCA Roundie Color TV. Has had two owners and was a White Lily Flour executive's daily watcher from 1957 until he died in 2003. And was under RCA Service Company service contract until 2001. Still reliable and makes fine pictures with our Samsung converter box.

 

[FreddyE1977]

A JC Penny 5 inch portable B&W set that was a present in 1982 kept going until rendered obsolete by the DTV transition, every bit as good on that final day as it was on day 1. Also had an RCA XL 100 that lasted years and years; it's been packed away but at last check still worked. Also rendered useless as a practical matter by the transition, two handheld TVs: a B&W Watchman and a great pocket Casio unit, which I actually used at the time of the signal shutdown to watch the analog go to snow.

Your Federal Government certainly turned a lot of nice little portable units into
boat anchors with this move.