BPC sets....keep or toss
 

My local thrift store had several priced at $4 and $6 and they didnt sell so when i pulled around back, i noticed 7 tv sets from the 90's stacked outside. A couple of 19" from 2001, a 19" Magnavox from 95, and orion from 98, two 13" sets and a little 9" from 85. I think it says TMK on the back. All work really well. Should i keeps these or are they just going to end up wasting space? Will they ever be collectible years from now like were seeing with the 80's and older sets?

Your call. I'd save everything if I could, if only for a parts stash, but I have very limited space, so I keep my collection small.

My thinking is that in 10 years, some of the BPC sets are gonna be extremely rare - but valuable? Yet to be seen....

If you enjoy collecting them, then grab away, and know this guy is envious of those with basement hideaways.....no basements here ! :cry:

The thing with people who squirrel things away in hopes that one day it will be valuable, is that they are correct 100% of the time.

Personally, the way I see it I'll be pushing up daisies by the time they gain real currency as a collectible, and I'm gonna be 44 in two weeks. If you have the space and the interest, I say go for it. But since you can't be the savior of everything unless your space is unlimited, just focus on what turns you on.

Any genre of TV is pretty much the same. Up to 1974, there were over 400 MILLION tube TVs made. A survival rate of even half a percent puts that figure at 2 million sets still out there. I remember that to help keep my perspective :)

Well I remember back 25 years ago I thought tube sets and 70's sets were worthless. I chunked away a lot of sets. mostly because I needed space to repair the newer sets. What I have been doing is if I find a set I like I will keep it. You know to each there own. I think high end totl sets will be worth something in the future. Well at least to me they will. Just my thoughts on it.

I think with all the retro crap going on, people will begin keeping at least one
crt set to show their #Retro side ~ and the newest sets with easy hookup
for modern media full remote will be in demand, if not for really hot prices, they will
be in demand. Plus I use new 2000+ sets in the living room for daily use....
Good way to get crt fix and keep the real collectibles with lower mileage.....

Also the retro dweebs will not want something they need to fuss over, or
fuss with to get running, new sets are for that.

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I wouldn't keep them as a collectable, no.

But they often have useful features. I keep a JVC from 2003 around because it has Component video and front A/V jacks which makes it good for quickly testing DVD players, video cameras, or other video equipment I find. And sometimes you might have use for a TV that you don't really care about. Hooking up older game consoles comes to mind... you probably don't want to risk screen burn in on a roundie, but a BPC set? Who cares.

One thing to consider is if you have to get rid of
them someday where ?? Around here it $10-$30
per set. Adds up fast.
You may pick out the choice sets & unusual sets.
High end odd balls are rare & the ones that have
some value. And dont forget the retro gamers. They
need good NTSC sets with jacks. May be a way to
make a few bucks......

73 Zeno:smoke:

$6 a set, wow your getting fleeced! Around here (until last year when corporate said stop accepting and selling CRT sets) Goodwill often was pricing most or all at $0.49. They are still kinda common on trash days, and most at the curb work.

Here just about every week I go garbage picking I see at least one BPC set

Personally, I don't care about BPC sets for my collection and it's getting to the point where I couldn't get $10 for one if my life depended on it; so, there's really no need in bringing them home. Will they be worth something in the future? Maybe; but, I probably won't live to see it and I collect stuff based on what I like, not what it's worth. I still see BPC sets for sale; but, the people selling them are living in the wrong decade, as far as the price goes.

As an old saying goes and one Frank Reagan(AKA :Magnum, Tom Selleck) said on a Blue bloods episode to I thik his son..

"you can't save every puppy in the pound"..

The sets do NOT feel anything...when the packer blade comes down on them after all.. I know many of seem to forget that...but it IS true.

SO I tend to go for old sets we ALL love, late 1980's sets of the types I WORKED On back then..(like LXI sets from Sears--since I worked for the service center then..).and NEWER flat-panel sets I can FIX AND SELL. I recently passed up a 61 inch I think Samsung DLP set..I COULD NOT heven even fit in my van if I WANTED it...and likely it needed a DLP chip..(or soon WILL) anyway. Had I picked it upand fixed it..I would likely NOT be able to sell it-few people want those projo sets--be it CRT, DLP, LCD, DILA , LCOS or whatevr--today. (I DID grab the REMOTE..lying on TOP of ther set though...since it WILL work for a flat panel set).

But then AGAIN...I have a CTC-169 light-box in here right NOW...A man anted FIXED. It had capacitor leakage on the PC and a couple of traced eatern away because of that...killing the vertical. I was able to save it....and the tubes are NOT burned. It WILL go back in this set tomorrow...and I will make a fair amount for fixing it...so you NEVER REALLY KNOW...today !!

A lotta good points here. You can't save every one, and I collect what I like,
and only save the old stuff.... I think soon I'll have more plastic cabinet wood veneer simulated
sets than anything else, yah, I like them. I guess for each of us there are goals, sets
we want to collect, so when we meet up here there are lots of different stories to tell...

50 years from now, I think the last 20 years of crt sets will me the hardest to find....
Just my thoughts.....

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In my opinion it's best to have a network of collectors, each of them keeping what he or she likes so we don't get too packed in. We don't want to go from collecting to hoarding after all. There is at least one exception to the rule though - if one lives in an area where cool old TVs pop up constantly *and* has a lot of room to store them, it couldn't hurt to save those that aren't liked as much until they can be re-homed.

Not me. They had them inside for those prices but when they didnt sell, they stacked them out back by the dumpster. I just picked them up since they were there. I w for a set unless its really nice, unusual, or rare. Storage right now isn't a problem since i now have a decent size warehouse.

Other people can collect whatever they want... but personally, I would never waste precious storage space on a Black Plastic Commodity. That's what makes it real easy to decide what's worth saving (for me). Once sets sold simply on the basis of price, how do you care? Then it's like collecting bars of no-brand soap.

I think a last-gasp, high feature, real Zenith set (Circa 1990-ish) is about the end of the road for me. I think an early flat-screen, LCD handheld or 16:9 CRT could be interesting, so I'm not an anti-tech snob.