[ggregg]

I'm thinking along the same lines as Chad. We've come to expect cheap electronics, cheap everything practically. Much of today's stuff isn't even really designed to be serviced at all. You can buy a DVD player for $39. Down the line, if the laser gets weak or goes out, your chance of finding that part is nil and even if you could, it would cost something like $80-$90 probably because the only thing you could get would be the entire assembly. Very few places stock anything anymore. Repair costs exceed replacement costs and it's hard to find good old fashioned repair shops. Best Buy, forget it.

I remember servicing VCR's when they were heavy beasts that usually only needed idler wheels and belts changed, sometimes heads. The last one's I worked on would be worn out after two years of use. The mechanisms would be so sloppy, it would jam up. Mode switches failed all the time, etc. The design was actually much better than the earlier machines but the grade of parts, motors, etc., was so poor, they would not last. But they were one third the price they used to be.

TV's were the same way. Remember the RCA/GE's with all the board shield problems? Never would have happened if the components would have been separate, instead all on the same board. Also wouldn't have happened if some genius could have figured out the metal and plastic don't expand and contract at the same rate when they are hot/cold. Something has to give and it was solder joints which would sometimes take something else out with them. The fix was to resolder all the shields with new flexible solder. But this design became popular because of the lower cost it took to produce it. Today with the new flat screens, it seems to be power supplies that pack up. My Phillips is an older one (2003). I brought it to a tech because I didn't want to mess with it. He went through the power supply and replaced all the caps and diodes, not just the two that failed with stronger parts. He said it will outlast the display and I believe him. He also said the the newer, inexpensive ones are difficult, if not impossible, to get unique parts for and are a bitch to work on.

In the old days, if you bought a cheap radio, you probably paid up to $19.99 for it. Seems cheap but translate that into today's dollars. $100? $150? more? Still seem like a good deal? Any appliance was a major purchase whereas today you can pay more for a movie than for the player to play it on?????

OK, off soapbox, ranting stopped (maybe), sorry if I went a little off topic.