One of the best 12" TVs I ever owned was a Zenith J121Y solid-state b&w set, which I purchased new in 1978. It was all solid state and lasted me 22 years, until the year after I moved into my apartment. I'd have held on to that set, but at the time I had no room for three TVs (I bought a new RCA CTC185 just before moving here and brought my Zenith Sentry 2 table set with me from my previous residence), so I put the set out back for the trash. Hope someone picked it up and got some more use out of it, as it was still working and displaying a wonderful picture (CRT was very strong as well) when I got rid of it -- typical Zenith. I used that set a lot when I had it at the other house, which is one reason I am amazed the CRT was still almost as bright when I got rid of the set as when the TV was new.
BTW, I like flat screen TVs; they are the next step after analog (the only kind of TV one can buy new anymore, as it is now illegal to sell analog knob-tuned televisions in this country except as used sets), and I like to keep up with technology advances as much as my finances will allow me to. I have a DTV flat screen (19" Insignia 19e720a12) that replaces my RCA CTC185. The Insignia set works just great on cable and even with an antenna (although I do not receive channels 8 or 19, which in this area are FOX/Antenna TV and CBS/MeTV respectively, when using the indoor antenna). I guess it's a matter of personal preference. I grew up with analog NTSC TV and was (still am) pleased with the improved picture quality of DTV over the old standard. The only reason I did not jump on the DTV bandwagon a lot sooner than I did was that the sets were extremely expensive and well out of my price range in the beginning, but by the time I bought my Insignia FP (flat panel) TV last August the prices had come down considerably -- and they continue to fall. I've seen off-brand DTVs as low as $99 in such unlikely places as CVS pharmacies and other places one would not expect to find TVs. However, the sets available at these stores are often (more often than not) off brands no one ever heard of, or brands such as Craig, which was a manufacturer of cheap audio gear 40+ years ago.
I would not recommend any off-brand DTV flat screen (with the possible exception of LG, Lucky GoldStar, which owns what little, and I do mean little, is left of the former Zenith Electronics Corp.), however, for the simple reason that they do not last long; many of these sets develop serious problems shortly after the warranty expires, which makes them instant junk since repairing any off-brand FP is almost certainly going to cost more than the price of a brand-new set. The prices of flat screens are dropping all the time these days, so it isn't cost-effective to repair one that's more than about three years old.
Sad,
but that's the way of it.