Any one here will still use the C.R.T tv's for every day wathcing tv?

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by bhegges

Ok, it seems that there are at least a few 60s era tube sets in daily/weekly use. My question how often are you having to work a daily driver set? It was common for sets to need repairs back in the day. I would suspect air conditioning, better modern parts (maybe), and likely less hours all could help stave off repairs, also maybe only the strongest, better designed set are left.

I have a CTC9 in my living room that gets about 10 hours use per week. It's been 10 years since being re-capped. So far, I've only had to change one tube... it was something in the color or video circuits.

I agree completely... central air and modern capacitors make a difference. I also suspect today's line current is likely cleaner today than 5 or 6 decades ago.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Charlie

...

I agree completely... central air and modern capacitors make a difference. I also suspect today's line current is likely cleaner today than 5 or 6 decades ago.

Today's line current is also likely higher voltage than the 117 usually stated on the label of old TVs, so running with a Variac or constant voltage transformer helps.

[YamahaFreak]

Originally Posted by bhegges

First my apologies if this is a repeat question, I scanned but did not read 27 pages of replies.

Ok, it seems that there are at least a few 60s era tube sets in daily/weekly use. My question how often are you having to work a daily driver set? It was common for sets to need repairs back in the day. I would suspect air conditioning, better modern parts (maybe), and likely less hours all could help stave off repairs, also maybe only the strongest, better designed set are left.

That's a fair question, and some good pondering points. Unfortunately I still haven't acquired a color tubed set, so I can't weigh in. A working color vacuum tube TV is one of the things that has been on my bucket list for seemingly forever, I just cannot seem to find one I can afford locally.

[Electronic M]

My Sony HDCRT is on atleast an hour a day and sometimes all day. My tube sets sometimes see 5+ hours a week.

My 21CT55 is probably my second or third most used set these days and ignoring the horizontal osc and my goofy rectifier situation it's been %100 reliable since I completed it in 2018.

I wanted to replace the seleniums with silicon diodes but didn't want to increase B+ or have another gigantic power resistor so each selenium got replaced by about 12 1N4007s in series (I've heard seleniums drop about 1V per plate and calculating how many .7V Silicone diodes we're needed). It works as intended but the center diodes in the string tend to overheat and burn open once every 2-3 years. Only happened twice so far.

[CoogarXR]

I still watch our 2000-era 27" Sony Wega. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like having a big TV is kind of a sensory overload situation. Just watching regular ol' TV (not movies) on the big LCD is starting to wear me out. I find that watching the smaller CRT TV is more relaxing.

Just kinda sucks that modern programming expects you to have a huge TV. Like they frame everything more zoomed-out than in the old days.

[mr_rye89]

Honestly my CTC-21 gets too much use. I had to re-silicone the flyback again. I've been meaning to get a smaller LCD for normal half-paying-attention TV watching, use the projector only for movies, and use the vintage TVs a bit less. I did get a good jug for the Radiation King (RCA KCS-94) and have been watching/tweaking that one over the weekend.

[liammc00]

I use a Sony Trinitron kv1925r in my bedroom and works very well after I fixed the TV.the TV is use almost every day. The Sony is hooked up to a an older Sony blue ray player that still has composite out, RCA VCR, Sega Genesis, finally a modern Roku through an HDMI adapter. I also have console tv from 1989 made by Magnavox and I have a PS3 connected to it. Also got an 1980s 9 inch color zenith. My dad uses an 24" funia from 2005 not great crt but it does the job and my grandad use an 19" Toshiba TV/DVD combo from 2004 the crt is little tired but other then that it works perfectly. I'd rather use old CRT TVs rather then give my money to greedy companys that only make junk that normally won't last to be 10. I do mean that in 25 years you probably won't be able to find a TV that is working or can be fixed. Aslo throng a tv away because it's not flat is very wast full and I don't need hd or whatever it is now it just makes my old shows look worse do to upscaling. I now CRT tvs don't last forever but I use them until the have no life to give.

[probnot]

I have two sets that see regular use in the house, but they're pretty modern for this forum. First is an early 90s Sony KV-20EXR20 in my bedroom that I'll use to watch an odd episode of something or the evening news before bed. The second is a Sony KV-13FS100 I use when digitizing old video tapes.

Both see use a few times a week, but not daily.

[YamahaFreak]

Originally Posted by probnot

I have two sets that see regular use in the house, but they're pretty modern for this forum. First is an early 90s Sony KV-20EXR20 in my bedroom that I'll use to watch an odd episode of something or the evening news before bed. The second is a Sony KV-13FS100 I use when digitizing old video tapes.

Both see use a few times a week, but not daily.

I've got a 13FS100 and its less common pearlescent white counterpart, the 13FS110. Both are awesome TVs with loads of features and great picture quality for their size and age.

[probnot]

Originally Posted by YamahaFreak

I've got a 13FS100 and its less common pearlescent white counterpart, the 13FS110. Both are awesome TVs with loads of features and great picture quality for their size and age.

Yeah, it's a great little set. I really lucked into mine for free. It had the power cord cut, and smoked 3 packs a day in its previous life but I was able to clean it up pretty well. Still lets of a slight hint of cigarette juice, but not bad at all.

I also found the exact remote for a buck at a thrift store a few weeks later.

Pictured of the brown fuzz is attached, if you're into that sorta thing

[YamahaFreak]

Originally Posted by probnot

Yeah, it's a great little set. I really lucked into mine for free. It had the power cord cut, and smoked 3 packs a day in its previous life but I was able to clean it up pretty well. Still lets of a slight hint of cigarette juice, but not bad at all.

I also found the exact remote for a buck at a thrift store a few weeks later.

Pictured of the brown fuzz is attached, if you're into that sorta thing

Good on ya for saving that one! I know all too well what the inside of a neglected CRT looks like, especially in the vicinity of the flyback...a particularly bad case I encountered warranted a YouTube video.

Dust! EVERYWHERE!

[mr_rye89]

Originally Posted by probnot

Pictured of the brown fuzz is attached, if you're into that sorta thing

Mmmm welcome to flavor country!

[probnot]

Originally Posted by mr_rye89

Mmmm welcome to flavor country!

Smoker's Choice™

[doogie812]

My Sony KD-30XS955 is my daily watcher. One of these days I will tare into it to find the bad cap that causes vertical roll for the first ~30 seconds at cold power on. (Only on the HDMI input and only if the room temperature is below 70 deg. F) I have a Panasonic CT20R6E in the bedroom and a Sony KV-9300 on the bench. All sets have very strong CRTs and aside from the initial repairs at the time of acquisition they have been performing well for years. I do keep the picture settings at an absolute minimum for quality viewing as to maximize the life of the CRTs.

[Tube TV]

Yeah. I still don't own a flatscreen TV.
I've been using the same TV pretty much daily since 1987. A 1974 Viking (Admiral) 12" B&W. TV is in my avatar.