My 1969 Sony Trinitron KV-1210U CRT TV (pics)

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

That's the thing....IIRC, even in '69, you STILL had to get somebody out to yr house & "Set Up" yr new color set for you.. The Sony, you brought it home, plugged it in, hooked up an antenna or cable, & you were Good to Go...Of course, the appliance store dealer made up on the service call DOUBLE what he'd "Given back" to you on the GREAT deal he gave you when you bought the damn TV in the 1st place.. I also remember how dreadfully "Cheap & Nasty" American consumer goods were getting about this time.. Plastiwood & fibreboard cabinets, except on the very "TOTL" stuff, "Carnival grade" plastic buttons & fitments, the whole business of being built DOWN to a price, instead of "Up to a Standard".

I know that you prefer sets from 1950 and before, but I wouldn't say quality was *that* bad just after 1969. Even my Zenith has parts like that, but that set is by no means junk.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

I know that you prefer sets from 1950 and before, but I wouldn't say quality was *that* bad just after 1969. Even my Zenith has parts like that, but that set is by no means junk.

I dunno, man.... If a 12-yr-old boy like Moi could notice the drop in PERCEIVED quality, I'm SURE the Adults who actually BOUGHT STUFF could as well...And THEY could remember when ALL our stuff was made "Ship-Shape"...

[Robb]

Well, who taught the Japanese about electronics and car manufacturing ?
It was the Americans.
Overtime, the Japanese just perfected what they were taught... I think.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I dunno, man.... If a 12-yr-old boy like Moi could notice the drop in PERCEIVED quality, I'm SURE the Adults who actually BOUGHT STUFF could as well...And THEY could remember when ALL our stuff was made "Ship-Shape"...

You mean made out of iron?

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by KV-1926R

You mean made out of iron?

Not necessarily... Just made better overall, than stuff made today.. I have a 1935 RCA AR-60, their TOTL SW set then. It was $495 that year when $650 would buy you a Ford V-8... It was designed to last virtually FOREVER, & if something broke, it was designed to be fixed. The ONLY stuff that's made anywhere CLOSE to those standards today would be a few commercial items, & certain military goods... I seriously doubt ANY consumer goods are made today to THAT sort of standard..

[etype2]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

That's the thing....IIRC, even in '69, you STILL had to get somebody out to yr house & "Set Up" yr new color set for you.. The Sony, you brought it home, plugged it in, hooked up an antenna or cable, & you were Good to Go...Of course, the appliance store dealer made up on the service call DOUBLE what he'd "Given back" to you on the GREAT deal he gave you when you bought the damn TV in the 1st place.. I also remember how dreadfully "Cheap & Nasty" American consumer goods were getting about this time.. Plastiwood & fibreboard cabinets, except on the very "TOTL" stuff, "Carnival grade" plastic buttons & fitments, the whole business of being built DOWN to a price, instead of "Up to a Standard". The SAD fact of the matter was, Sony had a superior product, in many respects, & the American consumer electronics industry got caught being flatfooted.... Christamighty, WE developed Television-For the most part, anyway, & UNQUESTIONABLY developed COLOR TV, & we let it get taken away from us...But we have only ourselves to blame...

Couldn't agree with you more Sandy.

[colorfixer]

There's no incentive to build quality: technology renders the new purchase obsolete soon after you finish paying for the item and the price point battle makes something that is priced above the crowd unsellable.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by colorfixer

There's no incentive to build quality: technology renders the new purchase obsolete soon after you finish paying for the item and the price point battle makes something that is priced above the crowd unsellable.

Depends on the mentality of the buyer. Some like me would rather have a product that solidly outlives the life span that I consider it useful to most people for (which is usually a ways past obsolete) and is not the cheapest then some piece of crap that dies or becomes barely usable before you even start to see decent benefit in upgrading to the latest feature set.

[DaveWM]

I'm just frugal and like to keep things to fully amortize the price way past normal. Frankly obsolete is in the eye of the beholder as well. I am perfectly fine with old sets that make a good pic. Cheap junk that has to be replaced do to perceived obsolete things can waste a lot of money.

[DavGoodlin]

Those Sony sets were often purchased by folks in the old-money suburbs and rural estates.
A favorite of Doctors and other brahmin-type professionals, who totally eschewed television as entertainment.

It was usually their only set and placed on a bookshelf in a study or other room generally off-limits when entertaining (showing off).

Being surrounded by books somehow offset the cultural faux-pas that was being committed.

By the time these fine instruments came into the shop, the jugs were tired and the controls scratchy, not much else.

In 1982 plunked down $100 for a new jug in my KV-1210U, an excellent receiver of beyond-fringe analog back in the day, to use it as a monitor for the Commodore 64. Now it is simply my true go-to portable. I'm sure Ive seen similar models in a monitor configuring.

[jr_tech]

My 2cents worth: repairing boards with surface mount components requires a new technique and some new tools, but is *not* impossible for the average hobbyist. Fairly reasonable hot air soldering stations are available... perhaps it is time to pick up a few new tools and master a few new skills rather than draw a line excluding newer electronics components?
Soldering station: http://www.amazon.com/X-TRONIC-MODEL...+soldering+kit
not affiliated,
jr

[Electronic M]

If it's not a high pin-count surface mount device I can solder it with a regular iron and a good fine point grabbing tool...Though there are VERY few devices that use those parts that I actually care enough about to even bother with.

[Sandy G]

What if you have, as James Delaney Buffet so euphemistically put it, "Island-Sized Paws", that are furthermore, pretty well "Eat Up" w/ Uncle Arthur Itis ?!?

[Jon A.]

The main circuit board that was in the last DVD player I took apart (because I forgot to eject the disc before cutting off the cord) was about 4 square inches as I recall, crazy. It wasn't until well after I bought its replacement that I learned that even the Japanese-branded stuff is now made by the chinese. That was when I finally got rid of the box. I was shocked and disgusted.

[Jeffhs]

I stated in a previous post that any flat panel TV which lasts anywhere near ten years will be one for the books. Several hours after I made that statement, I realized that someone here on VK has such a set, a "Coby" branded 15" FP HDTV that is now well over a decade old and still works. I don't remember offhand who said that.

I believe that the smaller an HDTV is, the longer it will last, simply because of the lower power requirements of smaller sets; also, if a FP TV is not used much, it will likely last somewhat longer than one that is on eight hours or more a day. The LCD panels on most flat panel sets are rated for 60,000 hours to half brightness, which equates to over 20 years of use; however, this does not necessarily mean the set will last that long. VK member timmy, in New York City, stated in one of his posts a few months ago that flat screens generally last between two and five years before they develop service problems, such as bulging or burst electrolytic power supply capacitors. If one knows where to look on the power supply board, replacing the defective capacitor could be very simple, involving just cutting out the bad part and soldering the new one to the leads still on the board. This, of course, only works for boards that do not have surface-mounted components; even if it is possible to remove the defective part, replacing it could be a real problem on boards having mostly or completely surface-mounted components. This is probably also why many service centers today will simply replace a defective TV with a new one, so the customer won't have to wait days, weeks, months . . . for the set to be repaired. The old set will be repaired at the factory and likely resold as a used TV.