What about old equipment attracts you?

[darklife]

I have an old Zenith TV made in the early 80s and can't give the thing away.
A bit about myself.. I have always been interested in electronics since I was like 4 y/o, almost electrocuted myself to death when I was around 8.
I have since learned more about TVs, radios, transmission equipment, and most things on the level of engineering level. Hell I don't know what I am not interested in when it comes to electronics.

What I don't get is the nostalgia of old TVs?

I get radios. They are fun to fix up and get running again. Most older equipment is.

However TVs is are one thing I don't get. They aren't even useful anymore since the DTV transition.
Other than fixing one up to film for a movie or just for shits and giggles to show a friend what is the interest?

I really don't mean to bum anyone out I just don't get it.
There have been so many times where I could have plucked an old antique TV and fixed her up and probably even had an antique model you guys have never seen or worked with, yet I never have because I just never seen why anyone was intersted.

Long post, so I will wrap it up... What is it that makes you interested in old TV sets? Are they actually worth money besides collectors like you? Should I collect these things and research them because they are worth something to someone or is it just a niche bunch?

I really don't mean to piss anyone off but I really don't know if this is worthy to save old antiqued TVs for someone who has interest in it or just part it out and build something fun.
I even seen a thread once where some of you were angry at a person who made a chair out of an old TV wooden set cabinet. Even I think that's silly but really do you guys expect more from general people who don't even know?
My grandma once saved the cabinet of a B&W TV thinking it was worth money w/o the guts. It's obvious to me that you guys would be sickened by that, but gosh darn she thought it was worth more than the guts lol.

[darklife]

Oops I believe I may have posted this in the wrong subforum.

[andy]

I would say it's the same as people who restore antique radios, phones, cars, fans, or anything else like that. TVs are more challenging (and therefore more rewarding to me) than most radios. I wouldn't consider an early 80's TV to be at all collectible unless it's something very special.

Apart from battery operated portables, the DTV transition was a non-issue for me. I've always used cable, so nothing changed at my house. I use many of my vintage TVs regularly with my cable DVR, or DVD player. I do have a number of restored antique radios, but they rarely get used because there's nothing on AM, and little on FM that I ever want to listen to.

[radiotvnut]

I've always had an interest in electronics and I officially started collecting tube radios at the age of 12 when someone gave me a wooden '36 Silvertone (I still have it and I'm almost 34 now). Soon after, I started picking up old record players and records; which, got me into record collecting. Within a year, someone gave me my first TV, an early '60's RCA 17" VHF only B&W set. I fixed and used that set in my bedroom until I found a 19" B&W Philco-Ford w/ UHF. Then, I sold the 17" RCA to a young married couple who was all to happy just to finally have a TV. Then, someone gave me a 19" Zenith chromacolor space command TV, which I fixed and sold. At that time, my only interest in TV's was to be able to fix them and sell them to finance my radio collection. I really didn't get into TV collecting until a few years ago. After I started seeing how cheaply built modern TV's were and given the fact that some of those old tube type TV's is what I started out on, I decided to start collecting them. And, I enjoy bringing something back to life that hasn't been used in decades. As far as value, most of what we collect wouldn't be worth a rat's behind to most people and really wouldn't be worth that much $ to collectors; but, I don't consider my hobbies "all about the money", anyway. I collect and repair old radio's, TV's, record player's, electric fan's, etc. because I enjoy doing it and I'm really not concerned what they are "worth".

The DTV transition has not really been an issue for me, as I have basic cable on most of my TV's and the 1969 Zenith B&W console in my bedroom is connected to a DTV converter box and it works just fine. Obviously, I can't use the tuner on the old Zenith; but, the box enables me to still use the TV and that's the main thing I'm after. We have basic analog cable on the other sets and those tuners function as they always have. The only area where the DTV transition has become a problem is with the use of my portable TV's. I've got a '78 Panasonic 3.5" portable that I've had for years and we used it during power outages and during hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. After the DTV transition, that set is pretty much useless as far as putting batteries in it and using it outside. It does have an external antenna input and a "wall wart" jack; so, it can be used only if it's connected to either cable or a DTV converter.

Will I ever purchase a new TV? I can't say what the future holds; but, I will say that I have no intentions of spending one red cent on a new TV. Why? Because I know first hand about these newer TV that cost hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars and after a few years, they are junk. If I spend that kind of money on a TV set, it had better last for 30 years. These old TV's that I currently own are designed to be repaired and can usually be fixed with common parts, unlike these newer TV's that require some special IC or circuit board that may be NLA. And, I mainly watch older shows that were not in HD to begin with; so, I really don't feel the need to waste money on a new TV when I can pick up an old one for free or cheap and get many years out of it. And, I forgot to mention that the older TV's were made with pride in America by American workers. What we have today is usually made in China and they couldn't care less about how well it's made or how long it will last - just sell it and get their money.

[jhalphen]

DarkLife wrote:

"Long post, so I will wrap it up... What is it that makes you interested in old TV sets?"

For me:
- Technology history
- Build quality
- Easy repairability
- Active resistance to modern crap*
- "making money" is a fool's dream.

when i do buy modern crap, it's always with full 5 year "replacement with a new one" insurance.

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

[Telecolor 3007]

Since I was a kid/teenager I was intrested in steam locomotives, old cars, tube radios, vynil records. The eletcronic tubes or lămpi (lamps) where something special - I wonderded if it ever extisted electronic tube radios with F.M. or color tvs with electronic tubes - and I dreamed owning such things. Vynil records where something special. They where (and are) something special and I may say something sacred for me; I dreamed having music from the '90's on vynil record. Yeah, i know Euro-Dance isn't good music, but it remebers me about the old days and it sound better the today boring R & B (like Beyonce Knowled) or that stupid Lady Gaga (she haves a good voice, yes, but her crap sucks).

Originally Posted by jhalphen

DarkLife wrote:

"Long post, so I will wrap it up... What is it that makes you interested in old TV sets?"

For me:
- Technology history
- Build quality
- Easy repairability
- Active resistance to modern crap

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France

Repairing an old thing is not always so easy. And the old Japanese radios and some cassette decks are not so easy to repair. Man, sometimes you have to get out everything in oder to get to the heart of it.
In the rest, I agree with you. I can't stand modern crap. And I'm not talking only about electronic stuff. I'm talking about allmost all stuff. A modern car may have some better features, but I feel better in an older car. I ryde some German trams (streetcars) made in the '50 and '60's and a Swiss tram made in 1951 or 1952. Man, those thing are something awsome. You can't compare a modern plastic s%¤t with that. And the Czech ČKD "Tatra" trams (streetcars) (P.C.C. type trams), throu all they are qutye rudge, are very good. The Romanians still can't make a streetcar as good as the Germans or the Swiss made in the past (an 1951 Swiss tram knocks out a today Romanian made tram). And those old Hungarian buses, "Ikarus" wheren't luxury buses, but they very simple and easy to repair; and with a 6 gears + reverse gear manual gear box they where very fast!; only bad things about them was that loud noice made when the bus was vibrating (usually when it was stoped) and the fact it wans't so eco frendly. I got a jacket from my father. Is more than 16-17 yrs. old (brand "Twin Peaks", like that s.f./horror/mistery series) and still in good qyute condition.

I'm one of the young that aren't corupted by the consumerist and "make you stupid" propaganda. I don't need theyr crap. I'm glad to see there are some young fellows thinking like me. Hope they will be more one day.

Why to buy me a new radio when the old one is still good? Why replace my old C.R.T. with an L.C.D. one (H.D. or not) when I got allmost nothing to see on tv? Why to get me every year a new mobile (cell) phone when I use it only for talking; I'll get me a newer one when I'll use the mobile internet! (b.t.w., I use some 6-8 yrs. old cell phones!).
The only new technical stuff that I would buy would be an m.p. 3/m.p. 4 player, and D.S.L.R. camera, an digital video camera, rechargable batteries and of course I.T. stuff.

[radiotvnut]

Speaking of new crap, the junk man just hauled off a 4 or 5 year old Sony 60" LCD projection set that cost in the $2K range when new. The problem? a defective light engine that would cost hundreds of $ to fix and it would likely fail again in a few years as all of these sets had the same problem. I said to myself, "why spend hundreds of $ on this hunk of garbage that won't hold up when I can invest in repairing my old stuff that will likely last for years".

[darklife]

Okay I have to put my foot forward here and say that I am 25 y/o and a total electronics nerd since I first learned how to burn my hands black from the AC outlet as a toddler.

I just don't get the whole TV attribute. Guess I am ignorant to the topic or never really investigated it.

Many people are into getting an old radio to work, but an old TV is trash in most peoples opinion. I mean really what would you use it for? Video monitoring? DTV box? Security monitor? Nostalgia for a VCR? I am not trying to be a jerk but really? Yes I know they outlive LCDs and plasmas but really are you going to watch it until some super format comes out that puts the old box into extinction as if it is not already?

I always figured TVs were just a side project for people who restored radios.
It just seems goofy to me that there is a real place where people are interested in actually tuning up this kind of receiver.
I mean it's nifty and all and honestly I have an old zenith that for some wacky reason I want to tune up and see what I can do with. I guess color and picture is the next step from audio right? Ugh. What have I got myself into?

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by darklife

I mean it's nifty and all and honestly I have an old zenith that for some wacky reason I want to tune up and see what I can do with. I guess color and picture is the next step from audio right? Ugh. What have I got myself into?

"resistance is futile"

jr

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by darklife

I just don't get the whole TV attribute. Guess I am ignorant to the topic or never really investigated it.

Many people are into getting an old radio to work, but an old TV is trash in most peoples opinion. I mean really what would you use it for?

I would never think of old radios being in any kind of different class from old TVs at all, except that they are more commonly collected and/or restored. This is almost certainly not at all because "old radios are useful but old TVs are not" or anything like that. Rather, it is probably because TVs are harder to fix, bigger, and heavier, period.

Yes, there are plenty of old TVs that are not of interest even to most TV collectors, but the same is true for many old radios (how many people restore run-of-the-mill plastic five-tube AM radios?).

Regarding being "useful", with a converter box, any TV made since 1945 can be watched today just as it was when new, the same as any radio can be listened to. Now, I would not do either as a substitute for current-standard equipment (I watch HDTV on large screens, and I listen to HD Radio on high-quality stereo speakers), but many other people do.

You may have been ignorant to the topic, but I think this discussion has a few good answers that should help.

[Dan Starnes]

I could not have said it better than jhalpehn has.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Dan Starnes

I could not have said it better than jhalpehn has.

I second that

[DaveWM]

Nostagia

as a kid of the 60's if fun to watch old shows on a tv you remember as a kid.

That and I just dont like the way modern TV's looks, something artificial about it to my old 50+ year old eyes.

Also reminds me of back when things were made to last and it was a big deal to have something nice like a color tv, and of course something about remembering when stuff was made in USA, unlike today when there is practially now consumer products made here. An economy that is based on finacial services.

It seem to me the industrial giant built by the sacrifices of the greatest generation has been sold off by the generation that followed for a quick buck.

sort of like when a great company is built by someone of vision and then inherited by children that have no clue what to do to keep it going so they just start selling assets until its all gone. that is the way I see what has happnened. This old sets just help me to recall an age before that happened.

as far as a set from the 80's, yea I could care less about that as well. My interested ended around the mid 70's with a peak interest in the mid 60's

[Dan Starnes]

Well for instance, since I think modern tv programming is total garbage, there is a huge dvd selection of great old tv shows that I love to watch on my vintage sets. And that is what I watch.

[mbates14]

You would have to be born in the "TV" era to understand. I am only a year younger than you, and I myself still dont understand... but hey, its fun regardless.