Lets celebrate the few reliable flat TVs!

[Jeffhs]

I replaced my CRT TV and computer monitor with flat-screen LCDs some time ago, and didn't look back.

I don't miss the old CRT monitors either; in fact, I think LCD monitors and TVs, with their far higher resolution values compared to CRTs, make much better pictures and images than the CRT ones ever did. No wonder. The old NTSC television system was 4:3 aspect ratio, 525 lines interlaced scanning (no such thing as progressive scan with NTSC, that I was ever aware of), which limited image quality severely, but that was the best we had for over 50 years -- until television went digital (ATSC) almost four years ago, and flat screens took over from the CRT sets and computer monitors. I waited a long time to get my first flat screen (wanted to wait until the prices became reasonable), but I'm glad I did. I replaced my computer monitor with a FS display because the degausser in the old CRT monitor went bad, causing a bothersome bend in the raster, but the display itself still works. If I ever use that HP CRT monitor again (as I will if anything happens to my HP flat screen one), I will simply disable the degausser; this should remove the bend in the raster, leaving me with a perfectly usable (if old and obsolete) monitor that will almost certainly outlast any flat panel. (So far, it already has. )

Say what you will (old, obsolete, out of date, etc.) about the CRT TVs and monitors, but one area in which they are still very much superior to flat panels is life span. I have two CRT table model TVs here that are almost 18 and 14 years old, respectively, and they still work very well. My HP CRT computer monitor is probably ten years old and, aside from the degausser problem I mentioned above, still works almost as new. I do not expect my HP flat-screen monitor to last anywhere near that long, although I do have a 4-year extended warranty from Best Buy so I guess I can expect at least four good years out of this thing. As to my flat screen TV, I don't know how long it may last; it is nearing the end of its 2-year factory warranty, and I have read on Insignia's support site that many people get no more than a year or two out of these sets (for which they paid, in many cases, over $1k) before they develop problems that will cost more to repair than the original purchase price. Whether or not this means my own set will follow suit I don't know; I'll just have to wait and see what happens in the future.