I wish I could still go someplace to look at and buy TVs with knobs and tubes, that isn't eBay or a random yard sale.

If I were a thrift store owner, I wouldn't be turning away TVs just because they didn't have buttons or a remote! Anything that can connect to cable is fair game.

A good number of thrifts I recall going to in Fl back when I lived there EVEN before the DTV transition seemed to never have video related electronics...Or much of anything that did not relate to food preparation.

Up here there are anywhere from 1/2-3 dozen VCRs and at least two CRT tvs at any given thrift shop. This time of year they get a lot of TVs, and the price drops to .49-.99$ for most of them...Though I've seen them going for that price other times of the year in the last year or so, thus I see a trend forming.

I live in the 'radio belt' as fellow antique radio collectors call it, a place where historically the vast majority have had the funds to purchase electronics over the years...Even into today. This makes the acquisition of anything vintage and electronic practically a matter of looking. ...Heck tube radio consoles even show up at thrifts here on a semi-regular basis.

I'd say we lose more than we make on the darn things as we have to pay to have them hauled off. I groan inside whenever I see another one show up.