[Jeffhs]

I have a Zenith Sentry 2 19" TV that has never been serviced for anything in the nearly 13 years I've owned it, but the set hasn't seen much use in the last eight years either (it was my main set from 1995-1999, then when I moved to my apartment I bought a new RCA and put the Zenith in my bedroom; I haven't used the latter much since '99 except to cross-check when I have cable trouble, and to test it once in a while). Still makes an excellent picture on cable. I expect to have this set, and my RCA CTC185 in the living room (which has had only one repair in the last eight years, and that only to fix a broken antenna connector) when the analog TV stations sign off and all TV goes digital next year; the latter set also makes a great picture after the onboard tuner issues were resolved, as I'm sure the tech who repaired the antenna connector must have done.

For Kurt E.: Your sister's Zenith TV gave her excellent service if it has only had one part replaced in 18 years. If she wants to use the set yet some time in the future, go ahead and replace the video output transistor again; it will be worth it. Zenith was still the original Zenith Radio Corporation based in Chicago in the 1970s, so their TVs were still fairly good quality, although a lot of their small b&w portables (and all their radios, before they went out of the radio business) were being made in Taiwan or Korea by 1976 or so; I had a Zenith 12" b&w portable, bought new in 1978, that lasted 22 years and still was working great--original CRT and not a bit of service done on it. The Zenith brand didn't turn into junk until Korea's LG Electronics bought them out in the nineties.