Really cool that this thread took off. A lot of great facts and opinions. One thing I saw more than once was people saying that they liked watching programming as old as the sets on their sets. I think that there is something to that as I have long thought that they really did a great job with color programming in the early years, or we'll say the 60s to be more specific. I think to a degree that quality dropped off in the 70s and improved again somewhere in the 80s. I've seen a lot of 70s sit-coms where the video quality is lousy; probably that more than the actual color. But check out something like Dragnet, Bewitched or other 60s shows and the video quality and color are spectacular no matter what set you are using.
We ended up talking about set build quality of later years such as the 80s when things became pretty iffy and remained that way or frankly evolved into garbage all the way up to today's flats. Your age sort of dictates what is "old" to you I think, so to me an 80s set is just another TV set. I say this because although I have absolutely no desire to start filling up my already cluttered electronics home/warehouse with 80s sets or much of anything else frankly. I have enough to keep me entertained for the duration I think! LOL! In my defense, most of my sets are older than me!
I do have an example of how well sets COULD be made (if desired) by the 80s. It's a 19" Panasonic that only says Compufocus on the front. This set was given to me years ago by someone who can justify the upgrade and discard mentality. I'm here to tell ya that the thing often plays around the clock! I work swing shifts and got into the nasty habit of sleeping with a TV on so I don't hear my neighbors' dog collections and lawn mowing addictions during the day when I need to sleep. I know; I can't expect the world to stop so I can sleep. But I keep waiting for SOMETHING, anything to go wrong with such a heavily used set. Not a thing so far. Bright and perfectly converged picture, the works.
Point being is I think electronics engineering reached a plateau of sorts by that time and they could build almost bulletproof sets. Of course we have seen that achievement turn 360 deg. and most of the industry turned to what I call planned obsolescence and/or failure just to keep us buying more. So only a few years ago you could still find one CRT model set at Wallyworld and going back into the 90s a set MAY last 5 years before the tube was shot.
Man, a lot of good things have gone away since the days of the "roundie." Not just things, but ways of thinking as well. I'm glad we are here on VK sort of keeping the torch lit!