[radiotvnut]

A few years ago, I went to a small yard sale and the only electronics she had was a lower end Hamilton classroom record player and this 13" Sharp TV with no remote.

I asked her what she wanted for the record player and she said $5, and she insisted that I take the TV for free. I didn't really want it, but I took it. For the past several years, it's been basically a noisemaker in the shop (for listening to the news, etc.) while I work on things. From day one, the picture has always been a little dark.

Today, I pulled it down and programmed a GE universal remote that I had to it, and reset all of the picture adjustments. It was still a bit dark, so I cranked up the G2 control on the flyback.

It looks better, but could stand a grayscale touch-up. This is one of those sets where all of that is done via an on-screen service menu and, fortunately, I found a free service manual online. So, one day soon, I'll pull up the service manual and adjust it.

I wouldn't be surprised if this set looked this way from the factory and I'm sure many TVs, especially cheaper ones, were only "ballpark adjusted" and a proper adjustment would make it look better.

Now, here's the thing that blew me away. I was looking on Ebay, to see if someone had a cheap original remote for sale (not that I really need one) and I did a "completed item search" for this model number. Much to my surprise, a few have sold in the $55 to $115 range.

Frankly, anyone who would pay that kind of money for a 13" BPC or SPC television is lazy and can't be bothered to do a little looking locally, has more money than sense, and has a severe case of the "I've gotta have it now" syndrome.

Yes, I have bought a lot off of Ebay, but it was all stuff that I figured would never show up locally. As far as stuff like this TV, there are still plenty of them out there for no more than $10 and they are often free. Even in this dump I live in, I can find BPC and SPC TVs for very little money and I'd never buy one off of Ebay.