There were really only 4 TVs in my household growing up. A very late 50's or early 60's Zenith B&W portable which I don't clearly remember the screen size, but that it had a most unusual channel indicator (checkerboard square thing).

This was followed by one or two other small B&W Zeniths. Can't quite recall the screen size, 9" or 12" They worked alright except I recall VHF tuner problems. They knob would get flaky and you'd have to jiggle it or even press it to one side or another....and one of the 2 tubes in the tune itself would go bad at least once a year.

I got to the point where I'd replace this tube and clean the tuner myself (was just a kid at the time, and it mortified my mother that I was poking around inside there!)

This was followed by a pair of cheap small Panasonic B&Ws for me and my siblings. These were around 9" and were probably the last tube sets they made....the next year they went solid state but the style stayed the same.

At this same time we got an early Sony Trinitron 17" KV-1701 which never needed any service. Sad to say all of these got thrown away. As I've spoke of in earlier posts, my family could be considered mostly a Zenith one because of relatives who've worked for Zenith in Chicago.

When I moved out on my own the first couple of sets I've bought were also Zeniths (a early 80's console and a late 80's portable) both of which lasted quite a long time. Ended up giving away the console and then bought the portable--both were color.

When my last one blew up Zenith was no longer any good so I opted for a Wega Sony flat screen....it was built in Compton Calif. I wanted a quality set that at least had American labor content. Had looked at Philips and some others that are still built here, but I like the sharpness of this set.

I put a LOT of hours on my sets as I'm a total vidiot and they still have performed long lives with no service needed until they've died.

One thing I remember about the first Sony is that you could turn on or off the "Instant On" feature. You could actually see the glowing filaments int the picture tube when you left this on.

Have heard all the horror stories about fires or early tube death, but I felt that by leaving it on then the filament and guns would be more thermally stable and that alone may extend the life.

Two things led me to this conclusion..........was told by some military types that after turning back on equipment that had been on standby that they'd end up failing due to the thermal shock supposedly. This was corroborated by a friend's dad who was the founder of Elektra records. He had racks of McIntosh equipment that he kept on all the time, none of which ever seemed to need any repairs.

Anthony