Roundie sitting in water in dumb digital TV commercial.

[Jeffhs]

I have an RCA (Thomson) 19" (the set shown in my avatar) and a Zenith 19" TV that both work very well on digital cable. The RCA has only had one repair in the eight years I've had it, and the picture is as good as the day I bought it; the Zenith is 12 years old and hasn't had one repair yet. The picture on the Zenith is great as well and the set still has its original CRT, as does the RCA.

I agree with Jordan that HDTV flat-panel sets are little more that glorified computer monitors, and that they don't last more than a couple of years. Another problem with flat panels is, in many cases, the video driver ICs are molded into the cable that connects the panel to the chassis, and the cable itself is, like as not, hard-wired at both ends; when one of those ICs go bad, the entire panel is rendered useless, even if the panel itself still has plenty of life left in it.

It is for these reasons that I fully intend to keep my two analog TVs until the wheels fall off, figuratively speaking. Both sets are working fine now, and frankly I don't see the RCA going bad for some time to come. When it does finally gasp its last breath, I'll just pull my 19" Zenith out of my bedroom and watch it until it finally dies; then, and only then, will I consider getting a flat-panel. I've toyed with the idea of getting a 15" Magnavox FP as are advertised in Best Buy and Circuit City newspaper advertising flyers, but I don't want a set with a picture not much larger than a slightly oversized postage stamp. When I finally get a FP, I will look for a set with a picture at least as big as my analog TVs.

[Bill Cahill]

I'm still using my 23" 5 year old Admiral chinese tv. It's doing fine.
I am working on my family set now. My 1950 BW RCA Victor tv for my fun.
After that, I'll be finnishing my CTC-7A color set for my color videos, and, whatever.
I hate hdtv, and, the color to me looks like a kids' coloring book.
I don't care much for digital, and, I agree that this modern junk isn't going to last....
Remember, also, that they have now perfected, and, are using chips that will die in a set time by the companies. When dead, you can only buy a new chip from them at a cost prohibitive price so they can force you to buy a new one....
Bill Cahill

Originally Posted by Bill Cahill

last....
Remember, also, that they have now perfected, and, are using chips that will die in a set time by the companies. When dead, you can only buy a new chip from them at a cost prohibitive price so they can force you to buy a new one....
Bill Cahill

Great to have confirmation on that. Not too long ago I told a friend I bet they are doing that just because of all I have learned about general business practices.
Naturally, my friend, like anybody else I say anything to, responded as though I just gave him more of the usual cra_ that proves I'm an idiot on top of being wierd for liking old things.

[truetone36]

I'm using my 13" Samsung with digital cable and its doing fine. My wife has hinted about a new set, but a new set would never last 25 years like this little set has done. Besides, this set has sentimental value, having been given to me by a very close friend just before he passed away. He was a t.v. repairman and he went through the set thoroughly before letting me have it, and it's going to be working for years after this new junk has gone to the landfill.



Dumont-First with the finest in television.

[Jeffhs]

All existing analog TV sets will work after February 19, 2009 if they are connected to cable or satellite service. Cable companies, moreover, do not necessarily or in fact have to carry their channels (even local channels) in digital format. I read in this thread (IIRC), in fact, that the cable companies can carry analog NTSC indefinitely if they so desire or need to (e.g. for financial reasons); only over-the-air TV stations are required by law to transmit digital signals.

Analog TVs do last longer than digital flat-panels. (My own two 19" analog CRT sets are still going strong and making excellent pictures on digital cable after eight and almost 13 years, respectively.) You are right as to your statement that analog CRT sets (such as your Samsung and all other makes of analog sets) will still be in use, and hopefully working well, years after the new FPs have developed serious problems and are thrown out to face a certain death in a landfill.

I personally like the picture on a CRT set better than I would probably like the same image on a FP television. Someone in this thread said basically the same thing not long ago, stating that, to him, the picture on a FP set looked terrible (oversaturated colors, for example) when compared to the same picture on an analog set. I personally do not believe that even the best and most expensive flat panel HDTV produces a better picture than a good CRT set with a strong signal. My feeling is that if you like the picture you get on your analog set, keep it and enjoy it until it dies, the signal format be darned. The government is not forcing anyone to switch from a CRT TV to an HD flat panel; the only thing the FCC has forced on us (and every one of the nation's TV stations) is the change from analog to digital transmission. Even OTA (over the air) digital TV can still be viewed on an an analog set if an ATSC converter is used ahead of it. However, as the new digital TV commercials are saying, all unmodified analog TVs will show nothing but snow on 02-19-2009, which is a fact. Hopefully, these commercials will drive this point home, so that viewers will not have a rude surprise on that date when they turn on their analog sets to watch the news (for example), and see nothing but noise on their favorite news channel.

Fortunately, as I said above, however, if you have cable or satellite service you need not even be concerned about the changeover, as all the changes have already been made or will soon be made by your area's cable company. Time Warner, the cable operator serving northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania, for example, has already converted its entire system to digital, so they (and their subscribers) will definitely be ready when 02.19.09 rolls around.

Digital TV. Don't fight it and for heaven's sake don't worry about it. As long as cable companies carry analog NTSC (and even digital, using a converter) you will still get the same channels you receive now, regardless of what kind of TV you have. The only difference will be that, on standard analog televisions, digital broadcasts will be displayed in letterbox format. You will see the same picture you've been seeing all along, only now it will be in 16:9 aspect ratio and will not fill your screen vertically. Don't be alarmed the first time you see this; your TV picture isn't shrinking. If your picture were actually shrinking due to a problem in the vertical sweep system, you would be seeing the station's/network's VITS (vertical interval test signals) at the top of the picture; the latter might be stretched out of shape or compressed as well.

Remember as well that all the hype surrounding HDTV is just advertising hooey, designed to drum up business for stores so they can sell more flat panel sets. Personally, I know only one person (my barber) who actually has an HDTV in his home. I do not think high-definition has really caught on yet in many parts of the country, except perhaps southern California. When people find out just how short-lived FP sets are, they are probably going to wish they would have held on to their old reliable analog CRT sets. I think it's a darn shame that $1,000+ large-screen (and smaller) flat-panel TVs last only a couple years before they go belly-up, but that's the way it is these days. This factor alone is keeping the stores that sell these TVs in business. It's known as planned obsolescence, and there's darned little if anything we can do about it.

[Robert Grant]

Even if you don't have cable or satellite, don't throw out an analog TV.

You can get a tuner for over-the-air Digital TV. Nearly every such tuner offers an NTSC output (in addition to HDTV modes), and can (perhaps with the addition of a very inexpensive RF modulator and a 75 to 300 ohm antenna transformer) be hooked up to ANY american TV set (okay, if you have a very rare RCA TRK-9, you'll have to convert if from 441-line to NTSC, and I assume that's been done already?).

Worried about price? You can get a $ 40 couppn to help pay (or pay outright) for the cost of the converter, whether you have cable or not (go to www.dtv2009.gov).

FWIW, I have used my RCA ATSC-11 STB with my Emerson 1224 B&W set from 1957. I've also fed this box with the output of a Standard-Kollsman UHF converter, giving me a DTV receiving system that not only uses 21 tubes, but offers mechanical tuning!

Rob Grant, Michigan.