Zonked!

[Phil Nelson]

If you want free or cheap old TVs, come up here to the Pacific Northwest. Most common are the nondescript 21" B/W consoles. Combos might as well be listed in the Free category under firewood. I suspect that most of these TVs do not get sold, even to fishtankers. The unanswered craigslist ad is their last stop on the way to the landfill.

I'm as eager as anyone else to preserve rare and unusual things, and to treat them carefully. Not everything fits in that category. I suppose the common, boring sets are part of our history, but I don't have an empty gymnasium to warehouse 5,000 unwanted TVs until some distant era when they might become interesting to somebody.

So, yeah, it depends on the set in front of you. If someone burns up a scarce or historically significant TV, that's bad. If they burn up a craigslist reject that they rescued from the curb . . . not so much.

The risk of inexperienced hobbyists wrecking significant TVs seems pretty remote. If you watch these forums, every now and then some Joe Schmoe will pipe up saying, "I found Granny's TV in the basement and it makes a white line. What now?" The first thing you'll see is a chorus of people waving their hands, telling Joe not to turn it on anymore, and to find someone experienced to help. And that advice is given even when the TV in question is a common, boring set that wouldn't fetch $25 on craigslist.

Just my $0.02.

Phil Nelson