The number of playable B&W Televisions ...

[cwmoser]

I was thinking about the number of playable B&W televisions and wondered it the number of actually playable sets are increasing. Certainly when color TVs became reasonably priced, consumers started switching to them.

So, what year do you think that the number of playable B&W TVs started their decline -- in addition, are we TV restorers making an impact on this number such that the decline is reversing and the number of playable B&W TVs are increasing?

I know this is just wildly subjective, but I find this interesting to ponder on while I wait for my next order of capacitors to arrive so I can get back on the bench:-)

Carl

[Kamakiri]

Interesting question. The TV hobby has definitely taken flight since the days of the internet....when I started into TVs heavy back in the mid-1990s, I used to rely on the monthly Antique Radio Classified magazine to come in every month, and hopefully be the first to hop on the phone if I saw something I wanted

I used to run ads in the paper for sets, too. Came home with some wonderful treasures back then too.

Then came eBay, and prices for anything and everything went through the roof (the era of the $1,000 Alf lunch box and stuff ). I sold a lot back in those days just because it was an absolute feeding frenzy. In fact I remember getting about $600 for a nondescript Admiral 17" bakelite table set, plus about $100 for shipping.

As far as when the numbers started to decline, that's a tough thing to pinpoint as it's probably before I seriously entered the hobby 15 years ago. I do suspect, though, that vintage TVs in 20 years are going to be like Atwater-Kent breadboards today.....crazy high prices, only in the hands of collectors, and nobody will care if they work

[cwmoser]

Kamakiri, if you are right that in the future folks could care less if they played or not, its likely that a TV with un-molested/un-restored electronics will be more desirable than one that has been recapped and playable.

I would guess that the number of TVs we are making playable are less than 1 per day. Might be wrong and there might be more folks working on these TVs than we know about.

Carl

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Interesting question. The TV hobby has definitely taken flight since the days of the internet....when I started into TVs heavy back in the mid-1990s, I used to rely on the monthly Antique Radio Classified magazine to come in every month, and hopefully be the first to hop on the phone if I saw something I wanted

I used to run ads in the paper for sets, too. Came home with some wonderful treasures back then too.

Then came eBay, and prices for anything and everything went through the roof (the era of the $1,000 Alf lunch box and stuff ). I sold a lot back in those days just because it was an absolute feeding frenzy. In fact I remember getting about $600 for a nondescript Admiral 17" bakelite table set, plus about $100 for shipping.

As far as when the numbers started to decline, that's a tough thing to pinpoint as it's probably before I seriously entered the hobby 15 years ago. I do suspect, though, that vintage TVs in 20 years are going to be like Atwater-Kent breadboards today.....crazy high prices, only in the hands of collectors, and nobody will care if they work

[Kamakiri]

As far as what's going to be more desirable, that's anyone's guess. It's hard to predict what the standards will be for television in the future, if they'll be watchable via normal broadcast or if owners of working sets will be limited to VCR and DVD. I do think that since the broadcast standard made the big leap to DTV (and that took how long), another change in the signal isn't out of the question in the next decade.

Two schools of thought here. First, we can look at say a Model T Ford, an antique refrigerator, an old radio, what have you. While most people want them to work and use and enjoy them, there will always be people that only want to display them and don't care if they work.

The historical value comes long long down the road, say in a hundred years, when for most, it'd just be a display piece in the same way that nobody would hitch up an 1800s Wells Fargo stagecoach to ride around the property, serve the daily family dinners on a Stickley table, or stick an antique Indian canoe in the water for an afternoon on the lake. At that point, who can say?

The thing is, we won't be around 100 years from now. I say let's enjoy them while we can

[kx250rider]

Collector value seems to pop up as soon as something disappears from the scene... Case in point; you couldn't pay someone to take away a roundie color set in 1995, but now they're $100 & up for a total junker. You couldn't pay someone to take away a '79 Cadillac Seville Diesel, but now, despite the basic hatred for them by one and all, the Diesel engine now at least triples the eBay value of a '79 Seville. Why? Because they've disappeared.

As soon as you search a metropolitan CL section and can't find a 27" Sony Trinitron, you will see one go for $$$$$$ on eBay.

Charles

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by cwmoser

I was thinking about the number of playable B&W televisions and wondered it the number of actually playable sets are increasing. Certainly when color TVs became reasonably priced, consumers started switching to them.

...

One angle I see in your question is the number of B&W sets that got put in storage (like in the back room where it got rarely used) before the flyback, power transformer, CRT or other hard to find part failed. Because a new color TV displaced it out of regular use. And thus would need only the wax and electrolytic caps to be replaced to restore it. A few years ago a neighbor tossed an RCA B&W from the late 50s, and it still worked (albeit with a weak CRT) even before I did a recap. These sets would surface pretty much only at estate sales, as the owner didn't want to toss it before they checked out.

[Penthode]

This is indeed an interesting question. Another factor which should be considered is the technology progression in consumer electronics. Up until the late '70's, consumer electronics equipment construction facilitated repair. Service manual organizations flourished, local TV repair shops were numerous and replacement parts were made readily available for fixing TV sets.

Since consumer electronics is now considerably more sophisticated and the manufacture has now migrated overseas, the chances of extending the natural life of a post year 2000 TV will be more difficult. Early sets will still need a signal and as interlaced 525 NTSC video remains available, it is a relatively simple matter to get it into an old set.

I forsee in the not too distant future that there may emerge a "chronological gap" of working TV sets between older simpler TV technology and the newer sets. On the other hand, maybe the newer sets are just that much more reliable and will continue to run?

[cwmoser]

Another thing is that we collectors are attracted to visually appealing TVs and Historically important ones. Perhaps 100 years from now Television will evolve to wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling displays you put up like wallpaper. Then, those flat panel TVs will be like the B&W TVs we like and those "projection" TVs will be like the 1940's projection TVs we like today.

Furniture tastes are evolving and 100 years from now interior design might make the furniture we use today as unappealing as an old straw seat straight back chair.

Carl

[bgadow]

Working BW TV sets get destroyed each day; across the USA right now there are dozens of 12" BW sets from the 80s-90s which work just fine but are sitting in the bottom of a dumpster, unloved. Today, a working 21" console from the mid-50s will be put out to the curb somewhere and none of us will be there to rescue it. Perhaps the number of BW sets that actually see some use is increasing, though. If not yet, I think it will eventually. It very well may be that if you took a good poll of everyone in your town, almost nobody is using a BW set on a regular basis.

[Jeffhs]

The same thing is happening today, since digital TV took over from analog NTSC almost three years ago. I can only guess (and even then I'd probably be way off) how many people thought television was ending forever and threw out the old analog set after hearing those dire announcements over the radio and on standard TV, not to mention reading in their town's local newspaper, that "your TV will go black after xx/xx/2006 and will be useless", or words to that effect, and again when the final DTV transition hard date, 2/17/2009, was announced.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Penthode

Since consumer electronics is now considerably more sophisticated and the manufacture has now migrated overseas, the chances of extending the natural life of a post year 2000 TV will be more difficult. Early sets will still need a signal and as interlaced 525 NTSC video remains available, it is a relatively simple matter to get it into an old set.

I forsee in the not too distant future that there may emerge a "chronological gap" of working TV sets between older simpler TV technology and the newer sets. On the other hand, maybe the newer sets are just that much more reliable and will continue to run?

I can't resist comparing consumer electronics and cars here:
It is more likely that the 1950's era TV's will remain serviceable with basic parts if for no other reason but simplicity and ubiquitous tube types,etc we can always get. Just like a ford, chevy or mopar from the same era. Coversely, the sets from the 80's onward used custom solid state parts, sweep circuits,CRT's etc just like the over-featured and complicated cars we have in the last 30 years. Those will be nearly impossible to swap parts on. I sure won't shed a tear over junking late 70's and newer cars My apologies to anybody born after 1979, this is just my car opinion, im sure the gov't will again interfere with auto design and repeat the mistakes of the 70's on grander scale.

[W3XWT]

If I found a light green 1973 Ford Galaxie 500 4-dr sedan in good shape, I might be tempted. Let's just say a special memory is involved...!

[cwmoser]

Originally Posted by W3XWT

If I found a light green 1973 Ford Galaxie 500 4-dr sedan in good shape, I might be tempted. Let's just say a special memory is involved...!

Special memory in the front seat, or the back seat:-)

I had a 1971 white Ford Galaxy 500 4-door. Big old car. Bench seats, lots of room in that car. Mine had a cracked exhaust manifold. And yeah, special memories too:-)

Carl

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by W3XWT

If I found a light green 1973 Ford Galaxie 500 4-dr sedan in good shape, I might be tempted. Let's just say a special memory is involved...!

the Reverend Horton Heat wrote a song about that car...

[Boobtubeman]

Got a running 79 pinto with at least 2 good memories in it