Incredible stuff and awesome memories. Originating and having come up from that world of tubes and crackling sounds of AM floor model wooden radio, then not soon after, the Cathode Ray Tube black n white televisions. Those if some might still recall where often had the vertical & horizontal lines crossing the screen requiring periodic manual adjustments. Cool article. Thanks Lone Ranger for the look back which once was the look ahead. Fascinating to read that their uses can still have some value to some.
CRT televisions are obsolete? We still have one, 27 inch. It's 10 or 12 years old but still works fine. I'd say it's good for another 8 or 10 years. It might outlast me. We'll keep it until it dies. How many of these nice, fancy flatscreen things will run for 20 years?
I've had the biggest of a JVC 65 inch flat screen and it was all the rave for awhile but i trimmed back to 55 inch screen. As a bonified genuine throwback from a time of simpler safer living i even now experience burnout due to the all the massiveness where it concerns TV. In fact in 2005 i still had a picture tube tv and not beyond scaling back again the first time i run across a good one at a flea market or yard sale. Not only that but bought a 100 mile range Cut-The-Cord outdoor antenna that picks up several many stations FOR FREE! Am a thrifty it.
We have DISH, which is okay unless it snows, or rains hard, or we get a dust storm (a regular New Mexico event spring, summer, and fall). We don't get cable where we are, and too far from civilization for an antenna. The old CRT tubed TV works just fine. We've talked about buying a flatscreen TV, but my wife has the best answer I can think of. She just says, "Why?" Besides, if I'm going to blow several hundred dollars on something, I'll get me a new metal detector, which I also don't need. Mine works fine.
I replaced 2 Samsung 1100(p) last year with some flats, 30 kilos each and 50x50x50cm³, never ever. But i my garage i stored a CRT for my ancient C64. My tube TV became useless because of online TV. All that analog stuff was nice but it contains rare earth to be recycled (like old smartphones). whose who need tube tv as spare parts already are prepped. my spare tv is a small portable and i also own a Zender analog/digital antenna in case of a new world war^^ TV is overrated.
I also still own a CRT TV from Sharp, it's 15 years old and just refuses to die and has a great sharp tv picture. Actually, that was normal for CRT TV's, it didn't matter if it was SD or HD quality it always looked good both in analog or digital. So we actually took a step back with flat-screen TV's, you need at least full HD for a good TV picture. Problem is, many channels are still being broadcasted in SD, because ISP's don't have enough broadband on their networks, what a joke.
Yes, and they last, and last. I don't know how long the current flatscreen tvs keep working, but I'll bet money it isn't 15 or 20 years. Today, everything is made to die in a few years. My first computer was in 1991, 2mb RAM and a 40MB HDD. I gave it away when I got a new one in 1996 because it didn't have enough power to run the Internet (AOL). The person I gave it to still has it, and it still works for what they use it for (files, bookkeeping with Lotus 1,2.3, etc). These days, if you can get 10 or 12 yrs out of one that you use for work 8 or 9 hrs a day, I'd be surprised. Same with TV's and just about everything else.
