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rootofnewtLast night, the TV died. The picture condensed into one horizontal line in the middle of the screen and that was that.
Now, this Samsung (27" CRT) has been on the fritz to one degree or another for a few years. I can remember when TV's lasted more than seven years, but those times seem to be in the past.
Last night we saw some nifty flatscreens on sale at various stores, with 18 months same as cash financing. We like deals like that--we start paying immediately and have the thing paid off before finance charges kick in. We've paid for the washer & dryer and all of our lawn mowers this way. It's a good plan for us.
Well, those sales all changed today. And today's sales aren't as good.
Boy was briefly seduced by a $1000 Sony LCD flatscreen at sears (which did have 18 month financing on that model), but I employed my dusty ol' logic circuits and insisted that we NOT spend that much. We can wait for the good sales to come back around again (where the 800-900 LCD flatscreens are on sale for around 600 dollars) with the financing deals. In the meantime, we'll replace the little TV. What little TV? Why the little 1984 RCA with fake wood paneling and the cute UHF dials. It died awhile back, but we so rarely used it (mostly as a Sirius speaker with the Dish receiver) that we didn't replace it. So I pointed out that having a small DVD combo TV would be more useful. We found a 13" Sylvania on sale at Sears. I think it'll serve us well until we can stumble upon another good sale. And hey, we spent less than a tenth of what my starry-eyed husband was leaning toward.
Anyhow, we wouldn't have replaced it so soon, but we watch 24 and Dirt and we listen to the Sirius MetOpera channel all the time. While we can live without the TV shows, we really like listening to the music.
Of course, now Dad will probably tell me that the Samsung just needs a simple fuse replacement. For now, I think we'll go out and do some yard work. It's gorgeous out and the poodle needs to run.
Speaking of the poodle, he got a bath earlier today. He's no longer filthy! WOOHOO!
Now, this Samsung (27" CRT) has been on the fritz to one degree or another for a few years. I can remember when TV's lasted more than seven years, but those times seem to be in the past.
Last night we saw some nifty flatscreens on sale at various stores, with 18 months same as cash financing. We like deals like that--we start paying immediately and have the thing paid off before finance charges kick in. We've paid for the washer & dryer and all of our lawn mowers this way. It's a good plan for us.
Well, those sales all changed today. And today's sales aren't as good.
Boy was briefly seduced by a $1000 Sony LCD flatscreen at sears (which did have 18 month financing on that model), but I employed my dusty ol' logic circuits and insisted that we NOT spend that much. We can wait for the good sales to come back around again (where the 800-900 LCD flatscreens are on sale for around 600 dollars) with the financing deals. In the meantime, we'll replace the little TV. What little TV? Why the little 1984 RCA with fake wood paneling and the cute UHF dials. It died awhile back, but we so rarely used it (mostly as a Sirius speaker with the Dish receiver) that we didn't replace it. So I pointed out that having a small DVD combo TV would be more useful. We found a 13" Sylvania on sale at Sears. I think it'll serve us well until we can stumble upon another good sale. And hey, we spent less than a tenth of what my starry-eyed husband was leaning toward.
Anyhow, we wouldn't have replaced it so soon, but we watch 24 and Dirt and we listen to the Sirius MetOpera channel all the time. While we can live without the TV shows, we really like listening to the music.
Of course, now Dad will probably tell me that the Samsung just needs a simple fuse replacement. For now, I think we'll go out and do some yard work. It's gorgeous out and the poodle needs to run.
Speaking of the poodle, he got a bath earlier today. He's no longer filthy! WOOHOO!
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 08:37 pm (UTC)I've *almost* had boyfriends who were younger than my tv... ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-11 08:43 pm (UTC)If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-11 11:31 pm (UTC)Trust me. I have NICKS on the glass where small children have pounded on my screen with blocks, Hot Wheels cars, etc.
That would translate to a cracked LCD or plasma display, considering the amount of force used to nick the glass screen.
Plus, it's much cheaper too.
Just something to think about, for thinking ahead to toddler years.
Also, you might want to consider storing all those CDs in the CD rack somewhere else. ;)
Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-11 11:52 pm (UTC)When I was a kid, we didn't touch the TV. Never happened. I'm really not worried about that.
As for the CDs, we already have a plan for those, just no need to worry about them for now.
Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-12 12:21 am (UTC)Ahem. I think your logic circuits *are* dusty...
Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-12 12:24 am (UTC)Seriously, not an issue. Expensive equipment *should* be protected, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't buy expensive equipment out of fear of toddler-dom. It just requires more forethought.
Um......
Date: 2007-03-12 12:43 am (UTC)Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-12 01:01 am (UTC)When you get one, can we get one or two, as well?
Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-12 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 02:52 am (UTC)LCD tv category is here.
I would also like to chime in with a my parents had expensive electronic equipment that I was not allowed and NEVER did touch. When I was very young it was out of my reach and when I was tall enough to reach it, I knew that there would be consequences if I did. Particularly if I touched my dad's stereo stuff.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 03:13 am (UTC)1) Our TV went down to a single line, and my Dad fixed it by opening it up and jiggling something. You might seriously consider opening it up and making sure all the circuit boards are in tight. Fortunately, we had bought a new TV before he managed to find the time to fix it. :) It was 15 years old... Anyway, we've done a pile of research, so I'll pontificate a bit.
2) Go for LCD, not plasma. Many vendors have stopped making plasmas, and the prices have come down a lot--they are usually cheaper. The story always was that plasmas suffer burn in, and LCDs suffer from very bright blacks. On modern TVs, both are much less problems, but I'm still uncomfortable running a video game console through a plasma. I saw some old plasmas at Boeing once that had REALLY bad burn in, and it wasn't pretty. You could fix it by showing a white screen for a couple of days, but still.
3) If you want the Sony, buy from Sony. Otherwise you don't get the warranty. You get some store warranty, not the original factory warranty. Sony is a bastard, you might say, and you'd be right, but that's just the truth. You may find it cheaper at Sears, but the warranty is not as good, and with something like this, I like to have a warranty. Many things I do not--and it is up to your own preference, but just to keep in mind. The current crop of Sony LCDs have the very best features and are definitely forward compatible. I don't think you will be out your money in the whole technology creep to the future with them, like you might be with another set. Sony has 18 months, no interest, no payments (as you mentioned you like) if you qualify; I suspect you will qualify. This is the nicest 32'':
Bravia 32 XBR2
Do not buy XBR3. It's the same as XBR2 (right down to the hardware) except it is shiny black instead of silver. And $500 more expensive! The XBR2 series has the absolute best LCD technology You will be very happy looking at Kiefer's craggly face with it.
4) Make sure you deal with the fact that wide screen TVs are sized differently. They are 16:9 and not 4:3 as you may be used to, so the diagonal measurement means a very different thing.
5) Get HDMI inputs. Future-proof your TV.
6) You buy an expensive shiny new TV and except high-def--you know you will not get it. You need to get a CableCard from your cable company (I think the same applies to Dish/satellite) and plug that into the back of your TV (this will eliminate your cable box). You may also need to pay a small fee for high-def channels, including broadcast channels. Of course, if you buy the shiny Sony with a tuner (see #7), you might not need the CableCard because the channels just happen to be there; you just have to find them.
7) Be careful of buying a TV versus buying a monitor. With these shiny new TVs they hide the fact that many are not actually TVs at all, but just glorified computer monitors. Now, if you want to use a crappy cable box, then you don't need to have a tuner--you can essentially have an external tuner (same for Dish, etc.). There are two kinds of tuner; one for over the air signals, and another that works with the CableCard for cable tuning (so simple this is...). The over the air one is called ATSC.
Continued in another comment because LJ sucks.
Continued....
Date: 2007-03-12 03:14 am (UTC)Bravia X Series from CostCo
Even with the membership fee, it might still be a good deal. I'm not sure if they have the financing you might want.
9) Don't let Sony's annoying "First TV for Men and Women" marketing campaign bother you--they have the best TVs if not at the best cost. But boy do I hate those ads. They are really rather offensive.
10) You'll need shiny new cables. Don't buy the most expensive. As long as they are well made, the cables are digital and do not suffer signal loss like other analog cables. This means that you are probably being overcharged. :)
11) Even if you are not going to buy the shiny new TV right now, I'll put all this into your LJ as a reference, and because it took a long time for us to figure all this out.
12) You should evaluate the cost of the TV now versus how long you intend to keep it for. I really do think that spending more than $1000 is justified as you will be able to keep the TV for another 15 years (or at least more than 7), but you get what you pay for. Consumer Reports have done some intense comparisons, and there are some better deals out there. I like the shiny Sony TVs because they really do have the best picture, but they are not always the best short term value. I think they make some of that back in the long term, but I find that to be a personal choice and subject to your general philosophy towards electronics. I like long term value though, and we intend to keep our new TV for many many years.
13) We are always happy to answer questions. :) Just wanted to give you lots of stuff to think about. :)
Re: Um......
Date: 2007-03-12 03:21 am (UTC)evol, ad ammom
Re: Um......
Date: 2007-03-12 03:26 am (UTC)Re: Um......
Date: 2007-03-12 04:22 am (UTC)evol, ad ammom
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 01:38 pm (UTC)That said, what do you like about Dirt? I got
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 01:52 pm (UTC)Re: If I may suggest...
Date: 2007-03-13 02:34 am (UTC)Aren't hamster balls made in toddler sizes?