The myth of the indulgent flatscreen TV society

zagubov

SingleSue wrote: »

I have a 14inch old style portable in my bedroom...not that it works very well. Youngest has another 14 inch old style portable in his bedroom, with a crack in the casing.

We have a 32 inch in the frontroom (flat style one) and the big 32 inch CRT version which it replaced under an insurance claim in the two elder boys bedroom (albeit with a blooming great hole in the top..still works though!)

Anyone get the idea I am not a follower of buying new technology? My ex hubby would hate it now...he liked all the gadgets.

As you all know from other threads I'm a luddite. CRTs are all we've got. Having said that with Virgin we've got fast enough broadband sowe can all stream TV progs at high speed so when the CRTs pack in we won't miss them.

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I've just looked the website up...

Check it out. You can still rent traditional CRT's....even the square type instead of widescreen!

http://www.boxclever.co.uk/productlist.html?cat_id=9

Not sure but i remember there used to be Granada, Radio rentals, think on most high streets. These two merged to form Boxclever. I think there was a third called Rediffusion which was also I think the biggest postwar cable TV company in the UK before wired broadcasting was submerged by stronger transmitters ariels.
I'm a fan of this article.

C_Mababejive

I wouldnt buy a new TV unless to watch films on. The broadcast output these days is mind numbing sh!te and i do believe it is having a long term deleterious effect on the British and their level of intelligence which has moved downward from an already low base.

My ultimate MSE moment was being gifted,free of charge a Sony KF42sx300 42" with mega plate glass stand. I took it apart,serviced and cleaned the light engine and it has worked brilliantly ever since. It must have cost over £1500 new

Generali

C_Mababejive wrote: »

My ultimate MSE moment was being gifted,free of charge a Sony KF42sx300 42" with mega plate glass stand. I took it apart,serviced and cleaned the light engine and it has worked brilliantly ever since. It must have cost over £1500 new

When CRT TVs first became a real no-no we moved from a Central London flat to a large suburban house. In a month we'd picked up 3 large, widescreen CRT TVs from Freecycle, 2 Sonys and a Hitachi. Total purchase price must have been the best part of £3,000. All three came from pretty small houses in shabby suburbs, not that that means anything of course.

Zekko

LCD is old-school now. LED is where it's at apparently. We were using a 28" CRT (huge lump of a thing) up until a few months ago when we decided to get splash some savings on a 42" LED TV, and reclaim some of the living room space!

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu

Zekko wrote: »

LCD is old-school now. LED is where it's at apparently. We were using a 28" CRT (huge lump of a thing) up until a few months ago when we decided to get splash some savings on a 42" LED TV, and reclaim some of the living room space!

Crystal LED is where 'it's at', apparently:

http://www.stuff.tv/news/ces/next-big-thing/sony-crystal-led-tv-%E2%80%93-next-big-thing

Zekko

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu wrote: »

Crystal LED is where 'it's at', apparently:

http://www.stuff.tv/news/ces/next-big-thing/sony-crystal-led-tv-%E2%80%93-next-big-thing

If we are going to quote the next big thing then surely it should be 4K and 8K UHDTV.

retro.kid

Moved into my flat January 2003. Treated myself to a lovely Sony 32" Triniton with 100Hz Flicker Free Technology :-)

RRP £1099 - I got it for £899. Chuffed to bits.

Next year, Flat Panel TV's start becoming the norm.

Fast forward 9 years. Sony still sitting in the living room and is still the main telly. And despite my fiance constantly suggesting a new tv, i have told her not until this one breaks. Nobody would want it, and i can't bring myself to put a perfectly good telly, i paid £900 for up to the tip :-(

Few weeks back, she was in her element when she told me she turned it on and there was no picture and sound. That soon stopped when i pointed out the SCART cable from the cable box wasn't in correctly :-)

My 14" Sony Portable purchased in 1994 is still going strong in the spare room as well :-)

DervProf

Zekko wrote: »

LCD is old-school now. LED is where it's at apparently.

In my experience, I have found that in a majority of cases, LED offers no improvement in picture quality over LCD. In fact, to my eyes, in many cases it is worse, especially at the "budget" end of the market. LED panels seem to produce a more artificial look to the picture.

On that basis, I purchased an LCD TV about 18 months ago. I worry not about the extra 2" depth of the casing, and the extra ~25 watts it consumes.

Percy1983

The funny thing I find with the the whole LED/LCD thing is LED tvs are LCD tvs.

The LED bit is purely the back light which can give advanatges in contrast and black levels but the panel is still LCD.

Of course LED tvs are slimmer due to this but that doesn't really bother me, I don't care my bedroom tv is a little thicker, its not like a CRT.

One thing I will say about every TV these days is turn the back light down, they are pretty much all too bright out of the factory.