How old is(are) your TV(s)?
By burrito88
@burrito88 (2774)
United States
October 6, 2010 12:33am CST
The technology for TV seems to keep changing everyday. Flat screen, plasma, wide screen, HD, 3D. I have a small house an live alone but I have three TVs. One is an old console (remember those) that belonged to my parents. That's in my living room. The remote no longer works so I have to change channels the old fashioned ay by going to the TV. But it still works. I have a heavy 26 inch TV thats in my sunroom. I think it's old enough that it only has capacity for 34 cable channels. So now I change channels usng a VCR. But it still works. My newest TV is 21 inch portable that's in my bedroom and is hooked up to a VCR. That one also still works. I've though about getting a new TV but it's hard for me to justify since all my sets still work. If one of them broke down, I might have to change my mind but right now I'm also on a low budget which makes it harder to justify buying a new one. And if I did buy a new one, what would I do with one or more of the old ones. There's no place around me now that takes electronics for recycling. Does anybody else feel the same way?
4 people like this
21 responses
@iDivision (1412)
• Latvia
6 Oct 10
I have LG TV which is about 8 years old. still working. The only thing that is already broken is my TV remote desk.
2 people like this
@delkar (1712)
• Romania
6 Oct 10
a young one. My oldest tv it`s a goldstar and it has 20 ! Can you belive it ? and it really works now too . I have other too , but thouse are little ones don`t have more than 25 inches ( i belive ) But i`ll buy a LED tv as soon as i`ll make some money in my paypal account .
@iDivision (1412)
• Latvia
7 Oct 10
hehe..young one? my TV? :D lol
before i bought it i had a HUGE soviet made TV with very small screen :D now that was cool black and white TV :D
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
6 Oct 10
Hi burrito. I have 4 TV's. My oldest TV is about 17 years old. It's a 27" Magnavox. My second oldest TV is my Toshiba 19". It's about 13 years old, I think. Then there's my Orion. I believe it's a 9" and about 10 years old. My newest TV is a Samsung 46" LED TV. It's still a baby at just 3 months old. 
Happy mylotting!
Happy mylotting!1 person likes this
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Oct 10
My house is somewhat small. I don'know if I could fit a 46 inch screen TV the the house with the furniture I have.
1 person likes this
@insomniacgirl (76)
• United States
6 Oct 10
Speaking of old TV's with the tubes in them, I remember my parents having one of those way back in the early 60s. If the picture went out, my dad would go behind the TV and tap on the tubes until the picture came back, LOL.
We have four or five TV's that still work, all are around 10 - 15 years old. We don't need that many TV's but my husband kept buying them. (rolling my eyes here). A few are in the garage now! Last year he got a 58" big screen TV,(I think that's the size, it's huge) which is a rent to own. I can go without TV's though. That's the hard part, where to get rid of them when they don't work anymore. :-)
1 person likes this
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
8 Oct 10
I remember when my parents had old black and white tube TV's. I used to go to the store with my father and watch him test the suspect tubes on a tube tester. Those old sets also had problems with the vertical or horizntal holds that are now unheard of.
@insomniacgirl (76)
• United States
8 Oct 10
I remember that too, the vertical and horizontal holds! And the rabbit ears that everyone had, always moving them around to get better reception. My son is 30, and when I've told him about the tubes and the lines, he can't even imagine that, LOL.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
9 Oct 10
yes rabbit ears which would sometimes do strange things. like if you pulled the antennas all the way out you would expect to get the best reception. yet when I fiddled with them, sometimes Ifound that buy not extending the antennas, I actually picked up more distant stations.
@moneyspinner (613)
• Mumbai, India
6 Oct 10
We had a T.V as old as 12 years with us, but that was a black and white television of 14" which we gave away in something 1999. Since then we now have two colour televisions one of 14" and one of 21". Both are around 10-11 years old enough :). We don't see any need for a new television set in the near future, Yeah as you said the TV console wear up within a few years, we too had to change those consoles twice, but otherwise the television sets are working fine :). Yess there is a rapid development in technology these days with people preferring more HD or plasma television sets. Now a days wall hanging/fitting plasma or HD T.V's are in great demand and people are recycling their old sets for this new one's. We to feel that we don't need a new television as we already have 2 at this moment, besides the same problem as your no place around that takes electronics for recycling :D. Electronic boom is sure a disaster for this world, as no dumping space is enough and creates poisonous gases which harm the people. Advancement of technology sure has its disadvantages :).
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
9 Oct 10
So far, at least, the different types of TVs are all still usable dspite changes in technology. Other areas here ou might have to worry are things like DVRs wher a format change might make your machine and storage units obsolete. A big example of this as the battle for film formats between VCRs (regular versus beta) and also videodisks. If you buy into the wrong format, you can end up with a machine with nothing new to play or old films only you can because no one else has the same format. Strangely, one area where demand should have ended is vinyl music disks where some people still want old record albums and there are some (not any) artists who insist on releasing vinyl disks. (I still hav my old turntable and some vinyl records) and I still have a tape deck (even though I got rid of all my tapes when I went to CDs).
@jacksn290 (19)
•
6 Oct 10
My first Tv was Onida Black and white.It was a member of our family for 18 years.And the second was a Onida Colour TV.It was in my aunt's house for about 20 years and I had it for like nearly 1 year.And now i have a TV provided for free by our state government.It is a colour TV.
1 person likes this
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Oct 10
My first TV was a Black and White Zenith, over 40 years ago. That was when the UHF tuners rotated like the old radio tuners and were not set for a fixed frequenncy. I was solid state and not tube. That was good because tubes used to go bad and you had to figure out which tube was bad. The trouble with solid state then was that if a circuit went bad, you usually had to change the whole circuit board. I used to take that TV to college and had a UHF antenna (that looked like chicken wire) that I set in the window of the dorm. Reception was still bad because of the metal in the building.
1 person likes this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
6 Oct 10
I only have (or need) the one TV set at home...My 22 inch tube TV is now 13 and still going fine,though the power switch on the front quit working some time back..I just use the remote to put it on standby,though I've had to replace the remote control too,and like you,I don't want to get rid of the set until it breaks down..There's a recycling centre belonging to the local council a few miles from where I live that'll accept almost anything electrical when the time comes..I'm liking that the flat screen LCD tv's of a similar size have now come down to around the same price as my Tube TV was when it was new..so I should be able to go for a bigger sized one for the same money when this one quits!
1 person likes this
@anetteh (3590)
• Sweden
6 Oct 10
My TV set is about 10 years old. I think you cant buy a TV like mine anymore. I have said, it will stay until it will bet black on me. Then I may want to buy a new TV that I can hang on my wall. However, I have noticed the prices is reduced on those so I will be able to save money enough to pay for it in cash instead of using credit cards.
@jdyrj777 (6530)
• United States
8 Oct 10
LOL!!! I know now there are still people in the same boat as me. I recently moved i had three 12" tv's. Two work just fine. I left behind one that i bought when my daughter was in jr. High school and she is 28 now. It was starting to have a little problem when you first turn it on. But worked fine after that and had nice pic. I figured it didnt need 3 so o left the oldest one. The two newer ones work with the same remote. One im storing and im using one. I still have a vcr. I bought it because i still have some movies on VHS. It hasnt been played much so im sure it will work for a long while yet. Then i have a DVD w/recording. I usually get DVD but sometimes you see a good VHS movie at a garage sale for $1. or $.50.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
9 Oct 10
I also have a lot of movies on tape because I was once somewhat fanatical and taped too many movies from cable. For some reason I have 3 VCRs of which the newest one makes sense because it is a combination DVR-VCR. Actually I have a fourt VCR now that I think about it but that one is broken. (A tape went in and won't come out.) I would have gotten rid of it by now but there's no recycling center for electronics like there used to be were I lived previouly.
@jdyrj777 (6530)
• United States
9 Oct 10
At one time i had 3 VCR's in the house. Sometimes all set to record stuff while i was at work. Many of them i havent watched yet. Lately ive been thinking of copying the home recorded ones onto DVD's. Just keeping pre recorded VHS. The DVDs are so much more compact. Maybe in the process i can find some that i recorded on VHS now inexpensivly on pre recorded DVDs.
I dont have cable right now so it would probably be a good time to start doing that now that winter in coming. I will be spending more time inside. I usually spend most my time on the computer. When not online im still on computer. I play sims3. Its like making my own movie.
@Unah08 (671)
• Philippines
7 Oct 10
Since I'm currently living with my sister-in-law and their the main television set located in the house which is located in the liviung room is a huge flat screen, I just don't know how big though, about a 3 months old. The old televisions they have before was mostly 14-inch set, they have three of those located in each room upstairs in the 2nd floor. So each room have a cable tv in it, which is nice cause before we sleep at night we still get to watch our fave tv series in our own bedrooms. The mini TV sets are approximately 15-20 years old.
1 person likes this
@mandy8611 (154)
• China
7 Oct 10
I have two computers in my house, but only one TV, it is 5 months old, my husband and I usully watch TV shows online, so we seldom use TV, but when our parents come, they need to watch TV, because they don't know how to use computer, so we bought a 26 inch LED screen TV and put it in our guest room.
then when our parents live here, they own the TV, when they leave, my hasband and I will sleep in the guest room and watch TV for a while before falling asleep.
@alaskanray (4636)
• United States
6 Oct 10
LOL...I got rid of my TV eight years ago and have never looked back. It took up valuable space in my home and encouraged me to waste my time. Besides which I can watch all my favorite TV shows online anytime I want as well as movies, too, and play my DVDs on my computer. So I guess all the TV advances have just passed me by. I don't miss having a TV at all, thank you very much.
Even when I owned one, I never had more than one at a time and cannot imagine ever owning three!
Even when I owned one, I never had more than one at a time and cannot imagine ever owning three!1 person likes this
@puccagirl (7294)
• Israel
6 Oct 10
Mine is probably 5 years old or something like that? I am not going to buy a new one until the old one breaks, to be honest. I would like a flat screen, but my old one is fine for now...
1 person likes this
@sam8pro (376)
• India
6 Oct 10
Well we have two one is by weston its kind of 20 years old black and white its just kept like an antique piece these days :) another one is a BPL.. one that is also like 10 years old ...But that is at my parents place ... the place where i live in i have got a Sansui ... I want to gift a flatron to my parents by the end of this year :) havent zeroed in the model till yet but i really want it to be like grand !!
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
7 Oct 10
I think I have a TV that is almost 20 years old. I keep thinking it's going to die, but it keeps going. I have another TV that is about 8 or 9 years old. I figure that if it works, why get a new one?
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
8 Oct 10
that's sort of my idea. if I had the money to spend, I think I would only replace a working TV with one that uses less electric.
@saizo6 (2199)
• United States
9 Oct 10
We have four TVs in our home. The oldest one is the one in my parent's room. It's a 27" Sony one that we've had for 17 years now. The color has gotten a bit off but it's still in good condition. Then there's a 36" Sony WEGA in the living room that we got 6 years ago. All I can say is that thing is super heavy and I don't looking forward to moving it anywhere. My brother and I each have a 21" TV in our rooms, mostly used for gaming purposes.
@aerous (13434)
• Philippines
8 Oct 10
Our TV is now almost 8 years old...but good thing is that no experience trouble and still good...
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
8 Oct 10
I think 2 of my TVs are 20 years old and still no real problems.
@laken02 (3065)
• United States
7 Oct 10
I have a fairly new tv in my living room and bedroom they are not flat screen but i could not bare to buy another one when this one works perfect.. unless of course i decide to sell them and replace them this way.. i dont know im ok with the tv's we have.. a big screen would be nice or a flat screen but im wanting to get us a nest egg in the bank before we go buying anything big again.. but my mom on the other hand has a floor model tv with a cabinet built in.. in her living room the only tv she has and she has had it since i was a little girl im 40 now.. it has been a great tv and works perfect i think it is gonna out last her lol.. she has no problems with it and sees no need to buy a new one.. and i cant say as i blame her.. at least she has a remote that works with it.. if i did'nt have a remote tv i would go nuts lol.. im glad she has that tv its kinda sentimental.. as my father passed away in 1999 and he watched this same tv.. have fun mylotting enjoy.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
8 Oct 10
One of my TVs was my parents TV and unfortunately it did outlast them and who knows, it might outlast me.
• United States
7 Oct 10
i agree with you about not finding the extra cash to buy a new one. mine is an 36in tube tv i've had since 1989 and it still works great, My son has an 19 inch LCD screen with HD but it does him no good as he would need a cable box to be able to get the high def channels.
@DertyJ (192)
• United States
11 Oct 10
We have a couple different TV's. We have one in our living room which I think is a 22 inch Sanyo, which I had another in my room until I got my new one last month. My parents have one in there which I think is a 21 or 22 inch Sony. And I recently got a 26 inch Vizio lcd tv last month and it is awesome. The picture quality is amazing and it is so much fun to play PS3 on! I really enjoy it.
