Author Topic: Playroom TV is just too thick  (Read 14228 times)

Shade00

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Playroom TV is just too thick
« on: December 15, 2014, 02:31:12 PM »
Seen over on the Slickdeals forum, where an individual proclaimed that he or she had purchased a 46" Samsung LED television for the low price of $348, only to discover that said television was an astonishing 3.7" thick. Said individual proceeded to state:

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I grabbed one of these for my kids play room from santa, I really hope they don't complain how thick it is, ugh that would totally ruin xmas

While this could be sarcasm, I don't really think it is. But what we have here is an individual whose children (wouldn't they be fairly young if they still have a "playroom?") may in fact complain about the thickness of their brand-new 46" LED television, and the thickness could potentially ruin Christmas.

I think there's a little bit of everything in here - buying an extra television just for a playroom, children who are so spoiled and materialistic that their Christmas might be ruined by the thickness of a television, and a parent who is obsessed with both of the above.

boarder42

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2014, 02:47:28 PM »
this is just great.  i grew up with a TV in the living room and a really really old TV down stairs.  My bro and i had to buy our own gaming systems so they were always the last gen b/c thats what we could afford.  (got lots of free games from friends who upgraded).  i wish i had the ability to have my xmas ruined by a 46" FAT tv. haha

taekvideo

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2014, 08:31:52 PM »
The big screen we had while I was growing up was... get this... 4 feet thick... lol.
Was a bit bigger than 46 inches though ^^

GuitarStv

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2014, 05:40:22 AM »
We had a black and white TV when I was growing up, and no cable.  It was a really big deal for me when we got a colour one, because it had connections for a Nintendo.

chicagomeg

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 06:27:28 AM »
I was born in 1989 and watched sesame street on a freaking black and white TV until I was 3. For heavens sake, people are loony. My parents only upgraded to color because the tubes cost as much as a new TV.

space

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2014, 09:41:37 AM »
I actually want a 40-inch flat-screen CRT TV - they're considered to be some of the finest TVs ever made, and usually aren't very expensive at all used. Unfortunately, they also weigh something like 200lbs.... maybe when I settle down more permanently.

Cromacster

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2014, 09:54:58 AM »
Growing up we had one of those tv's in a wooden box.  It got to a point where you had to bang on it to get it to turn on.  When that tv finally went kaputs we put a "new" crappier tv on top of it.  Very classy.  My dad finally broke down when he heard a Jeff Foxworthy joke "you know you're a redneck when you have a tv on top of a broken tv"

The TV in our playroom, aka a closet, was a 13" that recieved one channel.  It was mostly used as a step stool for us to climb into the crawl space access above it.

Fuzzy Buttons

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2014, 11:30:20 AM »
Ooo!  "Back in my day" stories!  :)

I was spoiled growing up.  We had a color TV downstairs and my parents had another in their bedroom upstairs.  But dad had just hooked them together, so you could only change channels on the living room set and that would change both.  In the evenings he'd be yelling down the stairs, using me as his remote control.  "Next.  Next.  That one!  Leave it there!".   

geekette

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2014, 12:41:23 PM »
Ooo!  "Back in my day" stories!  :)

I was spoiled growing up.  We had a color TV downstairs and my parents had another in their bedroom upstairs.  But dad had just hooked them together, so you could only change channels on the living room set and that would change both.  In the evenings he'd be yelling down the stairs, using me as his remote control.  "Next.  Next.  That one!  Leave it there!".

This is why people have children!

Cpa Cat

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2014, 01:07:08 PM »
Growing up we had one of those tv's in a wooden box.

We had one too. And it was TOP OF THE LINE when it was bought.

Two years ago, my dad died and I was helping my stepmom clean out their cottage so she could sell it. And I found that TV in one of the rooms - plugged in. It was, at that point, over 30 years old. My step-sister (younger than me) said that it still worked, but had no remote. She asked if we should donate it.

NO! NO ONE WANTS IT!

kendallf

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #10 on: December 16, 2014, 01:22:04 PM »
I grew up in a religious community that didn't believe in TV -- snuck out to my first movie when I was 17 years old.  The movie?  "Footloose".  :-)

I don't have a religious objection to TV any more (I'm agnostic, so no real religion to form objections from) but I think they might've been on to something there. 

Alchemilla

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #11 on: December 16, 2014, 01:23:00 PM »
I didn't realise for years that the incredible hulk went green...no colour t.v.

tmac

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2014, 01:25:24 PM »
Aren't playrooms for playing in?

ketchup

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2014, 01:38:04 PM »
this is just great.  i grew up with a TV in the living room and a really really old TV down stairs.  My bro and i had to buy our own gaming systems so they were always the last gen b/c thats what we could afford.  (got lots of free games from friends who upgraded).  i wish i had the ability to have my xmas ruined by a 46" FAT tv. haha
This was the "standard" with myself and my friends in middle-high school.  Nice-ish TV in the living room, old TV in the basement for video games and other dickery that my parents didn't want upstairs.  Basement TV was about 30 years old at the time.  Finally died at the ripe age of 35.  RIP old Sony 19" 60lbs TV.

Bob W

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #14 on: December 16, 2014, 01:41:01 PM »
Grew up with black and white TV,  no cable, phones that hung on the wall.   

Shade00

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2014, 01:45:31 PM »
Glad to see others shared my thoughts. I grew up in a mobile home and like many others, we had a single color television in the living room - a 19" Sony CRT purchased by my parents in 1981 (and only retired in about 2006). We had no cable as we lived too far out of town. I did manage to convince my dad to let me keep his portable Sony 9" black-and-white television in my bedroom, where I would secretly watch the Simpsons and In Living Color.

Scandium

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2014, 02:05:13 PM »
When I was young we lived in a septic tank and had to get up in the middle of the night and clean the streets with broken glass for 27 hours a day.

« Last Edit: December 16, 2014, 02:12:33 PM by Scandium »

Louis the Cat

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2014, 02:11:01 PM »
This is so horrifying that I want to comment but I can't think of anything to say. I can imagine how the conversation will go with DH this afternoon. I predict incoherent yelling approximately 30 seconds in at which point he will hand me a glass of wine and remind me that our children are so frivolous, they want umbrellas for Christmas. (It rains for about 2 weeks out of the year here.)

I will add that our TV growing up had 13 push buttons that required you to tune each button to a channel. If something was on a channel that we didn't have tuned in, you just popped the panel and retuned one. Seemed totally normal at the time...

crispy

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #18 on: December 16, 2014, 02:12:36 PM »
Growing up we had one of those tv's in a wooden box.  It got to a point where you had to bang on it to get it to turn on.  When that tv finally went kaputs we put a "new" crappier tv on top of it.  Very classy.  My dad finally broke down when he heard a Jeff Foxworthy joke "you know you're a redneck when you have a tv on top of a broken tv"

The TV in our playroom, aka a closet, was a 13" that recieved one channel.  It was mostly used as a step stool for us to climb into the crawl space access above it.

I could have written this post!  The sound would go out on the big TV with the wooden box, and we would have to turn it off and then turn it back on quickly to make the sound work again.  The smaller TV ended up on top of the big wooden one, too.   Not only was I a child of the '80s, but the redneck version of it to boot!

MooseOutFront

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #19 on: December 16, 2014, 02:18:06 PM »
Growing up we had one of those tv's in a wooden box.  It got to a point where you had to bang on it to get it to turn on.  When that tv finally went kaputs we put a "new" crappier tv on top of it.  Very classy.  My dad finally broke down when he heard a Jeff Foxworthy joke "you know you're a redneck when you have a tv on top of a broken tv"
100% same.  At one point in time both my house and my grandparents house included the new TV on top of the old TV.  Always loved that particular Foxworthy joke.

geekette

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #20 on: December 16, 2014, 02:26:31 PM »
I will add that our TV growing up had 13 push buttons that required you to tune each button to a channel. If something was on a channel that we didn't have tuned in, you just popped the panel and retuned one. Seemed totally normal at the time...
Our first VCR had that tuner.  But hey, it had a (wired) remote!

Back in the late 60's/early 70's, I think, my Dad hard wired a potentiometer to the volume control.  Made a nice little box for it an everything, and called it the "blab off".  It was great until he gave my grandfather one.  He'd turn down the TV whenever he wanted to talk - it didn't matter that it was in the middle of our cartoons!

Kyle Schuant

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #21 on: December 16, 2014, 02:47:50 PM »
I doubt the children will even notice.

Amanda

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #22 on: December 16, 2014, 03:22:59 PM »
When I was young we lived in a septic tank and had to get up in the middle of the night and clean the streets with broken glass for 27 hours a day.



OH! We used to dream of living in a septic tank!

easton

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #23 on: December 16, 2014, 03:32:52 PM »
I very happily agreed to take my old neighbors 40" CRT tube monster with built in carrying handles necessitated by its 250+ lb weight, free if I hauled it away for him. The reason...Duck Hunt for my original NES needs to be played on a tube TV, and Duck Hunt on a 40" Tube TV is freakin sweet :)

ketchup

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #24 on: December 16, 2014, 03:36:20 PM »
I very happily agreed to take my old neighbors 40" CRT tube monster with built in carrying handles necessitated by its 250+ lb weight, free if I hauled it away for him. The reason...Duck Hunt for my original NES needs to be played on a tube TV, and Duck Hunt on a 40" Tube TV is freakin sweet :)
Yes!  Those gigantic CRTs are great!  My mom has a 34" Sony HD CRT and it's a monster.  Great picture quality though, compared to the bulk of LCDs.  But a piano is easier to move.  She decided that if she ever sells the house, it goes with the house, as that thing is never moving again.

The Guru

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #25 on: December 16, 2014, 07:23:36 PM »
Priveleged punks with your fancy-shmancy TVs! When I was a boy we didn't HAVE a TV! We had a cardboard BOX! With a HOLE in the front! And one of my friends got in the hole and we'd PRETEND to watch TV! Our TV got ONE CHANNEL and his name was Tommy Meyer! He sang and danced and did impersonations! If you closed your eyes you'd swear you were listening to Walter Cronkite!

TVs...video games....BAH!

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #26 on: December 17, 2014, 08:25:41 AM »
So, who wants my 36" tube tv? I can't even give the damn thing away  :(

Best Buy recycles them for free. That's what we did with ours :)

GuitarStv

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #27 on: December 17, 2014, 08:33:39 AM »
Growing up we had one of those tv's in a wooden box.

We had one too. And it was TOP OF THE LINE when it was bought.

Two years ago, my dad died and I was helping my stepmom clean out their cottage so she could sell it. And I found that TV in one of the rooms - plugged in. It was, at that point, over 30 years old. My step-sister (younger than me) said that it still worked, but had no remote. She asked if we should donate it.

NO! NO ONE WANTS IT!

10 years ago I remember giving the Salvation Army guy a blank look when a friend and I were trying to drop off his Sony Trinitron and they refused to take it because it was 'too old'.

space

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #28 on: December 17, 2014, 08:45:27 AM »
Best Buy recycles them for free. That's what we did with ours :)

Actually, that only applies to CRT TVs 32" or less, or at least that's the case where I live.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #29 on: December 17, 2014, 10:53:38 AM »
Best Buy recycles them for free. That's what we did with ours :)

Actually, that only applies to CRT TVs 32" or less, or at least that's the case where I live.

Ahh, wasn't sure of the cutoff. I guess ours was pretty small.

Bardo

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #30 on: December 17, 2014, 11:38:41 AM »
A guy here at work just ordered a 65-inch Samsung "4k" television.  65 inches - I can't even imagine.  Of course, one has to lie and say "Oh how nice!"

He knows it will be cheaper next year, but thought it would be a good idea to have it before Christmas.  Nothing says Christmas better than 65 inches of holiday specials..

sheepstache

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #31 on: December 17, 2014, 11:57:20 AM »
So, who wants my 36" tube tv? I can't even give the damn thing away  :(

This might be a long shot but theaters or musical schools might be looking for one? We use them because the minor delay lcds have is too much when everyone needs to be getting cues at the same time from the conductor.

Or offering free on craiglist if you haven't already.

GuitarStv

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #32 on: December 17, 2014, 12:06:56 PM »
LCDs haven't had display lag for a very long time now.

sheepstache

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #33 on: December 17, 2014, 12:59:19 PM »
LCDs haven't had display lag for a very long time now.

Tell that to the maestro.

I know everybody says lcd doesn't have lag any more but every theater I know says they can't use them. There are a few factors, 1. the few ms delay that's not noticeable by consumer standards is called zero delay but it's really not and it's noticeable in these applications, 2. for that reasons success with lcd monitors is really hit or miss and/or the broadcast-quality ones are out of budget, 3. it's part of a whole system including the camera and there are a lot more ways delay can be introduced with digital, which, again, speaks to budget also ease of use.

Shade00

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #34 on: December 17, 2014, 02:21:40 PM »
LCDs haven't had display lag for a very long time now.

Tell that to the maestro.

I know everybody says lcd doesn't have lag any more but every theater I know says they can't use them. There are a few factors, 1. the few ms delay that's not noticeable by consumer standards is called zero delay but it's really not and it's noticeable in these applications, 2. for that reasons success with lcd monitors is really hit or miss and/or the broadcast-quality ones are out of budget, 3. it's part of a whole system including the camera and there are a lot more ways delay can be introduced with digital, which, again, speaks to budget also ease of use.

What about plasmas? (Just curious - I game on a plasma that I've had for years).

gooki

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #35 on: December 18, 2014, 12:13:48 AM »
Any half decent plasma will be lag free.

sheepstache

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #36 on: December 19, 2014, 07:49:16 AM »
I know a couple shows that successfully use plasma but again it's mixed results. People seem very invested in the fact that the technology can produce lag-free but then we have to contend with the fact that most models don't because that's not important in most applications. So not only are "half-decent" plasmas more expensive than most want to spend, you have to waste time to testing different models.
Like I said, the whole system is important and since digital inherently adds delay, most people are going to want to use an analog camera but then that has to be converted to a digital signal for most consumer lcd/plasma tvs. Many are built to be widescreen now too so that's another layer of processing. The things are geared towards providing a better viewing experience when really what you want here is quick and dirty pixel-to-pixel mapping.

BlueHouse

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #37 on: December 21, 2014, 09:45:15 AM »
Our TV was a 12 inch black and white.  I remember watching the Brady Bunch when it was advertised "In Color" and couldn't really see the difference.  We had a pair of needle nose pliers attached to the post for the tuning knob, because that knob had broken off at some point. 

TV sucks.  even when there were only 4 channels, it was a total time suck.  I wish I had never had it (I'm a TV addict and could watch it all day every day if I didn't stop myself)

BlueMR2

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #38 on: December 22, 2014, 11:24:22 AM »
Seen over on the Slickdeals forum, where an individual proclaimed that he or she had purchased a 46" Samsung LED television for the low price of $348, only to discover that said television was an astonishing 3.7" thick. Said individual proceeded to state:

Quote
I grabbed one of these for my kids play room from santa, I really hope they don't complain how thick it is, ugh that would totally ruin xmas

Geez, how thin does she want it to be?  Is one of the requirements that if you lean against it, it has to slice you in half?

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #39 on: December 22, 2014, 12:45:23 PM »
I actually want a 40-inch flat-screen CRT TV - they're considered to be some of the finest TVs ever made, and usually aren't very expensive at all used. Unfortunately, they also weigh something like 200lbs.... maybe when I settle down more permanently.

I've owned a lot of CRTs, both TV and computer monitors including a publishing-class 21" 1600x1200 DVI-input CRT at one point.  I don't know how you ever got the idea that CRT's are the "finest TV's ever made" but that's simply wrong.  The image quality is far worse than you can get from LCD panels nowadays.  Sure, there's some cheap junk LCD panels out there, but if you're talking about best versus best, the best CRTs ever made are total junk compared to even midrange LCD panels from the modern era.

space

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #40 on: December 22, 2014, 03:29:09 PM »

I've owned a lot of CRTs, both TV and computer monitors including a publishing-class 21" 1600x1200 DVI-input CRT at one point.  I don't know how you ever got the idea that CRT's are the "finest TV's ever made" but that's simply wrong.  The image quality is far worse than you can get from LCD panels nowadays.  Sure, there's some cheap junk LCD panels out there, but if you're talking about best versus best, the best CRTs ever made are total junk compared to even midrange LCD panels from the modern era.

That's a debate that's likely to trigger a flame war in some places. :P

IMO, it depends on what you use it for. For static text and images, LCDs are better - less eyestrain as well - which is why they tend to be a bit better for monitors (unless you're gaming - although LCDs specially made for this have mostly caught up). Also, LCDs are sharper as pixels are more precise, and generally give you a cleaner image. CRTs, on the other hand, tend to be better at handling motion. 120hz refresh for lower motion blur? Never was a problem on CRTs. 3D display technology? Easily done with active shutter glasses if your CRT supports a 120hz refresh. Black levels tend to be better on the CRT (areas that don't need lighting are never lit, as opposed to most LCDs where even with local backlighting, backlit areas bleed into dim areas). Some people also prefer the layout geometry of a CRT (you do see curved screens with LCDs now, but CRTs had that for a long time).

Best of the best? Would be quite a competition. The Sony FW900 would perform quite well even against the best LCDs. The thing weighed about 100lbs, and is somewhat of a legend for CRT monitors. Optimal resolution at 1920x1200, maximum at 2304x1440, highest possible refresh rate at 160hz. There's also the Sony KD34XBR960 - 230lbs, 34", does 720p/1080i over HDMI and 1080p over component (Most CRT TVs at this size capable of true HD are considered to be very good for TVs, though).

Size is the only major serious issue. At 30-something inches, CRTs were already becoming unwieldy - a 50-inch CRT would probably weigh a ton (literally) and would probably take up most of the room in which it was placed.

(There actually was an attempt to bring CRT back in a flatter format - in the form of SEDs. Sadly, they were never really fully developed for consumer purposes)

ketchup

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #41 on: December 22, 2014, 03:37:56 PM »
Best of the best? Would be quite a competition. The Sony FW900 would perform quite well even against the best LCDs. The thing weighed about 100lbs, and is somewhat of a legend for CRT monitors. Optimal resolution at 1920x1200, maximum at 2304x1440, highest possible refresh rate at 160hz. There's also the Sony KD34XBR960 - 230lbs, 34", does 720p/1080i over HDMI and 1080p over component (Most CRT TVs at this size capable of true HD are considered to be very good for TVs, though).
Yes!  That's my mom's TV.  I'll never forget hauling it from my grandpa's house, into the car, and into my mom's house.  A beast.

I know my grandpa paid a LOT for that TV in its day, and I also know that now my mom probably couldn't give it away if she tried.

Artemis67

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #42 on: December 23, 2014, 12:15:58 AM »
My family got our first color TV in 1972; my parents won it in a raffle.

I was in Kindergarten then, but I still remember the huge fuss everybody made over that TV because it was so big! I think it may have been 23-25"; in family photos from the '70s and early '80s it looks so small, but at the time it was a big TV.

It was a hella expensive TV, as well. Somewhere around here I have some old Sears catalogs, including one from '73 or '74. I was really shocked to see that a similar TV to ours went for ~$300 back then. I don't remember the exact amount, but a top-of-the-line color Magnavox in a big console cabinet was ~$475. In 1973 dollars! Mind blown.

When I bought my current house 11 years ago, there were tenants still in it--and a 40" CRT monolith that had been left in the house when the previous owner bought it. It was so big, nobody bothered to move it; it was like a giant electronic fruitcake that just got passed along from one unlucky resident to the next. The tenants moved out, but the TV remained.

It still worked, but I sure as hell didn't want it, so I offered it for free to anyone who would just come take it away. Five Mexican guys came in a van and hauled that monster off; they were going to put it out in one guy's shop so they could have fútbol-watching parties without pissing their wives off too badly. I hope they got some good use out of it for all their trouble, and that nobody got a hernia trying to get it out of the van, but I was so happy to be rid of it.

I bought a 32" flatscreen five or six years ago--only to ditch cable for good three months later. I watch a DVD on it maybe once a month, and when it dies, that's it--no más. I'm done with expensive idiot boxes.

Leisured

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #43 on: December 23, 2014, 02:27:19 AM »
Depends on what you are watching. In Australia, July 1969, I watched the Moon landing, grainy black and white images. It was marvellous, and I was glad that such excellence and enterprise was abroad in the world.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #44 on: December 23, 2014, 07:47:53 AM »
I bought a 32" flatscreen five or six years ago--only to ditch cable for good three months later. I watch a DVD on it maybe once a month, and when it dies, that's it--no más. I'm done with expensive idiot boxes.

What does cable have to do with TV watching? We don't have cable and manage to watch plenty of TV for free.
I do like the summer though when there is nothing good on- that's reading season.


We also had a very heavy TV from the early 90s that went "free to a good home, must pick-up; bring help".
We have an early flat screen (but not flat TV) that is flipping huge that is still working, but eventually I bet it goes the same way.

However, I'm always amazed at what people will take from you on freecycle. It's generally how we get rid of anything that would have a disposal fee at the dump.  "Broken snowblower- carborator in good shape, free with pick up"; "Broken Fridgerator- possibly useful for parts, free with pick up" etc.  I've never had problems  getting people to take my junk away :)   (Also- I picked up a broken shop vac once, guy said it was junk. New filter, new hose, and we saved a crap ton of money.)

Artemis67

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Re: Playroom TV is just too thick
« Reply #45 on: December 24, 2014, 03:26:59 PM »
I bought a 32" flatscreen five or six years ago--only to ditch cable for good three months later. I watch a DVD on it maybe once a month, and when it dies, that's it--no más. I'm done with expensive idiot boxes.

What does cable have to do with TV watching? We don't have cable and manage to watch plenty of TV for free.

I should have been more specific. For me, "ditching cable" means "realizing that I spent way too much time watching TV--including stuff I didn't even like all that much!--so I cancelled cable and quit watching entirely."

I don't have Netflix, either, because it makes it too easy to just sit and watch one thing after another. If I have to pick a DVD from the shelf, stick it in the player, and then get up to change the DVD when it's over, I'm far less likely to end up spending hours glued to the couch. I'll watch one movie, or a couple of episodes of a TV series (such as Big Love, Breaking Bad, or Arrested Development), and I'm done. I can buy used DVDs for cheap on Amazon, then turn around and re-sell them for at least what I paid for them if I decide not to keep them.


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However, I'm always amazed at what people will take from you on freecycle. It's generally how we get rid of anything that would have a disposal fee at the dump.  "Broken snowblower- carborator in good shape, free with pick up"; "Broken Fridgerator- possibly useful for parts, free with pick up" etc.  I've never had problems  getting people to take my junk away :)   (Also- I picked up a broken shop vac once, guy said it was junk. New filter, new hose, and we saved a crap ton of money.)

In my neighborhood, people just stick free stuff out in the alley, or at the curb, and most of it's gone quickly. I've done my fair share of scavenging for freebies, and a lot of my furniture has come to me that way. I've also picked nicer stuff up off the street and sold it on Craigslist. But Freecycle is awesome for getting rid of stuff that's not likely to get picked up by the usual neighborhood scavengers. The appliance recyclers want $40 or so to take an old fridge or washer/dryer--but there's always someone on Freecycle who will come take it away for nothing. That's how I got rid of the monster TV.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!