How do TVs age?

[AJ]

So, DH finally convinced me to retire our old tube TV (that we got as part of a barter years ago) and get a "real" 42 inch fancy-pants model that hangs on the wall. That thing just cost me $500, *plus* we had to buy a mount for it. The engineer inside me cringes, because personally I think watching shows on our 24" computer monitor is just as good (remember when that was a normal size screen?), but it was a compromise for the hubby, who has been very patient with all my crazy frugal and DIY attempts over the years.

Anyway, my question is: how do I make this crazy expensive piece of unnecessary technology last as long as possible? Do TVs age as you watch them, like miles on a car? Or will the components just age over time regardless of how much its used? Does anyone know how to make a TV last as long as possible?

[tkaraszewski]

TVs get dimmer over time the more they're used, so turn it off when you're not actually watching it. This seems less true if your TV is an LCD with LED backlighting (as opposed to older fluorescent lighting). Other than the backlight, there's not really anything in a TV that will wear out. As you've seen with your now-retired tube TV, TVs don't really die (I assume that your old one still works), they just slowly get dimmer the longer you leave them on.

This article talks about LED-backlit TVs having a life of up to 100,000 hours, as compared to 20,000 hours for TVs with fluorescent backlights. Also note that the "lifespan" here isn't until the TV fails, but until it falls below a percentage of its original brightness (I think normally half), and it will happen so slowly that you wont even realize your TV isn't as bright as it used to be. 20,000 hours is about nine years at an "average" six hours a day of usage. I can't believe the average US household has the TV on for six hours a day. That's insane.

Your husband will probably convince you to get whatever the next latest-and-greatest TV is long before this one fails from wear.

[Angelfishtitan]

It is a lot of the first, and a little of the second. It is sort of like miles on a car. Plasmas are currently regarded as lasting longer than LED TVs, but both will last you a long time. For either, the genrally regarded "life" is somewhere from 50k-100k hours, plasmas being on the higher end, LED generally the lower end. On top of this, the "life" number given is actually when the TV reaches half brightness. It is still completely watchable, just not as nice as the day you bought it.

This means even at the low end, assuming you couldn't stand half brightness, and watching for 2hrs every day the TV should last you almost 70 years. You can even extend this by lowering the brightness from full, but honestly, with mustachian watching tendency, your TV will probably outlast you.

Edit: I saw I was getting ninjaed by tkaraszewski, but figured I'd post mine anyway.

[AJ]

Your husband will probably convince you to get whatever the next latest-and-greatest TV is long before this one fails from wear.

This is probably true. And you are correct, our old TV was working perfectly. It just no longer met conventional social standards of screen size and "cool-ness". ;)

[velocistar237]

My TV developed a vertical cyan line about 2 years in. The online tips said to tap the bevel to fix it. It didn't work. We ignore the line.

42" is huge. We got a 37" and found it too big. We exchanged it for a 32".

[kisserofsinners]

It depends on the technology, but generally speaking they last about 10 years before they start to loose brightness and glitch the image on you. It's not just the bit producing light that get dimmer, there's also the video cards that slowly fail to hold the image correctly. This causes lines and off color/shifted images.

Things you can do to extend the life of the screen: Air flow to keep it cooler. I like setups with a powerstrip connecting the full system that include a little computer fan blowing across the back of your screen and another at the stack of self units (DVD player, receiver, etc) in your rack (shelf). Then when you click the powerstrip off and on everything goes off and on.

Barring that making sure there isn't a lot of stuff hanging around it to reduce air flow.

As a video technician with a frugal mentality i was PISSED when they basically started forcing everyone into this BS technology that doesn't have a quarter of the life span of previous technology. Institutional obsolescence when planned isn't good enough, if you ask me. *pissed*

[MMM]

Oh, man.. a TV that lasts for 100,000 hours. Assuming your time is worth, say, $30 an hour, that is a THREE MILLION DOLLAR TV! :-)

I'm just joking, of course.. a Mustachian's time is worth FAR more than $30/hour.

[kisserofsinners]

It depends on the technology, but generally speaking they last about 10 years before they start to loose brightness and glitch the image on you. It's not just the bit producing light that get dimmer, there's also the video cards that slowly fail to hold the image correctly. This causes lines and off color/shifted images.

To be clear my time table disregards "hours" my "10 years" estimate is for home units in addition to applications like sports bars and corporate expo displays (like what is used to direct yuo around hotels and such). I'm sure the actual amount of hours has an affect, i've just not noticed it to be significant.