Ok – no judgement intended on anyone as I write this.
I tend to think that the consumer icon of our time is the plasma TV.
It seems to be the one item everyone ‘must have’. Sooner or later we will all laugh at those old boxes that used to take up so much space in our lounge rooms.
However at this stage we still have 68cm TEAC that is now 7 years old and up until yesterday was travelling along nicely. I have often thought of getting a bloody huge plasma, but have refrained as a bit of personal discipline – I don’t actually need a bloody huge plasma – I can see the 68cm TEAC just fine and it does the job very well.
Gowever when we arrived home today it started doing wacky things – ‘busted-tube-like’ things which had me in two minds.
a) Cool… now I can join the ranks of the plasma-ites and toss it in the bin. I have an excuse to succumb… I have always said I will never buy a new TV while the old one is still working (we have one in the bedroom we bought the year after we got married… 1991…)
b) For $150.00 I can probably get it fixed – or for $199.00 I can probably get a brand new 68cm clunker.
What would you do?…
Should I just say ‘what the heck’ and spend a couple of thousand on a brand new plasma/lcd? Or should I just spend $200.00 max to get a new version of the old one?…
Is this an issue of discipleship or am I just a bit fixated?
Hamo – very seriously, Do Not Buy the Plasma.
That goes for the LCD. They are both power hungry junk. New technology on the boards will see both replaced within the decade. Go get yourself a nice cheap 68cm CRT out of the Quokka – hell, make it an 80cm CRT out of the Quokka and be happy.
The other side of that coin is no one will ever bother to steal a cathode ray tube out of your home anymore.
wont AH be ready for a new tv in ten years though? I would say he would.
I have a 68cm nec crt which is a great fit in our pine cabinet, and I have hd tv on my 17 inch laptop.
having said that, if I could afford it I would buy a new plasma for the kids and for watching the footy…if you feel guilt, justify it by saying you will invite all your non church mates around for a seeker sensitive beer session……
either that or ditch the tv altogether and send the $2999 to some orphanage somewhere…whatever works for you…. 🙂
I don’t know how things are looking down where you are… in Oz, but here in the US all Analog TV is going off air in Feb of next year… the Government is handing out $40 coupons for HD converters, but for the most part people are buying up new TVs… Also our LCDs consume on average 25% less electricity than our old CRTs… they have to meet energy start compliancy… anyway… all that to say… maybe a mondo LCD/Plasma isn’t needed, but an average sized one? Due to the new clarity of HD a smaller screen isn’t so bad… imho.
I have a 24 inch LCD in our living room… ( 60.96cm) I’ll be getting a (36.6inch) 92.96cm LCD soon enough (that’s all that fits in our niche above our fireplace). All is well, no complaints.
I think it all depends on what its going to be used for.
I hardly ever watch TV but decided that my home football experience wasn’t up to scratch so we bought an 81cm LCD.
I feel ok about it because I once invited some young blokes over to watch the footy with. Now this big TV is really all about discipleship.
If you can find someone to fix your telly for $150 you’re doing well.
Our TV stopped working quite some time back. It was going to cost more than it was worth for someone to even take off the back and look at the thing.
We have no way of affording a plasma or LCD but thought that we could at least get a decent sized wide screen CRT for a few hundred dollars.
Pauline’s dad had a look at the old TV and found the problem. He devised a fix using parts from an old computer monitor. (He’s very clever.)
I must say that while it saved us money we were a little disappointed that we could no longer justify getting something shiny and new but we really don’t need it.
Hmmm I’ve always thought that the Plasma thing is unnecessary! My dad’s always been very consumeristic when it comes to his TV – and last year he bought a 42cm Plasma.
I have a 51cm CRT and am quite happy with that, even with seeing Dad’s almighty HD screen in the lounge room. I must say now that the free-to-air channels are broadcasting in digital, some of the movies look spectacular…. but not enough for me to want an upgrade….
I’d just buy the el-cheapo CRT again mate…. don’t think it’s worth the trouble.
oops 42 inch Plasma on Dad’s part
When my old 68cm TEAC finally died a year ago after several years of threatening too I must admit I immediately saw this as an excuse to go out and buy an LCD screen. But you don’t have to spend a couple of grand. You can get a reasonably good LCD TV for well under a thousand nowadays (try Big W, though I’m sure the hard core videophiles will scoff). Add a cheap set top box to this and you’ll have a pretty good set-up, perfect for your “seeker sensitive beer session” 🙂
Hey Hammo,
I had my first experience of a Plazma the other day. We sat down in a nice big theatre room built for the experience. To be honest, because I was sitting futher away, it was just like being in a smaller room and watching a regular TV. I can highly recommend a wide screen regular TV (good for watching DVDs and digital TV via a set top box. And it’s cheaper to buy and cheaper to run. 🙂
why not get a d.i.y book and see if you can fix the t.v. yourself?
my parents bought a tv for $20 at a garage sale back in 1992 or something and it still works perfectly!! It doesnt have a remote and you have to press these big buttons to change channel but it does the job!
Dad bought an LCD screen last year…he did a trade. he gave up his freo membership and got the tv so he can watch the games at home and not get so frustrated every game!!!! 🙂
Russ & I still have our 68cm box and it does us just fine. Sometimes we are tempted to get an LCD, but not enough to go through with it.
I couldnt justify it even if it was under $1k. That is still too much to pay for something that just takes away time spent with each other or outside.
How much TV do you watch Hamo?
I have a friend who brought a cheapie 68cm for everyday watching. He then picked up a cheap screen projector and mounted it on the ceiling. He set that up for the footy, movies and beer outreaches! All up it cost a bit over $1500. It is great to watch the movies on a huge screen.
However in saying this we are happy with our Teac 68cm in the corner unit!
In May New Scientist magazine had an article ‘Earth’s natural wealth: an audit’, one issues they pointed out was that if the world keeps up it use of LCD technology at the current rate there are elements that are used to make them that we will run out of in about 10 years. Note – that’s elements – non-renewable, non-synthesiseable, only exist in small amounts in the universe elements. Seems like a bad idea to me.
Personally I reckon you go another 68cm or more CRT for now, just an el-cheapo one. In a few years time Analogue TV will be scrapped, meaning you need a high-def TV to get TV anyway. Maybe upgrade to the LCD/Plasma/New technology then?
Well…
Its all solved.
It was a dodgy power supply.
The repair was $170.00, almost the cost of a new CRT telly, but the repair bloke (who seemed to know his stuff) said ours was a great machine that we could expect another 5 years out of.
There is a part of me that constantly lusts after new stuff, but another part of me that critiques it as a luicrious waste of money.
I guess that other part won today!
ho hum….boring end to what could have been a scandalous tale of an emerging pastor going consumeristic on us….and beings scalded for it by left wing tree hugging green tea drinking bloggers….. sigh…. 🙂
we own a plasma. 42″ i think….looked smaller in the shop, at home it kinda dominates the room, but then, our appletv is constantly pumping our family photos around on the screen, so when we aren’t watching tv we have an enormous digital picture frame 🙂
oh, almost forgot…
_insert some sort of evangelistic statement to justify purchase_
there.
I have a saying “A Powerpoint presentation of a turd is still a turd.” If the HD makes “Two and a Half Men” funnier than it current is (not funny at all), then I say go for it.
do people still use powerpoint?
Steve, can you send me a copy of that slide?
“left wing tree hugging green tea drinking bloggers”
I have it on ‘good’ authority (John Winston Howard) that Left Wing Tree Huggers drink Lattes.
Hey Mark
Even better, I’ll send you the genuine article
Our old TV carked it 8 months ago and we have not bothered to replace it. TV is the foremost thief of time and we didn’t watch it heaps anyway. More time for more important stuff (and other less important stuff like reading blogs, which I seem to do a lot of now).
I thought the advent of the cricket season would induce Dad to buy one, but it so far hasn’t (but he is currently at the Adelaide Oval). It actually made a good excuse for him to go to the neighbour’s place and share with him the experience of watching the Aussies getting humbled.
You’ve often talked about how community ain’t what is used to be, and part of that is everyone has their own stuff and is self-sufficient. If not everyone has a TV, and not every family has 2 cars, there will be more time spent watching sport and driving to town together.