Never complain about the cost of TVs again!

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dafman

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#270269 1-May-2020 14:24

For all those complaining they can't quite find the perfect deal on a TV in 2020 ...

While moving some boxes this week, I came across a newspaper from June 1990 and this little bargain from Smith's City.

An enormous 26" Panasonic CRT, with leading edge tech like a unified remote, S-video input and Nicam digital stereo reception!

A mere steal at $2,699. Plugging into the Reserve Bank's trusty inflation calculator, that's the equivalent of $4,861 in 2020 dollars!

(but, hey, you did get a the cabinet thrown in for free!).

Something to ponder on before complaining about the cost of an OLED today.

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#2474755 1-May-2020 14:27

But that "Dome Sound System"! And the "Nicam digital stereo reception"! Plus the cabinet worth $289!

Look at how much you are getting for your money!

davidcole

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#2474811 1-May-2020 14:59

I paid $3400 for my 46" LCD back in 2008 (1080p with DVB-T). And also know someone who bought an original 42" plasma, in 570P resolutiuon for $20k inthe early 90s.

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robjg63

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#2474820 1-May-2020 15:10

I recall NZ starting colour TV broadcasts in late 1973 in time for the 1974 Christchurch commonwealth games.

My grandparents rented a Philips K9 TV. Many people rented because they were very very expensive and cost a bomb if/when they broke.

I had in mind they were something like $1000 back then (I would have been around 10 - so I don't know why that figure stuck in my head).

This article http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/at-home/610220/Rebirth-of-the-K9 says they were $1200 - that works out $14,500 in today's money - Ye gods!

It explains why I recall many people made sure they only had the TV switched on with the curtains closed. They were a hot theft item.

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dafman

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#2474867 1-May-2020 15:28

robjg63:

I recall NZ starting colour TV broadcasts in late 1973 in time for the 1974 Christchurch commonwealth games.

My grandparents rented a Philips K9 TV. Many people rented because they were very very expensive and cost a bomb if/when they broke.

I had in mind they were something like $1000 back then (I would have been around 10 - so I don't know why that figure stuck in my head).

This article http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/at-home/610220/Rebirth-of-the-K9 says they were $1200 - that works out $14,500 in today's money - Ye gods!

It explains why I recall many people made sure they only had the TV switched on with the curtains closed. They were a hot theft item.

My Dad managed to wrangle a Philips K9 in some undisclosed 'deal' a year or so before colour was even officially broadcast. We were the first family I knew in Palmie North with a colour TV waiting for what seemed an age for colour to arrive. One night, unexpectedly, an advert burst onto the screen in full colour (massively over saturated as the TV had never been set up). 'Alias Smith and Jones' followed in full colour, then 'Love thy neighbour'. We kids were allowed to stay up after 11pm on a school night such was the was the novelty. Test over, it was many more months before colour was formally broadcast.

And it was first broadcast in Wellington. In the Manawatu, a few with big budgets and short patience invested in tall aerials to pick up the Mt Kaukau signal.

Handle9

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#2474869 1-May-2020 15:39

It always makes me laugh seeing people complain that "they don't make TVs like they used to." When I was a kid many people had a Tisco maintenance contract on their TV. I remember the tech coming out and resoldering components...

Electronics are soooo much more reliable now as well as being cheap.

Spyware

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#2474872 1-May-2020 15:48

I remember the smoke coming out of the Majestic ITR when Radio with Pictures was on. That was a cap but it had other issues, a diode once and took 3 months to replace.

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Dulouz

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#2474873 1-May-2020 15:50

I remember feeling so proud of our Sony Trinitron

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mattwnz

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#2474877 1-May-2020 16:02

I had one that rotates the screen on a motor to change viewing angle. Do you get the cabinet free? Seems like poor advertising back then, as the ad also says 'cabinet extra' in the ad, dodgy . I still have a sony trinitron and a 100Hz panasonic widescreen T as they are better for viewing SD content such as videos, including old home video recordings from a handycam, and older gaming systems.

But what about the price of early LCDs. They were even more expensive back in the very early 2000s. It wasn't until the later 00's when larger LCDs started getting down to CRT prices.

Also noticed that there are hardly any CRTs on trademe anymore, and that includes monitors. At one stage you couldn't give them away, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start to command a reasonable price again, especially amongst people into retro tech and computers and gaming. Checking Ebay listings, some CRT monitors are being sold for very high prices.

Linux

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#2474880 1-May-2020 16:04

Dulouz:

I remember feeling so proud of our Sony Trinitron

@Dulouz They were awesome!

Handsomedan

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#2474890 1-May-2020 16:29

I remember when we got our Phillips K-9 with a wireless remote! It only had two shiny chrome buttons on the remote, but it was WIRELESS!!

I think from memory it was only for up and down channel changing (and we only had two, so was a bit of a moot point).

We couldn't afford the posh console version at that stage so we had one on legs...the Thorn console TV came later.

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#2474892 1-May-2020 16:31

We got our K9 in Late 1973 or very early 1974 as Dad knew someone at the Phillips factory, we got to see the games in colour.

Cost was about $1000 and was about 6 or 12 months savings if I recall.

From what I remember it was reliable and lasted 9 years before the LOPT died and my parents upgraded to a Thorn TX9 with an infra red remote, that thing was not as reliable and the picture was not as good.

I started my apprenticeship with Tisco January 1989 and F&P were the only ones assembling 26" & 29" TV's here, the rest were all imported.

About a year later, maybe less, F&P stopped making TV's here so tariffs were removed, a 14" TV went from $700 to $400 overnight and they was many peoples pain points to replace rather than repair.

The k9 apparently had a 10% failure rate in the first year, a Philips 2B chassis ( TV popular in 1989 - 1990 ) had a failure rate of less than 0.1% in the first year, there were a lot less common faults.

I gave up servicing in 1995 ( ish ) as SMD components were tool small 1206 was common and 0805 just released, when I look back at them they are massive compared to the pin prick components of today.

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xpd

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#2474897 1-May-2020 16:38

Paid $1000 for my 29" Black Diamond TV back in early 2000's. Monster of a thing to move :D

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jonathan18

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#2474950 1-May-2020 19:19

xpd:

Paid $1000 for my 29" Black Diamond TV back in early 2000's. Monster of a thing to move :D

Not as big a monster as the 34" Sony TV I had from the late 1990s.

I remember it was 60-70kg; wife's foot remembers it even better, especially on a cold night, thanks to us dropping the #$#@$ thing on her foot, breaking bones and causing serious soft-tissue damage, after trying to lift it onto a cabinet! To add insult to (literal) injury, her foot helping break the TV's fall didn't stop the TV needing to be replaced...

richms

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#2474952 1-May-2020 19:22

Im on the lookout for another 21" curved screen with a scart on it for my other arcade shell. The warehouse ones were plentiful on trademe 5+ years back, and work great for 240p over the scart. Now not seen one in Auckland come up for months and the last one someone else snapped it up before I could.

Richard rich.ms

GregV

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#2474972 1-May-2020 20:06

mattwnz:

I had one that rotates the screen on a motor to change viewing angle.

I remember the 34" Mitsubishi Divas that did this. They were 80+ kgs in the box!

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