CRT sets still in daily use?

[mark pirate]

I wonder how many people still use a CRT set as their main TV?
I have four customers still using them along with a Freeview box/PVR, these sets are 20+ years old and still going strong!

There are also quite a few 14" CRT TV's used as second sets as well, I am surprised that the customers are willing to have these sets serviced rather than buy a new set.

Mark

[Heatercathodeshort]

I would imagine there are quite a large number.

They will continue to be used until they break down and many of these 80's 90's models were very reliable.

Those that have survived have passed through the flat screen 'Must have, Don't need and Can't afford' revolution and will probably soldier on for years. John.

[Mike Phelan]

Never used anything else! Ours is the enormous Beovision Avant 84/23 which Mikey405 rescued from scrap.
It's floor standing and has VHS. The sound is outstanding and the picture at least as good as anything I've seen.
It took three of us to carry it into the house!

[Paul_RK]

It probably won't surprise anyone that we've yet to use any other kind. Daily use would be a big exaggeration, no TV here would get anything close to that, but the regular household set remains a Beovision 8802 bought at auction about 25 years ago. The "second set", in my wife's study, is a cream Retrovisor.

Paul

[M0FYA Andy]

I use a Toshiba TV with a digibox - why change when it still works very well?

Andy

[GMB]

They will continue to be used until they break down and many of these 80's 90's models were very reliable.

That is our policy and experience.

Our main TV is a Philips 24", I think fairly top of range in that it uses digital signal processing for the picture (100Hz display) and has teletext storage. The last of the 4:3 sets maybe. Must have had it from the 80's and only one fault ever - on day one the on/off switch broke and the warranty engineer came out and could not fix it so I made a "temporary" repair with epoxy!

At our other location we have a Japanese great big wide screen crt set which I was given after its owner declared it to be broken. Turned out a wire had fallen off the degaussing board - something that a crt that big really needs it seems.

Each of the above has now seen off 3 digiboxes!! So I am really glad that we never bought a TV with integral decoder. In fact I seriously wonder if that is a good idea at all these days.

[music-centre]

Yes, I have only got CRT sets here - a Samsung 32" one as the main set, a Panasonic Acuity model in the bedroom and an old black portable in the kitchen. All free or a couple of pounds on eBay a few years ago when everyone was chucking them out.
The Samsung has even got a built in Freeview tuner that works OK, I cant see any point in changing them really.
Steve.

[Studio263]

Proper TV sets only here too, I won't have the plastic Plasmatrons in the house. This is what is permanently set up, ready to go at any time:

Living room: B&O LX5500 Whiteline (courtesy of HKS) + VX5000 VTR
Bedroom: B&O MX4000
Guest room: B&O 7802 + VHS90 VTR
Workroom: Sony TV9-306UB / PVM-1300

We use Sony VTX-D800U Freeview receivers with all of these, even they are getting old now. The LX5500 had a frame cramping fault (frame boost diode) and brightness drift (I changed the decoder panel, I seem to have loads of them) a few years ago and the MX4000 needed a LOPT (very slight interwinding leakage which gave a fault that looked like poor interlace) last year but otherwise they all look like they'll last for ever. Just in case there are boxes of spares and plenty more sets in reserve dotted about, I think I can confidently say that I'll never need to buy a flat screen set.

[Vicboduk]

I still have three sets in daily use; A fully manual Sharp portable (badged Rediffusion) in the kitchen. A Finlux 5025, 5000 series in the living room.
And for the bedroom, a Philips 37KT2042 CTX-E chassis, only fault has been dry joints on the LOPT and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve changed the back-up battery!

[SiriusHardware]

My partner uses a 1999 Grundig 32" 'Arganto' widescreen CRT which I can not persuade her to stop using, even though she has a large screen HD-capable flatscreen there to replace it. The new TV was tried, the sound pronounced dire compared to the Grundig (which was true) and the new TV was then mothballed in its box until such time as the old Grundig fails and I can not fix it. (I have only had to repair it once, quite recently).

Although not in daily use I maintain one Philips CRT colour RGB monitor and two portable TVs, one mono and one colour, in working order for use as displays for various retro-items I have, mainly computers.

[SiriusHardware]

Originally Posted by GMB

So I am really glad that we never bought a TV with integral decoder. In fact I seriously wonder if that is a good idea at all these days.

I have argued in the past that the best policy currently is probably to buy an ultra high quality large MONITOR and just change your comparatively cheap and very soon obsolete receiver box every now and again.

[peter_scott]

Our Panasonic CRT flat widescreen 28" refused to power up some years ago so we replaced it with modern flat screen and I later tracked down the offending cap in the Panasonic and it has served as a bedroom set ever since.

Peter

[Panrock]

A 28-inch CRT widescreen Panasonic, bought used many years ago at Nickthedentist's suggestion, is still in regular use, gives superb picture and sound, and has never given a moment's trouble.

Steve

[FERNSEH]

Very few CRT sets now in the homes of the general public. And can you blame them for buying flat TVs? Those large screen CRT sets take up a lot of space, more so in the tiny living rooms of the houses being built nowadays.
Currys-Dixons stopped selling CRT sets in 2006. About the same time the now defunct wholesaler Harris and Russell was selling flat TVs with one exception, the Samsung "SlimFit" CRT set. The cabinet depth of that model was reduced to 399mm (16") Not that slim really. CRT has a 125 degree deflection angle.
The buying public weren't very impressed with the SlimFit and considered it nothing more than another big box TV. Did have a few on rental but the service life of the Slimfit was short. Customers didn't like the set very much. Very few enquiries about repairs to old CRT TV sets. Just one this year.

DFWB.

[unitaudio]

I share the house with a mate of mine, Steve. The main telly downstairs is his 1996 Sony Trinitron. It's never put a foot wrong. Sound and picture quality are both superb and it's been completely reliable so it's going nowhere!

Regards,
Paul

[Station X]

I have two CRT CTV's in regular use.

The first is a Samsung Slimfit which was abandoned by a tenant minus the remote. I managed to obtain a remote from a forum member. The set lacked width and eventually, with much help from forum members, I traced this to a magnet which had come unglued from an inductor. The is used daily and has given no further trouble. My only regret is that I've never found a way of supplying it with an HD signal.

The other set is a Beko, bought new, which gets used about twice a month. I had to replace the LOPT a few years ago, but it's been fine since.

I've said that I'll scrap these sets when they go wrong, but I expect I'll try to repair them.

[raditechman]

I sadly sent 2 CRT colour TV's to the recycling centre this week. They all worked when last switched on but I was not even able to give them away. One was 14" the other 20".
I have one 14" colour left and that may go the same way next week.
I have come to like LCD TV's (not plasma) and am pleased not to have 25Kv generators in my living room. The technology was fine when it was all we had.
I only know of one friend who still had a CRT set in use (a wide screen JVC) and even he has a LCD in the bedroom.

John

[Richard_FM]

It seems that most people got rid of their CRT main sets during the digital switchover & when flat screens came down in price & are much easier to fix onto a wall. Also some people didn't like having to fiddle around with scart cables & 2 remotes.

I held out until 2010 when I started to save up for an integrated set. This meant I could pass on the Mitsubishi TV from my bedroom which I had been given by a friend of the family, which went on Freecycle.

My slightly smaller Philips was then in my bedroom until 2016 when it was cascaded due to me getting a Smart TV for the lounge.

Living in a 1 bedroom flat means space is limited so again the old sent was offered for free and within hours I found someone who could take it off me.

The only CRT set I currently own is a 5" B/W one which I got as a free gift from Grattans for placing a big order of clothes in 2001.

I'm planning on moving to a bigger flat in the near future so I'll have an excuse to get another TV, which might be a cheap one from eBay or offered on Freegle. I still have 2 Freeview boxes, including a Goodmans with a modulator.

[emeritus]

We have two CRT set still in use. The kitchen has a Philips 14" colour set, a pre-SCART model which must be around 30 years old, used with a modulator-fitted Icecrypt STB. It sits on top of the microwave, and its white case matches the kitchen decor nicely. The sound went when it was 3 weeks old (I was watching it at the time, and it progressively got more distorted and fainter over about 20 seconds). Comet sent round an engineer promptly and fitted a new chip. No problems ever since. The other, used in the dining room, is a multi-standard Schneider 14" colour set inherited from my late brother-in-law in France. It works with UK PAL, European PAL, and SECAM and is used with a Ferguson STB.

[Radio Wrangler]

The only TV set in the house is a 32" Panasonic Quintrix. Large, very heavy but with a superb picture and sound. Lots of SCART, component and S-Video inputs.

It too has seen off a few digiboxes. It is very rarely on though.

But it does take up too much space, I've been thinking of changing for some time.

So does anyone want it? complete with matching DVD recorder (DVD/hard drive!)

This may have been the peak of the CRT TV

Free to any good home.

David