Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To feel sad that I'm the only person left on this planet with an old CTR TV?

110 replies

BridgetJonesPants · 30/06/2012 21:02

AIBU to want /buy a new TV?

Basically I'm sitting here watching a Harry Potter movie with my favourite but feeling a bit that I don't have a nice 42 or 48 inch slim line TV....maybe even one with 3D.

However, my sensible head tells me to stop being ridiculous, my current monstrosity of a TV is in perfect working order and is only 8 years old so why on earth should I even be thinking of upgrading?

So, should I wait another 2 years when current TV will be 10 years old and it sits easier for me to renew it then.......plus I'll probably get a better model for less money in 2 years or should I throw caution to the wind and order one on line before I finish my 2nd bottle of wine?
What would you do?

OP posts:

Didireallydoit · 30/06/2012 22:50

they go for peanuts secondhand (flatscreen TVs).

CocktailSausage · 30/06/2012 22:50

We bought our current CRT only 4 years ago when flat screens were expensive. DH almost put his back out carrying it up the stairs and we had to take a taxi from the shop (we don't drive)
I now often see people with flat screens on the bus

PacificDogwood · 30/06/2012 22:50

I am very fond of our CRT TV, bought in 1996 when DH and I moved in together.
It has admittedly been relegated to the playroom, DH being rather a home cinema fiend , but it gets used and I pat dust it with love. I'll be sorry to see it go - whenever it goes IYKWIM.
It seems quite tough and has survived 4 little boys pawing and even crawling over it .

YANBU.

redwhiteandblueeyedsusan · 30/06/2012 23:35

I have a small portable tv in the corner. we had to get rid of the big black (that dates it) tv as it went pop and the screen went blank.

ln1981 · 30/06/2012 23:41

YANBU.

We have an CRT TV in our bedroom, had it for 8years nearly (got it when me and dp moved in together). We also have a flat screen in the living room, only had it 2years (got it when we moved house) and tonight it died. Dont make things to last like they used to...

80sMum · 30/06/2012 23:57

You're definitely not the only one! Our TV is also an 8-year -old CRT model. I still think of it as 'the new telly'! We had our previous one for about 20 years! We use a freeview box/digital recorder so it all works fine. We paid £800 for the TV and it's never gone wrong so we think why waste money on a new one? Plenty of other things to spend it on!

garlicbutt · 01/07/2012 00:05

Another saddo here with a clunky old CRT that sticks into the next street at the back, warms up & warms down, and has to be on the wrong setting to show any colours.

It's too demanding - I watch TV on my laptop. As a benefits recipient, I consider this totally unreasonable and want to know where my obligatory 40" flat-screen telly is!

happyAvocado · 01/07/2012 00:06

we have an old one, picked up from Freecycle
my 14 yo DD thinks it's cool - retro

whatlauradid · 01/07/2012 00:07

I have three CRT's in the house! I'm kind of afraid of those flimsy flat screens with two young kids!

Kladdkaka · 01/07/2012 00:14

Our TV is a 20 year old portable. I need a new one. 10 years ago I struggled to read the subtitles from across the room. Now I struggle to see the TV, I just know it's in that corner somewhere.

runnindownadream · 01/07/2012 00:14

We too have a tank for a telly.

I always argue it works perfectly well its just that analogue has been switched off that messed everything up and we are forced into having an additional box to make it go.

Til it goes bang it stays - I'm too tight to fork out for a new one whilst ds still clobbers it with a plastic hammer

squeakytoy · 01/07/2012 00:23

I know someone who can beat all of you so far..

during the digital switchover we were converting tv's .. one lady had got her telly in 1972, and it was still going strong! and worked fine with a digital box too.

Bunbaker · 01/07/2012 00:27

"I'm kind of afraid of those flimsy flat screens with two young kids!"

Ours came with a strap that you attach one end to the TV and the other end to the wall or the furniture it is on.

Socknickingpixie · 01/07/2012 01:00

Yabu if you order one whilst wankered, it will arrive and you will be most confused about why it's arrived or when you ordered it and may even get your card declined at the supermarket because you will have forgotten you spent the money,clearly I'm not talking about personal experance it's just wise words in less you count the 27 pairs of sunglasses, 5 horrid rugs,2 tuxedo paintmasters and hand held mini chopper that turned up last time I got shedded whilst watching shopping channels

HauntedLittleLunatic · 01/07/2012 01:46

I still have a CRT. I recently turned down a flatscreen offered to me free. I turned it down because the CRT has a lot of advantages over the flatscreen. The ONLY disadvantage is the size of it.

CRTs are still capable of delivering the best black level, contrast, shadow detail and color performance of any video technology out there, even compared to HDTV televisions in pure image quality, for which you have to pay a premium and not applicable to all viewing.

A CRT television can be used with room lights on or during the day with little compromise in image quality. Newer flatscreens are better than old ones but still more of an issue than for a CRT imo.

CRT TVs can be viewed from any angle with little loss in picture quality. Dtds flatscreen is a nightmare if you aren't practically straight on.

The CRT television has a long life-expectancy compared to flatscreen.

And that is why I turned down a free flatscreen. In all aspects other than size flatscreens are actually a backwards step in technology driven by a desire to reduce size.

HauntedLittleLunatic · 01/07/2012 01:49

Actually I will be fair. Another advantage of flatscreen is increased screen size....although most people do not take into account the optimal viewing distances compared to the size they have when buying humoungous tvs :p

iscream · 01/07/2012 01:52

We have 3 older tube tv's, plus 1 LCD fltscreen. All of the bedroom tv's are tube.

Tube tv's have life expectency of 20 yrs as opposed to flat screens life expectancy of 5-8 years. They are the better buy.

FairPhyllis · 01/07/2012 06:21

YABU. My parents still have the cathode ray TV they bought in the mid 70s. They are clinging grimly on to it.

Molehillmountain · 01/07/2012 06:53

Yanbu to feel sad. But we have just got a "new" telly that we're rather pleased with-dpil's old CRT one they upgraded! I just can't get my head round spending loads of money on a telly. Others would question my craft material habit though! Will reconsider when dc old enough to care-I remember well the angst caused by being the one with the oldest telly on the street. It was black and white in the mid eighties. Now even my dad has a flat screen!

fuzzypicklehead · 01/07/2012 07:14

We have a bulky old CRT tv that we bought second-hand on ebay about 6 years ago. I can't see us replacing it until it goes boom. (and maybe not even then, if it means I can avoid Spongebob!)

FermezLaBouche · 01/07/2012 07:21

I recently acquired a big, CRT 32 in telly off Freecycle. I turned up at the chap's house and realised I'd massively underestimated the size and weight of it. With both of us lifting it it was still a struggle to get it into my Punto! When I got back my neighbour took one look and pissed herself.
I've had the last laugh though as it has a great picture, great sound and was FREEEEE.
I don't reckon you should worry, but often people do sell decent flat screen tellies on Gumtree for fairly cheap.

EmilieFloge · 01/07/2012 07:21

We got a flatscreen a few months ago, after trying one about 2 years back and finding the picture quality was shite and made everything blurry. The new one is HD whatever that means so better I think. Also it seems to do the freeview built in thing very well which obviously now you kind of need freeview or something.
However we also have a superfluous 32" CRT which is HUGEEE off of ebay about 4 years ago and that takes up half the room, have just brought it back in from the dining room where it was useful as DVD only thing.
I was going to sell it but what make me sad is that the same one sold on ebay for about a fiver last week, when new it cost over a grand (we paid a hundred and something) and was the height of class. It's a Loewe and I'm blowed if I'm selling it for a fiver. It's brilliant.

now if only I could make it show actual programmes that would be excellent...

EmilieFloge · 01/07/2012 07:24

I should add the CRT weighs more than I do so is a nightmare to move, but if you hold it screen DOWN that helps enormously with the trying-to-tip-itself-out-of-your hands phenomenon.

Also our flatscreen is 22" which ex dp complained was TINY, and how he missed his 40+ flatscreen which he had left behind when he started seeing me. He has now returned to the flatscreen thank God...a happy reunion I imagine.

RedHelenB · 01/07/2012 07:24

Haunted - you've almost convinced me to go to Freecycle instead of getting the dd's much desired flatscreen when this gives up the ghost. They will be disappointed!!!

EmilieFloge · 01/07/2012 07:27

Just be careful that a freecycle telly will do all the modern stuff you need it to...I cannot get our CRT to accept any sort of aerial connection, I'm almost sure it would if I knew what I was doing, but it doesn't have freeview or anything. just about 5 scart sockets and some switches on the back

Flip

1 2 3 4 5