The cost of TVs: Then and now

[skatalite]

I was reading an article on TV prices through the years, from the 1930s to present day, and it's mighty interesting how prices have changed.

For instance, in 1939, a 12-inch RCA Victor cost $600, which is about $9,200 in 2008 dollars:



Then, in 1948, the "large" 20-inch Du Mont was released for $2,495. That's $22,000 in 2008 dollars:



In 1992, Philco released a 35-inch color TV priced at $2,300, which is close to $3,500 in 2008 dollars.

--

I know we have some older members here who have gone through the age of black-and-white, the emergence of color, the arrival of HDTV, and soon the widespread introduction to 3DTV.

Do you guys remember how much you spent on your first TV sets? What brands they were? What bells and whistles they had?

I was about 10 years old when my parents bought me my first TV, which was about 13 inches and an RCA. I remember watching a baseball game and eating Ritz Crackers to break it in. I reckon he spent about $400 on it. That's close to $600 in 2008 dollars.

[SquidPuppet]

I remember when a neighbor got the first color TV on the block. They actually had a party for all to check it out. It was a very big deal at the time.

Cant remember pricing as I was just a kid.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

I remember when a neighbor got the first color TV on the block. They actually had a party for all to check it out. It was a very big deal at the time.

Cant remember pricing as I was just a kid.

I think we got our first color TV in 1971 but I could be wrong, stuff from those days are hazy at best. The one thing however is that we had this TV for the entire decade. It was a Zenith 21 inch color TV. My parents replaced it with a new one sometime in 1980 but I can't recall the model.

It is just me or once upon a time TV just lasted longer?

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think we got our first color TV in 1971 but I could be wrong, stuff from those days are hazy at best. The one thing however is that we had this TV for the entire decade. It was a Zenith 21 inch color TV. My parents replaced it with a new one sometime in 1980 but I can't recall the model.

It is just me or once upon a time TV just lasted longer?

I have been lucky. I have never had a TV fail on me. I remember my first upgrade from a 12 inch B&W to a GIGANTIC 19 inch color TV WITH a remote. I was in heaven.

As a child I remember taking the tubes out of the TV and taking them to the drug store to test them. You would test all the tubes in this strange machine, and by process of elimination you would determine which tube(s) were bad and needed replacement.

[tbizzle]

The first time my mom saw a blu-ray on my TV, she was floored and told me about the first time she saw a color TV back in the early 60's. Her neighbor had my mom's family over and showed them The Wizard of Oz on their new color TV, and everyone was blown away. Couldn't tell you the price, but I know it was a hefty amount

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Even though I'm not that old yet, I recall my parents owning one of those small wooden tv sets with two knobs for channel changing. We had very limited channels of course because we lived overseas then. Currently, we have three tv sets. The living room set is a 51" Hitachi, the loft set is an old Sony Trinitron, and the one in my bedroom is a 32" Sharp Aquos.

[Grand Bob]

We had a "rich" aunt who bought a 19" color TV in the early 60's. I seem to recall that she said it cost her $800 back then (that would work out to over $5000 today). She could only get 4 channels, and there was considerable noise and ghosting. But I still remember watching those first programs (Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Bonanza, and football) with awe. I did not have a color TV until I bought my first 19" RCA Colortrak in 1980 for $400.

[HiDefRev]

My parents bought our first color TV in 1962. If I remember correctly, it cost about $599. It was basically a 21" box sitting on 4 skinny legs, and was VHF only. Color shows were VERY limited. Every Sunday the house was filled with relatives and neighbors watching Shell's weekly golf tournament in color ( imagine that happening today ! ). And, of course, there was Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. At that time, we were only able to receive 2 channels clearly, the local CBS and NBC stations. When the conditions were right, we could pull in an additional 3 out of town channels. The first TV I purchased for myself was in 1974. It was a GIANT 25" RCA color console. It set me back a hefty $799 !! We were able to receive 7 channels at that time, 5 VHF and 2 UHF. We got cable in 1975, and that expanded our reception to an amazing 13 channels !! But you STILL had to get up off your duff to go change the channels !!

[Johnny Vinyl]

The first TV that I can remember my parents getting was a Philips, but I don't remember the size. There were only 2 or 3 stations available and they only broadcast for a few hours at night. However, my dad bought this huge-ass antenna so we could receive pirate radio and TV signals from ships in the North Sea! I lived in The Netherlands at the time! Oh the memories!

John

[kevinbr100]

i bought my first tv in 1991, it was a color sony 13 inch, with a digital tuner, cost about $300 i think. i had to get it repaired about 2 years later. but it worked for many years. i gave it to a friend about 10 years ago, and last i heard about a year and a half ago, before the hdtv transition, it was still working great!

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Those were the days of slapping the side of the tv set and re-arranging the rabbit ears just to get a decent reception. This generation is very lucky.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Those were the days of slapping the side of the tv set and re-arranging the rabbit ears just to get a decent reception. This generation is very lucky.

I absolutely dreaded having to change the rabbit ears. Reception always seemed so hit or miss where I lived.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Those were the days of slapping the side of the tv set and re-arranging the rabbit ears just to get a decent reception. This generation is very lucky.

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I absolutely dreaded having to change the rabbit ears. Reception always seemed so hit or miss where I lived.

Remember the "focus" ring/dial that surrounded the channel knob?

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Remember the "focus" ring/dial that surrounded the channel knob?

Yep I rerember those! I also rememeber having the friendly TV/electronics repair shop down the street, like the focus ring, a thing of the past. We are now a "disposable generation" It breaks(the TV or whatnot) and then we usually buy a new one, we don't even try to get it repaired, it's usually cheaper to buy a new one anyway!

[Sammy]

I thought that was the fine tuning knob?

We got our first color TV in 1978. The console unit it replaced was crafted of solid maple and my grandfather, a carpenter from the old world, turned it to a fine liquor cabinet.

As for me, I paid something like $600 for a 25" color Sony in 1992 and was given a 35" Sony in 1997 that was replaced by a my first HDTV, a 32" 720p Samsung that cost nearly $3000 in 2003. That one is in the kid's "playroom" now and the 40" 1080p Samsung in my sig came on board in the family room just a over a year ago for a whopping $1250, twice what it would cost this year.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

Those were the days of slapping the side of the tv set and re-arranging the rabbit ears just to get a decent reception. This generation is very lucky.

Rabbit ears were for the wealthy; we had to adjust the wire coat hangar that we used for an antenna on the 13" black and white TV we grew up with.

[Rob J in WNY]

Oh, the memories...

As a kid growing up the '70s in Tucson, AZ, we had a 25" color Zenith in which "I" or my brother was the remote control...

"Change it to channel 9. Change it to channel 4. Change it to channel 13."

Da horrah!

It also had the "fine tuning" knob around the channel selector. A partial rotation was all that was necessary to eliminate the "noise" of a slightly "off-tuned" broadcast TV station. I remember it had the old 300-ohm, two-lead flat antenna wire, which attached to the back of the TV with the two set screws. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who remember this type of wire.

In 1981, my dad bought a brand new, state-of-the-art Mitsubishi 25" stained wood veneer console color TV. It was completely "solid state" (save for the CRT) and built-in a stereo FM tuner (for FM stereo "simulcasts" of the time), stereo line-in capability, stereo 2-way speakers built in, a fully-featured slim remote control which was slimmer/smaller than most remotes of today (it used 2 "AAA" batteries), digital VHF/UHF tuning and display. The console even had a slot to store the remote. I remember seeing the invoice for $800 on it.

I had a 19" B&W TV in my bedroom, and I played more Atari 2600 games on it than I can remember! Every now and then, I was allowed to hook it up to the color TV - I was in heaven at those times.

In 1984, we got cable TV (Cox) and our first VCR. It seemed like most everyone was joining the cable TV revolution, and everyone all had those brown "General Instrument" cable boxes on top of their TVs. My friends and I used to sneak around the neighborhood with our cable remotes and change the channels or shut off people's TVs.

Ahh, the memories...

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Remember the "focus" ring/dial that surrounded the channel knob?

That is taking me back to a time I wanted to forget

[greyrocket]

my first was a Sony Trinitron 27" that was about $700 in 1997 plus that shiny thing called a dvd player $1000 that i bought with it. not bad for being in high school back then

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

That is taking me back to a time I wanted to forget

I'll second that !