HDTV Almanac - TV Replacement Cycles Get Shorter

[alfredpoor]

At a recent conference hosted by DisplaySearch, a presentation by a Corning representative made an interesting point about how often consumers replace their old television sets. In the old days of analog broadcasts and CRTs, the replacement cycle was about nine years. We then had the digital broadcast transition and the advent of more affordable [...]

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[realradioguy]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ??? Up until the digital switchover, we have changed out televisions about every twenty years. Not that we haven't had multiple TV's, but each one has lasted at least that long. In the early days my dad and I would try to repair our own TV by pulling out the tubes and taking them over to the drug store and using a DIY type tube tester and buying replacements for those that hadn't measured up...mostly that worked. Later on we enlisted the help of a TV repairman who would come to our house...and mostly that worked...unless he had to take it to his shop for further repair. Even later...if the TV failed you simply took it back to the store and they had their repair people take care it...and that also worked most of the time. Now are you simply saying that my new POS TV imported from China isn't even going to last a decade??? How wonderful !!! As soon as my CRT type TV's break down (some years from now), I guess that I'll have to lower my expectations when I buy new TV's.

[David120166]

One of the reasons people used to hang on to their TVs for years besides the reliability was because the technology and features rarely changed. For years the only new changes were B&W to color, larger screen sizes (wow! Look! It's A 27" big screen!) and the introduction of the remote control. Now day every few months A new model with new bells and whistles is coming out. HD, flat panel, 3D and now Internet. Where will it all end?!

[alfredpoor]

Where will it all end?!

Today's consumer electronics companies are like sharks; they must keep swimming forward or die. There are still markets where innovation -- real or imagined -- is not essential, such as most of the things you find on supermarket aisles. (How much have laundry soaps really been "new and improved" over the past 50 years, in spite of what it says on the box?) But in consumer electronics, you're only as good as your next product. In Sony's heyday, back when they introduced the first Walkman for example, the company had the next four designs in a product line ready for production. As soon as sales began to falter, they'd bring out a new model that was incrementally better. No wonder the opposition could never catch up!

Today, the margins for most electronics -- and especially HDTVs -- are so thin that any slight competitive advantage or disadvantage spells the difference between success and doom. Sharp's efforts with their Quattron technology is a perfect example of an attempt to be different that hasn't really developed traction in the market. It could have, but so far the gamble has not paid off.

HDTVs aren't the only market where you find this arms race of features, however. Look at mobile phones, or tablets, or portable media players. The design revision cycles run at light speed, and the consumers are willing to reward the new designs with money on the sales counter. So I don't expect this trend to end any time soon.

Alfred

[eliwhitney]

Hello new Member " realradioguy ". . .

You apparently have yet to "surf" around to "read" for yourself that these relatively-new, very-highly & specialized Computers (exactly as david120166 posted, not traditional "TVs" anymore, at all!) indeed do NOT last & last, like that battery set in the Bunnie Rabbit at all.

...e.g. = 3 - 4 - 5 out-of-each 100 new DO fail while still within their original, basic 365 day warranties!

still others - - including Private Labels, 'off-brands', especially "Cheap-Os"- - will not even last that long as well as can NOT be repaired - - - simply, "...Throwaways / Disposables!..."

Either no provision for any replacement Components or (90) days "warranty" or The Customer must foot-the-round-trip Billing for freight / therein making it too costly and / or more than a new set outright!

There's absolutely nothing any more for the Owner to "fix" or "..take-to-the-drugstore-to-test.." - - and, do not count on your Store from which it was bought to help! ... no repair man @ Most .... lastly, as alfredpoor said - - Margins are TINY and becoming still-smaller! Circuit City gone, others not financially-healthy, either ....

Only "Plasma Sets" have been around approximately a decade & very, very few of those original sets are "still up & running!" .... although a general "panic" did occur in / around June at the moment of our final analog cut-off, few now still utilize any sort of "Adapter" / "Converter" to allow usage of an old CRT. ... too many now want / expect Internet access and capabilities, 5.1 Dolby Sound, "HD" with it''s Grand Colors / Immersion effects / far greater Display Content / larger than a 27" or 32" picture for superb coverage of Sports Programs & Specials such as the Rose Parade, etc.. .......

eli