The Old TV
For about 10 years I’ve had a Fujitsu 42″ Plasma TV and it has been great. I understand that Fujitsu invented plasma technology and back when I bought this TV it was very expensive. The Best. $6000 plus $1400 for a three year extended warranty. The warranty was well spent since the TV died in about 6 months and again at 3 years when it was replaced by a refurbished unit.The plasma TV finally died. On the morning of 31 August the TV would no longer boot. It had worked fine the night before. When it last worked the plasma screen was still bright, showing none of the darkening that plasmas were rumored to show after 10 years. But oh how TVs have changed.
Uh Oh.. What do I do now?
It turns out that I had purchased a used 32inch LCD TV for $160 at a local AV repair store not long ago so I had something to watch.
A New TV
I have been watching TV prices at my local Walmart were they have a nice selection of flat-screens from 32 inches to 70 inches. I had decided on a 50 inch TV and had expected to pay about $1200. I had chosen 1080p of course and LCD rather than LED [back light], which is more expensive. The local Fred Meyer’s our other local chain, carried Samsung TVs exclusively and a 50″ LED tv was $2100 marked down to $1399. Very nice. However, Walmart had several models cheaper than this. Even the Sony 50 inch model was about $1100. But the leader was Sanyo 55″ 1080p / 120hz for $728. And with three year warranty it adds an additional $89. Very nice price. Not the best TV, but by no means shabby.
Great price for a very nice TV. But since I got a bargain I may not keep it 10 years.
A friend with a van helped me bring it home. We put it on the kitchen table on a quilt to assemble the base and hefted it onto the stand with no problems. It weighs 69 lbs. The old 42″ plasma screen weighs about 75 lbs. There is a single hole in the plastic base of the new TV to secure it to the furniture so it won’t tip over.
[Note: Photos of screens are Not simulated. 😉 ]
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