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I'm so glad (along with, I'm sure, everyone connected with Florence Mall) to hear that the JC Penney is not closing.  I hope that somehow they will be able to pull it out Nationwide.  I'm still wondering about the local Best Buy's closing and whose story was correct.  Some employees, at Best Buy, here locally, said that the store was closed because the owner of the store complex that the store was in raised the lease greatly to the point that Best Buy decided to close the store.  If that's true then the building owner really messed up.  Employees also said that the local store was doing a good volume and was one of their better performing stores.  Somehow I don't believe that because if that was true I can't see Best Buy leaving the whole area.  Who knows we may never know what happened with the Best Buy situation.

gbrk posted:

I agree with you about Sam's Club as they do have a good variety.  Other than that driving Over to Huntsville would present lots of choices including Best Buy.  There are also online choices other than Amazon.com but most want to see what they are buying before they pay for it.

Fredericksons in Sheffield my have large screen TVs.  Saw some there last time I bought tires.

direstraits posted:
gbrk posted:

I agree with you about Sam's Club as they do have a good variety.  Other than that driving Over to Huntsville would present lots of choices including Best Buy.  There are also online choices other than Amazon.com but most want to see what they are buying before they pay for it.

Fredericksons in Sheffield my have large screen TVs.  Saw some there last time I bought tires.

Yes, they do and Frederickson's has great customer service as well.  I had forgotten about them.  There is also that place on Florence Blvd that used to be Hunt's TV & Appliance.  I think they were bought out by a Huntsville dealer but I don't remember the new name but yet another source.    Now a little reminiscing, if you will permit me. 

Speaking of TV's and new technology one of the things that has disappeared over the years, for the most part, is the TV Repair Shop.  To my knowledge, and there may be more, there is only ONE TV Repair shop in the Shoals area and that is "Polly's TV Repair" over in the 7-Points area of Florence.  I don't know all the reasons for the disappearance of these shops but the newer sets are so much more dependable and just work longer and better.  

I remember, back in the 1960's when you'd have TV Shops/stores where you would go in and there were all kinds of 19" portable models and then 25" floor models along with the real luxury models which had the 25" screen along with built-in console AM/FM Stereo and if you were really lucky an 8-Track player.  Today 25" is frowned upon as all but laughable and more a computer monitor than an entertainment device.

Then there were the major brand names, of that day, RCA Victor, Curtis Mathis with the 4-year warranty that no one else could touch, Magnavox, Philips, GE, Westinghouse and Zenith along with some others I'm sure I'm missing such as the likes of Emerson etc.  Man, you thought you were in "high cotton" when you got to go with the family to the TV Store and buy one of the console TVs.  It was also considered a major piece of furniture as well what with the console part of the TV.  And then I also remember that game system offered by Magnavox as a competitor to the more popular Atari systems.  There was also, look ahead into the 1980's those of us that would actually buy a Commodore 64 and hook it up to the TV to use, have the computer along with the video games etc.

Today you have names like VIZIO, Insignia, Toshiba, Samsung, Hisense, LG, Sceptre and yes still RCA to some degree and I'm sure I'm still leaving out some.  Then whereas you are the talk of the neighborhood or the school if you were able to bring your friends and plop down in front of the 25" screen, wow what an accomplishment, but today, as I said, 25" screen is disappointing and humbling.  Where before you had 9 inches, 12/13 inch models, 19 inch and 25 inch screens today you don't have anything unless you have a 49 inch screen and more common are the 55 inch, 60 inch, 65 inch and on upwards to the more elaborate 80 inch screens which, to me, are more like a movie screen when you get them in your house and family room.   Televisions are still quite heavy to lift but whereas in the past you picked out just that right spot on the floor, in front of the couch or in the corner today you have a wall mount and mount the TV above the fireplace or on the wall, close to the ceiling.  Yes, you still have the heavyweight, actually more weight than you might have had in the past but you don't have the weight in the furniture consoles and the TV Tube.  Today you have unbelievably thin TV Sets and the weight comes with the various components, the LED Screen, and the power supply but the newer components are much more dependable and break down far less hence the great disappearance of a lot of the TV Repair shops and TV Technician, a lost art or a job.

Today Tubes are still available, in individual parts as well as in equipment sold, but most of the modern tube parts come from Russia,  Japan, and others from China as the United States, for the most part, no longer manufactures them.   There are also some solid state tubes available which allow some of the older tube equipment to have the advantages of solid-state components and gives the owner years more active use of their device.  Most of the US made tubes were of the variety from Westinghouse, RCA Victor, and Sylvania.  Identifying Tubes 

Today it's more and more difficult to locate and find equipment that relies on and uses Tubes and most of that equipment is radio transmitting equipment.  Some high power Amateur Radio amplifiers still require tubes and there is still a large reservoir of older Ham Radio transceivers that utilize tubes in the final amplifier portion of the radios.     As an Amateur Radio operator, some call it HAM Radio Operator, I can say that still there are a lot of operators that are of the opinion that a Tube transmitter has a much fuller and bolder sound to it and thus they prefer Tube equipment over the Solid State equipment that is available today.  There are so many negatives with tubes though that most people as leaving them behind and one of those reasons and negatives is cost and availability to replace the tubes themselves. Tube Factories today  or The Tube Store.

Regarding HAM Radio transmitters, again, two of the most common of the Tube final variety are the Kenwood TS820 & TS520 series radios and the Yaesu FT101 series of radios.  Specifically, with respect to the Kenwood, there are three (3) tubes in the final amplifier a driver tube and two finals.  Years ago it might have cost around $40.00 to replace all three tubes with new ones but today that figure can easily approach $200.00 to replace all three and that's with Russian tubes and not the preferred American made which are more and more difficult to find. Other negatives are in the heat output by the tubes themselves, longer time to get up and working and the overall maintenance of keeping up the equipment.  On the positive side though Tube equipment and tubes will work right through an EMP burst and for that reason many of Russias military aircraft and weapon systems continue to use tubes as a part of their performance and working.  

Lastly, if you know any audiophiles, you will hear that the Rich Full sound of a Tube Amplifier cannot be matched by its solid state equivalent equipment regardless of price.  Manufacturers like Carver, Macintosh or Yamaha still make and sell Tube equipment and it is in high demand and consider among the best but it's also among the most expensive you will power tube reviews find .  There are still needs out there and a market for tubes and just like the old vinyl records seeing a comeback there are just some folks convinced that it's the best and they are not going to be sidetracked by something like difficulty in obtaining replacement parts or cost.  Article about Vacuum Tube comebacks

Last edited by gbrk

When I mentioned to my geek son about getting a tv at Walmart or a similar place he said they don't have good brands. I know nothing about brands or quality so I don't know. 

GBRK, my dad was a HAM operator. We used to hate when he'd get on because it would come thru the TV. When the neighbors called to complain he'd quit for the night. 

peede coober 2 posted:

When I mentioned to my geek son about getting a tv at Walmart or a similar place he said they don't have good brands. I know nothing about brands or quality so I don't know. 

GBRK, my dad was a HAM operator. We used to hate when he'd get on because it would come thru the TV. When the neighbors called to complain he'd quit for the night. 

Fortunately, televisions have greatly improved their electronics and rejection circuits and simultaneously Ham Radios are being made better and with less emission splatter but most of the improvement has been on the Television's side.  

As for brand names, today, it isn't as much an issue as before.  Where reliability and service may have been more concerns with brands before today features and options such as wifi, internet connectivity etc,  tend to be what people are looking for.  Most of the major brands, like you will find at WalMart, Samsung, LG, Sharp, etc, make a very good and reliable TV and one that will hold up.  Your son, though, is right in one aspect and that is in the area of those options.  WalMart TV's may not have as many HDMI ports meaning you can't interface them with as many optional items like video games, DVD players, TIVO's and ROKU streaming devices but WalMart does have some very good offerings also just as does Target but you, I believe, will still find the better, more equipped, more EXPENSIVE TV Sets at places like Best Buy, COSCO, and Sam's Club.  Consumer Reports is a good place to check also, still, when doing research into what to buy.  

I still maintain, though, that for the most part if you stick with one of the major brands today, the ones with good reputations, such as VIZIO, Samsung, and LG (and there are more) you will get a good reliable set with decent features and good quality.  The confusion thing today (with many) are the different video standards to define just what type of picture you are getting.  It used to be just regular HD (High Def) but then they introduced Super HD and 4K and now 5K each step up giving you better and more realistic picture quality but again that's where being able to go into Sam's or WalMart, or Target, or Fredrickson's and seeing the picture is beneficial and helpful.  Look for at least 2 or 3 or more HDMI ports so you can attach other devices (video games, DVR's etc) Satellite boxes).  

Fact is with today's entertainment choices (AT&T U-Verse, Comcast, Charter Cable, Satellite TV such as DISH and DirectTV) people don't really use (aren't using) Television receivers today but rather we are using the MONITOR functions of a Television set using one of the videos in ports (called HDMI ports)  Other's have digital input ports etc.  I hate to say I haven't kept up with them as much as I used to.  It's also like buying a Television with GREAT Speaker audio.  Old as I am these days my hearing can only hear so much and it is gross overkill to go purchase a TV/Monitor with expensive speakers and soundcards when my ears hear just as well on a lesser equipped set without the extended frequency abilities.  

Here are some helpful URL Internet sites that may help you or others out with comparison shopping with some items.

Cameras, video etc .. https://www.dpreview.com/  Digital Preview

Tech Radar              Tom's Guide - Computers & stuff

Deal News .. all kinds of things              Consumer Reports .. Old Standby

Consumer Affairs                                     cNet Reviews

4k review site                                             Digital Trends

Price Grabber .. Price comparison

Also I find it helpful to go to sights like Amazon.com and research the customer reviews to see how things I am thinking about purchasing are reviewed by people who have actually bought them.

Hope that helps anyone that is interested, somewhat.

Thanks for the info. I am left in the technological dust.

My TV is 10 years old and still works ok without bells and whistles. On TV's it seems they change to keep up with technology. Other appliances that don't depend on the techno aspect so much don't seem to be built very well. My washing machine is 25 years old and runs well. A fridge I bought a few years ago has a lot of plastic parts that have broken. My stove is 20 years old, still works but I broke a plastic knob on it last year and they don't make that part any more. I can get 1 on Amazon but it's $30 plus shipping. 

Soviet military aircraft used vacuum tubes not because of EMP, but, rather that their technology couldn't produce solid state equivalents.  The US and NATO kept an embargo against shipping such to Russia.  In one case, the Soviets purchased numerous games with a desired solid state device and shipped them to a dummy company in Sweden. The games were cannibalized for the parts, which were smuggled into Russia.  Swedish police raided the warehouse.  They found the destroyed games.  

Soviets deployed numerous different models of ICBMs.  Western intelligence assumed this meant they were deploying new and advanced models.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was discovered that different models were deployed as they smuggled in different solid state items.  The number of devices smuggled in determined the number of rockets built -- so many devices were required for experimentation, so many for deployed rockets and so many as spares.

Once Russia was allowed to import such, they sent a list to IBM of parts they desired. IBM declined the order -- the parts were so old the few remaining were sent to the Smithsonian. 

 

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