Life expectancy of modern electronic goods?

[JFKvsNixon]

I believe the TV set in 1963 cost roughly the equivalent of £1200 in modern money (most people rented) just for a 19" black and white set! But you get what u pay for and it still works.....

 

I think that you've just hit the nail on the head, as to the reason why your TV has lasted the test of time. I remember VCRs in the 1980s costing £500! I don't know how that is equivalent in todays money, but I'd bet it's a fair few bob!

[geared]

I believe the TV set in 1963 cost roughly the equivalent of £1200 in modern money (most people rented) just for a 19" black and white set! But you get what u pay for and it still works.....

 

So what, more than a months pay???

ASDA and Tesco were doing big old tellys for about a hundred quid this xmas just gone.

 

Slight difference don't you think??

[hyper]

I think that you've just hit the nail on the head, as to the reason why your TV has lasted the test of time. I remember VCRs in the 1980s costing £500! I don't know how that is equivalent in todays money, but I'd bet it's a fair few bob!

Not necessarily. when a product is new, it seen as a premium product, which allows retailers to charge more than might if this was a mass product. Plus in the early days manufacturers attempt to recoup a proportion of R&D costs, and finally when something is sold in small numbers, manufacturing costs are higher as economies of scale haven't yet been achieved.

[truman]

So what, more than a months pay???

ASDA and Tesco were doing big old tellys for about a hundred quid this xmas just gone.

 

Slight difference don't you think??

 

In '63 I would have though £1200 would be nearer a year's pay..if not more...

[L00b]

The OP makes me chuckle a bit, considering my hobby (arcade videogame collecting) and the facts that:

• such electronics were built with industrial-grade components to sustain uninterrupted use and abuse for hours-on-end,
  
• the freshest/newest "stuff" is knocking on 30+ years old, and
  
• it all still broke down in various ways (PCBs, components, CRTs, CRT chassis, etc.) with the regularity of a manic depressive...and still does to this day, when fully-restored and used sparingly by careful collector owners.

 

Getting hold of spares, particularly CRTs, is getting to be a real PITA and most serious collectors have taught themselves how to fix the basics, discharge CRTs, repair boards and PSUs etc. (there's no aftersales to be had), some going further to fix CRT chassis and program EEPROMs.

 

It only looks like it was built to withstand a nuclear war...but modern electronics (however cheap) whilst flimsier-looking internally and externally, are far better adapted to withstand power spikes and surges, the main killers of old electronica

Not necessarily. when a product is new, it seen as a premium product, which allows retailers to charge more than might if this was a mass product. Plus in the early days manufacturers attempt to recoup a proportion of R&D costs, and finally when something is sold in small numbers, manufacturing costs are higher as economies of scale haven't yet been achieved.

QFT. Look at the current price differential between 'old tech' full HD LED screens, even super-smart and super-sized ones, and those newfangled 4K curved monster-sized (O)LED screens: basically, add at least a zero to the RRP.

 

Some of the innovation will die of death (or at least be lengthily postponed, e.g. 3D and, I expect, screen curvature) but the current high tech-high ticket [higher-def (4K), improved connectivity/functionality (smart OS etc.) and better display (OLED)] will eventually become the norm in a few years, reaching mass-adoption pricing in the meantime. Entirely traditional product life cycle.

Edited March 9, 2015 by L00b

[geared]

In '63 I would have though £1200 would be nearer a year's pay..if not more...

 

£1200 in todays money.

[Solomon1]

Everything seems disposable and made to expire these days

 

One of my pet hates dude

 

Stinking, rotten capitalism!!

[El Cid]

In '63 I would have though £1200 would be nearer a year's pay..if not more...

 

12 years ago a 28" TV could be bought for less than £200, a 28" TV is about the same price today.

[buck]

In '63 I would have though £1200 would be nearer a year's pay..if not more...

I left the RN in 1964 to work at Davy Ashmore for a salary of 1260 pounds a year, increasing my pay as a Chief Petty Officer up from 1000 quid a year. Two years later I was at 1420 quid, around 30 a week, and could afford to buy a new house. Now I earn about 85 a week OAP sent to me every month to go with my US social security. My keyboard doesn't have a pound sign or a euro one either.

[carosio]

 

Compare those to my 1963 Sobell TV set which I inherited from my family who bought it NEW in that year, and this set is still in full working order (via a RF modulator of course these days) with great picture and sound. In all that time it has only ever had two services and 3 new valves. And its 55 years old!!!!! Plus my 1957 Sobell Radiogram, at the age of 61 is also still pumping out the sound with no issues at all, and which has NEVER had a service at all!

 

Is this the set you had?

 

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv12/carosio/sobell.jpg