# How long will they last?



## oldschool52 (Jan 16, 2011)

A question I have never seen posted in any forums is the average expected lifespan of HDTVs. I don't mean how long the screen lasts or half-life I mean the set. It has seemed to me that people are pretty happy if they get over 2 years before their set bites it. That is just so unacceptable. I have a Polaroid 32" that lasted a little over 5 years then the PS bit it. Waiting on some caps for repair. I have 27" crt GE that is over 15yo that I'm watching now. 

Is one manufacturer better than another?
Is one model better than another?

I'm just speaking about how long will it last before it dies. You can purchase extended warranties but that bites that you have to purchase extra things because of the crappy parts being used or garbage that China produces. Any insight into this would be appreciated.


----------



## JMPC (Jan 15, 2011)

TV's are like anything else, you may get one that lasts 10 years or one that dies right after the warranty expires. In theory getting a set from a top tier manufacturer should be better but it's still a crap shoot. Both my Sony TV's are over 7 years old and still working great.


----------



## oldschool52 (Jan 16, 2011)

Thanks for your response:
I'm leaning Pany. Many moons ago I had a Sony CRT trinatron 25" CRT that died in 2years, repaired it then the CRT bit it a year later. But I have had many other Sony products and they are a class act. The other thing I tried to research was Customer Service. For the most part they all pretty much suck. Some just more than others.


----------



## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

As prices continue to drop, it becomes uneconomical to repair them and they become disposable - like microwaves or CD players. It probably costs mfgr's less than $100 to build a 32" TV over in Viet Nam (or ???) the rest is shipping, overhead, middle-men, profit, etc. Plus, they're very reliable and (not being an expert) probably have few actual parts (whole IC boards perhaps but even few of these). So, just training repair tech's probably costs more than all the units they're likely to see. Add in that the technology changes very rapidly so the board they made 6 months ago won't work in the unit they're making today. Why keep any in reserve?

As far as how long they'll last? :4-dontkno Who cares. I bought my 47" DLP TV about 6 years ago. If it bites-the-dust this afternoon, I get to go shopping for a larger, better TV that costs 1/3 of what I paid. Its a shame but that's life in the digital age.


----------

