Chasing The Unicorn

I need a TV. My project from about 6 months ago has gone belly up and I've waited for as long as I can. We need for the living room TV to work so we can get the kids out of our bedroom!

After tinkering with it 3, 4 times, it doesn't appear that I'm going to be able to get it going either, so it's time to buy a new one. The good part is that the price of "big screen" TVs have come way down in the last 10-15 years. Back in the 80's, my 27" model was considered to be decent sized. Then a decade later, when I bought the 40" projection TV, it was already the smallest set that Sony sold of the type. When we bought the LCD projection TV 10 years later, 40" was still the smallest, but pretty common. And the projection units were considered high-end, so they still had high-end features.

What do I mean by high-end features? It starts with LOTS of inputs. It was assumed that if you bought a nice TV, you had lots of components to connect to it. Back in the 90's, some of us (me) had 2 different VCRs (in my case, VHS and SuperBeta), a Laserdisc player, and at that time, a DVD player as well as a game system (TurboGrafx-16 for me). Holy Cats....that 5 inputs! I knew guys who had more.

That was then; this is now. I haven't made the next leap with the progression. I haven't made the leap from 40" to the bigger sizes; 46", 55", 60" and even bigger. Part of the issue is that I'm older and don't have to have the newest and biggest. Part of the problem is that my friend Pat and I built a "furniture grade" cabinet to house my stuff, and it fits a 42" TV at the largest! It's modular so I could replace the center section and build a bigger replacement, but it's the right size for our house. We have a relatively small living/family room. There just isn't space to go much bigger.

Have I ever told you guys that I'm a "stubborn cuss"? What do I mean? First of all; I like the brands I like, and in this case, I've been a Sony TV user for the better part of 30 years. Secondly; I like having my various inputs. I'm not ready to cut them down OR buy a new receiver so I can have it do the switching for me. So, what's the problem? Go out and buy a 42" Sony with lots of inputs and be done with it?

That's where things have gotten out of whack? Have you noticed that Sony has had a smaller and smaller "footprint" in the TV market the last few years? It's increasing being dominated by the Koreans (Samsung, LG) in the high end and now, the Chinese (Hisense, random house brand) in the low end. The Japanese are pretty much done....just like the old American manufactures 25 years ago.

So the upshot is that I was chasing a TV that just doesn't exist any more. A 42" "high-end" TV made by Sony. They had one up until recently when they started cutting SKUs, but they are long gone, and even that one didn't have all the inputs that I wanted anyway. I actually found a refurbished one up in New Hampshire last week, but I didn't have the money in the account at the time and when I went back to look, it was gone.

Yup, I gave in. I made one last swing through the various electronics stores in the adjoining suburbs the other night. The closest I found was an uninspiring, but functional 42" Sharp at Best Buy. I also ducked into Costco and found that they only had 40" sets and then jumped up to 46"-47". The only thing I was really impressed with were two that were out of my price range. A Samsung 46" and a Vizio 47". Both were slightly bigger than my space too. On my way home, I decided it wouldn't hurt to check the Walmart. On my way to the bathroom, I walked by their "display" and "clearance" TVs. There behind several others was the Visio 47" set, marked for $578. That was $10 more than the set new at Costco, so I asked about it. The employee said; "no" those are 20% off of the lowest marked price, making it $468 before taxes. That made it fit in my budget if not my cabinet (42" TV, 40" cabinet)! So I decided to take it.....as long as they could find the remote (no sure thing on a Walmart clearance item). After 10 minutes to find the remote, and another 15 minute wait at the register for the manager to OK it, the computer came up with a final price $474.xx after taxes! Turned out that it had been marked down again in their computing system. Woohoo! I may not have chased down the unicorn, but I did get a 7" upgrade on a new set! Now.....about that 2" in the cabinet......