Look: Luxury TVs Are Already On the Outs?

It's funny how technology dissappears. One day you're trying to collect the entire Star Wars collection on VHS tapes, and the very next day it seems like you can't even give away tapes. Our local library is cleaning out stock and giving away some of their collection—the books all disappear as fast as they can put them out, but I've seen the same VHS-tape version of JFK sitting there for weeks. It got us wondering about what the next tech will be to go obselete. Funny then, that we saw this image on Flickr...

Titled "First Abandoned Flat Screen TV I've Seen," it begs the question of why is there a seemingly perfectly fine, gorgeous TV sitting out on a stoop in San Francisco (we checked the picture tags).

Maybe the image is staged as some kind of comment or critique. Maybe the TV is broken beyond repair in some way that isn't instantly visible. Maybe the owner was in the middle of moving and is sitting just out of the frame taking a phone call.

Or maybe the owner is ahead of the curve and really is getting rid of the TV. With the way that internet-based television is coming in vogue, could the switch from glam TV sets to luxury computer monitors in the living room be the next big thing?

Image from mlinksva at Flickr with a Creative Commons license.

Comments (6)

Aren't these glam TV sets our new luxury computer monitors anyway?

posted by stt64 on July 24th 2009 at 9:22am
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maybe it is broken and too much hassle out of warranty. i've had a 13" daewoo for 18 years. it isn't even cable-ready. never needed a repair. i hear flatscreens have a life expectancy of 7 years.

posted by Lady J on July 24th 2009 at 11:55am
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Yeah, you can easily hook up a flat screen to your computer, and just use it as a very large computer monitor. They serve the same purpose.

posted by lexixd on July 24th 2009 at 7:51pm
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it was totally broken, a piece of garbage, more a hassle to repair than replace.

posted by brocktontriangle on July 24th 2009 at 8:11pm
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The other thing: this kind of TV isn't a "luxury" TV anymore. Most stores aren't selling picture-tube TVs now, and those that do seem to sell only one or two sizes in a single no-name brand. Our last tube TV had a life of about 5 years and we were told not to expect much more for it. The tube TV we had before that required several repairs over time, but we had it for 15 years before it died.

posted by Miranda on July 28th 2009 at 1:18am
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I've had my 35 inch tube tv for about 10 years. I have never had a problem with it. I'm kind of afraid of getting rid of it. That and I can't afford a new fancy flat screen right now.

posted by FredEx on July 28th 2009 at 4:01pm
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