Modern Technology

I only swapped out my 2003 plasma telly in 2013 as it physically couldnt display from devices such as blu-ray. There simply wasnt any way of connecting it at the full resolution - it was obsolete if I wanted to make use of the genuine advancement in video reproduction. Plus, my old telly used a huge 400w of power whereas its replacement uses far less at 66w. Which is nice.

In the company's small cinema, over £100,000 of equipment would now be totally obsolete as it wouldnt be able to do the digital handshake required between HDMI connections although DV-I was available. Curiously, D-VHS cassette was hanging around at the time just before HD_DVD/ Blue-Ray popped up.

On the audio side, anything carrying the DTS/ Dolby Digital logos can still use the digital output from Sky boxes, Blu-ray players, PC's, laptops, tablets and so-on. Plus there are adaptors costing a few quid to add bluetooth capability - that is good, good for the environment and good for the second hand market. Unlike the hundreds of thousands of defunkt display devices that get scrapped.

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NeilM":3g75v8f7 said:

When I went to college in the late 1970's, studying electronics, to fill out timetable our tutor put us on a City and Guilds 222/1 course, this was a course specifically for TV service and repair, and on day release we had several guys who were TV repair men.

I haven't looked, but I think I can be pretty sure that the qualification no longer exists... As I recall, I got a Credit.

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By knowing just where to slap the side of the wood veneer cabinet?

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The History Man":5ye2c63b said:

By knowing just where to slap the side of the wood veneer cabinet?

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Something like that, dry joints in old hot tellys were common.

The scariest day was taking the back off some huge ex-Radio Rentals TV and finding a massive radioactive symbol on the EHT box. I can remember what it was in there that had a minuscule amount of radioactivity, but I do remember everyone taking a step back.

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Up until the past half dozen years, my parents still had 'their' TV from Radio Rentals – can you imagine ever wanting to rent a telly?

Remember from student days in Splott in the late 80s, some wag in our shared digs had a 'Young Ones' moment – there was a mahoosive boom that set every dog off in a square mile radius barking. We came out of the house to see what the commotion was about – the wag had taken the house's graffitied big CRT telly into the back yard and had hurled a brick into the screen :facepalm:

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groovyblueshed":9wcnstgd said:

Up until the past half dozen years, my parents still had 'their' TV from Radio Rentals – can you imagine ever wanting to rent a telly?

Remember from student days in Splott in the late 80s, some wag in our shared digs had a 'Young Ones' moment – there was a mahoosive boom that set every dog off in a square mile radius barking. We came out of the house to see what the commotion was about – the wag had taken the house's graffitied big CRT telly into the back yard and had hurled a brick into the screen :facepalm:

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People rent them all the time, that big BrightHouse (?) place and often it's just called credit or loan nowadays.
You know because when you have no money and cannot afford it, you still must have the latest UHD 65" TV to sit 2 feet in front of.
So you 'rent' it rather than buy a cheaper one and use the money elsewhere.

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https://www.brighthouse.co.uk/televisio ... d-smart-tv

You see I just don't get it.
Pay twice as much (£3000 over its £1500 original price) and that's over three years.
At which point they would want a new one anyway.

OR just save that £19 (without the insurances and stuff they also insist adding more to the cost), just for a year and pick it up in the sales or its natural price. (That TV is £800 at the moment in many places).

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Wow – that's a huge rip off. I still don't get why people would rather spend double or more to rent or buy "on tick" anything that you could save up for a little bit and easily buy out right at the substantially cheaper RRP or thereabouts. I still don't get the obsession for must having massive screens either.

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unkleGsif":3lp1ecgn said:

Dualit will repair your toaster, and they make decent kettles too... that's why I have one of each
Or AO.COM for that matter

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Yeah, I bought the (real) Dualit toaster because the parts are readily available and also because it's made in the UK. This doesn't apply to their plastic Chinese rubbish "lookalike" toasters or their kettles as far as I know; my parents have a Dualit kettle and it's pretty rubbish in my (admittedly fairly fussy) opinion. Chinese made and a bit awkward to use, IMHO.

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Gerard":2qdy6efs said:

I'd be interested to know details -name/website.
I hate waste and more than anything is the inability to repair something. Companies obviously hate reliability,longevity and repairablity too.
Worst is todays society just seems to have rolled over and accepted it.

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I can't exactly recommend it as it's not arrived yet (should be here today if the tracking info is correct), but the company is Ottoni Fabbrica and they sell through Amazon or their own website.

You're right that society has just "accepted it" - I'm happy for people who really,really can't afford to save up for a decent appliance having a "cheap rubbish" option, but unfortunately in many cases badly made (often by near enough slave labour) non-repairable rubbish is the only choice remaining.

To be fair, a lot of cheap stuff is pretty good and lasts. My Casio digital watch is unbustable, my Aiwa CD player goes on and on, Panasonic t.v still going strong

Siemens dishwasher was a bit shit though!