TV Time

After about 15 years of service, my ProScan 27" TV is finally dead. It has performed reliability for those years, except for the time I had to replace the power supply when the roof leak resulted in unnoticed water slowly dripping from the upstairs apartment right into the case. Lately, I have been suspicious that it was ready to be retired as it starting wanting a two-press of the remote power button to get it started and the clock stopped keeping accurate time.

I was trying to hold off buying a new one for another year, but on Sunday it wouldn't turn on. I took a look around inside and was sure of one thing—I wasn't doing to clean all that dust out of there. But, there was nothing obviously wrong, and pulling the power supply cover didn't reveal anything either. Since a power supply on an old TV can run a few hundred dollars, I decided to retire the TV.

The only thing I knew as I started the search for an LCD was that the height of the screen had to at least match the ProScan at about 16 inches. The 32" wide LCDs were attractively priced, but the critical dimension fell a little short. Looking around at Costco, Walmart and on-line, I decided to go with the Vizio VX37L from Costco. At 18 inches screen-height, it's a little big, but everything I read said it's a good value for the money ($750). It also just happened to exactly fit in the back of the Hyundai (seat is removed), and who can argue with that?

ProScan sits on the floor as the Vizio tunes Cheers on KDOC (56-1). The Voom box, which has been providing digital tuning for the TV is unplugged and resting on the shelf.

It doesn't have all of the features that the ProScan had, like multiple antenna inputs and speaker outputs, but so far, hooked to the amplified indoor antenna it's pulling in the digital over-the-air broadcasts very nicely. The Voom's days may be numbered as my digital tuner, but it may stay on for a while as the PIP source.

Tom