I was wandering through the “generics” section of a grocery store in Manhattan in the early 1980s–row after row of black and white boxes with no-nonsense labels such as OATMEAL and PAPER TOWELS–when I heard a woman whisper to her shopping mate, “This must be what the Soviet Union is like.”
Among other purchases deferred until we made it to our version of Second Life–no avatars, different time zone, better cost of living–was that of a new television set. I’m now wishing we were in the old Soviet Union, waiting for our government-issue television set to arrive one of these years, because on top of the minor angst of moving we have piled he general confusion surrounding buying a new TV in the HDTV era.
We have to sort out the format issues–LCD or plasma? HDTV or HDTV-ready? Plain, or peanut? And if HDMI cables are so important, why are they always sold separately? (Clearly the TV people have taken tips from the camcorder people.) But we are also struggling with some unexpected messages bombarding us.
For fifteen years we’ve been perfectly happy with a 19″ TV I purchased in Queens and lugged home in a cab. “Perfectly happy” may not be exactly correct; in Palo Alto, we tried hard to watch the TV from where we ate, only to find ourselves squinting, and at times dropping our dinner napkins to rush up to the screen in order not to miss the opening scene of Cold Case, or coming up with reasons to wander into the kitchen so we could go nose-to-screen with our 13″ TV.
Here we can’t watch the “big” TV from the dinining room unless we grow giraffe-like necks that can also angle around corners, so we are saved from that problem. In the living room, we sit at most 15 feet from the television. This only makes it harder to struggle with the none-too-subtle message that anyone who is anyone needs at least a 40″ TV. Just visit Best Buy, where the 32″ HDTV sets are around the corner from the 40″-and-larger sets, or view online ads, which call 32″ sets “a good addition to bedroom or office.”
When I measure the corner of the living room, a 40″ TV would fit just fine. It is also not completely out of league financially, since another large purchase we had planned on turned out to be unnecessary. (If you are thinking this is not a large purchase, you do not know us; it’s not a question of affordability, it’s a question of how much time we spend stressing over the purchase and how long and how often we will relive the experience between us after the purchase has been made. Bonnie and Clyde had their heists to fuss over; we have TV sets.)
It’s just that a 40″ TV is the admission that we actually do watch more than a little PBS now and then. A 40″ TV isn’t an appliance; it’s a shrine. It would be our cozy living room’s dominant paradigm, beyond the fireplace, couch, or cats perched on ledges. It would shout, “I’m the equivalent of five years of book purchases on Amazon or a long trip visiting museums in New York.”
You might think, so don’t buy a TV. Stick with your 19″ TV set. Time is on your side, as I pointed out to other friends struggling with this decision. But I had dutifully followed the advice of every TV-buying guide and dragged Sandy to an electronics store to compare plasma to LCD. “See, isn’t it better?” I insisted, and asked her which one she preferred. She pointed to a brand I never heard of, while I, of course, was staring at a Sony Bravia, just as in Neiman Marcus I have this unerring ability to put my hand on the most expensive dress on the rack. I stared at both screens. The Bravia had to be better, right? Right?
We went home to ponder service plans, refresh rates, and our intellectual souls.
“The TV sure looks fuzzy now,” Sandy observed as we watched a little PBS–o.k., Without a Trace (though we did finish up the Sunday Times during commercials). My dear old TV, which had uncomplainingly followed us through four moves, now seemed to project an image not much clearer than lantern slides. It was such a huge purchase when I bought it from the scrape-by salary of my very first library job. I could not bear the idea that it would languish in a used-goods store next to grotty toaster ovens and unwashed cardigans. At the very least, I decided, it could carry on honorably as an adjunct TV, like the three 13″ sets now soldiering on in various corners of this house.
How blessed we are that this is our magnificent obsession, and that I have the luxury to fuss over something as absurd as a television set. Still, come the revolution, put me on the list for a standard-issue TV.
Posted on this day, other years:
- Reflections in a Golden LIAL - 2011
- Miniature Homebrewing - 2009
- It Takes a Village: Koha and open source leadership - 2009
- Aye, Me Beauties -- I can see Russia from my poop deck, arrrrr! - 2008
- Meditation in Brief(s) - 2005
Have you checked out the “year” of TV’s? Are you going to be buying at sale prices at the end of a year, or are new models on the shelves now? As with all technology, changes (improvements) come fast and furious as the prices actually go down.
It seems as if a number of models came out around May… though they seem to be coming out year-round. I’m looking hardest at Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic…
It is precisely the desire to wait for a government-issued TV (or vacuum cleaner, or typewriter) that fueled all the appliance shopping of my childhood. I remember clearly the evening when I was in high school that my mother came home from work and said, “I want to watch a movie–let’s go buy a TV/VCR!” So off we went to Sears, where we looked around briefly, said, “Gee, that one looks good,” found a salesperson, and lugged it home. It’s still working, which is my justification for making such decisions in a spur of the moment fashion. I’m not sure I can entirely recommend it, though. It’s also the way I ended up with a typewriter in junior high–my mother was certain (though we already owned a computer) that I’d need it for college.
Well, if you bought it at Sears it was probably Good Enough; my college typewriter came from Sears–it was Sears’ own Smith-Corona, branded as Sears. I’m sorely tempted to pay too much and buy it in a store where if I need to I can go back and bother people…
The problem right now is, do you get the HDTV and count on there being interesting HD content in the future, or do you get the basic television and cope? Buying a display is a bit easier than buying a camera, since either it displays satisfactorily or it doesn’t, and you don’t really need to worry about compatibility and formats and stuff (aside from the HD or not question).
I’m a big fan of basic research followed by “buy what you like”, but the most important thing to do, as with computer shopping, is to STOP looking once you’ve made your purchase. New stuff will always come out the day after you bought, so don’t worry about it.
Oh, I feel your pain. Every once in a while my husband and I talk about getting a new television but the options seem to overwhelming.
We “upgraded” when we bought our home 5 years ago to a 27″ model, no bells and few whistles, but it was a major upgrade at the time. Now our friends visit and ask if this our spare tv and where is the real one? We only have one and it is woefully obsolete and tiny compared to everyone else. Still, we rarely have time to watch and right now it is primarily used by Alex to watch Kipper the Dog so I think it will soldier on a few more years.
Costco… (u got in FL?) The closest thing to gov’t issued we have and, of course, Costco is the new Sears except for tools, where Sears is still the new Sears.
Plasma/LCD – more of a preference than anything else. The biggest consideration is how it will look in the room. Plasmas can be brighter, but then LCDs can have greater contrast. LCDs also have potential (at the moment) for higher resolution, but there is no program material now or in the immediate future that will take advantage of anything over 720p.
If you are exclusively cable or sat users (no “over the air” programming) you might look into getting a monitor, but that is no guarantee of savings.
Personally, I think that the $20k Sharp LC65D90U 65″ LCD HDTV would look great in any room.
Cary, you’ve hit on exactly what I’m missing here: the stores. I miss Peet’s, Trader Joe’s, and CostCo. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY! I understand “Hotlanta” is the place for TJ’s and Costco–a five-hour drive.
Peet’s I can do online. I can do Costco online as well, but the warehouse-store experience is what you’re referring to, and I know exactly what you mean.
Honestly, there isn’t much else for me to miss. The ocean? Not so far away, and it’s warmer than the other one. Culture? More than I will ever experience. But Costco and TJ’s (and mail order wine! We had to drop the Sunset Wine Club)… those I miss.