"sofie" wrote in message
...

snippage..
... It's like throwing
out you Seiko watch because it needs a new battery and replacing it with a
brand new cheapo hong kong watch for $3.99. It's a new watch alright but
it ain't quite the same quality, fit and finish..

And if the Seiko watch must indicate time of a different zone than it was
originally designed for, of course u run out and buy the accessory converter
box.

Really though, a lot (majority perhaps?) of viewers are simply not
interested in dumping money into repairing old quality sets when they know
that new flat screen will not only have the HD tuner built-in but also
offers double the resolution of their cherished antique -- so they can watch
their favorite movies at that-much-closer-to-film quality.
I'm sure there are plenty of holdouts -- particularly those with poor
eyesight -- who will continue to be utterly satisfied with VHS or DVD
quality on a curved face tube with no comb filters and etc. etc., but I'm
fairly confident these are the minority now. If you own or work in a shop
and haven't seen a steady decline in older units coming in, well.. wait till
NTSC is history.. and if you STILL don't see a steady decline, you're the
luckiest shop on the planet. Yet another shop in my town (in biz for 45+
years) has just closed for this reason. That leaves only one full-blown
shop left in this city of 80,000 (that means no competition) and it's in
trouble.
Hats off to u guys who manage to maintain your profit margins. But it sure
aint gonna get any easier over time -- wouldn't ya know, they'd have to go
and invent a new 60,000-hour MTBF plasma tube!