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"Jeff Strieble" wrote in message
om...
Allodoxaphobia wrote in message
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On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:27:13 GMT, Deke hath writ:
"John Del" wrote in message
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Subject: Won't buy another new Zenith
From: (Jeff Strieble)
Date: 12/13/03 10:30 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:
***snipped rant***
Your rant is misplaced Jeff. Zenith as you knew it long gone, no one
remains.
The name Zenith along with so many others appears on products with no
connection to the past companies whatsoever.
Zenith was the very last American manufacturer, and bravely fought
against
the
illegal dumping the Japanese practiced during the 70s and 80s.
Ironically, the
Japanese now are facing the same threat to their manufacturing by the
Chinese.
John Del
Wolcott, CT
Well said. Ironic that all the pictures this morning of Saddam, being
shown
on NBC, are being shown on a Zenith plasma. The big Z is quite
evident.
Deke
Halliburton -- lowest bidder -- what's the surprise?
Jonesy
I don't think my "rant" was misplaced. Many other people before me
on this forum (and elsewhere on the Internet) have complained about
the poor quality of today's Zenith TVs since the company's
manufacturing plant left Chicago and was acquired by the Korean
electronics firm Gold Star. Given the number of problems reported with
Zenith TVs from 1992 to the present (not to mention the recall of
Zenith rear-projection TVs for coolant leakage a few months back, et
al.), I can only conclude that their disdain with the company's
products is justified.
*************Rant all you want, there are no television sets built today in
America. They may be assembled here, using foreign parts, but thats just a
marketing ploy.
Wanna buy a new TV? That TV will be made in Japan, Korea, or China.
period.
I am well aware that the Zenith name is now appearing on TV sets
manufactured by Gold Star, which, as one person so accurately noted
here, has no connection, affiliation, etc. whatever with the former
Zenith Electronics Corporation of Chicago.
******* There is no Goldstar manufacturing company. It was owned from the
git-go by a huge conglomerate called LG, and that logo, LG, now appears on
everything from cell phones to washing machines. The name Zenith also
appears on some of their products. They, LG, like many other companies,
either bought the name, or bought the company that the name was associated
with.
I am also aware of the fact
that Zenith, RCA, Magnavox, etc., as I (and everyone else) once knew
them, have ceased to exist. I am not wishing for a return to the "old
days" when Zenith, RCA, etc. were respected names in home
entertainment; I realize that is impossible. I am basically only
agreeing, however, with what others have said regarding the poor
quality of today's televisions bearing the lightning-bolt "Z" Zenith
emblem or RCAs bearing that company's stylized logo. I once read a
post to a newsgroup in which the poster said these logos were only
marketing symbols today, meaning virtually nothing. I am inclined to
agree with that sentiment one hundred percent. (I own an RCA 19"
XL-100 TV which has been repaired twice for the same problem--and
still has a problem with the signal processor IC--since I purchased it
new in 1999, so I am indeed aware of the drop in quality of this brand
as well. However, I intend to keep my set as long as it works on a
cable box, as I have purchased a 3-year service contract on the set. I
read somewhere, either here or in another newsgroup, that the RCA
CTC-185 chassis, which is used in my set, was one of the last RCA
chassis to be manufactured in the United States, which is yet another
reason I intend to hold on to it.)
Note as well that Hitachi TVs, especially projection and/or
high-definition sets, are now or soon will be manufactured by
"Zenith", again as I recently read in a post to a newsgroup on the
subject.
**********You have it backwards. Hitachi built RPTVs for LG while LG built
their own manufacturing plants. The new Zeniths are built by LG, and LG is
in negotiations to provide tubes to Hitachi.
"Rebranding" of TV sets is not new; it's been going on for years. I
once had a Sears Silvertone round-tube 21" color set that, I found out
some time later, was actually manufactured by a company known as
Warwick Electronics, although the set's chassis had a striking
resemblance to RCA's CTC-15. The chassis was put in a heavy metal
cabinet (the thing weighed a ton) with the Silvertone name on it (the
nameplate was fitted in a rectangular hole above the channel selector
knob; this hole could have been used for an illuminated channel window
in other models of the same set, using the same type of cabinet) and
sold by Sears and Roebuck in the early '60s.
**************That Silvertone you bought at Sears was actually built in
Japan, and was sold here in American for less than it cost to build. It was
the beginning of the end for American TV manufacturers
I also owned a small 12"
monochrome portable TV in the mid-'70s which was made by a company,
now defunct for over 20 years, called Broadmoor, and rebranded as
"Kenco", the name of a retail store chain which has also been out of
business well over two decades. The TV was made very cheaply and only
lasted three years. This set was replaced in 1977 by a 1968 Zenith
Space Command "300" 19-incher (trash-day find), which worked well;
however, I discarded it when, after only about a year or so, the
horizontal output tube went gassy (couldn't find a replacement
locally, as vacuum tubes, especially large power tubes, were becoming
very expensive by this time).
I replaced the SC300 in 1978 with a Zenith 12" solid-state b&w
portable that lasted 22 years, never giving me five minutes worth of
trouble. I left this out of my last post; however, it was the basis
for my remark stating that if I should decide to get another Zenith
color set, it would be a used one of 1970s vintage (or any year before
they went to circuit modules).
*************Fascinating.
I will, however, stand by my previous statement that I will never
again put my trust in Zenith, as far as their new televisions go.
**********And the present line of "Zenith" televisions are no more, no less
reliable than any other TV in its price range made off shore.
Again, I do not feel I was "ranting" when I said this in my previous
post. My feelings regarding the quality of today's new, shall we say
faux "Zenith", "RCA", etc. televisions are shared by many other
people, including those who make their livings repairing TV sets, so I
am not saying anything here that has not been said before.
BTW, I didn't see this morning's news on NBC, so I missed seeing the
pictures of Saddam's capture on Zenith plasma sets. It's interesting
to me why NBC, which is owned by GE, would use another manufacturer's
TV sets as monitors, and show them nationally to boot. Seems to me
like a rather poor way to promote the network.
**************There are no plasma TVs with the GE brand on them. Maybe
thats why they used Zeniths.
BTW (2): If I should someday get a widescreen TV, it won't be a
plasma set, but likely an LCD. I have done some research into the pros
and cons of plasma vs. LCD displays, and have learned that LCDs last
longer than plasma panels; moreover, plasma sets are prone to image
burn-in if a static image is left on the screen for any length of
time, whereas LCDs are more or less immune to the problem.
******************Fascinating.