In case you were wondering, the low quality Zenith stuff was that which was
produced by Zenith post 1992 until the final bankrupcty restructuring and
buy out by LG Electronics in late 1997. After the buyout the quality of the
tv sets went up considerably, no more bad Zenith picture tubes made in the
USA. They initially started buying Thomson made tubes for the tv sets.

So basically the pre 1990 Zenith was the somewhat better stuff, post 1990
Zenith was going downhill and the quality problems continued to mount until
they finally had to sell out to LG.

They are now just about average like most other names out there, who knows
what is actually inside the set and who made the tv. I see Thomson just
signed a contract with a Chinese manufacture to produce almost all low end
analog tv sets for them.

David

Jeff Strieble wrote in message
om...
Allodoxaphobia wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 15:27:13 GMT, Deke hath writ:

"John Del" wrote in message
...
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.

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. 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.

"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. 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).

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.
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.


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.