Over the last few years I have bought about six different 40-43 inch TVs for work through Costco or on sale at Best Buy/Target. Normally I paid around $200 for a 43 inch smart TV from TCL or similar brand (not Samsung or other premium brand). A year ago I needed another one and had to pay $230 for a 40 inch Westinghouse and that was the absolute cheapest I could find due to shortages and so on. I now get emails from retailers advertising 55 inch TVs for $200! All of a sudden there are plenty available, yet the car supply has gotten worse since last August! Why?
Because people don’t know how to wait/shop
i nEeD iT nOw!!!
Case closed
1 Like
Because cars aren’t as effective at indoctrinating people.
8 Likes
COVID money had the impulse shoppers running rampant. In many stores, the TV inventory was cleared out.
3 Likes
Perhaps but that doesn’t stop AE Neuman from telling the poors to buy electric if they can’t afford gas.
2 Likes
When it comes to TVs and technology in general - innovation is occurring at a staggering rate still. In the TV world, LED used to be the gold standard. Then came WLED, OLED, MiniLED. TVs that were clearly superior in every way. When the cost of something like OLED goes down - which it is right now, due to Samsung coming out with a more effective production process called QD-OLED that is superior in every way to LED. It forces the prices of LED’s down.
Plus, as yields become higher, processes more efficient it lowers prices.
The same can’t be said for cars. Cars are incredibly more complex to produce then a TV, requiring many, many more suppliers to come together. Also, cars still serve the same purpose. They get you from Point A to Point B.
4 Likes
That’s all Greek to me, as long as the picture is crisp and it has all the inputs our last TV had I’m good to go.
Lately been shopping for an outdoor TV which is an adventure in and of itself. It seems like I could just buy half a dozen regular sets and replace them as they break from outdoor use.
7 Likes
Much like everything else technology-based. If you don’t have something to compare your current with, you often won’t know any better. (you can’t miss something you don’t know you’re missing)
The regular ole LED is more than adequate for the majority of consumers. As he had said, it was THE gold standard for quite some time. Is it “better” than the more current option? No, just stay out of the TV section at the stores. 
This is also a prime example why I stopped “upgrading” technology-based products years ago, just because the newer is slightly better. I’m done throwing money away lol. Most are no different than a newspaper; it is outdated the minute it is printed.
1 Like
Oh yeah, for years we were handing down our old sets to family and friends as we upgraded.
Now only upgrade when one breaks for one reason or another because the improvements just aren’t that drastic nor enticing.
Yeah, I joke every once in awhile that I wish the TV would die so I can go get a newer model. I mostly would like a larger screen (65"+). I think I have a 55" now.
1 Like
I wonder if I’m in the minority here, but my TV’s last a lot longer than my cars. Living room TV is a 65” Panasonic Plasma I purchased in 2012. Been through about 6 cars since.
Master Bedroom is a 52” Samsung LCD purchased in 2006-7. Make it 10 cars if we’re going back that far.
Fwiw I spent ~2k on each as they were both considered top of the line when purchased.
3 Likes
I’ve gotten to the point that I will have to upgrade my eyes before I notice too much of a difference in a new TV. I have a fairly new LED TV with HDR, and I’d say that HDR in its various flavors has made a larger difference to me than a resolution upgrade.
2 Likes
Gas is up.
Food is up.
Used Car prices are up (And starting to go down)
Are you are trying to link car prices to TV prices because they both use chips?
How about this way, I can fit 400 TV’s in a single Container and I can fit 2 cars in the same container.
So that’s 200 times the amount.
BTW the car supply has gotten better, prices are actually at MSRP this year for example Toyotas. (Except for hot cars like hybrids)
I won’t say the number of vehicles, but same lol. We don’t really watch TV much anyway, so I would expect ours to last a very long time. The TV in the master has been turned on maybe a handful of times.
1 Like
Yes because of the chip issue and I disagree about Toyotas, in my area they are impossible. I wanted a RAV4 size recently and ended up with a Subaru instead. There is a dealer in the marketplace on here and most prices are over MSRP
Really? Was it a Hybrid? Those are hard to get, a few Brokers here are offering normal Rav4s at MSRP
Hybrid, PHEV and EV are the Xbox X and PS 5s of cars…everyone wants em.
Lol right! We spend a lot more time driving and in our cars than we do watching TV.
Hmm if I start counting how many phones I’ve been through next - or even worse- including the wife and kids - Id pray that we didn’t hit triple digits.
So thinking it through - this is just capitalism at its finest. Cars and phones go up in price because we keep buying. TVs get cheaper because they last forever.
We’ve gotten to the point where resolution is a moot point with today’s TVs now, 4K @ 55 inches is more then enough for most people. It’s now become a game of color reproduction, brightness, and color accuracy.
You’ll notice a much bigger difference moving to an OLED or QD-OLED and HDR then going from 4K to 8K in resolution.
2 Likes
You forgot to add that there is almost no 8k broadcasters. So there is no difference
My grandmother has my plasma 40” from 1999. I believe it was a sony, paid like $4k for that thing and still running strong. Prob uses a ton of electric though
1 Like