I’m going to be sad when my old-ass TV dies. An LG 52″ 720p Plasma. I am surprised by its longevity! It’s been a solid performer since the day I bought it which is a date I have long lost to memory. Wwas probably early January 2012 but that’s only my guess because that’s when I bought the Onkyo surround sound system that complemented the TV. Around there, at any rate.
I’ve never had a large space for my home theater so a 52″ screen is basically cinema-sized for the two living rooms I’ve had in the ho-ho-holy shit 12 years I’ve owned it. I bought it from the Video-Only store in Janzten Beach because they had a reputation for being honest and fair. What’s the opposite of predatory? Don’t believe me?
When I walked into the store, I had only a couple of must-haves: my primary purpose for this TV was to watch movies, not play games or watch sports. So I wanted excellent color, the deepest blacks I could get for my money, and a decently large screen. I assumed that all added up to a plasma screen. Because it was 2012, I was on the fence about resolution: 720p content was becoming available but 1080p was up-and-coming.
When I explained what I was looking for to the salesperson, they showed me a few examples and I liked some of them. When the topic of resoultion came up, they offered me a demo. They had two identical plasma TVs set up, playing a movie from the same source. One was a 720p TV and the other was 1080p. They told me, “put yourself at the normal distance you’d watch from home and tell me if you see a difference.”
Reader, I could not tell the difference. That meant I would be fine with the lower-cost 720p option.
I assumed that I would upgrade this TV in a few years, when higher-resolution content was more readily available.
Reader, I did not. Within a year of that purchase I was once again unemployed, and money did not flow like wine, and so I’ve lived with this one TV all that time. I am happy with my TV’s performance.
You might remember recent complaints about shows in the streaming age that are too dark to see. Directors, cinematographers, and editors choose dark scenes. In modern living rooms, on modern monitors, everything turns into one dark smear. I have never been affected by that, even with my old-ass screen, because plasma does such a good job with blacks. It’s not HDR by any means but it’s very forgiving of modern prestige television and movies.
The colors have faded over time, it’s true. I do have to adjust it as the light inside it dims, which is a feeling we all get as we age. I don’t mind. I love my screen. I will be sad when it dies. But whatever I get after this is going to be a huge upgrade.