New collector in San Diego

[AiboPet]

I actually really like those little "insert your own brand here" sets. They appear to be some generic Chinese reference design, and like TEN different companies would sell it. I found they came in all sorts of different "levels". Some have an 1/8" video input.....The ones I REALLY like end up having a set of A/V RCA jacks on back. Some charge internal ni-cads....some don't. I actually sort of "accidently" ended up with a collection of like a dozen of those just based on "this is a funny color". Aside from the black, silver and white...some other companies did blue ones, green ones...and one I have from "Jwin" is a transparent PURPLE which I stuck a bunch of colored LEDs inside of just for fun.

This design for some reason has a PHENOMENAL little B/W picture when they are running good. They do seem to suffer from "Monday" and "Friday" as well as different levels of lazy or cheap. I have a few just for parts to fix others, since if the thing LOOKS the same, it's almost certainly all interchangeable inside. Mix the colrs of the knobs, mix the colors of the switches.....take the WHOLE set to bits and PAINT the thing gold.....whatever crazy project you have in mind. I even used one to "test" what that "Gold" and "Chrome' paint you see at PepBoys actually looks like. Good "project" TV sets....and CHEAP!

They show up on ebay for anywhere from $5 to $30 depending on just what thought the owner had go through his mind when it wouldn't tune in some silly reality show anymore.

I do have a HLLY 50mw 'Villa" transmitter in the house.....so SOME of the TVs in my collection are actually in daily use. I have a switcher on the transmitters input to switch between the COX cable box (RCA outs), a little DVD player......or what I USUALLY leave it on is an Archos 700 that chews on an old playlist of Lucy episodes, Mork&Mindy or even a collection of vintage commercials or movies. Whatever silliness I am feeling nostalgic to see on an old set. The nice "side effect" of this setup was not having to string COX cable allover the flat....and rent extra cable boxes for "silly" locations like a small B/W set in the WC, or dragging a set down to the driveway and having something on while I work on the car,etc.