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Disposing of old HT gear? (1 Viewer)

Patrick Sun

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So, I finally took the 4k plunge since prices are so low for 4K UHD TV sets, and even 4K UHD Blu-ray players, but realized that I needed to retired a lot of old pieces of HT gear just collecting dust over the decade or two. Yep, my house has been a museum for old out-dated HT gear nowadays, and it's time to retire a host of stuff.

So, looking around for local options to get rid of 2 old RPTVs, and a CRT, I came to the conclusion I'd be paying a Junk-remover outfit to come by to haul away those worthless old TV sets. My trash pick-up company doesn't even offer to haul away old RPTV or CRTs anymore unless you pay them, and getting a response from them for scheduling is too time-consuming.

I finally rolled out one of those old RPTV from my bedroom (seldom used anyway), and replaced it with an inexpensive 4K TV set, and 4K BD player. Everything else was basically fated for the eWaste pile, like my venerable Panasonic RP-91, a cheap Philips DVD player that was region hacked, a really old ReplayTV unit (I have 3 of them, 2 others are in my living room and they will be uprooted from the HT rack soon. I also have a VCR that is getting disposed of, most likely. It's weird, it's like saying goodbye to things that meant something to you a decade ago, but now, totally too geriatric to be useful for modern displays and HT setups. Time marches on.

I'm still hanging on to my LD players, though, more for nostalgia's sake, for now. I have no idea if the drive belts have brittled with time, and might not even work anymore. It's literally 20 year old technology.

It's odd how little gear is really needed for a decent HT setup. Still also hanging on to my HD-DVD player, my Roku (non-4K), and non-4K BD players in the living room for now. Will replace once I finally get the itch to replace the living room TV, still an old HDTV DLP with LED light engine, so it's still chugging along, an I still like how motion looks on it, vs the new sets with their soap-opera looking 120hz/240hz/etc motion enhancers. Also still using my Comcast box to deliver the HD content from their usual cable lineup. So, not really a lot of separate boxes needed as media gets streamlined, along with streaming options to provide entertainment content nowadays.

Anyhow, just found it interesting, turning the page on really old HT technology, looking forward to the new stuff coming down the pipe.

I guess I'll be taking those old DVD players and DVRs to Best Buy to be recycled. It just feels weird to do so, but it's necessary at this time.
 

jcroy

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I usually gave away my old stuff to local friends and family. (ie. Electronics, furniture, musical instruments, dvds, etc ...).

If they don't want it, I'll eventually drop it off at a local BB or a thrift shop which accepts old electronics stuff (ie. Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc ...).
 

Malcolm R

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I'm surprised there are not more options for electronic recycling. It probably varies state by state. We have quite a few options around here, because they don't want all that in landfills. But you do have to haul it there yourself.
 

TonyD

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After my new receiver arrives this weekend I’ll have three old Denons.
One to a family member, the other two who knows.

I still have a remote for my old rp-91 but no idea where the player is.
 

John Dirk

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I loved reading your post as it is so similar to my situation. In your case though, maybe you should wait a bit longer to buy into some of the technologies. :)

I have a museum of my own accumulating. For some of the artifacts I am hoping I can recoup some of the cost [sell them] in order to help fund my 4K dreams but most are just items I would happily give away. The problem I have always had is "exactly how do you give away a 720P projector?" Those who can accommodate it probably already have what they want. The rest would have no idea what to do with it. Same thing for the rest of my outdated gear.
 

Dennis Nicholls

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I bought a nice Yamaha stereo receiver on CL for $25. That's why I have a nice music system in the garage now. An old DVD player for media and some formerly back channel speakers.
 

Stan

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Never ever bought into that Beta craze of 1988, so nope!
Sadly I fell for it. Luckily my first and only format blunder in all these years. Tend to be a bit more patient now and see how things shake out before any big purchases. Also learn a lot from the mistakes friends make rushing into the latest and greatest.

Dumped VHS almost immediately when I started reading about DVD, etc. and never looked back.
 

Patrick Sun

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You'll feel so good about things after they pull away.

There ain't nothin' like a purge!

Yep, 7:10am Saturday morning came and went, and it felt amazing to have much less clutter in the house now. Time to rip out some other HT components (the aforementioned ReplayTV's, VCR's, DVD players, etc.) from the HT rack / stands in the house.
 

Edwin-S

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Never ever bought into that Beta craze of 1988, so nope!

Sadly I fell for it. Luckily my first and only format blunder in all these years. Tend to be a bit more patient now and see how things shake out before any big purchases. Also learn a lot from the mistakes friends make rushing into the latest and greatest.

Dumped VHS almost immediately when I started reading about DVD, etc. and never looked back.

You guys make it sound like Beta was some flash-in-the-pan. It wasn't. It co-existed for a long time with VHS.
 

Stan

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You guys make it sound like Beta was some flash-in-the-pan. It wasn't. It co-existed for a long time with VHS.
I loved Beta and far superior to VHS, but it just became more difficult to find films. Eventually had to go with the crowd.
 

Edwin-S

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I loved Beta and far superior to VHS, but it just became more difficult to find films. Eventually had to go with the crowd.

Oh yeah. I can understand that. It took me a long time to finally buy a VHS player, but eventually it just became a necessity. And it is not like VHS quality didn't improve with 4 and 6 head players.
 

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