Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: Dougmeister on June 02, 2004, 11:16:04 am
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What is the best approach to get a cheap (free?) television from a local television repair shop?
"Hey, I see you have that tv over there in pretty bad shape - all I need is the tube and the control board... I'll take it off your hands for $20"
"I'm building an arcade cabinet and need an inexpensive display"
etc.
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Working or broken? Most repair shops probably have a lot of TVs that were brought in for evaluation, and then abandoned by the owner. A shop near me started collecting a deposit before performing evaluations because he was forced to throw away so many sets.
I've had quite a bit of good luck picking up working televisions (and broken ones too) by driving through communities the night before an unlimited garbage pickup. Moveout day at a college campus works well too. I certainly filled my garage at one time with a collection of 1980's television sets, but I was after tubes without burn-in more than something to drop into a MAME cabinet.
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Working.
My thought was that it may be working (for MAME purposes) but not "sellable", i.e., tv cabinet is ruined, tuner doesn't work, etc.