Re: NTSC stops to exist on Apple //e?

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

"Bryan Parkoff" (nospam@nospam.com) writes:
> Hello,
> 
>     What if NTSC monitor and television become obsolete?  The manufacturer 
> stops making NTSC.  It is going to replace HDTV.  How can we overcome NTSC 
> problem?  The answer is to use VGA monitor.
> 
But what indicates a real scarcity?

I use a Commodore monitor for my "tv set" (a vcr is the actual tuner),
and I have two others waiting for a new on/off switch.  Last year when
I was clearing out junk, I decided to scrap the heavy RGB monitor I
dragged home a year ago, after finding it on the sidewalk.  I just
didn't need it.

If I needed one, I'm sure I'd be seeing them at rummage sales and
garage sales.

Plus, there are all kinds of tv sets that I could bring home, but don't
need.  Likely at this point, at least some of them are coming with A/V
inputs.  And of course, one could always return to the days of yesteryear,
when people would modify existing tv sets for video input, to use
with those early devices that needed a monitor but monitors were expensive
or scarce.

If one really perceives a problem, buy one or two new monitors now,
and keep them in the closet.  Actually, monitors are likely hard to
find, since we've moved beyond the time when they were common in homes.
But you can buy some cheap tv sets with A/V inputs, and store them.

And the reality is that it will only get better, if the demise of the
old standard is as you expect.  Because that will mean people will be
tossing tv sets that still work, merely because a new standard has
come along, rather than because they are broken or the trickle when
individuals decide they need a new tv set.

This will mean there will likely be a time when new tv sets will
drop in price dramatically, in stores and then when there is
a backlog at the warehouse and manufacturers sell them off to surplus
dealers.

The future is a long way off.  Some people worried years ago that
vacuum tubes would become difficult to get, but nowadays people are
saying there is a near endless supply, since there were a lot to
begin with, and useage has dropped.  The same with monitors; it
is a big standard, used over decades and decades, so there are
lots of monitors and tv sets out there.  Since they won't just
disappear when the new comes along, they will continue to exist
into the future, in people's closets and in warehouses, and at
the Salvation Army.

  Michael