Podcast #1130: Inflation is up but Electronics have never been Cheaper!

On this week’s show, Inflation is up but Electronics have never been Cheaper! We also read your emails and the week’s news. There is no show next week. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from the HT Guys!

News:

Smart TV Shipments Have Fallen to a Decade Low in 2023 Say goodbye to the Netflix app on these old Sony TVs and Blu-ray players Genius Move? Amazon Reportedly in Talks to Bail Out Bankrupt Bally Sports RSNs YouTube TV adding a button shortcut to switch between last-viewed channels

Other:

The 100 Greatest Shows of all Time Inflation is up but Electronics have never been Cheaper!

On last week’s show I said that a $4600 TV would have cost $26000 in 1975. I even went to a calculator to get my result. But when I entered the amounts I had the years reversed. Instead of getting what $4600 today would be worth in 1975 I got what $4600 in 1975 would be worth today. For the record, $4600 in 1975 was worth $805. I got a couple of emails from listeners and a phone call from DJ of Brightside Home Theater telling me I was wrong. But in speaking with DJ I realized what I was trying to say and had a week to get it straight.

The main point I was trying to make was that a TV of the caliber of the 77” Sony OLED ($4600) would cost more than the equivalent of $4600 in 2023. For this analysis we will consider the cost of electronics as a percentage of the median income vs today.

Median income 

1970 ~$8,500 1975 ~$11,500 1979 ~$16,000 2023 ~$99,000

Here are some TV of the day:

Basic Bedroom TV 1970 Admiral Color TV - 12” Admiral Precision crafted K-10 Chassis  $249.95. In today’s dollars $1978.03. As a percentage of income 2.3% in 1970 dollars Generic Family TV 1975 Montgomery Wards Brand TV - 25” Solid State Chassis, bright super vivid picture tube, twin 4” speakers etc $499.99. In today’s dollars $2853.58. As a percentage of income 4.3% in 1975      dollars. Large format Screen 1979 General Electric Widescreen 1000 75” 4:3 TV with an option for a VCR sold for $2800. The VCR Option cost $1000. In today’s dollars $11842.10 and $4229.35. As a percentage of income 17.5%  and 6.25% respectively in 1970 dollars.

Now let's look at comparable setups today.

Small Bedroom TV - I am going to say that a 43” Vizio V Series would be the equivalent of the 12” admiral. It goes for $250 or 2.5% of the median income. You can say that it's essentially the same percent of the median income. But what you get is 100 times better than the best TV of the day. You can even find something cheaper with minimal effort.  Generic Family TV - I am going to say that the Best Buy Insignia line fits that niche. For this one we will go with the 65" F30 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV at $330. Which is 3.3% of the median income. It's 1% cheaper in equivalent dollars but again, you get 100 times the performance. Large format Screen For this we will use the TV that started this whole conversation, the 77” Sony OLED for $4600. That is 4.6% of today’s median income which is 13% less than the 75” GE. And throw in an AppleTV instead of the VCR for $200 or less than 1% and you have a system we could only dream about in 1979!

So yes things cost way more today than a couple of years ago, but at least our electronics are cheaper than ever! And just for fun, here is an ad for a Sony front projection system from 1983.