tongyun

1inxs

The life of Plasma and LCD HDTVs is 30,000 to 60,000 hours. If you take the lowest of these estimates 30000 divided by the average household viewing hours of 151 hours per month and divide that by 12 your Plasma or LCD HDTV will last a little over 16.5 years.

LCD TVs versus Plasma Televisions versus Projector Technology

andrew25

It depends upon your daily hourly usage of these sets. Most of these LCD and Plasma TV sets have life span to a maximum of 60,000 hours which means if you are using your TV sets on an average basis it would last from 12 years to 55 years.

1inxs

Actually based on averages of 30,000 to 60,000 hours. With the Nielsen poll of 151 hours per day of television viewing. The average set would last between 16.5 and 33 years. In my previous post I was speaking of worse case scenario.

TV viewing at 'all-time high,' Nielsen says - CNN.com

bicker

I think anyone who expects to still be using the same plasma they have now, 30 years from now, is going to be severely disappointed. First, the ratings are based on testing of the display itself; the other circuitry may or may not last that long. Second, the most significant determiner of the longevity of a product, these days, is the duration of its technical relevance. Once tru2way comes out, older displays will, of course, be lacking something that newer displays have. And every few years I suspect we'll see something like that added, at least for the next ten years or so. By the end of that time, so much will have changed that most people will look at their current displays with dissatisfaction.

DTVuser2009

my Magnavox is already over 15 years old, and it will still be working when all your precious LCD/Plasma HDTVs are in the crapper. at least when the CRTs were made, you paid more, it lasted longer. nowadays no matter how much you pay, you get the same lousy quality. Macintosh anyone? (a more expensive computer which crashes just like a PC)

tongyun

I think bicker brings up a really good point. It won't be that the television we're watching will die out, rather, it's the fact that technology is moving so quickly that the televisions purchased today will be outdated in just a few years. Sigh!

DTVuser2009

ANY appliance is getting the same planned-obsolescence that computers have had for decades.... even the simple Washing Machine is now getting plastered with LCD touch screens. sheesh why can't it be simple any longer? if i wanted a bridge of a Starship i'd have bought a starship.

bicker

A lot of this is driven by consumers, always looking for a better deal. In the last few decades that's gone from being an ethic to become a mania, with too many consumers choosing based on price rather than other, less quantifiable, factors. Our suppliers oblige us, with low-cost (and therefore low quality and low reliability) stuff that meets our ever-decreasing price-points.

Postman

I believe that it depends on how long you are using it in a day. So it would be different to everyone because some are watching more television and simply others are just using their TV at night.