According to a phone call I received via voice mail from yesterday at 4:58p, my TV is fixed and awaiting delivery back to my home.

The interesting thing is that on Friday, April 22nd, I heard from them that they had gotten a new tube for the TV and were replacing it. Interesting because the repair technician had told me he didn’t think replacing the tube would fix it, so I’m a little skeptical that it’s actually fixed. This after they told me they “couldn’t reproduce the problem” and when I got down there and pointed it out, they totally saw it.

I guess I’ll call them back this morning and see about making it down to the repair shop to look at the new tube prior to accepting delivery of the thing.

As I’ve gone through this rigamarole, I’ve come to understand a lot more about TVs and the inherent relative display precision of the various kinds. In particular, I’ve noticed that no tube-based TV displays with perfectly straight lines. I mean, they get damn close, but especially toward the edges, things get dicey.

A minor sidetrack that will tie in shortly:

Several years ago I bought a movie on videotape. I brought it home and, as I watched it, I noticed the display was not terribly crisp. I had noticed it before, but it got to a point where the lack of precision and clarity in the display, not to mention the staticky audio, had finally broken me down.

I took the tape back and exchanged it for the same movie, again to find the quality was crap.

It was then that I went out - that same day - and bought my first DVD player. I couldn’t handle the imprecision of videotape any longer.

What I’m coming to find is that I may have grown beyond the “tube TV” stage now, too. I notice the imperfections all too much - and in everyone’s TVs, not just mine - and it may be time to move to something digitally precise. An LCD or DLP set, for example.

Of course, I don’t have the funds to spend on it right now, and if my tube is fixed and looks good enough that there’s no glaring imperfection, I’ll be fine for the next couple of years. When it eventually goes out - and it will - then will be the time to upgrade to the next generation of set.

But first things first. Gotta call the repair place and schedule a time to check it out.