I was told by a saleman in a "big store" the one with the yellow and blue tag as their logo, that the TV's are now made to last only 4-5 years these days. He said it is because things change so much that it costs more to repair and many parts are not repairable. Also that with digital something new will be coming along and won't be compatible with new technology. That really ticked me off as most of my tv's are 15 - 20 years old. They have worked fine until everything went digital and now many shows "tile" or freeze. One would think they could work the bugs out before they force it on us.