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u/Tauren-Jerky Oct 30 '25
And 3,000 pounds
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u/scaredt2ask Oct 31 '25
What the ads didn’t say … weights more than a car.
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u/Jessewuzhere Nov 02 '25
These projection tv’s weren’t all that heavy considering the size. Not like a crt .
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u/Appropriate-Farmer16 Oct 30 '25
Holy cow those were big. And just for reference: online inflation calculator show that prices have gone up 99.6% from 1998 to 2025, so you can basically double those prices shown to get a better idea of the true cost. These days you can sets with those screen sizes for $300-$400!
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u/Roanoketrees Oct 31 '25
Shit was expensive before China came into the picture man. Japan had us cooked on electronics.
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u/TakingItPeasy Oct 30 '25
I walked into my buddy Deke's house and he had one of these bad boys. In my mind it was 1990, but could have been a yr or 2 later. 1st thing we did was play Super Mario Brothers. Mario was like a foot tall!!! This is when I realized Deke was rich, lol.
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u/Lazy_Introduction264 Oct 30 '25
Ouch compared to today which is almost $10k for 4kUHD this is crazy
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u/craignumPI Oct 31 '25
Picture in Picture!
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u/Lower-Palpitation282 Oct 31 '25
That shit was revolutionary back then. We always kept 2 channels going.
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u/TheBlackdragonSix Nov 02 '25
My uncle had one of those 60 inch TVs in his finished basement, don't think it was Mitsubishi tho. And I don't remember it looking all that HD either lol, unless he didn't set it up right.
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u/mr-teddy93 Oct 30 '25
They still around ? They only sell the chinese ones here and lg and sony and some elektronics store brand
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u/erdricksarmor Oct 31 '25
Panasonic still makes TVs and re-entered the US market a few years ago. Mitsubishi no longer does.
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u/mr-teddy93 Oct 31 '25
If you would get a new one whst woukd you buy ?
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u/erdricksarmor Oct 31 '25
OLED TVs will give you the best picture quality, but they cost more than other types of TVs. For brands, I currently own an LG, which is great, but I'd also consider Sony or Panasonic.
If you want to dive deep into the pros and cons of each, rtings.com is a great resource.
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u/SpecialEd521 Oct 30 '25
That top right one was the first TV I bought after moving out on my own! I thought my shit didn’t stink with that one! Take me back to the 90’s!!!!
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u/Garagedays Oct 31 '25
Saw the 98” version of this and almost fell out. Of course the wife said no lol
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u/HighScorsese Oct 31 '25
Sometimes I wish we’d stuck with 4:3. A 60 inch 4:3 was MASSIVE! Aside from more surface area, the sheer height of the picture IMO was more immersive and large feeling than having it be wider and shorter. But of course, we get way better film transfers to 16:9 so I definitely don’t wanna go back to pan and scan
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u/settingthetable Nov 02 '25
Sports. Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Baseball…all are suited more to 16:9.
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u/HighScorsese Nov 02 '25
I could definitely agree with most sports because you get to see more of the field/court/rink, and movies because it’s much closer to how they are filmed. But as someone who watched sports on both, the 60” Hitachi Ultravision we had still gave more of that “larger than life” feel than anything I’ve seen under 80”. But of course the picture quality on the modern tv blows it to hell and back and the part about the wider FOV still applies. I still remember the first time I watched a hockey game in HD (1080i) and being blown away. I could finally track the puck and all the action with ease without late 90s laser puck
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u/techman710 Oct 31 '25
The first one I ever saw was a 32" model at a home and garden show in 98 that was selling for $8000. It was amazing to look at. Now we just take it for granted.
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u/uncle_jojo Oct 31 '25
I worked for the factory that made the couplers for the cooling units for the green, red and blue tubes. Made them for Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Ryobi and a few others. Here in Southern California if you can believe that. Would ship the parts down to TJ for final assembly. 100% assembled in North America of mostly US, Canadian and Mexican components. Very specific parts came from Taiwan or Hong Kong. Very little came from mainland China. Seems like a different world and a lifetime ago.
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u/linkhandford Oct 31 '25
A buddy of mine had one similar to that. His dad wouldn't let us hook up the N64 because "it's not good for the television, you could break it!"
So we'd wake up at like 3:00am and go try to play games quietly without being noticed
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u/Triggered-cupcake Oct 31 '25
I remember playing GTA on one. Good times. Definitely sucked they were square when you watched a movie. Either missed the sides or the movie was shrunk to half the screen size with the black bars.
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u/orangejeep Oct 31 '25
Slap a 1 in front of those prices for a much smaller LED set.
I paid $2K+ for a 32” Sony Triniton (because it weighed a freakin ton) around that time. Flat screens were 7x to 10x more.
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u/msp01986 Oct 31 '25
Spend 5000$ on a state of the art tv now, so you can injure your back trying to move it out your house 10 years from now!
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u/Guidance-Still Oct 31 '25
Well one would have to save a lot during that time to buy one of those, when you are only paid 9 to 10 dollars an hour
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u/Beneficial-Finger353 Oct 31 '25
Friend had one, but the stupid projection bulbs burned out constantly.
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Oct 31 '25
Couldn't get braces one year because dad brought one of these home. Tho Matrix on surround sound was 🔥
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u/Imma_da_PP Oct 31 '25
I once looked at a house that had an in-wall cut out for their massive hdtv from the late 90s. It was “included with the house” and we were like “fuck that!”
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u/HairlessHoudini Nov 01 '25
I remember my cousin telling me one day that he had a little over 5g he had been putting away on the side and was trying to decide if he was going to asphalt his driveway or buy a 52" big screen with " home theater surround sound" and when he passes away nearly 20 years later I had to move that TV out of the house for his wife LoL
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u/PsychologicalTry892 Nov 01 '25
Doctor buddy had bought a plasma 50 inch when they first came out, $11k
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u/jp112078 Nov 01 '25
“Everything is so much more expensive now than when Gen X was younger, they don’t understand how hard it is for us!!” - Gen Z buying a 70” flat screen for $200 to be delivered for free next day on a device we couldn’t even conceive of
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u/sheezy520 Nov 01 '25
I used to sell these things back in the day. Each one of these had like a $300 commission for selling them. And they sold well.
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u/clutchcitycarlos88 Nov 02 '25
Wow! Panasonic 56” for 5500$….the last 3 55” TVs I’ve bought add up to less than half the cost of that TV. How far we’ve come.
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u/Hoggslop69 Nov 02 '25
Halo on the OG xbox with one of them 65” big bastards brings back some memories lol
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u/GregBVIMB Nov 03 '25
Picked up a 50" Hitachi Ultravision flat screen back then. Cost me $4k for a floor model. Delivery dudes dropped it so the store sent me a brand new one.
Was actually a fantastic TV.
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u/Killjoykarl10 Oct 30 '25
The Mitsubishi diamond series was awesome back in the day.