maybe because you got to experience only "original high quality" TV sets? I remember owning a color CRT in late 80's which was almost unheard of in Romania and it was a russian made TV called "Alpha" (written in cyrillic of course). By the late 90's it needed work on color phases because sometimes green would cut out or blue or red. They all went one at a time and a good smack on the side would fix it for a while until it didn't and things had to be replaced inside. My neighbour accross the street was an electrician (hydro-plant engineer or something) and had his house stacked full with TVs waiting to get repaired by him. In a more entrepreneurial environment he would've made it by definition but in Romania he was just the guy accross the street who fixes TVs for a pack of contraband cigarettes or whisky.
