Any TV repairmen in the house?

What's it mean when you turn on the TV (after its been off a while) and the picture is really distorted for about 2-5 seconds and then the TV shuts itself off. You turn it on again, the picture is distorted for about 5-10 seconds and it turns itself off again. I do that about 4 or 5 times with the picture getting a little better and it stays on a little longer each time. Then finally it stays on and the picture is fine.

I'll be pissed if my 3 year old TV dies.

Is it a tube, projection, plasma, lcd, or dlp?

Have you tried the good ole smack the fucker on the side trick?
I have an old 27" tube tv in the garage that the picture turns into a thin line after watching for awhile, give it a whack and it's good to go for another hour.

Sorry, I don't know shit about fixing tv's except for the smack it on the side trick.

What kind of tv? I'm guessing CRT.

No matter what it is going to need new parts, and you will
most likely find it isn't worth fixing.

If it looks zig zaggy it's probably the horizontal oscilator, and in some cases it will also whistle.

The only DIY fix is if the TV is in a dusty enviroment and
some dust has built up in the high voltage area it could
cause some arcing. It's possible that if you clean out the
dust it could fix it.

It's a CRT. I wouldn't think that it's collected enough dust since it's only a few years old...but I'll try cleaning it.

There's no whistle. Right after I turn it on...the picture is only about half the width of the screen and it's so distorted that you can only see colors...not make out a picture. After about the third time turning it on...the picture is finally about the full screen width and you can start to make out the picture, but it's still distorted.

I'm not going to resort to smackin' the TV...yet.

Rub your tallywacker on a power tube.Something will happen.

It does piss you off when this stuff only lasts 3 years. The good news is, tou can get a nice LCD pretty reasonably.

Cleaning it didn't help...

If it does die, I'm definitely going LCD or plasma for the next one. I think they've gotten cheap enough now. I'm a little pissed that I passed on the 50" Samsung DLP last winter.

IMHO- plasmas suck. They reflect light like a mirror, don't work well above sea level, can't be laid down for the ride home,don't last long, and finding someone to work on a gasseous mass is rough.Other than that....



Again-IMHO

I can't wait to see a commercially available Laser TV to go on sale. Then those LCDs and Plasmas will be real cheap.

I haven't really studied them that close. I just know my bro-in-law has a plasma and it's awesome.

The picture on a plasma is great but the damn things get as hot as a stove.
Go LCD or wait for the new laser.

DE is correct..

I bought a monitor from a computer store that offered a 3 year warranty on computers bought through them.. a week after I moved 800 miles away my monitor had the power button get stuck.. so it had to be unplugged when it I wanted to turn it off.. (lucky for it got stuck on and not off)
so anyways.. after about 6 months I finally get a change to visit the area I bought the monitor from they replace it with a new monitor.. I test it out for about 30 minutes before I left.. drove home.. the new monitor started making a high pitch humm.. so I called NEC.. they did the standard trouble shooting.. checked connections, reset to default. ect.. so anyways it still hummed.. So the the tech said to turn the brightness up and the contrast up, and open a soemthing white.. like note pad maximised on the screen.. after about 20 minutes of that smack the side of the monitor.. adjusted the brightness and contrast to a proper setting.. and sure enough it fixed the issue.. every now and then I had to refix it ( slap the side usually did the trick).. the fix could last for a few days, weeks.. anyways.. I found out a months later the monitor didn't like a particular resolution..

I have seen the Laser hi defs. They are incredible. I am holding out for one of those.

Do you think they'll actually be here anytime soon?

They will be like the Plasmas and LCDs and start at around 20 to 30 grand when released.

I have heard they will be here for Xmas of 07. That is not written in stone, but it was the target date when I saw one at a show.

If ya need something now an LCD is the best IMHO.

Waiting for laser will be like waiting for Thunder to grow nads,Corny to quit whining,DE to learn that new-fangled math,or Rocket to find the fountain of youth. You'll be dead first. Buy the lcd.

I knew it. It's getting worse. Now the picture will show up and it'll stay on...but the very right side of the screen stays real wavy and will dance around...moving in and out. It does that for about 5 minutes and then goes back to normal. I guess it's time for more internet searching...

No, it's time to search for a new TV.

That one's done - put a bullet in it and put it out of it's misery.

Get the credit card out and go buy a new one this weekend - some decent deals will be out there.

Nope...after about 3 hours of searching last night, I think it's time for me to get out my soldering gun. Seems I'm not the only one with this problem for tv's with that chassis number. I've got a capacitor to replace.

No no no, you tell the wife that your TV is screwed. You go out an buy a brand new HD widescreen. You then take your old TV out to the garage where you stumble across a fix later this Fall. Now you have a nice garage TV.

Never pass up a golden opportunity to purchase a new piece of electronics.

Nice. This one wouldn't last very long in my garage. Too much saw dust/dirt. I guess I'm just not ready to shell out $1500 for a new TV right now. I've got an anniversary trip to pay for in September.

Charge it!

See - DE's thinking just like me!

....wait a minute.... is that a bad thing??

Yes!



I've charged enough stuff in the last 12 months...including all the extra I spent during our Florida trip. I absolutely HATE credit card debt...but I've always got it. Every time I get them paid off, or close to it, something else gets put on them.

Nothing else (except maybe an anniversary gift ) goes on the plastic until Christmas. I already informed the wipe that next year's tax return goes toward the credit cards. (and possibly a new tv if I fry this one with the solder gun)

If you fool with that TV with a soldering gun, your wife will be charging medical bills.

Yeah...I've been reading about that too. Lots of volts in that thing. But from what I've read, they seem to be concentrated in two spots and I should be okay with the just changing this one capacitor. (Anyone have electrician gloves they wanna lend me, just in case?)

All you'll get is Procto gloves here.

I know mak...thank you. I really hate DE's hangnails.

Hey! I just got them trimmed up the other day.

Did you buy that new widescreen yet??

Still waitin' for parts in the mail. As soon as they get here, I'll attempt to electrocute myself...then buy the LCD.

Make sure you set up the webcam so we can all see you when that happens!

Now there's a good idea, you got a webcam TA?

You gays would of been bored. No explosions. Not even any really big sparks.

I changed one capacitor and one transistor...and presto...she works fine now. Now let's hope she stays like that.




Sad part is, I just found a nice 42" Samsung LCD that I kinda liked. Even my wipe said after I fixed it, "I'm slightly disappointed that it works".

You should have used my plan!

Like I said though...I didn't need to convince my wipe...just myself.

And I failed.



I spent $8 for the replacement parts ($7 of which was shipping). It was a big leap to the $1200 TV. And who knows...maybe in another year, I can get that same TV for $900.

In another year you will fall in love with a better TV that costs $1200.

Maybe...




Or maybe they'll have super cheap laser TV's by then!

I hope so. My Sony 46" projection HD turns 4 years old this month. It still has an awesome picture. I'm hoping it lives long enough to buy a Laser TV once the price comes down out of the clouds.

Well today the trusty old 52" projection TV started acting up.

It would go in to BW instead of color. I have a friend that works
at GE Medical who used to fix TVs. He came over and we gave this
TV a massive once over. Fixed a dozen or more cold solder joints
on several boards. Cleaned the mirror and the RGB light sources
and then re-aligned all the colors, skew, size, and position.

The think is looking better than new. Just finished about 2 hours ago.
It cost me a case of beer and some solder. This guy is amazing.

Alright you fuckers, our shop has a 42" plasma for sale for $500

We sold it to somebody who wanted a bigger one, and now we have that sucker sitting in the shop taking up space, still in the plastic that protects the screen.

And - BTW, I am an ex tv repairman. I cut my teeth in the business back in the days of vacuum tubes. And back then there was more then a few places that you could get a nice jolt to knock you on your ass. It's always fun watching the newbies get zapped for the first time.

Anyway if anybody is interested, (interested as in, you want to come to Chicago and pick up the fucker, cuz I ain't shipping it) send me a PM and I will get the brand and model # off it.

Get the brand and model please.

It may be going somewhere very soon.

Oh OJ, that's too generous for a housewarming gift!

In that case...I'm moving too....

OK this is the New and Improved story

I spoke to my installation manager about it and he tells me that we sold it to a lady who had it for 1 year, and then bought a 50" unit.

She asked him to sell it for her, and she is asking $700. It has been sitting here for a few months. He thinks that if we told her we had an offer of $500, that she'd probably just want to unload it and let it go for that.

It is a Samsung model P4261 plasma. Manufacture date is May 2004

If anyone is serious I will unwrap it and see if there is any cosmetic scratches on it. I was told that it works perfectly, but I have never hooked it up.

I would like to see it go away because it is in my server room taking up space.

Here is a video of that model Rock.

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-hp-p4261/4505-6482_7-31047154.html

I was thinking of it for me.

It is getting mixed reviews. $500 is a fair price, but I am going to take a pass.
When we take the plunge here I am going to want something that has a bit more punch
in the picture quality.