TV Problems

[Yachtzee]

This has been a bad week for TVs in the Yachtzee household. Earlier this week, our 10 year old Phillips Magnavox went out. The TV shows a bright white line across the middle portion of the screen. The top half of the screen is black. The bottom half of the screen is a dark snow with 3 horizontal lines across the middle, red, green and blue. I assume this means the TV has gone to TV heaven. Am I correct?

Anyway, I was able to locate another TV, a refurbed Sharp 27 in. TV that my brother-in-law had bought 4 years ago and the kids were using as a video game TV. I hooked it up last night and everything seemed to be working fine, but today I was watching TV and suddenly the TV went out. The screen went dark, with a bunch of red, green, and blue dots moving diagonally across the screen. The image of whatever program is on is ghosted in dark red, green and blue in the background.

So my questions are:

1. Are both of these TVs now dead? Is there anything I can do short of buying a new TV?
2. Is there something that could be causing the TVs to go bad, or am I just having bad luck with Old-TV-Itis?

It stinks because I'm stuck at home with strep throat with no TV.

[HumnHilghtFreel]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

2. Is there something that could be causing the TVs to go bad, or am I just having bad luck with Old-TV-Itis?

Do you happen to have a gigantic magnet in your house? That could do it.

It's probably just a case of the old tv giving out though. Mine did pretty much the same thing with the line across the middle. It seems funny, but I literally got a week or so more use out of it by smacking the side of it and the picture came back temporarily(anywhere from a minute to a couple hours).

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by HumnHilghtFreel

Do you happen to have a gigantic magnet in your house? That could do it.

It's probably just a case of the old tv giving out though. Mine did pretty much the same thing with the line across the middle. It seems funny, but I literally got a week or so more use out of it by smacking the side of it and the picture came back temporarily(anywhere from a minute to a couple hours).

Wow. Thanks for the tip. I used a little percussive maintenance and the picture came back.

[HumnHilghtFreel]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

Wow. Thanks for the tip. I used a little percussive maintenance and the picture came back.

yeah, you might look like you have some anger management problems, but it works for a little while at least.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by HumnHilghtFreel

It seems funny, but I literally got a week or so more use out of it by smacking the side of it and the picture came back temporarily(anywhere from a minute to a couple hours).

That actually does work. I've done it myself before.

Your picture tube is going out Yachtzee. More specifically, it may have something to do with the rectifier. Get out the trumpet and play taps over it buddy.

I live next door to a guy who repairs TVs. He's retired and doesn't do a booming business because anymore it's costs more to repair them then it does to go out and buy a new one. And that is the way the TV manufacturers want it. They want you to discard it like a used up BIC lighter and go get a another one.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by GAC

I live next door to a guy who repairs TVs.

TV repairman? Is that Spicoli's Dad? You live next door to Spicoli?

[SunDeck]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

TV repairman? Is that Spicoli's Dad? You live next door to Spicoli?

And he this ultimate set of tools.

He can fix it.

[BoxingRed]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

So my questions are:

1. Are both of these TVs now dead? Is there anything I can do short of buying a new TV?
2. Is there something that could be causing the TVs to go bad, or am I just having bad luck with Old-TV-Itis?

It stinks because I'm stuck at home with strep throat with no TV.

I had this happen to my old TV and, being the ultimate cheapskate, got it fixed for about $70. Less than a year later the sound went out.

My advice, go ahead and get a new one. You can get a comparable model for about $200 if you are a good shopper and you'll save yourself a potential headache.
It pained me to throw the old one away, it is wasteful, but at some point you have to give in to new economics.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by BoxingRed

It pained me to throw the old one away, it is wasteful, but at some point you have to give in to new economics.

Ahhh yes. New economics. I'm torn with a decision related to the economics of electronics and the throw away society.

I bought a nice HDTV 4 yrs ago and it's served me well. I've had no issues with it. My 4 yr extended warranty is now about to expire. Should I renew it?

Here's the economics of it:

It originally cost about $3K. You can't get anything comparable nowadays because they're all better. To get one that would replace it with a new one (which as I say is actually better) would be about $1200. A new three yr warranty on the old one is $425. I like the old one just fine and would like to keep it but I'm not sure if it's worth another 400 bucks. I also know that the cost of that $1200 new one will likely be going down in the next couple of yrs as are all digital TVs.

[JaxRed]

No, it's not worth it....

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

TV repairman? Is that Spicoli's Dad? You live next door to Spicoli?

This guy spends more time walking his dog around the neigborhood, probably from boredom like the MayTag repair guy, then he does fixing TVs.

[MrsHammer]

My husband and I bit the bullet about 2 years ago and bought a Panasonic 42 inch plasma HD tv. We have enjoyed it immensely. Of course, we are totally spoiled by the HD channels now. Our cable company only offers about 15 HD channels at the moment, but the quality is amazing. We haven't had any problems with it all so far, and those have come down in price considerably over the last few years. I'm not suggesting you go out and spend $2000 bucks for a new tv, but I would suggest at least getting one that is capable of receiving digital signals since all tv stations will be required to broadcast digital signals within the next 2 years. If not, you will either have to get a digital cable box from your cable provider or purchase an aftermarket digital receiver in order to get the signal.