Proof that even the formerly good brands are designed to die young these days. Our four-year old Sony went to the dumpster at Christmas - "less expensive to buy a new one ......". I have a tiny little Sony, with battery, that is about 30 years old and works great. Mebbe it's time to ebay it :o) ======================================
I know my post isn't really doing anything to help the original poster, but to comment on your post about formerly good brands, yes as you say, Sony may have been a good brand 30 years ago, when they were made in Japan.
Look on the back of the Set, or the box to see where they're made now, it isn't Japan.
I've been through 3 Sony TV's in the last 6 years, luckily all crapped out within 30 days of purchase, one was a $2200 32 Wega XBR-400, and the other two were also less expensive Wegas.
While Sony seems to have state of the art features, and comes out with new models virtually every few months, a 4 month old Sony is essentially obsolete, as they cull-upgrade through one dog Wega Series after another.
I've read many reviews that Sony TV's have just about the worst reliability track records of all brands.
Honestly, I think one would have better luck with an Emerson, or better yet a Samsung.
Crying to Sony will do no good. You can cry to them until hell freezes over. They don't care.
These bastards will automatically go into "innocent mode", and will lie through their eye teeth with statements like "Oh, we never had heard of any problems like that before with our TV's"!, or very similar verbage to that effect. Trust me on that one.
If the TV was a cheaper Wega Model, my best advice is to take it to the junkyard, and put it out of its misery.
Most likely the problem is a circuit board, and more than likely, the board itself is something like a $300-$350 part, hence the $600 repair bill.
I myelf will never buy another Sony product in this lifetime, even if they're selling top of the line 40" CRT flat screens for $300. To me it isn't worth the hassle to ever take a chance on Sony's junk ever again. Mark