3 year old 32 inch Sony TV died!???

My son-in-law "had" a Sony 32 inch flat screen tv that he bought about

3 years ago.

Really great picture, etc.

About a week ago it suddenly died - no picture - sound still works.

He took it to a repair shop and their story is the grandkids killed it playing their Playstation on it. This is also a Sony product.

Something about resolutions and stuff that the tv couldn't handle!!??

Want 5 to 6 hundred dollars to fix.

In today's adds, the same tv can be had for $600 or less.

No, he didn't have an extended warantee on it.

Does all this sound on the up and up or what?

WLW

Reply to
wlwallick
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Sounds bogus to me.

Some older computer monitors complain about strange sync/res rates. Does the TV have a direct (baseband) video input? If not then an RF modulator has to be used at normal TV sync freqs.

Have a look at the S>

Reply to
Bob Bob

When the first generation of flat screens came out some manufactures had 30 DAY warranties. I bought a projection screen tv because of the warranty time lenght.

Kids and electrionics, is there any more that needs to be said.

Just because Sony made both products does not mean that they have some special affinity to each other.

Sorry to be negative

Reply to
SQLit

I don't remember what I've heard about computer monitors, and feeding them the wrong signal. But there were warnings about burning the things out. Did you ignore any warnings on either the TV or the playstation. Get your manuals and r ead them again. If there were no such warnings for either of them, I think they need to replace the tv at no charge. If there were warnings but the warnings are hard/ impossible to understand, get back to us and we'll say if we think you shoudl have understood them somehow, or if they were insufficient for you to protect yourself.

If what the repairman says is true:

It would be reasonable: If it were impossible to protect a circuit with a fuse that a high voltage input would ruin a circuit.

It seems to me that it is not reasonable to design something that can be damaged by the wrong frequency being input.

I would bring this to the attention of Sony. Either their devices were designed poorly, or the service man is not telling the truth.

The worse result for you would be that they would deny that their playstation damaged the tv, and they would just say that they repairman is right asbout the problem but wrong about the cause.

OTOH, they might admit that their design was defective. Get something in writing from the repair man.

When FET meters first came out, and we're not talking about so much money (20 or 40 dollars 25 years ago, for the lower priced ones, I bought one from Lafayette Radio, (anyone remember them?) and it had an OFF position on the multi-swtich, and it was OFF when I applied the leads to some moderate voltage. Turned out that OFF was not off and because the copper traces were poorly placed, one was connected where it should never be connected in the OFF position, and the meter was MORE vulnerable than in ANY of the ON positions. I thought it was there fault and they should give me a new meter. And I believe they did.

(They also sold me a tube tester, marked down, after I asked if they would be able to provide me with the manual. (Each tube required different settings for switches and different meter readings were adequate. No way I could figure it out myself. It took 6 or 9 months, most of the time they never got back to me at all. They didn't offer to refund my money and take the tester back, and I wanted the manual more than the money. I think after about 9 months it came in the mail.

Those are two reasons Laffayette is out of business.

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Reply to
mm

I think isn't bogus. Playstaions put out the same signal and resolution as vcrs or dvd players. the only thing that I know of that playations can do is cause burn in of the image because of the static image that it creates in certain areas of the screen.

Reply to
Cliff Hartle

FWIW, it sounds like BS to me.

Reply to
CJT

Also sounds like total bs to me as well. Maybe the picture tube just died, but I doubt very much it had anything to do with the use of the Playstation.

Take it to another repair place, and make no mention of the Playstation.

Reply to
James

You should post the model number of the playstation and the TV....secondly, at first glance ....it sounds like BS to me too....Might I suggest a post to sci.electronics.repair .... Many of those folks deal with this stuff on a daily basis, unlike the advice you may get here...The advice here is good, but TV repair is a far cry from Home Repair.....good luck, Ross

Reply to
Ross Mac

I kind of doubt the picture tube died that soon....but good advice on the "blind info" repair...Ross

Reply to
Ross Mac

Sounds like BS to me but why would one repair a

32" TV. You buy a new one for $300-$400 and repair will probably be $200 or more. And don't forget that digital signal is coming and analog quiting in less than 3 years.
Reply to
George E. Cawthon

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)

Reply to
Norminn

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

Reply to
Mark D

But even the Sony stuff that's made in Japan isn't reliable. I've got a Sony 27" set that lost its tuner module about two years after purchase (in late 1995). Otherwise, it still works perfectly. Where was the defective tuner module made? Japan. The problem is Sony's quality control, not the location of the factories or the nationality of the workers.

Their VHS and DVD products are no better. From waht I can tell, most of their consumer products will develop a major defect within the first three years. The set the OP referred to had an average lifetime for a Sony.

Amen.

Reply to
Neill Massello

Sorry for the bad luck. May or may not be luck of the draw.

I have a 1986 20 Sony Trinitron still running great. I had one repair on a 1992 32 Sony tho. It too is still working fine.

I have no idea of current brand qualities tho, including Sony.

I will not be in the market till my current analogs (4, 3 of which are Sonys, the 3rd Sony a cheapie 27 inch 1998 model) die (on cable and HD not an issue).

Morenuf

Reply to
morenuf

It was a flat screen, but if it had a picture tube: I've never seen a lack of picture caused by a bad picture tube. It is always the high voltage circuit or the video signal circuit.

When a black and white picture tube starts to wear out, it still gives a picture, but it is silvery. When a color tube wears out, I can't find the words to describe it, but it too has a picture and I guess it is the color equivalent of silvery, even though it is not silvery. :)

I've never seen a picture tube with a bad filament, and this is something I've done quite a bit of, 100's.

.but good advice on the

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Reply to
mm

They're either or cons or gross incompetents.

Ask in sci.electronics.repair, and post the model number. Sound without picture is often due to a blown horizontal output transistor, which not only drives the circuit that sweeps the electron beams but also generates several voltages, including the 30,000V for the 2nd anode, voltages for the electron guns, and even the CRT heater. If bad, also replace any damper diode (necessary only if not built into the transistor) and nearby small, high voltage capacitors. This transistor is the largest one in the TV and likely mounted on the largest heatsink. Authorized parts distributors may charge 2-3 times what a place like

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does. Do you have any friends who know how to work on electronics?

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

clipped

Oh ... I almost forgot what brand my sick, five year old comp. monitor is. Got the deluxe brand for size and doing computer graphics. It behaves like it is ready to blow up. Flashes wierd color, fades to almost no contrast. Never saw one behave like this one. When it dies, the brand-name computer goes to the dumpster with it. My first computer was top of the line - Micron - but sadly they don't make PC's any more. Mebbe they will when the landfill is full of Dell's and there ain't any more room :o) My 1984 Micron ran circles around my speedo-on-valium.

Reply to
Norminn

You guys might also might like to know that in the interest of keeping lead pollution down electronic manufacturers are being "forced" to use solder with much lower lead content. As a result solder joints fail inside 3-4 years. Of course its not all joints, just enough to stop the device working!

Note that I dont have a reference/URL for this. It was one of thos "heard about" things since I use to work in that area. I think there was a comment from Nokia that said they werent worried because the user life of their phones never reached the MTBF point.

Cheers Bob

Mark D wrote:

Reply to
Bob Bob

Looks to me that you just learned that Sony makes crap these days. Samsung is really much better.

Reply to
scott21230

First, thanks for all the good info and advice.

I will post to the sci.electronics.repair group. Mainly to see if there is any legitimacy to the Playstation idea.

I have never seen a tube go from working fine to blank, either.

My son-in-law lives in Orlando, FL. I live in Lakeland. Fifty plus miles of the worst kind of driving separates us - I 4, so I can't do much personally about the situation. I will try to acertain the model number.

I was with him when he bought the tv - at Circuit City.

I was always amazed at the really good picture it had.

There was no mention of the Playstation thing - the repair person brought it up first by asking about it.

Someone mentioned that Samsung it better. Any other suggestions?

WLW

Reply to
wlwallick

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