I'm not that surprised. Mine has been running for 20 years, and I'm resisting all attempts to persuade me to change it until it goes altogether. On something as low-tech and yet as highly priced as a boiler it's a disgrace that the expected life is so short.
Regards,
Bob
In message , Adrian writes
My experience with 4 Freeview boxes and a Sony TV and Sony recorder might be relevant.
The bunch of no-marks who "planned" the digital changeover have stuck Welsh TV onto a mast designed to face the opposite way and provide the sheltered-from-Winter Hill, Mersey shores of Liverpool with English TV. This mast is now pointing Welsh at the mainly English speaking Welsh banks of the Dee and in the process has made reception in this part of Cheshire pretty weird. Polarisation and channels of these backward facing Welsh are virtually the same as WH, so this is a real test of the logic of tuner set up procedures. The 2 Sony devices have different channel setup logic, one set itself up automatically, the other needed simple human input. All 4 Freeview boxes are different and all are almost impossible to set up. We eventually gave up on my sis-in-law's unit and I wrote out a small chart saying things like BBC1 = 57, BBC2 = 73 (numbers made up, but similar, as I can't remember). My PVR from Maplin can and has been set up, but it involved many passes through the set up procedure and I can't be bothered going beyond Channel 5. One other didn't work at all (money back after 2 samples tried). The final one is in a box in the loft and I can't remember the problem, but it was something to do with channel allocations. All these were dubious makes, badged things like Nikkai.
The moral is.... Buy a known make and make sure you can return it.
On Sunday, July 25th, 2010 16:10:49 +0100, Bill explained:
If you have a digital converter box which allows you to reposition the LCN of stations on the EPG such as the Sony VTX-D800U, then any such problem of receiving stations from multiple transmitters can readily be solved, except for the annoyance of when having to do the regular re-scan for changes to the EPG.
This allows you for example to ensure the Channel 4 is on 4, and instead of having a duplicate Channel 4 on 8, you can put S4C there and continue to enjoy Pobol y Cwm each weeknight at
20:00h (with English sub-titles)."Pobol y Cwm has beaten off competition from EastEnders and Doctors to win a Mental Health in the Media Award in the soaps and continuing drama category."
If you have the TV in the middle of a wall and not, like most people, in a corner. A flat panel across a corner takes just as much room space as a CRT.
Not necessarily. Many of the best known Japanese companies have manufacturing bases in Europe. My new (three days old) Samsung monitor was made in Hungary.
I think it's always best to go for a brand that you recognise and has a track record of good after-sales service, which should apply regardless of where the actual factory is located As others have said, 'you get what you pay for'.
Modern boilers are no longer low-tech as in BFO burner and lump of cast iron through which water circulates possibly under nothing more than the influence of gravity. Modern boilers have modulating burners, several safety interlocks and their sensors, complex low capacity ali heat exchangers that *must* have water flow for a while after the burner cuts out, etc etc and recover heat from the flu gases. Far to many bits to go wrong these days.
The last factory mass producing TV tubes closed down. There is still a small requirement for CRTs for other purposes, but apparently the price of such tubes has jumped almost 10 fold.
BTW, I bought a 250GB IDE drive about a year ago, and they are still around, even though SATA overtook IDE (PATA) in 2004 in terms of quantities manufacturered.
My 8 month old Samsung monitor is made in Romania. Very happy with it.
No Korea, where Philips and LG set up the original facilities.
Probably not - LG will do fine. Skip Philips - they bodged the firmware and w/could not fix it.
Price depends on volume, and as LCDs became popular and CRT sales volume fell, CRT prices go north. Manufacturers wantt o get into LCDs before that point so they can keep up with ongoing product development rather than being left behind.
CRT sets are easy to buy of course, they're just all used sets now.
there's no shortage of either, but why would a manufacturer invest in an obsolescent technology like fim cameras. Most HDD sellers still have IDEs
As was said a few posts up, CRTs still win in every respect bar one, ie that LCDs look better when off. I wouldnt rule out CRT TVs yet.
NT
Well, if as Andrew says "The last factory mass producing TV tubes closed down." , I think you might have to
Maybe it is.
Sony software is IME a bit better. OK the LCD is the same probably, but what drives it may be somewhat better.
There are some downright irritating users interfaces out there, and having processing power on digital signals that cant keep up with rapid picture change, or possibly interpolate data to give the most pleasant results from a limited bandwidth compressed stream.
Fortunately, the TV showroom is your friend. If they wont watch you select a bunch of different channels, and play with the controls, find a shop that will.
Pick one that seems best to YOU on the stuff YOU lie to watch, after you have reset the color balance of course. The most telling trick is to make the cheaper TV look crap by maladjusting it.
Best bargain I saw was a repaired 36" CRT set for 30 quid. Very tempted. I have a few STB's.
>
Loads of life left in S/H CRT's
I've owned 25yr + CRT TVs. Still going reasonably well although the guns were getting weak.
Cheap as chips to pick up a 5 year old analogue set with a SCART on it to attach an STB.
Unlikely to see shop windows full of them, though, I think
The Natural Philosopher wibbled on Sunday 25 July 2010 20:22
Neither Comet and Curries round T Wells have a real aerial feed which makes testing impossible.
Couldn't believe it - I did have a major go at them before wandering off somewhere else.
Bit like PC World not having WiFI while trying to flog iPads and related stuff - what fucktards run these places?...
do you want cheap, or do you want shop? :-)
I saw one in an independent TV shop - he fixed it for a customer, who decided he didn't want it and traded it for a new set.
well f*ck them, then.
You dont want to know. They are completely clueless.
Is that allowed?
Adam
That's just the reason we opted for a standard boiler before the new regs cam in.
Dave
Having been a big fan of Panasonic goods, I have never had to use their after sales service. I think a better way of doing this is for someone to create a web site, or wiki of manufacturers product satisfaction.
Dave
>HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.