Bad CRT's!

I know this is sci.electronics.repair BUT can it really be economically viable to repair any CRT based TVs any more?

I repair commercial coin-operated video arcade games. I replace CRT's in them sometimes. Wells-Gardner had a Zenith tube # A63ADG25X that fails all the time.

Yes

>

Simple fixes maybe - but if the tube has to come out then surely not, when new TVs are so cheap. Several manufacturers have now stopped producing CRTs.

Samsung has just started up a new line of CRT,s so they are not yet gone.

Phil: Certain replacing CRT's on consumer televisions out of warranty is.... and for the most part always has been a questionable repair decision.... but, of course it ..... depends on the repair price.... obviously. If you have a television that until a failure had an excellent picture (good CRT) and there was a failure that could be repaired economically would you have it fixed? .... or if you have a big screen CRT stereo television with PIP (again, a good crt) and the repair involved replacing the vertical deflection chip and associated parts..... wouldn't you have it fixed??? If not, you must have more money than most of us do. There are lots and lots of various repair tasks that make perfect sense to go forward with..... in order to make an INTELLIGENT decision the customer needs to have a tech (who actually opens up the set and makes tests with real test equipment) provide him with a rather firm repair cost estimate (usually the estimate fee applies to the repair if approved) so he can make that decision with facts instead of wild guesses..... otherwise he may be wasting his money by throwing out a perfectly good older television and replacing it with some new Chinese junk from WalMart. It's like throwing out you Seiko watch because it needs a new battery and replacing it with a brand new cheapo hong kong watch for $3.99. It's a new watch alright but it ain't quite the same quality, fit and finish..

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Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
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"Phil"  wrote in message
>
> I know this is sci.electronics.repair BUT can it really be
> economically viable to repair any CRT based TVs any more?
>

And if the Seiko watch must indicate time of a different zone than it was originally designed for, of course u run out and buy the accessory converter box.

Really though, a lot (majority perhaps?) of viewers are simply not interested in dumping money into repairing old quality sets when they know that new flat screen will not only have the HD tuner built-in but also offers double the resolution of their cherished antique -- so they can watch their favorite movies at that-much-closer-to-film quality. I'm sure there are plenty of holdouts -- particularly those with poor eyesight -- who will continue to be utterly satisfied with VHS or DVD quality on a curved face tube with no comb filters and etc. etc., but I'm fairly confident these are the minority now. If you own or work in a shop and haven't seen a steady decline in older units coming in, well.. wait till NTSC is history.. and if you STILL don't see a steady decline, you're the luckiest shop on the planet. Yet another shop in my town (in biz for 45+ years) has just closed for this reason. That leaves only one full-blown shop left in this city of 80,000 (that means no competition) and it's in trouble. Hats off to u guys who manage to maintain your profit margins. But it sure aint gonna get any easier over time -- wouldn't ya know, they'd have to go and invent a new 60,000-hour MTBF plasma tube! ;)

Ray: Come on now.....it is NOT all gloom and doom.... my shop is fixing stuff that wasn't even invented yet when I opened it in the early 70's. DVD, CD, Projection sets, LCD computer monitors, compact stereo systems, etc, etc. .... and of course I still have good business with Phonograph turntables and related equipment. Plus..... we have branched out to seek more business with the pro-audio installation and home theatre installation areas. We also have contracts with the local hospital, rest homes and hotels (televisions and LCD monitors) and the local college. Back in the 70's and 80's there was much talk of the demise of service shops..... if you are not continually moving forward with new technology and product training then you are going backwards.... and eventually out of business. electricitym . . . . .

$2000 now.. I predict they'll be much much less expensive soon after NTSC is history.

Hi!

watch

Film quality? Is that what I'm seeing when I go to the movie theater and can see the odd speck or "blip" in the picture being shown? (Or is that poor projector operation/dirty film?)

If these things are present on a VHS tape, I haven't noticed them. I have seen them on some DVDs, so maybe they're unavoidable in any movie... (?)

But, with that said...I've got a couple of older TVs that I probably would have repaired if they conked out, just because they have been good sets, and I think they'd be hard to replace with anything made today. One is a

1970s-era Sony that plays beautifully, has one of the best TV pictures I've ever seen (it is a Trinitron-type tube) and hasn't ever been touched. Its only problem is failure of the adhesive on the speaker grille and picture controls. Both were easily reglued.

The second TV is a 1983 Sony--looks a lot like the 70s set but with "electronic" tuning. This is also a great TV and it hasn't had the adhesive problem--yet.

The third and final set is a Zenith 13" table TV. While not on a par with the Sony sets, the picture is very bright and clear. It's a kitchen TV, and has held up better than any replacement I've tried. (Most have died of broken buttons.) I've only had to clean it once to keep it running. Oddly enough, I found it face down on the curb one day in 2001 or so. It's still going nicely. I suppose it was replaced with some cheap set that probably isn't around today.

If one of these broke down, I'd seriously consider having it fixed.

Now for my comments about the somewhat sad and sorry state of electronics repair shops. If anything, I want these shops to stay in business and work out for their owners. But I've been snubbed a few too many times when I took something in that I wanted to have repaired. I know and understand that not everything can be repaired, but I perceived an attitude of "we don't feel like it" with one shop and another said they weren't equipped to work on the item in question. The latter I can understand--the former is the kind of thing that annoys me, and I wonder how many shops act this way.

The item in question is a IBM PS/2 power supply that won't come on. I can see that the capacitors charge up, as a light plugged into the same outlet will dim momentarily. I also know that the TL494 controller is being told to shut down. (Thanks to Sam G. for taking time to look at it. He was very helpful.) While that supply no longer exists, I have another that is dead in the same way. But I cannot find anyone (well, there was one offer from this group, but I never took the poster up on it because of lack of time, and I'm not sure he's still interested in looking at it) who will even *try* (and I'd pay to know what got it, if that was all I could know) to tell me why it died and if it could be fixed.

(So if anyone out there is running a repair shop--preferably in the US--and you'd be willing to look, I'd pay a fair price for your time and effort...!)

Just my (rambling and drawn out) $0.02...

William

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William: We shop owners have to make "on the spot" decisions many times a day about what may or may not be profitable to work on. Problematic parts availability, inavailability of documentation, likelyhood of a final repair price that doesn't make economical or profitabily sense, and the likely possibility that the customer won't want the repair performed even though he would be willing to pay for an estimate..... and then get upset if the estimate fee is wasted because of any number of reasons that the item can not be repaired economically or the shop can not profitably perform the repair.... .... it's a tough business so carefully I pick and choose what goes on my bench..... and pick and chose WHO leaves the equipment for me to repair. In these tough times we need every customer we can get..... BUT unfortunately there are certain customers and certain types faulty equipment that we are much better off without. electricitym ..................................