Finding a good, honest TV repairman

I have a 32 inch (CRT type) Quasar TV that has something wrong with the vertical drive circuitry. The TV is about eight or nine years old.

The picture is normal horizontally but it is not full height. The height seems to vary between about 25 percent and 75 percent. The problem seems to be temperature related. The colder the TV is the smaller the image Is.

For about two weeks, I was able to keep the image full size most of the time by leaving the set on all the time. For the last three days, It has been about 66 percent all the time.

About how much should I expect to pay to repair this TV? How can I find a good, honest TV repairman? I live in the Southwest corner of Los Angeles county very near the intersection of the 110 and 91 freeways. Thank you in advance for all replies.

-- Whenever I hear or think of the song "Great green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts" I imagine my cat saying; "That sounds REALLY, REALLY good. I'll have some of that!"

Bin it. Ask/Find on FreeCycle for another.

--
Adrian C

They don't repair them any more, the replace the board which costs more than the whole unit. Throw it off a bridge and buy a new one.

Are you capable of repairing it yourself? I would make a $2 bet it is a bad capacitor. Probably an electrolytic between 10 uf and 470 uf. With a can of freeze mist and a heat gun, it could be isolated in just a few minutes. I agree with the suggestion that it will cost $200 if you have a shop repair it. Just the cost of staying in business. Good luck, Mike

They'd likely just replace the entire PCB if they can still find one. Probably would cost you around $300. The days of a repairman with the skills to get in their with a scope, troubleshoot the problem, and solder in a new capacitor or drive transistor or replace the flyback transformer are long gone.

Of course people are giving away CRT TVs for nothing on Freecycle, or worst case selling them for $50 on craigslist, so it may not be worth getting it fixed.

If this is a thermal problem (it might not be, but probably is), wholesale parts replacement in the deflection circuitry might fix. You might also try squirting the parts with liquid freezer.

Daniel Prince wrote

More than a replacement will cost.

With great difficulty now that hardly anyone gets stuff like that repaired anymore.

The honest one that I have known since when he was a little kid

40 years ago has given up on repairing TVs and now drives a truck.

Even replys that tell you to shove your head up a dead bear's arse ?

Another brilliant reply from FUCK-VADER

It's probably more cost effective to just get a new TV.

RGrannus

Sanity wrote

Yours in spades, child.

This sounds like a capacitor in the vertical/frame circuit. Should be an easy fix and a part costing cents - but given the size of the set, I imagine that taking it somewhere is tricky. A call out will be prohibitive, cost-wise. So I suggest you have a go - do you have a soldering iron and som e solder? (available in a hardware/hobby store I imagine). if you can post some pics of the main pcb , we can guide you to the likely problem area. It would be a pity, and wasteful, to dump an otherwise working set....

-b

At times (very seldom) you come up with some helpful replies. But most of the time you're a sh-t. Didn't your mother tell you that if you didn't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut? Asstard

How about replies that teach you to spell?

I choose to spell that way, f****it child.

...but of course.

However, as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for."

First (and less important), a 32" HD TV has about 20% less vertical picture height thatn the Quasar. Yes, to a certain extent it makes up for it by improved resolution. Still, the objects on the screen are smaller than they were on the 32". You have to go to a 40" HDTV to get the same image height.

Second, the $300 TVs are house brands, or otherwise have very limited service availability. The Insignia and Dynex brands available at Best Buy may look good while they are in teh store, but once the warranty expires, the buyer is SOL.

The Vizio, Viore, and Haier TVs represent an even worse value. A failure under warranty will get you a replacement TV of uncertain history. In the case of Vizio, the full warrant only covers the first

90 days. After that you have to ship the Tv to Vizio AT YOUR EXPENSE to get a replacement.

I almost agree with you. It might be worth spending a few minutes with freeze spray and a hair dryer trying to find the thermally sensitive component (probably a capacitor). If that fails (or reveals other problems), it's not worth it.

PlainBill

Sanity wrote

time you're a sh-t. Didn't your mother

It was a joke, you stupid humorless f****it.

Dont laugh, see if I care.

What is this guy talking about? CRT TVs are repaired by tracking down and replacing faulty components, not the whole (unavailable) board.