Dang, not another one!

Having just completed a house move, my long-suffering missus and I thought our television had quit working. We went through the angst of 'O God, why now?' and 'The removals company must have dropped it'......guess what? I'd unplugged the aerial earlier in the day to work behind the TV and (all together now) forgot to plug it in again.
First rule of electrical breakdowns. Don't let me near it. Could've been really embarrassing.
 
Firkin-- I saw a news article a few weeks ago on yahoo about a major chain (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc) that had some program where they were offering free disposal service of some sort for computers. I can't remember the specifics, and I don't know if this would apply to television sets as well. Unfortunately, I couln't find the article. Might be worth looking into though if your set can't be repaired. The other option of course is to enjoy life without television. I haven't watched tv for the last 3.5 years, and I can actually feel the cellular regeneration taking place in my brain. It tingles :D

--Josh
 
firkin said:
... It is illegal to throw them away, and ya gotta pay to give them to a "certified" recycle place...
Click to expand...

I would never dump trash on the side of the road, nor pour waste oil down the storm drain, but I confess to committing a hi-tech recycling crime.

When I retired, I had about a half dozen old laser printers and as many monitors. I didn't want to bother trying to sell them or give them away, and I'd be damned if I would pay somebody to take them, so each week I would put one in the garbage can. After a while they were all gone.

All garbage and trash here goes through a central sorting point, so the guys who pick over the stuff got to decide what to do with them. I figure they owed me that much because I don't bother saving my aluminum cans and they have been making money off that for years.

.
 
Firkin- I went to Best Buy several months ago. They have better throw away TV's than what was State of the Art 10 years ago- for 300 bucks.


Trouble is, what with high Dig rumored to be coming once more, and plasma and projection fighting it out, we couldn't choose anything. Well, it was easy- we didn't have 3500 for Plasma.



munk
 
They just don't make things the way they used to! Perhaps you can check your warrantee. Is Muntz still in business? :rolleyes:
 
Well, Yikes!

After a couple of days of random activation, it appears that my boob toob is again operational.

Don't know for how long.

It is the hottest part of the year here, and I am not a good house-keeper. I happen to have a bottle of of compressed "dust-cleaning" gas that a neighbor gave me. I've blasted the innards of the box with the long tubular probe that came with the bottle of compressed gas.

Don't know how long this fix will last, but maybe the box heard some of the reccomended fates for a dead TeeVee.....

At least I didn't take the damn thing to a repair shop...Chances are that some rube would hve plugged the thing in and told me it was "OK", and charged me for the info.

Take it from me, after dealing with intruments that I am totally familiar with, intermittant failure is the worst....

I don't doubt that the thing is on it's last legs, but nowadays, I kinda think that something has to be realy dead before most folks will believe you, unless you can find some old guy that really knows what is going on.
 
I agree with BruiseLeee, TV is over-rated. Having said that, I just replaced my old one which died suddenly after 10 years of good service.

TV sets are cheap over on my side of the horizon. My family will kill me if I deny them their only source of entertainment!! :D
 
I keep hoping that our 15 year old TV will go out. It has a great picture and better color than 95% of the sets I see, but I want one of those new giant screens. Actually it would be great if it goes out just about the time we are going to move to our new place, that way we won't have to move one of those big ones.

The way the prices keep dropping, and technology keeps moving ahead, there's no telling what we can get a couple of years from now. I'm hoping for a 90 inch plasma display for less than 5K.

But, with the recent improvements and price drops, I'm tempted to get one of those Panasonic 54 inch projection TV's right now.
 
12 years ago or so I bought a large JVC on sale for 600 bucks or so. Large to me then was who knows? A move killed it. They kept saying Hi dig was coming and there was no use buying a reg TV. My wife and I waited. Liars. Why do I listen when folks tell me these things? The high dig signal, supposed to become mandatory years ago, is now getting closer.

But when we looked, 300 dollar JVC's were now better than our old one. My engineer dad says you can't fix them, and the materials are not made to last. Probably true, but for the money I could afford to buy one every 5 years.

I'm with Ben- waiting for the technology to drift down. The projection models seem almost as good, if not as good, as many of the plasma.


munk
 
munk said:
... The projection models seem almost as good, if not as good, as many of the plasma.
Click to expand...
Yes they do. Whenever I'm in Circuit City I wander down to the TV section and check them out. They seem to get better every few months - and cheaper. I see nice ones for around $1500.

The only thing that prevents me from hauling one home right now is the thought of having to move it 1000 miles to the other place.
 
Guy at Best Buy said the Plasma price will not fall- because the assembly line fails a huge percent of plasma models. I don't believe this will remain constant, if true now.

The argument for plasma is what- direct transmission? Trouble is, you have little tiny cells. What happens when some of these cells fail?

I'm not sure these eyes could tell the difference between a great projection and plasma, whereas my wallet could tell the difference between 1500 and 3500 +.

munk
 
After a couple of days of random activation, it appears that my boob toob is again operational.

???

Check your electrical service; you might be getting something other then 120v from your supplier, or perhaps your grounding needs to be redone.

n2s
 
Barb and me bought a 45" Hi-Def Projection Flat Screen Mitsubishi not too long ago.
It took a little getting used to because it's of the theatre shaped screen instead of the old usual TV screen.
Also bought a middle/low end sound surround to go with it. I need to route a couple of the speakers behind my chair at the far end of the living room to make everything right even though it's very enjoyable right now!
All together it was just a tad over 2K which I didn't feel was too bad.
It would be damned hard to go back to even a regular large screened regular TV now.
We're so easily spoiled but it is sure nice. I have wanted one for years, we didn't wait until the old one went out and it's now in the bedroom.
But I'm like Ben as I wouldn't want to move one either. However they're not as bad as one would first think. Ours does have rollers that make it easy to move around the living room even on the carpet.
It's also not as heavy as one would expect, at least not as heavy as I expected.
You do need a really good surge protector for it and your other equipement that goes with the TV.
 
not2sharp said:
After a couple of days of random activation, it appears that my boob toob is again operational.

???

Check your electrical service; you might be getting something other then 120v from your supplier, or perhaps your grounding needs to be redone.

n2s
Click to expand...

Mis-communication on my part.

I meant that I was intermittenently activating it in what I thought was a foolish hope that it might begin working again.

I don't doubt that the scanning will die for good at some point in the near future, I'm hoping that part of the problem is that the thing was overheating due to being dirty, an it lasts a little longer.
 
Not like the old days, that's for sure.

TV MAMA (Johnny Winter, 1977)

Well I laid down last night
And I turned my TV on
You know I laid down last night
I turned my TV on
You know she's a good old box people
But I believe my tube is blown
Well my baby she was cryin'

Want me to get my TV fixed
Ohuuu she was cryin'
Wanna get my TV fixed
She said our TV needs service
And she needs it mighty quick

By the way now

Well I called the TV doctor
He came over right away
He said to see what he can do
He'd have to haul my tube away
I told no Damn well I'll never do
Man if you don't get the picture
I'm gonna do some work on you

Work a while go ahead now
(get the picture right?)

Got my TV working
My old tube is like brand new
And now I got my TV workin'
My old tube is like brand new
Yes come over baby
And I show my tube to you
haha
How do you like my tube?

From the fine album "Nuthin' But The Blues" which features Johnny accompanied by Muddy Waters, "Pine Top" Perkins, and James Cotton, among others.

 
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