Television repair / Life with no TV

[kinch]

My Samsung died. It is a known problem with their flat screens from what I have read. I am thinking I'll buy a few capacitors and solder them in. If this is so common, has anyone done this?

My last three girlfriends didn't have televisions. I could do that without college football. Could I just watch everything online with slingboxes or something?

Thanks

 

[Taosman]

I went with a more reliable brand(Sony) because I didn't want to drag around a huge tv if something went wrong. Sony and Sharp have the best reliability and you'll pay a bit more for it. Samsung makes a great looking tv for the money, but their reliability is mediocre.
YMMV

Yes, you can probably get a lot of games on the internets, but you'll have trouble following OSU consistently. That's important enough to me to have a great tv and DirecTVHD.

 

[NateG]

My Vizio was kicking it strong for 4 years until my son threw a football thru it.

 

[buxfan4life]

Toshibas are solid TVs and aren't real expensive. I have an old, first gen HD CRT from 2002, still going strong and has a great picture, even if it is only 480p, which is in my son's room now. Bought a 37" LCD 1080p 60hz back in the spring of 2010 as a main TV but now in my bedroom, and is a great TV for that purpose. A month ago I bought a 46" Toshiba LCD 1080p 120hz for my main TV. Every one was under $600 and I have never had problems. The only draw back to the Toshibas are the TV speakers as they are not really good with any heavy bass (crackles a bit) at higher volumes.

 

[scott91575]

I went with a more reliable brand(Sony) because I didn't want to drag around a huge tv if something went wrong. Sony and Sharp have the best reliability and you'll pay a bit more for it. Samsung makes a great looking tv for the money, but their reliability is mediocre.
YMMV

Yes, you can probably get a lot of games on the internets, but you'll have trouble following OSU consistently. That's important enough to me to have a great tv and DirecTVHD.

I am not sure where you are getting your info, but Samsung is normally at the top of LCD reliability (along with Sharp), and second to Panasonic for plasma (used to be third, but Pioneer left the market).

http://www.pcmag.com/image_popup/0,1871,iid=242798,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/article/1874...chnologys_most_and_least_reliable_brands.html

In the end, all the major brands are right next to each other year in and year out. The differences in reliability are really small, and positions change year to year due to that fact. Probably because they use the same suppliers. The only one that deviated from the norm (outside the really cheap ones) was Pioneer, and their reliability was the only one head and shoulders above the rest. Too bad they no longer make plasmas.

Anyway, to my point. Buy a Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, LG, Vizio, etc. and you will get very similar reliability. It's been a while since I looked up hard numbers, but IIRC the difference between the major players is in the realm of 1 more problem per 100. The only thing to stay away from is the rear projection screens. They have essentially twice the problems as LCD or plasma.

BTW...I don't think Sony actually makes any of their panels. I believe Sharp and Samsung make them through joint ventures. LG makes some for Samsung. The whole tv business for flat panels is one big mixed up market where you don't know who actually made it by the name on the tv. I believe Panasonic actually makes their plasmas (they made the last batch of Pioneers too), but I think LG makes their LCDs (LG makes LCD's for a ton of brands). Then there are other suppliers you probably never heard of that make panels for all the major brands. It's pretty much impossible to follow it all.

 

[Apache]

Except for sports and an occasional movie---READ A BOOK!

 

[kinch]

My power has been out twice. I gave the TV a shot (it tried to boot for 5 hours the other day: click... click... click..) and it is on! I'm just not turning it off until after football. I'll still have to take it apart though. . .