Television repair help

[Mel Miller]

Here is the thing. A 50 year old Unisaw in good condition works just as well as a new one and possibly better. What's more, you can make a profit by doing a good refurb job and selling it. A premium brand projection TV that is even 5 or 10 years old is dreadfully obsolete compared to even an off brand new flat screen. You may not be able to tell the difference in picture quality but a lot of other people can. I am loosely associated with a big thrift store in my home town. They don't accept donations of rear projection or tube TV sets in perfect working order any more because nobody wants to haul one home even for free.

You're absolutely right.

[Rick Moyer]

Well, Rick. I'll be the differing opinion. Worth fixing most of the time. Relatively simple repair, if you are comfortable with unsoldering and soldering electronic components. Just need to replace the 2 convergence IC's and possibly several resistors that commonly fry at the same time. If no burned resistors can be seen burned on the convergence board, you may get by with just the IC's. Sometimes it is just cold solder joints, and just resoldering the IC pins will fix.

I would repair it in a heartbeat. Of course I did it for a living for years!

The kit comes with the required IC's and resistors. I don't anticipate any problems doing it.

Here is the thing. A 50 year old Unisaw in good condition works just as well as a new one and possibly better. What's more, you can make a profit by doing a good refurb job and selling it. A premium brand projection TV that is even 5 or 10 years old is dreadfully obsolete compared to even an off brand new flat screen. You may not be able to tell the difference in picture quality but a lot of other people can. I am loosely associated with a big thrift store in my home town. They don't accept donations of rear projection or tube TV sets in perfect working order any more because nobody wants to haul one home even for free.

We'll agree to disagree on the dreadfully obsolete.
I'll invite those "other people" to watch the newer tv in the other room.

[Myk Rian]

I have to say I am surprised there has only been one response like this. I did ask for opinions, but I didn't think the overwhelming majority would be "junk it".

You asked for opinions, and that's what you got.
Not too many people will repair an obsolete TV. Good luck.

[Curt Harms]

You asked for opinions, and that's what you got.
Not too many people will repair an obsolete TV. Good luck.

Not too many people can repair an obsolete TV. For those with the requisite skills more power to them.

[Larry Fox]

Personally, given the pace of evolution of the technology, I would never consider repairing a TV if it was not something absolutely trivial and < $50. I think TV's are considered disposable items these days. For example, today on FatWallet there is an offer for a Samsung H6350 Smart LED TV through Dell consumer for $997.99 + 4% cash back + a $200 Dell eGift card. And this is a top quality 60" TV. I snapped up a similar offer last year on the $55.

[Rick Moyer]

UPDATE:

Well the kit came and I replaced the convergence boards which helped some but not completely. So, I looked at and tried to test the resistors but couldn't really ascertain which if any were bad and didn't want to replace them arbitrarily, especially since the replacements were not easy to match up (they don't have the colored banding). I filed a "ticket" with the place I purchased the kit from (tvrepairkits.com), which is an on-line way to ask questions, etc. They claim to respond in about two days in most cases, however after a month of no response I searched for another means of contact. I discovered an e-mail address of someone who seemed to be an owner and e-mailed him. He did respond with an apology for not following up but then I haven't heard anything since (another three weeks). So here is my final reply to the open "ticket" ...
"Well, It's apparent I'm not going to get any further assistance from anyone at TVRepairkits.com. We have other TV's and only watch this one sometimes now. I'm not in a position to replace it yet, so I'll have to live with it as is for a while. Your kit was a great idea that didn't pan out, but I was hopeful I could get some advice. Unfortunately there has been NO responses to my inquiries except a useless apology for not responding. Your 24-48 hrs, or 5-7 days response time, depending... is apparently all bull %$#@. It's now been nearly two months with no resolution or contact. Congratulations on scamming me out of some money."

My point for posting this follow up is to first say to all of you who said to not bother fixing the TV that you were right! It apparently wasn't in my wheelhouse to fix it. Secondly, I want to relay my experiences in attempting to repair the TV, both in terms of the procedure as well as the lack of assistance from the kit supplier. I still think it is repairable but in the end it's going to be replaced eventually, probably closer to Christmas.
Anyway I appreciate those who responded.