Are TVs worth fixing these days?

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

bigmike20vt

Soldato
Joined
23 May 2006
Posts
7,641
Friday my 6 year old (but barely used) 65 inch Sony TV seemed to pack up, the screen went black, tho i was still getting sound from it and the power light was on.
the remote was not responding.

I unplugged it and now it is dead as a door nail. obviously remote checked as well as the plug fuse. The thing is there are no TV repair companies in my town any more, the closest i can find who will look at it are a 45 min drive away. Luckily i think it will just fit in the back of the car with the seats down (otherwise i am looking at £190 callout fee) but I am left wondering if it is even worth the hassle getting it looked at.

i can get a replacement for £1375

Part of me thinks i should try to fix just to reduce the E waste however i have been warned if it is the backlight or panel then it isnt going to be worth it. When i was a kid we would have the local tv repair man out multiple times before we would even consider getting new, but now it is so difficult to get a repairer to even look at a set, and when you do the fees can be pretty steep...... maybe its just easier to junk.
 
Last edited:
Sadly the cost of the repair is usually over half the cost of a new TV as I was in a simillar situation with one of mine around 8 months after the warranty ran out as the screen went a tint of blue and got progressively worse.

Common fault with the TV and it needs new LED strips and they where around £60 on ebay then its taking one apart safely and not breaking anything speaking to a couple of repair places the total cost assuming nothing else was wrong with it was 3/4 of the price of the same TV just for these LED's to go blue again 2.5 years later it wasn't worth it.

Another TV we had the picture just died but we had it 8-10 years and funny enough it was a cheep Tesco brand called e-motion or somthing compared to the Toshiba one with the LED issue.
 
Last edited:
dave28 said:
if you barely used it in 6 years then it is silly to spend £1375 on another assuming that will barely get used either

just get a £350 slightly smaller one like a 50 inch that are easier to transport, return and deal with in general
Click to expand...
If it was "barely used", why did it go wrong?
 
Unfortunately everything these days is disposable, difficult to find someone who will repair a TV and as people have said the cost usually far outweighs the value of current set or cost of a replacement.

I do know some washer repair people but things like TVs, microwaves etc. aren't economical to repair.
 
plasmahal said:
If it was "barely used", why did it go wrong?
Click to expand...

it just happens with electronics, there are hundreds of faulty TV`s on ebay of all ages, price bands and brands.

lines on screen, dots or blobs on screen, faulty sound, no picture, dead pixels and the list goes no and on.

I have two faulty TVs in my house and one faulty monitor although they are not fatal faults so i keep using them lol
 
My samsung 64" plasma failed after c5years due to them cheaping out on 3 capacitors... luckily I found a repair guide online and replaced them. Cost c £25.

Sold it (disclosing the repair) and bought a 2nd hand LG B6 OLED.

That failed last year which made me very excited about a new bigger OLED...

Unfortunately my wife asked me to do some fault finding, and it just needed a new power board, so c£100 for that and 10 minutes replacing and the damn thing is running fine again...;) plus c£15 for a service remote to get it running again after replacement
 
I've got a 43" Panasonic flat screen, it went black screen on me, a local electronics company fixed it for under £40.

I would make a few calls before skipping it as it's most likely a simple (to an electronics engineer) repair.
 
With the supreme power of Youtube, you can always try repairing yourself unless the screen is physically broke.

Fixed a number of LG and Samsung TV's like this. You be surprised they are made up of three parts once you look inside. The screen, powerboard and mainboard most of the time. Powerboard and mainboard can easily be purchased off ebay for many TV's. Simple unscrew, clip cables in and screw back.

Job done and money saved :)
 
Last edited:
philips IPS bedroom tv circa 2000 had it's t-con replaced and been ok since - had to also then keep back off as something was flakey on panel ribbon strips glue.

Sony - Sound like invertor though with black screen, sound still on, I'd recce what board would cost on ebay, and ask company what it may cost if it they had to change that
 
In the old days TV and their parts were very generic. The local repair man would have a van with all the bits he needed to fix pretty much any TV. Now with smart TV’s using custom CPU’s and other parts, it’s all very manufacturer and model specific, so it’s likely you will need to end up getting parts from the manufacturer, which can be slow and very expensive
 
With planned obscelescence being profitable for the manufacture, it's not in their interest for them to make things repairable.

Saying that, our 15 year old 55inch LG telly is still working, but the remote control seems to have reduced even with a change of remote batteries.
 
just a quick reply so people do not think I am being rude and posting and running. lots of good info so thanks for all the replies. I had 1 more go trying to get it working and I found parts on eBay which *may* fix it.... but I have decided it's beyond my skills set so am going to order the Panasonic S90C gaming TV tomorrow. I drew the line at that and didn't go for the S90D despite being a superior set. just didn't seem like £700 worth of improvement for what will be just used as pc gaming monitor for 99% of the time.
6 year warranty so at least I know I will get a minimum of that our of it.
it also has 1 bust pixel after I accidentally hit the screen with my keyboard.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom