Repair or replace? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Hawley]

I was wondering if someone can help me out with some advice.

I've owned a 42" Samsung Projection TV since June, 2003 and just recently it seems there's a problem with the convergence. Basically, it looks very similar to watching a 3-D movie without the glasses.

The TV is no longer under warranty (it was only for three years) and the repair service the business that sold the TV to me referred me to charges $60 for a housecall and $60 an hour on top of that for labour. So if they come and decide they can't fix it, or tell me it will cost more to repair it than I'm willing to spend, I'm still out $120. They're coming on Thursday (I called them last Tuesday).

So would this problem be a costly (and timely repair). At $60 an hour plus possible replacement parts, how much am I'm looking at?

One thing is that about 23 months after buying the TV, I went to turn it on, and when the picture was firing up, the TV just turned off and I could smell that something burned. I had it repaired and it turned out a resistor blew, but I'm looking at the invoice and it also said something about replacing defective convergence output components and aligning.

It was still under warrenty then and I have no idea how much that would've have cost or how much actual time it took, but I had it back in a week and until very recently, it worked fine. Except...

Earlier this year, I noticed that whenever I watched regular, broadcast TV or my VCR, I noticed some picture interference - faint wavy lines. Since about 95% of TV viewing is using my DVD player, and there didn't seem to be any problem with that, I didn't pay it that much mind. But a couple months later, while watching a film on DVD where an explosion happened and there was lots of dust, I noticed that I could faintly see the wavy lines. Since then I've been able to spot them pretty much whenever it's really white, or dusty, or there's lots of light. And when I turned the progressive scan off, the lines appeared just as bad as they did whenever I watched TV broadcasts or my VCR. It seems the progressive scan is filtering them out mostly (but not 100%).

So how much do you think it would cost to get that repaired (and what exactly is wrong?)

I figure that if I have to pay more than $500 altogether, it would just be better to get a new TV, but I don't want to have to pay at least $120 ($60 for a houscall, and $60/hr for labour) just to have someone come and tell the repairs will cost more than I'm willing to spend. So would it really be likely that the repairs will cost more than $500?

So would should I do? Any suggestions (or anyone shedding some light on what a repair will likely cost me) are greatly appreciated.

 

[dynamicavs]

I would pay the 60$ for the house call and get a quote for the repair. With the cost of DLP plasma and LCD dropping I would make a decision after the quote. If you tell the repair company that your leaning toward a new television if it costs to much you will most likely get a better deal

 

[Pamela]

I have the exact same problem with my Hitachi. In fact, the repair guy is here now. He's replacing the convergence ICs, cleaning the inside, including the lenses, and calibrating for $380. I figure it's cheaper than the $1500 LCD I was looking at. Now, let's see if it works.

 

[Seth=L]

I would have just used the tv for bow practice, but I guess I am just kind of crazy sometimes.

 

[John Chevalier]

My Samsung PCL5415 has started doing the same thing. I went into the advanced convergence menu and cleaned it up a bit, but last night I went into make some fine adjustments, and somehow reset everything back to a factory setting that ruined the TV. All the lines were not straight, and I spent about 4 hours getting settings to be at least presentable. Now perfect focus doesn't work, and when watching HDTV, and looking at far away scenes, it looks horrible. The close up scenes still look okay. I've put some e-mails in to someone ot come out and redo it all.

 

[videobruce]

Convergence you can adjust yourself. Does the convergence 'drift' over time (in the first 2 hours)?
The other issues are something else.

 

[Andrew8616]

My Sony 65" projector is doing similar thing. I notice wavy scan lines when the screen is black or dark. It started as a bow at top and bottom of screen, but eventually the scan lines apeared in wavy pattern all over screen. TV is less than 3 years, and I would like to keep (it is in a custom wall unit), but I hate to spend to much on old unit. Any idea what it might cost to repair? Help