LCD or CRT?

[bulmers]

Seems we have alot of service men here

These new wave tvs (LCD/Plasma) are pretty reliable. The majority of tvs that come in to me for repair are the CRT type which in most cases can be repaired for a fairly reasonable price. But you must remember that LCD and plasma tvs are alot more expensive to repair. I find myself replacing whole panels rather then faulty components with these flat screens because the parts are not available. My last repair was a dead Beko LCD, the problem was a blown transistor and a burnt out resistor on the power supply board. I couldnt repair the power supply board because the transistor was not available (probably worth about €5). I had to order a whole new power supply board for €60 !!! The repair before that was an LG plasma with a blown IC on the ZSUS panel. Do you think I could just order and fit a new IC? - Not a chance, instead I had to order a whole new ZSUS panel for €160!!

Bottom line is - LCD/Plasma tvs look great until you switch them on compaired to CRT tvs. LCD/Plasma tvs are expensive to repair unlike CRTs which can be repaired fairly cheaply (depending on the fault of course)

For picture quality:
1st place goes to the CRT
2nd place goes to the Plasma
3rd place goes to the LCD

Id stick with the old faithful CRT

Cant wait to see the new SED tv which is in the pipeline

[oscar]

I posted earlier in this thread in favour of CRT. My Sony 29 inch is slowly going down hill and to be honest I really have no idea what to replace it with.
I'm not a fan of LCD,Plasma or for that matter wide screen so soon will be faced with a problem.
Will watch this thread for advice.
Regards

[Captain Jack]

You can get a nice 36" CRT. They are cheap as chips 2nd hand and quality will be good. Toshibas are highly rated

[bulmers]

I posted earlier in this thread in favour of CRT. My Sony 29 inch is slowly going down hill and to be honest I really have no idea what to replace it with.
I'm not a fan of LCD,Plasma or for that matter wide screen so soon will be faced with a problem.
Will watch this thread for advice.
Regards

Sorry if it seams that Im ******ing this thread but:

@ oscar ; What do you mean when you say that your Sony 29 inch is slowly going down hill ???

[fixer1]

hi crumblydog thats true,but a lot of these lcds/plasma dont even seem to last twelve months,the volume of faulty ones far outnumber the conventional type,the amount of customers say im sorry i bought it, i know teething problems occur,but to be frank i dont know how the makers get away with it,strange you can get a spare part for a tv thats 20 yr old,but a new one, its almost impossible, things may change in the future for spares,but what about the poor sod,whos spent a fortune on some thing that wont last

[sparky_dog]

a lot of these lcds/plasma dont even seem to last twelve months,the volume of faulty ones far outnumber the conventional type,the amount of customers say im sorry i bought it, i know teething problems occur,but to be frank i dont know how the makers get away with it,strange you can get a spare part for a tv thats 20 yr old,but a new one, its almost impossible, things may change in the future for spares,but what about the poor sod,whos spent a fortune on some thing that wont last

Unfortunately, that's the nature of consumer electronics today - they are rarely designed with component level repair in mind, and the cost of some modules/pcbs will render more and more sets beyond economic repair. I'm pretty sure that if CRT was the latest technology, we would be saying the same about those too... If you take away the fancy graphics and digital processing, the circuits which drive CRTs have basically remained unchanged for many years, and are pretty much perfected by now - many of the CRT failures you see now are as a result of manufacturing defects, or low grade components.

In use, both Plasma and CRT have advantages and disadvantages. Whilst Plasmas cannot currently compete with the response times of any CRT, no CRT can offer the resolution and perfect geometry offered by the later full 1080 HD sets. Once you start looking at 40"+ screens, Plasma really is king - even a 36" CRT is a 80Kg+ monster, and anything bigger is rare indeed.

Personally, I would like a larger screen than the 32" CRT I have now, but I watch sports and the response time on flat panels is still a problem for me. Additionally, the display of the lower quality SD broadcasts on very large screens can look terrible.

I say roll on Laser TVs, which will blow all current technologies out of the water, apparently!

[oscar]

bulmers.
I've sent you a PM.
Regards