Large TV Lifespan

boksbox

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I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to me?
I bought a large TV, Sony 36FS70, in May 2000 for £2.5K and purchased an extended warranty via the supplier.

I must say that it was the best TV I've ever owned, however..
the company backing the warranty folded, the TV kept going however til Oct 2003, then it displayed error codes.

The TV company I called in took it away and thought they'd found the fault however it wasn't to be. Now 5 months later even Sony don't look as though they can solve the problem.

My point is, are large 36 inch CRTs just too complicated these days, people worry about the lifespan of Plamas etc but I wasn't expecting this hassle of a conventional CRT.

I was expecting to have my TV for many years and not find myself potentially £2.5K out of pocket.
 
I don't think any items of consumer electronics are built to last these days.
If we all had good kit that worked for years the majority of people would never buy anything newer. If companies weren't selling their products they would go bust. Early adopters and technology fans will always upgrade but we are a very small minority.
Most electronic products are built to cost and quite often in instruction manuals you will see a MTBF figure. That the Mean Time Before Failure. Wonder why?
 
Sony usually works to the end, i had a Sony 29" CRT with 100Hz that was the first released on the market in 1988, it's still running and the picture quality is still good, just a litte bit softer picture.

Never a problem, gave the TV to my brother and it still works 16 years after the purchase....

Sonys are built like tanks, as usual some customer might be unlucky and have problems but mostly this is true about Sony.
 
If you are concerned about reliability look no futher http://www.wvip.co.uk/cgi-bin/news.php?id=3330

I've had 2 Sony sets die on me and the third set I bought still works, well most of it. There are little niggles that are going to one day result in a bigger fault.

It's purely down to luck if you get a good set or not. Someone like Retra can see the bigger picture though.
 
It's always been my experience that Sony TVs are built like tanks and very high tech tanks at that, one of the reasons I went with Sony.
I'm just suprised that it has taken so long to fix, just before Xmas it was up and running for 6 hours on the test bench before the same failure reoccurred causing a lot of damage.

Doesn't fill me with confidence that'll ever be properly fixed.
 
I had a cashback TV warranty that expired last December. Turns out the company folded last August and I get nothing back.

Luckily I had already learnt my extended warranty lesson before then and my current telly is covered by a warranty that I bought direct from Domestic & General off their website.

I forget how much I paid but it ended up being cheaper than the ones you get offered in the shop AND it was longer too.

Of course, some people would say I was a mug for getting an extended warranty in the first place...:suicide:
 
Originally posted by CMcK
If you are concerned about reliability look no futher http://www.wvip.co.uk/cgi-bin/news.php?id=3330

...

Yeah, but what are the volume sales for Loewe compared to almost any other known brand ? I've never even seen one outside a showroom - in a real-life house - but then I have no rich friends with style-over-substance tastes. And not that Loewe don't make excellent TV's mind, they obviously do. And clearly some people with Loewe kit do have taste but some don't...just £££'s.

Mike.
 
Loewe stuff is hardly super expensive these days. I have a 32" Aconda which costs £1200. How much are top of the range 32" sets from more mainstream brands like Panasonic, Sony or Toshiba?
A Loewe TV certainly isn't a style over substance choice. The image quality and feature set is proof of that.
Bang & Olufsen is probably the only 'designer' brand out there now.
 
Having finally got my 36FS70 back after 6 months..the convergence was badly out, the local engineers did their best to fix it howver I've notcied a problem when playing back DVDs (region 1 or 2).
I see a vertical band or bands moving rapidly left to right, if anyone has any ideas as to what might cause this I'd be grateful for ideas, it wa never problem before the set went on its travels.
 

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