are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are?


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are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are?

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mfred1968
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Feb 10, 2006, 2:08 PM

Post #1 of 7 (2655 views)
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are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are?	Can't Post

lcd seems to have taken over crt very rapidly, but the prices are still very high compared with crt sets, but when they go faulty, i seem to find it almost impossible to find replacement parts, a lot is to do with all these "micky mouse" branded names so its vertually impossible to know who the original manufaturer was.

Ive got several lcd tv's and moniotors in for repair, but cant get parts for them, the cold cathode tubes are brocken in one of them, the lcd screen needs replacing in another and two of them have faults on the signal proccessing board, are we supposed to repair these boards down to component level? or just replace the whole board? as they are very simular to computer cards which the latter are very readily available for very little cost!

can anyone answer me this: whats the future for us tv enineers, ive learnt my trade and had my pass certificates back in the early 90's thinking ive got a good job for life, im only 37 now and im finding that its getting more and more difficult to repair items, new tv's are so cheap to buy now that if they break down many people tend to scrap then, the ones that do come in for repair, the customer dosnt want to spend much on, and the repairs are much more difficult to do, due to the lack of product info, problems getting parts, and the high cost of replacement parts, meaning that its often cheaper just to buy new. im doing twice as harder work for half the money now to what i did 10 years ago, but cost of living still goes up! and just to drive another nail in the coffin, the items are more reliable so less repair work seems to come my way. thank god for vestel ak type chassis they seem to still be keeping me in a job, ive made more money on the 11ak19 type sets than anything els in the last two years or so! we need sets like that to keep us in work.

how many people really still enter this repair trade? i my oppinion its just not rewarding enough to bother with anymore

do young people still exsits as tv engineers?

back to my question: are lcd tv's ment to be repaird when they go faulty???

please give us your views!

denonjapan
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Feb 14, 2006, 4:43 AM

Post #2 of 7 (2640 views)
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Re: [mfred1968] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

This is interesting, I couldn't help go over and over again! Finding replacement parts is indeed impractical of such cause. It is not meant to be although backlighting is major concern in LCD when it comes to purchasing spare parts and all other cosmetic related issues are too. Nec and Sharp are major supports of lcd screens regardless of the name and making. Mickey mouse branded like you speak of! made their own specifications and electronic modifications in order to attract public consumer. It's not necessarily true!

It's unfortunate but all monitors in flat panel are not same cause when they're brough in for repair. It's like computer chips and boards, it's not ideal to dissolder parts and replaced. I have never heard humans do actually dissolder micro-chips. if your findings is to replace the entire boards which manufacturers price wouldn't come easy. Not that they're recommending but the fact that there are no guarrantees!

You are a technician! Engineers are the one's who built. Your worries are pessimistic which shows no paramount to link yourself in better technology. High def world didn't end on FLAT screens alone. there are LCD PROJECTIONS, and CRT BASED format as well. How could you say this is a gradual end of your career?. Everybody in the world has it's own taste old or new. Like me!,There are digital components around, but my vintage components are preferred over disposal when needs service, I will do anything / price is no object to get it running!

You quote: "how many people really still enter this repair trade? do young people still exsits as tv engineers?> Come visit JAPAN! Your major cry of this trade and the career you have mastered, is a hobby of a 10 year old.

and if LCD is meant for repair?. if it's screen related? > NO!. / Electronically?> Your judgement better be right or loose more.

denonjapan

made in japan

(This post was edited by denonjapan on Feb 14, 2006, 4:47 AM)

lcdtvtips
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May 8, 2006, 4:01 PM

Post #3 of 7 (2446 views)
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Re: [mfred1968] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Great observation and question....

It seems to me that with the absolute drooling market that is after these tv's and with technology rapidly advancing there would be a greater need than ever to have reliable customer service repairman in this field. 10 years ago or so, when the cost of a tv fell through the floor they became a throw away item and they were usually not worth repairing....

but today we see tv's with price tags into the the thousands, and the every so desire to have the greatestt and latest TV is also opening up an opportunity to service these HIGH end tv's...

If I was a technician, I would look long and hard at marketing to the affluent community. They are buying tv's like crazy and they are buying the TOP END ones... I believe there is a great market to service these, but the market has shifted and I would target a NICHE such as peopel who buy the most expensive tv's in your area, and let them know you are available to come and fix them ... For a price Wink

When there appears to be no market, thats when the market can be the best...

ALso, maybe specialize in a certian type of repair...

Well, I am a marketer, and that is how I look at these things, I am not a technician so I do not know the difficulties that you face, but the fact is, LCD and PLasma TV's are Very expensive and it would seem there would be a very nice market to repair them locally...instead of SHIPPING them at the customers expense and waiting for 9000 weeks for the manufacuture to fix it...

Today, if you can be tops in customer service, I dont care what industry you are in, YOU WILL WIN!

rants and raves from Lcdtvtips

http://lcdtvtips.com
[url=http://lcdtvtips.com]Your LCD TV Tips Resource Center and latest LCD Television New

techchris
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May 8, 2006, 7:17 PM

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Re: [lcdtvtips] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

its not that we dont want to repair them. the problem is with the imports from China or Turkey. getting spares is a nightmare and as for schematics, well forget it on most makes. even the big names like panasonic sony and toshiba dont like supplying pcb's and the chance of repairing it to component level is zilch.In my experience even customers who happily spend 200 on a good night out flinch at paying 400 to fix their 2 year old lcd even if it did cost them thousands to buy

MOtvGuy
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Oct 14, 2006, 12:34 AM

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Re: [techchris] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Ha ha. I've been in the TV repair field since 1974. Let me tell you things have changed, mostly for the worst. Only recently are things getting better.

First, you sound like an independant shop owner. That's too bad, the major manufacturers have been trying to run you guys out of business for years. Yes, I've heard several of them say it with my own ears. There is no way in todays world of digital television that you'll be able to make a living. NONE. The tube type set's days are numbered. Sharp is no longer producing CRT based TV's, the rest of the manufacturers are holding out but all have timetables to discontinue them and I mean soon. What few glass based sets are left are now basically Chinese junk that isn't meant to be repaired.

Any shop planning on staying in business now will have to plan on very high inventory costs for boards, Light engines and Lamps for the various rear projection sets. These are all high ticket items and will probably sink the few independant shops still around.

As for who's getting into this field? No one. In the St. Louis area companies like American TV, Best Buy and NPS are forced to pay way too much money for techs who frankly don't know what the hell they're doing. The problem has been the field has stagnated the past 10-15 years and the salaries stagnated with it. Guys with electronic knowledge never entered the field because of the pay and the need to have to know how to troubleshoot down to component level. Why work hard for peanuts when you could grab a commercial electronic tech job as a board swapper and make so much more? The field has lost A LOT of good techs over the years as shops closed, were sold out or consolidated. Many other guys got into computer networking.

Let me tell you, if you just got into the TV repair field in the early 90's, you already missed out on the good times. The good times ended somewhere in the mid to late 80's. It's only been recently that shops have been desperately trying to find all those TV techs that have suddenly disappeared. (They seem to have disappeared to them, I've watched over the past 30 years as they've left.)

Right now there is a boom in the TV field that I haven't seen in 20 years since the VCR's heyday. I can tell you right now, with your experience you can walk into any shop run by Best Buy or NPS and get hired on the spot for more than $20 an hour and I wouldn't except less than that either. Rumour has it that Circuit City is rethinking reopening up some of there shops they shut down several years ago.

As for your LCD problem. Anything NOT made by a major manufacturer you can kindly tell the customer to take it back to wherever he bought it and let them deal with it. You can't get parts for them, service info is even more scarce and unreliable. Even amoungst the major brands you run into discrepencies between boards. Different software runs of boards and different boards with the same part number. These things are being put together in China and the American side of the equation can't keep up with what's going on in their plants across the ocean. Sorry, I can't offer you much help there, I've experienced your problems on a daily basis for several years now. Sly

rrobor
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Oct 26, 2006, 9:59 AM

Post #6 of 7 (2148 views)
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Re: [mfred1968] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

With the advent of the large scale integrator and the issues relating to lead solder, the days of replacing indevidual components has almost gone. When I trained as a TV fixer for a multi national they built in a few weak components. This was to keep blokes like me employed during the lean times. The stats were that you got X failures in warranty so needed X fixers, failures though came in waves so to keep customers happy you had to have an over supply fixers in busy times. Now things are not like that, there may be the odd ripple here and there but no one fixes an LSI its back to replacing boards.

MOtvGuy
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Oct 26, 2006, 12:22 PM

Post #7 of 7 (2146 views)
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Re: [rrobor] are lcd sets ment to be repaird when they go faulty as crt sets are? [In reply to]	Can't Post

There is very little in todays digital sets that's even remotely fixable in a troubleshooting sense like 16 years ago when you got into the business. The boards are far too complex and most everything readable is nothing more than a 1 or a 0. In case you also haven't noticed, many of the very large scale IC's are being installed using the legless IC's. Those ARE NOT replaceable at the field level and required extremely expensive soldering machines to remove and or install them.

As I stated, the direction the business is going is not conducive for any small shops still in business to survive. Not that the small shops were any concern for the manufacturers to begin with, they weren't. Parts costs for shelf inventory is going through the roof. Service literature is often incomplete, not available or just plain wrong. The LCD's, Plasma's and some DLP's have different versions with some boards carrying the same part number but having different software installed. Order the wrong part and you just wasted time, money and the customers patience.

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