RichardP Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 I am seeking some advice about my aging Pioneer 45 rear projection TV. It is 9 years old, and has run about 10-12 hours per day for those 9 years. It has needed one repair about 3 years ago, to replace a failed IC chip; otherwise I have been very happy with it. Lately, I cannot get a good picture. The symptoms are: a) an overall blue-ish cast which cannot be corrected via any picture controls (even using the Sound & Vision calibration DVD); somewhat dark image; if I jack up the brightness and/or contrast to get more detail in dark scenes, what should be black is blue; this also creates bizarre negative images, e.g., a persons dark hair, in shadow, is blue and lighter than the surrounding equally-dark scene elements. Additionally, twice in the last two months the set had an internal power blink; it powered off with a thump from the TV speakers (even though I have no audio input to the TV; all audio is handled by my HT sound system); it turned back on quickly. Since the first blink occurred, I have to recalibrate the convergence about once per week, which is much more often than I used to. My dilemma: I was shocked to discover that, in this hole of a small town I live in (pop. 40K) there is no, I repeat, no television repair service (those who repaired it once before have moved out of state). The nearest repair service is about 70 miles away, and even if I lugged the 200+ lb TV there, I doubt the ride there and back in a pickup truck would be good for the TV, and may create problems itself. I guess the bottom line questions are 1) Have you ever observed these symptoms in a RPTV before, and if so, what was the cause? 2) What would you do in my situation? Try to find a repair solution or replace the TV? Thanks for your advice, and if nothing more, your sympathy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Best Buy charges $15 to haul away a old TV when you order a new one. NOTE: that was a less than subtle clue You can get some nice HDTV 16:9's for under $1500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ygmn Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 search for an ISF technician...they come to house...and look at TV....and will check it out and maybe fix it....and/or adjust it so it is working properly....there are some hidden menus and buttons etc to get to service menus to fix things..... worth a shot... also look around net to see if your particular model of TV has specific problems that others have with same TV... Check out these places: http://www.ilovehdtv.com/hdlibrary/ http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/index.htm they have some useful info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardP Posted August 9, 2004 Author Share Posted August 9, 2004 Thanks for the responses. The websites are interesting, although they seem to cater mainly (or exclusively?) to HDTV. As for an ISF technician, unless they routinely travel some distances to ply their craft, I an still stuck in nowheresville, with the nearest regular repair centers 70+ miles away. Also, one of those HDTV websites indicated that ISF calibration may run $250+, which would be foolish for me if the TV itself is on its last legs. Does anyone know of the average life of a nonHDTV RPTV set like mine? I calculate that it has been on for 32,850 hours (10hrs/day, 365 d/yr, 9 yrs). If that is as much or more than can be expected from a RPTV, then I will gladly buy a new one, as even HDTVs are less expensive than when I bought this one. Thanks for any further info/advice on anyone's part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 --------------- You can get some nice HDTV 16:9's for under $1500. ---------------- Sure, and they're all CRT's, and they're all less than 31 inches. You did say "nice" HDTV's, right? Come on bro - RPTV's under $1500 are typically junk-o-rama. The attage still applies - you get what you pay for. If the price range on a given item is $1000 - $15,000, the closer you get to $15K, the better the result will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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