My Sony CRT TV is going south

[cmdridq]

I've got a 32" Sony TV that is about 10 years old. It has worked fine until recently. But now when I power it up, once it warms up and the picture lights up, the screen will blink out to black for about 1 second every 10 seconds or so. Then gradually, the blinking frequency will slow down until it almost quits doing it. The sound is fine. Any idea what's crapping out here? Is it worth fixing?

[mas]

I wish that I had no experience with this problem, but unfortunately I am only all too aware of it.

What you are seeing is the POST circuit working - the power on self test.

And what is most likely happening is that the picture tube is failing.

Mine did it too.

The service folks I queried were able to guess that it was a Sony that I was inquiring about after only describing the symptoms! ...as they were seeing so many of the exact same problems!

This process may last for some time, with the POST 'on-off' cycling increasing in time, but possibly finally settling down and then working. The process at this point obviously varies from TV to TV. But finally, the picture will fail to display. (This lasted for almost 5 months on mine). As I continued to keep trying after the diagnosis was made...

You might go so far as to check on the cost of a replacement
CRT/tube, but be prepared to discover that the tube alone costs more
than the entire TV did...and of course that doesn't cover labor.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong, and that you can repost and tell me that I was totally off base. But I fear the worse.

As my subsequent research discovered, this problem has become legion with Sony CRTs. And web searches will easily indicate that you are among a rather large group of folks with a similar experience.

But, if it is any consolation, you might look at the bright side, as yours has lasted twice as long as most folks have with the 32 and 36 inch Sony CRTs! Most have crapped out at ~5 years...Yup, just after any extended warranty might have expired. These have become a textbook example of poor engineering. Sony is NOT the Sony of old when their products were nearly bulletproof and the quality was exemplary.

[jamesV]

Sorry, I really don't know but I'll take a guess. Can it be the tube that is going bad? You should be able to look up the model number and see how much the tube cost and decide from that point. Also what model do you have? I also have a 10 year old 32" Sony, was there any signs before this started?

James

Sorry mas beat me too it.

[SilverSport]

I believe there was a thread on here a while back that said Sony discontinued building CRTs so they may be hard to find...what a great excuse to go out and get another TV...sorry it might not be when you were ready for it...good luck.

Bill

[cmdridq]

Mas, I think you win the kewpie doll. My set is doing exactly what you described. The only symptom that I can think of was that it seemed to take a little longer to warm up and produce the image, just before this blinking thing kicked in. Looks like time for a new set. I'm sure it's cheaper to get another unit than repair the old one. I had a 19" Sony Trinitron for 20 years and it worked fine until I gave it away because I just wanted a bigger screen. Guess they don't make them like they used to.

[mas]

...I had a 19" Sony Trinitron for 20 years and it worked fine until I gave it away because I just wanted a bigger screen. Guess they don't make them like they used to.

Now this may scare the living daylights out of you, but that is exactly what led to my getting the set as well! EXACTLY!!

And unfortunately it is a sad tribute to how far the mighty have fallen...

[boom3]

If you're going the HDTV route, look at the DLP sets. They have the best price/performance ratio of all the big-screen technolgies now.

[Diamond45]

If you're going the HDTV route, look at the DLP sets. They have the best price/performance ratio of all the big-screen technolgies now.

I personally would go Plasma. I don't like the fact with DLP that you have to replace the light bulb.

Also, which technology has the "screen door" effect? IIRC it was DLP. (I could be wrong)

[boom3]

No screen door on our 50 inch Samsung. Plasma degenerates gradually and the elements can't be repaired unlike the light bulb of DLP.

[Islander]

I'm holding out for SED. Hopefully the Surface-conducting Electron-emitting Display TVs will be in production and down to affordable prices within a couple of years. SED promises a better picture and a much longer service life, but is stalled at the moment with legal issues...

[efzauner]

from a practical point of view, plasma, lcd, rear projection lcd, rear projection dlp....should all last a very very long time. They are giving 50000 hours of plasma life now...that is 25 years at 8 hours a day.. That is 5 times longer than your old CRT! Plasma and crt life time is given as time to half brightness. So pick what you like, dont worry about bulbs burning out etc.

AS for SED... Toshiba sold it stake in SED to Cannon I believe (its 50-50 parnter in the venture) because of patent lawsuits and has delayed production even further. if at all.

http://www.photonics.com/content/news/2007/January/12/86007.aspx

frigin darn patent lawyers from a tiny irrelevant company preventing great technology from comming to the masses!

With plasma and LCD prices continuing to fall...Dont hold your breath on SED coming out to market soon....Heck you can get a 40 inch name brand plasma for what, under $1500? If you really want a tv you can still get 32 inch tube tvs for a few hundred dollars....