Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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Plasma TVs are already under fire in Europe, which is seeking a total ban, mainly because of energy consumption. There are other factors, and this will most likely do for the TV industry what it did for flourescent lights. I remember back when you put in a light fixture and didn't have to touch it for ten years. Now I have to buy flourescent tubes by the case because it saves energy ! ? What ? What about the energy used to produce more tubes of inferior quality vs the cost of building fewer tubes of better quality (longevity) ?
All of these new TVs are junk. They will find their way to a landfill in a few short years. There is almost no component level troubleshooting, repair is usually accomplished on a board level basis. What we need is cheaper boards. When they sell the TV for $1,000 for example, how do they justify the fact that all the parts added up come to something like ten times that amount ?
Plus the design of these things defies effective troubleshooting, it is usually difficult even to determine which board is bad, then when you get the price of a new board the customer falls on the floor. Seriously, most shops will tell you to sit down before giving you the price. Add to that the fact that one board can and often does blow another when it fails, so at $300 per board, two of them are $600. Just the cost of parts are about twice what they are willing to pay.
Plasmas are a different animal than LCDs and DLPs. First of all the power supply is the most likely failure. So in plasma TVs there are about twelve of them. Why ? Who knows. I suspect that in pursuit of thinness they can't build just one power supply that will run the whole thing.
Plasmas and CRTs have one advantage, when you turn the brightness (picture or contrast) down they pull less juice. Not so with DLP and LCD, in fact the opposite is almost true. The latter two technologies work by blocking or misdirecting light that is always supplied at full brightness, which is not very efficient sounding - for good reason. Now the really flat LCDs are going to "zone backlighting" which uses an array of high brightness LEDs. This has the added benefit of enhancing the contrast ratio. But this can't be applied to projecton LCDs, or DLPs which are all projection because of the design.
No matter what, when you buy a new TV, expect about two years before a major repair bill, unlike the old days when they would run for ten years before they need service. While alot of CRT TVs can be repaired, many of these newer technologies can't, at least not cost effectively.
Better technology is available if they would choose to develop it - VFD. VFD is like the front panel display in the old VCRs. While it is a tube and has filaments, there is no high voltage, no deflection circuitry, no alot of things. Many have seen the old audio spectrum analyzers, most of which were based on VFD technology. All they need is more dots, and the three primary colors and it would work, and be the most efficient. I suspect they refuse to build them because they would be too reliable. You see every year it lasts beyond the warranty is a year they get no money from you. What would you do ?
Normally I am against government intervention, but these conditions have impelled me to make an exception. They are dumping, and raping the public with these things. It is ridiculous what they are getting away with. And remember, these things get on the boat and all the sudden they are worth ten times their cost. Built by slave labor's lowest bidder and sold as if it was gold plated.
My TV is only twenty years old, I have no need to replace it.
T
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California appears poised to be first to ban power-guzz... - 
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SO true! 
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