32" TVs

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@jeallen01

Agree with you about the early Grundigs - I suspect the one I got also in 1982 might well have been the same model.

Rectangular Remote Control?

But the passage of time meant Grundig as a brand name ended up at the arse-end of the market too
 
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jeallen01 said:
But at what price and how often?

I've had 3x Tosh (sadly also now gone from the TV market) LCD TV's (the first one was 32", the next 40" and the current on 42") ) over the last 15yrs or so and none has failed (albeit the first example of the last "end of line" one had a dreadful picture, but the 2nd at a very fair £550 for the time was/is pretty good).

Buy a decent set (look at the review and so on on AVForums - lots of info), and hopefully look forward to many years of painless use - best of mine was a 16" "genuine" Grundig colour set that I bought around 1982 and lasted to the early 21stC, albeit with spares from another one that I picked up at the local boot sale in the early 90s, but it had a modular chassis which meant that swopping boards was dead easy. However, I digress, but do buy something decent!
Click to expand...
Sadly Even top end brands fail often..and if screens fail ..they too are unrepairable ..
Give you an example ..
about 10 years ago ..if you purchased a Sony ...you could be sure it WAS a Sony ..
but Vestel even appears inside these sets now ...
Cos Vestel can do it cheaper ..
So no guarantee you get what you think you are getting ...but Like branded Clothes ...you still pay a premium for the Label ..
Oh ...and btw ...
Toshiba No longer make TVs and haven't for over 10 years ..
These too are just Badged Vestels..
 
Yep.

Entirely agree.

These days, you pay extra just for the Badge.

False economy.
 
Occasionally you get something out of this ...mess...
For example
Ged (Digi247) brought me a 32 LG ....a while back ..
Dead he said ..customer didn't even consider a reapir ...and bought new ..
I looked at this LED LG smart TV ..less than 18 month old ..
Unreal quoth I ...is it a gift ?
Yep ...
Well ...I'll see it gets a good burial if needed ...and repaired if I can ..
I examined the set and found LED backlights inside the screen had failed ..
These are on strips and are required to be repaced as such ..so I checked with my supplier ..
The strips to me for a full kit was in excess of £80 ...
Yeah right ...no wonder it was destined for the bin ..
I removed one of the LEDs from the strip using a hot air gun ..
and proceeded to try and find suitable replacements ...to do the repair at component level ..
Who these days would even consider it ?
Well ...to shorten the story I found replacements in China ...and bulk ordered 1000 ...
cost me about £30 including postage ..
used 5 LEDs from the reel ...and fixed the TV ...
It is now my main Monitor ..
I'm staring at this now as I type ..
Job done ..and enough spares to do many many more repairs ..
Why are the LED strips so expensive you might ask ...???
Well thats easy ..
Law and regulation says ..components should be made available to repair faulty goods for a period after the model hits the market ....
But they dont say these 'parts ' have to make repairs economical ..
In fact both manufacturers and govts would much prefer your hands in your pockets and your credit cards to be used ..
They DONT want it repaired ..so make it as difficult as possible.
Thats the world as it now is ..in a nutshell.
Live long and Prosper ...if you can afford it ...
doh!
 

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Vipersan said:
Occasionally you get something out of this ...mess...
For example
Ged (Digi247) brought me a 32 LG ....a while back ..
Dead he said ..customer didn't even consider a reapir ...and bought new ..
I looked at this LED LG smart TV ..less than 18 month old ..
Unreal quoth I ...is it a gift ?
Yep ...
Well ...I'll see it gets a good burial if needed ...and repaired if I can ..
I examined the set and found LED backlights inside the screen had failed ..
These are on strips and are required to be repaced as such ..so I checked with my supplier ..
The strips to me for a full kit was in excess of £80 ...
Yeah right ...no wonder it was destined for the bin ..
I removed one of the LEDs from the strip using a hot air gun ..
and proceeded to try and find suitable replacements ...to do the repair at component level ..
Who these days would even consider it ?
Well ...to shorten the story I found replacements in China ...and bulk ordered 1000 ...
cost me about £30 including postage ..
used 5 LEds from the reel ...and fixed the TV ...
It is now my main Monitor ..
I'm staring at this now as I type ..
Job done ..and enough spares to do many many more repairs ..
Why are the LED strips so expensive you might ask ...???
Well thats easy ..
Law and regulation says ..components should be made available to repair faulty goods for a period after the model hits the market ....
But they dont say these 'parts ' have to make repairs economical ..
In fact both manufacturers and govts would much prefer your hands in your pockets and your credit cards to be used ..
They DONT want it repaired ..so make it as difficult as possible.
Thats the world as it now is ..in a nutshell.
Live long and Prosper ...if you can afford it ...
doh!
Click to expand...
That's the way to go. Make do and mend, my grandparents used to say to me.
 
I have a 26" Grundig in the bedroom only used for early F1 coverage for last 7 years very reliable tv I prefer Sony 40" in the Lounge :)
 
Lazarus

Yup, yes there was a rectangular remote.

Edited: and I also agree with you on the very unfortunate demise of the "real" Grundig brand:(
 
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I have a Samsung 40" lcd panel as main tv/monitor

PC is into it also


image.webp
Kodi from the PC, the visualisation is called milk drop. (Yes it is supposed to look like that)
 
Vipersan said:
I know buddy ..I know ..
I am a dying breed ..
Just to give you some idea ..
The TVgroup I am a member of (a spinoff from The TV Magazine ...anyone remember it ?)
Had over 10,000 members pre 2000 ...both UK ...and International ..
We now number less than 300
Click to expand...

Many villages / towns around here have a Euronics store but none seem to have the obligatory workshop at the rear that they started out with.
 
I had an absolutely lovely Panasonic plasma 37" TV from 2008. It was very good with natural pictures and a decent SD picture. Sadly, it saw its demise when it wouldn't switch on - appeared completely dead. I discussed it with VS at the time and he said it could have been any component in PSU, which would have been fixable for a few quid or a component failure within the display, which would have made it uneconomical to repair. The local repair guy also said more or less the same thing and wouldn't take it on for less than £200 (another working 2nd hand one would have been £150...).

In the end I sold it for spares on eBay and the buyer *did* fix it (was a few components in PSU) and sold it on for profit. He got lucky.

The complexity of today's electronics is bewildering and makes them very difficult to repair economically. Same with cars, which is why I try to stick to simpler/cheaper models which don't have to rely on expensive dealer diagnostics to even find an issue.

As for TVs.. we have two Samsung ones, 32" and 37", from 2011 ish and both have been trouble free.
 
Captain Jack said:
The complexity of today's electronics is bewildering and makes them very difficult to repair economically. Same with cars, which is why I try to stick to simpler/cheaper models which don't have to rely on expensive dealer diagnostics to even find an issue.
Click to expand...

The main issue - I have - is the need to desolder and check components that are smalle than a grain of sand .

SMT size.webp
 
Channel Hopper said:
The main issue - I have - is the need to desolder and check components that are smalle than a grain of sand .

View attachment 97174
Click to expand...
I know what you mean buddy ...
Occasionally I too have to replace small form factor SMD s ...
In these situations I work with a jewellers eyepiece supported in the eye socket a bit like a monacle ..
Long periods like this result in Migraine headaches ....
No wonder my eyesight is rapidly degrading ...
that plus the MS of course..

There are suitable microscopes out there for small component work ..
but I find the microscope gets in the way physically when soldering..
I borrowed one once to try ....but cant afford one , they _can_cost over a grand easy ...for a good one..
such as this one
Mantis Elite-Cam HD

Yes I know there are cheaper alternatives ...but IF you do this kind of work ...you will know what I mean about the tools obstructing the job ..

Maybe I'll save up for a Mantis ...one day..
..and maybe I'll die or the trade dies first ..
cest la vie

Here is a review from Trev the founder of our TV group on the very expensive 'Elite' model ..
which is excellent tho still has minor issues..

and EEV blog


Great bloke Dave ...Manic and Funny..
;)
 
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Now ...see ..this is where a Mantis would have been useful ..
Had an 8gb usb thumb drive in my drawer ...
bought about 12 months ago ...and suddenly one day refused to be recognised ...
or ..at least the data on it that is ..
So plugging in the usb pen ..windows makes the usual beep noises ...the drive letter appears in disc management ...but no directories ...no data ..
Logically there are only 2 chips on a usb pen ..
controller chip and memory ..plus a handful of passive smds ..
The components are relatively easy to examine with an eyelglass ..as they are relatively large connections ..
needless to say all soldered joints looked ok ...and since the drive is recognised ..we can sort of assume the controller chip is also ok ..
Suspicion then falls on the TSOP 48 8gb memory chip ...
either faulty or more likely a dodgy soldered connection ...
Of course ..checking these connections aint so easy as it's such fine pitch soldered joints ...
If I could have examined these connections more closely I probably would have spotted a dodgy soldered pin ..thus only have one ultra fine pitch soldered joint to remake ..
But I cannot ...
So reflowed all 48 pins ...a job that would put most folk off ..
Anyhoo ...
Resoldered all 48 ...and plugged it into the usb port on the PC ..
..and was rewarded with a fully functioning 8gb usb stick ...
Ok you might say ..
Why bother they are so cheap ?
well ...a) if the data had been important it could now be recovered ..
and ..b) If we keep throwing repairable stuff away ..
The Gaia will thank us in the long run.
rgds
VS
 
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Interesting.

I have had USB sticks that suddenly ceased functioning.

But in every case - probably half a dozen occurrences, I've always rejuvenated them using the Disk tools in most Linux Distros. These always succeed in restoring and reformatting where Windows fails.

Different failure to yours, VS, and doesn't recover data, of course, but then I always have between two and four redundant and diverse backups of anything important.
 
Lazarus said:
Interesting.

I have had USB sticks that suddenly ceased functioning.

But in every case - probably half a dozen occurrences, I've always rejuvenated them using the Disk tools in most Linux Distros. These always succeed in restoring and reformatting where Windows fails.

Different failure to yours, VS, and doesn't recover data, of course, but then I always have between two and four redundant and diverse backups of anything important.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed G ...sofware recovery does indeed work for corrupt formatting ...but of course_physical_ damage requires mechanical intervention ..
rgds
VS
 
Vipersan said:
Had over 10,000 members pre 2000 ...both UK ...and International ..
We now number less than 300
Click to expand...

So even if it is repairable - good luck trying to find someone with the tools & knowledge to fix it :(
 
Most folk are not as diligent as you G ..
I remember a while back now ..
A young woman came into my shop crying ...
Her irreplaceable photos of her mother ...who had died recently ..at the time ...were all on a usb pen drive ...and of course she could not get them back ..
The usb pen was no longer recognised upon inserting into a usb port ..
Exactly the opposite of my repair today ..
The controller chip had failed on this one ..
I sorted it out tho'
Bought an Identical usb stick ...and physically transferred the TSOP memory chip onto the pcb of the new stick ..
...Immediately backed up the contents to my pc ...then wrote the photos to a brand new untouched pen drive ..
Charged her £30 for the fix ...and she was so grateful ..she gave me £50 ..
A day I well remember ...but did she learn anything ?
I'll never know ..but have my doubts ..

Sadly this sort of fix isn't so easy if at all possible now ..
not with these new usb pens that have the chip totally embedded in plastic ..
So be warned folk ...double or triple back up everything ..
Good job you had yours backed up Nelson ...
Ahem ...!!! ;)
lol
rgds
VS
 
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:-applause


Nice story. But you're right that most folk have neither the time, knowledge or inclination to do regular backups.

They are probably the same ones who have password as their password! And for every password.
 
PS: I wonder if Chris has made a decision about his putative 32 incher yet?
 
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