Do I need to get my TV repaired?
August 6, 2005 7:45 AM Subscribe
I've just had my TV repaired, and I think the company that fixed it is messing me around..
My less-than-two-years-old 28" Sony TV had a problem, recently, and I sent it to the shop. After some wrangling, they fixed that problem, but since I got it back, there's a flicker on the screen. It's only visible on some colours (yellow, the green of a football pitch, etc), but it's like a very thin, white, horizontal line, going up and down the screen.
When I called them to tell them to fix the new problem, they came out, had a look, and said that I was imagining it. When I demostrated it, they said that it was a local interference problem. I said that it wasn't happening before. At this point, they pointed out that I'd moved house, and there was probably more interference in my new house.. and that TVs these days aren't very well shielded.
This is a 28" CRT TV, which weighs a ton. I don't own a car, so can't very well take it anywhere else to test it. The question is... is the repair company messing me around, or is this sort of interference usual? Should I be pushing them to take it back and fix it properly?
My less-than-two-years-old 28" Sony TV had a problem, recently, and I sent it to the shop. After some wrangling, they fixed that problem, but since I got it back, there's a flicker on the screen. It's only visible on some colours (yellow, the green of a football pitch, etc), but it's like a very thin, white, horizontal line, going up and down the screen.
When I called them to tell them to fix the new problem, they came out, had a look, and said that I was imagining it. When I demostrated it, they said that it was a local interference problem. I said that it wasn't happening before. At this point, they pointed out that I'd moved house, and there was probably more interference in my new house.. and that TVs these days aren't very well shielded.
This is a 28" CRT TV, which weighs a ton. I don't own a car, so can't very well take it anywhere else to test it. The question is... is the repair company messing me around, or is this sort of interference usual? Should I be pushing them to take it back and fix it properly?
Does the problem appear with broadcast tv signals, cable/digital cable/satellite, vcr/dvd (across all kinds of inputs that is?) If so, see next question, if it's only TV broadcasts it may be fairly normal
Does the problem appear no matter where you put the TV? Especially try orienting it in different directions. Electrical and magnetic fields are directional. The kind of fields that cause interference will cause the maxium at angle X and the minum and angle X+90 degrees. Rotating the direction of your TV may fix the problem.
If something external to your TV is causing the interference, then it is either very close or probably too far away for you to fix the situation. If it is close, it might be something as simple as power lines in the wall (ok, unlikely), an electronic device that is, correctly or incorrectly giving off a lot of interference, or something. Moving the TV to the center of the room away from amplifiers, computers, etc might be a good way to test for that. It may also be from something distant like big power transformers (by distant I mean out at the street or in your backyard or something).
I've also seen strange stuff when the power was not clean. Think of what happens to a TV when you turn on a blender for example, goes nuts. Not sure what to do about that, there are probably good power conditioners out there but it's hard to say if that would fix your problem.
When you showed the guy the problem, he did agree that it exists right, that you're not imagining it? He just felt it was normalish?
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:41 AM on August 6, 2005
Does the problem appear no matter where you put the TV? Especially try orienting it in different directions. Electrical and magnetic fields are directional. The kind of fields that cause interference will cause the maxium at angle X and the minum and angle X+90 degrees. Rotating the direction of your TV may fix the problem.
If something external to your TV is causing the interference, then it is either very close or probably too far away for you to fix the situation. If it is close, it might be something as simple as power lines in the wall (ok, unlikely), an electronic device that is, correctly or incorrectly giving off a lot of interference, or something. Moving the TV to the center of the room away from amplifiers, computers, etc might be a good way to test for that. It may also be from something distant like big power transformers (by distant I mean out at the street or in your backyard or something).
I've also seen strange stuff when the power was not clean. Think of what happens to a TV when you turn on a blender for example, goes nuts. Not sure what to do about that, there are probably good power conditioners out there but it's hard to say if that would fix your problem.
When you showed the guy the problem, he did agree that it exists right, that you're not imagining it? He just felt it was normalish?
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:41 AM on August 6, 2005
Try calling your cable company. We had a similar problem. Once we called the cable company, they came out, diagnosed the problem (which turned out to be a split in the plastic covering of a cable outseide), and fixed it for free.
posted by richardhay at 9:33 AM on August 6, 2005
posted by richardhay at 9:33 AM on August 6, 2005
See what Rusty is saying?
1) Try a clean signal. DVD. VCR. Not Cable.
2) Do you have another TV? if you have (or have access temporarily to a neighbors, you could put that on the same signal.
This way:
You could show a different input has the same problem.
A different TV does not exhibit the same cable problem.
Then it's the TV.
posted by filmgeek at 10:33 AM on August 6, 2005
1) Try a clean signal. DVD. VCR. Not Cable.
2) Do you have another TV? if you have (or have access temporarily to a neighbors, you could put that on the same signal.
This way:
You could show a different input has the same problem.
A different TV does not exhibit the same cable problem.
Then it's the TV.
posted by filmgeek at 10:33 AM on August 6, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by riffola at 8:32 AM on August 6, 2005