Has anyone had an LED TV repaired?

[BuffaloBud]

Have you checked the interweb to see if there is anything about your issue and potentially repairing yourself?

[teef]

I guess a HDMI switcher is the modern version of a receiver (minus the sound system). Do the sound bars really work all that well? (If they do, why don't they have multiple inputs for HDMI, with one back for screen?)

steptide explanation of the sound bar is a good one. i found that most sound out of the standard speakers on the tv is pretty weak, depending on the room. we have a great room that our main tv is in, and it absolutely needed the sound bar. it's also on an ARC, so the sound automatically goes through the soundbar once the tv is turned on. for mine, it takes a second, so i first hear it through the tv, and after about 3 second, through the sound bar. the sound is significantly better. it's almost a necessity for normal sound in certain rooms. no where near as nice as surround sound, but much less expensive.

 

i don't have a sound bar in my home office, but i don't have any problems with audio, mostly (i think) because the room is smaller. i've also heard the newer tvs have improved the standard speaker sound quite a bit.

[Captain_Quint]

I had a Samsung repaired once, but it was due to a defect and the capacitors went. My model happened to be covered in the recall, so they sent some Russian TV repair guy out from a local shop. I left the room, came back in and the TV was in 1000 pieces. He changed the capacitors, put it all back together and it's worked fine ever since. Bought the TV in 2006, fixed in 2009, and still working as a TV in the boathouse.

 

42 inch Samsung LCD, not LED.

[Greybeard]

TV's these days are like disposable razors. I usually purchase a new one every 3-4 years, mostly because the technology quickly becomes outdated. I bought a 65" Vizeo LED 3 years ago, and none of the apps (YouTube, Amazon TV, Pandora) work anymore. Think I'm going to get myself a new one pretty soon.

 

Just get a separate box. Can't get much cheaper than a Firestick.

Have you checked the interweb to see if there is anything about your issue and potentially repairing yourself?

 

This is good advice. About 8 years ago my daughter had a Vizio go out. She looked everything up on the internet and asked me if I would help. I said sure take it apart and let me know what you need. When I got home from work the next day she had it apart on the kitchen table and told me she needed some caps. The only thing she wanted me to do is solder them in. TV still works.

 

I wouldn't give up on anything today without first checking the internet for repair info.

[Augie]

We have a Mitsubishi LCD in the family room for about the last 8 years. About 18 months in had some kind of pixel issue, called Mitsubishi and they had someone come out and replace the entire front panel. The person who came out had been repairing TV's for like 3 months, was a simple matter of taking out and replacing some screws. Maybe replacing the panel is an option?

 

TV has been great ever since. Paid for a professional calibration when I bought the TV, and the picture is still great. Calibration was in the guts of the TV, so just carried over to new panel.

 

In terms of Samsung, been my goto for a long while TV wise, have a 55inch on the porch that has been outside for the last 5 years, never comes in, and doing just fine.

On the porch huh? Got an address for that? I might drop by and “check it out”.

 

A nice TV outside is something I’ve always wanted, but had concerns about how long it would “last” in the weather, and until some punk figured out there was a nice TV available.

 

My first Sony HD TV was garbage and they could never fix it. Ever since we’ve been pretty fortunate with Samsung and LG. If one craps out in the next 24 hours, I’ll PM the OP an invoice.

[Fadingpain]

Samsungs have a shoddy history when it comes to quality.

 

I have a Sony that cost $2,400 maybe 8 years ago. I went to turn it on recently and nothing happened.

 

After trouble shooting obvious stuff (like was it plugged in, is the remote dead, etc.) I realized it was just broken.

 

Watched some youtube videos and learned how to check the 3 main boards inside with a volt meter.

 

If you see X, board 1 is dead. Y, board 2 is dead. Z, board 3 is dead.

 

I concluded Board 2 was shot....bought one for $59 on Ebay from guy who sells these out of new TVs with broken screens, so he strips them out for parts.

 

It took 10 minutes to pop the new board in place...TV has worked fine since.

 

I found it interesting that the "industry standard" for repairing TVs these days is to rip out an entire huge board with a million components on it, and simply replace it.

 

That's like saying you are not sure but think your alternator on the car is bad, and the master mechanic says "Well, what we do these days is completely gut the engine bay and replace everything..whatever is causing the problem will get fixed."

 

It's crazy, but that is what they do. Buy a multi-tester/volt meter and watch some videos...will save you a lot of hassle and unnecessary repair expense.

 

These things are built to have easily swapped out throwaway components.

[Best Player Available]

Samsungs have a shoddy history when it comes to quality.

 

I have a Sony that cost $2,400 maybe 8 years ago. I went to turn it on recently and nothing happened.

 

After trouble shooting obvious stuff (like was it plugged in, is the remote dead, etc.) I realized it was just broken.

 

Watched some youtube videos and learned how to check the 3 main boards inside with a volt meter.

 

If you see X, board 1 is dead. Y, board 2 is dead. Z, board 3 is dead.

 

I concluded Board 2 was shot....bought one for $59 on Ebay from guy who sells these out of new TVs with broken screens, so he strips them out for parts.

 

It took 10 minutes to pop the new board in place...TV has worked fine since.

 

I found it interesting that the "industry standard" for repairing TVs these days is to rip out an entire huge board with a million components on it, and simply replace it.

 

That's like saying you are not sure but think your alternator on the car is bad, and the master mechanic says "Well, what we do these days is completely gut the engine bay and replace everything..whatever is causing the problem will get fixed."

 

It's crazy, but that is what they do. Buy a multi-tester/volt meter and watch some videos...will save you a lot of hassle and unnecessary repair expense.

 

These things are built to have easily swapped out throwaway components.

No one troubleshoots flatscreens at the component level. It isn't cost effective anymore. Plus I think the skill level of these guys is pretty

low. there's companies that don't even shoot at the board level. If they determine a part (component) in a pricey servo motor is bad on a expensive machine They replace the whole motor. Never even open it up. Amazing.

[Marv's Neighbor]

My wife insists that we have a 2yr extended warranty. If it does not sh*t the bed in 2 years, it should be OK for a while. I am against the warranty scam but we all know how this will end?

[Steptide]

Have you checked the interweb to see if there is anything about your issue and potentially repairing yourself?

Yes. My issue seems to be a somewhat common issue in LG TV's. However the repair consists of basically dismantling the entire TV to get to the issue. I don't trust myself one bit trying to dismantle a 65" TV. Would rather have a professional do it

[KD in CA]

I did, but it was still under warranty. Our set had a thing where the bottom of the screen was really dark.

 

Service guy came out, unscrewed the back and I could see there were literally 3 parts to the entire TV. Two chips and a screen. He replaced the screen, no fix. He replaced the bigger chip, and it was fixed. Been fine ever since.

 

No surprise these sets don't last like the old tube TVs.

[plenzmd1]

On the porch huh? Got an address for that? I might drop by and “check it out”.

 

A nice TV outside is something I’ve always wanted, but had concerns about how long it would “last” in the weather, and until some punk figured out there was a nice TV available.

 

My first Sony HD TV was garbage and they could never fix it. Ever since we’ve been pretty fortunate with Samsung and LG. If one craps out in the next 24 hours, I’ll PM the OP an invoice.

Yes sir! Had one outside for the last 11years on the porch. Living in Richmond was never concerned with winter weather, but the hot humid summers messing with the innards. Never have had an issue. If it is below 40 or so when i first turn it on, will take a minute for the picture to become perfectly clear, but then it is all fine.

 

And yes, we have "donated" one , but pretty sure we know who did that and lets just say he longer has the ability to walk around the streets.

[Steptide]

I did, but it was still under warranty. Our set had a thing where the bottom of the screen was really dark.

 

 

Service guy came out, unscrewed the back and I could see there were literally 3 parts to the entire TV. Two chips and a screen. He replaced the screen, no fix. He replaced the bigger chip, and it was fixed. Been fine ever since.

 

No surprise these sets don't last like the old tube TVs.

If you only have to take the back of the TV off to make a repair it can be pretty simple. Unfortunately for me, it's a problem with one if the LED lights which requires taking off the entire front panel and all the circuit boards

[sullim4]

I did as well, under warranty, although it was 6 years ago or so. The product line that I bought from Sony had a known issue with the screen failing.

 

It was the most frustrating repair experience I've ever had. Sony had a SINGLE warranty repair man for all of Washington State - this guy would cross the mountain passes to repair TVs. It took weeks for him to show up, he missed his first appointment (claimed his car was stolen, sheesh), and had to make three trips to fix the tv.

 

All in all, it took eight weeks to repair it. I wrote a nasty letter to Sony, got no response. Our next TV will not be a Sony.

[jr1]

just get a cheap TV from Walmart/ Target etc

[shrader]

I've had three (yes 3) LG TV's go belly up on me in the past 2 years. A 55", a 40" and a small 22-24" None of them were more than 2 years old.

 

Obviously, never buying an LG TV (or anything LG) ever again.

 

I bought an LG right around Thanksgiving last year. It was fine most of the time, but then I watched a hockey game. I pretty quickly noticed that the left half of the screen was slightly darker than the right. It was only noticeable with a very light colored background (the white ice in hockey). LG wound up sending someone to fix it, but ultimately, I didn't want to have a tv that someone had worked on within a month of buying it. I wound up returning it (Costco) and lucked my way into a really nice sale on a Samsung. The same amount of money got me a tv and a wireless soundbar. The LG left me a little skeptical about their tvs.

 

as just jack mentioned, try using a hdmi switcher, (not splitter) if you don't have enough inputs. the one i used was great, and would automatically recognize what device you were trying to use, and would bring it up on the tv. the only time i ever had to manually switch the setting was if two devices were running at once, and i wanted to switch between them. even for that there was a little remote. 50 bucks maybe.

 

I have a wall mounted tv with a single hdmi line running through the wall to where I store my media (directv box and PS4). I really didn't want to go to the effort of running any extra cables through that wall, so I bought a splitter with 4 hdmi inputs. I bet it's the same one you have. It seems to recognize the device like you said, but I tend to have both on at the same time, so I'm using that remote a lot. My only concern is that the remote is so damn small that it's bound to disappear at some point, especially with how recklessly my wife will toss it just about anywhere in the room. Still, it was well worth the cost so that I could avoid fishing that extra line through the wall and avoiding what probably would have been some visible wires behind the wall mount.

[IDBillzFan]

Well that's my issue. I've been pricing new tvs and it's just annoying. I can get 50 or 55 inch 4k TV for anywhere from 700-1000 dollars. While that's a decent price compared to what I paid 3 years ago, they lack in other areas. My 65" has 4 hdmi inputs and 3 usb. Alot of the "cheaper" new 4k tvs have a max of 3 hdmi (sometimes 2) inputs. While I'm willing to go down a little bit in size, I cant live with only 2 hdmi inputs. 3 is tolerable. At the end of the day, I jyst really don't wanna spend that much money again

 

What do you need all the HDMI inputs for?

 

Cable. BluRay. And?

[Steptide]

 

What do you need all the HDMI inputs for?

 

Cable. BluRay. And?

As I mentioned earlier, cable box, sound bar, chrome cast and blu ray player.

[IDBillzFan]

As I mentioned earlier, cable box, sound bar, chrome cast and blu ray player.

 

Do you have to put the sound bar on an HDMI input?

[Steptide]

 

Do you have to put the sound bar on an HDMI input?

I don't HAVE to, but I do because of the arc input on my TV. See my previous reply

[IDBillzFan]

I don't HAVE to, but I do because of the arc input on my TV. See my previous reply

 

I seem to be responding without reading anything, so I'll let you field from people reading, but you should look at Costco for a replacement. You may not prefer LG or Vizio, but they each have a 65" with 4x HDMI, 4K UHD for $800 and $970, respectively.