🚀 go-pugleaf

you asked for opinions, so here's mine....

Repairing consumer TVs and VCRs is almost always a waste of your time
and money. Even IF you can find a reliable repair shop, the cost of most
repairs will be a significant portion of the cost of a new unit.
Besides, once you've repaired your 11-year old TV, it will still be 11
years old; something else could go wrong with it the next day. Besides
that, there have been technical improvements during that time, so why
not take advantage of them?

I'd suggest you look around for an inexpensive 25" or even 27" TV, which
will probably be $200-300 depending on where you shop. For your money,
you'll get stereo sound, bright picture, full remote control,
cable-ready, and whatever else. Use it until the digital TVs become
widely available, then move it to another room and keep it for backup!

The only exceptions to the above suggestion are repairing a unit that's
still in warranty, or repairing one that was EXTREMELY expensive, and is
still fairly new. Otherwise, buy new!!