🚀 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!!

In article <35C77E95.68A@hotmail.com>, marvin_d_c@hotmail.com writes:
|> 
|> 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 would guess that that is generally the rule with regard to consumer
appliances.

|> 
|> 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!

Well, that's still $200 more than repairing the old set.  My eleven year old
set includes the features listed above; of course, it was a good deal more
expensive at the time.  When my set last had problems (2.5 years ago), I
did shop around.  I was not impressed by the sets in that price range.  My
old set had a much better picture.  Maybe things have improved in the last
couple of years, but then, the under $300 27" price range was junk.  It seemed
that a good set still started at around $500-$600 and went up from there.

Maybe it's time to shop again, but I might rather pay another $100 to carry
me over the next couple of years until it's time for the new technology.

|> 
|> 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!!

Mine doesn't fall into the above, but I'd rather not shop around for something
new at this time, and I care about quality too much to buy something that
might not measure up.

--
John Eisenman (jice@sgi.com)

Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
MS 7U-553
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd.		
P.O. Box 7311		
Mt. View, CA 94039-7311		

(650) 933-1551
(650) 932-1551 (fax)

Right on brother!!  It's never worth your money to repair anything electronic
that is over 6 or 7 years old. Get an estimate... if the cost is 50% of the cost
of a new TV, get the new one... 

On 4 Aug 1998 18:35:11 GMT, marvin_d_c@hotmail.com wrote:

>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?


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