Plasma/LCD/LED TV life 5-6 yrs.!

[nindo]

Hi,

I have been using Samsung 5 Series 40" Full HD LCD tv for about 3 years and just a couple of weeks back while watching regular TV it started blinking (as in the brightness started going up and down) and suddenly it stopped but with the result that the colors were distorted- like i am watching a old school negative film.!

After repeated calls to Samsung customer care and one visit from their engineer i was informed that the panel PCB has gone bust and as it is not available separately i will have to buy the whole panel worth INR 34000.!

For a TV bought for INR 60000 3 yrs back spending 34k again was just ridiculous. Finally after few more calls and arguments with Samsung customer care, the engineer who visited twice again told me that he can get the PCB from any old samsung TV with similar Panel, discarded for whatever reasons and fix it for about 8k.

But the most important fact is the engineer informed me that i am one among thousands of customers who bought LCD TVs around 2007-8 from different brands who face this problem now, plus may it plasma or LCD or the latest LEDs- their panel+PCB life is not more than 5-6 yrs on standard TV viewing hours (say 5-6 hrs per day).! (by the way this guy claims he has been in the business for more than 16 years- he was working for Videocon in their hay days)

What i would like to ask all you ppl is that does it make sense to spend thousands or even lakhs to buy a product which is yet not tested for durability or is built by the manufacturers in a way that it doesn't last more than 5-6 years, so that the new products are bought faster and old ones scrapped. Are the days when we used to buy a brand new TV and forget about servicing/repairing it for like 15 yrs gone..? :sad:

you comments will be most appreciated.

 

[madurai1974]

u expect the tv to last 15 years.. hmm samsung would go bust if it lasted so long..

 

[nindo]

u expect the tv to last 15 years.. hmm samsung would go bust if it lasted so long..

well, most earlier companies including sony and samsung CRT TVs have lasted so long, they didn't go bust...the ones who went bust like BPL, Bush etc did so because of lack of innovation and new products...

 

[elangoas]

What i would like to ask all you ppl is that does it make sense to spend thousands or even lakhs to buy a product which is yet not tested for durability or is built by the manufacturers in a way that it doesn't last more than 5-6 years, so that the new products are bought faster and old ones scrapped. Are the days when we used to buy a brand new TV and forget about servicing/repairing it for like 15 yrs gone..? :sad:

you comments will be most appreciated.

Really sad that your TV went bust. I think CRT buit in the earlier days had very good build quality, so they lasted 15 + yrs.. Even i have a BPL 21 Inches TV that is working really good after few services for 20 yrs...

These days features are more but the Build Quality has gone down i believe & hence these kind of issues.

So are you spending 30K to get it repaired ?

 

[madhavk8]

Really sad

 

[BLASTO]

u expect the tv to last 15 years.. hmm samsung would go bust if it lasted so long..

My father watches a 25+ year old solidaire TV. No wonder the company went bust long before the TV did.

 

[nindo]

So are you spending 30K to get it repaired ?

no way i am spending so much...i would rather give it to my maid or my driver for 5k and buy a new LCD..no no more LCD...dunno what i ll do...'

anyway for now, the engineer has promised me a work around as mentioned in my original post. he ll get me a PCB from another discarded (other sets which are bought back to the service center or the company warehouse for warranty issues other than the panel) and fix it in mine for around 8k. he says it should last for another year or so at least.! but of course no guarantee.! by then i can decide and gather up enough moolah to buy the latest available TV tech..and hopefully it ll last longer.!

but the question still remains- are most LCD/LED TVs made now will last only 5-6 years...i think thats really high cost of ownership at least for we indians who pay more than double the price for the same damn s*^t thats available in far east or middle east for 1/2 the price and with no surety that it will outlast its warrantee period.!

 

[madurai1974]

My father watches a 25+ year old solidaire TV. No wonder the company went bust long before the TV did.

hehehe nowadays the tech cos are getting smarter as product life cycles are getting shorter.. they donot want you to keep your tv for 25 years

 

[nindo]

true, but considering technology is turning over so fast, the prices should come down even faster. I feel the manufacturers are fleecing we poor Indians. :sad:

abroad, the prices for outdated items come down really fast, and best time is now- christmas clearance sales..!

I wouldn't mind spending say 20K for a 46" HD LCD TV that can last about 3-4 years, thats like INR 108.6/inch/yr...!(20000/46/4) hyeah: not too high...

 

[raghu77]

Hi,

The same case happened to me..I bought Samsung LCD 32 inch 4 years back for about 43000. Now when i switch on the tv picture getting bl err and switch off automatically..when i contacted service center they said PANEL GONE....i need to pay 17k to get it replace...The same case happened to my friend where he bought samsung 5 series LCD tv and the samsung person came to install the tv when he switch on picture getting bl err he said "sir picture tube gone shall i replace". This tv is just unpacked and not working...what are they into their quality check not able to understand.....

And also our mentality is that when we use to LCD tv and we cannot go back to CRT. Force ably we need to go for LCD/LED again...

 

[nindo]

Hi,

And also our mentality is that when we use to LCD tv and we cannot go back to CRT. Force ably we need to go for LCD/LED again...

added to the info given by the engineer, samsung and LG plan to discontinue manufacturing of CRT TVs in early 2012 onwards...! This means even if you want to go back to a CRT for whatever reasons, you can't. Your last chance to buy a CRT is now and only options are those so called "slim" 21" TVs.:sad:

 

[god2007]

Hi,

I have been using Samsung 5 Series 40" Full HD LCD tv for about 3 years and just a couple of weeks back while watching regular TV it started blinking (as in the brightness started going up and down) and suddenly it stopped but with the result that the colors were distorted- like i am watching a old school negative film.!

After repeated calls to Samsung customer care and one visit from their engineer i was informed that the panel PCB has gone bust and as it is not available separately i will have to buy the whole panel worth INR 34000.!

For a TV bought for INR 60000 3 yrs back spending 34k again was just ridiculous. Finally after few more calls and arguments with Samsung customer care, the engineer who visited twice again told me that he can get the PCB from any old samsung TV with similar Panel, discarded for whatever reasons and fix it for about 8k.

But the most important fact is the engineer informed me that i am one among thousands of customers who bought LCD TVs around 2007-8 from different brands who face this problem now, plus may it plasma or LCD or the latest LEDs- their panel+PCB life is not more than 5-6 yrs on standard TV viewing hours (say 5-6 hrs per day).! (by the way this guy claims he has been in the business for more than 16 years- he was working for Videocon in their hay days)

What i would like to ask all you ppl is that does it make sense to spend thousands or even lakhs to buy a product which is yet not tested for durability or is built by the manufacturers in a way that it doesn't last more than 5-6 years, so that the new products are bought faster and old ones scrapped. Are the days when we used to buy a brand new TV and forget about servicing/repairing it for like 15 yrs gone..? :sad:

you comments will be most appreciated.

It is expected. If you check in your office, the LCD monitors and laptop screens hardly last 3-4 years of continuous use. The earlier CRT monitors lasted much more.

 

[DruShra]

I have been sufferer of tv sets going bust after a year or so. It has happened to me 5 times in last 4-5 years. A hitachi engineer suggested me one reason behind this. He told me a modern tv sets consist of only 3-4 boards and that now a single board in a modern tv set has upto 7 layers of pcbs with microscopic perforations and miniature transistors. Imagine a single pcb containing 7 pcbs. So dust or moisture effect on these boards are exponentially more than the old crt sets.
Now responsible tv manufacturer will at the time of production of these sets stock spare parts of these tv sets for service. Remember these boards can not be manufactured at a later date because of technological advancements their technology having become redundant. Much like producing floppy diskettes now. And they price these boards according to the time of their production.
So in a nutshell even though i have suffered huge losses, I would not blame tv manufacturers.I would rather say that it is the price we have to pay for the technological march.
I would suggest to do what I did. I bought cheap plasma sets by panasonic with 3 year warranty.

The explanation of PCBs seems logical. In old TVs or electronics if there was any problem the mechanic used to change weak or busted IC and voila the problem solved. This is the thing of past. Todays scenario is really scary.
Due to flatness and delicateness of the panels the build quality may have limitations. So should one buy thick LCDs instead of thin in width with thin bazels?
How many members have used their LCD TV for more than 5 or 3 years without any problem please shed some light.
Now I have to consider cheap plasma of 40 instead of LCD, only problem is I have large window just opposite of TV, my 17 year old Optonika Sharp is acting recently.
thanks.