Television repair help

[Rick Moyer]

I have a rear projection , older Hitachi 51" that has this convergence problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPgfyflgQfk However, mine also has wavy lines at the top so I can't just line up the colors. I suspect I need a convergence kit to repair this tv. My questions are:
1. Is it worth trying to fix?
2. Is it reasonable that I can do it myself?

anyone have any experience?

[Art Mann]

I had a Hitachi rear projection TV that may have been the exact same model and it had what sounds like the same problem. I considered repairing it but those old TVs are so grossly inferior in picture quality to modern flat screen TVs that I just decided to junk it. That was several years ago. I doubt if you could even obtain repair parts for it now because it is really, really obsolete. It probably isn't even capable of 720p resolution and it doesn't have a digital tuner.

[ken masoumi]

I had an RCA projection tv,didn't want to move it to my new house, ended up giving it away while still worked,someone wanted it for his "man cave".
In my opinion your projection tv is not worth the cost of repair ,get rid of it ,you won't miss it.

[Mike Henderson]

That's a really old technology and it gives an inferior picture. It was decent in it's day but I junked mine quite a few years ago.

Mike

[Brian Henderson]

I had an old Hitachi 52" that eventually did the same thing. It isn't worth fixing. Just go get a better TV.

[Rick Moyer]

Funny, I decided to order the required repair kit this afternoon then got back on here to see all these responses about not worth fixing. :confused:
Art, it is 1080 and also we have HD digital cable hooked to it so the picture quality is similar to a new TV I just got in January for our office/den area.
We shall see if my $80 was wasted, but I'd rather chance it for $80 than have to spend $800-$1500 to replace it. Thanks for trying to spend my money, though.:D

[Myk Rian]

You can get a 50" LED Smart TV for $700, or less.

[Jim Koepke]

The last TV that came my way that was worth fixing still had a CRT. The rest of the set was solid state. It was just the power diode that smoked. Before that, my TV repairs date back to the days of vacuum tubes.

jtk

[Brian Henderson]

You can get a 50" LED Smart TV for $700, or less.

I've seen them for less than $500 on sale.

[Tom M King]

Best Buy used to give you ten bucks for a trade in. They still might.

[Brian Elfert]

Best Buy used to give you ten bucks for a trade in. They still might.

Best Buy was charging $10 to take TVs and then giving you a gift card for $10. They stopped doing that and now take TVs at no cost. Obviously, fixing the TV is better than junking it.

[Rick Moyer]

Best Buy was charging $10 to take TVs and then giving you a gift card for $10. They stopped doing that and now take TVs at no cost. Obviously, fixing the TV is better than junking it.

I have to say I am surprised there has only been one response like this. I did ask for opinions, but I didn't think the overwhelming majority would be "junk it". I wonder if I said I had an older tool (table saw, bandsaw, etc.) that needed 10% of cost repair, would the responses be similar or would most recommend repairing. I'd guess woodworkers would say fix the tool, junk the electronics, whereas the electronics folks would say fix the tv, junk the tool.

Doesn't really matter. I was just looking for some experience if anyone had had this problem and chose to repair. Since no one has I'll be the guinea pig. As stated earlier, I have ordered a repair kit and will post back with my results. Maybe I made the wrong decision, we'll see this week.

[Duane Meadows]

Well, Rick. I'll be the differing opinion. Worth fixing most of the time. Relatively simple repair, if you are comfortable with unsoldering and soldering electronic components. Just need to replace the 2 convergence IC's and possibly several resistors that commonly fry at the same time. If no burned resistors can be seen burned on the convergence board, you may get by with just the IC's. Sometimes it is just cold solder joints, and just resoldering the IC pins will fix.

I would repair it in a heartbeat. Of course I did it for a living for years!

[Sean Troy]

You can get a 50" LED Smart TV for $700, or less.
You an even get a 50" UHD 4k for under 700.00

[Art Mann]

I have to say I am surprised there has only been one response like this. I did ask for opinions, but I didn't think the overwhelming majority would be "junk it". I wonder if I said I had an older tool (table saw, bandsaw, etc.) that needed 10% of cost repair, would the responses be similar or would most recommend repairing. I'd guess woodworkers would say fix the tool, junk the electronics, whereas the electronics folks would say fix the tv, junk the tool.

Doesn't really matter. I was just looking for some experience if anyone had had this problem and chose to repair. Since no one has I'll be the guinea pig. As stated earlier, I have ordered a repair kit and will post back with my results. Maybe I made the wrong decision, we'll see this week.

Here is the thing. A 50 year old Unisaw in good condition works just as well as a new one and possibly better. What's more, you can make a profit by doing a good refurb job and selling it. A premium brand projection TV that is even 5 or 10 years old is dreadfully obsolete compared to even an off brand new flat screen. You may not be able to tell the difference in picture quality but a lot of other people can. I am loosely associated with a big thrift store in my home town. They don't accept donations of rear projection or tube TV sets in perfect working order any more because nobody wants to haul one home even for free.

[Mel Miller]

Here is the thing. A 50 year old Unisaw in good condition works just as well as a new one and possibly better. What's more, you can make a profit by doing a good refurb job and selling it. A premium brand projection TV that is even 5 or 10 years old is dreadfully obsolete compared to even an off brand new flat screen. You may not be able to tell the difference in picture quality but a lot of other people can. I am loosely associated with a big thrift store in my home town. They don't accept donations of rear projection or tube TV sets in perfect working order any more because nobody wants to haul one home even for free.

You're absolutely right.

[Rick Moyer]

Well, Rick. I'll be the differing opinion. Worth fixing most of the time. Relatively simple repair, if you are comfortable with unsoldering and soldering electronic components. Just need to replace the 2 convergence IC's and possibly several resistors that commonly fry at the same time. If no burned resistors can be seen burned on the convergence board, you may get by with just the IC's. Sometimes it is just cold solder joints, and just resoldering the IC pins will fix.

I would repair it in a heartbeat. Of course I did it for a living for years!
The kit comes with the required IC's and resistors. I don't anticipate any problems doing it.


Here is the thing. A 50 year old Unisaw in good condition works just as well as a new one and possibly better. What's more, you can make a profit by doing a good refurb job and selling it. A premium brand projection TV that is even 5 or 10 years old is dreadfully obsolete compared to even an off brand new flat screen. You may not be able to tell the difference in picture quality but a lot of other people can. I am loosely associated with a big thrift store in my home town. They don't accept donations of rear projection or tube TV sets in perfect working order any more because nobody wants to haul one home even for free.
We'll agree to disagree on the dreadfully obsolete.
I'll invite those "other people" to watch the newer tv in the other room. :D

[Myk Rian]

I have to say I am surprised there has only been one response like this. I did ask for opinions, but I didn't think the overwhelming majority would be "junk it".
You asked for opinions, and that's what you got.
Not too many people will repair an obsolete TV. Good luck.

[Curt Harms]

You asked for opinions, and that's what you got.
Not too many people will repair an obsolete TV. Good luck.

Not too many people can repair an obsolete TV. For those with the requisite skills more power to them.

[Larry Fox]

Personally, given the pace of evolution of the technology, I would never consider repairing a TV if it was not something absolutely trivial and < $50. I think TV's are considered disposable items these days. For example, today on FatWallet there is an offer for a Samsung H6350 Smart LED TV through Dell consumer for $997.99 + 4% cash back + a $200 Dell eGift card. And this is a top quality 60" TV. I snapped up a similar offer last year on the $55.

[Rick Moyer]

UPDATE:

Well the kit came and I replaced the convergence boards which helped some but not completely. So, I looked at and tried to test the resistors but couldn't really ascertain which if any were bad and didn't want to replace them arbitrarily, especially since the replacements were not easy to match up (they don't have the colored banding). I filed a "ticket" with the place I purchased the kit from (tvrepairkits.com), which is an on-line way to ask questions, etc. They claim to respond in about two days in most cases, however after a month of no response I searched for another means of contact. I discovered an e-mail address of someone who seemed to be an owner and e-mailed him. He did respond with an apology for not following up but then I haven't heard anything since (another three weeks). So here is my final reply to the open "ticket" ...
"Well, It's apparent I'm not going to get any further assistance from anyone at TVRepairkits.com. We have other TV's and only watch this one sometimes now. I'm not in a position to replace it yet, so I'll have to live with it as is for a while. Your kit was a great idea that didn't pan out, but I was hopeful I could get some advice. Unfortunately there has been NO responses to my inquiries except a useless apology for not responding. Your 24-48 hrs, or 5-7 days response time, depending... is apparently all bull %$#@. It's now been nearly two months with no resolution or contact. Congratulations on scamming me out of some money."

My point for posting this follow up is to first say to all of you who said to not bother fixing the TV that you were right! It apparently wasn't in my wheelhouse to fix it. Secondly, I want to relay my experiences in attempting to repair the TV, both in terms of the procedure as well as the lack of assistance from the kit supplier. I still think it is repairable but in the end it's going to be replaced eventually, probably closer to Christmas.
Anyway I appreciate those who responded.