As 2010 gets underway there are more possibilities than ever if you’re looking for a new HDTV. You can choose from LCD, plasma, DLP, or LED televisions. For the first time in a long time it looks like 3D HDTV may become commercially viable. You can get a 720p or 1080p television with sizes ranging from 7 all the way up to 82 inches in size and almost every size in between.
Buying a new television is a great idea but it may be too expensive for many people to consider. Before you start checking out circulars and eying the latest no cash store credit offer consider the possibility of repairing your old television.
With so many HDTV deals out there it may not make sense to repair your old television but there are three things which may change your mind.
1) Firmware update – depending on the age of your television you have a USB port on the back of your set you can use to update the firmware of your TV. Manufacturers often make firmware updates available once they discover that a large volume of people are complaining about a specific set of defects. Doing the update itself usually takes no more than 10 minutes and the manufactuer provides them at no cost.
Downside: If you own an older CRT television it can only be updated by using a service tool which connects to a special serial port on the back of your television. Those tools are expensive and require expertise to operation. Also, every single HDTV maker doesn’t made firmware updates available. 2nd tier brands usually do not provide this software for their products regardless of how new or old the television is.
2) Online repair forums – fixing your television can be expensive and difficult. No one wants to think that they got taken advantage of by a repair guy. Forums have existed for years which service one purpose; to allow people join together and share the problems they’ve had the solutions and encourage others along the way. There are lots of places for you to look but thankfully there are specific repair forums based on the kind of television you have.
Plasma HDTV Repair Forum – please click here
LCD HDTV Repair Forum – please click here
DLP HDTV Repair Forum – please click here
Downside: Someone still has to do the work. The expense in fixing a television comes from repair shops who mark up the parts themselves as well as the labor itself. If you have a new issue or issue people don’t have a lot of experience in handling you could end up wasting time hearing back from other forum members.
3) Replacement parts – for the times that firmware doesn’t do the trick and when repair forums only help to solve part of the issue the missing link comes down to replacement TV parts. Oftentimes a fuse, capacitor or board is all that’s needed to get a television in just as new condition. Depending on the brand these parts can be available for a quarter of what it would cost to purchase a replacement television.
Downside: Replacing the parts might improve the performance of your television but you’ll be stuck with the same television. If you were dissatisfied by the size or color or brand, replacing the parts won’t change any of that.
New televisions are getting cheaper and cheaper lowering the desire for most people to spend the time and energy needed to restore a television. The decision is yours but before you get excited about new features and razor thin televisions consider the alternative.
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