5/20/2013 10:05 PM
Sony is indeed still in the business and in my opinion produces the best product in that market. It is actually quite a fun hobby to trouble shoot and fix the newer tvs. My three year old son loves watching me test and desolder and solder. There are two major problems with any electronics made since 2000. First, google "capacitor plague". That will account for 75% of your problems. Samsung and Dell were the only to companies to actually admit fault and settle lawsuits. If you have a Samsung, check the model number, you can get up to $350 if you have one of the sets in the settlement. The other problem with electronics today in general are "tin whiskers". In the early 20th Century solder was made almost entirely out of tin. In time "whiskers" grew off the solders and a short circuit would occur. The problem was easily resolved by adding lead to the solder. Well, history made full circle and the European Union banned lead in solder because of the associated health risks. So, most all major companies took lead out of their solder and the "tin whiskers" are back. Think Toyota sticking gas pedal. Caused by lead free solder. Luckily, the military, space , and medical industries were exempt from the lead free solder. If you see an anything electronic marked RoHS or with a 10 with a circle around it, you can about be guaranteed it will have a shorter life than it should. Start with an LCD set and just take it apart. The plasma's are much tougher to fix and usually aren't worth the trouble if you don't find capacitors bad immediately.