CRT TV Repair?

[FailHere]

No this is not a joke, I have a CRT set which I am quite fond of. Tonight I switched it on and the colour has gone strange where the bottom of the screen seems quite green, I suspect it is not long for this world.
Whilst I am sure most people will tell me to chuck it and buy an 80" flat screen set I would like to get it repaired.
It is probably about eight years old and I think the innards are a Mikomi 20" set inside a reproduction Keracolor spherical shell.
Are there any tv repair people left, preferably in South Wales?

[N Dentressangle]

My parents' old crt tv did this. I can't remember what it was exactly, but the tv was junked as a consequence.

Buy a new led tv. You'll be amazed at the colour and clarity compared with your old one.

[megaphone]

It's not economical to repair it, even if you can find someone it's going to cost you £50 minimum, then you have to fetch and carry it and hope the repair lasts. You could buy a new small TV for around £100.

[bob1179]

If one of the electron guns is on it's way out, unfortunately the TV will be scrap.

As mentioned, it might be time to move on and get something more modern.

[juan king]

Why do people not want to move with the times?

[daveydave7]

juan king said:

Why do people not want to move with the times?

Because many people seem to find that the picture on a CRT is clearer etc
My friend took ages to go over only really doing it as the analogue tv signal went off
I personally think my old Sony whatever it was called had a better picture than my Samsung
I seem to remember a gadget show review some years ago and the crt winning out

[Cheib]

If you had a decent CRT for normal "standard def" the picture was superior to 99% of flat screens until recently. With HD content that has changed.

If you are watching normal terrstrial TV I would say a good CRT is still as good as a cheap flat screen for a lot of people.

When I refurned my house fuve years agoI had a home cinema sound system fitted. The retailer told me to keep my Loewe CRT as anything they could sell me would be inferior! That was just before Kuro came out IIRC.

[FlossyThePig]

Bedazzled said:

the garish colours on LED TVs

Seems that the set needs adjusting. A visit to PicturePerfect is called for.

[FailHere]

I knew everyone would tell me to junk it and buy a new one. I am aware that a repair will be seen as uneconomic, but to me it is not just a television set but a piece of interesting design therefore if it can be repaired it will be. (Yes I will probably stop using it as my main set but I want it to work). It is one of these.


I have moved with the times as mine is one of the reproductions with transistorised insides, rather than an original which still had valves, I gave up with those when I bought this one. Unfortunately I cannot find the contact details for the man who made it, he was based in Manchester at the time and had bought the original moulds and rights to reproduce a limited number of these sets, I'd be more than happy to take it back there if he could fix it, or I need to find someone else who can sort it.

[rhinochopig]

I would see if you can get a panel screen in the casing. That would be a great project.

ETA The TV equivalent of a Lynx E-Type.

[jmorgan]

FailHere said:

preferably in South Wales?

There is a TV repair bloke in Aberkenfig, if you are close I would pop in first.....

Not a degaussing issue is it? Mind you, I thought that was supposed to be sorted on the on off switch (not standby)? Monitors we used to have had this on a separate button.

My CRT is still going strong and that only gets replaced when it goes bang.

[jas xjr]

i was in a shop in birmingham earlier this year . they had a 32" crt made by jvc , new for £75 . it was big though

[TonyRPH]

If it's only a portion of the screen that has gone a funny colour, it probably needs degaussing (de-magnetizing).

Do you have any purple blotches too?

Also - if you only ever operate it from the remote control - try powering it off completely (switch off at socket if you have to) for about 10 minutes, and then switch it back on again.

CRT sets have a built in degaussing coil - but this usually only operates when powering on from cold e.g. if it was powered off completely, and not left in standby.

[headcase]

TonyRPH said:

If it's only a portion of the screen that has gone a funny colour, it probably needs degaussing (de-magnetizing).

Do you have any purple blotches too?

Also - if you only ever operate it from the remote control - try powering it off completely (switch off at socket if you have to) for about 10 minutes, and then switch it back on again.

CRT sets have a built in degaussing coil - but this usually only operates when powering on from cold e.g. if it was powered off completely, and not left in standby.

This.

If its just the bottom then likely a purity error. Have you got a speaker or other potentially magnetic device near the dodgy colour on the screen. The other likely cause is the TV hitting the floor quite sharpish.

[Sparky137]

A good condition Keracolor is a desirable and valuable TV. It is most certainly worth getting repaired even if it costs £100+, they are very collectable. Inside the sphere is a Decca chassis and it uses a conventional Mullard tube so repair should present very little problem to a competent electronics engineer.

Whatever you do, do not replace the innards with a modern flat panel, it will devalue it massively.

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/~/media/File...

[FailHere]

Thanks for the advice, sadly the repairman in Aberkenfig appears to have gone (there used to be one in Cwmbran but that one has gone as well). It does sound like it might be the degaussing issue as it did seem to clear sometimes when switched off at the mains, but, came back again on other occasions. A friend of a friend has suggested it might be a dry joint and has offered to have a look at it, so that is the next step.

I have given in and bought a modern set to tide me over until it is fixed (although I may get used to it); all my other sets are old CRT ones, mostly black and white and it's a bit of a faff trying to set them up via a freeview box due to a lack of scart sockets or autotuning. (It can be done, I have done it before just to prove a point, but watching a 9" black and white set is a step too far even for me these days)

[tonyvid]

Don't be put off in your challenge to find a repair man, there is nothing wrong with CRTs, especially in something that size!

Yes, big full HD flat screens set up properly do look fantastic. I made the change at the start of the year with a £1k Panasonic, Yes, it does look better than the big box Phillips that used to live in that corner but it is a different thing to look at, a different experience as the CRT is so much more natural to look at with the way they integrate the image. As a professional TV-looker-atter it's only very recently I have been happy to ditch my CRT and that was driven by the fact that it couldn't cope with the latest Freeview streams anymore.

And the CRT didn't hum with it's lack of cooling fans forced by form over function!