Lets celebrate the few reliable flat TVs!

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

The LG LCD monitors I installed... Their convergence, corner focus, and color temperature/balance are all still flawless as well.

Originally Posted by Rod Beauvex

Ummm, is it even possible for these things to come undone on an LCD? :p

No, it is not. That is why I wanted to poke some fun and include those comments, with the smiley face.

[walterbeers]

I have a 50 Inch Panasonic which so far I've had no trouble with it. It's a TH-50PX80 Viera. It was MFG Nov. 2008, so I've had it a little over 4 years. Colors seem really good and it gets a lot of use. I still miss working on the old tube sets though. At least they were made to repair. I know some people that have bought these newer flat screens and they quit in a year or so. I guess I'm really lucky so far. I'm sure I would attempt to repair it as long as the screen is good and not broken. So far it's been a very good TV, which I also have hooked up to use as a computer monitor, so I can stream video.

[vinljnkie]

My father has a 42" Viera Plasma that he got new in about 2004 that is still going strong but it only sees use 6 months a year when he is spending the winter in FL. My friend has a 42" Zenith(LG) Plasma that he bought 3-4 years ago and it has had no problems. I have a 19" Coby LED set that was a gift for Christmas a year ago and so far it's still going with no issues except very tinny sound due to the tiny speakers they have to use. I also have a Hannspree 23" 16:9 computer monitor that is 3 years old and a Sony 17" 4:3 LCD monitor that is from 2003 and all still work with no problems. My regular TV is still a 1997 JVC 27" CRT set that I bought new. Still has a great pic and perfect color

[Jeffhs]

I have an Insignia (Best Buy house brand) 19" LCD-LED TV and an HP 20" widescreen computer monitor (the latter probably made by NEC, not sure). Both are working very well as I write this. The Insignia TV is now in the second year of its 2-year factory warranty. Didn't buy the 4-year extended warranty on the TV, though I suppose I should have, though I did purchase the extended warranty for the monitor. However, the TV seems to be working just fine so far, no problems (knock on wood) such as I read about every day on Insignia's support site. I don't know if I managed to get a good one just on the luck of the draw or what, but I'm not complaining. I don't watch hours and hours of TV, just the news, an occasional show on MeTV or Antenna TV, and DVDs of classic TV from the '70s, so I'm thinking the set should last quite a while -- barring a catastrophe such as a lightning strike.

The screens used in Insignia (made by XOCECO of China) TVs are rated for 100k hours to half brightness; those used in HP monitors will (supposedly) last some 50k hours or more if not used for hours at a time. The electronics, however, are another story. I don't know what brand of capacitors are used in these TVs and monitors, but given their low price, I would not expect to find Nichicon or any other quality brand of capacitors on the PC boards. However, I haven't heard any loud pops or seen smoke, etc. coming from the set (or the monitor) yet, and the picture is as good as 720p resolution can deliver, so I won't even think about service problems until or unless, Heaven forbid, something does go wrong.

[NJRoadfan]

We got a 55" Fujitsu Plasmavision SlimScreen P55XHA30WS at work from 2004 still going strong. Its beat up and has burn-in from past use as a computer monitor, but still works fine otherwise. It cost $12000 new... and "slim" in 2004 apparently meant nearly 5 inches deep! It weighs a ton and has a glass base stand, they don't make them like that anymore. The picture quality is lousy compared to today's units though. Low contrast, washed out colors, and green phosphor decay.

The transition to LCDs for computer monitors wasn't all that big a deal. A computer can drive a panel at its native resolution and it was always progressive video. Fixed pixel displays have to deal with upscaling and deinterlacing video when used as TVs, something they don't always do well.

My track record with LCDs has been mixed. Generally the old ones from the late 90s-early 00s last forever as we have a 2002 Viewsonic VP150 that works fine. My various Samsung LCD monitors crapped out in one way or another. I managed to fix one by recapping, but the other one appears to have a fault on the standby power circuit.

[tubetwister]

I recently replaced the power supply caps in a 2009 Dynex I bought new back then.
the Dynex went out in Jan 2013 works fine now about $3.20 from Mouser for four caps. I used Panasonic low esr 105C spec .

I replaced the Dynex with a new 32" Toshiba in the b/room and re purposed the Dynex as a 2nd monitor on one of the P.C.s

The new Toshiba has a much better picture it was assembled in China according to the box works good anyway .

Bought a 50" RCA plasma on sale 2 days later for fam rm great picture .It has Samsung boards and panel in it hopefully decent stuff. I moved the 36"Sharp into another room .Both sets seem to have decent scalers
in them so I just leave the DVR /STB's set at 1080i

Hopefully these two new sets will be more reliable than the Dynex .