[radiotvnut]

I swore I wasn't taking in any more later model CRT TV's, for obvious reasons. However, a lady at the church had a 20" Sony that she wanted to give me; so, I took it. Got it home, turned it on, and it was dead except for four blinks from the standby light. Four blinks means that the vertical circuit has failed; so, I opened it and found a bad vertical IC and a 220uf cap that was weak with high ESR. So, I gambled on a $5 vertical IC on ebay, installed it, and then the TV came up with a bright red raster with retrace lines and shut down. Then, it gave me the same vertical failure blink code. The bright red raster was most likely due to either a shorted CRT or a defect in the red video output stage; but, I didn't even bother to troubleshoot any further. Years ago, I would have at least tried to find out the cause; but, no sense in wasting any more time or money on something that wouldn't bring over $20. So, I saved the power cord and to the street the rest of it goes

I'm waiting on another vertical IC for a 2006 Sony 32" with a built in digital tuner. Guess what? That one will go to the junk pile as well if it chooses to act ugly after I replace the IC.

I also come close to airmailing a 13" Thomas TV/VCR combo from '87. The TV works fine; but, the VCR is dead. I've been pushing it heavy for the past 3 weeks and can't even get a lousy $10 for it; so, I might as well junk it and make room for something else.