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NotTaR of Television Sets : Repair or replace                       
 Copyright © 1994-2007, Samuel M. Goldwasser. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying. I may be contacted via the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ (www.repairfaq.org) Email Links Page.
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Repair or replace

If you need to send or take the TV to a service center, the repair could easily exceed half the cost of a new TV. Service centers may charge up to $50 or more for providing an initial estimate of repair costs but this will usually be credited toward the total cost of the repair (of course, they may just jack this up to compensate for their bench time).

TV prices have been dropping almost as fast as PC prices. Therefore, paying such prices for repair just may not make sense. Except for picture tube problems, most TV faults can be corrected without expensive parts, however. Keeping a 5 year old TV alive may be well worthwhile as basic TV performance and important features have not changed in a long time.

If you can do the repairs yourself, the equation changes dramatically as your parts costs will be 1/2 to 1/4 of what a professional will charge and of course your time is free. The educational aspects may also be appealing. You will learn a lot in the process. Thus, it may make sense to repair that old clunker for your game room or beach house. (I would suggest the kid's room but most TV watching just rots the brain anyhow so a broken TV may be more worthwhile educationally than one that works.)