My Philips 43" CRT RPTV is down at the moment because the TV will not turn on. I'm having a tech come out and look at it this Friday to see if the problem can be corrected.

We originally spent $1,300 to purchase the TV in 2001. Three years ago we spent $400 to replace the red and blue chips, which puts us into the TV for $1,700. How much should we spend on the repair before considering a replacement?

I wouldn"t put any more money into a crt tv, I wouldn't even pay a tech to look at it. Cancel the service guy, buy yourself a nice new lcd samsung and enjoy a better picture with no more problems, at least for a while.

Don't put anymore money into the TV. Get a new one. You will get a much more detailed picture from a new 1080P set than any 7" gun CRT set can produce. Plus you will have digital inputs etc.

Anybody claiming LCD tech produces better picture quality than a calibrated CRT simply has no credibility. Lcd's are slimmer and brighter, but don't even approach CRT for detail and black levels.

I wouldn't put any more money into your Phillips, but would look at UEC web where a 65" Hitachi refurb can be had under a grand. Then explore the threads on here about setup of the xxf59 series Hits and see what a phenomenal display you can have in your home for very little money.

We just chuckle and move on when we see LCD displays and see people buying them.

Must live in very small houses for display depth to mean so much more than picture quality...

One must let old technology die. To suggest the op get a refurbished, outdated tv, and mess around with it for the rest of his life is foolish.
Refurb=problems. Old technology=hard to repair, lack of parts.

Yes, certainly wouldn't want to mess with outdated technology just to have a far better picture. What was I thinking?!

Enjoy Finding Nemo, please.

Anybody claiming LCD tech produces better picture quality than a calibrated CRT simply has no credibility. Lcd's are slimmer and brighter, but don't even approach CRT for detail and black levels.

I wouldn't put any more money into your Phillips, but would look at UEC web where a 65" Hitachi refurb can be had under a grand. Then explore the threads on here about setup of the xxf59 series Hits and see what a phenomenal display you can have in your home for very little money.

We just chuckle and move on when we see LCD displays and see people buying them.

Must live in very small houses for display depth to mean so much more than picture quality...

An RP CRT set with 7" guns is incapable of showing the resolution a new set can display. 7" guns were limited to 1600 lines of resolution at best. I know my Toshiba RP set I had from 2001 to 2005 topped out in the 1500's)The new sets easily show all 1920 lines of resolutions.

When I got one of the new 1080P DLP sets in 2005, even that only showed around the low 1800's lines of resolution but the difference was huge. I could see detail I had never seen before from my HD recordings. And I've been getting professional calibrations since 2001. the trade off going from CRT to DLP was worth it for the extra detail in the image.
an RP CRT set would need 9" guns to approach the 1920 lines of resolution.

Another plus is that the new sets have digital inputs. I dropped analog a few years ago, now my 20 devices all use HDMI for audio and video. Much preferable to analog connections with the multiple cables.

The xxf59 Hitachis mentioned have digital inputs, which, by the way are the only problem I've had with the set. HDMI standards are about copyright protection, not PQ. I like the single cord but not the HDMI handshake issues.

I've been fortunate not to have any handshake problems with my last seven HD sets.

I've been fortunate not to have any handshake problems with my last seven HD sets.

Yes, you have.

Thanks for the responses. Just curious, what would the my Philips sell for today as a used TV if it were in perfect working order?

scdaf-

Took a look at the UEC Web site and they have some pretty good bargains there. I saw a 51" Hitachi for just over $600 with free shipping. How does this model rate? Still haven't cancelled the repair guy yet, but after looking around at fixes and costs online, it would be hard to justify any repair costs over $200.

I'm still open to a CRT RPTV, there are some really nice LCDs out there but since this is an unexpected expense, either repair or replace, I'm leaning over to the Hitachi unless I can find an incredible deal on a plasma or LCD.

If you have the space to put a RPCRT there is no competition unless you go to the very high end plasmas (over $5,000.00). It is no surprise that ALL tv compare black levels and film like picture to the RPCRTs.

Granted, RPCRT to look great require some tweaking. and time.

Here is some proof of what a RPCRT can do http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13435488#post13435488

scdaf-

Took a look at the UEC Web site and they have some pretty good bargains there. I saw a 51" Hitachi for just over $600 with free shipping. How does this model rate? Still haven't cancelled the repair guy yet, but after looking around at fixes and costs online, it would be hard to justify any repair costs over $200.

I'm still open to a CRT RPTV, there are some really nice LCDs out there but since this is an unexpected expense, either repair or replace, I'm leaning over to the Hitachi unless I can find an incredible deal on a plasma or LCD.

The 51f59, 57f59 and 65f59 are all essentially the same set, just built to different scales. The 51" will be the brightest, using the same guns to light a smaller screen. The 65" still is bright enough in a normal living room setting, as long as you can block direct sunlight. The 65" is a remarkable value for the sheer acreage/$ value and any of these can be tweeked by anyone willing to spend a little time to have a picture as good or better than ANYTHING out there short of megabuck front PJs. Anybody telling you old tech is outdated is probably cooking their steak in the microwave. After all, it's newer tech than fire, so toss out your grill and get with the program!

Hope you make a deal and get to enjoy many years of high-def goodness.

Thanks scdaf. I "donated" the Philips to a local repair shop to use for parts. They're going to have a tech take a quick look but I told them that I didn't want to fix it if the cost was going to be over $100. Those Hitachis look good, even the wife agrees that it would make a good replacement.

Thanks scdaf. I "donated" the Philips to a local repair shop to use for parts. They're going to have a tech take a quick look but I told them that I didn't want to fix it if the cost was going to be over $100. Those Hitachis look good, even the wife agrees that it would make a good replacement.



Congratulations! You'll want to do a little reading at the thread concerning Hitachi 51/57/65 f59 tweaks. There's a wealth of info which is pretty easy to follow. Just remember to turn the contrast way down as soon as you fire the set up. Comes from the factory set at 100%, most of us run it about 35% and brightness about 50%.

The picture will be much better once you've done this and you'll have reduced your risk of "burn-in" to near zero, making your way clear for all further tweaking you might wish to do. CRT still has the best [I]potential[ I] picture quality below $5000. How close you get to perfect is up to you ...

Almost all the important tweak info is at the beginning of the thread, the rest is just ultra fine tuning.