What is the failure rate of LCDs 3yrs and 5yrs out?

I don't think LCD TV's have been out long enough in large numbers to really know for sure just how well they hold up. However based on what I have read here it appears LCD TV's are not as solid as the CRT's they replace. Some very odd and strange problems have been mentioned here. Only thing that makes me feel better is what is talked about here is a small percentage of what is actually sold. I have a house full of Samsung's and I have yet to have a board go out in any of them or any sort of capacitor issue for example. Knock on wood of coarse.

What is interesting is computer LCD monitors have been around since the mid to late 90's and a fair number of those are still working today. I bet with mediocre performance but LCD screens in the PC world have proven to be pretty close to bullet proof. For some reason this reliability did not carry over to LCD TV's even though they are 99% the same. Its perhaps some kind of price point and size issue. Generally the larger the screen the less reliable they are however in this day and age the difference is likely minimal.

I think (as in my opinion) in the long run the LED back lit sets will prove to be more reliable then the CCFL back lit sets but again at this point its hard to say. They both have pros and cons that could be an issue either way.

LCDs, especially LED-backlit ones, have nothing to break. No high voltages, phosphors. CRTs may be more reliable because they are at the end of a long technological evolution. Most bugs have been worked out. LCDs, on the other hand, are still undergoing rapid development. But then again, about 5-7 years ago, I started hearing stories of more recent CRTs being less reliable than old ones. Presumably, with the CRT tech being on the way out, manufacturers started putting less effort in quality control.

As somebody who repairs TV's, LCD is the one we see the most of. Most are newer than 3yrs, "older" sets are typically projections. We see very few LED sets, but I don't think they sell very many compared to the amount of CCFL sets.

What goes bad?
Power supply #1
Main/Digital board #2
Panel #3 (not economical to repair in many cases)
Inverters for CCFL sets #4 (part of panel on some models)
T-conn #5 (part of panel on some models)

You se the LCD the most of since most of the TV's are LCDs. What counts are the failure rates that is failures/pieces sold.

Servicetech--I gather from your post that plasma is less than LCD. Significantly so? Since plasma is lower cost, I would surmise that there are as many plasma as LCD sets out there. What are the failure modes? Did you include RPTV's in your repair stats, or were you only referring to flat panel?

Consumer Reports in the December 2010 issue published this list of reliability ratings based on surveys regarding 198,049 LCD TVs purchased between 2007 and mid-1010. At 4 years out, there is little change.

Panasonic 2%
Sanyo 2%
Sylvania 2%
Sony 3%
JVC 3%
Vizio 3%
Sharp 3%
Emerson 3%
LG 3%
Insignia 4%
Toshiba 4%
Magnavox 4%
Philips 4%
Viewsonic 4%
Samsung 4%
Westinghouse 8%
Polaroid 10 %
Mitsubishi 12%

The surveys also indicate that flat panel TVs tend to break early, usually within the first year. 68% of those getting repaired were within the first year, and that 76% of those needing repair cost the owner nothing, again because of the usual one year warranty.

As far as Plasma:

Panasonic 3%
Samsung 4%
LG 6%

The plasma findings are based on surveys of 29,794 plasma TVs.

I don't believe a single stat that CR publishes on this. Meantime to failure date is NOT available to the public and is a closely guarded secret by manufacturers. Even companies that spend up to a billion dollars with a vendors are NEVER privy to this data.

These are only estimates on CR's part and doesn't account for any survey bias.

You've probably seen this figure before and I don't know how accurate it is: LCD's are estimated to provide you with approximately 60,000 viewing hours.

Bring back the CRT! One was expected a 15 yrs service standard.

I don't see many plasma sets but then again they don't sell many. Look at the typical electronics store, maybe 1 in 5 sets is plasma. That being said I have 2 plasma TV's, price per inch is unbeatable. PQ is as good as most LCD's, especially at wide angles. Plasma isn't as bright as LCD, but with a 30% discount compared to LCD I can live with it

We still see a lot of DLP, not much CRT RPTV's anymore. Most CRT sets are out of warranty and not many are paying to fix them with flat panels so inexpensive these days. The RPTV's I do see people paying to fix are typically the 65" sets where the cost of flat screens is still expensive.

It's the cheap capicators in switching power supplies and heat removal that are killing all our electronic toys today. A fan will help you make that 5 year mark.
Carl

Dont forget that LCD consumer TV's are still mostly based on consumer computer LCD monitors that have been around for a long time. I work in IT for a big bank and sit near the call center. All of the people leave their pc and monitor on all day long for years, I hardly ever see the tech guys replace them. They last for a long time. We have a bunch of 50 inch LCD's and Plasmas throughout the building that display information such as stats etc and they have been running forever.

They make products to meet a price point in order to remain competitive. Yes this means shortcuts which keep me IN a Job. Unfortunately the product price lowering is what puts me OUT of a job... What's happening is we are just doing more work for the same money since each repair costs less but there are more of them. Saw the same thing happen around Y2K when CRT sets got cheap at the end. Not sure what the future holds for TV repair, may be time to look into a different line of work...

My DLP lasted aboot 5.5 years before the chip started to lock up. I can only hope my LCDs last that much. But after 5 or 6 years of use you really should be looking at a newer set as technology is accelerating improvements in PQ, size and weight every month. I'm betting today's LED technology will be like trying to sell someone a DLP RPTV in 5 or 6 years.