My TV has begun to display differently… I’m assuming this is a bad sign, but I’m kind of curious as to what’s going on.
The top 10-20 lines of the screen are more or less “flipped over” onto themselves, where anything that is supposed to be at the top of the screen is a mirror image of itself on a horizontal plane. Picture the banner “THE STRAIGHT DOPE” appearing as a reflection in a pool or a mirror placed at the bottom of the words “THE STRAIGHT DOPE”.
The sound is fine, but this “picture flipping” has been a growing problem for about a week now.
Any ideas as to what is happening, can it be fixed, and if so, how?
I’m sure it has the potential to get fixed, but odds are it can’t be practically. I mean…when’s the last time you saw a TV repair shop? So basically you have two options:
I’m going to make the assumption its NOT a flat panel anything, but one of the old tube televisions. Exact same thing with my old TV. Notice I say Old. Yeah, I never bothered to see if it could be repaired. But I’m quite sure that it wouldn’t take much.
I said “screw it”, and went a bought a new flat panel.
After posting, I did some searching and found more complaints about this particular model than I could imagine. Two main problems with it; mine, and a power problem. The fix seems trivial, but I haven’t been able to get a step-by-step for my particular issue. But it seems to be a bad capacitor, and I’ve seen estimates for fixes from .15 cents to a few dollars in parts. The biggest concern seems to be making sure you don’t electrocute yourself when you attempt the repair.
Based on my reading, I will never purchase a Philips/magnavox product ever again. The way they’ve treated people with this particular problem seems to indicate a company decision to not issue a recall on the part, because the cost would have been prohibitive. I used to think highly of Philips and their products, but times have changed.
I’ve also learned that I will never buy another TV without doing my research; Buying based on brand name doesn’t make much sense unless I’m buying a Sony.
If anyone can google-fu an instructional fix, I’d appreciate a link. I’ve been unable to find something I can understand. Some I’ve read require soldering; some do not.
fixing tv is not something easy. even unplugged there are components inside which store high voltages which could be lethal to some and at least painful to all.
you need to follow some procedures to discharge these to safely work on the tv. either you have to learn these or find someone who knows them.
read all the fixes with cautions, take notes, get it straight in your head before proceeding.
Not sure it would be a power supply capacitor, my old rca dlp tv blew a power supply capacitor and it wouldn’t even turn on! Take the case of and follow the plug wire and see if any capacitors are ruptured or bubbled, ruptured capacitors are easy to spot, however bubbled one usually just push themselves of the board enough to break contact!
If the fold was static (not getting worse), then there’s a simple adjustment that will center the image back on the screen. Almost all the time though the pot can only be reached with the back off the TV and this is not something you should do.
If it is getting noticably worse over a matter of days, then a component is failing and it is not worth messing with. It’s passed on. This TV is no more. It has ceased to be.
I’ve repaired a lot of TV’s in the past. I even have a license. It sounds like a bad electrolytic capacitor in the vertical defection circuit. You can see them bulging sometimes. You can shotgun it and replace some of the bigger ones in that circuit. Unless it’s a HD flat panel I would use it as an excuse to buy a new one.
It is indeed a bad elecrolytic capacitor. Boy, have I learned a lot in the past two days about this stuff.
Apparently, this Philips model in particular is a piece of crap, and there are a ton of complaints about this problem and one other. And the fixes are out there on the web. Now I have to find a 10uf 100V replacement, which is about 16 cents. But do you think Radio Shack would carry this stuff anymore? Noooooo!
I found a place on-line that will cost me about 4 bucks to ship the 20 cent item. Plus, I have to buy a soldering iron, solder and a solder eraser. But all in all it should cost me $20 bucks and save a tv that I really like the picture on. If it doesn’t, I’ll be replacing it.
One question I’ve have regarding the power stores in a TV. I’ve heard the electrocution stories before, but I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone. Is there a certain place I should not go, or could I be randomly zapped? Assume I’ve unplugged the thing. Are their ways to assure the tv cannot electrocute me? (If I wait long enough, or de-charge something.
The main source of zap if the power is off, is the tube. It’s a big glass envelope with electrodes inside and usually a metallic coating outside. It makes a capacitor that has several thousand volts potential when operating (up to 30,000v in a colour set, only(!) about 5,000v in a black and white one). It also holds the charge for a looong time.
I had a portable set I wanted to modify to have a video input, which involved fiddling around inside. I didn’t want to be zapped so I made a probe to discharge the tube. A piece of wire (about 16 gauge) with a clip on one end to attach to the grounded chassis and a meter probe like one used for a multimeter on the other end. Clip the wire to the ground point and slide the probe carefully onto the EHT lead on the tube. You can’t miss it; it’s a fat lead that has a rubber or plastic flat mushroom shaped end where it clips to the tube, marked as “5” on this picture. A big ZAP and sparks, and the tube is discharged. You have to slide the probe under the edge of the plastic cap. Leave the lead in place while you’re working though.
