Advice on TV repair

[BMXTRIX]

Actually, I don't want OLED at all. The automatic dimming would drive me insane.

I have no idea what you are talking about. OLED doesn't have automatic dimming. By default, it may have some setting for something of that sort, but that's not the way you have to run it. OLED is easily the most comparable to plasma, and then some, on the market.

Mini LED is just a newer LCD TV. It's not anything all that special. More zones and it still has blooming. They don't look bad, but they still aren't leading the pack in terms of image quality.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have no idea what you are talking about. OLED doesn't have automatic dimming. By default, it may have some setting for something of that sort, but that's not the way you have to run it. OLED is easily the most comparable to plasma, and then some, on the market.

Mini LED is just a newer LCD TV. It's not anything all that special. More zones and it still has blooming. They don't look bad, but they still aren't leading the pack in terms of image quality.

Yes, the OP has dragged this dimming issue out of the back of his neck. It will have to be very good technology to beat OLED.

 

[rsharp]

There are several reviews that show that OLED displays have protection circuitry that kicks in in certain situations. If your content is such that there is no static images, then all will be good. Go for it.

For our use cases, there is far too much content that have HUDs (games) that would be on-screen for 30 mins to an hour. And lots of channels with stock tickers or logos in the corner.

Apparently the only way to turn off those features is enter a service mode which would then void one's warranty. No thank you.

For our viewing, there are far more pros than cons in moving to a mini LED display. I currently work on an iMac Pro with a 5K LED display capable of 500 nits. And really looking foward to our next TV using a mini LED display that will get closer to 1000 nits.

When we picked up our plasma 14 years ago, LED panels were horrid. But they've now come a long way.

 

[TLS Guy]

There are several reviews that show that OLED displays have protection circuitry that kicks in in certain situations. If your content is such that there is no static images, then all will be good. Go for it.

For our use cases, there is far too much content that have HUDs (games) that would be on-screen for 30 mins to an hour. And lots of channels with stock tickers or logos in the corner.

Apparently the only way to turn off those features is enter a service mode which would then void one's warranty. No thank you.

For our viewing, there are far more pros than cons in moving to a mini LED display. I currently work on an iMac Pro with a 5K LED display capable of 500 nits. And really looking foward to our next TV using a mini LED display that will get closer to 1000 nits.

When we picked up our plasma 14 years ago, LED panels were horrid. But they've now come a long way.

Please explain how you play a game with a totally static image for 30 to 60 minutes. The screen only dims if you walk away and there is zero change to the screen. I fail to see how you play a game with zero screen activity. It would have to be an imaginary game played on your head, and you would not need a screen at all for that. You are making zero sense.

 

[rsharp]

HUD (Head's Up Display). i.e. part of the screen will have static content for lengthy periods of time.

Also, what difference does it make what my next TV will be? If you want an OLED, then _you_ get one. Not responding any more to you.

 

[lovinthehd]

I replaced a power supply board in a Samsung plasma TV for friends of ours a few years back. I used a refurb board not from Samsung, it was very reasonably priced and still working. These TVs were known for this. I suspect the refurb had better quality components.

Why would a refurb have any different components at all? They're generally not actually repaired/upgraded units....

 

[TLS Guy]

Why would a refurb have any different components at all? They're generally not actually repaired/upgraded units....

The one I bought was. The guy was selling these that he refurbed in the US. He claimed better components. That model of Samsung TV was known for power board problems. The replacement refurb has worked for years and many time longer than the board it came with. You had to send the blown board back to this guy, so he could rebuild it and sell it on.

I just wish we could ditch this far eastern manufacture. I do remember better times. I do blame the left, the throw money at everything and anything, and tax businesses out of existence. Then good paying manufacturing jobs that create wealth are swapped for low paying service jobs, creating more need and poverty so there is more excuse for social welfare and higher taxes. The spiral to the bottom continues.

 

[lovinthehd]

The one I bought was. The guy was selling these that he refurbed in the US. He claimed better components. That model of Samsung TV was known for power board problems. The replacement refurb has worked for years and many time longer than the board it came with. You had to send the blown board back to this guy, so he could rebuild it and sell it on.

I just wish we could ditch this far eastern manufacture. I do remember better times. I do blame the left, the throw money at everything and anything, and tax businesses out of existence. Then good paying manufacturing jobs that create wealth are swapped for low paying service jobs, creating more need and poverty so there is more excuse for social welfare and higher taxes. The spiral to the bottom continues.

What "guy"? Not a Samsung authorized refurb outfit?

 

[TLS Guy]

What "guy"? Not a Samsung authorized refurb outfit?

I don't remember. I do know he was not associated with Samsung and it was a totally US based business. He just rebuilt the boards the way they should have been built in the first place.

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't remember. I do know he was not associated with Samsung and it was a totally US based business. He just rebuilt the boards the way they should have been built in the first place.

That seems not to be a general experience, then, rather a very specific and unique one. You really reach on "asian" issues sometimes, yet come from a country with some of the lousiest electronics. Go figure.

 

[TLS Guy]

That seems not to be a general experience, then, rather a very specific and unique one. You really reach on "asian" issues sometimes, yet come from a country with some of the lousiest electronics. Go figure.

If you are talking about Lucas car electronics I agree. However in audio, I do not agree. Hi-Fi was founded to a large degree in the UK in that "Golden Age" of British Audio.
Names like Quad, Harold J. Leak, Rogers, Armstrong, Goodmans, Wharfedale, KEF, Ferrograph, Brenell Engineering, Rupert Neeve, Radford, STC, Decca, EMG, Garrard and TDL especially come to mind and actually many others.

 

[lovinthehd]

If you are talking about Lucas car electronics I agree. However in audio, I do not agree. Hi-Fi was founded to a large degree in the UK in that "Golden Age" of British Audio.
Names like Quad, Harold J. Leak, Rogers, Armstrong, Goodmans, Wharfedale, KEF, Ferrograph, Brenell Engineering, Rupert Neeve, Radford, STC, Decca, EMG, Garrard and TDL especially come to mind and actually many others.

Meh, lots of issues in various manufacturing due poor relationships with management/labor....as usual. Certainly many years of brit autos that were screwed up on electronics particulary, tho.

 

[TLS Guy]

Meh, lots of issues in various manufacturing due poor relationships with management/labor....as usual. Certainly many years of brit autos that were screwed up on electronics particulary, tho.

I can speak to the Quad factory at Huntingdon, as I made a number of visits there over the years. That was a very happy place with high morale, and an obsession with with quality and superb workmanship. You only have to look at a circuit board from those years, and you can see the pride of workmanship. Every solder joint was perfect and the the components perfectly placed.

Just look at the workmanship in these Quad 22 preamps.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Yes, the OP has dragged this dimming issue out of the back of his neck. It will have to be very good technology to beat OLED.

Just FYI that @rsharp is not the OP. He just jumped in on this thread with a sidebar conversation which doesn't really pertain to the original post in any way.

While it is true, some OLED TVs have localized dimming for HUDs and logo burn in, if your main goal is to play a video game with a static image on it for hours at a time, then I wouldn't get a OLED at all. The reality of burn in with OLED still exists. It is, by far, the fastest response time of any technology in the world, but you have got to mix up what you are showing on it regularly or the potential for burn in still exists and it simply isn't worth getting.

Which has nothing to do with the fact that this IS a defeatable feature of OLED displays and can be turned off in option menus easily, but it should not be by anyone who is gaming that much. If the original poster wants to replace their plasma with something newer and better, than OLED is certainly the most definite step forward and up in quality.

 

[Craig234]

I do blame the left, the throw money at everything and anything, and tax businesses out of existence. Then good paying manufacturing jobs that create wealth are swapped for low paying service jobs, creating more need and poverty so there is more excuse for social welfare and higher taxes. The spiral to the bottom continues.

That's just ignorant, but I suspect a lengthy political response isn't what the forum likes.

 

[Craig234]

Three options.

Repair the TV for $500.
LG C2 for $1400+extended warranty (after this experience)
Wait for LG C3, expected to be 20% brighter, which I'd like

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

That's just ignorant, but I suspect a lengthy political response isn't what the forum likes.

I'd just ignore this misdirected outburst on account of the poster's onset of senility.

 

[highfigh]

Why would a refurb have any different components at all? They're generally not actually repaired/upgraded units....

Samsung provided boards & panels to many other companies, but kept the better ones for their own TVs and some of these boards had capacitors which would fail slightly before or after the end of the warranty period. The main problem was microscopic pinholes in the membrane, which led to premature failures. If a different brand of cap is used to replace the OEM components,it would have to be considered 'improved' or 'upgraded'.

Manufacturers don't do component level repairs and they don't pay their authorized service centers to do that but there's always someone who is willing to take the time and get results. They acquire scrapped units, find & fix the problem and make that into a business.

 

[lovinthehd]

Samsung provided boards & panels to many other companies, but kept the better ones for their own TVs and some of these boards had capacitors which would fail slightly before or after the end of the warranty period. The main problem was microscopic pinholes in the membrane, which led to premature failures. If a different brand of cap is used to replace the OEM components,it would have to be considered 'improved' or 'upgraded'.

Manufacturers don't do component level repairs and they don't pay their authorized service centers to do that but there's always someone who is willing to take the time and get results. They acquire scrapped units, find & fix the problem and make that into a business.

Got a link to a business doing such? I've seen ads for repair services....

 

[highfigh]

Got a link to a business doing such? I've seen ads for repair services....

I don't often look for anyone to do this because I'm fortunate enough to know a shop that is authorized to repair electronics from most brands and now that the service manager of a well known local AV company has retired, they chose this place to service the equipment that is taken to their stores. They also sell and it's a small shop- if they were to become known for taking in boards from all over, it would take time away from their regular customer's needs.

I searched using 'Component level repairs on Samsung TV boards' and found a lot of links- maybe some of them can do this.