Is it worth it to repair this TV?

[little wing]

My Sony 950H is about 5 to 6 years old and appears to be in need of major repair. This is what I found in doing some research:

On a Sony X950H, a red light blinking 4 times indicates a hardware fault related to the power supply, the LED backlight strips, or the main board. It is a built-in safety mechanism that trips when there's an electrical short or an overheating/overload issue. I have tried all troubleshooting steps recommended and no go. I'm pissed.. I paid 2.3k for this set, like I said, 5 or 6 years ago. The picture is beautiful. Natural looking skin tones, accurate color, handles motion extremely well, clear and sharp, but fails after 6 years??

Do you guys think it is worth it to repair?
Thanks

 

[TLS Guy]

My Sony 950H is about 5 to 6 years old and appears to be in need of major repair. This is what I found in doing some research:

On a Sony X950H, a red light blinking 4 times indicates a hardware fault related to the power supply, the LED backlight strips, or the main board. It is a built-in safety mechanism that trips when there's an electrical short or an overheating/overload issue. I have tried all troubleshooting steps recommended and no go. I'm pissed.. I paid 2.3k for this set, like I said, 5 or 6 years ago. The picture is beautiful. Natural looking skin tones, accurate color, handles motion extremely well, clear and sharp, but fails after 6 years??

Do you guys think it is worth it to repair?
Thanks

No. Probably can't be repaired or likely fail again soon.

Do yourself a favor and get an OLED TV. They have a far better picture and they don't have backlighting, which I understand is a common point of failure. So get an OLED. I have been pleased with my LG.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

My Sony 950H is about 5 to 6 years old and appears to be in need of major repair. This is what I found in doing some research:

On a Sony X950H, a red light blinking 4 times indicates a hardware fault related to the power supply, the LED backlight strips, or the main board. It is a built-in safety mechanism that trips when there's an electrical short or an overheating/overload issue. I have tried all troubleshooting steps recommended and no go. I'm pissed.. I paid 2.3k for this set, like I said, 5 or 6 years ago. The picture is beautiful. Natural looking skin tones, accurate color, handles motion extremely well, clear and sharp, but fails after 6 years??

Do you guys think it is worth it to repair?
Thanks

This might help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TVRepairHelp/comments/1cqhxch/_/l9y6dj4

 

[little wing]

This might help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TVRepairHelp/comments/1cqhxch/_/l9y6dj4

It seems simple enough. Looks like all you need is a soldering kit and piece of wire. I just don't have any experience at all with this kind of thing. I know I get the TV off the wall first, but looking behind it, I'm not even sure how to get inside the TV to try and locate where this is.

 

[little wing]

No. Probably can't be repaired or likely fail again soon.

Do yourself a favor and get an OLED TV. They have a far better picture and they don't have backlighting, which I understand is a common point of failure. So get an OLED. I have been pleased with my LG.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate. I'm not 100% convinced OLEDs are head and shoulders above the best LED sets. My brother has the LG G3, and I've watched plenty of content on it, It has a great picture, but again not head and shoulders of mine.

I watched a demo at best buy of the same scene. LED and OLED side by side. It was a wide dark shot of city lights at night. In the scene was body of water. The OLED's black levels and contrast were better, but the OLED rendered the water completely black where at least the LED showed some texture so you could tell it was actually water, instead of just completely black. I dunno, it just got me thinking..

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate. I'm not 100% convinced OLEDs are head and shoulders above the best LED sets. My brother has the LG G3, and I've watched plenty of content on it, It has a great picture, but again not head and shoulders of mine.

I watched a demo at best buy of the same scene. LED and OLED side by side. It was a wide dark shot of city lights at night. In the scene was body of water. The OLED's black levels and contrast were better, but the OLED rendered the water completely black where at least the LED showed some texture so you could tell it was actually water, instead of just completely black. I dunno, it just got me thinking..

Viewing angles of OLEDs are much wider. I have not had an issue with dark colors with my LG. I find the colors more natural then LED screens I have seen. To be honest though, I find the most natural screens the old Panny plasmas. I still have two of those in use and will until they die.

 

[little wing]

Viewing angles of OLEDs are much wider. I have not had an issue with dark colors with my LG. I find the colors more natural then LED screens I have seen. To be honest though, I find the most natural screens the old Panny plasmas. I still have two of those in use and will until they die.

Wow, Panny plasmas, that's the gold standard. I took your advice, Sony 77 OLED coming this thursday. I hope it works out.

I just don't feel like removing panels and soldering... Old and lazy I guess, lol.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate. I'm not 100% convinced OLEDs are head and shoulders above the best LED sets. My brother has the LG G3, and I've watched plenty of content on it, It has a great picture, but again not head and shoulders of mine.

I watched a demo at best buy of the same scene. LED and OLED side by side. It was a wide dark shot of city lights at night. In the scene was body of water. The OLED's black levels and contrast were better, but the OLED rendered the water completely black where at least the LED showed some texture so you could tell it was actually water, instead of just completely black. I dunno, it just got me thinking..

I preferred my plasma sets over lcd sets, and now with an OLED (LG C5) prefer it instead. I don't see complete blacks particularly unless it was shot that way....one thing I like about the oled is the superior blacks, as well as nuance within such. I wouldn't put much into a best buy demo fwiw.

 

[little wing]

I preferred my plasma sets over lcd sets, and now with an OLED (LG C5) prefer it instead. I don't see complete blacks particularly unless it was shot that way....one thing I like about the oled is the superior blacks, as well as nuance within such. I wouldn't put much into a best buy demo fwiw.

Agreed, I went back to BB today, and ended up with the Bravia 8 OLED 77. I just hope this Sony last more than 5 years..

 

[TLS Guy]

Agreed, I went back to BB today, and ended up with the Bravia 8 OLED 77. I just hope this Sony last more than 5 years..

Curious why you went with Sony rather than LG. There is data showing LG to have greater longevity. Sony have to buy their panels from LG in any event.

 

[little wing]

Curious why you went with Sony rather than LG. There is data showing LG to have greater longevity. Sony have to buy their panels from LG in any event.

I think sony's a good brand, and I got a good price. Anyway, I got 60 days to try it out.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think sony's a good brand, and I got a good price. Anyway, I got 60 days to try it out.

I've seen comments that the processing may be better with Sony vs LG. Curious how it works out for you. Definitely no complaints with my C5 (in a 77")

 

[little wing]

I've seen comments that the processing may be better with Sony vs LG. Curious how it works out for you. Definitely no complaints with my C5 (in a 77")

Yes, I have been doing some research on which brand, which type of TV to get. The concern I have right now is if the OLED will be bright enough in my room. It get delivered on Thursday so we will see. My brother has no complaints about his LG G3, he loves it. I spoke with a rep at Crutchfield who said Sony comes in with their TVs and competitor's TVs and does side by side comparisons. So I feel like the Sony should be a solid choice, but again, we'll see. I like speaking with Crutchfield whether I buy from them or not. They normally give helpful knowledgeable advice. I also plan to speak with a local TV repair shop in the area to get their thoughts as well, about reliability and such. It sucks that my 950H has this issue after 6 years. It was great TV. It also sucks I don't have a working TV in my living room right now. lol.
Although I am listening to more music instead, so that's good thing.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yes, I have been doing some research on which brand, which type of TV to get. The concern I have right now is if the OLED will be bright enough in my room. It get delivered on Thursday so we will see. My brother has no complaints about his LG G3, he loves it. I spoke with a rep at Crutchfield who said Sony comes in with their TVs and competitor's TVs and does side by side comparisons. So I feel like the Sony should be a solid choice, but again, we'll see. I like speaking with Crutchfield whether I buy from them or not. They normally give helpful knowledgeable advice. I also plan to speak with a local TV repair shop in the area to get their thoughts as well, about reliability and such. It sucks that my 950H has this issue after 6 years. It was great TV. It also sucks I don't have a working TV in my living room right now. lol.
Although I am listening to more music instead, so that's good thing.

Our LG OLED TV is plenty bright but not over bright. I still think on data I can find that LG would be the better choice, and you are not paying for Sony's mark up on the screen they have to buy from LG.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes, I have been doing some research on which brand, which type of TV to get. The concern I have right now is if the OLED will be bright enough in my room. It get delivered on Thursday so we will see. My brother has no complaints about his LG G3, he loves it. I spoke with a rep at Crutchfield who said Sony comes in with their TVs and competitor's TVs and does side by side comparisons. So I feel like the Sony should be a solid choice, but again, we'll see. I like speaking with Crutchfield whether I buy from them or not. They normally give helpful knowledgeable advice. I also plan to speak with a local TV repair shop in the area to get their thoughts as well, about reliability and such. It sucks that my 950H has this issue after 6 years. It was great TV. It also sucks I don't have a working TV in my living room right now. lol.
Although I am listening to more music instead, so that's good thing.

Yeah don't have so much need for my tv to combat room brightness, would have gone G5 if I needed more in that department. I haven't had a Sony since the trinitron days, tho and didn't really consider them, really wanted to try LG in a way, too....it's my first.

 

[little wing]

Yeah don't have so much need for my tv to combat room brightness, would have gone G5 if I needed more in that department. I haven't had a Sony since the trinitron days, tho and didn't really consider them, really wanted to try LG in a way, too....it's my first.

Nice! Sounds like you are enjoying your LG OLED. I made my Sony bed, so I'm gonna lie in it now, thank you very much. After talking with varuios sales reps and TV repair techs, I feel good about my decision.

Anyway, TV came last Thursday and I've been settling in with it for few days now. Reseached and printed recommended settings and dug into the menu to tweak. Gorgeous picture! Just fantastic. It's an upgrade for sure. The contrast makes everything pop. Beautiful clear rich colors, natural skins tones, etc. Motion handling is excellent. As it turned out, brightness is not an issue at all. Plenty bright for me. Using the Roku Ultra, there are additional settings for HDR and Dolby vision. Tweaked that a little bit and I'm good to go. I have no complaints thus far. The only remaining question is longevity.

View attachment IMG_1850.JPG

 

[lovinthehd]

Nice! Sounds like you are enjoying your LG OLED. I made my Sony bed, so I'm gonna lie in it now, thank you very much. After talking with varuios sales reps and TV repair techs, I feel good about my decision.

Anyway, TV came last Thursday and I've been settling in with it for few days now. Reseached and printed recommended settings and dug into the menu to tweak. Gorgeous picture! Just fantastic. It's an upgrade for sure. The contrast makes everything pop. Beautiful clear rich colors, natural skins tones, etc. Motion handling is excellent. As it turned out, brightness is not an issue at all. Plenty bright for me. Using the Roku Ultra, there are additional settings for HDR and Dolby vision. Tweaked that a little bit and I'm good to go. I have no complaints thus far. The only remaining question is longevity.

View attachment 79791

Nice. I paid $1930 for a 77" with inside delivery, what did your Sony cost? Agree about the picture, it is excellent.

 

[little wing]

I paid about $200 more than that. BB came and installed it. Plus they put up a new Sanus mount at no additional cost. But I'm happy with it. Setting up this TV has made look into some other settings. I don't know how my Dirctv output was limited to 1080, but I went into the settings and changed it back to 4k. Not a huge deal, but worth changing. Also, I bought a Samsung QLED for the bedroom about 6 months ago, and I never set the HDMI inputs to "enhanced", which definitly gives me a better image, so I went back on that TV and changed it. Although it's called something else on Samsung TVs. Anyway I'm having fun with it. It's a fine TV. And, I don't have to wear my glasses to see the best picture, lol

 

[lovinthehd]

I paid about $200 more than that. BB came and installed it. Plus they put up a new Sanus mount at no additional cost. But I'm happy with it. Setting up this TV has made look into some other settings. I don't know how my Dirctv output was limited to 1080, but I went into the settings and changed it back to 4k. Not a huge deal, but worth changing. Also, I bought a Samsung QLED for the bedroom about 6 months ago, and I never set the HDMI inputs to "enhanced", which definitly gives me a better image, so I went back on that TV and changed it. Although it's called something else on Samsung TVs. Anyway I'm having fun with it. It's a fine TV. And, I don't have to wear my glasses to see the best picture, lol

Thought there was going to be a bigger price gap...yeah you definitely need to spend some time getting rid of bloatware and tweaking settings with new stuff !

 

[TLS Guy]

Nice! Sounds like you are enjoying your LG OLED. I made my Sony bed, so I'm gonna lie in it now, thank you very much. After talking with varuios sales reps and TV repair techs, I feel good about my decision.

Anyway, TV came last Thursday and I've been settling in with it for few days now. Reseached and printed recommended settings and dug into the menu to tweak. Gorgeous picture! Just fantastic. It's an upgrade for sure. The contrast makes everything pop. Beautiful clear rich colors, natural skins tones, etc. Motion handling is excellent. As it turned out, brightness is not an issue at all. Plenty bright for me. Using the Roku Ultra, there are additional settings for HDR and Dolby vision. Tweaked that a little bit and I'm good to go. I have no complaints thus far. The only remaining question is longevity.

View attachment 79791

Yes, OLED is a huge upgrade over LED, although I have only seen LED TVs elsewhere. I have never owned one. I have only ever had Plasma or OLED. Prior to that it was CRT!