Are flatscreen TVs programed to turn off permanently?

G

George Orwell

Guest
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be programmed
to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random time after the set
has been used for the number of hours set by the manufacturer as a
reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the factory
warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would be more than
satisfied and probably go for another round with the same manufacturer.
There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20 years for the TV to run
its natural course before it needs replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit is in
the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it
 
George Orwell wrote:
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be
programmed to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random
time after the set has been used for the number of hours set by the
manufacturer as a reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the
factory warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would
be more than satisfied and probably go for another round with the
same manufacturer. There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20
years for the TV to run its natural course before it needs
replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit
is in the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it
Click to expand...
I believe there is merit that you should get you intuition checked by a
shrink sppecialising somewhere betweeen paranoia and 'getting out more' .

geoff
 
"geoff" <geoff@nospam-paf.co.nz> wrote in message
news:YfydnVEwlZdJ7ZbXnZ2dnVY3goSdnZ2d@giganews.com...
George Orwell wrote:
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be
programmed to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random
time after the set has been used for the number of hours set by the
manufacturer as a reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the
factory warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would
be more than satisfied and probably go for another round with the
same manufacturer. There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20
years for the TV to run its natural course before it needs
replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit
is in the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it

I believe there is merit that you should get you intuition checked by a
shrink sppecialising somewhere betweeen paranoia and 'getting out more' .

geoff
Click to expand...
He's right, you know. Why do you think so many items break shortly after the
warranty expires? We need to institute a massive class action lawsuit
against every company that ever made anything at all. We've been lied to!
Deceived! Death to the evil capitalists!
 
"Zootal" <usenet@spam.zootal.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:zNedne15nuAFzJHXnZ2dnUVZ_rqdnZ2d@giganews.com...
"geoff" <geoff@nospam-paf.co.nz> wrote in message
news:YfydnVEwlZdJ7ZbXnZ2dnVY3goSdnZ2d@giganews.com...
George Orwell wrote:
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be
programmed to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random
time after the set has been used for the number of hours set by the
manufacturer as a reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the
factory warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would
be more than satisfied and probably go for another round with the
same manufacturer. There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20
years for the TV to run its natural course before it needs
replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit
is in the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it

I believe there is merit that you should get you intuition checked by a
shrink sppecialising somewhere betweeen paranoia and 'getting out more' .

geoff


He's right, you know. Why do you think so many items break shortly after
the warranty expires? We need to institute a massive class action lawsuit
against every company that ever made anything at all. We've been lied to!
Deceived! Death to the evil capitalists!
Click to expand...
It would just be a digital form of planned obsolescence.

Instead of making something with materials that wear out or deteriorate
cosmetically after a vague period of time or number of uses, you could just
have a subroutine that generates a random date and when that date is
reached, another subroutine would erase some vital part of the operating
system on an eeprom chip. Those check engine lights on cars that come on
after a number of miles to remind you to have service work done could just
as easily disable the computer module that runs the engine until it's reset.
Simple programming.

All it would take would be a decision to improve sales and a way to make it
untraceable. Of course the fact that your products do tend to fail that way
could cost you customers. I tend to buy another brand when something doesn't
last as long as I think it should.

Things do have an annoying tendency to fail not long after the warranty runs
out or payments end. :)
 
Baydlor wrote:
It would just be a digital form of planned obsolescence.

Instead of making something with materials that wear out or
deteriorate cosmetically after a vague period of time or number of
uses, you could just have a subroutine that generates a random date
and when that date is reached, another subroutine would erase some
vital part of the operating system on an eeprom chip. Those check
engine lights on cars that come on after a number of miles to remind
you to have service work done could just as easily disable the
computer module that runs the engine until it's reset. Simple
programming.
All it would take would be a decision to improve sales and a way to
make it untraceable. Of course the fact that your products do tend to
fail that way could cost you customers. I tend to buy another brand
when something doesn't last as long as I think it should.

Things do have an annoying tendency to fail not long after the
warranty runs out or payments end. :)
Click to expand...
That could be done to 1930s toaster with a single tiny component added. Get
a life.

geoff
 
Except that, hopefully, the programmer, would not do it or get
paid a TON of $$$ and be killed when he left the company, both
highly unlikely!


George Orwell wrote:
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be programmed
to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random time after the set
has been used for the number of hours set by the manufacturer as a
reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the factory
warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would be more than
satisfied and probably go for another round with the same manufacturer.
There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20 years for the TV to run
its natural course before it needs replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit is in
the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it
Click to expand...
 
He died in a car accident last summer....


"Jim Douglas" <james.douglas@genesis-software.com> wrote in message
news:BaudnQTmQunUCo_XnZ2dnUVZ_tOdnZ2d@giganews.com...
Except that, hopefully, the programmer, would not do it or get
paid a TON of $$$ and be killed when he left the company, both
highly unlikely!


George Orwell wrote:
Since the LCD and Plasma TV sets are essentially computers and have
internal clocks, I see no reason why their firmware could not be
programmed
to turn off the master chip PERMANENTLY at some random time after the set
has been used for the number of hours set by the manufacturer as a
reasonable product life.

Nobody would suspect any foul play, particularly if well past the factory
warranty, say between five and eight years. Most people would be more
than
satisfied and probably go for another round with the same manufacturer.
There is no need for the manufacturer to wait 20 years for the TV to run
its natural course before it needs replacement.

I believe there is merit to my intuition and a class action lawsuit is in
the making.

Il mittente di questo messaggio|The sender address of this
non corrisponde ad un utente |message is not related to a real
reale ma all'indirizzo fittizio|person but to a fake address of an
di un sistema anonimizzatore |anonymous system
Per maggiori informazioni |For more info
https://www.mixmaster.it
Click to expand...
 
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