Plasma TV SCAM

G

Greysky

Guest
My cousin, who has more money than brains, was recently going to purchase a
60 inch plasma TV for $18K. I told him the bad news: in 5 years the picture
tube will be only half as bright, and that plasma tv' s only have a useful
life of 10 years before the tube needs to be replaced. He bought a LCD TV
instead. I wonder just how many people out there who are buying this latest
status symbol are aware that their new toy will be a throw away item in 5-10
years? Hmmm...I doubt the sales droids are saying anything except how these
things are designed for after market, high priced 'insurance' deals.
 
"Greysky" <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:BtSJb.5458$gH1.1530@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
My cousin, who has more money than brains, was recently going to purchase
a
60 inch plasma TV for $18K. I told him the bad news: in 5 years the
picture
tube will be only half as bright, and that plasma tv' s only have a useful
life of 10 years before the tube needs to be replaced. He bought a LCD TV
instead. I wonder just how many people out there who are buying this
latest
status symbol are aware that their new toy will be a throw away item in
5-10
years? Hmmm...I doubt the sales droids are saying anything except how
these
things are designed for after market, high priced 'insurance' deals.

Since we have a disposable societal mentality, I guess anyone who can afford
Click to expand...
$18K for a lousy t.v. (size notwithstanding), can afford to replace it in 10
years.
 
The life span of the Plasma display is about 20,000 to 30,000 hours
depending on a number of factors. If the set is used for an average of 8
hours a day, it will last about 7 to 8 years on the average. There will be
many days where it may not be used at all, and other days where it may be
used more than 8 hours. The lifespan of any TV made today is about the
same.

In the LCD display TV sets, the backlight life is about 20,000 hours
average. Some manufactures are saying that it will last about 30,000 or
40,000 hours, but this is with the brightness control at 50% setting. It
may not be fun to watch when turned down this low.

The MTBF rating of the screen is with the brightness at maximum. After the
rated hours, the brightness of the screen should be 50% of the amount from
when the screen was new.

The technology to produce Plasma screens is fairly expensive. These screens
do have a lower reliability factor of not only the screen but the circuitry
behind it, because of inherent engineering problems. The LCD screens also
have their problems as well, but are lower in cost to service. It is
recommended to have a very good service contract on any of these types of TV
sets. If there is a breakdown after warranty, they are very expensive to
service.

One of the big problems with Plasma displays, if used with computers, or
fixed graphics, is that they will burn in very easily. LCD screens do not
burn in, but are not as sharp as CRT or Plasma displays. A plasma screen
will normally have burn in, in about 4 hours or so with a fixed image on the
screen for a period of about 3 to 4 hours. This is at 50% brightness. If
there are any fixed graphics on the screen, they will eventually burn in.
The burn-in problem is inherent to the design characteristics of the screen.

In about a year or so, most of the main manufactures will no longer be
producing CRT type TV sets, and computer monitors. There will only be a few
types of high end CRT monitors available for high end graphics and CAD work.
All the technology will be mainly LCD and DLP type technology. The pricing
of the TV sets using this type of technology will drop to affordable levels.

In all practicality for home use, I would not recommend to purchase a Plasma
or LCD screen for home use at this time. I would go with a good high end CRT
type screen at a fraction of the price. For about $3500 US it is possible
to have a very good high end HDTV CRT set, that would be much cheaper to
service, and will last about 30,000 to 40,000 hours average. You can get
about 8 to10 years of good use out of a good CRT set. For the price of an
average Plasma or LCD screen, you can buy about 5 good TV sets that are much
more reliable and cheaper to maintain!

If you look at the value in relation to the cost, at this time the CRT
screen is the best option. I must admit though, the pictures on the Plasma
screen are very impressive. But, after about 5 years, they will not be so.
I work for some companies that use Plasma displays for special displays and
production use. They all have been serviced numerous times. Only the
manufactures or manufacture service reps are able to service them. The out
of warranty repairs were very expensive. The average repair bill was about
$1500 for small problems that we were not able to do in-house. We have one
with a burn-in of a graphic that was accidentally left up on it. The
replacement estimate of the tube is about $5800 including the labour on this
model. We may use this screen for applications that are not critical to the
burn-in. The screen is 2 years old, and it may not pay to service.

If you are buying any screen that is a demo model, it is important to put up
the proper tests on it, to see if there are any burn-ins, and or any damaged
pixels beyond the accepted amount. When buying any of these types of
technology screens, it is important to know the "bad pixel" policy for the
warranty. This is very important for computer monitors as well. Many
manufactures consider 3 to 5 bad pixels per quadrant to be acceptable. Some
manufactures specify up to 8 bad pixels per quadrant. Some people like
myself, find a burned pixel to be very annoying, especially if it is a lit
one.


--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Greysky" <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:BtSJb.5458$gH1.1530@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
My cousin, who has more money than brains, was recently going to purchase a
60 inch plasma TV for $18K. I told him the bad news: in 5 years the picture
tube will be only half as bright, and that plasma tv' s only have a useful
life of 10 years before the tube needs to be replaced. He bought a LCD TV
instead. I wonder just how many people out there who are buying this latest
status symbol are aware that their new toy will be a throw away item in 5-10
years? Hmmm...I doubt the sales droids are saying anything except how these
things are designed for after market, high priced 'insurance' deals.
 
"Greysky" <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
My cousin, who has more money than brains, was recently going to purchase a
60 inch plasma TV for $18K. I told him the bad news: in 5 years the picture
tube will be only half as bright, and that plasma tv' s only have a useful
life of 10 years before the tube needs to be replaced.
Click to expand...
Is that any different to a big CRT (not that 60" CRTs are common!)?
They "wear out" too.


Tim
--
The .sig is dead.
 
"Tim Auton" <tim.auton@uton.[group sex without the y]> wrote in message
news:mtjhvv0l12vdaoidc6l9nvm5mqttmkld3k@4ax.com...
"Greysky" <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
My cousin, who has more money than brains, was recently going to purchase
a
60 inch plasma TV for $18K. I told him the bad news: in 5 years the
picture
tube will be only half as bright, and that plasma tv' s only have a
useful
life of 10 years before the tube needs to be replaced.

Is that any different to a big CRT (not that 60" CRTs are common!)?
They "wear out" too.


The technology behind the CRT is more reliable, and cheaper at this point.
Click to expand...
My last Trinitron tube died at 18 years, and only because of a power surge.
I have seen the eye-candy-like display of new plasma tv's fade literally
within weeks, during home burn in tests. What consumer paying that kind of
money is going to want to pay another hefty fee to have a tech 'fine tune'
the plasma tube after a month of heavy usage to 'get back the glitter'? Also
forget about these units at high altitudes- friends living in Incline
Village, Nevada had to return the monster they had bought because of the
loud humming noise they normally make at low atmospheric pressures. As
others have noted, with a simple repair costing $1500, these sets also make
for more profits for the salesman selling them in the form of extended
warrantys, which will not replace a plasma display tube that wants to crap
out early, say 7 years after you bought it. Of course, having a flat TV you
can hang on your wall may be the current 'in thing' for Yuppies to waste
their income on (fools and their dollars are soon parted), but to my mind,
it is a crime to peddle these things right now as true replacements for the
picture tube because the technology behind them is still too new and is
still being developed for reliability. It is smarter right now to pay
one-third the price for a flat screen CRT and then replace it with a LCD TV
which will most likely be be replacing everything in the next decade. If
even one person reading this heeds my advice and delays purchasing one of
these things for a few more years, they will thank me later.
 
Of course, having a flat TV you
can hang on your wall may be the current 'in thing' for Yuppies to waste
their income on (fools and their dollars are soon parted), but to my mind,
it is a crime to peddle these things right now as true replacements for the
picture tube because the technology behind them is still too new and is
still being developed for reliability. It is smarter right now to pay
one-third the price for a flat screen CRT and then replace it with a LCD TV
which will most likely be be replacing everything in the next decade. If
even one person reading this heeds my advice and delays purchasing one of
these things for a few more years, they will thank me later.
Click to expand...
It seems to me that early adopters of technology pay for the development that
more conservative types benefit from. Is it a crime to sell these things?
Figuratively or literally? Nah, the early adopters can read the reviews as well
as anyone else can, and can form their own opinions on how to spend their
money. Early cars, telephones, radios, airplanes and so on were all fairly
unreliable, and now they are so reliable and ubiquitious that they are
considered an essential part of our lives. But, if no one had ever purchased
an early car, telephone, radio, or ridden on an early airplane, we wouldn't
have them now.

Personally, I'll wait a few years and then get one.

Regards
Brad
PC Logic

Schematic entry and PCB design software
http://www.pclogic.biz
http://members.aol.com/atpclogic/index.html
 
Interest take on plasma. I've read that plasma screens last as long
as normal crts.

Anyway, in the shops here (UK), the options are CRT up to 36in, 28 and
32 seem the most popular. This is widescreen. But CRT starts to get
pretty deep. 36in is probably too deep for the majority of uk homes.
I have never seen >36in CRT.

Bigger screens are LCD, plasma, or back projection. LCD doesn't go so
big (at least in the shops). Plasma and back projection cover the
42in and more. 42in seems a popular size and price wise they are GBP
2000 - 3500 (or higher). Back protection tv tend to be cheaper, GBP
800 - 1900. But they are usually less bright, and they have bulbs
which AFAIK only have a life of about 3000hrs. And the bulbs cost GBP
200 so back projection tv has an expensive running cost!

All of which seems to come back to the fact that if you want a big tv
the option is plasma, perhaps back projection if you accept the bulb
running cost.

Malcolm

--

....malcolm

Malcolm Reeves BSc CEng MIEE MIRSE, Full Circuit Ltd, Chippenham, UK
(mreeves@fullcircuit.com, mreeves@fullcircuit.co.uk or mreeves@iee.org).
Design Service for Analogue/Digital H/W & S/W Railway Signalling and Power
electronics. More details plus freeware, Win95/98 DUN and Pspice tips, see:

http://www.fullcircuit.com or http://www.fullcircuit.co.uk

NEW - Desktop ToDo/Reminder program (free)
 
The real problem with making a larger CRT than that is that glass, like
every material, has a bit of flexibility. In order to make the convergence
and the alignment of the shadow mask of the tube stay correct, you have to
thicken the glass front a lot as the size increases. Think of the
square-cube law and you see why it is not very practical. Soon, the CRT
would weigh a couple of hundred kilos.
 
In article <oApKb.7183$Y23.56@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com>,
greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net mentioned...


[snip]
As
others have noted, with a simple repair costing $1500, these sets also make
for more profits for the salesman selling them in the form of extended
warrantys, which will not replace a plasma display tube that wants to crap
out early, say 7 years after you bought it.

If
even one person reading this heeds my advice and delays purchasing one of
these things for a few more years, they will thank me later.
Click to expand...
Does any of this make sense? First off, why would someone thank you
later when they didn't buy something, hence they couldn't have known
that they did have a lemon?

But the worst one is extended warrantys [sic] don't make a profit if
the equipment needs frequent repair!

Double DUH!


--
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