Page 1 of Telly in the Pink

I`ve had my Philips 28" Widescreen for just under two years now. It`s given me sterling service without a day`s trouble, handling both PAL and NTSC signals without a single complaint. Then a couple of days ago something weird happened with the picture. The red intensity keeps building up slowly to a peak so that people look lobster pink and red highlights bleed beyond the edge of the 4:3 scan. Then the picture will correct when a more blue/green image comes on. There`s a distinct pink tinge to black and white pictures, and there also seems to be an area in the top right of the picture that`s slightly darker.

I`m reporting it for repair to Littlewoods Extended Warranty service on Monday. Anybody with similar experiences care to suggest
a) will it be repaired in my lifetime?
b) is the tube terminal and might I get a refund for a new set?

I just felt like sharing this, and any sympathetic observations are appreciated.

J Mark Oates

My sister has a Philips widescreen tv and when I was setting it up I noticed a similar problem. This time it was a green effect on the picture. Everything would look more greener than normal, similar to the effect seen in The Matrix but that was intentional. At first I thought it was something to do with the colour settings on the tv, but soon realised it was the scart socket I was using to route the DVD player to. I was feeding an RGB cable into what I thought was and RGB scart socket. It seems the labelling on the back of the set was round the wrong way. I switched the cable to the other socket and it was fine.

Your problem definately sounds like a faulty tube. Philips supply tubes to many different manufacturers and are very common, so finding a replacement won`t be difficult. The repair shouldn`t take too long, but don`t hold me to that. It is very unlikely that they will refund you, they will only do this if the cost of the repair is more than the price of the tv.

Cervantes.

Could be a component that is starting to fail when it warms up could be a capacit/or one of the colour drive transistors or colour decoder chip all simple s***.

Tubes that are faulty usually slowy develop faults over a period of time, but if one of the guns as gone short then there are a few doges that may fix it, but they are best left to the engineer, if the tube is at fault you will get a new set,the cost of the labour and tube would far outway the price of a new set.

My sister Philips gave up the ghost after 7 years the power supply kept failing and after three attemps they gave up trying to mend it( she had a extended warrenty with currys).
They took it away and phoned her up next day and offerd her brand new 28" Phillips set and threw in a brand new six head phillips video recorder,all because the price of new TV,s had fallen and they threw in the video to componsate for the difference.

They were all deliverd in there boxes and set up for her,that was about a year ago and they are both still going strong.

Oscar.

This item was edited on Sunday, 21st September 2003, 22:23

I`ve been having the same problem with my philips 28" widescreen - two areas of the screen are effected. On the left side (which would be the edge on 4:3) it has a pink glow and over in the top right it has a green glow.

I`ll never be buying another philips TV again - I`ve heard nothing but bad things about them.

Is a new tube an expensive repair?

We`d rented our tellies for years from Radio Rentals until Dad retired, then we did a bit of price comparing and realised unless you swapped out on a yearly basis you were paying through the nose for a telly that seldom needed repairing. We bought a Ferguson 21" from Comet with an extended warranty and when it was about eighteen months old it went completely tits up on us. It was taken away for repair and after about six weeks they sent us a letter telling it was dead and offering a voucher for the replacement value. We picked up a Sony that proved to be a tank - six years on and still working (as a second telly), and when the extended warranty was up on that, I got a cheque back for that!

Extended warranties aren`t usually much cop, but for big expensive items they`re invaluable. We got one with this Philips, and if that`s beyond reasonable repair we`ll get 80% of the original value of the set. The engineer`s coming tomorrow afternoon, so I`ll post later what happens, but in the mean time I`ve had to strip out all my Home Theatre equipment (speakers, video, DVD, amp etc.) to give clearance to get at the telly itself.

Lucky I don`t have any DVDs to review this week, eh? ;)

J Mark Oates

"- two areas of the screen are effected. On the left side (which would be the edge on 4:3) it has a pink glow and over in the top right it has a green glow."

That sounds like magnatisation of the shadow mask in the tube. Have you degaussed it by powering off (NOT standby) and then back on a few times?

Steve

Yep tried that, and there`s no magnetic fields within close distance to the TV to cause this either. I`ve even moved the TV to the other side of the room incase my neighbour has a marshall stack against the wall his side (which they don`t!) and still get the problem.

I got a reply from 24-7 electricals about it:

e-mail removed at request of retailer

Now if I remember from my Which? magazines its up to the retailer to sort it out? And I remember reading the items such as tv`s are covered under a `reasonable lifespan` clause?

This item was edited on Wednesday, 8th October 2003, 18:35

Personal I think that a TV should last about 7-9 years.

Read that some components have a failure rate of 3 years built in to them because electrical items are know regarded as throw away items.

God give us back the ferguson TX range :) :) :)

PS.
Got a 25"inch panny 4:3 and a 28" widesreen Wharfedale M7 out of a skip, never bought a TV in my life the Wharfdale was less then 18 months old.


Both non working, but they are know :) :) :) :)

Oscar.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 23rd September 2003, 16:47

I checked and I bought the TV in January 2002. Hardly a durable lifespan!

The engineer`s just been. He whipped the back off the set, tapped the tube neck and the little board on the end of the tube, then put the back of the set on again. The tube`s terminal - an internal short is to blame, and it seems that it`s a common fault. The diagnosis has been reported back to Littlewoods who will then decide whether £250 for a new tube + £???!!! labour is worth it or whether they should write the b*gger off. Either way I end up with a nice telly, so I`m not worried.

If they cough up for replacement, I`ve got my eye on a 28" Sony WS for £525 in the latest Littlewoods catalogue. Get another extended warranty and I`m fixed up tellywise until 2008!

Oh, and as regards DVD reviews, I`ve hooked up the Pacific to the telly again so no problems on that score ;)

J Mark Oates

This item was edited on Tuesday, 23rd September 2003, 18:18