How can a TV suddenly die without warning?

As the title suggests- the Tv in my bedroom has just died. It has done so without waring- I was watching it this morning and nothing seemed wrong with it. Around half an hour ago I went to put it on and I realised the standby light wasn't on (it was the last time I was in my room), and the TV didn't switch on. I presumed the fuse had gone, but after trying a few fuses (and trying them after in another appliance to check the fuses weren't duds) it's clear the TV's broke. It's strange, I'd have expected it to give some warning like playing up for a few weeks, and to finally die with a bang or a pop or something like that, as has been the case with other appliances on the way out. But no, it's seems to have silently died some time between 11AM and 3PM with no signs whatsoever. Strange.

I had a similar sort of thing happen to me. It turned out to be degradation of some of the power components inside the TV. Got it fixed within a day.

probably fed up with all the **** on it....

Sounds like the power supply is dead. It might not be too expensive to get repaired. Whether it'd be worth it would depend on how old it is.

Oh, they have a terrible habit of suddenly dying, and unless you're an electronics engineer it's inevitably cheaper to buy a new one than to get it repaired.

I've had a Philips 28" and a Goodmans 28" suddenly die on me in recent years - both were just 4 years old.

With much annoyance I took my Goodmans to the tip recently and there was a special designated "TV graveyard area" for disposing of televisions. There were several dozen there and to my amazement they all looked really modern, with some names like Sony and Panasonic amongst them. About a quarter of them were the new silver breed that couldn't have been more than 2 years old; in fact some of them actually looked brand new.

Back in my parents' generation you could reasonably expect a set to last 12-15 years but now it's a fraction of that. When you take this into account I think today's dirt-cheap consumer electronics are a false economy.

Indeed, you might have reasonably expected a TV set to last 15 years (with many lasting even longer) but what is often forgotten is that you couldn't have reasonably expected them to last that long without a few failures of some sort and subsequent visits to the TV repair man in between.

In contrast, modern kit is usually just thrown away when it fails without even investigating the possibility of repair, in which case something being condemened to the landfill after 4 years isn't that out of touch with the MTBF of older equipment.

However, there are of course exceptions - I've got two bits of equipment which spring to mind which have proven to be exceptionally reliable. The first is my TV set, it was bought on January 1st 1996, has been in constant and heavy use for it's whole life, but is still going strong almost 10 years later, without a single fault of any sort (which would be virtually unheard of in the 'golden era' of supposedly more durable 70's and 80's kit).

The second is my VCR, bought in August 1999, which has been in almost daily use, yet 6 years on the electronics and mechanics are as good as they were when new, and the heads are not yet showing any noticeable signs of wear - you wouldn't find many £500 toploaders lasting that long without having been in for repair.

I got the TV in Janaury 2001. It's a 14" portable & VCR combined. Seeing as I could replace it for around 70 quid, I really don't think it's worth paying to repair it seeing as most places will charge you around 50 quid just to look at it (Curry's, whre I bought it, definatly would). If anyone knows somewhere I could take it who want charge extortionate amounts (espeically if it is something simple), please tell me.

What is it with the attitude of some forumers lately?

Well, you're throwing away a perfectly good VCR. That's the thing I dislike with these intergrated 2-in-1 jobbies; if one thing breaks down then the whole lot becomes useless. It's for this reason on principle I refuse to buy them.

Take it to the dump. I'm surprised it lasted this long. I've not seen one of those integrated things with decent build quality. And as already mentioned, there's a lesson to be learned in buying separate devices in different boxes.

You've been complaining about cropping and zooming for years yet you've been watching a television which has undoubtedly had a ridiculous amount of cut-off.

Whilst I agree with your sentiment, everyone could have a 2-in-1 device eventually - I firmly believe that the ultimate successor to the VHS video recorder will be a PVR/DVD recorder combi.

And how many people here still have a separates hi-fi system?

Separates are more durable and better built, you have the same issue of one part breaks, replace the lot with an all-in-one system and usually a separates system has better sound quality than an all-in-one stereo at the same price point.

But folk buy the one-box solution for ease-of-use and convenience. Same with TVs/VCRs etc.

(I will only buy separates BTW, and wouldn't give you the time of day for a combined TV/VCR, but that's just me).

As for the reliability and durability of modern equipment, I firmly believe that electronics have never been more reliable, but as has been said here society has changed. I've known of people who have chucked a TV away because the remote control failed. They couldn't be bothered even to contact the manufacturer and spend £30 on a new one, instead preferring to blow £400 on the latest model. It's madness.

It's the same with cars. How many perfectly-good serviceable vehicles are on the scrapheap for the sake of a £100 component that might cost another £100 to fit? It's more than a little bit pathetic when you think about it.