21 Jul
2007
21 Jul
'07
2:18 a.m.
On 21/07/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Regardless of what the automotive people say about
repairability, I
submit that modern television receivers aren't made to be repairable.
If it were otherwise, you'd be able to find people who repair them
for a living.
You still can. At least, I did a year or two ago when the (then main)
TV set in the living room went bang. It cost substantially less than
a new set of comparable quality, to repair.
Unfortunately the previous TV I'd had for years, which I had hung onto
just in case, wasn't so lucky. The LOPT had gone, which I knew from
it's diagnostics, and it wasn't 'economic' to repair - i.e. for that
one it was cheaper to buy a new TV.
To be sure, some of the problems described on the
giveaway sets sound
fairly simple--e.g. picture and sound suddenly disappear. But even
so, sets less than a year old seem to end up in the waste stream.
The quantity I see discarded, sat by the rubbish bins, is
disheartening, as are the numbers that end up being kicked around the
local bits of waste ground by the kids. Surely they can't all (have
been) beyond repair, or even faulty?
The local freecycle list gets lots of TV on it, (and CRT monitors..)
so I presume it's mostly down to people 'upgrading' and simply
chucking out their old sets.
Most ridiculous example I spotted was a >40" rear projection set I saw
sat out at the side of the road.. with it's rear hanging off.. ( I was
on my way out to an appointment or I'd have stopped for it, and it was
gone when I came back... ) Now those are still relatively expensive,
so it would probably have made sense even to pay to get it fixed, had
it needed it.
Rob