IIRC there was more to it than just plugging the TV into it. There were
several standard test points that would be needed.

I dunno if it is the same device, but it was encapsulated to prevent
reverse engineering. It came with charts for the different models and
gave you a step by step. I'm actually not sure of the design, but I can
see how it could be accomplished, even without a microprocessor, but I
think it had one. Waveform analysis without a scope was probably what
it was doing.

The device to which I refer was offered for a demo with a challenge
that it could troubleshoot faster than any tech. With my hotshot
mentality at the time (I was pretty good) I seriously considered it. I
think the problem was they didn't have a reward for a hotshot who could
beat their little machine. I think I might've had a chance. I had a job
where when it got busy they gave me three benches and an assistant.
After the backs were off I rolled my cart around to them and said
"change this, change that, change that".

These old sets with discreet components were a breeze for me. I use a
scope, and I mean I USE a scope. I have had an oscilloscope since I was
13 and know how to use it. In fact I have refined my technique even
further. For example, dead set. I don't even hook it up, I run the
probe near the standby transformer (if SMPS), then hit power with it
near the main transformer, seeing the pulses picked up capacitively I
move on to the flyback.

On a dead set for example, I can see how a systematic approach could be
automated to some extent. With today's sets though, some things require
real troubleshooting. For example I had a set, about 3 years old that
had no red using the colorstream input. It may have been that way since
it was new as this was the first time they had used that input. It was
a small SMD transistor that checked good on the ohmmeter, but simply
did not amplify. I defy anyone to build some machine that could find
that.

Anyway, it was alot easier in the past, but forget about it now. Now we
must resort to the scope, something invented before I was born. I have
proof because one of my scopes is older than me :-)

JURB