They don't last as long as they used to, but 5 years is awfully short.
If the picture was good when it broke, it's probably worth getting
repaired. The fact that the shop is willing to "take the old one off
your hands" is a clue that it's worth repairing. They would repair and
resell it, and wouldn't do that if they thought it would break in six
months.

Funny how much stuff "worked fine" until it broke. That seems to be
a common mode of failure :-)

wrote:
Hi,

I have a Sony 48" TV that has worked fine for the past 5 years. Never
had a single problem or complaint. Model Number is KP48S75. Suddenly,
yesterday I go to turn the thing on and. . .nothing! Not a peep,
click, gurgle, nothing. It was as if it wasn't plugged in. But it was
plugged in. I went to the SONY web site and did what they said (leave
it unplugged for 30 minutes and then try again--I did this a couple of
times, to no avail). The standby light, which is always on even when
the TV is turned off, is on, but that is it. I just called a TV repair
place and they said it would cost about $300 to fix, and that doesn't
mean that the TV would last any length of time after being fixed. I
could need to buy a new TV in 6 months anyway. When I said that maybe
I should just buy a new TV now the guy said well if you do, call me and
I'll take the old one off your hands.
....
I guess my question is this: is it true that TVs just don't last long
anymore? This guy told me that 5 years was a long time and that is
about as long as any TV is going to last these days. I'm 45 years old,
and I remember when TVs used to last for 10-15 years! What the heck is
..