On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:55:50 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

I don't feel like laying out another kilobuck. And though my experiences
with consumer electronics over the past 45 years has been overwhelmingly
positive (I've never had anything expensive break down -- other than my
brand K amplification), I don't like the idea of getting a bit more than 2
years' use out of a product and then having to toss it (either because the
parts aren't available, or I can't afford the repair).

According to Wikipedia, the half life of a plasma display is about
100,000 hrs. That's 27 years at 10 hrs per day. That's the time to
where the display brightness drops to half. Have you light meter
ready.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display
There's quite a bit of good info in that article on plasma tv.

My very limited experience with plasma displays is that the failures
are usually in the electronics or power supply, not the tube. However,
the tube will be prematurely ruined by leaving it on the program guide
causing burn-in. Overheating, due to in the wall or cabinet
installations that lack sufficient ventilation is another culprit. Of
course, the big tube is fairly fragile and will not survive the impact
of the kids indoor baseball game.

The actual failure curve for a system has peaks at the beginning and
end of life, with a flat curve in between. The initial peak is
usually manufacturing defects and are covered under the warranty.
Those usually show up within a year. At the end of life, components
that degrade due to temperature effects or thermal cycling, will cause
failures. In between, a random assortment of failures might occur,
but the rate is very low.

The exception is the failure of Low-ESR capacitors, which tend to show
up after several years. The problem can be catastrophic as there may
be dozens of identical caps in your TV, all with the same problem.
http://www.badcaps.net
http://www.capacitorlab.com/low-esr-capacitor-manufacturers/
About 8 years after the counterfeit electrolyte and counterfeit
capacitor problems were discovered, I'm still seeing brand new
equipment with volcanic electrolytics.

The big problem with repairing a plasma TV is the size and weight. It
just can't be dragged to the service shop or warranty repair station
easily or economically. So, if a trivial part fails, it's a truck
roll and a major production. TV repairmen still make house calls, but
you'll pay handsomely for the effort. Or, you can drag it down to the
few remaining repair shops.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558