I have a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has a chassis number of
PTK195AC and is model P60812BL.

The day before yesterday it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and it is black.
Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
failed.

I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would have a
picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
problem with a partial, shrunken picture. I would suspect some sort of
voltage problem. I have not had a TV problem in 30 years. I have not
called a TV repair man in memory. I have the user's manual AND a
service manual because I thought it would come in handy some day.

I called a TV repair fellow and he said he was familiar with this model
of RCA and that the typical repair bill was $250. I am pretty handy
with this type of thing (and an electrical engineer), so I thought that
before he came over and found that it was a simple thing like a fuse, I
would try to look at it myself.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?

Oh, by the way. What would you-all estimate a typical repair bill is
on a rear projection TV? $250 would seem like a pretty reasonable
amount, but this TV is about 8 years old and cost about $1,300 new.
(That was a real deal, by the way. And it still seems like a deal
because it still has a real good picture when it is working).

wrote:
Oh, by the way. What would you-all estimate a typical repair bill is
on a rear projection TV? $250 would seem like a pretty reasonable
amount, but this TV is about 8 years old and cost about $1,300 new.
(That was a real deal, by the way. And it still seems like a deal
because it still has a real good picture when it is working).



That sounds pretty reasonable.

To start with you've got a lot of homework to do before you try to fix
this yourself. Research with Google and see if you can find others
who've had the same problem with that unit, that might get you some
leads. Beyond that you'll need a multimeter and soldering equipment bare
minimum. I really would recommend practicing on a TV you don't care
about rather than this though, CRT projectors are one of the more tricky
and finicky appliances to service.

I think I would agree with the flyback area being the problem. Unless
I could see something obvious (and I can't see anything at first
glance), I am not going to go into the HV section. I don't have any
components for that area anyway. I changed out a flyback on a TV and I
had to wait for it to come in and the whole thing took about a week. I
am hoping that this fellow might have comonents in stock. Is that a
long shot?

If I am not stuck with a bill of $500 or more, I would rather get this
fixed. It would be a real chore just to remove this thing. It must
weigh 350 lbs at least. And I really like the TV. I don't see
anything equivalent in size and picture quality until you get to about
$2,500 or more. I would like to NOT have that type of bill right now.

Just want to pass another thing by you-all. It would appear to me that
we are in a state of great change in television technology what with
CRT, LCD, DLP, Plasma and the various ways they project them. Not to
mention the aspect ratios (which don't seem to be standardizing from
what I can see), and the switch from the old FCC frequencies for
transmitting to the new ways of getting the information into your home
(satellite, cable and what not). Then there are the various levels of
HDTV... You see where I am going.

What I am getting at here is that I thought that now is not a great
time to settle on a new TV. I thought that a couple of more years
might provide a better focas on what would be the best way of going
before I switch to a new TV. The prices are starting to come down now
also. I also know that technology is always changing, so the question
really is, are we in the greatest time of change and I should let the
dust settle some, or will this be business as usual and I should
consider a change now?

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has a chassis number of
PTK195AC and is model P60812BL.

The day before yesterday it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and it is black.
Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
failed.

I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would have a
picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
problem with a partial, shrunken picture. I would suspect some sort of
voltage problem. I have not had a TV problem in 30 years. I have not
called a TV repair man in memory. I have the user's manual AND a
service manual because I thought it would come in handy some day.

I called a TV repair fellow and he said he was familiar with this model
of RCA and that the typical repair bill was $250. I am pretty handy
with this type of thing (and an electrical engineer), so I thought that
before he came over and found that it was a simple thing like a fuse, I
would try to look at it myself.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?


Get someone in who is familiar with RPTVs. If the tubes are sound and it
worked well before it failed, it's probably worth fixing. If the tubes were
obviously ageing, scrap it. These are not easy appliances to work on, and
it's going to save you a lot of grief if you get a proper estimate and get
the work done properly.

Dave

Please tell me what is a Blank Picture..???????

"Jamie" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Oh, by the way. What would you-all estimate a typical repair bill is
on a rear projection TV? $250 would seem like a pretty reasonable
amount, but this TV is about 8 years old and cost about $1,300 new.
(That was a real deal, by the way. And it still seems like a deal
because it still has a real good picture when it is working).

you should shop around for a new one, that is just my opinion.
most likely you have FlyBack (HV) transformer unit shorting.
or something in that area.


--
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

wrote:

Oh, by the way. What would you-all estimate a typical repair bill is
on a rear projection TV? $250 would seem like a pretty reasonable
amount, but this TV is about 8 years old and cost about $1,300 new.
(That was a real deal, by the way. And it still seems like a deal
because it still has a real good picture when it is working).

you should shop around for a new one, that is just my opinion.
most likely you have FlyBack (HV) transformer unit shorting.
or something in that area.


--
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5

The first thing we check for on these sets is a coolant leak in the vicinity
of the EEPROM and the metal frame standing up on the left front of the main
board or on the front of the convergence board at the connectors on the
right side (looking from the back).

If the pix is shrunk vertically, look carefully for coolant at the first
location. If it is shrunk horizontally, look for a problem in the pin or
horizontal output circuits, maybe a bad cap or diode. This is common on the
169 chassis, but I have not seen it on the 195.

Leonard

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has a chassis number of
PTK195AC and is model P60812BL.

The day before yesterday it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and it is black.
Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
failed.

I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would have a
picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
problem with a partial, shrunken picture. I would suspect some sort of
voltage problem. I have not had a TV problem in 30 years. I have not
called a TV repair man in memory. I have the user's manual AND a
service manual because I thought it would come in handy some day.

I called a TV repair fellow and he said he was familiar with this model
of RCA and that the typical repair bill was $250. I am pretty handy
with this type of thing (and an electrical engineer), so I thought that
before he came over and found that it was a simple thing like a fuse, I
would try to look at it myself.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?

Look here! http://www.anatekcorp.com/faq/protv.htm

http://wa6ati.com/CTC195-197.html

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=P60812BL+dead&meta=




wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has a chassis number of
PTK195AC and is model P60812BL.

The day before yesterday it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and it is black.
Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
failed.

I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would have a
picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
problem with a partial, shrunken picture. I would suspect some sort of
voltage problem. I have not had a TV problem in 30 years. I have not
called a TV repair man in memory. I have the user's manual AND a
service manual because I thought it would come in handy some day.

I called a TV repair fellow and he said he was familiar with this model
of RCA and that the typical repair bill was $250. I am pretty handy
with this type of thing (and an electrical engineer), so I thought that
before he came over and found that it was a simple thing like a fuse, I
would try to look at it myself.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?

wrote:
If I am not stuck with a bill of $500 or more, I would rather get this
fixed. It would be a real chore just to remove this thing. It must
weigh 350 lbs at least. And I really like the TV. I don't see
anything equivalent in size and picture quality until you get to about
$2,500 or more. I would like to NOT have that type of bill right now.



Just have it looked at, if the picture was good before I'd be shocked if
the repair came in at over $500. You have to factor in moving and
disposal costs when considering the price of the repair, not to mention
the environmental benefit of keeping it out of the landfill for a few
more years. Even if you decide to replace it in a year, the value will
likely be high enough on the working set to offset a good portion of
what you spent repairing it, while in it's current condition the value
is zero to negative.


Just want to pass another thing by you-all. It would appear to me that
we are in a state of great change in television technology what with
CRT, LCD, DLP, Plasma and the various ways they project them. Not to
mention the aspect ratios (which don't seem to be standardizing from
what I can see), and the switch from the old FCC frequencies for
transmitting to the new ways of getting the information into your home
(satellite, cable and what not). Then there are the various levels of
HDTV... You see where I am going.

What I am getting at here is that I thought that now is not a great
time to settle on a new TV. I thought that a couple of more years
might provide a better focas on what would be the best way of going
before I switch to a new TV. The prices are starting to come down now
also. I also know that technology is always changing, so the question
really is, are we in the greatest time of change and I should let the
dust settle some, or will this be business as usual and I should
consider a change now?



Personally I see a lot of turmoil in the market, it's hard to say
whether things will settle down, or whether they'll keep coming out with
something new and improved which can keep you waiting forever to upgrade
as has been the case with computers. My perspective is a little
different than the average consumer though because when it comes to TVs
and most other appliances I just wait until one breaks and is given to
me, then fix it and use it until something better comes along the same way.