Ivan wrote:
Hi,

My TV (Philips 32" widescreen crt, low end model) has been playing up
recently and I'm wondering if it's worth a repair or time for a new one.
It's only 6 years old, all problems have started in the last 6 months or
so.

Until recently the only problem was the speakers which periodically stop
working for a few hours at a time. I haven't bothered getting them
looked at because I normally use home cinema speakers anyway.

More recently the remote control sensor has become a bit unreliable and
doesn't always work. The remote control has also had a hard life so I
usually use a programmable remote.

Earlier today I was watching and all of a sudden the menus started
popping up and going through multiple language options etc at a very
high speed. I switched the TV off, left it for a few hours and when I
turned it on all I had was a blue screen. I left it another while and
now the picture is back but the geometry is a mess. It's like watching a
TV with a fisheye lens camera. As the tv warms up the picture improves
but it's still very bad.

I have had a google and know I can probably get at the service menu to
tweak the picture but with multiple things going wrong I think I would
be better just taking it in for a repair. On the other hand I was going
to change it this year for a flatscreen to save a bit of space so I
don't want to spend a lot of money on it.

Before I go to the effort of arranging time off work and lugging it into
town I was hoping someone here could tell me if it sounds it should be
fixable at a sensible price?

Thanks,
Ivan

this could be down to simply poor joints or, as another poster pointed
out, liquid in the front panel. Hopefully a relatively basic fix. Has
someone been cleaning the screen with window cleaner spray? In any
case, the set is worth having looked at, Philips stuff, being an
established brand, tends to have considerable tech support/ be easy to
find parts and schematics for. Take it in, preferably where they open
the set up before 'diagnosing' or estimating.
-B.