Yesterday, my Mitsubishi Diamond Projection TV (WS65718) wouldn’t turn on. Nothing happened when I hit the power button. I punched the “System Reset” button using paperclip. No dice. I guess it was bound to happen considering the set is over 10 years old (purchased in 2002) and really, despite being left on for days sometimes, never had a failure until now.
Off to Bing I go for a solution. Unfortunately, the only advice I got that seemed of value was this:
Unfortunately there is only two things the end user can do. First, unplug the set from the wall for 5-10 min. This forces the micro-processor to reboot. After plugging the TV back in and it still does not start up, then a technician will have to be called in. You can go to http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com to contact them and/or find the nearest technician.
I indeed tried this, and failed. I ended up having to find a repair shop to do a house call and evaluate my TV’s reparability. After all, the unit is massive and isn’t the kind of thing you throw into the back of the car.
HELLO? UM… DO YOU REPAIR BIG SCREEN TVs?
If you live on the Westside of Los Angeles (Santa Monica/Mar Vista/West Los Angeles/Westwood/Century City/Beverly Hills/Brentwood) the only shop I found that did repairs on Mitsubishi TVs was a place called “Precision Sound Service” – and they were recommended by the original store that I purchased the big screen from over a decade ago. And yes, they did house calls.
Today, Diego stopped by and took a look at the unit for a service charge of $89. He popped the front & the back and grimaced. He said he’d have to take out the entire projection & electronics assembly and take it back to the shop to replace 1 of the larger modules & possibly one other. Estimated price: $350.
I swallowed but ultimately, who am I kidding? If he gets it fixed – and fixed well, it’s more than worth $350 being that a new TV would be $5000 in the range I’m thinking of. Besides, this unit was in the $10,000 range & state of the art back when I got it. (At a deep discount, mind you) so I think $350 is a fair investment for 10 years+ of usage.
So the massive assembly left with him. And the TV is pretty much just an empty hull. We’ll see how good these guys are.
To be continued…
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kurtsh
Kurt's Thoughts 