Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Following on from this thread what do you consider to be the worst TV you ever had to repair/service.

We could also include VCR's

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Sony 9-90 because you can't run it without extension cables between assemblies.

If you count a camcorder as a VCR then Sony CCD V700E because you can't run it out of its housing without extension cables between assemblies. (Not easy with multi way ribbon cables.)

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

All right - I have to mention the Sharp CS chassis. PCB the size of a postage stamp, double sided print, unreliable electrolytics and diodes, a nasty line driver circuit, a hugely expensive multipinned SMD jungle IC (in the days before we were used to dealing with these) and a LOPT that sprayed EHT everywhere. And when you finished the Class D SMD audio IC was dead too. Good tubes though. Eventually I had a pile of around twenty of these, a couple of years old, many working which I sold for a few quid for the lot to a dealer.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Amstrad, cant remember the chassis awful things.

Funai VCR's where the deck and chassis are not easily separable from each other

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Going way back the Telefunken 711A chassis. Never saw one with a decent crt either.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Oh yes - the Telefunken 711. Mind you, some people liked them - I didn't! They were getting on a bit when I met them, so the print was peeling off and the E/W circuit was disintegrating. The power supply was inaccessible and once the frame stage got it into its head it wasn't going to work it never did again. And you needed to jump off the floor to change channels.
And yes - the Amstrad 2210. Looked stereo, made of chipboard and Fablon. A TDA 3652 frame stage that needed modification and never gave a linear scan. Plus a nice exploding PSU! They were best regarded as a posh box for a good 30AX tube.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

The TVR2?

That's the worst I've worked on. I've still not got it working. Every single "repair" I've done to it has made it worse and worse.

Bought it semi working, would give sound and show static, but every few seconds, a relay clicked, sound and picture dropped out for a second, then it'd all come back in, just for the relay to click again. This kept happening.

Changed a resistor, picture went, replaced the original resistor, still no picture. Replaced a few caps, something went bang and now I've got a dead set. Just the LED turns on.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

AV2000 do you mean Michael? Or that silly double decker Amstrad VCR ,another night.

Not being prejudiced,Phillips Charlie deck too.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

VCR wise - Amstrad double decker "Heads clogged on lower deck" - aggghhh!

What was the mitusbishi with the PCB over the mech? HS312? That was a nightmare for the simplest job too.

Being a sadist, I liked the Philips Charlie. They all used to get left for me to do.

Those god awful Amstrad CTV2200's had to be the worst set.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Agree with you Andy regarding the Amstrad, yes it was the CTV2200

I also liked the Charlie decks, and people did leave them to me to do, they were ok provided you fitted the official Philips kit. Some were scrapped because the runners for the cassette housing broke up, Willow Vale (remember them?) stocked a kit but because it wasn’t an ‘official’ kit, Disastercare wouldn’t let us fit them.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Not exactly what you mean ;) , but this was the worst chassis I restored:

Attachment 213390

Jac

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Ferguson ICC9 for me, no logical way of fault finding as far as I could see.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

More of a pond find than barn I feel!

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

I always thought the HMV 1807 was leading for worst UK set I suppose we ought to think in which era as each had some duds.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Here is the only image I've ever found of the fabled Amstrad CTV2200. Not a bad looking set (although I bet that plastic fascia was as creaky as a galleon) I wonder if even a single example survives today?

You can see why Amstrad launched it as I can't think of another large screen colour set that was so keenly priced at that time (1985/6?) On the face of it, it looked like pretty good value, 'SuperWide' sound (ahem) and all. I seem to remember they sold in our local Asda for about £159.99, which was probably about the same price as a good quality colour portable from Philips/Pye.

Was the Amstrad chassis their own design- and UK made?


Steve

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

Hi.

Whilst the Amstrad CTV2200 weren't the best sets, I always managed to repair them OK. The field o/p IC TDA3652, I think, became obsolete and an alternative was issued with a few small mods around the IC. I think it was a TDA3654. I'm pretty sure the Thorn TX10 used the same IC.

Agree with Glyn, by far and away the worst chassis was that Sharp CS. Quite a compact unit but had some expensive and nasty fault habits.
There was another digital chassis possibly an Onwa unit that was quite awful. I remember the long delay after pressing the buttons on the remote control and getting a response from the TV particularly in the teletext mode. That long delay effect was also a serious problem on those early Nokia OnDigital set top boxes.

There was also a Fidelity digital chassis, ZX5000 I think that wasn't bad.
Anyone remember the ITT Digivision? ;D

I also thought the Philips Charly deck was OK. I recall the procedure for replacing the pinch roller/rack assembly involved using a battery to turn the loading motor in order to remove a plate to access the pinch roller. The Charly deck was actually quite simple and surprisingly robust despite many plastic components. It would be interesting to see what condition the plastic parts are in for what survivors remain.

Regards,
Symon

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

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Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

The Matsui 209R/209T were also terrible, the tubes were so bad, they wouldn’t focus properly. They all had to be modified because one or two went up in flames.

There were also a number of Saisho/Matsui TV’s where one of the capacitors when it failed caused all the secondary voltages to go sky high. One unfortunate man died when one of these burst into flames after a power cut.

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

For me I would say the Philips Charley deck, but as I escaped from Mastercare in early 1987 I only ever worked on a hand full so I really didn't get the feel for these. Also as mentioned the Amstrad double decker and the rats nest of the chassis in the CTV2200. I spent my last years in the trade working for a small independent Ferguson dealer which was great. They even still had a few 1500s out on rent in the late 80s. Then the Thompson takeover and the horrible ICC5 arrived. The only other set that comes to mind was a Philips 25 inch G110 chassis that was given to me with a blown up power supply, ( surface mounted technology). It took me hours to rebuild it and a headache to follow, with the Philips kit using my smallest Antex soldering bit. I swore I would never do another one. The excellent picture it displayed and the good quality Nicam sound was my reward and I had a good 8 years service out of that set.

Alan

Re: Which was the worst TV set / chassis you had to repair
 

The Philips Charlie deck. I used to visit 604 Purley Way early. They opened at 8am and if you judged it right you get get over Mitcham Common and back to Colliers Wood for opening time at 9am.
I knew them quite well and often had a quick chat. I moaned about the terrible Charlie deck and how it had put me off Philips video recorders for life! The guy told me not to be so upset about them as they were scrapping them as soon as they were returned.
He invited me to the service dept at the back to meet a massive Dexion rack, and I mean massive piled high with those terrible plastic nightmares.
They were all for scrap, they had thrown the towel in!
Odd how Philips, a company I have very high regard could never produce a decent record autochanger. Do you remember the AG1003...
The ICC5 was just about bearable but anything post was not worth the workshop time and Thompson technical agreed!
So we come to number 1. Roll of drums..The French EMO colour receiver. I have never experienced such a bad receiver in all my years in the trade. E series 6.3v valves with a mains transformer. They were often burned out with a massive hole in the cabinet back.. They never worked correctly from new with terrible convergence. They were all scrapped within 4 years.
The Amstrad 1400 portable was incredibly reliable. The only fault I encountered was a dry joint line driver transformer. The 22" models were a bit sad but there were many European receivers that have a lot to answer for. Not so happy days. John.