mctoolhead Posted March 21, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 My KVHR36M31 ceased to function just as the 1st practice for the Gran Prix started Its 3 years old. Glad I bought that extended warranty from Sony thinks I ! Report fault to Sony. Sony passes me off to their authorised repairer. Repairer talks me through symptoms and determines what parts will be needed. Rings back and advises that parts wont be available until next Wednesday (ie today). Arrange work timetable so I can be at home when repair is performed. Receive call at 1:00pm today advising that repair has had to be postponed for 2 weeks as Sony are unable to supply replacement parts. Today, discuss (ie escalate) the situation with Sony who promise to get back to me with a plan to fix the problem. Still waiting. Now, dont get me wrong, I love this TV, but I have to face reality - what if Sony determine its uneconomical to fix and want to replace it with an equivalent. What is its equivalent ? To me, its all about resolution. Popular opinion remains divided on the resolution these sets are capable of but there seems to be agreement that they resolve between 1080 and 1152 lines of vertical resolution. And somewhere between 1400 and 1920 lines of horizontal resolution. So what equivalent (lcd, plasma or ??) can provide this if this set has to be replaced ? And with equivalent colour fidelity.
Owen Posted March 21, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 The strong point of the Sony CRT is black level not resolution. There are plenty of displays that will exceed the resolution of your CRT, but none that will come close to its blacks. If you are offered a 1080p LCD as a replacement and resolution is your big thing (it should not be) you will be happy, but if you value the blacks that gave you the image quality that you where used to, you will be pissed off with an LCD. Sony don’t really sell a viable replacement for your CRT. The closest they offer is the 60” and 70” SXRD RPTV’s that are much bigger.
Kabe Posted March 21, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 As a fellow Sony KVHR36 owner most concerned that your TV is ill and even more concerned after reading Owen's post. We also have a 20 year old Sony KV-2264AS which has never had it's inners exposed and still works well (maybe a bit slow to warm up and not as colourful) so we expected that should get more than three years of out the Sony. Please keep the forum informed as to the outcome.
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted March 22, 2007 Posted March 22, 2007 I think it's not just blacks, it's also the even quality across all the screen that is amazing about the KVHR*. Sony charges a lot for the 5 year warranty for this tv. It is just not right for Sony not to keep enough spare parts. Having said that, didn't Sony wind up most of its crt production? J.
Zacspeed Posted March 22, 2007 Posted March 22, 2007 Whats the actual problem with the TV? And what part did they say they needed. I dare say the part would cost far less than the extended warranty tag. From what youve said I take it the whole TV just turned off and you get no display/sound function. Do any of the power lights come on, or flash/flicker? If thats the case a high voltage element probably has short circuited. Generally a high voltage switching transistor, probably $20-$40 for the part. I wouldnt be too fussed about it happening again, its just one of those things that does occur.
Owen Posted March 22, 2007 Posted March 22, 2007 I think it's not just blacks, it's also the even quality across all the screen that is amazing about the KVHR*. I don’t understand that comment. I think Sony still sells the 86cm CRT in the US, or they did until recently. Parts should be available from somewhere.
mctoolhead Posted March 23, 2007 Author Posted March 23, 2007 My KVHR36M31 is now fixed. It was some high voltage regulator thingy that carked it. Replaced with a new part and I am a happy camper again. The techo was very knowledgeable about this TV. He mentioned that the two variants (Japanese & Malaysian) look the same but are different inside. Parts between the two are not interchangeable. Thats gotta be a logistical pain for Sony. I inquired as to what it would have cost me today if it wasnt a warranty job. Estimate was about $300 for parts and labour. So the $250 Sony Extended warranty wasnt a bad idea after all at $250.
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted March 24, 2007 Posted March 24, 2007 My KVHR36M31 is now fixed.It was some high voltage regulator thingy that carked it. Replaced with a new part and I am a happy camper again. The techo was very knowledgeable about this TV. He mentioned that the two variants (Japanese & Malaysian) look the same but are different inside. Parts between the two are not interchangeable. Thats gotta be a logistical pain for Sony. I inquired as to what it would have cost me today if it wasnt a warranty job. Estimate was about $300 for parts and labour. So the $250 Sony Extended warranty wasnt a bad idea after all at $250. Did you ask what the differences were between the TVs made in Japan and M'sia and why they were different? J
Geforce Posted March 24, 2007 Posted March 24, 2007 I've never seen a KVHR36M31 made in Malaysia and i saw a few before i bought my KVES34M31, which is also made in Japan, in Jan 2004.
mctoolhead Posted March 24, 2007 Author Posted March 24, 2007 I didnt get any more information other than the Japanese and Malaysian models were functionally the same but not all parts were interchangeable. I bought my KVHR36 in Jan 2004 and wasnt aware there was a Malaysian manufactured version until I read it here in the forums some time later and looked at one on display in Good Guys an confirmed it.
THX1979 Posted March 27, 2007 Posted March 27, 2007 roughly 1440 x 1000 MAximum resolution according to the ISF guys in the states (i read this a few years ago - i think it was reported in widescreen review from memory)
rupa Posted March 27, 2007 Posted March 27, 2007 Hi, a bit off topic. I have a KVHR36 also which i just got back from the repair place after being there for over a month, they had to replace the whole D board which is the main circuit board (Costed $250). I have a Laptop with some 1080 h264 movies on it which i want to watch on the TV, i have a VGA to RGBHV cable to connect the laptop with and what i want to know is what is the native resolution of the KVHR36 & what resolution should i set the laptop to, so that i get the maximum resolution of the TV?
THX1979 Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 apparently CRT devices dont have a native resolution , its just that its capable of resolving up to 1440 pixels lengthwise and 1000 lines of horizontal res. Thats what I keep reading anyway...
motlking Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 By memory the resolution is 1600 x 1080 (i.e. It natively displays 1080i)
Shaynos Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 This is not good to hear, I aquired a second hand KVHR without warranty..fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong...that said I would pay to the $250-300 without a second thought, however if the cost got near $1k then I'd have to reconsider Really enjoying the set, and I am still amazed at the pic quality each time I turn it on.
motlking Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 shaynos, glad your enjoying the set I wouldn't worry about faults, not very common at all on the KVHR36
mctoolhead Posted March 29, 2007 Author Posted March 29, 2007 One more tidbit of information from the technician who fixed my TV. In the USA this model has HDMI. I asked if it can be converted or upgraded to HDMI and he informed me that there was no point as the HDMI version of this TV converts it to component internally - ie the digital signal is converted to analogue before it hits the screen.
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 One more tidbit of information from the technician who fixed my TV.In the USA this model has HDMI. I asked if it can be converted or upgraded to HDMI and he informed me that there was no point as the HDMI version of this TV converts it to component internally - ie the digital signal is converted to analogue before it hits the screen. Actually, it would be better to have an HDMI interface; for the analog signal (except HD ones) seems to be converted to digital for processing and then back to analog for display. An HDMI input would save one step of conversion. Despite this lack, you still get a wonderful picture. :-) J.
Shaynos Posted April 4, 2007 Posted April 4, 2007 shaynos, glad your enjoying the set I wouldn't worry about faults, not very common at all on the KVHR36 Certainly am...and hopefully nothing does go wrong
rupal Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 another off topic question, I have noticed since i got my KVHR36 back, everything (Austar, DSTB, DVD) has a slight out of sync sound. Do any other KVHR owners have this problem & is there any way to fix it, like tweaking a setting in the service menu or anything like that.
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