This morning, a lady gave me a 2006 SPC 25" Magnavox TV/VCR/DVD combo. Of course, this garbage was made by Funai. Upon examination, I discovered that the VCR mechanism was screwed up and the set would fire up long enough for the screen to light before it would shut off. I've ran into this issue in the past and some of these could be faked into staying on. Unfortunately, this one wasn't one of them. Or, maybe I didn't try hard enough. Every time I'd try to fake this one into staying on, it would still shut off about 2-3 seconds after the screen lit up. IMHO, they designed these sets this way to make sure that when the VCR mechanism malunctioned, the whole unit would then be useless. My original goal was to make the TV stay on so I could sell it just for the TV. Since things didn't work out that way, I opened the door to my shop and slung the TV, as hard as I could, on the trash pile. Now, it won't come on at all and it will give my junk man something to sell at the scrap yard. Needless to say, I don't think much of anything made by funai and it don't take much to get me PO'ed enough to smash one.

Now that this excitement is over, let me pull out a real TV out of the stack I just brought home and get it working.

AHH! You've just made my morning, hearing that another Funai is going to end its life soon gives me warm fuzzies all over! I once took the pleasure in smashing
the living s**t out of a Funai VCR once, those things were awful. :yes:

G.

Shoulda "Roof-Tested" it off the highest building around...Mbwahahahahaha..."Proof-Testing" it against 115-grain 9 Mike Mike full jacketed bullets out of a Class-3 weapon woulda been Big Fun, too...

Sandy,

Did you just say Uzi in an indirect way? Good candidate for Uzi therapy! Brrrat! Braaat! One less Funai is always good!

Sandy,

Did you just say Uzi in an indirect way? Good candidate for Uzi therapy! Brrrat! Braaat! One less Funai is always good!

Kent, you see right thru me...Hehehehehehe...

Is funai china or korea? I looked at their site and their brands are Sylvania and Emerson.

It makes me sick how the great names, rca, zenith, sylvania etc have all be bought up by these companies who make total trash. I dont think people are brand loyal much anymore so it doesnt much matter. Its just the idea, the names should have disappeared when the company failed.

Is funai china or korea? I looked at their site and their brands are Sylvania and Emerson.



Japanese, but try to find a Funai product actually manufactured in Japan.....you probably won't.

Yes, it's sad - but we allowed all of this to happen. Post WWII rebuilding in Japan, consumerism (gotta be smaller, cheaper, etc), and the sell-out of 60's/70's corporations to appease stockholders all led to the demise of the US Consumer Electronics Markets.

I was in our Walgreens earlier this evening - they were putting out Christmas stock - EVERY box had "MADE IN CHINA" printed on it. Sad....

Every one of their TV's and TV/VCR and/or DVD combinations that I've seen were made in Malaysia. Some of their VCR's and DVD players were made in China. If you can think of an old brand name, it has probably appeared on a Funai made product. Some of the names that come to mind (as far as TV/VCR combinations) are Sylvania, Emerson, Magnavox, Toshiba, Zenith, Philco, and Broksonic.

It's obvious that most of the buying public does not care about brands and product longevity. All they want is a cheap product and as long as it last out the warranty, they are happy to toss it and buy another cheap piece of junk. As far as me, I spend as little money as possible on modern electronics. I'd much rather invest my money in something old that was well built and meant to be fixed.

Some of the names that come to mind (as far as TV/VCR combinations) are Sylvania, Emerson, Magnavox, Toshiba, Zenith, Philco, and Broksonic.


Oh Oh! My Wife has one of these Toshiba TV/VCR/DVD combos in her sewing room... She has run it many hours a day for about 8 years. Could it be Funai ?

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-MW20FM1-20-Inch-Screen-TV-DVD-VCR/dp/B000065UWF

jr

Yep, I'm pretty sure it's a Funai. If it's lasted for 8 years for many hours a day, consider yourself lucky.

As far an Funai goes, I have better luck fixing their TV only models. Most of those usually have power supply or vertical problems. Of course, I've seen plenty with bad flyback transformers, bad yokes, and switching power supplies that would run away and send hundreds of volts through the chassis.

Yep, I'm pretty sure it's a Funai. If it's lasted for 8 years for many hours a day, consider yourself lucky.


AARRRGGH!
Any idea when Toshiba sets started being manufactured by Funai....The first models of 20" flat square sets that I remember seeing were Toshiba and I am fairly certain that they were made in Japan, but that was perhaps 6 or 7 years earlier*.
jr

*re-thinking, it was more like the mid 80s.

I think all of the Toshiba TV/VCR or TV/DVD combinations were made by Funai, even back in the '90's. Sometime in the early 2000's, Toshiba outsourced their TV only models to Orion. At this moment, I have a September, 2002 32" flat tube Toshiba in for repair that belongs to a friend. It is a true Toshiba set and I think it's one of their last ones. The Orion built sets are not nearly as good. Another friend brought me his 31" particleboard cased Toshiba table model from 1990 with a loss of vertical deflection. I fixed that set for him several years ago and it had a nice picture. I'm sure all it needs now is a vertical IC, a resistor, and some caps and it will be good for another several years.

These are fun (?) sets to repair. Clean the transport mode location switch (WD-40 works) under the cam gear. Just moisten it and load and unload the tape a few times. Go thru all the functions.
If this doesn't fix them, remove the prism from the middle of the transport and using your cell phone camera, look directly down at the infrared LED. In the camera, you can see it light if it is good. No light, replace it with a LED from a dead remote. Be careful when putting the prism back. This will fix them 80% of the time.
If this doesn't get them going, get the garbage man to crush it and you can sometimes hear the CRT pop! The flat CRT marked "Magnavox" pop loud, as well as the Panasonic Tau's!
By the way, the cell phone camera trick is handy to test remotes too!
I'll take one of these over the Phillips TV's of about 5 years ago anyday!