I got a free new Sony Bravia 40" LCD w busted display
 

Last night I dropped in to visit my friend Bob at his TV shop in West LA, and not that I was looking for one, I hauled home a new-in-the-box Sony KLD-40S2000 Bravia LCD TV. He asked me to help him heave it into his truck so he could drop it off at a dumping location... I said how about MY truck? Evidently, it was freight-damaged, and the display is cracked. The set works, but there's a wishy-washy rainbow of colors where the crack is seen inside. Too bad, because it truly is brand-new with plastic bags, and batteries never installed in the remote.

SO--- what to do with it? Bob said the cost on the display is $1200, plus a $800 core charge if you can't return a non-cracked display. Since eBay has plenty of KLD-40S2000s working fine for around $1000, here is posed a conundrum.....

The big question: (A) Is there any cheaper source for these displays? (B) Does anyone have a 40" Bravia with a malfunction other than a busted display that they want to sell?

I'll call Andrews and see if that price may have changed for a new Sony one.

If no other options, we DO HAVE a rifle range on the property ;)

Charles

It's an LCD..put it out of it's misery.

Sell the accessories

I know you're right, I just hate to throw it in the bin brand-new... I asked Bob why he didn't keep it for parts, and he reminded me that he stores about 100 LCD sets "for parts" at his Dad's place. Sony has the nerve asking 100% of the retail price of the TV for a replacement display.

Charles

I would just keep watching for a broken set (other than bad screen) on Ebay, if you have the space to store this one. These TVs use Samsung LCD panels, so you can look for those as well. You could also try checking with Samsung to buy a replacement panel. The catch with buying a new panel for any LCD TV is that the prices keep going down for the new ones, but that won't help the prices for any existing parts, as you found out.

BTW, it seems that Sony has got even worse than in their past... The prices you mentioned mean that they are charging US$1200 for repair of a panel, since you have to return an intact one to them. Back around 1993, I took my car CD player to them for repair of its optical pickup and they gave me a $350 repair estimate because the main board had "water damage". Yes, it had a few spots from a windshield leak, but it worked fine. I got them to (reluctantly) sell me just the optical pickup ($100 by itself back then), and I installed it myself and used the stereo for another six years. All of this makes it hard for me to stay near-neutral in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray "war".

Plan C for you could be to just try selling the TV on Ebay; even the broken-panel ones sell there, I have seen.

Thanks for the input on that, and for the tip that Samsung has that panel. I didn't know that, and wouldn't have paid attention to Samsungs.

With absolutely NO experience in LCD, I have to ask if a 40" Samsung panel is a 40" Samsung panel, or are there many types? At least with CRTs in the past, a 25" delta gun tube is a 25" delta gun tube, with only differences in mounting ears, and could be swapped amongst eachother as long as they could physically fit.

Charles

I have a 32 inch Sony Bravia in the same condition, new but the LCD is internally fragmented. It is kind of psychedelic to watch.

And the government is concerned about placing TVs in the landfills? CRT TVs usually gave a good 15 years of service (til the 90s at least), and they complain that TVs were filling/polluting the dumps? If this is the new way with LCD, Boy, they aint seen nothin' yet!!!!!!!!!!

Charles

fix it, then put an ad on craigslist claiming you'll trade that nice LCD for you "old busted color tvs" --the kind your grandparents owned :D

LCD panels tend to be different from model to model. The chances of two random 40" LCD TVs using the same panel are pretty slim.

Is this really much different than the cost of replacing a CRT? How long has it been since it was cost effective to replace a CRT?

LCDs seem to hold up very well as long as they aren't dropped. I see LCD monitors that are around 10 years old and still work fine, or only have minor problems. They are usually a little dim after 10 years of 24/7 use, but new back light tubes fixes that. 10 year old CRT monitors that were used 24/7 usually look awful.

"Install" it, then claim on your home contents insurance and say it was "accidentally damaged". It'll teach them for continually upping premiums while providing shoddy service.