Funai Longevity

[AUdubon5425]

I'm curious - what's the longest running Funai set y'all have seen?

I'm asking this because I've stumbled upon a lot of fairly new yet broken Funai products in the last month.

My neighbor's Magnavox DVD/VCR combo died last week, just refused to power up again - it was 2 years old. Three days later I'm telling my brother about it, he has the exact same unit, and he presses the power button and nothing happens - that one was one year old. Both had seen limited use.

I was given a Magnavox 13" color TV with the DVD player, made Dec 2005, hadn't turned on in over a year. Couldn't get it to power on, fuse wasn't blown, just pitched it as it was filthy from sitting in a warehouse.

Now, my own Durabrand 27" set from 2005 is starting to get the bends in the picture.

[zenith2134]

They're all crap from what I've seen. Maybe 4 or 5 years.

[radiotvnut]

I don't think I've seen a Funai TV over 5 or 6 years old that was still working. Most don't last that long. Cold solder joints, low grade caps, flyback failures, vertical deflection failures, etc. are the norm. My church had a 19" Funai built set that was used for maybe 1.5 hours every Sunday as a broadcast monitor. After about a year, they hit the power button and it fired up and shut down. They gave me the set and I found a shorted scan diode feeding the 200 volts to the video output circuit. The diode was a little glass 1N34 looking device. Not what you'd expect to see in a scan circuit. And, they generally don't take a power surge very well. Also, the power supplies are not protected; thus, often frying the rest of the set when they run wild and send several hundred volts through the rest of the chassis. I will say that I've never seen a bad CRT in one.

Their VCR's are even worse. I rarely see one over 2 years old that's still working. Many don't make it to one year.

[jedo1507r]

I've resurrected a battered 9-inch combo set made in 1997, where it's AC power supply was completely dead. Turns out it was a bad cap, but the PS board could pass for extra crispy (burned looking) especially around the cluster of resistors. The only thing decent on those sets are the Samsung CRTs.

Funai's DVD players seem to defy the odds in reliability, but that's not saying much for a plastic fantastic box.

[kx250rider]

When I find my stopwatch, I'll go to the store any buy a Funai, set the watch, and turn the TV on... I'll report back in a minute or two from then

Charles

[Kiwick]

What about older Funai products? i know they're around since at least the late 60s but they were mainly making simple things like radios and tape players back then.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

I'm curious - what's the longest running Funai set y'all have seen?

Without any objections, the 80s Funai products (TV/VCR combos and VCRs) were the longest lasting products ever made by them. Technicians would seldom see any 80s Funai product coming in for repairs as they were rated high in reliability by Consumer Reports back then (although they do suck now today). I have a 1985 Symphonic VCR (Funai's first VCR) that is still running fine today, as well as a 1988 Funai video cassette player. All it just needs is belts after more than 20 years of use. The 1985-1988 Funai VCR chassis was built stronger than Hitachi's six-belt chassis and Sharp chassis, in my opinion. Funai was the first VCR manufacturer to use a geared idler, which never fails to turn a tape. Many of you probably have never seen an old Funai product, so the bashings of Funai will continue today.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Their VCR's are even worse. I rarely see one over 2 years old that's still working. Many don't make it to one year.

Sorry to say, but I do see quite a number of 20 year old Funai VCRs still running fine today (not including mines).

[AUdubon5425]

I didn't realize they were producing stuff that far back. My Dad had a Symphonic VCR hooked to a Candle 19" TV in the late 80's (they came with his 2nd wife.) I think he was still using the VCR until around '99 or so.

Of course, a lot of companies, even those who focused on budget-grade products, built better products 25+ years ago.

[KentTeffeteller]

Those old 1980's Symphonic VCR decks were excellent, especially for being economy decks. Easy to work on and reliable. Well built. Their modern TV sets last less than one show in lightning country. Very underspecced diodes.

[radiotvnut]

Yep, I've fixed a good many Funai TVs with shorted diodes. Have also fixed a good many where the main filter cap was blown out the top and the fuse was blown. Like you said, very under rated parts. And, I've seen others where the power supply was so heavily damaged to the point where I junked the set. About the only way I'll fix a Funai TV is if it's a simple, "hit me in the face" 15 minute fix. Wait, it's almost to that point with ALL brands of BPC and SPC TVs.

[PioneerGuy75]

I have an Emerson 19" combo VCR DVD TV unit that I have had for about ten years now. Even with daily use it is still going strong!

Bought it "refurbished" at Big Lots!

[AAA3330]

Funai. I bought a Symphonic(funai) 9" tv/vcr combo. It lasted through the one year warranty and that was about it. The other day I bought a Magnavox dvd player. Found out it was made by Funai. Immediately returned it to the store. I don't know what all products that Funai is making for Magnavox, but beware. Don't know exactly what this company's deal is or whether they used to make a quality product. Could be quality control, cheap parts, poor assembly techniques. All I know is my personal experience and I've heard lots and lots of bad about them.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by AAA3330

Funai. I bought a Symphonic(funai) 9" tv/vcr combo. It lasted through the one year warranty and that was about it. The other day I bought a Magnavox dvd player. Found out it was made by Funai. Immediately returned it to the store. I don't know what all products that Funai is making for Magnavox, but beware. Don't know exactly what this company's deal is or whether they used to make a quality product. Could be quality control, cheap parts, poor assembly techniques. All I know is my personal experience and I've heard lots and lots of bad about them.

Let's see how many names I can come up with that are actually Funai built. This should save you some trouble the next time you go shopping.

Symphonic, Sylvania, and Emerson are actually Funai. I do know that Magnavox DVD players, DVD/VCR combos, and DTV converters are Funai built. I'm not 100% sure; but, I think some Magnavox TV's are Funai built. The later model Philco branded DTV converter boxes are made by Funai as well as later Sanyo VCR's. Also, many of wal-mart's Durabrand TV's are built by Funai.

As far as other brands of VCR's and DVD/VCR combos, if it's in an all plastic case and weighs less than 3 lbs., it's made by Funai.

I hate to admit this; but, I actually bought one of those last Emerson $40 wal-mart VCR's. After a few months of use, it got so it would stop playing in the middle of watching something. The last straw was when it ate one of my tapes. To the trash it went. My neighbor bought the same VCR under the Sanyo brand and had to take it back because it was dead. The clerk didn't act surprised that the VCR was coming back. She said those came back quite often. Those VCR's are handy as a tuner for use on non cable ready TV's and for use as an RF modulator when using a DVD player on a jack-less TV.

[Celt]

I have a 13" Emerson DVD/TV in the bedroom that I bought in 2002 that get's several hours of play every day. Knock wood, but so far I haven't had any problems with it. Can't say the same for the Panasonic and Sony sets I owned, which either died within weeks or months of purchasing them.