Magnavox (Funai) TV/VCR/DVD Combo

[Jeffhs]

I just saw a picture of the Magnavox TV/VCR/DVD we're discussing in this thread. It was on the Wal-Mart website (http://www.wal-mart.com) and looks like a very good, well-made set, even if it is manufactured by Funai. Hope you get the audio working on yours; as Celt mentioned, it's probably nothing more serious than a defective audio IC. How did the screw come out that fell across the IC you mentioned if you were putting the back on?

Sign of the times: the television's audio section, at least most of it, is contained on one IC these days. If that IC goes bad, it must be replaced; servicing at the component or board level is impossible, unless the trouble is in something external to the IC (for example, the speaker). The same reasoning may be applied to the jungle IC, which is used in most if not all TVs made in the last 10-15 years or so. When that component goes, it shuts the set down, leaving the technician only one option: replace the entire chip. This often (more often than not, actually) runs into very serious money, causing the set owner to seriously consider the wisdom of having the TV repaired. Many times, the check-in charge, plus the charge any TV shop assesses just to look at a set, not to mention the cost of parts and labor, adds up to more than the set is worth, or what the owner originally paid for it. The TV usually is trashed if it is out of warranty, as most sets (most consumer items in general, not just electronics) are made to be thrown away when they fail. I trashed a 3-year-old CyberHome DVD player early last fall because it stopped reading discs. The player only cost something on the order of $24, so when it quit, out it went, as I knew it would cost me more than I wanted to spend just to have the thing looked at, let alone repaired. I went to Best Buy the next day and bought a brand-new Memorex DVD player, which worked perfectly out of the box and continues to do so to this day. I recently read on a website (FixYa.com, IIRC), however, that there is an inherent design flaw in these players which involves a capacitor that swells and splits open within about nine months to one year after the unit is purchased. I've had my Memorex player since September last year; it still works, but for how long is really anyone's guess.

I don't care much for combination units either. Your Magnavox TV has both a DVD player and a VCR built into the same cabinet with the television. These units work very well when they are working, but when they go bad--look out. I have an Aiwa bookshelf stereo, three modes (AM/FM, dual cassette, CD player) which I bought new nine years ago. The cassette decks quit last year, so I just disconnected the motor that drives the decks (only way I could keep the darn thing from making a clicking sound if I accidentally started the decks) and now use an external stereo tape deck for cassettes. CD player and AM/FM stereo still work fine. I listen mostly to Internet radio, I've ripped most of my CDs to my computer's hard drive (I listen to them using Winamp v5.34--my operating system, Windows 98SE, does not support the newest Winamp players, v5.5x ) so I use the bookshelf system mainly as an amplifier. I like the system because it has three-way speakers with powered subwoofers and an eight-band graphic equalizer, not to mention DSP (digital signal processing) surround sound.

Back to the topic, I do not care for combi TV/VCR or TV/VCR/DVD systems because they are difficult to work on when they go bad. The components work together, which is probably why your set, now without the VCR, shuts off when a DVD is inserted into the DVD player (some component of the VCR or DVD player must have something to do with power switching for the television).

I don't know if you're planning to keep this unit if the DVD player still works (if you can get around the switching problem), but if you do, I think you'll have a nice little TV/DVD player. The waning popularity of VHS videotape (all new hit movies are now on DVD) has caused all the major TV manufacturers who make combi systems to concentrate on DVDs, which is why many new HD flat panel televisions have DVD players, but not VCRs. The latter are good for only two things (viewing of older cassettes and time shifting) and otherwise obsolete in this age of digital everything, so unless you have a bunch of old VHS cassettes you want to watch every now and again (as I do; I have a collection of about 60 VHS tapes of old movies and TV series dating back 25 years, plus several professionally-recorded travelogues and comedy shows), there is really no need for a VCR anymore. If you think you might eventually want to use a VCR with this set, however, you can, if the TV has A/V jacks on the rear chassis apron--which I doubt.