Dish HDTV in a Box 34" CRT receiver failed

Archived from groups: alt.dbs.echostar,alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Just thought I would add a data point to the general knowledge here.

I bought the Dish HDTV in a Box set up in January 2004. A few days
ago, while watching a program, the TV failed, same as if it were
unplugged from AC power. I assume the power supply failed. I hear
that the RCA set this is based on has a high incidence of power supply
failures.

So I called Dish customer service. The first rep knew very little,
and told me to call Radio Shack for service. (She may have
misunderstood the problem) Of course, the Radio Shack told me it has
nothing to do with repairing Dish televisions, so I called customer
service again. This time I got someone who knew a little more of what
they were talking about, and told me that I needed to contact an RCA
authorized service center. She gave me three names and addresses in
my area (southern Vermont). The first one knew absolutely nothing
about the Dish-RCA connection, and said he would have to get a
schematic from somewhere. Not encouraging.

The second one knew more that RCA does the service on this, but I had
to bring it in. (It weighs 170 lbs.) So finally I got some help,
and brought it in. I will try to provide follow up on this as things
progress. It is in warranty, which is 1 year parts and labor.

In any event, I took this as an opportunity to get an HDTV television
that I really wanted. I found my way to a Circuit City and picked up
a customer returned Samsung DLP 50" at a good discount. I think it
was returned because Samsung just came out with a Generation 3 DLP,
and this one is a Generation 2. Some people have to have the newest.
Some others, like me, have to have a bargain. The Samsung is
marvelous, and only weighs 65 pounds. When the Dish/RCA comes back,
it will be demoted to service in the recreation room.

Archived from groups: alt.dbs.echostar,alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 09:51:42 -0400, R. Makul <k1xv@arrl.net> wrote:

>Just thought I would add a data point to the general knowledge here.
>
>I bought the Dish HDTV in a Box set up in January 2004. A few days
>ago, while watching a program, the TV failed, same as if it were
>unplugged from AC power. I assume the power supply failed. I hear
>that the RCA set this is based on has a high incidence of power supply
>failures.
>
>So I called Dish customer service. The first rep knew very little,
>and told me to call Radio Shack for service. (She may have
>misunderstood the problem) Of course, the Radio Shack told me it has
>nothing to do with repairing Dish televisions, so I called customer
>service again. This time I got someone who knew a little more of what
>they were talking about, and told me that I needed to contact an RCA
>authorized service center. She gave me three names and addresses in
>my area (southern Vermont). The first one knew absolutely nothing
>about the Dish-RCA connection, and said he would have to get a
>schematic from somewhere. Not encouraging.
>
>The second one knew more that RCA does the service on this, but I had
>to bring it in. (It weighs 170 lbs.) So finally I got some help,
>and brought it in. I will try to provide follow up on this as things
>progress. It is in warranty, which is 1 year parts and labor.
>
>In any event, I took this as an opportunity to get an HDTV television
>that I really wanted. I found my way to a Circuit City and picked up
>a customer returned Samsung DLP 50" at a good discount. I think it
>was returned because Samsung just came out with a Generation 3 DLP,
>and this one is a Generation 2. Some people have to have the newest.
>Some others, like me, have to have a bargain. The Samsung is
>marvelous, and only weighs 65 pounds. When the Dish/RCA comes back,
>it will be demoted to service in the recreation room.
>
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic here, but I think it's positively
ludicrous for a customer to have to "bring in" a 170-pound item for
service. That's the defining reason for in-home service, isn't it?
Were you made aware that the set has a "carry-in" warranty? Carry-in
is certainly a misnomer for a 170-pound set. That would be a
deal-killer for me.

Archived from groups: alt.dbs.echostar,alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Stephen Rabinowitz" <steve86@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:jpJEc.720$R36.335@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> RCA was never great even in the 60's they were okay though but it was not
as
> bad as they are now. They were always behind the times, they came out with
> there disc system Selectavision late & obsolete based on a phonograph
after
> video recorders were already popular. This brought on the downfall of RCA
> with Thompson to soon takeover the name. Once Thompson took over the name
it
> became pure garbage.
>


The "RCA" that Thomson markets has no relationship to the RCA televisions
of the past.

FWIW, RCA was, for all intents and purposes, the inventor of the color
television that most of us are still watching (not the HDTV stuff). So much
for your theory that they were "behind the times". There television sets of
the 1960's (especially the early '60's) were actually quite good. For the
most part, from the '50's through the early '60's there were only two color
TV chassis types that could be bought, RCA and Zenith. All of the other
brands used licensed chassis from RCA, so if you know of some brand of color
television that was better, then I would love to know what it was.

Tom


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.712 / Virus Database: 468 - Release Date: 6/27/2004

Archived from groups: alt.dbs.echostar,alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

it, rca that is never a very good product from the beginning.
"Stephen Rabinowitz" <steve86@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:a0hEc.5140$lh4.541@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> RCA is not what it used to be, more in the class of Emerson.
>
>
> "R. Makul" <k1xv@arrl.net> wrote in message
> news:bss2e0tcgfpp3oprk16l9it7uhtbct50oq@4ax.com...
> > Just thought I would add a data point to the general knowledge here.
> >
> > I bought the Dish HDTV in a Box set up in January 2004. A few days
> > ago, while watching a program, the TV failed, same as if it were
> > unplugged from AC power. I assume the power supply failed. I hear
> > that the RCA set this is based on has a high incidence of power supply
> > failures.
> >
> > So I called Dish customer service. The first rep knew very little,
> > and told me to call Radio Shack for service. (She may have
> > misunderstood the problem) Of course, the Radio Shack told me it has
> > nothing to do with repairing Dish televisions, so I called customer
> > service again. This time I got someone who knew a little more of what
> > they were talking about, and told me that I needed to contact an RCA
> > authorized service center. She gave me three names and addresses in
> > my area (southern Vermont). The first one knew absolutely nothing
> > about the Dish-RCA connection, and said he would have to get a
> > schematic from somewhere. Not encouraging.
> >
> > The second one knew more that RCA does the service on this, but I had
> > to bring it in. (It weighs 170 lbs.) So finally I got some help,
> > and brought it in. I will try to provide follow up on this as things
> > progress. It is in warranty, which is 1 year parts and labor.
> >
> > In any event, I took this as an opportunity to get an HDTV television
> > that I really wanted. I found my way to a Circuit City and picked up
> > a customer returned Samsung DLP 50" at a good discount. I think it
> > was returned because Samsung just came out with a Generation 3 DLP,
> > and this one is a Generation 2. Some people have to have the newest.
> > Some others, like me, have to have a bargain. The Samsung is
> > marvelous, and only weighs 65 pounds. When the Dish/RCA comes back,
> > it will be demoted to service in the recreation room.
> >
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.dbs.echostar,alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 01:46:22 -0000, "Tom Morse" <tmorse@nospam.com>
wrote:

>
>"Stephen Rabinowitz" <steve86@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:jpJEc.720$R36.335@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>> RCA was never great even in the 60's they were okay though but it was not
>as
>> bad as they are now. They were always behind the times, they came out with
>> there disc system Selectavision late & obsolete based on a phonograph
>after
>> video recorders were already popular. This brought on the downfall of RCA
>> with Thompson to soon takeover the name. Once Thompson took over the name
>it
>> became pure garbage.
>>
>
>
>The "RCA" that Thomson markets has no relationship to the RCA televisions
>of the past.
>
>FWIW, RCA was, for all intents and purposes, the inventor of the color
>television that most of us are still watching (not the HDTV stuff). So much
>for your theory that they were "behind the times". There television sets of
>the 1960's (especially the early '60's) were actually quite good. For the
>most part, from the '50's through the early '60's there were only two color
>TV chassis types that could be bought, RCA and Zenith. All of the other
>brands used licensed chassis from RCA, so if you know of some brand of color
>television that was better, then I would love to know what it was.
>
>Tom
>
>
>---
>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
>Version: 6.0.712 / Virus Database: 468 - Release Date: 6/27/2004
>
>
I had an Andrea color TV in the mid-1970's that a serviceman told me
was a dream to work on as it was spread out inside the cabinet.
Before you criticize it for needing a service call, let me tell you
that it was due to a lightning strike frying a circuit board around
1988-1989. Replacement took less than ten minutes. It was the only
service I ever needed in the 15+ year life of the set. When the
picture tube went, I gutted the solid wood cabinet and had a piece of
furniture that is still with me today. I think that the name Andrea
was from Frank A. D'Andrea radio (FADA).