Your expensive TV died
So you bought a nice TV. Maybe it was a Sony OLED. Maybe it cost $1300-$2600.
Then when the 1-year manufacturer warranty ended, the TV died.
So you bought a nice TV. Maybe it was a Sony OLED. Maybe it cost $1300-$2600.
Then when the 1-year manufacturer warranty ended, the TV died.
The screen (LED, OLED, LCD, etc) can be very expensive to replace.
But the primary boards can be replaced for 1/4th the TV price.
There are often 3 or 4 major parts you could replace. Sometimes its just a bad wire.
If the screen needs to be replaced, repair shops will tell you to just buy a new TV instead.
Parts for newer TVs are rarer and more expensive.
Companies that discontinue TV models prematurely, create shortages of parts and higher prices.
So buying a newer TV from manufacturers that discontinue models often will make it very difficult to get your TV repaired.
Each TV has points on the circuit-board you can evaluate with a voltmeter to identify the problem using a decision-tree diagram from the service manual.
This can mean a bad cable ($5) or a bad board ($400).
The debug points are not labeled and are inconsistent between models. They are effectively obfuscated.
Service manuals will tell you where to attach your voltmeter to effectively evaluate a boolean-flag of whether a particular part is working.
These manuals are not available publicly and need to be acquired on what seems like a gray-market that all repair shops buy from.
1-3 hours on the phone talking to "customer care" and calling local shops.
A service manual, if you can find it: $20.
A replacement part, if you can find it: $100-$400.
Local repair shop might do labor for $200.
Expect to spend $300-$600 to repair a $1600 TV.
Buy a good 4-5 year warranty. It will cost 20% of the price of the TV: $300 for a $1600 TV. But will result in less heartache.
Anecdotally, at time of writing (late 2021), people seem to be buying LG C1 OLEDs and Geek Squad warranties.
There's political action to make it once again possible to repair your electronics. You can read and participate in The Right to Repair.
If you are interested in the philosophy around software/hardware freedoms, take a look at Free Software Foundation and Electric Frontier Foundation websites. These ideas are common to engineers, but may sound strange to others.