Why are crap caps still in use???

[Chumly]

Re: Why are crap caps still in use???

Let the customer suck up the cost then. Had this in my own thread, but it wasn't fit for my own topic. I fixed 16 Samsung 204B's a while back and am tackling 24 225BW's and two more 204B's sitting in our graveyard:

Going with the BadCaps question of "why is this still happening?", it's hard to really figure out why this happens. Like iPhones, I guess the upgrade cycle shortens and most aren't expected to keep LCD's very long so it's "Good enough" and get's them through the warranty period.

Opened up an Asus 23.6" just for giggles and found all good cap readings and great brands. So, $3 per monitor to make a quality product is all it takes? These are out of date LCD's, but most owners out there would be glad to pay more to keep them running longer instead of land-filling them. They're just computer monitors at this point though (The 225BW was my 1st LCD and replaced a Sony 22" CRT. That Sony CRT was $2,800 and still the best picture I've seen even today...so people WILL pay for quality)

Guess what's in the Panasonic 46" plasma? Awesome Pany caps. Sharp got the rights to the Pioneer Kuro panel tech, but they're using crap IC's behind that panel and just isn't the same product. They want $5,300 for a 50" and I just can't trust them to last. It just seems like a secret that there's more to a TV than the panel.

I digress. People seem to upgrade very expensive stuff these days more frequently than they use to in order to keep up with the Jones' so the product doesn't have to last. In the lower cost stuff, it's a battle of the budget. $150-180 seems to be the bloated range of displays. No one keeps a display or TV for more than 10 years. But why save $3 when making them?
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I was an engineer at Intel (and AMD, and 3DFX, and...). We didn't skimp on parts like caps as our validation didn't allow variance, let alone failure. It didn't cost more in the long run because these parts just didn't die from crap 3rd party parts and cutting corners. Like OCZ, XFX/Pine, or Mushkin; they can feel good about putting lifetime warranty on their stuff due to not cutting corners. Other brands are "OK" because they clear 3 year warranties.

[tom66]

Re: Why are crap caps still in use???

There's a lot of hype about these new Finlux TVs in the UK.

Absolute rubbish - no better than any supermarket brand. Made by Vestel.

Same for another brand - "Kogan".

But, people will buy them, because it is a name. The average customer is sadly quite stupid, but also limited, when it comes to evaluating product quality. After all, you can't bring your screwdriver to the shop and disassemble the TV.

Maybe there should be some way to guarantee quality? Problem is, how to define it - I mean even cheap caps can last in certain situations, and things like the Vizio LDO failures can't be easily characterised. I think offering a warranty is a good demonstration of manufacturer confidence though, as the manufacturer's ass is on the line if products go sour. Panasonic for example sell their TVs with a 5 year warranty. I bet less than 1% come back on that, because they are very well built.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Why are crap caps still in use???

On Vestel sets, a part of the issue is that they push the designs too hard. Their lifetime can be greatly increased by simply reducing the brightness... On Vestel CRT sets, the contrast is set so high from the factory that the tube actually goes out of focus on bright areas.

I own three CRT TVs built on Vestel chassis, and on all three the contrast is set lower than 1/4 in the menu. The oldest one is 6 years old, and none of them have had any issues yet. I've fixed a couple of them for clients, and i follow a local service forum, there's a few common issues on Vestel CRT chassis, most frequently the HOT burns out due to a capacitor failure. That cap's lifetime is directly affected by the transistor's temperature since it's right next to the heatsink - so simply running the set at lower contrast makes that cap last a lot longer, and the picture actually looks better like that.

[Chumly]

Re: Why are crap caps still in use???

No you can't bring a screwdriver to split them open, but you can be a voice for others. Look out for the weaker of the herd or we'll just get lesser products as a whole. The wolves do not dictate product satisfaction.

But this is a small section of the interwebs that knows more than the average bear. I don't know the brands you mentioned. Maybe because they're set to fail on a world market.