CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 am Post subject: Curt buys digital (s) !!!!!!

Oh, the horror!

So I went out and spent some hard earned money on digitals today. Three flat screens!

All are 42", two are Daytek and one is... sh*t, I can't remember.

All came from a well known electronics chain, and all have been through by their 'technician', that did board swaps. Paid next to nothing for them, but bonus, I got the remotes for them! Hahah!).

They have about 10 more that have been worked on before, but any new batches will be mine, as is from a customer return.

I'm guessing I can get one out of the three going. MAc, the 50" Maxent that was there was completely stripped of boards, so I didn't get it. I grabbed a box of boards as well that was on the shelf, hopefully they fit the Dayteks. Wish me luck, Thursday is dedicated to flat screen repairs.

Now to go online and see if anyone makes a sturdy caster based rollaround clamp with a swivel, so I can clamp the screens into and roll around the shop, while having pan and tilt so I can access the PC board side while looking at the pix.

Back in the TV shop days, I know lots of techs had benches lined with mirrors so they could see the screen while working on them. Alas, I designed my whole shop around CRT and projection, so there's test equipment where the mirror should go.

Also, these guys get in lots of digital projectors from time to time, the manager is tagging the next lot for me as well.

Score! Mr. Green

If this goes as planned, I'll be selling the refurb sets on Craigslist, with something like a 7 day warranty on them, but for cheap, so I can do volume over quality.

Funny enough, a stereo shop went out of business a while back, and they had 4 plasmas at auction. One clearly had been knocked, as it had massive pink pixels, which (to me) made the pix unwatchable. It sold for $800 for a 40" set.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Got model numbers so I see what I can find?

Symptoms would be good also.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

so you've come full circle, started with TV's and now back to TV's Wink

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Also since LCD's and plasmas are about the only sets commonly out there now it could be a good way to make extra dollars on repairs... Smile

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:39 am Post subject:

Stuff is cheaper in the US, no question about it. I am getting these pretty darn cheaply, I can pick and choose the sets, so I've got some wiggle room.

Besides, you know how CL people are... price something of recent vintage somewhat under retail, and they think they are getting a deal. Smile

I'll get the model number in a sec. I did find that the Y driver board is missing. I was checking power supply lines, and had a missing 15 volts. Looked under the input PC board, and found the Y board missing where the 15 volt line loops through. Oops!. As I said, another tech was into these.

The manager of the place seems really nice, so I'm sure if I keep showing up with cash, he'll keep supplying me. Best deal is that he gave me an invoice, so it's all legit.... and a tax writeoff if they are useless. I figure worst case, I throw them on eBay for $100, or locally on CL, and get most if not all of my money back.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:41 am Post subject:

Oh, and the third one is an LG. Going back to the shop to play.. I'll take some pix and post in an hour or so.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:31 am Post subject:

OK, found the problem with the first one. Turns out the internals of the Daytek are LG. Nicely made.

Problem is the YSUS board, a dead short on the 190 volt line. I suspect the big chip with the heatsink bolted on it. Taking that chip off is a nightmare, I can't get the solder sucker to desolder each joint cleanly, so I'm afraid of wrecking hte board. Found a used board online for $117 with free shipping.

I'm heading back tomorrow to see if I can find a duplicate set. I thought I was smart by buying two Dayteks, but it turns out that they were different models, and hte internals are completely different.

I'm having fun! Smile

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:42 am Post subject:

Once again. Geek! Can I come and play?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:03 am Post subject:

That's me!

Plasma # 3 was an LG. The unit fired up, has sound, but no pix or menus, but the screen shows some snow in tuner mode, a bright band of light about 3" wide that moves around the screen depending on what button you push. Sound in tuner mode worked OK.

Saw that I had a spare YSUS board in the box of boards I grabbed. so I figured what the hell, swap it out. To my surprise, the set stars working. Haaaa! Smile

THe only minor problem is that I get a bit of green snow when the set is showing an image between about 30 and 70 IRE. A black screen doesn't show the snow, neither does a very bright scene. From 10' away it's not really noticeable, but it bugs me. The Ysus board that I put in from the scrap box could be bad, I'm not sure. Everything else on it works, and I even got the table stand for it. Not bad for a night's work! Going back tomorrow for more...

1031 · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 657 Location: Finland

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

TheVerge · Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 928

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:15 pm Post subject:

I think I figured out my market while walking the dogs this morning. Sports pubs! Each one around here has at least a dozen, running 14 hours a day. I market these sets at $499, $100 off if they trade in an unbutchered nonworking set that's equivalent or better.

I need to get about a dozen sets here that work, then I'll flood the market. I have plenty of pub customers, and with the no smoking thing that kicked in a few years ago, business is down anyways, so I know they'll come shopping.

I'm excited! The one LG unit ran fine overnight..

drice1234 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1309 Location: Allen, Texas

I would suggest selling as many as these as quickly as you can. It seems that the time frame for everyone else to catch on to this type of thing is very short anymore. I was buying broken PS3's for $80 to $100 and replacing the blu-ray drive for $65 for awhile. A month later the price of the broken PS3's was $120 to $140 and it was not worth it anymore.
Dan

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:20 pm Post subject:

True.. but... I will also be getting later model sets in as time goes on, so I should be in good shape for quite a while I think. Or I hope. Still, even if I only get a year or two out of flipping flat screens, that's enough time to find another niche... Smile

BTW, it also shows that everyone is looking for a bargain. Given the choice of buying something new with a warranty for say $300, or buying used/refurb for $200, I personally would hold out for the new unit. Many others, esp. given this economy would rather buy the refurb and say: 'Me too, me too'.

I checked flat screens this morning in the paper. Name brand ones are going for $1200, plus 12% local taxes. Granted, that's a 1080p Panasonic, but I think if I hit the $450 price point, I should have a big clientele.

ON CL right now locally, 42" plasmas are going for $450 to $750, so I should be OK...

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

There will always be those who cannot afford store price no matter what it is. Plus those who want a second or third set and dont want to pay full store price. And the desire for flat panels is unbelievably high. So as long as you are under store price by 30% or more, you will have customers.

Also, when it comes to the commercial side of things, from what I've seen, business owners mostly try to avoid Cheap new sets. They like the one on one type of sales and warranty. And they usually know there's a difference in quality when it comes to price.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

I remember a few yeears ago I helped a guy install an 8500 in his HT. He didn't pay me much and instead gave me a pair of really old 40" Plasma's. These were made in Ohio by the company that invented the tech., came with these huge fricking arc-welding cables that connected to a giant outboard power supply. Stuck them on E-bay with an opening bid of $600. + freight, not really expecting to get it but they went for $750. each. Shocked

Bright, sharp, thin (small) and convenient are where it's at.