What’s my budget?

This is the first thing you ask yourself when your on the market of buying a new LCD set.  You can spend from $500 to $5,000 on your new set, but does it really worthy?  Well if you have plenty of money it  might not matter to you but if you’re on a tight budget, looking for the best LCD TV for you will just take a little reading.  Set an amount and go from there!  Always remember, features of an LCD TV can change the purchasing price.  From image resolution and size to an extra HDMI port could cost you around $200 or more.  The next few questions should help you determine what LCD TV would fit most on your liking.

What size LCD TV I want?

This depends on where you want to put or hang your new LCD set.  An over-sized TV would look really ugly on your wall or the area you plan having your TV.  I, myself watch HGTV, so I’m a little picky in regards to home design!  LCD TV size also can change the purchasing price like I mention earlier.   If you compare a 37″ LCD to a 42″ LCD the price would differ from $200 to $400, so from knowing this, you don’t want to spend more if you don’t need it or if it will just swallow your living space by your humongous LCD TV that looks stylishly ugly.

Should I got for 720p or 1080p?

This is your vertical pixel of your LCD set.  Only few media outlet provide full 1080p resolution on viewing(talking about DirectTV).  Majority of the networks broadcast High Definition only at 480p or 720p.  But just looking at this, you know where everything is going!  Standard definition(SD) formats are still there for the old digital TV sets and it is not pretty watching SD format on your new LCD TVs, they look fussy! But just as always buying TV is an investment and normally you keep your TV for good ole 5 years or more.

What brand is good to buy?

Thinking about buying a Samsung?  Think twice before you purchase one(Read my post on Samsung Capacitor Problem).   Now back to the questions,  Think Sony,  they have hold their name as one of the best LCD in the market.  They are a bit on the expensive side but at least you get some peace of mind =).  Another brand to look at is Vizio,  America’s #1 LCD HDTV company, as their website said.  But honestly, they stand with their products and their LCD TV’s are close to comparable to the more expensive Sony brand.  Other brands to check: Toshiba and Sharp

Where should I buy it?

Bestbuy? think again,  buying LCD TV’s at Bestbuy is more likely paying $200 to $500 more.  THAT’S A LOT!  Shop online,  most of the time online items are  tax free and if you are talking about a $1500 LCD with tax free you are saving about $130+ and again THAT’S A LOT! =)  Online Stores I can suggest and have experience buying:  NewEgg.com(TN residents pay tax), bhphotovideo.com, BuyDig.com, or just Google it! (Read about Tips on Shopping Online)

Purchasing an LCD TV set is a major expense for you and your family, and it’s not likely you just go out and buy one with our researching.  Do your homework and at the end you will end up buying a good product at a very reasonable price.  Have you bought an LCD TV set lately?  Share your experience to us and thanks for reading. =)

Read about:  Symptoms of an LCD Power Supply Problem

Swollen, Bulged, Bad Capacitor

The main cause of this power up problem are bad capacitors on your power supply.  The image to your left shows that the middle capacitor is bulged or swollen and that’s how you can identify if the capacitor is bad. See more bad capacitor images Most of the post I have read online haven’t shown a capacitor that has leaked, but obviously that would be another indicator for a bad capacitor.

Now, if your LCD set is still under warranty I would suggest to use it and let the professionals handle the problem for you.  But for the rest of the Samsung LCD TV owners that their warranty had expired and want to save some money, this would be the best route.  Mind me, when I fixed my power supply I didn’t have any previous experience on desoldering and soldering capacitors on a power supply board.  It was a good experience after all is said and done.

Here’s what you need for this DIY project: Screw driver, Soldering iron(40watts+), Desoldering braid, Soldering wire, and capacitors.

Now lets talk about the specs, capacitors hold 3 important value:

1. The capacitance measured in uF(micro farads) (ex. 2200uF), 2. Voltage (ex. 10v), 3. Temperature (ex. 105°C)

Important Notes:

Samsung’s power supply capacitors has 10v installed on the board and it is attached to a 12v  bus which is causing to bulged. (I’m not a Electrical Engineer but I do know if you put too much on something, its going to get bigger or burst! ^_^  And that’s why our LCD sets end up with bulged or leaked capacitors)


Look at the bad capacitor and get the right information from it, remember uF, voltage and temperature.  Mine, I only change 2 capacitors.   It needed two 2200 uF, when I first saw my power supply it was really easy to spot the bad caps.  Some Samsung LCD owners did went ahead replace all the capacitors on the power supply to make sure.  Now if you’re like me, an inexperience solder, I would not recommend changing all the capacitors because to me it was time consuming for a noob(newbie) like me ^_^.

Few things to take note, always make sure you have the right polarity.  Negative part is where the colored stripe on the capacitor.  If your looking at the image above, it would be the copper colored stripe.  And if you are looking at the two connector wire of the capacitor, the negative wire is the short one.  On placing it on the board make sure negative to negative and positive to positive.  By this time you will be ready for soldering.

How to Solder and Desolder (Youtube video) is pretty simple and it just need guts to do it   The total cost for this project is $40 (I had to buy a new soldering iron and desoldering braid) You can buy capacitors from radioshack but always remember uF, voltage and temperature(they are price from .40 cents to $5 each).

Here are the models that are known with this problem:

• Samsung LN-T##61F
• Samsung LN-T##65F
• Samsung LN-T##66F
• Samsung LN-T##71F
• Samsung LN-52A550P
• Samsung BN68-01024D
• Samsung LN40A630M1F (would not power up at all)
• Samsung LE40R88BD
• Samsung LN40A500
• Samsung LA40N81BD
• Samsung LN 26A450
• Samsung LA40R71BD
• Samsung LN-T4642H
• Samsung LN52A750R1F

(If you’re a Samsung LCD owner and have a different model number with the same problem, please let me know)

I just fixed my LCD set last night and all is working fine and turns on normally.   Power up delay and the rainbow background is gone .  I will update if there’s any other effect after installing that 2 capacitors.  This post is based from my own experience fixing my own samsung LCD set.

I will not take any responsibility if something wrong happens to YOUR LCD set after reading and taking this advise from non-professional DIY fixer.  USE THIS GUIDE WITH CAUTION!

See what Samsung has to say about this known problem with their LCD and Plasma TV sets.


Sources:
Fixing Samsung clicking sound on power up
Your Audio Visual Science Forum – Samsung LN-Txx61f/65f/66f

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