Hi ,I have a Hitachi model 46F500 year 2003.My Brother bought this tv new a couple years ago,he went to turn it on a couple weeks ago and there was no picture or sound,the red light came on and stays on, (no flashing),well we loaded it up again(heavy), second time its died in two years ,I am not sure what happed the first time, that was last year,No one makes house calls around here(in the boonies)so we drive an hour to repair shop,for 50 bucks they told him it would cost 600 to 650 dollars to fix it,as it needed D.C.U and convergence amps,Does this sound right to you?,(he gave tv to me,he is done with it).I do not really trust the repair people at this shop and would like a second opinion without loading it up and driving another hour and dropping it off somewhere else then finding out thats what it was anyway.Sorry this was long, any input would be greatly appreciated,thanks Kirk

Kirk, December 2007

I hope you bought a new one

CR9, March 2013

it sounds like it needs a new set of lamps and the convergence will of course need to be done.

('convergence' simply means .... to align the 3 CRT globes inside it so the picture each one produces sits exactly on top of the images the others send onto the screen. This gives you your full colour picture.)

The 'CRT globes' describes the type of globes(or some people call them 'guns' or 'cannons') used. C-athode R-ay T-ube .... they look like floodlights ... one is red, one is green and the other is blue - just like the old projectors you used to see with the 3 large lights.....the 42F500 is just a mini version but inside a box.

to give you an idea of the cost for a set of globes ... it's about $1000 Australian Dollars (last time I checked 2 years ago) ..... convert the money to your dollar to see if that makes sense...or 'cents' ... ha ha ...I'm not very funny but it had to be done.

Jason, January 2008