I have a five-year-old Sony Trinitron, fairly small, which is going on the fritz.  Any idea whether it's worth repairing?

The symptom is that it suddenly loses any semblance of having a signal -- as if it's tuned to an empty channel, nothing but snow and static.  The first few times, it happened a couple of seconds after powering the TV up.  Then it would come on and already be snowed-out, never having a signal at all.

I got it to stay on tonight after flipping it on and off about fifteen times.

At the moment, I don't have the money to throw it away if it's something that could be fixed cheaply.  If it's gonna cost as much to fix it as to buy a new TV, I may as well just get a new one, though (or, really, do without until I get another job).

Thanks!

Usually pretty common with Sonys.... The grounds in the tuner are probably cracked, this is where the pc board inside the tuner ( metal box ) solders to the tuner case ( same metal box ) Also there is an adapter that plugs into the tuner, the other end sticks out of the case of the tv ( where you screw yout cable in) this adapter sometimes goes bad and will cause this also.....

If you can plug video and audio into it, just use the VCR to change the channels....  If you have a reputable shop in the area they could probably fix this for an hour labor, most places will tell you that you need a tuner.

Trash it. For best results, use a 50BMG.

86!

Thanks, Bob!  I'll open it up and see if I can solder the tuner case back down myself;  if not, I'll look for a shop.

The TV has been left in series with a VCR at least 95% of the time (might've moved the connections around three or four times in the last four years).  When it snows out, even the signal from the VCR doesn't get through.  Does that diagnose which of the two problems is more likely??

To you other guys -- thanks, but (1) I don't have a .50BMG, and (2) I can't afford to trash it if it's fixable.

Fix TV = $$$$

New TV = $$$$

The lowest $$$$ wins.