The famous Tesco TV - anyone got problems

muffler

I know this is not just the right place for this and I didnt want to be dragging up the last 500+ post thread but as these TV's were nearly born on boards.ie I just wanted to ask a question to all you lucky people who bought one.

The €399, 32" Technosonic TV was bought by a lot of boardsies but has anyone had any problems with them. The reason I ask is that my model refuses to come out of standby mode for about 10 minutes after being switched on - Switch on with button at rear of set - standby light flashes and stays lit - appears to be frozen for about 10 minutes. It was fine till a couple of days ago. Is there something that I haven't set right or has anyone any suggestions.

Mods you can move this if you wish but maybe put a stay of execution on the order for 24 hours or so till I get some feedback from the regular posters here who bought this model

Cheers - muffler

Nunu

Ye, has happened to me once. Wouldn't come out of standby for over 15 minutes no matter what I pressed. I just switched it off and on again and it came out of standby straight away after this. Although I'd say you've already tried this?

conical

No problems with my one, it does take about 10 SECONDS to picture, which seems to be the norm for these.
Hope you get it sorted!


-C

No problems with mine thankfully. My brother works in Tesco and managed to get one as late as the mid January....hidden away in the store room y'see.

Apparently he said they were €399 initially but after all the interest they went back to around €799....

pissed

No problems with mine so far, as above takes about 10 seconds initially for picture but after that its fine. Hope you get it sorted.

Yeah forgot to say mine takes about 10secs (well more like 5) to come on aswell. Caused me some real confusion when trying to turn it on for the first time.

Is there any way to get the PIP function working?

coldfire1x

I got a cello one and it works like magic, no problem at all. Takes less than 5 seconds to come out of stand by.

jmadoyle

same here, just dont power up the tv after switching it on from the back for about 15-20 secs and it.

jmadoyle

jmadoyle wrote:

same here, just dont power up the tv after switching it on from the back for about 15-20 secs and it.

huh? do you mean the TechnoSonic or the Cello?

Mossy Monk

no problems for me. takes a few seconds to come out of stand by

Deleted User wrote:

Is there any way to get the PIP function working?

good question. anyone know? the remote has a pip button but it does nothing

muffler

jmadoyle wrote:

same here, just dont power up the tv after switching it on from the back for about 15-20 secs and it.

Ah now that could be my problem. I would just switch it on at the back and then hit the remote control. I will let it sit for a bit longer and see how it goes.

Funny thing is that even though I bought the TV the day after boxing day I only got it set up last Wednesday as I had to get a shelf taken out of a unit to allow the TV to fit. Hopefully waiting a wee bit longer after switching on will solve the problem.

Do-more

About a week after I got mine, (Technosonic) it refused to power on from the remote control (Sky remote, about 3 times in total) I just flicked the on/off switch at the rear of the TV each time and all was well again. Hasn't happened since. <touch wood>

martin88

The only thing what might do it, plug it out from the wall socket for 10+ mins, and see does it work, if not return it to Tesco (if you have your receipt)

jmadoyle

Deleted User wrote:

huh? do you mean the TechnoSonic or the Cello?

technosonic.

eirlink

Technosonic model takes 10 secs from standby to live picture. Just timed it on mine.

*** once you press the standby button on the remote, DO NOT be tempted to press it again ***

It may appear as if it is not starting after the initial press, therefore pressing it again only results in you telling it to turn off!...if you continue to press the remote button you end up cycling the power supply. At this stage the PSU in the tv will stop and the only way to reset this is to switch it off at the back. leave it off for a minute or so and then switch on at back again.

After that, ONE press of the remote turns on the TV.

The power supply in the tv is protected against power "cycling" as a safeguard.The red LED on the front is NOT a true indicator of the status of the power supply. Dont be misled by it. The PSU is working behind the scenes prior to the LED lighting...

Hope this helps.


( LED flashing is purely an indication that an infra red signal has been received )

Hopefully pressing the on/off switch at the back will be the solution. Personally I've left it in the on position since first getting it out of the box......

muffler

Deleted User wrote:

Hopefully pressing the on/off switch at the back will be the solution. Personally I've left it in the on position since first getting it out of the box......

And how do you turn it off at night for example. Im a bit confused here

well I just pull the plug...its working grand

eirlink

muffler wrote:

And how do you turn it off at night for example. Im a bit confused here

theres no need to switch off tv using on / off switch at rear unless you need to reset the power supply OR completely turn off the set ( same as switching off the wall switch)

Leave this switch alone and just use the remote to turn on / off, by pressing the red button ONCE for on , once again for off.

To further confuse everyone , you can also turn the set on or off using the silver button on the bottom right hand corner of the tv........

The tax man

Muffler, I posted the same comment on the original thread about the TV coming on. It was the second day after buying the set and I switched it on at the rear then pressed the standby button on the remote and thought nothing was happening but just a flickering LED but I was too impatient and either hit the standby button again on the remote or flicked the switch at the rear before giving the TV a chance to come to life. Hopefully it's the same for you. I haven't had an ounce of trouble since.:)

wanabe

no probs with mine either! happy days!

Amigaman

same here been running it as my computer monitor for a month @ 1280 X 720 with no problems

muffler

eirlink wrote:

Leave this switch alone and just use the remote to turn on / off, by pressing the red button ONCE for on , once again for off.

To further confuse everyone , you can also turn the set on or off using the silver button on the bottom right hand corner of the tv........

Both those methods only put the TV on standby but not powered off. Thats not much use if you want the set disconnected from the power supply at night - or at any time for that matter

I've got one complaint with my TechnoSonic...there doesn't seem to be a channel 0. Since time immemorial on various tvs I've used nought as our vcr channel. Now when I press it I get the AV select menu........

Saruman

Why would you need a VCR channel? I mean i have not seen a TV using a VCR channel since the 80's! Not since scart came out and it has its own scart channel.

Anyway.. no problems here!
I never turn it off though! Just put it in standby. I probably should turn it off to save power.

muffler

Apart from the fridge and a couple of clocks I switch everything off at night and remove all plugs from their sockets.

Done the same with the telly and a little while ago I plugged it in and switched it on (button at back) and waited a couple of minutes but unfortunately it refuses to come on. The red LED is on which obviously indicates that it is in standby mode but the bast**d refuses to go any further. Im stumped

The screen looks nice with the sunlight reflecting of it

Saruman

Saruman wrote:

Why would you need a VCR channel? I mean i have not seen a TV using a VCR channel since the 80's! Not since scart came out and it has its own scart channel.

sigh yes its a long story though....I think I tried SCART once and had some problems...can you only record the channel you're watching with SCART? Anyway its a good TV..

Sorry you're having trouble with it muffler.

Mitch Connor

Deleted User wrote:

sigh yes its a long story though....I think I tried SCART once and had some problems...can you only record the channel you're watching with SCART? Anyway its a good TV..

Sorry you're having trouble with it muffler.

I'm not positive, but i doubt that is the case.

With the VCR i have at hime, I use SCART to connect it to the TV, and i have a TV cable running from to the VCR (and the TV) so they get seperate TV feeds. Means I can record anything from the cable tv selection on the VCR without impacting on what i want to watch on the TV. If i want to record something on Digital i use Sky+, so i can watch something else while recording.

Kramer

muffler wrote:

Im stumped

Me too.

People still using VCRs :eek: :eek: .

muffler

I think I got it sorted. I left the TV switched on and disconnected from the socket - went back a couple of hours later, plugged it in and hit the remote and we were flying.

It appears the trick is not to switch off using the button at the back of the set but just simply unplug from wall socket.

Now before I get banned - how do you set the Sky remote handset to operate the TV?

eirlink

muffler wrote:

I think I got it sorted.

Now before I get banned - how do you set the Sky remote handset to operate the TV?

Here you go...

To program using the 3 digit code.

1) Switch on the TV set

2) Press the TV button on the Sky Remote

3) Hold down the select and red buttons for 2-3 seconds until the LED blinks twice

4) Enter the 3 digit code ( 065 in this case)

5) Press the select button to store


http://www.satelliteonline.co.uk/programming_the_sky_rcu.htm

muffler

Thanks for that eirlink - worked a treat.

As they say down on the farm - she's flying like sh1te from a shovel

Saruman

Thats funny... my sky remote worked on the TV out of the box! Worked for my last TV too without any codes.

eirlink

muffler wrote:

Thanks for that eirlink - worked a treat.

As they down on the farm - she's flying like sh1te from a shovel

....saved you from a banning so
you might have to return the favour some day !!

muffler

eirlink wrote:

....saved you from a banning so
you might have to return the favour some day !!

I'll make sure its only a 1 week ban you get instead of 1 month

Thanks again

Edit: And thanks to everyone else also for their posts.
Its probably safe to lock this now

Sir Oxman

oh oh.

I bought one and it's working perfectly. It's never turned off at the powerswitch or mains, just standby. Takes 8.2 secs to turn on from standby:)
A work colleague bought two and both he returned cos they wouldn't turn on - I asked and asked did he powercycle it and just got a blank...I'd say he didn't do the obvious (switch at back, plug out etc)and won't admit it.
Ended up, both returned and one of the dunces bought a sanyo for 800yoyos.

:eek:

johnny_adidas

never had a problem with my cello except for i cant get it to work with my sky remote no matter what codes ive tried

eirlink

johnny_adidas wrote:

never had a problem with my cello except for i cant get it to work with my sky remote no matter what codes ive tried

...can you post up the model number of that tv plus the sky remote revision number ( located in the remotes batteery compartment under the batteries) plus whatever codes youve tried please

johnny_adidas

Its a Cello LTV 0402

ive tried 0065 as listed on the sky website.
ive also tried all the thomson codes plus any other codes that people mentioned for the technosonic model as below.

363, 315, 427, 137, 361, 224, 226, 327, 371, 065, 518, 596, 377

muffler

Just an update on my initial post. After trying different ways of turning the TV on off and on over the last few nights the only way that it is sure to come on is to switch the power off at the mains socket on the wall and then switch on again (mains) in the morning. The set then goes to standby and then using either rc handset or a front panel button will bring it to pic mode.

Even if I put the TV on standby at night and then disconnect at the mains socket will lead to difficulty in getting it back out of standby mode the next day.

Would this not be bad for the set - switching the power on at the electrical socket? Is it not getting an electrical surge at that stage?

Every TV I had down the years was either switched off at the set or put in standby first before switching off at the mains. Never had any problems before when switching them on again.

eirlink

muffler wrote:

Just an update on my initial post. After trying different ways of turning the TV on off and on over the last few nights the only way that it is sure to come on is to switch the power off at the mains socket on the wall and then switch on again (mains) in the morning. The set then goes to standby and then using either rc handset or a front panel button will bring it to pic mode.

Even if I put the TV on standby at night and then disconnect at the mains socket will lead to difficulty in getting it back out of standby mode the next day.

Would this not be bad for the set - switching the power on at the electrical socket? Is it not getting an electrical surge at that stage?

Every TV I had down the years was either switched off at the set or put in standby first before switching off at the mains. Never had any problems before when switching them on again.

When you mention tv`s youve had down the years, i doubt they have been LCD models. LCD technology works differently to CRT or plasma and therefore power supplys are designed with the technology in mind. This particular tv is designed to be controlled via A remote. The reasons there are controls on the front facia is purely as an alternative if the remote is lost / fails. The mains switch ( rocker type ) is on the REAR for a good reason. Its not required to be used by the user during normal day to day usage.Thus its placed in a recessed area at the rear.
According to the manual ( p14) , switching on the rear on/off switch "places the tv in standby"....it does NOT bring up the picture. To get pic up you must press the "standby " button on the remote ONCE!...

also according to the manual , there is no need to turn off the tv using the rear switch unless you are not going to use the tv for a long period of time.
Modern Power supplys are solid state units which are designed to be left in standby for long periods. Take a sky box for example, mine is on for months , in fact ive never switched it off, except during lightning.

Switching off the mains wall socket is the same as switching off the rear switch on the tv. So again, as per manual, there is NO NEED to unless you are not using the tv for a "long time "

As regards you question about switching on/off being bad for tv..answer is yes and no. yes if you switch it on / off quickly in succession, but no under normal conditions. My advise to you is forget the wall switch!
RTE have maybe up to 50 LCD monitors in a broadcast suite or OB unit..they dont switch off at the sockets....no need.

You will not create an electrical surge by switching on/off an appliance. You first paragraph correctly describes the way the tv should work...only thing you must do differently is STOP switching off at the wall switch.This is "cycling " the power supply and confusing the microprocessor which looks after infra red signals from the remote.

Good luck with it....if you still think its faulty get a tv guy to check it out before you bring it back to tescos! they are very sought after sets you know!

muffler

Thanks eirlink for the detailed reply. Call me old fashioned if you like or maybe its a fear of electricity or maybe Im just miserable but as I said before I pull all electrical plugs out at night before going to bed.

The TV is fine now so long as I dont put it on standby before pulling the plug out and I think at this stage its a case of the old dog - new tricks syndrome. I accept what you say about the older TV's and the new technology and as long as its not causing any harm to the set by switching it on at the wall socket then Im happy.

Maybe thats me doing a wee bit for the environment - disconnecting the power supply instead of leaving it on standby all the time.

I thought I read somewhere recently that TV;s, monitors, PC's etc use nearly as much electricity when on standby as they do when running (about 70% I think the figure was)

eirlink

muffler wrote:

Thanks eirlink for the detailed reply. Call me old fashioned if you like or maybe its a fear of electricity or maybe Im just miserable but as I said before I pull all electrical plugs out at night before going to bed.

The TV is fine now so long as I dont put it on standby before pulling the plug out and I think at this stage its a case of the old dog - new tricks syndrome. I accept what you say about the older TV's and the new technology and as long as its not causing any harm to the set by switching it on at the wall socket then Im happy.

Maybe thats me doing a wee bit for the environment - disconnecting the power supply instead of leaving it on standby all the time.

I thought I read somewhere recently that TV;s, monitors, PC's etc use nearly as much electricity when on standby as they do when running (about 70% I think the figure was)

sound..no prob. glad to be of help. Have a read if this sometime http://www.sustainable.energy.sa.gov.au/pages/advisory/residential/energy_use/standby/standby.htm:sectID=14&tempID=53

BTW most damage to audio / video equipment is done NOT
through the mains but actually via the aerial connection and the phone line ( if connected, like sky box)
In lightning storm or bad weather id advise you to unplug the aerial connections and phone connections on all equipment. of the three the mains connection is the least likely to cause damage,but unplug it for peace of mind.

inforfun

eirlink wrote:

theres no need to switch off tv using on / off switch at rear unless you need to reset the power supply OR completely turn off the set ( same as switching off the wall switch)

Leave this switch alone and just use the remote to turn on / off, by pressing the red button ONCE for on , once again for off.

To further confuse everyone , you can also turn the set on or off using the silver button on the bottom right hand corner of the tv........

Just my 2 cents.
Leaving a tv on stand-by will mean that the tv uses upto 30% of the power it uses when it is switched on, depending on brand and model.
There is also the small chance a tv will catch fire, especially when they get a bit older. They are dust collectors and this might cause a fire. Chance is slim but still, a completely powered off tv will have an even smaller chance of doing this.

So, power off a tv completely will save money and reduce chances on fire.

5h4mr0(k

Leaving a tv on stand-by will mean that the tv uses upto 30% of the power it uses when it is switched on, depending on brand and model.

Normally I'd agree with that - I never leave my "bog standard" TV on standby for that reason. However, most LCD TV's use 1 or 2 Watts when in standby. Most would use 100+ Watts when in operation

USER X

Mine has this problem also, It just doesn't respond to the remote and the only option is to turn it off and then back on using the switch at the rear of the TV, then it works fine untill the next day when you come to turn it on again. Quite annoying.

podge3

USER X wrote:

Mine has this problem also, It just doesn't respond to the remote and the only option is to turn it off and then back on using the switch at the rear of the TV, then it works fine untill the next day when you come to turn it on again. Quite annoying.

Mine does exactly the same. Is it anything to do with a child lock or something?

dr.bollocko

Its happened to mine once or twice too. I got a bit worried the first time, but it happens so infrequently, and a quick flick of the switch always solved it for me. I use the 1 button or the + button to turn it on from the remote, not the standby button.

Mossy Monk

is "picture in picture" possible on these tv's. the remote has a button for it but it does nothing but flash the led on the tv. caqn it be done? if yes, how?

Kramer

dr.bollocko wrote:

Its happened to mine once or twice too.

Happened just the once with mine............

Mossy Monk wrote:

is "picture in picture" possible on these tv's?

Nope, they don't have the circuitry on board for PIP.