I am surprised mugs still buy them from Comet thinking they are buying something reliable LOL

You no bugger all! In the trade you only deal with Sony I believe. Your knowledge is so good that from past posts you didn't even know that JVC had a factory in Scotland. These sets had a very good reputation and who said that putting a label from JVC or any other brand makes it good? I would never buy any JVC set now because I know it would be crap just like Hitachi. I would also be very careful with Toshiba or Sharp but I would not rule them out because the few sets they do make themselves are very good.

I was "caught out" with this very scenario mentioned in the opening post.

I bought a JVC set from Comet last year - a 24" LCD for the bedroom. I bought JVC because I assumed it still to be a reliable brand (in my household, in the eighties, JVC was generally quite highly regarded).

After 5 months of ownership the set refused to turn on. I contacted Comet who proceeded to mess me about something chronic. I waited weeks and weeks and weeks for engineers to show (then didn't), I then wait for ages for "parts" which firstly had to come from "JVC in Japan" - then were "in stock" at Comet warehouse - then the next day they'd vanished - then back in stock - then they told me they'd never ordered in the first place........anyhow, you get my drift......round and round and round in circles with Comet who were the most utterly incompetent and clueless organisation I have EVER had to deal with.

I did something on the phone with them that I have NEVER EVER in my entire 42 years done with a company - and that is, I shouted and physically screamed and swore at them! I am NOT proud of this - far from it - don't suppose I will ever loose my rag like that again - but - they pushed me too hard and wore my patience down to nothing with their contstant lies and incompetency.

Anyhow, I got Small Claims Court papers ready and they backed down at the last minute - literally - and offered me a replacement set to the same value as the faulty JVC.

I chose a Samsung in the end which was much better quality.

Needless to say, I will never EVER shop in Comet ever again.

I've dealt with some pretty useless and pathetic excuses for companies in the past, but Comet sure does take the crown in my book......

Isn't it true that a number of manufacturers make products that can only be bought in chains. A few years back now I saw a washing machine in Comet and looked up the model number on the internet it just took me to the Comet site, I think it was Bosch or it might have been Zanussi

We deal 'mostly' with Sony now, but not exclusively.


I'm perfectly aware that JVC had an assembly plant in Scotland, and I've said anything to suggest otherwise. Panasonic had one in Scotland as well, with Sony and Sharp in Wales (plus various other makes round the country).


Not with-in the TV trade they didn't


You did - you claimed JVC were good, despite almost all their sets just been bought in and badged - so by implication you obviously must believe that sticking a badge on makes the set good somehow?.

Just because a company deals Sony sets doesn't mean that they just repair Sonys. Nigel has also said numerous times that the shop he works at used to be a Grundig dealder, but he has had experience of repairing Ultra Bermudas IIRC in another thread.

There's a repair shop up the road from me with "PANASONIC" in lettering the size of Lincolnshire but they repaired a very complex fault with my Gould OS1200 oscilloscope.

You might as well claim that Chinese takeaways don't serve pizza.

On another point, I've just been watching a repeat of Big Break from 1992 on Challenge.

One of the prizes given away was a "top of the range" (as they called it) bog-standard mono 21" JVC-badged TV with teletext, 1 SCART and remote control.

No NICAM, presumably no S-video connector, just looked like a cheap black plastic box.

Complete with a NICAM JVC HRD-830 VCR*

So, a crap JVC TV with a then state of the art VCR from the same company as a "top of the range" prize.

Mind you, this is coming from the same production team that thought Jim Davidson would make worthwhile wholesome Saturday night family entertainment

*One of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JVC-Stereo...#ht_504wt_1185

Funnily enough a friend of mine won a JVC 28 inch CRT NICAM TV (Vestel) on "The Price Is Right"

We bought our Bosch washing machine from an independent retailer, it just so happens they sell Zanussi products too. I would be inclined to say that the makes that are normally associated with the high street stores and supermarkets tend to be lesser known brands like Luxor and Videocon, Bosch/Zanussi are highly regarded brands.

Firstly I don't even understand the chinese takeaway and pizza logic but anyway Nigel on many occassions has been wrong but he always thinks he's right. I mean there was one thread about TV's that had Sky built in. These TV's were mostly made by LG. When someone asked why TV's don't have this feature anymore Nigel come up with the rubbish it is because LG did not get permission from Sky. This is obviously nonsense and another poster had rightfully said so. Not only would a manufacturer not be so stupid the obvious answer is the complications if the tuner goes wrong. He is also wrong about JVC. Neither me or anyone else is trying to suggest that they are in the league of Sony or anything and in most cases their TV's were made by various others manufacturers but in most cases they were good. Not only were the Ferguson made sets excellent but the more recent CRT's made in their Scottish factory were also (apart from the crappy stands that come with them.) Now if someone had bought a JVC CRT widescreen from 2002 and expected a TV with the JVC name on it now to be of the same quality they would be in for a nasty shock.

It was a reference to business dealing in something that is not associated with their name. Just like a Panasonic TV dealer services 1970s Gould oscilloscopes.

Then why, if they were as common as Decca Braddfords/30s, Thorn TX9s, Hitachi Instavisions, Sony AE1s etc, have barely any survived in comparison?

But as far as I can tell, you are both people in the TV repair trade who are comparing experiences. Not always will people's experiences of the same sets be the same. I've met some people who HATE the Decca Bradford and called it an unreliable piece of old tosh - others mark it down as being amongst the best colour TV sets ever built, though the tech is about 40 years out of date.

LOL Decca Bradford WAS rubbish but the follow on models of Decca 80 & 100 were classics in there time rather like Philips G11 was , although service personnel became rather to familiar with the circuit diagrams on the Philips !! 479mfd smoothing blocks anyone .

I am not in the TV repair trade and don't pretend to be but know people who are. Yes of course you are right peoples experiences and opinions will often differ.

I was right then, and am now, why do you believe an amateur as opposed to a professional?.

LG DIDN'T have permission to make those TV's, and were only allowed to sell the ones already made when Sky slapped an injunction on them.


Just like the other poster, you're making wild guesses without any understanding of the situation - but as you don't listen, I'm not going to start explaining it yet again as you'll just disbelieve it anyway.


In YOUR amateur opinion, the professionals in the trade know otherwise.

As I've repeatedly pointed out, the Ferguson built JVC sets were excellent though - I've always assumed it was some kind of reciprocal agreement to do with Thorn badging JVC VCR's.

As already said I know professionals in the trade and the LG sets were made in partnership with Sky.

Then I fail to see why so many of those who were in the repair trade at the time loved the Decca Bradford. And still do.

Philips G11 chassis?

Wasn't that the one when the big red capacitor would go, the voltage would go to the scanning coils and punch a hole in the side of the tube?

The Decca Bradford chassis was 'OK', not the best set, but still fairly decent. Really Decca always made decent sets, and the later Tatung/Decca sets were some of the best designed/built sets ever.

I showed a number of VERY high up Japanese 'big wigs' Tatung chassis's compared to their own far poorer designed sets.


I've never seen one do that - the G11 was a decent set set as well, as you say big red capacitor failed, and the obscure frame IC, they were the two main faults.

We sold quite a few G11's, after we had stopped selling Philips TV's totally because of the disaster called the G6

Others have

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=80736

Especially in this post

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/s...2&postcount=42

Typical Philips (un)reliability. We had a Philips V6720 Matchline* that only lasted about 10 years from 1985. It had a Teletext problem - it would always show garbled nonsense on text even though our other teletext set - a 14" Sony with the AE1 chassis - showed Ceefax and Oracle perfectly. It even bemused Philips for the best part of a fortnight, and never got resolved! Pity it got sold in 95. I would have *loved* to have had this set in my collection - I've seen them used as studio monitors by LWT!

Needless to say the Ferguson 3V65 (HRD170) that accompanied it is still working.

* http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/phili...0totaal01.html

Re G11 , the 470 mfd main smoothing cap in the power supply was the cause of huge numbers of CRT's with a hole in the neck , What happened was that the rivet that held the solder tag on was not a perfect join and the subsequent arcing sent huge transients through the line output stage wrecking the tube .

Decca Bradford / 30

I am shocked that people liked these (1) the picture was dire (2) they ran very hot ( 3 ) they were unreliable and that is were engineers of the time might have developed a liking / familiarity with them . Decca 80 was a huge step forward !

Doesn't look that bad after 40 years, to me But of course, as stated earlier, different people's experiences of the same set will be different.

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/s...125#post314125

Yes the 80 was a great set, as was the 100 (but not quite as good as the 80).

1) Correctly set up they were a decent picture, like most sets from that era really.

2) Valve set, they ran hot

3) Again, valve set, they weren't as reliable.

We never did any huge numbers of 30's, but those we did were reasonable enough for the time.

Biggest number of sets we did back in that rough sort of time were Thorn 3000's and RBM A823 - and I even built repair jigs for both chassis, as they used module boards.

Yet more calls from Comet stores who still do not realise JVC Televisions they sell are exclusive models to THEM. ALL Service, technical support, spare parts AGAIN REPEAT AGAIN are handled by Comet their number is 08712 009 009 .

One day they will get a bloody grip and realise what they sell and where to go for support. No wonder they were brought for £2. £1.99 to much in my opinion.

Comet has been gone from our retail parks for just a week and a new retailer is selling JVC-branded televisions, or one at least! Step forward Tesco. Same model number as sold by Comet so they could have just bought the stock.

Looking at this model, it appears to be made in Poland by Orion Electric for Tesco.That factory is in the process of closing down due to lack of orders.

With regard to the models sold by Comet, JVC has said email us and we'll get back to you when we can help you. Their statement seems a little out of date.

Seems pretty clear and relevant - it's NOT a JVC UK product, so they will know nothing about them - and most likely not any kind of JVC product at all?.

The stupid thing here of course is JVC selling Comet the rights to the name when they pulled out of TV.