TV, Audio, PCs, Sky boxes, all elecronic equipment repaired

Started by Seth Pittham, March 02, 2012, 10:47:51 AM

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Pickaxe

just to say a big thank to seth for the speedy and cheap repair of how Kirby hover
which we  had a long time and thought its live had come to a end,but seth new life back into it works like
new good on you seth


Suej

Just wanted to thank Seth, we had a problem with our TV and after recommendations via this forum we took it to Seth.

Excellent service and cost of repair.

Definitely highly recommend him

Sue


Seth Pittham

Hi Leslie

Personally I will be throwing the TV away and getting everyone to sit round the piano and sing songs.

By all means, feel free to give me a call in the office or mobile and Ill go through what I know with you. 950634477, or 666826886

Regards

Seth
Seth Pittham
Owner of Zeta Services. Avenida 19 de Octubre 18 bajo Zurgena 04650
Tlf 950634477 mob 666826886
www.zeta-services.tv  Info@zeta-services.tv
Here to advise, call whenever you want. We all get stuck from time to time. Costs you nothing to talk.

leslie

Hi  Seth  can you give us the truth on lost of tv channels is it happening or not please. we are told that it is  then it is not  and that we have to buy a new box a dish that is 1/2 miles wide,there is a lot of technical info on the forum that is of no help at all we just need to no the all truth not I  was told by a gay down the bar,  We are being told we have to buy new this new that, by supplyers that just happen to have a shad  full of new stock at prices from 2000 to 3500 euros, is this another SCAM I am told you are a straight and honest man will you give us the truth if you can please. we need to know the best way to keep uk tv channels  cheap THANK YOU  Regards  LESLIE


Seth Pittham

Seth Pittham
Owner of Zeta Services. Avenida 19 de Octubre 18 bajo Zurgena 04650
Tlf 950634477 mob 666826886
www.zeta-services.tv  Info@zeta-services.tv
Here to advise, call whenever you want. We all get stuck from time to time. Costs you nothing to talk.


Lesley and Pete

Just a quick note to say a big 'thanks' to Seth for fixing my iPod Touch, by replacing the cracked screen!  It now works perfectly again and I'm one very happy bunny!

Thanks Seth!!

Seth Pittham

#1
REPAIRS
We provide repair and service of:

   * TV sets, Plasma, LCD, traditional Tube  (CRT), LED
   * Audio HiFi, home stereo, Midi systems, surround sound, Public Address and sound reinforcement.
   * Vintage valve HiFi (Leak, Quad, Rogers, Cyrus) and TVs a  specialist service
   * Games Consoles - Play Station 2, PS3, X-Box, Nintendo DS, DSi, DS3D, Wii
   * Amplifiers, guitar amplifiers, valve and solid state Marshall, Fender WEM.
   * Commercial broadcast and studio equipment, AM and FM (VHF) transmission systems, mixing desks, microphones, CD and tape systems, Reel to Reel tape recorders
   * Telephone systems, PABXs etc.
   * Process control, air conditioning control PCBs, electric gate and lighting control systems,
   * PCs, networks and associated applications.
   * Uninterruptible Power supplies (UPS), Solar inverter systems.
   * Household electrical and electronic items.


Our Repair philosophy

When we undertake a repair of any piece of equipment, be it a TV, HiFi, we will never limit the service to just the problem to hand.
Whilst  the item in question is being worked on, all the common possible fault areas of the item will be checked. Belonging to various professional forums and the European Service  consortium, EURAS, access to  a huge amount of data relating to all kinds of products is easily to hand. For example, if an LCD TV is being worked on for a reported fault with the sound, the set will be checked for all known faults which could cause failure in the future.  This could be checking the power supply for dry joints, correct voltages, checking components that would normally be suspect after a few years of operation etc.
The customer will receive a report as what has been done in order to bring the item into service and faulty items replaced will be available. As long as our customer is happy, we will be happy. It's as simple as that.

About Us By Seth Pittham (owner Zeta-Services, AKA Vintageampdoctor)

Repair and service started in the 1960s, with a fascination for anything mechanical, electrical, electronic. Having completed an apprenticeship in Telecommunications whilst at Muirhead Ltd, a professional career in communications continued, working in the design of facsimile equipment, government secure encryption systems, HF radio systems and other projects. The following 20 years were spent working for several independent telecommunications companies in engineering roles and at director level. In 1999, Integra Networks  PLC (private, jointly owned independent company)  was formed, jointly owned, supplying and maintaining IT systems.  Throughout this time, a passion for the restoration of vintage TV, HiFi and Radio always stood steadfast.
Having relocated to Spain, it soon was apparent that a local electronic repair facility was needed. The repair of LCD, Plasma TVs and PCs has steadily increased, along with a host of other services. These include the support and repair of FM transmission systems for radio stations such as Valle Radio. Repair of Sky digi boxes, process control systems and air conditioning control systems.  We are equipped to provide a service, supporting the most vintage of equipment (3000 valves in stock) to the latest High Definition TVs.
We are not limited to providing just a repair service. We can, through partnerships with other professional service providers, supply a 'one stop shop' for Air Conditioning installation and maintenance, security systems, remotely controlled camera surveillance,  Sky Satellite installation, PC networking, public address systems. Just contact us and ask to see how we can help.

Contact  info@zeta-services.tv    Tel. 950634477 or mobile 666826886

A brief history of time, Car radios!

Now, the radio and car were invented around about the same time, Marconi did the radio and another chap did the car. One day, in the 1930s, someone had the bright idea of putting the two together. The problem was, radios in those days were rather large. Nice big valves and requiring a 20 foot long wire aerial. Having a radio the size of a bookcase on the passenger seat of your Austin 16 was a little impractical. You couldn't drive very far either as you had to plug it into the mains.

Radio manufacturers had the task of cramming this all into the size of a shoebox to be bolted under the dashboard.  First thing, valves need about 250 volts to work. To get this from a 6 or 12 volt car battery, a unit called a vibrator was used. Now now, enough of that. This device was connected to a transformer and converted the car battery's voltage to 250v. All good, but these devices buzzed like mad and made an annoying whine. Second thing was to make the set sensitive enough when using a short aerial mounted on the car. This meant you had to have one or two extra valves to boost the signal. Thirdly the set had to be loud enough to overcome road noise. Again, an extra valve or two was needed.

We now had quite a big radio to fit in the car! It was quite common for this to be in two parts. The biggest unit housing the vibrator power supply and amplifier and the smaller part housing the tuner, which would be mounted in the dash. The two connected together by a big umbilical cord. All worked well, but when switched on, the current demanded from the battery, due to 8 valves and the power supply, was something like 8 odd amps. Bit like having an extra pair of headlights on. Ok if you were driving along, but in those days a car had a dynamo to top up the battery. Unlike modern day alternators, these were useless at tick-over. You soon had a flat battery if you were stationary! Don't worry, the good lord had invented starting handles a couple of years previously.

By the `50s, Mullard had designed a series of valves that worked at car battery voltage, so we no longer required the vibrator. Transistors were used for the sound, so the sets became smaller, single units. Who remembers those lovely Radiomobile and Motorola radios with push button pre-set stations! Blaupunkt brought out the first car radio with VHF/FM. This meant you didn't loose the station when going under the bridge, but it did cost half as much as the car.

Philips came out with a great little unit that played 45 rpm records. Clever system with a spring loaded pickup. Terrific, but don't drive over a bump. The Americans came up with the 8 track player. A cassette cartridge with an endless loop of tape. It was stereo, and when the tape loop got to its' end, a piece of foil caused the tape heads to jump to the next pair of tracks and so it continued ad infinitum. This meant that the Americans didn't have to turn the tape over whilst driving, not being able to multi task.

We all know that by the '70s cassettes were built in to car radios. Then 80's saw the more expensive sets having CDs. Add to that, Dolby, MP3, RDS, SatNav and so on. Come a long way since the '30s. Fundamentally all the same though. Listen to the radio whilst stuck in traffic.


How to protect your electrical equipment, some Tips!

Well, I have written about Old TVs and radios, HiFi in the 50s-60s, servicing with a personal view of how things have changed. For better or for worse. In Britain, in the ´50-60s, you would have probably had only a few several electrical goodies. A wireless, iron, emersion heater, perhaps a record player, fridge and if you earned a little bit more than Mr. Average, you may have had a radiogram, TV set and tape recorder! All these things were quite basic, generally well built and all working nicely without sight of a microprocessor controlling the whole shooting match. What a contrast compared with today? The electrical supply in the 50s, depending on where you lived was not particularly friendly. It would go up and down depending on the number of fires plugged in and had all kinds of electrical "noise" and rubbish superimposed on it as a result of trams and so on. Bit like the supply here I hear you say?

A significant number of repairs undertaken during my six years being here have been the result of either bad mains supply or lightning damage. Almost everything we now have has a microchip built in. These little things work on a tiny amount of power and as a result, can be put to death by a minor mains disturbance. Not wanting to shoot myself in the foot, as I like fixing broken things for people, here are a few tips to help you having to pay to have something repaired.

Lightning.

Now, the amount of energy contained in the lightning that hits the Eiffel Tower each year, could light the whole of Birmingham. I know that's in France (Eiffel Tower, not Birmingham) so of course it doesn't matter, but it proves a point. However, it could wreak havoc if it hits near your little house. If lightning hits the phone and or power lines connected to your house, your electrical gear will get a nasty awakening. If it hits the ground near you house, the Earth "ground potential" will rise sharply, potentially causing problems as well. So, if you are subject to a storm (we are coming up to that season now), for its duration here are some suggestions:

1    Unplug electrically sensitive items from the mains supply. i.e. TVs, DVDs, VCRs, TDT and Sky Boxes and of course your PC or Laptop.
2    Be worthwhile removing the aerial connection from your TDT box and unscrew the satellite dish feeds to your Sky Box. If a dish or aerial gets hit, the lightning discharge can easily travel through the connecting cables, damaging your TV.
3    If you have a telephone, broadband router and or microwave phone and internet, it's worth unplugging your routers and cordless phones from the wall sockets. A local strike could easily damage your router and anything connected to it, normally your PC.
4    Even equipment such as washing machines and fridge freezers have micro processors controlling their operation. I would suggest that these could be unplugged also.

Mains power.


Interruptions in the mains power supply can be anything from annoying to destructive. In the best case, a short power drop means that you have to get up and go through the "setting up your Sky box routine" and reset your PC.  In the worst case, if the electric comes back on accompanied by a nasty surge or "spike" of current, the internal power supplies of Sky Boxes, TVs, PCs and so can be damaged. One way of reducing this risk (apart from having the now mandatory, Interruptor De Sobre Potencia device fitted to your incoming supply), is the use of an Uninterruptible Power Supply or UPS. This is a little box that sits quietly between the mains supply and your equipment. It has a battery built in which is always being charged. When it detects the electric has gone, it cuts in and seamlessly provides your equipment with a synthesized mains supply. Now, not only do you have a chance to save the documents on your PC, no need to reset your Sky Box, but these boxes also prove a degree of protection against these nasty mains "spikes". Most of the UPS boxes also provide a protection circuit for you telephone / broadband line, filtering out surges etc. safe guarding your router. There's a thought, not having to spend 5 days talking to Telefonica! The amount of time the UPS runs for in the absence of mains and the number of items it can supply will determine its price. As a rough guide, to supply a Sky Box, DVD, PC for about 15 minutes will cost 40-80€. These are great things to have if you are on a Builders supply and being fed via a generator. Say no more. If you want free advice on anything relating to the above or what to buy and where to buy these units, please feel free to contact me.

TV sets, what to buy, when to repair, how to look after.......

There comes a time, inevitably, when your old TV set eventually goes to meet its´ maker either suffering a serious illness or being beyond economical repair. In the '50s and '60s TV sets were not overly reliable so renting was the best option. In '67 we saw colour TV enter the scene. These sets were initially a mix of transistors and valves, more valves. Now, loads of heat was developed which, as I will discuss later, is not a good thing to have! In the '70s - '80s, sets had become all solid state (transistors and Integrated Circuits). A large percentage of sets were made in Japan and the far east and were reliable. Buying was a more economical bet and rental shops became history.

So, what to buy nowadays? Your old type TV (glass tube type) probably gave you 10 years service without fuss. Things are not quite the same present day. So, here are a few things to look out for.

Firstly, LCD, Plasma, LED etc..

LCD technology is similar to the screen on your laptop. A layer of liquid crystals are sandwiched between layers of glass in front of a backlit screen. Light comes from tiny fluorescent tubes. The crystals flip open when required, letting light through.

Plasma technology is based on tiny cells, red, green and blue. When energised by a high voltage, the gas in the cells, very quickly turn to plasma, causing the pigment in the cell to shine.

LCD (LED backlight) is similar to LCD above, but the back light comes from thousands of little LEDs. These LEDs are similar to the ones in those bright torches.

LED Technology is the latest. The screen is based on tens of thousands of tiny LEDs, red, green and blue. What you see here, like plasma, is a direct light source.

Some, pros, cons and so on.

Depends on what you want the set for. Lets assume that any set bought is HD ready (higher resolution, but only if you have a HD source!).

Reliability. By nature of the way they work, Plasma TVs generate more heat than the other types. As I said, that's not a good thing with electronic gear. A set could consume say, 300 watts. 60 of which comes out the front as light, the rest heats up the front room. With LCD sets, the heat is mainly generated in the backlight tubes and the associated power supply and drive systems. The sets consume less power and therefore generate less heat. LCD (LED backlight) sets use less power still. LED sets are probably the most efficient and heat is minimal. So, from my experience and general industry feeling; LCD is probably more reliable than Plasma, LED being new technology, not enough data as yet.

What to buy. If you want a smallish (less that 32" say) TV for the kids, bedroom, games and so on, then a LCD set is probably wise from a cost point of view. For a main living room, where you are looking at a 42" or more, then a plasma may be best. LED would be equally as good, but you will need a slightly larger wallet..

Picture quality

One thing to look for when buying a flat screen set, is how it deals with a high speed motion picture or images. The picture you see has been massively digitally processed. A mark of the set's quality is the speed at which all the data can be handled. Get yourself a DVD of some fast action scenes. Waterfalls are great testers. If the image is all juddery, you may find it annoying. Some sets have a built in test image for sales reasons. They invariable are stationary or slow motion. I wonder why?!

Some things to think of!

1.    If the set is for games, best get a LCD or LED (if you can afford it). Plasma screens can be susceptible to screen burns, where a still bright image stays on the screen in the same place. LCD and LED will not suffer this.
2.    Make sure that you leave ventilation around the set. Don't place it with the back facing a window where the sun comes in. That can add 30 degrees to the working temperature. Don't mount it above a hot fireplace.
3.    Warranty. Make sure you know exactly what the warranty consists of, how long it runs and what happens when the set packs up. Do you have to take it to a repair agent (miles away), does a man in a van come out... Make sure it's written down! Keep the invoice! I have no hidden agenda in recommending suppliers. I have to be totally unbiased. Suppliers such as Hiper Ocio in Albox have excellent prices and, a warranty and personal service which takes the pain away when buying.
4.    It's worth using a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in the mains supply. The rating of the UPS will depend on the size of TV and or the number of appliance connected to it. Contact me for advice if you wish. This will prevent mains disturbances damaging the set.
5.    When transporting Plasma sets, always keep them upright. Don't lay them down on their screens or backs.
6.    As rough guide, a LCD or Plasma, on average, tends to run for about 3-4 years, before you have to attend a fault. You may want to factor that in.
7.    When buying a set, if it is going to be your main set, get a branded name. Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer if you have some extra cash, would be worth considering. Having said Philips, I have heard that they are pulling of of the TV market. LG spares are probably more widely available. Many sets use LG chassis, badged as different names. I am not saying supermarket brands are poor quality. For a second low usage set, that would be fine. Some of these sets use internal parts made by big manufacturers such a s Vestel and are good value. However, you can never be sure. Again, buying from these big chains, check the warranty terms.

So, I hope the above helps. If you want any help, always give me a call or drop me line. My details are on the Contact Us page


Seth Pittham
Owner of Zeta Services. Avenida 19 de Octubre 18 bajo Zurgena 04650
Tlf 950634477 mob 666826886
www.zeta-services.tv  Info@zeta-services.tv
Here to advise, call whenever you want. We all get stuck from time to time. Costs you nothing to talk.