Replacement LCD for ancient DVR system?

[magellan]

My friend has an old hard cabled DVR for his business. His DVR only supports EIDE HDD's and the only video outputs supported are BNC and VGA. The Viewsonic vg930mLCD monitor is having issues. It'll turn on and show video briefly but then after a few seconds the screen goes blank even though the LCD is still on (the blue power LED is still lit). Power cycling the LCD brings the video back for a few seconds but then the diplay goes blank again. Is it worth it to get this old LCD panel repaired or would it be better to get a new one? Also, since the LCD is powered on 24-7 do I need to get a special replacement LCD that won't suffer burn-in from being continuously turned on? He doesn't have the money or inclination to get a new surveillance camera system installed.

 

[EarthDog]

Is it worth it to get this old LCD panel repaired or would it be better to get a new one?

That depends on the cost of the repair....................

That said, you can buy cheap arse LCD monitors at Goodwill... or find new ones for well under $100.

 

[don256us]

Yeah. Cheap VGA enabled monitor will work. Buy or borrow one to test. I'd guess that it is the monitor with the symptoms that you describe. Hell, we're finding that new monitors come with DP or HDMI, and VGA. Why I don't know but we buy cheap and get what we get. VGA monitors are not hard to get yet you just have to ensure that your selection has VGA.

He could get a replacement system that uses BNC connected (analog) cameras. They are dirt cheap because everyone wants IP or digital cameras using Cat 6 cable instead of coax. New units are cheap and may not last as long as his current one but they would use SATA drive(s).

 

[magellan]

If an LCD panel is left on 27-7 how long will it last before it burns out?

 

[EarthDog]

If an LCD panel is left on 27-7 how long will it last before it burns out?

Its going to vary wildly.... nobody knows. A quick Google of 'how long does an LCD last' yields an answer around 30-60k hours. But slightly shorter in your world than ours since your days are 27 hours long.

 

[magellan]

I'm not happy that the DVR LCD panel is to be kept on constantly but that's what this guy wants -- even when he's not looking at it and even on weekends.

 

[don256us]

1) A panel is going to last as long as it lasts and it will generally be a long time.
2) Monitors with VGA can be had for cheap. Cheaper if their used. Buy two to have a spare.
3) LCD monitors use little by way of electricity.
4) It's not your money. Your friend sees a need for this and wants your expertise in picking out a replacement.

Find a cheap monitor with VGA and help the guy buy it. Tack on a % for your time or not and make the guy happy. Don't personalize the choice. *If* you had to buy a cheap LCD that was on 24/7, what would you buy? That's what he wants. Give the guy a bone.

 

[magellan]

I contacted Viewsonic and there are no authorized repair facilities for their LCD panels, if it's out of warranty you're out of luck. I remember there used to be places that repaired CRT's way back when, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to get LCD panels repaired (at least none I could find on yelp).

 

[don256us]

Yeah. I think that building these things is so cheap but repair costs are high. There isn't a profit for guys to do repair. (Do the labor to find the problem, to research the solution and locate the parts, do the replacement and Buy the parts. I'm tired from thinking about it just now.) Why would I spend $150 to fix a monitor that I can replace for $100?

It's sad but if it helps, you can pay some money to recycle the old units.

People aren't buying electronics that will last forever. I don't want to buy a long lasting 1080p monitor that never dies because I'll be upgrading to 2k when it comes out, and 4k when that comes out and 8k.... You get the idea. If I'm gonna upgrade to the new standard when the price drops, I would rather have something that does a good job and lasts as long as I keep it but I won't cry over when I replace it. Tough line to walk.

Anyway, lots of typing to say I feel your pain on the repair front.

 

[ssjwizard]

I have plenty of old displays. I recently picked up a pair of HP ZR27s for ~$200. Yeah they are older tech and kinda heavy, but when these were brand new they were the choice of animators all over the world. Cop a pair for $200 and get 2-4 years of use out of them VS the initial price tag of $1000+ each and im happy.

Really sounds llike any old inexpensive display should work. Almost all of the cheap ones I look at have a VGA port, and as mentioned even older used monitors will likely last a long time on a budget.

 

[EarthDog]

For what it is... thrift store LCDs will work. Repairs (and the time/effort to get it done) may cost more than that...

 

[DaveB]

I have plenty of old displays. I recently picked up a pair of HP ZR27s for ~$200. Yeah they are older tech and kinda heavy, but when these were brand new they were the choice of animators all over the world. Cop a pair for $200 and get 2-4 years of use out of them VS the initial price tag of $1000+ each and im happy.

Been using an HP2740W on my main system for around 10 years. Got it for working at home and used it on my main system and the company laptop. Typically it's been on for an average of 16 hours/day. So 10 years*365 days*16 hours = 58,400 hours give or take. Still looks great.

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

I use just about anything with VGA for our restaurants at work. I have around 140 locations using anything from dell, to acer, to hp, to viewsonic, really whatever is cheapest and big enough. I prefer 24" displays, as we have 16 camera feeds showing at once. These are on 24/7/365 and last 4-5 years before they burn out.

sounds like yours is the backlight, either the CCFL or the inverter for it. Not really worth fixing at the cheap price of LCD displays these days.