ipaul,

Are you sure that these tubes are still being manufactured? I thought that the LG/Philips CRT partnership had gone bankrupt and the factory in the Czech Republic closed. Is there a tube of this type being manufactured anywhere now? I know that broadcasters are having to come to terms with LCD monitors since the high quality CRT displays in use up to now are no longer available. I was under the impression that all the replacement tubes from B&O were new old stock.

Either way, I can't see many more new replacement tubes from B&O being required now, given the extremely high price asked and the fact that CRT televisions are now seen as "old fashioned", even B&O!

Neil.

Neil, i don't know about that (factory closed etc) but you could be right.

In any case what's for sale is than still stock i guess, but for sure there's still a need for tubes on this planet as the vast majority still uses crt tv's (out of western Europe/VS).

Anyway, indeed the prices B&O charges for tubes is beyond any sense of reality, but the tapping/glowing trick seems to work ok most of the time so if that keeps 'them' going for some years i'll gladly watch an old fashioned crt.

ipaul,

I'll gladly watch a CRT tv as well as long as the tube is ok, but even though I would prefer to keep my Avant than buy a flat panel tv, if the tube fails I don't think I could justify paying B&O prices for a replacement. I'm also concerned that you say a new tube is not likely to be as good. It looks like your "tapping" repair method is certainly worth a try with a faulty tube.

I agree that a huge number of CRT tv's are still being used, but if what is happening in my part of the UK is anything to go by this situation will not exist much longer. The analogue transmitters were switched off here last June, and this seemed to be the catalyst for people to change to the brave new world of flat panel tv's, mostly LCD. My local recycling depot (tip) has received huge amounts of working CRT tv's and VCR's, and for a while local retailers were struggling to keep up with demand. By the time the Digital Switch Over scheme is completed in 2012, I think that tube tv's will be in the minority here in the UK.

It looks like we will just have to enjoy them while we can.

Regards.

Neil.

Bump.

The BV has been working very well. I continuously enjoy the picture and especially the rich sound.

However it has one problem which it has now demonstrated for about five times. Tv is in standby, red led. I press TV, light turns green but the tube doesn't wake up. Green led stays, no response from the remote. After disconnecting mains for a few minutes the red led stays and won't turn green. Usually after a few moments (of overnight) with no mains it starts working again, it has done it few times already. What could that mean? I checked that there were some errors logged in the service menu, can't check them now but I think the code ended -22A (?).

Any ideas?