Depending on the nature of the fault, television equipment can be repaired at home by a qualified technician who has a fix TV at home service.

Most digital TV technicians will offer this if they offer TV install services and wall mount TV services. You may be able to source and replace a faulty component yourself, as long as it is non-electrical.

The modern television is a technically advanced piece of electronic equipment, with micro chipsets, circuitry, and expensive Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and plasma screens. They have become the central component of extensive and expensive home theatre systems. Although these TV screens are designed to last 40,000 viewing hours, which is equivalent to about 20 years, they are easily cracked or shattered. It is financially worth the effort to try and source a replacement screen, otherwise a new screen costs almost the same price as a new entire unit. Don’t disassemble a plasma or LCD screen in your home as they contain harmful components such as liquids and gases. Always take extreme care when repairing any electric appliance at home, and if you are at all unsure, just don’t try it. Never tamper with electrical wiring or electrical components, and always switch off your home’s entire electricity supply at the mains switch before attempting any repair work.

Qualified television repairers often offer a call out service, and will come to your home, inspect the television set to assess the fault, and will give you a written quote. Their work is guarenteed but, obviously, they must charge a call-out fee which will be hefty. If the fault is common and relatively easy to repair, they can fix your TV in your home. This can be a viable option if you have several expensive electronic devices that are faulty, and you are paying just the one call-out fee.

LCD and plasma screens are extremely complex and use electricity in the process of producing images. A simplified look at how they work shows the inherent dangers of tampering with them at home: LCD panels are a polarised glass-like material, with an electric current running through liquid crystals. Plasma screens are glass panels containing neon-xenon gas as plasma, which is stimulated electrically to affect colour phosphors. Your television’s circuitry and computing chipsets can easily be irreparably damaged by static electricity, so care must be taken to avoid this.

If the fault is not as obvious as a gaping hole or crack in the screen, try diagnosing and fixing the problem yourself. A common malfunction in cable televisions is a blurred picture, caused by a flaw in the coaxial cable connecting the TV (or VCR) to the cable antenna. The wiring may be frayed or the fitting loose. Turn on the television and wiggle the coaxial cable both where it plugs into the TV and and where it enters the cable output. If the display changes – bingo, you’ve found the problem. Simply buy a new cable. Try to not place your TV near other electronic equipment, as that may cause elecrical or magnetic interference. If the TV’s in-built de-magnetizing circuit is faulty, there will be a blotch of dicolouration on the screen. Buy a strong magnetic coil from a hardware store, hold it close to a top corner of the TV screen, and make ever increasing circular motions across the screen as you slowly walk away. For other simple remedies, there are plenty of good plasma and LCD TV repair guides and courses available on the internet. You are sure to glean useful knowledge and worthwhile Do It Yourself tips, even if you do not succeed in repairing the TV. Keep in mind that any repair work by an unqualified person will make void any warranty on the television equipment. Obviously, if it is still under warranty (and always consider the value of paying for an extended warranty at the time of purchase), then take it to a qualified repairer. However, it is probably not worth having it repaired if the cost is more than half the price of a new unit.