Old CRT TV cutting out

I have an old (approx 10 years) Panasonic TV that keeps turning itself off with a popping noise . For quite a while, I was having problems with the picture (horizontal lines) and I found if I fiddled about with the scart leads and pushed them more firmly into the TV then the picture would then sort itself out.

Now it's got to the point where it repeatedly turns itself off. I'm wondering if I might have damaged the socket connections with repeatedly pushing the scart leads in. Should I try buying new scart leads, try to get someone out to fix it, or given its age would I be better buying a new one? Any advice gratefully received!

It's unlikely that a new SCART lead will do anything. Secondly, I'd be very surprised if the SCART socket itself was responsible for the set switching off. AFAIK there's nothing in the SCART signal that can do anything more than change the TV input. It certainly can't be used to switch off a TV; well not unless the TV has some extra non-standard features.

The most likely thing is that the SCART socket is directly attached to the main circuit board, and there's a dry joint on that board which is getting made or broken as you fiddle with the SCART plug or as the cable pulls on the socket.

CRT TVs are not worth a great deal any more. I have had a couple of top spec £1000+ 32" Philips sets and paid £30-£40 for them secondhand. For that sort of money it's hard to justify repairing a TV. If you are not so fussy you can get a lesser name or lower spec TV often for free as long as you collect. Try Freecycle and look at unsold Ebay listings as a start.

If you don't need HD compatibility or Freeview built in then sticking with CRT does have it's advantages. The main one is far better sound. The second is robustness. A glass fronted CRT will stand the knocks from toddlers and pets really very well.

Good luck

Panasonics of that era are usually mega reliable, but yours sounds to have dry joints on the scart connectors, and possibe dry joints elsewhere.

If you are confident, you could take the back off, and use a magnifying glass and strong light to check for dry joints, and resolder them, if found, or go over the back of the board with a hairdryer, concentrating on the output stage, (LOPTX), and PSU, and the scart connections.

If not confident, as you can be killed if you don't know what you are doing, leave well alone, people throw away CRT TV's now, if you go to your local tip, they will flog you one, or join Freecycle, people are always giving them away, as many are too big to fit in their car, to take to the tip.