My TV is broke (a bleg)

So, my lovely Hitachi P50V701 plasma television, which I bought in October of 2007 (as some of you may recall), started acting peculiar recently, as in, stopped working. It began with the HDMI 1 input; just as I had begun watching the Blu-ray of Atom Egoyan's Chloe, the screen went black, and the front-panel blue power light began flashing. The other two HDMI inputs continued to function, so I switched. But soon enough, with ever input, the same thing began happening: a picture for a few minutes, then a blank screen and a flashing blue power light. A chat with a Hitachi rep resulted in my spending about 30 bucks to buy the geegaws necessary to perform a software update on the set, which not only didn't actually work, but I don't think really happened. In any event, I have to get the set fixed before I worry about that issue, because this is clearly NOT a software problem. (Web exploration suggests it's a power supply problem, and not particularly challenging. And so I pray.) So my question is: do any of my reader in the New York City area have any POSITIVE experiences with TV repair outlets they can actually recommend? Because reading the online reviews of the two joints cited by the Hitachi person on the phone, I am frankly terrified. Any other advice on the subject would also be appreciated. I need to get the July Blu-ray Consumer Guide done in, you know, July. And there's some ostensibly paying work I do that requires a working display as well. Many thanks in advance. 

Comments

[Escher]

call Analogique and find out if they do plasma repair-- they've been amazing at keeping my audio equipment in proper working condition, and they really know what they're doing.

additionally, while I've not brought them anything to fix, I got a very good impression from the electronics-fixit guy who has a stall buried in the southeastern quadrant of the Essex Street Market, so ask around, or walk over and see what he can do for you.

[cmasonwells]

Sounds like the TV hated CHLOE as much as everyone else.

[Stephen Bowie]

I have no advice to offer, but good luck, Glenn. I can think of a few organs I'd rather have fail before my plasma TV!

[Evelyn Roak]

Lester March does good repair work.

[Phil Freeman]

Just be thankful you didn't have to sit through any more than a few minutes of Chloe.

[warren oates]

Glenn, sorry about your TV and hope you get it fixed soon. To all the Chloe bashers: have you ever seen an Atom Egoyan film other than The Sweet Hereafter? Although it's a remake of a French film, Chloe is thematically more like Egoyan's earlier features -- Family Viewing, Speaking Parts and Exotica. Old-style Egoyan in a more streamlined mainstream narrative with better looking actors. The storytelling is less avant garde, but the story is no less strange or compelling. It held my attention the whole time and I had no idea what would happen next. Far better than the disaster of Where The Truth Lies and the awkward semi return to form of Adoration.

[Phil Freeman]

I've seen a bunch of Egoyan movies. I've also seen a bunch of movies late Saturday nights on Cinemax. Based on Chloe, so has Egoyan. It held my attention, too, but in a slow-motion car-crash sort of way; as I said to a real live person after it was over, it's amazing what an actress will do when she's convinced herself she's making art.

[Stephen Bowie]

Well, NATHALIE was pretty ridiculous to begin with, so what was anyone expecting? Although, my plasma TV played NATHALIE, at least....

[EOTW]

Getting ready to buy my first HDTV. haven't owned a set in over 10 years. Probably going with a 42 inch. On a budget over here. getting the BD player, sound bar/woofer setup. I've earned it.

IMO, Egoyan hasn't made a decent pi since SWEET HEREAFTER.

[jim emerson]

I got my HD Sony Bravia from Best Buy (they matched a sale price from another local merchant) just in case something went wrong, which it did. I was surprised, however, that when I called their "Geek Squad," they were able to diagnose the problem over the phone (by having me report the sequence of blinking lights), order the part, and send somebody over to install it. (Fortunately, my TV was still under warranty at the time.) I don't know if that will help you, but I thought I'd pass it along just in case...

[James Keepnews]

I'm also rather mystified over Egoyan's listing away from his greatest films -- with the exception of CALENDAR and the not-as-good THE ADJUSTER, all mostly listed by Mr. Oates -- and increasingly more in the direction of Jess Franco in his last two films. His very strong work from the 80's up to the turn of the century and the things that made that work so distinctive -- the graceful intimacy with which he engages his characters in each of these films, the modern issues they themselves engage which are slowly revealed with almost none of the clumsy exposition one expects from Current Hollywood Produkt, and the inexorable momentum the narratives development as they move towards uneasy resolutions -- were well on display and memorably realized right up to THE SWEET HEREAFTER. Thereafter...it's a dodgy affair. I actually enjoyed FELICIA'S JOURNEY almost as a genre exercise on his part -- the serial killer film done as a tasteful drawing-room drama of manners -- but there wasn't alot that matched his past felicity and intimacy, nor the epic size of the deeply personal subject matter, in the unfortunate wash-out that was ARARAT. The Christopher Plummer customs agent scenes had some of the tang and looming unease of Egoyan's best early work but the most epic-sized anything in that film had to be Bruce Greenwood's well-prepared-actor character's self-righteous ego, schooling Eric Bogosian about what a true artist does on and off the set. And since then...Skinemax city, bi-sexual threesomes and, compared to his past work, not extremely fresh insights into stardom, infidelity, you name it.

Bummer, eh?