Unrepairable TV's and DVD Players

If you're buying a new HDTV, DVD player, or other electronics....is price your most important consideration?

If so, you need to consider what could happen if that new gadget breaks after the warranty is up. With some of them, you have to throw them away.

Thought it was a "High End Device"

Ed Beckett wanted a portable DVD player... so he could catch up on movies while traveling. He decided to go with a name brand -- Philips -- thinking it would last longer than an inexpensive no-name player.

"I paid $275 for the thing, for what I considered high end device," he tells me.

But soon after the one year warranty ran out, Ed says his DVD player began fussing and beeping to get started, then locking up midway into movies.

So he called an authorized Philips repair center, but says he was stunned when a a manager at the shop told him: "there are no internal parts we can get you."

No Parts Available

It turns out Philips does not provide internal parts for this Chinese-made player, only external accessories and cases.  Online postings at epinions.com call it "disposable" and "unrepariable."

Ed was flabbergasted, telling me "they consider it a throwaway item!"

But this is now common. Last year, I filed a report on how a large number of second tier brands of HDTV's have no parts support, and are also considered "disposable."

NEXT: What Can You Do?