I normally have my TV connected to a amplifier and out to the speakers for sound. Well, today while watching the news, it was working fine and then suddenly the only sound I was receiving was static through the speakers. I changed the channel and got the same thing. I turned off the amplifier, changed the set up of the TV to its own sound, and still the same static on all channels. I turned off the TV, and back on to the static. I consulted my owners manual and it was useless (will make good paper for start my next campfire). It is a 5 year old RCA, 27 inch CRT TV.
Any thoughts on what the problem is, and is it worth getting repaired, or should I start looking at a 32 inch LCD TV?

I had similar problems. Actually two incidents...

One time it was the board in the back of the TV that had become useless. The other time it was one of the smaller capacitors that got fried...

I simply replaced those dead parts and everything was back to normal... Luckily I had same TV whose monitor did not work, so I swapped the parts from that one...

Anyway, since that was in a hotel industry, it can be a little different at home.

You might as well get a new TV. If you plan to give it to the repair shop, where they usually overcharge... The new ones support more peripheral devices and are better quality overall, especially LCDs.

It sounds like a component issue for sure, but I'll share this:

Funny coinkadink. I had an RCA TV problem just this week. I called Thomson (their tech people) and was told to "hard reset" the TV by unplugging it for one hour.

It solved the problem... and nowhere in the manual did it tell about hard resetting.

... can't hurt to try... :o

That is exactly what kind of happened. I have an uncle who was able to come over yesterday. We unplugged it, took the back off, used compressed air to clean the dust and dirt out of it. He check the soldiering joints and gave it a quick look. We plugged it back in and the sound worked. He arrived at the same conclusion that when it was unplugged, it reset itself and is good to go.
So not when we have problems, this will be the first thing that we do; to unplug and try to reset it. Thanks for the all the replies.

Woo Hoo!

Glad it's up and running again for you!

First, thanks for the advice. I had this same problem and this has solved it.

A note: I determined that it was not a mechanical problem because on some channels (TBS and TNT on my Comcast cable), instead of the static sound, I got a recurring message that said "you are now on a secondary audio channel." May help with diagnosis.

bfaricy

I am a Customer Support Rep. at Thomson. (RCA & GE
Electronics) We still do not have a resolution to the SAP problem. Keep in mind, that this goes for anyone who's audio has switched to SAP, static or NO audio on some channels, as well as NO audio on Television programming, but on commercials. I can ASSURE you this, Thomson is working very hard on correcting this problem. To those of you who cannot resolve your problem by unplug/replug, or, if the TV does respond to this "fix" - but only last a short while - NOTE: THE PROBLEM IS STILL BEING WORKED ON. UNPLUGGING AND REPLUGGING WILL NOT FIX YOUR SET!! IT IS ONLY A TEMPORARY SOLUTION. WE at Thomson are all aware of the problem but unfortunately have not been given the "actual" source of the issue, as we DO NOT KNOW what caused the issue. We are working diligently to find out what caused the issue and how to resolve it. Until the real source is located, and a resolution has been found, all we can say is be patient. Yes, it seems to be with cable customers with older model TV's, and Spike TV as well as the Speed Channel being mentioned the most; with Guide Plus as a feature to the TV in some cases. As soon as a fix is found, I will post one here. Be patient, as we are trying to be AS WELL!

Should'a just bought the 32" LCD TV.

It is a mechanical issue... The recurring message, "you are now on a secondary audio channel" is another symptom...

Glad you fixed your problem. But you should have taken this opportunity to get the 32" LCD past your wife!