Well, it’s officially August, and we’ve noticed that our European visitors are anxiously anticipating the launch of ShopJimmy UK. Since we operate with transparency and openness, here’s the latest scoop…

We’ve already procured a very respectable — and increasing daily — inventory of parts that we hope will cater nicely to our customers in the UK and Europe. Although we publicized an August 1st launch, we’re taking a little extra time to make sure all of our website’s functionality is there, from product importing to payment processing.

To our future customers in Europe, we sincerely apologize for the delay. We’re just as excited to launch ShopJimmy UK, and our goal — like ShopJimmy US — is to provide you with the highest quality parts at the lowest prices. We don’t want to start this partnership “off on the wrong foot,” so look for an introductory sale when we launch!

We appreciate your patience and future business. Cheers!

Update: Here’s a hint, there are FOUR cameos. Oh, and the winner gets 20% off now!

Just to get you all a little more pumped about next week…

Try to spot the ShopJimmy cameos! The first person to comment on this post with the correct times (within a second or two) of each appearance receives 20% off their next order! Please include your email address in the comment, so we can congratulate you and give you the promo code.

Make sure to stop by our booth (209/211) and chat with us! See you in Nashville!

This past weekend, we went to Chicago to visit Ben, Evan, and the rest of the great people at Ben’s TV & Home Theater. We had a blast helping them set-up their ShopJimmy Store; we just hope they don’t take too much of our business!

Ever the gracious hosts, they took us to a Cubs game! Our seats were on top of those cool buildings just beyond right field. Not only were there air conditioned floors below (it was very hot and muggy!), but it was all-you-can eat and drink. Needless to say, we had a great time.

A very big and sincere thank you to Ben and Evan. You guys “set the standard” for work trips. For the rest of you with a lot of spare parts and want to sell them via your own ShopJimmy Store, we might come help you get started…

Talk to the guys at Ben’s TV for details on how to persuade us. :)

What’s a TFT and what does it do?

The first person to comment on this post with the correct answer gets 10% off their next ShopJimmy order! Please include your email address in the comment, so we can congratulate you and give you the promo code.

Good luck!

Here at ShopJimmy, we are lovers of all things gadgets. From TVs to iPads to smartphones, we like just about anything with a screen and an on/off switch. To satisfy my thirst for gadgetry news, I faithfully patrol several sites: Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, TWICE, and SlashGear. It’s amazing that I get any work done, ever. I hope Jimmy doesn’t read this…

I discovered a new site, Display Alliance, because they picked up my recent post about LED TVs. Display Alliance is an aggregation of “crowdsourced” content related to the display industry. It’s a cool site and concept, and I hope it takes off (not merely because they syndicated my post).

Craig at Cleveland Classics Big Screen Television Restoration also republished my post about LED TVs. Thanks, Craig!

Name: Adam

Position at ShopJimmy: Various

Favorite LCD breakage story: All of them. Keep crackin’ those things.

TV model in your living room: None

Family: A very good one.

Hobbies: Partology, softball, reading

Favorite restaurant: Al Vento

Go-to Pandora station: Pelican/Mastodon/
Portishead/Atmosphere/The Knife/Ravel mix

Beverage(s) of choice: Whiskey, whisky, green tea, Summit EPA

In-flight reading material: My new Kindle.

Sports team(s) you root for: Twins, Gophers, Badgers, Packers, West Ham United FC, Dutch National Team

On a dating website, how would you describe yourself? Ladies, I look like Ryan from ShopJimmy – I promise.

Three things you’d bring to a deserted island: Target Field, the Twins and Tigers rosters, sunflower seeds

You can find me on…

No, I didn’t scale a mountain to receive these technological revelations. The gadget gurus over at CNET, David Carnoy and David Katzmaier, compiled this list of LED TV truths.

With the rise of LED TVs on the near horizon and prices dropping faster than BP’s popularity, I thought I’d summarize CNET’s list to help you sift through LED fact and fiction.

1. LED TVs are not new: LED TVs are simply LCD TVs that are backlit with light-emitting diodes and have been on retail shelves since 2007.

2. There are two LED configurations: “full array” LEDs are backlit across the panel, like a standard LCD. “Edge-lit” LEDs are backlit on the sides of the panel, projecting light inward and reducing the thickness of the TV.

3. “Local dimming” may be offered on both configurations: this feature dims portions of the screen to reduce the amount of light that leaks through darkened pixels, which results in darker blacks. The deeper the black on your TV, the better your contrast ratio, which correlates with a better overall picture quality.

4. Edge-lit TVs are thin, but uniformity suffers: with edge-lit displays, white images may appear brighter or “hotter” on the edges of the screen. Contrastingly, dark images may appear lighter near the edges.

5. LEDs don’t improve LCD’s off-angle viewing: LCD TVs are notorious for their decreased picture quality from different, angled views. Unfortunately, neither LED configuration improves this weakness.

6. LEDs are more efficient: this is great news for those energy-conscious individuals (like all of us at ShopJimmy!). LED TVs are the most power-efficient flat panels available.

7. LED technology will improve, somewhat: according to engineers, to truly perfect an LED TV, it would require 2.1 million LEDs to individually light 2.1 million pixels in a 1080 p TV. Not surprisingly, this simply isn’t cost effective for manufacturers. For mass-produced models, the limit of LED improvement will be found at the intersection of the number of LEDs vs. production costs.

8. LEDs are more expensive: I know, not what you wanted to hear. For instance, according to CNET, LG’s least-expensive 32-inch LED is still $1,100. However, with added competitors entering this market continuously, prices should drop substantially over the next year or two.

9. Top LED TVs rival the best plasmas, but still have shortcomings: at the highest tier, picture quality is almost synonymous, but off-angle viewing and picture uniformity still prevent LED TVs from surpassing plasma’s picture quality.

10. Without the correct picture settings, LED technology won’t matter: regardless of the price tag, if you don’t set-up your LED TV correctly, you won’t experience its true potential.

Did I (or the “techies” at CNET) miss something? Which TV do you prefer: LCD, LED (LCD), or plasma? Sound off below!

1,000,000,000*

*The number of pounds of e-waste Best Buy wants to collect over the next five years. For more information, check out Best Buy’s 2010 Sustainability Report.

Word of our expansion to the UK is beginning to spread among our industry peers.

- Our friends at TV Lamps ‘N’ Bulbs wrote a cool blog post about our announcement. Thanks, Chance!

- Also, the Reverse Logistics Association sends out a “Weekly News Clippings” email and included our news. Seeing our headline between big names like Sony and Lenovo is a pretty neat sight. We appreciate the support, RLA!

We hope you’ve started practicing your line dancing!

With NPSC 2010 less than a month away, I wanted to pose a question to you all:

What are you most looking forward to seeing, learning, and/or doing at NPSC this year?

Use the comments section below to answer!

After many months of research and preparation, we’re excited to announce that we are launching a global, ShopJimmy branch in Witney, Oxfordshire–about 70 miles northwest of London!

ShopJimmy UK will ship globally and cater to the UK and European markets, primarily. We’ll “cut the ribbon” on this new location August 1st and start selling parts at ShopJimmy.co.uk. For those reading this from abroad, please feel free to contact Mike (mike@shopjimmy.com) for more information!

Cheers, mates!

Here’s our official press release:

BLOOMINGTON, MN – July 1, 2010 – ShopJimmy, a leader in TV replacement parts, today launched its global branch, ShopJimmy UK Ltd., in Witney, Oxfordshire. ShopJimmy UK will supply TV and electronics parts to businesses, technicians, and consumers across the UK, Europe, and Asia. ShopJimmy UK will begin selling parts online at ShopJimmy.co.uk on August 1, 2010.

This global branch will follow the unique business model pioneered by Jimmy Vosika, ShopJimmy’s CEO, at their Minnesotan headquarters. ShopJimmy UK will recover new TVs and electronics damaged during manufacturer-to-retailer shipping, harvest the usable parts to sell, and recycle almost 100% of the remaining materials.

“ShopJimmy UK is an exciting advancement in our company’s evolution,” said Vosika. “Our plan is to successfully duplicate our business model in the UK: distribute the highest quality TV and electronics parts at the lowest prices. We’re looking forward to improving our reach and distributing parts worldwide.”

Witney, Oxfordshire, approximately 70 miles northwest of London, will be the location of ShopJimmy UK’s headquarters. While ShopJimmy UK will break down all electronics in-house for quality assurance, it will ship globally via a third-party logistics company. Like ShopJimmy’s effectively done in America, the UK branch also plans to help combat e-waste in Europe and will follow the WEEE Directives instituted by the European Union.

“According to recent research, 2.5 billion LCDs are nearing the end of their lifecycle and are the fastest growing waste in the European Union. At our US headquarters, we recycle about 150,000 pounds of e-waste every month. With the addition of this UK branch, we want to increase that number dramatically,” said Vosika.

ABOUT SHOPJIMMY – ShopJimmy is an online supplier of replacement TV and electronics parts headquartered in Bloomington, MN, with an ever-growing inventory of over 150,000 parts. ShopJimmy UK Ltd. is the global division of ShopJimmy, located in Witney, Oxfordshire. Specializing in TV replacement parts, ShopJimmy offers both an extensive inventory of parts and rare, NLA (no longer available) parts at the lowest prices.

In our endless quest to better your ShopJimmy experience, we look toward the future (or, as many would suggest, the present): smartphones and mobile platforms.

Before we dive into the development of a ShopJimmy mobile app, I thought I’d ask you all…

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Thanks for your help!

8,612*

*The number of subscribers to our monthly newsletter. Are you one of them? If not, you should be, if you like exclusive deals, news, and coupons. It’s completely up to you, though. No pressure.

For those really cool, smart people, subscribe in less than two minutes!

This post is courtesy of Nate, our Parts Manager and resident cat lover.

We’ve been spending time with Samsung plasma TV’s lately, especially the logic mains found inside them. They are pretty good company, for the most part; the only problem is they dress alike, so it’s hard to tell them apart. Let’s start with the family of logic mains from some newer 58 and 63-inch TV’s. If you search LJ41-05752A on our site, you get a smattering of results, each with a unique BN96-XXXXXX number. The difference between these guys is subtle but obvious when you can see them side-by-side. The PCB number (aka LJ41-05752A) is identical on each of these parts, and the PBA number (aka LJ92-01564A or LJ92-01563A) seems to be the same. However, if you look at the board there is a string of letters behind the PBA number. These letters are the key to unlocking the part number. Samsung has several ways of indicating which version of the logic main is used. Ticks, dashes, or marks can be found over the appropriate letter, stamps of the PBA rev can begin with that letter (i.e. CA1, BA2), or, more recently, the serial number tag can have the appropriate PBA code in it.





In the example provided, we can see the PBA code ends with “A.” However, if you start searching around those other parts that share PCB and PBA numbers, with the one in the example, you can find LJ92-01564A-LJ92-01564F (A-F) and just LJ92-01563A. Each of these has a unique part number and usages associated with it. The differences may be as subtle as the software programmed on the board or as blatant as different connectors, and in either case, the parts are typically not compatible. The other sticker on the part is an indicator of the size and style of panel, the intended brand usage (SEC = Samsung Electronics Corporation), and logic software (090226). Sometimes they will spell out intended brands on the sticker like Philips or Sanyo, other times it is a three-letter code.

Other panel parts don’t typically require the same strict attention to letters and numbers. Y-Mains, Logic Buffers, etc. with a PBA code of “A” or “B” (there’s not as much variation in other panel parts as there are with Logic Mains) are usually fine to use interchangeably. Hopefully, this helps make sense of Samsung Logic.

In a stunning, thrilling finish, USA’s Landon Donovan scored in added time to beat Algeria 1-0 and advance to pool play! Like we promised, this means that you can add another $5 off–making it $10 now–your next order (subtotal over $100) if you use the code “SJWC2010” before July 11th!

USA! USA! USA!

Remember: the US squad could play up to four more games. With each win, we’ll add another $5 off to that promo code, which is only valid once. Spend wisely, my friends. Good luck!

*Order subtotal has to be over $100. Promo code is only valid once. Click here for more details.