Sony TV Owners & Discussion Thread

[Guest grechs]

My father has the KDL46X3100 that is experiencing much the same problems as described here, the right side of the screen is dark and used to go away after 10-15mins when it warms up, but more recently it's been a lot more persistent. Unfortunately, this occurred outside of the 1 year warranty period and my father did not purchase Extended Warranty. Does anyone know a rough price to get this fixed or are there any other options such as complaining to Sony etc.

I have just encountered the same problem with my KDL46X3100 - manufactured June 2008, purchased sep 2008. Upon contact with Sony, they have arranged for my screen to be replaced, although outside of 12 month warranty (by 6 months). I am advised by the allocated repairer that the screen will be installed within a couple of weeks. Very pleased with this, if promise is delivered (which I have no doubt that it will be). I was told it has something to do with the crystals in the LCD screen not engaging on cold start up, but as set warms up, the crystals engage and the pic is normal - not tech minded, but it seems like a reasonable answer, and given the prompt acknowledgemnt and response by Sony, I would guess a common occurrence. If your father has not yet done so, suggest a call to Sony will get fix underway.

[ViVa]

Did anyone ever get through SONY Australia to acknowledge and offer replacement units for the Optical Block issue.

HD Guru - SXRD Optical Block Issue

[TheKindred]

These reports of optical block giving up are quite disturbing. However my 70" seems to be developing another problem....intermittent flicker. This is mainly visible at the moment when I'm on the internet.

I'm assuming it's the lamp going, though there has been no warning and it's probably only a year since I replaced the original.

Has anyone else's set experienced flicker and does anyone have any thoughts on this?

My 60" exhibited the same flicker and I promptly got it repaired.

this I dont beleive has anything to do with the lamp(I had not long put a new one in)

Marks Electronics repaired my set, new optical Block(Now the new optical block which was replaced has the dreaded green discolouration VERY UNHAPPY)

Any of these sets that start to flicker do need to be serviced/repaired

Sony Contact Details:Sony_Contactus@salmat.co.nz

Or thats what they provided me with

Edited June 3, 2010 by skeletalfracture

[arthur63]

I have just encountered the same problem with my KDL46X3100 - manufactured June 2008, purchased sep 2008. Upon contact with Sony, they have arranged for my screen to be replaced, although outside of 12 month warranty (by 6 months). I am advised by the allocated repairer that the screen will be installed within a couple of weeks. Very pleased with this, if promise is delivered (which I have no doubt that it will be). I was told it has something to do with the crystals in the LCD screen not engaging on cold start up, but as set warms up, the crystals engage and the pic is normal - not tech minded, but it seems like a reasonable answer, and given the prompt acknowledgemnt and response by Sony, I would guess a common occurrence. If your father has not yet done so, suggest a call to Sony will get fix underway.

Hi Grechs, just curious but which Sony office were you in contact with? It would be helpful to know in case my LCD panel fails. Mine is 2 years old and so far so good - no problems.

Thanks

[theanets]

Hi Grechs, just curious but which Sony office were you in contact with? It would be helpful to know in case my LCD panel fails. Mine is 2 years old and so far so good - no problems.

Thanks

Hi, great to see all the posts, and "happy" I am not alone. My Sony Bravia KDL46XBR, purchased July 08, started having the half screen display problems about 2 months ago. After warm up, 15-20 mins, picture was OK - but figured there was an underlying problem which would eventually result in full screen failure. Had an extended warranty from JB, so used it. Now, 2 months later, my KDL46XBR is back in my living room, unrepaired and waiting for the "Bravia Support Group" to contact me about the repair. I am very disappointed, having reported the fault to JB 1 month ago, had the TV taken away by Impulse in Melbourne, and then returned unrepaired. Calls to JB and Impulse have been polite, but ultimatley not satisfactory. I will now try and contact the "Bravia Support Group", and would appreciate any contact detials ? What is ultimately annoying here is that clearly this is a known fault, and yet I have been without my TV for 1 month, and still no closer to a resolution. Cheers, theanets

[Cannon Goose]

Hello everyone, I bought a Sony KDL32EX500 Bravia TV from Myer last week and it's been outstanding so far. The only issue I have found is that there is a bit of ghosting on moving objects. Not an extreme case of ghosting, I've seen some examples that look totally unwatchable but there's just a little bit. Usually it's unnoticeable but during some video games the problem is very evident due to the colours the game uses I guess.

I was wondering if there was a way to fix it? Xbox 360 and PS3 through HDMI have ghosting and so does digital TV so I'm sure it's an issue with the panel itself. Is there a quick fix or if I want to be rid of ghosting will I have to exchange my TV for another brand/model?

Thanks!

[Guest grechs]

Hi, great to see all the posts, and "happy" I am not alone. My Sony Bravia KDL46XBR, purchased July 08, started having the half screen display problems about 2 months ago. After warm up, 15-20 mins, picture was OK - but figured there was an underlying problem which would eventually result in full screen failure. Had an extended warranty from JB, so used it. Now, 2 months later, my KDL46XBR is back in my living room, unrepaired and waiting for the "Bravia Support Group" to contact me about the repair. I am very disappointed, having reported the fault to JB 1 month ago, had the TV taken away by Impulse in Melbourne, and then returned unrepaired. Calls to JB and Impulse have been polite, but ultimatley not satisfactory. I will now try and contact the "Bravia Support Group", and would appreciate any contact detials ? What is ultimately annoying here is that clearly this is a known fault, and yet I have been without my TV for 1 month, and still no closer to a resolution. Cheers, theanets

Hi

I just contacted Sony direct after going to this website http://www.sony.com.au/section/servicecentres

I did get passed onto the correct service centre, who were quite professional, logged my fault, and directed a local service agency to arrange for screen to be replaced. I have had to wait about 6 weeks for stock to be delivered. I was contacted yesterday and new screen will be delivered on Monday, so it looks to be an ideal outcome from my perspective.

[DR.ZOIDBERG]

Hi

I just contacted Sony direct after going to this website http://www.sony.com.au/section/servicecentres

I did get passed onto the correct service centre, who were quite professional, logged my fault, and directed a local service agency to arrange for screen to be replaced. I have had to wait about 6 weeks for stock to be delivered. I was contacted yesterday and new screen will be delivered on Monday, so it looks to be an ideal outcome from my perspective.

Did they come out and assess the problem first or did that take your word for it?

[TJ46]

Hi - don't want to gate crash the Bravia thread, but as I can't find a Sony Wega thread I was hoping someone here could help me. I have a Grand Wega LCD Projection TV which has a strange blue wave permanently imprinted across the bottom of the screen. It began as a small curved line and didn't bother me at first, but it has since grown substantially in size and there's no indication from the manual as to what might be causing the problem. The only solution to the problem (according to Sony) was the lamp which needs to be replaced after every 8 000 hrs, so I bought a replacement but the line is still there.

Can anyone shed some light on this please?

Thanks TJ46.

[Guest Garrry]

Hi, great to see all the posts, and "happy" I am not alone. My Sony Bravia KDL46XBR, purchased July 08, started having the half screen display problems about 2 months ago. After warm up, 15-20 mins, picture was OK - but figured there was an underlying problem which would eventually result in full screen failure. Had an extended warranty from JB, so used it. Now, 2 months later, my KDL46XBR is back in my living room, unrepaired and waiting for the "Bravia Support Group" to contact me about the repair. I am very disappointed, having reported the fault to JB 1 month ago, had the TV taken away by Impulse in Melbourne, and then returned unrepaired. Calls to JB and Impulse have been polite, but ultimatley not satisfactory. I will now try and contact the "Bravia Support Group", and would appreciate any contact detials ? What is ultimately annoying here is that clearly this is a known fault, and yet I have been without my TV for 1 month, and still no closer to a resolution. Cheers, theanets

You are definitely not alone. I have a similar story. Bought a KDL46XBR from JB for $3000 in Brisbane and a few months after the warranty expiry, two-thirds of the display is dark and blurred. Took it to a repairer who said the power supply had overheated and failed (the top of my tv gets very hot during the Queensland summer). He replaced a regulator and a heatsink but the problem continued. He suggested a new power supply for about $600 plus labour or buying a new tv. I began by searching for power supply details and instead found this forum. There are many similar posts about Sony Bravia failures and reports that some have had their LCD replaced.

The cost of either a new power supply or a new LCD seems to be approaching that of a new tv. For example, Harvey Norman are currently advertising an LG HD 50" plasma for $1000. The very large number of posts about this suggests that Bravias have design flaws and problems occur again. Consequently, I am losing interest in repair options.

The only advice I can suggest is cut and run. Namely, buy something else and get an extended warranty and/or use an Amex card (with an implied extended warranty).

[roblea]

QUOTE (nrl_bulldogs @ Apr 28 2010, 11:07 PM)

My father has the KDL46X3100 that is experiencing much the same problems as described here, the right side of the screen is dark and used to go away after 10-15mins when it warms up, but more recently it's been a lot more persistent. Unfortunately, this occurred outside of the 1 year warranty period and my father did not purchase Extended Warranty. Does anyone know a rough price to get this fixed or are there any other options such as complaining to Sony etc.

When the warranty people sent my tv to the repairers, the repairer said that the problem had something to do the panel and it had to be replaced, they said it would cost them around $1500 to replace the panel if I remember correctly =/.

Gedday ....Got a quote for a new panel in my KDL46X3100 was $880...does anyone know what quality is like of new panels??? or what make go back in???...repairer said new ones were good quality panels

cheers

[matthew_fitzy]

I have a KDL40x3100 and as of two days ago, it seems like the optical out on the rear of the TV is faulty.

The sound that I am getting (if any) is extremely choppy, cutting in and out. I have this connected to my receiver. As soon as I disconnect the optical, and connect RCA, it works fine. When looking closely at the optical port on the rear of the tv, the red light blinks intermittently - is this normal? The cable is working fine, as I have tested it from my PS3 and Foxtel IQ box without an issue.

Has/is anyone else experiencing dramas with their optical audio?

Thankfully my TV is still under extended warranty and a tech can come and have a look at it.

EDIT:

Just found another user with the same issue...

Hi All,

I've got a 42x3100 and am having problems with the digital output.

I have the digital out running to my davd-z777 sony home theatre system. All was fine for about 3 months, up until about 1.5 weeks ago.

The sound has started cutting out intermittently (1-2 second sometimes more intervals of cutout and then the sound comes back) this happens constantly, like every 5-10 seconds.

I've tested other devices connected to the sound system through the same optical port (PS3, HTPC) and they work fine.

I've tried a different optical cable that I know should work.

I've tried switching sound on the TV back to "TV Speaker" and that works fine, so I've narrowed it down that it has something to do with the TV optical port.

The TV is just out of warranty (I believe the Bravia LCD series is covered by 12 month warranty?)

Has anyone experienced this same problem, or have any ideas of what could possibly fix it?

Cheers heaps in advance!

Edited July 15, 2010 by matthew_fitzy

[MdMa11]

Hey guys,

I just need some confirmation on a few things...

As I understand it our sets (in my case the 70") can only do 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz and 1280 x 720p @ 60Hz (these are the only resolutions I am concerned about).

There is no 24Hz and 3:2 pull down is that correct?

If so... what would be the best resolution(s)/refresh rates to have videos playing at that are:

1280 x 720p 23.976 fps

1280 x 720p 25.000 fps

1920 x 1080 23.976 fps

I hope this makes sense...

Edited August 14, 2010 by MdMa

[drsmith]

Hey guys,

I just need some confirmation on a few things...

As I understand it our sets (in my case the 70") can only do 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz and 1280 x 720p @ 60Hz (these are the only resolutions I am concerned about). 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz, 59.94hz and 50hz.

There is no 24Hz and 3:2 pull down is that correct? Correct.

If so... what would be the best resolution(s)/refresh rates to have videos playing at that are:

1280 x 720p 23.976 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94hz

1280 x 720p 25.000 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 50hz

1920 x 1080 23.976 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94hz

I hope this makes sense...

[MdMa11]

Thank you very much.

Could you also explain how or why you have chosen these values for the best playback?

[drsmith]

Could you also explain how or why you have chosen these values for the best playback?

The variable is video processing and whether the video player does it better than the SXRD.

I have a dedicated HTPC (sig) and use that in preference to the SXRD for upscaling and deinterlacing. It is this reason that I use 1920x1080 progressive (p) resolutions to the SXRD.

[MdMa11]

I should have worded my question better...

I was more intrigued as to why you have chosen 50/59.94Hz over 60Hz?

[Owen]

What the TV does is dictated by the source, if the player outputs a 60Hz (59.94Hz) signal that's what the TV will use, if it outputs 50Hz the TV will use that. There is no setting on the TV to adjust refresh rate nor should there be.

Video should always be displayed at its native frame rate or an exact multiple there of, anything else results in judder.

[MdMa11]

What the TV does is dictated by the source, if the player outputs a 60Hz (59.94Hz) signal that's what the TV will use, if it outputs 50Hz the TV will use that. There is no setting on the TV to adjust refresh rate nor should there be.

Video should always be displayed at its native frame rate or an exact multiple there of, anything else results in judder.

Firstly, is 60Hz the same as 59.94Hz?

I only ask because I have a dedicated HTPC (ASRock ION330) running Ubuntu Linux/XBMC and I need to be as accurate as I can be.

I currently having everything set to output at 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz.. which seems to be very smooth.. I am just wondering if I can get it any better.

Edited August 16, 2010 by MdMa

[Owen]

Firstly, is 60Hz the same as 59.94Hz?

No they are not the same, what's best depends entirely on the source frame rate, you should match the source exactly.

I only ask because I have a dedicated HTPC (ASRock ION330) running Ubuntu Linux/XBMC and I need to be as accurate as I can be.

I currently having everything set to output at 1920 x 1080p @ 60Hz.. which seems to be very smooth.. I am just wondering if I can get it any better.

If you view Australian content (all 50Hz) at 60 or 59.xx Hz you will get judder because the frame rates are not compatible.

I would not use Linux for a HTPC, driver support is not up to par and I very much doubt deinterlacing will be much good. Same can be said of low power integrated video, they may work OK for progressive content but 1080i from a true interlaced source over taxes them as they dont have enough shader grunt for good de interlacing.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Owen

[MdMa11]

Well the only reason I am using Linux is because it offers VDPAU hardware decoding for the NVIDIA ION GPU.

As far as I can tell all my material that I play through the HTPC is progressive, and currently have no issues playing 1080's or 720's @ 60Hz.

I am trying to understand why it would be better to try and get the refresh rates drsmith posted for the material refresh rates that I posted.... is there a formula I need to work out what the best refresh rates are?

Here are my source refresh rates with drsmith's recommendations in blue

1280 x 720p 23.976 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94hz

1280 x 720p 25.000 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 50hz

1920 x 1080 23.976 fps 1920 x 1080p @ 59.94hz

Edited August 16, 2010 by MdMa

[Owen]

59.94 frames per second playback is compatible with 23.973fps source if a 3:2 frame sequence is used. One video source frame is displayed for three display frame periods and the next video source frame for 2 display frame intervals, hence 3:2.

Since one video frame is displayed for a longer time than the next motion looks juddery.

25fps video obviously fits into a 50fps display sequence perfectly with 2:2, this gives perfect motion or as good as you get with only 25fps source.

Since the SXRD overscans I recommend you set up a custom desktop of approx 1824x1016 within a 1920x1080 total resolution.

The SXRD cannot flicker so you dont have to worry about that.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Owen

[MdMa11]

59.94 frames per second playback is compatible with 23.973fps source if a 3:2 frame sequence is used. One video source frame is displayed for three display frame periods and the next video source frame for 2 display frame intervals, hence 3:2.

Since one video frame is displayed for a longer time than the next motion looks juddery.

25fps video obviously fits into a 50fps display sequence perfectly with 2:2, this gives perfect motion or as good as you get with only 25fps source.

I understand (somewhat) how you get 25fps to 50fps, but how do you get to 59.94 being compatible with 23.973fps?

Since the SXRD overscans I recommend you set up a custom desktop of approx 1824x1016 within a 1920x1080 total resolution.

XBMC (media player) has built in overscan features, so from what I can see I have no problem in this area now.

[DR.ZOIDBERG]

I have a KDL40x3100 and as of two days ago, it seems like the optical out on the rear of the TV is faulty.

The sound that I am getting (if any) is extremely choppy, cutting in and out. I have this connected to my receiver. As soon as I disconnect the optical, and connect RCA, it works fine. When looking closely at the optical port on the rear of the tv, the red light blinks intermittently - is this normal? The cable is working fine, as I have tested it from my PS3 and Foxtel IQ box without an issue.

Has/is anyone else experiencing dramas with their optical audio?

Thankfully my TV is still under extended warranty and a tech can come and have a look at it.

EDIT:

Just found another user with the same issue...

In regards to this, I heard and experianced a issue like this with choppy sound. It was from Austars end. There was a number of posts on this. Not sure if this is your problem but its worth a look.

My TV Speakers were find but when I watched if through Home Theatre is was choppy. Only happened on some channels too, showtime, Showcase etc Chans with Dolby Digital I think

All fixed now tho, well I havent watched Austar with Home Theatre in a bit

[OzyDave]

My 60" spontaneously shutdown on Monday afternoon. I waited for it to restart, watching the flashing green light on the front but it didn't come back on. Eventually, the flashing light began a series of 7 red flashes. My stomach sank wondering what might be wrong.

I looked in the manual and it said to call a service guy. Went to the internet (god bless it) and found a number of references to the lamp failing causes this flash pattern. I took the lamp out and sure enough, it is full of small glass particles and obviously failed.

Fortunately I had a year or two ago bookmarked an ebay site from this forum in the USA for replacement lamps. It seems in Australia I can only find them for $300 plus. I am getting two from the USA for AU$270 including shipping. They are retailing there for US$85.99 each.

Click here for eBay link

Checked the FedEx tracking on the internet just now and it says it is in transit from Sydney (they were in Honolulu yesterday) to me this morning. That is impressive.

ps If anyone knows of a cheaper place to buy these lamps, I don't want to know.

Edit: the 2 Philips bulbs arrived 60 hours after ordering. The TV is functioning once more.

Edited August 20, 2010 by OzyDave