Very nice picture on that Sony. It seems like something is wrong with the Mits, though. My picture on the 62525 is much closer to the Sony, but not quite that nice. Only 720p, after all. It's still a very impressive set when it's working correctly, and the dust is cleaned out of it.

The Mits picture seems washed out and dim, so I'm wondering if the dust inside has collected. For some reason, they suck in a ton of crap, as shown in my picture of the internal chassis fan. I've had to clean mine out several times when the picture gets like that. It definitely makes a huge difference without a nice dust layer on the mirror and lens.

I've decided on the Samsung, though. I was very interested in the LED lamp set when I saw it recently. I like the idea of less heat, less energy used, and no bulb replacements. Being Energy Star rated is an added bonus. The picture was excellent and on par compared to all the other "high end" sets that were around it. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy as long as the reliability is there.

Very nice picture on that Sony. It seems like something is wrong with the Mits, though. My picture on the 62525 is much closer to the Sony, but not quite that nice. Only 720p, after all. It's still a very impressive set when it's working correctly, and the dust is cleaned out of it.

The Mits picture seems washed out and dim, so I'm wondering if the dust inside has collected. For some reason, they suck in a ton of crap, as shown in my picture of the internal chassis fan. I've had to clean mine out several times when the picture gets like that. It definitely makes a huge difference without a nice dust layer on the mirror and lens.

I've decided on the Samsung, though. I was very interested in the LED lamp set when I saw it recently. I like the idea of less heat, less energy used, and no bulb replacements. Being Energy Star rated is an added bonus. The picture was excellent and on par compared to all the other "high end" sets that were around it. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy as long as the reliability is there.

I cleaned the Mits very regularly, actually. I was experimenting with taking pictures of the screen when I took the picture of the Mits. It was hard to get the photo of both the TV and the screen. That was a compromise. But rest assured that the blacks are better on the A3000, and there is tons more detail.

The Sony is energy star rated, too. All that means is that it uses very little power while in standby.

The LED based DLPs use 154W.
The Sony A3000 uses 210W.

So it isn't like it's a night and day difference like between a 58" Plasma (500W) and a 60" RPTV.

Here are 2 great reviews:
http://reviews.cnet.com/projection-tvs/sony-kds-55a3000/4505-6484_7-32468848.html?tag=also
http://reviews.cnet.com/projection-tvs/samsung-hl-t5687s/4505-6484_7-32313063.html?tag=prod.txt.1

I looked at the newest DLPs and I decided against them solely because of the fact that they use wobulation and a half resolution DLP chip. On these DLP chips, the pixels aren't square like on the old HD2+ DLPs. Instead, the pixels are rotated 45 degrees, and each pixel on the chip is responsible for displaying 2 pixels on the screen via dithering. For me, this leads to a decrease in fine detail (pixels blur together) and odd diagonal artifacts on the screen. I find these wobulated DLPs very distracting to watch as a result.

If these companies would make square pixel TVs with full resolution DLP chips, I would have considered buying another DLP. I like the fact that there is absolutely ZERO chance of motion blur on a DLP. But I can't get past the rotated pixels.

I have to dissagree. I have had the Sony and Mits sets next to each other for several generations now, and both can look quite good when properly calibrated. The notion that wobulated DLP makes for lower resolution is simply false. In most cases it has been clear that te Mitsubishi sets could actually resolve every bit of the detail of the Sony, more in some cases. The exception IME was the 73" Mits, until this year's sets. The V26 chassis of the Mits line (their first gen DLPs) do not perform as well in the blacks as the current sets nor the Sony, but the succeeding models do. I can assure you that there is more difference between the Sony and the Mits sets due to calibration differences than actual performance differences. I have calibrated many of each, and aside from the size differences, I could make either look more or less desirable than the other in most cases. Properly set up, either is a fine choice. The point is now moot, however, since Sony RPTV is no more...

So I have an update on my flickering pixels. The local repair shop called back and said they got word from Mits that there is an update to the FMT, so they are going to replace my FMT again. I find this a little fishy and since I was told the FMT was originally on back order, I don't think it was actually replaced to begin with. At least this time they are going to replace it in house, although they didn't have an exact date when the part would be in.

It seems like the wavy lines are the power board, and the flickering pixels are the FMT. Guess we'll know in a couple weeks. I wish I just got a new set like BearGator though.

And given the choice I would go with the LED Sammy. Instant on would be worth a lot to me.

I could be really angry right now, but all I can do is chuckle. We're watching my "repaired" Mitsu today, and it quits working. Timer light is blinking away. I hit the reset button, and still the same thing. Good times.

Delivery is set up for my new Samsung next Saturday. I'll be glad when this headache is out of my house.

Update: Waited a while, and hit the reset again. TV came back on. Still annoying as heck that it would happen for now reason.

Update, Update: Crap. Blue screen, then couldn't get a response from the remote, then blinking light, then TV off. Turned the TV back on, no picture, no blue screen-nothing. The power light is on, but nobody's home. Oh, wait! Now the timer light is blinking again! lol

There are headaches with every brand. I have two Samsung DLPs waiting on color wheels now for about two months and I got the ETA today...another month +.

I had my Signal board replaced today to fix my dead HDMI port... indeed, it now works. However, the wavy lines on the component inputs still exist. It's pretty obvious that the component inputs really don't have much to do with the Signal board at least.

I thought the issue with the LED technology is brightness. They just aren't quite as bright yet.

It seems like the wavy lines are the power board, and the flickering pixels are the FMT.

I have not kept up on what part fixes what problem, too many for my little brain to keep track of. Is this true that you guys have narrowed down the wavy lines problem to the power board?

That might make you feel better, but it won't accomplish anything beyond that. Back to your problem, finding the Power Board is relatively straightforward. Luckily, it's the most easily accessable of the 5 or so boards in the chassis. Once the back lower cover is off, you'll see the shiny metal chassis box on the left side (as you face the back of the TV). Enough hardware (support bracket, metal panel, more screws, etc) has to then be removed to allow the chassis assembly to be slid out of the cavity it's sitting in. A few wire connectors also have to be unplugged to do this, but most can remain connected for this job. The Power Board sits on the inner most side of the chassis, so once the chassis has been pulled out, you twist it to the side so you can access its back cover. Remove the screws to the back cover and slide it up and off to access the Power Board. In the upper left hand corner of the board you'll see 2 large heat sinks parallel to each other. Immediately adjacent to the left most heat sink are the two 3300 uf capacitors. If they look swollen, the board will have to be removed from the chassis, the old capacitors desoldered from the board and 2 new capacitors soldered back in their place. Then you put everything back in the reverse order you removed them.

Search this thread for pictures of the chassis and the Power Board. I believe there is chassis removal instructions in PDF form also available around here as well.
I have the same issue have not done the repair yet but here is a link to photos of the various boards and the problem caps:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t155026-
flickering_blue_picture

I thought I'd update everyone on my situation. You can read my last posts around page 180 or 181. I found an area sensitive to a thermal (cold) problem with surface mounted caps on the DM board.

I finally ordered the caps and installed them. I only installed 12 for two reasons. 1) I was pretty sure that I had the problem narrowed down to a small group (see attached pics a few pages back. 2) This job is NOT for the faint of heart. This repair pushed my rusty soldering skills to the limit. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm not ordering a new DM board. Doing 1 or 2 is one thing but this was a bit taxing.

Outcome: No more wavy lines when cold! The problem actually worsened the past few weeks where the lines would come and go even when warmed up. Unfortunately I still have VERY FAINT horizontal (and some wavy) lines on the component inputs. However, you have to really look for them.

So - thermal problem - fixed. SLIGHT wavy lines on component - remain. (still waiting to see if someone else narrows that one down - I'm here to help if I can.)

:( :o

I attached an image with the caps I replaced. (note the green dots) Maybe it'll help someone in the future.

Thanks for the pics, Shape. I was trying to find some in the owner's thread, but I wasn't really impressed by what I saw. Like I was saying, the Mitsu pics in their owners thread really had a WOW factor to them. I'd like to see your set with some Blu Ray or HD DVD source material if you have them!


Here are some Blu-Ray photos of Chicken Little running on my PS3 through HDMI at 1080p/24 on the A3000. I took some pictures from an angle to show that the off angle viewing is actually very good.

http://flickr.com/photos/shapegsx/sets/72157603924262817/

I thought the issue with the LED technology is brightness. They just aren't quite as bright yet.

I had a chance to compare today. There was no noticeable difference in brightness. I compared the Sony, Mitsu, and Sammy all side by side in HH Gregg today.

When I went in, the Sammy wasn't on an HD feed, so I had them change it for me. Then, they had the Sony set up with a Samsung BluRay player on something completely different. It was 1080p, though, and the HD feed they had was pretty soft.

The Sony looked really nice with that 1080p BluRay feed. I was actually a little disappointed at first when comparing to the Sammy. I asked to have the BluRay hooked up to the Sammy so I could see if it was the TV or the source material. Definitely the source. The Samsung LED DLP set was every bit as pristine and bright as the Sony.

My only beef with the Samsung is the piano black bezel. The Sony and Mitsu both have a matte/flat black finish to them that does not reflect ambient light. I'm hoping it won't bug me too much. It's definitely a nice looking set, though.

Well the parts (complete electronics chassis assembly) were supposed to be in on the 19th, yesterday. Mitsubishi has backordered yet again. It is now into week seven of waiting for parts since this TV failed.

Finally!! The tech showed up today 2/16/08 with a complete chassis assembly. He had it installed in about an hour. For the first time since 12/07/07, I have an operating TV. The wavy lines are gone I hope for good but I cant help having a sense of uncertainty as to how long it will last.
The tech was required to box up the old unit for return to Mitsu which means they are rebuilding these things and sending them back out. One cant help wondering how good the rebuild is considering how bad the new build was. For now, I have my TV back.

Finally!! The tech showed up today 2/16/08 with a complete chassis assembly. He had it installed in about an hour. For the first time since 12/07/07, I have an operating TV. The wavy lines are gone I hope for good but I cant help having a sense of uncertainty as to how long it will last.
The tech was required to box up the old unit for return to Mitsu which means they are rebuilding these things and sending them back out. One cant help wondering how good the rebuild is considering how bad the new build was. For now, I have my TV back.

Mine lasted about 3 days until the "blinking timer light of death." Make sure you are happy with the way the picture looks. After my tech installed the chassis, my geometry was off. There's some pictures a few posts back.

Outcome: No more wavy lines when cold! The problem actually worsened the past few weeks where the lines would come and go even when warmed up. Unfortunately I still have VERY FAINT horizontal (and some wavy) lines on the component inputs. However, you have to really look for them.

Nice work! I'm glad the fix worked. I'm sure this info will be useful to some lurkers here.

Its a done deal, the warranty company is sending us a WD-57833 as our replacement tv for our broken 52525. Hope all goes well with everyone else's issues.

thanks,
Stephen

I have not kept up on what part fixes what problem, too many for my little brain to keep track of. Is this true that you guys have narrowed down the wavy lines problem to the power board?

I don't mean to throw a wrench into the hypothesis, but I have had both issues, and since I've had my FMT board replaced, I don't have the wavy lines any more, but my flickering pixels has remained, and worsened.

I don't mean to throw a wrench into the hypothesis, but I have had both issues, and since I've had my FMT board replaced, I don't have the wavy lines any more, but my flickering pixels has remained, and worsened.

Between your fix & tbully's first fix, the FMT board is looking like the primary culprit. Then tbully's cap replacement on the DM board showed that there are multiple contributors to this general problem...

Well I can report that after replacing the caps my particular set was no better. So a new FMT board was installed and -- no more wavy lines!

Thank goodness for an extended warranty!

-John

Well I can report that after replacing the caps my particular set was no better. So a new FMT board was installed and -- no more wavy lines!

Thank goodness for an extended warranty!

-John

Remind me, which caps did you try replacing (to no avail for the wavy lines) before replacing the entire FMT board?

Remind me, which caps did you try replacing (to no avail for the wavy lines) before replacing the entire FMT board?

Wish I could, but it was done by a service company and not by me... thank goodness, because I suck at soldering.

:eek:

The technician who was working on it was grumbling about having to re-solder so much because "This ain't going to work", but apparently Mits and/or the extended warranty company (GE) requires them to try that before they (not the tech) will authorize shipping a new FMT board. And as it turned out, it was a waste of their time.

-John

Thank goodness for an extended warranty!

-John

Amen to that! With the exception of MINOR tilt adjustment that was taken care of right away under warranty, I've had zero problems until now (with the exception of the typical fan noise which I consider unacceptable, but I stole the tv so I decided to live with it).


Wavy line club member here. Have Phillips extended warranty and they hooked me up quickly. Gave tech my symptoms and he came out today.
Wifey said he did a quick look at the lines, pulled the tv out from the wall a couple inches and took a look. Said he'd probably have to order a "module".

Here we go.

So the tech came out and replaced my FMT board with another in house on Monday. When we first fired it up, it looked like when I first fired it up after getting my boards replaced last time (about a month ago). Lots of wavy lines, and kind of a transparent woodgrain appearance to the component input. The very top of the screen was complete garbage as well. Everything on my VGA looked like it was under water with flickering pixels everywhere.

The tech was shocked and said it shouldn't look like that. I told him it's exactly how it looked the last time and everything but the flickering pixels would probably go away. He hung out for about 15 minutes to watch, and sure enough the picture eventually went back to perfect on the component, but the flickering pixels remained on the VGA (although vastly improved from initial startup).

The only thing different with the new board was if I put up the displaymate checkerboard, the pattern the flickering pixels made was no longer static, but seemed to rotate through about 4 different patterns.

He said he wanted to take the TV back to the shop and see if he couldn't fix it there. So I let him take it. He said then I could come test it there before delivering it back to me.

I am hoping they keep charging the warranty company until they say enough and give me the option of a new TV.

The tech was shocked and said it shouldn't look like that.

Did you tell him, "yeah, no sh*t?" lol

I gotta say I am one lucky guy. I bought my 62725 on 11/04 and have yet to have any issues with it whatsoever. I am even still using the original bulb. (knock on wood) I will say, that since day one, though, I have had it and all of my equipment plugged into a Monster Power Center to make sure only clean power gets to it at all times. Not sure if that's what's made the difference, but other than that, I must have gotten lucky.

I really love this TV and hope it keeps on lasting like it has. The pic is 2nd to none even compared to the new 1080p DLPs out today.

So the tech came out and replaced my FMT board with another in house on Monday. When we first fired it up, it looked like when I first fired it up after getting my boards replaced last time (about a month ago). Lots of wavy lines, and kind of a transparent woodgrain appearance to the component input. The very top of the screen was complete garbage as well. Everything on my VGA looked like it was under water with flickering pixels everywhere.

The tech was shocked and said it shouldn't look like that. I told him it's exactly how it looked the last time and everything but the flickering pixels would probably go away. He hung out for about 15 minutes to watch, and sure enough the picture eventually went back to perfect on the component, but the flickering pixels remained on the VGA (although vastly improved from initial startup).

The only thing different with the new board was if I put up the displaymate checkerboard, the pattern the flickering pixels made was no longer static, but seemed to rotate through about 4 different patterns.

He said he wanted to take the TV back to the shop and see if he couldn't fix it there. So I let him take it. He said then I could come test it there before delivering it back to me.

I am hoping they keep charging the warranty company until they say enough and give me the option of a new TV.


This was almost exactly what I saw prior to replacing the surface mount caps on the DM board near the micro.

OK I just spent 2.5 hours on the phone with Mitsubishi just trying to get a repair center to come out to my house to look at my light engine. None of the repair center want to be bothered to come and see what is up with my light engine because they do not like dealing with Mitsubishi. After 2.5 hours on the phone I hung up the phone. I could hardly make out what the hell they where saying to me. I speak English and only English!!! When I called it did not say push number for this language.
My head is killing me know. This Company Sucks the BIG ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I gotta say I am one lucky guy. I bought my 62725 on 11/04 and have yet to have any issues with it whatsoever. I am even still using the original bulb. (knock on wood) I will say, that since day one, though, I have had it and all of my equipment plugged into a Monster Power Center to make sure only clean power gets to it at all times. Not sure if that's what's made the difference, but other than that, I must have gotten lucky.

I really love this TV and hope it keeps on lasting like it has. The pic is 2nd to none even compared to the new 1080p DLPs out today.

Had my Mits 52628 since Nov of 05 and it has not missed a beat! Still has the bulb it came with and keeps on ticking.

My Mom and Dad has the 52628 TV and it has been problem fee. But not my Wd-62725

Daniel Murray - If you are calling Mitsu's consumer relation dept, asked to be transferred to Irvine. They have another call center in California with English speaking agents. They might try not to transfer you, but just be polite but insistent on getting transferred to Irvine.

Daniel Murray - If you are calling Mitsu's consumer relation dept, asked to be transferred to Irvine. They have another call center in California with English speaking agents. They might try not to transfer you, but just be polite but insistent on getting transferred to Irvine.

Thank you I will do that:D

So the tech came out and replaced my FMT board with another in house on Monday. When we first fired it up, it looked like when I first fired it up after getting my boards replaced last time (about a month ago). Lots of wavy lines, and kind of a transparent woodgrain appearance to the component input. The very top of the screen was complete garbage as well. Everything on my VGA looked like it was under water with flickering pixels everywhere.

Hey JDWK - I decided to hook up my VGA cable for the first time in months tonight. I wish I hadn't because it looks like I too have a really crappy VGA picture. I only have slight lines on component. (Don't even notice them w/ most DVDs and XBOX 360)

I'd be curious to find out how you fix your VGA problem. Do you think it's DM board related since you've already had your FMT swaped out?

Keep in touch. I'll do the same.

^^^^^ I guess I would like to get "hithere's" input as well. I'm starting to lean towards the DM after hearing his story. (he had his FMT replaced)

tbully, when you said that's exactly what you saw, are you talking about the flickering pixels or the rest of the garbage too? All the other stuff went away.

As for these things not lasting, it is not the power. It's the heat that eventually kills the caps. If you look at the one stupid fan on top of the electrical chassis, it is right up against the case of the TV. It's not moving any air that way.

When I get my TV back, I am going to cut a hole to the left of the right speaker and install a case fan or two there. That should actually blow air through the system and maybe keep the TV alive a little longer this time.

I think that it is more than just the heat. I think they have some defective caps that are not holding up like expected. Before they swell up, they tend to increase substantially in dielectric absorbtion, then go dc leaky, then swell from the internal increase in temperature. The external temp does not help, but does not seem to be unusually high. Mitsubishi has had problems with bad caps for many years, starting with the leaky electrolyte in the Nichicon caps in the early 1990s, and in recent years with the Jamicon caps that swell up in DM modules over the last five years or so.

CADCONV

I have the same issue that you are speaking of, where the words are cut off on the bottom of the screen on my 52525 using Dish Network. I have also noticed the same thing on a friends Samsung DLP.

Have you done anything to fix the issue or just lived with it? I never had this problem before until the last few months (about 4-5 or so) thought it might have been something in one of those automatic updates that the box downloads during the night.

There is an electrical adjustmnet for vertical centering, you probably just need to adjust it upwards an inch or so.

Wouldn't that push the top of the picture off the screen? It's as though the screen is "zoomed" in on the picture. The entire screen is full of the picture on the "normal" setting in HD but the picture doesn't fit.

I got home today and the picture on my 52725 looked like it was out of sync with vertical “ s “ like problems with the picture. I thought it might be my direct TV box so I switched to my DVD player the problem was not as bad but it was still visible.

I then switched back to the DTV box and changed the resolution at 480i and 480p it was watchable but you could still notice the sync problem. If I switched to 720p or 1080i the picture would be unwatchable. I turned off the set and then unplugged it after a few minutes. When I plugged it in again all I get is the red light after a minute.

Could it be the bulb, or does it sound like I have bigger problems?

Gah!

Purchased a replacement lamp for my 62825 from an outfit called Electrified in CT. I do not believe it's an Osram, I do not see that anywhere on the bulb. The box says ATO or APO, Might actually be Capo or Cato.

In any event, it doesn't fit, it doesn't appear to properly align with the connectors in the lamp receiving area. They, the connectors in the TV, are loose or have a bit of play, but that appears to be by design.

No matter how much I fiddled and finagled with it, it's not going in. The original lamp I can take in and out with minimal fussing. Everything looks identical, as a last resort I was going to break out the old micrometer and measure the connector to see if it's just slightly too big or what not.

Any ideas or suggestions?

TIA

The more you fiddle with trying to put the bulb in, the looser the connector will become because of its poor design. It's held in with just a few metal tabs and if you push too hard, the connector pushes back into the back of the set. When this happens, you have to take the back off to fix it.

If you feel so inclined, you may want to take to back off, remove the connector from the clip, put the new lamp in and connect the cable by hand. I think your lamp will fit and it's just the connector not lining up.

The more you fiddle with trying to put the bulb in, the looser the connector will become because of its poor design. It's held in with just a few metal tabs and if you push too hard, the connector pushes back into the back of the set. When this happens, you have to take the back off to fix it.

If you feel so inclined, you may want to take to back off, remove the connector from the clip, put the new lamp in and connect the cable by hand. I think your lamp will fit and it's just the connector not lining up.

Thanks, and crap at the same time.

Removing the back of the set, does that involve taking off the front as well?

Already did that last night to clean the mirrors and tape up the foam seal. And like everyone else I read in here, man what a mess I found in terms of dust.

A brief update from a friend whose 62525 would not power down completely (his timer light would blink endlessly after the bulb light quit flashing. Unpkugging the set was the only way to stop it). The repair center claimed to have replaced the chassis, which I doubted after hearing of the supply problems here. And this was after they tried replacing the bulb as a fix to his shutdown problem. His tv now shuts down ok, but performing a manual reset with the switch results in the never-ending blinking timer light. I asked him to do the reset after he complained of losing his digital cable channels. His cable is back to normal (along with some new hd channels), but he has to unplug the tv to restore normal operation. I thought it strange that it initializes normally after a power loss, but not with the button press. Thought it might provide a clue as to what causes the endless blinking timer light. Oh, and he has crazy-ass wavy lines on his component input.

Could it be the bulb, or does it sound like I have bigger problems?

Anytime your TV exhibits strange behavior and then turns on the red lamp LED, it's likely not the bulb. That red LED is a wrap-all for numerous problems.

Anytime your TV exhibits strange behavior and then turns on the red lamp LED, it's likely not the bulb. That red LED is a wrap-all for numerous problems.

I thought as much, I had not been on the board for awhile so I had to do some catch-up reading.

I pulled the Power supply board and had one bad 3300 uF cap and 4 bad 1000uF 16v caps and 1 bad 1000 uF 10v cap. I am going to change them and see if it will work.

If it will not start after that I think I will be getting a new set from anyone other than mistu******.

I gotta say I am one lucky guy. I bought my 62725 on 11/04 and have yet to have any issues with it whatsoever. I am even still using the original bulb. (knock on wood) I will say, that since day one, though, I have had it and all of my equipment plugged into a Monster Power Center to make sure only clean power gets to it at all times. Not sure if that's what's made the difference, but other than that, I must have gotten lucky.

I really love this TV and hope it keeps on lasting like it has. The pic is 2nd to none even compared to the new 1080p DLPs out today.

I hope you've at least cleaned the mirror in that time. We had a minor problem for service a couple months back, and had the mirror cleaned at the same time for the first time since it was bought in 12/04. Made a pretty significant difference in the brightness even tho the tech said our mirror wasn't nearly as dusty as some he's seen.

tbully, when you said that's exactly what you saw, are you talking about the flickering pixels or the rest of the garbage too? All the other stuff went away.



I was talking about your "woodgrain" comments. Mine would go away after warmup and stay away until I unplugged the set and kept it unplugged for 30 plus minutes (standby cool down). I fixed this issue by replacing numerous surface mount caps on the DM board.

However, my VGA flickering remains. Summing up everyone's comments here, I'd guess that problem also is in the DM area. However, I'm not sure enough to take the gamble myself, yet. :)

^^^^^ I guess I would like to get "hithere's" input as well. I'm starting to lean towards the DM after hearing his story. (he had his FMT replaced)

Well, my input on the issue may be a moot point, basically because my flickering pixel problem was addressed with a complete chassis replacement, which doesn't say anything to narrow down the culprit. All I can say is that in my case, my problems on VGA had nothing whatever to do with the FMT board.

I will say that, imho as a non-technician (but I am an EE), people should be cognizant that the jamicon caps we question are certainly not the only component, nor the only caps, capable of failure that would allow AC interference or loss of signal fidelity on the set.

As an update, if you remember, my wavy lines issue was successfully adressed with an FMT replacement late January. Now, I also had the flickering pixels on VGA, similar to pictures posted by others...then the VGA degenerated into what you see in the pictures I posted above. In order to address the flickering pixels, the technician first did some checking/replacement of several of the larger caps on the power board (unsuccessful). A chassis replacement was done with my wife present last week Wednesday, and I expected that this would take care of the issue. To my surprise, I got a phone call at work from the wife, saying that the fix did not work, and that the technician was in agreement that we should get a replacement set. However, upon my arrival home from work, I fired up the set to check the input...and found some very, very minor flickering, much like it was months back: the flickering is not bothersome from the couch, but on close inspection is very reminiscent of what I experienced months before the service call. From my wife's/the tech's description, I would say that it was much worse on first fire-up, but if I could be gauranteed the input would remain as it is now, I can't say that I'd have a big problem with it.

I would describe the VGA input right now as very watchable, but I don't know that it will remain that way...BB is currently evaluating my case for a replacement television, and I don't know, based on the performance of that input and the fact that it evinces in a minor way that which in the past case evolved into a huge issue, that I shouldn't accept. To tell the truth, I am exhausted with the process of trying to get something done about it, and do not look forward to the possibilty of accepting the repair, only to have the set degenerate again.

The VGA input was a major factor in our decision to go with the set (it wasn't present on others of its ilk, at the time of purchase), basically because it allowed for a high-fidelity PC input while leaving at least one digital (HDMI) input to the set for HDCP-enabled use. My wife is from Scotland, and we not only use the PC for DVD playback, but for video and telephony /IM overseas, from the couch, on the cheap. It makes the wife feel better to be able to see her parents on the only 52" screen in the house.

hithere, looks like we are in the same boat. The flickering pixels are hard to notice when watching movies on the VGA, but it makes text horrible if its in the right spot.

I paid for a complete working set, and I paid for a full warranty. I will not be happy until the set is 100% perfect or I have a new one.

tbully, I never tried unplugging the set and letting it sit after my boards were replaced. No need to. Now that I think about it, of course the wood grain and crap would be back. If they manage to get everything fixed after it warms up, I may not care. Although, I shouldn't be required to have my TV plugged in for an hour for it to work properly.

Well its been a week since they took my TV and haven't got a call yet.

tbully, I never tried unplugging the set and letting it sit after my boards were replaced. No need to. Now that I think about it, of course the wood grain and crap would be back. If they manage to get everything fixed after it warms up, I may not care. Although, I shouldn't be required to have my TV plugged in for an hour for it to work properly.

I'm with you and was thinking the same thing when I had the issue. My problem is I was afraid that this was a sign of worse things to come. (I don't have a warranty.) So I needed to fix the issue while I still had a picture to troubleshoot with. (using heat / cold to narrow down the culprit)

hithere / noplasma is right....we are dealing with multiple failure-modes and multiple causes. Unfortunately, some of us (myself included) has seen both on their sets.

Jamicons are garbage IMHO. When I used to be in the industry, these were what we changed out first. While I got the ones close to heat sources (normally will cause a cap to fail prematurely.....that and higher than rated voltages (AC and DC)), there are still several scattered throughout the boards.

Update on my TV... I had a tech come out today to look at my wavy line issue. He called Mits. tech, and they recommended a fmt board right away. The Mits. tech knew exactly what the problem was. They are going to order the board and call me when it comes in.

Update on my TV... I had a tech come out today to look at my wavy line issue. He called Mits. tech, and they recommended a fmt board right away. The Mits. tech knew exactly what the problem was. They are going to order the board and call me when it comes in.

Thanks Blue. Let us know how it goes. More data is always good in these cases.

Thanks to everyone who as posted instructions on what to look for and wher to get replacement caps. They came in yesterday and 2 hours later I had a working TV.

The one good thing about this is now the wife is ok with getting a bigger set for the bedroom so we have a backup for when the problems with the shitsubishi are beyond my skill level.


I thought as much, I had not been on the board for awhile so I had to do some catch-up reading.

I pulled the Power supply board and had one bad 3300 uF cap and 4 bad 1000uF 16v caps and 1 bad 1000 uF 10v cap. I am going to change them and see if it will work.

If it will not start after that I think I will be getting a new set from anyone other than mistu******.

Update on my TV... I had a tech come out today to look at my wavy line issue. He called Mits. tech, and they recommended a fmt board right away. The Mits. tech knew exactly what the problem was. They are going to order the board and call me when it comes in.

The tech shops are probably receiving quite a few sets with this problem by now. I wonder how much longer my TV will hold out??

Well, after reading all the messages, I thought I would chime in. I bought my 52725 in '04 and back in July '07 I noticed wavy lines when I watched any analog input. I called my warranty company, Warrantech, and they called a repair shop in my area. He came out the first time, and said I needed a new chassis and he would order one. The next time he came out, he said Mitsu required him to check the caps first, so he did that. He found nothing unusual, ordered chassis #1 and I waited. He came and installed the new one (refurbished, according to the forum), but the tv wouldn't even come on. He took it out, put the old one back in and told me he would order another one. He finally came out again this week and put in chassis #2, but the wavy lines are still there and now I have flickering pixels. I also noticed my geometry is way off, the center of the screen is an inch too low. So, now I am waiting for the service guy to come out again to probably order another chassis. I don't know how much longer I can take this. I called Warrantech and explained to them how long it has been, only 7 months, and I still see no result, in fact, the problem is now worse. To make matters worse, I live in Iowa and the tech can only come out on Thursdays. Arghhhh! Well, I will keep you all updated, to say the least.

I have the same issue have not done the repair yet but here is a link to photos of the various boards and the problem caps:


To follow up, I replaced all 14 caps using the following parts from Mouser:

647-UHE1A332MHD (Nichicon 10V 3300uF)
140-HTRL16V1000-RC (Xicon 16V 1000uF)

I reassembled the TV and it is working fine again.

10ecvol, I have the same warranty company. So far, I've had all four boards replaced, and the FMT replaced yet again. Currently, my TV is in the hands of the local repair shop, where I believe they are trying to replace the power board once again. The only person on this thread who has had the flickering pixels on VGA and gotten rid of them got a completely new chassis. So I asked about getting a new chassis, and the repair tech said they take forever to get in.

I am hoping Warrantech breaks down and just starts buying new TVs. Figure 2-3 hours of labor, plus parts on each repair, and you are quickly into the range of a new 52" DLP.

Ultimate Electronics had a good sale on a bunch of TVs this weekend, I was tempted to go pick up a 40" LCD to hold me over till the Mits is back in working order, and then move the 40" into the office for gaming.

To those who were following my situation (an update):

Had the green blinking light issue, tech thought it was DM board, replaced DM board and it didn't work. Tech ordered new FMT board and that fixed my problem. I now have a working TV again with about 1.5 years left on my warranty.

Mine lasted about 3 days until the "blinking timer light of death." Make sure you are happy with the way the picture looks. After my tech installed the chassis, my geometry was off. There's some pictures a few posts back.

Well, true to form, the new chassis assembly from Mitsu lasted about two weeks and now it also has the "blinking timer light of death". Looks like these replacement parts are worse than the original. So now its wait again for who knows how many months for Mitsu to produce another chassis.

Funny how ugly a big screen TV gets to looking when it doesn't work. Did I hear somebody say "shitsubishi"?!

Ok... wavy lines started a month back- At first thought it was the cables, then realized it was on all analog inputs. HDMI looks clean. Wavy lines are tighter together and less perceptible at HD resolutions (possibly due to the higher scan frequency- but that is just a guess).

Set was one of the early 52725s. I have a PC Richards plan on it and they came out Friday. The tech hadn't seen this but was very intrigued when I showed him the avsforum and this thread in particular. He has a xx525- so I suspect this caught his attention.

He checked Mits's service website and they suggest the DM board... he ordered that and the bulb since it is on it's way out... it did well- almost 4 years of decent use and only just started to dim.

I am awaiting a call from PC Richards service as the next step.

It just has been a bad year. HD-DVD (I was in the red camp) went away... just got a PS3 as a Blue-Ray device and now I am a bit nervous about the wavy gravy....

More to come.

The wavy line issue seems to affect specific analog inputs.

Could someone familiar with the board comment on what happens if the issue is simply ignored?

Let's say a user uses HDMI instead. Will the set eventually stop working due to the issues with the other inputs?

I've had the wavy lines for close to a year. They have slowly become worse but not real bad on an HD component signal but on a 480P (wii) signal they become unbearable. I bought a cheap 3 input HDMI switcher and have been using that with a cable box, PS3 and XBOX360 and TV still looks great. Even my kids who are not as picky as me will not even play the Wii anymore.
I keep hoping the TV will just give out completely so i can justify a new purchase. ( IT WILL NOT BE A MITSUBISHI )

So the tech just finished installing the "new" fmt board. Wavy lines are still there, actually worse now. Also, I had no problems before on the vga input, now the lines are there and i have sparkles all over the place. I have not yet tried the hdmi, but I'm sure it's going to be the same. So now what? Tech is going to call Shitsubishi tomorrow and recommend a new chassis. I think I just want a whole new tv. What can I do at this point?

So the tech just finished installing the "new" fmt board. Wavy lines are still there, actually worse now. Also, I had no problems before on the vga input, now the lines are there and i have sparkles all over the place. I have not yet tried the hdmi, but I'm sure it's going to be the same. So now what? Tech is going to call Shitsubishi tomorrow and recommend a new chassis. I think I just want a whole new tv. What can I do at this point?

This confirms that the wavy lines can emerge from any of several boards. So far the only piece-part repair performed narrowed it down to a surface mount capacitor. Maybe Mits needs some new reliability engineers...

So I replaced the bulb on our 62725, did a reset. Then I powered it back on and still nothing. The fans spool up, the screen stays off and after a min or two the red lamp indicator comes on. So a much deeper issue eh? Will likely junk this TV.

One thing I can say for sure, Mits will not get my money ever again.

So I replaced the bulb on our 62725, did a reset. Then I powered it back on and still nothing. The fans spool up, the screen stays off and after a min or two the red lamp indicator comes on. So a much deeper issue eh? Will likely junk this TV.

One thing I can say for sure, Mits will not get my money ever again.

Good chance it's swollen capacitors on your power board. The service manuals at the link below will show you how to get to the board, if you want to take a look.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12858763#post12858763

Another thing that might have happened is that when you put the new bulb in the connector might have been pushed back into the set out of its mount and the bulb is not making good contact. You should start by pulling the bulb and looking at the socket in the upper left corner.

Ok, did some more testing last night, and the hdmi looks great. So I'm down to one watchable input out of like 7? Great job Mits.! Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, the fmt board had some puffy caps, the power board looked fine. The new fmt board's caps were noticeably larger than the old puffy ones.

Just heard back from the tech. Mits. is now recommending replacement of the dm board. This is getting pathetic. I'm going to be calling my extended warranty company and urging them to replace the set rather than keep throwing parts at it.

Well, the wavy lines on my 52525 have gotten worse, and now they're showing up on my composite inputs(?) so I've gone ahead and scheduled a service call.

I was hoping to hold off until a real fix had been found, but my extended warranty runs out in December, so I think I'd better get this ball rolling.

I'll let you know what direction this takes.

Well, true to form, the new chassis assembly from Mitsu lasted about two weeks and now it also has the "blinking timer light of death". Looks like these replacement parts are worse than the original. So now its wait again for who knows how many months for Mitsu to produce another chassis.

Funny how ugly a big screen TV gets to looking when it doesn't work. Did I hear somebody say "shitsubishi"?!

A small miracle perhaps or maybe from a bunch of complaining to Ultimate and Warrentech but my tech showed up with another chassis assembly on 3/11. So far this one is performing up to expectations. PQ is spot on as is geometry. The set looks like it did when new. All this with a more reasonable turnaround. I hope it lasts.
Hopefully, this suggests that Mitsu is finally getting it together. Can it be true?

More to come... they are brining a new DM board...

I will post a follow-up.

Now the thing won't even power on. Blinking green light of death. I must have jarred something loose when I moved it. Tech said they submitted the new part/service request to GE Warranty, and are just waiting on the ok from them.

OK update on my situation.

I have been without my TV for a little over 4 weeks. When he came out and put in the new FMT, the flickering pixels were still there. The wavy lines were also there upon start up but went away after everything warmed up. The tech asked if he could take the TV back to his shop, where it's been for the past month. This time he said he went over every board and replaced any caps that looked suspicious.

On Monday he said he hooked it up to the VGA and it looked perfect. However, I went into the shop yesterday afternoon and hooked up my laptop and the VGA was at its worst. The whole image was shimmering and flickering. In fact, you didn't even need to hook up a computer, the distortion was noticeable on the menu if you switched to PC and brought it up.

The rest of the inputs seem ok though. And since I need the TV for the games on Thurs and Fri, I asked if they could deliver it back for now. They just dropped it off about 30 minutes ago. VGA is crap, but everything else is ok.

Out of curiosity I called Warrantech to ask them their replacement policy. They told me they just need the repair shop to declare that it is unrepairable, and usually within 10 days they will contact me with replacement options. So I called the repair shop back and told them this, and the tech said he would just need to clear it with his boss, but that's probably the way to go. Of course it is!

Even if we eventually fixed it, who knows how long it would last before going bad again. Or what other problems might pop up with these sets. Definitely my last Mitsubishi TV.

I joined the Wavy Line Club several months ago. I have a WD-52725 bought November 2004. I replaced the bulb as it was getting close to 5,000 hours (and the wife said she thought it was noticeably dimmer), but it didn't help. It might even have made it worse. They were worse on SD channels, and occasionally noticeable on the DVD (both my DVD player and my DVR are connected via component cables), although at times they were worse than at others.

Then several weeks ago my wife came downstairs one morning and found the power light blinking; she couldn't get the TV to turn on or off so she called me. I suggested she unplug it for a while, then plug it back in. She did, and after that it came on (and has since), but it scared me enough to finally call Tweeter for service (thankfully I had gotten an extended warranty, because I was afraid it'd be something mechanical that went out, like the color wheel or the mirrors on the DLP chip). The technician came out 4 days later, ran a bunch of tests using his signal generators. He was familiar with the bad caps issue. He said it was likely the FMT board, called Mitsubishi and tried to talk them into a new chassis but they said just try the FMT board. So we waited a couple of weeks.

He came out yesterday to install the board. While he was at it, he said he'd replace a couple of caps on the power board as part of his routine. When he pulled the board out, the two caps he was going to replace looked fine (they're near the heat sinks), but I looked at it and saw some visible swelling in the top of three caps on the opposite side of the board, near a toroid, so he said he'd replace those too. Then he replaced the FMT board, closed up the chassis and turned it on. It came up, and displayed the device menu (nothing was connected). So he closed up the whole set, we set it back on the stand, he reconnected everything and went to turn it on -- nothing. It booted fine, but when turned on, the fan and bulb never came on, although we got a solid green light. So he took it all apart again, and tried turning it on, and it worked. So he put it together again, and it wouldn't turn on. He took apart again, searched for loose wires, tried it again. Now the bulb would come on but the device menu wouldn't display. Finally, in desperation, he put the old FMT board back in. Voilà! So we're waiting for a new new FMT board. (He said the one they sent looked new, not refurbished, but who knows?) At least we have a (mostly) working TV.

I did connect the TV to the DVR via a new HDMI cable I had just gotten from monoprice.com (came in the mail while he was here!), and indeed the wavy lines aren't there now, but the whole picture looks "washed out." I remember discussion on the board years (!) ago about that, that many, perhaps most, people felt that the picture looked better via component cables than HDMI, and I have to agree. At least with this model. Are there any setting that can improve it?

So the PC Richard guy was here. I misunderstood- he ordered the FMT not DM board... and it did the trick. I can post pictures of the swolen caps.

DM Board looked fine, though it was harder to inspect as it was deeper in the chasis. The Power Supply caps looked ok too.

He replaced the bulb.

Here are the bad caps we found:

(lables at the solder terminals under the board beneath the swolen caps)
Cbf22
Cbf21
Cbf27
Cbf19

I can send a picture and, if anyone wants it, I have the FMT install instuctions.

All said and done, for a field repair, the guy did a descent job. I definately got my money's worth on the extended warrantee- I am told that the FMT board can retail for $350 and the labor would be a min $200 to open the back... probably closer to $250/300. The replacement bulb sells for $250....

I'd still recommend PC Richards and their service plans. I am not sure how I feel about Mitsu... It is a great set... but this kind of chronic problem is very worrisome in a 3-4 year old set costing as much as the 52725 did...

The tech, btw, was awesome. If you are arranging PC Richards service on Long Island, private message me- I would highly recommend this guy and even called into the service center to tell his supervisor.

Well I finally got my chassis back from PTS yesterday. As you may recall I have a 62525 that had wavy lines then the green blinking light of death. I opened the set and replaced all th caps I could but no-go. I sent in the power board and DM board to PTS for rebuild. I got them back and reinstalled but still no-go. I finally broke down and sent the whole chassis to PTS for a rebuild. 4 weeks later I have the chassis back but I am in New Mexico and Not at home! I should be back this weekend and I should have the set back together by Sunday. I hope all goes well. I'll post my results.

BTW, I forgot to mention -- there were no visibly swollen caps on the FMT board.

Also, played around with the brightness and contrast and got it looking better while using the HDMI cable.

Just had my first Service call for the "Wavy Lines". I had the set on for hours prior to his visit, and was pleased to see the picture looked especially bad today, naturally when he arrives to see it, the lines are all but gone.

I filled him in on the situation (he hasn't encountered this yet) and while he waited patiently, the lines became noticeable again, and he was able to snap a picture of them.

Now the waiting begins... he told me that the call goes in to Mits, and it could be a week before they get back to me and schedule the repair.

My warranty runs out in 10 months, I hope it's long enough to get this thing fixed, I truly love my 52525.

Another update......Precision Television called back to tell me the part is in (DM Board) we scheduled a Tues. replacement. I just don't see how it could be the dm board. Tech already replaced the fmt board, which made it worse. If it was the dm, wouldn't it look the same? I think I got a bad fmt board. I'm hoping the dm board does not fix it, GE extended warranty has got to be tired of throwing money at this set. How would they go about replacing my set since the place that I bought it from is out of business? Would they just cut me a check for the amount of an equivelent 2008 65" Mits. DLP? Well, I really need firewire, and oh darn, only the diamond series has those inputs now. :D $3000

Ok.. minor problems- they are coming back on Tuesday...

I forgot to check the geometry- even though this was a field repair... now it's off- a bit of black to the upper left of the display, but it tapers off to nothing by the bottom left.

There is also a slight tilt in the opposite direction (!). I will let them fix it.

I did connect the TV to the DVR via a new HDMI cable I had just gotten from monoprice.com (came in the mail while he was here!), and indeed the wavy lines aren't there now, but the whole picture looks "washed out." I remember discussion on the board years (!) ago about that, that many, perhaps most, people felt that the picture looked better via component cables than HDMI, and I have to agree. At least with this model. Are there any setting that can improve it?

I have a 62725 and IMO the pic looks considerably better via HDMI compared to component. At one point I was able to do a direct comparison with my HDDVR watching HDTheater. I freeze framed a closeup of a leopard and switched between the two inputs (I had them both hooked up from the same DVR). And with the HDMI input the pic was much more crisp and details were a lot better.

I would say the problem is you need to get the TV recalibrated. With a new bulb and a new board it's probably completely out of whack. I know I had to recalibrate mine even with just a new bulb.

Well I installed my rebuilt chassis for my 62525. PTS did it! It works great. HDMI looks great, cable looks great. I have not had the chance to test component to see if they also fixed the wavy lines. I'll check tomorrow evening. So far so good I guess only time will tell how long this fix will last. Total cost for chassis rebuild was $450.00. I am going to try to get a list of replaced components.

Anyone out there have good success with your mits x2525 set using a cable card? I use Time Warner and I have mixed results.

Anyone out there have good success with your mits x2525 set using a cable card? I use Time Warner and I have mixed results.
So far working well with the FIOS cable card.

Anyone out there have good success with your mits x2525 set using a cable card? I use Time Warner and I have mixed results.

I have been using cablecard (Charter) on my TV for 3.5 years - no issues once it was installed and authorized.

Well I installed my rebuilt chassis for my 62525. PTS did it! It works great. HDMI looks great, cable looks great. I have not had the chance to test component to see if they also fixed the wavy lines. I'll check tomorrow evening. So far so good I guess only time will tell how long this fix will last. Total cost for chassis rebuild was $450.00. I am going to try to get a list of replaced components.Congradulations, glad to hear that. That news almost makes me want to send mine back, though a multi-month wait for return is unacceptable to me as I have just the one TV. Additionally, the total cost for me with shipping would be close to $600. I don't think it's worth it, not for this TV.Anyone out there have good success with your mits x2525 set using a cable card? I use Time Warner and I have mixed results.I used cablecard with TWC for awhile with very mixed results. Ended up dumping it. Too many issues. Sounds like it might be a TWC thing.

I used a cable card with TWC, then Comcast, for 3 years with no issues except the growing pains TWC had when I first hooked it up.

It will come sooner or later

Now that I have my Mits working again I have a question to pose to the group. Given that our issues seem to be heat related component failure I wonder whether we should start unplugging our TV when they will not be used for extended periods? I do not use my Mits often--it is really just for movies and sports. Anyone think power cycling is more detrimental than leaving the unit plugged in?

Story so far-

I have a 52725 and it has been great. A while back I started getting the Wavy lines and they gradually got worse. Two weeks ago PC Richards (I have an extended warrantee) came out to diagnose. They ordered the FMT board and a replacement bulb (as I was well beyond the life-expectancy of the original).

Last thursday they came back and the tech did a good job with the field installation of the FMT. After he left I noticed some minor Geometry issues (tilt and a black gap on the upper left corner). They were to come back today to do the required adjustments.

Today I fired up the set to load up DVE on HD-DVD (on my 360 HD DVD). I wanted the geometry pattern there (I know there is one in the service menu, but I figured this would be the easiest way to show the problem). Uh-oh....

Now the set has a pink blooming/ghosting to the right of all images. Even on the HDMI input. There is dark digital snow in the background (visible on black images/signal).

I called them up. They are picking up the set tomorrow.

Should I be concerned? It sounds like we fixed the FMT board only to move on to the next problem (DM? Chasis?). WHen should I ask for a new set, and if so- what is equivelant? I am a gamer, so I can't tolerate burn-in (plasma, for example).

and the saga continues...... Tech replaced dm board....looked exactly the same. Called my warranty company (GE) and they authorized a complete chassis rebuild. I'm not happy, I would rather just get my money back, but oh well. This should do it right? I mean the chassis is basically everything in there. Oh, the old dm board had one puffy cap. If I were you, I would start asking for a new set asap. Maybe you'll have better luck with your ext. warranty company.

I have a 62725 that I purchased in Dec 2004. The original lamp burned out so I bought a replacement bulb. After I changed the bulb and turned the tv back on, the picture looked terrible (it looked like there were horizontal lines across the screen). Within a week, the bulb went bad. I returned the bulb and got a replacement. After I installed the second bulb, the picture still looks as bad as it di with the first bulb. Could I have installed it incorectly twice, or did I cause another problem?

CableCard again. Anyone out there using a Mits x2525 with a Multi-Stream Cablecard from Scientific Atlanta? I just upgraded my cable card to this model and now my Mits displays a "Invalid Host Certificate" message for the Host ID screen. I know cable cards have been an issue with my Mits and I wonder if this is just some firmware incompatibility with my TV. I am running Firmware v26 004 004?

CableCard again. Anyone out there using a Mits x2525 with a Multi-Stream Cablecard from Scientific Atlanta? I just upgraded my cable card to this model and now my Mits displays a "Invalid Host Certificate" message for the Host ID screen. I know cable cards have been an issue with my Mits and I wonder if this is just some firmware incompatibility with my TV. I am running Firmware v26 004 004?
tell your cable company to put the single stream card back.

Hipnotiq, is this a known incompatibility with Mits x2525? I just may go to a cable box at this point!

Now that I have my Mits working again I have a question to pose to the group. Given that our issues seem to be heat related component failure I wonder whether we should start unplugging our TV when they will not be used for extended periods? I do not use my Mits often--it is really just for movies and sports. Anyone think power cycling is more detrimental than leaving the unit plugged in?

That is a good question and I have wondered the same thing myself. The only benefit I can see to leaving the set plugged in is a "faster" startup. All settings are stored in non-volatile RAM so there is no need for power there. That is my admittedly non-professional opinion. I wonder what the expert opinion is?

On the good news front, my Mits also is working after a couple weeks on the latest chassis transplant. The second chassis assembly is spot on and the PQ looks like it did when the set was new. I hope it lasts.

Hipnotiq, is this a known incompatibility with Mits x2525? I just may go to a cable box at this point!

It looks like M-Cards are designed to be backwards compatable, as stated in the link to CableLabs below. Perhaps Mitsubishi needs to tweak the firmware further to make it work. If so, I wouldn't count on that ever happening.

Before anyone actually implemented this new Multistream CableCARD Interface Specification, it was recognized that it repeated a large portion of the requirements in the original CableCARD 1.0 interface specification. Having two separate specifications with duplicate requirements meant a tough job keeping everything lined up as specification clarifications came in from implementing teams. To resolve this, CableLabs began the process of merging the original (single-stream) CableCARD 1.0 interface specification with the new Multistream card interface specification. This combined specification includes all requirements for both previous specifications and is known as the CableCARD Interface Specification 2.0 or CCIF-2.0. A companion document that combined the requirements of the copy-protection specifications also was developed and is known as the CableCARD Copy Protection Specification 2.0 or CCCP-2.0. It is anticipated that most cable operators will simply migrate to the Multistream CableCARDs for all CableCARD uses. Multistream CableCARDs will work, in a backwards compatible manner, in Hosts that were originally built to the single stream CableCARD standard.

http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html

I have a 62725 that I purchased in Dec 2004. The original lamp burned out so I bought a replacement bulb. After I changed the bulb and turned the tv back on, the picture looked terrible (it looked like there were horizontal lines across the screen). Within a week, the bulb went bad. I returned the bulb and got a replacement. After I installed the second bulb, the picture still looks as bad as it di with the first bulb. Could I have installed it incorectly twice, or did I cause another problem?

My wavy line issue started right after I replaced the lamp as well. A couple of others have reported the same thing. I don't know why replacing the lamp would make a difference, someone suggested the newer, brighter lamp just makes the lines more visible, but I don't think that is the cause. It took a chassis replacement to fix the line issue.

Bought my 62725 & extended warranty close to 4 years ago (1st extended warranty I ever purchased). They've had my set for almost a month. They replaced the chassis and did the burn in; it failed. Now they are saying they have to order another one & the Light Engine is also bad. Would I be out of line asking them to just replace the set? A wd73734 and pay some difference.

Bought my 62725 & extended warranty close to 4 years ago (1st extended warranty I ever purchased). They've had my set for almost a month. They replaced the chassis and did the burn in; it failed. Now they are saying they have to order another one & the Light Engine is also bad. Would I be out of line asking them to just replace the set? A wd73734 and pay some difference.

I can't see how...sounds to me like you've been plenty patient.

Randy

My wavy line issue started right after I replaced the lamp as well. A couple of others have reported the same thing. I don't know why replacing the lamp would make a difference, someone suggested the newer, brighter lamp just makes the lines more visible, but I don't think that is the cause. It took a chassis replacement to fix the line issue.

It may be coincidental... but here's my best guess for a causal link:

Wavy lines are likely caused by bonding cracks relating to *any* of the surface-mounted caps dispersed throughout the boards. The solder bond will slightly weaken with each thermal cycle encountered (caused by differing CTE's of the bonding substance & bonding surface). Most people leave their TV's plugged in all the time. When the lamp is changed, the TV power is disconnected. The resulting hot to cold transition could be the final straw that cracks a weakened bond on one of the boards.

Just a stupid question.... Has anyone tried changing the fans on these things. I've had the wavy lines for a long time and I was here reading thinking that maybe the fan ,getting older, oscillates more than it use to causing minor vibrations that screw something up in the tv. You'd think it would happen in all modes though if that were the problem and not just the component inputs.

Occam's razor

When I replaced my lamp I noticed these things are nothing more than computer fans. Just a thought.

Anybody had these replaced?

I'm starting to wonder if I have another problem.

I've been touting that my wavy lines are MOSTLY gone. In reality, my wavy lines ARE gone but what is left are very fine lines that can really only be seen on certain scenes. It really sounds like these image issues (e.g. wavy lines) are typically fixed by a FMT replacement which I'd be willing to pop for if I had at least 50% confidence. :-)

I also came home to the green blinking light of death the other day. It took two (nervous) reboots to clear it. Oh boy. :rolleyes:

Bought my 62725 & extended warranty close to 4 years ago (1st extended warranty I ever purchased). They've had my set for almost a month. They replaced the chassis and did the burn in; it failed. Now they are saying they have to order another one & the Light Engine is also bad. Would I be out of line asking them to just replace the set? A wd73734 and pay some difference.


Now I have been advised that the second chassis has failedduring "burn in".

2 Weeks ago I had a service Tech from Best Buy out to see the wavy lines on my 52525, he said I'd hear back in "no more than a week" on how they planned on handling it.

I didn't hear anything in that week, so I called BB. They checked my record and it showed that the Tech hadn't gotten a response from Mits yet, so she'd contact the Tech for an update, and they'd let me know the status of my repair/REPLACEMENT. (?)

Four days later I have a message waiting, saying they left message for the tech and would contact me in 48 hours with an update on my repair/replacement.

True to her word, she called me on Thursday and said that Mits has yet to respond, and if the parts are unavailable, we'll move ahead with a replacement.

So, is Mits giving up on these chassis? I'm truly torn here, I love my 52525 and want it operational, yet the thought of a brand new HD set is tempting. Anyone else seeing this, or is it just my Tech getting stonewalled ?

I had the wavy line issue as well as some others. After not hearing back from tech (had extended warrenty) I badgered them and they finally said the part is no longer available and to wait for my warranty co. to call me.

They offered a buy out or replacement. Not sure if I want another Mits or not (which is what they offered as replacement).

I had the wavy line issue as well as some others. After not hearing back from tech (had extended warrenty) I badgered them and they finally said the part is no longer available and to wait for my warranty co. to call me.

Interesting update.... I called PC Richards last Monday and they assured me the parts were on order- the powere board and some other board (I assumed to be the DM as the FMT was already replaced).

I called for status on Friday and after they checked the noted I was told the technician's manager would call me on Monday. I have an inkling that this may be another "the parts are no longer available" situation. I will find out tomorrow.

Should I allow them to replace it with the current Mitsu? If so, what would be equivelent of the 52725? Should I opt for the Sammy with the LED engine (I hear there may be inconsistant black levels with those sets)?

Should I go Sony LCD? I am a video gamer and fear the burn-in.

EDIT: I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

New problem, maybe you guys can help. Short version: Can I know if my lamp is good or bad while it is not in my set?

Long version:
I got my 52525 new in 2004.
I replaced the lamp for the first time a little over one year ago.
The other day I turn the set on and the following happens:

Initial "click" of power relay and green light comes on and fans spins up with the usual sesna noise...
Normal, accept the receiver does not get turned on by NetCommand. I get the curious look and turn them on manually. I wait.
As the lamp gets warmed up, I see a jumbled - flickering nonsense on the screen. I press the Device button and that screen comes up, but I could barely make it out on the screen.
I power off the set with the power button.
I wait.
I unplug, plug it back in, and power up again. Same thing, only no display at all! Now the set just goes "I think I can" for about 30 seconds and then it powers itself off and turns the Lamp LED red on the front panel.



So is this just a blown lamp? It showed no signs of dimming. I have it out and it looks fine. Any way to check these out on a bench? I can throw a lot of power at it if any one here can show me what voltage/current they need. I assume the lamp shell is the return/GND/- ?

Any ideas or tips? I could order another $150 bare lamp for replacement, or the $200+ complete assembly if that'll rule out one more thing.

I will investigate the swolen capacitors after I try the simple lamp replacement. I'm just hoping I can know for sure that this One year old lamp is blown before chasing a rabbit down a hole.
Set has been trouble free dispite this little SNAFU.

I did some more reading in the service manual and it looks like the lamp needs 340V from the lamp ballast, but the Osram lamp has printed on it's case: P-VIP 100-120 / 1.3 E23h. I will ry and get an error code out of it tomorrow by pressing the Device and Menu button at the same time and hold for 5 seconds. I guess I can do this with the power lamp just "red" and the set not really powered on?!

The fan specifications say 65V max at 2 Amps, which adds up to about 120 watts, right?

Wattage: 100-120W, 100W
Glass: Reflector E23 Elliptic, Elliptical, Elliptically
Arc Gap: 1.3mm
Ignition: 15kV-18kV
5200 Lumens at 120W observed in working distance through 6mm aperture
Average Life 6000 Hours at 120W when operated on Osram lamp driver PT VIP 2AC/380 O1
Category MD TV
Power range 100 – 120 W
Environmental Complies RoHS
Max Lamp Power: 120 Watts
Electrodes: Solid tungsten
Max Lamp Current: 2.0 Amps
Luminous Flux: 6000 lm at 100W - 7000 lm at 120W
Max Lamp Operating Voltage: 65 Volts
Luminous Efficacy: 58 lm/W
Colour Temperature: 7600°K
CRI: Ra 57
Bulb Finish: Hard Dichroic Cold Mirror
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx : 0.298 CCy : 0.311
Bulb Type: PAR-23 Borosilicate with front glass
Average Rated Life: 8000 hours at 100W, 6000 hours at 120W
Reflector Size: Round 95mm

I called for status on Friday and after they checked the noted I was told the technician's manager would call me on Monday. I have an inkling that this may be another "the parts are no longer available" situation. I will find out tomorrow.

Should I allow them to replace it with the current Mitsu? If so, what would be equivelent of the 52725? Should I opt for the Sammy with the LED engine (I hear there may be inconsistant black levels with those sets)?

Should I go Sony LCD? I am a video gamer and fear the burn-in.

My tech was looking far chassis when they said no longer avialable. I had/have the 52825. They are offering me a 57833 or cash. I was thinking of taking the cash and going Sammy LED DLP. I'll probably end up going sammy simply because of the crap Mits service and 3 years of "normal" fan noise.

So the tech came out and replaced my FMT board with another in house on Monday. When we first fired it up, it looked like when I first fired it up after getting my boards replaced last time (about a month ago). Lots of wavy lines, and kind of a transparent woodgrain appearance to the component input. The very top of the screen was complete garbage as well. Everything on my VGA looked like it was under water with flickering pixels everywhere.

The tech was shocked and said it shouldn't look like that. I told him it's exactly how it looked the last time and everything but the flickering pixels would probably go away. He hung out for about 15 minutes to watch, and sure enough the picture eventually went back to perfect on the component, but the flickering pixels remained on the VGA (although vastly improved from initial startup).
.

This sounds like what my wife described after she witnessed the chassis replacement I had done by BB warranty service. My inputs are all looking perfect, including VGA, now that the set has had a chance to warm up/break in. I have my doubts as to the longevity of the fix, but truth be told, I'll be in line for a new set next year anyway.

While I'm satisfied with the current performance of my set, I'm very unhappy with the way BB handled it...the process took over two months, and BB took every opportunity to waste my time waiting for back-ordered parts. I understand that they are running a business, but I also believe that there should be a hard and fast rule pertaining to the total time to make a repair, that would supersede any individual time limits on any individual part or procedure. In my case, they tried 3 different courses of action, and each took 20 days or more to perform due to unavailability of parts...none of the individual attempts violated their informal 45-day agreement with me over a practical limit for back-ordered parts, but the total time it took was unacceptable and impractical.

For Vconqwst: Don't get all excited over what the phone reps tell you about replacement of the set. I was on that "3 business days or less to find out whether replacement is authorized" list, oh, I'd say about 5 times over the two months I waited for them to honor their contract with me. They'll play that carrot/horse game with you all month long while they slowly source back-ordered parts at the expense of your time with a working product. They are not above making you wait 2+ months if it saves them a buck, just see previous members' experiences in this thread. Your best hope in this regard is that since my repair, supplies of replacement boards/chassis have truly been exhausted, and they have no choice but to replace the set.

Any ideas or tips? I could order another $150 bare lamp for replacement, or the $200+ complete assembly if that'll rule out one more thing.

Did the "flickering nonsense" look like this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=86303&d=1186021077

If so, it's probably the swollen caps. Since you saw visual distortions initially, it's almost certain that your problem isn't a bad lamp. Hopefully in this case it's the power board caps since that's a known fix.

EDIT: I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm



The distortion was more of bits and pieces of the real image showing up. Almost like tuning in a frequency with rabbit ears and you see the image and go "hold it, wait, dont' move", then what little you could see goes away. Only instead of mostly snow, I had mostly blackness.


So what I need to get to is called the PWB-Power. Can I get to this without taking out the entire rear cage/assembly? Or at least gain enough access to see some swollen caps without taking this set into many small pieces? If there is a section describing what needs to be done, could some link paste a link to it for me?

THANKS for the help!

Noplasma, the link to an image you had posted no longer works. tv005new.jpg
Any chance you can re-host it or send it via PM? I am about to start taking the back of set apart tonight.

Thank you hithere, I shall keep what you've written in mind while I slog through this mess.

Noplasma, the link to an image you had posted no longer works. tv005new.jpg
Any chance you can re-host it or send it via PM? I am about to start taking the back of set apart tonight.

Ok, I re-hosted that picture. The link should work now. The service manual explains how to remove the electric chassis. It's not that bad... just a few screws to remove and the whole case slides out.

After that, it's just a matter of removing the metal shield on the end of the chassis unit (I believe the Chassis Replacement manual has instructions if you have any difficulty).

Thanks.
I have removed the Power circuit board. One cap is oozing, the other is bulging. I have pictures and will try to post them and maybe writeup a little FAQ about it. Provided, or course, that one doesn't exist already.

I will edit this when I have the pictures hosted.

This should fix the problem. I did not probe the LAMPEN signal. Since the problem seems pretty common, I decided to replace them regardless. Thanks again for the help! :)

Now to find the best replacement. I'm looking for a higher temperature rating and 16V. This is along the lines of what I do for a living, so I am going to take some time and find the best swap in part.

EDIT: I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

Thanks.
I have removed the Power circuit board. One cap is oozing, the other is bulging. I have pictures and will try to post them and maybe writeup a little FAQ about it.

Hope it works. If you have time to write a FAQ, I'm sure many people would appreciate it, especially the less DIY included folks.

That describes the problem I had exactly. My problem was the caps.

I is so sad that these sets with such a good picture are dying because of a few sub $1 parts.


New problem, maybe you guys can help. Short version: Can I know if my lamp is good or bad while it is not in my set?

Long version:
I got my 52525 new in 2004.
I replaced the lamp for the first time a little over one year ago.
The other day I turn the set on and the following happens:

Initial "click" of power relay and green light comes on and fans spins up with the usual sesna noise...
Normal, accept the receiver does not get turned on by NetCommand. I get the curious look and turn them on manually. I wait.
As the lamp gets warmed up, I see a jumbled - flickering nonsense on the screen. I press the Device button and that screen comes up, but I could barely make it out on the screen.
I power off the set with the power button.
I wait.
I unplug, plug it back in, and power up again. Same thing, only no display at all! Now the set just goes "I think I can" for about 30 seconds and then it powers itself off and turns the Lamp LED red on the front panel.



So is this just a blown lamp? It showed no signs of dimming. I have it out and it looks fine. Any way to check these out on a bench? I can throw a lot of power at it if any one here can show me what voltage/current they need. I assume the lamp shell is the return/GND/- ?

Any ideas or tips? I could order another $150 bare lamp for replacement, or the $200+ complete assembly if that'll rule out one more thing.

I will investigate the swolen capacitors after I try the simple lamp replacement. I'm just hoping I can know for sure that this One year old lamp is blown before chasing a rabbit down a hole.
Set has been trouble free dispite this little SNAFU.

This morning when I first turned on my 62525, I heard a pop. I then couldn't get any sound or video. I tried to change inputs and since I couldn't see anything on the screen, I couldn't change the input. I tried a "reset" and nothing. I unplugged the TV and left it since I had to go to work. The front of the unit still has a green light so I'm not sure that it's the lamp. Doesn't it change to yellow before the lamp is supposed to go out? Anyone know what I might check next when I get home?

Lajun,
when you get home, walk us through what happens on the front panel lights. i.e.
When you plug the cord in, the timer light should blink for a while then go out.
When you press the power button there should be an initial click and the green power light should come on, and so on.

If you have no more noises, and the lamp was the on time source of the "pop" sound, then you'd think there would be some visual discoloration in the bulb, much like when any other bulb eats itself.

My tech was looking far chassis when they said no longer avialable. I had/have the 52825. They are offering me a 57833 or cash. I was thinking of taking the cash and going Sammy LED DLP. I'll probably end up going sammy simply because of the crap Mits service and 3 years of "normal" fan noise.

Apparently yesterday the Mitsu department that PC Richards needed to get in touch with were in training. I am told that they will get a better answer today about the status of parts and what needed to be ordered (?- should have already been ordered- they have had the set now for 2 weeks).

According to the tech manager, the tech wanted to try replacing the FMT board... the problem is that this new problem appeared on the HDMI input which I have been lead to belive (if I am not incorrect) has nothing to do with the FMT board...

I am getting concerned and while I still have a little bit of patience, I confess it is wearing thin.

This sounds like what my wife described after she witnessed the chassis replacement I had done by BB warranty service. My inputs are all looking perfect, including VGA, now that the set has had a chance to warm up/break in. I have my doubts as to the longevity of the fix, but truth be told, I'll be in line for a new set next year anyway.

While I'm satisfied with the current performance of my set, I'm very unhappy with the way BB handled it...the process took over two months, and BB took every opportunity to waste my time waiting for back-ordered parts. I understand that they are running a business, but I also believe that there should be a hard and fast rule pertaining to the total time to make a repair, that would supersede any individual time limits on any individual part or procedure. In my case, they tried 3 different courses of action, and each took 20 days or more to perform due to unavailability of parts...none of the individual attempts violated their informal 45-day agreement with me over a practical limit for back-ordered parts, but the total time it took was unacceptable and impractical.

For Vconqwst: Don't get all excited over what the phone reps tell you about replacement of the set. I was on that "3 business days or less to find out whether replacement is authorized" list, oh, I'd say about 5 times over the two months I waited for them to honor their contract with me. They'll play that carrot/horse game with you all month long while they slowly source back-ordered parts at the expense of your time with a working product. They are not above making you wait 2+ months if it saves them a buck, just see previous members' experiences in this thread. Your best hope in this regard is that since my repair, supplies of replacement boards/chassis have truly been exhausted, and they have no choice but to replace the set.

So true. Played out exactly how you said. Warrantech gave my TV to another repair shop and authorized a full chassis replacement. They just came out today and took the chassis, so I am without a TV for probably another month. I called Warrantech and bitched. I explained to them how much money they are hemorraging while I am without a TV, but they said there is nothing can do since the chassis has already been approved. I also said they should extend the warranty for the time I am without a TV as that is only fair, and they said the terms of the warranty do not specify a time limit for repairs.

I think I am gonna buy another TV and sell this one. It looks like I can get a similar TV for about a grand. Then if they ever fix this one, I'll sell it for whatever I can get and cut my losses.

For Vconqwst: Don't get all excited over what the phone reps tell you about replacement of the set. I was on that "3 business days or less to find out whether replacement is authorized" list, oh, I'd say about 5 times over the two months I waited for them to honor their contract with me. They'll play that carrot/horse game with you all month long while they slowly source back-ordered parts at the expense of your time with a working product. They are not above making you wait 2+ months if it saves them a buck, just see previous members' experiences in this thread. Your best hope in this regard is that since my repair, supplies of replacement boards/chassis have truly been exhausted, and they have no choice but to replace the set.

Wow.. how prophetic!

BB Service called today... they say the tech told them that Mits sez "They have no fix for that problem, because it's a vague problem and isn't always there".

Now, I know the tech saw the wavy lines (after a 5 minute wait) and he got a so-so photo of them, and I gave him a detailed description of the problem, including the 90%+ occurence rate of the lines on my Component/Composite inputs. So "Vague" and "isn't always there" doesn't play with me, and frankly, even if it only happened once every 20 hours for ten seconds, I'd want it fixed!!:mad:

I took photos the same night the tech was here, video too... it looks bad, so I'll have better ammo when another tech comes out this Thursday.

Also, I pointed out that Mits has to know about the issue, they've been servicing this problem for months, and if they try Google, they'll see that this is far from a "Vague" or "Fixless" problem.

Sorry for the blather... I'm still a tad miffed. The BB operator was good, he took my complaints and insistance well... I give them credit there, but I'm not too pleased by the in home tech's response to this issue at all... he dropped the ball when it comes to researching the trouble.

Lajun,
when you get home, walk us through what happens on the front panel lights. i.e.
When you plug the cord in, the timer light should blink for a while then go out.
When you press the power button there should be an initial click and the green power light should come on, and so on.

If you have no more noises, and the lamp was the on time source of the "pop" sound, then you'd think there would be some visual discoloration in the bulb, much like when any other bulb eats itself.

Sorry for the false alarm. When I got home I tried it again and found out it was the HDMI splitter that I use to get one source to two TVs. I've had a lot of problems with this Gefen splitter lately. It's probably due to my sleepiness this morning for not checking that in the first place. Thanks for the response though.

Well, the tech came out this morning and replaced the (FMT?) board ... again! This time, the TV turned on and when he tried it with his signal generator on the component inputs, it looked fine. But when he closed it up and we put it back on the stand and he reconnected everything, we tried it and there were white lines all over it; they seemed to follow the outline of things, like where there was a color transition, although I also noticed them along people's arms, where the color didn't change drastically but were just a shade different. It was on both component and HDMI ("monlink") inputs. So he took it all apart and put the old board back in and now it's back to the way it was, which is good. I'd hate to be without it for an extended time while they replace the chassis, but I suspect that's the next step; I dunno, I wasn't there, I'll have to ask my wife later what he had to say.

New technician came out today, he's familiar with the brand and some of it's quirks in regards to failing capacitors. Of course the "Wavies" were being coy at first, but thankfully he got to see them in all their glory.

I now have a "Scan Converter" board on order (was expecting to hear FMT board) and I'll let you know how that pans out. He's optimistic, and thinks I'll have the board in 3-5 days... I'm doubtful, but damn happy to have this repair process rolling.

Has anybody had this board serviced?

That sounds just like my problem. Next will be a chassis rebuild, which they will tell you is about 2 weeks. It's actually more like 6-8 weeks. I'm supposed to hear from my warranty company (GE) tomorrow about what they will do next. I pressed them on replacement, my warranty states no more than 60 days in repair. Well, my original call was on Feb. 28th. 6-8 weeks is mid May. Much longer than 60 days.

Fixed!! Woo-hoo!

I decided on a 16V, 3300uF to replace the two bad capacitors. And it's not the +5V sub-circuit. The Test Pin says +6 volts. After replacing the caps, I checked and it was more like +7V before everything else came up. The 25V had a case that was too wide and close to the heat sink. Heat kills capacitors. the one cap with just a slightly swollen dome was down to only 300uF. I suspect that heat is why they failed early, not so much over voltage, just quality of the piece. I used a panasonic replacement. The Nichion data sheet said "4,000 hours at 105*C". which is hot as heck, but shows there is a relationship between the two. I am also going to get a really nice UPS to give it good clean power!

I will writeup the FAQ this weekend. total cost was $15 with shipping from Digikey.com and downtime was like a week.

Thanks again to Noplasma and the AVS forum as a whole. This place rocks. :)

EDIT: I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

New technician came out today, he's familiar with the brand and some of it's quirks in regards to failing capacitors. Of course the "Wavies" were being coy at first, but thankfully he got to see them in all their glory.

I now have a "Scan Converter" board on order (was expecting to hear FMT board) and I'll let you know how that pans out. He's optimistic, and thinks I'll have the board in 3-5 days... I'm doubtful, but damn happy to have this repair process rolling.

Has anybody had this board serviced?

I think he's actually referring to what Mitsu calls the FMT. If so, and the wavies are the only thing you're worried about, that replacement could possibly fix the problem. At least, my wavies went away after FMT replacement, my problems with VGA input did not....but there are others in this thread with the same problem that was not solved by FMT replacement.

I think he's actually referring to what Mitsu calls the FMT. If so, and the wavies are the only thing you're worried about, that replacement could possibly fix the problem. At least, my wavies went away after FMT replacement, my problems with VGA input did not....but there are others in this thread with the same problem that was not solved by FMT replacement.

I've never tried my VGA input, maybe I should while I still have warranty coverage.

I watched several dvds today, fed thru the HDMI port, and the picture was great, I'd switch over to component every so often and those lines were just awful.

I hope you're right about the boards being one and the same, I'd be thrilled to have this fixed on the first actual attempt. I got a call from Best Buy parts dept. The board is on it's way and we're scheduling the repair appointment tomorrow.

Did the "flickering nonsense" look like this:

If so, it's probably the swollen caps. Since you saw visual distortions initially, it's almost certain that your problem isn't a bad lamp. Hopefully in this case it's the power board caps since that's a known fix.


I turned on my 52525 last night to this same picture. How difficult is it to replace the caps? I haven't taken my tv apart to examine the board. I've never repaired anything like this, but I don't want to spend several hundred for a service tech to recommend a full board replacement.

My TV is out of warranty. What has Mitsubishi been saying about this problem?

amb344, check below, I just did this and I think any novice tinkerer can handle it. The soldering is fairly simple, but if you have a buddy that can do it that will save you from getting the board too hot. You'll at least need a bench top vice or a friend to hold the board while you de-solder the old capacitors. I got to my board and had it out in 1 hour, by myself.

I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen buldging blown damaged power capacitors on the Power Supply board to get the Lamp Enable signal functioning. total cost was $2 plus shipping. You can get these parts locally, but I wanted brand new and brand name, so I payed the $15 in shipping/handling from Digi-key.

check here for a writeup with pictures:

http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

I highly recommend on these sets that if you are in them at all, replace all of the Jamicon radial electrolytics that are values of 330uF or greater, as most of them seem to be failing. There are surface mount caps that need to be checked for swelling and high ESR on the signal and DM modules as well. Expect to change about 50 caps to do it right.

I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

Glad to hear it's working. Thanks for doing the write-up!

Sure thing Noplasma, thanks for the insite and manuals to give me the motivation to hunt this down. I started checking other Test Point voltages, but the girlfriend kept letting the filter safety switch toggle, so I decided to quit while I was ahead.

Interesting info there Lcaillo. Swollen surface mount caps is strange, usually they just burst/break. Without some kinda of physical deformity, I wouldn't know how to find a bad cap. I guess the next time I am in there I will just replace ALL electrolytic capacitors.

I now run my set off of a 1000VA UPS in hopes to better clean up the input power spikes/dips. If anyone runs across some schematics for the various boards, I'd love to get a copy of them! When this current lamps goes out, I will give the set a thorough once over. I find it odd that the fan which runs all of the time is on the side that has NO filter and just open air vents! I mean, damn, that's just stupid.

BB_Mike,
Thanks a lot for the guide! Did you just replace the 2 capacitors? Did you have the same blue image with the visual distortion on each input that noplasma posted above?

I only did the two 3300uF capacitors. They where all that looked bad to me. My screen image was different than the blue distortion you guys are having. The screen was "ugly" for all of 45 seconds before I had nothing but darkness. Which is why I was thinking along the lines of a digital failure and didn't want to believe the red LED telling me I had a lamp failure. I was happy to learn of the swollen caps! It could get much worse, as far as component replacement goes.

Interesting info there Lcaillo. Swollen surface mount caps is strange, usually they just burst/break. Without some kinda of physical deformity, I wouldn't know how to find a bad cap. I guess the next time I am in there I will just replace ALL electrolytic capacitors.

You will be replacing caps for days. The best test in circuit is ESR, but you have to have a meter designed to test it. The ones that I found were high n ESR, but were also puffed at the top. Others have reported thermal sensitivity in some of the surface mount caps. I have not seen that yet.

I think he's actually referring to what Mitsu calls the FMT. If so, and the wavies are the only thing you're worried about, that replacement could possibly fix the problem. At least, my wavies went away after FMT replacement, my problems with VGA input did not....but there are others in this thread with the same problem that was not solved by FMT replacement.


Got my BOARDS (as in plural) today... a PWB-Signal, which is clearly a well used piece (it's more than a little dusty) and a PWB-FMT, which could be new, but I doubt it.

I find it interesting that my initial response was "Mits has no fix for this problem" and then after the second tech checks it out and orders a "Scan Converter", I get TWO replacement bds.... well, hope they do the trick! :D

:D:D Warranty company is finally replacing the set. After a fmt board and dm board replacement didn't do squat on the set, they have given up. Thay pulled the chassis for a rebuild, but it would be 6-8 weeks for that which is greater than my 60 day lemon clause. Thay offered me a 65733 as the replacement value. Currently on Best Buy's website for $1699.99. This model is no longer available anywhere to actually look at. I am trying to get the value of a 65833 Diamond which is $3000. Our sets have firewire, which is only offered on the diamonds now. If they issue a check for $1700, and I found a set for that price, I would still need to pay tax $150ish, and another extended warranty $350ish. So my replacement set still costs me $500. Thay are going to research some more, and get back to me. I think I have another battle ahead of me. Do they leave the old set, or pick it up? If they leave it, is there anything of value left in it to any of you? It's a 62725 with no chassis.

I have a brand new lamp in box if anyone is interested. $200 plus shipping.

Do I have a problem on the horizon? My set is over 3 years old, and out of warranty. The other day when I turned the set on, I noticed a loud whirring sound for the first time. Ever since, the fan noise has been considerably louder than it has ever been over the life of the TV. I never noticed the fan before this occured, but now it is pretty darn loud, and I am not one to usually notice or complain about those things.

Could this be a sign of trouble to come? Does anyone know if this is common over time, and what type of repair I might be looking at? Or is this just something that could happen over time, nothing worse will come, and just learn to live with it? Otherwise the set is in great working condition and still love the PQ, especially after doing a mirror cleaning! I did do a search, but hadn't seen the information I was seeking.

Do I have a problem on the horizon? My set is over 3 years old, and out of warranty. The other day when I turned the set on, I noticed a loud whirring sound for the first time. Ever since, the fan noise has been considerably louder than it has ever been over the life of the TV. I never noticed the fan before this occured, but now it is pretty darn loud, and I am not one to usually notice or complain about those things.

Could this be a sign of trouble to come? Does anyone know if this is common over time, and what type of repair I might be looking at? Or is this just something that could happen over time, nothing worse will come, and just learn to live with it? Otherwise the set is in great working condition and still love the PQ, especially after doing a mirror cleaning! I did do a search, but hadn't seen the information I was seeking.

It may be that the fan bearings are failing, or that the fan has some dust around the hub...either way, if it's out of warranty and you are feeling brave, you might want to take the back off the set and check it out...the fans aren't all that special, you should be able to find and replace it with an aftermarket fan, if necessary. That, and it'd probably be a good chance to get in there and clean the dust from the electrical chassis, your filters, and the mirrors.

:D:D Warranty company is finally replacing the set. After a fmt board and dm board replacement didn't do squat on the set, they have given up. Thay pulled the chassis for a rebuild, but it would be 6-8 weeks for that which is greater than my 60 day lemon clause. Thay offered me a 65733 as the replacement value. Currently on Best Buy's website for $1699.99. This model is no longer available anywhere to actually look at. I am trying to get the value of a 65833 Diamond which is $3000. Our sets have firewire, which is only offered on the diamonds now. If they issue a check for $1700, and I found a set for that price, I would still need to pay tax $150ish, and another extended warranty $350ish. So my replacement set still costs me $500. Thay are going to research some more, and get back to me. I think I have another battle ahead of me. Do they leave the old set, or pick it up? If they leave it, is there anything of value left in it to any of you? It's a 62725 with no chassis.

I'd get out the paperwork...your warranty should mention something about "comparable features" in it...tell them you got the tv specifically so you could record mpeg2 streams to your digital VCR.

As far as the tv parts having value, I'd say you're looking to sell the bulb and/or light engine (if they're a known good) separately, and for the rest, you're looking for someone with a scratched or gouged screen that needs a replacement. I'd find out what it costs to ship, then decide whether the value of the items are worth your time or not. The frame of the tv is likely of no use to anyone (don't hear much about spontaneously imploding tv's these days).

Purchased a Mits 62725 a little over three years ago, with a three year warranty (from Tweeters, Houston).

In October 2007 (3 months before warranty expires), I lost the bulb. One month later, I get checkerboard pattern on screen with no cure.

Tweeter finally gets me a new chassis (after much whining on my part). This was fixed in February '08, after LONG wait.

This past week, I get the checkerboard again. Tweeter says that it is out of warranty, and their fix was only good for 30 days...I am SOL.

So advice:

1) do I stand any chance on reversing this position?

2) I have a five year old Samsung HLN617 that runs constantly, and has never had a bulb replaced. This Mits seems like a POS by comparision (although it is two DLP generations beyond the Samsung). I hate this tv, especially the loud fan that is on constantly, not to mention the terrible pincushioning due to warped front plastic screen. I do not trust that spending $500-$1000 for a fix is a good investment.....when in another month something else can go.


What should I do with this hunk of (mostly) plastic and metal?

Just an update on the repair status on my 62725, which was still under extended warranty. After one fruitless trip a few weeks ago, a tech from Norman's Electronics came out with a FMT board, replaced it, and so far the wavy lines that appeared while using component sources are gone.

Took a while, but they got it done. So the dream of sugar plums and a replacement set is gone, but so are the wavy lines while playing the Wii. :)

Purchased a Mits 62725 a little over three years ago, with a three year warranty (from Tweeters, Houston).

In October 2007 (3 months before warranty expires), I lost the bulb. One month later, I get checkerboard pattern on screen with no cure.

Tweeter finally gets me a new chassis (after much whining on my part). This was fixed in February '08, after LONG wait.

This past week, I get the checkerboard again. Tweeter says that it is out of warranty, and their fix was only good for 30 days...I am SOL.

So advice:

1) do I stand any chance on reversing this position?

2) I have a five year old Samsung HLN617 that runs constantly, and has never had a bulb replaced. This Mits seems like a POS by comparision (although it is two DLP generations beyond the Samsung). I hate this tv, especially the loud fan that is on constantly, not to mention the terrible pincushioning due to warped front plastic screen. I do not trust that spending $500-$1000 for a fix is a good investment.....when in another month something else can go.


What should I do with this hunk of (mostly) plastic and metal?

Get all your repair tickets together, build a timeline, and call Mitsubishi to open a claim. That's where I was at before I was able to get a replacement under warranty. There's another poster in this thread that was able to get a new set from Mitsu.

Get all your repair tickets together, build a timeline, and call Mitsubishi to open a claim. That's where I was at before I was able to get a replacement under warranty. There's another poster in this thread that was able to get a new set from Mitsu.

Great advice. Thx BearGator56!

I'll post final outcome on this matter.

Hi all. My 2.5 year old WD52525 (still using the original lamp) started coming on with audio but a black picture a few days ago. I could get the picture to come on only after I unplugged the set. That worked to get it turned on for about 4 days.

Now, the red bulb light is coming on with no audio or picture. I took the bulb enclosure out and shook it (like I read elsewhere in this forum). I powered it back up and after about 60 seconds of the timer light flashing, the audio came on, and about 20 seconds later, the picture came on... for about 1 minute. Then the audio and picture went out and the red lamp light came on.

I was initially just thinking I needed to replace the bulb (being 2.5 years old), but wouldn't the bulb be completely dead if it were bad (either burnt out or not burnt out)? Or do they go partially bad? In other words, since I was able to get a picture for about 1 minute AFTER the red light had already been on, wouldn't that mean that something else was causing the red lamp light to come on than a burned out bulb?

If I do need a new bulb, do I need the whole enclosure, or is it easy to just buy the lamp and put it in the enclosure myself?

I don't think I'm up to replacing capacitors myself, so I'd probably have to need a service call if it were that problem.

Any advice anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Update on the above problem... When the picture came on for that 1 minute after I took the bulb out and shook it, there was a pop after that 1 minute of picture and all went blank. So I just now took out the bulb to try and repeat that process, but the bulb is definitely fried. There's a bunch of broken glass pieces sliding around inside the bulb now.

So should I just replace the bulb, or does it sound like there's another problem that might just kill a new bulb too?

One more question... if I just buy a new bulb without the whole lamp assembly, what do I do with the paper cover currently glued around the assembly now? Looks like it has to be removed in order to get the old bulb out and the new one in. Can it just be discarded and the lamp assembly used without the paper, or do I need to carefully pry it loose and try to glue it back in place somehow after I put the new bulb in? (using what type of glue?)

Thanks.

One more question... if I just buy a new bulb without the whole lamp assembly, what do I do with the paper cover currently glued around the assembly now? Looks like it has to be removed in order to get the old bulb out and the new one in. Can it just be discarded and the lamp assembly used without the paper, or do I need to carefully pry it loose and try to glue it back in place somehow after I put the new bulb in? (using what type of glue?)

Thanks.

I would just spend the extra money and buy it directly from mits. It's $225 from them I think.

My scheduled service call for today was postponed, they didn't allow enough time in the tech's schedule to get it done today... nice, I burn a vacation day for this crap AND I have to do it again next week?!

One more question... if I just buy a new bulb without the whole lamp assembly, what do I do with the paper cover currently glued around the assembly now? Looks like it has to be removed in order to get the old bulb out and the new one in. Can it just be discarded and the lamp assembly used without the paper, or do I need to carefully pry it loose and try to glue it back in place somehow after I put the new bulb in? (using what type of glue?)

Thanks.

When I replaced just the bulb, I was just very careful with removing the cardboard cover and only removed enough to get the new bulb in. Then I simply put the cardboard back and it actually stuck still with the original glue. This along with the fact that it's a fairly snugg fit, I think that was sufficient. Overall, it was a fairly easy process.

When I replaced just the bulb, I was just very careful with removing the cardboard cover and only removed enough to get the new bulb in. Then I simply put the cardboard back and it actually stuck still with the original glue. This along with the fact that it's a fairly snugg fit, I think that was sufficient. Overall, it was a fairly easy process.

Thanks. I found a website that show the replacement process:

http://www.dlplampguide.com/915p020010.html

Another one said that the paper cover really isn't necessary. But I'll probably do as you suggest - carefully pry loose 3 edges to get the bulb in/out and wedge it back into place. The glue isn't very sticky anymore, what with all the heat baking it. Even the edges of the paper closest to the bulb are somewhat brown and dried out.

Thanks!

Thanks. I found a website that show the replacement process:

http://www.dlplampguide.com/915p020010.html

Another one said that the paper cover really isn't necessary. But I'll probably do as you suggest - carefully pry loose 3 edges to get the bulb in/out and wedge it back into place. The glue isn't very sticky anymore, what with all the heat baking it. Even the edges of the paper closest to the bulb are somewhat brown and dried out.

Thanks!

Is this video supposed to be without sound?

Is this video supposed to be without sound?

I didn't get any sound either, even when going straight to YouTube to view it.

Fixed!! Woo-hoo!

I decided on a 16V, 3300uF to replace the two bad capacitors. And it's not the +5V sub-circuit. The Test Pin says +6 volts. After replacing the caps, I checked and it was more like +7V before everything else came up. The 25V had a case that was too wide and close to the heat sink. Heat kills capacitors. the one cap with just a slightly swollen dome was down to only 300uF. I suspect that heat is why they failed early, not so much over voltage, just quality of the piece. I used a panasonic replacement. The Nichion data sheet said "4,000 hours at 105*C". which is hot as heck, but shows there is a relationship between the two. I am also going to get a really nice UPS to give it good clean power!

I will writeup the FAQ this weekend. total cost was $15 with shipping from Digikey.com and downtime was like a week.

Thanks again to Noplasma and the AVS forum as a whole. This place rocks. :)

EDIT: I fixed this problem by replacing the swollen power capacitors on the Power Supply board.
check here for a writeup with pictures: http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

I'm beginning to think this is my problem too.

I put a new lamp in, and tried to power the set up. After the normal 20-30 second blinking light went off, it sat for another 40 seconds or so with no picture, then the red lamp light came on and everything shut down.

So I decided to open up the back and check the capacitors on the power supply board (thanks for the write-up, Mike!). Sure enough, those two caps are bulging similar to that in Mike's pictures (although no brown ooze).

I decided at that point that I didn't want to risk trying this myself, so I reassembled everything (only had one extra screw left over!) and called a local authorized Mitsu service shop to get an idea of what they would charge. Holy crap! The say it's typically $300-$800 (since they test everything out and only use authorized Mitsu parts, and just replace the whole board if there aren't Mitsu parts to be had.

A bigger and nicer (and new) LCD TV would probably cost me $2000, so I really hesitate to get locked into what could be an $800 repair bill.

If there's a pretty good chance these 2 caps would fix the problem, I guess I'm willing to try replacing them myself (and cross my fingers). I haven't touched a soldering gun in probably 20 years, but I think I can manage it. I forget - does a capacitor have a polarity, or can it go in either pin direction?

From what I've described of my problem in the last few posts, does it sound like replacing the caps might be the likely solution? I'd like a little better comfort level before I launch into this.

Thanks!

To answer your question yes the Caps do have polarity, it is marked on the caps and the top of the board next to the + pin. I had not done anything like this ever and replaced 6 bad caps without any problems.

The one thing I think makes this an easy fix is that the board is very simple and the traces are all wide and far apart so I was not concerned about doing any damage or shorting anything.

Make sure you check all the caps and replace any that look questionable so you don't need to do it again in another month or so.

As far as all the screws I put each size in a separately labeled zip lock to keep for each step and had no left-overs.

Good luck


I'm beginning to think this is my problem too.

I put a new lamp in, and tried to power the set up. After the normal 20-30 second blinking light went off, it sat for another 40 seconds or so with no picture, then the red lamp light came on and everything shut down.

So I decided to open up the back and check the capacitors on the power supply board (thanks for the write-up, Mike!). Sure enough, those two caps are bulging similar to that in Mike's pictures (although no brown ooze).

I decided at that point that I didn't want to risk trying this myself, so I reassembled everything (only had one extra screw left over!) and called a local authorized Mitsu service shop to get an idea of what they would charge. Holy crap! The say it's typically $300-$800 (since they test everything out and only use authorized Mitsu parts, and just replace the whole board if there aren't Mitsu parts to be had.

A bigger and nicer (and new) LCD TV would probably cost me $2000, so I really hesitate to get locked into what could be an $800 repair bill.

If there's a pretty good chance these 2 caps would fix the problem, I guess I'm willing to try replacing them myself (and cross my fingers). I haven't touched a soldering gun in probably 20 years, but I think I can manage it. I forget - does a capacitor have a polarity, or can it go in either pin direction?

From what I've described of my problem in the last few posts, does it sound like replacing the caps might be the likely solution? I'd like a little better comfort level before I launch into this.

Thanks!

I'm beginning to think this is my problem too.

I put a new lamp in, and tried to power the set up. After the normal 20-30 second blinking light went off, it sat for another 40 seconds or so with no picture, then the red lamp light came on and everything shut down.

So I decided to open up the back and check the capacitors on the power supply board (thanks for the write-up, Mike!). Sure enough, those two caps are bulging similar to that in Mike's pictures (although no brown ooze).

I decided at that point that I didn't want to risk trying this myself, so I reassembled everything (only had one extra screw left over!) and called a local authorized Mitsu service shop to get an idea of what they would charge. Holy crap! The say it's typically $300-$800 (since they test everything out and only use authorized Mitsu parts, and just replace the whole board if there aren't Mitsu parts to be had.

A bigger and nicer (and new) LCD TV would probably cost me $2000, so I really hesitate to get locked into what could be an $800 repair bill.

If there's a pretty good chance these 2 caps would fix the problem, I guess I'm willing to try replacing them myself (and cross my fingers). I haven't touched a soldering gun in probably 20 years, but I think I can manage it. I forget - does a capacitor have a polarity, or can it go in either pin direction?

From what I've described of my problem in the last few posts, does it sound like replacing the caps might be the likely solution? I'd like a little better comfort level before I launch into this.

Thanks!
if those caps are damaged...why not replace them yourself for $5 like he said.
Even if it doesnt resolve the problem you are having it still needed to be done.

What you are talking about is like buying a new car because the break pads are worn.

To answer your question yes the Caps do have polarity, it is marked on the caps and the top of the board next to the + pin. I had not done anything like this ever and replaced 6 bad caps without any problems.

The one thing I think makes this an easy fix is that the board is very simple and the traces are all wide and far apart so I was not concerned about doing any damage or shorting anything.

Make sure you check all the caps and replace any that look questionable so you don't need to do it again in another month or so.

As far as all the screws I put each size in a separately labeled zip lock to keep for each step and had no left-overs.

Good luck

Thanks DC. I just placed the order for the caps. I opened the unit back up again and checked all the caps this time, and those are the only two that look like they're bulging or look unusual at all. I'll go ahead and attempt the replacement.

My concern was just the risk that I might screw something bigger up by trying to do this myself, if this wasn't likely to be the problem in the first place. But even if I did screw something up, the alternative would just be to pay a small fortune to have it fixed anyway so I suppose I'm not likely to make that much worse.

Thanks again, and I'll try to post a follow-up when I get it done to report if it worked.

Latest update on my 52525 wavy line repair... Tech came out to install the "Signal Converter" and "FMT" bds today, but before he even looked at them (they had shipped to me) he told me that their in house tech recommended that they just bring they chassis back for a "massive cap replacement on multiple boards", especially if either of the replacement boards weren't "new"... well, the FMT bd was in great shape, but the Signal Converter was cleary well used and not repaired/upgraded, so he yanked my chassis and told me it'd be a week before I heard anything.

I'm thrilled! The tech said that the "in house guy" has been reworking the boards with great success the last few weeks (decided to try since they were scraping so many chassis') and is using higher voltage ratings than the manufacturer uses.

I was also told that if this repair didn't work, I'd be getting a new TV. I may be a fool, but I hope it works.... I love this set.

After a few weeks PC Richards returned my set in working order. The geometry was a bit off and the day of delivery a guy came and made adjustments to correct (the image was 1/4" to the left and there was some tilt at the top. Now we're dead center and there is only a mild tilt at the bottom- most people cant see it at all even with scrolling content).

The process took too long. After all said and done:

1 bulb
2 fmt boards
1 power board.

1 visit to diagnose
1 visit to do the first fmt board and bulb
1 visit to pick up the set after the new fmt board went bonkers
10 phone calls over 4 weeks to find out what the heck was going on and how much longer would it take...
1 visit to return the set
1 visit to fix the geometry on the returned set.

...or about $1000 in parts and labor.

All of which were covered by the service contract...

About $50 in misc tips were not... I willingly paid these out of pocket and would do it again.

And 4 weeks without the set after the first fmt died was pretty lousy. It was one month of xbox live and a royal inconvenience for family movie time.

I appreciate the support of PC richards... even with some mis-steps that delayed the return of my set by a week or so.

All of this stupidity was caused over a lousy supply of capacitors. While I can appreciate all the great black levels and adjustment capabilities (2 mirrors!) that are the product of mitsubishi engineering, I have to give them a d- on execution and manufacturing supply chain management. For a $4000 set you'd think they would have thought to make sure they were using decent components.... after all, the 52725 is in the medallion line... and the same parts are in the 825 series sets (the diamond line).

I'd really question my brand loyalty with Mitsubishi in future purchases. I'd probably sooner go back to Sony (who have had their share of manufacturing stupidity in recent years).

I am now the very happy owner of a Sony 60A3000 SXRD. My warranty company paid me $1700 towards a new set, and left the old one here to rot. Last call to anyone on this board that wants any parts off of this set before it goes in the dumpster. No charge, you would just need to pick it up, or pay shipping. The screen is perfect, the bulb has 5000+ hrs, and the entire chassis is gone. Thanks again for all the advice and I really feel for you guys going thru this ordeal.

Well, the third FMT board seems to have done the trick. No more wavy lines. I'm not sure the color is quite right, but the tech said the FMT board wouldn't have any effect on the color.

Anyway, now I need to decide if I want to leave the cable box on the HDMI input and my new Blu-ray player on component, or switch them. At least until I can get a new receiver with an HDMI repeater/switch. Although I don't like the idea of having to turn on the receiver just to watch cable.

Like I told the tech, I hope this new board either lasts a long long time, or dies soon. I've only got about 22 months left on my extended warranty.

Thanks DC. I just placed the order for the caps. I opened the unit back up again and checked all the caps this time, and those are the only two that look like they're bulging or look unusual at all. I'll go ahead and attempt the replacement.

My concern was just the risk that I might screw something bigger up by trying to do this myself, if this wasn't likely to be the problem in the first place. But even if I did screw something up, the alternative would just be to pay a small fortune to have it fixed anyway so I suppose I'm not likely to make that much worse.

Thanks again, and I'll try to post a follow-up when I get it done to report if it worked.

It took some doing, but I finally got the board out, the cap replaced, and everything put back together. I fired it up, and...

IT WORKS GREAT! It's like a new TV, with a new bulb and all the mirrors cleaned. It's amazing the difference. It was watchable before, but it was definitely getting darker. It's so bright now that I'd almost forgotten how good it can look.

But most importantly, it works now. And it didn't cost me 500 bucks to take it to an authorized Mitsu repair shop (they estimated a minimum of $300 all the way up to $800 to fix it when I called). The new bulb was $119 and the caps were under $10.

A big THANK YOU to everyone that replied and especially to those that wrote up the how-to guides with all of the very helpful pictures!

...

A big THANK YOU to everyone that replied and especially to those that wrote up the how-to guides with all of the very helpful pictures!

Can someone point me to the how-to guides and the pictures?

Can someone point me to the how-to guides and the pictures?

here's one posted by BB_mike

http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

here's one posted by BB_mike

http://www.chevelle-ss.com/temp/Mits_DLP_TV/52525_DLP_TV_Repair.htm

Thanks dssturbo1 :)

My chassis finally came back from mitsbubishi. The service co came out and popped the new chassis in, and everything is perfect. I forgot how great the TV looked before all the problems started. After spending the last few weeks researching new tvs and getting sub par image quality from my computer (I brought my laptop along with DVI docking station into Best buy), I am actually very relieved. I would have had a hard time using my HTPC with the 1080p sets given the distance from my couch because of the size of the text.

Now I just hope that Mits has fixed these so that they last a little longer than three years this time.

Hi all, just aqcuired my grandma's semi-broken wd52725. The TV works fine for awhile after you turn it on, but at some point the picture stops and all you have is a blue screen. The unit then proceeds to power itself off.
Grandma took the TV into the shop and they claim the DM board needs to be replaced.
I'm wondering if anyone here can confirm that diagnosis.
Anyone else had this issue and did you find a fix?

If it truly is the DM board I'd love to be able to replace it myself and have already found a few service manual PDF's online.

Thanks.

We experienced some pretty heavy rain Saturday morning and during a power interruption my set shut down and has since had the fast blinking green timer light.

Usually a system reset or unplugging the set takes care of this but no such luck this time. I called a tech in my area and he's coming out today. He thinks changing out some of the capacitors may get it back up and running.

I'm not so optimistic. After reading thru the last 20 or so pages of this thread, I've decided that if it's anything other than a very inexpensive repair, I'm ready to move on. My second bulb is near the end of it's life and I don't think it's worth investing much more money in a set that is so poorly supported by the manufacturer.:mad:

If so, I think my next unit will be a 52" Sony Bravia KXBR5 LCD.

Looks like another shop is gonna get a crack at it.

Were is the link to the class action?

It's official.....I'm moving on to the Sony KXBR Owner's Thread.

The diagnosis on my set was that I needed to replace the DM board. Throw in a bulb replacement and I just decided that it wasn't worth the cost to get this one fixed.

Send me a PM if anyone is in the market for spare parts.

Good luck to you guys.

It's been awhile since I posted. If you recall, I had the blinking light issue, wavy lines, and a really nasty / wavy picture when the chassis was cold (i.e. first plug-in / power-up after being disconnected from power for a long time)

1) The "mass cap replacement" fixed the blinking light.
2) The cap replacement also fixed my wavy lines - mostly. (although you could still see faint lines if you look real hard. (component inputs)
3) Some investigation with a hair dryer and freeze mist found a bad surface mount cap (chip type) that was causing my wavy picture (all inputs) at cold startup.


Strange thing.....every three weeks or so I come home to a "blinking light" still. Usually a reboot or two will fix the issue. I am on a PC / Server grade UPS so I don't think it's line fluctuations. I'm begining to wonder if I missed a cap somewhere.

Ideas?

My rebuilt chassis from PTS is still working great. It even survived a move since we sold our home and we are in temporary living quarters now. I think a rebuild from PTS is a good alternative to buying a new chassis and/or individual boards.

Recently my set has green wavy lines across the middle 1/3 of the set and the sound was breaking up. After resetting the set a couple of times, the picture stopped all together and I would get a red lamp led after a minute or so (sound still breaking up) until the red led lit.

I thought the bulb blew and purchased another. After installing the new, I had the exact same problem....bad sound then red led then nothing.

I watched the bulb, after a few seconds it would light up the go out then the red led.

After reading all the posts, I pulled the chassis...that was fun... and found the 2 swollen caps. I replaced the caps and reinstalled the chassis.

Now I have a fast green blinking power LED.

Where should I check next?

I would like the fmt install instructions...having a hard time trying to figure out how to get to that board


So the PC Richard guy was here. I misunderstood- he ordered the FMT not DM board... and it did the trick. I can post pictures of the swolen caps.

DM Board looked fine, though it was harder to inspect as it was deeper in the chasis. The Power Supply caps looked ok too.

He replaced the bulb.

Here are the bad caps we found:

(lables at the solder terminals under the board beneath the swolen caps)
Cbf22
Cbf21
Cbf27
Cbf19

I can send a picture and, if anyone wants it, I have the FMT install instuctions.

All said and done, for a field repair, the guy did a descent job. I definately got my money's worth on the extended warrantee- I am told that the FMT board can retail for $350 and the labor would be a min $200 to open the back... probably closer to $250/300. The replacement bulb sells for $250....

I'd still recommend PC Richards and their service plans. I am not sure how I feel about Mitsu... It is a great set... but this kind of chronic problem is very worrisome in a 3-4 year old set costing as much as the 52725 did...

The tech, btw, was awesome. If you are arranging PC Richards service on Long Island, private message me- I would highly recommend this guy and even called into the service center to tell his supervisor.

A list of the commonly failing Jamicon radial caps on the various boards can be found here:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/manufacturers-service-support/11045-mitsubishi-v26-chassis-1st-gen-dlp-capacitor-failures.html#post97583

So its been awhile since I posted. I had a chassis replacement 2 months ago, and wouldn't you know it, the wavy line issue came back last week. So after talking to various people it looks like I am going to get a replacement tv. Don't want to get too much into it, cause I don't want to jinx it, but there is hope on the horizon.

OK - 2 problems here...


Background: WD62725 MFG Oct 04, purchased Nov 04, still on original firmware v 4.03 (I think) if it matters.

Original bulb, 4200+ hours just as bright as ever.

Well, Feb 08, conveniently just outside of my 3yr warr, I get the dreaded wavy lines. It seems present on comp-1, comp-2, and all S-video inputs. I have read here that HDMI seems to be relatively free of this issue.

I have tried 3 different HDMI machines (2 sat receivers, and one upconvert DVD player) and 3 different HDMI cables and all I get is a black screen on the Mits. I assume I am using the correct input - I hit the "device" button on the remote, and switch to "MONLINK"? HDMI input defective?

Any suggestions before I call Mitsu again? My first call to them was blown off as being an issue with my sat receiver or cable (I only had one of each at the time). It was suggested that I do a "reset" via the small button on the front panel, which brings up another problem - after "resetting" the green light blinks indefinitely. By this I mean I tried 3 seperate times to reset the TV, and each time I pulled the plug after timing the blinking green light at atleast 1 hour. After I pulled the plug and replugged, the light went back into blink mode but only for a minute or so.

???:)

Here's one that I haven't read about happening to anyone else (yet).
Mine (Apr 2005) has developed a vertical jitter, that turns into loss of vertical sync after it heats up (about 10 minutes). Anyone else have this symptom?
:(
I have an extended 3 year warranty, that we'll see if it holds water.
I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else purchased through Dr. Plasma, and have a warranty through Mack in NJ.
I have the usual analog crap on the inputs, and the VGA is totally unusable now. I was getting ready to do the great cap replacement, but with this new development, I think I'll let warranty have a crack at it first.

A .wmv clip taken with my webcam is attached showing the loss of vertical sync. It's a .zip compressed file.

There are going to be numerous problems cropping up in this chassis. The problems with capacitors failing does not seem to be limited to the Jamicon radial caps as we thought initially. Virtually all of the polar SMD caps on the DM seem to be going bad, though the failure mode is often high ESR rather than high DA and swelling. It appears that they only way to reliably repair these sets will be to replace dozens of capacitors.

WD52525 Wavy Line issue.

Ok... 3 weeks ago my chassis was pulled for rework. Today, with over 20 caps swapped out, it was re-installed. The set was plugged in and.... nothing. No fans, no light... no error codes for that matter, the unit appears to power up correctly, just nothing actually powers up but the indicator LED and the always on fan.

The tech's said that unless Mits pulls a rabbit out of their hat, I should be getting an exchange "confirmation number" in about 3 days.

I'm bummed... I loved that set, it still looked brand new (I've never worked so hard at keeping something in "like new" condition) but now I have to replace it. Best Buy only offers Mits and Samsung DLP's right now... anybody care to make a recommendation?

WD52525 Wavy Line issue.

Ok... 3 weeks ago my chassis was pulled for rework. Today, with over 20 caps swapped out, it was re-installed. The set was plugged in and.... nothing. No fans, no light... no error codes for that matter, the unit appears to power up correctly, just nothing actually powers up but the indicator LED and the always on fan.

The tech's said that unless Mits pulls a rabbit out of their hat, I should be getting an exchange "confirmation number" in about 3 days.

I'm bummed... I loved that set, it still looked brand new (I've never worked so hard at keeping something in "like new" condition) but now I have to replace it. Best Buy only offers Mits and Samsung DLP's right now... anybody care to make a recommendation?
I wonder if they didnt forget to reinstall the E2P board intot he DM?
It would give that exact symptom I think...

If the E2P was not installed it would never complete the boot cycle and the timer LED would keep flashing.

As I have said, 20 caps is not even close to what it would take to fix these things reliably. Try another 100.

I wonder if they didnt forget to reinstall the E2P board intot he DM?
It would give that exact symptom I think...

Interesting... should I suggest it, or just go with the flow? :confused:

If the E2P was not installed it would never complete the boot cycle and the timer LED would keep flashing.

As I have said, 20 caps is not even close to what it would take to fix these things reliably. Try another 100.

Well... this being said, I'll opt for a new set. 21 caps replaced ( all thru hole) and like I said... plugged her in, the timer light flashed for about 30 seconds and we thought it was a go. Pressed power, solid green light, but nothing else. Sounds like it's a goner :(

I got the "Parts on Backorder" call today... it's been 49 days since the diagnosis, and 30 since my chassis was pulled and my set has been dark.

I called BB and got them to enter the request for replacement... and have 3 business days to wait for a response... I'm not waiting 5 more days (gotta love that weekend), so I'm calling again tomorrow and griping some more.

I finally got to the blinking green light of death right after posting the loss of vertical synch after warm up in the 18th.

I dug up my 3 year extended warranty with Mack Camera, and went to work getting a technician out. The first call will be Monday.

For those of you who have already embarked on this journey, any words of wisdom for how to play the game?

My WD62825 exhibits all symptoms that have been discussed here other than a blown bulb.

Mack has a Mitsubishi Factory Auth repair facility coming out, who is probably the biggest in the area.

When do I bring up this AVS thread, and the fact that I already know the eventual outcome to someone who is compensated to repair, not replace?

How did you get Mitsubishi involved, and at what point?

Has anyone actually been compensated yet?

Let the games begin........

OK - 2 problems here...


Background: WD62725 MFG Oct 04, purchased Nov 04, still on original firmware v 4.03 (I think) if it matters.

Original bulb, 4200+ hours just as bright as ever.

Well, Feb 08, conveniently just outside of my 3yr warr, I get the dreaded wavy lines. It seems present on comp-1, comp-2, and all S-video inputs. I have read here that HDMI seems to be relatively free of this issue.

I have tried 3 different HDMI machines (2 sat receivers, and one upconvert DVD player) and 3 different HDMI cables and all I get is a black screen on the Mits. I assume I am using the correct input - I hit the "device" button on the remote, and switch to "MONLINK"? HDMI input defective?

Any suggestions before I call Mitsu again? My first call to them was blown off as being an issue with my sat receiver or cable (I only had one of each at the time). It was suggested that I do a "reset" via the small button on the front panel, which brings up another problem - after "resetting" the green light blinks indefinitely. By this I mean I tried 3 seperate times to reset the TV, and each time I pulled the plug after timing the blinking green light at atleast 1 hour. After I pulled the plug and replugged, the light went back into blink mode but only for a minute or so.

???:)
That's how my blinking started. For about 6 months it would go into green blink after a power outage, but always came up after a unplug, wait, plug in, and reset.

Mine has now blinked for 14 days, with numerous periods of being unplugged and reset. The longest unplugged was Fri to Tuesday Memorial weekend. No dice.

I'm lovin' it!

Even better is the fact that I didn't have any issues at all (read: known issues, I had never attempted to use the HDMI input) until just after the three year EW was up:rolleyes:

I should have got the five year:D

After 3 failed chassis my WD62725 has been replaced by Magnolia AV with a WD73834 w/ matching stand with no "up charge". I have NEVER experienced such Great Customer Service.

I started following this thread a week or so ago (wish I found this group earlier). I've had the wavy line problem on my Mits. WD62525 for about a year. It started as a diagonal line that was barely noticeable, but got worse as time went on. Eventually it became a horizontal line and it was only present on the component inputs. The HDMI was fine and I spent a lot of time trouble shooting the problem (power cleaner, A/C outlet changes, new cables, etc.) until I finally realized it was the TV itself.

I forgot I had the warranty until BB looked me up in their computer. They had two companies call me for service, but when I checked the BBB, the service providers were listed as unsatisfactory. BB told me I could use my own perfered company and they would reimburse me (they ended up adding the company I like to their list). Well, I finally had the TV picked up. I knew it would be gone for a bit, but had no idea they were going to take it for 4 to 6 weeks. Here's to hoping all works well. I will check all inputs, card readers, etc. when they bring it back. It stinks that it's going to take so long to put a new format board in there (that was their diag.). Wish me luck!

Tech came out and diagnosed caps on the power supply, and the DM board.
I wasn't there, so we'll just let nature take it's course.

At least that tells me that they've seen it before.

Have had the wavy lines for quite a while and had talked to the tech where I purchased my WD62525. He guessed it was the FMT, but since I had a 5-yr warranty, good until Aug 2009, and since the lines were not that noticeable at a distance, I told him I would wait. But then, a couple of weeks ago, my inputs, one-by-one, went to blue screen with a "vibrating blob" in the center of the screen. He said this was probably power supply. They picked it up, and I am hoping for a buy-out, as I am tired of this set, and Mits in general. Will let you know how it goes. I have a Maytag warranty, and have had good luck with their warranties on other products.

After 3 failed chassis my WD62725 has been replaced by Magnolia AV with a WD73834 w/ matching stand with no "up charge". I have NEVER experienced such Great Customer Service.Nice!

It's always refreshing to hear about a company not only honoring the terms of their extended warranty, but not making the exchange an additional burden to their customer!

Well played, sir!

Have had the wavy lines for quite a while and had talked to the tech where I purchased my WD62525. He guessed it was the FMT, but since I had a 5-yr warranty, good until Aug 2009, and since the lines were not that noticeable at a distance, I told him I would wait. But then, a couple of weeks ago, my inputs, one-by-one, went to blue screen with a "vibrating blob" in the center of the screen. He said this was probably power supply. They picked it up, and I am hoping for a buy-out, as I am tired of this set, and Mits in general. Will let you know how it goes. I have a Maytag warranty, and have had good luck with their warranties on other products.

Yikes!

Keep us informed if you don't mind, as I am currently looking at needing the FMT board replaced. My set is just beyond the 3-year warranty, but Mits was helpful enough to find a local repair facility (all "authorized" shops are 90+ miles from me) to do my repairs. The repair tech met me at my house last evening and "diagnosed" the problem as likely the FMT board. It was kind of a hasty diagnosis, but hey didn't charge me for the house call, so go figure. He made mention of having serviced quite a few Mits 1st gen DLP's.

He should have a repair quote for me today, which I am going to have to eat of course, so we'll see how much this set is worth to me:D

My follow up on the replacement request was met with a "wait 2 more days while we check with your tech" line of crap... in the meantime I have a "new" reworked DM board waiting on my doorstep tonight. Now... if they rebuilt my whole chassis, and it worked for them at the shop, how will replacing a board in that chassis resurrect my dead TV?

I will be making the call tomorrow evening.

Now, if I DO get my replacement, what do I go with? I was planning on a Sammy, but they seem to have lots of geometry issues (and since reading about them, I've played with the frames on the 56 & 61" models in stores, and they are WAAY too flexible for my taste.. If you haven't tried this... go for it... My Mits is so rigid and these were almost flaccid) and I'm totally gun shy in regards to a Mits.... anyone here made this choice?

Have had the wavy lines for quite a while and had talked to the tech where I purchased my WD62525. He guessed it was the FMT, but since I had a 5-yr warranty, good until Aug 2009, and since the lines were not that noticeable at a distance, I told him I would wait. But then, a couple of weeks ago, my inputs, one-by-one, went to blue screen with a "vibrating blob" in the center of the screen. He said this was probably power supply. They picked it up, and I am hoping for a buy-out, as I am tired of this set, and Mits in general. Will let you know how it goes. I have a Maytag warranty, and have had good luck with their warranties on other products.

Continuing my saga, the tech called me back and said he tried to get me a buy-out, but the warranty co. instead authorized another chassis. Like the tech said, I have alreadey gone through two $250 lamps, and will need another before the warranty expires, so they will have been out about $1700 so far, and the set will still be in warranty for another 12 mo. I would have taken a $1250 buy-out in a heartbeat. The tech said that Mits has run out of the module boards, and is asking techs to fix them or send in the core for repair/replacement, so what you get back is most likely someone else's problem. Short burn-in time before shipping parts to techs insures more problems for everyone. Mits, once considered the Cadillac of TVs, is having problems. Tech said a wait of at least 6-8 weeks, and I asked him to run it in the shop for several days when it gets back to see if it's really fixed. In the mean time, I purchase a Tosh 52RV530U LCD, with an awesome picture. Having had two 32HL167s, I knew what these REGZA sets would do. When and if the Mits is fixed, I'm giving it to my daughter.

Next! Called BB, no Replacement Authorization yet... seems I have even more parts on backorder... some not expected until JULY! I have a tech coming tomorrow (5th time on this single repair) to yet again determine if it's unrepairable... 57 days of this crap, and the last 35 days with a dead TV (one that was working before they fixed it....)

It's amazing how poor customer service has gotten.

BB has relented! Got my exchange code this morning, and picked a WD-60735 as a replacement. While the warranty service aspect was a nightmare, my dealings at the actual store were typically delightful. I chose the 60" due to space limitations, they were willing to go bigger.

Thanx for your insight and support these last few months.

When and if the Mits is fixed, I'm giving it to my daughter.

LOL! You must really hate your daughter...

This might just be wishful thinking but has anyone had success calling Mits and complaining? I do not have a warranty and replacing my chassis is going to be $1300. There is no way that I will do that.

Has anyone gotten anything out of Mits by complaining up a storm?

Good thought, but yes. Their customer service is even a bigger joke than their product quality. If you manage to get past the level 1 support based out of Singapore or Taiwan, then you get to level 2 in California. They'll listen and then tell you their is nothing they will do.

WD-62525 -- 3.5 Years old. About 6000 running hours. On 2nd bulb.
3 weeks ago, our inputs started losing H & V Lock one by one...
Thinking it lost it's mind, shut it off, cooled, and pulled plug for a minute. Power off made it worse. Looking at the block diagrams, it's DM or Transcoder board issues, but possibly power supply as it got worse after being disconnected from power. We're 3.5 years into 4 year Extended Warranty. They pulled Video Engine (Power Supply, DM, Formatter), and "Sent to shop for Re-Capping", and a test run on a test fixture. I asked to be supplied with caps that were changed, as I'd like to know for after my Warranty is up. Service Guy indicated it wasn't an unusual request... We'll see how it goes.

I've found the power supply info sheet... Has anyone done it for the DM or Transcoder board????

Also, I've the Block diagrams but is there any real schematics?

Thanks... Jan
Anyway, Wife just informed me they are returning the repaired and tested Video Engine TOMORROW AM!!!

So, after we moved all our morning trips to evening, they call this morning that they want to come in the evening!!! GRRRR!!!!

So now we're scheduled for PM on Monday....

The part that has me burned is the fact that they knew they had us move stuff from morning to evening when they called last night!

Purchased a Mits 62725 a little over three years ago, with a three year warranty (from Tweeters, Houston).

In October 2007 (3 months before warranty expires), I lost the bulb. One month later, I get checkerboard pattern on screen with no cure.

Tweeter finally gets me a new chassis (after much whining on my part). This was fixed in February '08, after LONG wait.

This past week, I get the checkerboard again. Tweeter says that it is out of warranty, and their fix was only good for 30 days...I am SOL.

So advice:

1) do I stand any chance on reversing this position?

2) I have a five year old Samsung HLN617 that runs constantly, and has never had a bulb replaced. This Mits seems like a POS by comparision (although it is two DLP generations beyond the Samsung). I hate this tv, especially the loud fan that is on constantly, not to mention the terrible pincushioning due to warped front plastic screen. I do not trust that spending $500-$1000 for a fix is a good investment.....when in another month something else can go.


What should I do with this hunk of (mostly) plastic and metal?

Promised an update: Worked directly with Mits in California. I was very impressed with their level of service....they were very responsive.

I had to spend $100 to get Tweeter back out to estimate the repair. Unfortunately, when tech turned on TV, now there also was a colorwheel whine. His estimate...new chassis, new light engine...parts and labor $1500.

Despite being out of warranty, Mits agreed to supply parts ($900) if I pay for labor ($600). From Mits standpoint, this seems fair. However, Tweeter's 30 day waranty on work they provided really pisses me off.

They no longer mfg chassis, and rebuild it. They will warantee this work for 6 months.

So.....need more advice.

I already have a new bulb. With a rebuilt chassis and new light engine, what else can go wrong? I hate to spend $600.....and more importantly, wait 6-8 weeks for the rebuilt chassis (tv has only worked for six weeks since beginning of december last year).

p.s. the loud fan on ALL the time also drive me nuts in my HT.

What would you do? I have my eye on the Sammy HL67A750 for $2k.

Face the fact that the Mits DLP will continue to have many problems; poor quality lamps, poor quality electronics, etc. Put the $600 into a good product instead. Anything but Mits.

Face the fact that the Mits DLP will continue to have many problems; poor quality lamps, poor quality electronics, etc. Put the $600 into a good product instead. Anything but Mits.

I fell the same way. It is sad:( I have been a long time fan untill I got my WD62725.

I did a large scale cap replacement, getting all the "recommended" replacements on the PWB,DM and FMT boards. However, it looks like my PWB Q9a70 is cooked, as I have no voltage after this part, based on the Mits block diagram. The 12vs is OK, and there is 12v at the center lead of the q9a70, but 0V and .11v at the other leads. It appears the 10v,5v, and 3.3v outputs draw off of this. the TV will boot, and appears to power on as far as the green LED is concerned, but there is no exhaust fan, and no lamp powering up. The remote does work to turn the set on and off, and the continuous fan runs. My feeling is that the transistor is bad, (it wasnt before I went in to repair the caps, the failure mode was different, and the lamp and exh did come on before I went into the set) but it seems to be a hard part to find (PHP21N06T). Is there a generic equivalent? Is my diagnosis correct? Also, all fuses check good.

Thanks for any help!

Kevin

I agree with the others here. Stop throwing money at this sinking ship, get something new. 1080p, more than 1 hdmi, and no noisy fan is well worth the money. I was cashed out thru my extended warranty, bought one of the last 60" Sony SXRD sets, and couldn't be happier. $600 is a nice chunk towards a new one.

Thx all. Going out to get my new Sammy today.

I wonder if I can get the light engine and chassis anyhow from Mits, and play around with this set in my garage (I'm a EE). Maybe I get lucky and can give this POS to my college kid.

Anyone here have opinion for difficulty to swap out chassis and light engine?

...

I wonder if I can get the light engine and chassis anyhow from Mits, and play around with this set in my garage (I'm a EE). Maybe I get lucky and can give this POS to my college kid.

...

Must not think much of your college kid?:)

I did a large scale cap replacement, getting all the "recommended" replacements on the PWB,DM and FMT boards. However, it looks like my PWB Q9a70 is cooked, as I have no voltage after this part, based on the Mits block diagram. The 12vs is OK, and there is 12v at the center lead of the q9a70, but 0V and .11v at the other leads. It appears the 10v,5v, and 3.3v outputs draw off of this. the TV will boot, and appears to power on as far as the green LED is concerned, but there is no exhaust fan, and no lamp powering up. The remote does work to turn the set on and off, and the continuous fan runs. My feeling is that the transistor is bad, (it wasnt before I went in to repair the caps, the failure mode was different, and the lamp and exh did come on before I went into the set) but it seems to be a hard part to find (PHP21N06T). Is there a generic equivalent? Is my diagnosis correct? Also, all fuses check good.

Thanks for any help!

Kevin

Can you provide me with a link or list of suggested replacement caps, and their locations, please? If I ever get repaired chassis back, I'd like this information because I've been told there will be no 'new' service contract when mine expires in October....

You will need to replace virtually every polar electrolytic capacitor in the chassis, which will number in the hundreds. We initially thought the problem with early failure in the caps was limited to the larger radial Jamicon caps, but recent tests on hundreds of caps in the V26 chassis series indicates that virtually all of the surface mout electrolytics are failing early as well.

My recommendation is to cut your losses on these sets and not waste any time on them.

I am in the middle of a battle with Mits on this set right now. They keep telling me its out of warranty. I keep telling them I don't care. This $4000 pos should last longer than a $800 Magnavox that has been running strong for 20 years. They keep making me jump through hoops with repair invoices, estimates, etc. So far they have offered me $165. I will file a BBB complaint tonight and encourage you to do the same.


This might just be wishful thinking but has anyone had success calling Mits and complaining? I do not have a warranty and replacing my chassis is going to be $1300. There is no way that I will do that.

Has anyone gotten anything out of Mits by complaining up a storm?

You will need to replace virtually every polar electrolytic capacitor in the chassis, which will number in the hundreds. We initially thought the problem with early failure in the caps was limited to the larger radial Jamicon caps, but recent tests on hundreds of caps in the V26 chassis series indicates that virtually all of the surface mout electrolytics are failing early as well.

My recommendation is to cut your losses on these sets and not waste any time on them.

Can you provide me with the information that you have regarding the caps from the 'early failure' info?

My warranty expires in October, and I can't see tossing a $5K TV in the trash just because they designed it with insufficient headroom and voltage rating on the caps...

I've got the 'service manual' but it doesn't include schematics.

I also have been known to do surface mount component replacement at work, and I own an ESR meter.

Really, if you have the info, I'd be happy to get that from you....

Presently, Our 62525 "video engine" is out being re-capped. I'm trying to get this information for 'the future'...



Jan

I will file a BBB complaint tonight and encourage you to do the same.


useless as well... they will get back to you in months and then just restate that the set is out of warranty. They will act like they are doing you a favor by paying for parts if you pay for all other labor and diagnosis...

Honestly, that would be an acceptable response if it was a fluke failure or a single failure that occurs after the warranty period. But with the systematic issues and outright failures that people have had, it is unacceptable. My set has gone through 3 light engines and a board replacement under warranty, yet they still won't accept the fact that I was sold a POS. I have the wavy lines as well, and am just waiting for the thing to die before I sell it for parts.

Can you provide me with the information that you have regarding the caps from the 'early failure' info?

My warranty expires in October, and I can't see tossing a $5K TV in the trash just because they designed it with insufficient headroom and voltage rating on the caps...

I've got the 'service manual' but it doesn't include schematics.

I also have been known to do surface mount component replacement at work, and I own an ESR meter.

Really, if you have the info, I'd be happy to get that from you....

Presently, Our 62525 "video engine" is out being re-capped. I'm trying to get this information for 'the future'...

Jan

I base my statements on recent tests of quite a few V26 boards which led me to believe that many of the surface mount caps may be failing as well. I found many with high ESR and testing bad in circuit with my Sencore analyzer. I decided to pull every SM polar electrolytic cap on a DM that we were trying to repair and recorded the capacitance, ESR, DA, and leakage values for each cap. The results were shocking. Nearl all the caps were at best marginal, and most were just plain bad.

After having several sets that we changed the radial caps in come back with SM caps failing, I have decided that we will no longer attempt to repair these chassis. They will all go back to Mitsubishi for rebuilding. Hopefully they are replacing lots of caps and not just those causing the immediate problems. If the latter, there will be some big fights and lawsuits coming.

I will be happy to post the test results for the caps I recorded measurements for from the DM mentioned above as soon as I find the time to type it up. It may be a while.

ok... Let me ask this Icaillo.. Do you have schematics of the boards?

I can read schematics, and have an ESR meter... I'd just need to be able to follow video paths....

At this point, I'd prefer to be the person who decides to throw in the towel... Once October gets here, and I'm "On My Own" at least with schematics, ESR meter, and good troubleshooting proceedures, I've a fighting chance.

Granted, I won't be up to replacing a gate array, but caps, Yes!!!


How's about that? Got Schematics?

WD 62525 Success Story!

Repairman just left.. (after re-installing the Video Engine)
The following were replaced:

12 x 1000uf caps (I believe it was FMT, DM boards)
2 x 3300uf caps (fairly certain this was for power supply)
3 x 47uf caps
3 x 100uf caps
1 x 22uf cap

Powered up and worked fine!!! I'd like to know more about where and which caps were changed.

I'm still looking for more info on the boards... Repairguy indicated that schematics do exist, on a CD.

Its time for me to move on. My 62725 is available to you for parts. The set has the blinking green power led issue so I'm sure its the caps on the chassis. Make me an offer for any part that you might be interested in. I have a brand new bulb in an used extra holder that I bought. I would like $100 for that. I also have a used bulb in a holder (I don't know how many hours are on it. Its had normal use for a year). Make me an offer.

I believe everything other than the chassis issue is fine.

I am the proud owner of the 52525 NOT!!! Blinking Green light of Death. From everything i have read on the forums it appears that these sets are designed to be thrown off a cliff!! In the past i have always been brand loyal to consumer electronics. I worked hard to save for this TV and did my research (best black levels and most A/V hookups etc.) at the time when this set came out. I have always been a Sony fan but i figured maybe it was time for a change..........WRONG! Three years later without a warranty and its obvious that i need not waste my time and hard earned money on fixing this MITSUCANCER. Anyway i will put my tv by the curb soon and will gut the internals just for grins and throw em in teh trash LOL. I won't even let the recycler ppl come by to try and use my tv for copper or metal etc. Good luck to all u MITSUFEGS!!!!
J.K. I will go out of my way to let everyone i know not to purchase another MITS product and i suggest u do the same

The Service people who just recently did our 62525 pulled the entire video engine, and said that all 4 boards inside: Power, DM, Formatter, Video Input would have dry caps.

It looks as good as new right now.... and I'm trying to get as much information as I can on what was changed.... So that after the Service contract expires (October of this year) I can have an idea where to go for cap replacement.

Look up a few posts.... I posted the number and size of caps that were replaced, according to the service slip..
Unfortunately, I was not given information as to Which board each was on... nor the "C Number"
But your comments about 12 1000uf caps matches what was changed on mine.
I searched other sites, and there is posts about "C Numbers" but not sizes. If I could get all the information at once, it sure would be helpful...

I'd LOVE to sit down with schematics and determine the caps location and see what each of these are doing...
so I could determine if other values would be better. I'd also want to replace with higher voltage caps, as I believe some of the issues are "Accountant" related. (Accountant Related: "We can get 10V caps cheaper than 16V caps --- Let's do that!" )

On 5-12, I lost my set completely to the green blink, after it developed a vertical synch issue after 30 minutes of play (se recent posts). I contacted the extended warranty company Mack Camera of NJ, who eventually had a tech come out locally. They fiddled for a minute and declared that the DM module was the problem. Tried to order one, and Mitsu stated that it was no longer available. This violates some federal law about having to stock replacement parts for 5 years from manufacture. So, big letter to Mitsu customer relations in Irvine, and a call to the extend warranty guys. Mitsu calls right back and says that the procedure now is to have the chassis pulled, and sent to a regional facility for rebuilding. No other options.
I have expressed my discontent with this as nicely as possible without telling them that I know about the other countless sets with EXACTLY the same issues. No avail.
Now that the warranty company has wind of this regional repair, so they refuse to replace until this repair has been tried. Best estimates so far, are 6-8 weeks plus shipping. Sounds like a Zebco fishing reel from TV.
So I appear to be in warranty hell, where no one wants to step up and just replace the set because they are all making money on the deal by repairing it.

SIGH....

Think I smell a Sammy in my future. Anything but Mits unless someone wakes up on this consumer travesty.

On 5-12, I lost my set completely to the green blink, after it developed a vertical synch issue after 30 minutes of play (se recent posts). I contacted the extended warranty company Mack Camera of NJ, who eventually had a tech come out locally. They fiddled for a minute and declared that the DM module was the problem. Tried to order one, and Mitsu stated that it was no longer available. This violates some federal law about having to stock replacement parts for 5 years from manufacture. So, big letter to Mitsu customer relations in Irvine, and a call to the extend warranty guys. Mitsu calls right back and says that the procedure now is to have the chassis pulled, and sent to a regional facility for rebuilding. No other options.
I have expressed my discontent with this as nicely as possible without telling them that I know about the other countless sets with EXACTLY the same issues. No avail.
Now that the warranty company has wind of this regional repair, so they refuse to replace until this repair has been tried. Best estimates so far, are 6-8 weeks plus shipping. Sounds like a Zebco fishing reel from TV.
So I appear to be in warranty hell, where no one wants to step up and just replace the set because they are all making money on the deal by repairing it.

SIGH....

Think I smell a Sammy in my future. Anything but Mits unless someone wakes up on this consumer travesty.

That is one of the reasons I stopped buying the extended warranty plans. They cost so much and most of the time don't pay off.

I don't agree. Without the extended warranty plan, I would be footing the bill for all this rebuild of the chassis. If they cannot repair the set to original specifications, then they will buy me out at "market value", but I have to go through all this repair stuff first. Ultimately, they will pay more than they would have to just buy me out, and will take 3-4 months total to come to that conclusion. That's my frustration

He said most of the time they don't pay off, presumably meaning that in most cases people never need or use them. This would be correct, for most situations. In the case of the V26 Mitsubishi, the warranty companies are getting the shor end of the deal and customers are making out ok. There is little way to know when you buy the warranty that this will be the case, however, and over the long run, buying extended warranties generally is not a good investment. It is a risk management tool that can be useful, but in the vast majority of purchases is not.

Update. WD 62525

TV has been down since Thanksgiving.

Already into it for caps and bulb.

Now the shop says the Light engine and DM board is bad.

After jumping threw a ton of hoops Mits has offered to pay $400 which would leave me paying $800

The question is has anyone gone back and asked for more to be covered and had any luck?

Any luck joining the Class action on these TVs?

I started of a huge fan of Mits like most and cannot believe this TV turned out to be such trash.

Don't just blindly call this TV trash. Not all of them have issues. I have had my unit since 11/04 and have yet to have an issue with it. The only thing I have had to do is change the bulb and that was by choice as it was starting to dim. One thing I wonder, considering all of the issues with these seem to be power board related is if the reason I have not had any issues is because since day one I have had mine hooked up to a Monster Power Center to ensure it always gets clean power. I'm not sure if that has been what has helped me to remain problem free, but I have to wonder.

I love this TV. The only reason I might finally sell it and get a new one is when the new Mitsi LasterVue tvs come out. Then I might think about getting a new one. Otherwise, I'm 110% satisfied.

I do feel for you guys/girls, though, don't get me wrong. I couldn't imagine going through the crap you all are having to go through.

I think the failure of all the sets in the WD-xxx25 line is inevitable, as are all products. Its just disappointing that the half-life seems to be about four years, when the bad capacitors dry up. When I bought it back in 2004, the value vs. the other options (CRT or Plasma) made it a pretty easy decision to pick it, and I was ok with replacing bulbs every two years or so, because the cost of ownership would be spread out over a longer period of time with a quality manufacturer like Mitsubishi.

I think you might just be lucky.

Mine has been on a monster power center and a UPS since day one and I still lost 6 caps on my DM board. I also have problems with my FMT board but since I only use HDMI now I let that alone.

The only thing that would get me to by another *hitsubishi would be for them to step up and admit that they used junk components and replace all of the sets or at least give us a reasonable credit to a replacement. I have a 15 year old 31 inch set that is still going strong. That was the performance I had come to expect from the company. Not anly more.


Don't just blindly call this TV trash. Not all of them have issues. I have had my unit since 11/04 and have yet to have an issue with it. The only thing I have had to do is change the bulb and that was by choice as it was starting to dim. One thing I wonder, considering all of the issues with these seem to be power board related is if the reason I have not had any issues is because since day one I have had mine hooked up to a Monster Power Center to ensure it always gets clean power. I'm not sure if that has been what has helped me to remain problem free, but I have to wonder.

I love this TV. The only reason I might finally sell it and get a new one is when the new Mitsi LasterVue tvs come out. Then I might think about getting a new one. Otherwise, I'm 110% satisfied.

I do feel for you guys/girls, though, don't get me wrong. I couldn't imagine going through the crap you all are having to go through.

I think you might just be lucky.

Mine has been on a monster power center and a UPS since day one and I still lost 6 caps on my DM board. I also have problems with my FMT board but since I only use HDMI now I let that alone.

The only thing that would get me to by another *hitsubishi would be for them to step up and admit that they used junk components and replace all of the sets or at least give us a reasonable credit to a replacement. I have a 15 year old 31 inch set that is still going strong. That was the performance I had come to expect from the company. Not anly more.

Man, that sux! I guess I have been lucky (knock on wood). I'm still gonna look into the laservue line. They are supposed to use only 200w of power. Hopefully with this line, they learned their lessons.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I was one of the many ppl who was'nt reporting the problems with my TV and just lurking the Forum. Someone earlier mentioned that nobody really knows how many F'ed up Tv's are out there because many ppl aren't active enough to actually post. They Lurk the forum's and see that pretty much at the Three Year mark these Tv's Crap out, so what's the incentive to even post? Just save up for a new NON MITSUCANCER SET. Anyway I think we have'nt even reached the tip of the iceberg or barely even scratched the surface on the problem's for this set.

Don't just blindly call this TV trash. Not all of them have issues. I have had my unit since 11/04 and have yet to have an issue with it. The only thing I have had to do is change the bulb and that was by choice as it was starting to dim. One thing I wonder, considering all of the issues with these seem to be power board related is if the reason I have not had any issues is because since day one I have had mine hooked up to a Monster Power Center to ensure it always gets clean power. I'm not sure if that has been what has helped me to remain problem free, but I have to wonder.

I love this TV. The only reason I might finally sell it and get a new one is when the new Mitsi LasterVue tvs come out. Then I might think about getting a new one. Otherwise, I'm 110% satisfied.

I do feel for you guys/girls, though, don't get me wrong. I couldn't imagine going through the crap you all are having to go through.

A half a doezen swollen and rusty caps that say these TVs are junk. The customer service looks to be even worse.

Even with all that done it still needs months of work and more money than its worth.

So back to the question I asked.

Any luck with the class action or going back to Mits and asking for a credit towards a new TV or more money towards the repair.?

The number they came up with seems like they went out of there way to find a non cost effective solutiion but still look like they offered to help.

If all the repairs actually work the set will have over $1500 in work in it.

Man, that sux! I guess I have been lucky (knock on wood). ..... Hopefully with this line, they learned their lessons.....

i was lucky too until 2 months ago, now i'm sol with a dead 62" mits dlp.

but the problem is that we're they ones paying for them to learn a lesson???

if they learned a lesson they would be offering some type of solution or help, instead of the same ole big corporate denial and refusal to step up and show good customer service.

the lesson their customers are learning is not to trust or buy from them again.

i was lucky too until 2 months ago, now i'm sol with a dead 62" mits dlp.

but the problem is that we're they ones paying for them to learn a lesson???

if they learned a lesson they would be offering some type of solution or help, instead of the same ole big corporate denial and refusal to step up and show good customer service.

the lesson their customers are learning is not to trust or buy from them again.

True enough. Guess it's just a matter of time for me or maybe I did get lucky.

As far as a class action suit goes, though, in my experience, the only folks that make any money on those are the lawyers. Even if there were a suit and we won, we'd only get pennies on the dollar (if we're lucky).

I haven't been around in awhile, so I may have missed this. But recently I have been randomly running into this problem when I use my harmony remote to power on all my HT components. The red status indicator on the 725 just starts slowly blinking. I believe from the manual this meant that the set requires service. But, I have found if I press the reset button, the green status indicator blinks rapidly for a little bit, then when that stops I hit the power button and the TV turns on and works normal.

This happens randomly, but appears to be increasing in frequency. Maybe one in every 10 or so attempts at turning this on do I encounter it. At first, it seemed when I switched from listening to my Sirius radio over to watch TV on the Harmony was causing this, but now it appears to happen anytime.

Any ideas on what the underlying issue may be? I feel like I'm sitting on a time bomb and the set will go any time now. I'm out of warranty, and won't even deal with repair issues. I'll just go out and get a non Mits set.

Just a quick clarification on the pattern of blinking, since it happened again today.

The red status light seems to have a pattern of blinking slowly 3 times in a row and then the 4th blink lasts for 3 seconds. Then it repeats this series of blinks again and again. So it's blink-blink-blink then blink for 3 seconds.

Also, after pressing the reset button, the green timer light blinks rapidly for about 40 seconds. Again, once that stops, I press the power button and all is good again.

Any ideas on interpreting these series of blinks? I'm finding red status blinks often seem to mean a fan issue, but I haven't seen anything in the thread specific to this pattern. Any help would be much appreciated, because if it is a fan, I might have a repair tech out to replace it before it breaks if that isn't too costly. Thanks.

According to the service manual, the one long, three short red flash means the DMD fan (the fan behind the light engine) or the Lamp Fan is stopped. It might be an easy fix.

Hmmm....On my 62", I just had a lamp die and I got a new lamp (from warranty) about 6 months ago. Ever since I had put in the new lamp, I would periodically get the warning that the fan intake was blocked (I forget the actual wording), but I could never find anything blocking it.

I'm wondering if the warranty company just sent me a crappy fan or if there's some other issue.

According to the service manual, the one long, three short red flash means the DMD fan (the fan behind the light engine) or the Lamp Fan is stopped. It might be an easy fix.

Thanks. It's happening every day now - any idea how long I've got until this workaround I'm using stops working? Any additional damage I could incur by running the set without one or both of these fans operating?

I called Tweeter service who used to have my warranty. It's $99 to get the tech out here, plus $100-$300 for their labor time to fix whatever the problem is, plus the cost of the part. COD. Any idea how much each of these fans costs?

I doubt I can fix this myself. I have opened it up to do a mirror cleaning myself, but I don't know if I trust myself to a) find the right part, and b) actually know how to get in there and replace either of these fans. Especially if one of the fans means removing a light engine.

!PROTIP for Buffalo: Take a Sledgehammer and kock it back over yer head and let er rip! JK. I am so frustrated at the set that mine will end up at a local shooting range!

We've been using a vaccuum cleaner, with a soft bristle attachment...
Doing all areas of insides, and doing the mirror last. Our 62525 has two mirrors, and the large top one is inverted, so I never have to clean it, only the bottom one, and lenz needs cleaning. I don't push on mirror or lenz with the attachment, I just brush ever-so-lightly across it... The vaccuum action and soft bristles does the job!!

I considered liquids, except I've seen how front surface mirrors react to liquids, and I'm not certain what reaction the mirror coating (if any) would have to the liquid (which one?), so I tried the "Dry Vaccuum" method first, and it worked fine....... We average 6-9 months between cleaning, and have had DLP 3+ years, and since the dry vaccuum method works, I'm not going to tempt fate with liquids....

I've had my WD-62525 for 3 years 4 months. The other day I went to turn it on and the green light blinked fast for 30-40 seconds and then the red lamp light came on constant. Screen was blank. I was very fortunate to find this forum. Thanks to noplasma, BB_Mike, & Icaillo (see page 188) I was able to replace the two bulging 3300uF 10volt capacitors on my power board for under $3 and fix my tv.

Thx all. Going out to get my new Sammy today.

I wonder if I can get the light engine and chassis anyhow from Mits, and play around with this set in my garage (I'm a EE). Maybe I get lucky and can give this POS to my college kid.

Anyone here have opinion for difficulty to swap out chassis and light engine?

Update: After Mits offered to to pay parts for my dead 62725 that is out of warranty (need new chassis and light engine), I did attempt a second round of trying to get Mits to pay for $600 labor to fix it (it was previously fixed under warranty. and same problem (chasis) reoccurred 6 weeks later (and after it fell out of warranty).

No success. Love my new Sammy 67".... LED, so no bulb problems ever, and no color wheel, so no failures on that component.

I really cannot accept that I bought this TV for $4600 (inc tax, extnd warranty) and after three years it is a throw away. Is there an open Class Action?

Tweeters refuses to even haul it away....how do I dispose of this POS?

Update: After Mits offered to to pay parts for my dead 62725 that is out of warranty (need new chassis and light engine), I did attempt a second round of trying to get Mits to pay for $600 labor to fix it (it was previously fixed under warranty. and same problem (chasis) reoccurred 6 weeks later (and after it fell out of warranty).

No success. Love my new Sammy 67".... LED, so no bulb problems ever, and no color wheel, so no failures on that component.

I really cannot accept that I bought this TV for $4600 (inc tax, extnd warranty) and after three years it is a throw away. Is there an open Class Action?

Tweeters refuses to even haul it away....how do I dispose of this POS?

I think I'm going to go the 67" Sammy route as well. My 62725 gets worse each time I use it. My $1800 stimulus check just came in, and I may have to indulge myself. As far as disposal goes, well I don't know where you live, but if I sit that beast out to the curb she will be gone in no time flat:D

I've had my WD-62525 for 3 years 4 months. The other day I went to turn it on and the green light blinked fast for 30-40 seconds and then the red lamp light came on constant. Screen was blank. I was very fortunate to find this forum. Thanks to noplasma, BB_Mike, & Icaillo (see page 188) I was able to replace the two bulging 3300uF 10volt capacitors on my power board for under $3 and fix my tv.
unfortunately, you are just getting started......