Hello, I have a Sony HS20 that's developed a quite noticable blue haze at the bottom of the image & seems to be developing blue haze in the center of the image too. I assumed that the problem could be attributed to a burnt polarizer, & using Scanman0's extremely helpful posts (sorry, I can't link to them because I'm a new poster & can't yet include URLs in my posts) & an HS10 service manual, I opened the projector to examine the polarizers. I only found 1 polarizer per LCD & all three were pristine. Where might I have missed a polarizer? And is it possible that my problem might not be with the polarizers at all?

I took the projector to a somewhat dubious (though Sony authorized!) repair shop & was told (after being made to negotiate a refund for a $200 charge for cleaning the projector & not doing a thing about the blue haze) that the projector was irreperable due to a "weak LCD." Is that a possibilty? I can't find any literature/board postings about this at all.

This is for a small non-profit, so any suggestions that might enable us to keep using our old HS20 & be spared the cost of a new projector would be greatly appreciated.

I too have the same machine with the blue haze which is creeping into the dispaly area from the lower right. I will be taking my unit to a repair shop and let you know the results soon.

LT.

My warranty company was unable to fix the blue haze problem and chose to return the $3000 I paid for the projector instead. I've always been curious to see if it was just a polarizer issue, being the symptoms match up so well; however, a failing blue LCD might also fit the bill.

How many hours do you have on your projector?

museumevents -- There is only one polarizer per LCD. Depending on how old the HS20 is (and if it's still under warranty), your best bet is to see what your nearest Sony Service Center (not an "authorized" repair shop) says. If your HS20 has seen a lot of use (for long hours at a time, or under room temperatures over 75 degrees F), then a defective LCD panel is possible. However, polarizers usually fail long before panels do.

You can't really tell if a polarizer is defective by just looking at it, in situ. You have to take them out and shine a light through them. I think you also need to remove them in order to clean them (I haven't needed to do that, since I haven't run into this problem). BTW, you should be able to buy a replacement blue polarizer from Sony - it's still going cost money (between $50 to $200, my estimate).

If it's out of warranty, you are probably stuck with getting a new PJ, or paying Sony a significant chunk of money to repair it (they can replace the blue LCD, if that's the problem). Unless the panels are "out of production", the comment of the repair shop is not true. The cost of getting the LCD panel(s) replaced is likely going to cost about half the cost of a new PJ (and you would be better off getting a new one).

20 years ago, having a new set of LCD panels installed (in a Sharp LCD PJ) cost me around $700 (IIRC). With inflation, that could be up to $1000, or more.

NOTE: Sony is usually easy to deal with (the Official, regional, Service Centers), especially for a non-profit organization - they may give you a deal (either on a repair, or an exchange for a newer replacement PJ). You do have to ask (beg? or plead) them for help.