Our Samsung HLR6168 developed, overnight, a 4-inch wide dark or shadowed band on the left of the screen. The picture is visible in this band, but only at about 50% or less of brightness. Colors appear to be correct but dark. The band has a slight birefringence or color smear on the very edge and a minor arc (slightly concave w/r/t the left edge of the screen). I've replaced the bulb but that had no effect.
It seems as though something is blocking part of the light path after the DLP chip, blocking some but not all of the light getting to the left edge of the screen. Does anyone know what this might be, and whether there is anything we can do ourselves to fix it?
My set is set in a built in wall unit and never moved / touched. The sub is near another wall and the stereo system is hardly used as we reg. just watch tv. We switch the inputs on ave. 1-2 x week.
You probably should think about using very short "connection saver" to protect the HDMI input connection on your TV. HDMI connections are not that sturdy to begin with. Someone posted a very short extension cable that's available at www.monoprice.com which would be much cheaper to replace than the data board on your TV.
I haven't used html in years. If someone wants to shoot me a quick reminder of how to do a link I'll do so.
As for the how... I first noticed the shadow on the left of the screen about a year ago. I didn't own a digital camera so I couldn't do to much troubleshooting and Samsung told me that it was dust. Dust doesn't have straight edges though. They wouldn't repair it because it was 2 weeks out of warranty. I learned to live with it until I could tear it apart and try fixing it myself. However, around October I found a slight shadow along the top about 1" at a 20 degree angle. It was January when it finally became what it is now. Both times it happened after the display had been on for about 12hrs straight, and I noticed both happened on nights when it was unseasonably cold so we had left windows open or it was just January in the desert . (I had roomates at the time) Both times I was the last one to be watching it and it was fine. When I woke up (I was the first up as well) and turned it on I had shadows. The one on the left has been creeping for some time. They seem to have settled and haven't grown recently. Samsung is still denying that this problem exists and telling me I'm out of luck.
I kind of want to be sure this is the problem before I open it up and try to fix it myself.
P.S. The edges used to be VERY straight and defined but have blurred over time and appear to have dust building up on them. They are much straighter than even the picture would indicate. Such is the nature of my camera.
The green field was created using the test patterns in the service menu.
Anyone know if this is compatible with mine (HLN-437W1X)?
It's for a different model that is almost exactly the same. It's also convenient that it was with the W1X revisions that they stopped selling them and started making you buy an entire LE.
htwaits, I couldn't download the attachment, but I wondered if you drew any conclusions from it? Does there seem to be any common denominator here? It appears that this issue is not related to a particular manufacture date. Is it related to time? Is the failure prone after the set reaches X hours? Is temp the reason? What in your opinion is the common thread here and why is this still happening?
With the thread starting in November of 2006 and including both 2005 and 2006 models I think time may be a factor.
Quote:
Does there seem to be any common denominator here? It appears that this issue is not related to a particular manufacture date. Is it related to time? Is the failure prone after the set reaches X hours? Is temp the reason? What in your opinion is the common thread here ...
It seems to involve the bulk of 2005 and 2006 production runs and wasn't really noticed until very late in 2006 so the first place Samsung could have implemented a fix in production would have been the last of the 2006 models. Of course that assumes they didn't know about the problem until this thread started.
The first buyers of any microchip technology (DLP, LCD, and LCoS(SXRD)) each model year are still on the frontier.
I've searched a lot of threads on this issue I can't find a picture who's problem looks exactly like mine. From my readings it does seem like a light tunnel issue of some sort.
HLR-5678W
Pictures attached. The funny thing is the "shadow" started being angled vertically on the left hand side. I "slapped" the screen and it moved to the bottom. I took out the bulb and cleaned everything I could reach with canned air. I also cleaned the inside mirror and projector bulb with canned air. I was hoping it was dust but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Your problem doesn't look like the typical shadow problem to me.
What I'd like to know is if it's correct to say that the shadow defect is simply the result of a mirror shifting.
In other words, is the lack of light intensity in the shadowed area of the screen a result of a misaligned mirror? How can a mirror at the wrong angle be capable of producing the correct image at all (darkened or not)?
I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. Maybe someone can paint a clearer picture. I've looked at the attached pictures in others' posts, but I still don't get how the shadow is being produced.
Maybe I just need to take my TV apart and see it for myself. Yikes.
Actually if it was vertical and then he banged the display and it went horizontal there is a good chance it is the light tunnel especially since he has an HLR. Htwaits could probably give you a better idea though.
The odd thing is the whole rectangle wasn't apparent when it was vertically aligned. It looked like a right trangle. I'm assuming half of it was "off the screen". When I tapped the display, it "dropped" to the bottom. It was very odd, and why I was hoping it was dust/hair/lint something easy.
Good news is I registered my TV on line and it's under warranty until 5/11. I called today and got a case number. They apparently left a message with the service folks and I'm awaiting a call back.
My model is an HL-P5085W, but is recorded as HL-R5085W in htwaits' list.
Are the P and R models the same thing? Or am I the only P owner with the shadow problem?
My set was manufactured in May of 2005.
Also, at Samsungparts I do not find any part that looks like the light integrator ("tunnel") assembly for the HL-P5085W. Is it not available for this particular set?
Does anyone know the part number for my set, or if the part is even available?
I am willing to attempt an epoxy repair of the mirrors, given that I am so far out of warranty (10 months past). That may be the option I'm down to at this point.
OK, I guess I am now added to the list of people with the shadow problem... I have a HLR5078W purchased in the fall of 2005 so I'm well past the 1 year warranty. I'm curious as to what people are paying to have this fixed once their warranty has expired? Has anyone had any luck getting Samsung to cover the repair post warranty period? If the repair is going to be ridiculously priced then I'll start shopping for a new tv instead...
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Originally Posted by sanctified /forum/post/0
OK, I guess I am now added to the list of people with the shadow problem... I have a HLR5078W purchased in the fall of 2005 so I'm well past the 1 year warranty. I'm curious as to what people are paying to have this fixed once their warranty has expired? Has anyone had any luck getting Samsung to cover the repair post warranty period? If the repair is going to be ridiculously priced then I'll start shopping for a new tv instead...
I would suggest reading through this thread and you will see that others have persuaded Samsung to repair their set free of charge even though their warranty had expired. You will be armed with all the info you need to succeed at this if you take the time to read through some of the posts. When you do contact Samung, be sure to tell them of this thread (they are already well aware of it)...this will help speed up the process and will be your trump card in persuading them to repair your set for nothing.
I would suggest reading through this thread and you will see that others have persuaded Samsung to repair their set free of charge even though their warranty had expired. You will be armed with all the info you need to succeed at this if you take the time to read through some of the posts. When you do contact Samung, be sure to tell them of this thread (they are already well aware of it)...this will help speed up the process and will be your trump card in persuading them to repair your set for nothing.
Thanks for the reply! I had already read through about 1/4 of the thread before posting and I hadn't come across anyone saying they'd had luck getting it repaired for free post warranty... I'll apply a little bit of leverage to samsung and see what happens. If that doesn't work then I'll re-read the posts on how to replace the light tunnel myself and decide how ambitious I'm feeling.
Search for my posts (cydonian) and you'll see the saga I went through. Maybe it depends on which "customer service" rep you get in the ECR (Executive Customer Relations) Department, but mine was not as helpful as I would've hoped.
To sum up, they offered 50% coverage of the light engine, and no labor coverage. After three faxes and several calls and emails, they stuck firm to that offer. I told them I felt like they sold me a lemon (it would cost $1700 to fix a TV that cost me $2000--with no assurance it wouldn't happen again). The rep pretended to empathize with me but said that the equation she uses to determine what they can do only allowed her to offer the 50% part cost.
In other words, they let me go a disgruntled customer for what amounts to be about $586. For a nearly $200 billion company to haggle over that amount really made me lose all respect for this company.
Part of the reason for only partial coverage was that I had a previous service call. One of the wires going to the speaker had apparently been pinched or misrouted during construction and I lost sound in one speaker. It took the repair guy all of 10 minutes to fix it. But that was a strike against me, she said, and so her magical equation--apparently something that takes place of their normal brain function--said she could only do 50%.
Needless to say, I believe it was a stupid decision. In our business we make things right, and our "products" are living organisms (dogs and cats--we own a veterinary hospital), which we don't have nearly the measure of control over that an electronics company does.
Anyway, the result is that I have lots of energy and motive to express my dissatisfaction, hopefully at Samsung's ultimate expense.
You might as well bug them until you get a commitment, but don't have much faith that they have a firm goal of keeping you as a future customer. It's apparently worth a few hundred dollars to them to lose you.
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Originally Posted by mccalley /forum/post/0
These are good thoughts.
More than likely, the problem is with thermal expansion and contraction. The Light Tunnel is subjected to intense light and heat. Each time the set turns off and on, components expand and contract (respectively). This coupled with the fact that there is no adhesive (at least not on mine) on the side mirrors, means they are free to shift.
That's exactly what I think happened to my LE. The shadow first appeared the morning after a cold front blew through and the temp dropped to about 60 in the house. Next morning after turning on the set the shadow suddenly appeared.
Just got home from looking at a new samsung dlp tv with the led light engine. The damn thing had the shadow bar going down the right side of the screen on the showroom floor. Of course I had to tell the other guy who was going to buy it, to look at this forum and I told him about my past experience with samsung. He said he'd do more research. Really sad that these rigs keep coming out of the factory with all sorts of issues.
Well, I just noticed I'm a victim of the shadow (right side on my HLS-5087W). I purchased it on April 29, 2006. It may have been this way for a while, but because I have it in a cabinet that covers about 3 inches on each side, I didn't notice it until I pulled the cabinet front to change a connection (the slant is about 1 inch on the bottom to about 2.5 inches at the top). Fortunately, I purchased the circuit city extended warranty, so they'll be getting a call from me tomorrow.
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