Sony optical block talk and repair assitance - Page 4

Hi I hope this has not been asked already. I searched and did not find anything so here's my question(s).

 

I am hoping to repair a KDS-R70XB2 green screen TV with parts from a working KDS-R60XB1 that I have to get a better TV.

 

I am wondering if at least the LCD panels are the same in both so I could use one of the XB1 LCD's to fix the XB2 blue LCD that's gone.

 

Also if the mechanical chassis that the 3 LCD's are attached to are not too different then maybe I could strip out the electronics in the OB and lens assembly and mount them on the XB1 LCD chassis's and not have to adjust any convergence. If not I will at least like to use one of my LCD's and try the convergence adjustment if it can be done without having to completely re assemble everything to check every time.

 

I have both service manuals but they don't show that much detail inside the OB's. I would like to give it a try unless there is something else different that I overlooked.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

Nice thread.

I added it to my "repair" sticky;
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1310024/problems-with-a-older-tv-new-isnt-always-better-try-repairing-it-first#post_19891061

I've done similar swaps, but not this exact one. First, instead of looking at what small parts you can swap from the donor into the patient, start from the opposite direction and think about taking all the guts from the electronics cavity of the 60" and putting them into the 70". Then back off from that objective if you find the plastic box won't accept the other guts. (The back panel from the XBR2 has to go with its electronics because there are small differences.)

Another way to go at it is to think of it as an optics projection problem and not an electronics problem. The whole top half of these TVs are just empty tubs with a plastic screen and a mirror. If you can simply (!) unscrew the top tub/mirror/screen assy from the 70" and attach it to the 60" you can do the swap without messing with the electronics where it's easy to screw up. This is unfortunately complicated on the XBR's by the elephant ears, speakers, the little control panels, etc. (All that makes the picture on the 70" bigger is the fact that the distance between the light engine and the screen is further because the tub is bigger.) That makes the tub heavy to lug around if you can get it separated from the bottom part, and there are a bunch of connectors to address to reconnect speakers etc. Carrying that big tub is a two-person job.

 

Thanks Chuck.

 

If they were the same except for size I would like to just do it that way. When I got the 60XB1 I was told it was a 1080p and was disappointed that it only accepted 1080i a signal as soon as I got it home. It still can only have an actual refresh of 30hz regardless of any smoke and mirrors signal processing to convert it to scan progressively.

 

I almost always have it running off a computer with a decent video card and it's good enough to let me work in the living room and get rid of a desk so I actually claimed more space back. Having a 70XB2 means I can move it farther back have a bigger screen and more space.

 

I never liked those "elephant ears" and wanted to just saw them off to get more room because I have these giant Aztec Gauguin III speakers from the early 70's sitting on the floor on each side. They are so ugly looking but they sound amazing to cancel out their ugliness.

 

Now I think I can pull all the horns out and just mount them flush inside the "elephant ears" invisibly although they will all stick out 18" behind the back out of view. They will be not very noticeable until you look down the air gaps to see them but the sound will be unbelievable. The woofers can go in a modified $60 wooden Ikea TV stand reinforced with some concrete also out of site below. It will not look any different but I get more space back.

 

The last item while I am going this far is the best. I also have a Toshiba 52HMX84 that I found but was hesitant to buy an overpriced DC lamp for that is known not to last very long. I was not sure of the condition Ballast in it and it's a very expensive over engineered part compared to the almost generic ballasts found in Sony's, Hitachi's, Samsung's and maybe more. I have a few spare Philip's lamps that are just as generic found in all these brands as well. I was going to risk putting in a Philip's lamp from a GWIII but wanted to really know what else was different and if I could try it without wrecking the lamp. I was not sure exactly why you needed DC Voltage that is more costly than using an AC Power supply and why would the lamp even care.....intriguing :(

 

I then ran across this post somewhere where a guy actually wired in a $12 floodlight from a hardware store and it worked for 10 seconds before he wrecked his TV. He said the color looked good while it lasted!

 

That was enough for me because I was now wondering if I could just get rid of the Ballast and fake whatever signal the Ballast outputs to make a big LED array so I could not use lamps and hopefully not fry Blue LCD's.

 

Learning that a cheap floodlight had all the light spectrum needed to get a picture from that experiment set me on this path. As a sanity check I went to future shop and looked at a few new TV's and then went home and watched some IMAX 1080p movies on the 60XB1. I am happy and if the LED mods work well then I might have bought my last TV. I was very happy to see another member here has already been down this path. These big tubs have all kinds of space inside to experiment and try out ideas.

I bought a KDF-E42A10 for $50 a few months ago; it randomly turns off and on by itself so i replaced the bulb and while the picture became much clearer, the off/on issue continues. The green light flashes for about 30-40 seconds then the set turns on again. The frequency seems to be higher during the first 45min of use and then it seems to happen less and less the longer the tv is on. The red lamp light does not flash at all. No diagnostic codes are present. Also, if the set is off for several hours, to turn it on i have to unplug the set, wait at least 10 seconds,plug it in and then press the power button and wala - the set turns on.

Issue#2: The yellow blob appeared after i replaced the bulb so from reading this thread it appears that would be the LCD panels which i can replace. I don't want to put more than a couple hundred more if i can help it, so your help and advice are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

"The green light flashes for about 30-40 seconds then the set turns on again." This is the normal bootup init process. Why it turns off is the problem.

Couple of possibilities: 1) there is a plague of cheap lamps around, sold on ebay for $40 or so. Their reliability is terrible. Out-of-box failure rate high, and in the very best cases they only last a few months.

2) this model is terrible for plugged-up main lamp fans. They can get so plugged with dirt that while the wheel moves freely and the fan doesn't signal failure, it will not move any air because none can get in. Then the lamp area overheats, and there is a sensor there that can shut down the tv.

3) on some sets where the lamp door switch is barely working, as the chassis plastic heats up and crackles and expands, the lamp switch might fail to engage. Examine the lamp door and figure that out. It's pretty simple.

4) examine the lamp contacts on the lamp side and the tv side from the inside. They take a lot of heat and they can just fall apart.

"Issue#2: The yellow blob ..." To fix that you need another set to steal parts from, and even then it's a painstaking process of trial and error in doing the physical convergence.

You've already spent more than a 42" is worth. You might be better off declaring the 42" the donor and watching Craigslist for a compatible 55" or 60" Sony. Possibles would be another KDF-E, or a WE610 or WF655. Craigslist is rotten with them, and they are cheap. Stay away from E2000, A2000, and XBR1 & 2 which are completely different.

I have a XBR2 with a green tint to it, happened after quite a few years, Sony replaced the set and let me keep this one still. The XBR2 got moved to our Lake House, but now the green color is just too much, just curious if it is the optical block issue or a replacement of the LCD panel? I would love to have the set repaired but not sure if these parts are still available.

Thanks!

Its the Optical Block SXRD Blue Panel for sure and possibly the glass filter prior to the panel. Ebay has them its an SXRD211 panel. Just dont buy an old blue one. Be Warned: The repair is INTENSE.

I'm in the midst of rebuilding the optical block on my KDS-R60XBR1. I've already acquired and installed a new blue lcd panel to correct the green screen issue. I've got the convergence figured out finally, but now am experiencing another issue that I haven't seen addressed elsewhere. This just started after I re-converged the new blue panel. As I project the convergence test screen onto the ceiling my red beam is extremely fuzzy, not a nice clean laser-like projection. Unlike the others, it is very wide, blurry and almost scattered into dimmer multiple parallel red lines, rather than one crisp line. as I look at other components on the assembly I see each lcd panel has a corresponding mirrored lens angling off the adjacent side of the prism. The red one has some extremely minute scratching and I'm wondering if this enough to blur the output. Does anyone know what these little mirrored lenses are and if they are cleanable? All of the discussions I can find seam to be centered around the lcd panel, but I don't see anything about some of the other surrounding bits and pieces.....

Installed a Tri-State Module OB for my Sony KDS-R70XBR2 and it is WORSE than the green blobbed unit I pulled. The OB has massive convergence issues - totally out of focus, can't even read words on the TV Guide listing. Also - giant green blob in center surrounded by purple. Sigh. Do they test these things? Could I have done something wrong?

Sorry to hear, seems something happened with Tri-State over the last year or so and they're no longer trustworthy to repair OB's. You're not the first to have a block come back completely FUBAR'd lately. I was ready to rip mine out and send it to them, but held of after stories like this.

Has anyone had dealt with John Breton lately? Is he still repairing OB's? How's the work and do they last?

They got it back today and said they see nothing wrong with it.

The convergence was WAY off, I had a blue blob and green blob. It was MUCH worse than the existing one. They didn't repair mine, I just got one they had in stock. White dot pattern showed distinct red, green, and white dots. White square pattern had white squares with red, green, blue, and yellow borders. The existing OB shows none of these issues - just a green blob.

Weird. They said they are sending it back and want pictures.

Takes a lot of labor swapping blocks in and out.

Yea, just so you all know Trisate was a complete and total waste of my money, feel free to see how they treated me over in the XBR2 owners thread. I got a few emails from a "VP" who said he was going to ensure I got a full refund if I gave them my optical block, and they would send me a shipping label. That was 45 days ago, so I guess the mail is still moving slow or something. I know they do read the forum so there is some hope that they might want to make things better, but I would NEVER give these folks money or any personal information now that I have actually spoke with them (creepy for a lack of a better term). Maybe they finally got around to giving back the BBB plaque as well, last I saw I know they wanted it back


TyrantII,

I still have the block and I feel the need to top up my AVS karma, it only seems right to give something back to the community that has been so helpful over the years, so if you want the block PM me your shipping address.

Got the block back again. When they received it, they said it tested fine and shipped it back, but am I crazy here? Look at the giant blue blob a few pics down on the black screen. It is present at all times on black and dark colors. Also - see the convergence? That is causing huge uniformity and other issues. Can these things really be fixed? I again, for the 3rd time, reinstalled my original block. Perfect focus, spot on convergence, no blue blob - just the green stains which prompted me to get another one in the first place.

Reinstalled my original:

Blue blob gone, convergence perfect, focus perfect - just the green tint from the aged blue panel that needs replaced and correctly aligned. I've done 3 complete R&R's of the damn OB now. Hope TSM can provide a good OB.

KDS-55A3000 owner, green tint problem with optical block.

I'd like to know this as well. After having Sony's recommended service tech come out and show that the replacement optical block would be over $2500, then seeing that there are no refurbed blocks in stock anywhere, John Breton seems to be the best option, if he's still doing this.
Edited by HuskerTornado - 3/5/13 at 10:42pm

John is still doing them. As far as "do they last" - no one can make them last!!! No one can fix the engineering defect - just make it last another 2 years till it comes up again and melts the blue panel.

Yup, you really can't "fix" the the degradation of the organic blue dye. It's always possible someone might come up with a fix with a newly engineered part that doesn't use the same stuff, but that probably not going to be a cost effective solution to both come up with, then charge for. Buying a new set would be less of a hassle, and probably not more expensive.

that said a ~$300 for 2-3 more years is a pretty good deal, especially with 4K OLED and better 3D on the horizon. Thanks for the info, I'll be contacting him soon (as soon as I have the time to start a project like this)

a newbie from north of the 49th, a kdsr70xbr2 with a yellow area on the screen. John Breton contact info still, john@tvcconnect.net?

I just wanted to post an update been away from this for a while, but my TV is still kicking after I did the repair on the LCD panel. Only thing I have had to do was put a build in the set. Did an Osram replacement for $50 off of ebay works fantastic.

Hi

Just wonder if anybody could take a look if I've put back all my lenses back in order to the optical unit.
I've removed them to give them a quick wash as the picture was really dark. I've tried to use pressurized air for cleaning but it could not clean the lenses as dust sticked to them so I've decided to wash them with soapy water.
It helped as brightness has improved however now I have a problem as everything is blurred.

I've check twice if I've put the lenses back in order and it seems be fine (according to the plastic slot shapes).



Now the picture looks like this:



Or maybe there is another problem?

Thanks in advance

P.S.

Almost forgot - this optical unit is from Sony kdf-e50a12u