Vertical bar on Zenith C32V37 - Page 2  

Right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I have seen those Scientific Atlanta boxes. They're crap.

Time Warner tried to backdoor one of those one me when I had three HD boxes brought into the house. LOL. Two awesome Pioneer units with DVI output and then...that thing?

You couldn't even change aspect ratio on it. It only went into 1080i, supposedly, nothing else. So, you always had, sometimes, black bars around the entire picture, zero flexibility, and just a cheap product.

I had Time Warner swap that out for another Pioneer box in person at the TW office the next day. If you have garbage like that, get it out of there and demand a DVI output box from your cable company. Usually, it has to be a better product if it has one of those on it.

I'd still be willing to bet that at least some of these problems in this thread have nothing to do with the TV itself. In fact, I'd bet most of them. Guranteed.

The best way to prove it, I suppose, would be to do one of two things:

1.) Plug the coax cable from the wall straight to the TV. Find an HD channel. Test it that way. Independent of any box.

2.) Find some kind of other HD source (DVI output DVD player or something...) to test.

If the problem is really with the TV, I have to believe that you would see something, regardless of input. There would be some kind of constant side effect.

Not saying it can't be the TV, but I'd really go to the ends of the Earth to troubleshoot it first. ;)

Update.

Well, there is no question we have the white bar. Needless to say this sucks. Our TV was manufactured in Feb 2004. I would be interested in hearing from others about their born-on-dates; perhaps there is a particular problem batch.

Anyway, Zenith (i.e. LG) replied to my email. The relevant section:
" Your television will need to be looked at by one of our authorized service centers. Listed below are your nearest authorized service centers, as located using the zip code inside your customer information. Please contact them to
schedule an appropriate time to service your television. We apologize for
any inconvenience."

There was no explanation of the problem.

Call #1: To Zenith for more info. I was told to "just call my local service centers."

Call #2: Local service center. The guy basically said to just return the TV (to BB). He hadn't heard of the problem. I asked if he could call Zenith to find out about it. He didn't have the manpower.

Call #3: Second local service center. Answering machine. I left a message.

Call #4: Zenith, again. Looking for more information. I was put on hold, then cut off.

Call #5: Zenith, again, again. Was given a 1-800 number for technical support.

Call #6: Zenith technical people. Spoke to a guy who was somewhat surprised I wasn't a service center. He agreed to look up the C32V37, but then came back and said that he "sold nothing for this model", which after some pushing I took to mean that he had no information, or new parts, or knew of any problems. When I asked about the service bulletins, he said he didn't know about that, but that a service center could "look it up on the website".

To be honest, I'm not sure what to do next. In general, I really like the TV, and would be happy to keep it if there was a genuine fix to this problem which did not otherwise compromise its quality.

But I'm disgusted with the service I have so far received (i.e. none). And I'm currently out of ideas as to what to do next. Perhaps I will try to find another (third) service center.

My understanding is that Zenith "up/down"converts 720p to 1080i. If the problem is the same as the one that Sony had, then the reason you don't see the bar at 720p is (recopying from the Sony thread):
"Its the horizontal deflection circuit getting coupled into the video
signal. In the 1080i case they typically differ in frequency by about 1
cycle per second - hence the moving bar across the screen. For other types
of inputs (480i, 480p, 720p) the frequency difference between the
horizontal scan and the video sync is much larger (about 2.7kHz for 480i
signals). In that case, the coupling is still there but its effect is
essentially invisible."

Personally, I don't find this a satisfactory solution.

Correct.

But ...

Most signals are being sent at 1080i (ABC/ESPN are the only notable exceptions that I am aware of). This means you are taking a 1080i signal, converting it to 720p (in the box), then recoverting it to 1080i (in the TV). So you are highly likely to get some deterioration in PQ (I haven't fiddled myself yet to see how much). This is why I don't consider this approach as a viable solution.

I think you have a bonehead tech, If He was a good tech then he would call the Zenith Factory Techs and get that Bulliten and fix like mine did, Actually If I were you I would call Zenith myself and ask for another tech in your area, They will give you a phone number for another nearest Zenith Certified Repairer.


I told my tech that the Sonys were having the same exact problem, and described my problem with the white vertical west to east scrolling line on all 1080i channels
and he called me back the next day after talking to the Zenith Factory Techs.

He didnt even come to look and knew what I was talking about and had the the Bulliten and fix to the Small System Board (SSB), parts are backordered till April 20th but the fix is all done in home per the Zenith Warranty.

Zenith is very aware, Your Tech may not be but you can bet Zenith is, Like I said get a new Repair Tech ASAP this guys a nutjob!

Just found out more info from the repair tech today they actually replace the small system board all together with a upgraded one, just FYI:D

This would be interesting to know the "born on" dates for frame of reference. How do you find out?

There should be a date of manufacture on the back of the TV by the serial number.

Bremerton --

I personally called the Zenith technical center and asked about the Bulletin. I was told there were no reported problems with the C32V37. Please, make no mistake, I am absolutely not calling you a liar! It's just frustrating that we are meeting with such different responses.

Bremerton --

Do you think your kind tech would be prepared to provide the Bulletin number? This would be a great help to me. Obviously, I don't expect you to go out of your way, but if it was convenient, I would greatly appreciate it.

Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more ...

So I just got off the phone with Zenith (again).

This time I was kind of persistent :).

Eventually, I got a very nice young lady to contact the techs herself, and she swears up and down that there is no Bulletin on this TV. I told her about the other posts in this forum, and she said she talked about it with a tech. His opinion was that Bremerton's service center (I used no names) diagnosed the problem without reference to a bulletin. In addition, he said that the it sounds like a problem with the TV's scan modulation, and that the scan booth might need to be replaced. An authorized technician would need to come and see the TV for this.

I must say I am mightily confused.

That's kind of the idea I am getting from my reliable people as well.

Intruiging...

So You were not dealing with an authorized tech??

If they gave you a phone number to a Tech shouldnt he be authorized or shall i say Zenith Certified??

I hope you get this resolved like I did mine, Its awfull to not be able to watch 1080i without seeing the white scrolling line, 720p just doesnt cut it, but I guess until we get this fixed we got to deal with 720p :mad:

Bremerton --

I called all five authorized Zenith Service Centers in my area. None of them knew about this problem.

I called a Zenith tech person myself. He did not know about this problem.

I called Zenith customer support. The person there spoke to a Zenith tech. He did not know about this problem.

And now this from Zenith in an email:

"I have spoken with our technical support department. There has not been a
service bulletin released in regard to this issue. In order for a service bulletin to be released, there needs to be considerable research and documentation provided by our service centers over the course of time. However, the solution to the problem as described, would be to replace the scan boost module, which controls the high definition scan rate. "

This is exactly what all my Zenith connections came up with, in these last three posts.

My man specifically said to me: "Your TV was just made in February of this year, so any updates like that would probably have already been taken care of anyways."

My wife and I just spent an hour watching a 1080i HDTV straight from the cable, without going through the Motorola box. We are both absolutely convinced that there was no white bar.

I would be very interested to hear what STB those people who are having this problem are using.

My next plan is to see what happens if I connect the STB through the second set of component plugs, and possibly to see what happens over DVI.

In my opinion, whatever that is worth, the problem is not simply located in the TV. It has to do with the interaction between the TV and the STB. Where in that interaction the problem lies, I do not know.

Problem persists over Component 1 and Component 2 inputs.

Sorry All,

I have been watching so much television the last week, I kinda missed this thread until last night.:)

But, Q of Banditz and I are pretty much in the same region of Ohio. And I believe that we both use the Pioneer Voyager 3510 via the DVI port and do not have the problem the people in this thread are reporting. I actually don't even have any signal coming from any device on the component inputs that can output 1080i. My DVR and 5 disc DVD player can only put out a 480i/p signal. My OTA antenna and the STB will put out 1080i but they are hooked up by the RF coax input & the DVI input respectively. And I don't have the problem with those connectors.

Update.

I've spoken with Motorola and with Comcast. They both think the problem is in the cable box, and so Comcast is sending a Tech out this afternoon (I actually have to commend them on their service in this matter). Supposedly, the tech will bring a DVI cable so we will be able to test for that as well. I'll keep you posted.

Slip him a five spot to "forget" the DVI cable ;)

Okay, good news I think.

Firstly, the tech "forgot" the DVI cable (and I "forgot" the 5 spot, so that worked well :).

Secondly, kudos to Comcast for their super quick response.

What happened. We switched the cable box out. No change. The tech went for a stroll outside, and changed one of the splitters. This didn't solve the problem, but to my eye it seemed to improve it a little.

We had to wait for another guy to deliver the DVI cable. The cable came. Operating on DVI seems to have fixed the problem. Touch wood. Obviously, I haven't had a chance for extended viewing, but in what I have done, I have NOT NOTICED THE PROBLEM WHEN USING DVI. Obviously, if this changes, I'll let you know. Note that you can't do the "turn the cable box off" trick using DVI, as the TV now reports no signal. So it is a little harder to test.

Here's a quick and stoopid question: it looks like I can only get the actual HD channels over the DVI connection. For regular cable channels I have to use the component connection. Is this correct?

Thanks to all for their input. I sincerely hope the problem is indeed solved. I will report back after more viewing.

Its not the cable box believe me its the TV, I went through a Motorolla 5100, then a 6200 and then another 6200 same problem (3 brand new cable boxes).

Its the Television, This problem is not exclusive to Motorolla also, there are at least about 10 brands of cable boxes that are known so far that will replicate the same white scroll problem, Including Set Top HD boxes for OTA! and some DVRs.

Bottom Line its definetley not the cable boxes LOL
Been there done that!

Also the DVI cable should give you analogue and digital channels if you got the right kind I believe there are several different brands of DVI cables for analogue and digital some have both some have only one!

Intruiging. I'd say it's probably a bad series of events coming together.

I'd wonder about the "birth month" of your TV Bremerton. And obviously, there's some sort of bad marriage going on between it and these Motorola boxes in a lot of cases.

You, and a few others, may genuinely have a television issue, but I'd still be looking at everything else first as the culprit for most of the other cases.

Sounds like Jon and I have the same thing going, except I haven't even been using the DVI, just the components, and it's been just fine. I tested the DVI out last night just for laughs and couldn't discern anything either.

So, I'll keep a look out, but I am pretty much convinced that I lucked out or something... :)

Thanks, Bremerton. You are correct about the DVI cables:

DVI-A -- analoge only
DVI-D -- digital only
DVI-I -- both.

Obviously, they've given me a DVI-D cable.

Unfortunatley some people aint gonna find out until its too late and the 3 month warranty is over, which is why I think its great that some people can read this and look for it, Its really hard to spot unless your really watching alot of HD stuff, and once you do spot its gonna bother you until its fixed!!:mad:

if for some reason you aint having a problem now and "lucked" out with the box you have now and you do decide to get a DVR and have these issues its well documented here that the problem is very fluent among all of the C32V37s.

Im curious 2gbj that when you do get the proper DVI-I
cable if the white line will persist??

By you saying that you dont get the white scrolling line with DVI-D leads me to speculate its a conflict with the Standard/Analogue Tuner and the QAM (HD) tuner!!
or maybe even the 8VSB tuner!

Demand your money back :D