Official JVC HD-xxFH97 HD-xxFN97 HD-xxFC97 Owners Thread - Page 220

Read these two threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1257270/hd-p70r1u-color-engine-melted

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1255618/jvc-optical-block-science#post_18756836

Looks like they watched that for a long time with a degraded image, until the lamp went. That's something folks tend to do unfortunately, and to be aware of if you take in a stray or buy a non-working tv off Craigslist. We've noticed too that strangely, the problem part isn't labeled in any JVC drawing.

Need help....I have a JVC HD-56FH97 and I recently purchased a Pioneer vsx-1122-K (new). When I try to set up the receiver I can not get the video to appear on the TV via HDMI. I know the TV input and the HDMI cable are good because I tried my xbox 360 on it. One of the questions during the setup process is does the TV HDMI have arc. Does this TV have arc? Will I have to hookup this receiver only by component cable? I can not set up the surround sound until I complete setup navigator and it will not let me complete the setup process. Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks Chuck,

Now that you've given me more information on the filter burn issue, I see that it seems to be a pretty common problem. One posting I read thought it selectively polarized one color. I used a paint program to fill a LCD monitor with red, green, then blue to see if rotating it in front of the screen had any affect, but I didn't see a change. Since the prisms are all in the same plane, I don't see what polarizing one color would do though.
I guess my next step is to put it back together to see what it looks like without it installed.

Close, my theory is that it selectively changes the polarization of one color, in this case blue.

Reassembling it without that piece is a good test. I believe the tv will work surprisingly well wthout the piece, but you will lose some contrast which would be hard to measure, but more important you will be starved for blue. Not totally absent blue, but you will not have enough blue for instance to make clean whites that don't have a yellow cast.

A worse possibility is that the misdirected blue pollutes the green and red into cyan and magenta, converting your RGB tv into a CM_ tv. In that case your colors end up really scrambled.

These TV's do not support ARC. That was introduced in HDMI version 1.4, and these sets only support HDMI 1.2. If you want audio output from the TV, then you have to use optical or analog. The optical output only provides audio from the TVs buit-in digital tuner. The analog outputs provide audio from all sources.
Edited by spocko - 8/22/12 at 9:39am

Thanks!

I purchased a HD-56FN97 off of Craigslist for $20 from a seller indicating that the lamp was out. I plugged in the set and the Power LED and the Lamp LED were blinking alternating at about a half second. I found the manual online and it indicated that this meant that the lamp door was not closed, that a fan was blocked, or that internal temperature was high. Well, it couldn't be the later since the tv had not been powered on. I made sure the lamp door was closed securely. Since I have a good working HD-55G466 that uses the same lamp, I was able to swap the lamp to test it, and it worked well. So that leaves the fan as the possible problem. I also read online that it very likely could be the balast has gone bad, which was a known problem with this set.

I cleaned the lamp bay and fan, and removed the back of the set and vacuumed out the dust I could see, which was not too bad. I tried another working lamp in the set, as well as reinstalling the original lamp and the alternating blinking LED problem remains. I never did hear a fan fire up, but on my HD-55G466, that doesn't happen until the lamp comes on, so I figured it is likely the same with the HD-56FN97. As to the lamp ballast, does anyone know if it is possible for me to replace it myself? It was not readily visible from the back of the open tv.

After reading a lot of the forum horror stories about the problems with light engine failures on this model, I am concerned about going any further with repairs on this tv. I have had no problems with the earlier model using the same technology - although I would say that it has not had tons of use. My main interest was the HD-56FN97's ability to display 1080p. I have no way to know if this set has any light engine problem, as the seller had not seen it working. What would forum members advise?
Edited by tomspoon - 8/29/12 at 12:44pm

My service manual describes ALTERNATING Power and Lamp flashes as something completely different. Please confirm. Don't assume it's the same as your G.

I believe that this set has two lamp fans. Check the disassembly pictures.

I guess it's also possible that the lamp door switch could fail, it's worth a check.

The lamp ballast from the back of the set is just over the hump of stuff on the extreme right. With a flashlight you might just catch the top of it if you look over all the other stuff. Look for yellow capacitors and transformers.

Re a lot of problems, people come here to discuss problems or ask questions. The majority of folks that are perfectly happy with their tv don't. On the other hand, if the owner was perfectly happy with the set, why didn't they just buy another lamp?

You've gone this far, and loading it up and getting it home was 90% of the work. Why not follow through? These sets are very easy to work on, the whole chassis slides out of the back, like the old 'works in a drawer' Quasars. Remove the center brace, unplug the row of connectors on the plastic panel high in the center (which leads to the mirror cavity), undo one screw at each bottom sides, and it all comes out, afair.

From the JVC Projection Television Guide for 56", 61" and 70" Televisions (10 model numbers!) including HD-56FN97:



Actually now that I think of it, I got information about a possible balast problem from a posting on another site, the poster indicating that if the lamp was good, and the door was verified properly closed, then the balast was the likely problem. Still others said there were still numerous other possibilites of problems ranging from problems with the lamp door switch (which you indicated) as well as power supplies and various circuit boards.

Although I did open the back of the set and clean it up I was concerned about my lack of knowledge in dealing with the electronics and made the decision to take it to the nearest JVC Authorized repair center. I am taking a risk not knowing what the staus of the light engine but I have been lucky with my other JVC projection set ($75 and only needed a fresh Philips lamp and a vacuum to be operating very well). It is worth the $50 fee to find out what can be done. Wish me good luck!

I really like the image produced by LCos and have two Sony kDS-55A3000's as well in various rooms at home.

Odd that they would differ, but it happens. As is it's obvious these manuals have been translated. This is a c&p from mine:

So I have poured over this site for the last day and ready everything possible. I have a 56G787 with the dark blob. I'm am amateur and took the main assembly out today to get to the burnt filters.

I backed off before I began removing everything else because bottom line, Can I do anything guaranteed, to replace any burnt filters I find? Do I hang onto it and see if someone has a solution shortly?

Otherwise I am kicking this to curbside pickup and selling the two lamps. I am not a solutioner, just a repairer and am amateur at that. Is there a solution? I don't see any new light engines for sale.

First thing I would do is watch for a cheap JVC on craigslist to salvage that part from. All JVC's don't have this problem or there would be far more reports of this problem and perhaps a class action. I have a 61 that doesn't have this particular problem. The older JVC's with 720p and no tuner should be easy to find and cheap. Salvaged light engines also show up on ebay occasionally. I believe any JVC DILA can be a donor, and in fact a JVC DILA front projector should work too.

Second, I would like to see someone try a splice. These charred elements have roughly 1/3 destroyed, based on pictures. If you had two burned ones and a steady hand with a hobby shop razor saw you could chop them up into one good one, and because the butt joints are way, way before the three images are formed and combined I don't believe a well-done splice would be very visible on the screen. Be sure to maintain the corect-side-out orientation, and don't rotate any of the pieces along the axis of the light path.

It took two weeks for the local JVC shop to not contact me before I called to find out the status of the repair estimate on my JVC HD-56FN97. For some reason the technician decided not to call me, which I find horrifying. The person taking the call says that the power supply board is bad and needs to be replaced at a cost of $450, minus the $50 I had already paid. I do not like that they decided not to call me, and I think the repair estimate is outrageous considering that I have seen the board itself for sale for less than $100 online.

I know this is the big board on the left side of the cabinet of the tv, and wonder if I can replace it myself? Is it safe to do so?

Is it safe to do so? Certainly, these aren't like old CRTs. Unplug it, let it sit a few minutes and you are okay.

It's not absolutely certain that it is the power supply unless they put one in to check out their theory. You are also assuming that they mean the main power supply and didn't sloppily refer to the ballast as the power supply.

As always with cheap deals, don't assume that this is the only problem. Odds are pretty good that once you get it working you will face the yellow blobs or melting plastic piece problem.

On the HD-56FN97, The shop technician says the power board is definitely suspect and believes that it may have had a power surge that put it out of commission but can't say for sure. He tried to see if it could be repaired at the component level but was unable to determine where the issue was located within the board. A new board would be needed. He said as these tv's get older, now close to four years old (manufactured November 2007) the boards become more expensive. To replace this board will cost an additional $350. The technician did say that the balast did appear to be ok, had the right readings. The technician feels it is at the boarder line as to whether or not it is justifiable to repair.

I have a HD-61FH97 and would like to know how I can take it apart to clean the dust inside?

Sorry double post

Ok, I took the plunge, and found a power board on ebay for $22 plus $10 shipping, It arrived today, and I removed the old power board and installed the replacement, and it worked - the set powered up. I hooked up a bluray player and put in "2001 A Space Odyssey", which has quite a lot of white in some sequences - I wanted to see what a bright image would look like. It took awhile for the lamp to get up to speed but to my horror, the optics have discoloration:



It's too bad since the picture is otherwise sharp. I have learned a valuable lesson on this one. The one good thing i can take away from this is that I am no longer afraid of getting inside and working on one of these sets. I was amazed how easy it was to get into the set and slide out the whole chassis to work on. I will not be afraid to work on my other JVC or my Sony sets now.

Unfortunately, I will have to take this one to Goodwill - I'm sure someone will be able to overlook the yellow-green cast to the image - I would not be able to tolerate it.

did you try going into the service menu and adjusting it some? see if you can clear up the discoloration?

Donate it to a school or nursing home.

I have been meaning to do that very thing for quite some time. Today I finally took the plunge and took some pictures (albeit, crappy ones) along the way so I'll post what I did.

First of all, my set is an HD-61FN97 so I can't be sure yours will identical. If not, hopefully the following will at least steer you in the right direction.

The first thing you need to do is remove the speaker grill. There are four philips head screws on the rear of the TV, two on the edge of each side, that secure the speaker grill.



Once removed you have to work the grill with a bit of light to moderate pressure to get the tabs on the top of the grill to pop loose.

Once the grill is loose you need to remove the power wire connector. It's a small white, keyed connector that comes off easily.



Now that you have access behind the grill you can remove the philips head screws that secure the lower part of the screen. There are eight screws that need to be removed. Their location is marked in the photo.



You will also need to remove the speakers (4 screws each) and then disconnect the speaker wires.



Finally there are 10 philips head screws along the rear of the screen bezel that need to be unscrewed, then the screen can be lifted away. Note that this should be a two-man job. The screen isn't heavy but you don't want it to fall off once you undo that last screw. Also, only lift the screen by grasping the side bezels. Don't lift or move it by the top bezel as it's a bit flimsy.



Once the screen is out of the way the guts are wide open. I was truly shocked at how clean the interior was considering I've had this set for 6 years and have never cleaned it previously. The mirror was completely dust free. The only cleaning I had to do was to wipe the lens down with a lint-free cloth. After that the reassembly was simply the reverse of the removal process. One tip: To reattach the speaker grill (don't forget to reattach the power connector first) angle the top edge in so the small tabs are in the slots, then pop the bottom edge in. Also, when replacing the screen you will want to attach the top screws first and then you'll need to jimmy the screen a little around the bezel to get it to reseat properly.

Hope that helps and good luck.

If you want to resell the power board ,let me know. I think that's what is wrong with my set, sometime it just won't power on sometime it can power on just fine.

I made a mistake and started a new thread. I should have just replied to this owners' thread.

KewlK was kind enough to respond:

I remember the good ol' days when Sony sets would suffer from cracked solder joints. Seemed like Sony did it on purpose to promote planned obsolescence.

I disassembled my HD 55FN97 and took out the board that drives the mirror units. The first surprise was that all the devices were surface mount. So I thought I might just heat the unit in the toaster oven. The second surprise was that there are devices on both sides, including memory chips. So I got out the magnifying glass and soldering iron, and proceeded to reheat ll the legs. At first turn on, I had a dramatic problem, with vertical stripes, about an eighth of an inch wide, lacking green. As I researched to see which mirror was driving the green, the stripes halved in width, probably due to the set heating up. I reseated the ribbon connectors to the green mirror and the stripes disappeared. The incorrect color pallet however returned.

Now along with the incorrect color pallet, some additional red appeared in the very dark areas. On second turn on, the set played flawlessly. I will wait to do more reflow soldering until the problem returns. I have a can of freeze spray and will try to determine exactly which device is causing the problem.

My thanks to the kind person that emailed me a service manual and to KewlK for the suggestion.

Michael

Am I correct in assuming that the yellow blob issues are only going to be caused by the light engine and not the lamp itself?

I've had this TV for 4 years now, and I've got major yellow discoloration across a few large areas of the screen.

I guess it's time to lay this thing to rest and jump into the world of Plasmas, unless buying a new lamp might fix it.

Correct. As the lamp ages, your picture will lose overall brightness mostly uniformly across the screen.

The DiLA design has problems with dust collecting in critical locations in the light engine, and plastic optical components being degraded by the heat and extreme light levels inside. Usual symptoms early-on are faint yellow cloudy-misty areas mostly in the top half of the screen, and sometimes similar violet-purplish discolorations in the lower half.

Anyone think JVC is going to own up to this know defect and offer discounted replacement sets,as Sony did?

How long have these sets been out of warranty? Given how tight finances are for everyone world wide, I sure wouldn't hold my breath waiting for anything.

Thanks for posting this. I've been meaning to do this for quite a while. Your pictures really helped. I opened it up this afternoon - few cobwebs inside but nothing major. Amazing how clean the mirror was. I blew it out with a can of compressed air, vacuumed out the dust, and cleaned both sides of the screen. The picture actually looks much improved. Thanks again!

Glad those pics were actually usefull.

About a week after I did that cleaning I began to get a small dark blob in the center of the screen that gradually grew, and grew, and grew to a point to where the picture was unwatchable. Based on previous replies in this thread I knew that the light engine had reached the end of the line. After some searching I managed to find a used one for $145 from an online source in Dallas and decided to take a chance.

It took a few hours, and I had to swap the old power supply portion over to the new light engine assembly, but it's back up and running. It's not perfect as there is some slight yellowing on the top and bottom left portion of the screen that is only really noticeable on white backgrounds, but it works well enough and should last another couple of years. I disassembled the old light engine and, sure enough, there was a nasty burned out hole in one single filter, the same filter as someone else in this thread had posted about previously.

I really wish there were still new light engine assemblies available for this set. I saw a couple on eBay but they had already sold a month previously. They buyer was asking @ $700 for them and I would have gladly payed that to have an essentially new TV. I still love the picture this set outputs.

Curious what model you have and if you wouldn't mind posting some pics of the damaged part/s?