Thin vertical line on LCD tv

It's a symptom of what everyone refers to as vertical banding. Have you tried a light grey screen to check for banding? It may be that there is a brightness difference between two bands that causes the line to appear darker. You may also find that there is more banding in other areas of the screen than you have realized.

I've got a thin dark band that's gotten more noticeable as of late that runs down the middle of my screen too: lvm-42w2. I reboot my tivo which gives me a solid, light grey bootup screen and I can see the thin dark band going down the middle of my screen. It also shows that there are different shades of vertical bands all the way across my screen. As a whole, the left half of my screen looks darker than the right. From new, I have had vertical bands on the left and right edge of the screen (about the size of the black bars if you watch tv in 4:3 format). I've been able to ignore those as they aren't in the main view. I don't know if it's because of the backlight, video board, the screen or what. If it gets much worse, I'm going to contact Westinghouse too.

Sorry, but there's no simple solution; though some claim that unplugging everything from the tv and unplugging the tv power for 24hrs will help. I think that's a crock, but you can try it.

Funny this , as im trying to find out what it is too. I have the LVM-42w2 its 1 yrand 1 month old bought online at crutchfield, no extended warranty and i just noticed the excact same thing on mine this weekend while watching a movie, im so gutted as ive heard horror stories about getting any customer service from Westinghouse.

Does anyone no what options we have as im out of warranty ? Suggestions ?

Thanks,
Jimmy.

Wow, I have exactly the same vertical banding on my Sony 32S3000. Also, there are like 3 vertical lines, but mostly visible on white backround. Sometimes I can see it on cable, but can't on HD playback.

Isn't that beyond fixable? I think you may be in for a headacke, but maybe they'll replace something like the video board or the LCD panel, and then you'll still have the same problem or at least in a few months.
If it's not fixable, maybe you can get a warranty refund-- after all, it shouldn't be Best Buy's fault, really.

I get the same line down the middle of my Toshiba 42" lcd. It is only noticeable in light backgrounds and is intermittent at this time.

Same problem on my 42" westinghouse just popped up this week. Very annoying. No fix yet?

I have a Mits LT-46231. When I watch my local HD news and they cut to a 4x3 commericial.. I see a vertical blue line on the left that lines up with the border of the square picture sometimes. It goes away once the HD broadcast kicks back in. I've seen it on CNNHD also.

Is this the same thing or possibly something caused by the broadcast?

Have the same problem, just 3 months after 1 year warranty.
Called their customer service line several times as it is clearly a defect in the panel. They refused to help me out and pushed back as warranty has expired.
Their customer care supervisor was a real jerk and didn't want to answer most of my questions leaving long blanks on the phone with no responses.

Yesterday, I have sent a mail to their headquarter in CA, US and email to service@wde.com.
President of Westinghouse Digital Electronics, LLC
12150 Mora Drive
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

A few people have posted same problem in a few forums. No solution provided.

If you do have any tips, please let me know
Franck (Ottawa Canada)

Key people:
- Richard Houng
- Cliff York
- Rey Roque
- Douglas Woo

Gentlemen,
Today I’m writing to all of you in the hope to get your assistance.

I have contacted your customer service department and talked to several people without success.
A year and 3 months ago, I have purchased a 42LCD TV Monitor (647LVM42W) from Crutchfield. The value of the TV was ~$1600.

Buying this TV was an investment for at least a few years.
For the past month, an issue arose with the LCD which makes the TV not friendly to watch anymore.

A permanent vertical black line in the middle of the screen (top to bottom).
Your customer service refused to help me saying the warranty is over by nearly 3 months which I cannot argue.
However, I truly believe and consider that I’m part of an “un-usual” scenario. The problem observed is a defect and as such should have special considerations.

The panel seems to be the cause and as you know, it is over 80% of the price of the TV.

Your customer care department telling me to buy a new TV or go try in local dealership because of these 3 months over warranty seem to be very harsh to say the least.
I do not think I am being unreasonable by requesting some assistance to resolve the problem.

If you aren’t convinced yet, just put yourself in my position and ask yourself, would you buy a $1600 TV and put it in the garbage 1 year 3 months later?
How would you feel about it?
It is not like a car and I can do regular maintenance on breaks, oil, etc… I have taken excellent care of my TV and without any reasons failed me with this panel defect.

I always considered your products to be high quality and always been pleased customer.
Please, would you be able to assist me in any ways to resolve this problem in friendly matter, this is all I’m asking.

Hope this email will show you a high consideration for your company and faith in your good will.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you very soon.

wanted to bump this thread, Ive gone through 2 Westinghouse TVs in one year with this issue, Westinghouse doesnt care period. I sent one back to them for repair and i didn't see it for 6 months and they replaced it, that's the second one that broke 4 months later.

just wanted to jump in this thread and say that i have the same 42 inch westinghouse and the same issue.

however, i contacted best buy (i bought the 4 year warranty) and had someone out to my house to look at it.

after about 45 minutes of "questioning" i am having my panel replaced.

i have similar black bars, but they are in line with 4:3 bars on either side of the image. best buy said that warranty doesn't cover those lines and it's my fault for watching so much sd tv, which i don't. all bs, but then i showed him the vertical banding in the middle of the screen that's highly noticeable on a gray screen and he agreed to order me a new panel.

i really hope westinghouse addresses this issue or will extend the traditional warranty, because i recommended the 720p model to my parents and the 32 inch model to my grandfather.

for my next tv, i might look for a tv with better sd scaling, just in case that really will cause "burn-in" on an lcd.

I have a vertical line down the middle of my screen - it was there when I bought it but it was so faint I didn't give it a 2nd thought - as the LVM42w2 is known for some degree of banding.

The line has grown progressively worse over the year+ that I've owned this HDTV and I'm really dissatisfied with this purchase now.

I'm not sure what to do, or what I can do. I've heard the horror stores about Westinghouse's "customer service" and I'd prefer not to deal with any of that.

Thanks. I will never buy a Westinghouse product.

I'm also having the same problem. I bought mine thru Crutchfiled w/3Yr extended warranty, but I haven't reported the problem yet.

So, Best Buy is actually replacing the "panel" instead of a replacement set? Curious, since I wasn't sure if that was a viable solution. I've had it done on a 15" laptop, so I suppose it could be done with a 42" TV. Interesting.

i have the same problem with my westinghouse. does anyone know how to fix the vertical lines? it's getting worse now; the lines are more defined now.

I am also having the same problem with my Westinghouse SK-32H240S. It's just under 5 months old, and has the faint line at the right 4:3 edge.

It doesn't appear when the screen is really bright, ie white. If I run evangelo2's burn-in DVD, the line is most visible on gray, blue, light blue, and light red (pink) screens if you know what I mean. I've left the DVD running overnight, for about 15 hours in a row, and it hasn't faded much if at all.

This is my 2nd one, I returned the 1st to Wal Mart before the 90 day return time frame. It had developed a really dark line, but at the present, this one is about as noticeable as the original picture in the thread.

The wife just refuses to watch SD content stretched -- what're ya gonna do?

The Westinghouse tech support dood said it was definitely covered under the warranty, but I'm just not enthusiastic about shipping a TV off and waiting x number of months. I've emailed them back a few days ago, but still waiting to hear something.

Any suggestions are welcome.

I have a vertical line issue with my 32" LCT32SHA made by Scott for RadioShack. Found out right away after my standard warranty died that LCD tv's have issues, extended warranty's are a good idea, Scott and RadioShack have less than useless phone and online service personnel. This was a small and inexpensive set and I'm out less than $500. I strongly recommend an extended service contract on all LCD tv's. I'm sorry. I have not as of this posting found a repair for this vertical line issue beyond replacing the panel, although you can minimize the line by tweaking the screen settings.

see my posts elsewhere on these forums for my black line issue with a toshiba 42LX196.

i'm currently in a battle over this 14 month old set (not under warranty anymore) and i'm in the process of taking them to small claims court.

we should not let these manufacturers get away with this, whether or not the sets in question are under warranty.

THIS SIMPLY SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!!!!

Hey,
New on the forum and from sweden but this is the only place I found a thread about my issue with my MIRAI 42" Full HD, I too got that Black vertical line from top to bottom in the absolute center of the screen (just like the first image in the thread). Seems it is caused by the panels? You guys came up with only one sollution so far (right?)... I wish oh how i wish there was a simple sollution for this problem... I heard this was a common issue with Plasma screens but now i am sure LCD got the same frikki´n problem.. =o(

Guys - Isn't this the EXACT same issue that was a simple resolution on the Plasmas? It's related tot he METHOD the screens us to refresh the display and is CAUSED by inconsistant power conditioning. Simply drop a Power conditioning unit in there and this issue goes away, doesn't it?

please tell me you have proof for this, might make it easier for everyone to get a clear picture (lol) of the problem..

If you are referring to me I had the issue on my plasma and added line conditioning and the horizontal lines (in that case due to it's design) went away. At the time I did post pictures of it on this forum but that was something like 5 years ago so I am certain they are well gone by now. I don't have the problem on my LG 37LG50 so I can't re-produce the solution attempt. But, if you have the issue you could by simply buying a power conditioning unit from BB or CC and then connecting both your CABLE signal through it as well as your power. If it works, your done and can post pictures here. If it doesn't, just return it and get a refund (and let us know)

I Mailed the support, and had to fill in a form. in this form you could select the type of error you would like to report, there were 6 items to choose from and two of them were : Vertical line and Horizontal line. so i suppose this is a common problem because 1 day later they called me up and booked time for transport, and today they are coming to pick up my set. I still don´t know what´s wrong with the set except from the dark line.. but I hope I´ll get a full briefing of it.. and when I do, I´ll print it here...

( Gaaah, had to set up an old 26" Philips where my set used to be, Can hardly see what´s happening on the screen..Me be wanting my big-one back really soon.)

Ok, conclusion: What I can see on my service company´s webpage i am getting my panel replaced and the set sent back to me.. so there ya go, thin dark vertical line = Broken panel = Change of Panel.-...
Atleast on my "MIRAI 42" LCD DTL-742E600" (if someone is googling for vertical lines and has got a Mirai set)
and for those who wants to get some stats for the set :
http://www.mirai.eu/Download/documen...TL-742E600.pdf

I can't imagine that it's a power conditioning problem. It's a cheap panel problem instead. I gave up on trying to fix mine, and shipping it off for an unknown amount of time isn't really a solution. Westinghouse support said it was a replacement repair and they would have no problem doing it, but only if I ship them the TV first.

I just sit far enough away that it doesn't bother me TOO much. I still have 6 months left on the 1 year warranty, and had bought a 2 year "care plan" that takes over after that. I plan to replace it with a bigger screen before the end of that care plan anyway, and will send it off for repairs then.

Oh well, you live and learn I guess. Stick to fo' real name brands and you won't get burned.

Tell that to the Sharp owners that had banding issues, and Sharp is considered a "real name brand"

Banding issues can happen to any panal regardless of name brand

Mine isn't a band. It's a one or two pixel line right down the right 4:3 border edge. It totally sucks.

I have the exact same problem with my year-old lvm-42w2. It's not a band; it's a solid dark line about four inches from the right side of the screen.

Since my warranty has expired and I didn't buy an extended warranty, I have little recourse. I emailed and mailed a letter to Westinghouse. It's worth a shot...

There seem to quite a a number of posts on the vertical line issue, so I will add one too.
SAMSUNG LN46A650 2 months old suddenly produced a thin bark blue line top to bottom 1/3 away into screen. Called for service, no surprises from their end. Transferred to service etc and explained issue, 3rd party repair suggested replacing panel may be the fix. I am not sure if Samsung makes their own panels or if Corning supplies, as they do, with most LCDs but there is something not right here. Anyone know if DLP suffers the same fate?