[rareearth]

Hi Guys,


I am new to this forum but I have been visiting here for some time and have learned quite a bit from the postings. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge. I have had the Sony for one week and have three weeks left to make a decision on keeping or returning the unit. I have two issues:


1) I have a single stuck/dead pixel. It is dark grey in color and is located in the extreme upper left hand corner of the screen. It is not visible from my normal viewing distance of 13 feet. Is this better or worse than average? What are the chances that a replacement unit would be even worse in this regard? I know that Sony does not officially classify less than a certain number of stuck/dead pixels as a defect. Does the fact that I have one straight out of the box indicate an elevated chance that more will develop with this particular unit?


2) I am more than happy with the overall PQ of this model. Extremely sharp and vivid with a high-quality HD feed. Black levels are significantly improved over the previous model, even without the dynamic iris technology of the A10 series. Blacks are rich and deep versus the previous washed-out charcoal with a blue cast. SD can be good as well, depending on the source. The problem that I failed to notice after hours of studying this model in showrooms is SSE. Yet I don't see many complaints from others here about SSE with the A20 series. Am I missing something in setup that would minimize this effect? I run the lamp on reduced power mode and have calibrated brightness and contrast with the Avia disc. Aside from the SSE, to me the PQ is fabulous.


Thanks for any thoughts you may have on my dilemma.

 

[AMartin56]

I purchased an A20 at the end of July after returning a Samsung DLP (No problems in multiple showrooms but when I got it home the rainbows were crazy) and my first A20 had some pixel problems....about 6 inches from the top and just a little left of center there were 3 stuck on green with another bad batch of two about 3 inches away from the first group.


I bought it from what I consider to be a VERY good dealer (A&B TV in Austin TX) so they swapped it out with another one with no hassle AT ALL. My new one seems perfect but to tell you the truth I have no intention of studying it too much since I never would have noticed the faults on the first one if I didn't happen to walk right by it when it was displaying a black 'no signal' screen one night.


I'd say if you have one bad pixel then it might be best to leave it alone. I have had good luck with LCD technology in the past (2 laptops, one desktop LCD and this TV) and I have never seen bad pixels develop or spread. They are either there when you get it due to a manufacturing defect or they won't be. If yours is in a 'good' location near the side and you can't see it from your viewing distance then I say you should keep it.


I see some screen door effect (You said SSE do you mean SDE?) on my model but it doesn't bother me as much as the DLP rainbows did, and I only notice it now because my current living arrangements place me close to the TV. If it bothers you you may want to take a look at the JVC LCOS models. Those sets may be a better fit for you.


I like LCD's in general mostly because they are so gentle to the eye after being at work all day staring at ancient CRT monitors.


Andrew

 

[RUS9]

1 - if you bought from a local store with a great return policy, I'd return it, even over one dead pixel. I did the exact same thing myself (55WF), although mine was right in the "face" area of the display, and I sit rather close, it looked like a fly was buzzing around the sportscasters on ESPN. Of course, this is the huge advantage of buying locally, if you're unhappy for any reason, you can have them replace it, likely at no cost. Trust me, they'll just be glad you're not cancelling the purchase completely. Yes you may get something worse, but I didn't. Plus I've read and believe that they typically only develop in the first few weeks, if they are going to.


2 - the key is the source, and I have both Comcast and Directv because some are better for certain material. With a very strong source signal, SSE and SDE are virtually non-existent, even fairly close, and if you check my first posts to this forum, they were complaints about SDE that I noticed when viewing the sets in stores. Other things that can help - lower the brightness and sharpness settings some. Also, I don't know if your set has a "DRC Palette" or not, but select Custom 1, and crank both the reality and clarity settings to the max. Hope this helps.

 

[rareearth]

Thanks for your replies.


I'm leaning toward living with the stuck pixel. As long as nothing further develops, it's really not an issue since it is not visible more than a few feet from the set.


AMartin56 - I am referring to "silk screen effect", a kind of "shimmering" that can be evident in bright portions (especially white) of the picture.


RUS9 - Thanks for your suggestions on settings. I will give them a try. I am hoping a few tweaks of this nature will reduce the SSE to a level I can live with. BTW I agree that the effect is minimal with a high quality signal. Unfortunately some of the programming I will be watching (SD) will be of less than top notch signal quality and would be more acceptable if the SSE were less pronounced.


Thanks again guys.

 

[AMartin56]

Yeah I get you now on the SSE. Not something I'd read about during my initial research but I've done some searches to fill myself in.


I can see some SSE on my set but it really seems to come down to signal quality as far as I can tell. Don't really see any with my DVD player through HDMI and also didn't have any issues with pre-season football on ABC or ESPN (both in 720p). I'm watching football on CBS right now in 1080i and the effect DOES seem worse, but then the over all picture quality seems bad for a HD signal if you ask me. I never see anything SSE wise when looking at what seems to be my best HD signal (Discovery HD).


One further review the main problem with the CBS signal seems to be what I would normally chalk up to compression artifacts...

 

[Tecumseh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rareearth Hi Guys, I am new to this forum but I have been visiting here for some time and have learned quite a bit from the postings. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge. I have had the Sony for one week and have three weeks left to make a decision on keeping or returning the unit. I have two issues: 1) I have a single stuck/dead pixel. It is dark grey in color and is located in the extreme upper left hand corner of the screen. It is not visible from my normal viewing distance of 13 feet. Is this better or worse than average? What are the chances that a replacement unit would be even worse in this regard? I know that Sony does not officially classify less than a certain number of stuck/dead pixels as a defect. Does the fact that I have one straight out of the box indicate an elevated chance that more will develop with this particular unit? 2) I am more than happy with the overall PQ of this model. Extremely sharp and vivid with a high-quality HD feed. Black levels are significantly improved over the previous model, even without the dynamic iris technology of the A10 series. Blacks are rich and deep versus the previous washed-out charcoal with a blue cast. SD can be good as well, depending on the source. The problem that I failed to notice after hours of studying this model in showrooms is SSE. Yet I don't see many complaints from others here about SSE with the A20 series. Am I missing something in setup that would minimize this effect? I run the lamp on reduced power mode and have calibrated brightness and contrast with the Avia disc. Aside from the SSE, to me the PQ is fabulous. Thanks for any thoughts you may have on my dilemma.

I just surfed off the A10 thread and they had a few people complain about the SSE.

They suggested lowering the settings in all aspects. In particular....

Take off VIVID

Hope this helps.

Later

tec

 

[DolfanJay]

I just noticed the my 42WE655 has one dead/stuck pixel. Its grey and in the bottom left corner of the screen. Only reason I noticed it is because I was switching DVDs at the time and just happened to look up at the blank screen. I cant see it unless I'm right in front of the set so I'm not going to worry about it.


For me lowering Contrast seems to help with the SSE. These projections TVs have insanely bright whites. I've read of people putting there contrast up to max on my particular set. I dont know how they do it. Besides making video noise more noticeable it would probably burn my eyeballs right out of there sockets.

 

[Barrybud]

SSE is just a part of the RP micro display world and most often comes from the screen that the image is projected onto. I think it may be less prevalent on displays that use glass, though they have a glare issue.

 

[Tackleberry78]

What does "SSE" stand for? is there an acronym definition page in the forums for newbies?