About six months ago my screen started showing bright blue dots in a random pattern on my tv screen. Now in the middle of the screen there is what looks like a large circle that someone has cut out of a magazine with ragged edges. The blue problem is still there. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on?
it used 3 lcds one for each color... and sounds like your blue lcd is fu-cked The fix for this is to have the optical block (also known as the engine) replaced. This is a very expensive part,... you may want to move on to a flat panel tv.
techno_junkie's Full Review: Sony Grand WEGA KDF-60XS955 60 in. HDTV LCD TV I had previously purchased the KDF-55WF655, and decided to upgrade to this 60" XS model, mostly because of the extra HDMI input and the better speaker system. The first thing I noticed was with fast moving scenes, the picture would pixelate very bad (image breaks into squares with a visible grid line) also known as the screen-door-effect. This occurred mostly on broadcast TV including HD channels, but also did it when playing DVD's (although to a lesser extent) To add to the misery, there was a dead, blue pixel right in the middle of the screen. It was visible about 10 feet back and was a HUGE distraction. I took the set back and got a full refund. I thank the store for being understandable about it. On a positive note, the sound quality was the best I have heard from a TV, and with eight video inputs plus the built-in HD tuner and cable-card slot, the features were very good. I didn't use the cable-card, so I cannot comment on how well that worked. The built-in antenna worked very good and pulled in all my local channels with no problem. The 55" I had before didn't have the pixelation problem or any dead pixels, so I may end up trying the KDF-55XS955 model but I am still undecided.
G.I. Rob. is right the optical block blue is dead du to overheat.
I would assume you already do that (being that you're pretty knowledgeable about their car audio :P ).
Though I won't lie, some Sony screens have a great picture. I know the trinitron is based off the way the epithelial layer in the eye functions. Just a shame they aren't more reliable. When I was a tech I noticed they were crap as well in terms of quality.
The first Sony Wega used RCA tube, I had a Colortrack 2000 with the same tube with a RGB computer input, 3 video inputs then a video output, the sharpness and the color was so great!
I agree that Sony has slipped a bit in recent years on their home electronics products. I have a 15 year old ES receiver that is a beast and still works perfect. They are still a world leader in quality and sales in the pro A/V market. Somewhere along the line, profit became their number one goal in the consumer market.
Interesting to note that Samsung uses the same LCD panels as Sony does on almost all models. They are made at the Samsung/Sony Crystal Valley factory in Korea. In fact, roughly 70% of all LCD panels worldwide come from this factory, and nearly all of the 50"+ models. Vizio and several other major companies are using these panels too, but in most cases, and especially Sony and Samsung, each uses their own proprietary processing and electronics designs, and this is where the quality of image and overall build come in. This is the reason you see such disparity in the quality and ruggedness of otherwise very similar products.
Sharp is one company that makes their own panels. And since Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and the other leaders were all late to join the LCD industry, simply because they were puzzled on what to do with all of their existing CRT plants and inventory, Sharp is at least one year ahead of everyone in technology, and are currently making the world's best LCD televisions.
If you guys have never read about the Crystal Valley factories: Samsung/Sony Tangjeong and Sharp's Kameyama II -- Dream Factory, you should. They are the two of the most high-tech and massive factories in the world, and the fact that most people have owned or seen in person a product that came out of one of these places, is pretty cool in itself.
Brad, my dad hooked me up with his old GX909ES. still solid and with great clarity. lights up like a carousel too haha looks sweet.
sometimes I wonder how you find all of this crap out lol. i love my 40" Bravia XBR7 but I do notice in dark visuals the fluorescent back light bleeding through :/