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Sony KD-32DX50 faint vertical lines in digital mode problem
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Hi,
I have a KD-32DX50 television that I bought one month ago and I am having a bit of a problem using the digital tuner.
When I am watching digital television I get these half transparent vertical lines going across the screen, you can especially see them when watching a program with lots of dark bits in?
This doesn't happen in analogue or when watching a DVD / playing a game, just in digital mode.
It really is odd, and you can only really see them when watching television in the dark, but its still pretty annoying!
Has anyone else had this problem or knows of a fix?
I'm thinking its possibly a problem with the set rather than a type of interference, is anyone out there able to shed some light on it for me?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Movisman
I have a KD-32DX50 television that I bought one month ago and I am having a bit of a problem using the digital tuner.
When I am watching digital television I get these half transparent vertical lines going across the screen, you can especially see them when watching a program with lots of dark bits in?
This doesn't happen in analogue or when watching a DVD / playing a game, just in digital mode.
It really is odd, and you can only really see them when watching television in the dark, but its still pretty annoying!
Has anyone else had this problem or knows of a fix?
I'm thinking its possibly a problem with the set rather than a type of interference, is anyone out there able to shed some light on it for me?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Movisman
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At the time I thought it the problem came from the qidescreen TV CRT, but since Movisman wrote this thread I've noticed it's only there when tuned to digital stations. Vertical banding visible during night scenes or dark interiors, especially when the scene is panning.
I'd hoped that by now one of the technical whizzes that read these pages would have offered an explanation. Perhaps it needs to be posted in another section of the forums that gets more readers.
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=126473
If so turn them off when watching digital
it takes ages to adjust 'brightness' and 'contrast' to minimise the effect
Have you tried different scart leads etc?
Thanks for the replies - i've sent my Sony idTV back to get it looked at, I will let you know how I get on with it...!
Eric, sorry to hear you have the same problem as me, at least i'm not alone though! The problem certainly is a weird one, i've explained it in depth to the engineers - I guess I just have to hang on and see what they come up with.
Rifleman, there isn't really any enhancements such as Pixel Plus or anything, any adjustments you can make on the set i've tried, but to no avail as yet. Cheers for the suggestion though.
As for the scart leads they are decent THOR ones, and the digital is integrated anyway, so there must be a problem inside or something!
Anyone else have these problems, or even better, a solution?
Movisman
My mates Panasonic IDTV is fine with no lines or bars, if you want a change. I think it's the 32DT4.
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displayreview.php?reviewid=4066
My television is now being returned monday, i'll post any info on here when I have tested it.
Apparently there were a few loose connections plug related which is odd, and the engineers couldn't see the vertical bars (are they blind!) but according to them all my problems have been rectified, and they have recalibated the television for geometry and centering, etc... and were adamant that the television is working absolutely fine.
I'll just have to see for myself when it gets returned monday...
Movisman
Got my television back the other week - and guess what, its the same...
I'm really disappointed seeing as I had to pay £37.60 for a call out charge for the sony repair guys to come and get it, and yet the problem still remains!
They said they stripped down the unit and refitted the plug (or something to that description) as it was kind of faulty - but they could not see the lines at all.
This is unbelievable! I called Sony but they were totally useless, it didn't really help my cause at all - and said i'd need to send it away for repair again.
So.... I phoned the Sony Service agent once again to express my concerns, and they said I could send the TV back, they would take out the digital board - and they would need to send it to Wales (!) for either a repair, or a replacement by Sony. Then they would then receive a new board and would fit it, and then send it to me.
This whole process could take up to a month I reckon, and i'm not confident that a fix is guaranteed after the last time.
And to make it worse, they are adamant that I must pay the call out charge a second time!
I'm really stumped as to what to do now, has anyone got any recommendations as to the most effective way of me getting this problem fixed effectively, or the best people to speak to?
Surely sony know about this problem, as it doesn't seem like a totally isolated case...!
I'd really appreciate any help that comes this way...
Cheers
Morgan
In my experience it's always been intereference from the analogue tuner.
Make sure the analogue staion that you are watching when not on the digital option is one with a good signal.
Sony Trintron tubes have fine wires stretched across the screen as part of the construction of the tube and they occasionally show.
When you say you watch in the dark - do you mean really, really dark?
The other possibility as suggested is an analogue ghost from somewhere in the system...
We are in a pretty strong signal area and all analogue channels are good, so I don't think its to do with analog interference, although i'll double check later.
As for the wires on the tubes - if I either watch in the dark, or with both bedside lights on you can still see the buggers, but only really in dimly-lit scenes (for instance movies).
On movie credits (where there is a dark background) they can really show up.
Any more suggestions or advice? I hope so!
Thanks
Morgan
The thing is I could try another digibox, but in practice thats not why I bought an IDTV - also because of the integrated digital it only has 2 scarts anyway, one is used by the dvd, one by the vcr so i can't really fit much more on!
If the digibox has 2 scarts i'd be tempted but - I just think it would be an unnecessary cost, especially as the lines shouldn't be there in the first place...
Any more suggestions or anyone know an engineer who may know what the problem is? I'm just so disappointed with the level of customer service i've been given by Sony and the service agents - this TV is going to end up costing me a fortune :O(
Any more ideas are highly appreciated.
Movisman
As for the 2 scart sockets, if the DVD or the VCR has 2 scarts and you got a DTT box, these can all then be daisy chained up together to use just the 1 or 2 scart socket on the tv.
At least then if the worst comes to the worst and the DTT box cures your fault, all for the good.
You had to pay a £37.60 call out charge for a set you bought recently? That's not right.
Bit of a con to be honest, especially as they didn't fix the fault in the first place.
As for the digibox idea, it is a possibility I am looking at - but i'd rather get the IDTV performing as it should if I can somehow...
Movisman
Anyone any more ideas with solving this problem at all?
Any idea what the true reason is and where the root of the problem lies?
Many Thanks
Morgan
I'm in Melbourne, Australia and found this thread by typing "tv vertical lines" in Google. I bought a home theatre in November last year, including a Philips 76cm widescreen TV (32PW8521). After a couple of weeks I noticed faint vertical grey "jail bars", roughly 2cm wide and 2cm apart, starting strongest from the left side of the screen and fading as they got to the centre. The right side was pretty much perfect. This was only on black scenes, and dark greys, browns, underwater scenes, etc.
I notified the shop and they immediately replaced it. The new one was exactly the same. I tried changing everything. Cables, DVD players, turning the amplifier off, the subwoofer off, taking the centre speaker away from the TV. Nothing fixed it. I had a technician come out who immediately knew what the problem was, but he had a very strong accent and I didn't catch what he said the part was called. This technician went overseas and after months of miscommunications and being stuffed around, the TV still wasn't fixed, so they replaced it again. I immediately turned this 3rd TV to a black scene and was rapt to see a pure black screen - no white lines. However, after watching it for a while, I noticed that now on BRIGHT colours I could see lines. Though now, instead of patterned jail bars, it was just 2 or 3 lines... one just in from the left edge, one just off centre.
I'd now had enough and went back to the store, saying that most people were telling me to send the whole lot back. They said they wouldn't do this, but would let me choose another TV of equal value. Their point of view was that, seeing as how it was now over 6 months after my initial purchase, I would be getting a better TV for the same money.
I looked around and thought that this time I'd spend extra and hopefully get good quality and have no problems. I chose a Toshiba 86cm widescreen (36SW9UA), which was twice the price of the Philips. At first I thought this TV was perfect, then noticed that it also has a similar problem. On both DVD and normal TV, there are faint, shadowy jail bars. They are really only noticeable when the camera pans sideways, and only on bright, constant colours. They're most noticeable on a sky, or on a football field, but not on mult-coloured things, like a crowd of people.
Also, the brightness goes up and down by itself. Some people have suggested this might be macro-vision, but it's not. My DVD isn't hooked up through my VCR, plus it happens on normal TV too. I had a technician come and look a couple of weeks ago. He couldn't see the vertical lines in the short time that he looked, and he said it was strange that the brightness change happened at exactly the same spot on a DVD all the time, so he though it was my DVD player. (Even though it happens on normal TV too.) So, in conclusion, he didn't think there was a problem with the TV.
I wasn't happy with this, so I emailed Toshiba a couple of days ago. They rang an hour ago and said that they're going to have the TV picked up and brought to them, and I can go out there and show them. Seeing as how this will be on the other side of the city and over an hour's drive, on a weekday, I'm not too impressed, but I'll do it and hopefully this can be resolved. If you type in TV "vertical lines", or TV "jail bars" it's amazing how many search results you get. It seems to be a definite fault in certain TV models.
The vertical shading is slightly visible sometimes but to be honest I just put it to the back of my mind - you can spend too much time looking for faults. I do of course appreciate that it may be more serious for others, especially if it's a more expensive TV. Our Panasonic was only £400 after all, and the only TV I'd be happy with otherwise would be a Loewe - but you are talking serious money there...
I have a Panasonic Quintrix widscreen and suffer with lines and this green tint....thought it the scart or interference but still baffled?
I wonder if it is to do with the scart, having all or some pins connected causing a sort of loop between external equipment?
I have this problem with audio within my recording studio so thought it may be the same with video?
i wonder if the problem will go away if only the crucial pins are connected?
Just a thought, and might try myself since i fitted a multi audio/video system within a pub i came across problems with some scart leads which i doctored, removed all pins except the composit +/- and ground and got a superb picture via a composite booster & 5 TV's.
Like i say, this is just a though i would like to run past you all.
regards
Si.
Composite may look OK superficially, but it's not in the same class as RGB or component video.
Lines and tints through a SCART system usually mean leakage in the cable, or a loop through that's not completely isolated.
It's a bit trial and error to fix it by eliminating components and leads.
There is however a separate problem with some Sony sets in which some CRT suppport wires show themselves as fine lines at times.
I have never seen it on a Panasonic however.
These faint vertical lines are very annoying, especially when watching football as they really show up as the camera pans across the pitch.
I don't understand how such a big flaw can be dismissed