Holy HDTV Lines Batman!

[TNC9852002]

I purchased a Westinghouse LTV-27w7 HD around 8 months ago. Around 3 months ago, I noticed that there were several symmetric vertical lines showing on the screen. These lines were of course extremely faint and it seemed like they would probably disappear or something after the TV was off for a while. Now, they're somewhat becoming a distraction when watching TV and especially DVDs in places where there's white on the screen. There's also one particular, faint vertical line that seems to stand out on the screen and it's not quite that faint anymore (but you still have to stare for it). I was wondering, what could be the cause of this and/or is there a remedy?

-TNC

 

[black_dust]

I was wondering, what could be the cause of this

Tvs ****ed

and/or is there a remedy?

Take it back

 

[KALEL114]

I think your fridge or airconditioning or something in your house is causeing electrical interference. Try turning things off and see if the lines disappear.
Try a noise filter.Radio Shack has them.

 

[Kritish]

If it's under warranty you need to take it back. If not you're ****ed.

 

[TNC9852002]

Hmmm.

-TNC

 

[jaguarr]

Tvs ****ed

Take it back

Verrrrry slight chance that there's electrical interference as KALEL suggests, but my money is on black_dust's professional assessment. Sorry.

jag

 

[TNC9852002]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing the line(s) anymore..

I guess it was some kind of temporary burn or somethin'..

-TNC

 

[jaguarr]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing the line(s) anymore..

I guess it was some kind of temporary burn or somethin'..

-TNC

If it's still under warranty, get it checked out anyway.

jag

 

[KALEL114]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing the line(s) anymore..

I guess it was some kind of temporary burn or somethin'..

-TNC

Cool.

 

[TNC9852002]

BAD NEWS.

I guess I was just out of my mind for the moment because the lines or the couple of really noticable vertical lines WERE and are STILL THERE. It's such a ridiculous distraction. I e-mailed Westinghouse and the problem isn't with the antenna or anything like that. I'm gonna have to call the manufacturer and see if they can come fix it.

If it's gonna cost an arm and a leg, then I'd rather just sell the 27" that I have and bump up to something bigger. I've had the one I have now for almost a year now. It's been the last 5-6 months that I've been trying to deal with this problem.

-TNC

 

[Shuley]

if it's under warranty then have them fix it,complaining about it on a message board isn't going to fix your tv.

 

[TNC9852002]

DUH!

I've just been inquiring about it here just in case anyone has had a similar problem.

-TNC

 

[SPIDER-MAN-ROX]

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/04/lcd-dead-pixels-test-check-and-repair.html

LCD Dead Pixels Test: Check and repair dead pixels

How to find dead pixels on your LCD Screen ? What Causes a Dead Pixel? How to fix dead pixels ? - All your queries and concerns related to dead pixels are answered here.

LCD screens are the most likely component to contain noticeable flaws in the form of the dreaded dead pixels. There are 3.9 million sub-pixels (red, green and blue) on a standard 1280x1024 resolution LCD monitor, and each of these is a transistor. Occasionally these individual transistors responsible for carrying current to a pixel will either short out or remain open resulting in what is called a dead pixel. Dead pixels are rare and largely go unnoticed by the user.

A "lit" pixel is one that appears as one of several randomly placed white, red, blue or green pixel elements on a dark background, or you may have a "missing" pixel which shows up as a black dot on a light colored background. Apple prefers to call it "pixel anomaly".

Dead Pixel Locator is a neat utiltiy to check the LCD monitor or plasma display for dead pixels. It checks the LCD screen for dead pixels and displays the faulty pixels in a color different than the background color.

How to fix dead pixels ? Fixing dead pixels may involve a bit of luck. If you notice dead pixels, try rubbing the LCD screen area gently by pressing a finger gently through a rag around the pixel.

Remember that notebook manufacturer have their own policy on how many dead pixels warrants a return and replacement. Dell considers a screen defective only if it has six or more faulty pixels. The problem is, most people are not aware of this policy before they get their notebook and falsely assume that one dead pixel is good enough to ask for a replacement, but this is generally not the case.

 

[TNC9852002]

Well, they're not dots and besides, I know what a dead pixel looks like. I have a few of them on my DS Lite screen..

Anyway, I've got a guy coming over to look at my TV today (cue the porno music).

-TNC

 

[TNC9852002]

Ugh. Some Best Buy guys came over and pretty much wasted my time. They never seen anything like it before, couldn't explain what was going on, or anything.

I'm pretty much back to square one here. Hmmmm.

-TNC

 

[jaguarr]

They charged you to come over and tell you that they don't know what's wrong with it and then just left without offering any resolution paths like calling in a more experienced tech from Westinghouse or offering to replace the TV? Unacceptable, man. Call the store and ask for the manager. THE manager. Not the assistant jackass. Not the floor manager. The STORE manager. And complain. Rip his ear off. Better yet, find out when he'll be there and go in and do it in person. Be irate. This TV isn't even a year old. They should resolve this problem for you, no matter what it takes. If you show them that you are angry and upset that you've been sold a dud and that they aren't taking steps to resolve your problem, they'll be more apt to take care of it. If they don't, ask for the store number and the manager's full name and contact information (address, phone, email) for the regional corporate headquarters and then tell him that you will be taking your problem to corporate and the Better Business Bureau. After he gets back from the restroom to change his pants, he should be more willing to help. Let me know if that doesn't get your problem resolved.

jag

 

[TNC9852002]

They charged you to come over and tell you that they don't know what's wrong with it and then just left without offering any resolution paths like calling in a more experienced tech from Westinghouse or offering to replace the TV? Unacceptable, man. Call the store and ask for the manager. THE manager. Not the assistant jackass. Not the floor manager. The STORE manager. And complain. Rip his ear off. Better yet, find out when he'll be there and go in and do it in person. Be irate. This TV isn't even a year old. They should resolve this problem for you, no matter what it takes. If you show them that you are angry and upset that you've been sold a dud and that they aren't taking steps to resolve your problem, they'll be more apt to take care of it. If they don't, ask for the store number and the manager's full name and contact information (address, phone, email) for the regional corporate headquarters and then tell him that you will be taking your problem to corporate and the Better Business Bureau. After he gets back from the restroom to change his pants, he should be more willing to help. Let me know if that doesn't get your problem resolved.

jag

Ok, let me give you the details on what happened.

First of all, my TV is fully covered for 4 years in-home repair by Best Buy and I'm still under warranty from Westinghouse so I don't have to pay anything.

The first thing that I did was call Westinghouse. I was on the phone with them for about 25 minutes. They couldn't tell me exactly what the problem was. So, they suggested that I contact BestBuy and have them come by the house and look at the TV under my warranty.

A week and a half later, the guys came by and looked at it. They didn't really give me anything in terms of the cause of the problem or a true remedy. They did some tapping and adjusting with the screen and it APPEARED to improve. They gave me "Call us if it gets worse" thing. They were over for about 15 minutes.

Don't worry, I'm calling them up again this week to see if I can get the TV replaced because at first I thought that the little tinkering that they did do made an improvement and it looked like it did, but it really didn't improve at all.

-TNC