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Removal of protective screen on 51S500 (1 Viewer)

Jason_Gibson

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Anyone out there know of a good place for step-by-step instructions on removal of the protective screen for the S500? I want to remove it to clean some milk that _mysteriously_ got between the two screens. Read...my 16 month old on a rampage. Then, need to put it back on, due to the original source of the problem.

I found some instructions on keohihdtv, but it is referring to the procedure with the SDX. Don't know if it would be the same with the newer models or not.

Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jason (aka dad in despair)
 

Miles M

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Jan 21, 2002
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This is a bit of work, but nothing too difficult. First take off the screen frame from the TV. You will need to remove the speaker grille to get to all the screws on the bottom side of the screen frame. Once all screws are removed, pull the bottom of the screen frame so that it 'pops' off, then lift the screen frame up to remove the top part of the frame from the TV. Now the screen frame is ready to be removed from the TV, but you need a 2nd person to disconnect the wires from the Sensor PWB. Once removed, place the screen frame on some carpet. From back side of screen frame,you will see probably 30 little screws that need to be removed to get the screen out of the frame. The protective shield is taped to the other screens(such as the fresnel and lenticular), so this tape will have to be peeled back to get the front protective piece off. Put back together in opposite order.
Note: Be sure to keep the screen orientation the same. That is, top should remain top when you put it back in. And out should remain out.
 

Jason_Gibson

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Nov 3, 2003
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Thanks Miles. This sounds much less complex than what is suggested on keohi.com/keohihdtv

Think I'll pick a day when my little man is out of the house for a while, and watch a movie or two with it off to see what all the rage is about.

Jason
 

Miles M

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Well, you shouldn't remove the protective shield permanently for 2 reasons. First, the shield has some tinting which improves contrast ratio. Second, if you do and try to put the screen back in it will be very loose in the frame because it will be that much thinner without the protective shield. Point is, if all you want to do is clean between the protective shield and the fresnel it can be done. But everything should be put back to original condition when you're done.
 

Jason_Gibson

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Nov 3, 2003
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That's an interesting opinion Miles. Have you done much comparison of sets with it on versus off? Just about all I've read on the subject here (and other discussion groups) says that the image quality improves with the protective screen off. Seems to be one of the things that ISF techs try to convince you to do when they are doing a calibration (Michael TLV and Gregg Loewen to name two that I have heard of -- maybe one of them might chime in here if we're lucky).

I don't know if they suggest doing something to compensate for the "looseness" after the protective screen is removed or not. Is this perhaps what they mean by expression "restacking"?

Regardless, it would take a lot to convince me to leave it off. Given all the fingerprint removal I do from the protective screen, I'd hate to see what my little guy would do to the lenticular.
 

Gregg Loewen

Founder, Professional Video Alliance
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hi guys

Removing the glare screen or doing a restack, doenst make a lot of difference. Personally I always remove it when I can. I have not figured out how to remove it on the 65" Hitachis and the Pioneer non elite sets so I do a restack on them. If I remove the screen, I use 1/4 weather stripping to shim up the stack and keep it tight in the bracket when reassembling. If you are doing this, make sure you put some magazines or stacks of printer paper under the screen to keep it from sagging while the brackets are removed.

Conversely, Michael (last time I asked) always does a restack.

Either way you go the image is much improved with it off the front.

Regards

Gregg
 

Miles M

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I will tell you that removing it completely will reduce the contrast ratio, of course if the ambient light in the room is high this will reduce contrast ratio as well and if it glares so much as to blind you when watching then by all means remove it.
To be honest, I had never heard of restacking til I heard it here. But thinking only from an optical point of view, the first thing the light should hit should be the fresnel. If you 'restack' and put the protective shield behind the fresnel, the light will now be slightly skewed by the protective sheet. This will ultimately affect focus. To me, it would seem to have the same effect as using a 2nd surface mirror as opposed to a 1st surface mirror. May be a small difference but will be noticeable. Of course just having a pro adjust your set will likely improve it so greatly, that the small negative effect from this won't be noticeable. I plan to try a comparison as soon as I can, I am intrigued by this idea however.
 

Michael TLV

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Greetings

That's probably why we do focus after we restack the screen. :)

The glare screen hides details in the image ... without it ... you see defects in the lenticular screen ... among other things ...

But if it hides these little defects ... what else is it hiding in terms of image detail? You see more without it.

IT was put there for marketing purposes ... to create glare ... to make these sets look more like tube sets.

Regards
 

Jason_Gibson

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Nov 3, 2003
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Thanks to all for the info. Am I wrong, or is the protective screen not more "durable" than the lenticular? I kind of thought it was mainly there for that purpose. Ultimately, wouldn't restacking (or removing) leave me much more vulnerable to permanent damage from the "attacks" of my 16 month old?
Thanks
Jason
 

Miles M

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Jan 21, 2002
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Well, I know you'll adjust focus after you restack. The point is technically, you should never be able to get the focus as good as if you didn't have that additional light refraction caused by restacking.
I do agree that the shields were added mainly for marketing. The problem is, now many manufacturers are putting the tinting in the shield instead of on the front sheet like they used to.
IMO, all of this is a moot point if you have young kids who are likely to 'attack' your TV, because you'll want that protective screen there.
 

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