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RPTV and occasional green flicker (1 Viewer)

Aaron Gould

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My RPTV (Toshiba 57HDX82) has been exhibiting a slight green flicker over the past little while. It appears that the green lamp briefly becomes a little brighter than the blue and red lamps; like a faint green filter placed over the picture.

This is random and generally lasts for a second or two. On more infrequent occasions, it'll do this for up to 3 or 4 seconds.

I can't see this being the fault of any particular source device, or input. It does this while watching satellite (on S-Video), DVD (on component 1) and Xbox (on component 2).

Could my green CRT, or some circuitry be faulty? My TV has not been professionally calibrated, but I can't see that helping...

Thanks!
 

Gregg Loewen

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you need to call for service. There is a service bulletin out on the issue,

Best of luck!!

Gregg
 

Aaron Gould

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Gregg,

I just called the retailer where I bought the TV, and their main service guy is unaware of this problem. He says that he has not heard of this bulletin, and not had any complaints about this issue. Do you think that maybe this is an American-only bulletin/problem (I'm in Canada)?

Have you got any more information on this (ie. web sites, etc); the service guy is curious for more information. I'd really appreciate it.

In the meantime, the service guy is doing his own digging around/calling the appropriate sources.

Thanks!
 

Gregg Loewen

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have him make a phone call to the factory and inquire about "flicker", Toshiba is very aware of it.

regards

gregg
 

Gregg Loewen

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Toshiba has had HUNDREDS (if not more) sets affected with this problem.
 

Aaron Gould

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Ok. I guess my A/V retailer just hasn't had any service calls on this issue. I will be calling the service guy again in the morning and let him know of this information.

Thanks for the help Gregg, I appreciate it!
 

Aaron Gould

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Here's an update on the problem...

The service guy called me back and claimed that there was no service bulletin on this issue. He did however say that this sounded like "afterglow" or "pre-glow"? Those may not be the exact words used, but essentially one of the lamps (presumable the green) is firing slightly before or after the other two lamps.

He suggested I figure out when approximately it happens; specifically if it happens after a certain period of warm-up, or just randomly.

Frustrating...
 

Aaron Gould

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Just an update on my situation (in case anyone is wondering :))...

Gregg -- I sent an e-mail off to Toshiba Canada, and this is what I got:

Sorry to hear you are experiencing a problem with your television. Your information was forwarded to our Service Manager. He informs me that the information regarding a service bulletin is incorrect. However, you do require service on your set. Suggest you contact the following authorized service depot and arrange for them to come out and examine your set and make the necessary repairs.
... and they supplied the contact info for a local repair depot. My A/V retailer has an in-house repair department for Toshiba and other brands, and I'll be going through them instead.

So apparently this service bulletin is an American-only bulletin. Somewhat disappointing, but at least they're aware of the problem.

Regardless, I've got the repair guy coming in Monday to check it out. Here's hoping the flicker thing is out in full force when he gets here!
 

Aaron Gould

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One final addition to this thread...

The repair guy did not see the problem. He suggested that I get the set calibrated as he suspected the colour temperature was way too high, and that when similar colours were appearing on the screen at once (ie. dark grey, dark blue, black) there was some sort of wacky thing going on.

Don't ask me, I didn't quite understand what he was getting at.

Regardless -- the calibrationist came and did his thing this past Sunday. Three hours of test patterns and colour adjustments. So far I've not seen any flickering!!

The first DVD I watched looked absolutely amazing. Just like a new set. Colours were more vibrant, and the picture was a bit sharper. The detail overall was just better. Awesome enhancement for $250 CDN!

It turns out that the colour temperature was up over 12,000! I think it's at around 6,500 now.

So hopefully I've seen the last of my dreaded flicker problem. If anyone else sees something like this, your set might just need calibrating. :)
 

John S

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Thanks for that update.....

I am getting close to getting my set calibrated, I was waiting til I had 200 hours or so on it.

I am excited about it, and excited to at least somewhat learn the process too.
 

Aaron Gould

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The calibrationist that did my set spent about 90 minutes adjusting the focus. Much of that was spent staring at a white grid on black background. He moved a small red/green/blue outlined square to just about all the intersections of the grid and focused each one. Some patterns from Video Essentials were used as well.

After that he adjusted greyscale by using an instrument that was held up to the screen to measure the output levels (presumably). That was about 30 minutes or so.

Finally, the colours and tints were adjusted over the course of 20-30 minutes. He was looking through red, green and blue coloured cellophane pieces.

When all was complete, he watched a few demo scenes from Video Essentials. He also grabbed a couple discs from my collection to demo the improved picture (Toy Story 2, and Austin Powers 2). Let me tell you, the scenes he picked REALLY brought out the newly-enhanced colours!

I'm not an expert in the area, so you'll notice I've used next to zero proper technical terms here... :) Regardless, that's how it happened here!

I'm pretty sure you're going to be happy once your set is calibrated. I my case, it had been over a year since I bought my set. After a year of watching on factory presets... wow, does DVD look amazing now. I can't wait until I get high-def now.
 

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