Sony VPL-VW11HT question dead pixels or dust? (1 Viewer)

[mac_casey]

Greetings,

Im not sure if i have dead pixels or dust but i cant watch a sceen with out looking and noticing 3 distict spots!! I was wondering what i should do about it. Can i clean it my self? What do i clean, just the lamp? Is the DLP and the lamp the same thing? I just got the basement renovated and the sales person said that he thinks its dust and should wait for awile and see if the dust falls off the lamp or not. Also to clean the filter regularly. Is there anything i can do before i take it in. I dont want to look like a paranoid customer by bring it in when this appears to be a common thing. One more piece of info is that i bought this unit second hand of a manager of a store that i bought all my AV from. He says he replaced the bulb (part of our deal) and that he reset the hours on it. The hours on the projector appear to be 20 which is accurate. Help me people. I had to turn off lord of the rings while they were in the mines or Noria as i couldnt take it any longer. Please help.

cmac

 

[Neil Joseph]

I also have the 11HT. It is a good unit for preventing dust from getting onto the LCD panels, compared to my previous projector.

First of all, you do not clean the filter, you replace it. With my old projector, a Sharp XVZ1U, it had dust on the LCD panels. I opened up the unit and use a can of compressed air to clean the panels myself. If you unit is under warranty, you may not want to do this as it may void a warranty.

FYI, dust on LCD panels looks like little dark clumps on the screen. A dead pixel is usually a red, green, or blue dot. Two completely different things.

Your bulb is not the problem. Please tell us exactly what you see on the screen. Is it little dark blotches or is it a tiny spot of light that never changes colour?

 

[mac_casey]

Thanks for the quick response. It is definately tiny spots that dont change color (blue and green) and dont change size(aspect ratio) when i do a zoom or magnify. I took some pics to show. i hope you can see them
http://www.srvtools.com/basement/zoom.jpg
http://www.srvtools.com/basement/full.jpg
the movie is what i got for my b-day. its sleepy hollow. depending on your browser you should be able to zoom in on them to see my frustration for you self. Thanks in advance as i eagerly await your opinon.
cmac

 

[Neil Joseph]

I couldn't really see the spots using my browser IE6. I believe that Sony has a dead pixel policy although it me be something like 3 consecutive pixels (or something like that) before they action it. Someone else can chime in on this. I had a single dead pixel on the Sharp unit.

 

[mac_casey]

How much (canadian) would it cost to fix if it wasnt under warrenty? would a dead pixel be more noticible? Since it is hard to see do think it may in fact be dust?

please advise

cm

 

[Neil Joseph]

Tiny spots that do not change colour definitely is not dust on the panels. Dust on the panels would take up a lot more space on the screen than a single pixel. It would be a darker area/blob and its position would not change unless the dust particle moved, which usually won't just happen by itself. Dead pixels are a sad reality for LCD projectors, mostly, they go un-noticed but can sometimes be noticeable. To fix this would be an expensive affair with no warranty. Even with a warranty, may manufacturers may refuse to fix unless there was a clucter of dead pixels together which would be very noticeable, or maybe if there was over a certain number of dead pixels in total. I suppose it varies according to Manufacturer as to what their policy is. Fixing it would mean replacing one of the 3 LCD panels and a lot of factory setup. Try finding out what Sony's policy is on dead pixels. How long have you had the unit?

 

[mac_casey]

i have had it up for about a week. I bought it off a reputable dealer of a local AV store. Its the second most expensive place in the city. We bought it off of the manager after we visited his house. We saw part of a movie and he offered to sell it. After looking at amazement we said yes. We designed our basement much like his and worked with him and a home renovator to design a home theater room that would match our budget. We thought we were getting a good deal (8000.00) on this unit as it retailed for 12,500 her in Canada. When it was installed (last thursday) is when we noticed the specs of green and blue. On friday when he came to tweak both sound and video i mentioned it to him and he said that it was dust from the renovation. I know he knows his stuff. What i dont know is if he new that there was an issue and we were dumb enough to buy it with out proper inspection or if this is really a dust problem and i should just cool it and get it cleaned. what would be a ball park figure to get it fixed. my wife will be asking soon :<

thanks

cm

 

[Neil Joseph]

If they are specs of light (should be painfully obvious) then it is not dust. If you go close to the screen then you can see the array of pixels on the screen (screendoor if you will). One of those pixels should always be on and not changing colour like its neighbouring pixels do.
Is this what you are seeing?
Dust is more an absence or lack of light (although you can still see the darkened image behind it), a dark void like if you painted dark grey spots on your white screen and then proceeded to project an image onto it.
So which is it. I will try to stay online for your answer?

 

[mac_casey]

i believe it is definaltly green and blue light. there are 4 that are noticable during a dark sceen. At a quick glance at about 15 feet away they almost look like a finger print but when you focus on them from the same distance you can distinctly see a blue and green. I wish i could take a better pic. Thanks for staying up for me. i will try and take a better pic of it.

cm

 

[mac_casey]

in this pic there are 2
http://www.srvtools.com/basement/zoom.jpg
upper is green and below is the blue.

 

[mac_casey]

i guess i should say that it of course only shows up when there is a dark sceen :

 

[mac_casey]

the pixels definaltely are always on and do not change colour like its neighbouring pixels do :

 

[Neil Joseph]

It is dust!!!
The only way I was able to see it was to use Paintshop Pro to lighten the image.
See the following...

What I am seeing in this picture is not dead pixels.

 

[Eric T]

Those blobs do not look like dead or stuck pixels to me. Tell him to come to your place and look at it. If you have just purchased the unit and it has this problem, then I think it should be up to him to make it right. The "dust from the renovation" explanation sounds pretty lame to me.

 

[mac_casey]

WOW thats fantasitic to hear!! thanks for all the effort that you put in. I hope you can now see how my sight is drawn to that on every dark sceen. So do i clean it my self or should i get it professionaly cleaned. how much does that service cost.

thanks in advance

Casey MacDonald

 

[Neil Joseph]

You are in luck.

Rightfully, he should fix by giving your unit a cleaning. I have done it myself but I would not recommend it for two reasons. First, you don't want to void any warranty that you have. In your case, I am sure you are getting full warranty. Second, you have to know what you are doing when you clean the LCD panels.

He should either do it, if he is qualified or pay for a certified Sony repair centre to clean it, unless you get that done for free anyway.

 

[mac_casey]

Do any of you have a pic or url to what dead pixels look like? i would be most curious to see. does it take long for dust to accumulate in the unit?

cm

 

[Neil Joseph]

Sorry about all my posts but upon examining the entire thread, I would not feel comfortable having this guyclean it. Certainly do not do it yourself. A damaged LCD panel would spell the end for your projector. $$$ Arrange to have the unit cleaned at a reputable Sony certified repair centre and have this guy pay for it if there is any cost.

The actual procedure I have used is simple but it involved me taking a panel off (Sharp XVZ1U) Taking out the fan assembly and gently blowing compressed air into the chamber that hold the LCD panels. Then re-installing everything. I have yet to open my 11HT as I just got it a short while ago and it has no problems, and is under full warranty with 29 hours of bulb usage in total.

Also, FYI, the dust will look dark relative to a light background and light relative to a dark background. I forgot to mention that point initially.

 

[mac_casey]

Thank you soooo much for all you help. i think i can actually sleep tonight :>

 

[Neil Joseph]

I don't have a pic of what a dead pixel looks like but I can "make" one up in a few minutes...