Vertical lines on Sanyo Z1 (1 Viewer)

[Seth G]

So my beloved projector was having some issues last night. For whatever reason, it was showing thin vertical blue lines across the entire display. They were evenly spaced, probably 20 or so of them in total. I searched through HTF, and I've seen many abandoned threads that mention this, but unfortunately no solutions.

I don't know how it started. I came home to find my roommate watching it. Unfortunately, he has a reputation for breaking things which has me even more nervous. But anyway, I came down and was horrified to see these thin vertical blue lines running across the display. I don't know if they were there when he turned it on, or if they slowly appeared over time. But he had been watching it for awhile, so it definitely wasn't a warm-up issue.

We tried Component, Composite, and VGA. All sources showed the blue lines. Unfortunately, with no video source, the projector shows a blue background, so I couldn't tell if the blue lines were being diplayed then or not.

Obviously, it's not really realistic to power cycle the projector. But I will check tonight to see if the lines are still there after it has had a night to sleep on it.

And to top it all off, my projector is now 13 months old. Which puts it 1 month out of the warranty period.

I know I'm not alone on this cause I've seen posts that talk about it. Now I just hope someone out there has figured out what is going on. Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide some info.

 

[David K.]

its called vertical banding, i think all z1s have some form of it or another, Mine had it brand new, noticed it after 4 days of use. its only there when i turn off my video source and i get the blue screen.

ive found lowering the sharpness helps out, i think contrast and brightness adjustments will help too.

when i get my projector i will post again whether or not sanyo fixed it.

 

[David K.]

i just got my projector back from sanyo, i think they did something, because I no longer have anymore vertical banding artifacts. Lets hope it stays that way

 

[Seth G]

Well, I guess that's good news. I didn't get a chance to try mine out last night, so I can't say if it still has it or not. I assume if it still does, there is nothing I can do except send it back to Sanyo for repair? Has anyone had to do that outside of their warranty period? Anyone know what kind of cost I'm looking at?

 

[David K.]

i dont know what they did whether it was firm ware or manufacturing setting adjustments.

either way time will tell if it comes back.

 

[David K.]

spoke too soon, the vertical banding is still there,

actually my image is worse then before since there is this video noise all over the screen now after sanyo supposedely "fixed" it under warranty.

 

[Seth G]

Bummer :frowning:

Just checked mine, and it still has the vertical lines after 2 days of rest for it. Tried playing with all the video settings but with only very slight improvement. Very sad. :frowning: Time to contact Sanyo I guess. Any chance they are gonna be nice and fix it for free since it is only a month out of its warranty period? Hey, a man can dream can't he.

 

[Seth G]

I thought I had my original Z1 box laying around somewhere, but I must have junked it. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to package up this thing for shipping?

 

[Seth G]

Don't know if anyone is reading this thread, or maybe it's just me talking to myself. But for completest sake, here is the rest of my story.

I really thought the Z1 only had a 1 year warranty, but maybe I imagined it or I'm just crazy. But called support and found out it actually has a 3 year warranty. So sent the projector out on Friday to Sanyo and got back in my hands Tuesday. Got a note that said they changed the "integrator circuit" on it. Haven't had a chance to fire it up, but I am hoping everything is resolved.

So big thumbs up for Sanyo. Major thumbs up if they did change the warranty from 1 to 3 years. And double thumbs up for the super fast service.

 

[John S]

Big thumbs up, but only if your issue was really corrected with it. lol Can't wait for the conclusion!

 

[Seth G]

Had a chance to have a nice sitdown with the projector last night. Everything looks great. So anyone out there dealing with vertical lines on your Z1s, don't just assume it is vertical banding. Once again, very impressed with the service I got from Sanyo.

 

[John S]

A happy ending to the story.. Very refreshing....