Projector problems
Discussion
I have an Hitachi PJTX10 and a short while after getting it I had problems with areas of the picture. It would appear like a 'rash' over a small area. If you looked at the screen close up you could see lots of small groups of pixels appearing more red than they should. I've come across dead pixels on LCD monitors before, but never where they've worked, just slightly off colour.
I ignored it and it went away after a week or so and the picture was perfect. Now, however it appears I do have some dead pixels, again showing red. This time though they are solid red pixels and discreet groups of 1-4 pixels as opposed to a grouping of them over a couple hundred pixel square area. They do turn black when they should though...when I've seen them on LCD monitors they stayed red even when they should be black, not just coloured.
Is there anything I can do, is it worth speaking to Hitachi and is there a way to contact them other than their crappy online form that never gets a reply? Is it something an independant repairer could fix or would it require a new LCD costing as much a a whole new unit?
I ignored it and it went away after a week or so and the picture was perfect. Now, however it appears I do have some dead pixels, again showing red. This time though they are solid red pixels and discreet groups of 1-4 pixels as opposed to a grouping of them over a couple hundred pixel square area. They do turn black when they should though...when I've seen them on LCD monitors they stayed red even when they should be black, not just coloured.
Is there anything I can do, is it worth speaking to Hitachi and is there a way to contact them other than their crappy online form that never gets a reply? Is it something an independant repairer could fix or would it require a new LCD costing as much a a whole new unit?
Ok, LCD/DLP projectors do this from time to time. It sounds like a colour wheel problem. If the picture looks like different colours from other areas, this is a well known problem with these type of projectors, and is called the 'rainbow effect'. If it does it always and the pj is over six months old, then it is probably a contaminated light optics path, which can be caused by many different things, like cigarette smoke or a defective lamp. Lamps are really only 'perfect' for about 3-6 months, after that they deteriate in both light output and brightness across the whole display area as the bulb oxidises and the light is obscured by the oxidisation.
If your unit suffers dead pixels, you may not be covered by this under your warranty - Sony is a good example of a company that thinks its ok to have upto 5 dead pixels before you can take it back
It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer - enquire if you can without letting them know your name and serial number and based on the answers, do the following, but you didn't hear it from me
1) If the unit has dead pixels and is still under guarantee AND you are covered for dead pixels, send it back, job done.
2) When someone that I knew had dead pixels and SONY refused to replace/repair it, they did this!
They removed all metal parts on the exterior (case etc, put it in a black bin liner and then put it in the microwave and cooked it briefly for one (only 1!) second on max power
The massive short dose of microwave energy instantly fries the sensitive electronic parts.
When the unit was powered up it was completely dead
A new unit was then provided under warranty as the old one didn't even switch on, and so dead pixels was not an issue. I suggest you think about this VERY carefully before doing this. It is very hard for a techie to work out what has happened other than the fact the pj doesn't work, as they no longer repair to component level, only board level. When and if they do ever get it working you just say that you didn't have any pixel problems before and that the repair was not effective. New projector please.
If it is out of warranty then the only course of action is to put it on ebay advertised as faulty and hope some idiot buys it thinking that they can repair it!
If your unit suffers dead pixels, you may not be covered by this under your warranty - Sony is a good example of a company that thinks its ok to have upto 5 dead pixels before you can take it back
It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer - enquire if you can without letting them know your name and serial number and based on the answers, do the following, but you didn't hear it from me
1) If the unit has dead pixels and is still under guarantee AND you are covered for dead pixels, send it back, job done.
2) When someone that I knew had dead pixels and SONY refused to replace/repair it, they did this!
They removed all metal parts on the exterior (case etc, put it in a black bin liner and then put it in the microwave and cooked it briefly for one (only 1!) second on max power
The massive short dose of microwave energy instantly fries the sensitive electronic parts. When the unit was powered up it was completely dead
A new unit was then provided under warranty as the old one didn't even switch on, and so dead pixels was not an issue. I suggest you think about this VERY carefully before doing this. It is very hard for a techie to work out what has happened other than the fact the pj doesn't work, as they no longer repair to component level, only board level. When and if they do ever get it working you just say that you didn't have any pixel problems before and that the repair was not effective. New projector please.
If it is out of warranty then the only course of action is to put it on ebay advertised as faulty and hope some idiot buys it thinking that they can repair it!
Thanks for the advice. It's not a problem with the rainbow effect, fortunately my projector has never had the slightest issue with that. A friends does it quite badly and it give me a bad headache after about 5 minutes use.
I've been Googling and it seems that it is a problem of dead pixels, just in all the instances I come across the pixels are constantly lit. Mine aren't red when the screen is black or white. I found an artice from Tom's Hardware that lists all the policy on dead pixels from the major manufacturers and Hitachi refused to comment.
I've counted and I have almost two dozen in total, severl of them grouped into a square of four pixels, making them really obvious. Added to that a couple of these groups are in the dead centre of the picture and show up worst in red/orange/pink colours...fleshtones for example! I have read that sticking coloured paper cut to the size of the pixels can help hide them, but the example given was using yellow paper for blue pixels, I may have to experiment.
I think I'll have to try to find a number for Hitachi and speak to them, I'm not even sure when I bought the thing. I know it was over a year ago. I'm assuming it's only a 12 month warrantee. I may get a friend to call and find out their policy, if dead pixels are covered then great. If not, it may be microwave time as the thing is virtually unwatchable as it is now.
I've been Googling and it seems that it is a problem of dead pixels, just in all the instances I come across the pixels are constantly lit. Mine aren't red when the screen is black or white. I found an artice from Tom's Hardware that lists all the policy on dead pixels from the major manufacturers and Hitachi refused to comment.
I've counted and I have almost two dozen in total, severl of them grouped into a square of four pixels, making them really obvious. Added to that a couple of these groups are in the dead centre of the picture and show up worst in red/orange/pink colours...fleshtones for example! I have read that sticking coloured paper cut to the size of the pixels can help hide them, but the example given was using yellow paper for blue pixels, I may have to experiment.
I think I'll have to try to find a number for Hitachi and speak to them, I'm not even sure when I bought the thing. I know it was over a year ago. I'm assuming it's only a 12 month warrantee. I may get a friend to call and find out their policy, if dead pixels are covered then great. If not, it may be microwave time as the thing is virtually unwatchable as it is now.
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