Sony 40W4000 & backlight clouding issue

[raadek]

Hi all,

I've purchased Sony 40W4000 recently & I am not 100% happy with the picture due to in my opinion quite nasty backlight clouding issue (bright 'torches' in four corners of the screen when displaying a dark/black scene)

The retailer can do a refund but they cannot replace it, as they are out of stock, so the decision is though, as otherwise the telly is nice.

Guys from the shop & from the Sony service are saying the backlight issue is 'nothing unusual & fairly the same across other units & other models as well'

Is that true? This is my first LCD, so cannot compare this with anything. The issue is apparent in a fairly dark room, so looking at display models in bright showrooms doesn't give much clues either.

I've found this:
"Initially some clouding/ mura could be seen with the default factory settings, but proper calibration reduced this notorious uniformity problem to negligible levels on the Sony KDL40W4000."
Sony KDL40W4000 Bravia Engine 2 Video Processing & Calibrati

They are not saying though how to do calibration (Sony service guy didn't seem to have a clue about this)

Any help / hints / suggestions?



Regards,
Radek

[ChrisGgr]

yes this is a common lcd fault,not a normal situation though.many lcd models are affected by this problem,either to a bad or less bad clouding.It depends on you if you wanna keep it

[raadek]

Originally Posted by CHRISGEO

yes this is a common lcd fault,not a normal situation though.

Many thanks for you reply.

So the question is: is this a permanent issue, or something which can be addressed by calibrating as per hdtvtest.co.uk guys suggestion?

If the answer is 'yes', then my next question is how to do that in practical terms...

[mr-monday]

The clouding issue seems to affect the recent Sony sets more than other makes. I don't know if it ever goes away or if people just get used to it.

[Alan CD]

Hi raadek

All four corners suffering from bleed? This is a fault in manufacture.

It won't get better and it might get worse. IMO Get your money back.

Alan

[schrodingergeek]

Originally Posted by raadek

Hi all,

Guys from the shop & from the Sony service are saying the backlight issue is 'nothing unusual & fairly the same across other units & other models as well'

While this may be true, it doesn't mean that it is therefore acceptable to have it on your set. I'm sure the owners of other sets that were unlucky enough to get one with this problem didn't accept it either and got a refund/replacement.

I have a 40W4000 and there is no backlight bleed at all. If there was and i noticed it during normal viewing i would have wanted a replacement/refund; and expected to get one. Is it noticable during normal viewing? If so i'd probably take the refund, even if the situation is complicated by the out of stock issue. If you notice it now, you will always notice it and it may spoil your viewing experience as you will always be looking for it.

I have heard of backlight bleeding improving over time, but if it's really bad i doubt it'll disappear completely. However, if anyone has any calibration tips that can drastically improve the problem, i'd love to hear them (as, i'm sure, would others)

[CJROSS]

Originally Posted by schrodingergeek

I have a 40W4000 and there is no backlight bleed at all. If there was and i noticed it during normal viewing i would have wanted a replacement/refund; and expected to get one. Is it noticable during normal viewing? If so i'd probably take the refund, even if the situation is complicated by the out of stock issue. If you notice it now, you will always notice it and it may spoil your viewing experience as you will always be looking for it.

I have had my 40W4000 since the weekend (from Play) and I notice no b.bleed either. I agree with the chap above, I'd be asking for a refund or a replacement set.

[raadek]

Many thanks for your responses guys!

You may have a quick peek at the issue if you fancy:
40W4000

Kindest regards.

[schrodingergeek]

It does look unacceptable to me; what settings is it on in the photo?

[ChrisGgr]

Originally Posted by raadek

Many thanks for you reply.

So the question is: is this a permanent issue, or something which can be addressed by calibrating as per hdtvtest.co.uk guys suggestion?

If the answer is 'yes', then my next question is how to do that in practical terms...

Yes it can be be improved by lowering the backlight setting to min or max 2.There have also been report of improvement or even completely going off after time

[raadek]

The settings used whilst taking the picture were set to Standard, so Backlight level was 5.

Reducing Backlight level does improve things but some bleeding is still visible even if set to Min (not that apparent though) - especially in right part of the screen.

[schrodingergeek]

Originally Posted by raadek

The settings used whilst taking the picture were set to Standard, so Backlight level was 5.

Reducing Backlight level does improve things but some bleeding is still visible even if set to Min (not that apparent though) - especially in right part of the screen.

If it's still apparent when Backlight is set to minimum, i would send it back. But that's just what i'd do. You might want to see if it fades at lower settings over the next few weeks, depending on your retailers cooling off period; your retailer might have them back in stock by then!

If not Amazon have them at £733, but with only a 1 year warranty. Rcihersounds with 5 year warranty ~ £800 (£729 without) but they haven't got them in stock Don't know what you paid for it and how this compares.