Plasma gas charging fault

thats a sham
 
I've had my screen for about 4 months now, and haven't noticed any problems as mentioned on this thread.

Am scared to switch it on now, in case I do look too hard and find something!!!!!!!:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Niraj
 
Am scared to switch it on now, in case I do look too hard and find something!!!!!!!

Take it from me you don't have to look too hard :(
Daran
P.S still waiting for collection :(
 
Hmm just taken a look at my pma400e and my screen does indeed have the grey cloud in the middle :eek:

I have had the display for about 6 months and up till this point have been more than happy with it for the price i paid and being honest the grey cloud doesnt bother me that much.

This said with the panny 6 coming down in price i may be tempted to replace the Hitachi.
 
Originally posted by shyboy
Can somone with the same screen who does not have the problem respond. It will be interesting to see if everyone has this.

Good luck chaps!

Hi All, I've had my 400E just under five months and have no blobs/clouds as yet. But then my 400E didn't buzz either but it does now, although you have to put your ear to the screen to hear it. IMO I think you should all get together to take on Hitachi/retailers and as Elvis has a good connection with the media use this to your advantage. Tell Hitachi you will do this, I'm sure they wouldn't what to have there name used for bad press. And think of all the people watching the program who may be thinking of buying a Hitachi product.
With all due respect you've tried the gentle approach, I think it's now time to go for the throat. All the best,
ASH1:smashin:
 
I don't know if it's possible to take on Hitachi, it's the retailer who is ultimately responsible, in my case JL. Of course John Lewis would be equally averse to any bad press.

However it did occur to me that Hitachi both define the specification and decide whether any faults fall within it or not, which seems a little unfair. What is ideally required is a third party independent assessment of whether these blobs are an acceptable feature of the technology. Obviously a court can do this, but that seems somewhat extreme (not to mention expensive) and really should be a last resort. I was wondering if there are any independant experts who could offer an opinion of one of the affected screens.
 
Just looked at mine again and it seems to only be apparent when the screen is on but no signal is displayed (out of sync error message for example).

Full black screens within movies or games seem exaclty that, fully black.

I am still happy with my screen.
 
Update

I have just received a phone call from JL to confirm that I am now officially a fully paid up member of the f**cked by Hitachi club.

I thought I may possibly have fared differently as my service agent agreed that he could see the fault but obviously Hitachi have told them otherwise.

I have just phoned the service agent who have said I can have my screen back on Monday!!!. The level of service here just keeps getting better and better.

I will be speaking to JL about this later.

I now need to decide what to do next, but I am not letting this go just yet.

Michael
 
Been reading this thread as it grew with horror, and fascination. What I'd really like to know is whether any other 42" alis screens suffer, or is it just the hitachi. After all, it's a common panel to build a set around. So, how about a new thread, get your ALIS out for the lads, report whether you are happy or not, if you have a grey cloud or not. Might help the case against Hitachi if they are alone. I've seen it on a Hitachi before, but not on a Fujitsu, don't really see enough Sonys to comment. I'm very sorry for you all, it should have been a perfectly good TV.
 
Im starting to get worried now reading this. Don't get my plasma till next Friday :eek: :eek:

How many days do i get to return it if im not satisfied??
 
Stop bothering with Hitachi, your contract is with John Lewis. It is the seller, not the manufacturer, your beef is with.

The Sale of Goods Act applies here. Also the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002, which gives you some legal remedy against the retailer up to 6 *YEARS* after date of purchase.

Read http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/saleandsupply.htm

and go forth and hassle JL until they cough up either a new plasma, a repair to your existing one, or a full or partial refund.

If JL refuse to play ball at all, make a reasonable guess at what damages you are entitled to, and issue court proceedings against John Lewis - http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/

Mike

I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.
 
Good post Mike.

This caught my eye in here:

The remedies of repair, replacement, partial refund and full refund are also available to consumers:
...
generally where a good does not match the public statements made about it by the retailer, manufacturer, importer or producer; and
...

Very impressed with the court service site - didn't realise you could start court proceedings via the internet now:D

Phill
 
I really don't want the hassle of court proceedings, but it's looking as though that is the only way to progress. I have discussed the sale of goods act with John Lewis' representatives at length and their response is that they feel they have not done anything wrong, ultimately only a court can decide that. I will give them one more chance to head things off at the pass before I begin to explore the legal option. I also plan to inform my credit card company that I hold them 'jointly and severally liable' in the hope they may bring some pressure to bear on JL

In the meantime I would suggest that if anyone does get any joy out of JL then they post the details here so we can all exploit any chinks in their armour.
 
MAW,

As someone on this forum with more technical knowledge than most and who has seen plenty of screens by different manufacturers, as well as seeing this effect on an Hitachi plasma, do you think it is reasonable to accept Hitachi's line that it is inherent in the design of their screens and (therefore) we should all stop complaining? Perhaps (as they argue) the technology has yet to mature and problems of this nature are to be expected with such 'cutting edge' technology?
 
Elvis

I am still waiting to hear from JL.

Although I have no technical experience I do not believe that this is an inherent fault in the Hitachi screen as there are a number of member's such as marshy.dave who's screens do not exhibit this anomaly. Also there are a large number of member's who have viewed this thread and we have only received half a dozen confirmed cases.

I purchased my screen last October at which time if I recall Hitachi
where struggling to keep up with demand. I personally think it
more likely that a few batches have reached the retailers that are
not of the same standard.

Hitachi make no mention of any limitations in their advertising brochure in which they claim to offer a 'Picture quality second to none'.

They are just giving people the brush off.

Will keep you posted

Michael
 
I've also wondered if it was a faulty batch, maybe we should compare serial numbers? Hitachi have now discontinued the 3000 series in favour of the 5000 so maybe ours were on the production line when they were begining to shift to the new model?
 
Hi Elvis,
I think my ser.no is 4902530666700 but it's a 400e? If that's any use to you.
Regards,
Daran
 
Hi Elvis

I don't have the serial number of mine at the moment as it is
sat collecting dust at the service agent.

Will post number it when it is returned.

Michael
 
I'm getting mine back from the service agent tomorrow, so I'll post my serial number then. Don't know if it will help or not though. I just hope that (other than the blobs) it's condition is as pristine as it was when it left my care two weeks ago.
 
My 42PD3000 has had exactly the same problem from the day I set it up. I contacted the supplier who suggested I use the screen wipe (which I'd already done) and to give it a week or so "to settle down". Some weeks later, still with a central cloud clearly visible on a supposed black screen, I contacted C&M again and was referred to Hitachi Customer Services - who in turn pointed me at the local service agents.
I arranged a service call under warranty and was visited by an "engineer" and his mate. The former then spent 2 hours trying to get the display into "service mode" (including phoning his office, and Hitachi), and finally left, having done nothing and muttering techno-babble to try and cover for his patent incompetence.
I then had to chase them, at which point they turned up and took the set away for "testing" at the workshop. A week later, I had to chase them again, and they returned the set - carefully bubble-wrapped and completely un-marked . . . oh, and completely unchanged.
I've subsequently run the screen-wipe for hours at a time, which does improve things - I'm pretty sure that the problem has diminished - or maybe I've just gotten used to it.
I weighed up my options and decided that yes, the problem is annoying when it becomes visible (like when watching the X-Files, which is mostly filmed in the dark), but 95% of the time you can't see it - and even when you can, it's livable with.
btw - it's really worthwhile turning off pretty much everything that Hitachi provide in terms of picture "enhancement" technology, and calibrate the brightness, contrast etc using a reference disc.

Bottom line? Hitachi have lost another 20 or so customers. I wonder if they care?

btw : does anyone know the service menu access procedure? It's something to do with setting a particular frequency on one of the channels . . . ??
 
I've tried hours of screen wipes and test modes and they don't really do anything to help. I'm sure that tweaking the picture settings, reducing contrast etc has some benefit, but at the end of the day you can't get rid of it completely. I guess that with a new model out Hitachi don't give a toss about customers with older models and even the loss of a few hundred customers is probably a drop in the ocean to a company the size of Hitachi.
 
Well I just spoke to my credit card company who refuse to get involved unless I first take legal advice (presumably at my cost). So I have filled out an online form adressed to Trading Standards ( http://www.consumercomplaints.org.uk/ ) asking for advice on how to proceed. I'll post here to let people know how I get on.
 
Elvis, I have not seen a problem like this, and no I don't think it's reasonable to brush off your customers saying, 'we can't help it the technology is too new' I've been amazed that they'd replaced a screen for someone who'd burned it, and yet they won't for a fault entirely down to them. In the end I think you get what you pay for though, and hitachi charge less money than Fujitsu for apparently very similar products. Where do they save the cash, fujitsu are not noticeably more profitable AFAIK. They may find, in the internet age, that saving it on customer service is a false economy. Everyone used to complain furiously about Panasonic's after sales, and they seem to have smartened up. There's hope yet, I look fwd to what trading standards have to say about it.
 
First of all: What the hell!!

I've got mine PMA400e in september, never noticed it.
Tried few minutes ago, cant see any gray cloud!
I dunno if I should consider my screen safe, so far it hasnt got this problem, I'll let you know if it will appear.

But dont let it go chaps, hope you sort it out, really!
 
The question is...has this problem been "resolved" in the 5000. I don't think I have read any reports from the posts in this thread...am I correct


cheers and beers

Lewdannie
 

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