Have your say & ask the experts

Tonya:

From an engineering point of view, first try the set with only the power connected to see if the buzz is still present. Then one by one, connect any ancilliary equipment such as cable, Sky, VCR, DVD, etc, to see if any of these are creating a hum loop.
The other alternative is the set's power supply. Does the noise increase with the overall brightness of the picture? If it does, this clearly indicates a faulty PSU and can easily be replaced by an engineer within half an hour. Does the hum appear out of the loudspeakers (try using headphones to see if it's an audio board problem) or does it appear to eminate from within the set? In some rare cases, hum can be caused by induction, so try and plug the set into another room just as a test, to see if it still makes that noise.

If it does, it's a clear case of defect workmanship and will be covered by the warranty.

 Thank you for the advice.  The noise does seem to be coming from inside the set, but I shall run through your advice steps to try and gain a clearer idea.

Regards

Martin Gman:

Blueglue1:

WHF,  I am getting my 3rd Sony 40w4500 on Monday.  I do not believe that Clare got one for her father and was lucky enough to have tested 2 at WHF and have no problems with the clouding, while i have had 2 with severe clouding, this would make me extremely unlucky and yourself very lucky indeed.

Also i have been to the store where i got mine and the display model has the clouding (although hard to see with the lighting).  I believe the Sony coming Monday will have the same problem and yes you may ask why am i bothering.  Well, when the picture is good it's fantastic.  However, when on a dark scene and the clouding is showing it lets the whole telly down and spoils the experience.

Nothing will convince me that Clare has had the luck to see 3 Sonys in action with no clouding what so ever.  Why, because all LCDs over 32 inches have a little bleeding (ALL LCDs), but most are watchable and cant be seen unless under extreme conditions. 

I have seen four Sonys in action and four with clouding, that equals 100% bad luck.  Clare has seen 3 Sonys in action and not one with clouding, this equals 100% good luck.  This in find hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

I agree. I can't see why WHF cannot 'Disprove' that all LCD's suffer from BLB in some form of another. I have proved it to myself but British people being 'British' will not except the fact because they have parted with their own hard cash. Its like a built in defence mechanism. The guys in the US on other forums tell it how it is no matter how much they have paid.

Also other Videophile sites have run tests on LCD so why can't WHF? Do a test under logged and expert conditions. LCD TV's have BLB because of the way the technology's M.O.  There is no way that they cannot have BLB in some form even if it is very weak.

Oh but go on please someone shout "Well mine is fine!" put it against a Pioneer Plasma in SD with a black background with settings on 'Vivid'.

matthewpiano:

Martin Gman:

Blueglue1:

WHF,  I am getting my 3rd Sony 40w4500 on Monday.  I do not believe that Clare got one for her father and was lucky enough to have tested 2 at WHF and have no problems with the clouding, while i have had 2 with severe clouding, this would make me extremely unlucky and yourself very lucky indeed.

Also i have been to the store where i got mine and the display model has the clouding (although hard to see with the lighting).  I believe the Sony coming Monday will have the same problem and yes you may ask why am i bothering.  Well, when the picture is good it's fantastic.  However, when on a dark scene and the clouding is showing it lets the whole telly down and spoils the experience.

Nothing will convince me that Clare has had the luck to see 3 Sonys in action with no clouding what so ever.  Why, because all LCDs over 32 inches have a little bleeding (ALL LCDs), but most are watchable and cant be seen unless under extreme conditions. 

I have seen four Sonys in action and four with clouding, that equals 100% bad luck.  Clare has seen 3 Sonys in action and not one

with clouding, this equals 100% good luck.  This in find hard to believe!

 

 

 

 

I agree. I can't see why WHF cannot 'Disprove' that all LCD's suffer from BLB in some form of another. I have proved it to myself but British people being 'British' will not except the fact because they have parted with their own hard cash. Its like a built in defence mechanism. The guys in the US on other forums tell it how it is no matter how much they have paid.

Also other Videophile sites have run tests on LCD so why can't WHF? Do a test under logged and expert conditions. LCD TV's have BLB because of the way the technology's M.O.  There is no way that they cannot have BLB in some form even if it is very weak.

Oh but go on please someone shout "Well mine is fine!" put it against a Pioneer Plasma in SD with a black background with settings on 'Vivid'.

Why can't you just accept that many many buyers are entirely happy with their LCD televisions? The majority of LCD televisions I have seen set up properly have shown no signs of backlight bleed. As with any technology the occasional problem slips through the net. No technology has a 100% perfection rate. Not even Pioner Kuro. If you don't like the technology don't buy it. If you don't trust WHFS&V why bother reading the magazine or these forums?

What i don't get is why has he not been able to rectify the problem if he's got a 5 year warranty? I've heard of many other "fate people" who've had a bad set and got it replaced with a new un. Even if the customer service isn't upto scratch there should at least be a hint of light at the end of the tunnel if he speaks to sony etc.

                                           Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici. Thanks, Rorschach.

I have never seen an LCD over 32" without a little clouding, yet most are watchable even in the dark.  My Sony has clouding even when the light is on, as did the one before.

Next Monday The new Sony will arrive and we shall see.  I do believe that some people will look past the clouding (if there is clouding).  However, i do believe that most of these people leave factory settings in place and that is fine, just i cant accept a £1000.00 TV having a faulty picture.

If the new Sony arrives faulty, than i shall bring down my Phillips CRT from upstairs for a few months and wait untill a better model comes along for the same price.

I do not wish to be in this position as all i wanted was a decent TV to watch Hi-def.  I would go for a Plasma, but i know i would worry about screen burn, also is it true that Plasma is not as good as LCD in Hi-def?

Blueglue1:

I have never seen an LCD over 32" without a little clouding, yet most are watchable even in the dark.  My Sony has clouding even when the light is on, as did the one before.

Next Monday The new Sony will arrive and we shall see.  I do believe that some people will look past the clouding (if there is clouding).  However, i do believe that most of these people leave factory settings in place and that is fine, just i cant accept a £1000.00 TV having a faulty picture.

If the new Sony arrives faulty, than i shall bring down my Phillips CRT from upstairs for a few months and wait untill a better model comes along for the same price.

I do not wish to be in this position as all i wanted was a decent TV to watch Hi-def.  I would go for a Plasma, but i know i would worry about screen burn, also is it true that Plasma is not as good as LCD in Hi-def?

Blueglue1:

I would go for a Plasma, but i know i would worry about screen burn, also is it true that Plasma is not as good as LCD in Hi-def?

Screen Burn is a thing of the past, that problem has near enough been eradictaed now, as long as you tune/calibrate your tv correctly you'll be fine. I'd say Lcd's have bigger problems than Plasmas as you can see from last year's sony and some samsung sets, the only problem i've heard any plasma have in the past year is buzzing. Also, if you love watching your films in the dark then plasma is perfect whereas Lcd are more accustomed to light conditions. You'll be more blown away if you get a Full HD top of the range plasma as opposed to a Full HD top of the range Lcd, but whatever, that's just my opinion.

                                          Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici. Thanks, Rorschach.

CLARE could you PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE post the settings of your 40W4500..It will be VERY appreciated. THANK YOU..or even put it in the next issue of your mag? All these disgruntled Sony customers will be flocking to buy it.

Tonya:

From an engineering point of view, first try the set with only the power connected to see if the buzz is still present. Then one by one, connect any ancilliary equipment such as cable, Sky, VCR, DVD, etc, to see if any of these are creating a hum loop.
The other alternative is the set's power supply. Does the noise increase with the overall brightness of the picture? If it does, this clearly indicates a faulty PSU and can easily be replaced by an engineer within half an hour. Does the hum appear out of the loudspeakers (try using headphones to see if it's an audio board problem) or does it appear to eminate from within the set? In some rare cases, hum can be caused by induction, so try and plug the set into another room just as a test, to see if it still makes that noise.

If it does, it's a clear case of defect workmanship and will be covered by the warranty.

 Thanks for the advice, I’ve followed the steps to try and narrow it down.

Set on it’s own- Buzzing still present
Overall Brightness- Noise present in both light and dark scenes
Loudspeakers- Noise not found in headphones, but still coming from set
Plug in another room- Noise still present

The noise does seem to come from within the set, if I press a finger on top of the set, or behind it, the buzz comes and goes.  If I tilt the set gently, there seems to be a point at which the noise is worse.  It’s as if when I tilt back or forward, I may get away from the buzz.  But if I let the set sit in the middle, the buzz returns.  There’s no telling when it will happen, or for how long.

Considering the above, does anyone have advice?

Cheers

I'm somewhat late to this topic, but I bought one of these televisions this week.  This is my first large screen tv, which replaced an ancient CRT. I had delayed buying a new tv, partly because of the frequent debates such as this that appear in internet forums, which seemed to make buying a tv a risky business.

I'm no expert, but as far as I can see this television produces stunning images. I've yet to convert to Sky HD, but I am amazed at the quality from Sky SD and even Freeview. A lot depends on the original source material, with newer programmes (particularly those 'made for HD') looking really good, whilst old material is relatively poor, but I think that's to be expected.

The settings needed a bit of fiddling around with, but to be honest changing from 'Vivid' made most of the improvement (why do they ship them like this - to give us a fright?).

I haven't noticed clouding during normal viewing.

Greetings.  First let me say a thank you to whathi-fi for (in their most recent publication) acknowledging the clouding issue with the Sony 40w4500, whether you believe it to be true or not.

I have received my 3rd Sony today and i still have the clouding.  One thing that anyone could do for me is to check if their model comes from spain or not, all mine have.

I am now, with great regret, taking back this LCD and keeping my money until, 1, something comes along and is better for same money.  2, wait a month and get telly from somewhere else to see if i can escape the storm clouds.

Please let me know your TV was made.

Thanks

Hi Yes a big thank you to what Hi Fi I have used their advice on may occasion and have not been dissapointed

Five years ago they 5 star rated the Pioneer PDP-434 HDE which was £4500.00 at the time so we acepted the recomendation and Purchased it from JL. It has been a fantastically good TV,  untill it stopped working five days before Xmas, 4 days out of the five year garrantee. Jl we considerate and offered a discount on a new TV, not suprisingly things have moved on since then so reading What Hi Fi and considered their reveiws. I had been following these forums and concluded that it must have been a small No affected so went to Jl and ordered the Sony 46W4500

Today I have just received my third replacement Sony 46W4500, this one again suffering from the clouding backlight issues as did the 1st purchased 12th Jan 09 and the 2nd which was replaced on the 26th Jan 09  

I'm not sure were they were manufactured but the build dates were Oct 08, Nov 08, and this one Dec 08

I think I be sending it back as well and have to consider my next move 

I agree as previously said in these forum posts, had I not had the Plasma to compare it to and the advice and imformation within these post I may only have noticed it at a later date. The backlight clouding is only noticable in a darkened room on black backgrounds as on the Batman film  Dark Night

I think What Hi fi have been totally fair with their review and upfront to their reader about some of the issues 

keep up the good reviews What Hi Fi, we would all be lost without you 

My Sonys were made Dec-08 and 2 in Oct-08.  The worst thing is, i was tempted to keep the second tv due to great picture when not on dark scenes.  Also if the Third Sony was better than the second i may have kept it to avoid all the hassle i am going to go through.

Also i noticed with the 3rd Sony a lot of blocks within the picture when watching the football yesterday, i never noticed this in the previous 2.

Now i will have to play Guitar Heroes on a small CRT Tv for a while and hope that something else comes up soon.

I do believe that some-people dont notice the clouding (if the clouding is there) for a couple of reasons, 1 being that the Tv needs to be on for around 2 hours before it's stand out clouding, then you have to be in a darkened room watching a film with a few dark scenes.

for some reason when the Tv is on for the first hour there is no clouding at all, then it slowly gets worse.

Anybody have any info on the X or Z range?

Thanks for any info given, i am opting for a Panasonic Plasma the 42" 81b.  Any info?

Cheers