Red vertical line on Sony LCD TV

[Hairball]

I have a Sony LCD TV that I got last year, just recently I noticed a red vertical line on the right side showing up on the screen. Has anyone had a similar issue before? After leaving the TV on for an hour or so it starts to fade, though it's still noticeable if you look up close.

It just went out of warranty, but thankfully it's got an extended warranty through the credit card, otherwise this would be very bad news.

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/2880/tempe.jpg


Just some info so it's Googleable, it's a BRAVIA LCD TV, model is KDL-52W4100.

[Traian2003]

Had a 32" Bravia lcd. Exact same problem. Mine didn't fade. Took it in for Sony warranty. That was the only option after doing much reading.

Didn't even have a receipt. They fixed it anyways. A+++ for customer satisfaction. :)

[Hairball]

It turns out someone noticed it a few months ago before the original warranty expired but didn't tell me, sigh...

I guess right now it's just more paperwork and waiting, but at least it can still get fixed for free.

I don't know if it's just me, but almost every electronic thing I have purchased in the last few years have had issues. I find quality control is just really poor nowadays.

[Hairball]

I finally got the "estimate", the guy called me and says it will cost $4400 to fix. Dear god. :eek: The TV itself only cost $3000 to buy.

I guess we'll see what insurance company for Amex will do...

[blainehamilton]

This is a failure for the contacts at display panel for that row of pixels.

You can try massaging the panel at the edges to try and work out the contact problem. Otherwise, the only repair is to replace the panel, and as you have found out, it's cheaper to buy a new whole tv.

Personally I'd try fixing it and see if it gets any better or worse. I assume your amex gives you an extra year on top of the 1 year sony gives.

Good luck.

[Hairball]

This is a failure for the contacts at display panel for that row of pixels.

You can try massaging the panel at the edges to try and work out the contact problem. Otherwise, the only repair is to replace the panel, and as you have found out, it's cheaper to buy a new whole tv.

Personally I'd try fixing it and see if it gets any better or worse. I assume your amex gives you an extra year on top of the 1 year sony gives.

Good luck.

What do you mean by massaging?

Yeah my Amex gives an extra year, otherwise I wouldn't pay that much money to repair it. It's just a bit shocking.

Hopefully they will compensate me quick because that's a damn lot of money to pay up front - if that's what I have to do.

[stevedaraska]

Hi there,

I just wanted to share that I purchased the exact same TV you have pictured "Sony Bravia kdl52w4100" on November 01 2008 from future shop. I did not buy an extended 3 year warranty thinking Sony is a reliable brand, figuring that if nothing happens within a year, I should be good.

Well to my dismay its has just started to present with the exact same problem you are experiencing, a vertical line top to bottom, and its 3 weeks after my one year since purchase.

Has Sony made these screens to crap out just after the warranty runs out?

I will be calling Sony tomorrow, but am worried I have just lost $3000 :(.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[arisk]

I'd suggest checking at http://www.avsforum.com/ to see if there are other experiences.
Also if you have the issue, post there so that others can do the same.

I have the 46" version, so I'm crossing my fingers here.

[Aske001]

I did not buy an extended 3 year warranty thinking Sony is a reliable brand, figuring that if nothing happens within a year, I should be good.

Normally you would be right not to buy the extended warranty, and that anything that will go wrong will likely go wrong in the first year.

But I would never take that chance with a Sony TV. My experience has been that Sony's quality control is crap, and the Consumer Reports repair statistics bear that out.

I hope you used a credit card with extended warranty!

[stevedaraska]

I was not sure what was being referred to with a credit card warranty, but I went onto the website for the card I used to purchase the tv.

it says they automatically double the warranty period:razz:

Just beautiful

Thanks for the suggestion,

PS. I live in BC and a sony store rep also to me to call (604) 599 8780 as sometimes they will perform grace period repair for items just past warranty but with receipt.

[Hairball]

I'm just going to see what the credit card insurance company will do first. If they will neither pay for the repair nor replace it. Then I will start to play around with things afterwards.

To be honest I wasn't impressed with this repair company though. It took forever to arrange the guy to come over to check my TV, and plus he was very rude. Then once he actually came, he looked at it for about 5 mins saying the panel has to be replaced and started joking about the repair price. Is it really that funny?

stevedaraska: Did you pay with a credit card that gave an extended warranty?

[stevedaraska]

The credit card company has its own insurance policy to cover the item I purchased and extend the guarantee beyond the original manufacturer.

[Hairball]

The credit card company has its own insurance policy to cover the item I purchased and extend the guarantee beyond the original manufacturer.

That's good to know. Good luck with it.

[Hairball]

Future Shop just called and they said the insurance company will arrange us to get a new TV from them.

Apparently all we gotta do is pick it up! God bless American Express!