Dark corners in LCD displays

[admin_exported]

As mentioned in a different thread I just picked up a Panasonic TX-32LXD700 and I'm over the moon with the purchase...

However, while watching the fantastic House of Flying Daggers on it (the greens look astounding) I noticed that the corners of the screen are slightly darker than the main image. This started bugging me so I found a station where there was one colour in the background and sure enough there is a slight shadow towards the edges and corners of the screeen.

Is this normal with an LCD TV? If not could it be anything to do with the TV's settings? Anyone have this problem on this TV?

There's a chance I'm being super picky about this but on the offchance this is a manufacturing problem I'd like to know so I can get a replacement.

As mentioned, other than this the TV is fantastic!

Thanks,
Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

Just to follow up on this (and I hope another 700/70 owner can answer) I looked at a 70 in the shop today and noticed a similar trend.

Do any other owners have a slightly shaded bar down the left and right hand sides of their screen? This is more obvious if you can find a channel that's not broadcasting and has a one-colour background.

It can't just be my eyes as a Panasonic Plasma in the shop looked fine with bright colour definately going straight to the edges. I also couldn't see the problem with the 37" Pany either.

 

[Anonymous]

Suggest you claim it is a fault, take it back and buy a 37inch Panny plasma instead. Much better screen. Deeper blacks, better motion handling and as you can see a totally different technology delivering light to you from the screen. LCD's have a backlight and ****** the light coming through to creat colour, plasma's don't, they use a charge field to generate the light on the panel itself.

I'd stick with plasma, as you'll see WHFSV did at 37inches and above in the awards!

 

[Anonymous]

Serious question then:

What advantages does the TX32LXD700 have over the

TH37PX70PED?

The plasma is only £10 more.

The only advantages I can see are better sound (maybe?). [edited - just realised the plasma has 2 hdmi inputs anyway]

Basically if the picture is a lot better on the plasma I may return the 700 this weekend.

 

[Anonymous]

Does this really spoil your enjoyment of the TV so much that you would want to exchange it?

I actually have what you describe on my CRT TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Once something starts to annoy me it really gets in my head. I can be quite anal about these things.

My girlfriend watches more TV than I do and she doesn't see it as a problem but £750 is a lot of money to spend and not be 100% happy.

Another advantage of the LCD is the power consumption which for a left-leaning tree-hugging hippy like myself might also play a part.

I'm gonna *** into town now to have a look at shop-displayed 32" LCDs. I'm still hoping that mine just has this thing bad and an identical replacement LCD would be better.

... I'm just easily swayed.

Thanks,
Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

I quite understand Steve.

I have asked a few people with this TV whether they have the same problem and will let you know what they say.

Let's hope it is a fault with yours and that a replacement will sort things out.

I have ordered one so hope it will be alright. I can be quite anal as well!!!lol

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks - hope yours arrives without this problem.

I've actually just popped to the Panasonic shop in town and the 700 there seemed to have the same problem. Then, strangely enough, just when I figured it was a feature of the TV, I went to Currys and saw a TX-32LXD70 which looks perfect right to the edges.

I'm borrowing a calibration DVD tomorrow so after running through that I might have a better idea of whether this will effect my viewing. I'm surprised no reviews have mentioned this though, especially as this is an expensive, if award winning TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Hope so!!!

This is weird as have read a lot of reviews on this TV (probably too many!) and no one has mentioned this. Does it only appear on dark scenes?
My CRT has slightly darker bands down each side but it doesn't bother me much. Not sure what causes this?

Be interesting to see what happens after you use the calibration DVD. Have you contacted the retailer you bought it from?

Would be interesting to know what Andrew , Clare and co think of this problem and whether it manifested itself during the Supertest?

PS Why does my text not appear in paragraphs?

 

[Anonymous]

Steve I have checked with some owners of this TV and none of them can see the problem you have.

Someone did suggest it may be something to do with the aspect ratio format?

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[Anonymous]

OK, thanks for taking the time to look into this. much appreciated!

Happens on all aspect ratios I'm afraid, all display modes. Even tried visiting the hidden service menu to turn down the backlighting to see if that made a difference but it didn't.

I reckon I might try exchanging mine this weekend.

For the record my TV as it stands makes everything I watch look like Top Gear - with the intentional vignetting effect they use (like the old Lomo cameras).

Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

It does sound like their is a fault with yours Steve.

Hope you manage to exchange it for a good one!

Good luck!

Liz

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Scotsgirl"]PS Why does my text not appear in paragraphs?[/quote]
Hi Scotsgirl, the short answer is to use <p>, but there are other things one can do here. This forum is controlled by the Community Server platform. This allows a certain set of HTML tags to be used. I've found the following so far:
<p> - to start a new line (</p> is not required) and skips a line first
<br> - to start a new line (</br> is not required) and does not skip a line unlike <p>
<i>gives italics</i>
<b>gives bold</b>
<ul><li>item 1</li><li>item 2</li></ul> produces a list like

• item 1
• item 2

but does not seem to render bullet points like it should :-(
<h1>header 1</h1> produces thisheader 1
<h2>header 2</h2> produces thisheader 2
<h3>header 3</h3> produces thisheader 3
Hotlinks, eg the "Community Server" hotlink above, are written as:

<a href=""http://communityserver.org">Community" Server</a>
I hope this helps you - and if any one else has any useful tags, please let us know. Ta.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are using a modern browser like IE7 or Firefox (use Firefox - much better browsing) then the message box switches to a nice TinyMCE WYSIWYG box where paragraphs are created atomically when you hit return.

Your browser may not support this either because it's an older browser or because you have JavaScript turned off.

If it doesn't support this then, as mentioned above, you can use your own html tags.

I build websites for a living and I've been using TinyMCE in them for the last couple of years.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks both!

Steve I have Firefox and Java Script enabled but still no paragraphs?

Have you decided what to do about your TV? If I it was me I would take it back and exchange it as it does sound like you have a faulty one.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm going to try and exchange it. If I phone today I'm within the 7 days money back guarantee period so hopefully I should be able to get a replacement. I don't want to have it repaired - I want a new one. Here's to hoping that Empire Direct comply.

 

[Anonymous]

Really hope you get another one Steve and that it will be okay!

I have ordered one and am worried it will have dead pixels;buzzing;blurring and now dark corners!!!!!!!!

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow! I got paragraphs!!! Now I need emoticons!

 

[Anonymous]

Steve I had a problem with my CRT once in that I had purple in all the corners and this was due to de-gaussing not working properly (from using the remote to switch off and on)

I sorted it by switching the TV off overnight.

It may not be the problem since your corners aren't purple but may be worth a try tonight?

 

[Alantiggger]

Will I am going to buy a new T.V..... I was origionaly thinking of buying the Sony kdlw3000 but having heard Clare ''talking up'' the ''pana pz70'' would you yourself go for the ''pana pz70'' as opposed to the ''panapx70'' what is the BIG difference ? plz help mate.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="stevebombedout"]If you are using a modern browser like IE7 or Firefox (use Firefox - much better browsing)... [/quote]
Thanks for the tip Steve, but like Scotsgirl, I too have Firefox (2.0.0.9) with active Javascript - still no TinyMCE. Any ideas? We can't be the only two surely. Maybe we should take the topic off this thread into Miscellaneous if you can help? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I may have figured it out - go into My Details at the top of the page and then to the "My Settings" tab. I reckon you both have "plain text" set as your content editor. Try changing that to Standard or Enhanced (which are both TinyMCE modes).

Regarding the 32lxd700 - I now have a new TV and the corners/edges of the set look a bit clearer. While in the shop however I was told that all LCDs have some darkening in the corners because of how the backlighting works. While in the shop we looked at a few with the History TV backdrop (3 green bands while waiting for programs to start) and sure enough all the LCDs in the shop had this issue to varying degrees. Looking at the same screen on a 37" Panny Plasma it was faultless! I have until the end of the week to decide on whether to keep the LCD or go for the 37" Plasma (same cost) but given the other advantages of the LCD (better sound, less power hungry, sharper on hi-def) I'll probably stick with the 700.

The guy in the shop said he hadn't noticed this at all until I mentioned it but he agreed there is an issue! Weird. Obviously I've been cursed with amazing eyesight (and an anal attention to detail).

So, yes, in the end it looks like I had a "slightly off" screen but other than that it was just me being picky.

 

[Anonymous]

Well have tried your suggestion re the settings Steve so will see if it works with this post!

I am glad you got a slightly better exchange.

Of course, when I get mine I will now be looking at the corners!!! Are you able to enjoy yours now or are your eyes drawn to this?

 

[Anonymous]

Didn't work I'm afraid Steve!

So back to the P's!!!!

 

[Svinhugg]

Hi! I found this topic when I was trying to find an answer to my own issue about shadow corners on my TV.

I just recently bought a Samsung UE55JS8005 55" flat smart tv and directly noticed transparent shadow corners on the screen.
Most noticable on bright backgrounds. I have tried different hookups and settings but the transparent border is always there. Would be interesting to know if it's a fault or if all models are like this.

Just as Steve, I have a hard time getting this out of my head and it's bugging me like hell.