Help! GT30 has a strange clouding effect....what is it?

[Son_of_SJ]

I'm really glad about your refund, Oldboy! About a new television, you will have seen the review of 10 Tvs on page 48 of the current (September 2012) issue of What Hi-Fi. You may also have seen a similar group test on page 81 of the current (September 2012 again) issue of Home Cinema Choice. With your relatively limited budget, the two models that you have named (Panasonic TX-P50ST50B and Sony Bravia KDL46HX853) are that ones to go for. I'm not quite sure why John Lewis is £350 more expensive than Richer Sounds for the Sony, but if they price match to Richer Sounds ..... I saw the 55" version of the Panasonice ST50 in Manchester last weekend, and I was highly impressed, but I was equally impressed by the 46" Sony which I saw here in Edinburgh ... I'd probably go for the ST50, especially for gaming.

 

[GSB]

nice one Oldboy...... :clap:

Don't you fancy the GT50 then?

 

[BenLaw]

Congrats Sorry not to have posted for a while, but delighted to hear about your positive resolution

Personally, I would buy elsewhere than Richer Sounds, just to give myself a mental break. I would stick with plasma, so probably ST50 in as big a size as you can fit / afford.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Don't you fancy the GT50 then?

as they simply don't have the 42GT50 in stock which was what i wanted as a replacement.

 

[Oldboy]

nice one Oldboy...... :clap:

Don't you fancy the GT50 then?

Tbh i did want that as a straight replacement but there seems to be a shortage of stock everywhere and anywhere that does have one is charging £1100 for the privelage...gulp, which is a bit strong for a 42 inch plasma.

I think the Sony KDL46HX853 represents the best value/quality for my budget over the 50ST50 plasma although i was sorely tempted by the sheer screen size but after a quick demo of both tvs in my local area i think i will be happier with the Sony tv.

It has inky blacks and a really cinematic picture although being used to plasma some major picture tweaking will be needed when i get it, Richer Sounds are throwing in 2 pairs of 3D glasses for me aswell as some form of compensation and are collecting the GT30 and swapping it over for the HX853 at my home free of charge. I was trying to think of something else i could get them to throw in to sweeten the deal further but couldn't think of anything, oh wait, a free 5 year guarantee would be nice. Wonder if it's too late to get one out of them...i like freebies

 

[GSB]

lol......

I'm sure the sony will be just great,and now you can even catch some olympics in 3D :bounce:

 

[Oldboy]

Thanks BenLaw.

Yes i was tempted to purchase elsewhere but then that would have meant a few weeks delay whilst the refund was processed and another 100 mile round trip to my local store to return the GT30 which is just more inconvenience, hassle, time and money etc. Not to mention then being without a tv whilst i sourced a 46HX853 from another retailer, Richer Sounds have eventually come good anyway and i will get the replacement alot quicker this way and get 2 pairs of 3D glasses aswell which saves me even further outlay if i had gone elsewhere.

I will say this though, it's last chance saloon time, any further issues and i get my cash back and go elsewhere but i really hope it won't come to that as i've had enough of tv issues to last me a lifetime now :O

 

[bigboss]

Glad you're sorted!

I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the Sony HX853. It's easily the best LED lit LCD TV I've seen.

 

[davidvann]

hi oldboy ,glad to here you got something sorted at long last,did they find out what was wrong with the panasonic tv in the end?.i know how you feel when your pride and joy goes wrong,just few weeks ago i had to send my pioneer of to the work shop as my screen ,had some sort of fault ,the screen was glowing reddish pinkish colour when no input was running threw the tv,had to wait about three weeks for it to return,they changed the pannel on it and sofar so good.I didn't have the trouble you had,the days of the customer is always right seems to of gone and you have to fight for everything.I hope you get much joy from your sony set. good luck david

 

[BenLaw]

Nick, what would you put this successful outcome down to? Emails to the top? Threads on WHF? Simple persistence?

 

[laserman16]

Glad you have got it sorted to your satisfaction Oldboy.

Looks like you chose the right route to get the result.

 

[Oldboy]

Glad you're sorted!

I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the Sony HX853. It's easily the best LED lit LCD TV I've seen.

Phew looks like a chose well then, i'm looking forward to receiving the 46HX853 next week and hopefully seeing an end to all the issues, many thanks big boss for all your help

 

[Oldboy]

Nick, what would you put this successful outcome down to? Emails to the top? Threads on WHF? Simple persistence?

Ben, quite simple my friend...the email address given to me by bigboss and gel for Mr John Clayton is the major source of this successful outcome along with the threads here on WHF which, as ever, have been extremely helpful and the advice i have recieved from fellow forum members has been an enormous help.

I dread to think how it would have gone if it wasn't for these two factors, i get the feeling i would have been stuck with a faulty 42GT30 and facing the prospect of having to buy a new tv and being £1000 out of pocket. Does make me wonder just how your average consumer gets on when issues like this arise without having access to any of the help and support i have been privelaged to receive?

The email address i was given seemed to suddenly open the doors to a resolution and although i did indeed fire off a detailed letter to Mr Julian Richer i doubt it will reach him til next week due to it being a freepost address, fortunately i attached a copy to the email i sent Mr John Clayton so someone at the top got to read it.

Anyway it all ended well in the end and i'm looking forward to the 46HX853 arriving next week after Richer Sounds came good eventually but it was more of a fight than i expected.

 

[audiowizard]

Glad you finally got it all sorted out mate, you have had a long fight, but good end result. Let me know how your Sony fares against the GT30. I had a Sony lcd tv before I had my GT30 and loved it, although the black levels on the panasonic were much better. I think the newer lcds are catching up with the plasmas in regards to black levels though, so I reckon you will be surprised with the picture quality.

 

[Oldboy]

Glad you finally got it all sorted out mate, you have had a long fight, but good end result. Let me know how your Sony fares against the GT30. I had a Sony lcd tv before I had my GT30 and loved it, although the black levels on the panasonic were much better. I think the newer lcds are catching up with the plasmas in regards to black levels though, so I reckon you will be surprised with the picture quality.

Thanks mate, i appreciate your support and advice. I did get a chance to view the 40inch version before i decided what to do regarding a replacement just after i had been into my local Panasonic dealer and the black levels were like ink, i was very impressed, they compared with the VT50 which really surprised me so i guess it's down to the local dimming of the HX853 because the 753 wasn't quite as good and was a little dull with contrast when compared to the 853.

I'm just glad that a resolution was found and that i've got a 46HX853 on it's way this week, of course i will update you all with how it fares against the GT30. Oh and before i go i have to say i was very impressed with how the HX853 dealt with motion as there was no blur atall which does afflict my Samsung 32 LED i have in my bedroom...can't wait for it to arrive despite the hassle of re-arranging my wall mount, got my fingers crossed it fits without having to drill more holes and move the wall mount higher but it's a small price to pay eh

 

[BenLaw]

Nick, what would you put this successful outcome down to? Emails to the top? Threads on WHF? Simple persistence?

Ben, quite simple my friend...the email address given to me by bigboss and gel for Mr John Clayton is the major source of this successful outcome along with the threads here on WHF which, as ever, have been extremely helpful and the advice i have recieved from fellow forum members has been an enormous help.

I dread to think how it would have gone if it wasn't for these two factors, i get the feeling i would have been stuck with a faulty 42GT30 and facing the prospect of having to buy a new tv and being £1000 out of pocket. Does make me wonder just how your average consumer gets on when issues like this arise without having access to any of the help and support i have been privelaged to receive?

The email address i was given seemed to suddenly open the doors to a resolution and although i did indeed fire off a detailed letter to Mr Julian Richer i doubt it will reach him til next week due to it being a freepost address, fortunately i attached a copy to the email i sent Mr John Clayton so someone at the top got to read it.

Anyway it all ended well in the end and i'm looking forward to the 46HX853 arriving next week after Richer Sounds came good eventually but it was more of a fight than i expected.

Thanks for the insight Oldboy, and glad you have got so much support out of the forum You give plenty back when others need advice also

I really hope your next set has no problems and you will be happy with it for many years to come

 

[Oldboy]

Quick update, my replacement for the faulty 42GT30 should be delivered tomorrow a week after i paid the extra cash for the Sony KDL46HX853. This week has gone very slowly as i waited for a call from Richer Sounds regarding when the tv would be delivered but i got a call on tuesday to say they could deliver in on friday so i'm eager to see how the Sony performs tomorrow and really hope there are no issues with it, no backlight bleed please.

Of course i will report back once it's on the wall, calibrated and i've had a chance to test it out with some content and i have to say that i can't wait to see an end to the issue with the GT30 and to test out the Sony fully :bounce:

 

[3937edwards]

hi oldboy i hope everything goes okay with your new tv as i know from reading your previous threads that you have had lcd/led tvs in the past with backlight bleed and im sure a bit reluctent to return to this technology so fingers crossed i am still very happy with my gt30 no such issues as you had look forward to hearing your first impressions of your new sony

 

[Oldboy]

hi oldboy i hope everything goes okay with your new tv as i know from reading your previous threads that you have had lcd/led tvs in the past with backlight bleed and im sure a bit reluctent to return to this technology so fingers crossed i am still very happy with my gt30 no such issues as you had look forward to hearing your first impressions of your new sony

Thanks but it would seem the KDL46HX853 i have now does indeed suffer from backlight bleed in the two bottom corners of the screen but it's very strange as during normal tv viewing it's fine and with bluray it's fine but when you pull up the tvs menus it's there and with the web browser and apps it's there too but it's only visible under low light conditions.

Of course i've yet to get to grips with the myriad of features on the tv and it's not calibrated yet so i'm hoping over the weekend i can eliminate the instances of bleed i am seeing, i have to say i was very disappointed to see the bleed though given that the WHF review did not mention any with their sample. I know it doesn't seem to impeed into the main viewing experience of tv and movies but it's still frustrating when my bog standard cheap Samsung 32 inch LED tv that i have in my bedroom shows no sign of any bleed!

Apart from that though the tv itself is very impressive indeed and the picture quality is sublime with deep inky blacks the like of which i've not seen on any LED/LCD before and it has some serious talent with motion, throw in my BDP500 and the motion with blu ray is astonishing with no judder atall. I can't pass final judgement until i calibrate it today and tweak the various options on offer but it's very impressive so far, if it wasn't for that bleed it would be near perfect.

Good to hear you have no issues with your GT30 and i hope it continues like that for you in the years to come my friend

Oh one last point to make is that the tv turned up without the promised 2 pairs of 3D glasses, a poor example of customer service from Richer Sounds when you would have thought that they would want to ensure that the order was delivered correctly due to the issues i have already had with the GT30. I gave them a call and was assured that it was a mistake from the courier and that i would get a call from the courier yesterday to arrange a delivery day for them, that never happend of course so i guess i'm going to have to continue to chase them for the glasses which isn't good enough really eh.

 

[3937edwards]

hi oldboy glad your first impressions of the tv are good and i do hope after calibration the backlight bleed you have diminishes as i have read that in the past you have had i think 5 sony tvs with these issues and quiet a fight to get them sorted i must say it is a good looking tv but i was very surprized when i read you had gone back to this technology i really thought yo were a plasma fan hence why that was one of the reasons that made me choose my gt30 as to led because of the issues with led still im sure you will sort the tv out with calibration and you will be 100% happy in the end hope you get your glasses soon as well regards

 

[Oldboy]

3937edwards,

Thanks for the best wishes. Yes it would seem the backlight only affects things like menus and the apps oh and also the game mode and i beleive it's because the local LED dimming is turned off for all of these modes because the issue almost disappeared when i switched the feature back on in the game mode but it adds processing so i'm not sure if i will leave it on or not. With tv and movies after calibration there is no bleed atall which is the most important thing and the blacks are inky so i'm very happy, if the bleed had affected the picture with tv and movies i would have returned it tbh.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the picture quality on the Sony and those extra screen inches make a real difference in my living room and makes movies far more immersive, there are many pros and cons between the two techs though and yes it's true i am a plasma fan but i've been very impressed with just how close the HX853 gets to a plasma image.

The main problem for me with plasma was that if i wanted a larger screen size the cost would be a major factor, to be honest i had every intention of just replacing the GT30 with a GT50 of the same screen size but after a few demos i was so impressed with the Sony HX853 and the extra screen size i would get for a little extra cash that i couldn't help myself as the allure of a larger tv was too strong to resist.

I do still love a plasma image but there are so many pros and cons between the two techs, for example my HX853 deals with contrast much better than the GT30 with punchy whites but on the other hand colour is more natural on the GT30 mainly because the Sony has no colour calibration tools which seems a major oversight to me, it's no disaster but with a few slight adjustments it would be far better.

I could go on but it could become a long list of pros and cons but the main thing is i'm happy with this tv and surprised at just how close it gets to a plasma image, that doesn't mean i won't buy another plasma in the future though if i decide to buy an even bigger tv at some point

 

[bigboss]

To be honest, I don't think it's backlight bleed at all, if it only affects the menu & not the picture. Even my laptop suffers from "backlight bleed" when the blue Windows screen comes up, but completelyt disappears when the desktop comes.

 

[Oldboy]

To be honest, I don't think it's backlight bleed at all, if it only affects the menu & not the picture. Even my laptop suffers from "backlight bleed" when the blue Windows screen comes up, but completelyt disappears when the desktop comes.

It certainly does look like it bigboss, a quite large intrusion on the bottom left which is like a shaft of light and a smaller definate cloud in the bottom right of the screen. It's there on game mode with the tv and clearly visible during dark images in exactly the same way as with the menus and apps, i should add that the darker the room the worse it looks, it's not a deal breaker as i said but just strange that it's not there during movie playback. I watched The Dark Knight last night and didn't notice the effect once and that has to be the darkest film i own....if it's not light bleed then what is it??

 

[Oldboy]

Quick update:

My 3D glasses should be with me on friday as i got a call from Richer Sounds today to arrange delivery so a full resolution is in sight at last, just a shame the glasses never arrived with the tv in the first place.

At least the matter is now coming to an end and i did get a good resolution from Richer sounds in the end so many thanks again to John Clayton and Stephen from Richer Sounds HQ for all their help as without their intervention after my various communications i doubt i would have got a satisfactory resolution

I'm very happy with the KLD46HX853 and just hope i get no issues in the future, one final mention to all of you who contributed to this thread...another big thank you for all your help and advice as it was invaluable as ever :cheers: