Hitachi 50V500 - red glow in center of screen

hhuffman · 08-06-2009, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrB

Sadly, I'm also in the same boat. My T.V. lasted 5 years.

Hey DrB,

Fortunately, my problem hasn't gotten any worse. I first noticed the problem about 8 months ago and it hasn't changed any since then. Definitely still watchable.

Best,
Heath

R2D2repair · 08-07-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmckelvey

Had the unit about 15 months now and a couple of weeks ago I started to notice that there was a red glow in the center of the screen that has been getting worst by the week. If there is white text across the screen then the center text has a red hue and looks like bleeding around the text. Likewise, any video in the center has a reder hue also. I supect the bulb id going but not sure yet

Any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks,

KM

Hi,This is not an issue with the bulb since the bulb shoots a white light that goes through a series of tunnels and goes to 3 main chips blue,red and green.These chips are the ones of creating the colors this is how they work:http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lcd5.htm .These chips are melting that's why you get that red hue.In order to fix that problem you will need to replace the light engine .Sometimes it's very costly they usually run from $250.00-$600.00 . Good luck and God bless you all!

JMS · 08-07-2009, 05:28 PM

I have owned my 50V500 since December 2003. This TV has been plagued by overheating problems for many owners. The LCD panels literally fry due do overheating. Many owners who might read this thread might like to see the inner 'heart' of this TV.

First, this is the light engine. The lens that focuses the picture is clearly visible. The fan housing is on the right.

This is the filter for the fan. As you can see, this filter can get clogged to the point where virtually no air passes. This filter faces down on the TV. I do not know if it is accessible for cleaning without disassembling the TV's housing.

On this next one, you can see the squirrel-cage fan and the ducts that channel the air to the three LCD panels.

Here's the three panel set, minus the duct work.

Here are the three panels in the housing.

Here is a panel. Notice the "splotch" in the middle. This is the cause of the cloud in the middle of the screen. The panel is burned beyond repair.

Hope you enjoyed the picture presentation. I am not taking credit for these pictures. I got these from another site.

gorilman34 · 08-09-2009, 01:39 PM

Mine has the same problem. I've lived with it for many years, but now I finally got a new TV. Ours was literally unwatchable. It got to the point where friends wouldn't want to come to my house to watch movies because they hated the TV. I would still like to fix the Hitachi and put it in another room though. I'm just not sure if I can fork out $400 right now.

JMS · 08-09-2009, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorilman34

Mine has the same problem. I've lived with it for many years, but now I finally got a new TV. Ours was literally unwatchable. It got to the point where friends wouldn't want to come to my house to watch movies because they hated the TV. I would still like to fix the Hitachi and put it in another room though. I'm just not sure if I can fork out $400 right now.

That's $400 if Hitachi covers the light engine. And that's a big if, considering the time lapse involved here and its current financial condition.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/...y/1160508.html

Glaeken · 09-28-2009, 11:51 PM

Same problem here, and I only recently found out about the lawsuit that has been filed against Hitachi in federal court in Dallas seeking class-action status (http://www.reuters.com/article/press...08+PRN20080829) regarding the horrible way in which customers like us who'd spent thousands of dollars buying Hitachi LCD TVs have been treated after discovering a manufacturer's defect in the television. But I wasn't surprised. The company's callous disregard in this situation for the thousands of customers who had bought its LCD TVs was bound to catch up with them sooner or later.

In my case, I own a 60V500A, which cost more than $3,400. I began noticing that in one part of the screen, the picture was appearing read and blurry. I called Hitachi and was told that the lamp needed replacing. So I spent the money on a new lamp and installed it, only to find the problem still there. I then went online and was absolutely stunned to read literally thousands of posts on numerous websites from angry Hitachi customers who had invested a lot of money in a variety of Hitachi LCD models, only to have the same problem. It's a failure of the optical engine which produces what is called "blooming" on the screen.

So I called a Hitachi-authorized service center to get a repair cost estimate, and they said they needed to see the TV to vefify the problem and give an accurate estimate. They charged $60 to come out and confirmed the problem. They also verified that it was a manufacturer's defect in the optical engine, and that Hitachi had been well aware of the problem since they first started manufacturing these units. When I told them that when the problem originally started, Hitachi said it was the light engine, he smiled and shook his head and said they knew what the problem was. They also told me Hitachi was providing no more new optical engines, so I'd have to buy a refurbished engine for $450 and the total repair cost would be around $800.

I called Hitachi back and asked why, if they had known about the problem since the beginning, that they told me the problem was the lamp, but was given no answer. I said that since it was a defect in manufacturing that they were well aware of, what would they do for me, and they responded absolutely nothing because the TVs 12-month warranty had expired! Now that explanation might work for a random problem that crops up, but not a manufacturer's defect that they had known about from the beginning but done nothing to address. Just as with automakers, even when warranties have expired on cars, they issue recalls to correct problems that are manufacturers defects---it's just the right thing to do.

So here I sit with a $3,000+ TV that I already have to replace. Hitachi has done incredible damagae to their reputation in consumer electronics by their actions here---all you have to do is go online and enter 50V500, or 60V500 or the other model numbers to discover that. I've heard that they are getting out of the HDTV business, which is just as well. We don't need companies like this in the marketplace. Attorney Eric Pearson of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson, and Bartolomei, who represents the plaintiff, said, "Hitachi has been more than willing to take people's money for these TV sets and they should be more than willing to fix them. In some cases, people paid $3,500 or more for these TVs. You can't take that kind of money and deliver a defective product." Exactly, or expect that consumers will EVER buy your products again after being treated like this. Glad to hear they're getting out of the HDTV market---others won't have to suffer their horrendous treatment.

sirslur · 11-05-2009, 09:02 PM

I have the 50v710. I have a yellow blob in the middle of the screen. I have come up with a nickname for it. The urine stain.
I have done a little math on this tv and I basiclly paid $500 a year to use it.

Now I need to get another one.

I even posted a story (sirslur dot com) on it and my conversation with Hitachi is still on going.

08-09-2009, 01:39 PM	#19
gorilman34 What isn't HD? Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: California Posts: 7	Mine has the same problem. I've lived with it for many years, but now I finally got a new TV. Ours was literally unwatchable. It got to the point where friends wouldn't want to come to my house to watch movies because they hated the TV. I would still like to fix the Hitachi and put it in another room though. I'm just not sure if I can fork out $400 right now. __________________ Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020FD Pioneer Elite DV-45A DVD player (old but good) Hitachi Ultravision 50v500 LCD (bad light engine) HP Pavilion dv5 laptop w/ blu-ray disk drive

11-05-2009, 09:02 PM	#22
sirslur What is HD? Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1	50v710 I have the 50v710. I have a yellow blob in the middle of the screen. I have come up with a nickname for it. The urine stain. I have done a little math on this tv and I basiclly paid $500 a year to use it. Now I need to get another one. I even posted a story (sirslur dot com) on it and my conversation with Hitachi is still on going.

08-07-2009, 05:28 PM	#18
JMS I'm gettin' all pixelated Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Columbus,OH Posts: 578	I have owned my 50V500 since December 2003. This TV has been plagued by overheating problems for many owners. The LCD panels literally fry due do overheating. Many owners who might read this thread might like to see the inner 'heart' of this TV. First, this is the light engine. The lens that focuses the picture is clearly visible. The fan housing is on the right. This is the filter for the fan. As you can see, this filter can get clogged to the point where virtually no air passes. This filter faces down on the TV. I do not know if it is accessible for cleaning without disassembling the TV's housing. On this next one, you can see the squirrel-cage fan and the ducts that channel the air to the three LCD panels. Here's the three panel set, minus the duct work. Here are the three panels in the housing. Here is a panel. Notice the "splotch" in the middle. This is the cause of the cloud in the middle of the screen. The panel is burned beyond repair. Hope you enjoyed the picture presentation. I am not taking credit for these pictures. I got these from another site.

09-28-2009, 11:51 PM	#21
Glaeken How can anyone watch standard def? Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 16	Same problem here, and I only recently found out about the lawsuit that has been filed against Hitachi in federal court in Dallas seeking class-action status (http://www.reuters.com/article/press...08+PRN20080829) regarding the horrible way in which customers like us who'd spent thousands of dollars buying Hitachi LCD TVs have been treated after discovering a manufacturer's defect in the television. But I wasn't surprised. The company's callous disregard in this situation for the thousands of customers who had bought its LCD TVs was bound to catch up with them sooner or later. In my case, I own a 60V500A, which cost more than $3,400. I began noticing that in one part of the screen, the picture was appearing read and blurry. I called Hitachi and was told that the lamp needed replacing. So I spent the money on a new lamp and installed it, only to find the problem still there. I then went online and was absolutely stunned to read literally thousands of posts on numerous websites from angry Hitachi customers who had invested a lot of money in a variety of Hitachi LCD models, only to have the same problem. It's a failure of the optical engine which produces what is called "blooming" on the screen. So I called a Hitachi-authorized service center to get a repair cost estimate, and they said they needed to see the TV to vefify the problem and give an accurate estimate. They charged $60 to come out and confirmed the problem. They also verified that it was a manufacturer's defect in the optical engine, and that Hitachi had been well aware of the problem since they first started manufacturing these units. When I told them that when the problem originally started, Hitachi said it was the light engine, he smiled and shook his head and said they knew what the problem was. They also told me Hitachi was providing no more new optical engines, so I'd have to buy a refurbished engine for $450 and the total repair cost would be around $800. I called Hitachi back and asked why, if they had known about the problem since the beginning, that they told me the problem was the lamp, but was given no answer. I said that since it was a defect in manufacturing that they were well aware of, what would they do for me, and they responded absolutely nothing because the TVs 12-month warranty had expired! Now that explanation might work for a random problem that crops up, but not a manufacturer's defect that they had known about from the beginning but done nothing to address. Just as with automakers, even when warranties have expired on cars, they issue recalls to correct problems that are manufacturers defects---it's just the right thing to do. So here I sit with a $3,000+ TV that I already have to replace. Hitachi has done incredible damagae to their reputation in consumer electronics by their actions here---all you have to do is go online and enter 50V500, or 60V500 or the other model numbers to discover that. I've heard that they are getting out of the HDTV business, which is just as well. We don't need companies like this in the marketplace. Attorney Eric Pearson of Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson, and Bartolomei, who represents the plaintiff, said, "Hitachi has been more than willing to take people's money for these TV sets and they should be more than willing to fix them. In some cases, people paid $3,500 or more for these TVs. You can't take that kind of money and deliver a defective product." Exactly, or expect that consumers will EVER buy your products again after being treated like this. Glad to hear they're getting out of the HDTV market---others won't have to suffer their horrendous treatment.