SDM-HS94P Backlight Bleeding Problem

E

emerge

n00b
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
Messages
31
Hi,

I just had to create a new thread to bring the attention to people about a problem that I and many other have been experiencing.

It seems that the SDM-HS94P suffers from a backlight bleeding problem. I discovered this when I bought it around 2 days ago. It was also pointed out by some people just yesterday in this post:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=805781

I am very surprised nobody ever mentioned this before on any forum. Trust me, I've looked everywhere to make sure that buying this monitor was the right decision.

You can try to decrease the effect by playing with the brightness levels, but it does not eliminate it. Even after decreasing the brightness levels, there is a strong backlight bleeding problem from all four sides (left, right, top and bottom).

I've spent an equivalent of $850 US on this monitor and I am extremely dissapointed.

The viewing angles are very limited too, I always have to play with the monitor's position because I often change the way I sit and operate on the computer.

Anybody else experienced this? Any tips to solve this problem? I will return it if I don't solve this problem.

SDMHS94P_Backlight_Bleeding.jpg
 
I'm no expert on LCDs but I don't think there is a way to fix it except returning it and hope you will get another one with less backlight problem. This is a problem with all LCDs, not just the SDM-HS94P.
 
yes, most LCDs with high brightnes have this problem.....

my HX73 has the smae problem, but only on the top of the screen....
 
So you mean all LCDs exhibit this problem? So when you have a black background you get around two inches of light from left side, right side, bottom and top? The top and bottom are a bit weaker than the left and right sides, but still its very clear!

Maybe this is exists because it boasts a 400 cmd brightness?

You don't get a uniform black panel. There is a white "X" on the screen.
 
emerge said:
So you mean all LCDs exhibit this problem? So when you have a black background you get around two inches of light from left side, right side, bottom and top? The top and bottom are a bit weaker than the left and right sides, but still its very clear!

Maybe this is exists because it boasts a 400 cmd brightness?

You don't get a uniform black panel. There is a white "X" on the screen.
Click to expand...

Some LCDs leak a lot more backlight than others just like some LCDs have a lot more dead pixels than others. It all depends on how lucky you are. There is nothing you can do except return it and get a new one.
 
I guess I'll be exchanging it for a new one. I had one dead pixel on the bottom of the screen that only appeared in a blue or orange background. It was all good. Now, I could get a worse off monitor with a dead pixel in the middle!!


Here is another picture. Sorry for the bluriness, my hands were shaking when I took it, but you can clearly see the backlight bleeding.

msgboard.jpg
 
I think all of these lcds suffer from this problem. Maybe that's where sony got the xbrite name from. :p

Anyway I emailed sony about this problem to see what they say.
 
emerge said:
Maybe this is exists because it boasts a 400 cmd brightness?
Click to expand...


i think it could be the reason.....it's a gaming LCD, not a professional one....and sony's probably counting on gaming population which won't be bothered by this, but will love high brightness...

PS: you can try online chat with sony guys, but i found that they don't know ANYTHING about lcds....
 
Heh, I tried to chat too. I talked with a guy called ronnie. He didn't know anything!

and in gaming, I don't increase the brightness to the max. There is this thing called gamma that helps do that. We don't need hight brightness LCD. If I increase the brightness (and backlight) on this thing to the max, I get blind!
 
The bightness level of 400 is a gimmick. Everytime I read the settings of a user of this monitor the brightness and backlight are all way down.
 
Are there any SDM-HS94P owners out there that can post pictures of their monitor with a black background? Don't forget to disable the flashes and choose a shutter speed that will capture the backlight bleeding problem similar to what your eyes can see.
 
exchanging it won't help at all. Almost all lcd's have some type of back light bleeding.

I've owned NEC, Sony, Dell and Samsung lcd's and all of them have backlight bleeding.

Some just have it less than others but none are perfect. In your case I don't think the backlight problem is that bad.
 
So when you surf the Internet, do you sometimes see a darker top? I scroll down a page and always the top part is darker.
 
I just had a great idea. I think this problem can be solved if we can be resourceful.

I know in some monitors you can control the settings through software. I remember a samsung CRT was able to do this using some software called magic-something (forgot the name).

Anyways, if we can find a way to decrease the backlight to a negative number, this problem can be solved. Now, the backlight is different than the brightness. So if we can decrease the backlight, we can still increase the brightness level to make up for the backlight.

There must be somekind of software out there than can do this. Maybe some resourceful programmer can do this for us?
 
I just picked one of these this weekend and even though it seems odd, I noticed this being a LOT more prevalent with the analog connection rather than digital. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but that's what the appearance is.
I bought this monitor with a 6800GT and I have to say that playing Half-Life 2 in 1280X1024 with all the details maxed (and vsync on) is pretty amazing.
OH - as for the top being darker, tilt the monitor toward you. I know it's odd, but it seems as though this monitor was designed to be facing you with no tilt or possibly even a tiny tilt FORWARD, which is a little odd, huh? It's all about angles with LCD's.
I love the monitor, but alas I have a dead pixel that's hovering in the upper right quadrant after 2 days. Do you think I should return it to Best Buy and risk getting another monitor with one dead in a worse spot (and potentially screw up the rebate by having 2 model numbers) or just going for it assuming that it won't happen again? Anyone else have this monitor with any dead pixels?
 
My connection is digital using DVI.

Tilting doesn't help much, the top is still darker. I even stood up a few feet away with all kinds of different tilts. Some combinations helped, but still, you could see something wrong with the top.

In Half-Life 2, when you're in a dark place, can't you see anything wrong with the bottom or top? You can't see any light bleeding through the edges making the image a bit brighter?

Like another person said, I guess that's the "x" in xbrite.
 
I've only recently switched over to analog yesterday after running DVI for 2 days and I didn't notice any difference in gaming at all. I really only notice the darker top when I have a browser open and I notice the titlebar is slightly darker when at the top rather than in a window in the middle of the screen.

For gaming I notice no difference at all - although it does seem as though anything that's supposed to be really dark seems to be a bit more grey than on my old NEC 17" CRT.

I really like the monitor - I have mine tilted slightly forward and have no issues with coloration any longer. However - I do still have that random dead pixel after 2 days. Anyone think I should keep it or return it? It's in a spot that is more or less out of the way (think above the "print" icon on IE's toolbar with icons+text) but should I risk a return and possibly having one in the center of the screen?
 
OH - as for the top being darker, tilt the monitor toward you.

The uneven colors from top to bottom is something all lcd monitors suffer from. Actually this sony handles the problem a lot better than most.
 
emerge said:
You don't get a uniform black panel. There is a white "X" on the screen.
Click to expand...

Just to add, I recently got a Dell 1704FP and noticed the exact same backlighting issue with the white "X" on the screen. It is like four lights are coming out of each corner and converging in an X pattern. I did more research on this and it seems like a number of LCDs suffer from similar types of leakage. However, I returned my LCD because I became fixated on it and really annoyed me. Why pay for something you will not be satisfied with.
 
What did you get instead? I am now thinking of two models either the Viewsonic VX910 or Samsung 193P.

My main concern is ghosting or blurring in games.
 
emerge: If you don't mind the price, I would definitely go with the Samsung 193P. The blacks are amazing (800:1), there is no backlight bleed (from what I saw in the display model at least), and the response time of 20ms should be fine (I actually have a 25ms Samsung and I see no ghosting/blurring). I've read quite a few good reviews on this monitor too.
 
I purchased an SDM-HS94P/S about a month ago, online from Staples.com. The monitor had the exact same bleeding backlight issue, and extremely dark area along the top edge, extending about 3-4 inches, where the darker a color was, the darker it was distorted compared to the rest of the monitor. I called up Sony tech support, and they assured me this was not normal. They had me Fax my proof of purchase to them, which they claimed later did not go through, but mysteriously 2 days later I had a package from Sony. It was another SDM-HS94P/S in a plain brown carton.

The Tech support rep I talked to on the phone had mentioned they would send me a new one, but the replacement was refurbished. I tried it out anyhow, and the bleeding backlight, and dark top edge were not as bad as the original. It did however have a stuck pixel which was somewhat noticeable. I wasn't thrilled with the bad pixel, considering my original didn't have any pixel defects, but since the brightness was a little more even, I was happy. A week later I decided to make a call to Sony about the refurbished monitor, and whether I still had my full Warranty with it, and why they had sent me a refurbished monitor when they said they would give me a new one. The first tech rep was confused and had me talk to a higher up. He informed me the refurbished monitor was a mistake and I would be sent a brand new one. He claimed my first fax didn't go through, so he had me fax them my receipt again. 4 days later and 4 faxes later, I finally talked to another manager who OKed the receipt as proof of purchase, because for the previous 4 days all the underlings had claimed that the Receipt was not legible enough after being faxed.

So... they tell me they will be sending a new one soon. I wait, and wait, and about a week after that I get a late phone call telling me the silver bezel version was taking a long time to get ahold of and if it was ok to send me the black version. I say ok, the black is fine. Another week and a half later, and now out of the 30 day grace period, I finally got the replacement monitor today.

Its gorgeous, no bleeding from the sides, much more even color vertically, the slightest hint of backlight bleeding along the top edge, but almost not visible and at worst 1 cm thick. My original monitor and the refurbished one which both had the really bad side bleeding, and had much worse darkness along the top edge were both manufactured in week 30. This new one was a week 43. Thats about 3 months later, and I am almost positive they redesigned the backlight system, since there is no bleeding at all on the sides, and only very very very slight bleeding along the top edge. I would be curious to see if people post their manufacturing week (press the menu button and hold it to bring up the serial no/manufacturing week) if there is any corelation between earlier manufactured units and the bleeding problems.

Ning
 
Hmmmm... interesting. Did they let you send your monitor back first, or did they just send you a new monitor and when you received the new monitor you could send your old monitor back?

Mine is week 28.

Maybe there is hope.

People, please post your week of manufacturing. This is very interesting.
 
The refurbished one was sent to me in advance, as was the new replacement I got today. I sent the original monitor back 2 weeks ago, and will be shipping the refurbished one back tomorrow. I am not sure but I think this may only be the policy if you are within the first 30 days of your purchase, but I am not completely sure.
 
Mine is 2004-30

That's interesting news but i don't have a fax machine so wouldn't i be screwed?
 
nervx said:
The uneven colors from top to bottom is something all lcd monitors suffer from.
Click to expand...
Not really. The top being darker than the bottom problem is present in all LCDs that have a TN + flim matrix. It is caused by poor vertical viewing angles so IPS and M/PVA matrixes don't suffer from that (unless there is some light leakage that makes a portion of the screen look brighter, of course),
 
Mine is 2004-39 and suffers a little from light bleeding on all sidesm not enough to trouble me though and I have 0 dead pixels which would certainly stop me from getting a replacment anyway.
 
Is there any way a person can know the week of production from the outside box only? You know, without openning the package and monitor?
 
Ningauble said:
I purchased an SDM-HS94P/S about a month ago, online from Staples.com. The monitor had the exact same bleeding backlight issue, and extremely dark area along the top edge, extending about 3-4 inches, where the darker a color was, the darker it was distorted compared to the rest of the monitor. I called up Sony tech support, and they assured me this was not normal. They had me Fax my proof of purchase to them, which they claimed later did not go through, but mysteriously 2 days later I had a package from Sony. It was another SDM-HS94P/S in a plain brown carton.

The Tech support rep I talked to on the phone had mentioned they would send me a new one, but the replacement was refurbished. I tried it out anyhow, and the bleeding backlight, and dark top edge were not as bad as the original. It did however have a stuck pixel which was somewhat noticeable. I wasn't thrilled with the bad pixel, considering my original didn't have any pixel defects, but since the brightness was a little more even, I was happy. A week later I decided to make a call to Sony about the refurbished monitor, and whether I still had my full Warranty with it, and why they had sent me a refurbished monitor when they said they would give me a new one. The first tech rep was confused and had me talk to a higher up. He informed me the refurbished monitor was a mistake and I would be sent a brand new one. He claimed my first fax didn't go through, so he had me fax them my receipt again. 4 days later and 4 faxes later, I finally talked to another manager who OKed the receipt as proof of purchase, because for the previous 4 days all the underlings had claimed that the Receipt was not legible enough after being faxed.

So... they tell me they will be sending a new one soon. I wait, and wait, and about a week after that I get a late phone call telling me the silver bezel version was taking a long time to get ahold of and if it was ok to send me the black version. I say ok, the black is fine. Another week and a half later, and now out of the 30 day grace period, I finally got the replacement monitor today.

Its gorgeous, no bleeding from the sides, much more even color vertically, the slightest hint of backlight bleeding along the top edge, but almost not visible and at worst 1 cm thick. My original monitor and the refurbished one which both had the really bad side bleeding, and had much worse darkness along the top edge were both manufactured in week 30. This new one was a week 43. Thats about 3 months later, and I am almost positive they redesigned the backlight system, since there is no bleeding at all on the sides, and only very very very slight bleeding along the top edge. I would be curious to see if people post their manufacturing week (press the menu button and hold it to bring up the serial no/manufacturing week) if there is any corelation between earlier manufactured units and the bleeding problems.

Ning
Click to expand...


So your saying they can actually make LCDs with fairly even backlighting. It seems as though they don't have a lot of properly made SDM-HS94Ps or is it that there are newer revisions that work properly. I have been pissed with uneven backlighting especially around the edges and bad vertical colour unevenness from last year when I first purchased a NEC 1760NX. I am not in the US so I didnt have the luxury of sending it back and forth until I got a good one as its very xpensive to just get it into my country in the first place.

How many persons have fairly even backlighting with a SDM-HS94P? Any with Viewsonic VP912B that has a similar panel?
 
bob321 said:
So your saying they can actually make LCDs with fairly even backlighting. It seems as though they don't have a lot of properly made SDM-HS94Ps or is it that there are newer revisions that work properly. I have been pissed with uneven backlighting especially around the edges and bad vertical colour unevenness from last year when I first purchased a NEC 1760NX. I am not in the US so I didnt have the luxury of sending it back and forth until I got a good one as its very xpensive to just get it into my country in the first place.

How many persons have fairly even backlighting with a SDM-HS94P? Any with Viewsonic VP912B that has a similar panel?
Click to expand...

where are you from, bob? :)
it seems our countries don't have taste for display geeks :)
 
Press and hold the menu button on your display for 5 seconds the info screen will appear
 
I dunno, I have to wait until I can get over his house to check it out, or call him.
 
mine is 2004-30
but is the european "x-black" version not "x-brite"

it works perfectly ,no bleeding & no dead pixels.

could you all post some photos of your monitors with bleeding so that
we can all understand exactly what is going on ?
 
checked this out a little bit and noticed that mine is like the one posted in the
picture only when the computer boots (and does not work in native resolution) ,
in native 1280x1024 there is no problem.
 
Are you sure you don't have this problem in native resolution? This seems strange. You are saying the problem occurs only when you are not in native resolution?

It should occur in every resolution, its a monitor specific thing.
 
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