# Horizontal lines on hdtv



## twilyth (Dec 9, 2014)

I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I'll ask anyway to be sure.  To the extent it matters, this is a Sony Bravia KDL 50R550A that I've had for about 15 or 16 months.  

OK, so the problem is that it's developed a few closely spaced, very thin horizontal lines on the display.  I figure that this means that either the controller for that row of leds or the leds themselves have burned out.

What's a little strange is that only a couple of the lines seem to be persistent.  The other lines tend to disappear and the bottom part of the picture underneath then moves up slightly.  This happens every couple of seconds.

So basically what I expect is that folks are going to tell me that the tv is on it's last legs and time to toss it, but I figure it can't hurt to ask.

Also I'm a little miffed that the circuits only lasted a little more than a year.  Needless to say I won't be buying another Sony product anytime soon and I'm beginning to understand all of the hate I've been hearing about.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson with the Sony camera I bought years ago, but no.  My first HDTV was a Sony projection model that died twice during the 5 or 6 years that I had it.  But that at least was a much better average lifespan than what I've seen from this tv.  I mean damn.  I have stink bugs flying around here that I think are older than the television.  LOL.


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Take a pic of screen


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## twilyth (Dec 9, 2014)

I would, but it's not going to show much more than what I've described.  Plus I've tried taking pics of tv screens before and they never come out very good.  And these lines are so fine I'm not sure they would show up very well.  The only way you might notice is if I shot a video and all that would show is the bottom part of the picture jumping. If there's some in particular you want me to trouble shoot, I'll do what I can on my end of course.


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## Steevo (Dec 9, 2014)

Run the GPU-z render test and see if the lines go away


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## twilyth (Dec 9, 2014)

OK.  Not sure how to do that 0.8 though.  Don't see a question mark next to the bus field.

Never mind - it was off the edge, found it.  Yes the lines are still showing up.


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 9, 2014)

I had a TV with horizontal lines and I tried replacing all of the innards of the TV to fix it.  I believe my conclusion was that the panel was shot.  If you want to try plugging something else in to it, especially on a different source (e.g. HDMI 1 instead of HDMI 2), you can.

I could probably dig up where I bought those parts from if you want to attempt to do the same.  If the parts don't fix it, you can return them for your money back (no restocking fee).  If it is the panel though, it's cheaper just to buy a new TV generally.


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## twilyth (Dec 9, 2014)

Thanks.  Yeah, that's what I suspect.  I think the problem actually started a few months ago and I just didn't realize it.  Sometimes I'll pause something for long periods of time while I'm reading or whatever and it looked like the screen was moving from the corner of my eye.  I though maybe I had set it to slow motion, but no, it was still but there was some barely perceptible motion.  But I didn't notice any defects in the screen.  That's probably when it started and it's just gotten worse.

I have definitely tried different inputs though and it's the same problem.  I even thought that maybe it was the receiver since most of the inputs go through that so I routed one directly to the set but nope.  Same thing.


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## FordGT90Concept (Dec 9, 2014)

I distinctly remember on the TV I worked on that it did it with no source plugged in at all, just turned on and it stood out like a sore thumb.  If you can get in to the menus, are the menus affected by it too?

Could the "moving" have been caused by the LEDs flickering?


Edit: Not sure if this is the right website but they list power supply, T-Con, and main video.  I don't think replacing any of those parts would fix the problem--it's the panel.

For the record, the LEDs/CFLs are always part of the panel itself.  They're not designed to be replaced.


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## twilyth (Dec 9, 2014)

Yup.  Happens even in full screen menus.  Thanks for the links but I'm not going to try to fix this myself.  I've never had much luck doing that sort of thing and I'd be pretty clueless anyway just poking around and whatnot. [Sigh]  Time for a trip to Costco I guess.  I kind of regretted not getting a 55" instead of the 50" anyway so now I have an excuse to upgrade I suppose.  Plus Costco has a nice Samsung that's about 25% off right now if they still have it in stock.


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