Samsung DLP picture went bad.

[Skynut]

Less than a year old my DLP picture has a bar going down the right side of the screen.
It started with a small shadow on the right about 3" wide from top to bottom, now it is about 20" wide with the farthest right 10" being darker.
It really sucks to watch, every day it is a little worse.

I called Samsung and they set me up with a local authorized repair shop and sent them a confirmation by fax that they can repair it. I have an appointment this afternoon between 4 and 6 pm with an in house repair guy.

At first it looked like something fell into the path of the light but now I think the bulb might be going bad.

We shall see.

I will say that Samsung customer service was very helpful and easy to deal with so lets see if they fix the problem with little or no hassle.

[billbillw]

Doubt its a bad bulb. I think they just quit all together. Sounds like a "light engine" problem. The little DLP chip isn't doing what its supposed to. At least its under warranty. Good luck. It sucks to loose your TV. I went through a 3 month ordeal with Toshiba back in 2005. Eventually they replaced my entire set with the newer model.

[Skynut]

This thing was expensive, it should not have problems already.

My Toshiba was a rear projection and lasted over ten years, the only problem I ever had was a blown fuse.

[JimBRICK]

I stopped selling samsung last sept after 3 out 5 of the customers I sold the same dlp had issues in the first 6 months

[Skynut]

Great.

It was one of the most affordable sets when we bought it.

[scottvamp]

Expensive has very little to do with reliability. I have stayed away from DLP from the get go. Way too much can go wrong. In my opinion, once you go with a "bulb" based engine, should just go front projection anyway. Even with my projectors for the last 7 years i have stuck with LCD. And yes CRT based rear projection last. I am on my second one. The first one i sold to a friend and it still has plenty of life. My dad had a 52" RCA. Lasted 12 years and had over 80,000 hours on it. The power supply eventually failed.
Hope it works out for ya.

[Fireman32]

Sorry to hear that. I have had no issues with my mits dlp aqnd its over 2 years old. Good thing you have the warranty.

[bobman1235]

Sorry to hear that Sky, but I agree with Sammy's customer service. When I first got my DLP it kept shutting itself off, they sent someone to my house within 2 days, in a nice small time window, and they replaced the whole light engine nice and quick (since they couldn't figure out what was wrong or reproduce the problem).

[Skynut]

This problem is easy to reproduce. :D
I am waiting for him now, any time between 4 and 6.

[wingnut4772]

Mine did the same thing. I am on my third light engine. I will never again buy any DLP. I will wait until something simpler comes along.

[Skynut]

Mine did the same thing. I am on my third light engine. I will never again buy any DLP. I will wait until something simpler comes along.

Great.

They just left with my set and said it is the engine.
This sucks, how much are the engines once it is out of warranty next month?


At least I have the Visio LCD I won last year to do fill in work.

[billbillw]

Great.

They just left with my set and said it is the engine.
This sucks, how much are the engines once it is out of warranty next month?


At least I have the Visio LCD I won last year to do fill in work.

The warranty repair will have its own warranty. Not sure how long, probably depends on the service company and/or Samsung. I'd definitely ask though.

[wingnut4772]

Great.

They just left with my set and said it is the engine.
This sucks, how much are the engines once it is out of warranty next month?


At least I have the Visio LCD I won last year to do fill in work.

I don't know but that's why I got the extended warranty from the store. I am sure they are crazy expensive though.

[phipiper10]

Good luck, keep us posted. So far 2+ years with Samsung DLP and no issues.

[Skynut]

It is good to hear that someone with a Smasung is not having trouble.
I am hoping this is a fluke and I will not have any more problems.

I am also hoping that I can change the engine myself next time.

[rhulett]

It sounds like you have a collapsing light tunnel, they've had a quite a few problems with the first builds of their dlp's. Here is a LINK over at avs of people who have had this happen. I would think with a little nice talk, they should fix it for free with all of the problems that they've had.
Rob

[Bill Ayotte]

I stopped selling samsung last sept after 3 out 5 of the customers I sold the same dlp had issues in the first 6 months

My picture just went out one night out of the blue....It has been eight weeks now, and it SHOULD be back by Friday.....I will never deal with CC again...Worst customer service ever! They change their tune if you call them everyday though....They really hate me now.

[MSALLA]

My sammi was 2 years old in April. First set they gave me had a problem form jump. But cc gave me another set no questions asked and I have not had a problem since.

[Skynut]

I have not heard from the service shop yet, I would not be supprised if something was in the way of the light source.
I am interested in what they say it was after they fix it.

[Bill Ayotte]

I have not heard from the service shop yet, I would not be supprised if something was in the way of the light source.
I am interested in what they say it was after they fix it.

I'm really interested to find out what was replaced in mine too....I guess the engine was bad, but after they replaced that, they found a problem with a board...My guess is that those morons broke something putting it back together, then just said that they had another problem...The contractor CC has here is absolute crap...I really just wish that they would have replaced my set after 5 weeks of trying to get the *******s to come pick up the dead one to fix it...We will see how it plays out this afternoon....

[Serendipity]

I'm really interested to find out what was replaced in mine too....I guess the engine was bad, but after they replaced that, they found a problem with a board...My guess is that those morons broke something putting it back together, then just said that they had another problem...The contractor CC has here is absolute crap...I really just wish that they would have replaced my set after 5 weeks of trying to get the *******s to come pick up the dead one to fix it...We will see how it plays out this afternoon....

Happens all the time. I personally know 2 people who have had their DLP sets go bad.

[Sherardp]

Time for front projection if your room can handle the large screen, that Sony VPL VW50 looks good over at Vanns for 3700.00

[scottvamp]

Front Projection rules! Thats all i gotta say.:D

[goingganzo]

we have a loder rp dlp samsung and it is great but i bought a new samsung lcd 40 in hd and had nothing but backlight problems from the start

[Serendipity]

I have a front projection setup, but it's not an LCD/DLP; I have a CRT projector. No bulbs to replace, no filters to clean, no lamp failures...all is good with a CRT projector.

[Sherardp]

CRTs are awesome, just big and bulky IMHO. But I have to admit they throw an awesome pic. I just viewed a Barco out here at a Japanese Video Store and it had the wow factor. I just dont have the time to maintain them etc. For me the JVC was a no brainer, some compare it to a CRT, but again thats a different argument that I choose not to get into here with CRT owners.

[Skynut]

So I call the shop today to see what's the holdup and the guy tells me that Samsung no longer replaces the whole engine and he has to figure out which part went bad.

He replaced something I can't remember now and that wasn't it so now he is replacing the "tunnel" where the picture goes through.

I may get the set back monday.

[Skynut]

It sounds like you have a collapsing light tunnel, they've had a quite a few problems with the first builds of their dlp's. Here is a LINK over at avs of people who have had this happen. I would think with a little nice talk, they should fix it for free with all of the problems that they've had.
Rob

This sounds like what he is talking about at the shop.

[wingnut4772]

So I call the shop today to see what's the holdup and the guy tells me that Samsung no longer replaces the whole engine and he has to figure out which part went bad.

He replaced something I can't remember now and that wasn't it so now he is replacing the "tunnel" where the picture goes through.

I may get the set back monday.

That may work in your favor because if your repair guy can't figure it out and deems it to be 'un-repairable' you will get a whole new set.

[Skynut]

That would be nice.