Sony KP-53XBR45 red bow in left side only


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Old 12-01-02, 09:39 AM
kwolfman
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Sony KP-53XBR45 red bow in left side only

As the subject says, my Sony KP-53XBR45 projection TV has suddenly developed a severe bow in of the red color. The bow in is only on the left side and convergence gets progressively better as you look to the right. It is fine from the center and to the right.

The red is bowed in about 3" at the extreme left. I have tried the Service Mode but none of the RH adjustments affect the bow in at all.

Thanks!
 
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Old 12-01-02, 12:56 PM
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Lightbulb Convergence IC

Sounds like one of the convergence IC's has gone out.
Most Sonys have 2 STK392-150's I would just go ahead and replace them both while you have it open.
If the IC's don't fix it look for the 3 control IC's with the Pioneer logo on the top of them, replace the red one (if your set uses the 3 IC's)
Repairs by a pro should run about $300.00 in home.
 
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Old 12-06-02, 09:35 PM
kwolfman
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I just wanted to thank you for your response. I think you are exactly correct about one of the convergence IC being bad. Since I can't tell exactly which IC has the problem, I've ordered a replacement board from partsolver.com. The two STK ICs you mentioned would have cost me $110 and they may not have solved the problem, so I ordered the whole board for $195.

Again, thanks for the prompt response.
 
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Old 12-07-02, 02:30 PM
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Unhappy Holy COW !!

$110.00 for those IC's ??
We don't charge our customers 1/2 that at RETAIL
Here's where to but TV parts if you need them in the future
www.tritronicsinc.com
Those STK's are $24.95 retail from them, we get them at wholesale which is even cheaper.
Also you may possibly have do a complete convergence alignment unless your set has the convergence eeprom on a different board.
For $195.00 I would have considered getting a tech out there and paid the extra $100.00 to know it WILL be fixed or you won't pay anything but a trip charge.
Good luck, I hope it doesn't need alignment ...
 
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Old 12-07-02, 06:50 PM
kwolfman
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The KP-53XBR45 does not use STK392-150 s. Instead it uses STK392-010s. I went to the tritonicsinc.com site you mentioned. When I entered the 010 number in the part search, it came up with four suggestions, ranging from $25.00 to $55.52. The suggested replacement was $39.00, so I guess the price I found was not totally out of line, but it certainly was at a premium. I didn't know where to look for parts so I went with the first site that listed parts for my exact TV.

As for not going for professional repair, my main goal is to go as inexpensively and easily as possible. I just want to get the TV into a reasonable state so I can sell it. I plan to upgrade to HDTV very soon within the month.

On doing a reconvergence, before I swap the boards, I plan to write down all of the Service Mode settings. A huge portion of those settings are RBG convergence settings. Hopefully when I install the new board, I'll be able to reset all of the settings. I have the ability to display grid line and dot patterns to help with alignment tweaking (I've done this before).
 
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Old 12-08-02, 07:33 AM
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Lightbulb Experience

Writing down all the convergence perameters will get you very close, only fine tweaking should be needed after that.
You must admit doing a complete alignemt from scratch would have been a bear if you didn't know anything about alignments !!
Do have a service manual for the set ??
As far as HDTV do you know what you plan on buying ??
I work on HDTV's on a daily basis and there are certain brands that I wouldn't recommend buying .... (Sony is still a good set though)
 
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Old 12-08-02, 07:58 AM
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Lightbulb BTW

Those stk392-010's are $25.00 each retail at tritronics
Order it under the SONY part #874901088 and the exact same IC is $55.00, it's just in Sony packaging
Sometimes you get lucky and the IC in/outs are labeled on the bottom of the board as to which IC does which color and only have to replace one if the customer is trying to save $25.00 for the second IC
Most customers opt to pay the extra $25.00 and avoid future problems unless they are trying to sell it
Labor is $200.00 no matter how many parts we change, plus a $40.00 trip charge unless they bring the set to the shop.
 
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Old 12-08-02, 08:27 AM
FREDDYG_001
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Try MCM Electronics.
Stk392-010
$12.06 each

www.mcmelectronics.com
1-800-543-4330


Fred
 
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Old 12-10-02, 05:53 PM
kwolfman
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Well I've just been notified that the convergence board is no longer being made, so I'm going to buy the separate IC's I need after looking at all the suggested sites. Thanks guys. I guess I'll have to get my soldering iron out.

54regcab, you asked about what HDTV I'm planning to buy. My top choice right now is the Sony KF-60XBR800. This is an LCD rear projection set. It has a great picture, far superior to anything I've managed to eek out of my 53XBR45 TV. I like the simplicity of the new set. It has three small high-resolution LCD panels, one for each of RGB. Once aligned at the factory, they never need realigning or reconvergence. A single 100W high-pressure bulb powers the whole thing.

I was also looking at the new Samsung HLM617W which is a DLP rear projection TV. This also has a wonderful picture, but the Samsung brand has never inspired "quality" in my mind.

I'm looking at these new technologies because CRT rear projection sets at 60" or larger are getting to be huge and heavy boxes. They also need periodic reconvergence and attention to the internals. They degrade a bit over time and they have the chance to "burn in" images if static images are displayed (video games are notorious for causing this). The LCD and DLP systems can not suffer burn-in. They have no phosphors.
 
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Old 12-11-02, 05:16 AM
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Lightbulb Good choice

Be aware that LCD panels aren't perfect though, there are normally a few "missing" pixels on the 60XBR.
Most people would never see them unless you have a static image on the set and even then you have to look real hard to see them.
Do be aware that the bulb is quite expensive, somewhere in the $500.00 range and must be replace about every 2 years.
Lamp type tvs are not subject to "aging" like a regular CRT based set and the LCD pixel response time is quicker than any CRT I have ever seen.
Also buy the extended warranty, if ANYTHING in the optical block (the part that houses the LCD panels) goes bad the whole block must be replaced at a cost of about $4K
Other than these minor issues the LCD set is an excellent choice if you can afford it
 
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Old 12-11-02, 06:46 AM
kwolfman
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Yes, I am aware that LCD panels often have a "few" stuck pixels. In the 60XBR800 there are actually three panels so the odds of a bad pixel go up. There are a little over 3 million pixels.

This does concern me. On the other hand, the DLP sets rarely if ever have a bad pixel. There is also no alignment issue. The same "pixels" are used for red, green and blue.

Your estimates on the bulbs are a bit off. The bulbs are $200-$300, not $500. I suspect this will go down as more of these kind of RPTVs come out. The Sony bulb has an expected life of 8000 hours. Watching the set for 4 hours/day would give me about 2000 days of service or about 5.5 years. The bulbs provide a flat output until the very end.

4K for the optical block seems very high. The whole set only costs $4500. The Sony comes with a 2-year warranty.

Any thoughts on the DLP RPTV? I know DLP front projectors have been around for a few years and are widely used. I understand the micro-mirror chip is very reliable, but I'm concerned about the rotating color wheel. Mechanical devices are usually the first to go.

What has Samsung's reliability been?
 
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Old 12-11-02, 06:14 PM
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Lightbulb Bulb cost

I guess it depends on who makes the set, Hitachi is getting almost $900.00 for thier bulbs.
I haven't had to order a Sony bulb yet so I don't know the cost on it.
You might want to find out the real cost BEFORE the salesman tells you how "cheap" the bulbs are.
DLP is an excellent technology and I have yet to see one with any bad pixels.
The TI chip common to all DLP sets has been reliable so far, I havent see one go bad yet.
Most of the DLP problems I have seen is shorter than normal lamp life and noisy color wheels.
The color wheel bearings go "bad" and the whole wheel has to be replaced.
In fact, I did a Hitachi today with a noisy color wheel.
Some manufactures make it part of the optical block, others let you replace induvidually.
As far as picture quality goes it's tough to beat a DLP.
I have yet to see an optical block for any TV under $2K, some as much as $4K
Almost as much as the whole TV !!!
I haven't seen any of the Samsung DLP's/LCD's since we don't sell them.
 
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Old 12-21-02, 09:39 PM
kwolfman
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All Fixed!

I just wanted to thank everyone who responded to this thread. I purchased one STK392-010 IC from mcmelectronics and replaced the one on the convergence board that controlled the red. (I have the service manual so I knew which one). The operation was a total success. So for a total of less than $20 including shipping, I now have a nicely converged picture. I didn't have to tweak the convergence either.

Time to sell the 53XBR45 and move up to HDTV. By the way, I am also looking at the Pioneer Elite series of RPTVs. Beautiful build quality and a fabulous picture.
 
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Old 12-22-02, 01:37 PM
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Smile Sweet

That's the good thing about just changing the IC's, all the "memory" is on the board in another IC not the amps.
Normally the differences in the amps is so small only a fine adjustment is needed after repalcement.
Not to mention the cost savings
Also I have now seen my first Samsung DPL units, although it's too soon to say just yet I belive they are going to be a generally good set but will have a few bugs to work out.
The Sony RPTV's are a good bet now that they have got all the "flicker" problems worked out.
Every brand has it's "bugs" but some sets are just better designed than others
 
 

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