CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

ptkctc · Joined: 01 Nov 2013 Posts: 44

Well...... Heres an interesting one I picked up today. It was described to me as a "55 inch Hitachi Ultravision DLP that needs a lamp, thats all". I thought wow I am on my way right now for that, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to tear into a DLP set that I didn't have to buy or have to worry if I couldn't figure it out.

I got it home, pulled the lamp and I thought it looked familiar to the V500 series bulb I have, and lo and behold it was. This was surprising, since I was under the impression that DLP usually took a higher output bulb than LCD....

I fired it up, and was met with a horrendous amount of blue specs on an all black screen, and what looked to be bad blue color smearing all over the center of the screen. Hmmmmm.... I looked the set up on two separate websites before going to pick it up, and they a both called it a DLP set.

I decided to pull it apart, to see if there was anything inside that was causing a fault, like maybe dust on the color wheel, or possibly very dirty air filters, like with the v500's bane.

Oh my, I got the back off, and I saw a very familiar sight, it was disturbing to say the least once I got the light tunnel out of it and took a second to really think about what was going on, see for yourself, if you already don't know:

And this is when I started to become really disappointed

I had saw enough, I got back online and looked again. The only real definite answer I got as to what technology this set is, was on the front of the service manual I found, and it said LCD Projection. Heck a few sites that offer the LE for sale list it as a DLP light engine.

Upon inspection, the set was horribly dusty inside the lower portion of the chassis; not so in the upper part. Apparently this is the next set with a totally new LE after the V500 debacle and this LE draws air from the top cabinet/mirror box for the LCD blower fan. The lamp still uses a thru-vent that draws from the front right speaker grille. The top is totally sealed off from the lower and the only connection they share is the huge (by comparison to the v500) filter inlet, which is on top of the LE along with the projector lens. I still haven't completely figured out the way air flows through this contraption, its a lot more complicated in that aspect than the v500's.

Heres the larger vents air filter:

I am skeptical that heat is what killed this set, none of the filters are dirty at all, yet I thought it was unusually dusty inside the bottom of the chassis all outside the LE, like very unusual. It looked like cotton stuck to something sticky all inside.

The first lens after the lamp was severely clouded. I pulled it and the stuff wiped off with persistence. The thick lens right after it was just as bad but it wouldn't wipe completely off. Its like something was sprayed into, or in front of the set like potpourri, airwick, etc. and the lamp fan drew it in where it coated everything with a sticky film. I could even still smell the fragrance inside the chassis, it smelled like cherry air freshener. It was bad enough to drown out the "hitachi" smell that they all have inside.

I have already removed the first lens here, and I tried the best I could to wipe this lens clean:

View from the top, installed:

Out of the LE, this is the best I could get it. Whats left is embedded into the lens itself, and rough in texture:

I was too disappointed to go any further, so I put it back together just to see what, if any effect my minimal cleaning did. I didnt even want to look at the lcd panels, or even the color filters because I already know theres issues with the blue.

NBC HD local feed

Surprisingly it helped alot more than I expected. There is still a blue cloud around the top center of the display, but its minimal and only shows up on grey backgrounds. The blue pixels are still there, and I noticed a geometry problem that I could fix, but I think I will wait and just buy a new LE for this set and not mess with it anymore for the time being. This LE has an access door you can get to from the front of the set, and you can also adjust the position of the projector lens assembly. I can reach into the access door and lightly push the lens down, and it corrects the geometry issue (entire screen is tilted about 1/4", not noticeable unless watching espn, weather channel, etc). You could possibly clean the air filter off through this access door, but it honestly didn't have any dust on it. Thats why I believe that the aerosol spray that entered the set led to the LE taking a dive.

I would like to keep this set for myself, its like a V500, but with the ATSC tuner and improved LE design. It already has an extra fan that comes factory on the back of chassis, and the pixel quality is alot better than the V500's. The one gripe I have, is that between the time of the V500 and the VS69's (idk what else to call it lol), on board audio became an external affair, and the set has sound like a $100 ~20" drug-store bought lcd flat panel. Its pathetic compared to the sets I am used to, even the V500's have a little bass to the sound lol.

I have too many projects, and I am gonna have to make a decision soon. This set I believe is worth fixing and keeping. We shall see, Ill give it a month or so and if it doesn't flip completely out between now and then, Ill give it another shot at life. The big 60V500a is slowly falling to the bottom of my priority list.

BTW Not much online 'bout this one, like very few people bought this set. Its nothing compared to the number of V500 hits you get, and thats probably a clue as to why people were leery of it.

ptkctc · Joined: 01 Nov 2013 Posts: 44

I would say I have done myself in with what I decided to do last night.

I got tired of the discoloration of the set, so I pulled the LE out again and fully disassembled it to find several other lenses fogged up or something. I am more thinking something burned up around this thing. The polarizer in the blue path was fried and delaminating, causing the cloud that I saw moving slowly around so I swapped it with a good polarizer from the 60v500a for now. It didnt fit the frame but I siliconed it to it just to see if it would help at all. Even though the burned one was red colored and the replacement was just dark tinted, I am not sure if it makes a difference because I have saw where some people reface these with non-colored dark grey polarizers for all the panels.

I did find new polarizer matterial as well after searching around with the correct specs, I just wanted to see if it would even make a difference since i was thinking the LCD panel was the real issue. Now that I think about it, the 50v500 I have with the supressed blue cloud had a small air bubble from delaminating on the bottom corner of the polarizer panel in the blue path, and it was coincidentally the bottom corner that the cloud originated from.

While I had it apart, I noticed the blue lcd panel had an almost metalllic dust-looking coating all over it, front and back. I had to get it off, but it was persistent and just brushing it off didnt work. I decided to clean it completely I would have to UNSCREW THE LCD PANEL from the optical block.........

Since then I have been working on getting the thing back aligned, I have had it very close but I need a tad bit more adjustment than I can get from the screws. I am going to either tweak the metal frame ever so slightly, or heat the plastic plugs until they allow me to get the panel mount into an adjustment range I can work with.

I have got it to where I can have the LE out of the set in less time that a cigarette need to build an ash and fall off, and I have an electric leaf blower on a homemade variac to keep the bulb cool between rounds. The pulling the LE isnt so bad, its the 3 ribbon straps that get old (I worked on it earlier until my eyes hurt).

I tighten the panels screws just enough to hold it in place, then install the LE w/o the top shroud in place so I can get a mini flat screwdriver in to move the lcd panel once the set is on. I am looking through the back of the set to check my adjustments, but the screws eventually loosen up enough that I have to pull it out agaIn and retighten them. I am to the point I know what movement I need, and I will have to either figure out how to "stick" the panel in place until I get the block out to tighten the screws, or do the above-mentioned procedure and heat those plastic plugs to move the lcd mount over so i can get the panel to center back up.

Now that I have seen this set with the blue totally out of alignment, i realize that it was out slightly before I ever touched it. I noticed an unadjustable green ghost that always appeared to the right of images on certain colors. Its the same effect I get now so the tolerances must be loose on some blocks. My 50V500 has the same green/yellow ghost but to a lesser degree.

If I cant get it back in, at least I learned something that isnt simple fear-mongering,.... DONT EVER TOUCH THE LCD PANEL SCREWS unles you just love doing redundant crap lol.

On a lighter note, whenever I get the alignment as close as I can right now, the color is amazing compared to before, and the discoloration is gone. The stuck blue pixels are still there, about 15-20, but I could live with those. Worst case scenario is I have to outright buy another LE if i fail aligning it. I really only need the optical block part now, seeing as the color is now corrected and I can get new polarizer material at a reasonable price for future repairs. Its nice to have a set that still has parts readily available for purchase.

EDIT: WHY is the blue panel always the faulty one? Is it the design charicteristics of the blue color? The blue is sensitive to uv light rot worse than the other colors? Its location inside the LE? .......

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:14 am Post subject:

I hear ya on the blue. I got a Canon here with a yellow streak up the left side of the screen Either it got scared or the blue polarizer is fried. It was a $10 projector that still "works" so Meh, whatever. Laughing

Is the replacement polarizer very expensive?

ptkctc · Joined: 01 Nov 2013 Posts: 44

This site has the polarizer I require, item p4: www.3dlens.com/shop/lcdpolarizer.php @ $3.99 a piece. I was figuring on more, seeing as how high things are today. These are cut-to-size pieces film, as long as the polarization axis is maintained there should be no issues with replacment as long as all the remaining adhesive is cleaned from the glass beforehand (seeing as how bubbles, bulges and any general delamination of the film effecs the color).

As mentioned, I am not sure if the hitachi/sony LE polarizers have a red tint on the blue path when new as it may be heat damage that fades them out to the reddish color (I've yet to see a brand-new unused one). I put the green polarizer from the 60v500a in its place as it was the only undamaged piece left.

I can't tell anything is wrong except the convergence now, and it has great uniform color throughout the screen and white colors are bright and clean, not yellowish, blue and uneven (ref. my pics of hd above...). Another difference that had to help, is cleaning the rest of the LE components of the haze. I can now see "SDE", but it was a cloudy, blueish-yellow mess beforehand and its worth it for the definition it revealed.

ptkctc · Joined: 01 Nov 2013 Posts: 44

I just realized something, there is still the inner polarizer behind the lcd thats red tinted. I am not clear as to the effect they has on the display, but I have a dark green one in front. I thought of this while examing the 60v500a optical block and I saw the pristine inner blue polarizer (no waves at all, no burn marks, it looks like glass when you view it at a steep angle.

I went ahead and removed that polarizer, I may resort to trying it in place of the one I am using. It probably wont matter, but I may try just in case my alignment issue is due to me mixing the polarizer colors somehow. If i had replaced both, I wouldnt be concerned but with just the outer, I should try to match the inner as close as possible.

I cant understand why It was close to lined up before, and now seems like I dont have enough adjustment to get it back in. I have contemplated taking a hand-driver with a dril-bit slightly larger than the lcd panel mounting holes and barely enlarging them, to give me the adjustment room I need.

Its either that, try to tweak the lcd mounting frame or melt the plastic plugs that hold the lcd mounting plate to the block.

ptkctc · Joined: 01 Nov 2013 Posts: 44

^I tried to take clear pics but the only thing thats in focus is the bug, and this is supposed to be 1080i OTA...

I finally got it back into alignment, and after struggling with it by pulling the LE for every adjustment and reinstalling it to check results and losing, I finally decided to pull everything (sans speakers) out of the chassis so I could have the LE out and running as I adjusted the LCD panel dynamically.

I was originally going to try and aim the lens towards the front of the set for a display background, but I realized that the ceiling worked alot better once I fired it up. Except for the keystone effect and I had to hold a piece of paper up to see some tricky areas towards the bottom, it worked great and was so much easier to be able to see what effect the adjustments made on the fly. I tried to get a pic of the ceiling but my phone cameras focus is way too slow or something, it wont even get a decent pic of the display now as it looks horrible in my pics compared to in person.

I did get a pic of this happening, nothing new but It looked neat:

I got the panel as close as possible with the screws as a coarse alignment, and from there I lightly tweaked the metal prongs which the LCD mounting plates attach to the optical block with until I got desirable results with a pair of needle nosed pliers and a small flat screwdriver. Its a nerve-racking, mind-numbing procedure as any miniscule movement of the panel results in a large result on-screen. Tweaking the brackets was fun too, you had to judge and tweak the bracket past where you wanted it and let it spring back as the size ratio between the small screens and the big one shows the flexing of the metal as a large gap for error.

-There was no melting the plastic plugs the factory attaches the mounts with, it must be some kind of UV-light hardening compound, my soldering iron turned wide open wouldn't touch it. I had plenty of adjustment using the method I did. I just made sure to not stress the optical block too much, or fulcrum off any other bracket while adjusting.

A side note, this Hitachi LE uses Epson LCD projector LCD's (pn# L3D07H-52G01), not Sony LCD's like the V500's. I can find the individual panels for them rather easily, and even a few complete optical blocks w/all 3 panels aligned. They are used in several applications from cross-reference, a couple Panasonic 3LCDRP sets, Epson of course used them in at least a few of their LCD projectors, and Hitachi used them for their VS69 series 3LCDRP sets (possibly more, thats all I can recall at the moment).

The different applications show that the brand-application difference is only the LCD mounting plate. The LCD panel itself is the same, even the numbers cast into the top are there.

Even though I managed to do all that, I know now that I still need another blue LCD panel as the color cloud I have is still there. All changing the polarizers did was fix the color everywhere except where the cloud appears (the really white spot between the women in the second pic is the blue clouds territory). I figure now that the polarizers are ok, all I really need is the blue panel. For what they cost now, the aggravation that aligning the panels are, and the fact that the green and red panel may die in the future, I may just get an entire optical block and save my original (I can always try to use a good red panel in place of a bad blue later on for troubleshooting).

All in all, with a new blue LCD I would have no complaints with it, other than its too small a set for my taste.

I liked it when it was projecting onto the ceiling, It was too far from it as the pic overscanned onto the walls, but it was surprisingly clear, and not backwards as I was expecting lol.

This was my fist attempt at this, and I bet I have over 25 hours on just one panel alignment (I got it to within one pixel, as close as humanly possible w/o the specialized tools imo). If i have to do it again, I hope to have it done in just a few now that I know the attack plan.