# Sony HW30AES - am I being too picky?



## KungFool (Jun 12, 2012)

Last July I purchased this projector. Great picture out of the box, and an even better pic after a calibration.

But there was an issue...the image had some vertical pink-ish sreaks that were very obvious in any image with a lot of green. Turns out green as a color had some 'dim' areas, and that was causing the anomalies. I called Sony and had the unit repaired, they replaced the optical block.

Got it back, and the streaks were resolved. However, it was a much worse picture overall. This time, there was a greenish fringe all around the center of the picture, and the gamma was totally borked (when I could previously get right at 2.15 or so with the gamma 3 preset, now I could not even get it above 1.8 or so). I shipped it back for repairs again, they did the same procedure (although it took about 1.5 months this time).

I calibrated this time and everything looks great. Excellent color tracking, gamma looks good, etc. I had seen a few faint vertical line anomalies but they coincided mostly with my bad screen paint job so I chalked it up to roller marks and eventually bought a Carada BW screen.

Now I am noticing that there are some faint vertical lines...only visible in bright shots (sky shots, sky pans, etc). They are not very noticeable, but during a horizontal pan across bright background they do become more apparent, as it appears that the something is moving across the image. They don't seem to be isolated to any particular color , just slight anomalies in the image. 

Is this type of very subtle anomaly normal with projectors or LCOS technology in general? It almost appears that there might be some fibers or something in the optical path, but I'm not seeing anything if I look into the front lens or remove the bulb and shine a light in the back (I know there is a lot more than that going on inside though).

The effect is pretty subtle...it really has to be a bright area and a pan to expose it...but if it is a defect that I should not be seeing I definitely want to get it right.

I have another 2 years on the projector warranty, but after my experience with the quality control I'm not sure it's worth the risk. Any insight would be appreciated.


----------



## KungFool (Jun 12, 2012)

Another note, the only reason I noticed this is because of it's central position on the screen while playing FPS games that's where you're looking most. It resembles a slightly dusty or dirty screen on a direct-view set when panning across a bright background. 

Edit: Looks like this is the screen itself. There appear to be some inconsistencies on the screen surface that cause the surface to become 'visible' in bright scenes (especially since the inconsistencies appear to be straight vertical lines).


----------



## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Let us know how it turns out with Carada. I've always thought of them as a top shelf company.


----------



## KungFool (Jun 12, 2012)

I am in contact with them now. Their service has been beyond exemplary so far. I sent some images of the screen anomalies and they are reviewing them now.


----------

