Sony QC is a POS!

[Salvador]

Hi,

Well.. I just got my replacement Sony G420S fired up that I got from Dell. My original monitor had geometry problems and an annoying brown discoloration in the lower right hand corner.

This replacement monitor has the same discoloration, but it's not nearly as bad. This monitor also has other problems though. I can't get the image straight. If I tilt the image one way to straighten the top edge, the bottom is crooked and visa versa. The other monitor had this problem as well, but I could straighten it like a crooked picture hanging on the wall. I have no idea how to straighten this one.

The bow on the sides of my original monitor are not present on this one. There were distortion bows about 2/3rd's the way down the side on the other monitor. I had been told that this was normal, but after seeing that this one is perfectly fine, I know now that it was a defect.

There's another huge difference that I didn't notice until about a half hour of using this new monitor. The colors are much more saturated on this monitor than the other one. The blacks are also much blacker. I had complained about the weak text on the other G420 and just chalked it up to being that this was a Trinitron AG and the text was just not as good as a Shadow Mask that I was used to. This was definitely a defect with the other monitor. I double checked the default settings and they are exactly the same as this one.

There are also little nit picky things. There is what appears to be a caulking compound around the edges of where the screen meets the case. There was one little spot on the other monitor that I carefully cleaned, but this one has quite a bit of it. Once again, it's not a big deal, but it shouldn't be there IMO.

Now.. Someone had mentioned that all Trinitrons have the brownish area to begin with and then lose this as they get a little older. I ran the other one pretty consistent for over a week before I boxed it up and it never changed in the slightest. Also, others have said that they had no such problem with the brown area, so I don't know what to believe. I find it irritating. Much more so than any AG grille lines that I thought were going to really bug me considering that this was my first Trinitron.

I just find this whole experience to be very frustrating. Dell has been cool about exchanging the first monitor out. I haven't heard back from them on the second monitor though. It just takes forever with Dell. I've pretty much given up on phone contacts because it takes forever to get through. I've turned to email contact, but it takes a day minimum for the CSR to get back to me. Boy.. They are slow...

Oh.. Someone had mentioned that this brown area might be because of shipping damage. My first box was sort of crunched, but the monitor was unscathed from what I could see. This box was undamaged and with all these other defects, I find it hard to believe that it is a carrier problem. How could I have brown areas in the very same place on both monitors if it was shipping damage? I just think the Sony QC sucks!

BTW.. This G420S is made in Mexico. Wonder if that makes a difference?

Sorry for ranting. I just wanted to let everyone know about my displeasure with Sony.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for a monitor if I can't get this ironed out?

Sal

 

[dkozloski]

The brown in the corner sounds like you have something magnetic like speakers, UPS, wall wart, refrigerator magnet, or something similar close enough to cause this distortion. Move the monitor around a little with power on and see if it changes any. If there is any change at all the problem is external.

 

[Salvador]

Nope.. Nothing has changed on my desk and I just moved my speaker about another 3 feet away from my monitor and it didn't change a thing. Refigurator magnet. Hehe.. Good one.

Sal

 

[dkozloski]

The brown spot is a static convergence problem. Back in the old days of color TV all the techs had a portable degaussing coil. Usually auto degaussing would clear the problem but sometimes it took more and the coil was the answer. Static convergence is initially adjusted with movable permanent magnets located on the neck of the tube. These are adjusted and secured at the factory but shipping can cause them to shift position. Some are quite critical and sensitive. Better design and better shielding have helped to reduce the number of problems but it looks like you're snake bit.

 

[LXi]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Salvador]

Yes.. It's very disapointing to say the least. I just contacted the only person that was willing to help me last time at Dell and he wrote me back and said that it must be an environmental problem and then told me to check my OSD. Oh.. Ok supermonitor boy. Like I didn't try that in the first place. I hope he doesn't give me a bunch of crap. If this is a pain to get exchanged, I'm going to give up on Trinitron's, at least Sony's. I'll also be through with Dell because I highly doubt that they will give me the 20% off on a different model at this point. As good as Sony's can potentially be doesn't do me any good if I can't get a good one.

Salvador

I wanted to update the contrast thing. I tried a DVD movie on this monitor and the display is way too dark. As much as I like the display, I find it a pain to have to change the contrast and brightness settings just to watch a movie. I have to change the settings back to normal when I'm done otherwise the display is too bright for everything else.

 

[Salvador]

Well.. Just got a message back from the rep at Dell that I've been dealing with and we're going to give it another whirl. Do you think I'll have better luck this next time?

The funny thing is that I had to give the serial number on this monitor and it's the unit right before the original one that I had. do you think it could be a bad batch with this brown area thing? Would you request a monitor from a different batch if you could?

What's so strange is that the color and contrast couldn't be so different on these two monitors. It's almost like I have a different model or something. The colors are so much more saturated on this one and the blacks are really black. Maybe that's why some people will just totally bash a particular model of something when it's not the product it's their particular unit.

Sal

 

[LXi]

What do you mean its more saturated? I know it doesnt have to do with fat, but can you use another word? If they're going to give you another shot, I'd say get the Dell P991 instead.

 

[Salvador]

What I mean by more saturated is that the colors are richer and there is more contrast between light and dark. The blacks are so much more black than before and the colors are truer and more vibrant. It's like the other monitors colors looked faded by comparison. The text was also not black, but more like a fuzzy gray. I thought that this was just the difference between a Shadow Mask and AG, but now I know that it's not. I don't know if this is just because the default settings are different even though they are the same number wise (85 contrast on default and 50 on brightness) or if the other monitor had a problem.

The only thing that's disapointing to me color wise is that when I run the dvd, it's too dark. I need to bump the brightness control up to watch movies and then turn it back down to do everything else. I would think that this would be a problem with the video card, but it's not.

Weird.


Sal

 

[MasterHoss]

Sounds like your package has been mishandled by 1 too many people during it's travel to your desktop.

I got the G520 during the same deal you probably got yours through on Dell's website. I just said that it had defects due to shipping (which is 100% true)...

1.) Physically damaged and horrible display.
2.) Not physically damaged but blurry.
3.) No problems.

 

[salman327]

Is there anyway to fix that brown spot in the corner at all???