I bought a new 66cm widescreen.

I have noticed upon turning it on it has adrop on one side of about 8mm, which might not sound a lot, but I see it and its really annoying, distorts the image.

What should I do here? I bought it from a major retailer/department store.

Can I return it and opt for a better quality product?

Very disappointed.

have you tried geomagnetic correction?

so you mean the whole picture is slanted?

I'd talk to the retailer about returning it. Geometry errors can be very annoying.

On some brands you can fix most errors via the service menu. Depending on the brand you can find instructions on Google.

Hamish

i have been through this before, im really not keen on fixing it, as last time they could not get it to be anywhere near acceptable.

i want to know if I have right to return if the product is not how it is expected to be out of box.

yes its slanted, but its more like a wave at the top, 1 side is about 5mm low (below the frame), then the middle is ok, then the other side is low by about 8mm.

You may be able to correct this if you go into the service menu. Although you have to be careful you don't bugger things up in there, because it's really for techs (which is why it's usually protected by a PIN or special key combination).

Talk to the retailer, if you're not happy with it they should either service it under warranty or replace or refund. The Trade Practices Act gives you this right if the goods aren't of merchantable quality etc.

so do i get the choice, because im not happy with it and its left a bad taste of the product. I would rather upgrade to a better brand/model.

Depends on the retailer. You have rights in law to something that works, however, if the problem isnt common to all examples of that model, the retailer only needs to make sure you have a working unit. You can always try to change models, but it will probably depend on the price/popularity/internal-incentives related to the two brands/models. If you wave a few bucks about, you may have a better chance (or the unit you now want is a little cheaper)...
NB: If you have only just got it, you may be able to claim a "cooling off period", btw...

well the way I see it, I something brand new I expect it to work as expected, otherwise I would buy used. if something needs repair immediately then its not of good enough quality to be sold.

i am thinking i should just go for an upgrade.

what is the best 66cm crt on the market?

the sony 66cm DA model looks pretty good, and its picture is real nice, is $1499 retail, so does anything else compete with this TV?

If you're going to spend more money I think the retailer will be all too happy to accommodate you.

Your right Timmy, in fact they were happy for me to return before I even mentioned upgrading. Now how is that for service?

So what now?

My expectations of cheaper TV's is unrealistic. I want something that will display Xbox without flicker. And it would be nice if I could plug my HTPC in to.

How about the sony KVDA28M36 ?

anyone?

mate for starters. if you were disatisfied with the bending and bow in that tele you are going to run that risk in ANY CRT (especially flat screens). You will be very lucky to get one out of the box with perfect geometry....and i agree. i think this is not good enough for the money they charge and especially given the fact that they dont warn you about it at point of sale.
If you were after perfect geometry then id have to suggest you look at LCD or plasma which i reckon are inferior to a good quality CRT. especially if you are gaming.....you would be worried about static screen burn etc etc etc.
Ive got a HD 76 cm with a very slight bow which ive learned to live with given the fact i had it swapped 3 times all had varying degrees of bowing.......finally got a free S25 hd thrown in off the retailer to make me happy and ive got to say it did.

Word to the wise ......if you go into the service menu you WILL void your warranty not to mention possibly rendering your tele useless or even making it worse than it was especially if you dont know what you are doing.

I had a TEAC tech at my place this arvo to look at my telly and he mentioned this tilt.

He said that some tellies are set on a north-south axis....and if you place them in your lounge room on an east-west axis a tilt will occur. Have you tried facing it in a different direction...?

gojiro

That is why I wonder why people are so keen to get the flattest screens out there, and pay out on slight curved screens like my Loewe has.
The flatter the screen, the more circuits to "fool" the electron beam to sort this bad geometry choice for an electron beam being launched from the middle centre of the tube onto a flat surface are required, and it is just never as good as a slight curved screen (sure, a fish bowl would suck a bit).
Although for flat screen CRTs, I guess you get what you pay for....

So a trade off between better picture vs better geometry. OK, I'm with you there.

Outwards/inwards bow on the sides is easily corrected in the service menu. Well, mostly, anyway. Even having adjusted my Grundig there's an inward bow that is more pronounced in the mid section of the screen than at the left/right edges. So I can align the edges of the 4:3 picture to be straight, or the 16:9 picture, but never both.

Well, you'd be foolish to tell the retailer you'd been messing in there, wouldn't you? You will note that even though I mentioned it, I didn't really push that approach in this case because "game-on" didn't sound very tech-savvy.

Besides, "rotation/tilt" is often in a picture setup menu anyway these days. Probably should have mentioned that earlier

No Timmy i wasnt having a go at you I was just talking about the service menu in general......I think it keeps a count of times acessed so if anything went wrong and you were in there they could push the voided warranty line if they wanted to .....although it would be hard to prove as you could always say it may have been accessed at the factory numerous times before it was shipped out.

As for your consumer rights game-on ..... you have at least 7 days to return it for ANY reason you may be dissatisfied with that they didnt warn you about when they sold it to you.......I think most manufacturers intolerance specs are 10mm dip accross the width of the screen

This is where retailer choice is also important ..... I dealt with Myers Megamart and had no problems whatsoever returning/complaining/etc.......but every case is different
BTW I asked a Domayne guy what would happen if I had a problem with the set I was intending to buy ..... he said you would have to get in touch with the manufacturer......BBBZZZTTTTT....wrong answer !!!! (merry go round waiting to happen)
good luck

Well I returned it, no probs, I was willing to buy the sony there and then, but they said 10 working days, so I said sorry. Got a full refund. Very very good after sales service.

so now Im still at a loss.

I could get the LG 100hz 66cm for $1050, or I can hang out and try and find the Sony for about $1200. What to do?

I think the Sony is the only 66cm that suits my needs.

I have thought about LCD, but the black levels are a concern and I love my black level contrast. The AWA is an option, but I think I would struggle to find one. And to be honest for $200 more I could have the new Dell 24" which runs at a higher resolution.

But what I really want is a sharp, flicker free image at around $1000-$1300, so I think the Sony is my only option?

I have ended up with the Sony 66cm DA 1080i compat.

It doesnt have vga input, but with a little luck I can get my Ati card to work without the need of a transducer. Will run in SVideo for now.

Im so glad I didnt get caught up in the LCD decision, for my eyes the CRT's are definitely the best image available, pitty about the size, but hey its only a 66cm job.

Got it for a good price to, so Im pretty stoked.

Good on you.

Aren't BIGW selling the Sony 66cm Wide for $799 or similar?

This is a DA model.

The model you refer to has a retail of $999, its just a normal widescreen TV.

This has a RRP of $1499

Of course I did not pay rrp for it mwah ha ha ha.