weird damage/image retention issue from brand new 65 inch Bravia 5

[Michael Scott]

Ok guys, I picked up a 65 inch Bravai 5 from Costco yesterday when they had that blistering clearance sale and today I noticed what looked like image retention/burn in on the bottom of the TV.... I was shocked as I have never seen burn in on mini-led's,specifically this big. I didn't notice it while we were just playing a lot of content on the TV for about 4 hours last night, but noticed it today when the image I was watching shifted to a bright white screen. then there it was at the bottom. it looks sort of like a T-moible "T" symbol (with the dots and everything) right in the center bottom of the screen, then extends out like a thick band all the way to the bottom right corner. left side and all other parts of the TV is fine.


one thing that has me suspicious is that it's the right thickeness and height for that adhesive screen tape that they put around the edges of the TV in the manufacturing process. I rain some distilled water on a brand new micro fiber lens cleaning cloth and gave it a wipe just in case, but no residue came off, so I'm guessing it's not leftover glue that melted.

Here's a couple of pictures below for referernece. It's hard to pick up on a phone but I found yellow seemed to give me the best results. any idea what I"m seeing? Is this mild image retention that will go away? did the adhesive Sony used for the plastic film tape actually pull off the anti reflective coating and cause this? that strange "T-mobile logo" looking thing right where it starts on the left makes me think it's image retention, but it's also right at the same height and thickenss of the tape that goes around the bottom too, so I don't know. just never seen this on a modern LED or Mini-led, especially with only a couple hours of standard movies and demoing a video game last night. the anti-glare coating being ripped off I think is less likely as when I turn the TV off and run a flashlight over the area I'm not seeing the telltale signs of the coating having separate at all. and it goes away on a black screen. it more screams burn in, which is WILD on a brand new MIni-led as they're near impervious to it

if this is permanent damage, It's gonna suck, as Costco's sale ended last night and since they only do returns and exchanges I'd simply be out a TV and have to start over.

EDIT: the reps seem to think it's burn in too....and I think I accidentally got a return somehow that got repackaged. Cuz the service menu lists 12 hours of runtime, but all I did after plugging it in last night was calibrate it, watch a 90 minute movie, demo a game, then go to bed. 4 hours MAX. even counting a full hour for messing around with the TV finding the burn in that would put me at 5 hours max. I have a sneaking suspicion that the panel was returned for this issue elsewhere, and it somehow made its way back into the costco pallet instead of an open box or a refurb

 

[Todd Anderson]

Wow. That's crazy... it looks to me like you have exactly what you described in your edit: a returned or repackaged TV. I'll bet good money that was an in-store display TV in Costco. But that doesn't entirely align with the fact that you're only seeing 12 hours of run time. I wonder if there's a way to reset the time counter?

 

[Michael Scott]

Wow. That's crazy... it looks to me like you have exactly what you described in your edit: a returned or repackaged TV. I'll bet good money that was an in-store display TV in Costco. But that doesn't entirely align with the fact that you're only seeing 12 hours of run time. I wonder if there's a way to reset the time counter?

I have a sneaking suspicion that it was from Sony or the distributor. it was completely repackaged in FACTORY packaging, down to the tape around the edges. My gut feeling is that this was returned panel that somehow got back to sony and slipped into the "factory new" line instead of "refurb" or "open box" line as it shows signs of mild use (12 hours when I only put 4-4.5 on it), the obvious image retention that shows a T-mobile "T" logo in it, (it's hard to see, but if you look on the left hand side of the capture where the burn in starts you can see that big "T" that T-mobile uses as their big splash logo). And yes, there is a way to wipe the hours watched and reset it...you have to go into the hidden service menu and do it there via security codes that only sony techs should know. but even if it was wiped, why leave several hours on the display ??

the manager at Costco was really surprised and immediately wanted the TV back so he could run a trace on it and see how it got back into distribution as it wasn't a display model (I actually hand picked it out of the pallet of Bravia 5 TV's) and he offered to resell me the replacement at the sale price even though the sale ended yesterday morning. I just have to get my buddy to come over and help me lug it back to Costco (the one all the way across town as luck would have it)

I was just thrown for a loop as I had NEVER seen image retention/burn-in on a brand new TV before. I was trying to figure out if something else happened to it as it shouldn't happen on a new set, let alone a used set as mini-led is REALLY hard to get burn in on unless you're demoing it for hours and hours on end. I think it was a bad panel that got repackaged somehow. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't pop in a movie with a white screen and suddenly it popped out so my eyes could see it lol

 

[Todd Anderson]

This brings me back to the days of getting a plasma and finding *one* stuck pixel. I actually returned a Panasonic because of that!

Obviously, this is something that was used long-term somewhere and then repackaged. I really can't imagine it happening any other way. Tho, to get that kind of image retention, you'd have to run the panel for a really long time.... I wonder, do you think it was a TV that sat in a window and the sunlight burned a sticker into the outer layer?

Great news, they are taking it back and honoring the sale price. Costco is always good for that it seems

 

[Michael Scott]

This brings me back to the days of getting a plasma and finding *one* stuck pixel. I actually returned a Panasonic because of that!

Obviously, this is something that was used long-term somewhere and then repackaged. I really can't imagine it happening any other way. Tho, to get that kind of image retention, you'd have to run the panel for a really long time.... I wonder, do you think it was a TV that sat in a window and the sunlight burned a sticker into the outer layer?

Great news, they are taking it back and honoring the sale price. Costco is always good for that it seems

I honestly don't know. it was all just so bizarre. even the Costco manager was questioning how the heck it even GOT image retention on an LED .. it boggles my mind.

and yeah, it's one of the reason's I buy a lot of my TV's at costco. the 5 year warranty and the ability for them to take stuff back up 90 days no questions asked is very appealing.

It just sucks now that that tv's are gettng so big that I can't just stick them in the back seat of my corolla like I could with 50 and 55 inch TV's lol.........I need to get a truck sometime

 

[Todd Anderson]

I know that image retention can technically happen on an LCD... but it would have to be absolutely tortured. I wonder if it would have disappeared after 30 hours of use?

Ah... the small car dilemma. This is why I drive an Expedition Max (which also has some drawbacks: see parking in a small parking lot or a city).

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Wow... that is definitely odd-looking there. It's a good thing that Costco is going to swap it out for you, which I would only expect in this case. I just hope it's not the same with the others, and Sony shipped them a run of bad units.

 

[Todd Anderson]

What are the chances another set unboxes with that?


That would be insane!

 

[Michael Scott]

What are the chances another set unboxes with that?


That would be insane!

oh yeah, that would be crazy.

Wow... that is definitely odd-looking there. It's a good thing that Costco is going to swap it out for you, which I would only expect in this case. I just hope it's not the same with the others, and Sony shipped them a run of bad units.

lol, yeah that's always the weird fear. "what if the next one has that same thing!".

 

[Todd Anderson]

If the next one is damaged, you might be talking to Sony about compensation for emotional duress.

 

[Mike Schramm]

It sucks that you have to go through all of it, but thankfully they aren't hassling you on the exchange. Crazy that it happened in the first place!

 

[Michael Scott]

nerdy update. I can't return the TV to costco till saturday cuz of my work schedule, but that allowed me to play around witht he TV. image retention cleanup techniques did nothing for it, but I noticed after gaming (diablo IV expansion dropped, gotta get leveling) that it wasn't there anymore. I thought I had maybe I was getting tired, and my eyesight was getting a bit fuzzy, so I went to bed. woke up the next morning and turned the TV on and it was back... strange. but I notied it followed that pattern every day. If I let the tv cool off and restarted it the image burn looking thing would be there. but if I let the TV warm up a couple of hours with solid use it went away.

soooooo, I get ahold of Sony, as I was a computer hardware troubleshooter back in a previous life, and pick their brains. the level I tech wasn't sure, but the level II tech immediately knew what it was... either one of the dimming zones at the bottom was partially failing, or the mini led's themelves were having individual failures in that bottom strip and what I was seeing was the shadows of those dead ones. but as they ran they'd flicker and actually light up and start working. which makes a HECCCCK of a lot more sense than image burn in on a brand new TV.

TLDR, more like a bad section of the panel out of the box rather than actual image burn in.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Interesting find... don't know enought about all of it to comment about it, but hopefully the replacement will be fine.

 

[Michael Scott]

Interesting find... don't know enought about all of it to comment about it, but hopefully the replacement will be fine.

haha, yeah me too. it was just such a WEIRD problem to have out of the box. it looked like burn in, but didn't act like it or follow logical patterns. being a troubleshooter it was driving me nuts so I had to dig deeper lol