I am the person who originally began this post and have been well informed by many people through this site. If I can stress one thing, be sure to call the correct phone number. Call Hitachi at 1 800-654-7013. They are located at 8863 Siempre Viva Road, San Diego, CA, 92154. I made the mistake of calling an authorized service center to do my original diagnosis (for $150.00) as I was told to do by Hitachi's regular customer service number. They wanted over $700 labor and they would not accept a free replacement engine from the factory so they also wanted $1400 for the engine. Once I received the diagnosis I was given the above phone number and was informed by them that you do not need to have an authorized service center do the diagnosis or the installation. I ended up calling a private service center ( a 2 man team). Once I informed the factory who I had chose to do the installation, the factory shipped the engine directly to them for installationand had the engine replaced for $300 labor . Hopefully your local authorized service center will be more honest than mine was. The people at the above number do not deny the failure of these engines so before you pay too much for the service call, try them first and then look for someone with the best diagnosis and installation pricing before proceeding with a factory service center. The names of the people that I spoke with at that # were, Bill Harris, Gene, Chris, Donald and Mike. If by chance you are in Southern Ca, let me know and I will give you the name of my installer. Good Luck! Mishell
I just noticed this post MOtvGUY, 750 to 800 bucks for labor? Thats obscene! Only takes a man an couple of hours if that to do this. Are you saying 400 an hour is what the service rs get now? I need to start doing these sets a lot more then and for a lot more money. Last one I replaced I got 250 for labor, in the field.
Thanks Mishell, the service center is charging me $85 for the diagnoses which in my area seems to be the norm. Unfortunately I'm on the east coast so I can't use your installer. If i can get out of this for a total of $385, i will still be happy. Thanks for your advice, I'll keep yyou posted. EDIT: Update, I just turned on my set to a blank video input and noticed a very large red blob in the center of the screen directly around the same portion I am seeing the smaller blue blob while an active input in on.
OK, well the service rep came out today and diagnosed me with a bad light engine, no surprise there. The good news is I called Hitachi and they are shipping out a new light engine after checking with service rep to verify diagnosis. They are shipping the part to the service rep and I have to pay the labor of $285.00. I used the 800-654-7013 number and they were very helpful. THank you so much Mishell and everyone else who posted about this problem here.
I am glad to hear that everything worked out for you. I don't know what I would have done without this site and everyone who gave such good advise. Hopefully it will continue to help others.
Yup, this site and everyone on it was super helpful. My local service rep had no idea that Hitachi was doing this so If i didn't read this I would've junked the TV. Thanks again to everyone
I also have a 50V500A that is only 3 years old this month with 4800 hours on it. I have been living with the red and blue blobs for a while but have become thouroughly annoyed with it!! Does it matter if you are the original owner? I bough mine on Craigslist when it was about a year old for 1200.00. Needless to say the price and longevity of the set has me questioning whether or not this was a wise investment. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Called customer relations!! Even though I am the second owner I am still getting my light engine for free. I am going to try some coersion and see if I cant get it sent to my house so I can replace it myself. I still have to cart the TV 20 some miles to the service center to verify what I already know. He even admitted that the light engines were bad in these televisions and gave me no hassle whatsoever! Tv goes in on Saturday to be looked at. Wish me luck!!
I don't believe that anyone asked me for a receipt. They only took down model and serial #'s. Just a note. I watched the removal and installation of the light engine. Being an autto mechanic myself, I wouldn't attempt it as it requires the removal of the back panel and then almost everything else to get to the engine which is toward the front of the set. Even the professionals that did mine accidentally switched around some plugs when putting it back together which cause a malfunction when they first turned it on. If you know where your replacable lamp is, the light engine is next to it in the front center bottom of the set so you can imagine how much other cr_p has to come out first. Just get some buddys and a pickup truck and it will be much easier and under warranty. Good luck!
Well I to am having the Blue Blob on my TV. I have the Hitachi LCD rear projection tv 50V720. I just replaced the lamp bulb and now have the blob....I will be calling HItachi today and see what can be done
I will warn you, if you are attempting to do this yourself, I was there while mine was replaced. Almost every part in the TV (including the screen) has to the removed in order to get to the engine. It took my service man about 3 hours of solid work to complete the job. Well worth the $285 they charged me, imo. Good luck which ever way you go with it.
Well the tv is in the shop, due out on sat. Chose not to replace it myself since I couldnt have even if I wanted to, "we will only send the light engine to a shop capable of doing such work as it is a very delicate piece of hardware" so the person at customer relations said. No big deal, 300 bucks and its under warranty. Let you know on Sat how everything turned out. I can hardly wait!!
Cool! It is really good to hear so many people being treated well by Hitachi. It is definately a turn around from when I began my quest. Good luck everyone.
Well I called Hitachi, and they told me I have to have a tec from sears come out and look at it. I aske if it turns out to be the light engine will it be under warranty, he told me that they only warranty for 1 year. So I'm having the tec come out on the 12th I'll keep posting...
Mishell, I did call the 7013 line, It almost seemed to be a direct line to that opperator I talked to. I should of got his name but I didn't, but he's the one who told me that it wouldn't be under waranty. I'll wait to see what the tec says anywho...
Once diagnosed call back and just be insistant and tell them about this post. If they still don't budge, I would threaten to take them to court if necessary. (Which you would definately win with all of this evidance.) Hopefully it will work out for you with out having to get nasty. Keep us posted.
Make sure you have the right model of tv before wondering if they will cover it. From what I have read online the "red cloud" and "blue blob" plagued the first generation 500 series Hitachi RP LCD tv's. This problem didnt just affect 1 or 2 every so often, it has affected almost every single tv that rolled off of the assembly line because of inadequate ventilation inside of the light engine. It was just a poor design. If your TV does not fall into the first generation 500 series category and your warranty has expired, chances are slim that they will cover anything. Make sure you are talking to someone at Hitachi Customer Relations, NOT customer service. Hitachi customer service sucks when it comes to stuff like this. Mainly because of the fact that customer service knows nothing about this except to tell you "your tv is no longer under warranty, your screwed, yada yada, blah blah".Hitachi contracts out to a 3rd party company to handle common customer questions and warranty stuff. The people at Customer Relations "actually" work for Hitachi. When I called there was no argument whatsoever, took my model and serial numbers, told me where to take it, and if it was the light engine they would cover it. 2 more days and mine comes back!!! I will be sure to let you all know how it turned out!!
I'll give you an interesting postscript to this whole sad affair. I had the "blue blob" problem and the engine replaced last year. I hounded Hitachi like everyone else and finally got them to cover the engine. (I paid the installation). First one went bad, had to have them send a second one which was installed at no charge. Well now after 8 months or so the screen is starting to pixilate and get blurry in spots. I suspect I'll need to call up and try and get a new engine.
Bottom line is these TV's are dogs. Do what you have to with Hitachi to keep it running while you save your money for a Sony!
Anyone for a consumer protection bill/"lemon law" on electronics that cost more than say $1500??
There is a lemon law for electronics, in most states that covers any cost of electronics. Most state that if a manufacturer has to repair a device more then three times for the SAME or a related problem, you are suppose to get a new or rebuilt set of equal or greater value.
Thanks, Larry. I will check to see if Tennessee has one in place and what my options are. I'm really tired of hassling with this, and as I suspect growing numbers of unsatisfied owners of these sets are as well.
I can't believe I have stumbled on to this thread! I have the red screen blob also and read elsewhere to go into the service menu and adjust the red ghosting. After countless hours of frustration I managed to get it to a point of just slightly annoying. Thanks to the great info here I will be trying my luck with Hitachi.
MOtvGuy, I see in earlier comments you could recommend a Service Center around Boston? If so it would be much appreciated if you could lead me there.
Thanks for the phone number to try. My set is almost four years old, and the first light engine was replaced by Sears with their 3 year extended warranty after 1 year. Unfortunately the last engine started having a blue blotch 6 months ago, and Sear's wanted $800 for a two year extension, plus they didn't inform me that the original three years was up to renew... Hmmm they didn't want me to renew I wonder why after the first engine cost them $1500 to replace.
6 Months ago the posts looked like it would cost a minimum of $850 to repair. Toshiba's 780i DLP system was selling for $1000. I was going to wait for the lamp to fail, then chuck Hitachi. If I can get an engine to replace this for free, I'ld do that.
As I'm going to throw it out. Assuming the trash will take it, I took it apart. I've also put it back together after blowing out the light engine, and the blue blob is still there. Too much blue in a black screen means that the blue LCD is not blocking enough light.
I'm an EE, so I don't mind working with electronics. The easiest way to get all the connectors in the right spot is to take digital pictures of each one as you take them apart. The hard part is knowing how they come apart... And the first rule is to unplug the set and wait and hope the capacitors discharge.
I can see a service guy taking up to 3 hours to replace this engine. Plus you need two people to move it around, and lift the display off.
I might not throw it out, but hack in an LCD projector to use the rear projection. At least then when it fails I can just buy a new projector. Now if I could just find one that inverts the image properly to light up a screen from behind.
$3200 for an Hitachi LCD Projection HDTV, worthless.
My purchase of a 50V500 was made in September 2005 and my light engine is gone too. Less than 2.5 years old ...
Hitachi customer service refused to offer any help because I purchased the TV from a "Clearance Center" (brand new). I tried to escalate my phone call within Hitachi and was refused contact with any supervisor or manager. The "customer service" rep at Hitachi Canada would not give me his name, would not give me the name or extension number of a supervisor, and refused to connnect me with a supervisor.
The store that I purchased the set from has tried to help, but can't get a replacement light engine.
I was FURIOUS! So, I contacted the PRESIDENT of Hitachi Canada.
Within 3 days, Hitachi contacted me again, and offered to pay for the light engine, if I paid for the service to have it installed ($240). Obviously, I agreed.
At first, I was worried that Hitachi was going leave me high and dry. But it seems Hitachi is doing the right thing and taking responsibility for a defective part. Thank you, Hitachi.
The next TV I purchase will included a 5 year service plan.
I to have had this exact problem, after numerous attempts to have Hitachi repair the problem, I finally gave up and called a repair shop, I was told the the red color gun was bad and needed to be replaced, and that they had several complaints on this very problem, the shop replaced the color gun and replaced the projection bulb, they also told me that the cooling fan was undersized for the set, and this also needed to be replaced, I had all of the above taken care of at a cost of about $1000.00, As of today my cooling fan has ceased to operate, again and the TV set will not operate.
Please go back and read most of the posts. A good number of us have has positive results in contacting Hitachi. They replaced my light engine for free and I paid for the labor. It cost me $300. They could have blown me off because I had my television almost three years. I just bought a Hitachi 42 inch plasma for my bedroom as a way of showing brand loyality. I seen some of the posts where people didn't get help but in my case they came through.
fisadviewer said: I just read the entire thread and the prognosis doesn't look good for me. I have the 50VX500 that I purchased in Jan 2004 and currently have the red sun burst glow too. FYI I called Hitachi's servcie hotline and the claim they haven't heard of this problem. I mentioned to them about the multiple sites that reference this same problem and they claim many other owners are not having this problem. Is there any legal options one could take or maybe leverage the lemon law? -- sadviewer
Hitachi has said they will replace the light engine if I pay the labor. I have a Hitachi service center repairman coming tomorrow to confirm the problem is the light engine. (Phone est. of labor $500) Keep on Hitachi. They clearly knew about the problem and didn't give me much grief. I'll keep you posted.
I just called Hitachi on the very same issue. It was a Sunday so I got their techincal dept and have to wait until Monday to talk to customer relations. The tech wouldn't admit to this as a known problem but seemed to have a protocol to follows as he put me on hold and when he came back he referred me to a local Dallas, TX authorized repair co. My set is less than 3 years old. I paid $2,500 or so for it. This is not an isolated problem but is a manufacturing defect. Warranty should have nothing to do with Hitachi taking care of it. If they don't cure the issue, I'm willing to lead the charge with a class action lawsuit against them as $2,500 is a bit much to pay for a disposable TV.
Hi sorry it took so long to post about my outcome. I had the Hitachi LCD rear projection tv 50V720 (since gave it away) Hitachi did own up to the problem after I told them in an email that I was so unhappy about their name and I was going to tell everyone that this was a bad name tv. I was told to have a tec come to my house and while I had the tec at my house to have him call the guy I talked to, to tell him it was infact the light engine that was bad. The tec was from sears, and even before he even came to my house he told me on the phone that he was 90% sure it was the light engine...The tec even told me the light engines are going bad in these tv's because of inadiquate vetilation.
I read in one of the post that it takes 3 hours to fix and they need two people to do it...my tec was able to do the job by himself and was done in about an hour. I watched it being done...and they only have to pull the panel off the bottom back and the light engine is right there.
After it was fixed I gave the TV away. If anything else happends to it I don't want the hassle.
I purchased a HITACHI LCD TV (60V500) in 2004 and in 2006 I started noticing a red glow whenever the screen is blank (between commercials etc). I reported the problem to Hitachi's customer service dept and they told me to try replacing the lamp. I did so but the problem did not go away.
After doing some research I now find out that the Color engine in these units are poorly ventilated which causes the unit to over-heat. I tried contacting Hitachi to have them replace the color engine which will cost approx $1,400. They refused saying the TV is "out of warranty”. I also found out that they have been selectively replacing some color engines with refurbished ones. I think this is a problem which they can easily take care of by providing refurbished color engines and have the customers pay for the repair. Until then I am staying away from the Hitachi products and suggest that you do the same.
I have the same problems and hitachi customer service trys to act like this is the first time the have heard of this problem. I have contacte a friend of mine who will file a suite and take it to court if needed he is will to start a class action if we can get a few people to contact him. www.reyeslaw.com or (214)526-7900 angel reyes
Dear Kraziehase,
I am the person who originally began this post and have been well informed by many people through this site. If I can stress one thing, be sure to call the correct phone number. Call Hitachi at 1 800-654-7013. They are located at 8863 Siempre Viva Road, San Diego, CA, 92154. I made the mistake of calling an authorized service center to do my original diagnosis (for $150.00) as I was told to do by Hitachi's regular customer service number. They wanted over $700 labor and they would not accept a free replacement engine from the factory so they also wanted $1400 for the engine. Once I received the diagnosis I was given the above phone number and was informed by them that you do not need to have an authorized service center do the diagnosis or the installation. I ended up calling a private service center ( a 2 man team). Once I informed the factory who I had chose to do the installation, the factory shipped the engine directly to them for installationand had the engine replaced for $300 labor . Hopefully your local authorized service center will be more honest than mine was. The people at the above number do not deny the failure of these engines so before you pay too much for the service call, try them first and then look for someone with the best diagnosis and installation pricing before proceeding with a factory service center. The names of the people that I spoke with at that # were, Bill Harris, Gene, Chris, Donald and Mike. If by chance you are in Southern Ca, let me know and I will give you the name of my installer. Good Luck! Mishell
I just noticed this post MOtvGUY, 750 to 800 bucks for labor? Thats obscene! Only takes a man an couple of hours if that to do this. Are you saying 400 an hour is what the service rs get now? I need to start doing these sets a lot more then and for a lot more money. Last one I replaced I got 250 for labor, in the field.
Thanks Mishell, the service center is charging me $85 for the diagnoses which in my area seems to be the norm. Unfortunately I'm on the east coast so I can't use your installer. If i can get out of this for a total of $385, i will still be happy. Thanks for your advice, I'll keep yyou posted. EDIT: Update, I just turned on my set to a blank video input and noticed a very large red blob in the center of the screen directly around the same portion I am seeing the smaller blue blob while an active input in on.
OK, well the service rep came out today and diagnosed me with a bad light engine, no surprise there. The good news is I called Hitachi and they are shipping out a new light engine after checking with service rep to verify diagnosis. They are shipping the part to the service rep and I have to pay the labor of $285.00. I used the 800-654-7013 number and they were very helpful. THank you so much Mishell and everyone else who posted about this problem here.
I am glad to hear that everything worked out for you. I don't know what I would have done without this site and everyone who gave such good advise. Hopefully it will continue to help others.
Yup, this site and everyone on it was super helpful. My local service rep had no idea that Hitachi was doing this so If i didn't read this I would've junked the TV. Thanks again to everyone
I also have a 50V500A that is only 3 years old this month with 4800 hours on it. I have been living with the red and blue blobs for a while but have become thouroughly annoyed with it!! Does it matter if you are the original owner? I bough mine on Craigslist when it was about a year old for 1200.00. Needless to say the price and longevity of the set has me questioning whether or not this was a wise investment. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Called customer relations!! Even though I am the second owner I am still getting my light engine for free. I am going to try some coersion and see if I cant get it sent to my house so I can replace it myself. I still have to cart the TV 20 some miles to the service center to verify what I already know. He even admitted that the light engines were bad in these televisions and gave me no hassle whatsoever! Tv goes in on Saturday to be looked at. Wish me luck!!
I don't believe that anyone asked me for a receipt. They only took down model and serial #'s. Just a note. I watched the removal and installation of the light engine. Being an autto mechanic myself, I wouldn't attempt it as it requires the removal of the back panel and then almost everything else to get to the engine which is toward the front of the set. Even the professionals that did mine accidentally switched around some plugs when putting it back together which cause a malfunction when they first turned it on. If you know where your replacable lamp is, the light engine is next to it in the front center bottom of the set so you can imagine how much other cr_p has to come out first. Just get some buddys and a pickup truck and it will be much easier and under warranty. Good luck!
Well I to am having the Blue Blob on my TV. I have the Hitachi LCD rear projection tv 50V720. I just replaced the lamp bulb and now have the blob....I will be calling HItachi today and see what can be done
I will warn you, if you are attempting to do this yourself, I was there while mine was replaced. Almost every part in the TV (including the screen) has to the removed in order to get to the engine. It took my service man about 3 hours of solid work to complete the job. Well worth the $285 they charged me, imo. Good luck which ever way you go with it.
Well the tv is in the shop, due out on sat. Chose not to replace it myself since I couldnt have even if I wanted to, "we will only send the light engine to a shop capable of doing such work as it is a very delicate piece of hardware" so the person at customer relations said. No big deal, 300 bucks and its under warranty. Let you know on Sat how everything turned out. I can hardly wait!!
Cool! It is really good to hear so many people being treated well by Hitachi. It is definately a turn around from when I began my quest. Good luck everyone.
Well I called Hitachi, and they told me I have to have a tec from sears come out and look at it. I aske if it turns out to be the light engine will it be under warranty, he told me that they only warranty for 1 year. So I'm having the tec come out on the 12th I'll keep posting...
Just be sure to read all of the posts to see the right phone numbers to call once it is diagnosed. Good luck.
Mishell, I did call the 7013 line, It almost seemed to be a direct line to that opperator I talked to. I should of got his name but I didn't, but he's the one who told me that it wouldn't be under waranty. I'll wait to see what the tec says anywho...
Once diagnosed call back and just be insistant and tell them about this post. If they still don't budge, I would threaten to take them to court if necessary. (Which you would definately win with all of this evidance.) Hopefully it will work out for you with out having to get nasty. Keep us posted.
Make sure you have the right model of tv before wondering if they will cover it. From what I have read online the "red cloud" and "blue blob" plagued the first generation 500 series Hitachi RP LCD tv's. This problem didnt just affect 1 or 2 every so often, it has affected almost every single tv that rolled off of the assembly line because of inadequate ventilation inside of the light engine. It was just a poor design. If your TV does not fall into the first generation 500 series category and your warranty has expired, chances are slim that they will cover anything. Make sure you are talking to someone at Hitachi Customer Relations, NOT customer service. Hitachi customer service sucks when it comes to stuff like this. Mainly because of the fact that customer service knows nothing about this except to tell you "your tv is no longer under warranty, your screwed, yada yada, blah blah".Hitachi contracts out to a 3rd party company to handle common customer questions and warranty stuff. The people at Customer Relations "actually" work for Hitachi. When I called there was no argument whatsoever, took my model and serial numbers, told me where to take it, and if it was the light engine they would cover it. 2 more days and mine comes back!!! I will be sure to let you all know how it turned out!!
I'll give you an interesting postscript to this whole sad affair. I had the "blue blob" problem and the engine replaced last year. I hounded Hitachi like everyone else and finally got them to cover the engine. (I paid the installation). First one went bad, had to have them send a second one which was installed at no charge. Well now after 8 months or so the screen is starting to pixilate and get blurry in spots. I suspect I'll need to call up and try and get a new engine.
Bottom line is these TV's are dogs. Do what you have to with Hitachi to keep it running while you save your money for a Sony!
Anyone for a consumer protection bill/"lemon law" on electronics that cost more than say $1500??
There is a lemon law for electronics, in most states that covers any cost of electronics. Most state that if a manufacturer has to repair a device more then three times for the SAME or a related problem, you are suppose to get a new or rebuilt set of equal or greater value.
Thanks, Larry. I will check to see if Tennessee has one in place and what my options are. I'm really tired of hassling with this, and as I suspect growing numbers of unsatisfied owners of these sets are as well.
I can't believe I have stumbled on to this thread! I have the red screen blob also and read elsewhere to go into the service menu and adjust the red ghosting. After countless hours of frustration I managed to get it to a point of just slightly annoying. Thanks to the great info here I will be trying my luck with Hitachi.
MOtvGuy, I see in earlier comments you could recommend a Service Center around Boston? If so it would be much appreciated if you could lead me there.
Thanks for the phone number to try. My set is almost four years old, and the first light engine was replaced by Sears with their 3 year extended warranty after 1 year. Unfortunately the last engine started having a blue blotch 6 months ago, and Sear's wanted $800 for a two year extension, plus they didn't inform me that the original three years was up to renew... Hmmm they didn't want me to renew I wonder why after the first engine cost them $1500 to replace.
6 Months ago the posts looked like it would cost a minimum of $850 to repair. Toshiba's 780i DLP system was selling for $1000. I was going to wait for the lamp to fail, then chuck Hitachi. If I can get an engine to replace this for free, I'ld do that.
As I'm going to throw it out. Assuming the trash will take it, I took it apart. I've also put it back together after blowing out the light engine, and the blue blob is still there. Too much blue in a black screen means that the blue LCD is not blocking enough light.
I'm an EE, so I don't mind working with electronics. The easiest way to get all the connectors in the right spot is to take digital pictures of each one as you take them apart. The hard part is knowing how they come apart... And the first rule is to unplug the set and wait and hope the capacitors discharge.
I can see a service guy taking up to 3 hours to replace this engine. Plus you need two people to move it around, and lift the display off.
I might not throw it out, but hack in an LCD projector to use the rear projection. At least then when it fails I can just buy a new projector. Now if I could just find one that inverts the image properly to light up a screen from behind.
$3200 for an Hitachi LCD Projection HDTV, worthless.
My purchase of a 50V500 was made in September 2005 and my light engine is gone too. Less than 2.5 years old ...
Hitachi customer service refused to offer any help because I purchased the TV from a "Clearance Center" (brand new). I tried to escalate my phone call within Hitachi and was refused contact with any supervisor or manager. The "customer service" rep at Hitachi Canada would not give me his name, would not give me the name or extension number of a supervisor, and refused to connnect me with a supervisor.
The store that I purchased the set from has tried to help, but can't get a replacement light engine.
I was FURIOUS! So, I contacted the PRESIDENT of Hitachi Canada.
Within 3 days, Hitachi contacted me again, and offered to pay for the light engine, if I paid for the service to have it installed ($240). Obviously, I agreed.
At first, I was worried that Hitachi was going leave me high and dry. But it seems Hitachi is doing the right thing and taking responsibility for a defective part. Thank you, Hitachi.
The next TV I purchase will included a 5 year service plan.
I to have had this exact problem, after numerous attempts to have Hitachi repair the problem, I finally gave up and called a repair shop, I was told the the red color gun was bad and needed to be replaced, and that they had several complaints on this very problem, the shop replaced the color gun and replaced the projection bulb, they also told me that the cooling fan was undersized for the set, and this also needed to be replaced, I had all of the above taken care of at a cost of about $1000.00, As of today my cooling fan has ceased to operate, again and the TV set will not operate.
Not happy with the service or product
Please go back and read most of the posts. A good number of us have has positive results in contacting Hitachi. They replaced my light engine for free and I paid for the labor. It cost me $300. They could have blown me off because I had my television almost three years. I just bought a Hitachi 42 inch plasma for my bedroom as a way of showing brand loyality. I seen some of the posts where people didn't get help but in my case they came through.
I just called Hitachi on the very same issue. It was a Sunday so I got their techincal dept and have to wait until Monday to talk to customer relations. The tech wouldn't admit to this as a known problem but seemed to have a protocol to follows as he put me on hold and when he came back he referred me to a local Dallas, TX authorized repair co. My set is less than 3 years old. I paid $2,500 or so for it. This is not an isolated problem but is a manufacturing defect. Warranty should have nothing to do with Hitachi taking care of it. If they don't cure the issue, I'm willing to lead the charge with a class action lawsuit against them as $2,500 is a bit much to pay for a disposable TV.
Hi sorry it took so long to post about my outcome. I had the Hitachi LCD rear projection tv 50V720 (since gave it away) Hitachi did own up to the problem after I told them in an email that I was so unhappy about their name and I was going to tell everyone that this was a bad name tv. I was told to have a tec come to my house and while I had the tec at my house to have him call the guy I talked to, to tell him it was infact the light engine that was bad. The tec was from sears, and even before he even came to my house he told me on the phone that he was 90% sure it was the light engine...The tec even told me the light engines are going bad in these tv's because of inadiquate vetilation.
I read in one of the post that it takes 3 hours to fix and they need two people to do it...my tec was able to do the job by himself and was done in about an hour. I watched it being done...and they only have to pull the panel off the bottom back and the light engine is right there.
After it was fixed I gave the TV away. If anything else happends to it I don't want the hassle.
I purchased a HITACHI LCD TV (60V500) in 2004 and in 2006 I started noticing a red glow whenever the screen is blank (between commercials etc). I reported the problem to Hitachi's customer service dept and they told me to try replacing the lamp. I did so but the problem did not go away.
After doing some research I now find out that the Color engine in these units are poorly ventilated which causes the unit to over-heat. I tried contacting Hitachi to have them replace the color engine which will cost approx $1,400. They refused saying the TV is "out of warranty”. I also found out that they have been selectively replacing some color engines with refurbished ones. I think this is a problem which they can easily take care of by providing refurbished color engines and have the customers pay for the repair. Until then I am staying away from the Hitachi products and suggest that you do the same.
I have the same problems and hitachi customer service trys to act like this is the first time the have heard of this problem. I have contacte a friend of mine who will file a suite and take it to court if needed he is will to start a class action if we can get a few people to contact him. www.reyeslaw.com or (214)526-7900 angel reyes
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