The History of my Sony KDF-55WF655 Grand Wega TV

July 2005- A new Sony Grand Wega TV was purchased at a large electronics retailer for almost $3,000. The TV of choice was a 55" Sony Grand Wega TV. Why this TV? Well Sony was a large company with a good reputation for quality and the description of this TV was amazing. Don't rely on my words to describe it here is the description straight from the Sony website:

Sony's unique WEGA Engine™ system solution optimizes the potential of Grand WEGA Technology to achieve high picture quality. Various signals such as RF standard definition broadcasts, composite video, component video, high definition video (interlaced or progressive) and even Memory Stick® media images benefit from this process. The WEGA Engine system converts all signals into the digital domain and applies an entire system of processes. The result– Better resolution and sharpness, higher contrast, less digital noise, and greater picture dimension.

Sounds like a great television right? I thought so too. I thought so much of it I even laid down the extra cash for the extended warranty, just in case there was a problem with the TV (I was informed by the sales rep at the store that I may need to purchase new bulbs ever two years or so and the extended warranty would cover the $250 bulbs). So for four years I was covered from all problems.

Four years went by and I had little to no issues with the television except for replacing the bulb once. Seemed like I didn't need the extended warranty but that was a risk I took. Little did I know that four years was just the right amount of time for the warranty as 4 months later I started seeing Blue.


November 2009- I started noticing what looked like "burn in" occurring on the bottom of the TV. With a plasma TV in my bedroom I was aware that burn in was a definite possibility on plasma TVs, but on an LCD/ rear projection TV??? It would come and go and was very light so I thought nothing of it at the time, maybe the channel signals were off or the light from the window was hitting the screen awkwardly. Then to my surprise the Blue "burn in" was gone from the bottom of the TV and moved to the left side of the TV. It was a little Blue blob, hardly noticeable unless you were looking for it. Once again, I thought nothing of it, as it was not always visible.

December 2009- The beginning of the Blue death of my Sony Grand Wega, a slow, painful and early death of a device that should have lasted another 8 to 10 years. I started noticing Blue dots in the middle of the screen. The once hardly noticiable Blue blob on the left side grew bigger and more prominent. The picture to the right is with the screen right when the TV is turned off. It is a very calming Blue Haze, similar to the Blue tropical waters or a nice Blue sky. I know you may be thinking, well when the screen on you probably can't even notice right? Sony wouldn't make a product that cost several thousand dollars that doesn't even last 5 years, right?

One would have only hoped! When the screen if on the Blue takes over everything. While trying to watch a relaxing Christmas movie around the holidays Santa Clause is no longer the jolly fat man in a red suit like everyone throughout the world has assumed. With Sony's stunning picture I was able to finally see the truth. Santa Clause wears a Blue suit as you can clearly see in the picture to the left. Oh the joys of having, "Better resolution and sharpness, higher contrast, less digital noise, and greater picture dimension." I can tell everyone is rushing to http://www.sonystyle.com/ now to purchase a TV.


Then I thought to myself, Wait, Sony is a large reputable company, surely that know how to fix this problem. So I call Sony Customer Support. A customer service representative answers the phone and asks what my problem was. I explain the wonderful Blue blob on my screen and he goes through his binder to start trouble shooting the issue. He sees that my TV is out of the "1 year manufacture's warranty" an informs me of such. He then gives me the first step in trying to solve the problem. "Sir what I need you to do is first turn off the televeision and then turn it back on" (this was to reset the television). I just about fell over when the answer to the Blue blob was to just to turn it off and on. But, he was working for the great Sony, so maybe there was a trick to this turning it off and on thing that I just didn't know about. So I pushed the power button and...The Blue blob was... exactly like it was every time I turned off my TV, still visible, like a little night light ($3,000 nightlight that is).


So I unfortunately had to let the customer service representative know that the magic on/off trick did not work. He said that the problem is probably with the optical block in the television set and that they could get a Sony Authorized Representative in my area out to repair the issue. I asked if I would be responsible for the cost and I was informed that since the television set was out of warranty I would have to pay for it. I said thanks, I would call back later and then the research began.