Hello everyone,
been reading the forum for a while now and seeing some really ingenious repairs described by Tom and the other members, I decided to register and kindly ask if anyone might have an idea what could be the cause of my 9G Pioneer plasma misfiring randomly or at least whether it's software / voltage or hardware related..
So I bought a used KRP-500A (besides the 500M the last and best of KURO) with very little - just about under 11k hours - use on the panel and ofcourse in a blacked out room its blacks were bleeding red which was to be expected and only confirmed for me the panel hadn't been tweaked before. Tried voltage adjusting it first from the SM to get the blacks close to stock, but after some testing, I decided (per recommendation of AVS and AV forum members) to just reset it. Did a safe reset first (backed up eeprom) to make sure I didn't ruin anything and was amazed how the black level really dropped to practically 0 immediately. Tried displaying various test "masks" from the service menu and after just a few minor adjustment of x_sus, y_sus and fsad (couple of ticks to compensate for the aging), the TV seemed to pass every test with flying colors. So I adjusted eeprom (confirmed reset, no turning back now) and the TV was ready for calibration. It went like I dream, everything spot on the mark.
But only after a couple of days did I notice strange sparkles appearing randomly on close-to-black content. Put on a test pattern with levels 0 - 15% IRE, and found out that the TV actually only misfires on content that is about 3 - 5% IRE (very dark grey), where individual pixels seem to light up (sparkle /flash white or greenish) wherever on the screen these shades are being displayed. Mind you this is practicaly only noticable in a pitch black room and only when a movie / content is showing this exact range of tones. Everything blacker or lighter than that - no problem whatsoever. Now I've talked to many who have reset their KRPs and noone seems to have this problem but me so they suspect the cause is a failing component (PSU?). As there is no voltage adjustment in the SM that would only control the voltage values near black, and as the TV misfires most when started from cold and then when it warms up, the sparklies become practically unnoticable, I might have to agree..
What do you guys think? The TV is currently at my local repair shop where they replaced an IC regulator in the media box (the TV wouldn't restart when warm, but that was an easy fix and is in no way connected to the misfiring), but the repairman doesn't have a clue what the cause of misfiring could be.. Says the fault is so bizzare he's never seen it before. I'm not an electrician, just love the TV to bits so would really apreciate any suggestions as to what should be looked into, as spares are hard to find and I can't just tell them to go swapping out board after board..
Sorry for such a lengthy post, just wanted to give you as clear a description of (my) fault as I can.
Best regards
been reading the forum for a while now and seeing some really ingenious repairs described by Tom and the other members, I decided to register and kindly ask if anyone might have an idea what could be the cause of my 9G Pioneer plasma misfiring randomly or at least whether it's software / voltage or hardware related..
So I bought a used KRP-500A (besides the 500M the last and best of KURO) with very little - just about under 11k hours - use on the panel and ofcourse in a blacked out room its blacks were bleeding red which was to be expected and only confirmed for me the panel hadn't been tweaked before. Tried voltage adjusting it first from the SM to get the blacks close to stock, but after some testing, I decided (per recommendation of AVS and AV forum members) to just reset it. Did a safe reset first (backed up eeprom) to make sure I didn't ruin anything and was amazed how the black level really dropped to practically 0 immediately. Tried displaying various test "masks" from the service menu and after just a few minor adjustment of x_sus, y_sus and fsad (couple of ticks to compensate for the aging), the TV seemed to pass every test with flying colors. So I adjusted eeprom (confirmed reset, no turning back now) and the TV was ready for calibration. It went like I dream, everything spot on the mark.
But only after a couple of days did I notice strange sparkles appearing randomly on close-to-black content. Put on a test pattern with levels 0 - 15% IRE, and found out that the TV actually only misfires on content that is about 3 - 5% IRE (very dark grey), where individual pixels seem to light up (sparkle /flash white or greenish) wherever on the screen these shades are being displayed. Mind you this is practicaly only noticable in a pitch black room and only when a movie / content is showing this exact range of tones. Everything blacker or lighter than that - no problem whatsoever. Now I've talked to many who have reset their KRPs and noone seems to have this problem but me so they suspect the cause is a failing component (PSU?). As there is no voltage adjustment in the SM that would only control the voltage values near black, and as the TV misfires most when started from cold and then when it warms up, the sparklies become practically unnoticable, I might have to agree..
What do you guys think? The TV is currently at my local repair shop where they replaced an IC regulator in the media box (the TV wouldn't restart when warm, but that was an easy fix and is in no way connected to the misfiring), but the repairman doesn't have a clue what the cause of misfiring could be.. Says the fault is so bizzare he's never seen it before. I'm not an electrician, just love the TV to bits so would really apreciate any suggestions as to what should be looked into, as spares are hard to find and I can't just tell them to go swapping out board after board..
Sorry for such a lengthy post, just wanted to give you as clear a description of (my) fault as I can.
Best regards
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