dark shadow / stain on SONY KDL 46V-3000 screen

[hellothisisdog]

hello,

I have an old SONY KDL 46V-3000 and recently I've noticed this dark shadow / stain on it, does anyone know what this is and if there's a cheap fix ? I think it's getting worse, I was watching a movie the other night and I kept noticing it. Note that in the following picture, the yellow ball is the camera's flash, you can see the stain beside it (it actually has two parts, looks a bit like a fold of cloth):

http://d06.imgup.net/KDL46V-3007313.jpg

I know the TV is very old but I'd like to keep it at least 1 more year...thanks for any help !

[Caledonian_TV]

Has the set by any chance been laid screen-down at any point? Not entirely possibly to diagnose from a photo - but looks like a panel fault I'm afraid. 

[hellothisisdog]

hi, the set has been standing in the same place for many years, there is also a vertical yellow line of pixels which disappears after the TV has been ON for a bit. I think you might be right about the panel...I've found that many people have had similar problems with the V3000 models, looks like mine lasted a lot longer than theirs though:

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/televisions/dark-streaks-on-screen-of-40-quot-bravia/td-p/191446

[Caledonian_TV]

Hmmm...  The yellow pixel thing is probably another symptom of the panel ageing... The stain?  - Harder to explain; could be thermal I suppose...  Does it maybe catch the sun through a window at certain times?  

Or possibly it's a backlight issue? - These are LCD sets?  - The backlights are very thin flourescent tubes (about 3mm diameter) that can develop dark patches...

I suspect a repair wouldn't be cheap or easy; but to be sure you'd really need to let somebody look at it... Which in itself will be a call out charge... Sorry...

[hellothisisdog]

no direct sun light hits the screen regularly or has in the past, as far as I'm aware...I don't think I'll bother calling in a repair guy, even if it was repairable I'm better off putting that money towards the new 4k oled I've been looking at, I was hoping to wait another year or two since prices are still a bit high, but I don't think I can bear watching movies with that thing in the middle of the screen for much longer

[Caledonian_TV · Accepted solution]

It's posssibly - probably even - the backlight then...  Not irrepairable but as you say, it's maybe best to allocate the funds elsewhere... 

Be sure to check out the furore that's going on over the current Sony Android sets before you make a buying decision. 

[hellothisisdog]

will do! anyhow thanks for the input, appreciate it