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Author Topic: Please help, "Shadows" on my NEC Spectraview 2490 and 2490WUXi2, Mura effect?  (Read 9057 times)

fsangre

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In November 2009 I purchased a NEC SpectraView 2490 monitor and a NEC MultiSync 2490WUXi ² monitor.

After a year-year and a half of use, both began to "develop" a irregular "shadow" on the right side of the screen running from the upper to the lower part of it. This "shadow " has then shifted from the right edge "traveling" towards to the center of the screen.

There seems not to be a defect of the LCD and it is not dirt, as I tried many times to clean it carefully. Rather it seems to be a problem with the anti-glare film on contact with the surface of the actual LCD screen, ¿perhaps related to expansion caused by heat or by aging...?

Initially it was not too annoying (and I thought maybe it would solve alone, because it seemed the shadows "moved" over time). However, now I have problems with the issue because it is interfering my work as it began to affect the main working area of the screens.

Attached you may find a couple of images showing the problem.

Anyone have seen this before? Is it a known issue? Has it any fixing? Any advice?
Thanks in advance
« Last Edit: May 28, 2014, 03:31:05 pm by fsangre »
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Jim Metzger

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Re: Please help, "Shadows" on my NEC Spectraview 2490 and 2490WUXi2
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2014, 05:48:10 pm »

I had the exact same problem and called NEC. They had me forward images of the problem (your images are perfect to show the problem). I  was within the warranty period. They sent me a new monitor (it may have been a refurb) which was perfect and carried the balance of the warranty. I had to send back the damaged monitor at my cost which was not to expensive.

If this is a known defect they might be persuaded to exchange even if out of warranty.

My monitor was a PA271W

Jim

Good Luck.
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fsangre

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Re: Please help, "Shadows" on my NEC Spectraview 2490 and 2490WUXi2
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2014, 07:09:48 am »

Thanks Jim, I´ll try to contact NEC here in Spain, but I´m afraid the 2490´s are out of warranty.
Anyway, I´m puzzled by what´s the cause of the issue. :-[
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fsangre

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Just an update.

I contacted NEC support here in Spain and, as expected, they say its a "panel problem" "not repairable due to high cost" but they gave me their German workshop contact in case I want a "repair estimate"... Well it seems it will need a "little" harder pressure  >:(

In the meantime I made some investigation in the web and find some interesting things seemingly similar/related to my problem, enough to enlighten a bit what type of issue happened to my monitors.
Basically, it´s a non-uniformity problem that seems to plague LCD technology called "Mura" effect. I find two pages witch I think are closely related with my exact problem:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1467644/lcd-dark-blotches-mura-clouding-persistence-what-to-do
http://www.behardware.com/articles/589-1/panels-a-carte-mura-components-dead-pixels.html

What it's not so clear to me at the moment is the possible solutions. In my case the problem seems to be a Type 2 dark blotches mura (according the classification on the beharware page) and I suspect it maybe it´s related to problems due to dirt (least probable) or heat deformation in back diffuser or polarizing layers, or to some type of ionization of the LCD. Why I think so?... well it´s only a guess but my principal clues are their wavy shape, the fact that they are more noticeable some time after switching on the displays, and the evolving nature of the dark areas.
I've taken new photos of the problem (one and a half months between them) and it as clearly changed moving towards the center of the screen, diffusing and leaving relatively clear areas it was affecting before.

Anyway any help will be welcome about confirm/rebate my guess or what to do to improve/fix the problem. Thanks in advance again
« Last Edit: May 29, 2014, 05:56:11 am by fsangre »
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Onslow

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I had this exact same issue this time last year on the same side on my NEC MultiSync LCD2690WUXi2. I contacted NEC as it was a month out of warranty. I was fortunate. They exchanged the panel for free, all I had to do was return it to Sydney, Australia. A cost of $140 for the freight and free service seemed reasonable.
It has since returned the same as before. As I result, I have bought myself an Eizo CG277 for my main editing work and relegated the NEC to web browsing and other non colour critical work.
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Cheers

Onslow

Craig Lamson

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I had this exact same issue this time last year on the same side on my NEC MultiSync LCD2690WUXi2. I contacted NEC as it was a month out of warranty. I was fortunate. They exchanged the panel for free, all I had to do was return it to Sydney, Australia. A cost of $140 for the freight and free service seemed reasonable.
It has since returned the same as before. As I result, I have bought myself an Eizo CG277 for my main editing work and relegated the NEC to web browsing and other non colour critical work.


I had the same on my 2690.  It was still under warranty (us) and NEC replaced it. It's been a few years and it's still fine, but regulated to the backup workstation since I purchased a NEC 271


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fsangre

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Well, sadly after a very deceptive and unsupportive experience with the NEC helpdesk for Spain (seemingly shared with France and Italy) limited to reiterate the "copy-paste" answer I posted previously; I contacted the SpectraView workshop in Germany and they (more politely) said it´s "a major panel error we only can solve by swap of the lcd module", but due "that LCD2490WUXI² is end of life and not produced anymore. There are no lcd modules left so we can´t offer any repair of your unit".

They gave no further information about the nature nor origin of the issue, any measure to prevent or ameliorate it, any repair solution or any guarantee that the issue will not happen with newer models.

So my feeling is that I am left in the void, with two supposedly high grade (expensive) monitors with just 10.000-11.000 hrs (just out of warranty) marginally suitable for image editing work. My impressions are that:
- Or NEC has a planned obsolescence policy in order their products just survive their 3 years warranty, or these models suffer from defects due inadequate fabrication or quality of components expected in a serious professional product.
- The NEC technical service has very limited agility and capacity and an overall lack of helping support, and their customer management policy limits/cuts any tech information about the problems their products have.

Then, facing the perspective of buying two new monitors I, sadly again, have to say that they will hardly be NECs again due to lack of confidence in their professional quality-life expectancy and worthlessness of their Technical Service for problems out of standards.
I´ll probably check other professional brands with 5 years of warranty (EIZO) that at last are better investments due to longer assured working life... or (assuming LCD technology has intrinsic problems) the opposite option of buying relatively cheap monitors that you can change without any remorse.

Anyway I'm still interested in knowing more about that weird issue and in if it's caused by
- Some form of ionization of the LCD TFT panel (following what the Beharware site says about the "type II mura" they describe).
- Thermic induced deformation of the diffuser or polarizing layers or their in-between interface (glue?), causing refractive interlayer problems or semi transparency due to slight changes in polarization orientation.
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Eric Kellerman

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Funnily enough, I had exactly the same problem with my Eizo 243w. Eizo service was fantastic. As my monitor was still under its 5-year guarantee, I received an exchange monitor, and, using the box the replacement came in, I sent my old monitor back to Eizo at no cost to me.
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lhodaniel

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Had the same problem on a PA241 after only a year or so. Got a replacement after sending NEC a picture. The replacement is going strong after 3 years. But my warranty is expiring about now.
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