If its a rear projection depending on how you look at it the tv is gonna be lighter or darker in different places. Thats the way mine is.

Magnets will effect CRT, Plasma, AND, DLP televisions, not LCD.  DLP can't be anything BUT projection.

A magnet will permanently damage a DLP Television.  The micro-mirrors on the chip are controlled by magnets, and I have seen the damage first hand...   You can't really shield the DLP processor, because everything but the lens can be magnetically sealed. 

This is why speakers in CRT, PLASMA, and DLP televisions are magnetically sealed.

Shiranui wrote:

Didn't think they did effect LCDs. Thanks for the info.

[b]Shadow at the bottom of the screen[b/] doesn't bother me, not too bad, just a little darker than the rest of the TV.

Mine began to do this, then it turned blue and purple-ish.  That means the LIGHT ENGINE is going.  Mine cost over 800.00 to replace (60" TV), thank god for the warranty.  The LIGHT ENGINE is like 85% of the LCD projection TV.  The LCD pannels are housed in the enclosure with the projection lens and mirror.   So, I basically got a new Television after that was replaced. 

That will NOT go away.

A bulb should not cause that, unless there is something physically on the glass that is hindering light into the engine, or a blemish anywhere from the glass plate on the bulb, to the input glass on the engine, to the projection mirror and lens.

It was a matter of weeks.  Then, when it turned blue-ish, it progressed from the left, across the bottom of the screen to the right.  Then another one started on the right side and moved left.  Total time, eh, about a month... 

See, I bought a warranty for my TV, and you should for these LARGE ones.  Why?  Get this;  I paid about 3200.00 for this TV, -$1300.00 for them taking my defective 47" one back.  I paid the difference, plus another 10% off for my troubles. So, if there ever is a time they CANNOT fix this TV within warranty?  I get ALL 3200.00 back to use for another TV.  Well, a Samsung 1080p 65" DLP is 1699.99 now, leaving me with some REAL decent change, that I can either get refunded, or just buy more stuff.   This means, I will pay anotuer 400.00 to renew the warranty, because I would have spent more than that in just BULB replacements.

The problem with these new LARGE FLAT PANNEL LCD TVs now is, pixel burn out is accepted by the MFR under warranty, if; no more than 3-pixels burn out; and those three pixels are NOT within so many pixels of each other.  So, that basically says, you can have at least THREE burned out pixels before they will consider it defective. I don't accept that, not at all. I will stick with projection.  I have seen the large flat panel LCDs, and I am NOT impressed anyway.   I don't want to go DLP, but if mine goes, I will have to.  I will not buy another FLAT panel LCD ever again.  Every one I have bought thus far, has had at least ONE pixel burned out.  Even the one I have now; well, it is not burned out, but doesn't go black.  So, on a black portion there, I have a gray pixel; it turns ever other color accept black.   The one before that, had a bright green burned out pixel, which you could see as long as there was no green in that area.  The one before that, would not even turn on.  I have seen TVs on display with burned out pixels...  I don't want any part of that....

OLED I will wait for...  I saw a VERY nice LED DLP Television, but it was only 61", and going UP from 60 to 61 is more like a lateral move. Tee picture was LCD-ish, but used a DLP processor.  The lighting system was LEDs rather than color wheel.   You should read up on how DLP works, actual MOVING parts.  With the thumping that goes on in my house, that will break first... 

Rather than use a color wheel, they should strobe the primary colors over the processor... They may be what teh LED DLP did, not sure...  Read up on how DLP works, you'll see what I mean.  DLP can only produce gray scale images, so they flash all three colors over the mirrors in each frame.  Now they are using MORE colors to get much better color depth, that means a faster wheel, and a lot tighter timing.

It probably goes 768p MAX, if it is 1080i.

I can see more blurred motion, and pixelatiion in DLP Televisions.  Like, when you get a bad Satellite signal?  The blocks (pixelation) happens?  Well, for DLP it can happen for NO good reason, even on an analog input signal, the chip just hiccups and causes it.  I do not like how DLP looks when a fast pan from side to side happens, it is jittery to jumpy depending on the speed of the pan left or right, up/down.  I have put my LCD TV up against the best DLPs out there now, and my picture has better flowing motion, and smoothness to it, the edges too are smoother. You can only pack so many pixels (mirrors) in a DLP processor.  Some DLPs cheat in resolution too, LCD does not, it is what it is.  DLP still has a long way to go before I would make that my preference.  I will stick with LCD projection till they are not available anymore.   However, if my TV goes under the warranty, and it can't be fixed?  I would chose a DLP over a LCD flat panel.   I don't like plasma either, they are too high power, and are prone to burn-in.  LCD and DLP can't have burn-in...

My projection looks great in bright lights. You are probably refering to non DLP rear projections though. My gf parents have an hdtv that is rear projection and it looks like crap. It is not a DLP though.

@PS technically it can do 1080i(768p) put it doesn't seem to run quite as smooth. I only tried it with the PS3 through its display settings stuff though.

It's called GLARE...  Most projection TVs are like that.

The_Wii_Nes_Boy - yea, I have 60" sony (same one that powerslave has)
42" 1080i panasonic plasma
42" 1080p toshiba lcd
47" 1080p toshiba lcd

From having them all, they all have pros and cons.

To tell you the truth, I have also "had" 1080p pioneer plasma for a week and it was much better looking then my toshi. But the glare was getting to me and the electricity that it consumed was amazing. I would sacrifice little bit of quality (shock) for my monthly savings. (you will never hear that again from me)

So I have been google'ing and I've seen people mention cleaning the light engine. Haven't found any buddy actually say to do it yourself or how to do it so I am assuming it can be difficult and varies on model of tv.

Anyone know if it is a hard job to do, possible at home and don't need a clean room or anything?

The light engine is ALL ONE PIECE.  First, check here for a cheap one:
http://www.tristatemodule.com/html/light_engines.html

There is no need for cleaning, everything is sealed.  Maybe the lense, but I never had to have mine cleaned, just replaced.

Here is a sample Sony light engine:


Zenith:


Toshiba:


Hitachi:


Mitshubishi:


Panasonic:


Samsung:


They are cheaper on Ebay too.