My Sony 21" CPD-G520

Apr 5      

Hello John

Firstly my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.
As per discussion, I have located a LCD monitor that should meet your requirements as replacement for the CRT monitor that has failed.

The model number is : SDMS205K.

Specifications as follows:
Product Features KVM technology - Connect a USB keyboard and mouse to the SDM-S205K and control 2 USB connected PCs. Work better, work faster, remove clutter. High brightness, high contrast & fast screen refresh - for superior image quality that is easy on the eye. The pivot function allows you work with the display in portrait mode (required software is included) See more, work better - Huge UXGA (1600x1200) screen resolution increases productivity for applications such as CAD/CAM, graphic design, programming. Simple setup - Plug & play and the Sony automatic image adjustment feature gives hassle-free configuration. Gamma control - for colour matching of the display with digital cameras and printers to ensure the colours shown on screen match those on the other devices. Supports sRGB colour space matching Wide viewing angle - the screen can be viewed clearly & comfortably from the side, top or bottom (178 degree horizontal, 178 degree vertical). Advanced ECO mode - auto-adjusts screen settings to give best picture quality in varying lighting conditions. On-Screen Display Menu - for full control of gain, gamma, colour temperature, etc Allows simultaneous connection of 2 PCs (1 analog & 1 digital input) - easily switch from one to the other Are you sitting comfortably? The SDM-S205K is easily adjustable to your ideal viewing angle.

Please let me know what your thoughts are. I have a unit put on hold. If you have any further questions please let me know.

Regards
Javed

Javed Khan
Product Returns Co-ordinator
Supply Chain

Sony New Zealand Limited
PO Box 100-045, North Shore Mail Centre
Akoranga Business Park, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand
Direct Line +64-9-488 6177 Facsimile +64-9-488-0711
Website: www.sony.co.nz

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Apr 12      

Hi Javed,

Thanks for your email.

You asked for my thoughts. Here they are ...

I wasn't particularly impressed with the specs for the SDMS205K display that you are recommending.

"High brightness, high contrast & fast screen refresh - for superior image quality that is easy on the eye"

This sounds very much like "advertising speak" to me.

Surely you could have just given me the known technical facts: Brightness 300cd/m2, Contrast Ratio of 700:1, Response Time 16 msec. Maximum Analogue Input Resolution 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz, etc., etc.

As I recall, apart from perhaps the brightness these specs are all substantially inferior to my Sony 21" CPD-G520 Graphic Display.

Can I give you a little background?

I started work in TVNZ in 1964 as a Transmission Engineer, working on the maintenance of AKTV2's 10Kw transmitter in the Waitakere Range. (See image below left - click to enlarge). In 1965 I was transferred to NZBC's Head Office Engineering Division in Wellington and at that time I purchased my first Sony TV - a b&w 5" portable. It had been privately imported into NZ and I believed it was probably the only one in the country. In the Transmission Division we used this absolutely brilliant little Sony portable in one of our Land Rovers to check the various radiation patterns of the AKTV2 aerial system of the new 100Kw Transmitter that we were installing. I subsequently used it throughout the North Island as we commissioned other 100Kw transmitters.

This Sony 5" TV was unfortunately physically damaged in an accident, and after getting no help at all from the Auckland company who were the Sony agents at the time, I eventually wrote to Sony in Japan who two weeks later kindly sent me all the parts I needed (at no charge) with a written apology! This then was my introduction to "Sony quality" and their after sales service!

I was particularly impressed.

In 1967 I transferred to the AKTV2 Studios in Shortland Street, being there for a total of seven years. I have worked most of my life now in front of Grade 1 monitors of one sort or another. Way back in the 60's of course they were Black & White.

I left TVNZ in 1973 and joined Vidcom as their Senior Videotape editor, Colour TV had just arrived in NZ and Vidcom was NZ's first professional broadcast facility outside of the NZBC. At Vidcom we used mainly 20" Barco Grade 1 monitors, but also a 10" Trinitron CVM-1310E VHF/UHF receiver in a wooden case, probably one of the first Trinitrons in the country! This Monitor I actually now own (serial # 010296) and it continues to function pretty well (See image below right - click to enlarge). That's a thirty-three year old Trinitron!

In 1983 as a freelance Video Consultant to Video Images Ltd. (now Images Post) I traveled to Sydney with the then managing director Charles Percy. My task was to advise him on the possible choice of equipment for the state of the art "Images" post production facility he had planned for Auckland.

We visited Sony in Sydney and being totally committed to Sony equipment my subsequent recommendations to him included: several of the first generation Sony Betacam's, 5 of Sony's 1" VTR machines and a substantial number of Sony 20" and 14" BVM Grade 1 monitors.

Monitors I dare say, that are most probably still functioning today.

In 1986 I purchased a 14" KV-1442AS Sony TV which I still use (serial # 5004458 See image below left - click to enlarge). Not a Grade 1 monitor but a very fine image nevertheless. Now twenty years old!

After a Medical misadventure some years ago I was unable to continue working in the Television & Film industries. I did a short course in HTML this enabled me to create and maintain my own websites.

Around that time I chose to purchase a 19" Sony Multiscan 400PS at an auction, believing it to be the best possible Graphic display of its size and type. (Serial # 20502072)

I was disappointed however to find that it had a number of problems, the right half of the screen was slightly darker and yellow compared with the left, and there was also an intermittent smear which made the display pretty much unusable.

I rang Sony who referred me to Visual Electronics (now Visual Group). They were the company who serviced all of Sony's Professional TV and Computer Graphic Displays.

I frankly found them most unhelpful, they told me (incorrectly!) that the Warranty was only valid for a year, I said that I still needed the Display functioning correctly so left it with them. The receptionist eventually called me back with news that the CRT was faulty and that the monitor was uneconomical to fix, she said that if I liked I could leave it with them for parts and then there would be no charge for their time!

I was furious; I had since discovered in the Multiscan 400PS Trinitron's box a warranty form that mentioned a period way in excess of the single year they had suggested! I rang back and spoke to someone more senior than the receptionist was and explained that the Graphic Display as far as I could tell should still be under warranty.

I repeated my request to have my monitor fixed.

When I finally got the Multiscan 400PS back, unbeknown to me it had been packed with the BNC leads dangling over the front of the tube for the full return journey from Visual Electronics on the North Shore to Mt Eden where I lived! Pathetic! Scratches were everywhere!

The smear problem had been fixed with a new BNC lead, but the dark yellow cast on the right was still there!

I spoke again with Visual Electronics who assured me that they had serviced my graphic display and brought it back to Sony's specifications. I challenged them about the yellow cast on the right, and the service engineer admitted he'd noticed it, but said that it was "within Sony specifications." I asked for a copy of those specifications, but they were never sent.

Sometime later I repeated my request for a copy of the Technical specifications for the Multiscan 400PS but my request was very much in vain, and to this day I've never heard back from Visual Electronics about this. I got the distinct impression they were avoiding me. (Visual Electronics J/N 26353)

About this time I had a lengthy relapse of my Medical misadventure problems and the Graphic Display issue dropped way down my list of priorities.

This brings me to the current issue.

A year and a half ago, needing a replacement monitor for the Multiscan 400PS I was still struggling to work with, I asked Nigel Russell at Oceania Audio if he was able to source a GDM F520 21" professional Graphic Display, probably the finest 21" Graphics display ever made. He got back to me later and advised that Sony now had only two 21" Graphic Displays left in the country, but that they were the inferior 'Corporate' model, the CPD-G520. They could be purchased however for $1100 ea.

The sales person he'd dealt with at Sony, Hayden Lockie, admitted that the displays had both been used at Sony but that the price reflected this. Hayden also said that he would offer them with the usual three-year warranty given with new displays.

I had Nigel Russell order me one.

You can imagine then how devastated I was when the CPD-G520 (serial # 2504212) died on me last December, a mere year and a half after I'd made the purchase!

Based on my previous connection with Visual Electronics (now Visual Group) I rang Sony to see who else I might take my Display to. There was no choice though, they were the only company that dealt with Sony Broadcast TV Monitors and Sony Computer Graphic Displays.

After reluctantly calling Visual Group a very helpful woman called Sarah Reed came to look at my CPD-G520 Display - of course she could see nothing. She did however leave me with a pathetic Philips 190PS LCD as a replacement for the Sony that she took away.

The Philips could only resolve 21 steps of a standard 26 step Gray Scale!

 

This was just prior to Christmas 2005. And frankly, since then, there hasn't been much communication about my display from anyone at Sony or their Service Company!

I think this fact alone requires some sort of explanation from your organization.

You will agree though that I've had a great deal of time to consider my options.

I've researched at length various types and Brands of displays, including CRT's, Plasma's, LCD's, and even the newer SED displays.

From my research I can tell you that while Sony has always made the very best CRT's on the planet - Trinitrons - it would seem they have fallen way behind in the world of LCDs.

After a couple of months I rang Sarah and she explained that Sony was now no longer making Trinitrons(!) and that the best that Sony NZ could probably do would be some sort of LCD display as a replacement. She also pointed out that my display probably wasn't covered by a warranty either. I was extremely puzzled.

Later I got a phone call from another woman at Visual group, Toni Landeg who said that Sony was now offering me a SDM-P234 as a replacement, but added that I'd have to pay $1000 due to the fact I'd got a discounted price originally!

Unbelievable!

Nothing happened for a further three weeks although as I'd wanted to confirm my reluctant acceptance of Sony's offer but challenge them re the additional $1000, I rang Toni several times (415 3791). There was no reply and no message service either. I eventually rang Sarah to get your contact details so that I could try to sort this issue out.

When I rang, you interrogated me about my previous usage of the CPD-G520, and then offered me as a replacement a SDM-S205K LCD, smaller and considerably less expensive than the first model offered - the SDM-P234!

Surely the use that I had originally put my faulty CRT to, had nothing whatsoever to do with the type of replacement you could get away with?

Other research I have carried out reveals the following:

• Sony is still making Trinitrons albeit not in such large numbers. There's still hundreds of thousands of BVM units out there ...
• The particular Sony Graphic Display that failed for me - the CPD-G520 - has curiously popped up on several news groups and forums on the Internet. Many of these Graphic Displays have apparently failed after three or four years of use - often just outside the warranty period!
• Many professional consumers out there seem to be particularly annoyed.

Sarah admitted that Visual Group had accumulated "a number" of CPD-G520's ...

Even though in the past I've professionally recommended Sony Monitors, I've now experienced two personally devastating occasions when I've been bitterly disappointed over Sony Graphic Displays and the follow up "service" from Sony and / or their contractors.

I've now ended up with a Multiscan 400PS that's frankly only suitable for a colour-blind Accountant doing spreadsheets, and since mid December of 2005 I've been trying desperately to do my own web design work using Visual Group's pathetic replacement Philips 19" LCD. I've had no help at all from Sony for almost five months!

In New Zealand as you'll be aware there is a Consumer Guarantees Act.

Based on that and the three year warranty your company originally offered, I believe I am quite within my rights to demand a replacement 21" Graphic Display of identical (or better) performance to the model Sony originally supplied. As there's quite obviously some issue with the CRT's installed in Sony's CPD-G520's a GDM F520 might be a good alternative. I've had extra losses too as a result of the initial problem, and I intend claiming for these expenses in the Disputes Tribunal.

Additionally, as I was totally ripped off back in 2001 by Visual Electronics who avoided their legal obligation at the time to install a new CRT in my faulty Multiscan 400PS Graphic display, I am now demanding that this problem is also rectified.

If I am unable to get these issues resolved satisfactorily, apart from going to court I intend sending a full transcript of all communications with photographs to the relevant division of Sony in Japan.
(with this website of course that will now simply be a link ... http://www.blueskyzen.com/sony/)

 

Yours Sincerely but most disappointedly

 

 

John Henry

Video Consultant, and Web Designer

 

 

 

 

+ 64 21 677 766
http://www.blueskyzen.com