PRS-600 Screen Washed Out

[mbern1008]

Originally Posted by ziegl027

Can you do me a favor, and try my image test? Bring up an image (the "baby" works pretty well), cover half of it, and flip back and forth a few times. Is there a line there where you can tell where half the screen was shaded? I'm trying to figure out if there really are units that have NO fade at all. If there are, then Sony is feeding me a ration of you-know-what and my refurb is defective, too.

I did this test and although there is a very slight fade with the new refurb it is completely acceptable to use in sunlight unlike my original and the original replacement

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by ziegl027

Can you do me a favor, and try my image test? Bring up an image (the "baby" works pretty well), cover half of it, and flip back and forth a few times. Is there a line there where you can tell where half the screen was shaded? I'm trying to figure out if there really are units that have NO fade at all. If there are, then Sony is feeding me a ration of you-know-what and my refurb is defective, too.

My 505 has no fade whatsoever.

[Breeze]

The bottom half of my scree faded the moment sunlight hit it (no need to turn pages). I called them and dealt with "Otto". He said the same stupid things listed in other posts, but with a little persistence another (refurbished) one was ordered. it arrived in two days and it works fine. it was way out of warranty so I had to pay $29.00 and pay to ship the old one back so they can refurb it and ship it to another disgruntled customer.
However, I am satisfied with Sony and have to say they were extremely quick with the replacement.

[kevinp]

I've had my 300 for two weeks and today was the first time I tried reading while in the car. At first I thought it was my imagination that the letters were getting lighter. Then I did a search on these forums. Fortunately, my Reader doesn't fade anything like some of the ones I saw here. I'll try it a few more times, but I'll probably just live with it.

[flancrest]

Really appreciate this thread, I am having the same issues of eink being faded to invisible when turning the pages in direct sunlight. It took me four Sony reps (two online, two on the phone) for them to understand that issue rather than it being a glare problem. Once the rep understood this, he signed me up for a replacement, new since my unit is less than 30 days old. Hopefully the new won't be a problem. I'm sure glad I found this out now, I'm going to be spending a month in the French and Spanish Riviera, and I'm expecting to do more than a little reading in the sun.

[kartu]

For what it's worth (info from here), based on findings of reader resellers, they also replace broken screens), even within the same model line, Sony seems to use different kind of screens:

1) LG Vizplex LB060S01-FD01 / Vizplex LG LB071WS1-RD01 (used on 900s) screens => most suffer from "Washed Out" problem
2) PVI ED060SC3 => not as dramatic as LG, but still has problems
3) PVI ED060SC4 => do NOT suffer from it (also have a tad better contrast)

The most recent 505s use PVI SC4 => the best screen out there.
Some 600s have LG some PVI screen.
The guy I'm citing haven't seen 900s with PVI screens (doesn't mean, they do not exist)

PS
Dissected 900, in lower left corner, you can see screen's serial number:

[flancrest]

Less than 24 hours after contacting Sony about the issue, a new reader has arrived, and does not exhibit the same issues. Hooray!

[Chazzum]

Originally Posted by emonti8384

I was within the first 90 days of my warranty so I qualified for an "Advanced Exchange." ....

and

...I would try calling first if I were you. Don't call customer service; call technical support, they are the ones that handle everything. Customer service doesn't know anything. Gotta love 'em!

New member here. This is a great forum/website.

I just purchased two PRS-600's (a silver and a black one). The silver one is just fine. The black one, sadly, suffers the sun fade issue. I purchased online and the retailer is now sold out (I can't exchange) so I am interested in exchanging with Sony. A couple of questions:

1) With Sony's 'Advanced Exchange' program do they exchange new for new or do they send refurbs? Obviously, I feel I should get a new unit but is it necessary to force the issue upfront with Sony?

2) Is there a cost involved to the customer with the Advanced Exchange?

3) You mention calling tech support over customer service. What is the tech support number? Does Tech support have to approve an exchange anyway so is that why it is best to start there?

Any advice in getting a painless exchange with Sony would be appreciated. I absolutely hate calling for service and meeting hassles right upfront.

In testing the two indoors, the silver one has a darker overall screen and better contrast than my sun fade prone black one. I wonder if the ones that sun fade start out too light to begin with? The black one, while certainly readable, definitely has lighter print in all situations indoors and out.

I've read on Kindle boards people exchanging mutliple Kindles before getting a non-fade screen. Just what percentage of screens suffer this problem?

Finally, I wonder how many unsuspecting owners there are that have sun-fade prone units but don't know it because they've never read them outdoors. I almost regret knowing about the problem. Had it not been for this forum I probably wouldn't have torture tested mine and never known. But now I know.....

Thanks!

EDIT: I decided to go a different route. I just called Crutchfield (where I purchased the defective 600) and they are overnighting me a new 600 free of charge. I would have done this in the first place but they were on backorder all last week but now they are back in stock). I guess there's a reason they are known for great customer service (this was my first defective product purchase from them)! I'll have 15 days to return the defective unit. Finger's crossed the new one will be okay.

[johnc]

I find this very interesting I had noticed my 505 has more fade and quicker than my old 500 I traded in after it lost a line all the way across the screen (figured that was a bad sign). I will have to test with the prs300 I bought a few weeks ago and see if they both have the effect and if its similar in how long it takes.

[dorino]

Originally Posted by johnc

I find this very interesting I had noticed my 505 has more fade and quicker than my old 500 I traded in after it lost a line all the way across the screen (figured that was a bad sign). I will have to test with the prs300 I bought a few weeks ago and see if they both have the effect and if its similar in how long it takes.

Hope you're unit is a-ok!

[Chazzum]

My replacement 600 came today from Crutchfield. The weather is overcast so I am not able to test for sun fade today.

Out of the box the screen backgound is the same light gray as the defective 600. My silver 600 that is not defective I have noticed has a slightly darker cast to the background. There was some juice in the new 600 so I turned it on before charging to see how text looked under normal lighting. The new 600 definitely has the edge over the sun fading unit: text is a tad bit darker which gives it more 'pop' and clarity on the page. The non-sun fading silver unit has both darker text and background. Too soon to tell which is preferable: the silver or the new black unit.

I am not an expert on how these things work but it seems to me my sun fading unit is not 'charging' enough eink when 'printing' the page to give the text proper darkness and fill. This results in fainter text than the other two units in my possession. Once again, not an expert, just surmising.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. I will torture test the new unit under the sun.

[Chazzum]

My replacement black 600 also suffers some slight sun fade but to a lesser extent than the original 600. It is quite readable under direct sunlight. While not 'perfect' in the sun I feel it is well within tolerance of acceptability. It certainly would meet Sony's claim of being readable in sunshine:I could definitely use it at the beach or on a sunny deck. I suspect someone not knowledgeable of the sun fade issue might not even notice it was faded unless they compared it to pages generated under normal lightiing. Were I to push for another new unit I doubt I'd do better.

Under normal conditions, due to the text being a bit darker, the new unit's text has more 'pop' and clarity. Another plus of the new unit: it has no ghosting or afterimage. The old unit had a faint but noticeable ghost image of the previous screen. I believe this added to its overall fainter text. Perhaps the screen was not charging the ink fully? I am glad I exchanged the old black unit: the replacement's performance is markedly better.

One other thing. I've been saying my silver 600 doesn't suffer sun fade. I now see this is not totally true. In testing my new black 600 with the silver I noticed that after refreshing the black unit under normal light it had darker text than the silver sunlit generated page. The silver unit's sun fade is so slight it was still darker than normal text on my old black unit under normal light.

I feel I may have gone on a bit excessively about this but some may benefit from my observations.

[dorino]

Originally Posted by Chazzum

Another plus of the new unit: it has no ghosting or afterimage. The old unit had a faint but noticeable ghost image of the previous screen. I believe this added to its overall fainter text. Perhaps the screen was not charging the ink fully?

I've never seen this happen before on an e-ink reading that flashes correctly. See, everytime you turn a page, the flashing black bit? That's there to prevent ghosting my essentially wiping away what was on the screen before. If you'de like to see what happens without that, try creating some notes, then erasing them, drawing over them, and erasing them. There's no black flashes in the note taker until you exit, so ghosting remains.

e-ink screens would all suffer from insane ghosting if not for that black flash.

I don't believe it has anything to do with the ink's charge.

[doog_smith]

I recently bought a refurbished PRS-300. It experienced sun fade. I called Sony and spoke to two operators for about twenty minutes total. I explained the issue. They confirmed the problem and promised to ship a replacement unit. I received the replacement unit on the next business day (I called on Friday and got it on Monday). It works great. I was fairly pleased with the company's response (notwithstanding the annoyance of the lack of quality testing/vetting).

[bugeyed]

Let me start by saying that I do only have a basic understanding of how e ink works. In an attempt to add to a technical understanding of the sun fade issue I submit the following. The xerographic principal is based on the fact that a sufficiently bright light will dissipate a static charge on a surface. This could be a factor in the problem that we are seeing. As the charge on the top electrode becomes less positive the black pigment is poorly attracted to the top surface resulting is poor rendering of black text.

Pardon me if this has been posted previously. I am waiting for the rain to stop to test my new PRS-600. I have my fingers crossed as I tip4e t8hi-s.

Cheers,
kev