Xenarc 700 TSV VGA looks horrible, RCA looks great

nezzer · 07-27-2007, 11:32 PM

I have had a Xenarc 700TSV screen since 2004. During that time it has been in a couple of vehicles in various locations, but never opened. The warranty sticker is still in place. The image quality has always been top notch in the past.

Very abruptly the image on the screen started looking pretty bad. When my PC is connected via VGA the image has massive shadows and the the color is way off, whites appear gray. Despite having tried 3 different PCs and both custom 12v DC power cable versus 120v AC adapter originally included with xenarc the VGA image now always looks bad.

When I have a standard composite source, such as my xbox or playstation hooked up the picture looks fine.

Even when displaying a VGA source, the on screen menu system looks great, just not the image from the VGA source.

This happened abruptly and with two possible causes. First, my car was parked out in the sun for a week during a pretty hot time. Second, the 12v DC line to the screen was loose and made intermittent contact. It did not ground and the 1 amp fuse on that line did not blow, but for about 10 seconds it was off and on at a rapid pace.

From previous posts it seems like replacing the controller board would solve the problem but no posts describe my exact problem. Before I go opening the case and swapping controller boards, does anybody have any ideas on what else might be wrong?

mbkowns · 07-28-2007, 11:59 AM

Call xenarc yes it has been more than the warranty permits but they mostly likely would swap for you anyway.

nezzer · 07-30-2007, 12:30 AM

I sent Xenarc an email. I will post back once I get a reply.

h0tw1r3 · 07-31-2007, 02:38 AM

I had this same problem with mine. What happened is the cable ground on the pcb came loose. A little solder fixed the problem.

nezzer · 08-09-2007, 02:18 PM

I did contact Xenarc. They suggested that the cable may be bad, but recommended shipping it back to them to have the problem diagnosed. I have not done it yet as I have been traveling for the last couple of weeks.

The loose ground does seem to fit the symptoms. I played with the screen more and noticed that if I jiggled the power or signal input cables on the screen the distortion would change. Sometimes the image would look almost correct, other times it would be really hazy with a greenish hue.

I will open up the casing when I get home to see the ground connection is loose. thanks.