Consumer electronics giant Samsung, which unveiled its 3D TVs in March, recently issued guidelines on its Web site alerting viewers that watching the TVs could pose potential health risks.

The “warning” advises parents to monitor their children as they watch 3-D programming and cautions that it could trigger seizure or stroke in those with a family history of those conditions.

“We do not recommend watching 3-D if you are in bad physical condition, need sleep or have been drinking alcohol,” it says, adding that consumers should not place 3-D TVs near open stairwells, cables or other objects that could injure disoriented viewers.

Per Samsung’s Website

Viewing TV using the 3D function

3D Viewing Conditions

• To watch in 3D mode, you need to put the 3D Active Glasses on and press the power button on top of the glasses. Fluorescent lighting may cause a flickering effect and direct sunlight may affect the operation of the 3D glasses. Turn off all fluorescent lighting and block sources of direct sunlight before watching in 3D mode.

Photosensitive Seizure Warning and Other Health Risks

• Some viewers may experience an epileptic seizure or stroke when exposed to certain flashing images or lights contained in certain television pictures or video games. If you or any of your family has a history of epilepsy or stroke, please consult with a medical specialist before using the 3D function.
• If you experience any of the following symptoms, immediately stop watching 3D pictures and consult a medical specialist: (1) altered vision; (2) lightheadedness; (3) dizziness; (4) involuntary movements such as eye or muscle twitching; (5) confusion; (6) nausea; (7) loss of awareness; (8) convulsions; (9) cramps; and/or (10) disorientation. Parents should monitor and ask their children about the above symptoms as children and teenagers may be more likely to experience these symptoms than adults.
• Viewing in 3D mode may also cause motion sickness, perceptual after effects, disorientation, eye strain, and decreased postural stability. It is recommended that users take frequent breaks to lessen the likelihood of these effects. If you have any of the above symptoms, immediately discontinue use of this device and do not resume until the symptoms have subsided.
• We do not recommend watching 3D if you are in bad physical condition, need sleep or have been drinking alcohol.
• Watching TV while sitting too close to the screen for an extended period of time may damage your eyesight. The ideal viewing distance should be at least three times the height of the TV screen. It is recommended that the viewer’s eyes are level with the screen.
• Watching TV while wearing 3D Active Glasses for an extended period of time may cause headaches or fatigue. If you experience a headache, fatigue or dizziness, stop watching TV and rest.
• Do not use the 3D Active Glasses for any purpose other than viewing 3D television. Wearing the 3D Active Glasses for any other purpose (as general spectacles, sunglasses, protective goggles, etc.) may physically harm you or weaken your eyesight.
• Viewing in 3D mode may cause disorientation for some viewers. DO NOT place your television near open stairwells, cables, balconies or other objects that may cause you to injure yourself.

Also announced was Samsung’s new HDTV app store, which will offer about twenty applications for Samsung’s Internet-capable TVs by the end of this month. The early offerings will include apps for content from USA Today, Netflix, Pandora, VUDU and others.

Many of us found this website to find a fix of our LCD clicking problems and most of us probably not going to buy any Samsung product because of our bad experience with them. But this new 3D LED TVs are just too cool to pass and I am pretty sure that Sony or Vizio will come out with a 3D TV few days after they Samsung unveiled their TV so I guess they got my vote already.

Bulged Capacitors

As you can see on the image, it is very easy to spot a bad capacitor. All there is, is flat and then bulged. The image is showing you the top of the capacitor. Remember not in all cases that the bulging will appear at the top but also bulging can appear at the bottom part of the capacitor where the circuit board and capacitor meets.

Visible Leak On Capacitor

Sometime, bad capacitors does not bulge but if the top of the capacitor is not tightly sealed it could leak. Just like the picture to your left where it leak.

Have you seen capacitor that were blown but don’t have similarities on the images above? Please let me know I will make sure to post is here to inform everybody having this capacitor problems.

Learn how to fix Samsung LCD with Power Supply Problems (Clicking Sound)

This new technology would change the world on how we use transparent glass. The product doesn’t have any name yet but sure, we will just call it OLED-T, letter T for TRANSPARENT. They are planning to test it on cars, on its windshields and dashboards. This exciting and new technology is a very steep leap from regular LCD and LED! But still don’t forget about Samsung LCD TV capacitor problem!

Where else you think we can use this technology? Maybe interactive books?
Well let us know by leaving a comment!

Video by: WireD.com

Lee, who appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) unveiled its latest TVs and other gadgets, also said Samsung did not fear, but should be mindful of, Japanese competition.

Samsung and its home rival LG Electronics (066570.KS) have taken away market share from Japan’s Sony Corp (6758.T) and others to post a robust recovery from the global downturn.

“It’s still far away,” Lee was quoted in media pool reports as telling reporters asking when he could return to running Samsung Group. His comments were confirmed by a company spokesman speaking by telephone from Las Vegas.

Lee, one of South Korea’s most influential businessmen, stepped down from his chairmanship in 2008 after being embroiled in a scandal where executives in Samsung Group were indicted on suspicion of brokering a sweetheart deal to give his children a greater ownership of a de facto holding firm of the group.

He was cleared of the charge but handed a suspended three-year jail term for tax evasion.

South Korea pardoned him in late December to help its bid to land the Winter Olympics, raising speculations that Lee could also return to lead the country’s top conglomerate.

Under Lee’s leadership Samsung has grown into a multi-industries group with about 60 affiliates accounting for a fifth of the country’s exports. Lee still owns 3.4 percent of Samsung Electronics while his son Jay Y. Lee was recently named chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics. [ID:nTOE5BE01E] (Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Editing by Alex Richardson)

• Several Clicking Sound on power up.
• Delay power up, from 1 min to 10 mins +
• After power up vertical lines appears (reboots normally fix it)
• Blurry images after power up. (reboots normally fix it)
• (Worst Symptom) It starts right after your warranty expires!

From the comments on my previous post, it seems like Samsung finally “kinda” acknowledge the power supply problem.  Their are some LCD TV owners that got their warranty extended by Samsung.  This might require a lot of time on the phone but if your not up to the task of fixing your own LCD you can go this route.

If you didn’t see the symptom that you have experienced with your Samsung LCD set and want to share, please leave us a comment!

below is a post from Samsung’s representative on CNet forum.

Forum members,

In response to several complaints here with regards to some instances of Samsung LCD or Plasma units turning off and on, or not being able to turn on after several attempts, or delayed turning on (clicks, then powers on after a period of time). We’ve been authorized to accept up to 50 people** who step forward with the problem to have it inspected and repaired for free. Regardless of warranty status, age of the unit, or past denial.

Please send the following information to an email account that I’ve set up for just this purpose. One of the product specialists will be compiling the information and assisting with setting up the service for your unit.

This is not for ANY OTHER ISSUE besides re-occurring cycling issues, or long delays in attempting to turn the unit on. LCDs and Plasmas only. I’m sorry if you have a different issue with an LCD or Plasma set (picture issues, screen uniformity, burn in, etc), but submitting a non-qualifying issue hurts the program and the people affected. And if a different symptom is found that isn’t related to this specific issue, it will not be repaired.

Email the following information to LCDonoff@gmail.com

Do *not* post *any* personal information in the forum.

• C|Net User Name (if applicable)
• First and Last Name
• Your email
• Transaction number. If you don’t have one, call 800-SAMSUNG, explain your problem and request a transaction number and mention CNet or “the forums” – do NOT schedule a service, we will contact you to do that. (Well, you can schedule one, but then it’s out of pocket and not part of this program.)
• Phone Number where you can be easily reached, cell preferred.
• Model number, Serial number, and Version number. This can be found on the right side of the TV.
• Example: http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp60/samsung_hd_tech/Modelcode.jpg
• Extra consideration will be given to those who can produce a video of the symptom, and can be submitted or uploaded and linked (depending on size). Cell phone videos are fine, hearing the click is what we’re looking for.
• A description with as much detail as possible. (Many of the CNET posters can copy and paste their posts in an email, but please provide a full summary based on the post, as if someone besides me is reading it)

**Due to the goal of establishing consistency, there may be instances where we may email or call you to attempt to qualify you. There will be no priority except what we believe to be consistent issues with a specific criteria of what we are looking for. Of those qualifying candidates, C|Net forums members will have priority, video submissions will have priority and then all others. Putting C|Net members first is my decision for the benefit of the forum community. That said, we do want participation, as the more issues that are brought forward allows us to focus on this issue, but we will limit the repairs at this point to 50. I figure this information will be shared outside of the CNet forum, and I don’t discourage that, though not everybody who submits may get served in this initial exploration of the issue.

U.S. Customers only.

Emails not pertaining to this issue will be deleted, please ask your questions in the forums.

We reserve the right to stop, modify or change this program at any time.

Please post any questions below.

Best,

–HDTech

Acknowledging the problem and only fixing to the lucky 50 customers is like playing a scratch off!  Where’s your good customer service you guys are talking about?

But if you are unlucky and didn’t make the first 50 customers to get there TV sets fix for free.  You can follow my unofficial guide on how to fix the power supply problem on your Samsung LCD or Plasma TV sets cheaply.

Bad Capacitors

The main cause of this power up problem are bad capacitors on your power supply.  The image to your left shows that the middle capacitor is bulged or swollen and that’s how you can identify if the capacitor is bad. See more bad capacitor images Most of the post I have read online haven’t shown a capacitor that has leaked, but obviously that would be another indicator for a bad capacitor.

Now, if your LCD set is still under warranty I would suggest to use it and let the professionals handle the problem for you.  But for the rest of the Samsung LCD TV owners that their warranty had expired and want to save some money, this would be the best route.  Mind me, when I fixed my power supply I didn’t have any previous experience on desoldering and soldering capacitors on a power supply board.  It was a good experience after all is said and done.

Here’s what you need for this DIY project: Screw driver, Soldering iron(40watts+), Desoldering braid, Soldering wire, and capacitors.

Now lets talk about the specs, capacitors hold 3 important value:

1. The capacitance measured in uF(micro farads) (ex. 2200uF),
2. Voltage (ex. 10v),
3. Temperature (ex. 105°C)

Support this page by buying your items here: (THANKS!!!)
1000uf 16v Capacitor 105c High Temp, Radial Leads
2200uf 16v Capacitor 105c High Temp, Radial Leads
Weller SP40L Marksman 40 Watt Soldering Iron (See all Soldering Guns & Irons)
Heavy Duty Soldering Iron Stand (See all Soldering Equipment)
Desoldering Wick (See all Soldering Equipment)
Solder Wire 63/37 with a No Clean Flux Core .032, Pocket Pack (0.6 oz)

Important Notes:

Samsung’s power supply capacitors has 10v installed on the board and it is attached to a 12v  bus which is causing to bulged. (I’m not a Electrical Engineer but I do know if you put too much on something, its going to get bigger or burst! ^_^  And that’s why our LCD sets end up with bulged or leaked capacitors)


Look at the bad capacitor and get the right information from it, remember uF, voltage and temperature.  Mine, I only change 2 capacitors.   It needed two 2200 uF, when I first saw my power supply it was really easy to spot the bad caps.  Some Samsung LCD owners did went ahead replace all the capacitors on the power supply to make sure.  Now if you’re like me, an inexperience solder, I would not recommend changing all the capacitors because to me it was time consuming for a noob(newbie) like me ^_^.

Few things to take note, always make sure you have the right polarity.  Negative part is where the colored stripe on the capacitor.  If your looking at the image above, it would be the copper colored stripe.  And if you are looking at the two connector wire of the capacitor, the negative wire is the short one.  On placing it on the board make sure negative to negative and positive to positive.  By this time you will be ready for soldering.

How to Solder and Desolder (Youtube video) is pretty simple and it just need guts to do it   The total cost for this project is $40 (I had to buy a new soldering iron and desoldering braid) You can buy capacitors from radioshack but always remember uF, voltage and temperature(they are price from .40 cents to $5 each).

Here are the models that are known with this problem:
My Official Samsung LCD TV Problem List

Did your Samsung LCD TV just completely went kaboom and does not work anymore but still wants a Samsung TV?

Buy this one!  Its the best priced Samsung for your money: Samsung UN40C6300 40-Inch 1080p LED TV – Graphite (See all TVs)

(If you’re a Samsung LCD owner and have a different model number with the same problem, please let me know)

I just fixed my LCD set last night and all is working fine and turns on normally.   Power up delay and the rainbow background is gone .  I will update if there’s any other effect after installing that 2 capacitors.  This post is based from my own experience fixing my own samsung LCD set.

Your LCD monitor having problems too? Well, I bet it’s having a capacitor problem too just like this ACER X221W

I will not take any responsibility if something wrong happens to YOUR LCD set after reading and taking this advise from non-professional DIY fixer.  USE THIS GUIDE WITH CAUTION!

If this tutorial has help you and save you lots of money. Click on the donation button to buy me a $3 coffee. Thanks!

See what Samsung has to say about this known problem with their LCD and Plasma TV sets.

Attention: Call Samsung (1-800-SAMSUNG) because they are fixing the capacitor problems for FREE!