Backlight Leakage on stupid expensive SONY SDM-94P

[O.C.CaTaLYsT]

I have had this 19 inch Sony SDM-HS94P for about 2 years, and while it has been an awesome screen in terms of color, clarity, brightness, 0 dead pixels, and pixel response time, lately i have been noticing the backlight leakage alot because i have been watching of DVDs on it all the time. Even though the camera exagerrates the leakage a little bit, it clearly shows that it is brighter on the right and left edges of the screen.

Now I know that on any screen, the backlight isnt going to be EXACTLY PERFECT, and maybe i'm just being really OCD about this (happens alot), but my question is: does this backlight leakage look severe? how does it compare to the leakage on your monitors? does anyone have this same monitor so we can compare our leakage??? I'm thinking of RMAing it, but I'm so happy that my monitor doesnt have any dead pixels and I'd hate to get a refurbished one with dead pixels that has the same leakage. Im just pretty frustrated because this monitor cost me ~700 bucks which was even pretty expensive for 2 years ago (now it sounds completely insane, i know).

*Explanation of pictures: I took a picture of a black screen with the lights off and then with them on, which is why the file says blackoff and blackon. Same with the desktop, but the movie is only with the lights off (ran out of uploads! :shrug: )

[dogbert_2001]

That's terrible. It looks like those old digital watches before INDIGLO. I'd replace it.

I have a Phillips Brilliance 150P, it's over 5 years old. I still use it and it works well. Although, from 3 to 1 years ago, sometimes when the display comes up, it just shows black or faded colors, and I'd have to turn the monitor off/on a couple times. That problem hasn't reappeared recently.

[O.C.CaTaLYsT]

i know it looks horrible on the pictures, but the digital camera exaggerates the leakage. never the less, it still looks terrible witha black background

[Cyrix_2k]

For comparison, I just took pictures of my cheap BenQ T903 19" LCD at night. These pictures should off any backlight leakage even more than yours, yet my pictures show the BenQ's backlight to be far superior to your Sony's.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Cyrix_2k/PB300011.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Cyrix_2k/pb300012.jpg

[O.C.CaTaLYsT]

yea... damn. youd assume that Sony being the big manufacturer that they are would have a superior backlight than a smaller company like benq, but Sony is all about making stuff that looks cool, and doesnt work as good as it looks. oh well, i guess its off to Sony RMA land!

[Cyrix_2k]

I've never been a huge sony fan myself. I think they make nice equipment in general, it's just pricey. I do have to admit that the Cybershot I got my grandmother works pretty well. I only bought it because it it had a protected optical zoom and it was marked down. I was pleasently surprised by its image quality and features.

[O.C.CaTaLYsT]

Yeah i usually dont buy too many Sony products, but i just loved this monitor because it was so vibrant, sharp, bright and it had the fastest response time available when i bought it. Now there are 5ms monitors and such! Sometimes i wish technology would just stop for a second so i could catch up... but then again that would just be boring!

PS thanks for all the help cyrix! :bday: