Some don't report such fast enough. And yes there is an epidemic of some parts that are bad but I suspect something other than the panel but since I can't see the set, I can't look for the parts that I suspect.
The plague of the part in question is in sets from almost every make so brand won't help us here.
If you want to look into this further, drop me a note.
Bob
How many others have experienced a defective LCD panel failure right about the time the 12 month warranty runs out? I purchased a KDL-52XBR9 in Deember 2009. It worked great until January 2011 when it started having distorted lines and shadows that went away after about 10 or 15 minutes. As time went on it took longer for the distortion to go away and shadows appeared. Now the shadows are here for good and continue to get worse every time the tv is turned on. I had a technician authorized by Sony come out who determined tha it was a defective LCD panel. He advised me to call customer support as this is a very common problem with these tv's. He would have to contact Sony himself the next morning to get a price for a replacement panel before he could give me an estimate. When I called Sony I was told the panel was faulty and that it was covered by Sony. I was given a reference number but was then told I would have to call back because the person I was talking to was having computer problems. When I called back I got a completly different story and the only thing Sony could offer me wasto purchase a refurbished tv from them and ship my tv back to them (so they can put a new panel in it and sell it to someone else?). Shipping my set back makes no sense since I am still paying for it. When the repair company called back later that same day, i was shocked to learn that the replacement panel from Sony cost them more than I paid for my tv when it was new! There estimate to replace the panel is $3211.00. I don't understand how Sony can relace the panels on some models and not on others when they all have the same defective panels. Here I thought as a loyal Sony customer for many years that I was buying a "top of the line" quality tv from a good company.

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