No worries then, I'll await the results of the investigation.
Once again, thank you for your efforts in helping to resolve this issue.
Best Regards
M
Printable View
Hi!
I've been preparing my LCD module to send it for RMA to Antec EU on Monday and I'd hate to get back one that looks exactly the same. :-(
Any advice? should I wait till a solution is confirmed?
Hi Mediocaballero,
I would speak with the RMA department over at Antec EU and ask them about this problem. I would provide detailed information like MonkeyL did regarding this issue. Show them what the problem is and ask them to test it before returning it to you. A lot of other members have seen good LCD displays and I don't know why the displays in EU tend to be defective or have pink squares.
Regards,
Antec
It's not exactly that it has 'pink squares', but a too bright pink-coloured background light that makes text almost impossible to read (and noticeably uncomfortable to have in dim or no-light situations, like watching a movie).
I've been taking some pics of my system and I'd try to prepare a doc explaining the difference between what it is and what it should be like.
MonkeyL, can I ask which pics did you use for the 'what it should look like'? I know I saw some good ones, but I've been browsing Antec's web site and all I find now are pics with the LCD switched off... :-m
Thanks for your help!
EDIT: I've finally found some pics that ilustrate the problem. Just want to check if it's the same problem everyone complains about.
These are from soundgraph (how it should be):
http://www.soundgraph.com/assets/Upl..._OEMLCD_07.jpg
http://www.insanegenius.com/fusionbl...h_iMon_OEM.jpg
These are from Pieter Viljoen's blog, a user that seems to have the same problem as most people here do:
http://www.insanegenius.com/fusionbl...dium_Small.JPG
I used pictures I took myself of my older Fusion NSK430 (now branded as Fusion Black), which uses the same LCD as the Fusion Max but isn't overbright and discoloured. I'm still not convinced it's as good as it should be but I have always found it acceptable, and it sure highlights the problems with the Max.
PM me an email address and I'll post the pictures to you if you'd like.
Hi, thanks for your offering.
I've not been able to find a way to send PMs here. Can you send them to mediocaballero at gmail dot com? :-)
Also, I've taken some pics of my system. In my opinion it's barely usable, and when on it makes more harm than good (it's really annoying with dim light on the room), but I'd like your opinion based on the ones you have have received after RMAs and the one one the NSK... could you take a look and tell me what you think of them?
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/764/img5088.th.jpg http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6663/img5085w.th.jpg http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4227/img5086j.th.jpg http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/8128/img5087j.th.jpg http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1827/img5083i.th.jpg
Of course, any other opinion (specially from Antec's representatives) is very welcome :-D
Thanks!
You should be able to get it slightly clearer than shown in those pictures if you tweak the settings. For me the problem is most obvious when you look at the screen from an angle.
The difference in brightness between the characters and the background is too close that at even a slight angle they both become the same colour (pink) and you cannot make out the text anymore.
Sat straight on i dont get the pink problem, I have my settings as follows:
iMon Utilities > FrontView
Backlight OFF
LCD Contrast on the 2nd setting from the left (left being Low)
NB: The above control might not be the same if you have a different version of iMon Manager
Thanks for the feedback!
I already tweaked the contrast settings, the results in the pics are the best I could get. In mine it's also worse when looked from above, which is quite sad, as I have my case almost at ground-level as you can see in the pics. :-(
I never noticed an option for 'Backlight OFF'... I'll check again when I get home this evening...
I'm using the latest version of the iMon software, with autoupdate (though it screwed my mediaportal LCD plugin from working :-P).
UPDATE: I connected remotely to my home computer and checked the settings. They are almost the same as you suggested.
The backlight off option is just for when frontview goes off, isn't it?
Here are my settings and version:
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/2...2510263.th.jpg http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6...2510281.th.jpg
UPDATE 2: I contacted Antec EU before sending my LCD module to them for the replacement, and got this response (kudos for them for a quick reply, btw)
Quote:
Right now we are awaiting for our Head Office to give us updated information on this issue, as you are not the only of our customers experiencing this problem. As soon as we obtain more details be sure we'll let you know right away.
Hi Mediocaballero,
I believe product development is trying to find some sort of solution. I will have to check with technical support and product development to see whats going on. I understand this might be a little frustrating, Thank you for your patience.
Regards,
Antec
Ok, thanks for the info!
If it may help, in the official soundgraph (the imon products manufacturer) forum they made some statements as to what may be the cause of the issue. I guess they'll probably have it already or will have contacted soundgraph themselves, but anyway, here's the relevant post, should you want to forward it to the technical support group:
http://www.soundgraph.com/forums/sho...=4745#post4745
Hey Everyone,
Just heard from product development talking about this problem today. We are currently creating a guide to resolve this problem. I will post and let you guys know about more about this once I get all the information.
Regards,
Antec
OK, I have now recieved the information, it appears to equate to "turn the LCD off"!
Frankly, this advice is nothing short of an utter disgrace, it in no way addresses any of the issues that exist with the LCD's in this range of cases.
That anyone in their right mind could possibly regard this as a solution is simply beyond belief.
Obviously I'm not very happy. :(
Anyways, thanks for your help Antec_Tech, it\'s not your fault & I am grateful for your help in reaching the end of trying to resolve the issue.
Regards
M
Same here... I\'ve recevied the mail with the \'workaround\' that tells us, basically\' to use the timer in the iMon software to turn the display off :-(
The answer could have been as well to rip the display off the case :-P
Hi MonkeyL,
I apologize for not being able to solved the problem to the LCD display. I personally thought the guide was to somehow dim the LCD display or something to get rid of the pink squares. I was given very little information last week so I couldn't give you guys more detail information regarding this problem. I'm sure that some of members were looking for a solution to turn off the LCD display and I'm glad we have that taken care of. I know this LCD display problem has been going on for a while and I am sure that product development is aware of this issue and hopefully they will have a solution to this problem as soon as they can.
Again, I would like to thank you for your patience and support you've shown us.
Regards,
Antec
Im not really surprised at the outcome.
There may still be hope in the form of a replacemnt LCD from the Soundgraph shop, but who knows how long it might be before they actually become available.
http://www.soundgraph.com/forums/sho...=4745#post4745
You can try ordering a sample two-way acrylic mirror from some online stores. One of my friends ordered a sample of the 1/8" acrylic 2-way mirrors from seethroughmirror.com, but we are both in the USA, so not sure if that will help outside here. He said it worked great. The sample size was about 6 inches by 8 inches, which he simply cut to fit. I saw his and it looked pretty good. The off angle pink is still there (when looking from vertical off angle, but horizontal angles looked very good). Contrast is much better since the overall brightness is down. You can try from you local glass/acrylic dealers. Most of them will have plenty of scrap pieces which were trimmings from other projects they have done.
I have subsequently recieved the following:-
"Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 07:43:08 -0700
We are still trying to find the best solution to your problem and will get back to you next week with an update.
Thank you for your patience.
Best regards,
Mario Santos
Antec Europe BV (RMA Dept)
t: + 31 (0) 10 208 89 19
f: + 31 (0) 10 437 17 52
www.antec.com"
Obviously that was 2 weeks ago, and despite numerous attempts to find out what is happening, I seem to be hitting the wall of silence again. Can't get any response, though I'm using europe.rma@antec.com, so you would imagine someone might reply.
Antec_Tech, I guess Mario could be on holiday so I wondered if there was anything you could do to find out what is happening and if there has been any progress?
Regards
M
MonkeyL
I know how you must feel i have been following this from the start, i am in the same boat as you but gave up months ago after being fobbed off with there's nothing wrong with it replies from antec.
The funny part is they lost 7 sales as a result as i build systems for friends & family
Robert
Hi Antec-Tech,
Thanks for your input, and help. It is much appreciated.
Euro-RMA seem to be having collective amnesia, and Mario has vanished off the face of the earth despite promising an update "next week" over a month ago.
Sorry to have to keep bugging you about it but euro support now seems to be pretty much none existant.
Regards
M
Hi there,
Yes, it's a bad state of affairs.
The only time I've ever had to use Antec support and it's been a bit underwhelming, to say the least.
I wouldn't want to tarr everyone with the same brush though as Antec-Tech has been very helpful.
I have subsequently looked at a number of HTPC cases from other manufacturers, all of which use an identical LCD from Soundgraph. None of them suffer any of the issues present on all the most recent Antec Veris range of products. The fault appears to be unique to Antec products made in the last 18 months.
In reality, this range of products should not have made it to retail at all, the LCD's are so massively out of whack it's just not plausible that no-one could have noticed. Someone just thought "sod it, hang the customer".
It makes me think that the quality of Antec products and their ideals are no longer what they were, or are perhaps on the wane.
Like you, I have started moving away from Antec products for future builds. I wouldn't say I would never buy Antec again, but I've already stopped using their PSU's and I would be reticent to use their enclosures again unless it's a specific request.
Regards
M
MonkeyL,
Just to update you, we are still finding a solution to this problem. An email around the company mainly to customer support and product development about this issue and hopefully this problem will get resolve as soon as possible.
Antec
Hi Antec-Tech, thanks loads for your response. It's looking like the only way to get any sort of valid info is via your efforts.
EU support are now stating that as far as they're concerned there is no fault, despite aknowledging that they're aware of the fault a few months ago. Something is very very wrong with Antec's EU support, the left hand doesn't appear to know what the right is doing. Advice is contradictory and confusing. It would seem a blue LCD that in reality looks bright pink is now somehow.. fine!
They just sent me another email telling me to return the case to the retailer for a refund. I informed the retailer about this and forwared the emails advising me to return, but I suspect he has contacted EU support and been told there is no fault as the lines of communication have now gone totally silent.
Nice one Antec! It's looking like it's now going to get a bit messy and litigious. Oooo errr ;)
Anyways, It won't be the first time. so it's no biggy. I'll hold off until I hear back from you, I don't think I'll bother trying to contact EU support again.
Thanks again, your effiorts really are greatly appreciated.
M
It's been announced on soundgraph's forum that a filter set for the LCDs has been made available at their online shop here:
http://shop.soundgraph.com/ItemDetail.aspx?PDSEQ=22
Here's a video by soundgraph on how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9OxbwcXvig
Looks like finally there is a solution available...
Antec, is there any chance that you will be providing this filter for us?
That would be nice, something to try at least.
However, looking at that video, the LCD is already the right colour (blue) before the filter is used to dull it down a bit.
The problem I have is that my LCD is entirely the wrong colour, and I suspect that even with this filter it'll just be a darker shade of pink.
That video reinforces my belief that the LCD's Antec have are inherantly faulty in manufacture, because the un-filtered LCD in that video already looks a million times better than all the ones I've seen in all the Fusion Max's I've had. It's the right colour, if a little bright, even before the filter is overlayed.
Still, at this stage I'd be happy to try anything to see if it helps in any way.
Hi guys,
I have forwarded this to the Chassis people and I can imagine that we will be looking into it and try to make changes for the better.
Christoph
Thank you mediocaballero for this heads-up!
Good news at last!
Notice SoundGraph's dig/snipe at Antec in the quote below, lol!
How do we know which of the 3 types to choose? Im thinking of going for the medium one as you can still see the circuits in the bright one.Quote:
SoundGraph ODM/OEM LCD module are not as bright as ODM/OEM VFD products. So, many of HTPC manufacturers use transparency acrylic to cover their ODM/OEM LCD products. In this case, it makes the LCD display text information easier to read but there are some disadvantages as like visible circuit patterns and LCD color looks like pink(violet).
SoundGraph recommend ODM/OEM customers to use half mirror to cover ODM/OEM LCD module instead of the transparency acrylic. However, some ODM/OEM customers still choose to use the transparency acrylic to cover SoundGraph ODM/OEM LCD module.
SoundGraph received many inquiries from SoundGraph User Forums that end users who currently have transparency acrylic cover on their products and wish to have a solution to make their display become clear which means that information become easy to read, circuit patterns become invisible and background become black.
SoundGraph decide to supply ODM/OEM LCD Cover Filter Set to resolve this problem. This LCD Cover Filter will make circuit pattern invisible and the display information easy to read. The product is composed of 3 piece of LCD Filter Cover. There are three different transmittance filters. Users can choose the Cover Filter according to their environment and adjust LCD contrast using iMON Manager.
May 26, 2010
SoundGraph, Inc.
Can we send the bill for this to Antec? :cool:
As I understand it, it's a set of three filters, so you can try them all and use the one that best suits you.
Still, it's $27 shipped to Spain (or anywhere in Europe, as far as I know), so I still think it's a bit expensive for something that should have been already included with our cases...
I hope Antec admits the error, gets a load of these filters from soundgraph and sends them to all the unhappy customers... :-m
Sorry for not updating... They did arrive, and quite fast (they took like a week or so to get to Spain), but I've been out for holidays for quite some days, so they are still on the envelope. You can take a look at the soundgraph forums, they have posted some pics of the results there... I'll try to set mine up this week and upload some pics as well.
Cool. Cheers for the response.
I checked out the pictures on the soundgraph site. Looks good. My only concern is that the original LCD's displayed there, before the filter is installed, all look a million times better than all the ones I've ever seen. They're already blue (albeit very bright), but mine is bright pink. I have a funny feeling the filter will just make it darker pink.
Still, I recieved an email from Antec saying they're waiting for their stock of filters to arrive and they will send me a set when they do. So I'll give it a whirl then.
I meant the forums, not the 'official' pics... there you can check some user experiences with the filters:
http://www.soundgraph.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=89
Funny enough, I asked Antec EU support for the filters as well and they say they couldn't provide them, so I had to pay soundgraph for them... :-(
Yes, they are the pictures I was referring to. That LCD already looks a million times better than all the ones I've seen even before the filter is placed over the top.
EU support is utterly useless. Simply not fit for purpose.
The number of times they've blatantly misled, promised something that hasn't happened, ignored emails and so on is endless. The warranty, at least in the EU, isn't really worth a great deal.
In the end I just went to US support, who have assured me that I will recieve a filter set when they arrive at Antec HQ. To be honest, if it's anything like the experience so far, there won't be any filters.
Lets put it this way, I'm not holding my breath ;)
Well, the filter turned up today. Kudos to US support.
Unfortunately, it makes little difference.
As suspected the LCD background is still bright pink, just slightly less so.
Most disappointing, compared to the same LCD in a Fusion bought a year earlier it looks terrible.
Sod it, have a Zalman HTPC case stashed in reserve just in case.
Time to swap to that for now, while I press Antec further.
WTF!
All that effort and it makes no difference?
Are the filters the same ones that Soundgraph are selling or is it something Antec have knocked up?
Im glad I didnt get around to buying them now, they dont make any difference, thats just crazy... :wallbash:
It makes pretty much zero difference, it's not even tinted, just a slight mirror effect.
No idea, but judging by the difference on the video Soundgraph made showing their filters, I don't think the one Antec sent is the right one, the difference is so non existant.
Indeed, you would imagine someone would just use their eye's and actually look at the display on the products they sell. I still maintain that I have no idea how on earth this case made it to retail in it's present state. It's a complete eyesore.
The quality of Antec products does seem to have nosedived recently, maybe it's a casualty of that. Still, it's not very good.
Well, finally had another LCD to replace the last two that were faulty.
Insisted on a picture before the new one was sent to avoid getting another pink one, the picture was of a blue LCD.
Got the new LCD delivered yesterday, installed into the case, and..... it's bright pink.
:(
Well mate you have more patience than me, i sold mine as i had the same problem and couldn\'t live with it.
One thing for sure, i have built 3 systems since then and none were in Antec cases
Robert
Technology has moved on a bit and Im considering changing my HTPC for one based on an atom board, obviously that would involve ditching my Fusion case and replacing it with something much smaller and without a display this time as I dont believe any of them work.
I dont game on my HTPC and so my fusion case\'s days are numbered as the atoms now play 1080p no problem.
Wow, so this was never fixed? I\'m quite annoyed as I had pretty much decided on using this as my HTPC case. That\'s not going to be the case if I\'m sure to get a bright pink glowing screen instead of a normal LCD.
I think it stands as a point not to buy this clearly defective case.
Unbelievable that this has been going on for nearly 3 years now.
It never was, unfortunately. Antec's EU support seem to have trouble identifying the colour pink, understanding english, or doing anything they say they'll do. Promised emails never happened, then all emails chasing them up were ignored. In the end, I just gave up. I didn't feel that there was any intention or will to resolve the issues, more a case of "We've got your money now".
The warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on (IMHO), at least as far as the Fusion cases are concerned. They're worthless as a HTPC enclosure, completely unfit for purpose with such a garish LCD. Stylish it was not.
I don't understand how this case ever made it to retail in it's current state, shoddy just doesn't cover it.
Indeed, judging by the responses it's not an isolated issue. I haven't actually heard from anyone who doesn't have a defective LCD on this range of cases.
The problem seems to be unique to Antec and the Veris range of products. They're all faulty.
In light of these issues and the effectiveness of Antecs "warranty", I have now moved away from Antec products.
At least the thread has served some purpose in alerting you to the issues with this case before you order.
Indeed, thanks for that MonkeyL.
Other current possible candidates are now the Zalman HD503 or the Silverstone LC16 for anyone looking for a full size ATX HTPC case in this price range (I'm personally erring on the side of the HD503 as the LC16 is restricted to short GPU cards only).
I replaced my Max with a Zalman HD503. It carries *exactly* the same Soundgraph LCD as the Fusion Max, except the one in the Zalman isn't a bright pink mess. It actually looks quite good.
The enclosure itself isn't quite as spacious, but it's not as expensive as the Max. That and the fact that the LCD doesn't look like a total eyesore more than make up for the difference. (I haven't any really long GPU cards so I couldn't comment on that).
Hey MonkeyL, I’ve still got my Fusion case, I must be a masochist!
The display is just clear enough for me to see the time and Ive actually got used to it being a pink mess.
I read with interest your move to the Zalman HD503, you said you got it cheaper than a Fusion? I’ve just checked prices and it seems to cost quite a bit more.
I built a home server around an atom board not long ago and if I ever replace my HTPC's Fusion case I will probably do a rebuild based around an atom as their integrated graphics can now handle 1080p. It is no longer necessary to have a HTPC case this big, unless you want to also use it for gaming and need room for big graphics cards.
Here is a picture of my Zalman HD503 so you can see the display : https://xnode.org/gallery/main.php?c...2FIMG_0426.JPG
The only time I have the screen go bright pink on me is if I'm looking down at the display (like a 70' angle, which is expected on an LCD). If I'm even remotely level with it then it's fine.
I just noticed this thread
I am shocked how long this issue has gone on for but I have dealt with Antec EU before they are terrible so I can see why people have had problems.
http://www.soundgraph.com/forums/sho...?t=158&page=12
There appears to be a solution look for DJ POE I hope this helps and it's fairly simple for Antec to sort out which for some reason I don't think they really care they have your money.
If you have a Zalman HD503 which has the same screen can't you just swap them so you can continue using the Antec?
I just took delivery of a Fusion case yesterday not knowing about this issue. It's going to be a week or two before I can test it too, is this issue still prevalent or has it been fixed by now?
It seems fine now. The service works as expected and software like LCDProc and XBMC have no issues connecting to it (i'd had it disabled for so long because of this, I only reenabled it the other day to find it's working now).
EDIT: Sorry, confusing issues here. The issue I'm referring to being fixed is the LCD not working anymore as Linux couldn't communicate with it. Regarding the pink issue, well it has pretty awful viewing angles and I think that's when it IS working properly, so don't expect anything great.
That's what I was referring to, three years on and 18 months since Antec posted in this thread, have they actually put a suitable filter on the LCD so it appears normal or are they still producing cases that burn out your eyeballs.