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Been lurking this forum for over a week now trying to figure out if I got screwed... I purchased a used (~2yrs) Samsung HL50A650 which has recently had the Ballast and Lamp replaced. I've noticed over the last week or so a problem that appears to be progressively getting worse, and while attempting to watch a movie the other night was almost unbearable. It appears to happen the most with skin tones and in darker scenes, on multiple input types (HDMI from Cable STB, HTPC and Xbox360).

Can anyone tell me if this is a setting/calibration issue, or something that needs to be replaced/serviced? I've emailed a few local TV repair shops around, one thinks it might be DMD, the other color wheel. There is no hissing/whistling sound coming from the color wheel. The more I think about it, the more I noticed that this problem seems to have come up ever since moving the set around. I tried taking the back cover and fan unit out and blowing the dust out, it was pretty bad. No help though...

Looks like the blotchyness I had on my set (different model) but without the black lines and your blotchyness is even worse than mine was. I replaced the entire light engine on mine that includes a new color wheel. The black lines and dots on mine and related flickering/blotchyness may have been one or two problems, so I replaced the entire light engine that includes a new color wheel. I figured the DLP light chip/processor had some mirrors stuck and that caused the lines...but there was a possibility that the color wheel was spinning too slow (even though it didn't make a lot of noise) and that caused the blotchyness. Your problem may be something else on the DMD board other than the DLP ship. Try the access codes to get into the service menu I posted on my issue and see if they work for your model. Otherwise call DLP Merchant and get codes to get in for your TV. If you have problems on all colors, then it certainly is the DMD board. Even the blothyness was fixed after I replaced the light engine. So your problem will be one or two problems: DMD board and/or color wheel. I would get the light engine to play it safe.