I disagree completely.

Most of your Xbox games will only offer 480i or 480p. Very few offer an option to use 720p or 1080i.


Therefore I would highly suggest 480p be active at all times. Almost every single game you own on your Xbox will look better as a result of it.

My point is, some games (like Fable) don't do 480p properly (it seems to still send a 480i signal across).

And you should know better - 480i and 480p are pretty much the same on an LCD or DLP RP TV.

Don't do 480p properly? I don't know what you're talking about.


If you're saying that it just sends out a 480i signal than it shouldn't matter if you have the Xbox set to 480p.

Originally posted by egads
I believe the manual says mild soap only. That glare is on all of them I think. It's just the reflection you would get diffused. I am using Time Warner as they do not charge extra (above their digital tier) for a high def box. Since there isn't as much HD on as we would all like, the best SD signal you can get is what I would go for. The main HBO and Showtime channels I pay for are HD. I have TW's pioneer 3510 box with the DVI out active. They will give you component cables, I bought a DVI from Pacific cables for under $20. They had it to me before TW could show up.

Here is a suggestion: Split the incoming cable so that you have one running directly to the TV's tuner. For SD that isn't above channel 100 your picture will be clearer. This also allows you to use the TV's picture in picture function.

Does the split method work for satellite cable systems as well? I have a Voom Satellite box that I would love to get the local channels through the TV tuner.

Originally posted by Tigerriot
Don't do 480p properly? I don't know what you're talking about.


If you're saying that it just sends out a 480i signal than it shouldn't matter if you have the Xbox set to 480p.

Get Fable. Set your XBox to support 480p. Watch Fable display a mess. Turn off 480p. Watch Fable work.

Originally posted by NCRider
My KF50WE610 arrived yesterday. I'm thoroughly impressed. Picture quality is amazing. Thanks everyone for the tuning tweaks as well!

First question: I notice an area about the size a hand toward the center of the screen that looks like a haze or a 'fixed glare'. I've moved the TV to make sure it wasn't glare. Used the included cleaning cloth to make sure it wasn't dirt. Any ideas? I thought I saw this in the thread before, but cannot find any references now.

Also, what is an acceptable cleaning solution? Will simple Windex suffice?

Last question: What the opinion on HD carriers? Is DirecTv better than Time-Warner/InSight?

I'm mostly concerned with the haze spot on the screen. Any information would be greatly appreciated!!

Lastly -- got this at CC. All aspects the buy, including their price match, use of Sony's same-as-cash plan and their delivery were great. I've never dealt with them before but definitely will again.

I got a KF42WE610 last week and I also notice the 'bright spot' in the center of the screen when it is turned off. I think this is coming from ambient light in the room reflecting off the internal optics and screen materal. I had the same exact issue on the Samsung HLP5063W that I returned to Circuit City due to overly soft picture quality, and lack of fine detail in the picture. For 6 days I had both TV's side by side in my own home and believe me the Sony blew the Samsung away, except in rendering true blacks in night scenes. You can see FAR MORE fine detail in the Sony picture, and even DVD's are much sharper. If you like a sharp picture on your TV, forget the Samsung 63 series. On a good HD program off my Comcast cable box, the Sony will almost make your jaw drop. I am very happy with the quality of the picture off Comcast HD cable. One concern is with a slight greenish cast on some areas of the screen in dark scenes. I also think the cooling fan is a bit loud...in fact it is louder than the Samsung with its fan and color wheel spinning. Anyones comments on these issues would be appreciated.

I spoke with a Sony rep today about my failed lamp (50" GWIII January build) and she agreed to send me a replacement lamp and assembly. After reading this thread for hours, I have yet to read a post that referrs to anything but the lamp itself being sent. Can anyone who has gone through the lamp replacement process with Sony tell me if they received the entire assembly, or was it just the bulb they sent you?

One concern is with a slight greenish cast on some areas of the screen in dark scenes

I don't know if this applies to the Sony, but I was reading the Panny LCD thread and saw a number of users who went into the service menu and adjusted their green level. Apparently this was coming in at a higher level than the red and blues. The knocked down the green level a little bit and it looked better. I'm still wondering if my GWIII set needs to have this done, too.

Originally posted by Honus318
ICan anyone who has gone through the lamp replacement process with Sony tell me if they received the entire assembly, or was it just the bulb they sent you?
The bulb comes in a box -- or assembly -- that pops easily into a compartment under the grill. You don't want to be handling just the bulb.:eek:

Originally posted by JimP
xmotoman

I would think that a bad lamp stays bad. It sounds like its something else.
Have you tried removing the bulb and reinstalling it?

One of the things that you shouldn't do with these sets is to turn it off and on right away. Its much better to turn it on and let it play for several hours than to turn it off and on several times.

When you do turn it off, leave it off for a while. Maybe 30 minutes(my guess).


The bulb is not the usual incandescent type with a filament, which would burn out and stay bad. The lamp uses an UHP (ultra high pressure) mercury vapor bulb. It is somewhat similar to a fluorescent bulb, but has a much higher pressure to give it a color temperature suitable for a projection TV. These types of bulbs emit light due to a plasma discharge. A high voltage pulse (thousands of volts) is applied to the UHP bulb to ignite the discharge, and then a much lower voltage <100v is applied during operation. The operating voltage is modulated in some manner (invented by Philips) that maintains a fairly constant light output for the life of the bulb. The TV will apply the HV pulse more than once if needed up to some maximum number of times. No plasma discharge, no light. Everyone has probably experienced a fluorescent light that will sometimes turn on and sometimes will not. It seems reasonable that this UHP lamp could show the same symptom. I don't know how the service guy decided bad driver and not bad lamp. Also, the TV diagnostics needs to somehow decide on flashing the power/standby indicator 5 times vs. lighting the bad lamp indicator. Maybe another member could shed some light on this.

Originally posted by xmotoman
The bulb is not the usual incandescent type with a filament, which would burn out and stay bad. The lamp uses an UHP (ultra high pressure) mercury vapor bulb. It is somewhat similar to a fluorescent bulb, but has a much higher pressure to give it a color temperature suitable for a projection TV. These types of bulbs emit light due to a plasma discharge. A high voltage pulse (thousands of volts) is applied to the UHP bulb to ignite the discharge, and then a much lower voltage <100v is applied during operation. The operating voltage is modulated in some manner (invented by Philips) that maintains a fairly constant light output for the life of the bulb. The TV will apply the HV pulse more than once if needed up to some maximum number of times. No plasma discharge, no light. Everyone has probably experienced a fluorescent light that will sometimes turn on and sometimes will not. It seems reasonable that this UHP lamp could show the same symptom. I don't know how the service guy decided bad driver and not bad lamp. Also, the TV diagnostics needs to somehow decide on flashing the power/standby indicator 5 times vs. lighting the bad lamp indicator. Maybe another member could shed some light on this.

I just experienced the same problem, however, since I've had the tv for less than 3 weeks they're sending out a new set. I called the service tech anyway to see what he thought. He said it sounds like the lamp or ballast. Based on what you've said it makes sense. If your tech gives a furter explanation please post. Thanks

Has anyone with a recent build, (July or so), gotten bulb problem? If so, what was the characteristics of the Lamp LED blinking? Did it continue to blink or a certain number of times?

Originally posted by AbMagFab
My point is, some games (like Fable) don't do 480p properly (it seems to still send a 480i signal across).

And you should know better - 480i and 480p are pretty much the same on an LCD or DLP RP TV.
As far as I know, Fable is the *only* game which exhibits this, and this is a major glitch/bug in the game itself. It's been discussed in the gaming forum here and elsewhere. This is not a problem with either of the pieces of hardware involved, i.e. the X-Box or the GWIII.

As far as 480i and 480p being the same... That's perhaps true for a DVD, i.e. feeding the GWIII a 480i or 480p signal from a DVD player often produces almost indistinguishable results, but as far as I know, this shouldn't be true for game consoles. Since the console isn't starting with an interlaced image in the framebuffer, you should actually be getting better resolution or a better framerate by using 480p.

I have a July build of the KF-50WE610. Purchased on August 9. No bulb problems or any other major problems so far. Using feed from Adelphia cable with Scientific Atlanta 3250HD box.

Only odd problem is that about 5 minutes after I turn the GWIII off, my cable box turns off and is somehow reset. Not sure if this is a signal being sent down the DVI cable from the TV. Not a problem, but I do need to turn the cable box back on so my Tivo works properly. Anyone else have this problem? I wonder if there is a fix from Scientific Atlanta or Sony.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks,

Alan

I have a problem with my Comcast Motorola HD cable box locking up and then shutting down, and then turning back on again when I change channels or push the INFO button. It seems to be a heat related problem....if I let it stick out of the shelf somewhat it behaves, but in the shelf with at least 7 inches above it it overheats and goes nuts often. I don't think the TV has anything to do with mine shutting off since moving the cable box to a cooler place solves the issue. I am afraid to call Comcast since my first HD box was dead on arrival, and I have hopes that the hard drive recorder versions will be out soon anyway. At least the picture on most HD broadcasts is stunning on the 42 inch Sony Grand Wega III via the DVI input on the box.

Can a 60" owner give me the dimensions of your screen size? Screen only. Height and width.

Thanks.

Had a few days to play with the 42" GWIII and I have a few more questions I'm hoping the group can comment on.

1. We were watching SD/analog college football last weekend, and the picture overall looked ok, but the team's ranking next to the score could not be made out too easily. Couldn't tell if it was "15", "16", "18" or whatever else. What this an issue with the TV or the broadcast? I really never had an issue with the 32" Sony Trinitron it replaced. FYI, we sit 12-14' from the GWIII.

2. I notice the picture looks horrible (do they call this blooming?) when a scene or commercial with mostly red comes on. What setting would I use to turn down the red color?

3. What color temp do most of you use? Cool? Warm? Neutral?

4. I'm still kinda just testing this TV, making sure this is the one I want. This new GWIII is in the living room (seperate from the "real" home theater upstairs) and the TV could possibly be on 10 or more hours a day. With our son watching cartoons in the am, then leaving the TV on just for background noise during the day, and then watching TV from 6pm during dinner and then into primetime. Is an LCD a bad choice if this is our viewing habbit for this location? I find myself worry about the bulb life alot, with the TV being on so much.

5. Do most of you split your cable signal? i.e. I need the component output from my BrighHouse Pace HD box to get the HD signal, but I've always found that for analog/SD programming, the component out's don't look very good. I've always had better luck with S-video, even composite's. So then that means I have to split the audio RCA's and also use 2 inputs on the TV, depending on what I'm watching - SD or HD. Just curious to know if any other of you have found this to be true. It kinda bugs me why the component output would look so bad for the analog stuff.

Thanks in advance for any comments you may have!
Aaron

Originally posted by domer67
Can a 60" owner give me the dimensions of your screen size? Screen only. Height and width.
Just the screen? It's got a 60" diagonal by definition. Did you want someone to actually go and measure the screen on a 60" GWIII to see if the diagonal really is 60 inches?

Here's the math:

a^2 + b^2 = 3600
16a = 9b

a = 9b/16
(9b/16)^2 + b^2 = 3600
81b^2/256 + b^2 = 3600
337b^2/256 = 3600
337b^2 = 921600
b^2 = 2734.718
b = Width = 52.294 inches.
a = Height = 29.416 inches.

Component looks bad because it's a very high quality connection and thus the poor looking channels look all the more poor. :)

In regards to your settings.

If you have HD I recommend using the "vivid" setting. If you don't I would use the "standard" setting.

I would recommend placing your sliders at the following positions and see what you think. I've found them to be the best all around settings for HD/SD tv viewing.

Picture: I would set this to about 65% (do your best to estimate these percentages for the whole line. Meaning you should see the white bar for the picture setting about 65% full.

Color: I would set this at about 35%.

Brightness: I would set this at about 55%.

Hue: stays default

Sharpness: keep default

Color Temperature: Warm

BN noise: off

mild mode: off

Tigerriot, thanks for the settings and explanation. I'll go try them now! :) Looks like I'm off to Radio Shack to get some other cables to clean up my SD pic.

Also, I hope you guys don't mind, but for those of you looking for a UPS, I found a few nice ones on some of the deal sites I go to.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1403925&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1402926&highlight_key=y&keyword1=500

Originally posted by Slordak
Just the screen? It's got a 60" diagonal by definition. Did you want someone to actually go and measure the screen on a 60" GWIII to see if the diagonal really is 60 inches?

Umm, no. I was pretty sure that Sony didn't short-change people on their diagonal screen size(s). I simply wanted to know the height and width of the 60" screen, regardless of whether it was a GWIII. This was just the forum I'm always in and thought I'd ask here.


[i]
Here's the math:

a^2 + b^2 = 3600
16a = 9b

a = 9b/16
(9b/16)^2 + b^2 = 3600
81b^2/256 + b^2 = 3600
337b^2/256 = 3600
337b^2 = 921600
b^2 = 2734.718
b = Width = 52.294 inches.
a = Height = 29.416 inches. [/B]

Now see, if I would've just sat down and really thought about it, I'm sure that formula would've came to me. Just a few basic calcualtions to get the answer I was looking for! Anyway, thanks for the response.

Amhack, I recommend splitting the cable before it goes into the cable box and running a cable to the TVs tuner. The TVs tuner is much better at analog channels. This handles anything unscrambled. Of course the tuner and the DVI are at opposite ends of the input menu. Stupid Sony no direct input selection or at least a toggle that would allow you to move in both directions.

There are discrete remote codes available to directly select the inputs but they are not available on the remote that comes with the set. If you are into the JP1 programming remotes you can set these up or some of the higher end universal remotes will handle these. See the following links for the codes or info on JP1.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/sony/Sony_tv.htm
http://www.hifi-remote.com/jp1/help/

egads, I definitely like your idea, and that was my first thought, too, but then I guess I'd have to use the TV remote to change the analog channels, and then the cable box remote to change the digital and HD channels (meanwhile also switching inputs). The wife uses this TV alot and I have to make sure it's not too complicated.

holabr, I think what you are saying is that I could get a nice, programmable remote to do all that switching and channel changing? What remote do you recommend? I tried one of those Sony RMAV-2000's a while back and it was just too big and too much. What's the simpliest remote out there that could switch the inputs and change channels, depending on what source you are watching (coax vs cable box). I looked at the MX-500 a while back but the JP1 and all that stuff definitely got quite confusing. And while I'm sure the remote is pretty good, the $100 price was a little more than I wanted to spend, too.

Would something like this work?
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=9sG5EbIv5cq5dfNzde2zGv0gaGTVpKtn8yA=?ProductSKU=RM V502&Dept=acc&CategoryName=acc_Remotes

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the dialogue.

Aaron

I'm using the Radio Shack 15-2116 which I understand has been discountinued. I'm also heavily into programming and JP1 so I have changed the configuration of the RS remote to allow complete customization of all buttons. I now have it working so that pressing the TV button switches to tuner input and the remote controls the TV. If I press the CBL button, input is switched to the appropriate input for my cable box and the remote now controls the cable box. I have also configured the remote to do the same for VCR and DVD. I takes a little reading and playing around to get onto the coding but all the information and the programs are available on the web. It makes for a very interesting winter project.

The MX-500 is well worth the $$.I can't remember a better electronics purchase!I could never get used to the touch screen and the Sonys are apparently very trouble prone(lose all your programming).I hear the Harmony remotes are good,too.But they are more$$.

I have looked over the Harmony remotes and they seem the best to leave with the technically challenged. Big buttons that say CABLE or DVD and it switches all inputs on many devices to make the user happy. My cable remote does learn other devices and that's as far as I have gotten. (The TV is paid for now, so I can now move on to other toys)......

On a related subject, I am again having trouble with the HD cable box. I'm on my third one. The first suddenly had SD quality issues. The second one took forever to handshake over DVI when changing HD channels. I mean a full minute of snow with the sound coming on and off. The current one is a little better with that, but now SD is blurry again. I know I suggest splitting to watch SD, but I'm the only one who bothers, and even I sometimes want the channel information that the digital box provides. So anyway remember, you are paying monthly for that box and the cable co. will bring you a new one free. Sometimes I think the software upgrades they push out overnight screw things up more than they fix.

Thumbs up for BB. They actually agreed to replace my 50" GWIII after 4 months...without an extended warranty! Of course, I made a point to specify I wanted a post-February model when I bought it, and I got a January model, but I never realized it until last week when the bulb blew. I've seen some negative propeganda about BB on here, and I just wanted to throw this out for what it's worth. They did the right thing and I'll be back as a result.

Anyone come across a printed ad for 50" Sony Grand Wega III (KF50WE610) for $2700 or less??

I got the 50" Sony Grand Wega III 2 months ago from Onecall for a little over $2,900. Unfortunately, the price has dropped by almost $500. Amex will make up the difference (up to $250) if I submit a printed advertisement (can't be an Internet ad, has to be in print).

Has anyone come across a printed ad for $2700 or less? Any help would be very greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I don't think any reputable store is print advertising for less than what you paid. I paid $2900 from Tweeter, matched from Circuit City instore.

-Ken

To respond to the comments about universal remotes. In my opinion theres nothing like a pronto to solve all your problems. Whether its can the wife and kids use it, or the need for macros with up to 250 commands in it you cant go wrong. Granted its pricey, and it requires a lot of programming time to get the best from it. But it rocks! Anyone, and I do mean anyone can turn my system on and do anything with it. Much like a very expensive crestron or amx unit, only cheaper!

But.. just to keep this on topic. My GWIII 60" is still going strong after almost 8 months now. I love it!

The print advertising doesn't have to be from a reputable store. It can be from any store.

If anyone has seen anything, please let me know. Thanks.

You can PayPal me $50 ;)

This is the Fry's ad in today's Dallas Morning News / DFW Star Telegram:

http://newspaperads.dfw.com/p2_images/17/ROP/ROPAdSubregions/5156690.gif.gif

Too bad the ad states "clearance item, some open box, some demo".

I wonder if AmEx will accept that? Nice find, however.

Yeah, some of that text in the ad might kill it, but the worst that can happen is that it gets rejected. Nothing to lose if his pricematch deadline is almost here.

pHoToChOp

not that i would do it....

send it in, if you get it, great if not no sweat.....

thanks for the ad...i'll turn it in and see what happens!

For the life of me I can not get my GWIII and XBOX to properly display my MVP Baseball 2004 in 720p mode....

I have it set to accept 480p, 720p, 1080 and "widescreen" in the xbox menu... I also have the GWIII set to "full".

Anyone have any tips for getting xbox and GWIII to do 720p?

Thanks!

Originally posted by davidos
For the life of me I can not get my GWIII and XBOX to properly display my MVP Baseball 2004 in 720p mode....

I have it set to accept 480p, 720p, 1080 and "widescreen" in the xbox menu... I also have the GWIII set to "full".

Anyone have any tips for getting xbox and GWIII to do 720p?

Thanks!

What are the symptoms of your problem? You may want to check out the thread "Fable 480p" (I'm at work otherwise I'd link you) for a workaround that many of us have had to use to get Fable to work right on the GWIII at 480p.

Hey guys new to this forum... so I just got the 620 model coming in this sat... can't wait... anyway couple of things I heard the GWIII upconvert something higher then 720p something like 766p not sure... but anyway I'm hooking up a HTPC box to it and before I set it up at 720p I want to make sure if the tv upconverts it what I should set it at... I know there will be issues getting it aligned properly etc but what is the IDEAL resolution on these tvs? I know there is a res that's recomended by sony I'm not sure if that's native though because of the upconversion...

I just want to get it setup to run on one resolution on the HTPC and leave it at that and tweak settings to get it perfectly on the one res... so anyone know what it is?

Originally posted by raptor235
Hey guys new to this forum... so I just got the 620 model coming in

I just want to get it setup to run on one resolution on the HTPC and leave it at that and tweak settings to get it perfectly on the one res... so anyone know what it is?

1280X720p works fine for me. I use an NVidia video card and 61.76 drivers. You will find more info on this topic on the HTPC forum.

Mike50

got my xbox MVP baseball to work in 720p mode... turned out it was a faulty adapter (intec, i think) got the MS one and it works fine and looks GREAT!

Twice now in the past week my KF50WE610 won't turn on. Hit the power, multiple green flashes, no light, no picture. Sounds like the fan is running though. Unplug the set, plug it back in and bingo, starts up just like its supposed to when I hit the power button.

I guess its time for a service call, but I can see a that a problem that can't be reproduced on command will probably not be resolved with a service call.

Did you take out a service contract, or are you still in the warranty period?

Extended service may be a good idea if you can still get it. I have a 5 year service contract from Sears.

Good Luck!

Alan

I had a problem this morning with my KF50WE610 that I bought at the end of August.

Turned on the TV, green light flashed and came on like normal only I had a very bright screen (not displaying any input though) and at times there would be this red vertical band in the middle.

Turned it off and back on, same thing... unplugged it, heard something in the TV click or something, plugged it back in and has been working fine again. :(

Hey guys!

I'm sure this is covered SOMEwhere in the 128 pages, and I tried multiple searches on the thread and they all came back negative, so I'm gonna ask a question that's been asked a dozen times I'm sure:

How do I get my 50" to display the signal output (480, 720, etc.)?

Again, a thousand apologies - but I can't find it anywhere in here after 20 minutes of searching.

Auditor_Kevin,

You will need to go into the service menu to see the signal format (1080i, 720p, etc.).

Guys,

my KF50WE610 started to make a high pitching noise, sort as if the fan started being noisy. I checked other set at the stores and while it's a loud place, I didn't hear anything like what my set does.

This model is a Oct03 build that I bought as a display model. The sales rep at Sears told me that it had the lamp replaced and I should be fine.

Besides I decided to take a chance and didn't buy the extended warranty.

Considering that I'm still in the return 30 period what would you do? Call Service? Take it back or exchange it for a new 04 model. Consider that I paid $1925 for it.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Audio: $1925 was a steal for this TV. I would run out and buy the extended warranty. You are crazy not to.

-Ken

Originally posted by chiifac
Auditor_Kevin,

You will need to go into the service menu to see the signal format (1080i, 720p, etc.).

Could someone post the steps to displaying the signal format, or link to the page in this thread that covers it?

I read part of "umr's tweeks" thread, but I'm too big of a wuss to do tweeks on a TV that would void my warranty.

The price you paid is spectacular. I think you can still buy the extended warranty from Sears within the 30 day time period. That's what I would do. Unless they will give you the new model for the same price you paid (which I doubt). The finish on the new model may be all silver instead of silver and black.

Probably best to just get the extended warranty. Let us know what you decide.

Good Luck!

Alan

That price seems good, but it all depends what it's worth for new vs. display item. CC sold me the same TV for five hundo more - new.

Personally, I'd rather pay the extra money to get a new TV vs. one that's been turned on for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for the last 6 months. Heck, you'll be down $200 after the bulb blows prematurely.

Of course I'm just a newbie here, and I don't want to start any trouble.

Bottom line - he got his TV in his living room for five hundo less than I did, so who's laughing now, right?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Does anyone have any dealing with Circuit City on the Extended Warranty?
I bought the 42WE610 last Christmas and went through most problems discussed here. I had to have it worked on twice, bulb replaced, then board added another time and then finally had to have the set replaced for a Feb. build, all this before March, after determining it was probably all the lamps.
I've had no problems until the last week, I guess the lamp is going again as it shuts off and acts like it did before and starts back up after cool down , I do have a replacement Sony sent but yet to swap them.
I purchased the extended warranty with the set and I remembered that last time I was in CC I was told by the manager that if there was another problem I would get a new one / or gift card with refund under the Lemon law part of the warranty.
Now the dilemma I have now is I was in the store and saw the new KDF-42WE655 with the built in HD turner, cable card. Now wanting the latest in the GW line would it be right that I should go see CC about returning the old set to them under the lemon law clause (as I have a month left under that section of the warranty) since it's messing up for the 3rd time and telling seeing if I can get the new Grand Wega?

brewc

I would exercise the leamon law clause.
Three repairs in a year is too much.

That's why we pay the exorbitant price for an extended warrantee!Don't let them make you feel guilty........It's Sony's fault.Let them pay for their shoddy QC.

Well it looks like my luck just ran out. Or maybe It didnt. Last night my bulb blew in the middle of watching tv. This seems premature to me. I've only had the set for 6 months now. Id guess I've put about 500-600 hours on it. Anyone know what the expected life of the bulb is? Im guessing its a hec of a lot longer than that! Its a philips bulb, and the set was fresh of the truck in June. Im guessing its definitely built after february. The bulb is definitely blown as the glass piece inside the bulb housing is shattered. I tell you pulling the silver plastic off the front of the set is scary! Getting those pop latches to release is frightening! Its under extended warranty at tweeter, so Im hoping to call them and get promising results. We'll have to see what happens. Wish me luck!

Update!

I called tweeter this morning. Although the extended warranty does not technically cover the bulb, the bulb itself carries a one year warranty, so they gave me the option of having a tech come out, or just shipping me a new lamp. As its obvious that at this point its just a blown lamp I opted to have them ship me a new lamp out. I also ordered one extra to have a spare kicking around. So kudos to tweeter for promptly handling the matter. This is of course why I chose to pay a tiny bit more and purchase it locally. Heres hoping its just a faulty lamp, and that something else didnt cause it to blow prematurely! Now I just need to figure out what Im going to do tonight with no TV! The good news is that it waited till after the red sox won the world series to blow! Now thats what I call dedication!

Hi all!

I have a Sony GWIII which is about 6 months old. When the screen is showing a dark scene, there is a noticeable spot towards the middle of the screen which is about the size of a fingerprint. But it is internal as I can't get rid of it by cleaning the screen. It is not noticeable most of the time, just when there is a dark scene.

Any idea what is going on? I'm under a BB warranty. Is this something worth addressing?

It generally doesn't bother me a lot but I would like to fix it if possible.

Thanks!

Ask Capeboy what he thinks.

I definitely think it's worth calling your warranty provider on.

Originally posted by Hoopnoop
Hi all!

I have a Sony GWIII which is about 6 months old. When the screen is showing a dark scene, there is a noticeable spot towards the middle of the screen which is about the size of a fingerprint. But it is internal as I can't get rid of it by cleaning the screen. It is not noticeable most of the time, just when there is a dark scene.

Any idea what is going on? I'm under a BB warranty. Is this something worth addressing?

It generally doesn't bother me a lot but I would like to fix it if possible.

Thanks!

I have exactly the same problem, there replacing the lcd panels or something to that effect. It's being replaced tomorrow or the latest on Monday. They said it has to be done within 3 days.

Guys, I'm the proud owner of a 42KDFWE655.
I'm sitting about 78" or 7' from the set.
I love the hd.
But I hate the fact that 4:3 programming shrinks my screen to 34" tops. And when I am watching an older movie with bars at the top and bottom, my "large screen" tv shrinks to an incredible 29".
I didn't buy an LCD rear projection to watch a 29" screen.
The only way to enlarge that screen is, of course, one of the zoom modes, which either distort the picture or, in "Zoom," make the picture grainy and blow it up to the extent that heads are cut off.
I talked my "high end" store, and they are willing to exchange the 42" KDF WE 655 for a 50KDWE610.
Should I go for it?
Will I see SDE at 78" or 7"?
Will the resolution suffer, and how much?
Will the screen be less bright? a lot less?
How about the color intensity/
I talked to Sony customer service, who, as we all know by now, are mostly clueless, but I also talked to a guy at Sony's Pennsylvania factory who had called me re a tuner problem I was having, and he stated the chipsets and optical elements are the same between the 655 and 610 series.
I don't care about the hd tuner, since I use a cable stb, and I don't care about the cable card slot, since each one on this forum cannot tell a difference between internal tuner+cable card vs. stb reception.

I don't want to make a mistake now, because they will certainly not let me return the 50" WE 610.

Thanks guys for your valued input.

Wolfi

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Hoopnoop

I have a Sony GWIII which is about 6 months old. When the screen is showing a dark scene, there is a noticeable spot towards the middle of the screen which is about the size of a fingerprint. But it is internal as I can't get rid of it by cleaning the screen. It is not noticeable most of the time, just when there is a dark scene.
******************************************************

I think I have a similar problem. Got my Sony GWIII in January and it has worked flawlessly until yesterday. Then, a flickering red blotch about the size/shape of a fist showed up in the top/middle section of the screen. It appears about 5 seconds after the set is turned on and is visible in every input mode. The reddish/orange color splotch dances behind whatever image is displayed on the screen.

Other areas of the screen portray colors perfectly. Something seriously amiss.

I think I have a similar problem. Got my Sony GWIII in January and it has worked flawlessly until yesterday. Then, a flickering red blotch about the size/shape of a fist showed up in the top/middle section of the screen. It appears about 5 seconds after the set is turned on and is visible in every input mode. The reddish/orange color splotch dances behind whatever image is displayed on the screen.

I have the exact same problem. I have a red blotch in teh center of the screen, and a green one in the lower right.

Unfortunatley my 1 year warranty is up. Thank god i got the Sears Extended warranty..i just have to give them a call and hopefully it can be fixed without having to take the TV away for offsite repair. I don't know what i would do without my HDTV for that long :(

Well, after seven months of flawless performance, my 42" March build finally succumed to the no start problem many have had. The green startup light flashed for a minute or so, then switched to flashing red in sequences of five and after a couple minutes back to solid red standby. This was all with the top indicator light not the lower lamp indicator. No buzzing , no noticeable dimming , just would not start up one night.

Sears came out and replaced the lamp and the lamp driver today, so I am up and running after two long weeks of waiting.

My queston is, how do I get into the service menu to reset the lamp usage entry? The Sears tech guy tried, but got flustered and gave up. He called someone for help, but still could not get to it. Anyone have instructions on how to get at this setting and reset it for the new bulb?

Originally posted by JoeFigueiredo
Ask Capeboy what he thinks.

I definitely think it's worth calling your warranty provider on.

Now, now Joe...again with the Capeboy crap. HIS problem is different than yours as it shows up when the set is ON. YOUR "problem" was when the set was turned off! How is that a problem!

Hoopnoop's problem is real and should be addressed with a service call.

You, on the other hand, need to take a pill.

Ok, I have had my 50GWIII since April04. It is a March build. Everything has been great until now. When the screen is pitch black I noticed that near the top right corner, there is a green splotch about the size of an egg. Im not sure what it is, whether its a cluster of dead pixels or what. Then maybe about five inches to the left and a little downwards there is another faint splothc about the size of a half dollar that is a reddish tint. At first I thought that it was only when the screen is pitch black i.e. when it is on an empty video input. Then while I was watching tv, I noticed the green splotch very clearly when a dark background on the screen. i.e. like if the show I was watching was an outdoor night scene or white background.

Here's where I need some advice, I went to Circuit City where I bought the tv and the extended warranty. The sales rep tells me since its still under the one year manufac warranty that I should call Sony. Well, to all of your knowledge from those of you who have dealt with CC and their extended warranty or have already dealt with Sony, who should I call first? My feeling was that he just didnt want to deal with me so he just says to call Sony.

Also, with all the problems that the GWIII had/has, what do you think my chances are of having them just upgrade my tv to either the 50GWIV or the 55GWIV? From what I have read, they seem to use a higher wattage bulb and not as many problems with the GWIII. Do you guys have any advice as to what I can say or explain to either Sony or CC to just get them to let me upgrade? Any help or advice would be great. I hate having to see that green egg everytime Im watching something, and I just want to either get it changed to the new model or fixed as soon as possible. Again I thank everyone in advance for any help that you can give me...

Same situation here. You can go through CC's extended warranty program. I did and got the spots fixed on mine. Just needed a cleaning. Unfortunately, I have two more spots that are showing up again in different areas... just 6 weeks after being serviced. :(

When you purchased the warranty, you should have received a brochure with an 800 number. Just call that number and they will take care of you. That way, you can bypass the local store completely.

Originally posted by HTPC-Rook
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Hoopnoop

I have a Sony GWIII which is about 6 months old. When the screen is showing a dark scene, there is a noticeable spot towards the middle of the screen which is about the size of a fingerprint. But it is internal as I can't get rid of it by cleaning the screen. It is not noticeable most of the time, just when there is a dark scene.
******************************************************

I think I have a similar problem. Got my Sony GWIII in January and it has worked flawlessly until yesterday. Then, a flickering red blotch about the size/shape of a fist showed up in the top/middle section of the screen. It appears about 5 seconds after the set is turned on and is visible in every input mode. The reddish/orange color splotch dances behind whatever image is displayed on the screen.

Other areas of the screen portray colors perfectly. Something seriously amiss.

Service Tech came today. Problem was dust collecting in the "optical engine". I wasn't around when he fixed it but he explained he was going to remove the back cover and clean out the dust. He was only her for 40 minutes. Works perfectly again.

He said its been pretty common problem.

I have the same problem on my November 03 GWIII. I need to call them to get it fixed. However, I don't want them to take the TV. Were they able to fix it in your home?

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd
I have the same problem on my November 03 GWIII. I need to call them to get it fixed. However, I don't want them to take the TV. Were they able to fix it in your home?

Yes, the repair was done in my home.

Originally posted by HTPC-Rook
Yes, the repair was done in my home.

is this Sears or Circuit City?

Does anyone know what the proper set up is for an XBox Game Console with this GWIII TV? I've got the Microsoft HDTV XBox pack and I am using red, green and blue cables to the back of my GWIII. In the console you have three choices in the HDTV set up area? There is a set up question in there, which "asks" if your TV displays the following formats....Should I have a "yes" in the 1080i, 480p, and 720p?
According to the back of the game boxes, Halo 2 is in 480p and X-Men Legends is in 720p.
I want to make sure I am getting the best picture I can when playing these games.
Leaving all three set up questions anwered "yes", as I have it now, is that the best way to set the XBox console up for use with this TV?
This has probably been asked before but I cant find the answer and now my eyes are getting tired from reading through so many posts. I'm a newbee.
Thanks in advance!
chrisfranco@sc.rr.com

Does anyone know what the proper set up is for an XBox Game Console with this GWIII TV? I've got the Microsoft HDTV XBox pack and I am using red, green and blue cables to the back of my GWIII. In the console you have three choices in the HDTV set up area? There is a set up question in there, which "asks" if your TV displays the following formats....Should I have a "yes" in the 1080i, 480p, and 720p?
According to the back of the game boxes, Halo 2 is in 480p and X-Men Legends is in 720p.
I want to make sure I am getting the best picture I can when playing these games.
Leaving all three set up questions answered "yes", as I have it now, is that the best way to set the XBox console up for use with this TV?
This has probably been asked before but I cant find the answer and now my eyes are getting tired from reading through so many posts. I'm a newbie.
Thanks in advance!
chrisfranco@sc.rr.com
:confused:

Should I have a "yes" in the 1080i, 480p, and 720p?
Yep!

I wouldn't bother with turning on 1080i on the XBox for the GWIII's. THe TV will be downconverting that anyway, so why slow the XBox framerate down making it push more pixels than it has to?

Unless you have a game that supports 1080i and NOT 720p, and I don't believe any such animal exists.

Hello, this is my first post and since I just purchased a 42" GWIII last night I was wondering if any of you purchased a line conditioner as well. The 2 stores I went to highly recommended on buying the Monster HTS2000 power bar due to it's line filtering characteristics. I did search the forums and found the differences between "Surge Protectors" but will purchasing something that will condition your power really make a night and day difference in PQ.

jaystizo

You would probably do better with a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) as it would provide backup power in the event of a power outage to allow the cooling fan to cycle properly. They typically do the line filtering as well. Monster's products are usually overpriced. Quality is good, but why pay exta.

You might want to do some searches on UPS in the RPTV level search.

Thanks for the tip. Im planning on getting an APC UPS already. I'll skip the line conditioner for now.

I have the 60" version of this set and I'm using an APC 700 Smart UPS to power it.

The UPS works really well and keeps it up during short power outages while protecting against surges and dips. It fits on the shelf below the TV (on my stand) and looks like it belongs there. Very elegant solution, and offers a great deal more protection and usability than a power strip (which is mostly what the Monster device is).

Sean

Chilli Dog , I pm you with a message.....

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd
I have the same problem on my November 03 GWIII. I need to call them to get it fixed. However, I don't want them to take the TV. Were they able to fix it in your home?

Update: The service tech came out this weekend. He took one look at the TV and said “OK I am ordering you a new light engine”. Isn’t that basically like replacing everything in the TV. I was told that the part costs $2400. The tech said that a lot of the Sony GWIII TVs develop these green spots due to dust after 1 year. So the repair places just order the new light engine. How can Best Buy stay in business with all of these huge repair costs. So far BB has spent about $3400 repairing my TV and I only paid $2900 for it. I have heard that they raised the warranty price up to $500 from the $250 that I paid. That doesn’t sound like it can even compensate for these high repair bills.

My question is do I need to recalibrate the TV after he puts the light engine in? Is there a possibility that he won’t line up the engine correctly and my picture go be off center?

jaystizo
You might want to do some research on the UPS.Some only keep the power from "going off"(which might protect the bulb).Others have automatic voltage regulation which can protect against upward and downward changes in power.Most also incorporate a surge protection system.Others have "pure" sine wave power when on the battery backup.
There is a lot of discussion about what's best.Some use a UPS and a sophisticated surge protector like the "Brickwall".
APC makes an extremely good product,but they range from very simple to very complex.I'd search for a thread on surge protection.It goes into all this and more.

I'm having some strange intermitten problems with my 50" GWIII.

1. While watching none HD channel for a while my TV would loose the picture (sound is still working) and show just static noise (like the screen when you have no reception). Only way I been able to recover from this is to change to HD channel and come back to my orginal channel. Changing to other none HD channel does not fix it.

2. When I turn on my TV for the first time sometimes I noticed that there are two pictures of the same channel (like Twin View but it's not aligned nicely side by side. It's litte bit offset and overlays each other some). If I switch to different channel and come back it's gone and normal again.

3. I have comcast HD 6208 tuner and it's been locking up intermittenly when I turn on my TV. TV picture would freeze with no sound coming out and only way to fix it is to unplug the Comcast tuner from the outlet and plug it in again.

Anyone else see or hear about these issues?

These sound like receiver problems, not the TV. Do you ever have any problems when playing DVDs?

Originally posted by SonyHome
I'm having some strange intermitten problems with my 50" GWIII.

1. While watching none HD channel for a while my TV would loose the picture (sound is still working) and show just static noise (like the screen when you have no reception). Only way I been able to recover from this is to change to HD channel and come back to my orginal channel. Changing to other none HD channel does not fix it.

2. When I turn on my TV for the first time sometimes I noticed that there are two pictures of the same channel (like Twin View but it's not aligned nicely side by side. It's litte bit offset and overlays each other some). If I switch to different channel and come back it's gone and normal again.

3. I have comcast HD 6208 tuner and it's been locking up intermittenly when I turn on my TV. TV picture would freeze with no sound coming out and only way to fix it is to unplug the Comcast tuner from the outlet and plug it in again.

Anyone else see or hear about these issues?

Hi SonyHome. The problem is with your cable box. I experience the problem daily with my Motorola 6208 as well. I also thought it might be the set but am able to reproduce the effect on a Sony 27" CRT that is fed by the coax output from the 6208. I source my GWIII with DVI to input 7. I learned it was the cable box when I recently turned on our GWIII using the Harmony remote. The 27" CRT happened to be in the next room and it turned itself on at the same time as the GWIII :). I had a nice laugh and sense of relief that it was the cable box when I saw the effect on both sets at the same time. As you said, it is fixed when channel is changed. I am living with it until the 6412's get to our area and will speak to the Comcast rep when they show up to swap out the box. My guess is something happened in one of the recent firmware upgrades to the 6208.

I have also experienced the lack of sound, etc. a couple of times too but fortunately that is rare. Same fix as you use, (pull the plug and do-over). Good luck!

Tiarella

Chilli_Dog, Googer, I sent you a PM.....G.B.

No. I've never had problems with DVD. I have older 61" XBR hooked up to the 6200 receiver via component and it never has any issues either. Only my GWIII and 6208 which is connected via DVI. I had one comcast tech say that he sees alot of issues with Motorola DVI connection said I should try the component on my GWIII. I'll try this as my last option if the 6412 I just got today don't fix it.

Tiarella,
Do you have all of the symptoms I listed? I've had 3 different 6208 and they all did the same thing. Some more than others.

Originally posted by SonyHome
Tiarella,
Do you have all of the symptoms I listed? I've had 3 different 6208 and they all did the same thing. Some more than others.

SonyHome. I don't recall seeing the first symptom but it may be so rare I can't recall it. Daily for symptom 2. Symptom 3 only on rare occasions, maybe less than 5 or 6 in the past year. I still think firmware might be involved because I've had the DVI cable on for most of the year and it has only been doing this for a couple of months. I do notice a difference with the DVI over the component. I had component for the 1st month we owned the set but have switched to DVI except for DVD viewing.

Here are two more odd things to watch for:
In the past week I have seen a few episodes of where the entire screen image shifts into a very strange interlaced rainbow like picture. You can still make out the image of what is going on but the colors go all nuts for a moment. It then shifts right back. It looks like when CRT's in the old days had picture issues. Happened last week once watching The Wire on HBO and last evening on Nightline. I wonder if it is something similar to what you see with what you described in your first issue. Different for me because it switches OK after only a moment, (2-3 seconds maybe).

The second more disturbing issue I've experienced is an occasional complete loss of control of the set. Volume and channel control are all gone. I get video signals to inputs I don't have equipment connected to. I am able to turn the set off and shut off video and audio input, but when I do the lamp stays on and will not go out, (it glows that 'blue glow' that it normally has when you shut off the set). The only way to clear this is to pull the plug, which is not good for the lamp as it shuts that down before it has cooled.

Tiarella

Anybody w/ a GW III 60" have this new receiver from D*TV? I have noticed horizontal lines in the HD picture when set to 1080i even when the broadcast is 1080i. Line disappears when set to 720p, however 720p broadcast espn hd or OTA 720p has new lines....

Tiarella,
I don't like the sound of those issues at all. I'm glad I got the extended warranty on this TV. I'm going to start calling in for service for these issues.


Now that GWIV is out has anyone noticed any major improvements to these sets over the GWIII (build quality, picture quality). I kinda like the look of the XS model. They look similar to the XBR design which I think is very classy.

I've been reading this forum on the issues with the earlier GWIIIs. I have a 42" GWIII with a January 2004 build date. A couple of weeks ago I started to have intermittent problems with the TV turning on (flash green power light for about 1 minute and then flash red lamp light). Last week, a repairman replaced the ballast and lamp on my tv. Yesterday I noticed that the tv will take a long time to turn on (about 15 flashes of the green power light) and then make a short buzz/crackling sound when I restart the tv quickly (turn off tv, wait for screen to turn black, turn on tv). This does not occur if I restart prior to the screen turning completely black or if the restart occurs a long time later. Is this normal? I've only used the tv about 5 hours since the repair. Other than that, the tv turns on after 3-4 flashes of the green power light.

I've really enjoyed reading these posts and am about to begin the tweaking process for my GWIII 42", Oct. 2003 build, original Phillips bulb, no bulb problems.
Can you point me in the direction of the best doc to tweak the GWIII? I have downloaded the XBR tweaks ver. 5.2 (5/4/04) and the WE addition (GWIII Best Practices (1/06/04).
Also--I have a new minor problem with my picture. The vertical black bars on either side of the picture in Normal (4:3) mode have begun to concave at the bottom (about 6-8 inches up) - not really terrible but annoying. The picture expands about 1/2" at the bottom versus the top. The first 26-28" are fine. Is there an adjustment for this? Is it a precursor of bulb problems?
Thanks for your response!

What's the latest build date for the GWIII's. Reason I'm asking is because I'm awaiting delivery for a 50WE610 but was wondering if the newer build dates still exhibit the same kind of problems as the older ones.

ALSO, would the UMR tweaks help me out even if I don't have any HD sources right now. All I'm going to connect is my DirecTV, a PS2 and a DVD Player

Jay,

The UMR tweaks certainly helped to improve my picture quality for dvds. Its certainly not as crucial if you don't have hd content but I think it still helps.

My 50WE610 died last night after 9 months of use. The flashing red light lamp problem and no picture. Sony is sending me a new lamp and hopefully that will correct the issue.

I did notice my picture getting very dark 2 or 3 days prior to the lamp failing completly. Am I correct to assume that a lamp switch will fix my problems?

Ok, I just received my 50WE610 yesterday.. woo hoo!! I noticed the build date is June 2004. Does anyone know if there are issues with this build?

Also, has anyone with SD DirecTV used a different S-Video cable other than the one supplied with their receiver. And if so, has it made a difference in picture quality. I know I'm not able to get HDTV like results but thought I'd ask anyway.

I'd suggest you use a DVI cable for both SD and HD DirecTV programming.

I guess I'm outta luck then since my receiver only has S-Video and composite outputs.

Originally posted by jaystizo
I guess I'm outta luck then since my receiver only has S-Video and composite outputs.

Composite video is every bit as good as DVI. Always use composite over S-video if you have a choice.

Originally posted by corinthbandit
Composite video is every bit as good as DVI. Always use composite over S-video if you have a choice.
Where in the world did you hear that?? It goes against all conventional wisdom and long-established technical guidance. Unless, that is, you were mixing up "component" video with "composite" in recommending the latter over S-Video.:eek:

Originally posted by s2silber
Where in the world did you hear that?? It goes against all conventional wisdom and long-established technical guidance. Unless, that is, you were mixing up "component" video with "composite" in recommending the latter over S-Video.:eek:


oops...sorry. I read to fast. No question...component is better than composite.

Originally posted by corinthbandit
My 50WE610 died last night after 9 months of use. The flashing red light lamp problem and no picture. Sony is sending me a new lamp and hopefully that will correct the issue.

I did notice my picture getting very dark 2 or 3 days prior to the lamp failing completly. Am I correct to assume that a lamp switch will fix my problems?


Bulb arrived today and I had it installed in about 5 minutes. Picture has never been better.

In case you noticed... Was it the OSRAM or new Philips bulb? I got the new Philips bulb (Version B) and have had no problems for several months. If I turn the TV off and then immediately try to turn it back on, it blinks 10+ times. That's a quirk I'm willing to live with.

Originally posted by jsmithjr732
If I turn the TV off and then immediately try to turn it back on, it blinks 10+ times. That's a quirk I'm willing to live with.

Its considered a very bad idea to turn the TV off and on like that and will cause early failure of the bulb and possibly some other components involved in relighting the bulb.

The bulb has to cool enough for the mercury to turn back to liquid before it will relight. By trying to turn it back on before the bulb cools enough, it's unable to relight, although it keeps trying.

I agree 100% on that one, JimP. This was indirectly tested when I accidentally turned the TV off. Besides this quirk, the bulb has performed flawlessly.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine was over here with her twin 3 year olds.

The little boy started punching the power button on my GWIII and I lost track of if it was trying to relight or not. Talk about freaking out.

Guess that's why I keep a spare bulb around. lol

Funny eh. The engineer who designed that must not have had kids. I had the exact same problem with my friend's little girls. They left a lot of little fingerprints on the screen as well.

By contrast my Sony KV27FS13 CRT has the power button along the top, where the rugrats can't reach it.

I hope it really doesn't fire up the bulb everytime the switch is toggled. You'd hope there is a little bounce in the solenoid...

Originally posted by kickstart
Funny eh. The engineer who designed that must not have had kids. I had the exact same problem with my friend's little girls. They left a lot of little fingerprints on the screen as well.

By contrast my Sony KV27FS13 CRT has the power button along the top, where the rugrats can't reach it.
I wonder if Sony got complaints about this, because the GWIV LCD RPTVs have the power, channel and TV/Video buttons at the top of the right side of the TV.

Michael

I think if you punch the power button within 3 seconds of having powered it off, you're o.k. the bulb is still on and the screen is dark just due to the polarizers being closed. The problem is right after those 3 seconds when the bulb really has turned off.

When you go in and out of the service menu you have to enter the series of keystrokes in the remote fairly quick for the same reason.

somewhere in this forum theres a thread about kid proofing your home theater. Search for it. These sets are just not meant to be in easy reach of kids, and nor should they really be designed for that in my opninion. Can you guess I dont have kids! : ) Anyway, theres some great pictures of stuff guys have done to keep the kids hands away from their gear. The best solutions were short temporary walls built to fit into the decor of the room. When the kids grow old enough they were easily removable. Its definitely not a good idea to turn this set on and off in rapid succesion. For the same reason its a good idea to invest in a UPS so that in the event of a power failure or brownout you can safely turn your tv off without harm.

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
I wonder if Sony got complaints about this, because the GWIV LCD RPTVs have the power, channel and TV/Video buttons at the top of the right side of the TV.
Whoops, I am wrong on this. The power button is still in the lower right-hand corner on the Sony GWIV LCD RPTVs. What I thought was a power button at the top on the right side is actually the volume control.

Michael

Originally posted by kickstart Your TV is obsolete[/B]

Hey kickstart, if you want to make your sig saying more powerful, change it to: Your new TV is obsolete :)

I have to buy a new DVI-D cable for my KF-42WE610.... Is Single Link fine or do I have to get Dual Link? Thanks!

Originally posted by davidos
I have to buy a new DVI-D cable for my KF-42WE610.... Is Single Link fine or do I have to get Dual Link? Thanks!

Either will work fine.

Can anybody please recommend a good place to purchase a spare bulb for my KF42WE610? I have had my set for a year with no trouble, but I would like to have a spare on hand.

Originally posted by dan57
Can anybody please recommend a good place to purchase a spare bulb for my KF42WE610? I have had my set for a year with no trouble, but I would like to have a spare on hand.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00024BK2G/silicrexshoppeng/ref=nosim/104-3392620-8999102

Thanks

I have noticed something in the past few weeks that has me a bit concerned about my set.

From time to time, when changing channels or when changing input devices, the speakers on my set make a cracking sound similar to an electrical shock. Originally, I thought that it was the cable box, but it continued to make the same noise without the cable box hooked up.

The set is not hooked up to a receiver. All that is hooked up is a sony dvd player, PS2 and an HD cable box. The cable runs through the power bar (one of those monster power-cleaning deals...) and is then split.

I have an in-home service plan, but i really don't want to take a day off from work to wait for them to come to the house... If there is anything that anyone can think of that i can do to check for the source of the problem before calling service, that would be great.

I did a search to try to find a reference to this problem but found nothing. I apologize if this has been covered in another area.

Originally posted by dan57
Can anybody please recommend a good place to purchase a spare bulb for my KF42WE610? I have had my set for a year with no trouble, but I would like to have a spare on hand.

http://pcworld.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=2460689

$174

my GW3 50" just died and it's not the bulb.
No matter what input you select you get little color pixels of various colors that seem to run in columns. Its a June 2004 build and I've only had it since August.

-Ken

Originally posted by kenvt
my GW3 50" just died and it's not the bulb.
No matter what input you select you get little color pixels of various colors that seem to run in columns. Its a June 2004 build and I've only had it since August.

-Ken

Mine did this too and when I pushed the menu button all the lines moved over the left side of the screen and you could see half of the screen. The repair guy told me it was the light engine. I had only had it for 2 weeks so I exchanged it.

Originally posted by alljay
I have noticed something in the past few weeks that has me a bit concerned about my set.

From time to time, when changing channels or when changing input devices, the speakers on my set make a cracking sound similar to an electrical shock. Originally, I thought that it was the cable box, but it continued to make the same noise without the cable box hooked up.

The set is not hooked up to a receiver. All that is hooked up is a sony dvd player, PS2 and an HD cable box. The cable runs through the power bar (one of those monster power-cleaning deals...) and is then split.

I have an in-home service plan, but i really don't want to take a day off from work to wait for them to come to the house... If there is anything that anyone can think of that i can do to check for the source of the problem before calling service, that would be great.

I did a search to try to find a reference to this problem but found nothing. I apologize if this has been covered in another area.


I figure that this might get lost in the vast size of this thread, so I thought that I would give it a bump back to the top to see if anyone responds to the question before i post it in another thread.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jay

So I got my Sony KF50WE620 today. It was a replacement unit for two Hitachi 50v500's, each of which had a crop circle. So I was pretty excited to get the Sony. (You know where this is going ....) I plugged it in and it wouldn't even give me a picture. It defaults to standby when I power on ... after a snap, crackle and pop. Well, the fourth (!!!!) replacement arrives on Saturday. This really is ridiculous.

Hooked my Sony WE610 up to the computer and am wondering what the correct settings are such as refresh rate and what size will it do .. ie 800x600 and what color depth? Can you make it fit the screen? I have a nVidia 5200FX card in the computer. I installed the nVidia drivers and was fooling around with the size and refresh but really could never get it where it looked right. Need some help setting this up!

Thanks

maxyvits,
I also returned a Hitachi 50V500 for a GWIII.You'll like the Sony.Not quite as many adjustments available,but a superior picture.Good luck with #4!

Drake

Your question would be better answered in the HTPC section.

Originally posted by aVOLanche
maxyvits,
I also returned a Hitachi 50V500 for a GWIII.You'll like the Sony.Not quite as many adjustments available,but a superior picture.Good luck with #4!

That's encouraging. I was worried about the PQ difference. It's nice to hear that you think the WE620 is supiorior, although I recognize such things are subjective. As for more adjustments, UMR notes that this is true but once one accesses the service menu the Grand Wega is equally tweakable. I'm not saying I'll muster up the nerve to go that far, but it's nice to know that it's there once I'm ready. Presently all I want is a functioning tv with good PQ! :)

anyone know the sony phone number to call to get a new lamp bulb?

18002822848--------------18004887669---good luck

Originally posted by studranger
18002822848--------------18004887669---good luck
Davidos,

If your lamp problem is legitimate and you're not simply asking for a free bulb, you should have no problems. I requested a new bulb from Sony when mine started acting up and was sent one immediately--no questions asked.

John

alljay:

My TV speakers "pop" during DVD use, usually once or twice partway through a movie. This probably doesn't help you any, but I'd be curious about what you find out. I've wondered if it might be the sound wires or the DVD player. Maybe it could be the TV?

What kinda DVD player ?

G.B.
RE the DVD player:
- It is a Panasonic DV-563A

Some Sony DVD players pop when they stop. Don't know why. I would try changing something else in the input. I can not see how it could be in the Tv. Try differant modes in the sound menu, try other DVD 's to try to find a reason. Sometime this is hard to find...G.B.

Thanks G.B. I too doubt it's the TV but since the other post mentioned having "pops"....... Who knows, probably gremlins or something ;)

I have a strange glare on the screen. It is on the top left of the screen. Does any body has this issue? I think I accidently bump the TV....not that hard. since then I have seen that glare on top left of the screen. It would not show if there is picture in that area, but with the black blank screen I can easily see it.

Originally posted by xgarage
I have a strange glare on the screen. It is on the top left of the screen. Does any body has this issue? I think I accidently bump the TV....not that hard. since then I have seen that glare on top left of the screen. It would not show if there is picture in that area, but with the black blank screen I can easily see it.


Do you only see the glare when the set is powered on?

yes, only when the power is on.

This is what it looks like. Does any one has seen this problm before?

http://susaro.no-ip.com/~B/tv/183-8345_IMG.jpg
http://susaro.no-ip.com/~B/tv/183-8347_IMG.jpg

It looks to me like a dust blob. You just need to have the optical engine cleaned; in fact, you might be able to do it yourself with canned compressed air if you can access the optics (I've done it myself with my front projector). Search the forum and/or this thread and you'll see that it's a pretty common problem.

Schwa, Thanks

I recently had the bulbl in my GWIII replaced. Since then, I have had a very short buzzing sound from the speakers everytime I turn on the TV. This seems to occur when the lamp starts (during the period when the green power light flashes prior to the TV turning on). Is this normal? I don't think this is the same buzzing sound that others have talked about. Thanks.

I've never seen it on my set.

I've had my GWIII since 02/04 with the original Phillips bulb. I've always had a quick "pop" sound from my TV speakers at power up. I also don't think it's the same buzz sound other describe with a bulb failure. I have tried power ups with and without the speakers turned on. I have the speakers disabled since I get the audio from my receiver.
It's coming up on one year and hasn't been a problem yet. Hope I didn't jinx myself....

Originally posted by xgarage
This is what it looks like. Does any one has seen this problm before?

http://susaro.no-ip.com/~B/tv/183-8345_IMG.jpg
http://susaro.no-ip.com/~B/tv/183-8347_IMG.jpg

Does any body has done DYI cleaning for this TV model before?

Well folks, after a month of viewing my third Sony replacement unit (50WE620)--I had two Hitachi 50v500's returned before these--is being shipped back: green crop circle. Hopefully by the time on my fifth or sixth, the 2005 model will be out and Sony will give me that!

after reading about the "buzz" for over a year, and never having a problem myself...it finally hit.

When I price power, the green light flashes, here a fizzling/buzz sound from the bulb, and it continues flashing green.

Question is...what can I do?

bluecow--

Call Sony Customer Service and request a new bulb. They should be able to send you one quickly. The process and model numbers for doing this are well-documented in this thread.

Good luck,

John

Still kinda new here, hoping to get some help. I ran avia on my KF50WE610 and noticed that my picture is off center towards the left on all the tests. I also ran a thx optimizer when I got to the test with the circle, it appeared to be an oval on its side. I checked to make sure everything was in the correct ratio.

How can I adjust the picture to center it? I also really want to try umr's tweaks but not sure if I want to "mess" anything up. Is it fairly simple to do or does it take some skills? And if I do enter the SM and make changes, will it effect my warranty? Will appreciate any advice.

I had the same problem. My TV is off center from the factory from what I can tell. Go through the user settings and you should see an option for moving the picture left/right/up/down. Can't recall exactly what or where it is, but it's there.

Would that be the regular settings or the service menu?

It is in the user menu, under Setup. It is called Game Picture Adjust. But if I remember correctly, you can only move right or left but not up and down. To move up/down or adjust the geometry, you will need to go into the service menu.

Originally posted by picaddict
Still kinda new here, hoping to get some help. I ran avia on my KF50WE610 and noticed that my picture is off center towards the left on all the tests. I also ran a thx optimizer when I got to the test with the circle, it appeared to be an oval on its side. I checked to make sure everything was in the correct ratio.

How can I adjust the picture to center it? I also really want to try umr's tweaks but not sure if I want to "mess" anything up. Is it fairly simple to do or does it take some skills? And if I do enter the SM and make changes, will it effect my warranty? Will appreciate any advice.


The off center condition might be due to your DVD player. Some players allow for adjusting the position of the image. You'll want to check that first.

If you're using a Iscan HD+, the up down centering is in a function called "line adjust".

As to the distorted oval, be sure that you're using "full" as the aspect ratio.

The tweaks are fairly simple to do, however, some people are still obviously able to screw things up beyond correction. So that you know before hand, there is no "reset" function to return settings to their original state. If you are technical in nature, fine, give it a try. If your VCR is still flashing "12", pass on it.

As to warranty, yes you probably will void it. What you don't want to do is to screw up the TV and expect Sony to correct it under warranty.

Good info, many thanks.

Originally posted by JimP
The off center condition might be due to your DVD player. Some players allow for adjusting the position of the image. You'll want to check that first.



It worked, cant believe I missed that option. Gracias

Originally posted by picaddict
It worked, cant believe I missed that option. Gracias


You're very welcome.

Enjoy the show. :)

Hi all!

I have had my 50 inch GWIII for about a year now and have been very happy with it.

I recently got an HD DVR from Adelphia (a Motorola 6412). The picture quality is excellent but it does not have a coaxial out connection (it just has coaxial in). So, I currently have the cable going into the box with component connections to the HDTV.

Would it make sense to buy a splitter and feed one coaxial into the box and a second one into the RF connection on the TV? Seems like this would allow me to use Twin View (which I currently can't use) and also perhaps get a better SD picture by going directly into the TV.

Are there any downsides to this approach? Would splitting the connection cause a loss in HD picture quality?

Thanks!

That's exactly what I did and it works out great. I find that the SD is better if I let my Sony handle the RF signal directly rather than the cablebox. Just make sure you get a good quality splitter.

I have read the same thing in other threads (can't recall where) and am considering doing the same.

holabr - Can you or anyone else on this thread recommend a "good quality" splitter? They all just look like metal to me. How do you tell the difference?

Slight change of direction to the thread - Can anyone say whether you are better off using the GWIII HDMI input for cable or is it better utilized for a DVD player. I connected my Moto 6412 to my GWIII using a DVI-D to HDMI cable but don't see that big a difference from component - I'm actually running both in parallel at the moment.

I actually had Comcast come in when they installed the digital cable box and they replaced all my splitters, installad a bi-directional amp, and made the dual connection to the Cablebox and the GWIII. They did all this because of a problem I was having with On Demand before they realized it was the cable box itself.

I am using the component feeds from both the cable box and my DVD since I had read that there in no great difference between component and DVI. I was not about to spend $100 for a DVI cable.

I was not about to spend $100 for a DVI cable holabar - You can certainly spend that much if you buy a Monster cable, but you can get a very good quality 6ft DVI-HDMI cable for around $35 from outfits like Blue Jeans and PCcable, which is actually less than you'll pay for 3 component cables from Blue Jeans ($48) OR Monster. That's the only reason I decided to try it out.

So are you saying I'd need the bidirectional amp in addition to the splitter? Pls educate me as I'm a little new to this. Thanks much!

You may not need an amp if your signal is strong enough and you don't already have a lot of splits on the line. The cable guys have a meter to check the signal before an after the splitter. They will also install the amp if you need one. Comcast did all that for me at no charge. Your cable company may do the same for you. If you are using services like Pay Per View or On Demand or you have cable internet service, you need a bi-directional amp to allow signals to pass both ways.

I used the component cables because Comcast provided them for me in their digital cable installation kit. They don't provide a DVI cable so it was $0 versus $38 (your cost). Zero still wins.

Thanks holobar. Good info. I too have Comcast - their full package: HD/OnDemand/DVR/Internet, etc. and their service techs are generally OK. I may even have a Radio Shack splitter lying around that I can try for this. If it doesn't product good results, I'll give them a call. Thanks again!

holobar,

Thanks for the feedback! I'll get a splitter and report on my results. I'm particularly interested in seeing if I get improved pq on the SD analog channels.

johnny-zed,

I agree with holobar on the component issue. I have tried the DVI on several occasions but returned it because there was no noticeable improvement in pq. Others seem to agree with this including umr.

Hoopnoop - yeah, I agree as well. I don't really see a difference. That's why I was originally wondering about using the GWIII HDMI input for DVD instead of HDTV. But then I'd need to buy a DVD player with HDMI and exchange the DVI-HDMI cable for pure HDMI. Guess I'd better start lurking the DVD player threads!!! :eek:

This actually leads me to another question - Since HDMI carries both video and audio, would I need to switch the audio signal from my DVD player to my receiver through the TV -or- would I basically just do what I do now, which is turn the TV volume down to zero and continue to utilize the toslink audio connection I already have in place from my DVD player to my receiver.

I'll tell you what though, I've had this set since December and I am still really lovin it. Thanks again for all the help!

:D

-jz
---

Originally posted by holabr
You may not need an amp if your signal is strong enough and you don't already have a lot of splits on the line. The cable guys have a meter to check the signal before an after the splitter. They will also install the amp if you need one. Comcast did all that for me at no charge. Your cable company may do the same for you. If you are using services like Pay Per View or On Demand or you have cable internet service, you need a bi-directional amp to allow signals to pass both ways.

If I have comcast come out to test the signal on my line do I have to worry about the amount of tv's or computers that I have hooked up to the line? I have been getting slight interruptions while watching tv, like a second or two of blank screen. Not so much on my GW, which has the 6412 hooked up to it as well as a feed from just cable, but on the other tv's in the house. I have one 6412, two standard digital boxes, five other tv's getting just analog signal, and a modem and router hooked to four computers. I have a coaxial signal amplifier in the line after the first four way splitter. I was curious if there might be a limit as to how many things can be connected or not.


ooops, sorry, this is probably in the wrong thread.

I don't think they can do anything about multiple TV's any more. You are paying for the service into your house and the rental of any equipment like cable boxes. When they came in to check my problem, nothing was said about the multiple splits I have (9) and the cable modem and router that is feeding 4 computers.

Last night I just had a problem very similar to the one described by Tiarella on 11/24/04 in this thread.

Everything was working fine. Volume, input select, picture quality etc...

Then suddenly, and without apparent cause, I lost control of the set. I could use the remote to attempt to increase or decrease volume as indicated by the changing green volume bar on screen yet the sound output remained constant. I could use the remote to toggle through the input selects as indicated by the display on the screen yet all I could see was my HD TiVO or black screen. The HD TiVo appeared on both the DVI and Component inputs. (Note, I only have it hooked up to DVI:^)

I powered it off via the remote and it went into that mode where the screen is "black" but the bulb is on. That's supposed to last for about 3 seconds but it actually froze there indefinitely. Like Tiarella, I had to pull the plug. I let it sit for 15 minutes to let the bulb cool and then powered back on. All is well.

Might this be related to the fact that I made the last payment on the set yesterday?:rolleyes:

Also in the mix, before the set lost control, I noticed a couple of screen rolls. Like the analog sets of old used to do when the horizontal adjust was off. (or was it the vertical adjust...) You know, where the screen would roll up one full frame and then keep rolling if it was too far out of adjustment.

Tim

Originally posted by timlinca
Last night I just had a problem very similar to the one described by Tiarella on 11/24/04 in this thread.

Everything was working fine. Volume, input select, picture quality etc...

Then suddenly, and without apparent cause, I lost control of the set. I could use the remote to attempt to increase or decrease volume as indicated by the changing green volume bar on screen yet the sound output remained constant. I could use the remote to toggle through the input selects as indicated by the display on the screen yet all I could see was my HD TiVO or black screen. The HD TiVo appeared on both the DVI and Component inputs. (Note, I only have it hooked up to DVI:^)

I powered it off via the remote and it went into that mode where the screen is "black" but the bulb is on. That's supposed to last for about 3 seconds but it actually froze there indefinitely. Like Tiarella, I had to pull the plug. I let it sit for 15 minutes to let the bulb cool and then powered back on. All is well.

Might this be related to the fact that I made the last payment on the set yesterday?:rolleyes:

Also in the mix, before the set lost control, I noticed a couple of screen rolls. Like the analog sets of old used to do when the horizontal adjust was off. (or was it the vertical adjust...) You know, where the screen would roll up one full frame and then keep rolling if it was too far out of adjustment.

Tim

Hi timlinca. Sorry to hear you are having issues. Here is a thread I posted specific to this issue awhile ago and it has others who posted similar experiences. You might be able to reference it for info before you call for service.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=487259&highlight=gwiii

I would suggest that you not leave the set OFF for so long if this happens again. To recover, pull the plug, replace it immediately and then attempt to start up the set again right away. It should start up OK and RESTART THE FAN. You can then power it back down immediately and the fan will cool the lamp properly, reducing the thermal stress on this part.

Tiarella

Sorry if this has been addressed already but I haven't found anything in a search of this thread.

I read somewhere that a digital signal sent via DVI to the GWIII gets converted to analog for this set's internal processing.

Is this true? If so, does it eliminate any PQ improvement with DVI?

thanks

Originally posted by Dynot
Sorry if this has been addressed already but I haven't found anything in a search of this thread.

I read somewhere that a digital signal sent via DVI to the GWIII gets converted to analog for this set's internal processing.

Is this true? If so, does it eliminate any PQ improvement with DVI?

thanks

That's my understanding as well. I don't use the DVI input at all for cable or my dvd player. There is no noticeable improvement in picture quality.

Originally posted by Dynot
I read somewhere that a digital signal sent via DVI to the GWIII gets converted to analog for this set's internal processing.

Is this true? If so, does it eliminate any PQ improvement with DVI?


From what I've gathered, I don't think that is true. Still, I'd like to hear from someone in position to know for sure.

Just because it is digital doesn’t mean it is better. Yes the Sony LCD TV’s do not have a direct digital path. However, that does not mean that the Sony TV’s are inferior! If the conversion from digital to analog is done correctly then you will not see any perceptible quality loss. The quality also depends on the source. For example I have an 8300HD DVR. It has HD HDMI and component outputs which can be used at the same time. When I use the component output I see a lot of what looks like compression artifacts and the picture is noticeably softer. When I use HDMI the picture is much sharper and it does not have any of the artifacts. To me it is clear that the cable box does not do a good job converting the incoming digital signal to analog but the Sony TV does a good job in the conversion. I have also tried the HDMI and component inputs with my computer. There is not any noticeable difference there because the ATI video card does a good job with the conversion. So I really don’t think you should be worried about whether the Sony TV is doing a good job with the conversion. Instead you should worry about your source. If the source can not do the D/A conversion well then go with DVI. If it does do it well then you should be able to choose either one as long as you don’t have any of the Black Crush problems with DVI. Just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by mpgxsvcd
If the source can not do the D/A conversion well then go with DVI. If it does do it well then you should be able to choose either one as long as you don’t have any of the Black Crush problems with DVI.
Are you saying that "Black Crush" is a uniquely DVI-related problem? If so, why is that?

Black Crush occurs with a lot of DVI devices(Samsung DVD players, Zenith DVD players without the firmware update, computer video cards unless you are using Windows MCE). However, it is not completely unique to the DVI connection. I have heard that several HDMI devices have the black crush problem if you use an HDMI to DVI converter. However, I think most HDMI devices will not have the black crush problem if you use an HDMI to HDMI connection. I have not confirmed this but I have read that there is actually a difference between the video part of the HDMI spec and the DVI spec. A complete HDMI connection is supposed to use the correct video signal as opposed to the computer one that most DVI devices incorrectly use.

My GWIII developed it's first crop circle and I've been given a choice of replacing the Optical Engine or having the dust blown out. I've seen mention of it being fixed with the replacement and a few references to trying to blow out the dust. I'm curious as to what might be the better way to go ? If anyone has any suggestions either way I'd appreciate hearing it.
Thanks
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=520524

Originally posted by number9
My GWIII developed it's first crop circle and I've been given a choice of replacing the Optical Engine or having the dust blown out. I've seen mention of it being fixed with the replacement and a few references to trying to blow out the dust. I'm curious as to what might be the better way to go ? If anyone has any suggestions either way I'd appreciate hearing it.
Thanks
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=520524
I had this issue and simple cleaning by the Sears guy fixed this. That was 3 weeks ago and no problems since.

I agree with Bobby...

My friend had a cleaning done and his is still going well.

Tim

Originally posted by s2silber
Are you saying that "Black Crush" is a uniquely DVI-related problem? If so, why is that?

The Black Crush problem caused by the output device using the PC spec instead of the Video spec is inherent to DVI/HDMI connections only. TV’s can introduce black crush depending on their settings but the problem I was talking about does not occur with the ATI DVI to component adapter or if you use Windows MCE with straight DVI.

I've had my GWIII for almost a year and recently noticed a yellow tint in the bottom left half of the screen. You can only see it when the TV is displaying black. For example, during the intro to Star Wars half the screen has a yellow tint to it. The Best Buy tech came out, and I knew I was immediately in trouble when he diagnosed my problem as "the color wheel". He also has the thickest accent I have ever heard, it's impossible to communicate with him. I suggested that it might be the light engine, but instead he told me nothing was wrong with the TV. After much debate he agreed to replace the controller block. 2 weeks later he came and replace the part and declared the issue resolved (it was not). After much HEATED debate he agreed to replace the old part to see if there was any change (which there was not - still yellow tint). Now he's calling Sony to try and authorize a light engine change. To make matters worse there is now an obvious horizontal tilt on the right side of the screen! when watching a movie in 2.35 the bottom black bar tilts slightly up on the right side - enough that my girlfriend noticed! Oh and I found a few screws he forgot to replace when he put the TV back together. I'll probably call Best Buy and discuss it, the local store manager is a pretty good guy. Any thoughts/suggestions on the yellow tint or horizontal tilt?

thanks

Originally posted by coldengray
Any thoughts/suggestions on the yellow tint or horizontal tilt?

thanks

Yea here is a thought! That guy just broke your TV and it probably will never be the same. The tilt problem is not good. I am not sure what they have to do to correct that. The crop circle/Haze problems are covered under BB warranty. It says it covers problems due to dust. Demand a new light engine and bulb or a replacement TV. The new 55” WF655 is a good choice for a replacement. The WE655 is just a WE610 without the black Bezel(Not acceptable in my book). Or you can just sit back and watch your broken $2000 TV!

Hello all. I have the GWIII KF50WE610 and have been looking into a DVD player that performs upscaling. I realize we've been left behind since the GWIII only has a DVI and most newer players come with HDMI.

I was looking at the Panny S97s DVD player and wondering if anyone had any input? I've read that because of the overscan problems with the GWIII and HDMI to DVI converter that it's better to use DVD players in 480i instead of upscaling the picture. Please let me know if there is information that contradicts this. Does anyone have a DVD player running through DVI and is satisfied with the performance?

I would like a DVD player that takes advantage of DVI and upscaling capabilities. It would be appreciated if anyone could shed some light.

Originally posted by mattbugz
Hello all. I have the GWIII KF50WE610 and have been looking into a DVD player that performs upscaling

...I've read that because of the overscan problems with the GWIII and HDMI to DVI converter that it's better to use DVD players in 480i instead of upscaling the picture.
Who says? Where does this supposed "overscan" information come from?
:confused:

Are many of you guys looking around at the Qualia 006 reviews and the gossip on the Samsung , Mitsubishi, other Sony's, etc., with the thought of possibly upgrading??

Originally posted by s2silber
Who says? Where does this supposed "overscan" information come from?
:confused:

I believe I read it in the Panasonic DVD-S97S thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5412852&highlight=overscan#post5412852)

Originally posted by JimP
Are many of you guys looking around at the Qualia 006 reviews and the gossip on the Samsung , Mitsubishi, other Sony's, etc., with the thought of possibly upgrading??

Not with the current limited HD content, and DVDs still at 480.

Originally posted by calgary kid
Not with the current limited HD content, and DVDs still at 480.

My feelings, exactly. We are hardly exploiting the potential we have now with such limited program material and sources.
The money spent down the road will be fewer dollars for even better (or as good) displays that run $10,000> now.
But of course it will not stop those who need to be 'first on the block' to own a Super Set.
But I support them with their dollars! At least we have some pathfinders out there on the new frontier!

Originally posted by mattbugz
I believe I read it in the Panasonic DVD-S97S thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5412852&highlight=overscan#post5412852)
See for yourself:
Notice with HDTV broadcasts how far down in the bottom right corner the station logo is. Fox (720p) is chopped off so bad that and I can only see half of it!

For Dvds, use the THX optimizer overscan 16:9 test pattern. Again chop, chop, chop and chop.

This is all because digital inputs are converted to analog and back, all inside the monitor. Sheer stupidity. In spite of this the picture (especially HD) looks awesome.

Replace bulbs too as the black level and color spectrum will change drastically if you don't...

Originally posted by coldengray
I've had my GWIII for almost a year and recently noticed a yellow tint in the bottom left half of the screen. You can only see it when the TV is displaying black. For example, during the intro to Star Wars half the screen has a yellow tint to it. The Best Buy tech came out, and I knew I was immediately in trouble when he diagnosed my problem as "the color wheel". thanks
Use Sony Factory Service only, NOT Sony factory authorized service. Call Sony directly. Get it?

RE: DVD players, I am very happy with the Zenith 318 that I have which upscales through component. However, I think they have since disabled that feature and it may not work as well through DVI. I have also heard that the new Sony upscaling DVD player works well with the GWIII but I do not know for sure.

Hello all. I have the GWIII KF50WE610 and have been looking into a DVD player that performs upscaling. I realize we've been left behind since the GWIII only has a DVI and most newer players come with HDMI.mattbugz - The GWIII has an HDMI input. So you should be able to run HDMI-HDMI from the DVD player to your GWIII. Most of the upscaling DVD players have an HDMI out + digital (coax or toslink) out to your receiver if you don't want to use the GWIII speakers. As I understand it, some of the upscaling players (Panny 97S, Sammy 941, etc.) even include the HDMI cable in the packaging so you can try it before you decide to shell out the extra $150 for a Mobster cable. :eek:

Most HD STBs have DVI out but from my limited experience, the difference in the HD PQ is negligible between the DVI-HDMI and component connections so I'd probably use the HDMI for the DVD player. I don't have an upscaling DVD player, though, so I'll leave those comments to other.

The digital-analog-digital conversion that the GWIII introduces to the equation, may, however, negate any advantage gained from a pure digital feed, althought as others have said, the PQ is still pretty freaking good.

;)

Bump.

Matt -

I couldn't find your model on Sony's web site. Can you repeat? I have the KDF50WE655, which does have HDMI. Perhaps your specific model doesn't?

-jz
---

Originally posted by jonny-zed
Bump.

Matt -

I couldn't find your model on Sony's web site. Can you repeat? I have the KDF50WE655, which does have HDMI. Perhaps your specific model doesn't?
---

Hi JZ, I have the KF50WE610. I think yours would be considered GWIV.

http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=KF50WE610

GWIII only have the DVI input.

Matt - I guess you're correct, pardon me. I had thought mine was a III all this time. Doh! In any case, good luck with the DVD player!

-jz
---

Originally posted by jonny-zed
Matt - I guess you're correct, pardon me. I had thought mine was a III all this time. Doh! In any case, good luck with the DVD player!

-jz
---

:) Better join the GWIV thread. There's a lot more activity there since this thread is pretty much dead.

As for the DVD player, I selected the Denon 3910 and I've been all smiles since.

Help me folks,

My GWIII has developed a blue like glow across the bottom 2 inches of my screen. Is this the dust issue fixed by cleaning or replacing something? I just would like to know before I call the service people. Thank goodness for the 5 year warranty. Thanks in advance Bill

Originally posted by Smacky
Help me folks,

My GWIII has developed a blue like glow across the bottom 2 inches of my screen. Is this the dust issue fixed by cleaning or replacing something? I just would like to know before I call the service people. Thank goodness for the 5 year warranty. Thanks in advance Bill

Befre calling for service, unplug it from its source for a little while and plug it back in. My set developed some strange color output once that made me extremely worried. I essentially rebooted the set and everything returned to normal.

Only a slight chance that this is your problem, but it's worth a try.

The bulb on my KF42WE610 refused to light yesterday. Bummer! So, I replaced it with a spare I had on hand just in case this happened. When I plugged the set back in and fired it up, I got the bulb lit but there was no picture (input was DVI from a Motorola 6420 box). I tried my other inputs and they all displayed the picture quite nicely, but the cable box input supplied only sound on any channel. I then recabled the box to connect via component video and the high-def picture was restored. The box had been working very nicely via DVI for about 4 months.

My question is, has anyone else had problems with their DVI inputs? I'm starting to wonder if the problem was actually the bulb (which looked fine to the naked eye when I removed it). The symptom that led me to replace it was flashing green light for ~20 seconds followed by steadily flashing red light (which after about a minute stopped as the set went back to standby mode). Is there a diagnostic anywhere in the service menu?

I suppose the problem with DVI could be the cable box, but I find it suspicious that the problem happened coincident with the bulb going out. Unfortunately I don't have an alternative DVI input source or monitor to try and sort this out.

Hoping for useful suggestions,
Alan

ABG,

Trying turning on the TV first, then the cable box. There is something about turn on sequence that permits the handshake.

A power cycle fixed the DVI issue. I didn't want to power cycle the TV because of the new bulb, but that's all that was required. I had power cycled the box several times, but never the Tv.

D'oh!

Thanks for the suggestion,
Alan

A power cycle fixed the DVI issue. I didn't want to power cycle the TV because of the new bulb, but that's all that was required. I had power cycled the box several times, but never the Tv.

D'oh!

Thanks for the suggestion,
Alan

I experienced a problem with color synchronization one time. Colors were all over the place. I just unplugged the TV for a while and plugged it back in and low and behold, problem solved. Sony must have taken a page from the book of Microsoft. When in doubt, reboot!

Glad it worked for you.

This TV was delivered to me in January 2004. Recently, I bought a Sony service
manual and it said the XL2100U lamp for this unit is 100W. However, the online
stores indicate that the new XL2100U lamp (exact same model #) is now 120W.
I wonder if anyone has gone through replacing a 100W lamp with the new 120W
lamp and if there was a difference.

Basically, should I pay $200.00 for 20 addition Watts?

Thanks in advance.

My lamp just started to fail at startup. Fizzing sound and then lamp failure light comes on. After unplugging the set and waiting 30 seconds the unit turns on with no problems.
Puchase date was Oct 2003, does this sound like a warrany repair or simple lamp change? I purchased SONY extended warranty.

T

I apologize if this has already been covered in this forum but I've searched for over an hour and can't find where this has been addressed. Is it possible to set up different picture settings for different inputs aside from using different modes i.e; "Vivid" for your DVI input (jack 7)and "Standard" for your component input (jack 5 or 6). I've adjusted my picture settings using the Avia DVD through the component 6 connection. However, if I adjust picture settings when watching OTA or DBS through my DVI connection, this also changes my picture settings that I have saved for the component connection. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry to say that you cannot apply settings to the individual inputs.

That's what I suspected. That's kind of a bummer. So I'll watch DBS and OTA through my DVI connection with Vivid Mode, and I'll watch DVD's through component cables using Standard Mode. My Samsung HD841 DVD player won't pass BTB through DVI anyways.

You can set up different picture settings for different inputs (using the same mode), but not through the user menus. To do this, you must dive into the service menu. It's not too hard to do this. Just a pain in the butt. You would think that Sony would have made it a little easier.

Ok, how do I get into the service menu?

Check out this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=331875) thread. UMR has provided all the information you will need.

Thanks a lot!

Hi all. I'm looking into my first HDTV purchase and I've noticed the KDF50WE655 priced awfully nice.

Anyone have any experience with this model? The thread/forum search didn't yield much for this model number.

Thanks!

Hi all. I'm looking into my first HDTV purchase and I've noticed the KDF50WE655 priced awfully nice.

Anyone have any experience with this model? The thread/forum search didn't yield much for this model number.

Thanks!

Wrong thread. This is for x...WE610 which is generation 3. The model you speak of is GWIV so take a look at that thread for your answer. I'm sure it will be a positive one. :)

Found the link for you: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=446742&highlight=gwiv

Thanks...I'm wandering around a bit lost in here.

Help me folks,

My GWIII has developed a blue like glow across the bottom 2 inches of my screen. Is this the dust issue fixed by cleaning or replacing something? I just would like to know before I call the service people. Thank goodness for the 5 year warranty. Thanks in advance Bill

Just to follow up. Warranty was from a local appliance store. They came out the next day looked at my problem, made a call, order a whole new optical engine. It came in the next day and they put it in in about 2 hours. All is well now. Moral of this story is buy the longest warranty offered. He said this part alone would have cost $900+. I'm on my second bulb too. So far 5 year warranty cost me $299 so far I'm like $700 up.

This TV was delivered to me in January 2004. Recently, I bought a Sony service
manual and it said the XL2100U lamp for this unit is 100W. However, the online
stores indicate that the new XL2100U lamp (exact same model #) is now 120W.
I wonder if anyone has gone through replacing a 100W lamp with the new 120W
lamp and if there was a difference.

Basically, should I pay $200.00 for 20 addition Watts?

Thanks in advance.


I would like to know if there is a difference also.

I think all the new bulbs will be 120 watt. Couple online bulb vendors don't even have the 100 watt anymore.

MY 42" GWIII has started losing picture for a few seconds and then it comes back.... This is happening regularly amd is hard to watch a program...

Anyone have advice on this? Is it the bulb/lamp? Thanks!

davidos,

Does the problem appear on DVDs as well as cable/satellite?

I'm having a similar problem with a HD cable DVR and its the cable signal. When I use OTA HD, its rock solid.

I haven't checked DVDs yet..... and mine is ALSO ocurring with my Cablevision HD DVR! Do you have the same? How can we fix this? I heard Cablevision may have updated the software on the DVRs.... maybe we need to unplug the boxes and reboot them...?

I haven't checked DVDs yet..... and mine is ALSO ocurring with my Cablevision HD DVR! Do you have the same? How can we fix this? I heard Cablevision may have updated the software on the DVRs.... maybe we need to unplug the boxes and reboot them...?

If you can confirm the same thing occurs from different inputs, then it could be your bulb. How long have you had your GWIII?

I haven't checked DVDs yet..... and mine is ALSO ocurring with my Cablevision HD DVR! Do you have the same? How can we fix this? I heard Cablevision may have updated the software on the DVRs.... maybe we need to unplug the boxes and reboot them...?


I'm on Brighthouse cable. Its a motorola DVR. I can tell that I'm also having intermittant horizontal lines on analog stations which also appears on other TVs.

I turned on my KF-WE610 this morning and Purple lines appeared in the middle of the screen (see attached file). Has anyone seen this before? I called Sony and they stepped me through a power reset but it did not correct the problem. This appears on the screen at all inputs. The unit is 1yr, 8 months old, so it is out of the warranty period. Since it is a holiday, there was not any second level tech support available. I will call tomorrow to see if I can find out if any technical service bulletins are available about this problem.

Thanks,

James

I turned on my KF-WE610 this morning and Purple lines appeared in the middle of the screen (see attached file). Has anyone seen this before? I called Sony and they stepped me through a power reset but it did not correct the problem. This appears on the screen at all inputs. The unit is 1yr, 8 months old, so it is out of the warranty period. Since it is a holiday, there was not any second level tech support available. I will call tomorrow to see if I can find out if any technical service bulletins are available about this problem.

Thanks,

James

Good luck, I know you don't want to hear this but you should have bought the extended warranty. Can't really say what your problem is but I just had the blue cloud like things on my TV and they ended up replacing the whole optical engine. If not under warranty the part alone was over $900. Hope thats not what needs replacing.

You might want to post this on the GWIV thread, they are so simular a lot of people have migrated over to that thread.

Good luck, I know you don't want to hear this but you should have bought the extended warranty. Can't really say what your problem is but I just had the blue cloud like things on my TV and they ended up replacing the whole optical engine. If not under warranty the part alone was over $900. Hope thats not what needs replacing.

You might want to post this on the GWIV thread, they are so simular a lot of people have migrated over to that thread.


After having the set on for about 1 hour over half of the purple lines have dissappeared. I'll keep the set on for a while and see what happens. I have no Idea what is going on with this. Hopefully it is a one time glitch.

-James

wookatok, leave your TV on until all of the lines are gone. I have the exact same problem a month ago. Once all the lines are gone, switch off your TV and wait for a couple of hours and then turn it back on again to see whether it's back to normal. It should because I did just that and no more lines. I have the 60" and for about 19 months, on the second bulb. Otherwise no other problems.

wookatok, leave your TV on until all of the lines are gone. I have the exact same problem a month ago. Once all the lines are gone, switch off your TV and wait for a couple of hours and then turn it back on again to see whether it's back to normal. It should because I did just that and no more lines. I have the 60" and for about 19 months, on the second bulb. Otherwise no other problems.


Thanks for the reply. I will try your suggestion today and keep you posted.

Thanks,

-James

I would like to know if there is a difference also.

I think all the new bulbs will be 120 watt. Couple online bulb vendors don't even have the 100 watt anymore.

What venders are selling this new lamp

My apologies for asking such a simple, basic question as I know this has been answered before. However, I've been searching for over an hour and am frustrated as I can't find the answer anywhere...even in UMR's tweaks!

I'm just looking for the location in the SM where I can find the lamp counter in the GWIII.

Also, why isn't this documented anywhere here? Shouldn't this info be in a sticky somewhere?

Thanks...

It's buried in the threads.. :)

With the TV off do the following:

1. Press "Display", "5", "Volume +". Power ON
2. Press "Jump" on the remote 3 times.
3. To display Lamp Time, Press "2" 9 times.

Example Display:

PANEL NVM OK 9 OPTION_E
0 LAMP 0 Diff 1
LampTM 14 LampCT 71

Shows:
lamp time = 14 hours
lamp ON/OFF cycle is 71 times.

Press Power (OFF) and then on again within a few seconds to cancel service menu, and keep display powered ON, or just keep it powered down.

Thanks video...

Doesn't seem to work for me. First time I read about using the JUMP button...is this for the GWIII?

I did find a page on the SM that shows LAMP TIME on the 2nd line top left corner and on the right side, 1 line lower shows 01645. Not sure if this is the number of hours. Would have been nice to see the ON/OFF cycles too.

You're right about this info being buried (deeply I might add). It shoud be listed in the popular threads if you ask me. WTF, they have a useless thread there about "Anyone buy a GWIII in the last 4 weeks" started sometime last year!

Thanks again...

If you have not gone into the SM before, you need to hit ...display.... 5.... Vol+....ON... within a second of each other.
If you got into the SM but the other steps did not take you to the lamp timer reading, I apologize, it may well be different for the III. I know going into the SM has been the same for Sony TVs for over a decade.

Yes, well some info for tweaks are available as Excel documents. Others are spelled out within threads. A reference section for each model type would be very helpful, but probably not easy to set up without reorganizing the forum into different categories.

Pressing jump didn't work for me either, but I did find a screen that said lamp time. The upper left of the service menu screen shows the menu category. Just below that is the item name. Press 1 to go up one item, 4 to go down one item. If you continue to press 1 and get to the end of one category, it will advance automatically to the next category. Press 2 to go up one category, 5 to go down one category.

wookatok, leave your TV on until all of the lines are gone. I have the exact same problem a month ago. Once all the lines are gone, switch off your TV and wait for a couple of hours and then turn it back on again to see whether it's back to normal. It should because I did just that and no more lines. I have the 60" and for about 19 months, on the second bulb. Otherwise no other problems.


Vlui, Thanks for the tip. I had to leave the set on for almost 2 day for all the lines to disappear. I left it off overnight and there were no purple lines this morning. I hope this is the end of this problem. What a scare, when you are out of warranty.

I think the extra time to get rid of the purple lines was because I left the TV on with out any input signal. The lines disappeared quicker with an input signal.

Thanks again,

-James

Pressing jump didn't work for me either, but I did find a screen that said lamp time. The upper left of the service menu screen shows the menu category. Just below that is the item name. Press 1 to go up one item, 4 to go down one item. If you continue to press 1 and get to the end of one category, it will advance automatically to the next category. Press 2 to go up one category, 5 to go down one category.

I apologize for that duster. I believe it is different between III and IV in that regard. Next time I will aim my assistance with a bit more precision. :)

That's great wookatok, it took me about 12 hours for all the lines to disappear. I did it while watching regular tv. It's been more than a month now and so far it's OK. I hope yours should be fine too. It's hard to believe that something like this can happen. The service guy gave me a follow up call & I told him that it fixed by itself, he told me that it's a 'miracle'! Enjoy your TV.

I need help. I have posted a few threads, but have never recieevd a response. I have a Sony KF-50WE610, a Nvidia graphics card, and a Grandtec GHV-1000 VGA to Component convereter. I think I grasp most of your concepts and I have managed to learn how to create custom resolutions using powerstrip. I can't figure out the right one formy TV. I have tried to run moninfo, but it does not seem to read my TV (because it is hooked up through the VGA-Component adapter). What is the best resolution I can get? Plus, because I am going through a non-DVI connection, any tampering with the advanced timing options of the TV will affect the rest of my inputs (true?). I would like to get a 1 to 1 display on at least 1024X768 or better. Please help!

bob,

Sony's are not particularly native resolution friendly.

I do recall seeing a thread several months ago over in the home theater pc area about it.

Do a search over there and see what you come up with.

Hi all..During the last 2 weeks or so when I turn on my 50WE610 I hear 1 beep. At first I thought it might mean that my lamp was going dead but I never see the replace lamp indicator light up and can't seem to find a reference in the manual forthis problem. I searched on this thread for an answer but couldn't find it so I thought I'd just ask. Anyone have this happen to them and know what it means? Thanks in advance.

Just to clarify, are you sure it's a beep, or more of a buzz? From time to time, I hear a buzz when I turn on my GWIII, but never a beep. I think the buzz is caused by the lamp. It happens more for me when I turn on the GWIII after a short period of off time.

Here's how I differentiate:
beep - short distinct tone
buzz - longer low frequency sound

Is it coming from your speakers or inside the tv somewhere?

It's a short beep and it only does it when I turn the TV on. No other time does it beep while I'm watching tv.

As for the speakers, I actually have the tv speakers set to off since I run my sound through a receiver/surround system. I usually turn everything on in a quick sequence using an MX700 programmable remote. I'll try just turning the tv on tonite without turning anything else on to see if it's the TV that is indeed beeping. I'd swear it is.

I have a GWIII, manufactured in Oct 2003. Never had a problem...until tonight. Was watching an OTA HD feed from a Motorola HDT100 and a message showed up across the bottom of the screen, "TV will turn off soon" and shortly it did, turn off I mean.

The manual is less than helpful. I haven't had the guts to try and turn it back on. Not sure I want to know the answer. Has anybody else ever seen this message?

Thanks.

I have a GWIII, manufactured in Oct 2003. Never had a problem...until tonight. Was watching an OTA HD feed from a Motorola HDT100 and a message showed up across the bottom of the screen, "TV will turn off soon" and shortly it did, turn off I mean.

The manual is less than helpful. I haven't had the guts to try and turn it back on. Not sure I want to know the answer. Has anybody else ever seen this message?

Thanks.

The message sounds like a timer was activated to turn it off. I would just turn it back on. If you keep getting the same meassage, and it keeps turning off, THEN it's time for a service visit.

On the remote, click "menu"

In the "setup menu", under clock/timer, see if something looks fishy.

Yeah, you had probably just hit the "sleep" button and it turned itself off after that time had expired. :p


I know for a fact that the tv tells you "the tv will turn off soon" when the sleep mode is about to turn the tv off. :) So, i'm willing to bet someone just hit the sleep button without knowing it. No problem.

So, i'm willing to bet someone just hit the sleep button without knowing it. No problem.

Its probably the cat. As much as they sleep during the day, they really get the use out of that "sleep" button. :D

In my case...it turned out to be the cat's ghost :). Thanks to all.

I have a sony KF-50WE610 nearly two years old. There seems to be a thread on the lenses which shows up on the viewing screen. Can someone direct me to the location or message which describes how to clean the lenses?

Does anyone know how to skip Video 1 input??

I have DVI-Video 7 and Component in Video 6 input only used on this TV (KE-50WE610), and i don't want to have to cycle past Video 1 everytime i go between 6 and 7 inputs

It also makes is a pain to use with my logitech harmany remote.. i have to assign it someting in video1 just so it goes to the right place.

I know you can disable channel fix and pick other OTA/Cable channels or put it on off, bu then i still have to cycle past antenna/cable argh!

Anyone know a solution to this i would greatly appreciate the help!

Also does anyone know a cheap way to deal with being able to use 2 or even 3 devices with DVI/HDMI (the tv only has 1 DVI input) only thing i've seen is extremely expensive audio receivers that have multiple hdmi inputs...

Thanks

I use a Lenexpo HDMI Switcher. Use cable adaptors or DVI/HDMI cables as needed. I wasn't able to find any DVI switchers that worked with the GWIII. I believe the switchers run around $200. Cables can vary widely in price. Lenexpo sells reasonably-priced cables and adaptors.

I use a Lenexpo HDMI Switcher. Use cable adaptors or DVI/HDMI cables as needed. I wasn't able to find any DVI switchers that worked with the GWIII. I believe the switchers run around $200. Cables can vary widely in price. Lenexpo sells reasonably-priced cables and adaptors.

Thanks those Lenexpo switchers are perfect! I guess i need to get a DVI switcher, since my tv is DVI. Although i will have to use a HDMI to DVI cable on the devices that i have that have HDMI output.

If anyone has info about how to skip video 1, please let me know

Thanks