I just got the 32" and only have a geometry problem. I run everything through the component input. When in component mode, the whole picture is slightly off to the left, meaning there is a black space down the right side of the screen.

Also at the top, right corner it curves in slightly.

When in HD digital mode with a OTA antenna there are no problems, the picture is centered.

I've read that you can fix problems like this in the service mode, but from what I've read you need to be in analog mode to access it.

Will it change the picture alignment in component mode or just for analog viewing?

Thanks all!

Went to 3 Walmarts called another 10. Not 1 30 incher in the city of Orlando.

Originally posted by petem23
Went to 3 Walmarts called another 10. Not 1 30 incher in the city of Orlando.

If you dont mind a 2-3 hour drive (depending on traffic on crap ass I-4), the Walmart down the street from me in Sarasota has one in stock (I called the other day)

What the hell are you talkinga about? Do you realize that 50,000 hours = 8 hours each day, for 365 days a year for about 18 years???

how do you figure $6/hr??? you buying a plasma that cost $300,000??

sorry for the off topic post.

back on topic- i hooked up the 30" sanyo to my HTPC running a radeon 9600 LE - it drives the set at 1920x1080i with a bit of overscan, but works great.. I use zoomplayer for DVD and scale it appropriately to fix the overscan. The dvd scaled to 1080i is awesome. I also use it to watch recorded HDTV from my fusion card on another computer. AGain, works great - beautiful running 1080i

I'm sorta torn now though - this set is a great deal but I'm seduced by the cool plasma and LCD screens available - not sure if I'm going to keep my sanyo. plus, it's fricken heavy as hell



Originally posted by tgray2k

and the problem with Plasma is that they burn out after 50,000 hours ($6/hr to watch TV!)

[/B]

OK, i have been reading as many of the post as i can on this box, but man there is alot.
maybe it has been covered, but i can't read 30+ pages to see, so i'll just ask.
i'm have been eyeballing this box for short time now, I have been to my local Wal-mart to see it. they have the Sanyo & the Philips 30" 30PW850H sitting right next to each other. i have to be honest, as they have them sitting in the store, the Philips looks way better. i know that you still have to buy additional equipment to get a HDTV signal from the Philips, which Wal-Mart did already for their display units. so both of them are running on HDTV signal.
they didn't have batteries in the remote to do any adjustments on the TV, but is the Sanyo that bad out-of-the-box? it didn't look very good at all next to the Philips. the Philips image is alot softer & very, very crisp compared to the Sanyo's.
I assume no adjustments had been made on either TV, as it is Wal-mart afterall.
i know the Philips is more money, but the picture was awesome on it, even in the Wal-Mart TV department.

so my question is i guess, can the Sanyo be tuned to the quality of the Philips? or is the Philips maybe a little better TV?

i never really considered myself a huge Sanyo fan, but my current bedroom TV is a 27" Sanyo that i have had since 1990-91 & it still has a great picture & works like a champ. so, from this experience, i have found myself respecting the brand.

The Philips is $50 more expensive. I truthfully haven't seen the philips in person but with the exception of a slight geometry problem I'm completely happy with my 30 Inch Sanyo. The picture is fantatic and everyone who has seen it so far is very impressed. If I had it over to do again I might consider the Philips. As it stands right now I don't use the built in tuner on my Sanyo so it's kind of a wasted feature for me right now. Not saying I won't use it down the road, but I live too far to get OTA reception. IF you don't plan on getting OTA digitals the Philips might be your better choice. Especially if you like the picture better. I'm positive that the image you saw on the Sanyo was not optimized and could probably easily be improved upon. But for only $50 more you might be happier with the Philips.

I have been to my local Wal-mart to see it. they have the Sanyo & the Philips 30" 30PW850H sitting right next to each other. i have to be honest, as they have them sitting in the store, the Philips looks way better.

At my local walmart they have the phillips and sanyo next to each other as well, but from my perspective the sanyo seems to have the better picture. the phillips set has some geometery problems, and I am sure that they have not been adjusted by store personell I have had my sanyo for a week now and it is a great TV with out any problems

Can anyone please send me their full service menu configuration for the 32" model?

I would like to just set it back to the defaults and adjust from there. Too bad you can't just reset them to defaults in the menu.

Also I'm having a tilt issue, on channels with scrolling on the bottom the left side is lower than the right. I find it very annoying. Can this be fixed in the service menu? I could not find it there, if not this is probably going back.


Thanks!

Originally posted by Ev01vEd
Can anyone please send me their full service menu configuration for the 32" model?

I would like to just set it back to the defaults and adjust from there. Too bad you can't just reset them to defaults in the menu.

Also I'm having a tilt issue, on channels with scrolling on the bottom the left side is lower than the right. I find it very annoying. Can this be fixed in the service menu? I could not find it there, if not this is probably going back.


Thanks!

Your TV's initial values won't necessarily match anybody else's initial setup as SOME may have been adjusted at the factory. The initial defaults for the 30" model were posted in June by Ryan - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3938148&highlight=XLS#post3938148
Download the zip to extract the .xls spreadsheet. If you don't have Excel, Msft has free "Readers" available for download. I used his spreadsheet and added my own settings for a pair of HT32744s and found few differences:
Hex Ryan 32744#1 32744#2
045 32 32 22
082 14 16 16
088 12 10 10
0B0 00 B7 B7
0B1 00 88 88
0B4 00 01 01
0B8 00 C9 C9
0B9 00 01 01
0BA 00 F0 F0
0BB 00 03 03
0BC 00 4C 4C
0BD 00 8C 8C
0BE 00 B7 B7
0BF 00 4C 4C
0C0 00 C0 C0
0C1 00 B7 B7

106 80 A0 90
108 94 A4 88
109 4E 56 76
10A B8 88 88
10B 1D 5D 5D
10C 35 75 75
116 5E 5E 68 56 6A
117 64 64 4C 6C 58
118 63 76 78 54 76
119 74 54 50 48
11B 80 9C A8 98
11C 78 A8 98 A8
11D 65 61 55
11E 89 91 A9 A9
11F 7D 81 81
120 88 7C 7C
126 89 76 76
173 FF 03 03
174 FE FF FF
178 FE 02 02
179 FB FE FE
17A F9 FE FE
I hope this will look reasonable once posted but if not, I can send the whole spreadsheet.

I adjusted a few things in the SM to make things square up without a whole lot of work. Most of the work was writing down all the settings before changing them - time well spent!!!

Making your 32" match either of mine could make your geometry worse, not better.

Although I am happy with my set there is one other con I wanted to mention. I think it's retarded that the PAP funtion works the way it does. I see no earthly reason why we don't have the capacity to use any 2 inputs we wish for the PAP. The way the Sanyo is set up is that one of the PAP channels MUST be coming from the built-in ATSC digital tuner. For those of us that are not currently using the ATSC tuner we are out of luck. Why not let us use Component2 and Composite1, or HDMI and Component3, or Component2 and the NTSC tuner? (I'm sure you get my drift here).

From a technical standpoint I see no reason why they couldn't have done that. Unfortunately TV's are not like DVD's in that you can just download a firmware update and throw it on a CD-R to update the unit.

What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone found a way around this limitation?

I realize the 32" is about equal to a 29.4" widescreen, but how does it handle the resolution? With the 30", I can see that you get the full 1080i in widescreen.

Does the 32" show 1080 lines in letterbox mode? I would think you only get a fraction of the lines, and the full height of the tube is 1080 lines.

Anyone know the real answer? Thanks.

I got the 30 inch about 10 days ago and I am having a problem with vertical lines across the entire screen while watching DVDs. I guess lines is the term to use. It looks like the picture is sliced into a hundred thin sections. It seems to be the most pronounced on flesh and earth tones but is present on all colors. No picture problems with DirecTV (S-video) or VCR (composite).
I am using monster component cables hooked up to a Sanyo DWM-390 DVD player. I have this problem using progressive and interlaced on the DVD settings. I have used two different sets of component cables on both component hook ups. Sometimes the picture is clear, sometimes the lines come and go, and sometimes they are there throughout the entire movie.
Is this a product of this model's suspect component jacks or is the TV just screwed up? Or is this something that is normal with HDTV's and I, being a virgin to this new technology, am spending too much time focusing on it?Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. :confused:

Originally posted by ClaudeR
I realize the 32" is about equal to a 29.4" widescreen, but how does it handle the resolution? With the 30", I can see that you get the full 1080i in widescreen.

Does the 32" show 1080 lines in letterbox mode? I would think you only get a fraction of the lines, and the full height of the tube is 1080 lines.

Anyone know the real answer? Thanks.

From my experience with the 32", I'd say you DO get full resolution in letterbox mode. I don't know this for 100% certainty, but from what I see, it sure looks that way. What you don't get is good resolution when you zoom. If you zoom a letterbox or postage stamp to fill the screen, you can notice the drop in resolution. It isn't terrible or anything, but it is noticible.

Originally posted by upNdown
From my experience with the 32", I'd say you DO get full resolution in letterbox mode. I don't know this for 100% certainty, but from what I see, it sure looks that way. What you don't get is good resolution when you zoom. If you zoom a letterbox or postage stamp to fill the screen, you can notice the drop in resolution. It isn't terrible or anything, but it is noticible.

This was one of the reasons I took the Phillips 30" back a moth or so ago. It was terrible at watching SD TV so when I bought this one the first thing I checked was the zoom and I did not notice the degridation as much as the Phillips.

Here's a new question I haven't seen addressed in this thread. I'm running my Dish receiver to my Sanyo via a DVI/HDMI cable. Whenever I click the sanyo input to the HDMI input, I get a red message across the bottom of the screen saying something like

"For HDMI input, please Component 2 audio input"

or something like that. It only stays on the screen for about 2 seconds, then it goes away, but I'm getting annoyed with it. I'm presently running my audio via composite cables as instructed, and will soon be running it to a receiver via optical or coax, but I'm wondering if anybody else has seen this message or had success getting rid of it.

i didn't see any posts about this anywhere. the 32in version is now on the walmart website.
a little confused about the rules so i wont post a link but if you search for HT32744 you'll find it.

Originally posted by nnyx
i didn't see any posts about this anywhere. the 32in version is now on the walmart website.
a little confused about the rules so i wont post a link but if you search for HT32744 you'll find it.

Nice to see. And I'll post the link:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?dept=3944&product_id=2601424&path=0%3A3944%3A172479%3A3996%3A136937

But as long as the shipping is $103, it really doesn't seem worth it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by upNdown
[B]Here's a new question I haven't seen addressed in this thread. I'm running my Dish receiver to my Sanyo via a DVI/HDMI cable. Whenever I click the sanyo input to the HDMI input, I get a red message across the bottom of the screen saying something like

"For HDMI input, please Component 2 audio input"

Component 3 actually - The HDMI input didn't detect any incoming audio, so it is suggesting sending audio to component 3 input if you want to hear audio through the built in speakers and/or feed Sanyo audio via the audio output jacks.

Enjoy.

I bought the HT32744 and like it so far.

One thing that annoys me the most is that you cannot manually
add off-the-air digital channels. You can only let the TV scan for digital
channels and if the signal strength is too low, you can never get that
channel. That makes it difficult to aim the antenna to peak the
signal strength when you are not even allowed to select a digital channel.
The normal analog channels do not have that restriction.

Anyways the real reason for this post is to ask if anyone else has seen
a component in "no blue" problem with the HT3x744 HDTV sets.
I have tried two different (non progressive scan) DVD players connected with component cables and can never get any blue displayed. The SVHS inputs from the same DVD players work fine. I looked at the Cb signal output
from the DVD player with a scope, and its voltage levels with reference
to ground and amplitude look way different than the Y or Cr signals.

My best guess is that both DVD players have bad component blue
output, but this seems unlikely.

When I move the blue cable to the red DVD output, then I do get
blue displayed on the set.

Any ideas ?

I posted to the online Sanyo service center
But don't get a useful response.

Somebody:

I don't know about your specific DVD player(s), but invalid colors from component outputs of some DVD players result from the player being set for S-Video/composite output instead of component output. I have seen several inexpensive DVD players where this occurs. They have a menu/settings option somewhere where you select component on or off.

Hopefully your problem is as simple as this. I spent many hours one evening fighting this problem before I stumbled onto the menu screen where this setting choice was found. Of course, this never happens in the privacy of my home, but instead at a friend's house who asked for assistance in connecting equipment to their new HD-ready TV. What should have been a 30 minute exercise turned in to a long evening.

Does anybody have experience using these two sets as computer monitors? If I end up slurging this Christmas, I've got to make sure the set is usable as a secondary monitor...

Originally posted by BlackAdam
Does anybody have experience using these two sets as computer monitors? If I end up slurging this Christmas, I've got to make sure the set is usable as a secondary monitor... I have been experimenting with a PNY TI4200
64MB video card and the 32" Sanyo via HDMI. I'm not ready to use it as a second monitor because 720p is the best picture I can send to the Sanyo. Problem is with overscan even with Powerstrip (20%?). Doesn't make sense to to send 640 x 480 (S-video) to a HD set. I'll upgrade my card at some point and see how 1080i looks.

My plan is to buy the 30" model and use it as a secondary computer monitor. My desk is less than 15' away from the TV stand, so I plan on getting a ~15' DVI cable w/HDMI-DVI adapter. I'm running a GeForce 6800GT so there shouldn't be any problem with not being able to run at high resolutions. Does anybody know if 1920x1080 is useable with these two?

I've had the 30" for a couple of weeks now and have a problem with the video signal getting cut off. It has happened while watching dvds through one of the component inputs and while watching digital cable through a composite input where the screen freezes for a second and then goes black with the "no signal" sign and finally it comes back. The audio isn't affected either, anyone know what's up with it?

What is the best setting for powerstrip for the 32" model? Hell, not even best, just a resolution that would work fine.

Originally posted by ProjectZero
What is the best setting for powerstrip for the 32" model? Hell, not even best, just a resolution that would work fine. Using a Gelfen DVI to HDMI cable:
1280 x 720p, 60Hz, 32 bit color
lots of overscan though

Just purchased the Sanyo HT32744. Looks good out of the box, but I seem to be having a problem with the remote. The remote will not operate any of the TV functions including on/off. I did program it for my cable box and DVD player ant it works fine for those. Any suggestions?

Originally posted by dgaulin
Just purchased the Sanyo HT32744. Looks good out of the box, but I seem to be having a problem with the remote. The remote will not operate any of the TV functions including on/off. I did program it for my cable box and DVD player ant it works fine for those. Any suggestions?

Take the remote back to WalMart and verify that it powers on/off the Sanyo there. It sure sounds like the IR receiver in your TV doesn't work at all. Much easier to carry a remote than the TV and if it doesn't work the TV at the store, maybe you can get a replacement.

Originally posted by dgaulin
Just purchased the Sanyo HT32744. Looks good out of the box, but I seem to be having a problem with the remote. The remote will not operate any of the TV functions including on/off. I did program it for my cable box and DVD player ant it works fine for those. Any suggestions?

Is it possible that maybe during the programming process you somehow screwed the remote up? Is there a way you can reset the remote back to it's default?

Did this occur only after programming your other equipment, or did it occur out of the box?

Try taking the batteries out of the remote because on other Sanyo remotes I've seen they lose all of the codes when you take the batteries out of them & it will set itself back to the way it came from the factory.

Ok here what I got Sanyo HT30744
nViidia GF 6800
DVI to HDMI cable (Monster 400 HDMI)
1177 x 662p, 60Hz, 32 bit color
The problem is the main windows screen dosen't fit rigth on the TV screen and if I try use 1280x720 I can even see the taskbar I post small picture of it what missing and on the rigth there no scoll bar at all on the left so you get what I saying seem cut off the left and rigth about 28 pix off on the screen so any one got some tip on fix this?.
So far the Sanyo looks good out of the box with HD tuner and S/Video to my dish but not so hot with PC as Monitor
Biggest problem is the blurr screen but not as bad S/Video maybe a tab bit better.
I was just wondering why don't manufacturer just build CRT more like PC monitor.
Thing I don't care much for 3x over price LCD which have one major dowside there poor viewing angle just like Large Screen TV.

Originally posted by n2lak
Using a Gelfen DVI to HDMI cable:
1280 x 720p, 60Hz, 32 bit color
lots of overscan though Correction:
much less overscan when I changed the pixel shape from zoom to letterbox.
My mistake! maybe even 5% or less left to right. Unknown top to bottom, but I'll try to find out.

Thanks all,
I brought the remote back and recieved a new one. Thank god it worked and wasn't the TV. Another question to pose to the group however. Everything is hooked up, but I am receiveing a cable box error message whenever I turn on the TV. It reads "YOUR HDTV DOES NOT SUPPORT HDCP. PLEASE USE THE COMPONENT CONNECTION TO WATCH TV." My HD cable box is a scientific atlanta and I hooked through the DVI output and into the HDMI input on the back of my set. Should I hook it up using monster component jacks instead?

I just bought the 32' yesterday. When I look close at the TV while playing a DVD, I see gray wavy lines on the screen. Is this normal? It almost seems like interference. Also, the "Letter Box" mode is crooked slightly.

Ben

Originally posted by Benjamin.D
I just bought the 32' yesterday. When I look close at the TV while playing a DVD, I see gray wavy lines on the screen. Is this normal? It almost seems like interference. Also, the "Letter Box" mode is crooked slightly.

Ben

I noticed a similar occurance on my 30" while watching HD channels through my cable box. I haven't noticed it on my DVD. Both DVD and STB are connected via Component cables. SOmeone mentioned earlier that they thought the Component jacks on the back of the TV could be cheap quality. I thought maybe it was from my cable box since I was unable to duplicate it with my DVD player. Other option is that your cabling might be bad. I've tried both a Philips Component cable I bought at Wal Mart along with the component cable that came with the STB and both had the same problem.

How are DVD's supposed to look on the 32'? The quality seems pretty bad in some cases, and I'm wondering, is this the TV, or the actual quality of the DVD?

Ben

Good news!! I hooked my HD cable STB to the same Component input as the DVD Player. No wavy lines. It must be the DVD Player.

Ben

The HT30744 tv has a clear picture on DVDs (using Toshiba SD-5970) and 4 local HD PBS stations in DC.

However, I am having trouble getting BOTH digital stations and analog. When I plug the digital/uhf/vhf antenna into the analog TV input, I can get several local stations fairly well but no digital as expected. When I plug the antenna into the digital antenna in, I get absolutely no analog stations.

I've tried the menu to select antenna, and channel select, without any luck. (Tested a Philips and RadioShack indoor antennae.)

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Originally posted by kjg6a
The HT30744 tv has a clear picture on DVDs (using Toshiba SD-5970) and 4 local HD PBS stations in DC.

However, I am having trouble getting BOTH digital stations and analog. When I plug the digital/uhf/vhf antenna into the analog TV input, I can get several local stations fairly well but no digital as expected. When I plug the antenna into the digital antenna in, I get absolutely no analog stations.

I've tried the menu to select antenna, and channel select, without any luck. (Tested a Philips and RadioShack indoor antennae.)

Any suggestions? Thanks.

I believe the tuners are seperate. You may want to use a cable splitter.

BTW, the DVD trouble on my 32' was caused by the Brightness being pumped up too much.

Ben

Originally posted by kjg6a
The HT30744 tv has a clear picture on DVDs (using Toshiba SD-5970) and 4 local HD PBS stations in DC.

However, I am having trouble getting BOTH digital stations and analog. When I plug the digital/uhf/vhf antenna into the analog TV input, I can get several local stations fairly well but no digital as expected. When I plug the antenna into the digital antenna in, I get absolutely no analog stations.

I've tried the menu to select antenna, and channel select, without any luck. (Tested a Philips and RadioShack indoor antennae.)

Any suggestions? Thanks.

You MUST use both. Get a splitter and run the cable into both inputs. Problem solved.

Originally posted by ProjectZero
What is the best setting for powerstrip for the 32" model? Hell, not even best, just a resolution that would work fine.

Why use Powerstrip? Using 800x600 or 1280x720, I can get a usable display on my 32" Sanyo HDTV using a DVI to HDMI cable without Powerstrip. I'm using a GeForce FX5200. I do get about 10-15% overscan, though. I use Meedio to compensate for overscan.

Thanks,
jawgee

How does the ATSC/QAM tuners in the Sanyo set compare to a standalone tuner like the LG 4200A???

Forgive me for asking a question that I am sure has been covered more than once in this thread, but I am not finding a definintive answer.

Generally, what is the difference between these two models (besides the prices)... Am I gaining or losing anything by buying the 4:3 ratio ("square") tube?

Or, more specifically, if I do buy the HT32744 (square) TV, and then watch a letterbox presentation in HD (say 480p) am I going to "lose" any resolution to the black bars at the top and bottom?

In other words, does a 4:3 tv maintain the overall number of lines in a picture when showing a widescreen image? or does it convert that signal to a 4:3 signal (thereby having to use some of its screen lines to draw the black bars at the top and bottom?)

Thanks much in advance!

Hello, Bedowyn. Good questions.

As far as I can tell, the 4:3 Sanyo models do support a feature, where you wil get full resolution in a letterbox presentation. Meaning, no, no lines wasted on the black bars.
Big plus there. :)

Also, the main advantage of the 32 over the 30 inch widescreen, is that both will have almost exactly the same size 16x9 image when watching widescreen movies (the difference is very very small) but the 32 will obviously have a much larger 4:3 area.

Personally, i'd get the 32 inch model. Same size for widescreen movies, and larger screen for console gaming. Can't lose for only 50 bucks more.

I believe it has been calculated out that you get 29.5" of 16:9 widescreen with the 32" vs. 30" on the 30" model, not much difference. We went for the 32" and don't regret it at all. It has a very, very slight pin cushion problem in letterbox but everything else is so good I'm almost afraid to try and fix it. I'm not sure I have the guts to go into the service menu. We're getting about 10 Digital channels OTA (Over The Air) and last night we had to decide between Ice Age and Shrek in HD. Both were mind blowing in quality, better than any DVD I've seen anywhere. Desperate Housewives wasn't bad either. Never thought the old roof antenna would ever get used again! Thinking about putting up a bigger one!
Grateful11

BTW: Some PBS channels have 5 Digital channels per station 26.1, 26.2, 26.3, etc.

I recently purchased the 32" model and I'm pretty impressed. I plugged the cable-TV cable directly in the tuner and it scanned and found several channels. A handful of the channels are above 99. Is there any way to go directly to channels above 99 with the remote?

It isn't really a problem now but I figure unscrambled digital channels might eventually be as common as unscrambled analog cable channels are today. I don't want to scroll through a large number of channels to get to the one I want.

Anyone else have this problem?

I believe if you hold down the first digit (say a "1" for channel 121) you will be able to enter 3 digits and go directly to channels > 100

Anyone heard of another price drop for the holidays?

I wanted some feedback from those with the 32'

When watching Non HD (I guess the term is SD) programming, like on a dish or cable, how does it look on this HDTV? Will it look the same or better than with my current normal TV, or look grainy and bad? I heard that the big plasmas look horrible when you watch Non HD programming. Just wanted to hear feedback on this set.

For those who answer, thanks so much, I don't know what I can do to repay you, the feedback means so much to me. I know the $697 is a great price, but it is still a lot of money when you're tight on it, and you want to make sure you research the product. Thanks again!

I have the 32" and directv looks great and so does the analog ota.

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday, the one of the 605, between the 91 and 405. I was excited to take this guy home but I ran into a few miner issues.

first off the display just looked cheap and the metallic sticker/bar that goes across the base of the display looked hacked on and cheap. There is no menu button on the front of the TV and the buttons are not concealed behind a hidden door. But mainly the unit just looked cheap and nothing that I would really be happy to show off.

This HD set looks good from the specs, but from the reports I have been hearing, I think that I will just spend $200 less on a SD system from Sony.

I was at SAms Club tonight and they had a 30 Widescreen Pansonic Tau that looks really good. In fact, the geometry and the colors looked fantastic. They were selling it for $749. It didn't have a built in tuner, but was nice none the less.

I hadn't visited the closest WalMart for months; this morning they showed the Sanyo 30" for $747 and the 32" for $697.

Val

Originally posted by coomarlin
I was at SAms Club tonight and they had a 30 Widescreen Pansonic Tau that looks really good. In fact, the geometry and the colors looked fantastic. They were selling it for $749. It didn't have a built in tuner, but was nice none the less.
I bought one of these awhile ago and had to return it. It's not a bad TV for the money, but be aware you may have problems with it. The TV is sensitive to magnetic interference. In my case the TV had a purple/bluish hue on a large part of the left side of the screen. There are controls to try to correct it, but I never could get rid of it. The discoloration would just shift to the other side of the screen. Geometry was pretty good on the one I got. I noticed some 'green' push on this set. There's also a fair amount of tweaking to get this set to look good if have the time to invest. Support from Panasonic may be questionable since it's a TV sold mainly at Walmart/Sam's Club.

Has anyone tested a 16:9 480i/480p signal from a DVD on the 32" 4:3 TV? I mean, when your DVD (or XBOX) player set up for outputting to a widescreen, and the pixmode set to "letterbox", does it appear properly? Has anyone who has this setup turned up the brightness/contrast to verify that the "enhanced 16:9" mode which seems to be on this TV also works for 480 signals? I want to know because I am thinking about getting the 4:3 set over the 16:9 set (mainly because majority of watching is SDTV, and my better half prefers no pillarboxing), but want to make sure that my 16:9 content (DVD's, etc) doesn't lose the 120 lines lost during letterboxing on a non-enhanced set. I would like info only if the dvd player output is set to 16:9, so that it is the TV adding the letterboxing, and not the DVD player. If the DVD player adds the letterboxing, I guarantee that the resolution is lost (since it is a 4:3 signal being sent to the TV to begin with).

Thanks

We've determined in the old thread that the 32" does have a 16:9 enhanced mode where you don't lose the scanning lines to the black bars.

First, thanks to everyone for posting so much about this TV, it helped me a great deal with my decision. I'm working on getting my OTA antenna setup and in the mean time have questions on the PQ with SD through DirectTV. I love my DirectTV Tivo box and am not willing to shell out a grand on the HD Tivo box, so SD will have to do for now. I have the receiver hooked up with S-video and am not too thrilled with the quality. Color is fine, but it seems to "draw" a lot that is noticable on close ups of peoples faces as well as stationary background objects. I thought it might be the SD signal, so I tried my dvd that is using composites, and I still see it drawing on Star Wars. When I say "drawing", what I mean is it is constanly changing shades by pixels and it ends up appearing grainy. (It looks a lot like some of the big plasmas at BB or CC when they are not clear) The only time I don't notice it is on my Tivo menu which is crisp and clear. I haven't changed any of the factory settings. Since the manual doesn't help with any settings, please let me know what I can do to fix this. Also, what is that scanning setting in the menu option? The one with off, low, and high as the options? And the DVD that came with the TV, will it be any help?

Originally posted by neitzb
Also, what is that scanning setting in the menu option? The one with off, low, and high as the options? And the DVD that came with the TV, will it be any help?

I'm not exactly sure what the setting does, but from evberything I've heard you should turn it off. I haven't been able to tell much difference either way.

Your set came with a DVD? My 30" did not. Maybe it's some type of calibration DVD?

This thread is so massive I can't seem to find what I'm looknig for.

Can someone tell me axactly how to get inot the service menu of my 30"?

Also, What setting do I adjust to tweak the horizontal settings (Stretch and position)?

The scan setting in the user menu is Scan Velocity Modulation and changes the speed of the electron gun based on what it is scanning (whether it is dark or light). This can give the effect of more sharpness or detail, but does not truely show an accurate picture. To observe this effect and how it distorts the picture, get a dvd with test patterns and put up a black white checkerboard pattern. If svm is off, then it will look correct. with svm on, the corners of the squares will not touch. One color of squares will be larger than the other (can't remember which).

To get into the service menu, unplug the tv, hold down volume down on the cabinet, plug the tv back in and when the picture comes up, let off of the volume down. And here is the customary warning to WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING that you plan to change, before you change it, so you have the option of reverting back to the defaults for your set.

Ryan

Originally posted by oryan_dunn
The scan setting in the user menu is Scan Velocity Modulation and changes the speed of the electron gun based on what it is scanning (whether it is dark or light). This can give the effect of more sharpness or detail, but does not truely show an accurate picture. To observe this effect and how it distorts the picture, get a dvd with test patterns and put up a black white checkerboard pattern. If svm is off, then it will look correct. with svm on, the corners of the squares will not touch. One color of squares will be larger than the other (can't remember which).

To get into the service menu, unplug the tv, hold down volume down on the cabinet, plug the tv back in and when the picture comes up, let off of the volume down. And here is the customary warning to WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING that you plan to change, before you change it, so you have the option of reverting back to the defaults for your set.

Ryan

VERY NICE POST!

Many Thanks

Hey guys, new poster to the site here. I've been reading and browsing this thread for quite a while because I've been very interested in the HT30744. Well, I went ahead and bought the TV... it's on layaway at Walmart right now and I'm picking it up next week when I move into my new apartment.

I'm not going to have the internet for a little while so I'd like to get some information now that I can write down or something.

- Are there any adjustments that should be made to the TV right out of the box to get the most out of the picture quality?

- What is the best DVI to HDMI adapter/cable to get so that I can connect my PC to it and what is the best resolution to run the PC at?

Thanks guys! If there are any other pointers you can think of, feel free to let me know :)

The best thing to do is grab yourself an Avia, DVE, or similar calibration disk and put the tv through its paces. At the very least, run it through the thx optimizer available on many dvd's out there. This will get you a much better picture than factory settings and will get you close to what an ISF could do to (to the untrained eye, a calibration dvd is plenty).

Originally posted by oryan_dunn

To get into the service menu, unplug the tv, hold down volume down on the cabinet, plug the tv back in and when the picture comes up, let off of the volume down. And here is the customary warning to WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING that you plan to change, before you change it, so you have the option of reverting back to the defaults for your set.

Ryan

Thanks a lot dude. Now would you happen to know exactly which setting in the menu refers to the horizontal stretch and horizontal position of the set?

Originally posted by neitzb
First, thanks to everyone for posting so much about this TV, it helped me a great deal with my decision. I'm working on getting my OTA antenna setup and in the mean time have questions on the PQ with SD through DirectTV. I love my DirectTV Tivo box and am not willing to shell out a grand on the HD Tivo box, so SD will have to do for now. I have the receiver hooked up with S-video and am not too thrilled with the quality. Color is fine, but it seems to "draw" a lot that is noticable on close ups of peoples faces as well as stationary background objects. I thought it might be the SD signal, so I tried my dvd that is using composites, and I still see it drawing on Star Wars. When I say "drawing", what I mean is it is constanly changing shades by pixels and it ends up appearing grainy. (It looks a lot like some of the big plasmas at BB or CC when they are not clear) The only time I don't notice it is on my Tivo menu which is crisp and clear. I haven't changed any of the factory settings. Since the manual doesn't help with any settings, please let me know what I can do to fix this. Also, what is that scanning setting in the menu option? The one with off, low, and high as the options? And the DVD that came with the TV, will it be any help?

I have a Tivo/DVD combo unit and even though its hooked up with component cables, tivo programming still looks like crap (comparively speaking or course). My solution is to only watch through TIVO when I'm actually watching a tivo'd program - I never watch live TV through Tivo on this TV. If that solution isn't acceptable to you, (and I know a lot of Tivo people would scoff at that), then I think you either need to live with the grainyness or exchange the TV for a standard definition TV.

Originally posted by upNdown
I have a Tivo/DVD combo unit and even though its hooked up with component cables, tivo programming still looks like crap (comparively speaking or course). My solution is to only watch through TIVO when I'm actually watching a tivo'd program - I never watch live TV through Tivo on this TV. If that solution isn't acceptable to you, (and I know a lot of Tivo people would scoff at that), then I think you either need to live with the grainyness or exchange the TV for a standard definition TV.


I do the same exact thing. Only watch through the Tivo on tivo'ed programs.

Originally posted by finger11
I do the same exact thing. Only watch through the Tivo on tivo'ed programs.

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm out of luck though since it's a DirectTV Tivo, and without running it through the tivo/receiver I end up with nothing. I played with the settings last night and realized the factory contrast was maxed out, so after backing it way down a lot of the graininess went with it. I think I'll chalk most of this up to the fact that I am still looking at SD and until I get a progressive scan dvd player that I won't be able to start reaping the benefits. Thanks again!

Originally posted by oryan_dunn
The best thing to do is grab yourself an Avia, DVE, or similar calibration disk and put the tv through its paces. At the very least, run it through the thx optimizer available on many dvd's out there. This will get you a much better picture than factory settings and will get you close to what an ISF could do to (to the untrained eye, a calibration dvd is plenty).

Thanks for your quick reply! Where can I get one of these calibration discs and is one of them better than the others?

You can get those disks form Amazon or even Circuit city. I just rent them from my local blockbuster. The Avia disks are more expensive ~$40. You can get Digital Video Esentials for under $20.

Originally posted by coomarlin
You can get those disks form Amazon or even Circuit city. I just rent them from my local blockbuster. The Avia disks are more expensive ~$40. You can get Digital Video Esentials for under $20.

Awesome, thanks :) What about the DVI/HDMI cables/adapters to hook my PC up to the TV? I'm not sure exactly what I should be looking for...

You've got two options. You can pick up a HDMI to DVI cable like the one shown Here (http://cgi.*********/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64632&item=5735457606&rd=1) or if you already have a DVI-to-DVI cable you can buy an adapter like the one shown here (http://cgi.*********/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5736269162&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores). Both should work. I've heard that these ebay cables are Okay, but if you want to spend big bucks you can buy monster cables that will cost you over $100 !

I was going to try DVI-to-HDMI cable buy by STB does not have it's DVI port enabled :(

I can't get either one of those links to work :( They have a bunch of *******

Originally posted by neitzb
Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm out of luck though since it's a DirectTV Tivo, and without running it through the tivo/receiver I end up with nothing. I played with the settings last night and realized the factory contrast was maxed out, so after backing it way down a lot of the graininess went with it. I think I'll chalk most of this up to the fact that I am still looking at SD and until I get a progressive scan dvd player that I won't be able to start reaping the benefits. Thanks again!

I don't know the specifics of your new TV, but I do have suggestions for settings that will improve the viewable picture for digitally transmitted or recorded programs. These work for TiVo recordings (DirecTV or stand-alone), live satellite channels, and live digital cable channels. These suggestions have been shared widely on this forum in a variety of threads.

These settings appear on nearly every TV but sometimes with slightly different labels:

1. Sharpness - should typically be set somewhere between zero (no "enhancement") and 1/3. Sharpness artifically enhances the horizontal edges of picture detail and gives the illusion of a sharper picture. With digital pictures, sharpness "enhancement" overemphasizes unnatural small blocks that make up the picture and things look terrible. Also, sharpness increases the graininess of the picture. I usually set sharpness by eye, looking at edges and digital source pictures to minimize or eliminate the unnatural grain or edges. For HD pictures, sharpness is usually best set at zero. The DVD setup disks have tests for helping achieve a good sharpness setting also.

2. Scan Velocity Modulation (SVM) - should typically be set to off. This is another attempt to "enhance" picture detail that tends to give artificial-looking results.

3. Contrast - out-of-the-box settings are usually way too high, overemphasizing digital and analog picture artifacts. This control actually sets the limit for the "whitest" white in the picture. The DVD setup disks have aids for setting contrast also. Typical settings are 50% or less, but this varies widely by TV brand and model. (Older Sony TVs used to label this control as "picture." I have not looked at the newer Sony's.)

4. Brightness - out-of-the-box settings are extreme here also. This control actually sets the limit for "blackest" black in the picture. The DVD setup disks have aids for setting brightness. Typical settings are 50% or less, but this varies widely by TV brand and model. (Some TVs have labeled this control as "black level.")

5. Color - out-of-the-box settings are often too high here as well. The trick here is to achieve natural levels of color and avoid setting it too high. Too much here is another way to over-exagerate the small color differences that may exist between the small blocks that make up a digital picture.

The end result should be an overall softening of the picture which turns out to be more natural looking than the artifical sharpening enhancements that were originally designed to make an already soft analog picture appear to be sharper than it really is.

As always, YMMV. After you have some experience with these, you will be able to adjust them to your liking and minimize the inherent "roughness" of a digital picture on your TV.

I hope these suggestions will help you.

Good luck!!

I am about to jump the gun on one of these and my question is, does the component video accept 480i? from what I read it will take 480p,720p, and 1080i, but what about 480i? Thanks!

As a true newbie, just wonderin whats the diff between 480p and 480i?

Aaron, Yes.
From the Owners Manual: Component Video Inputs.
These jacks will automatically detect the type of signal being received (HDTV, EDTV or SDTV).

Had reason to check the walmart website... Is it just me, or is the 32" model gone?

I had the 32" page bookmarked, its still there but its out of stock, so its not linked from the site.

Has anyone pinpointed to problem with the Sanyo and Xbox with the green lines? This is another concern of mine. Thanks.

Sorry if this has been covered. I know that there aren't discrete remote control codes for going directly to an input but I thought I saw somewhere that there was a code for one of the inputs.

If this were true it could be used as a baseline for a macro and the correct input could be located. Any info would be welcome.

i bought a monstercable dvi to hdmi adapter and just recivered my 25foot dvi cable from stsi.com for cheap. they are an ebay saler but thier website was cheeper. and it does work fine

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the reading material. This thread was instrumental in guiding my purchase of the 30" model - just got it all connected an hour ago. I've made some initial adjustments to the contrast/brightness/color settings - I'm extremely happy with it so far! Thanks everyone!

Originally posted by Budget_HT
I don't know the specifics of your new TV, but I do have suggestions for settings that will improve the viewable picture for digitally transmitted or recorded programs. These work for TiVo recordings (DirecTV or stand-alone), live satellite channels, and live digital cable channels. These suggestions have been shared widely on this forum in a variety of threads.
..........
I hope these suggestions will help you.

Good luck!!

Thanks Dave, that's great information.

Originally posted by neitzb
Thanks Dave, that's great information.

You're welcome. I have learned MUCH from this forum and I enjoy the opportunity to give some back.

One more thought:

Don't be "scared off" by the soft SDTV picture that you will see after adjusting the settings. I found that it took me a couple of days of watching to get used to not having the artificial "sharpness" that is common with the out-of-the-box settings on most TVs.

After you get used to the "new" picture, you will probably not like what you see on other mal-adjusted TVs.

Let us know how you fare.

Originally posted by Aaron Davis
I had the 32" page bookmarked, its still there but its out of stock, so its not linked from the site.

Has anyone pinpointed to problem with the Sanyo and Xbox with the green lines? This is another concern of mine. Thanks.

I too had it bookmarked, and it looks to be sold out online (actually i saw it go out of stock-to in stock and back out wihtin 3 hours) But I saw one in my local store, so I'd assume you could find one locally. They had one on display, but nothing hooked up, or at least no way without the remote to do anything, but it looked good off...

Im just wondering on getting the 32" Sanyo, or a 32" Samsung from best buy, the samsung is a bit more expensive, but I did just get a Best buy card... Anyone done a comparison between these two? With the promotion with the best buy card, it comes to a $50 difference.

EDIT I just noticed a couple of small differences, the Sanyo has HDMI input while the Samsung has DVI, but thats just a different connector right? Also the Samsung has dual HD tuners, while the dual tuners on the Sanyo is one SD and one HD, I think dual tuner HD would be good, though I doubt I will ever use any PIP features, as I have 4 ReplayTVs and will just record the other show.

Hi. Thanks to many, many comments I've read here I've just purchased the Sanyo 30" HDTV. Now all I have to do is figure out how to set it up to maximize all of my hardware :)

Currently I'm simply running live TV through my TiVo, which is giving me a less than stellar picture (obviously) but it was a quick way to get things up and running quickly so I could at least use my TV for a bit.

So, if possible I'd like to get some setup advice. I use no cable set-top boxes at all (cable comes right out of the wall and into the TV) and I want to maximize my TiVo, X-Box and DVD player. IS there an optimal way to set these things up with the Sanyo 30"? Any advice is GREATLY appreciated.

Also (final question I promise) is it "normal" for the full screen setting to squish the picture of regular TV? Is there a way to compensate for this in settings?

Thanks again.

Chris

I bought the 30" sanyo last monday and I noticed that the picture is squished on the sides. I have gone through the service menu and can't seem to get the pisture any better. I have my Philips dvd player (it plays divx movie too) through component, my directtv through s-video,my pc is on component 3, and ota hd (5 -6 channels).It is the same with all of them. It is hardly noticable until there is a slow panning shot(when the see the first ddino in jurrasic park), then it seems like I am looking through a fish eye lens. I took it back and got another one today and this one does it too. I have only heard one other person mention this problem so I thought it was rare until I got another on that does it. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.I love this tv too much to take it back again.

Hmm weird, does Sanyo make a 32' without the tuner? Because I went to Walmart, saw the Sanyo 32' HDTV, picture looked great, but the book on the top of the shelf showed a "Sanyo 32' HD Ready Monitor featuring PIP"

There's a 32" flatscreen that WalMart sells, which is obviously dramatically lower in price. They tried to sell me that one almost everytime I asked for the HD version.

My Toshiba 5 disc changer took a dump on me, so I'm looking at getting another around the holidays. My question - Is it worth it for the extra $$ on an HDMI dvd player? I have been reading over on the dvd thread and all this talk about upconverting just leads me to more questions. The reason I am posting this here is, do our Sanyos upconvert over component? Is this good, bad, or ugly for a dvd input?

First off, this is quite the informative thread...thanks.

Quick question about watching normal cable tv on the HD TV's. Since it sounds like this tv will up-convert the 480i signal to 480p or something to that effect, I would guess that the picture quality for SD would be better than non-HD tv. Is this correct, or isn't it much of a difference? I probably wouldn't be getting much for HD input in the near future, thus I am some what leaning on waiting on purchasing a HD tv (plus won't have to get a different entertainment center...).

Does anyone know more as far as when everything will be forced to switch over to only HD broadcasts? I see that the FCC says by 2006, but does that mean Jan 1 2006 or Dec 31 2006?

If I end up taking the plung and going HD, it will be with the Sanyo 32"...sounds like a great tv. Thanks for the feedback.

First off I'd recommend that if you are NOT planning on getting and HD content in the near future to wait on purchasing a new TV. Prices are continuing to become more reasonable. With that in mind if you MUST purchase a new TV (i.e. Your current set it broke), then I'd buy a digital TV. Your SD picture should look better on a digital TV because of things like line doublers. It takes while for some people to get used to the SD picture on a digital tv because they think it looks soft, but in general most people prefer it.

The transition date to DTV is Jan 1, 2007 last time I hear. But that date will almost certainly get pushed back.

Thanks for the input coomarlin.

Am I correct to assume that once the digital switch over there would be "down-converters" available to buy ($20-$30?) in order to still watch cable tv on non-HD tvs (obviously it would be the non-HD picture quality)? Or will non-HD tvs be useless?

You are correct. You'll be able to buy a STB that will convert the Digital signal to Analog. Your old TV will not be useless.

I just bought one tonight (32"), and I have to say, HD is beautiful. I just hooked up some old rabbit ears, and got a bunch of stations. I will hook up my attic antenna soon. Now I just have to get HD DirecTV, it's a shame the DVR is $1000, cause thats more than I paid for this TV!!

After reading the excellent posts in this forum, and seeing this TV for myself, I decided to purchase the Sanyo HT30744. I know there have been a number of issues, but assuming one gets a unit without any of the major problems, it is a heck of a deal.

I purchased a unit last night and the picture looks great. I have seen some of the minor issues, but nothing that is a show stopper....well, maybe...

I do have a problem that I haven't found any reference to in this thread or the original thread (although there is so much to search through). I get about a dozen clear QAM cable channels including DiscoveryHD and have been blown away!

The problem occurs when the unit is 'cold' (not been on for a while). When it is first turned on, it will indicate no signal on any digital cable channel (analog is fine), or it will display a garbled display. After a few seconds, the picture will start to appear along with many blocks of color that are not moving. Slowly, the picture will continue to improve and sound will start and stop, until it finally is working perfectly.

After it has been running for a bit, turning it off and back on results in a normally operating set with a great picture and no initial garbled display. If it is again turned off for an extended time (1-2 hours), the same problem reappears.

Is anyone else experiencing this "warm up" problem? I didn't think modern electronics needed to "warm up", so this has me a bit baffled.

I hate to return it, because other than this problem, it looks GREAT!

Any advice or fellow sufferers?

Kevin

Originally posted by WannabeSQ
Now I just have to get HD DirecTV, it's a shame the DVR is $1000, cause thats more than I paid for this TV!!

I've been wanting HD D* too. I just bought a TiVo back in June and now find I can't live without it. So I'm with you on that. $1000.00 is a lot of jack.

They've been out for quite a while now but the price hasn't gone down too much. I've seen them for around $900 and D* "might" give you some credit or programming but it still hasn't hit my sweet spot yet.

I’ve had the 32-inch Sanyo for 5 weeks – here are my observations and questions.

1) I REALLY LIKE this TV! Although I was going to buy an antenna for HD programming, I’m getting no fewer than 44 (!) digital / clear QAM channels through the pipe of plain-old cable in my market, including HD programming on the major networks that includes Dolby Digital ABC Monday Night Football – AWESOME in surround sound! Oh, and the analog channels are fine (if I ever bother to watch them).
2) Navigating the digital vs. analog tuner is a little gawky but OK.
3) I’ve no regrets for buying the 4:3 32-inch model since so much of what comes through the pipe fills the screen anyway – this TV should be the perfect ‘bridge’ to when widescreen becomes standard
4) I’ve been pleasantly surprised to actually reach Sanyo rep’s at their 800 helpline number

Questions/concerns

1) Like kestep my digital channels come in pixilated (or not at all) when I FIRST turn on the TV – they generally do fine after a minute or so (remember, these are via a splitter in my cable TV input). Does anyone know if this a feature of digital reception or unique to THIS box?
2) I also wonder where channel # assignments come from? Mine start at 83-1 and end at 116-5 – is there any meaning here?
3) Might I get even MORE digital channels by replacing splitters that come into my home? (the one into my house is the 900MHz-and-below variety – I’ve seen 3GHz-range splitters online).
4) Operator’s manual IS skimpy – it lacks details about some menus and other stuff that folks new to digital TV (like me) want to know.
5) My Cyberhome CH-DVD 500’s progressive scanning has NOT worked well with the Sanyo – I get 1-second drop-out’s and purple flashes as some spots in DVD’s – not sure if a new player will cure this problem – anyone know any compatibility issues? (am wondering if this is a Macrovision artifact)

Originally posted by BiggRedd
I’ve had the 32-inch Sanyo for 5 weeks – here are my observations and questions.

[portions cut]

4) I’ve been pleasantly surprised to actually reach Sanyo rep’s at their 800 helpline number

Questions/concerns

1) Like kestep my digital channels come in pixilated (or not at all) when I FIRST turn on the TV – they generally do fine after a minute or so (remember, these are via a splitter in my cable TV input). Does anyone know if this a feature of digital reception or unique to THIS box?


BiggRedd, I called the Sanyo support line just moments ago and, I have to agree with you that it is nice to actually get a person on the line. Beyond that, they didn't insult me with questions like, "is it plugged in?". Kind of refreshing!

The person I talked to indicated this is not normal and that I should return it for exchange (assuming WalMart has them in stock right now). He followed that with, "don't worry we're still making more!"

Again, it is a shame, since this set really doesn't have any geometry problems, colors are good, etc, and I'm concerned that the next one could have problems. Hmmm, put up with minor issue, or exchange it... Probably exchange it...

I'll be interested to see how many more people have this particular issue.

Kevin

Anyone have theirs hooked up from a HTPC through a DVI to HEDMI connection? I can get video but it is so messed up that I not able to set it up. So I am stuck with S video., I am using a Nvidia FX5700 personal cinema.

I finally tried hooking up my SA 8300HD DVR via HDMI. It's had some mixed results. My 30" was a little phinicky getting a signal from the STB, but now it appears to see it fine. The colors appear to be good and it has definately cleared up the wavy interference that I was experiencing through component inputs. I still think the component inputs on the Sanyo's are cheap.

The two problems I have are that there appears to be a slight geometry difference between the HDMI vs Component inputs. The component input is slightly rotated counterclockwise. But the HDMI input is different. The left side of the screen seems to be for a better term" Drooped down". Not really sure how to describe it. I don't know if this is something I can fix in the survice menu because I don't know what settings to adjust. It's only noticeable on ESPNHD so far.

The other problem seems to stem from the SA 8300. When the HDMI connection is used the STB defaults to Dolby Prologic II sound. The instructions that came with the STB give instructions on how to change it to DD, but I can't get them to work. This is not Sanyo related.

Could someone please post some comprehesive info on the various geometry options that are available in the service menu (preferably on the 30" model). I've looked around and I've seen info on how to get to the service menu, but nothing on how to make certain adjustments.

I recorded the HDNET test patterns this morning and during the last screen to test my overscan they said I should have "4" on the sides and "3" on the top and bottom. Mine looked like this:

Top left: 3 (Good)
Top Right: 4 (Little High)
Left: 4 (Good)
Right: 4 (good)
Bottom Left: 7 (Too High)
Bottom Right: 6 (Too High)


So as you can see this makes the screen seem a little litled to the left. I'd like to tweak on it a bit but don't know where to start.

Originally posted by orion7144
Anyone have theirs hooked up from a HTPC through a DVI to HEDMI connection? I can get video but it is so messed up that I not able to set it up. So I am stuck with S video., I am using a Nvidia FX5700 personal cinema.

Check this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=414867&goto=newpost) out, as it's got some excellent info.

I use DVI>HDMI, and got 1280x720 to display fine (with overscan). The above thread has some useful tips on adjusting for that...

Originally posted by kestep
BiggRedd, I called the Sanyo support line just moments ago and, I have to agree with you that it is nice to actually get a person on the line. Beyond that, they didn't insult me with questions like, "is it plugged in?". Kind of refreshing!

The person I talked to indicated this is not normal and that I should return it for exchange (assuming WalMart has them in stock right now). He followed that with, "don't worry we're still making more!"

Again, it is a shame, since this set really doesn't have any geometry problems, colors are good, etc, and I'm concerned that the next one could have problems. Hmmm, put up with minor issue, or exchange it... Probably exchange it...

I'll be interested to see how many more people have this particular issue.

Kevin Yep, I get the same problem. Sometimes I cannot get a signal for about a good 20sec. :(

How long do we have until the Wall-Mart exchange warranty expires? :confused:

Does anyone have any information or feedback about the RCA D32F750T that walmart has at the same price? The tuner is not a deal maker/breaker for me. Besides that, what are some differences... also, does anyone know if the RCA does:

1. Line compression while in widescreen mode (so lines are not lost to the "black bars")

2. 720p, and if so, how?

Thanks

Several people, including myself, have wished that Sanyo had included discrete codes for the inputs. Cycling through 7 inputs isn’t fun and doesn’t allow efficient macros for your remote control.

Well I may have a solution. I stumbled on ONE discrete command that goes directly to COMP2 input. A good leaning remote with macro ability should be able to access COMP2 then step through to the desired input.

Now to figure out how to get the command into my new Home Theatre Master MX700 remote control.

To make this story shorter, the code I found wasn’t hexdecimal. It was a code for the “One For All” brand, some of which can be found most anywhere including Walmart.

I bought one for $11.00, read the quick start instructions, and used the device code for Sanyo TV which was 0154.

Now the problem was how do I get the Comp2 discrete code mapped to a button which I can in turn, teach the MX700 and use in macros…whew!!

After lots of google seaches, I found the following procedure that works for several models of the “One For All” brand.

BTW, the discrete code for COMP2 is 252

Programming advanced codes into a URC-8811 or 6131
1. Press the device key you wish to program (e.g. DVD)
2. Press and hold SET (wait for two blinks of the LED)
3. Enter 9-9-4 (wait for two blinks)
4. Press SET again (don't hold it down)
5. Enter the 3 digit advanced code
6. Press a button to assign the code to (any button will do)

Works like a champ. Goes right to Comp2 input. Learned it with the MX700 and made macros for DVD, VCR, digital cable and so on.

Some brands of TVs (without discrete input codes) will advance immediately to the antenna input if you press channel up or channel down.

I have created macros based on that crude method by pressing channel up (or down) once, then pressing the input button the correct number of times to advance to the input appropriate to the macro. It is slow and clunky, but it works and kept my family members happy.

I have no idea whether such a process would work on the Sanyo. If not, you could use the discrete code (posted earlier here) for comp2 and then advance from there. The key is finding a known starting point and counting from there.

Of course, a better solution would be to discover discrete codes for all the input choices. Using a One-For-All remote, you can quickly send one "advanced code" (a.k.a., function code). IIRC, the process is to be sure you have selected the correct device first, then press the set button once, and then enter the three digit code directly. Please, someone correct this if it is wrong--I am at work and do not have access to my notes. I learned it all at hifi-remote.com, but I haven't used that knowledge for nearly two years.

When I first got my DirecTiVo unit, I went code by code using that method to discover the undocumented key equivalents for buttons like Live TV, Thumbs up/down, and more. There are only 256 codes total for each device code. Codes numbered higher than 255 are identical to their lower equivalents. Subtract 256 from the higher code to get the lower equivalent. Repeat if necessary.

Unfortunately, the Sanyo's channel up/down buttons scroll through the inputs. It is handy to go backwards through the inputs, but I sure would like discreet codes, for nothing else than my Harmony remote (that im getting for xmas) so it could do its macro functions. Oh well.

Hi. I've owned my 30" Sanyo for about a week and I think I'm about to return it to Wallyworld and get the 32". Some questions (pardon my ignorance if my television vocabulary is not up to snuff at this point):

1. Most of the content I watch is sd cable. I assume this will be easier on the eyes with the 32", correct?

2. When watching DVDs and even sd cable (typically in one of the zoom modes - I just can't get used to that little 4:3 screen) I've noticed that close-ups of people's faces seem normal but wide, full body shots often look (for lack of a better term) "squatty". I love the Tv and I think I tried to deny this, but my wife also noticed it without my even mentioning it to her. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any simple way to recitfy it?

3. How do widecreen DVDs look on the 32"? I'd hate to trade up only to simply embrace another set of problems. :) We watch a LOT of WS DVDs, so it's pretty important.

Please don't get me wrong - I love the look and feel of the TV. I'm just trying to get the most bang for my buck. Any help is appreciated. :)

Chris

Originally posted by ckirby
3. How do widecreen DVDs look on the 32"? I'd hate to trade up only to simply embrace another set of problems. :) We watch a LOT of WS DVDs, so it's pretty important.


I watch a lot of widescreen content on the 32", and it looks fantastic. I've never had a problem with it, and more importantly, neither has my wife. She can spot aspect ration issues faster than I can...<shrug>

Yeah, I'd go for the 32" as well (I did) mostly cause most of what I watch is 4:3, and most content available is still 4:3. That combined with the fact that the 16:9 window is almost the same exact size as the 16:9 window on the 30". Also, many WS DVDs are at 2.35:1, so you'd STILL see letterbox on the WS TV, and the image size is still the same as on the 32".

I have a question, I love the PAP thing, great for showing HD next to SD. What I'd like to figure out how to do is to output HDMI and component from my DVD player, and show them side by side. Can I show component on the right side of the PAP? I'd love to see a side by side comparison.

One more thing, I have noticed on my replaytv that sometimes the audio is out of sync, which I assume is due to the De Interlacing on the TV while the sound is going direct to my receiver. Is there a fix for this? It is fine using the built in tuner, and DVDs are in sync as well. Perhaps it is a replayTV issue, but the only component that has changed is the TV...

When you use PAP one of the windows must be from the built-in digital tuner. Thats an unfortunate part of life with these Sanyo TV's. I talked to a guy at Sanyo and he admitted it was a limitation that will not happen again in their new products. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about the current TV's.

Ryan posted the SM defaults back in the original thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3938148#post3938148

I took his .xls, resorted by the hex value and entered values for two 32" sets. Where values were clearly the same as Ryan's (zeros), I didn't enter anything for the 32".

Aaron: DON'T depend on your 32" values having the same default as mine. Before you change anything, write down your original value. Good luck.

Wannabe and others - thanks for the advice. After tracking all over town to various Walmarts I was able to return my 30" for the 32". WOW! What a difference! I am genuinely glad to have made the change.

Wannabe, I got a little nervous today when watching a show my Tivo had recorded for me. During the course of the show, the vocal track got out of sync with the video. Could this be the same phenomenon you noticed with your ReplayTV? Strange, but it doesn't happen on every show I have recorded, so maybe it was a broadcast fluke. I'd be interested in anyone's take on this....

Chris

I went out today and picked up a copy of DVE, and calibrated my system. Now, according to DVE it is good, but when watching a 2.35:1 Anamorphic dvd, the black bars that fill the rest of the anamorphic area don't match the bars on the rest of the 4:3 TV. This isn't a problem on DVD that have aspect ratios of 1.85:1 becuase there are no bars. Anyone know what the deal is? I tried doing it by just setting the DVD player on 4:3 and TV to not letterbox, large loss of quality because the vertical compression of the TV isn't being used so thats out of the question. Thanks!

I'm a long time lurker, first time poster who just picked up the 30 incher a week ago. There were enough positive reviews to make me take the plunge on purchasing this set. The 20% Christmas discount my wife got from Wallyworld didn't hurt either.;)

These are my rather long-winded thoughts so far on this set in various modes of use after one week:

HDTV viewing- It's been a pain in the a** to really enjoy hi-def viewing so far, but it's not the sets fault. I'm using OTA signals for now, and getting a stable signal is an aggravating chore. I live in a southeastern suburb of Indianapolis and am using an indoor antenna right now (a Silver Sensor connected to a 10 db. amp). I guess I'm just spoiled at the convenience of years of cable and satellite use of just being able to switch channels and not have to worry whether or not the reception is going to be good. I'm finding out that OTA digital reception is VERY finicky about being aimed at a sweet spot. I can find one particular spot that allows me to pull in 5 stations fairly well, but if the antenna moves even a fraction of an inch out the spot, I'm pulling my hair out for the next hour trying to find it again. And the frustrating thing is that I only live about 14 miles from the transmitters with fairly unobstructed surroundings. It's really annoying to have to manually adjust the antenna to optimize the signal from channel to channel everytime you want to watch a different station. One of the main reasons I bought a HD set was to watch NFL games, but when trying to switch back and forth between games it's really aggravating for one station to be locked in and the other to fade in and out. I'm ready to chuck the OTA all together and upgrade my dish to HD. It's a shame to- because when you do get a lock on a signal the picture is absolutely terrific. BTW, in spite of my reception woes I have found myself watching a lot more network television thanks to this set. Even though a lot of the programming wouldn't normally appeal to me, I find myself compelled to watch it just because the PQ is so amazingly good. And if you're a football fan, you NEED a hi-def set, otherwise you're just living a lie.;)

SDTV via satellite- My receiver is connected via S-video and I must say it produces a very good picture. No major complaints. I use the zoom 1 for this viewing mode. It doesn't bother me to sacrifice a bit of picture on the top and bottom in order to fill the screen. I don't consider most of the shows I watch to be "sacred" enough to where I have to watch them in perfect 4X3. My DVD's are the only programming source I need to enjoy in OAR.

DVD viewing- My dvd player is a 5 year old non-prog. scan Toshiba. For an interlaced player I have to say it produces a VERY nice picture on this set. It's connected via component and though not progressive, it passes what Toshiba calls a "colorstream" signal thats very visually pleasing. I've noticed a few quirks here and there while watching movies on this set that I had never seen before when played on my old 32 inch RCA. A few times during the movie Se7en, I noticed a strange strobe effect- the picture seemed to skip a few frames periodically. The audio stayed in sync, but the picture seemed to jump a frame or two. Perhaps it's something related to the combination of disc, player and TV, but I've watched several other dvds's and this is the only one it's happened on, and it's always in the same spots. The disc is in flawless condition, so it's not likely scratched disc issue. It didn't do this on my old TV. I hope this isn't a recurring issue with this set. Overall however, it's a pleasure to watch dvd's on this set.

XBOX via component- No complaints here. Zooming or stretching doesn't hinder my enjoyment of non-widescreen games, and the picture is great. I figure the next generation of consoles are going to be more 16X9 friendly, so I think this set will be optimized for the future.


So to sum it up- this is a great set overall. Cons- the geometry is a bit off, and it has a slight barrel roll issue. The built in speakers suck, but who cares if you're piping it through a surround sound rig anyway? These problems shouldn't be deal breakers to all but the most demanding videophile. Pros- great picture and plenty of input flexibility.

I highly recommend this set to anyone like me who has champagne taste and a beer budget.

Dub

dubyagee:

I too live in Indiana, but about 40 miles east of Indy, and I can pickup CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, PAX, UPN. I got the Channel Master 4221 antenna, its about 36" tall, 20" wide, and 4" deep, I just mounted it in a window and i get great signal reception all the way out here, you may want to look into something like that! Good Luck!

Aaron Davis

I've had my 32" for a couple of months now so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. First I must say I thought at $697 there must be some serious flaw or shortcoming, considering the cost of a similar Sony or Toshiba, etc. I thought I found it when I saw that the Sanyo only has one user-set picture memory, but then I downloaded the service manual pdf and seen that each input type could have its picture settings changed independent of the main user controls. Also reading about the weak power supply and over-driven color decoder made me have my doubts but since I could easily return it I figured what do I have to lose?

So I get the set home and warm it up for 45 minutes and pop in my old original edition Video Essentials DVD. Surprise #1; this set does hold black-at-black, even when the contrast is a little over-driven. My old (analog) Sony Wega that I intended to replace does eek out a bit more shadow detail but I hasten to add that it's only a slight advantage. Surprise #2; the color decoder is quite decent and looks pretty accurate, at least to me. There is a bit of red push but much less so than my Wega (before I turned down the red drive on the Sony, that is), and also less than the (POS) Panasonic Superflat that I owned prior to the Sony, as well as my little 20" RCA TruFlat that I have in my bedroom. In fact, the red push is so mild that I've yet to enter the service menu to turn down the red drive/red cut and can easily live with it as is. Surprise #3; the geometry on my set is very good and easily better than any other TV I have owned, and in fact is better out-of-the-box than my service menu adjusted Wega. It's not perfect mind you, but again, close enough that I have no desire to enter the service menu. I only have a slight upward bow on the top left corner that is only evident when banners scroll across the top of the screen, and every TV I've owned has this same geometry error so it must be caused by my home's relation to the earth's magnetic poles. The 16:9 window on my set is essentially perfect so I'm pleased.

Okay, so this TV looks great with the progressive scan component video output of my DVD player but let's see how other sources look now. HDTV via the OTA tuner is stunning! Blacks look deep and dark and detailed and the color levels appear to be correct and the amount of detail far exceeds even my reference-quality DVDs (such as the SuperBit Fifth Element). Play Station 2 looks good via S-Video as does my S-VHS VCR but my Dish Network 508 receiver is a bit too washed out and, unfortunately, it doesn't have any picture controls of its own. Of course that is no fault of the Sanyo and is not serious enough to return the set, but more picture memories would be nice. I can compensate for this in the service menu but then my other S-Video sources would look too dark. Since this TV has such a good quality comb filter (and since I'm not using any composite video sources) perhaps I'll run the Dish receiver via composite and tweak the black levels in the service menu. I don't know. It's probably not worth the trouble and I do plan on getting an HD Dish PVR eventually so I'll probably just let it go. The picture quality from SD Dish is still pretty damn good.

Throughout this thread I keep seeing the same questions come up so here are my obsevations:

This TV does have raster compression (ie: "16:9 Enhance" in Sonyspeak). HDTV, by definition, is a 16:9 format so a manufacturer cannot call their set "HD" if it does not display 16:9 without modification (assuming the set has enough resolution to be considered HD in the first place). I also like that there is a dedicated aspect ratio button on the remote. With my Wega I had to scroll through menus to get to it. Furthermore, this set remembers which mode you were in last, whereas the Sony always defaulted to 4:3 when you changed inputs or turned the set off.

This TV displays 480i as 480p with 3-2 pulldown when necessary. Its line doubler is quite good given a decent quality signal, but my Pioneer Elite DV-45A's progressive scan output is better still (with no trace of CUE either, in spite of what I have read about it). S-VHS recordings of DVDs look superb, as do PS2 games. SD Dish channels look very nice if they aren't too compressed and analog OTA channels can look pretty good as well.

480p is displayed natively and my OTA digital sub channels often look to be DVD quality (depending on the production values of the show itself).

720p is converted to 1080i. Many HD tuners downconvert 720p to 480p and some won't display 720p at all. Some people are saying 720p via this set is overly soft. I don't know. Maybe so but Monday Night Football still looks better than any DVD I've ever seen.

1080i is displayed natively and looks superb on this TV. I've watched so many boring PBS shows just because of how excellent they look ;)

So obviously this TV is staying put and will make one hell of a bedroom set one day :) Thanks to everyone here for getting the word out!

edit: Just for the record I don't see any snow in the blacks with my set and I'm not using high-end component video cables either; just a trio of old 75 ohm Radio Shack "Gold" RCAs that cost me all of $18 for all three, six years ago. I do notice more film grain than I did with my Wega but that's not a negative. It just goes to show that some DVDs that I thought were stellar are not nearly as good as I once believed. It's like a new set of speakers that reveal more detail than you're used to, where good recordings sound great and better than you've ever heard before but the poor ones sound even worse.

Originally posted by Aaron Davis I went out today and picked up a copy of DVE, and calibrated my system. Now, according to DVE it is good, but when watching a 2.35:1 Anamorphic dvd, the black bars that fill the rest of the anamorphic area don't match the bars on the rest of the 4:3 TV. This isn't a problem on DVD that have aspect ratios of 1.85:1 becuase there are no bars. Anyone know what the deal is? My uninformed guess is that the TV can compress to 16:9 but not beyond/beneath that. So 2.35:1 material will still have some letterboxing, but only (as you say) within the anamorphic area.

Originally posted by orion7144
Anyone have theirs hooked up from a HTPC through a DVI to HEDMI connection? I can get video but it is so messed up that I not able to set it up. So I am stuck with S video., I am using a Nvidia FX5700 personal cinema.

i have mine hookd up to my htpc using a dvi-d cable and a dvi to hdmi adaptor. i am running it in 1080i and it does have over scan. i need to tweak it a little more. oh and i am using ati 9600 se

Originally posted by pen25
i have mine hookd up to my htpc using a dvi-d cable and a dvi to hdmi adaptor. i am running it in 1080i and it does have over scan. i need to tweak it a little more. oh and i am using ati 9600 se

When I set mine to 1080i the screen is unreadable and I usually have to reboot (unless I find the right mouse pointer).

Originally posted by Slosh
I've had my 32" for a couple of months now so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. . . . .
So obviously this TV is staying put and will make one hell of a bedroom set one day :) Thanks to everyone here for getting the word out!

Nice comments!

I thought the same thing. I needed to replace my 36" Toshiba that was damaged by lightening, and needed something NOW. This was the set I choose.

In the next year or so, I want a 50" plasma (or equivlant). This Sanyo will go into my bedroom, and will make a great tv for that room.

Ok, so everyone's real happy with these Sanyos, yes? Any reasons why NOT to consider either of them?

Just bought the 30 inch version....

VERY sharp picture... looks great on all formats, especially HDTV.

Superb contrast.

Some issues....

Geometry and overscan suck. Hopefully I can access the service menu and fix some of these issues.

Snow in dark scenes via component. Was expecting this, though.


All in all, and incredible value at Wally Worlds current price....

So is snow in dark scenes normal for these Sanyo TVs? It's bugging me.

Originally posted by Katarn3279
So is snow in dark scenes normal for these Sanyo TVs? It's bugging me.

Of course I cannot speak about your set, but with my set, I have discovered that, with digital source (DVD, sat dish), if I use a bad RCA cable, I get some interference (it looks like pinstriping) and of course, with Analog OTA any TV can get snow.

The "pinstriping" distortion seems to be more noticeable in dark scenes.

BUT, with component cable, and S-video cables, and with HDTV OTA, I get perfect pictures.

Just very crystal clear pictures.

I only noticed this yesterday, because I was doing some audio dubbing of some Christmas Music from my satalite system to my DVD recorder, and I was temperally hooking it up to my system, just to record for the evening.

I just grabbed a thin, used leftover RCA cable and hooked it up and got the pinstriping.

while the pinstriping bugged me, I could not find an s-video cable, so I just ignored it.

I do not have any snow or artifacts in any of my permanant connections, probably because I use good quality cables.

Hey all,

With all the great advice, I ended up buying the HT30744 set at Wallyworld for $647 - what a deal! I have a Toshiba SD-5970 HDMI DVD player which upconverts DVDs to 720p and 1080i and a Silver Sensor antenna connected for OTA HDTV. Only two complaints - here in hilly Pittsburgh, my Silver Sensor antenna stinks at OTA HDTV, getting only 3 channels with lots of fine tuning required.

More importantly, can anyone explain or help me out with a unique problem? The set and the DVD player work great, except for the audio when I am in 720p or 1080i -- then I get this terribly annoying echoing sound (with some buzzing). I have checked all the connections and settings - to no avail. This only happens with the upconversion settings with the DVD player, which is connected with the HDMI cable - the speakers on the TV work fine with OTA HDTV and with the DVD player in 480p mode. Any suggestions?

Otherwise, you could not ask for a better deal than this set!!

Hey shahster- sorry to hear about the audio problem your having with your dvd player, but could you go into detail about the picture quality of this unit? I've been debating on whether or not I should spring for an upconverting player or just wait for HD-DVD later on down the road. BTW, about your audio problem- you might want to make sure you check everything in the menu pertaining to the audio options on your dvd player. I know that sometimes you have to adjust some things when you change modes for something else. It might be worth a try. Let us know what happens! Aaron- I'm going to look into that Channel Master you mentioned. The Silver Sensor just ain't getting it. Thankfully it did manage to pull in a solid signal tonight on 6.1 for MNF. HD football and Dolby 5.1 for just over $500 bucks. This is the happiest five benji's I've ever spent.

Just bought the Sanyo HT32744 and am in need of the service manual. Could someone please help me find one? Thanks Hiram

Hiram let me know when you find one for the 32".The one for the 30" is posted but I haven't seen the 32".

Hi! I have a series 2 Tivo and wondered if there is any way to use the digital tuner to my advantage with the Tivo. For example, local channels via analog cable look terrible and thus anything I record via Tivo from those channels looks worse than terrible.

If I plug the cable from the wall directly into the digital input I get local channels in HD. Is there any way for Tivo to receive these?

I know this isn't a Tivo forum ;) but since this problem is unique for a TV with a digital tuner, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for help.

Thanks!
Chris

I have this Sanyo set, the 30" Widescreen Version. I threw in a DVD movie the other day and i Still see the black bars? what gives? Does anybody know of any movies out there right now that if i play it it would automatically fit my 16x9 Screen? I just want to see the difference to a 4:3 with my own eyes. Also is there an actual difference in the lord of the rings: return of the king movie in fullscreen or widescreen versions? does the widescreen still have bars?

Also one last thing I bought the high definition pack for the xbox ( component outputs) and the picture quality sucks, very snowy like. i switched to S-video and it was better but picture was still not super sharp as i would have expected from a hi def tv. Hence the Hi Def pack was not an official one from xbox but from a third party manuf, so im thinking that might have something to do with it, or at least i hope. Because the picture really did suck from the xbox using component cables. Last but not least, when i go into the setting for my xbox and change the video settings to widescreen, nothing happens, the picture is still in " Normal" view mode with black bars along the sides. Any comments or input here would be appreciated.. thanks...

Originally posted by LRend1215
I have this Sanyo set, the 30" Widescreen Version. I threw in a DVD movie the other day and i Still see the black bars? what gives? Does anybody know of any movies out there right now that if i play it it would automatically fit my 16x9 Screen? I just want to see the difference to a 4:3 with my own eyes. Also is there an actual difference in the lord of the rings: return of the king movie in fullscreen or widescreen versions? does the widescreen still have bars?


If your talking about black bars at the top and bottom, this is the initual confusion I had. Many action movies (including LOTR) will have an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 which will create black bars on the 30" on the top and bottom. If you stick in a DVD with aspect ratio 1.85:1, such as Shrek, or any Pixar DVD, it will completely fill the screen. The aspect ratio of each individual movie will depend on how the movie was shot. Usually the back of the DVD boxes will indicate the ratio, if not, a simple google search will yield your results.

In addition to what finger said, make sure your DVD player is set to 16x9 and make sure you are watching a DVD with 1.85:1 ratio. Also make sure your TV's mode is set to "full". It will fit the screen perfectly. If you watch anything with a wider aspect ratio than 1.85:1 then you'll get black bars.

All right, I am not generally one who writes full volumes, but I thought I would offer my two cents on the box I bought (so far) and maybe ask some questions...

First of all, I bought the 32" on Sunday. It is a replacement for my 10 year old Sharp 27" (with no inputs besides composite). I had to drive to a rural supercenter about 45 minutes from my house. Once there, I had no problems. The box and weight is managable with two people, and fit into the bed of a mid size pickup without any problems. Once I got it home, it fit into my enetertainment cabinet perfectly.

Once I had it all hooked up, I had very few issues. Some observations.

1. I am using a chipped xbox, and had NO problems. I am connected via the HD pack, over a pair of CHEAP component cables, and have noticed no real issues. 480p, 720p and 1080i games all look decent. No green lines in DVD playback at all, and the modded dash board DOES seem to pick up the settings used in the default M$ dash. The only thing I did notice was that the xbox as a dvd player doesnt seem to handle the "blackest blacks" (ie- no drop shadow in the THX setup screens).

2. Hooking up to my St. Louis area Charter Cable Moxi box (an all in one DVR Digital Tuner that does HD) I had 3 calibers of reception.

A. The HD channels looked very nice. I am still in that "holy cow I cant help staring at this" stage on many of these shows. Everything from Football to the News just looks yummy!

B. The digital standard channels (upsynched by the box to 1080i) look decent. At first, I gave them a hard time. I wanted them to be sharper and more vibrant, but after taking a second look, I think that it is just my being spoiled by the new format. The picture is consistent, and not really all that bad. I think any problems I DO have with it are coming from Charters use of compression, which only becomes more, now that I have a much bigger picture.

C. The analog tier is terrible. These programs ARE washed out, fuzzy. I am assuming this is more of the "bigger screen makes bad things look worse" problem. But seriouslly, these are largely unwatchable. It makes me wonder when we can adjust the whole country to digital. And it underlines my desire to switch to dish (all digital) as soon as I can (moving from an apartment to a house in the Spring). To be fair, these channels are pretty poor on my regular tv as well.

One problem I do have with Charter is there selection of HD channels. While the DO have Fox, CBS, NBC, HBO, Showtime, HD NET, HD Movies, and ESPN all in HD, they (for whatever reason - can anyone tell me) do NOT carry our local PBS or ABC feeds, nor do they have Discovery HD. Persuant to this, I had to hook up an aerial (see next paragraph) :)

3. In order to pick up my other local HD channels, I set up the feed from my apartments built in aerial to the digital tuner. I only got mixed results due to the poor reception. Most of the local channels did come in, but the signal broke up. However, I did manage to pick up KPLR (local UPN feed) and our ABC channel (Monday Night Football). However, still cant get ahold of our PBS channel. One thing I DONT like about this TV is the inability to manually override the channel selections. I wanted to jump out to the PBS frequency to see what I had, but it would not let me go out there.

I intend to borrow a set of rabbit ears, and see if they make any difference.

4. My DVD player is cheap. The signal from it (over component) is still 480i. From everything I have read on here, the TV is automaticlly converting to progressive, and is providing the 3:2 pulldown. (Is that right? And if so, is a new DVD player worth the cost?) Generally, the picture is very smooth and nice. Good to watch. Attack of the clones (while being a crappy movie) was very pretty. The intention is to get a DVI output unit if I can find something decent and affordable. Any recommendations.

5. I have tried to use the THX optimizer to setup my picture settings, but I keep fidgiting with them. When I watch the digital standard channels, I keep wanting to put in more color. They just seems to bland. But then I will see a red push on a different channel, and will want to dial it down and/or shift the hue. I am sure I will find my own balance as time goes on. The optimizer also tells me that my geometry is off (screen is too far left, and is slightly concave at the top). I assume this is something I will have to address on the "Service Menu." (Haven't gone there yet).

6. I have noticed a couple of other picture "problems." When looking at the contrast setup screen on the THX optimizer (The 8 White boxes) a lovely green discoloration appeared on the right side, as if there was a speaker close by. As soon as I move past this screen, it fades. This is very wierd and is not something I understand or explain. Also, there seems to be a general waviness from right to left on some of the channels, especially the high def ones. Is this the much talked about overscan problem (and if not, what is?) Any thought on how to correct this, whatever it is?

7. One final issue, not related to the TV directly, is my audio reciver. I only have 3 digital audio inputs (One RCA and two Optical). However, I have a potential for 4 inputs (Optical Only for XBOX and TV out (digital tuner), Either way for DVD Player and Cable Box). This is something I am going to have to figure out. Would love suggestions.

Ok... enough rambling. Just to button it up, I am very pleased with this purchase. My thought is that I have a very capable large screen tube that handles HD very well. As near as I can tell, it is as good as anything it its caliber, and at the price I paid, is an incredible value: I could not have done better. And, like so many people, my intention is to do this as a stop gap. Eventually, I would like to move this unit into my master bedroom, and replace it with a nice flat wall unit (say in 2 or 3 years).

It was pointed out on this board that there were plenty of negative posts, relative to the number of positive. I guess I am trying to return the favor and make sure I am counted as part of the latter. Good buy, no major complaints or problems, highly recommendd.

(ALSO - sorry for any typos... have not woke up yet)

-A.Akes
a_akes @ yahoo.com

Re Number 7, I have a receiver with the same inputs as yours, and what I did was buy a DVD player with HDMI, so then the optical cable from the TV does double duty from the TV tuner and the DVD player. It also was more in sync than going directly from the (same) DVD player to the receiver. Anyone else noticed sync problems? I got one of those upconverting DVD players, not that it really does wonders, but it keeps the signal digital right to the TV.

Wannabe... any recommendations on models?

Originally posted by BuddTX
Of course I cannot speak about your set, but with my set, I have discovered that, with digital source (DVD, sat dish), if I use a bad RCA cable, I get some interference (it looks like pinstriping) and of course, with Analog OTA any TV can get snow.

The "pinstriping" distortion seems to be more noticeable in dark scenes.

BUT, with component cable, and S-video cables, and with HDTV OTA, I get perfect pictures.

Just very crystal clear pictures.

I only noticed this yesterday, because I was doing some audio dubbing of some Christmas Music from my satalite system to my DVD recorder, and I was temperally hooking it up to my system, just to record for the evening.

I just grabbed a thin, used leftover RCA cable and hooked it up and got the pinstriping.

while the pinstriping bugged me, I could not find an s-video cable, so I just ignored it.

I do not have any snow or artifacts in any of my permanant connections, probably because I use good quality cables.

I don't think cabling has anything to do with the snow issue. While bad cables can certainly create issues, since so many people have the snow issue, it cannot simply be attributed to bad cabling.

Has anyone actually tried getting Sanyo service people to come to their house to correct the tilt problems they are having with their sets? Will they do it for free? I've had my Sanyo 30" for over a month now and am actually considering returning it and getting the Panny CT-30WC14. Yes the TV is a hundred dollars more and doesn't have an ATSC tuner, but from everything I've read it has less issues than the Sanyo. It has a very thorough geometry adjustment menu with tilt correction.

I do like the Sanyo in general especially with HDMI, but I'm getting a little annoyed at the tilt issue. During everyday viewing I don't notice the tilt, but when ESPN or CBS put their score tracker at the bottom of their HD broadcasts it really bugs me. It's hard to just overlook the tilt in that situation. My only other issue with the Sanyo (A large one) is that I get some type of interference through component connections during dark scenes. HDMI has fixed this, but I still have a DVD player running in component.

I don't use my ATSC tuner in my Sanyo due to no OTA channels in my location.

After reading this thread I am still undecided on this tv. The main reason I want this tv is to watch nfl and other sports. It looked great at wal-mart but did not see any sports on it. Is this tv still have a pretty good 720p or should I go with an lcd thats smaller about 17"?

Originally posted by sf49ersnfl
After reading this thread I am still undecided on this tv. The main reason I want this tv is to watch nfl and other sports. It looked great at wal-mart but did not see any sports on it. Is this tv still have a pretty good 720p or should I go with an lcd thats smaller about 17"?

Yeah, sports look GREAT on this TV...i am truly spoiled by watching NFL on Free Over the Air, every week (CBS, FOX & ABC) 720 looks great on both FOX & ABC.

This set, like almost all other CRT's, upconverts 720p to 1080i. With that in mind ABCHD, ESPNHD and FOXHD (all 720p stations) look fantastic on the Sanyo. As long as you have it set up properly.

ok good i was getting worried this set looks really great and the price is fantastic.

Originally posted by Aaron Davis
I went out today and picked up a copy of DVE, and calibrated my system. Now, according to DVE it is good, but when watching a 2.35:1 Anamorphic dvd, the black bars that fill the rest of the anamorphic area don't match the bars on the rest of the 4:3 TV. This isn't a problem on DVD that have aspect ratios of 1.85:1 because there are no bars. Anyone know what the deal is? I tried doing it by just setting the DVD player on 4:3 and TV to not letterbox, large loss of quality because the vertical compression of the TV isn't being used so thats out of the question. Thanks!

Reading your question I am lead to believe that your complaint is that the bars are two different shades of black. First, is that correct? In other words, the first set of bars (which you see always when watching 16:9 material on a 4:3 screen) are black, but there is a second visible set of bars when watching 2.35:1 material and it appears slightly lighter than the first set.

If this is true, it is a function of your contrast and brightness settings - it is still set a little high. If the contrast or brightness is dialed down, the second set of black bars will get darker until it blends in seamlessly with the first set.

Personally, on my Zenith c32v37, I had the contrast/brightness set correctly (using DVE) and would see only one set of black bars (even though there were really two). But the overall brightness of the set was a little low. Too many scenes were too dark. So I dialed up the settings a couple of numbers and enjoy the viewing experience much more. However, you can now see a slight difference in the two black bars if you really look. I'm the only person that has ever noticed it however, and it is something I can live with because of the better overall picture.

I got this tv today and I love it. I just need to know how to manually add a digital ota channel because the automatic scan isnt picking it up.

Originally posted by sf49ersnfl
I got this tv today and I love it. I just need to know how to manually add a digital ota channel because the automatic scan isnt picking it up.

You can't :( It's an unfortunate downside to this TV. IF it's not finding it during the search then your signal is not strong enough.

On a side note the ATSC tuner thats built into this TV is actually better than the one that comes on the Scientific Atlanta cable boxes. It is handling a few channels that my SA 8300HD is having issues with.

dubyagee

The picture quality is fantastic, really amazing - but that's in 480p. To tell you the straight truth, I cannot see much of a difference at 720p or 1080i. I dont know if any of the others on this thread know if this is because its not a fixed pixel display like an LCD, where I know 720p/1080i make a big difference.

I have checked all the menus and connections to see why the audio is distorted in 720p and 1080i and haven't found an answer. Can anyone help me out?

brought the 32" home today
we will see how it is
the family is watching the packers game
so i have to wait to see how things are
the game looks pretty good by the way

Originally posted by orion7144
When I set mine to 1080i the screen is unreadable and I usually have to reboot (unless I find the right mouse pointer).

when you say unreadable what are you refering too? I use my projector and my sanyo and set the res independant. this allowed me to display video. at first it was scrolling ot was all garbled was a PITA to set but got it. now if i can only find something that will stop the overscan

Originally posted by pen25
when you say unreadable what are you refering too? I use my projector and my sanyo and set the res independant. this allowed me to display video. at first it was scrolling ot was all garbled was a PITA to set but got it. now if i can only find something that will stop the overscan

What are you using as a desktop resolution? Are you using powerstrip?

im using the omega drivers for my 9600se im using 1280x768 60hz refresh rate

Originally posted by pen25
im using the omega drivers for my 9600se im using 1280x768 60hz refresh rate

Are you using DVI to HDMI?

dvi-d to dvi-d cable and a monster cable dvi to hdmi adapter. the cable i got from stsi.com 25footer for something like 50 bucks and then the 29 buck adapter. allot less then the 200 buck cable from monster haha

I have a question

When we talk about "overscan" on here, what exactlly are we referring to?

Thank. Sorry for the noob question :rolleyes:

LOL Last night I checked and this TV was back in stock, and now it is out of stock again

well... been reading this thread for a few weeks; ever since i got the 30" sanyo.this forum has really helped me out but I finally took the (second) tv back. The first one i bought had a really bad barrel roll. i thought it was defective so i took it back and exchanged for the same model. That one had the barrel roll too. I called the sanyo help line and they said that was normal??? I don't understand how it is "normal" for a 700 dollar tv to have a distoted picture. I took it back again and got the phillips 30".best choice i made lately. the picture is much better. the standard ntsc picture is MUCH better and there is no barrel roll. thought about getting the panasonic? at wl-mart but after a while(i stood and stared at the screens for about an hour) I noticed that the panisonic actually stretched the picture on the sides. the only down side to this tv is that it won't accept 720p. i don't get any picture when i set my screen size to a 720p res.by the way i use the tv to watch movies from my pc most of the time.

I'm thinking about trading mine in for the Panny. The panny you saw at Wal mart was probably in stretch mode. It will display the same way the Sanyo does. I've never had any luck at all with Philips products so I tend to avoid them. The Panny has a much more thorough onscreen geometry adjustment menu that includes tilt.

I've had my Sanyo for nearly 2 months. Anyone know how long I have to return it?

coomarlin, you should have 90 days to return the set to Wal-mart.

I just got the 32 inch and I love it. Xbox games look fantastic on it. For those of you who were wondering, I looked inside of the tv, and the picture tube is made by LG Philips.

Originally posted by Bedowyn
I have a question

When we talk about "overscan" on here, what exactlly are we referring to?

Thank. Sorry for the noob question :rolleyes:

Overscan is the amount of picture that is broadcast, but not shown due to the TV cropping the picture somewhat. Every TV has some overscan. This is because if TVs didn't crop the picture some, inevitably you would see jagged edges or black along the edges of the picture because not every show is broadcast with the exact same settings. So TVs crop the picture some to ensure nice edges. The problem come up when a TV crops too much picture and you loose some important information (like stock tickers etc). A computer monitor does not usually have overscan due to the stable signal it is feed. Therefore, when you output a computer image to a normal TV with overscan, you will loose some items along the edge (like program buttons at the bottom of the page).

Originally posted by stoic_squirrel
the only down side to this tv is that it won't accept 720p. i don't get any picture when i set my screen size to a 720p res.

what happens if you're tuned to a 720p tv broadcast ? will it show?

My parents just got this TV for Christmas and I have to say it's not bad for the money. I do have a few comments however, most have been covered, but I just wanted to speak my peace about this set:

Positive Things:
- Good colors out of the box (only took minor color changes with DVE).
- Nice black tones
- Built in HD tuner
- Inexpensive price
- Availability of the service manual via this thread. Fixing overscan and geometry issues was easier because I had the manual.

Negative Things:
- Coaxial inputs are limiting. You can only have one digital input. (My TV c32v37 has more flexibility in how it handles inputs. It only has one digital tuner but can receive a digital signal from either input and display it).
- Doesn't allow direct input of individual digital channels. (ie 13 but not 13-2)
- Doesn't allow individual digital channels to be saved - only does a full scan.
- Picture with Picture - very limiting - only allows one analog and one digital channel to be shown. No other options (like 2 analog channels as my Zenith allows). Only picture with picture (2 half frame images), no actual picture in picture allowed either.
- The case is a little cheap looking IMHO.

Again, overall this set is nice for the money. Personally I am much happier with my Zenith c32v37 than I am with the Sanyo and would spend the extra $200 to get the Zenith because it is much more flexible (tuners, PIP, digital inputs, channel selection, to name just a view)

stoic_squirrel - I am surprised that this is the case. Most CRT TVs will not display 720p natively, but all that I have heard will display it by converting it to another resolution. I would recommend that you look into this a little more (ie experiment with it some by sending different 720 signals like ABC OTA, or X-Box etc). Change the settings on the TV some too. I honestly would be surprised if this TV didn't display 720p by design (it my convert it, but it should display it).

I just wanted to make a quick comment to all those people out there that are too afraid to change any of the service menu items because they think they will break the TV.

1st - copy down all of the setting that you plan on changing. To be honest with you, you can fix most generic problems on this TV by changing the items that are shaded on page 5 of the service manual. Numbers 102-10D are color related and numbers 116-120 screen related (geometry and overscan). So don't think that you will be sifting through hundreds of settings to get the TV right. In reality you might have to adjust 10-20 total settings. But even this can be broken down further. You might adjust 2-3 for overscan issues, maybe 4-8 for geometry problems and 5-10 for color settings). If you have a problem with just one resolution or input (1080i for example), then you can go further into the service menu and start adjusting the settings for that one thing.

2nd - Experiment by changing the value on a menu item. Don't be afraid to change the numbers, you can always go back to the way it was if you wrote down the starting number. You should see immediate results (ie you don't need to exit the menu to see a change). You might need to increase or decrease the numbers quite a bit to see the subtle changes and understand what exactly the setting is for.

For example, if you change the V position value (number 117), you will see the picture change on the vertical plane.

3rd - you really need a calibration DVD to make the subtle changes. There are lots of diagrams that you can show on the screen that will allow you to correct for overscan, geometry and color problems much easier that just guessing from a broadcast picture.

4th - if the result isn't what you expected, change the setting back to its original number. You cannot 'break the set" by changing these items. You can make the picture worse than it was, but you can always go back to "stock" if you wrote down the original numbers. I have found that the settings have definitive starting and ending values which tells me that the manufacture has not included any settings that might cause harm to the TV (at least not in the short term - and a bad setting will be very evident and unwatchable). For example - a setting might have numbers 0-200 and then it will roll over to 0 again.

So hopefully this will spur some of you to experiment and try to optimize the settings on your TV. My parents set had a really bad upper right hand corner (it bowed in about 1/2 an inch) but I was able to fix that and reduce the overscan without too much effort. I've set other TVs, but this was my first Sanyo (and my first with a real service manual). It was much easier because of the available service manual - but it still comes down to trial and error until you get the picture that you are satisfied with.

I agree that you shouldn't be afraid to mess with the service menu. As long as you are smart about it. But the problem with my set it the single biggest drawback to the set is the tilt issue and that issue can not be corrected via the service menu.

Originally posted by sic0048
stoic_squirrel - I am surprised that this is the case. Most CRT TVs will not display 720p natively, but all that I have heard will display it by converting it to another resolution. I would recommend that you look into this a little more (ie experiment with it some by sending different 720 signals like ABC OTA, or X-Box etc). Change the settings on the TV some too. I honestly would be surprised if this TV didn't display 720p by design (it my convert it, but it should display it).

As a matter of fact, most CRT HD sets do not accept a 720p input. Only the more recent sets are capable of converting it to 1080i for display. For most people, this isn't a problem as their HD source will do the conversion (eg. a stb will convert abc, fox, or espn to 1080i for output to the tv). Other than this, the only other source of 720 that would need to be converted is xbox games that do not support 1080i. Even when used as a computer display, the computer can output 1080i (or 540p). The only CRT HD sets that walmart carries that can do this conversion are the Sanyo's. I believe that the newer Sonys and possibly Toshibas are able to this conversion as well.

I'm really not trying to harp on my Zenith c32v37 in this thread, but it has no problem displaying a 720p signal. However, it converts it to 1080i. It does not display 720p natively.

Yeah, the trend ususally is if it has a built in tuner, it can convert 720p to 1080i for display as it already has the circuitry in place as part of the tuner to do this conversion. Sets without a tuner need to have that circuitry added on, which many tv sets do not have. Many of the older sets did not have a tuner, and hence, could not do the conversion.

Okay people maybe you can help me out with this..

Today i did the adjustments to my sanyo 30" using the service manual I got from this thread ( Gray Strickland). I only the ones that were shaded as recommended by the manual, and i kept the codes of all the ones i changed. Okay so here comes the problem

After changing all of them i went back and i noticed that my pix shape options went from Previously ( Normal, Full, Zoom 1, Zoom 2 ) to ( Normal, Letterbox, Zoom ). The normal one look like a regular HD picture except with a bit of vertical strech, The letter box looks like it has too much horizontal stretch to it and it appers with black bars at the top and bottom. Is this normal? I really do not know which exact option made it appear this way as that i changed all the codes at once.

Also when i played a DVD the bottom black bars are still larger than the top one. Not by way too much but enough to notice.

So can anybody help me out here? does that sound normal to you all? what should i do? go back to my original settings?

Also when i did the vertical adjustments i made sure the pix was in full mode as recommended by the manual? Any input would be greatly appreciated... thanks..

It sounds like you changed the value that tells the tv what aspect ratio it is. I seem to remember someone in the old thread had done this. I'm not sure what value you changed to do this, but you should be able to switch it back.

Has anyone found a stand that matches up well with the 30 incher? I sit fairly close to my set (about 7 feet) and my old stand sits a little low for my taste (it's only 16 inches high). Anyone have a matching stand that sits any higher?

Originally posted by oryan_dunn
Yeah, the trend ususally is if it has a built in tuner, it can convert 720p to 1080i for display as it already has the circuitry in place as part of the tuner to do this conversion. Sets without a tuner need to have that circuitry added on, which many tv sets do not have. Many of the older sets did not have a tuner, and hence, could not do the conversion.

That makes perfect sense. I had never had it explained like that before. Built in tuners would handle 720p (perhaps by converting it) while monitors probably don't. Monitor manufactures would expect the STB tuner or other input to handle any conversions.

Originally posted by LRend1215
Okay people maybe you can help me out with this..

Today i did the adjustments to my sanyo 30" using the service manual I got from this thread ( Gray Strickland). I only the ones that were shaded as recommended by the manual, and i kept the codes of all the ones i changed. Okay so here comes the problem

After changing all of them i went back and i noticed that my pix shape options went from Previously ( Normal, Full, Zoom 1, Zoom 2 ) to ( Normal, Letterbox, Zoom ). The normal one look like a regular HD picture except with a bit of vertical strech, The letter box looks like it has too much horizontal stretch to it and it appers with black bars at the top and bottom. Is this normal? I really do not know which exact option made it appear this way as that i changed all the codes at once.

Also when i played a DVD the bottom black bars are still larger than the top one. Not by way too much but enough to notice.

So can anybody help me out here? does that sound normal to you all? what should i do? go back to my original settings?

Also when i did the vertical adjustments i made sure the pix was in full mode as recommended by the manual? Any input would be greatly appreciated... thanks..

IT sounds like you simply went into the service menu and changed the values to what the service manual had. Is that correct? Unfortunately it is not that easy. Every TV is going to be slightly (or drastically for that matter) different and therefore every TV is going to have completely different settings. The service manual settings are really designed to be a starting place.

To change the settings you really need to use a calibration disk like AVIA or DVE. Reading your post I don't get the feeling that you did.

So, I would go back into the service menu and change the settings back to your original settings and then order a calibration disk to do the job properly. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have about it if you want to post or send me a PM.

As far as your problems, I'm not sure about the zoom issue. However, the horizontal and vertical changes are totally expected. Those are values that would be changed in the service menu. They were changed too much (or in the wrong direction) so instead of centering the picture, it made it further off center. You would have also changed the amount of overscan as well with the changes you made which could magnify the problem.

Your correct sic0048, All i did was change the shaded numbers as the service manual recommended. And i didnt use use a calibration dvd ( where can i get one relatively cheap from?)

Plus last nite, I went back and re entered the values that i previously had, but the setting and picture where no where near what it was when berfore i change it.. what gives? And i did make sure to copy the code EXACTLY as it showed it, before i changed them,

Rite now my main problem is to change the aspect ratio back to 16x9 from 4:3... anybody know what # in the service manual this could be done from?
thanks for all your input..

PS: this is pertaining to the 30" TV

Originally posted by dubyagee
Has anyone found a stand that matches up well with the 30 incher? I sit fairly close to my set (about 7 feet) and my old stand sits a little low for my taste (it's only 16 inches high). Anyone have a matching stand that sits any higher?

i think read earlier in this thread about this matching up well:

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&productId=42127&langId=-1&parentCats=10104*10174

LRend1215 - I briefly read the old thread and it looks like service menu item 088 controls aspect ratio. The person in the other thread had switched it to 12 somehow when it should be set to 10. Double check to make sure this item is set to 10. If that doesn't do it, also check item 086 has it also looks like it controls aspect ratios somehow. Let me know if this fixes it.

Service menu item 088 controls aspect ratio for the 30" ws model.
I think "12" is 16x9 and "10" for 4x3. But check first. Read the service manual, page 12 and 13.

Like I said, I previously had set them back to what i originally had, but the picture of the pix shape was no longer the same, even though i put them back as i originally had them. But I will try what you fellows are menitoning.

Also can having the TV set to a 4:3 aspect ration on 16x9 widescreen, can it hurt the tv in any way?

Thanks for your input fellows i really appreciate it..

I have the 32" TV, and like it for the most part (only thing is a certain waviness to the image in hi-def, in the middle of the screen... hard to describe, and only a little distracting)...

I have worked with this, and have it where I like it... I have made what menu adjustments I can, and have the picture is pretty good...

However, I now have some time, and think I can get my hand on a setup disk from a friend. So what I need is some sort of guidance on this "service menu"...

I gather from reading the forum that the 30" model service manual is available... but did anyone ever find one for the 32", or has anyone created a 32" guide to go with it. If so, can anyone direct me to these (I am going to look, but if assistance is available, I will gladly accept it).

IE - If I was a noob (I am) and wanted to get into and alter my service menu settings (I do) than are my best resources for doing so properly?

Thanks!.:D

Originally posted by LRend1215
Like I said, I previously had set them back to what i originally had, but the picture of the pix shape was no longer the same, even though i put them back as i originally had them. But I will try what you fellows are menitoning.

Also can having the TV set to a 4:3 aspect ration on 16x9 widescreen, can it hurt the tv in any way?

Thanks for your input fellows i really appreciate it..

I doubt it will hurt it in any way. It probably just tells the tv how to manipulate the picture so it is shown correctly.

In my experience with the 32", the service menus where the exact same. My parents starting value did not match the default, but it was usually close and could have resulted from the factory doing a cursory calibration before shipping the TV.

Thanks guys for all your inputs , This Forum is definately full of knowledgeable people.

And you are correct Buzzly, for item 088: 12 = 16x9 and 10 = 4:3, which is weird because according to my service manual it states that it should be set to 10 or it wont work properly... Blah! Stupid Manual

Now i Just have a small issue of the width of the picture being a little to wide, but nothing too terribly bad , will fix more properly this weekend. thanks again guys for your input

Ohh yea and one last question i promise... When watching HD channels/ DVD's its better to watch them in "Full" mode as opposed to "Normal" right? or thats the recommended pix size? Does it matter?

:D

I'm glad it worked out. There should be no reason why you couldn't get the TV back to normal, but I was still a little fearful that you would prove me wrong. However, all is well and I'm sure you have learned a great deal about your TV. Hopefully you can borrow or buy a calibration DVD and really get it dialed in. It should be no sweat for you now.

Is there anyway (has anyone figured out a way) to pick the inputs from a single key stroke or series of keystrokes... without having to cycle through all of the settings with the input key?

I would like to be able to program my universal to go directly to this input or that, without having to jump modes...

Any help? Does this question make any sense? Thanks

I think I remember someone waying that the Sanyo's do not have discrete codes for inputs. The only way to get through them is to cycle :(

I have read a lot of this thread (geez its long), but I am still not sure whether to get the 32" 4:3 or the 30" 16:9. I am a noob. Could someone explain to me the pros and cons of each? I will be playing video games (PS2 & GameCube), watching sports, using HD /SD digital cable channels through Comcast, and some DVD watching. Is the barrel rolling effect as bad on the 32", or is this just a 30" WS issue? In what situations will I get black bars on either TV? How big is the viewing area on the 30" with non 16:9 sources compared to the 32". How big is the viewing area on the 32" with 16:9 sources compared to the 30"?

Thanks a lot.

Be very careful when you get either of these TV's that the geometry is good. My 30" geometry is not very good at all and I'm probably going to take it back.

You'll get the black bars on the 32" when watching HD programming and any SD programs that are made with an OAR of 16:9. I'm just guessing that the HD material you'll see on the 32 will be slightly smaller than the HD material on the 30.

As far as the 30" is concerned, You get Vertical bars on the left and right side of the screen when viewing standard 4:3 aspect material. (Unless you want to stretch it :( ) You will also get horizontal bars when viewing 2.35:1 DVD's. These bars are similar to the bars you see when watching a 1.85:1 movie on a 4:3 set. My guess is that the 4:3 program on the 30" set is probably equivlent to a 27" standard set. SO it's quite a bit smaller than the 32" set.

With that in mind I still chose the 30" set because I wanted to see the high quality HD material in all of it's glory as opposed to seeing mediocre SD material in all of it's "Not so glory". Thats just my opinion and I'm sure a lot of people will disagree.

Originally posted by coomarlin
Be very careful when you get either of these TV's that the geometry is good. My 30" geometry is not very good at all and I'm probably going to take it back.


Maybe I will not get this TV based on the history of poor geometry. The last thing I want to do is carry this thing home, carry it back to Walmart, and then carry another home. (Then maybe repeat).

Another question, will PS2 and Gamecube gaming use the whole display on the 30"? How about the 32?

I was not trying to scare you out of getting the TV. Just be aware that a high percentage of them have geometry issues that can't be fixed easily.

I'm in the situation you mentioned. I lugged this thing home. Hurt my back carrying it up 2 flights of stairs and now it has to go back. I am considering getting the Panny 30" from Sams club about $760. It has many geometry correctable settings in the onscreen menus. But after lugging these TV's around I'm thinking maybe I should spring for a 30" LCD like the Olevia. :)

Other things to look out for with the Sanyo is that it's component inputs seem to be of low quality (create a wavy interference on some sets), and the PAP sucks on this TV. The ATSC tuner is a nice touch, but it does have some limitation as well when it comes to manually setting channels up.

Not sure about the gaming consoles as I don't use any of them and I'm not much ofa gamer. Someone else might be able to step in here.

Originally posted by coomarlin
IOther things to look out for with the Sanyo is that it's component inputs seem to be of low quality (create a wavy interference on some sets)

damn, i thought i might have been seeing things when i saw the 'waves'... so this is the input quality ? could it be interference from other wires near the set? (ie. cable wires) or is it definetly low quality inputs

I think it's pretty much well known that a large number of people are getting some type of interference through their component jacks. I've tried 4 different sets of cables thinking that my cables might be bad and three different STB's and I got that interference with all of them. Someone speculated much earlier in the thread that the power supply for this Sanyo TV was poorly made and it was causing the interference on the component inputs. I'm not sure if that is true or not. I'd think that if it is the power supply that all of the inputs would have interference. Regardless of what the cause is the fact remains that it is a problem on a high percentage of sets. I've switched to a STB that has an HDMI connection and that definately cured it. But I still use one of the component connections for my DVD player so I still have to deal with it.

I just got this set today... LOVE IT. Using microsoft AV pack the xbox looks great. Halo 2 is pretty, no real issues. Minor geometry issues i'm sure can be fixed via the service menus, other than that it's beatutiful

i got the 30 about two weeks ago... only problem so far is when in 4:3 both the sides bow in a little.. havent tried going into service menu yet

[i] I've switched to a STB that has an HDMI connection and that definately cured it. But I still use one of the component connections for my DVD player so I still have to deal with it. [/B]

Does your STB have component input? You could then try going:

dvd player(component) --> STB(HDMI) --> TV

Originally posted by finger11
Does your STB have component input? You could then try going:

dvd player(component) --> STB(HDMI) --> TV

No it doesn't. Component output only. It's a SA 8300HD DVR.

First of all, please forgive me if I am missing something obvious here... I am only a very poor amateur when it comes to audiophilia... BUT....

I just bought a DVI capable DVD player (Toshiba SD-5970) from Best Buy, and generally speaking, I am very pleased...

However, I noticed something very unusual last night...

The DVD player has two modes for audio output.. "Raw" or "PCM"... (Now, be advised that at as of right now, I have no idea what PCM is. I am going to look it up here when I get a second.)

If I pass the Raw feed directly to my Receiver (Onkyo) via an optic cable, everything works wonderfully. However, the idea was to pass the audio via the HDMI cable to the TV, and then from my tv to my receiver via optical. It is at that point where things get interesting.

My DVD manual says I have to chose PCM audio for the sound to travel via the HDMI cable. Fine, I chose this. And sound does travel. BUT it is only Dolby Pro Logic 2. If I chose Dolby Digital, it passes to the receiver as DLG2, and if I chose DTS, I get nothing. The TV gives me no audio information (as opposed to when I am watching the OTA tuner). The receiver DOES show "pcm."

So, any suggestions. Am I limited to only going directly to the receiver, or am I doing something wrong?

The Optical Output on the TV is only for when you are using the built-in digital tuner. It will not pass the DVD audio back out. What I would suggest is to use a DVI-->HDMI cable to connect your DVD player to your TV. Then connect the digital audio cable from your DVD polayer to one fo the inputs on your Onkyo. Same thing if you have a STB. Connect it via component cable and send the audio from it to another digital input on your Onkyo.

i am new to hdtv..how do i know if i am getting hdtv on my sanyo 32744??

Originally posted by tichinose
i am new to hdtv..how do i know if i am getting hdtv on my sanyo 32744??

First off, how are you receiving your broadcasts? If it is via cable/sat, you are not receiving HD unless you are paying extra for their HD package and have an HD STB feeding your TV.

If on the other hand you are using an antenna to receive your signals, you might be getting HD TV. The easiest way to tell is to plug the antenna input into the digital antenna input on the back of the TV. Then tune to a major network (ABC, NBC, etc) and press the "INFO" button on your remote. It will display the channel information (number, network, guide, etc), but it also displays the resolution that the channel is being broadcast it. For normal SD TV it will display 480i - this is not HD TV. If it displays 720p (usually only on ABC) or 1080i (most other channels) then you are recieving and displaying HD signals. Your aspect ratio will be 16x9 so you will see black bars at the top and bottom of your screen. If the show isn't originally taped for HD, the you will also see black bars on the sides and most people will generally use the zoom button to fill the screen in that case where there are black bars on all four sides of the screen.

Bottom line - if you don't see 720p or 1080i when you hit the INFO button on the remote, you are not seeing HD TV.

via cable.....i have digital cable box but i was going to switch it with the hdtv box with tivo..i thought you didn't need a hdtv box with the sanyo....what is the difference of getting a tv with the tuner built in or a hdtv compatible tv....

Originally posted by tichinose
via cable.....i have digital cable box but i was going to switch it with the hdtv box with tivo..i thought you didn't need a hdtv box with the sanyo....what is the difference of getting a tv with the tuner built in or a hdtv compatible tv....

A lot of people have already posted in this thread that they receive HD channels from their cable provider without purchasing an HD STB and sometimes without even purchasing any digital package. Some report getting the premium HD channels even where they don't subscribe to HBO or the HD package from cable. You can't depend on that being the case from all cable feeds though.

The way to tell if you are getting HD is to push the Info button and look for 720 or 1080.

The tuner built into your Sanyo can be used for OTA or cable digital channels if they are NOT encrypted. Some cable providers send the local network channels in HD unencrypted. The best thing to do would be connect the cable through a splitter to go to both the analog and digital inputs on the Sanyo and scan for channels. When you then go through the digital channels found, hit Info to see the resolution. If it is HD, you really should be able to see the difference w/o hitting the Info button. A lot of the digital channels may be 480i standard definition.

If your cable company does encrypt their HD channels, you will need one of their STB to receive it.

if a use a splitter do i connect the cable from cable box and cable from antenna then do i connect that to cable in or rf antenna plug????

If you use a splitter send one split to the cable box and the other to the ATSC tuner on the Sanyo. You CAN NOT go from the STB to the ATSC tuner.

It's called Clear QAM and it works with most cable providers. At least it does with the networks. When I first tried it with my Sanyo not only did I get ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS via ClearQAM, I also got all of the premium movie channels like Starz/Show/Cinemax, etc. Since then they've scrambled this channels and I can only get them through my STB. I can still get the HD network feeds via the basic cable.

Originally posted by tichinose
if a use a splitter do i connect the cable from cable box and cable from antenna then do i connect that to cable in or rf antenna plug????

It SOUNDS like you have a coax cable from both an antenna (roof/attic/rabbit ears) and from the cable provider. Both of them can be used for either analog or digital tuner inputs on the Sanyo, but you will have to decide which you want to use for each tuner input. You can't use the antenna AND the cable for the analog tuner so run whichever you want to the analog input. The same is true for the digital tuner input.

If you take the antenna cable to a splitter and send two outputs from the splitter to the two coax inputs on the TV and scan for channels, you will see what you get OTA from the antenna for both analog and digital signals.

If you take the coax from the cable provider and send it through a 3 way splitter, one output would go to the cable STB, and the other two would go to the TV's tuners. Scan for channels to see what you get analog and digital from the raw cable feed. You can also connect the STB to the TV's Component/Video connectors but then you'd need an HD STB to see HD from cable via the component inputs (instead of using the tuner built into the Sanyo).

You might also just connect the antenna input to the TV's analog tuner and use a 2 way splitter on the raw cable feed to go to the existing STB and the TV's digital tuner. It would all depend on what you gain/lose by using the cable feed for the digital tuner. Some places, the cable providers don't yet have the local networks in HD but they would be available via antenna. Other places may not get a good OTA signal for digital channels but the local cable provider supplies them all (for NO extra charge).

You guys are correct about receiving unencrypted cable without a STB. I myself get HBO on my basic cable due to a built in decoder. It was my mistake in leaving that out. That being said, I think we are going to see fewer and fewer cable companies broadcasting unencrypted signals, especially since larger TVs are going to be required to included a built in HD tuner later this year. The cable companies are not going to continue to give programming away for free it they can help it. In the beginning of HD, it was easier to get unencrypted material, but it is already getting harder and harder.

I just bought this set (30" widescreen) but when viewing DVDs or games with the PS2 on either component hookup everything looks terrible. Specifically, stuff that should be blue is green and the red is saturated and grainy. I've tripple checked the connections and even tried connecting them wrong to see if something was mismarked.

I had my PS2 hooked up the same way on a 38" RCA HDTV (F38310) without problems. I also tested the new set with my Pioneer Elite (DV-45A) DVD player in both interlaced and progressive modes without issues.

I noticed the manual indicates the component connections will accept SDTV, EDTV & HDTV signals. Does the PS2 put out something special?

I bought the 30" wide screen for our bedroom. I see walmart online has a three year service plan which starts after the manufacturer warranty runs out. The policy is around 40 dollars which covers parts and labor. What does everyone think about this plan. I am thinking of getting it. Only available online for online and in store purchases. Please comment. thanks

Hi all,

I've had my HT30744 for about a week now. After the initial excitement of HDTV, not to mention the pleasure of getting one heck of a deal compared to other CRTs, I've begun to nitpick. Having watched a good bit of WS content, the significant barrel roll on this set has become apparent. To me, this is the worst PQ flaw. It is incredibly annoying to see an image distorted as the camera pans across it. Upon searching this thread, there has been little talk of barrel roll. Do others experience this with their sets? Should I exchange mine in the hopes of getting a geometrically better set?

For now, I've come up with a pseudo-fix. By increasing the horizontal width of the picture in the service menu, the barrel roll seems to have been reduced. Since doing this, the small amount of HD that I have watched seems to show less of this effect. If I can continue to increase the width to eliminate barrel roll altogether, I may do so. The only compromise is that I am losing picture and will have to correspondingly increase the vertical height to maintain the aspect ratio. Any thoughts on this? Should I just return my set? You can't beat the value of this thing, and I'd hate to spend more on a set with fewer features for one PQ flaw.

Thanks,
Ryan

I know what you are saying. Your either going to have to deal with a lot of Barrell roll or else a lot of overscan. I'd prefer neither. I noticed that too when I went to adjust my geometry in the service menu. I thought to myself, "WooHoo! I fixed the overscan!" Only to find out it intruduced too much barrel roll. In order to get rid of the barrell roll you need to create almost 14 overscan. That coupled with the tilt issue on my set is why I'm going to return mine. I still have 30 days to return it and I think I'm gonna get the panny from Sams Club. I just need to borrow a friends truck so I can haul it back to Wally World.

My philips also has some barrel roll. I wonder if it is something that affects widescreens more than standard?

I have connected a Toshiba DVD player (model SD-5970) to the TV via HDMI cable. If I pause the DVD player or, sometimes, if I skip ahead chapters, the audio thereafter disappears from the TV and the remote no longer works (i.e. info button, input select, PAP, etc.) except the power button does continue to work. If, while the DVD is continuing to play, I power off the TV then turn it back on, everything is then okay. I am using the HDMI cable that came with the DVD player. Is this normal?

Just got the 30" yesterday (would have preferred the 32" but I can't find a place that sells it here in Canada)

Looks good (considering I'm upgrading from my 13" RCA :)) but I have the tilt problem, and some minor geometry issue on the vertical sides (pincushon?) Lowering contrast helped alot, will try lowering brightness and sharpness later today.

Did anyone ever find out a fix for the tilt, or do we have to live with it?

Does the barrel roll only happen in HD, or 480p, or something? So far I've only watched SD tv, and I haven't seen the barrel roll yet. Haven't tried anything HD yet.

Finally, would anyone be kind enough to give me a quick rundown on how to use the service manual? ie. which settings I should definitely tamper with, which settings I should definitely not tamper with etc. I'm new to the world of modern TV, and the service manual is pretty intimidating.

(Also, I see that the link to the service manuals are gone; I downloaded the manual before, but didn't download page 5. Does anyone have an alternate link to page 5?)

Thanks :)

Originally posted by throwness
Just got the 30" yesterday (would have preferred the 32" but I can't find a place that sells it here in Canada)

Looks good (considering I'm upgrading from my 13" RCA :)) but I have the tilt problem, and some minor geometry issue on the vertical sides (pincushon?) Lowering contrast helped alot, will try lowering brightness and sharpness later today.

Did anyone ever find out a fix for the tilt, or do we have to live with it?

Does the barrel roll only happen in HD, or 480p, or something? So far I've only watched SD tv, and I haven't seen the barrel roll yet. Haven't tried anything HD yet.

Finally, would anyone be kind enough to give me a quick rundown on how to use the service manual? ie. which settings I should definitely tamper with, which settings I should definitely not tamper with etc. I'm new to the world of modern TV, and the service manual is pretty intimidating.

(Also, I see that the link to the service manuals are gone; I downloaded the manual before, but didn't download page 5. Does anyone have an alternate link to page 5?)

Thanks :)

Fisrt off, there is no imediate fix for the tilt problem short of having a repair man come to your home and fix it. And Sanyo doesn't seem to be willing to do that. There advice is usually "Take it back to Wal Mart". I've only noticed the barrel roll issue in widescreen HD. The barrel roll is pretty obvious on the right and left edges of the screen while watching HD. A good indicator of this is while watching football the yardlines tend to bend at the edges. This seems to be less with a lot of overscan. If you use the HDNet calibration screen you can set it to about 14 on each end and the barrel roll is negligible. But when you set to to the correct (4-5) setting the barrel roll is very bad. I don't think there is anything that can be done about this. It's a flaw in the CRT.

You can access the service menu by holding down the voume button and plugging your set in. Be careful though and write down anything you change. Most of the geometry setting at 116-120.

Originally posted by shahster
Hey all,

With all the great advice, I ended up buying the HT30744 set at Wallyworld for $647 - what a deal! I have a Toshiba SD-5970 HDMI DVD player which upconverts DVDs to 720p and 1080i and a Silver Sensor antenna connected for OTA HDTV. Only two complaints - here in hilly Pittsburgh, my Silver Sensor antenna stinks at OTA HDTV, getting only 3 channels with lots of fine tuning required.

More importantly, can anyone explain or help me out with a unique problem? The set and the DVD player work great, except for the audio when I am in 720p or 1080i -- then I get this terribly annoying echoing sound (with some buzzing). I have checked all the connections and settings - to no avail. This only happens with the upconversion settings with the DVD player, which is connected with the HDMI cable - the speakers on the TV work fine with OTA HDTV and with the DVD player in 480p mode. Any suggestions?

Otherwise, you could not ask for a better deal than this set!!

I have the same setup - the HT30744, the SD-5970 and the Silver Sensor. I do not have the audio problem you are describing. Although, I have been reading some rather unflattering opinions of our dvd player.

BTW, could you tell me if you have noticed this problem - If I pause the DVD player or, sometimes, if I skip ahead chapters, the audio thereafter disappears from the TV and the remote no longer works (i.e. info button, input select, PAP, etc.) except the power button does continue to work. If, while the DVD is continuing to play, I power off then back on, everything is then okay. Could you check this out on your setup?

Thanks.

i just connected a digtal High Definition cable box.....not sure i did it right...do i run the cable from the wall to the cable in on the tv and antenna to rf antenna spot?

Originally posted by tichinose
i just connected a digtal High Definition cable box.....not sure i did it right...do i run the cable from the wall to the cable in on the tv and antenna to rf antenna spot?

No. Run the cable from the wall to the "cable input" on the cable box. Then use some component cables or an HDMI cable (depending on your box) to the appropiate input on your TV. You will not be able to get HD channels through the box unless you use a component cable (red/Blue/green) or a HDMI/DVI cable.

If you go directly from the wall to the ATSC coax input on back of the TV you might be able to get a few ClearQAM channels, but if you do that use a splitter so you can also use your cable box.

I purchased the HT30744 Saturday( mine was a display model as both stores close to me were out, they gave me 10% off.) and here are my first impressions:

1) I find it to be a perfect match for my 13x12 living room.

2) It is not as heavy as I thought.

3) Dish network hooked up through S-Video looks great. ( I am using full mode to stretch and fill the screen) It certainly looks better than my 27" C27V22 Zenith HDTV did with standard definition.

4) DVD through S-video looks great as well, I will be trying the progressive scan/component cable hookup later.

5) I found the internal digital tuner to be sensative. Before purchasing this tv I wanted to get a real world sense of how well I could receive local digital programs. I purchased the US digital box and a $7.00 UHF/VHF unpowered antenna from Walmart.( I live about 17 miles from all transmitters here in Wolverine Lake, MI... Zip is 48390) With that setup I was able to pull in all local channels and even a PBS feed from Ann Arbor, MI (about 30 miles away), although that was sketchy sometimes. Most every station was rock solid, however WB and UPN sometimes would drop on me with this setup. This is where it is tricky I think for us consumers because we don't know if or when these stations are broadcasting at full power. Anyways, with the same antenna in the same location I had trouble with the sanyo. Most came in, but 2 or 3 would drop out quite a bit ( ironically neither was WB or UPN). I ended up going through a total of 4 set top antennas ( 3 unpowered and 1 powered) In the end, the $4.00 bow tie antenna from Radio Shack was able to pull in all stations. I had to snap it onto a nail and mount it almost to the ceiling of my wall. The lead coming off this antenna is short, and you will need to purchase the transformer to go from 300ohm flat to 75 ohm coax. From there you can use either a coax to coax union or a two way spliter ( this was my method). The transformer snaps on to the inlet of the splitter and then I ran coax from outlet#1 to the digital in on the TV. In the end, I could have never been able to afford a 30" widscreen with built in tuner. For the price I think both the 30" and 32" are a no brainer. By the way I have not discovered any major geometry issues with my set. Over the air both HD and Digital looks awesome, in fact I'm going to go watch some widescreen HD right now...see ya.

Just for the hell of it last night I popped in a dvd into the Xbox to see if I got the green vertical lines and lo and behold I did. The picture was also a lot grainer than with my interlaced Toshiba player that's also hooked up via component. So is there a consensus here about whether it's an Xbox or TV issue or a combination of both? Games look great, but I wouldn't want to use the 'box for dvd viewing. To be fair I wouldn't want to use the Xbox as a dvd player anyway.

Also- I was under the impression that the Xbox dashboard didn't display properly on an HDTV due to it being displayed as interlaced without doing that stick and trigger trick? It displays fine on my 30 incher without having to have done that.

I've had the 32" for a few weeks now and love it. I just got my HDMI cable in the mail, so I'm trying to change the connection over from the component I've been using. I unplugged all the cables from the cable box (SA8300HD) and the TV, turned them off, plugged in the HDMI cable and turned back on the TV followed by the cable box, but all I get is "No Signal" when I switch the input over to the HDMI. Is there another step I'm missing here?

Are yu sure the DVI output on your cable box is active? Maybe you need to power up the cable box first so the TV can recognize a signal when it starts up...like MS Windows used to be before USB and Firewire.

Originally posted by PrezVander
I've had the 32" for a few weeks now and love it. I just got my HDMI cable in the mail, so I'm trying to change the connection over from the component I've been using. I unplugged all the cables from the cable box (SA8300HD) and the TV, turned them off, plugged in the HDMI cable and turned back on the TV followed by the cable box, but all I get is "No Signal" when I switch the input over to the HDMI. Is there another step I'm missing here?

Originally posted by PrezVander
I've had the 32" for a few weeks now and love it. I just got my HDMI cable in the mail, so I'm trying to change the connection over from the component I've been using. I unplugged all the cables from the cable box (SA8300HD) and the TV, turned them off, plugged in the HDMI cable and turned back on the TV followed by the cable box, but all I get is "No Signal" when I switch the input over to the HDMI. Is there another step I'm missing here?

I've got the same setup as you and I have HDMI working. However it can be phinicky to get working. The Sanyo manual says to make sure the TV is turned on before the cable box and that does seem to make a difference. First thing I would do is make sure you do not have a component cable hooked up to the 8300. I think that causes some confusion inside the cable box. Secondly, try hooking the HDMI cable into the TV first and unplugging it from the cable box. Turn both units on and change the input on the TV to HDMI. Then plug the HDMI cable into the back of the cable box. This seems to work in my setup. The picture will come up at that point and should work fine after that. If you are using a digital audio output to a receiver then you will have to go into the General settings menu of the 8300HD and enable dolby digital 5.1 output under "Audio: Digital Output"

Let me know if that works.

I bought the 32" sanyo (4:3), and I am having the snow issue....This is my findings...

I have snow using componet, and s-video on both the TV and my DVD player (tried 2 players)..

The only time that I do not have the snow is when I am on a HDTV channel (through my cable box, using componet video cables)

I love the TV , but can't get over the snow (really becomes annoying when watching dvd's in letterbox)...

I drove an hour each way to a wal-mart out of town to get this thing last night (only walmart that had one)

Question is: Should I return it for another one, or should I just start looking at something else... I like the TV, but dont want to bring home another one and have "snow" issues again...

Wal mart does have an RCA HD monitor for the same price, but in the store, the picture didnt look as good as the Sanyo...

Thanks....

Originally posted by unhooked
I bought the 32" sanyo (4:3), and I am having the snow issue....This is my findings...
good as the Sanyo...

Thanks....

Try some new cables.

This tv is great except how can i manually add a digital channel that the scan didnt pick up? Thanks in advance

Does anyone know where I can download the service manual and the page 5 from it for the 30" ws TV?

I have found some links to the manual and the pages 5 but they are both dead. :(

Thanx in Advance. :D

Originally posted by sf49ersnfl
This tv is great except how can i manually add a digital channel that the scan didnt pick up? Thanks in advance

Sadly, you cannot. All you can do is repostion your antenna and do a digital add on scan.

alright thanks anyways its too bad you cannot just add the channel. Does anyone know how high the signal strength has to be in order for the sanyo to pick up the channel? Also how do you access the service menu?

download service manual from page 2 post # 35

Originally posted by GPnOK
download service manual from page 2 post # 35
Got it, thanx. :D

i havent gone in service area yet, when viewing 4:3 my t v is off by 1/4 in. from top of screen to bottom on left side ... the tv on display at store was doing same thing. i called sanyo & the lady there said it was normal.

link does not work from page 2.... is it just my internet?

Finally found one of these beasts ... Blows my 15 year old Toshiba away.
Component input on DVD is awesome and the analog tuner hooked straight to the cable is excellent . I'm using a cheapie set of rabbit ears for now on the digital tuner , so there's much room for improvement there. I'll peruse the other threads for antenna recommendations , but i'm a happy bunny indeed. No convergence issues I can see so far , but I'll report back if they do.
Note: this set was made 4 -11-2004 ,It might be a thought to track problems vs. build date .

peace
Jorge

Originally posted by sf49ersnfl
link does not work from page 2.... is it just my internet?
The link is working.

i got the link to work my internet was just acting up thank you for telling me.

I'm lookin to get one of these 2 Tv's..prolly lean towards the 32", upgrading from a 19". I'll be using this for watchin local stuff and ALOT of XBOX and few movies. So with that said, ,I've read probs with running XBOX on this tv and some has no issues at all. Is this a matter of cables bad? Xbox difference between old and new? or bad TV? If it happens to me, how will I know the difference between bad cables and bad tv?

Thanks

Originally posted by doubledeucelaw
I have the same setup - the HT30744, the SD-5970 and the Silver Sensor. I do not have the audio problem you are describing. Although, I have been reading some rather unflattering opinions of our dvd player.

BTW, could you tell me if you have noticed this problem - If I pause the DVD player or, sometimes, if I skip ahead chapters, the audio thereafter disappears from the TV and the remote no longer works (i.e. info button, input select, PAP, etc.) except the power button does continue to work. If, while the DVD is continuing to play, I power off then back on, everything is then okay. Could you check this out on your setup?

Thanks.

Doubledeucelaw,

I have noticed this same problem when I pause or skip ahead chapters...just chaulked it up to the same audio problems I have been having....again, if in 480p mode, there are no audio problems even when skipping or pausing.

Regarding our dvd player, have you noticed a picture quality difference with DVDs in 480p vs 720 p vs 1080i?

Thanks,

Samir

Originally posted by shahster
Doubledeucelaw,

I have noticed this same problem when I pause or skip ahead chapters...just chaulked it up to the same audio problems I have been having....again, if in 480p mode, there are no audio problems even when skipping or pausing.

Regarding our dvd player, have you noticed a picture quality difference with DVDs in 480p vs 720 p vs 1080i?

Thanks,

Samir

Samir,

I see no appreciable picture quality difference between those settings. However, all are much better then component at 480p from another player.

Thanks for all the great info on this site. I thought I've finally post and share what happened with my set. I finally found the 32" set at Walmart got it home and in the basement. I hooked it up and put on the jets game on HD. The right side of the TV had a vertical greenish tint. No speakers or anything to cause the interference either. Same on all the inputs. Maybe those strange walmart employees dropped it getting it down from those tall shelves in the stock room.I'm going to take it back and since it's sold out I'll just get my money back.

It was an August 2004 build. Im pretty disapointed and it is a pain to get it back there. Guess I'm just going to stick with my 27" flatscreen analog Toshiba set, it's only 2 years old and still get's a great picture. One more thing that might be interesting, when I plugged in my Adelphia Digital cable to the digital tuner I pulled in about 25 Pay Per View Movie channels and all the networks in HD. Would of been a nice bonus if I was keeping the TV or waiting for another one. So long, hope I don't pull anything lifting this thing...

Originally posted by doubledeucelaw
Samir,

I see no appreciable picture quality difference between those settings. However, all are much better then component at 480p from another player.

Doubledeucelaw,


Thanks for the info...have to admit, both of us have state-of-the-art HDTV systems with HDMI for the least amount of $$$ (under $850). Can't beat it.

Samir

anyone know what # in service menu can make top & bottom black bars darker or if its even possible ?

Originally posted by Clevelandone
Thanks for all the great info on this site. I thought I've finally post and share what happened with my set. I finally found the 32" set at Walmart got it home and in the basement. I hooked it up and put on the jets game on HD. The right side of the TV had a vertical greenish tint. No speakers or anything to cause the interference either. Same on all the inputs. Maybe those strange walmart employees dropped it getting it down from those tall shelves in the stock room.I'm going to take it back and since it's sold out I'll just get my money back.

It was an August 2004 build. Im pretty disapointed and it is a pain to get it back there. Guess I'm just going to stick with my 27" flatscreen analog Toshiba set, it's only 2 years old and still get's a great picture. One more thing that might be interesting, when I plugged in my Adelphia Digital cable to the digital tuner I pulled in about 25 Pay Per View Movie channels and all the networks in HD. Would of been a nice bonus if I was keeping the TV or waiting for another one. So long, hope I don't pull anything lifting this thing...

You may want to wait a few days before returning that TV. It is possible that some strong magnetic field was near the TV, either in storage or in transit. The problem could potentially resolve itself over time, since the set demagnetizes the screen every time the power is turned on (cold start). It might take many cycles of on and off for the problem to be corrected.

I once saw a 27" Samsung TV that had severe color distortion on both the right and left sides of the screen. They had just placed stereo speakers on each side and they were older speakers that did NOT have magnetic shielding. So the speaker magnets played havoc with the TV CRT color purity.

After we moved the speakers away from the TV, there was only a slight improvement when the TV was powered up again. They were sure the TV was permanently damaged. I told them to be patient and give it a few days. A WEEK later it was almost normal again (with the TV being turned on/off once or twice each day). In another week the purity problem was almost completely gone.

So, the recovery process was slow, but eventually complete.

BTW, as I understand it, the TV needs to cool down before turing the power back on or the degaussing (demagnetization) does not happen. So rapid on/off cycling will not help.

So, if you have a temporary magnetic issue that has cast a green spell on one side of your screen, it may self-correct over time. If it were me, I would give it some time. I know about carrying home, then returning, and then carrying home a replacement 36" HD-ready direct-view CRT TV. It weighed over 160 pounds and was not fun nor easy to move up and down a full flight of stairs.

Good luck!!

I just picked up one of these TVs for myself and so far, I'm pretty impressed with it. The picture on HD source material is just astounding. First thing I did was watch one of the NFL games on Fox, even though I really didn't care about the teams, just because it was so awesome looking!

Then I switched over to a component source. Unfortunately it appears that I have the snow problem with my set. I figured I'd relay my experience with it, just to see if anyone else's is similar. As I played with the TV, I realized that it was getting the multi-colored snow on all the analog inputs, rather than just the component. With the brightness and contrast toned down, it's not quite as apparent most of the time, but on certain passages with black or really dark screens, it's pretty distracting.

I'm 100% positive that this is not related to the cabling of the particular connections, because I'm using several sources with several different types of inputs, and all are showing the same snow. The big question: are there sets out there that have no snow? If there are, as soon as I can borrow another vehicle large enough to transport it and someone to help me move it, I think I'm going to go swap it for another.

When the snow isn't appearing, the picture quality of this set is just breathtaking with my DVDs, but it's rather distracting when it's there. Now I just hope that eventually I can find one without the snow problem...

I must be one of the lucky ones.I picked up a 32"for my office and have no problems or issues with this set.
I have Directv hooked up to vid1,a pioneer 563a DVD player hooked to component 3 and the computer hooked to component2 for games.All inputs are fine and analog Directv looks pretty awesome for analog.
So if I were you I would lug it back and try another.There's a rose among all those thorns:)

Howdy all -

Been reading this thread and the original one for a few days. I initially came here for info when I saw the 30" at a Wal-Mart (didn't know this set existed until Saturday, but I am not a major AVphile). I had been wanting to get into the HD game forever and this was the first affordable chance I had, and the first set that fit's the limits of apartment living. So after reading 20 some odd pages of posts I went for the 32" Since I am doing it all - SD/HD Cable - DVD (unfortunatly I don't have progressive scan yet) - And gaming (2 PS2's (one is Japanese)/Xbox/Gamecube).

I have alot of questions, but first some observations if no one minds.

Excellent picture on my non-prog DVD player, HD signal through rabbit ears (thanks to this thread I found out you can do that) = Drool inducing. My wife's uncle has a pretty pricey setup in his home, a 55 rear projection etc etc etc, I don't know the details but it's nice. When we first setup this TV on Sunday, I grabbed my old antenna out of the closet to just see what would happen. With no tweaks made we picked up all the locals after the scan and found some football - We both said "Holy S***".

If your main goal for this TV is sports or just general HD TV, you can't go wrong. My new cable box will be installed Friday to make it a bit easier.
BTW - Like many others I did get all the High Def HBO/Cine/Sho, OnDemand etc channels by going direct from the wall, but I am paranoid about getting caught, and I want to be able to use the onscreen guide so I am springing to do it legit.

I am not having any snow issues and I have noticed no unadjustable defects. I purchased the Pelican System selector pro and run my all my game systems through that with comp cables, except the Cube, I am ebaying like crazy to find that cable. The DVD sits in the other comp channel on the TV. Now the game systems look a little wonky though. The PS2's really look bad, very jaggy. In other posts though it was stated that this is the fault of the PS2 and it's low rez hijinks. The Xbox looks alright, but in Halo 2 I am getting some major jaggies when the action gets fast, The cube on Svideo suffers none of this, but looks kinda washed out. Now I assume this is just the result of the display being of a higher definition than I am used too, but...

Can anyone suggest ways of fixing this? Other than 50 dollar monster cables? If cables are really going to make a difference it will have to wait along with the digital cables I might finally get for my reciever. Would anything in the service menu help with this? Overscan maybe? And what is overscan? All I know is that when I turn it off the image gets slightly "smoother" (ie blurred, but still prettier than my old TV).. I really don't think this is the TV's fault, as I said I am not having any Snow issues like other posters, and the way the picture looks when watching the HD channels proves (at least to me) that there isn't anything wrong with the TV in that regard.

I should wrap this up, I blather too much some rapid questions (I have read through about 50% of the thread, if I am repeating, slap me) -

Should I really spring for digital audio connections? My reciever does support it (It's one of the first Denon HTB's, the 7000 or the 1000 whichever one didn't have prog. scan, 7k I think).

Should I really spring for a prog. scan DVD player?

Where can I get these DVD's that help you tune your TV? How much do they generally run? Is the service menu as scary as it sounds? I have some slight bowing of the screen when a wide image is displayed and want to try to fix that, and the image seems to be cut off on the left hand side. From reading I gather these are all simple fixes, but I am still nervous about the service menu.

Okay enough blather - If anyone is pondering this set, I say go for it. I know some people got a few bad sets, but mine seems fine. I truly believe that the bulk of my issues stem from ignorance on my part and other components. I am really pleased with the image quality and am going to keep it based on the DVD and HDTV qualities alone. Yes I have some gripes from the gaming end, but I hope they can be resolved, or at least tolerated for now.

Sorry for the novel - Thanks to everyone who has helped so far just by posting and helping me decide, and thanks to those of you who will help me with my newb questions.

Originally posted by Shufflefield
Howdy all -

Been reading this thread and the original one for a few days. I initially came here for info when I saw the 30" at a Wal-Mart (didn't know this set existed until Saturday, but I am not a major AVphile). I had been wanting to get into the HD game forever and this was the first affordable chance I had, and the first set that fit's the limits of apartment living. So after reading 20 some odd pages of posts I went for the 32" Since I am doing it all - SD/HD Cable - DVD (unfortunatly I don't have progressive scan yet) - And gaming (2 PS2's (one is Japanese)/Xbox/Gamecube).

I have alot of questions, but first some observations if no one minds.

Excellent picture on my non-prog DVD player, HD signal through rabbit ears (thanks to this thread I found out you can do that) = Drool inducing. My wife's uncle has a pretty pricey setup in his home, a 55 rear projection etc etc etc, I don't know the details but it's nice. When we first setup this TV on Sunday, I grabbed my old antenna out of the closet to just see what would happen. With no tweaks made we picked up all the locals after the scan and found some football - We both said "Holy S***".

If your main goal for this TV is sports or just general HD TV, you can't go wrong. My new cable box will be installed Friday to make it a bit easier.
BTW - Like many others I did get all the High Def HBO/Cine/Sho, OnDemand etc channels by going direct from the wall, but I am paranoid about getting caught, and I want to be able to use the onscreen guide so I am springing to do it legit.

I am not having any snow issues and I have noticed no unadjustable defects. I purchased the Pelican System selector pro and run my all my game systems through that with comp cables, except the Cube, I am ebaying like crazy to find that cable. The DVD sits in the other comp channel on the TV. Now the game systems look a little wonky though. The PS2's really look bad, very jaggy. In other posts though it was stated that this is the fault of the PS2 and it's low rez hijinks. The Xbox looks alright, but in Halo 2 I am getting some major jaggies when the action gets fast, The cube on Svideo suffers none of this, but looks kinda washed out. Now I assume this is just the result of the display being of a higher definition than I am used too, but...

Can anyone suggest ways of fixing this? Other than 50 dollar monster cables? If cables are really going to make a difference it will have to wait along with the digital cables I might finally get for my reciever. Would anything in the service menu help with this? Overscan maybe? And what is overscan? All I know is that when I turn it off the image gets slightly "smoother" (ie blurred, but still prettier than my old TV).. I really don't think this is the TV's fault, as I said I am not having any Snow issues like other posters, and the way the picture looks when watching the HD channels proves (at least to me) that there isn't anything wrong with the TV in that regard.

I should wrap this up, I blather too much some rapid questions (I have read through about 50% of the thread, if I am repeating, slap me) -

Should I really spring for digital audio connections? My reciever does support it (It's one of the first Denon HTB's, the 7000 or the 1000 whichever one didn't have prog. scan, 7k I think).

Should I really spring for a prog. scan DVD player?

Where can I get these DVD's that help you tune your TV? How much do they generally run? Is the service menu as scary as it sounds? I have some slight bowing of the screen when a wide image is displayed and want to try to fix that, and the image seems to be cut off on the left hand side. From reading I gather these are all simple fixes, but I am still nervous about the service menu.

Okay enough blather - If anyone is pondering this set, I say go for it. I know some people got a few bad sets, but mine seems fine. I truly believe that the bulk of my issues stem from ignorance on my part and other components. I am really pleased with the image quality and am going to keep it based on the DVD and HDTV qualities alone. Yes I have some gripes from the gaming end, but I hope they can be resolved, or at least tolerated for now.

Sorry for the novel - Thanks to everyone who has helped so far just by posting and helping me decide, and thanks to those of you who will help me with my newb questions.

You've asked a boatload of question in a single post so I'm not sure how much I can answer. But I'l give it a try.

You can get the calibration DVD's off of ebay, Amazon, Circuitcity, etc. They are Digital Video Essentials and Avia. DVE is noramlly less than $20 and Avia is about $35. Both are good.

I'd definately go digital on the audio connections. You can buy Optical cables for practically nothing on ebay. Or worst case buy a monster cable for $20 at radio shack.

You mentioned turning "Overscan off". I think you are referring to "Scan Velocity Modulation". You should turn it off. Overscan can be adjusted in the service menu although it seems to introduce a lot of barrel roll on this set. You either live with the overscan or else you live with the barrel roll. I'd rather live with the overscan. Be careful when getting into the service menu. It's not too comlicated as long as you know what to adjust. Make sure you keep records of the default settings so you can go back if neccesarry.

I can't help you with the gaming consoles as I don't game, but other people might have suggestions.

Thank you for the reply. I will swing by circuit city tonight and check for the disk. I will also check ebay for optical cables.

I found a few things that might help someone else, though I have not tried it yet -

Xbox issues - To enable multiscan you need a newer Xbox or one that has had the latest dashboard updates via Live. At the dashboard hold down both triggers and both thumbsticks at the same time to enable the 480p output.

Back at the beginning of the thread several posters asked for a Service Manual that was specific to the 32 inch model but I never saw anyone post one or reply back about having one. Well, I just emailed Sanyo and asked for one and they send me a 5 meg PDF that is specifically for the 32 inch. I don't know about the legality of posting such things, but if you email them and ask for the service manual for the 32 inch, they should send it to you. I have briefly (very briefly) browsed over the scanned PDF posted in the original thread and this new one and there are differences.

The optical out on the back of the tv will only provide sound from the digitial tunner built in the TV. If you are using a cable box, that is no need to use the optical out on the tv.

Thanks for the replies. I will give it a few weeks and see if the the problem goes away or Walmart gets another one in stock.I really like the TV and want to give it another chance.

Originally posted by Shufflefield


Xbox issues - To enable multiscan you need a newer Xbox or one that has had the latest dashboard updates via Live. At the dashboard hold down both triggers and both thumbsticks at the same time to enable the 480p output.



my xbox is 13 months old, I do have Xbox Live so i have the latest dashboard. What about the vertical lines while using the xbox? Do you have that problem?

my xbox is 13 months old, I do have Xbox Live so i have the latest dashboard. What about the vertical lines while using the xbox? Do you have that problem?

JSI - I do not have this problem. After enabling progressive scan (Which is what I meant, not multiscan) it greatly reduced the bad jaggies I was getting. I can still see them, but i have to pay more attention to the scenery than what I am doing to see it, so as far as I am concerned it's fixed. It also greatly improved the colors, in 480i is was sort of washed out.

What are the vertical lines like? Thin white streaks or thicker lines? I am just curious.

i don't have this set yet, I've read in the countless other pages at the beginning of the thread bout some people having vertical lines. My orginal question was, how am I able to tell the differnce between bad setting, bad cable or just a bad TV. I'm goin to pick up a TV this friday along w/ the MicroSoft HD Cables. I'm not sure if the Monster HD cables are worth the extra $40.

Have you been able to play games that are 720p? How do they look when converted?