I was thinking about picking up a Philips 27PT830H for $430 but now that I look at these Sanyo's I'm kinda leaning on one of these?
Should I buy the 30" WS or go all the way to 32"?
I'm mostly going to watch DVDs, play xbox, and some occasional tv watching. I also need to think about what the next-box is going to be offering.

I suppose this pretty much hints at a new set to replace this one soon. I'm thinking of returning my 26" Toshiba for this.

I know this was discussed earlier in the thread, but what is Walmart's policy on price guaranteeing? I seem to remember someone saying that you actually had to take the TV to the store, return it, and buy another one in order to get the lower price.

Originally posted by twiztidgear
I was just at the walmart in my area and noticed that the 30" had drop down to $562, quite a large drop. Not sure if this is at most walmarts, or extremely YMMV. I plan to go down to the walmart that I bought mine from (which happens to not be this one) and see if they also dropped the price down.

The89, I have the exact same wavyness problem. It's not extremely bad but pretty noticable and bugs the hell out of me when I'm playing a game on my PS2. And I only get wavyness when I'm going through the component inputs. I wish there was a fix for this, cause other than that it is an excellent tv.

It is online for this price as well, and you can also buy the extended (3 yr) warranty here (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2349401)

Can't really beat the price for warranty or the 30" tv...the 32" (which i own) still is at $697...the 30" must be selling better (to get the rollback)

Originally posted by Launchpad
I know this was discussed earlier in the thread, but what is Walmart's policy on price guaranteeing? I seem to remember someone saying that you actually had to take the TV to the store, return it, and buy another one in order to get the lower price.

When did you buy the TV? Do you have a receipt?
If you want P.M. me and I'll see what I can do for you.
-Michael

Originally posted by sterno3
It is online for this price as well, and you can also buy the extended (3 yr) warranty here (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=2349401)

Can't really beat the price for warranty or the 30" tv...the 32" (which i own) still is at $697...the 30" must be selling better (to get the rollback)


The 32" TV is in the company's top 200 for dept. 5
The 30" is not..I'm sure that this, along with a possible supplier credit or "kick back" is the reason this item is on Rollback. It's also a safe bet to say that it might be replaced, not necessarily with another Sanyo 30" but with another item that offers the same value for our customers. I don't think alot of people realize that we lose margin on alot of Rollback items.

Most of this is a good educated guess, even if I knew the complete answer, to be honest I don't think I'd be able to tell you. It would be confidential information.

I sent you a PM mahicks.

Hey guys thank you for the great information.I bought my 30" one on Jan.26 and have a directv tivo on one side and just added yesterday on composite 3 a hi def receiver from dircet tv plus a outside ota. I am so pleased with it. everything works fine on it with the man. settings. Anyway I have my receipt can I get the difference from wal-mart. If I can't I am still keeping my set and probably buying another one. Thank you so much for your great forum. Jesse.

Originally posted by Launchpad
I know this was discussed earlier in the thread, but what is Walmart's policy on price guaranteeing? I seem to remember someone saying that you actually had to take the TV to the store, return it, and buy another one in order to get the lower price.

I went back today to see if I could get them to match the new price. I was told that they will only do it if it's within 7 days but I bought it Feb. 11. So I might have to just return it and get another one so I can get the new price, which will be a huge pain in the ass.

Am I correct in assuming that if you had something hooked up with a DVI to HDMI cable (thus requiring use of analog audio) you'd have to swap audio cables if you wanted to also use the component 3 input? Having three audio inputs with five video inputs is just sillly. Is there a y-cable or something I could use to get audio with both HDMI and component 3 inputs?

After I posted last night I called the wal-mart (Tracy, Ca.) and spoked to the asst. manager named Jerry and he said that rather have the TV return
to the store to just bring the receipt and they sell it back to me with the receipt so I get the new price. Not only that I asked him if there was another one in store he looked it up and is holding it for me I am going to use the difference and putting this one on layaway so I can use it in my entertainment room. I would like to see the faces on other manufacturers when they get a hold of what Sanyo and Wal-mart are doing for there customers. Anyway thank you for the knowledge acquire from you guys.
Jesse.

all the great info cemented my decision to buy the ht32744. i asked family for walmart gift cards for christmas, which ended up taking about a third off the price. i just picked it up last weekend, and it is great! i live in the chicago burbs, but had to go out in the country to a super wal mart (30 min drive minimum one way) but they had several in stock as opposed to the local ones that had none. worth the trip. put a splitter on the feed from the roof antenna and all is good. have the digital audio out into my receiver, so sound is great. ran component video from the dvd, and the picture is unreal! had to get a switcher box to connect the video from the VCR and the PS2 into the video 2 connect, but they are both seldom used so it's no big deal.

once again, all the information on this board is extremely valuable. just make sure you bring a large vehicle to the store, and have someone available at home to help move it. it just barely fit in our hyundai santa fe, with all the seats folded in back.

i'm probably going to have to get one of the better universal remotes. i have too many now. i've been eyeballing the harmony series from logitech, and found some websites that have good prices. at least i only use two of the dozen in the house to control this tv and the home theater system

Originally posted by twiztidgear
I went back today to see if I could get them to match the new price. I was told that they will only do it if it's within 7 days but I bought it Feb. 11. So I might have to just return it and get another one so I can get the new price, which will be a huge pain in the ass.

I posted previously that I was told to physically return the set to get the new price. When I actually took the set, there was a supervisor that said ~ "I would have just done it from the receipt". Like tmaster1's experience, it may depend on who you ask at the store. On the earlier price drop, people also rolled a new TV box to the return counter so the person had a bar code to scan (and avoid a physical return). You might just try the return counter again and if they say it requires a physical return, ask to verify that with their supervisor. It REALLY made no sense for me or the store to physically return a TV to get the lower price.

Originally posted by morrow
Greetings,

I have the 32" Sanyo hooked up to a cheap Koss HT from BB via optical audio cable. Sound quality is great, but lip sync is really annoying when the Koss is decoding Dolby 5.1 from all the OTA HD channels. There's no problem with lip sync if I only use the Sanyo's speakers, but then I am missing out on the Dolby 5.1 surround.

The Koss HT does fine when playing DVDs----Dolby 5.1 sound is fine (no lip sync problem) and component video/progressive scan into the Sanyo looks great.

Has anyone else hooked the Sanyo into their HT using the optical/digital audio output? I've tried exchanging the Koss for another one at BB and still have the lip sync issue.

TIA for any help/suggestions!

have mine hooked up via the optical audio, and there are no problems i've noticed. i have a 600w RCA system, which i got at sams club a year or so ago. had two digital audio inputs, coax audio input, plus all the various hookups normal. decodes dolby digital no problem, and from what i remember was under $300. it also has settings for audio (theater, stadium, club, etc) simulation, so there is no echo i notice. maybe you need a better HT system :)

Originally posted by mkat1970
i'm probably going to have to get one of the better universal remotes. i have too many now. i've been eyeballing the harmony series from logitech, and found some websites that have good prices. at least i only use two of the dozen in the house to control this tv and the home theater system

mkat, the Harmony looks like a great remote, but it was a bit too pricy for me. I tried several cost-effective universals and got very frustrated because none of them would work everything. Then I tried the One-For-All 8-device 8910 (purchased at BB for about $35). It still wouldn't function with everything, but then I actually read the manual and found a small blurb about calling customer service to update the remote. It turns out that the remote has a built in modem and they can upload any device to your remote over the phone! Now it works great for everything. It also has a learning feature and allows you to freely switch around keys. If you don't want to spend a lot of $, then I would recommend this one.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your new TV and welcome to the club!!

Originally posted by ucdcrush
I have the 32" inch sanyo, with an optical cable going to an RCA 2360 audio/video receiver with dolby digital, dts, prologic. This allows for surround sound with dolby digital on some programs.

The problem I'm having is that sometimes, on some channels -- seems kind of random so far -- when I tune a station with the sanyo's HD tuner, my receiver defaults to "pro logic". I can then press a button on the receiver's remote and switch between available sound modes, one of which is dolby digital and sounds the best. On certain broadcasts like football, this is never a problem - it always ends up on dolby digital surround.

I am beginning to wonder if it's an issue with my receiver (which seems to default to the highest quality sound program, dolby digital, MOST of the time), or if the TV is not outputting the right signal for my receiver to know what audio programs are available. When I change channels with the built in HD tuner, they all seem to say "dolby digital" on the television, so I'm not sure where the issue is.

Anyone else have this problem? If not, what receivers are you guys running?

i have the rca 2600 system. make sure your connections are hooked up correctly. you are right, it does default to the best connection, if that connection is hooked up. otherwise it defaults to what you set it to last. for example, i have the optical from the tv to the receiver, and from my sat box to the receiver, and coax audio from my dvd to the receiver. when i select one of those as the "source" the audio comes up automatically. you do have to cycle through the audio choices to "set" the one you want. when i first hooked up the sanyo, it didn't "find' the optical audio, but once i manually selected it, anytime i switch sources to tv, it comes up automatically on optical

Originally posted by Launchpad
mkat, the Harmony looks like a great remote, but it was a bit too pricy for me. I tried several cost-effective universals and got very frustrated because none of them would work everything. Then I tried the One-For-All 8-device 8910 (purchased at BB for about $35). It still wouldn't function with everything, but then I actually read the manual and found a small blurb about calling customer service to update the remote. It turns out that the remote has a built in modem and they can upload any device to your remote over the phone! Now it works great for everything. It also has a learning feature and allows you to freely switch around keys. If you don't want to spend a lot of $, then I would recommend this one.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your new TV and welcome to the club!!

i like the one button features the harmony has (touch one button to watch tv, etc.). i want it to be simple for the family and any babysitters. found it at compuplus.com for about $140 (had been about $90 a month ago! should have bought it). bought a xmas gift from compuplus for my wife, and the service and pricing were great, so i will probably go back to them.:)

New user here. I've been watching and reading (wading through) this thread for some time now. The wife and I are seriously considering buying one of the 30" Sanyo's from WallyWorld. The post today concerning the price drop really got me excited. Maybe now my mom (my wife) will let me put one on layaway.

A little background, we currently have a Zenith 27" that we bought from Sears several years ago. It's been a good TV, but it's beginning to have very blurred words. It's impossible to see the score of a football game.

Now, I've been reading about all of the problems many of you guys have had with the the TV. I'll admit it concerns me a little, but I don't use any gaming boxes. All I'll be doing is watching DVD's, sometimes a VHS movie and we have Dish Network with DVR. I believe it's the Dish 500, or something like that. I realize I'll have to attach rabbit ears to get HDTV programming, but I'm ok with that.

I saw that someone said the price of the 30" was $562 and someone else said that was confirmed on the web site. Well when I went to the website a few minutes ago the price was listed as $597.0. Not much of a difference, but a difference just the same.

Hmm they changed it, I am 100% sure that yesterday the site said $562 and now that you mention it, I looked again today and as you said, it says $592. I wonder which price is in the stores

Originally posted by CSNHottie
Hmm they changed it, I am 100% sure that yesterday the site said $562 and now that you mention it, I looked again today and as you said, it says $597. I wonder which price is in the stores


GO SOX:D

I too have been lurking for a while. After I saw the price went to $562 I went to Walmart today to get one. The price tag said $647, but I asked them to check and it came up $562. They seemed suprised and started changing the prices on the tags.

If I had a problem getting the price reduced, I'd buy one at $562, walk out the exit and back in the entrance and return it with the old reciept. Beats lugging that back and forth.

Anthony

Yes the website said $562 as of yesterday. My local in-store display still says $562, as well.

Just came back from Wal-Mart and got my 91 dollars difference. I put another one on lay-away at that price (562). On line is 597 on-store is 562.
What a great deal. By the way the new models are around the corner I talked to one of the techs. from Sanyo and he said they will be in-store by May, maybe thats why the price has gone down so much. Anyway thank you the wealth of information.
Jesse.

I just picked up the 30" widescreen model for $562 at my local walmart today (last one they had) after deciding to send back my Toshiba 26HF84 for a refund.

So far I am very happy with my choice of this set over the Toshiba. PQ on SDTV is the same however, DVDs on the Sanyo look much better. I have yet to try and hook this up to my pc but I am more interested in trying the digital tuner.

My question is how/can I hook this up to my cable box to receive any local HD channels?

I currently have Digital Cable through Brighthouse Networks and I will be upgrading to a HD box before the end of the month but I am curious as to if I can recieve any HD channels with my current setup. Or will I need a antenna?

Thank you in advance.

Just thought I would post my success story of hooking my pc up to my new set via a dvi-hdmi cable for anyone who is interested...

At first I ran into some problems when I tried to send 1920x1080, and 1280x720 (both @60hz) to the set. I got a heavily distorted image with hard to describe artifacts and it was completely unusable.

I also tried using a HD component breakout box from my video card and the TV accepted the resolution of 1280x720 @ 60hz but the whole screen had a bright blue tint.

I then went back to my dvi-hdmi cable and tried using the "clone" and "dual view" settings and the set accepted 1280x720 @ 60hz but had the same problem described above when trying to send 1920x1080. So 1280x720 @ 60hz is the highest I can go and it displays a wonderful picture. There is over scan, but in the settings of the nvidia display manager you can select to keep HDTV resolution or use under scan which corrects the over scan.

I am using a Geforce 6600GT with my primary NEC CRT monitor hooked up via a VGA-DVI adapter and then my new Sanyo set is hooked up on the 2nd DVI connection via my dvi-hdmi cable from stsi.com

Is anyone else having this problem with the HT32744? I really like
this television but I'm having two problems that make me think I
should return it.

1) Left blue oval and right yellow oval. Tech support at Sanyo says this
is a characteristic of the television. The ovals are visible against a white or
light background and appear in OTA, Composite and HDMI inputs.

The yellow oval is especially obvious and deepens when there's a black
or dark area juxtaposed against a light area in the right third of the screen.
If you pause on such a image, the yellow oval will intensify until it's almost
green in tint.

No non-service menu adjustments to brightness, contrast, scan velocity, color, etc. have had any effect on the problem.

2) In content with a lot of motion and displaying at 1080i, there's a moirish set of wavy lines that appear in the image. A perfect way to reproduce the
problem is to watch Star Wars IV where Luke, et. al. are riding in the landspeeder. This is annoying but could almost be ignored. Again, no non-service menu adjustments have an effect on this problem.

So, if this is a characteristic of this model, why aren't more people commenting on these problems? Has anyone been able to adjust these problems away
using the service menu?

My model is a May 2004, maybe it doesn't occur on later models?

I'm thinking of returning this and getting the new Sanyo (if there is one) if it comes out sometime soon. This set is a great buy and there's many features
about it I like - that's why I'm looking for some help holding on to it....

Originally posted by dmahalek
I have previously posted on a yellowish tint problem and the fact that the screen seems to be divided into thirds with each third tinted a different color. (HT322744) I called Sanyo and they arranged for a service tech to come to my house. When he arrived, I had MSNBC on with the stock ticker scrolling across the bottom. He took one look at the blue, whit, and light yellow color of the ticker and said that I had a bad picture tube. I received a call today today from the service tech saying that Sanyo was shipping a new tube and that he would return to install it in about a week. What great service, I have nothing but good things to say about Sanyo's customer service dept......they were very courteous and helpful.

Originally posted by DrSlack
...So 1280x720 @ 60hz is the highest I can go and it displays a wonderful picture...

You can go to 1920x1080i if you use the resolution 1920x1080@30Hz. I can use this resolution on my Philips with an ati component dongle, but I get overscan. So i use 1776x1000@30Hz to compensate for the overscan.

When adjusting something in the service menu i all of a sudden have 3 lines on the top on my picture that wont go away. 2 are red and 1 is green. Does anyone know how to get rid of this? Thanks in advance.

I went to my local Wally World to get the price adjustment - I bought the 30" in Jan. They gave me the same answer - only 7 days for price adjustments, after that you will have to bring in the item for return and then buy it at the new price.

I insisted on speaking to a CSM and she gave me the same line. I explained that the TV wieghted 150 lbs and it just doesn't make any sense to lug it all the way to the store and take it back again. But she didn't seem convinced.

I then offered to buy a new one for $562 in the electronic dept and bring straight to the CS counter and return it with the old reciept - that seemed to go totally above her. She had no idea what I was talking about.

Finally I said I wanted to talk to the Store Manager as I was not "satisfied" - that word seemed to be the key. She promptly got on the phone with the SM and explained my situation. The SM didn't seem to hesitate even for a second to tell her to go ahead and do my PM.

Now that she got authorization, she seemed glad to help. But somehow the system wouldn't accept a price adjustment - I guess the system was programmed by the same geniuses who put in the 90-day return but only 7-day price adjustment policy.

Anyway, she then talked to the other two girls in that counter - don't know what they discussed, but she came back and said one of the girls would help. So I went to the girl's counter and she said that she is gonna do an "exchange" - basically that I returned my TV at the old price and got one ar the new price. Okay, I said - hoping this would end soon.

I also realised that my wife got fed-up somewhere along the line and roamed away into the store - have you ever tried to find someone in a SuperWalmart??

Meanwhile the girl ran up into some trouble and had to call the CSM again to over-ride something before finally crediting me the $85 + Tax difference.

Whew!! - Took me about 25 mins. It shouldn't be so difficult.

The good thing is that in addition to the price adjustment I came out with a new purchase reciept with a March date - that gives me another 90 days for return or exhange. Sweet!!

Now, if only Sanyo comes out with a nice 34" WS model or even a Black/Dark Grey 30" version before June - I will be back in the store lugging the beast.


Well, back to enjoying my HT30744 - thanks everyone.



Originally posted by twiztidgear
I went back today to see if I could get them to match the new price. I was told that they will only do it if it's within 7 days but I bought it Feb. 11. So I might have to just return it and get another one so I can get the new price, which will be a huge pain in the ass.

I went to Wal-Mart tonight to check this tv out. I figured for under $600 with an integrated tuner you can't go wrong. I was also looking at the Akai 42 inch hdtv ready television. I'm not sure if I want the size or a television that's 12 inches smaller with the tuner already in it. Also I noticed in the store the Sanyo did not have a remote to use in store. I noticed while flipping through the channels on regular broadcasts it went straight to the 4:3 aspect. Is this able to change? If it does stretch it out how morphed does the picture look? Are you missing any part of the picture you'd be seeing on the 4:3 aspect? I really like this tv. I'm just not sure if I would pic it over a 42 inch rear projection. The Akai. What are your opinions on these 2 televisions. You all seem to know tons about all aspects of the hdtv world. So I guess what I'm asking is if size really does matter haha.

After lugging this bad boy home, pushing the box up a flight of stairs to the bedroom, I flip the box to open from the bottom as suggested, only to find the set is broken. The back was seperated from the front, the tube was pushed in, so back in the box and to Walmart today.


The Sanyo warranty says the retailer (Walmart) swaps the tv during warranty?

Does Walmart honor the warranty, that if this tv goes in say 10 months, Walmart will exchange it with the same or comaparable tv?

Anthony

That is correct. Within one year, if anything goes wrong with your tv, bring it back - along with the reciept - and Walmart will exchange it for the same model or a similar one if the same model isn't available.

Originally posted by oryan_dunn
You can go to 1920x1080i if you use the resolution 1920x1080@30Hz. I can use this resolution on my Philips with an ati component dongle, but I get overscan. So i use 1776x1000@30Hz to compensate for the overscan.

Thanks for the advice.

Hmmm, I tried adding custom resolutions such as 1920x1080@30hz but the nvidia display manager won't let me. I then tried your 1776x1000@30Hz only to get the same error of "the custom resolution input is invalid". Weird.

I am going to give powerstrip a try. I messed with it when I had my Toshiba and got lost but maybe I will figure it out the second time around.

anyone know a fix to the wavy edges/lines issue

I picked up the 32" today. The 30" is very tempting at $562 but I decided 4:3 was a better fit for my viewing habits, and I suspect we'll see the price drop on it soon at which point I can do the return and rebuy trick.

Anyway, OTA HD programing looks amazing, and the SD over cable looks great as well. I'm extremely happy with the set and I definitely feel like I made the right decision. Thanks to the avsforum community for the information in this and other threads. You guys have been extremely helpful.

I am getting acceptable OTA signal from an old antenna I had sitting around, but I would like to get a better antenna. Any suggestions?

I've had the 32" for a couple months now, and have built an HTPC this weekend. Consists of an AMD 2700+, 1gig ram, PVR-500, ATI 9700 pro, av710. Now the hard part. I'm using the ATI dongle, and can't for the life of me get a resolution that works with the tv using powerstrip. I can't upgrade to any of the new catalysts, the computer won't display anything so I'm using the 4.3 defaults that install with Windows MCE. Any help greatly appreciated.

Originally posted by Devonaut

I am getting acceptable OTA signal from an old antenna I had sitting around, but I would like to get a better antenna. Any suggestions?

Try looking in this forum, information about antennas and local HDTV.
AVS>HDTV > Local HDTV Info and Reception

New guy here looking for my first HDTV. I have a couple of simple question I hope someone here can answer.

1. I'm going to get all my HD content from my cable company. I don't really need the HD tuner built in. Is there other models in a similar price range I should consider without the tuner built in that have better features or a better reputation?

2. Is this set comparable to the Sony, Phillips, or Samsung models without the tuner?

3. Does this TV upconvert normal broadcasts to near HD quality like many TVs claim to?

Thanks to anyone who can pass along some answers or info.

The89 what do you have connected (I'm assuming to the component in) that is giving you wavyness issue?

My PS2 is what's doing it for me, very apparent in DVD's not so much in games. You can barely notice it in games with a lot of action (GT4 :D), but any slow moving ones like an RPG for example you can see it pretty easily. I tried hooking up a couple other DVD players, one capable of progressive scan and one not, they both had clean pictures with no wavyness that I could see.

So how many others have this same problem? This issue has been mentioned quite a few times through this thread, but I was wondering if this is the same with everyone's tv or just a few. Also if anyone has a solution to this we'd be happy to hear it.:)

Originally posted by rokindawg
New guy here looking for my first HDTV. I have a couple of simple question I hope someone here can answer.

1. I'm going to get all my HD content from my cable company. I don't really need the HD tuner built in. Is there other models in a similar price range I should consider without the tuner built in that have better features or a better reputation?

2. Is this set comparable to the Sony, Phillips, or Samsung models without the tuner?

3. Does this TV upconvert normal broadcasts to near HD quality like many TVs claim to?

Thanks to anyone who can pass along some answers or info.

Let me see if I can Help you out.


1. I'm going to get all my HD content from my cable company. I don't really need the HD tuner built in. Is there other models in a similar price range I should consider without the tuner built in that have better features or a better reputation?
Yes there are MANY models in this price range without a tuner and I'm sure you might be able to get one with more features or maby a better pic quality. BUT......What you don't know is that you will ALWAYS prefer OTA HD vs Cable HD. You don't get the full bandwidth of HD on Cable, it looks great, but.....it could be better.

2. Is this set comparable to the Sony, Phillips, or Samsung models without the tuner?
If a tunerless TV is what your really after, then you don't need to consider the Sanyo. It wouldn't be fair to make any comparisions of Any TV to it or Vice Versa. But if you want a solid yes or no opinion, I'd say YES only the Sanyo is alot cheaper.



3. Does this TV upconvert normal broadcasts to near HD quality like many TVs claim to?
This TV converts everything thats fed into it to 1080I, so the simple answer to your question is YES. The honest answer is NO because no amount of conversion will ever make 480I, 480P etc, look as good or near as good as true HD will. Never the less, the Sanyo does a better job than any I've seen at upcoversion. This Thread is HUGE and for MANY PAGES of it, alot of the experts were still trying to figure out if these TV's displayed 480P and 720p natively. This alone backs up my theory of a pretty good upscaler on the TV.

I hope I have helped you, Everything I have posted is pretty much "factual" with a little bit of my own two cents and opinions. I have been known to be an idiot though so I'll understand if this doesn't help :D

RE: OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT
I recently purchased the 30" Sanyo HDTV based on the terrific information available from this forum. Thanks to all who contribute. Regarding the optical digital audio output from the TV, I have a question about how the dolby digital audio signal from the digital tuner and the audio from a DVD connected to the TV via HDMI are handled. Can both signals be transmitted to my receiver via the optical digital audio cable? I have read conflicting information about this in this thread. One stated that only the audio from the digital tuner can be transmitted via the optical cable.

I picked up this TV yesterday, manufactured in Jan 2005, so it's very recent.

Right now I have my PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube hooked up to the component inputs, and my HD-DVR hooked up to the HDMI. The PS2 and Xbox share a cheap Mad Catz component cable (a single component cable with both PS2 and Xbox connections). And since I'm using a DVI to HDMI adapter I can't get any audio on the Gamecube, because of the retarded audio input sharing. Guess I'll have to get a proper component switch box.

I'm going to go pick up a proper 1st party Xbox component cable, because the few problems I'm having I think is due to the MadCatz cable.

First, the Xbox in 1080i (using Xbox Media Center) has a weird flicker effect to it. It's like a dark spot slowly sweeping from left to right. This doesn't happen with the PS2 in 1080i (with Gran Turismo 4), and not with my HD DVR using HDMI. I'll see if the cables are to blame soon.

Second, I get the "wavey lines" that people have talked about. I first noticed it using the Avia disc on my Xbox. Using the geometry tests it's VERY obvious and distracting, the vertical lines dance around like mad. On the Xbox I can see it in all resolutions. In normal use, and standing from a normal distance from the TV, it's not too terribly noticable. This problem doesn't exist at all with my HD DVR with HDMI. There was one screen I noticed it with my PS2, but I'm not positive. I've only briefly checked out Resident Evil 4 on my GC, but I didn't see it there. So again I'm hoping it's an issue with the cables. At worst it's a problem with the component inputs. I might hook up my DVR with component cables to see if the wavey lines crop up.

So right now I'm just crossing my fingers hoping the problems I'm having are due to cables, because they're the only things stopping this TV from being absolutely amazing. It's so much better than the 26" Toshiba I returned that it's not even funny.

I'll report in with my results later.

Originally posted by rokindawg


1. I'm going to get all my HD content from my cable company. I don't really need the HD tuner built in. Is there other models in a similar price range I should consider without the tuner built in that have better features or a better reputation?

2. Is this set comparable to the Sony, Phillips, or Samsung models without the tuner?

3. Does this TV upconvert normal broadcasts to near HD quality like many TVs claim to?



Your questions aren't clear yes/no items. Your expectations of "near HD quality" from SD programming may be too lofty. You can always tell the difference between SD and HD as the SD isn't close to HD. A DVD in a player that only outputs SD's 480i will look really good. It will look better than a cable/satellite SD output. I'm happy with the SD output from satellite and OTA, but it just doesn't have the detail of HD.

The Sanyo uses a TL945 to convert the different inputs. Back in late 2003 and early 2004, TerraLogic introduced their Generation9 ICs (TL945,TL955) to replace 8xx chip sets. TerraLogic became Zoran somewhere along the line and there isn't much info on the TL945 on the Zoran site but there are 2004 press releases about the Generation9 chips being used in Sony and JVC products (don't think specific models were mentioned though). They were off the shelf ATSC decoders what were $35 each (10k qty).
http://www.dtvprofessional.com/2002/09_sep/news/cw_teralogic_gen9.htm
http://www.iapplianceweb.com/story/OEG20021005S0004.htm
http://www.zoran.com/press_room/index.html and search for Generation9.
http://www.zoran.com/products/literature/dtv/TLG_G92ppV1.1_03_08_10.pdf
Note that their Generation9 ICs can produce both HD and SD as an AUX output. This doesn't mean Sanyo necessarily took advantage of it.

The Jan 2004 press release http://www.zoran.com/press_room/2004/1_5_04.html
Sunnyvale, Calif. - January 5, 2004 - Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq: ZRAN) announced that its Generation9 family of DTV IC's is now in volume production with four of the world's leading digital television and set top box manufacturers, Funai, JVC, Pioneer, and Sony.

The Sony and Funai were for Japan models, JVC and Pioneer were US models. How some mfg integrates the decoder/upscaler will produce very different results as well.

Anyhow, a $35 chip that does the ATSC decoding and upscales other inputs isn't a big part of the cost of the unit. You might find a Sony (pick a name) w/o a tuner will give you a better picture, fewer geometry issues, work better with some Xbox models, ... but you will likely pay a little more. I didn't like the Sanyo's PAP required on side to be a Digital broadcast and check the Samsungs. At the time, the Samsung didn't have PAP or PIP at all and the SD didn't look as good as the Sanyo. You need to make your own choices with your own eyes. There are advantages and disadvantages to every model out there.

After hooking up my HD-DVR to the TV with component inputs I can confidently say the component inputs on this TV are junk. I get both the rolling "flicker" and wavey lines that I don't get using HDMI. I'm crossing my fingers that next-gen consoles adopt HDMI, and that some affordable HDMI switchboxes come out by then.

EDIT: It appears the rolling flicker can be eliminated by switching to the input you want and turning the TV off then on.

Originally posted by Ramirez
RE: OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT
I recently purchased the 30" Sanyo HDTV based on the terrific information available from this forum. Thanks to all who contribute. Regarding the optical digital audio output from the TV, I have a question about how the dolby digital audio signal from the digital tuner and the audio from a DVD connected to the TV via HDMI are handled. Can both signals be transmitted to my receiver via the optical digital audio cable? I have read conflicting information about this in this thread. One stated that only the audio from the digital tuner can be transmitted via the optical cable.

From what I've read throughout this thread the component, s-video and composite won't be able to use the optical audio out, while the digital tuner will. But WannabeSQ's post says that he was able use the optical audio out with both the digital tuner and his DVD player connected through HDMI.


Originally posted by WannabeSQ
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.

Thanks for all the great info mahicks & bhenley. I'm leaning twords the Sanyo, but I plan on hitting a few stores first and stopping at Wal-Mart last just to compare what's available.

Originally posted by brijenjas
Try looking in this forum, information about antennas and local HDTV.
AVS>HDTV > Local HDTV Info and Reception

Thanks, I think I found what I need there. The consensus choice for indoor antenna seems to be the zenith silver sensor.

Actually, I was surprised to find that I am getting a bunch of comcast digital channels just by hooking the cable directly to the HD tuner. This includes the HD versions of the local networks, but also some movie channels, mostly in SD. So I may just skip trying to tune in OTA for now. Unfortunately I have to split the signal to both tuners to get the standard comcast lineup, but it doesn't seem to hurt the picture quality significantly. The other hassle is that I can't key in numbers above 99 on the remote.

I understand that the Zenith Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna; if you have local VHF OTA channels you won't be receiving them unless you add a special attachment.

Twiztidgear,

My problem seems exactly like yours. On my ps2 its very noticeable but on my xbox it is barely noticeable unless i really try to look hard and i sit about 5 feet away from the tv but the ps2 is really bad when i have games on 480p.IF SOME ONE THINKS THEY KNOW A WAY TO FIX THE WAVY LINES THAT WOULD BE GREAT.

Originally posted by Devonaut
... The other hassle is that I can't key in numbers above 99 on the remote.

Just hold down the '1' key for about 3 seconds (until is shows a 1--I believe), and then you can key the other two digits...

The wavey line things is impossible to figure out, because it's so inconsistant. I just got some first party Xbox component cables, and put in the avia disc. This time there's NO wavey lines, whatsoever. But Soul Calibur 2 is still wavey as hell at 720p.

While I was at work on Saturday, my wife went to Walmart and put the 30" HDTV on layaway for us! The price was $562.00. I'm so psyched! Now I gotta figure out which entertainment center to buy. Anyone have any suggestions for a Walmart entertainment center that this TV will fit into??

Waltchan, read the first post. Don't derail this thread into stupid anti-Walmart BS.

I'll add my story then get to bed.

I had my eyes on a Panasonic 53wx54 from Costco - was actually going to buy it next Sunday. Saturday I was driving around looking for components to compliment it - an OTA HD tuner and a Sony DVP-NS775V DVD player. I went into Walmart to actually buy the $200 HD Tuner, turning over in my head whether I want to spend another $100 or so to get a tuner with HDMI/DVI output.

Then, an epiphany - I could get the 30" Sanyo and get HD programming and a 16:9 screen for only twice as much as the digital tuner would cost alone! Became a no-brainer and I impulse bought the TV. I'm happy - I see myself saving literally $1000 for a flexible TV that can easily be moved to a bedroom in a year or so when the HD2+ DLP TVs will have dropped in price.

Here are my impressions on the TV:

All digital programming looks great, HD or not. I was actually surprised at how well SD programs look on Zoom1 mode. I was VERY happy and surprised at that. Every major station in Phoenix area broadcasts in digital and I get them all - even a religious station and a spanish only station or two (I think there are 11 stations in total, not counting subchannels).

My DVD player output is great, and it's a crappy old model (Panasonic DVD CV51) connected via component. I guess I'm kind of lucky since everything is converted to 1080i, my non-progressive DVD still works wonders. Still might get the Sony eventually though, but now I can wait for it to drop under $100.

Playstation 2 with S-Video looks good, but Zoom1 mode makes it "feel" stretch - I feel a little more disconnected from my characters on screen. I only played for about 2 minutes on Kingdom Hearts though.

Now for some negatives.

There is definitely "barrel roll" on the TV on the outer 2 or 3 inches of each side. It's a little disconcerting, but not a deal breaker. I only notice it when the screen pans directly left or right - even with a slight "angled pan" I don't notice it at all. It will probably always bother me, but not enough to warrant spending a few hundred extra dollars.

When viewing SD over digital, the black bars on the left and right hand side (inserted there by the stations) have a slight inward bow to them. Not sure if this is the TV or the stations, but it's a non-issue for me since I tend to watch in Zoom1 mode.

Zoom2 mode sucks - not even sure why it's there. It doesn't detract for me though since Zoom1 mode works so well.

Now the biggest problem - HDTV broadcasts don't look that much better than SDTV! I was watching CSI:NY and for the life of me I just wasn't blown away. Sure, the scenes were all in 16:9, but otherwise, I couldn't perceive a huge difference, although the color seemed richer in Digital than Analog.

The biggest problem is actually not as bad as I make it sound - it's probably a combination of me sitting 10' away from the screen and the fact that SD digital stations look so dang good on the set. Maybe it's that CSI:NY doesn't really show off the capabilities that well, but Arrested Development didn't knock my socks off either. I was able to determine some acne problems on one of the actresses on CSI:NY, so I guess there was more detail there.

I don't notice any geometry issues with the set. I have a DVE disc coming from Amazon though, and will write back with an update on my settings, etc.

Originally posted by ProjectZero
I've had the 32" for a couple months now, and have built an HTPC this weekend. Consists of an AMD 2700+, 1gig ram, PVR-500, ATI 9700 pro, av710. Now the hard part. I'm using the ATI dongle, and can't for the life of me get a resolution that works with the tv using powerstrip. I can't upgrade to any of the new catalysts, the computer won't display anything so I'm using the 4.3 defaults that install with Windows MCE. Any help greatly appreciated.

I must be missing something, but why can't you upgrade to a newer Catalayst driver? Is your card an All-in-Wonder? Pretty sure you'll need a recent driver to get a workable resolution for this tv -- I use 1152 x 648 at 60hz (essentially 720p) with Catalyst's inbuilt overscan correction. You could always try re-creating that resolution in Powerstrip though...

Been a while since I re-visited it, but there's a thread on using this tv for an HTPC monitor here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=414867&goto=newpost

Originally posted by mahicks
I've been on the look out for a new DVD player for my Home Theater Tv, A Toshiba 50h71 since my current one died. After reading reviews and everything else under the sun...A few things have me wondering about the Progressive Scan DVD player hooked up to our Sanyo 32744 in the bedroom.

So....Here goes.....

Has Anyone tried your DVD player in Non Progressive mode? I only ask because with our Tv upconverting everything to 1080I, it would only make sense for the DVD to NOT do a conversion, since the TV is only going to make another conversion. I know it sounds kind of crazy but at the same time it makes alot of sense....Think about it....EVERYONE with a high end upscaler chooses DVD players that thave the best 480I output over component. I know that our tv is no where near a top of the line upscaler, but It makes me wonder, does the TV know best?

Any input or suggestions would be great.

Interesting questions.
Let's take it one step further...

I just recently purchased the Panasonic S97S DVD player and plan on pairing it with the 32" Sanyo. If I run HDMI from the Panny to the Sanyo, are both units gonna be upconverting? Is the Upconverting feature of the Panny gonna be wasted on this TV, since it does its own conversion?

Just bought the 30" model, and generally love it. It doesn't recognize anything plugged into the VHF/UHF antenna input - I tried the Philips antenna I'm using for Digital OTA as well as the cable, both direct from the Comcast STB and from a splitter before the STB. I know both the antenna and cable are good. When I try to select an analog channel, say 03, the number display onscreen goes dim and no picture or sound are displayed. If I go to the menu and choose Antenna Switch, the display is bright for a couple seconds then goes dim again. If I try a channel search, it only checks for Digital Antenna channels.

This is not a significant problem for now because I get my signal mostly from Comcast Digital Cable through an 8000HD DVR. I need to get a couple HD channels OTA, which also generally work. I called Sanyo and was told I'd need to exchange the set at W-M. Since this was the last unit I could find in my area, I'll have to wait awhile.

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?
-JFS

Originally posted by Beaner
Interesting questions.
Let's take it one step further...

I just recently purchased the Panasonic S97S DVD player and plan on pairing it with the 32" Sanyo. If I run HDMI from the Panny to the Sanyo, are both units gonna be upconverting? Is the Upconverting feature of the Panny gonna be wasted on this TV, since it does its own conversion?


Here's what I have found...

I have recently been playing with an IODATA Linkplayer2. This "networked" DVD player can upconvert to 480p, 720p, or 1080i through the component output. I've tried every different setting with many different DVDs the past week or so and have found that leaving the player set to 480i seems to yield the best picture to my eyes. Not that the others look bad, but there does seem to be some "multiple upconversion" problems. What I notice most is strange "noise" in large single colored areas on movies. Almost like hum bars, but much smaller. This seems to distract my eyes, and make the picture appear much too soft. Also , this gets worse the higher I set the ouput resolution. I.E. 1080i is more noticeable than 720p.

By the way, my display is ISF calibrated. If that matters to anyone

Originally posted by Shink
... Now the biggest problem - HDTV broadcasts don't look that much better than SDTV! I was watching CSI:NY and for the life of me I just wasn't blown away. Sure, the scenes were all in 16:9, but otherwise, I couldn't perceive a huge difference, although the color seemed richer in Digital than Analog.

The biggest problem is actually not as bad as I make it sound - it's probably a combination of me sitting 10' away from the screen and the fact that SD digital stations look so dang good on the set. Maybe it's that CSI:NY doesn't really show off the capabilities that well, but Arrested Development didn't knock my socks off either. I was able to determine some acne problems on one of the actresses on CSI:NY, so I guess there was more detail there. ...

I think you are seeing the effects of the physical resolution limits of the 30" CRT. The phosphor dot triads (RGB) on your CRT are much larger than the available pixel-level detail in an HD signal. Larger screen displays with greater pixel density will allow you to see far more picture detail.

This is just one of the trade-off's in buying a "small" direct-view CRT HDTV.

On the other side of the trade-off's, if you had a much larger screen, your SD pictures would likely look a lot worse, exposing the lack of detail and the bad effects of compression (for digital cable or satellite SD programs).

As you stated, you do get a much broader range of colors, giving more life-like color rendition. Screen and pixel size don't affect the color accuracy much, if any.

For your 10 foot viewing distance, I would want a larger screen to see and appreciate the HD detail. we sit about 10-12 feet from a 48" rear-projection HDTV, and when watching HD programs, I wish the screen was a little bigger. Conversely, when watching SD programs, I wish the screen was a little smaller to mask the effects of lack of detail in the SD pictures.

It is a continuum, and you get to pick your place on the continuum of tolerable SD on one end and maximized HD on the other end.

Bottom line is, if you enjoy what you are seeing, the rest of the discussion is academic.

Enjoy!

Has CR (Consumer Reports rated any Sanyo TV's in the last year?

Can someone find and Copy and paste the most reliable TV's (listed in CR, from consumer surveys) list?

I know Sanyo was rated #1 but I want to see who else is on the list.

Dave,

Thanks for the response. I have been just watching standard OTA analog until this weekend, so just the jump to digital was impressive enough for me! Considering that the 50" set I want is 5-6x the price of this set, I think I can wait for those prices to come down or more HD content is available.

On the whole, I recommend this set to anybody except for the people who are simply looking to show off. There is simply not a better bargain out there than this set.

I would like to add my experience with the 32" and ask a couple of questions. I have had the set for about three months now and I am very happy with it. I have a VERY old non-HiDef D* STB (only has coax, a/v, and s-vid out) and a generic set of rabbit ears. The difference in SDvHD is very apparent to me when watching the same program (NASCAR, PBS, etc.). The SD seems to be sort of washed out and soft where the HD is crisp and clear. I had no problems getting the set to handle both connections.

The problem that I have, is hooking up my HTPC. The main components are a WinTV PVR250, FX5900XT (has DVI out), and a Santa Cruz sound card.

I am able to get everything that is on the PC to show on the Sanyo but I cannot get the Sanyo to accept the sound. I have the a/v (red & white) jacks plugged into Audio Component 3, yet everytime I change to the HDMI input, or click a program on the desktop once I get the input, a message pops up on the screen telling me that with a DVI connection, I need to connect the audio to component 3. I have tried every audio adjustment available in the Sanyo's menu and have not been able to solve the problem.

The other problem I have is trying to sharpen the text on the desktop. If any of you are using a HTPC with this set, could you please let me know what resolution and settings you are using (Nvidia cards only of course:D ) and all help will be appreciated.

Silvertip

Silvertip1.

FWIW I attached my pc to the set last nite through HDMI. I have bypassed feeding the audio to the TV and went directly to my stereo reciever. I wanted the 5.1 so I fed the SPDIF out of my pc directly to my reciever coax digital in and it worked fine.

As for the video I am still experimenting with the catalyst drivers (using and ATI 9600 card) so I cant comment on the nvidia stuff. However since this set cannot display a progressive signal at 720 or 1080 do not expect the text to be readable. This is the draw back of the CRT sets as their true resolution (in scan lines) is about 800. I am still debating how to use my pc as a media server. I was able to get half life 2 to play at full screen and it looked amazing. I have a slight overscan issue that I am going to try and adjust in the service menu. I am thinking about getting an inxpensive 15 in LCD to put on the end table next to my couch. I will use this to surf the net and access my media files. Then use the tv to play games and dvd/media.

Any thoughts from others on this set up would be greatly appreciated.

John

I take back my comments about not being able to tell the difference between HD & SD. American Idol tonight looked awesome, as does 24. Must be that Fox does HD better than CBS for this set.

I purchased the 30inch version this weekend at Wal-mart. Overall, I am very happy with this set. Picture quality is good, and it works great with all my game systems. I am, however, having one problem I haven't really seen in this thread from anyone else.

From time to time, I will see some scrambling of HD content. Scrambling, for lack of a better term, when I see a random grouping of boxes in the picture. It usually goes away very quickly, but it's quite annoying. Usually the boxes are white, although I have seen green from time to time. This distortion is similar to when I am watching antenna HD content and I wave my hand over the antenna to block the reception, although this isn’t nearly as bad as that.

I've noticed it while playing HD content through both antenna and my Charter MOXI DVR. I haven't noticed it yet on non-HD content, nor have I noticed it while playing my Xbox/PS2 games in high resolution mode.

Has anyone else seen this problem and have quick fix?

I bought the 32" set. I noticed that the lower right side of the screen is not as bright as the rest of the screen. Also some areas of the screen are not focused. Is this fixable or should I return it?

Originally posted by UScr00ge
I purchased the 30inch version this weekend at Wal-mart. Overall, I am very happy with this set. Picture quality is good, and it works great with all my game systems. I am, however, having one problem I haven't really seen in this thread from anyone else.

From time to time, I will see some scrambling of HD content. Scrambling, for lack of a better term, when I see a random grouping of boxes in the picture. It usually goes away very quickly, but it's quite annoying. Usually the boxes are white, although I have seen green from time to time. This distortion is similar to when I am watching antenna HD content and I wave my hand over the antenna to block the reception, although this isn’t nearly as bad as that.

I've noticed it while playing HD content through both antenna and my Charter MOXI DVR. I haven't noticed it yet on non-HD content, nor have I noticed it while playing my Xbox/PS2 games in high resolution mode.

Has anyone else seen this problem and have quick fix?

It is my understanding that the cable companies do not have a direct link for any broadcast programming. They simply receive the signal through an antenna and send it out to their cable clients. This said, they would experience and transmit the same OTA reception problems you would experience on an antenna and broadcast them out. When I am tuning in HD over the antenna, I get the boxes. This is because HD reception is all or nothing. Interference does not result in ghosting or staticy bad signal, only a bad digital display resulting in distortion like you are seeing.

If you are seeing the same problem on nonbroadcast HD channels like the Discovery Channel, then there may be an issue with your cable tuner. However, this could still result from a poor signal coming from Charter.

On a different note, I went in to Walmart seeking my $90 worth of price drop. I purchased the TV just shy of 4 weeks ago. When I first asked for it, they told me the 7 day bit. I told them all they had to do was return it and ring it up again at the new price. They said no problem and handed me my 90 bucks. I implied the whole time that I had been told this was what I was supposed to do (I didn't tell them who told me, I let them assume it was someone from the store). They didn't make me bring the set back in and in all it took about 5 minutes. I was very pleased with their customer service.

Hey everbody. Just saw that this set dropped in price again at Wal-Mart so I can hardly RESIST going and getting one - but before I do, was hoping someone could clear a few things up for me - especially if you have this set. I have read through about 20 pages of this topic and found some really helpful information - but still wondering about a couple of things.

1)When watching a DVD that is 16:9 enhanced will the image fill the entire screen?

2)I have seen several others refer to a "barrel-roll" probem when viewing certain things - does this problem occur regaurdless of your input or input device or does it only happen when viewing DVD's etc? Has EVERYONE that has this set experienced this problem? Is it correctable?

3)I have a dell inspiron 9100 that has a built in DVI output - as far as I know, I should be able to connect it to this set using the avalaible HDMI input (is that correct?). I was wondering if anyone else had tried something similiar, and if so, how does text and other smaller things look on the screen? Comfortable enough to browse the net? How does a DVD look when played back through the HDMI?

Any help anyone can give me with this stuff would be MUCh apprecciated. I am definitely gonna go put this baby on lay-away today and then wait and see how things pan out before committing. Thanks for a great forum.

Originally posted by omni
Hey everbody. Just saw that this set dropped in price again at Wal-Mart so I can hardly RESIST going and getting one - but before I do, was hoping someone could clear a few things up for me - especially if you have this set. I have read through about 20 pages of this topic and found some really helpful information - but still wondering about a couple of things.

1)When watching a DVD that is 16:9 enhanced will the image fill the entire screen?

Depends on the movie. Theatrical films are filmed in all sorts of aspect ratios. Movies like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are filmed in 2.35:1, and will have quite a bit of letterboxing.

2)I have seen several others refer to a "barrel-roll" probem when viewing certain things - does this problem occur regaurdless of your input or input device or does it only happen when viewing DVD's etc? Has EVERYONE that has this set experienced this problem? Is it correctable?

The barrel roll is a problem with the actual CRT, not input. It's seriously 100% unnoticable except during slow horizontal panning shots.

3)I have a dell inspiron 9100 that has a built in DVI output - as far as I know, I should be able to connect it to this set using the avalaible HDMI input (is that correct?). I was wondering if anyone else had tried something similiar, and if so, how does text and other smaller things look on the screen? Comfortable enough to browse the net? How does a DVD look when played back through the HDMI?

Check out the HTPC forums and this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=414867&perpage=20&pagenumber=1).

I agree with Yus on #2 - there are only very specific conditions where you even notice the barrel roll. For me it's when the camera pans directly horizontally. It's definitely not a big issue to me, but it's there and should be noted. Sounds like it exists with EVERY 30" set.

Thanks for your quick responses - went and looked at it again at wal-mart to check if they even had any in stock - they have them on order/in transit...checking back tomorrow.

Still trying to decide between such an inexpensive yet decent set or saving up a little more and purchasing something else. Any suggestions on what is another reasonably priced alternative?

Is this barrell roll problem something that is known to affect other makes and models or is it specific to the tube and components of this sanyo? The one at the store was unfortunately set to a 3:4 picture mode and they didnt have a remote (no menu button on front panel) - so i had no way to get an idea of what it looks like in widescreen - i assume there is a way to set it to widescreen so that the picture fills the full screen without getting any lost picture through cropping? (sorry for all the questions - quite new to HD and widescreen displays). Some of the other sets at wal-mart were displaying widescreen and filling the screen from the same feed - so i assume it is a setting on the TV itself

I just don't have alot of money to throw around and want to get something i will still be happy with down the road a couple of years - only problem is i see the beginnings of a videophile when i look in the mirror - and thats an expensive hobby. Should i get the sanyo to satisfy my immediate cravings - or hold out for when i have more money and more choices?

Originally posted by mkat1970
i like the one button features the harmony has (touch one button to watch tv, etc.). i want it to be simple for the family and any babysitters. found it at compuplus.com for about $140 (had been about $90 a month ago! should have bought it). bought a xmas gift from compuplus for my wife, and the service and pricing were great, so i will probably go back to them.:)

This is my 1st post here, well actually my 2nd but the 1st one had url's in it that can't be posted until I've made 5 posts so I'm copying my original post from the Deal Street forum at htpcnews.com. If you're interested in doing this it would be worth your while to check out the complete thread there to see the links and what others have posted.

Good Luck,

Keith

FROM HTPCNEWS FORUM:

This is my 1st post and I hope its not been posted before. I first found this on a fatwallet post back in December but it's still working and even better now that there's a rebate.

Harmony 680 Remote

Here's how I did it:

Ordered by phone from Staples: 1-800-staples

These are not available on Staples website so you have to order by item number.

The item number for the 680 is IM1E92423, and Staples' cost is $183.49

Price Match to comp-u-plus for $111.00.

For me the csr came back and said my price would be $113, when I asked why she said it was because of shipping and I said ok.

I had a $15 off $100 coupon which she applied plus a $11 rewards check so my cost was $87 plus tax.

Send in the 25% off Rebate (In my case = $28.25)

My end cost was $58.75 plus tax but even without the coupon and rewards check it's $74.75

This remote is simply amazing in the way it's programmed via the website to the components you have in your entertainment system. If you run in to any problems their tech support can solve them quickly and all you have to do is update it via the usb cable and it's done.

Good Luck,

Keith

Part numbers for other Harmony Remotes:
Harmony 688 black: IM1E92422
Harmony 688 silver: IM1E92421
Harmony 676: IM1E92424
Harmony 659: IM1E92425

Originally posted by omni

Is this barrell roll problem something that is known to affect other makes and models or is it specific to the tube and components of this sanyo?


Barrel and pincushion distortion exist in CRTs, a photo lens, ... . Many have some method to adjust but not all are adjusted with the standard/easy menu. Computer monitors often can be adjusted with an on screen display.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/dta/09656/00000008.htm
Pincushion control
Push once to display the pincushion OSD. To adjust the vertical sides of the display that bow in (pincushion) or bow out (barrel distortion), use the left/right buttons to adjust.

The Sanyo pincusion (/barrel) distortion adjustment is in the Service Menu.

See http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=517733&highlight=barrel+roll for a user that is considering the Sanyo to replace his Phillips that has "barrel roll". That guy's picture would appear to be pincushion on the yard line, not barrel distortion.

See http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/distortion.html

In this thread, you'll find "barrel roll" used to describe things other than the sides of the screen image as well. Google will take you to plane maneuvers<G>.

Originally posted by sensibull
I must be missing something, but why can't you upgrade to a newer Catalayst driver? Is your card an All-in-Wonder? Pretty sure you'll need a recent driver to get a workable resolution for this tv -- I use 1152 x 648 at 60hz (essentially 720p) with Catalyst's inbuilt overscan correction. You could always try re-creating that resolution in Powerstrip though...

Been a while since I re-visited it, but there's a thread on using this tv for an HTPC monitor here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=414867&goto=newpost

Something was wrong with the hardware itself, so whenever I'd install the software for the 9700pro, I could never get into windows with it. I swapped it out with a 6600gt with HDTV out and worked perfectly the first time. I now have Hi-Def on my tv from my PC. Here's my issue right now though. I can't get powerstrip to set a custom resolution to help correct the bad overscan. It's at least 5-10 percent overscan all around. I have the 32" 4:3 display, not the 30" widescreen, so that link won't help me out.

So does the 30" sanyo have QAM or not? and if not (disabled) can it later be enabled or should I just wait untill they fix what ever problem they have with it?

From what I've read and heard, both Sanyo's have QAM. Unless I'm mistaken, you can hook up the Sanyo to a cable like COX and get some HD channels via the QAM without paying any extra fees. It's the local channels I believe.

Originally posted by DaEnigma
So does the 30" sanyo have QAM or not? and if not (disabled) can it later be enabled or should I just wait untill they fix what ever problem they have with it?

Recently, units appear to have QAM disabled. It will be units with a recent mfg date (I don't think the "cutoff date" is known). I don't think you can tell the mfg date from the box. Read a few posts starting with http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5234563#post5234563

Not too long ago, I emailed support, asking for the Service Manual PDF for the 32744 and got this response:

support@sanyotv.com wrote:
>
> (See attached file: HT32744_32744-00 M.pdf)
>
> As for as the new model I do not have any information on it.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Name: HT32744_32744-00 M.pdf
> HT32744_32744-00 M.pdf Type: Acrobat (application/pdf)
> Encoding: base64

I didn't ask about any "new model" but it SEEMS to be saying there will be a new Service Manual (or addendum?) to go with these new units. The Service Manual's 1st page describes matching the Chassis No (32744-00) on the back of the unit to the number in the Service Manual. I'd be curious if those people that had units with QAM disabled show something other than -00 on their chassis number.

I really want to get one of these but I would like to have QAM or I may just wait and pickup the new LG this summer which will have 30% less depth... Damn I should call sanyo but last time I did they seemed a bit unknowing...

Per a sales assistant at Sanyo Manufacturing Corporation:

The 30" HT30744 will stop production by the end of March 2005.
There will not be a replacement 30" widescreen model.

There will be a new 28" widescreen model number HT28745 which begins production in March 2005 and should be in Wal*Mart in late April.

There are no other widescreen direct view TV's scheduled to be produced in 2005.

So if you want to get the 30", better find one soon :)

I just talked to 2 representatives from Sanyo and they did not indicated that they will discontinue making a widescreen model anyway I hope i am not wrong but thank you for the information.

you have more information than the guys at Sanyo believed or not they did not even know about the model number, unbelievable. I apologize for my first reply. Some of this guys that work there are clueless. thanks again for the information.

Still trying to get my sound problem worked out. Does anybody here have their PC sound going directly to the Sanyo (Audio Component 3 as required with the DVI/HDMI connection)? If so, are you using on-board sound or an add-in sound card? TIA
Silvertip

Originally posted by DaEnigma
I really want to get one of these but I would like to have QAM or I may just wait and pickup the new LG this summer which will have 30% less depth... Damn I should call sanyo but last time I did they seemed a bit unknowing...

As previously reported, new build models (look in this thread for serials) have the QAM tuner disabled. I have one of these models, a Jan 2005 build.

I am currently working with Sanyo customer service to re-enable the QAM tuner in my HT-30744. They are sending me a disc and cable to attach to a laptop computer to the service jack in the back so that I can reflash the PROM. I was told that I am the "Guine Pig" for this proceedure. I will report back to the forum the results and if Sanyo plans to make this available to all consumers affected.

In addition, Sanyo customer service states that they intend to continue the 30" widescreen model with the QAM tuner re-enabled from the get go. At which serial number this will begin I don't know. Sanyo will also introduce a 26" widescreen version as well

Take Care :D

Shawnito please let me know how this works and how I can do this if it does work. I have the 32 inch version (January 05 build) and I am right on the edge of returning the set because of the lack of this feature.


Thanks

John

Hi,

I just got off the phone with a Sanyo Customer service rep. I put a HT32744 on layaway last weekend with the intent of picking it up this weekend. Here's what he told me about the Clear QAM tuner issue. This info applies to the 32" 4:3 set; I'm not sure about the 30" widescreen.

If the serial number on the set begins with V4, Clear QAM is ENABLED.

If the serial number begins with V5, Clear QAM is disabled.

If you get a set with the Clear QAM digital cable scanning disabled, contact Sanyo's Customer Service department at 800-877-5032 and they will
send a technician out with a laptop and cable to enable it. I asked about
having a disc and cable shipped to me, and the rep said that it is a "15 step process" and he didn't think Sanyo would be providing these items to end users on a widespread basis.

Hope this is helpful.

Originally posted by Sudsy

If the serial number on the set begins with V4, Clear QAM is ENABLED.

If the serial number begins with V5, Clear QAM is disabled.

Hope this is helpful.

It sure ought to be helpful!

On the OUTSIDE of my cardboard box (QAM enabled), the V4 serial number is quite visible. It means you can tell w/o taking the unit home!

I've got a 30" widescreen on layaway as we speak. Any info as to what the applicable serial numbers are for the HT30744?

The return policy does not change if you buy a discontinued product, does it?

Originally posted by CSNHottie
The return policy does not change if you buy a discontinued product, does it?

No, it doesn't

Originally posted by Sudsy
Hi,

I just got off the phone with a Sanyo Customer service rep. I put a HT32744 on layaway last weekend with the intent of picking it up this weekend. Here's what he told me about the Clear QAM tuner issue. This info applies to the 32" 4:3 set; I'm not sure about the 30" widescreen.

If the serial number on the set begins with V4, Clear QAM is ENABLED.

If the serial number begins with V5, Clear QAM is disabled.

If you get a set with the Clear QAM digital cable scanning disabled, contact Sanyo's Customer Service department at 800-877-5032 and they will
send a technician out with a laptop and cable to enable it. I asked about
having a disc and cable shipped to me, and the rep said that it is a "15 step process" and he didn't think Sanyo would be providing these items to end users on a widespread basis.

Hope this is helpful.

Mine is a V5 and does not have Clear QAM but since I only use it with a cable box Im not worried about it at the moment. Did they say whether they charge to enable it. Or do they enable it for free. If its a freebee Imma get mine done.

Also on another note I finally found out how to get rid of the white snow on the black part of the screens that was bothering me on my 32 inch set. I switched my comcast motorola HDTV box over to 480P in the power off menu screen ya get much nicer pictures now. I was wondering why I was only having the issue on the digital non hdtv channels. Switching the cable box over to 480P was the ticket.

Originally posted by Katana
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?

Both of my component inputs dies yesterday. No picture, although sometimes when I switch to Component 3 where I have a DVD player plugged in, I get a very brief image with bars in it and then the No Signal message. All other inputs (S-Video) and audio, work fine.

Time to call Sanyo.

Katana, how did yours resolve?

I am usually not a Walmart shopper but this may be such a great deal I am buy one. One question though, what is their return policy on these sets? I am sure it says in this threat but it is way too long to read all the info. Thank you.

90 days for a full refund, 1 year to exchange for the same unit.

I never resolved the problem, had to return it for another one. I haven't been all that happy and am thinking about taking this one back as well for a different set. I didn't think it would be a problem, but the noise on the component inputs is really annoying to me when watching movies or playing games. Has the noise issue been resolved on the newer sets? If not then I'll need something else, anyone have any suggestions for a widescreen set <$1000?

Hello,
I am new to this forum and have been looking at this forum and also shopping around for my first HDTV set for my bedroom. I have been to Best Buy, Circuit City, Home Theater specialist and came across this television and it sounds like a good deal. Of course I have been looking at Toshiba, Sony, Phillips and they look pretty good, but I walked in Wal-mart and saw the Ht30744 next to a Phillips and the picture was an eye catcher!!! I said Sanyo, with this kind of quality, whats up with that!!!

I would like to know if those of you that has had it for a while how do you like it?
I am real close to getting one and wanted to know any positives and negatives about this set? I will probably keep for at least a couple of years.


Thanks in advance

Read through the thread and you'll see just about every positive and negative possible.

My only real negative is that there is a noticable "barrell roll" on the outer edges of the screen, but that's not enough to make me pay a few hundred dollars more for a similar set.

Others have had problems with component inputs, geometry, and XBox compatibility.

I will only be watching OTA and Satellite from DirecTv, of course DVD and VHS movies via component inputs. How long have you had the tv and what do you think of the quality (picture, cosmetics,etc? Do you think this tv will last you a few years?

another new member to the forum
I recently have spend a good amount of time going through the wealth of info in the threads contained here (info overload)

I too am interested in possibly picking up on this tv and what seems like a hot price

here are my concerns (or at least the intial one)

the feed to my tv currently comes via Directv satellite
as I understand to get Directv's HD feed even though this tv has a built in HD receiver I would need to upgrade to Directv HD receiver and multi-satellite dish for $349 or the same plus off air antenna for $399 (both include install) plus pay the extra $10/month for the few HD channels offered.

or my other option would be to install an antenna (indoor or outdoor) to receive local HD feeds
however when I go to antennaweb.org and enter my zip (60084) I'm not sure it looks like I will be too sucessful in picking up these feeds from my locals (abc, cbs, nbc, fox, etc). Can anyone with more insite give me some thoughts on this and what my costs might be for an antenna that will do the job from my location. Will it definately have to be an outdoor antenna as well?

my other hesitation is, despite what will likely be a better picture, receiving 4:3 programming in smaller size than my current 27" RCA tv
making another option to just forget about this hot deal and spend the extra coin on the Sony KV-32HS420 but I'll leave that for a possible future post as it doesn't address what will still be my need for getting OTA HD channels via an antenna

You will definitely need an outdoor roof antenna with some nice cabling and amplifiers, and even then your chances will be slim. You are probably better off going with a service provider (like Dish or DirecTV) and selecting from their handful of HD feeds, but you might be out of luck for getting your "local" stations.

thanks Shink that is what I was afraid of

How do you go about finding out where the towers are or where is the signal coming from? What is the exceptable range of these antenna's to be able to receive the signal?

Does the serial numbers on the 30" models also begin with V4 or V5? Can someone with a 30" model just post the first 2-4 digits of their S/N, manufactured date, and if they know if QAM is enabled or not? It'd be a big help to me, as well as others I'm sure.

Originally posted by musick
another new member to the forum
I recently have spend a good amount of time going through the wealth of info in the threads contained here (info overload)

I too am interested in possibly picking up on this tv and what seems like a hot price

here are my concerns (or at least the intial one)

the feed to my tv currently comes via Directv satellite
as I understand to get Directv's HD feed even though this tv has a built in HD receiver I would need to upgrade to Directv HD receiver and multi-satellite dish for $349 or the same plus off air antenna for $399 (both include install) plus pay the extra $10/month for the few HD channels offered.

or my other option would be to install an antenna (indoor or outdoor) to receive local HD feeds
however when I go to antennaweb.org and enter my zip (60084) I'm not sure it looks like I will be too sucessful in picking up these feeds from my locals (abc, cbs, nbc, fox, etc). Can anyone with more insite give me some thoughts on this and what my costs might be for an antenna that will do the job from my location. Will it definately have to be an outdoor antenna as well?

my other hesitation is, despite what will likely be a better picture, receiving 4:3 programming in smaller size than my current 27" RCA tv
making another option to just forget about this hot deal and spend the extra coin on the Sony KV-32HS420 but I'll leave that for a possible future post as it doesn't address what will still be my need for getting OTA HD channels via an antenna

Would cable be an option? If they offer HD in your area, they are usually the best bet for guaranteed locals in HD. If you want to keep satellite but don't like that DirecTV HD receiver fee you might want to look into VOOM (although they might not have all the SD channels you want and there is controversery if they will shut down soon, but they have a great $1 deal). I dunno, just browse around the "HD Programming" and other forums, there's a lot of debates about the providers.

Originally posted by kd_bimmer1
How do you go about finding out where the towers are or where is the signal coming from? What is the exceptable range of these antenna's to be able to receive the signal?

Something like antennaweb.org ? If that's the information you're looking for

Originally posted by kd_bimmer1
How do you go about finding out where the towers are or where is the signal coming from? What is the exceptable range of these antenna's to be able to receive the signal?

Go to antennaweb.org and type in your address. It will tell you the direction and distance to the towers, as well as what type of antenna you will need to receive the signal. If you click on "Antenna type" they give you a description of that type of antenna.

Originally posted by phorge
Does the serial numbers on the 30" models also begin with V4 or V5? Can someone with a 30" model just post the first 2-4 digits of their S/N, manufactured date, and if they know if QAM is enabled or not? It'd be a big help to me, as well as others I'm sure.

My 30" model starts with V503 and was manufactured in January 2005. Not sure if it can receive QAM or not since I don't have cable.

Originally posted by CSNHottie
Would cable be an option? If they offer HD in your area, they are usually the best bet for guaranteed locals in HD. If you want to keep satellite but don't like that DirecTV HD receiver fee you might want to look into VOOM (although they might not have all the SD channels you want and there is controversery if they will shut down soon, but they have a great $1 deal). I dunno, just browse around the "HD Programming" and other forums, there's a lot of debates about the providers.
CSNHottie,
yes I have Comcast in my area but I am much happier with basic Directv satellite vs basic Comcast cable in service, content, and price.
I am also locked into a Directv contract till October with my current set up

I guess my decision now turns to: is this deal hot enough to purchase now to replace my approx 8 year old 27" RCA tv (which believe it or not I'm not unhappy with). This would allow me to get a better picture with my dvd library but again with the sacrifice of picture size (not sure about quality) on 4:3 satellite content and would give me a HD tv that is ready for future needs. Or should I just wait it out with my current setup and look for something in the near future.

Originally posted by musick
I guess my decision now turns to: is this deal hot enough to purchase now to replace my approx 8 year old 27" RCA tv (which believe it or not I'm not unhappy with). This would allow me to get a better picture with my dvd library but again with the sacrifice of picture size (not sure about quality) on 4:3 satellite content and would give me a HD tv that is ready for future needs. Or should I just wait it out with my current setup and look for something in the near future.

As much as I love my HT32744 (and I love it a LOT)...

If you aren't going to watch HD on the set, you are happy with your current TV, I would DEFINITELY WAIT. As evidenced by this TV, the price is only going to come down ($750-->$558) for HDTV's. There is nothing specifically that you want to capture in this TV, as technology is only going to get better as well. As a side note, the DVD quality (on this size of screen) is not going to be a 'knock you down' improvement over your current TV. HD programming will be OVERWHELMING noticeable, but going from 480i on a 27" to 480p on a 30" will not give you the wow needed to justify the $.

I was in a similar situation. Going from a 27" Toshiba (27A50 - not a bad set) to this. I was originally looking for a larger set, but I decided that I really wanted a DLP set but didn't want to pay DLP prices. This set allowed me to get the 16x9 form factor that I wanted and allowed me to get digital TV over the air without shelling out $300 for a tuner. It's cheap enough that if I moved into the bedroom in a year, I won't shed a tear but nice enough that I can hedge my bets and wait for a DLP (or DLP killer) to come down in price to something more affordable.

wow, there is so much info in this thread

I'm thinking of getting this TV, but I have a couple of questions

1) seems like there are some problems with the component inputs, I would be hooking my PS2 upto this set with either s-video or component input - which would be better and is there a way to minimize the chance of noise on the component signal?

2) I also would be using this set for watching movies and Direct TV HD. What would be the best way to hook my DVD player to this set? and what would be a good budget friendly DVD player for this set

3) Best way to connect the Direct TV?

Thanks

1) I hook my PS2 up to S-Video and have no issues. I don't have component cables for it.

2) I have my DVD player hooked up to Component with no issues. Seems like the best budget player is the Sony NS775V, but you're going to have to define budget since that's still a $100-$150 player.

3) No comment - I don't have Direct TV.

On DVD players:

Has anybody tried the Samsung HD841 DVD player?

Picked one up from Costco yesterday for under $100.

I copied the feature sheet below. It's a hi def conversion player.

I'm waiting for a dvi to HDMI adapter for it. It looks good through components currently. There is a lot of talk on it in the DVD forum, search HD841. Some good, some bad, as with anything in these forums...




Supports 720p/768p/1080i HD Level Picture Quality
DVI Output
DVD-Audio & SACD Playback
192KHz/24bit Audio DAC
6 Multichannel Audio Output
Playback of Digital Audio (MP3) and Digital Picture (JPEG) in CD-R/RW
Letter Box Eliminator (EZ View)
10 sec Instant Replay / Instant Skip
DVD-Video/DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+R/ DVD+RW/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/SVCD Playback



Originally posted by Shink
1) I hook my PS2 up to S-Video and have no issues. I don't have component cables for it.

2) I have my DVD player hooked up to Component with no issues. Seems like the best budget player is the Sony NS775V, but you're going to have to define budget since that's still a $100-$150 player.

3) No comment - I don't have Direct TV.

My personal recommendation would be to go with the Sony that I mentioned. Upconversion is overrated in my opinion, and even if it were on a great player (not the Samsung) it would be wasted on this set.

Originally posted by musick
another new member to the forum
I recently have spend a good amount of time going through the wealth of info in the threads contained here (info overload)

I too am interested in possibly picking up on this tv and what seems like a hot price

here are my concerns (or at least the intial one)

the feed to my tv currently comes via Directv satellite
as I understand to get Directv's HD feed even though this tv has a built in HD receiver I would need to upgrade to Directv HD receiver and multi-satellite dish for $349 or the same plus off air antenna for $399 (both include install) plus pay the extra $10/month for the few HD channels offered.

or my other option would be to install an antenna (indoor or outdoor) to receive local HD feeds
however when I go to antennaweb.org and enter my zip (60084) I'm not sure it looks like I will be too sucessful in picking up these feeds from my locals (abc, cbs, nbc, fox, etc). Can anyone with more insite give me some thoughts on this and what my costs might be for an antenna that will do the job from my location. Will it definately have to be an outdoor antenna as well?

my other hesitation is, despite what will likely be a better picture, receiving 4:3 programming in smaller size than my current 27" RCA tv
making another option to just forget about this hot deal and spend the extra coin on the Sony KV-32HS420 but I'll leave that for a possible future post as it doesn't address what will still be my need for getting OTA HD channels via an antenna

Your pretty much about 40 miles out.....I'd try to use a Channel master 4228 "bay style" antenna mounted as high as you reasonably can. That should start you off GREAT. If necessary, use a Channel Master 7777 amp with the antenna as a last resort.

Originally posted by Ender17
wow, there is so much info in this thread

I'm thinking of getting this TV, but I have a couple of questions

1) seems like there are some problems with the component inputs, I would be hooking my PS2 upto this set with either s-video or component input - which would be better and is there a way to minimize the chance of noise on the component signal?


Component is always better. The next set of consoles will almost certainly support HDMI, so just use component for now, then when you upgrade you'll get an even better picture.

Just picked one of these up last night (30" model). Was nice enough to find someone at one of the Walmarts that didn't have this unit to check the surrounding stores for me. Turns out there aren't a whole lot left in Wisconsin.

The serial number starts with V4xxx, and will be checking the Clear QAM capabilities later today. Will post results.

Originally posted by mahicks
Your pretty much about 40 miles out.....I'd try to use a Channel master 4228 "bay style" antenna mounted as high as you reasonably can. That should start you off GREAT. If necessary, use a Channel Master 7777 amp with the antenna as a last resort.
wow that antenna is an eyesore
maybe I'll just move ;)

Hi, I am new to everything, this website, HDTV, etc. I bought this set on Saturday from Walmart and am quite pleased. I have a few questions about setting the set up for best viewing. If anyone would be will to give some free advice, I'd be grateful!

OK, I've just got Comcast analog cable going from a Clear Max 6000 box into into the CATV.

I've got the DVD player going into Video 1. Not sure that is right as we were watching a movie last night, Dodgeball, terrible - and the music was overpowering the dialogue.

Finally I bought an indoor HDTV antenna from Radio Shack on Sunday but am not sure how exactly to get that set up. Do I do the Digital Add-On Search or the Antenna selection or ???? It is going straight into the Digital Antenna In. And I understand, I think, that I need to find that signal on the Imput selection.

I think that's about it and I know it's a lot. I have noticed some slight lip sync problems also...not sure what that's about.

Thanks again. I really do like this set and will like it more when I know how to operate it. I'll go back to learning how to boil water now...

tls, you need to do a channel search. Digital add-on search is to look for additional channels after a first search.

You're going to want to use the component inputs for your DVD player, and call Comcast and get an HD cable box that supports component or HDMI/DVI.

Got the 30" hooked up last night, and so far I am pleased, but.... pro's & con's to follow.

Pro's-
The Clear QAM tuner does work on my model ( HT30744, serial #: V4xx, manufacture date: Nov. 2004 )
PQ is very good on SD, and excellent in HD through QAM tuner / digital
Price - for all this, can't go wrong, right?

Con's-
Even though the QAM tuner works, it has issues.
When it finds a digital channel, it uses no logical naming convention. I had all of the channels it found lumped into a group of channels such as 112-3, 112-4..... etc
It didn't find all digital cable channels... in fact, it only found about 20. It found the HD channels broadcast by cable co. here and a few other public service channels.
I did notice the barrel roll everyone else was referring to also. But, that was only when watching an HD or digital channel that was not broadcast in HD with the screen size set to normal. Since the SD PQ is very good, it is a non-issue, I can just switch to the analog channel.

Hope this helps some of you out, or answers some questions.

Scott

esmd, i noticed you said you were from wisconsin, wht cable company do you use to get those channels over qam. i am just curious because i am from wisconsin as well and i have charter. i was just wondering what channels i would get.

pmac3522 - check your PM

Yus - thanks for the quick reply. Does the need for the HD cable box have to do with picking up a signal on the antenna? I don't have digital cable as of yet.

Thanks, Tracy

Originally posted by esmd

When it finds a digital channel, it uses no logical naming convention. I had all of the channels it found lumped into a group of channels such as 112-3, 112-4..... etc

I think this naming convention is provided in the signal. On my TV the stations are all named properly. For instance digital station 17 is mapped to 15.1 which corresponds to it's broadcast channel of 15, etc. Not sure the logistics of how the naming occurs, but I'm pretty sure it's somehow provided to the set - the set can't just inherently know how to map them :)

It actually doesn't make any sense on my set when it names a digital station. My local Fox HD channel is OTA 6.1 and when using my HD set top box on other TV it is channel 506. On the Sanyo 30", it calls it channel 112.3.
I will be hooking up an OTA antenna tonight since I am only 6 miles from all towers.
I will periodically check though to see if there are more digital channels picked up via the QAM tuner.

Scott

Originally posted by esmd
It actually doesn't make any sense on my set when it names a digital station. My local Fox HD channel is OTA 6.1 and when using my HD set top box on other TV it is channel 506. On the Sanyo 30", it calls it channel 112.3.
I will be hooking up an OTA antenna tonight since I am only 6 miles from all towers.
I will periodically check though to see if there are more digital channels picked up via the QAM tuner.

Scott

When recieving HD programming over the air, the TV will use the information the the PSIP (Program & System Information Protocol) stream to remap a digital channel. So for instance, if the analog channel in your area is 15, but they broadcast digitally on 31, they may insert into the PSIP to remap channel 31.1 to 15.1, so that consumers don't get confused.

When you recieve HD over cable, there is no PSIP stream. Cable channels only go up to 135, even for digital. So if you use a cable box to get a cable channel that shows up at 506, it really isn't in channel 506, but somewhere else, it is just using the information in the signal to remap it to 506. This is different than PSIP. When you see that same channel on the sanyo, it dosn't use the remap info from the cable company, so it shows the actual physical channel that it is receiving, such as 112. When using clear QAM 256, it is possible to get 2 uncompressed HD channels in the stream, so it is likely that there will be multiple stations shareing the same 112 channel indicator.

Since your are "supposed" to be using the cable co. HD box, they don't really care that in your case the channels make no sense.

V4 serial numbers have QAM. V5 serial numbers do not. FWIW I called Sanyo and they said they would come out and reenable the QAM function on my set.

John

Thanks oryan! I kind of figured it was just receiving "generic" information with regards to where the digital channels would be displayed in regards to the actual channel number.

I also noticed a difference in the manuals as well. The manual you can download on Sanyo's website clearly states the set (regardless of serial number) has QAM abilities. The one I got in the box with the TV does not mention that. Page 17

when 4:3 is mentioned, what does that mean? Is that regular analog reception of channels?

Am I correct that after reading all this thread that if you watch a regular channel, not HD, on the 30" that you will only see it like you would on a 24" tv? If so, any way to fix that like zoom or something?

thanks

BigBoi,

All of your questions are answered elsewhere in the thread in more detail.

4:3 is standard size television - 16:9 is widescreen television. Most SD material is shown in 4:3 - most (all?) HD material is shown in 16:9.

The 30" TV has two different zoom modes - Zoom1 leaves about 1" black bars on each side but looks really good, Zoom2 fills the entire screen but a lot of the image is lost and things look "zoomed in." I think everyone who has the 30" is very happy with Zoom1 mode - I know I am.

Originally posted by coomarlin
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 am experiencing a similar situation.
I have a ScientificAtlanta 3250HD (from TimeWarner) and a HT30744.
If I connect the STB to the TV using a DVI to HDMI cable, I must re-boot the STB before the TV and STB will sync up. Once I turn the TV off and back on, I must re-boot the STB before the HDMI connection will work again.

Although this works, I consider it an unacceptable work-around to the issue. I should be able to turn the TV on and have it work via HDMI without having to re-boot the STB every time.

Is it a problem with the STB, the TV, or the combination of the two?
What is solution?

DWS

I am new here, if this question has already been answered please direct me to post, thank you.

My question is: "Is it possible to turn off the ability to cycle through the inputs using the channel up/down button?"

I understand the advantage of it, but I am using a Harmony remote to control my entertainment center and cycling though the input screws everything up. Thank you in advanced for you help.

I also use the Harmony 688. I used to have the same problem, until I realized that the Harmony remote MUST STAY pointed at the equipment that it is controlling immediately after switching from one activity to another. You'll notice that the green light on top of the Harmony is illuminated until it has finished cycling through the inputs.

I still sometimes forget this and then have to use the help button to get things in order again.

Mike

I am experiencing an intermittant problem with my HT32744.

Off and on when watching TV, I will get a high pitch squeal from the TV. Input mode does not seem to matter. I have tried viewing through my ReplayTV, and directly through the Ant inputs (Noise is audible in HD and SD channels).

TV is fed from local cable company, and HD is tuned through ClearQAM, not a cable box.

Any suggestions. If I turn the TV off, the noise stops immeadiatly, but will resume wehn turned on. It fades in and out over a 5 to 10 minute period it seems.

n0esc

Yea, i noticed that. I was able to get around that by setting the delay at 100ms for all the commands except the power button. That helped the remote work a little quicker. Overall it's a pretty good remote. I use the 680 and love the button configuration for Tivo. If i could figure out how to turn off scrolling through the inputs it would help.

I have a really dumb question. I had this Sanyo 32" since last summer and I'm very happy with it. Here is the question.

This TV upconverts 720p to 1080i. Weird thing is that the ratio of 720p and 1080i brodcasts is different. It shows 1280x720p and 1920x1080i respectively when I click INFO on the remote. Is that the output signal it's displaying or the input signal before upconversion. The ratio is clearly different on the TV itself. 1080i fills up the screen, 720p looks widescreen. How come? If it converts 720p to 1080i, shouldn't it have the same ratio on screen as original 1080i? Is there a way to check if it's converting everything to 1080i?

The ratio of 720p and 1080i are actually both 16:9.

The resolution shown on the info button is the signal received.

I bought the 30" and have not been able to read throught the whole forum here. Is the barrel roll that everyone is talking about the sides bowing in and out when watching a SD show? Or does it do this on wide screen and HD too, I can't tell. Also what is QAM?

Scott

Originally posted by Yus
The ratio of 720p and 1080i are actually both 16:9.

The resolution shown on the info button is the signal received.

So why is 720p displaying in 16:9, but 1080i in 4:3?

I have successfully re-enabled the QAM tuner on my HT-30744 30" widescreeen.
My TV was a Jan 2005 build, serial V5xxxx, with the tuner originally disabled.

Method: Sanyo sent me the cable and the software to do this. I simply loaded the software on my laptop, selected the new rom version they sent me and reflashed the chip. Proceedure took about five minutes and the option for digital cable search was back in the menu. After about ten minutes of searching I was watching local HD channels from a basic Cox cable connection without a set top box.

I don't believe Sanyo will make this proceedure (end user doing the fix) a widespread solution but will send out a tv tech to do it for most of you (free of charge). I think that my rural location and my convincing them of my computer and tv expertise gave them confidence that I could do it. The proceedure is really pretty simple and if you have ever flashed your motherboard or dvd drive you would have no problems whatsoever.

Call Sanyo 800-877-5032 (don't push any buttons and it will take you to a person) and talk to them about your TV if you want the QAM tuner re-enabled.

:D

Hello,
I recently purchased the 32" version, serial # V4xxx and have a couple of questions, if I may.

1. I have analog cable. Is it normal for the Digital Cable/Digital Add-on Search functions to be grayed out in the menus?

2. Also, when I attach a Digital Audio Out cable to the set, to my surround system, it stays grayed out. Is this output for a digital signal through the QAM tuner only?

tia...

Stones

Originally posted by Shawnito
I have successfully re-enabled the QAM tuner on my HT-30744 30" widescreeen.
My TV was a Jan 2005 build, serial V5xxxx, with the tuner originally disabled.

Method: Sanyo sent me the cable and the software to do this. I simply loaded the software on my laptop, selected the new rom version they sent me and reflashed the chip. Proceedure took about five minutes and the option for digital cable search was back in the menu. After about ten minutes of searching I was watching local HD channels from a basic XXXXXXXXXX cable connection without a set top box.

I don't believe Sanyo will make this proceedure (end user doing the fix) a widespread solution but will send out a tv tech to do it for most of you (free of charge). I think that my rural location and my convincing them of my computer and tv expertise gave them confidence that I could do it. The proceedure is really pretty simple and if you have ever flashed your motherboard or dvd drive you would have no problems whatsoever.

Call Sanyo 800-877-5032 (don't push any buttons and it will take you to a person) and talk to them about your TV if you want the QAM tuner re-enabled.

:D

Shawn, I think it might be wise to edit out the cable company name, so they don't patch the system and shut us out of free HD channels :-) Thanks for the heads up though. How's HD Discovery?

Originally posted by stones
Hello,
I recently purchased the 32" version, serial # V4xxx and have a couple of questions, if I may.

1. I have analog cable. Is it normal for the Digital Cable/Digital Add-on Search functions to be grayed out in the menus?

2. Also, when I attach a Digital Audio Out cable to the set, to my surround system, it stays grayed out. Is this output for a digital signal through the QAM tuner only?

tia...

Stones

The Digital Cable and Digital Add-on are greyed out while you have the analog tuner selected. The Antenna Selection (OTA/Cable) is available when using the Analog antenna input. If you push Info and it says Analog, that is why they are greyed out. Push the Tuner button and then Menu and it should make Digitial Cable and Digital Add-on selectable (but Antenna Selection greys out). You didn't say what you have connected to the digital antenna coax connection - did you run the Cable coax through a splitter to both antenna inputs?

Digital Audio Out only works when the TV has an Input selected that could provide digital audio. That can be the Digital tuner (OTA or QAM for cable) or HDMI input. If you've never completed a channel scan with something connected to the digital antenna connection, you need to do that.

Originally posted by Dom P
So why is 720p displaying in 16:9, but 1080i in 4:3?

It certainly doesn't on mine. Have you ventured into the Service Menu? You can inadvertently change many things there. Maybe if you described the 1080i input source. If it is a cable STB, they can be configured to output 4:3 only. If you are looking at 720p and 1080i on the digital tuner (OTA or cable QAM), they should both say Letterbox when you 1st push the Pix Shape button. If Zoom, things may appear to be 4:3. Can you post more about your inputs when you are watching 1080i. Unless in Zoom, 1080i should always have bars top and bottom on a 32" 4:3 set. It will also have bars left and right if the program being sent at 1080i is really 4:3. Is that what you mean by "1080i in 4:3"? Outta guesses.

Originally posted by bhenley
It certainly doesn't on mine. Have you ventured into the Service Menu? You can inadvertently change many things there. Maybe if you described the 1080i input source. If it is a cable STB, they can be configured to output 4:3 only. If you are looking at 720p and 1080i on the digital tuner (OTA or cable QAM), they should both say Letterbox when you 1st push the Pix Shape button. If Zoom, things may appear to be 4:3. Can you post more about your inputs when you are watching 1080i. Unless in Zoom, 1080i should always have bars top and bottom on a 32" 4:3 set. It will also have bars left and right if the program being sent at 1080i is really 4:3. Is that what you mean by "1080i in 4:3"? Outta guesses.

Yes, 1080i has bars top, bottom and sides. 720p only top and bottom. I'm using the digital tuner and have cable. I haven't been to the service menu. I just did a search and will attempt to read through it.

Originally posted by Dom P
Yes, 1080i has bars top, bottom and sides. 720p only top and bottom. I'm using the digital tuner and have cable. I haven't been to the service menu. I just did a search and will attempt to read through it.

If the broadcast material is 4:3 (local channel news, many daytime shows, ...) it will display as a postage stamp with bars on all sides whether it is 720p or 1080i. In either case, Pix Shape to Zoom will make the postage stamp fill the screen w/o altering the aspect ratio (but it will decrease the clarity). Try the channel that appears as 1080i during 16:9 material (networks during prime time) and it should fill the screen width. Getting bars on all sides in 720p and 1080i just means they didn't have the source material in 16:9 format. At the moment, my local CBS-HD (1080i) has the NCAA game in 16:9 format with no bars on the sides.

Tnx Bhenley for the info. Forgot about doing a splitter from the getgo.:o
One issue I see with the few DC's I get. When I 1st turn on the tv, 32", cold, and I have it set to default to a DC channel, it's almost as if the tuner needs to warm up before I'll get the video/sound. Sound usually comes 1st followed by a slightly scrambled picture. Within a minute or so, the picture clears up and all is well. Just an FYI.
I found a 30" version at a nearby town and decided I'd save the $140 difference between the 2 sets. Got it home and plugged 'er in. No picture. Tried resetting and shut it off and on numerous times but, no go. Ran it back to the local WallyWorld and took it as a sign to keep the 32". ;)

I just bought this TV, but have not yet had time to set it up. Our cable service is analog. I'm seeing references to splitting the analog cable coming straight out of the wall and feeding it into both the digital and analog cable inputs on the back of the TV. Is that the general idea? Asking because I'll need to go out and buy a splitter and some extra cables before I go to set the TV up this weekend. Thanks.

Yep... you got it. Then do a channel search with both the analog (do that first) and digital tuners. Depending on your provider, you should pick up some local networks (in hi-def, when broadcasting), PBS, and possibly others, as well as a bunch of digital music channels (which I just delete). On weekends I sometimes rescan and pick up in-demand and some premium channels before they re-scramble again.

Luckily for me, I found this thread via a Google search of HT30744. Tons of great info. Finding a knowledgeable, helpful forum through Google is a rarity!

So, after reading through 30 pages of this thread I decied to buy the HT30477, mainly to play video games. I bought the MS Xbox High Def cables and all my Xbox games are showing up pillar boxed! The dashboard and all games are displaying this way. Do I have a defective unit? Has anyone ever been able to figure out a fix? Does the service menu have any settings for input or is it mostly video display options?

I have not yet tried 16:9 on my PS2 or Gamecube (the official Sony component cables are proving to be a real pain to find) so I don't know if this is an Xbox exclusive problem.

I would really appreciate any input, thanks!

You need to push the Pix Shape button to change from pillar boxed, full screen, and the two zoom modes.

Shouldn't the Xbox be sending a 16:9 signal? And shouldn't the TV be automatically recognizing that? At least for the dashboard and Halo 2, I'm sure it should.

No, the TV has no idea whether or not something is 4:3 or 16:9.

If you have your xbox, dvd player, or anything else inputting to the component or video input set to display widescreen then it will send the widescreen signal. The "shape" of this signal is no different to the TV. The difference is the xbox or dvd player compresses the wider picture horizontally so that when the TV stretches it to widescreen, everything looks normal. Not all games and movies feature widescreen abilities, so sometimes you will have to switch between Full and Normal with the pix shape to make things look right.

Had a bizare problem last night while watching 24 using the OVA tuner with an indoor antenna. During the opening of the episode the sound went out. I though, "Hmmm, guess my local FOX is having sound problems for their HD streams." However, it went on like this for a while. I finally picked up the remote and tried to select a different input using the Input button. The TV flashed like it was going to change to Video1 but then the muted Fox channel stayed there.

At that point, I kind of freaked out and thought the TV was damaged, so I turned it off immediately. When I turned it back on, 24 had sound and I could use my input buttons again.

Anyone else seen this wonkey problem before on their 30" Sanyo?

Originally posted by yarharplunder
Shouldn't the Xbox be sending a 16:9 signal? And shouldn't the TV be automatically recognizing that? At least for the dashboard and Halo 2, I'm sure it should.

Go to the Dashboard and then to Settings. Tell the Xbox that you have a Widescreen TV and that you can display all of the HD signals, 480p, 720P, 1080i. You can also display the Dashboard in 480p if you press the L and R triggers and press in both analog sticks.

Originally posted by UScr00ge
Had a bizare problem last night while watching 24 using the OVA tuner with an indoor antenna. During the opening of the episode the sound went out. I though, "Hmmm, guess my local FOX is having sound problems for their HD streams." However, it went on like this for a while. I finally picked up the remote and tried to select a different input using the Input button. The TV flashed like it was going to change to Video1 but then the muted Fox channel stayed there.

At that point, I kind of freaked out and thought the TV was damaged, so I turned it off immediately. When I turned it back on, 24 had sound and I could use my input buttons again.

Anyone else seen this wonkey problem before on their 30" Sanyo?


Hmmmm....PSIP problem or decoding error anyone?
Probably nothing to worry about scrooge. HD and Digital programming is still in it's mainstream infantcy. If a "reboot" fixed it, then all is well. Not sure if the signal or the tv caused the problem or if it was a combo of both.

Originally posted by OnyxIce
Go to the Dashboard and then to Settings. Tell the Xbox that you have a Widescreen TV and that you can display all of the HD signals, 480p, 720P, 1080i. You can also display the Dashboard in 480p if you press the L and R triggers and press in both analog sticks.

These are all things that I've done, and it doesn't look like the Xbox is actually doing anything when these changes are being made. Halo 2 still looks "stretched"

Does the actual game looked stretched, or just parts of the interface. A lot of the games the UI is just stretched to fit the new aspect ratio, so when you look through the sniper rifle in Halo 2 the recticle will appear oval, instead of circular. This is normal, the game itself should appear just fine, though.

Yeah, that's how it is for me, the UI, or 2D graphics are a little stretched but the 3D images are just fine giving you the full widescreen effect without distortion using the Full pixshape mode.

I've tried all of my games and they all seem to "know" that they should run in 16:9 mode and I assume that's because of the settings put in the Dashboard. Only 2D games, Street Fighter:AC or Sonic Mega Collection, have the 'fat' look and even then, its not so bad.

Since I'm only one of the 5 people who don't like Halo I can't help you on that particular game. :D

Hey Guys- New to the forum, got hooked on this thread...

Are these TVs still widely available at Wal-Mart? I stopped by one of the local stores this past weekend and the TV section was a bit of a mess. I saw one of the 30" on display, but saw no sign of the 32" models.

I really want the 32". Walmart.com is advertising the 32" at around $650, but the 30" was marked in the $500's at the store when I saw it.

Do any of the stores actually have the TV's on? The one I was in didn't have a single TV turned on.

I'm in the Northern VA / DC area. Any ideas where I should look?

I put my 30" widescreen sanyo on layaway on Valentines Day. My question is that when I put it on layaway it was priced at $647, now if the price went down like I believe I'm reading here. Then can I get my TV for the new low price or is the price locked in? Thanks in advance.

P.S. Very wonderful forum, haven't had too much of a chance to read it all, but what I did read made the wait for my Sanyo all that more painful :P

kamui: Yes, you should be able to get it at the lower price, but may need to haggle with the manager.

weaz: The two WalMarts I visited in Scottsdale, AZ both had 30" models on display, although I bought the last one at either store. The 30" model is much cheaper so was a hotter seller. Not sure about the 32" model - sorry.

How do you find out what firmware version you have?

What is the latest version available for the 30"?

Mine is a V4.

Thanks.

Originally posted by Xuzak
While I was at work on Saturday, my wife went to Walmart and put the 30" HDTV on layaway for us! The price was $562.00. I'm so psyched! Now I gotta figure out which entertainment center to buy. Anyone have any suggestions for a Walmart entertainment center that this TV will fit into??


I'd check out a local IKEA, if you have one.

Originally posted by musick
another new member to the forum
I recently have spend a good amount of time going through the wealth of info in the threads contained here (info overload)

I too am interested in possibly picking up on this tv and what seems like a hot price

here are my concerns (or at least the intial one)

the feed to my tv currently comes via Directv satellite
as I understand to get Directv's HD feed even though this tv has a built in HD receiver I would need to upgrade to Directv HD receiver and multi-satellite dish for $349 or the same plus off air antenna for $399 (both include install) plus pay the extra $10/month for the few HD channels offered.

or my other option would be to install an antenna (indoor or outdoor) to receive local HD feeds
however when I go to antennaweb.org and enter my zip (60084) I'm not sure it looks like I will be too sucessful in picking up these feeds from my locals (abc, cbs, nbc, fox, etc). Can anyone with more insite give me some thoughts on this and what my costs might be for an antenna that will do the job from my location. Will it definately have to be an outdoor antenna as well?

my other hesitation is, despite what will likely be a better picture, receiving 4:3 programming in smaller size than my current 27" RCA tv
making another option to just forget about this hot deal and spend the extra coin on the Sony KV-32HS420 but I'll leave that for a possible future post as it doesn't address what will still be my need for getting OTA HD channels via an antenna

you live in wauconda, i live in streamwood. i have directv w/tivo built in, which to upgrade to HD w/DVR would be a grand, and that's not happening. get a roof antenna. radioshack sells a roof antenna for $100, plus you may need the mounting pole and cable to run. i pick up all local channels in chicagoland with this new antenna (last one was too small) and all OTA HD locally. occasionally have some digitizing on HD (weather?) but otherwise crystal clear on my 32" Sanyo. the antenna is rated for 190 miles. don't let them try to sell you a preamp for the antenna either.

Originally posted by weaz
Hey Guys- New to the forum, got hooked on this thread...

Are these TVs still widely available at Wal-Mart? I stopped by one of the local stores this past weekend and the TV section was a bit of a mess. I saw one of the 30" on display, but saw no sign of the 32" models.

I really want the 32". Walmart.com is advertising the 32" at around $650, but the 30" was marked in the $500's at the store when I saw it.

Do any of the stores actually have the TV's on? The one I was in didn't have a single TV turned on.

I'm in the Northern VA / DC area. Any ideas where I should look?

look for a super walmart in your area; they stock more. i live in chicago burbs, and drove out even further to a super walmart because they had several in stock.

Originally posted by kamui
I put my 30" widescreen sanyo on layaway on Valentines Day. My question is that when I put it on layaway it was priced at $647, now if the price went down like I believe I'm reading here. Then can I get my TV for the new low price or is the price locked in? Thanks in advance.

P.S. Very wonderful forum, haven't had too much of a chance to read it all, but what I did read made the wait for my Sanyo all that more painful :P

Our new pricing system will automatically take the markdown to the sale price when you go to make your final payment.

All I can say is WOW! Thank you all SO much. It seems just too good to be true! MAN! I just can not wait till this month is over and I get my TV. ARG! This is painful.... Anyhow, I'm needless to say ecstatic and with this information you all gave me it's even moreso... If the 30" widescreen went down in price, especially if it's only $562 then WOW, I'll save about $100... With that I could buy that monster component video/optical audio cable for the PS2 which is priced at around $70 I believe. THEN I can FINALLY play Tekken 5 on something other than a 19" P.O.S. Linytron TV. I think you will all concure that the diference for me will be quite dramatic, seeing as how I lived in a world with 19" 1970 junk TV's most my life. Also from what I understand, Tekken 5 and Gran Turismo 4 should blow me away with their astonishing graphics for the PS2. I am just so absolutely psyched about this TV and I appologize if I sound a bit whacky, but I'm ready to step into the world of HD! I do however want to know what you all think.... Will I indeed be "blown away" by the difference? Or am I setting my standards too high? Again, thank all of you for this wonderful forum and the overload of information!

Originally posted by kamui
With that I could buy that monster component video/optical audio cable for the PS2 which is priced at around $70 I believe.

I believe that would be a waste of $70, but to each their own.

Moving from 19" to 30" will be very nice indeed. I have my PS2 hooked up via S-Video cables (I think around $10) and it looks fine and dandy. Whether or not you'll be blown away is a personal opinion - for geeks like me, it's hard for anything on PS2 to blow you away; the technology is too old.

I hope you'll be happy with your TV - most of us in this thread are.

I just bought one of these (30" WS version) a couple weeks ago, and I'm having PS2 problems like several other people. The graphics are wavy in both 480i and 480p, but once I go into 1080i in GT4, I have no waves, but the screen flickers like it has a lower refresh rate. I've only had it a couple times where I wasn't getting any waves in the picture, but every other time it's wavy. Also, when watching DVDs through PS2 I get noise (black flickering lines in the picture) that make the DVD really unwatchable in my opinion. I just picked up a Pioneer HD box from my cable company, and I get the same picture noise, but it's a lot more watchable. I hooked up a Samsung progressive scan DVD player and had no problems. The built-in QAM tuner seems like it stopped picking up all of my local HDs except for PBS HD and it needs to be warmed up for a minute or two before I get something watchable. Are other people experiencing this, or should I be thinking about taking it back and getting a replacement?

I called Sanyo on the subject and the guy told me he knows about the PS2 problem, but couldn't give me anything else except that he knows it's a problem. He also told me that the HD box was probably the cause of the other noise, but I highly doubt it if my PS2 is giving me the same thing.

I have absolutely no problems with my PS2. I don't watch movies through it though.

For those looking for a nice stand for this unit, I purchased the "Ultimo TV Stand (Walnut Finish)" from Cost Plus World Market for $150. I went back for the "Ultmo Media Storage" unit but it was $287 so I passed.

[removed direct link to site]

Here is a link to my TV on the TV stand above. Click thumbnail for larger picture.
http://img120.exs.cx/img120/5324/dscn1095rot4ao.th.jpg (http://img120.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img120&image=dscn1095rot4ao.jpg)

I just tried my PS2 now with several games including GT4. I had absolutely no wave problems in the graphics even after switching resolutions in GT4. I wonder why it suddenly changed :confused:. DVDs still look horrible, and I'm still having that minor noise issue in the picture from my digital cable box mostly when watching movies on HDNet and TNT HD. Maybe I'll try a DVI to HDMI from my box to the TV and buy a separate DVD player for movies.

Originally posted by kevbeck122
I just bought one of these (30" WS version) a couple weeks ago, and I'm having PS2 problems like several other people. The graphics are wavy in both 480i and 480p, but once I go into 1080i in GT4, I have no waves, but the screen flickers like it has a lower refresh rate. I've only had it a couple times where I wasn't getting any waves in the picture, but every other time it's wavy. Also, when watching DVDs through PS2 I get noise (black flickering lines in the picture) that make the DVD really unwatchable in my opinion. I just picked up a Pioneer HD box from my cable company, and I get the same picture noise, but it's a lot more watchable. I hooked up a Samsung progressive scan DVD player and had no problems. The built-in QAM tuner seems like it stopped picking up all of my local HDs except for PBS HD and it needs to be warmed up for a minute or two before I get something watchable. Are other people experiencing this, or should I be thinking about taking it back and getting a replacement?

I called Sanyo on the subject and the guy told me he knows about the PS2 problem, but couldn't give me anything else except that he knows it's a problem. He also told me that the HD box was probably the cause of the other noise, but I highly doubt it if my PS2 is giving me the same thing.

Quite simply the component inputs on this set are ****. You'll just have to suffer until everything switches to HDMI, which has none of these problems.

GT4 actually looks fine in 1080i on my set. But Xbox Media Center at 1080i flickers like mad. Turning off the set and turning it back on fixes it every time.

The "waveyness" seems to come and go. It seems to happen less often the longer I own it.

I've been noticing some subtle shifts in color while watching TV, especially during tonight's episode of The Office. Is this due to the "Auto Fleshtone" feature listed in the manual? Can this be disabled in the service menu, because it's annoying as hell.

Originally posted by kevbeck122
...
The built-in QAM tuner seems like it stopped picking up all of my local HDs except for PBS HD and it needs to be warmed up for a minute or two before I get something watchable. Are other people experiencing this, or should I be thinking about taking it back and getting a replacement?
...
My 32" needs to go through the "warm up" period before HD signals become clear. For right now, I'm not worried as I have 75 days left on hauling it back to WallyWorld for a refund/replacement.

as title, I don't have a truck or van, will this fit into my 2003 4 door accord ?

thanks

Originally posted by Michael_Li
as title, I don't have a truck or van, will this fit into my 2003 4 door accord ?

thanks

I brought mine (30") home in my sister's Camry. I had to take it out of the box at Walmart to get it in the car, but otherwise it wasn't too tough - slipped right in the back seat. I would recommend getting someone to help you though. It's light enough to carry yourself if you are a guy (only about 130 lbs) but bulky enough that it's hard to get in the car yourself.

Picked up my 3rd 30"WS yesterday perfect just abot 2% overscan according to the test feed I ran. Now if Walmart could just get reliable plasmas for cheap with 1080i support:D I would get one too.

Originally posted by mkat1970
I'd check out a local IKEA, if you have one.

supposedly this fits it perfectly. ill gonna pick one up in a month or so when i move.

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

I have that Ikea set, it looks nice, although it's kind of cheaply made (which I guess is to be expected). Lots of room for my Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, A/V switcher, and HD-DVR cable box. Ikea also sells a tv swivel that fits this TV perfectly.

That TV stand (and all furniture at Ikea) is really low to the ground. I needed something at least 24" tall, and that's only 18". Keep that in mind before you go.

I bought this 30" tall one:

http://www.racksandstands.com/prods/Bello/B-722T/0PBB0060.htm

Looks like TV will fit, but I haven't set everything up yet. Will do so this weekend.

Anyway, lots of other tall stands at that site.

I was at Wal Mart and the 30" was market down to $562 today. I bought my set in October 2004 and paid $649. Probably too late to price match? :)

Originally posted by coomarlin
I was at Wal Mart and the 30" was market down to $562 today. I bought my set in October 2004 and paid $649. Probably too late to price match? :)

From earlier posts, people around here have been successful, they either talked with a manager, or just asked to return it and purchase it at the new price.

How are you liking it?

The TV will definitely fit - the TV is 31.5" wide at it's widest point and the link you provided says it's 35.5" wide. The back end of it "may" overhang a bit, but shouldn't be a problem.

Originally posted by finger11
supposedly this fits it perfectly. ill gonna pick one up in a month or so when i move.

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

looks good. they have a huge variety of things available, even things not labeled blatantly as tv stands. we bought a bigger (7 ft tall) modular set up that leaves room for a big screen, or to put in a base with a hutch. we got the base & hutch. i have my components above the tv (we have kids) and the cables are nearly 100% hidden.

Originally posted by Da Truth
From earlier posts, people around here have been successful, they either talked with a manager, or just asked to return it and purchase it at the new price.

How are you liking it?

I posted several responses much earlier in this thread. It's got a good picture and I'm using it with HDMI and a SA 8300 HD-DVR. My biggest problem has been a slight tilt issue that can not be corrected and my component jacks have a slight type of interferance that's bothered me. It took me a while to get over the geometry issue. It's a good deal for the price so I can't complain too much.

I have the HT30744 and this is my first post with some info about my experience with it.

1)(XBOX) I have my Xbox as my DVD player connected using Composite. I ordered a $1 xbox component cable from eBay hoping for increased quality. Unfortunately, I got wavy vertical lines most noticeable on a black background using component.

I blamed the $1 cable and bought the official *new* xbox component cable from Best Buy, but had the same problem! In rage at this point, I almost settled for Composite.

Keep in mind that the Xbox official DVD player outputs in 480i ONLY.

I decided to try out Xbox Media Center to play a DVD, and noticed no lines with XBMC set to 480P/720P/1080i on Component. So, any of you having this problem may want to use XBMC to play your DVD's and don't forget to change the interface to anything other than 480i.

*Please don't ask me anything about XBMC in this forum*

2)(FLICKER) I also got a Time Warner NYC SA8300HD DVR (Pioneer interface) at the same time as the HT30744 and have been pretty busy playing with both. After a while, I noticed a "flicker" It's most easily noticeable when there are gray sidebars.

You can see the sidebars flicker along with the main picture no matter what resolution I use. It is intermittent and sometimes not noticeable for hours. It's like the brightness fluctuates slightly higher and lower. Even paused, the same effect happens. It's most noticeable when the STB is forced to output 720p or 1080i on Component input. HDMI does not seem to do this. Also, 720P or 1080i on Component seems to be picking up some "rolling diagonal interference". Could this be the 6' component cables that came with the STB?

Is there something wrong with the tube?

Has anyone experienced this problem and does Sanyo normally send a tech? I'm not looking forward to lugging this back to Walmart :)

The brightness flucuations are part of the signal from your cable company. Before I bought this TV, I tried a Samsung set. The brightness changed constantly, driving me crazy (especially on Discovery HD). I still see some on my Charter cable HD signals with the Sanyo 30", but the OTA signals are perfect.

I had 480i/p/720p/1080i enabled as outputs on my SA8300HD DVR from TW NYC with Pioneer software.

Using HDMI connection, the Sanyo HT30744 exhibited some annoying behavior. While changing between channels, especially if the resolution changed, I
would get a "no signal" error from the TV, then static, then the channel shows, then no signal and then finally it would stabilize and show the channel properly.

I decided to set the 8300HD to output in one format 1080i, and now I don't get ANY delays while changing channels SD or HD.

I don't know bout other TV's in combination with the SA8300HD, but if you get HDMI problems while changing channels, then pick one resolution and stick with it!

Okay, I bought an HT30744 TV last week, and I have to say that the resolution is not as great as the one I saw in the store. I don't think it's a problem with the TV, but could it be that my components aren't hooked up properly and working together right??

Here's what I've got:

Sanyo HT30744
Philips MX6050D Progressive Scan DVD player w/ surround sound
Time Warner digital cable box.

Now, Time Warner gave me the digital HDTV box, which I guess is a convertor box, with my digital cable. It's supposed to deliver digital cable and the HDTV channels, but none of the channels look very good, and are more grainy than when I just had the cable from the wall hooked into the back of the TV. The thing is, that's how this guy set this up! He just hooked the cable from the wall into the back of the box, and then the box up to the cable port on the back of the TV. Now, the box has a bunch of component jacks on the back of it, shouldn't they be hooked up to the TV?

Also, my DVD player is hooked up to the Video 1 ports on the backside of the TV, with just the standard cables that come with the player. Is there a better way???

Do you think the box's tuner could be conflicting with the Tv's tuner and making the picture look crappy??

Thanks for the answers, guys!

Nick,
Is new to this stuff...:confused:

Well sure, some cable guys decide to take the easy way out.

If he hooked a Coax Cable(same as from wall to STB) from the Set Top Box to the TV, you are going to have the worst picture possible. You want to use Componenet cables from the STB to the TV, and Component cables from the DVD to the TV.

Otherwise with a Coax cable, you're feeding crappy 480i resolution CRAP into your HDTV even when you're on an HDTV channel.

Only with component cables or HDMI can you see 480P/720P/1080i coming from your STB to the TV.

And if you have your DVD player hooked using Composite(yellow RCA) or S-Video(4 pins), you won't be getting 480P(progressive) output to the TV. Use Component(RCA red, green, blue cables)

I'm not familiar with your STB, but there may be options to enable other resolutions once you're using Component cables.

Thanks for the quick reply!!

So, let me just repeat what you said to make it clearer:

I need to:
-Unhook the coax cable that's now running from the Box to the TV, and replace it with component cables to go from the Box to the TV.

-And for the DVD player, replace the standard cables (yellow Video, red and white Audio) with RCA red, blue, green cables.

After reading through like 12 pages of this thread, I had some other questions:
-are there any adjustments that I need to make to either the Tv or the cable box to get them to work better with each other? Should I reset the Tv to do the channel search again?

-The component cables that the cable guy left here are RCA, but they have 5 cables. It has the Red, Blue, and Green cable that were mentioned before, plus sepereate Red and White audio cables. Where does this stuff get plugged into on the back of the TV??? In Component, or ?????

-When I get the new cables for the DVD player, where do they get plugged into? Are there different ports that I need to use with them, or do they take the place of the yellow, red, and white cables??

-Lastly, what does HDMI stand for?

Sorry for the newbie questions, but this TV is a big step up from a 15+ year old Panasonic!!

Nick

Unhook coax from STB to TV

Use 5-wire Component cables Tech left (RGBWR) to hook STB to TV.
Video part of cable (RGB) goes to COMPONENT 2
Audio part of cable (Red+White) goes to VIDEO 2 Red+White
(Video 2 and Component 2 inputs share the audio input)

Then you can use another set of Component Cables (RGB+RW) to hook your DVD to COMPONENT 3 and AUDIO 3.

There is no need for the TV to do a channel search because you are using your STB to change channels. You would only need to do a channel search if you split the coax from the wall with a second wire coming into the Digital Antenna on the TV tuner.

HDMI is a digital cable input in the upper right of the plug panel in the back. It carries digital Video+Audio in one plug and is *supposed* to have the best quality, even above Component. Unless your STB or DVD has a HDMI plug or DVI plug, it's pretty much of no use.

Personally, I also have an additional S-Video plugged from the STB to VIDEO 2.
(You can ignore this part. My GF likes to watch Standard definition 4:3 square programs with no gray sidebars, so she switches to this input.)

It takes a while to ge used to this new setup for me too... I would play with everything for a day, then watch for a couple of days until another idea struck me and then play with settings again.

As for your settings, play with enabling/disabling 480i/p/720p but keep 1080i enabled. I usually have my STB set to output 1080i only, because otherwise my HDMI cable sometimes loses control when switching between different resolutions on different channels.

Originally posted by bigbangtech
Well sure, some cable guys decide to take the easy way out.


I hate screwing those damn coax cables on. I can't believe the cable guy set it up that way when he had the component cables right there!

Originally posted by Launchpad
I hate screwing those damn coax cables on. I can't believe the cable guy set it up that way when he had the component cables right there!

Maybe the two RED jacks on the component cable confused him:D

Or maybe the tech is colorblind(no offense):eek:

Okay, I played around with it some more and I am still not thrilled about the picture quality.

First, I hooked the component cables from the Box to the TV, and watched it like that for a little while. Even going to known HDTV stations (like Discovery HD or TNT HD, the picture just isn't sharp and clear.) I don't know whether or not the Box has some weird presets, or what, but it just doesn't look right to me. Just to try something else, I diconnected the Box altogether and just ran the cable back into the TV, and did channel search again. The picture looks about the same as with the box.

Would adding a seperate antenna help with the picture at all?

I am at a loss here. I know the TV is not defective (even with the crappy cables that came with the DVD player, the picture is nice), but I want to see HDTV.

Nick

Did you change any settings in the STB? You will probably have to change the output to 1080i or it will send the same signal it sends through the coax cable (480i). You should also be able to set it to output widescreen, if you do this, you should adjust the TV pixshape to "full".

You can also check what kind of signal you are getting by hitting the "info" button on the TV remote. If you have it hooked up through the component input and the info tells you that you are displaying 480i on an HD channel, then the cable box is not outputting the high definition signal and you need to change it's settings.

Originally posted by Mooosman
Okay, I played around with it some more and I am still not thrilled about the picture quality.

First, I hooked the component cables from the Box to the TV, and watched it like that for a little while. Even going to known HDTV stations (like Discovery HD or TNT HD, the picture just isn't sharp and clear.) I don't know whether or not the Box has some weird presets, or what, but it just doesn't look right to me. Just to try something else, I diconnected the Box altogether and just ran the cable back into the TV, and did channel search again. The picture looks about the same as with the box.

Would adding a seperate antenna help with the picture at all?

I am at a loss here. I know the TV is not defective (even with the crappy cables that came with the DVD player, the picture is nice), but I want to see HDTV.

Nick

In the cable box settings, you need to turn on 1080i as an output options, otherwise it will only output 480i even on an HD channel. If you go to an HD channel, and then press INFO on the TV Remote, if it says 720x480, then you are viewing the channel at too low a resolution. When the right resolution is turned on in the cable box(1080i), the info button on the TV remote should say 1920x1080 or so.

Okay, I went through all of the HD channels that are listed on my little channel guide, and hit Info, and they all said: 720*480(601) That's exactly what was in the little box on the screen.

How do I change the settings on the Box??? All I can tell you about it is that it's a Motorola, and that it has TimeWarner's universal remote. I don't know the model number of the Box, but it has a Smart Card slot on the right side, and A/V jacks on the left side. Sorry I can't of more help with the model.

Thanks for the help, guys!!

Nick:confused:

I forgot to add that the cable guide didn't leave an owner's manual for the cable box, just for the universal remote.

Nick

720*480(60i) = 480i - standard definition. I can't help you out on changing the settings

If the STB's software is Pioneer based, then press settings on your remote, hit the yellow triangle for more settings, go down to output formats and select them all (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i).

Update on my PS2 problem... just for the heck of it, I went and bought the new slim version, and DVDs look great in 480i (no more annoying black noise lines). Once I switch on progressive scan, I get the wavy picture. I think the TV doesn't like the PS2's 480p output for some reason. I guess that's the same time I saw this problem on the old PS2 (SCPH-30001 version) when switching to progressive in games. 480i and 1080i work fine. I just ordered a DVI to HDMI cable for my Pioneer STB, so hopefully the picture from the box gets better.

Originally posted by Mooosman
I forgot to add that the cable guide didn't leave an owner's manual for the cable box, just for the universal remote.

Nick

If its like the Motorola I have tried, try holding the 'menu' button down and press the power button off then on. It should bring up a menu that you can then select through, and there should be an option like 'resolution'. I suggest setting it to always 1080i, and then using the pix shape on the remote to control the display depending upon the content (4:3, 16:9) etc.

On a side note (I have the 32") and i have found when inputting my HTPC (myHD MDP-130) through component 2, that the picture is just is great as the built in OTA. It upscans DVD's with shear beauty ('The Incredibles' was...well incredible). I also love the flexabuility of the pix shape through component vs the ota tuner.

I have found myself watching HD college basketball in 'normal' mode which actually squishes the 16:9 into the full 4:3 viewing area. I would never do that with regular programing (movies or tv shows). But, with sports, it is a nice compromise, i get a bigger picture and i am not at all bothered by the 'streching' of the picture.

Just set up my Sanyo 30" this afternoon and I can't figure out the channel scanning. When it started for the first time, it automatically scanned and found my good old analog cable stations, but no digital stations. I had split the analog coaxial cable from the wall and sent it into both antenna inputs on the back of the TV.

So, I switched tuners using the button on the remote, entered the menu system, and did a manual scan on "Digital Cable". This took quite a while and did find some digital stations (not many and not all the stations I get on analog). The digital stations have channel numbers like "DC80-4" and the analog channels are "C07". The problem is that this made my analog cable channels look very bad, all weak and snowy.

I unplugged the digital side of the split cable feed and attached an off-air antenna. Did a digital channel scan and now I have local off-air digital and analog cable both looking good.

Can't analog cable and digital cable be used at the same time?

Thanks.

Originally posted by Apesbrain
Just set up my Sanyo 30" this afternoon and I can't figure out the channel scanning. When it started for the first time, it automatically scanned and found my good old analog cable stations, but no digital stations. I had split the analog coaxial cable from the wall and sent it into both antenna inputs on the back of the TV.

So, I switched tuners using the button on the remote, entered the menu system, and did a manual scan on "Digital Cable". This took quite a while and did find some digital stations (not many and not all the stations I get on analog). The digital stations have channel numbers like "DC80-4" and the analog channels are "C07". The problem is that this made my analog cable channels look very bad, all weak and snowy.

I unplugged the digital side of the split cable feed and attached an off-air antenna. Did a digital channel scan and now I have local off-air digital and analog cable both looking good.

Can't analog cable and digital cable be used at the same time?

Thanks.

The TV's digital tuner will only decode clear QAM (unencrypted) signals from your cable provider. This will probably only be your digital locals from your cable provider.

You will need a splitter rated at 50 -2000 mhz, otherwise your digital signals won't pass through the splitter.

I tried the menu button thing, but it switches over to the standard menu screen and doesn't respond when I try to press the off/on button.

Any other ideas???

Nick

I spent some time this morning with DVE and have the 30" looking pretty good. There are two things I need to access the service menu to correct. Can someone please tell me:

- how to access the service menu (I tried the "plug in while holding volume down on tv", but that did not work)

- which service menu item will help me shift the entire image about 1/2" to the left

- which service menu item will help me dial down the red level

Thanks.

Please look at the front/bottom/back of the cable box and tell us what model # the cable box is.

When the box is unplugged, turn the tv on, plug in the cable box and turn it on. While it's booting up, does it have a Pioneer/Passport logo on the screen?

Originally posted by Mooosman
I tried the menu button thing, but it switches over to the standard menu screen and doesn't respond when I try to press the off/on button.

Any other ideas???

Nick

Okay, I flipped the box over and it said that it's Motorola model #DCT6200/1000.

I did the booting up thing 3 times, and there is no logo that appears on the screen. The screen goes from "No Signal" to a blank black screen for about 10 seconds, and the screen on the front of the cable box has a line through it, then it switches to cable.

Nick

I DID IT!

I entered the model number into a Google search, and found this website:

http://www.comcastnw.com/customer_service%2Bsupport/index.htm

It has the user manual for the DCT5100, which I guess the 6200 replaced at some point. I followed the instructions in the manual, by first leaving the TV on, then turning the box off and pressing the MENU button on the front of the box. I was then able to change the output type to 1080i. I didn't change anything else.

HDTV channels look great now! You can really tell the difference in the clarity and "lushness" of the colors.

My only dislike so far with this TV is the black bars on the sides, and the fact that one of the bars is thicker than the other. It looks like the whole picture needs to be shifted about 1/2" to the right.

Is there a way to do this??

Thanks for all the help guys!!!
Nick

I have noticed this effect with my newly purchesed 30". I have dialed the contrast and the brightness way back, with no effect. Is this a systemic problem, or set by set? Should I exchange the set I have for another one while I still can? The NCAA basketball looks awfull with the compressed edges.


Originally posted by RebelWax
I just purchased the 30" Sanyo and i noticed that when in "FULL" sceen mode that there is a slight "compressed" look to the left and right edges of the screen. You can only really notice it when a camera pans from left to right. I was wondering if there's anything in the service menu to adjust this or is this just normal? Here's a small example of what i mean.

4:3 mode
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |

16:9 mode
||| | | | | | | | | |||
||| | | | | | | | | |||
||| | | | | | | | | |||

If there is something in the menu to adjust this can someone point me to what it is? I looked at the menu and it's pretty cryptic. Don't want to touch much in there.

Thanks

Originally posted by rustycruiser
I have noticed this effect with my newly purchesed 30". I have dialed the contrast and the brightness way back, with no effect. Is this a systemic problem, or set by set? Should I exchange the set I have for another one while I still can? The NCAA basketball looks awfull with the compressed edges.

I think every 30" set has this problem, referred to as "barrel roll." It doesn't bother me all that much, but each pair of eyes is different I guess.

Originally posted by Shink
I think every 30" set has this problem, referred to as "barrel roll." It doesn't bother me all that much, but each pair of eyes is different I guess.

I had set the TV for the largest possible picture. I went back into the service menu and increased the horizontal overscan slightly, and this reduced the barrel roll slightly. I am going to fool around a little more and see if I can tweek it to my satisfaction.

Can anyone explain how to balance out the volume levels between the voices and the sound effects/music in DVD movies with this TV?

I am using the speakers of the TV, no external speakers, and find in DVDs over component, that the volume level is quiet different between the voices in the movie and the sound effects/music. Voices are drowned out.

I have played around with some of the sound options but nothing seems to make a difference with this. Any ideas?

My DVD player is LG DV7832NXC (Zenith 318) and the movies I have tried are SharkTale, Monster's Inc. and The Incredibles. I have the Sanyo HT30744 model.

As another question, dark scenes are too dark, is this Macro Blocking? Or is there such a thing as black crush? Anyway to make this better?

Make sure you are outputting 2.0 sound and not 5.1 sound on the DVD (you control this with your DVD player's Audio key).

You can adjust the brightness & contrast levels to make the picture brighter to suit your needs. Also know that the set takes some time to "warm up." I notice mine is brighter after being on for 15-20 minutes than it is when I first turn it on.

...and put the 30" Sanyo on layaway at our local Walmart. It took quite a bit of perserverence to finally locate one. Quite frankly all I did was kept stopping at the electronics department until they got sick of seeing me. I think they special ordered one just to get rid of me. ;)

It took me just over three weeks to read all the posts in this thread. And I would like to thank all that havee gone before me. You folks have blazed the trail and have given us HD noob's hope.

The Sanyo will be coming home with me after my Florida vacation. I will post my thoughts then.

Thanks Shink, I'll try that tonight.

Does this set have different settings for different inputs? If I change the brightness for Component, will this settings stay for Composite?

I did go through DVE with Component and this is why I was surprised that it seemed so dark, but I will try brighten it up a bit anyway.

Originally posted by Mako22
Can anyone explain how to balance out the volume levels between the voices and the sound effects/music in DVD movies with this TV?

I am using the speakers of the TV, no external speakers, and find in DVDs over component, that the volume level is quiet different between the voices in the movie and the sound effects/music. Voices are drowned out.

I have played around with some of the sound options but nothing seems to make a difference with this. Any ideas?



If you haven't already tried, I'd suggest you disable Surround sound. Menu, Pic/Sound, Manual, Surround, Off.

Originally posted by Mako22
Thanks Shink, I'll try that tonight.

Does this set have different settings for different inputs? If I change the brightness for Component, will this settings stay for Composite?

I did go through DVE with Component and this is why I was surprised that it seemed so dark, but I will try brighten it up a bit anyway.

Yes, the settings remain for all inputs - ideally that wouldn't be the case since not all inputs are the same. Earlier in the thread I think I read that in the service menu you can set each input individually, but I haven't tried that.

Does anyone have this tv with a dish network SD reciever? I was wondering how it looks? I have time warner cable with the SA 8300HD but don't like time warner. I don't want to sign up for Direct TV yet cause i want to wait till the offer MPEG 4 and maybe have a good new customer deal. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

Scott

I'd assume it would look slightly better than the SD digital channels you get through Time Warner. DirecTV/DISH have always had a better picture than digital cable in my opinion.

Originally posted by midsouthgeek
Does anyone have this tv with a dish network SD reciever?

I'd really like to get an HD DVR but price and MPEG-4 are roadblocks.

I have (SD) DVRs connected to the 32" and am generally pleased. There are some times when the overcompression of the satellite providers shows up but I don't really think it is more apparent than the old 27" TV it replaced. I had a larger DLP here for a few weeks and returned it because of the poor SD display. I think you'd be happy with the SD from either sat provider on the Sanyo. Local stations can vary a whole lot so I can't say what you'd see for locals.

I just purchased the 30" version a few days ago and I and very happy with it. I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone can answer for me.


My first question: I have an Xbox and most of my games are 480p and they work great, but I have one game that is 720p and whenever I try to play it the screen goes blank but I still get sound. I can go to the dashboard to the settings and check 'no' for 720p support and the same game plays fine everytime(it then plays it in 480p). I thought this tv supported 720p?

Second question: on the 704 x 480i broadcast i receive ota, the pixshape only lets me go from normal, zoom1 and zoom2. how come it doesnt give me an option for full like regular cable does?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions. I searched this thread fror hours and couldn't find an answer to my questions.

Does the no signal box float around when you switch to 720p?

The TV just doesn't have the capabilities to switch to a full picture on an SD broadcast through the HD coax input. It knows to switch to a full picture on a widescreen broadcast, but other than that you can't change it manually as far as I know.

thanks for the reply and answering one of my Q's kevbeck. The 'no signal' box does not float around when it switches to 720p from the 480p dashboard. the screen just flickers and then goes blank but i still can hear the sound from the game. I dont believe its a bad tv cause everything else works great. 480p and 1080i games play great and everything else on the tv works good with no hang-ups. I just figured that it can only upconvert 720p signals from the digital coax input and doesnt have a converter for the component inputs. anymore insight to my question from anyone else would most appreciated.

No, it can display 720p from any input that's capable of it. Soul Calibur II displays in 720p just fine on my Xbox.

It's gotta be something on the XBOX then. I get a picture with Fox, ABC and ESPN (which all broadcast in 720p) through my components with my box from Time Warner.

BlindSyde, AFAIK, this set will not display 720p, it upconverts it to 1080i. If this makes any difference in your situation.

Shink, I tried to set my audio from my DVD player last night and it would not go to 2.0, only 5.1... i could only get 2.0 when the "directors commentaries" was chosen on The Incredibles DVD...

There seem to be many options in the DVD Players audio section that I can screw around with but I'm not sure I understand what they mean... options like, bitrate, PCM (I think)... I'll have to look into that.

my problem is that when i go to the xbox dashboard settings, turn all 3 hd formats on (480p, 720p, 1080i), then i try to play a game that is 720p, the screen goes blank as soon as the game starts. there is no 'no signal' box that appears and i can still hear sound from the game and when i hit info on the tv remote it says 720x480(60p) like the upconverter is broke or something.

Originally posted by Mako22
Shink, I tried to set my audio from my DVD player last night and it would not go to 2.0, only 5.1... i could only get 2.0 when the "directors commentaries" was chosen on The Incredibles DVD...

There seem to be many options in the DVD Players audio section that I can screw around with but I'm not sure I understand what they mean... options like, bitrate, PCM (I think)... I'll have to look into that.

Make sure that if the DVD player has virtual surround, that it's turned off. Most DVDs that I know of only have a 5.1 main track and leave 2.0 for foreign languages or commentaries. I haven't had any problems with audio and a DVD (I've watched The Incredibles on this TV), so just make sure surround is off on the TV and on the DVD player. The PCM and bitrate things are just for digital audio out IIRC.

Yah, what kevbeck said.

Some DVDs do have 2.0 sound, but I guess most don't. If your DVD player has a "cinema enhancement" or something like that for sound, might be worthwhile to turn on (usually it boosts the loudness of the center channel). Virtual surround should definitely be turned off.

Has anyone had tilt trouble with the 32" version of this set? I just picked up the 30" and the right side is ~1.5" higher than center while the left side is about~-1.5" from center... I cry about no tilt correction...

BlindSyde, turn your xbox on without a disc in. When the dashboard comes up, pull both triggers and click both thumbsticks on the controller all at the same time. This enables the dashboard in progressive mode. Then try playing the game. (Worked for me when I couldn't get a game to come up).

Finally gave in and bought one when I found it. First off, wow, I bought some cheap Digital antenna, and the PQ is 5x better than the feed Walmart was getting. Also (as I guess is the case with any TV), the screen is much bigger in your house than it looks like in the store. The only gripes I'm having is my DirecTV not looking so hot, and widescreen DVDs in messed up ratios, but I guess I can mess with connections

The messed up ratios in your DVD is because your DVD player is set to output to 4:3 screen instead of the 16:9 screen. You need to set that in the DVD player settings.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, the stupid DVD player has that setting greyed out tho for some reason, so I'm gonna play around with it tonight

Also, I'd highly suggest the 30 inch over the 32 inch, with SD or anything not HD, 'Zoom 1' has been very nice, and HD that fills the screen is beautiful

Originally posted by bhenley
Look on the 1st page of this thread for the link to the service manual and the redone page 5. Also a link to the original thread. Those links are broken. It was http://www.slf.us/sanyo.pdf but there's no clue on http://www.slf.us/ either.

This should work. I may end up zipping it to save more space on my isp's sever. I will also upload the Service manual for the philips 30pw850h here as well.

http://falconrd.home.mchsi.com/sanyo.pdf

New host for the service manual

http://www.midwestthundercats.net/sanyo/sanyo.pdf

Originally posted by n0esc
New host for the service manual

http://www.midwestthundercats.net/sanyo/sanyo.pdf Thanks. It's also at http://hinome.net/images/sanyo.pdf

Both are for the 30744. Any luck on the 32" 32744 manual?

Originally posted by DBCooper

Both are for the 30744. Any luck on the 32" 32744 manual?

I just asked support (@sanyotv.com) for the 32744 manual in electronic form and they emailed it to me. I just ZIPed it and can leave it for a week or so at
http://www.calweb.com/~bhenley/HT32744SM.zip
but it will likely put me over my quota later in the month. It isn't a scanned PDF, so you can increase the size, search for text, ... The 30" SM I downloaded long ago was scanned from a hard copy.

Originally posted by Da Truth
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, the stupid DVD player has that setting greyed out tho for some reason, so I'm gonna play around with it tonight


Go into the menu without a DVD in the player.

Just stopped at the wal-mart in Tracy Ca. and they have 2 of the 30" ones
on the isle by the electronics department. I have one and another one on lay-away. By the way I check the boxes and the serial number start with
v-4. Anyway just wanted to pass that along.

I have a Sanyo HT30744 and noticed intermittent flickering. I have pretty much ruled out everything except the TV itself.

It manifests itself on ALL inputs to a greater or lesser degree. (Component 2+3, Composite 1 and 2, S-VIDEO, HDMI and both OTA tuners). Flickers from OTA signal, cable signal and DVD playback.

It's a general quick brightness fluctuation of the whole picture most noticeable when you have a dark scene, or in gray or black sidebars for 4:3 or letterbox programs. It is not only confined to dark scenes, but normal scenes will see the flickering too. It goes on for 30 seconds or so then goes away for a few seconds. It seems to have gotten progressively worse over the past two weeks.

Also, during a few dark scenes of an HD channel, the screen was kind of gray instead, and you could see diagonal light gray lines crossing the screen at an interval of about every one inch or so.

Someone had mentioned that it was Timer Warner NYC's cable signal, but that is ruled out because the screen flickers even with the box off.

But one observation:

If you have no devices turned on and the "no signal" square bounces around the screen, the black screen doesn't really flicker(but I can't be 100% sure).

I have a Sanyo repair center listed as being about a mile away from us. Does anyone have an idea of what's going on with this set and would Sanyo send a tech or likely tell me to go get it replaced at wallyworl? The reason I ask is because someone in this thread claimed that Sanyo actually had a tech replace a bad tube for them

The warranty states to take it back to the retailer and get a new one as far as I know. I've seen the brightness fluctuation when using components for my cable box, but I switched to HDMI and it seems to be a lot better. People have said in this thread that the inputs are cheap therefore you see those issues with the picture. I think I also saw somewhere that the power supply is also cheap and causes interference with the inputs (something to that effect).

Summary: if you get a hold of the right person at Sanyo support, they can help you out with the tilt issue.

I've got a 30" with the left side tilted between 1/4" and 1/2" lower than the right. As discussed earlier in this thread, this is easily corrected by a yoke rotation. I guess I talked to the right person over at support because they arranged for a technician to come out and make the rotation correction. All is good now! (The technician did mention that if the rotation had been too extreme he wouldn't have been able to fix it.)

Now for the bad news: I don't want to have this Sanyo person be flooded with requests, so I am not going to give contact information. I thought long and hard about posting at all because of this. Please don't flood this thread with requests for contact info. I thought it would be a good compromise instead to let people know that it IS possible to get this fixed.

I will admit that after watching the slightly tilted screen for a couple weeks it stopped bothering me. The tv is such a good deal that I don't think any of us canr really complain. :)

After posting about the flicker issue last night, I wake up this morning and the TV is performing even better!

Now the whole screen is medium gray with white diagonal lines across the screen. But, I can still see the picture UNDERNEATH but it is very light, it's practically gray because the whole screen is gray. What gives now?

Oh does anyone know the proper way to reset the TV to factory defaults or a hard reset? Just as a last ditch effort of course.