I have been using a Sharp LC-26GA4U for about a month. I've spent some time playing with the picture settings, to get the best possible picture.

Since most of the Sharp LCD TV's seem to have similar menus to the 26", this advice should apply directly to all of the Sharps, and probably to other brands of LCD TV.

Backlight, Brightness, Contrast

Three adjustments are available to set the image brightness and contrast: backlight, brightness, and contrast.

Backlight controls the overall brightness of the screen. Backlight should be used to adjust for room brightness. The TV has a setting ("OPC") which allows the TV to sense the room brightness, and it automatically adjusts the level of the backlight. More on this later.

The brightness control mainly determines how dark colors (black) will look.

The contrast control determines how the bright colors (white) will look.

Adjusting Black

Follow these steps:
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Make your room very dark. It is okay to make the room darker than you plan to have it for watching TV.
Choose a picture source.
Set the "stretch mode" to "Side Bars" (if allowed for the picture source). This will show the picture in the middle, with black bars on both sides. The black bars are always "full black", and the brightness and contrast settings do not affect the bars.
Adjust the backlight to the darkest setting. Look at the side bars. This is the blackest black you can get out of the display. There is no point in trying to use any of the picture settings to find a darker black.
Put on some source material that has a lot of dark scenes, with a lot of deep black. Try to pause the picture on a frame that has complete black at the edges (so the black shares the border with a sidebar). You want complete black, not just dark gray or dark colors.
Adjust the "brightness" setting below zero. -5 is a good starting point. You should not see a "line" between the black image and the sidebar. The image and side bar should blend together, so you don't really know where the sidebar begins.
Step the brightness up one step at a time. Watch for the edge of the sidebar to appear (ie. you can see the line between the black image, and the sidebar). The edge of the sidebar will probably appear when you step from 0 to +1.
Once the edge of the sidebar appears, step the brightness down one step (so the edge of the sidbar disappears again). Congratulations, you have just found the optimum brightness setting.
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On my 26" Sharp, I find that brightness of 0 or +1 is ideal.

Q: What happens if I move the brightness below the optimal setting?

A: You will start "crushing" the blacks (ie. a color that is "not quite black" gets merged into black, and they both appear as "black"). This means that you will not see details in dark areas of the picture.

Q: What happens if I move the brightness above the optimal setting?

A: You are turning the darkest black into a gray color (and all other colors are moved "up" to brighter values as well). You are also decreasing the contrast of the image, since you are telling the TV not to show real black. If your room lighting is bright, and the TV picture looks dark, you should adjust the backlight setting to be brighter, not the brightness setting. Conversely, if the TV looks too bright, adjust the backlight downwards. Once you find the optimal brightness setting for an input, you should never adjust it again.

Adjusting White

You set the white point using the "contrast" control, similarly to how the black is set.

When adjusting black, the black sidebars provide a convenient reference point to show you the darkest possible black. This makes it easy to find the optimal black setting.

Unfortunately, you cannot ask the TV to show you white sidebars, to give a reference for the brightest value, so adjusting the contrast setting takes more work and judgement.
[list=1]
Try to find a source that has a very bright scene. It should have a lot of white, but you should be able to see details in the white area. Try to pause on a good sample frame.
Turn the contrast setting down until you see that the whites have become gray.
Start stepping up the contrast setting, until details in the white areas disappear (ie. the area starts to become uniform, flat white, with no more detail).
Step the contrast setting down, until details reappear. When you get to a step where no details reappear, and the brightest white steps down to be less bright, you are close to the optimal setting.
Step the contrast up one step. This is the optimal contrast setting.
You will probably end up playing around with this "white point search" a few times, with different shows/movies until you feel happy that you have found the optimal setting.
[/list=1]
You now have the contrast and brightness adjusted to show you the maximum contrast range that the the TV is capable of showing.

Color

The default color setting (zero) is much too "hot". It gives the picture a cartoony, oversaturated look. I find it is best to "back off" on the color setting (somewhere around -5 or -7 seems good).

You can follow the "steaming rat" advice to find the color setting that you like.

Advanced Settings -> Black

In the advanced picture settings, there is an option to turn on some "black expansion" to give more detail in the black areas of the picture.

It appears to apply a different "gamma curve" to the dark parts of the image. In essence, it is "spacing out" the steps between "black", "not quite black", "dark gray", etc. a little bit. It does have a subtle but noticable effect. It is giving more contrast to the dark areas of the image. However, you should remember that extra contrast in the dark areas comes at a cost: it has to "steal" some contrast from the mid- or bright-tones.

Try it, and see if you like it, or not.

Backlight

At this point, you should use the "Backlight" adjustment to change the brightness to suit your room lighting. You should not change the "Brightness" or "Contrast" settings. Or, you can let Sharp's "OPC" adjust the backlight for you, automatically.

When you turn "OPC" to "On", the TV ignores the "Backlight" setting. Instead, the TV uses a sensor to measure the brightness in the room, and sets the backlight automatically.

It works very well, although I find that it sets the backlight a little too dark for my taste, when the room has very dim lighting.

Thanks, will look this thread up when I finally get an LCD :)

Nice informative post.

I recently purchased a 26" Sharp LCD TV (not the LC-26GA4U, but the LC-26GD4U with the built-in HDTV tuner) and I find this information on picture settings valuable.

I had heard good things about the Sharp LCD TVs, and I am somewhat regretful that I bought a now-inferior Samsung LCD TV before learning about the TVs from Sharp.

Once I put a new post out asking for people's calibration settings I saw this post. It makes alot of sense on paper. I'll have to try it out later (working 80 hrs. this week) and report back.
Thanks for the info.

Originally posted by megamii
I recently purchased a 26" Sharp LCD TV (not the LC-26GA4U, but the LC-26GD4U with the built-in HDTV tuner) and I find this information on picture settings valuable.

I had heard good things about the Sharp LCD TVs, and I am somewhat regretful that I bought a now-inferior Samsung LCD TV before learning about the TVs from Sharp.

I recently purchased the LC-26GD6U and am extremely happy with it. My three other displays are Mits RPTVs 65813 9"gun CRT, 55613 7" gun CRT and an RCA F-38310 direct view CRT. I had made similar adjustments as above and the blacks look great. Still not CRT black but these blacks look very good.:cool: :cool: :cool: I have been waiting for the flat panel technology to improve to an acceptable level before buying in. They are getting really good and the unit I purchased really raises the bar.

chmilar,

Just to clarify. Once you turn the backlight off or all the way down and your ready to adjust the Black Level, where do you have your contrast (white Level) set at?

I think the "default" contrast level is set to about "30" (ie. if you "reset" the picture settings), and it's fine to leave it around there when you adjust the brightness.

After you have set the brightness, and then the contrast, you might want to re-check the black-level to see if it has moved, and then refine the brightness setting.

However, when I was playing with the adjustments, it looked like changing the contrast setting did not affect the black level that was set via the brightness setting.

Thanks for the reply.

I forgot to ask you one thing though. What did you use for the white level (contrast) setting. I'm having trouble trying to figure out what dvd has alot of white.

Thanks,
Ken

chmilar,

Great post. Were you able to find any kind of service menu on the Sharp? If so, anything useful in there??? I have the LC-32GD4U and love it!

Thanks,
Mike

For black settings, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is a good reference.

For white, I remember using some Japanese Anime: episodes from "Last Exile" and "Gungrave". (But don't use animation for black.) It's too bad Apple is not running the old iMac ads, which showed the product in a white environment - that would be perfect!

Sometimes, while I am watching something that has a lot of black or white, I will pause it for a moment, and do a quick check of the brightness and contrast settings (ie. move +1 +2 -1 -2 from the current setting, and see if the change makes an improvement). After doing this a few times, I am confident that I have dialed in the best settings.

To boil down the essence of the adjustment technique:

The LCD module has a lowest black capability (when the LCD shutters are completely closed, blocking as much of the backlight as possible) and a highest white capability (when the LCD shutters are completely open).

Also, the input signal from DVD, satellite receiver, cable box, antenna, etc. has lowest black signal level and a highest white signal. While there are engineering specs for the signal levels, different sources will have some variation. For each different input, you will probably have slightly different settings.

The goal is to match the lowest input signal to the "shutters closed" state on the TV (using Brightness), and to match the highest input signal to the "shutters open" state (using Contrast).

I find that the default "out-of-the-box" settings for Brightness and Contrast on the Sharp are very close to my "final" settings. My settings are no more that "2" away from the factory setting. However, the color saturation is way too high.

I have not found the service menu.

I would be happy if the service menu would let me adjust the minimum backlight level up a notch, when the "OPC" is turned on. I find that OPC makes the backlight just a touch too dim in a dark room, for my eyes.

The Finding Nemo DVD has a THX audio/video calibration feature that works well for this.

Can anybody figure out how do adjust the picture SIZE? In my opinion there is way to much overscan with Sharp's implementation of their 'smart stretch' mode. You can see just how much overscan there is when you adjust the pictue POSITION from the consumer menu.

I've been in the service menu but couldn't quite decipher all the settings.

BTW, I did previously post how to get into the service menu but the moderator deleted that info from my post. WTF. However if you search the forum (or the Internet) you can still come up with it.

What value did you use for contrast please? Are your settings different depending on inputs, ie component 480i, 480p 720p 1080i
s-video
DVI
Thanks
mark

Originally posted by mburnstein
What value did you use for contrast please?

If you read the last paragraph five postings up from this one, you will have your answer.

Are your settings different depending on inputs, ie component, s-video

Yes, each is slightly different.

I thought I'd post all of my settings, just to use as a reference to get people's sets close or within an acceptable range.

I used the AVIA disc (has a screen to use specifically for white level with a lcd). I used an older Sony 7000 interlaced dvd player also.

Contrast (white level) +15
Brightness (black level) -1
Sharpness -4
Color +5 to +7 Depends on tv channel
Hue or Tint +1
Backlight -11
OPC - Off

Curious to see what settings others have also.

Hi Kensmith48
I'm in Michigan too, Go Blue! Beat OSU!
By selecting OPC as off, will that automatically effect the settings on the other parameters, so if we keep OPC on or automatic, I forget the possibilities, then the numbers you quote won't be valid?
Thanks
mark

Any comments on DVS vs. Avia for LCD tuning? Yes, I know the two have been discussed quite a bit, but I haven't seen any threads comparing the two regarding LCDs. I just ordered DVE, hoping I didn't get the wrong one...

Hi Mark,
The last time I was in your area I went to an Audio/Video place called the Ensemble.
I chose to turn OPC off because it changes with the ambient light in the room. I did my settings in a dark room and adjusted the backlight after all the other settings were done. I suppose where I put the backlight if more a personal preference.
When using AVIA or any other disc, they recommend that all the different automatic settings be disabled .

Bob,
I have Video Essentials, Digital Video Essentials, and Avia.
I prefer Avia because it's alot easier to navigate. I get pretty frustrated with trying to find things with VE. By the time I find the patterns or chapter that I want with VE I could have been done with all my settings using Avia. The patterns are there with VE it's just easier with Avia.

Ken

When I use the THX Optimizer on Finding Nemo to set the white level, I get 27 (of 40) when using component and 40 when using DVI (never did get it to crush the white with DVI input). The brightness settings are -1 and -6, respectively.

How does sharpness work for LCDs?

Always heard that on crt tvs any sharpness above zero adds processing to the original signal.

On my LCD tv "zero" is in the center of the range... so is this the "no processing" setting, or would it be minus 10 (which looks really soft to me)?

Thanks.

Originally posted by offsite123
How does sharpness work for LCDs?


According to the Digitial Video Essentials DVD, the sharpness control was originally connected with the notch filter for Y/C separation, which isn't in modern TVs (having been supplanted by comb filters and fancier). There really shouldn't be a sharpness setting any more, or if there is it should only apply to composite inputs or the tuner (i.e. sources where the TV still has to separate luminance and color. Nevertheless, customers expect a sharpness control, so TV makers include them and their engineers generally try to make them enhance edges in the image. The DVD also said some sets actually artificially soften the image if you turn the sharpness control way down.

On my Aquos, -3 seems to be the zero point for the sharpness. At setting 0, you still see edge enhancment that adds artifacts to picture. Below -3 makes the pciture fuzzier.

There seems to be a general sentiment that the edge enhancement filters make macro blocking artifacts from digital sources look even worse so you should turn the sharpness control all the way down.

Thanks, vman41, for a knowledgable, reply!

I will use -3 for my Aquos 26.

Not versed enough in digital signal xmission to know about "macro blocking artifacts from digital sources"... does this mean if I am using DVI input port for video signals out of my cable box or for VGA signals from my computer (thru a VGA to DVI adaptor) I should reduce the sharpness setting from -3 (for component input) to -10?

Thanks!

One q: is it possible to have different color and contrast etc. settings for the different inputs? I did DVE on one input, and came up with some good results, but I'm finding that TV on a different input looks different enough that I'd like to be able to tune that setting separately.

Originally posted by BobDobalina
One q: is it possible to have different color and contrast etc. settings for the different inputs?

Yes. Each particular 'A/V mode' (standard, movie, dynamic, etc) has separate settings you can adjust that appear to be global across all inputs. Each input, however, has one mode (user_'n', where 'n' is input number) that only it can select.

One thing that is kind of depressing is to surf the different channels carrying a live news event (e.g presidential speech) and note the color differences (NTSC -> Never Twice Same Color).

Ahh, great, thanks.

And yes, I've noticed the color differences one very channel. But, hopefully I can find a somewhat happy medium.

Is it possible to use the method from the older Sharp Aquos panels to get into the firmware settings on these newer panels? Has anyone tried?

Bumping this back for those interested.

I don't have a set yet but I've fiddled with a bunch of them at various B&Ms. Are people using the default color temperature? Changing this in the advanced settings seems to have a LARGE effect on the color (at least on the 45" GD and GX).

overtime

I'm still using the default. I did have to do a decent amount of color tweaking to get things looking right, but things look fairly nice now.

I usually use the second from the warmest setting, to better match the room lighting. Sometimes during daytime viewing I'll bump it up to the middle setting.

Interesting vman. At least in the showroom, the middle (default) color temp just seems too cold. I have been much more pleased with the picture when I set it to the second warmest (there are 5 settings so this is moving the color one setting warmer than default).

I'm curious if anyone has measured these settings. This set really doesn't need the cooler settings to generate enough brightness!

Is anyone else trying to follow the display technology shootout at extremetech?

overtime

I also use the second warmest setting....

I had my Sharp ISF calibrated a few days ago and found out 0 is the zero point for sharpness. Anything below zero (-1, -2, etc) introduces softness around the test pattern. So, leave it at zero.

Mine were

Back -4
contrast +20
brightness -5
color -7
tint +1
sharp 0
color temp -medium low
CMSHUE- y +3, g -18
CMSSaturation g +30
CMS Value g+27

Thanks for posting your settings. I changed mine to match and I'm much happier with the picture than I was before. Now if only Comcast would bring my HD box...

Is your OPC function on? Thanks J.H.

I have OPC turned off on mine.

Thanks for posting your settings. I changed mine to match and I'm much happier with the picture than I was before. Now if only Comcast would bring my HD box...


NP. Those are ISF settings, tho not sure if they would very from model to model. We couldn't figure out how to get into the SM. Maybe we could have achieved better results but that gave us a nice greyscale, 6500k color temp and much more accurate colors.

And the sharp at 0 was a surprise as I usually knock it down.

Great setting for the color! Thanks.

The contrast ratio is a bit too dark with my signal.

I use +23 for constrast and +5 for brightness.

Also I had to turn down the sharpness a bit. I think -2.

I like to keep OPC on during the day and use -3 at night.

I have a 37GD6u.

We couldn't figure out how to get into the SM.

If you can get your hands on a Harmony Remote, the SM is in their database and displays on their remotes.

BTW, dialed in your settings on a couple of Sharp's, 32 & 37 and the pix looks good :cool:

Thanx,

Rick- Your welcome. I will be getting that new Harmony 525 or something that Walmart will carry. That's a hot remote. So I'll look for that. But, I won't be paying for anther ISF calibration anytime soon so it's kinda too late now. He was able to (using the settings above) get the greyscale pretty exact, get colors pretty close and the temp to 6500k. I have the 32" Sharp, not sure if the settings will work on every Sharp, but figured I'd share the wealth.

Kid, what did you set your color temp as?

i just got a 32" Aquos from Costco myself. out of the box, the colors were way off and it was way too bright and contrasty.

i tried Kid's settings and found the colors to be tilted toward green (whites had a green hue). perhaps there is quite a bit of variation from set to set?

anyway, i went back to level CMS values, color at -7 and tint +1 and the colors are much closer. i'm also finding a brightness around 0 or +1 is more appropriate for my uses (using dark scense and side and/or vertical black bars to set the brightness level. i haven't fiddled much with the contrast yet, but Kid's value looks decent enough.

(this is all based on our comcast HDTV box output...i don't have a DVD player hooked up yet to it [this is a secondary TV for my den] so perhaps Kid's calibration will work better with DVDs)

i also find OPC too dark for my tastes. in a dimly lit or dark room at night, i am finding about -3/-2 backlight just about correct. i'll have to try OPC this weekend during the afternoon to see if its more useful.

anyway, just some thoughts from my experience. wish i could afford a real calibration too! then again, as i've seen, colors vary somewhat from channel to channel too, so perhaps the "perfect calibration" is just an illusion.

Maybe this isn't the correct thread to ask this, but its the aquos thread I have bookmarked. Probably a dumb question also. According to Sharp's website, my
LC-32GA5U supports 720p HDTV signals. Comcast delivered my HD box yesterday and it didn't include an HDMI cable. So, we hooked it up via component and the tv says 1080i on the input. I'm little confused why it says its displaying 1080i and the website says it only supports 720p. Could someone clarify? Thanks.

I connect my computer to LCD TV (VGA). there is cutting off (Black area) both side in LCD TV when playing RM movies in full screen mode. my 19 Dell LCD monitor showing Full screen, however. I think this is because my Dell 19 is 4:3, but Sharp LCD TV is 16:9. How to sovle this problem????

Kid Red,

What input are your settings for? Is that for cable or was that a DVD player?

bluesxtreme- medium low

Derek87- Strange, you would think at least the same model sets would be close. My settings resulted in a pretty linear greyscale, no hot in the greens.

We did find the OPC why it does appear dark, gave us the greyscale and deep blacks. If you want to use backlight, I think it was -4 or something.

JimSD- Typically, when you calibrate a set, you calibrate it for all inputs. You then tweak the source. So, with my settings the same across inputs, I adjusted my Panasonic s97 to AVIA.

jt30605- The Sharp shows the incoming signal. So if it says 1080i, the signal is 1080i, go to Fox it will show 720p )highly pixelated too) regardless, as you state, the Sharp will down convert (or upconvert 420P) to 720p.

Thanks Kid. My TV says 1080i for every HD channel I have (including Fox). And, they're all crystal clear, not pixelated. Is FOX pixelated for you and others?

When I use DVI for up my unconverting DVD player, it says 720p.

Comcast delivered my HD box yesterday and it didn't include an HDMI cable. So, we hooked it up via component and the tv says 1080i on the input. I'm little confused why it says its displaying 1080i and the website says it only supports 720p. Could someone clarify? Thanks.
My Aquos has a 1366x768 LCD. Technically it's a 720p display (plus a few more lines) but wll do its best to deinterlace and downconvert a 1080i input. You'll probably want to set your cable box to 720p otherwise the box will interlace everything and your display will then have to deinterlace it again.

Kid- thanks for the follow-up. it does seem strange that our settings would be quite different. that being said, i need to revisit your settings for kicks since i got another set (my first set made buzzing sound...my new one does too, but less so...pretty sure it's transformer hum [but this is the subject of another thread])

anyway, i find OPC very good, if not a little bright during daylight viewing, but at night with low lighting, it is too dark. Just as Kid found, i like -3 or -4 for my backlight in a dimly lit or dark room. i think OPC does the equivalent of -6 in such cases which is too dark for my tastes.

Thanks scowl. I tried changing the box to 720p, but can't figure out how to do it. I went to 'cable box options' in the menu, but that wasn't an option. Maybe Comcast has this disabled for some reason.

jt30605 -

if your comcast box is the same as mine...turn it off, then hit the menu button and a white screen should show up on your display (also, you can see a setting on the yellow/orange led)...using the navigation arrows, select the video mode which you can cycle from 480i, 480p,720p,1080i...

once you get the setting you want, hit the power button once to turn off the setup menu and then again to turn it back on to send a signal to your monitor.

hope this helps.

Thanks Derek. I now have it set to 720p.

how are you setting up your STB with the Aquos - i am still struggling trying to learn and find the best way to view SD signals.

Right now I have the Box set to 720p, 16x9 default (sidebar 4:3), connected through component.

The TV accurately shows 720p - but the grey bars on the side for 4:3 don't even reach the picture - so this seems pointless, i mean, there are still black bars( so how does this help plasma owners?)...just slim ones between the picture and the grey.

Any thoughts? 8300HD STB/DVR fwiw.

I just posted this in its own thread, but I'd say it's applicable here as well. I'll repost in case it helps anyone out!

I bought a Sharp LC-32DA5U a couple weeks ago after reading nothing but great reviews about the picture quality of Sharp's LCD line. After configuring it to my taste, I have to say I agree with the reviewers. The picture is stunning: like looking out a window. Only one drawback: every now and then when transitioning abruptly from very bright to very dark material, I would notice what appeared to be a gamma shift in the blacks, where they would briefly appear as dark gray before resolving to black. I would see the same issue when very bright and very dark material were displayed at the same time. It was most noticable during programs or commercials with the black sidebars: when the broadcast content was very bright (white), the sidebars would go dark gray before turning black again.

I called Sharp tech support, and after being transferred around a few times, they told me this did not indicate a defect with the display, but was a side effect of the content being broadcast. This placated me until I saw the same thing watching DVDs, suggesting the shift was not contained in the broadcast signal. With the DVD, I could advance frame by frame so I could more easily observe what was happening. When I transitioned from one very bright white frame (closeup of waves crashing on the beach) to a frame with deep black (jungle), the dark portions of the second frame appeared momentarily gray before again resolving to black. In this case, I was able to observe the shift taking place on a static frame, so it could not have been encoded in the source material.

I was very close to returning the monitor, which I absolutely did not want to do because I was otherwise extremely pleased with it. I knew that what I was seeing was not correct, but Sharp support seemed unable to understand what I was describing, or to help me mitigate the problem. I also could not find the answers online anywhere.

OK, short story long: I finally figured what was causing this problem and managed to fix it. When I was initially calibrating my display, I had turned on the Black Level Expansion option under Advanced display settings. I liked the way it made blacks blacker and deeper. On a whim, I decided to turn this option off: BINGO! The problem went away. And I was able to approximate the deep black effect it had created by manipulating my Contrast and Brightness settings anyway. Now I LOVE the display unequivocally and unconditionally.

So I just wanted to post this little bit of information here, in case other Sharp owners are experiencing this gamma shift in high-contrast material and are unable to find answers. In fact there is one: TURN OFF BLACK LEVEL EXPANSION. Hope this helps others!

MiddKid, again great info.

i see that many Sony owners are sharing their settings and i'd like to reopen the discussion of what people have set their Aquos to and for what sources. as i've noted before, i tried Kid Red's settings on two different Aqui and i get similar good results except that i tend to prefer the flat level CMS settings. the green on the field looks a bit off to me if i use his settings although on my 2nd Aquos, the whites are pure with these CMS values as flat or using Kid Red'ssettings.

anyway, for the record, i'm currently using:

backlight -3
contrast +17
brightness +1
color -7
tint +1
sharpness 0

this is all for component cables from an HD STB from Comcast in the SF Bay Area.

i've calibrated the colors using a SuperCal on my Powerbook G4 via DVI for the few DVDs i've watched so i only have backlight, contrast, brightness settings which are (-3, +18,+2, respectively). i did find that according to the THX optimizer that a setting as high as +35 or so still allowed differentiation of the "white tones," nevertheless, i preferred the look of a slightly lower setting as not to give the blinding whites that tire my eyes. (whites are still very good and bright, IMHO, at the +18 level).

interesting of note: on the THX optimizer, i do see the level of blacks this LCD is capable of vs our non HDTV Sony Wega CRT. on the Aquos, i can't really make out the THX shadow box (as the help menu suggests happens on some screens) and i see about 7-8 gray levels. on our CRT, there are 10 gray levels discernable and the i can pick out the shadow box with ease. i look forward to the day that there is a technology that can match the black levels and detail of a CRT, the brightness of a LCD, the fast response of a CRT, has no burn in issues and the slim profile of a LCD/Plasma .

nevertheless, i'm pleased with my Aquos purchsae. it gives really lovely pictures and i've already used it once to show a slide show to friends of our trip to Glacier Natl Park last summer. it was a great show and convinced me that i made the right choice to buy it now while i could still the get the DVI port even if i didn't get the 12 ms response of the new models or the cheaper and ever falling prices.

Thanks for the settings Kid Red. I've had a 32D5U for a few months and have not been happy. Now, it looks marvelous. Thanks again.

PatrickTX - i've exchanged other conversations with Kid Red beyond the green CMS values. do you use a Brightness down at -5 too? maybe that's ok with DVDs? he agreed with me that +1 is more like it for normal lighting conditions. if it's set that low for my HD watching experiences, the blacks and dark details get squashed into nothing.

PatrickTX - i've exchanged other conversations with Kid Red beyond the green CMS values. do you use a Brightness down at -5 too? maybe that's ok with DVDs? he agreed with me that +1 is more like it for normal lighting conditions. if it's set that low for my HD watching experiences, the blacks and dark details get squashed into nothing.

Agree on the #1 brightness. Face to Face is on HDNET right now. The brightness test works great with dark suit lapels. The lapels are not visible at anything under 0. Thanks!

I'm glad I was able to help some of you guys. The Sharp, given a ton of options, is hard to tweak for the average guy.

I have my brightness around 0, +1 and backlight around -4 or -5. The reason is I think, that some broadcasts have different levels of blackness, gamma, whatever. Watching Two Men and a Baby (or whatever) is fine, then watching Rome things get really dark. Then, throw in day light and dark room viewing and the settings will shift. OPC is indeed a good thing, you just need to start with a good beginning, and tweak 'slightly' to likeness from there. What you think you like, and what you should learn to accept as being accurate may be far apart.

middkid- I was about to suggest turning off black level expansion.

Kid Red-

again, you sharing your settings after calibration was very generous. (and good to see we are also on the same page for brightness now :)

i think OPC is decent, but because of the way my light comes in the room in the day and how i have my lamp at night, i find it overly bright during the day and a bit dark at night. being lazy and choosing -3 has turned out well for me.

among other settings, have you explored the "film mode" option to autodetect 24 fps. do you use that? any other settings beyond the color/CMS/ settings you can recommend?

anyone else? :)

Thanks for all the great info, guys.

Has anyone else had an issue with extreme "red push" with their Aquos? With my overall color setting at -6, I had to bring my red SATURATION down to -10 and also go to +6 on my red HUE to get a bit more yellow in the fleshtones.

Anyone else seeing this problem?

My settings are
backlight -3
contrast +20
brightness +1
color -6
hue 0
sharpness -6

Thanks for all the great info, guys.

Has anyone else had an issue with extreme "red push" with their Aquos? With my overall color setting at -6, I had to bring my red SATURATION down to -10 and also go to +6 on my red HUE to get a bit more yellow in the fleshtones.

Anyone else seeing this problem?

My settings are
backlight -3
contrast +20
brightness +1
color -6
hue 0
sharpness -6

I feel there is red push also and have had to use similar settings to dstay22. I also made adjustments to the cyan and magenta. The cyan looked turquoise which means there is probably some green push also.

I noticed that making color adjustments using the CMS causes color noise (looks like the colors are moving even on a static image) on analog signals. I don't have a digital signal input into the display yet so I'm not sure if this will clear up on DVI or HDMI feeds. If this doesn't clear up on digital feeds it will be an annoyance. Anyone else experience this?

Also, I found that when using the CMS it is pretty easy to match the ideal colors (RYGCBM) by using the color swatches (next to the letters) in the menu. They do not change during adjustment and I was able to eyeball them pretty well. I am dying to calibrate using AVIA and DVE.

I had my Sharp ISF calibrated a few days ago and found out 0 is the zero point for sharpness. Anything below zero (-1, -2, etc) introduces softness around the test pattern. So, leave it at zero.

Mine were

Back -4
contrast +20
brightness -5
color -7
tint +1
sharp 0
color temp -medium low
CMSHUE- y +3, g -18
CMSSaturation g +30
CMS Value g+27

I got the Sharp Aquos LC-37D7U. It is hooked up to DirecTV (not HD).

Been absolutely unsatisfied with the color, etc.

Tried these settings and still no better than before.

Any suggestions.

(picture looks washed out and grainy).

I got the Sharp Aquos LC-37D7U. It is hooked up to DirecTV (not HD).

Been absolutely unsatisfied with the color, etc.

Tried these settings and still no better than before.

Any suggestions.

(picture looks washed out and grainy).
My personal recommendation is to use your own settings. Using a THX optimizer on a DVD will suffice for a first pass. When you set the display use standard (0)backlighting and once you have set the contrast and brightness then you can fiddle with the backlight depending on the ambient lighting conditions.

If you are trying to adjust the color of the SD material I would use the old flesh tone trick for a first pass. All of the stations are different but pick the best looking and then adjust the parameters to make flesh tones look natural. I noticed that my 32" needed a large amount of desaturation of the red tones (to correct for red push). I did this through the CMS in the advanced menus. If you don't have this option do the best you can using the tint control but this is a suboptimal solution.

I am relatively pleased with how well the display looks now for SD and upconverted DVD's but IMHO the Aquos will still need calibration to look its best. I wish Sharp would correct the color decoder problems because they look awful out of the box.

All LCD's have the WOW factor in the store when they are set to "VIVD" but none of use really watch TV like that or we would burn out our retinas. Don't give up on the Sharp just yet because it is a good display once tweaked.

We watch with "vivid" and thoroughly enjoy it. Several of my friends do as well. Of course we watch under normal lighting conditions. Also after several calibrations I have found the default settings to be very close to what we like. Just personal preference though. SD is also very good on this set.

My personal recommendation is to use your own settings. Using a THX optimizer on a DVD will suffice for a first pass. When you set the display use standard (0)backlighting and once you have set the contrast and brightness then you can fiddle with the backlight depending on the ambient lighting conditions.

If you are trying to adjust the color of the SD material I would use the old flesh tone trick for a first pass. All of the stations are different but pick the best looking and then adjust the parameters to make flesh tones look natural. I noticed that my 32" needed a large amount of desaturation of the red tones (to correct for red push). I did this through the CMS in the advanced menus. If you don't have this option do the best you can using the tint control but this is a suboptimal solution.

I am relatively pleased with how well the display looks now for SD and upconverted DVD's but IMHO the Aquos will still need calibration to look its best. I wish Sharp would correct the color decoder problems because they look awful out of the box.

All LCD's have the WOW factor in the store when they are set to "VIVD" but none of use really watch TV like that or we would burn out our retinas. Don't give up on the Sharp just yet because it is a good display once tweaked.


I'm really starting to feel less like a novice and more like a dunce!

I ordered the AVIA dvd (hasn't come yet) and haven't a clue of the THX optimizer. Is this another calibration disc?

I'm not giving up on the Sharp, just frustrated trying to get this to a point where it looks better than a CRT.

Vivid? Where is this setting in the Sharp menu?

I'm really starting to feel less like a novice and more like a dunce!

I ordered the AVIA dvd (hasn't come yet) and haven't a clue of the THX optimizer. Is this another calibration disc?

I'm not giving up on the Sharp, just frustrated trying to get this to a point where it looks better than a CRT.

Vivid? Where is this setting in the Sharp menu?

It is a button on the remote.

I don't see a single button on the Sharp remote that says "vivid."

I don't see a single button on the Sharp remote that says "vivid."
I have the d5u and yours is pretty much same tv as mine but I believe your speaker is on the bottom of the tv. I don't no of vivid mode and this would be news to me and also helpful from someone that knows. I don't know if you've tried the a/v mode button when you flip open the lid right below the favorite buttons. When in setup mode (picture) you can adjust the different modes fixed, dynamic, etc. I wanted to tell you not to give up on your set. My SD is totally acceptable and HD is great. IMO I believe its a great set.

I have the d5u and yours is pretty much same tv as mine but I believe your speaker is on the bottom of the tv. I don't no of vivid mode and this would be news to me and also helpful from someone that knows. I don't know if you've tried the a/v mode button when you flip open the lid right below the favorite buttons. When in setup mode (picture) you can adjust the different modes fixed, dynamic, etc. I wanted to tell you not to give up on your set. My SD is totally acceptable and HD is great. IMO I believe its a great set.

Speaker on bottom, no vivid button.

Mine:

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvpics/lcd/sharp_d7u.jpg

Speaker on bottom, no vivid button.I think they mean what oldcband mentioned, the "AV Mode" button that cycles through different picture modes. On many brands/models of TV one of these modes is called "vivid." The Sharp doesn't have one by that name, though (at least my 37D5U doesn't), so perhaps there is some confusion...

i think it may be dynamic? (i'm not near my aquos, so i can't see, but there is something like dynamic, movie, sports, standard, and user 1?)

dynamic=vivid

I didn't mean to confuse the issue. Since you are getting the Avia Calibration disc you should be fine... it is more complete than the THX optimizer (which is included in the setup section of many commercial DVD's like Toy Story, Indy Jones, etc.).

A side note, if you are expecting this to be a better picture than a CRT I am sorry to say it won't happen. CRT's are far better than LCD or Plasmas but they are limited in size. If I had a room where I didn't need to hang my television I would have bought the Sony KD-34XBR960 34" HDTV. The beast weighs in at 200 lbs but it has a gorgeous picture.

Another thing to consider is professional calibration which I am beginning to think is a must for almost any television these days. They will analyze and tweak your display to be the best that it can be. This is no guarantee that the picture will be perfect though since it is dependent on the tweakability of the display. To look for a certified calibrator try imagingscience.com.

[QUOTE=hypaspazz]
A side note, if you are expecting this to be a better picture than a CRT I am sorry to say it won't happen. CRT's are far better than LCD or Plasmas but they are limited in size. If I had a room where I didn't need to hang my television I would have bought the Sony KD-34XBR960 34" HDTV. The beast weighs in at 200 lbs but it has a gorgeous picture.

This has been debated many many times and there are strong feelings on both sides, however from a personal point of view, having had a variety of CRT's including a 36" Sony XBR which I considered one of the best, I have found that a good plasma or LCD with good internal scalers and properly calibrated ( I don't mean necessarily by a technician), will deliver what I consider to be a better picture than a CRT. Some talk about CRT's but a lot of the time they are talking about smaller sets and of course we know that helps with the picture.

By the way I have the KD-34XBR that you are referring to and although it has a very good picture, the PQ of my LCD and plasmas are better in my opinion.

I just received my 32DA5U in the mail yesterday and am excited to play around with it. I also have the Avia calibrations disk, I will post me settings when I am finished.

Best,
Chad

With so many people using the Avia disc or some other calibration disc, maybe I'll ask a question again that no one had a comment on in another thread I tried: Has anyone used a DVD player connected by component inputs with one of these calibration discs? If I use a player with a 0 IRE black level (normal for component) on the component inputs, then anything darker than a certain level is shown as black. For instance, the Avia disc has a test pattern for setting black level - it has two dark gray bars on a black background. You're supposed to set the brightness to the lowest level at which these are visible. However, no matter how much I turn up the brightness, the bars never become visible. Even when I turn it up so that black becomes gray, the bars are apparently shown as just the same shade of gray, so you can't see them.

I found a reference to this exact problem in a review of the 45" Sharp, so I'm thinking this may be a design problem that's present on all their models - has anyone seen this?

Do u guys know how to get rid of analog channels? In order to get TV guide, I had to split the OTA connection to analog air and now I see bunch of analog channels that I want to get rid of.

Do u guys know how to get rid of analog channels? In order to get TV guide, I had to split the OTA connection to analog air and now I see bunch of analog channels that I want to get rid of.

Some receivers will let you do this.

Do u guys know how to get rid of analog channels? In order to get TV guide, I had to split the OTA connection to analog air and now I see bunch of analog channels that I want to get rid of.
Go into the TVGOS channel editor and you should be able to turn individual channels off. The Channel Editor is the 2nd option under Setup.

k. will do that. thanks Jim.

How do you get into the CMS settings?

How do you get into the CMS settings?

If it helps, I have the LC-32DA5U

Chad-

choose Advanced under the video setttings menu, then you'll be able to fine tune saturation/hue/value for the six different colors.

Chad-

i think that the CMS settings are gone in this next generation of models (which i _think_ includes the DA5U)

if i'm wrong, then...

choose Advanced under the video setttings menu, then you'll be able to fine tune saturation/hue/value for the six different colors.

Chad-

i think that the CMS settings are gone in this next generation of models (which i _think_ includes the DA5U)

if i'm wrong, then...

choose Advanced under the video setttings menu, then you'll be able to fine tune saturation/hue/value for the six different colors.


Derek, I think you are right regarding being able to access the CMS settings int he current generation. That being said, can I assume that there is no way to adjust the different colors besides choosin how 'warm' or 'cool' the picture is?

Thanks for everyone's help.

I have a lc-32da5u and it has a red hue to it. Has anyone calibrarted this new generation of aquos and really likes their settings? If so please pass them along. Thanks



**think 4th dimensionally**

Does any have both OTA and Satellite/Cable feed going into the Analog Air input? I had to do this get TV guide along with getting my Dish Network feed. Problem is that now I get TV guide but it took out Analog channel 22 for me, which used to show Satellite! When I manually press 22, it shows 22.1, which is not the same! Any out there with similar issue?

Biff and Chad,

if you can't tweak the CMS settings, my own experience says (granted, with the last generation)

back off on the color setting (-7), and bump the tint a touch to get a little bit back into the face colors (+1), and then, if you still have control of the white balance (is this in the advanced menu?), play with the color temps. for my "no CMS adjustments." i found medium (this will cool off the red's as well that Biff notes) just about right although i now prefer medium-low with my continually being tweaked CMS settings (i'm getting closer, but still not sure i have what i like for my HD viewing).

hope this gets you started. you can search the threads for other setttings. i think there is some set-to-set variability, so you will likely need to fine tune these even further.

definitely back off on those brightness/contrast/backlight controls. do a search and you'll find some nice discussions on how to do this. for me, i set brightness at +1, contrast at around +20, sharpness at +0 (less than softens things too much, bigger, creates edge artificacts)...after you've done all your setting, then choose your backlight accordingly. ie, don't adjust brightness to accomodate your room's lightings...adjust the backlight if and when you need to compensate for the sun, lights, or lack thereof.

good luck.

Here's my deal, with hope for help from the Informed—

I've hooked up a SA 8300HD to my LC32D5U after abandoning Cablecard and deciding that I wanted DVR to play with. The problems:

When I use a regular componant cable (Red/White/Yellow), the tv recognizes the cablebox and I can use the smart stretch feature, TVGOS, etc. The SD picture looks alright, a little pixilated maybe, BUT the HD picture looks AWFUL.

When I connect using the cable that TWC gave me (red/blue/green///red/white), the tv won't read "cablebox" but recognizes a componant. HD looks completely brilliant just like it should, but SD looks garish and it seems like none of my carefully chosen (Avia) calibration settings are being used. Also, the formerly black bars on the side of 4:3 content are bright grey, the picture is slightly off center, and I can't use any of my TV's view mode options (like smart stretch). TVGOS is completely out.

I'm using my HDMI connection for my DVD player, so that's not an option, I don't think.

Please help this newbie figure out how best to set up my equipment—
Thanks, and cheers!

Firespinner,

I don't have a HDMI display but do have the 8300HD. I think the HDMI is best utilized with true hi-def signal from HD Cable box rather than 480p DVD upscaled. DVD on either input must be upscaled, HD on cable doesn't need to be, just side converted. I would suggest using Cable box on HDMI and DVD on component allowing full use of HDMI. Then set the cable box to output all formats (put dot next to each output format in cable box menu) letting the TV scale everything to it's native display format. I'm sure the TV has a better scaler than the Cable box. I know my 8300HD scaling 480i/480p to 1080i for my tv sux. Hope this is useful to you.

Does any have both OTA and Satellite/Cable feed going into the Analog Air input? I had to do this get TV guide along with getting my Dish Network feed. Problem is that now I get TV guide but it took out Analog channel 22 for me, which used to show Satellite! When I manually press 22, it shows 22.1, which is not the same! Any out there with similar issue?

Firespinner,

I don't have a HDMI display but do have the 8300HD. I think the HDMI is best utilized with true hi-def signal from HD Cable box rather than 480p DVD upscaled. DVD on either input must be upscaled, HD on cable doesn't need to be, just side converted. I would suggest using Cable box on HDMI and DVD on component allowing full use of HDMI. Then set the cable box to output all formats (put dot next to each output format in cable box menu) letting the TV scale everything to it's native display format. I'm sure the TV has a better scaler than the Cable box. I know my 8300HD scaling 480i/480p to 1080i for my tv sux. Hope this is useful to you.

Thanks for the tip! I set the 8300 for all outputs, and the picture is better all around. The only glich now is that when I turn from an SD channel to an HD one, there is a strange scramble/fuzz/thing that happens on the screen while it switches over the signal format. Do you experience this?

The only glich now is that when I turn from an SD channel to an HD one, there is a strange scramble/fuzz/thing that happens on the screen while it switches over the signal format. Do you experience this?

Yes, it's the cable box switching between the native formats. It's the price for a better all around picture. To some it's not worth it. For me it is for a better picture for each format my tv will display (my tv converts 480i/480p to 540p & 720p to 1080i and 1080i natively). The cable boxes conversion of 480i/480p to 1080i looks worse on my tv than the tv converting 480i/480p to 540p. It's personal choice I guess. You may prefer letting the box do the scaling to avoid the "strange scramble/fuzz/thing:. :)

Yes, it's the cable box switching between the native formats. It's the price for a better all around picture. To some it's not worth it. For me it is for a better picture for each format my tv will display (my tv converts 480i/480p to 540p & 720p to 1080i and 1080i natively). The cable boxes conversion of 480i/480p to 1080i looks worse on my tv than the tv converting 480i/480p to 540p. It's personal choice I guess. You may prefer letting the box do the scaling to avoid the "strange scramble/fuzz/thing:. :)

It's defo worth it to weather the fuzz thing between channels for the overall MUCH better picture with all output options chosen. Thanks again for the great tip! Someday, someone will think of including instructions with these things...

Hi, thanks for the informative posts. I have a LC-26U6D, it sucks that the pictures always looks so dark. It appears I have to go through a lot of set ups to make a picture acceptable. Are the settings good for all sources or do I have to set them for all inputs?

Btw, does you guys' sharp LCD have HDMI input? I thought when an input was not connected to any source, the input menu of that choice is off, however, my HDMI input (input 4) is selectable even though I do not have a source connected. Is this something wrong? For other inputs when there are not source connected, they are shown in the list as grayed out which makes sense.

Dear Firespinner,

I cannot set the cable box to output all formats (put dot next to each output format in cable box menu). Do you know where is the cable box menu you talked about?

Thank you very much!


Firespinner,

I don't have a HDMI display but do have the 8300HD. I think the HDMI is best utilized with true hi-def signal from HD Cable box rather than 480p DVD upscaled. DVD on either input must be upscaled, HD on cable doesn't need to be, just side converted. I would suggest using Cable box on HDMI and DVD on component allowing full use of HDMI. Then set the cable box to output all formats (put dot next to each output format in cable box menu) letting the TV scale everything to it's native display format. I'm sure the TV has a better scaler than the Cable box. I know my 8300HD scaling 480i/480p to 1080i for my tv sux. Hope this is useful to you.

sunjialin,

If you have the SA8300HD cable box than it depends wether yours has the SARA software or the Pioneer ECHO software. I have no idea where the output format option is on the SARA software but on the Pioneer ECHO software press settings then A, scroll down to Output formats, press Right Arrow and click select/ok next to each format.

Thanks Daryl. I guess mine is SARA. I chose "pass through" in the Picture Format setting.

Now I can choose stretch mode on my Sharp remote. However, I still cannot control my Closed Caption (CC) on the Sharp remote. Do you know why?

thanks a lot!

sunjialin,

If you have the SA8300HD cable box than it depends wether yours has the SARA software or the Pioneer ECHO software. I have no idea where the output format option is on the SARA software but on the Pioneer ECHO software press settings then A, scroll down to Output formats, press Right Arrow and click select/ok next to each format.

However, I still cannot control my Closed Caption (CC) on the Sharp remote. Do you know why?

thanks a lot!

Sorry but no, I don't know about CC function. And passthrough on SARA software does the same as selecting all outputs on the ECHO software, perfect choice.

CC- should work on any station that is doing 480i pass through. (at least that's my experience with the Motorola box that Comcast provides)

Any one have any suggestions on what wall mounts are best, where to get them, what prices are good, and what you think on the ones that can be extended and twisted and all that good stuff? Look to get this puppy on the wall.


**Think 4th Dimensionally**

Any one have any suggestions on what wall mounts are best, where to get them, what prices are good, and what you think on the ones that can be extended and twisted and all that good stuff? Look to get this puppy on the wall.


**Think 4th Dimensionally**
I plan on mounting my 37d5u and I know a little about Chief mounts and they are very nice. But what I wanted to say is my logic say's go overkill and as heavy duty as you can. Reason is if you decide to put another tv on it some day it might weigh more than the one you have now. Just have to change the adapter plate. I'd say don't get cheap on it and I also plan on a articulating style. Also I'd like to get some suggestions too.

FWIW, i went simple on my mount (i was mounting it close to eye level -- slightly above, but 9 ft away), so i didn't need tilting. i bought the Sanus fixed mount for $69. it gives a very close to the wall (only 0.5" away), mounts on one stud, but is quite buff and is supposed to support up to 80 lbs (the 32" aquos is only 35 lbs or so). i'm quite happy with it. that being said, if you have tons of cables, this close of a fit, may be problematic as i think i will be at my "cable limit" for that small spacing with 5 hefty component/audio cables, a bulky DVI cable, and RG-6 coax, the power cable, one thin stereo-mini cable (goes with the DVI) and one HDMI cable coming down the wall from one location on the back of the panel. of course, if you feed things into a hole in the wall, then, the tightness of this mount may be a non-issue. i've simply run mine down the wall and wrapped it with a piece of cloth painted the same color as my wall.

anyway, for the cheap, i'm pretty happy with my mount: plenty strong enough, it mounts the panel close to the wall, was easy to install, and the price was reasonable (some mounts cost up to $400!).

FWIW, i went simple on my mount (i was mounting it close to eye level -- slightly above, but 9 ft away), so i didn't need tilting. i bought the Sanus fixed mount for $69. it gives a very close to the wall (only 0.5" away), mounts on one stud, but is quite buff and is supposed to support up to 80 lbs (the 32" aquos is only 35 lbs or so). i'm quite happy with it. that being said, if you have tons of cables, this close of a fit, may be problematic as i think i will be at my "cable limit" for that small spacing with 5 hefty component/audio cables, a bulky DVI cable, and RG-6 coax, the power cable, one thin stereo-mini cable (goes with the DVI) and one HDMI cable coming down the wall from one location on the back of the panel. of course, if you feed things into a hole in the wall, then, the tightness of this mount may be a non-issue. i've simply run mine down the wall and wrapped it with a piece of cloth painted the same color as my wall.

anyway, for the cheap, i'm pretty happy with my mount: plenty strong enough, it mounts the panel close to the wall, was easy to install, and the price was reasonable (some mounts cost up to $400!).
I have the same sanus mount and ran all the cables behind the wall. Whats the point of having a wall mounted tv to see the cables hanging down? It's not that difficult to hide the wires.

I have the same sanus mount and ran all the cables behind the wall. Whats the point of having a wall mounted tv to see the cables hanging down? It's not that difficult to hide the wires.

reasons:

1. laziness. :)

2. fire code requires that power cables be done in a special fashion and i'd rather not bother. if i were going to hide the communication cables, i'd want to hide the others as well.

3. but, for my particular application, only 5 inches of cable are visible from my panel since the rest of their view is obstructed by my audio rack, starting with my turntable. so rather than using a raceway or wire conduit, i did my quick and dirty solution as above. from the couch and door, you really can't notice that anything is there. the reason i mounted my LCD actually was not to hide the wires, but rather to get the screen up and out of the way.

4. granted, this is my house...but if i were renting, i'd certainly restrain from fishing wires into the wall. hiding lag bolt holes is one thing, but wire holes big enough to fit a power connector end, etc is a bit more challenging.

in any case, back on topic: it's a great mount and looks quite clean (in spite of my 5 inch stretch of semi-hidden wires :) )

Could someone with a calibrated 45" Sharp post their settings? I tried what people have posted for the 32"-37" and it seems a little dark and all the adjustments in the CMS categories have no effect that I can see.

Thanks

I have a sharp LC-26D6U, it is also very dark, the only way is to push the backlight to the max -- the factory setting. However, the LCD is rated 60,000 hours at std backlight which means is not good to leave the backlight at max. Should have gotten the sony which at all the stores always appear to be brighter. *sigh*

I did an Avia calibration, and the dark factor was reduced quite a lot on my 32D5U. I keep the backlight at the [std] setting, right in the middle, though lately I've been experimenting with the automatic adjustment deal that the tv can do. I honestly don't see it as making that much of a diff.
You might also make sure that the color temp. for your tv is set at the lowest (reddest) setting. Factory sets it middle to high (blue) so that it will pop in the showroom (which also explains why the Sony looked so bright at the store. It was pumping out blue light at max brightness--don't regret your choice, the Sony at that setting would have looked completely garish in your living room, and you would have had to turn it down.).
Good luck!

hey thanks Firespinner, I didn't know the color temp can do the trick. Your right, I kept my backlight even at -1 and lower the color temp, increase the contrast and the tv looked bighter. I also lowered the brightness. Weird.

So the contrast is for white, and brightness is for black?

talez,

glad things are getting better for you.

yes, brightness is for black. you can find this discussed extensively in other threads, but bottom line is to find the level of black which maximizes contrast and doesn't just simply make blacks bright gray. a good way to test is to find some material that is 4:3 so that you can compare dark objects with the "black bars" on the sides where there is not image. there should be no difference between the two. commercials work well for this IMHO.

whites are harder (contrast), but same thing applies, you want to set it low enough to pick up different shades of white but high enough that you maximize dynamic range.

i use either med low for my setting without any CMS tweaks. but for use medium for my CMS adjusted settings (which i'm still working on trying to optimize)

Thanks Derek, I guess I'm just tired of tweaking it. :D I just want it to work. Too many other things to do.

Thanks Derek, I guess I'm just tired of tweaking it. :D I just want it to work. Too many other things to do.

i hear you! i've pretty happy with my settings now but my anal retentive side keeps me revisiting the CMS settings from time to time. overall, i think the picture on the Aquos is gorgeous. i'm just fine tuning my green levels a touch.

Any anyone answer my Q below?


Does any have both OTA and Satellite/Cable feed going into the Analog Air input? I had to do this get TV guide along with getting my Dish Network feed. Problem is that now I get TV guide but it took out Analog channel 22 for me, which used to show Satellite! When I manually press 22, it shows 22.1, which is not the same! Any out there with similar issue?

So, after finally getting a DVD player (Panasonic S77) to go with my month old Aquos, i bit the bullet and decided to spend a few bucks picking up a calibration DVD. after a lot of searching, i managed to turn up a copy of Digital Video Essentials (DVE) at Borders...with a 30% coupon, not a bad deal for $17. anyway, i digress.

wow! what a difference a few small adjustments can make. i now see the value in calibrating systematically as opposed to by eye or using someone else's calibrations*.

[* i tried Kid Red's ISF calibrations and in spite the fact that we have the same set, there must be enough variance between sets that they don't always have the same calibration or exact settings coming from the factory...while his numbers worked well overall, i always found his greens a bit too punchy and flourescent; most of the time this wasn't obvious, but when i saw a gatorade cup on the field, it looked sort of unrealistic...i confirmed this when i finished a workout the other day and saw a cup lying in the trash..its a bright green ,but not as bright as i was seeing on my screen.

anyway, i first used the color/tint as suggested by the DVE DVD to get the blue filter almost perfect, but then my red and green filters weren't quite right. the intensities weren't bad, but the colors didn't match up well through those filters. so, i fiddled (non-systematically...anyone have a good tip on using the CMS knobs systematically) with several hue and few value/saturation knobs) and managed to get my blue,red,green filters to all look almost perfectly ideal according to what is shown on the DVD. the only thing i couldn't get to be "ideal/perfect" was the fact that my "black areas" (ideally) are not all black for my green filter. my magenta square is a dark navy blue and my blue square is every so slightly dark gray and not quite black like the adjacent square. all other "black squares" are black for my red and blue filters. if someone knows how to fix this little remaining issue using CMS settings, or how to use CMS settings systematically, i'd love to hear how to do it (please PM if appropriate or respond to my query in the following thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=600172

)

anyway, i'll try to remember to jot my numbers down when at home and post them here tomorrow to see if they help others. without CMS settings, i ended up with basic settings of: (from memory)

contrast +16, brightness +1, backlight -3, color -12, tint -4, color temp mid-low, sharpness -3

(again, i also tweaked CMS values a lot, so you may want to wait until i can post all of those numbers to go with it. OTOH, as i note: caveat -- i think calibration may vary from set to set given the different numbers i've seen posted. the only common thread i've seen is that most of these Aquos settings look atrocious and cartoon like out of the box)

note: the above numbers are all set using the HDMI input fed by my Panasonic S77 with its brightness set to +1 (everything else flat or off)...using this i get "blacker than black" and great shadow detail on DVDs...something i didn't think was previously possible from this LCD panel. also, i did find the -3 sharpness setting perfect for DVDs, but soft for my HD feed. i use sharpness of 0 for my HD feed [see more below about using this calibration for my HD feed]

But what really struck me was the fact that these calibrations worked well too for my Comcast HD STB being fed by Component. the DVE disc led me to believe that HD and NTSC (DVD falls under this standard too, right?) use slightly different color spaces. perhaps they are, but this calibration from my HDMI/DVD input carried over nicely to my HD feed. i finally have the greens right (i think!)...i never could tell regarding the grass on the different football/baseball fields, but the proof to me was seeing the gatorade paper cups on the sidelines. they now look natural, not as glowing as i had with my previous calibrations (by eye or using Kid Red's ISF numbers).

my wife commented after i was done how things looked incredibly natural now. it's funny. perhaps my previous eye tweaking and using Kid Red's settings looked "stunning" at times and very good, but sometimes in an unrealistic way. but now that i've used the DVE calibration, things look very natural and i'm starting to "get" that window effect that people often talk about or what is supposed to happen following the "steaming rat" method.

i'm sure an ISF calibration for my set would be even better, but since that's beyond my budget, the $17 and few hours spent with DVE were well worth it in my circumstance. highly recommended. (yes, it's perhaps not the most user friendly DVD in terms of title/chapter structure, but the explanations on what to do for basic calibrations is very clear and well laid out along with the use of the three color filters)

anyway, i hope this motivates some of you to spend a few hours and few bucks on your Aquos to get it looking its best (or nearly it's best. i'm sure a qualified calibrator could do better, but at $400 or so, that's too rich for me!)

finally, thanks for all the help i've received from this forum in the last few months. i've learned tons and hope that i can give something back as time goes on.

so in order to use the three color filters, you have to use the CMS? Is CMS accessible through the remote control? Or do you have to open up the TV and use a screw driver?

Derek please post your settings. I still haven't gotten around to buying the DVE or AVIA disk but i think that would help a lot.

so in order to use the three color filters, you have to use the CMS? Is CMS accessible through the remote control? Or do you have to open up the TV and use a screw driver?

HeHe, good questions. For basic Color and Tint adjustments you can use the blue filter with the color and tint test patterns on Avia, Video Essentials, Digital Video Essentials or Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up calibration discs. If you want to adjust any red, blue, green push you would want to use the red, blue and green filters with Digital Video Essentials or Avia's color decoder test patterns with Sharps C.M.S setting in Menu>Picture>Advanced>C.M.S-Hue, Saturation or Value. No screwdriver required. :) When making red/blue/green color adjustments I'm still uncertain which advaced adjustment should be used, C.M.S Hue or C.M.S Saturation or C.M.S Value but I've got a pretty good feeling it's C.M.S Saturation. But I'm probably wrong. ;)

I know Im going to probably get flamed for this post but ah... why not :)

I baught a LC37db5u and found it very hard to get the right colors also.
I got it to look pretty good based on the postings in this forum however I was never happy with the look of the picture in dark scenes.. just looked flat and cold.

I decided to return my beloved sharp for a Panny th42px50 and got to say the picture seems so much more alive esp in dark scenes.

Good luck to all of you!

hi all,

as promised, here are now my settings i derived from my S77 and the DVE disc using HDMI connection). Again, my disclaimer is that i'm pretty confident that there is set to set variation in color push since settings posted by others, with special note to KidRed's ISF calibration numbers which i thought looked very good except for a green push on my set, didn't give quite the picture i now have...

Backlight -3 [ something i've always stuck with from day 1 for lighting conditions in my room]
Brightness +1
Contrast +15
Color -12
Tint -4
Sharp -3
CMS Hue: y+10, g-2,c+5,m+6
CMS Sat: all zero
CMS Value: y+2, g+5,r+3,b+7,m+2
color temp: mid-low
black expansion: off

for comcast HD box: same settings except sharpness 0

these settings look wonderful on DVDs and my HD feed from my Comcast STD box using component. since i have no other way to calibrate the HD box, this is probably a good starting point. as i note above, i did readjust the sharpness to 0 for my HD feed as things looked too smoothed on the HD feed using -3. but for movies, i think the charts in DVE led me correctly to the proper setting for the Panny S77. 0 leads to overenhancement of edges, while -3 gives a very natural image without losing detail.

you can see i didn't tweak the saturation numbers at all. i got all the "boxes"/bands to match in the filters using these numbers and i mainly used hue and value to tweak things for the final red/green filters

as i've noted elsewhere, i do have one "imperfection" in my test patterns. for the green filter, my magenta and blue squares aren't quite black. the former shows up as a dark navy blue and the blue is a very dark gray. all other "theoretical black squares" are jet black on both this filter and blue/red filters.

anyway, hope this helps. i think i'm "close" to done...i am trying to visit the "steaming rat method" (search if you are interested) and some playing last night led me to think that my calibrations are close enough...if i were to correct anything, i "might" tweak the color down to as low as -15...but i'm still unsure if that gives more realistic flesh tones for some and makes other people overly pale or whether i'm now in the noise level of how different make up artists work.

feel free to ask questions. again, i don't vouch for these numbers working on your set. i highly recommend you to spend the money to get avia or DVE. i got the latter because that was the only thing available locally. i liked it and the price was right (had a 30% off coupon for Borders) i didn't think it was as "anti-user" friendly as some people reported it to be...but accessing titles wasn't too hard on my player (the Panny S77...just hit the display button and up and down arrow that category).

Derek, what is your Brightness setting?

Jim, sorry, i just edited my post: +1 for brightness. (also +1 as well on S77 DVD player)

Jim, sorry, i just edited my post: +1 for brightness. (also +1 as well on S77 DVD player)Derek

I find that my initial settings (by eye) are relatively close with yours. Using component with my SA-8300HD I have:

backlight std
brightness -1
contrast +20
color -9
tint +1
sharpness +2
cms hue all 0
cms sat red -5 rest 0
cms value all 0
color temp - mid-low
black-off

Tonight I will connect my S77 to my Aquos D7U and tweak with DVE and see if my settings get closer to yours or further. I will also try your settings to see how it looks.

Derek

I find that my initial settings (by eye) are relatively close with yours. Using component with my SA-8300HD I have:

Tonight I will connect my S77 to my Aquos D7U and tweak with DVE and see if my settings get closer to yours or further. I will also try your settings to see how it looks.
Thanks in advance. i'm guessing that there will be set to set variation as well as model to model variation on how things come out of the factory.

i however will most interested, regardless, on how well you do in getting "black squares" where they ought to be. that issue on my green filters has me wondering if something is up.

i also wonder (haven't tried) if there is any value in leaving the color and tint settings flat and then adjusting only CMS settings. the problem is, of course, that i don't know how to systematically use the CMS settings. i think the color and tint got my blue filter about 90% there, and that subsequent tweaking of the hues and values got me to where i think i am as close to "ideal patterns" for each filters as one could hope to achieve by eye, with the exception of my not purely black magenta and blue squares under the green filter.

I always had difficulty with the DVE green filters no matter what display I was trying to calibrate. We will see with the Aquos.

my apologies! just typing too fast this morning i guess...

i edited my post above, yet again. i was just reviewing the thread and realized i for some reason neglected to put in all my CMS "values" i actually used: i also adjusted the red blue and magenta a smidge as well!

Derek

ps. re: green filters: DVE did comment that they are the toughest to match, but "least important" after blue and red. oh well. i'm sure it can get better, but this is pretty amazing now. i still intend to play with the color a little in the weeks ahead. perhaps try it backed off to -14 or -15 for a week to see how my mind/eye adjusts, etc.

Derek,

Thanks for posting up your settings! I'm going to see how they look on my set tonite. Aside from the color settings (which I haven't touched much) your's are very close to mine as well. Are you running the 32"? I got one from Costco a few weeks back.

-B

biznus97 -- please let us know how they work for you. yes, mine is a 32" and was also purchased from costco about a month ago.

thanks derek for posting your settings.....I also have the same sharp unit, and I will try your settings tonite.

quick question, how's your PQ on SD channels (non-digital) on those settings?

Chase, i haven't mucked with my SD stations yet (don't watch them much). in general (ie, prior to this DVE cali), i have the brightness and contrast lower for those stations as well as the backlight up higher to compensate for this (+1).

i'm reading up on Rich's "polishing a turd" thread and will probably spend some time finely tuning those settings at some point. (i watch SD directly via RF input since it looks better to my eyes than one comes from my comcast supplied Motorola box)

Derek87,

I just ordered the Sharp Aquos LC-26D7U (be here late next week). I already own Avia, Video Essentials and Digital Video Essentials ( :eek: yep, I went calibration crazy in Feb 2000 and Oct 2001 when I bought my first and second HD ready RPTV's). When/If you find out for sure which C.M.S option to adjust R/G/B under (Hue, Saturation or Value) to adjust R/G/B percentage using a color decoder test pattern I'd sure love to know for certain.

I've previously owned a 50" 4x3 HD-ready and 57" 16x9 HD-ready RPTV's but this is my first LCD other than my laptop. So I'm a little excited. Never even seen an LCD in person lol ( :eek: crazy huh?) so I'm praying it isn't a wrong move. I'm following everyones posts here on their adjustments closely. I decided on the 26D7U after finding out the 26" Sammy wasn't QAM capable and eliminated the 26" Sony XBR1 after bluesxtreme's post and screen caps Here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=592801) comparing a Sharp and Sony. If I find out the R/G/B setting I'll post it quick.

Daryl,

if i figure it out emphatically, i'll let you know, but right now , i did it by fiddling mostly with hue to get the tones for each square to match the others for each filter (again, with some minor problems in the green filter) and then i upped levels to get the darknesses/lightness correctly matched. i couldn't get any consistent control of getting matches in the different squares using saturation, so i ended up leaving those alone. that may be the wrong way, but the proof i guess is in my end result, i have pretty uniform green/blue/red filter behavior.

you should note, if it hasn't been clear already, you actually have control of red,green,blue AND cyan,magenta,yellow's hue/saturation/value.

did you find any differences in your prior set between DVE and Avia? i didn't find navigation under DVE all that bad and found it pretty complete.

Hi

Does the AV mode make a difference in the setting? It seems movie mode is always the best.

thanks

I just ordered the Sharp Aquos LC-26D7USame one as I got earlier this week. All I can say is WOW!!. Tried Derek's settings. Was a little too dark for me. Reverted back to my settings. See above #125.

Greg,

did you try my setting with your STD backlight setting? i agree that for some people -3 would be too dark (but my room is very dimly lit or lights are off for movies). i'm curious what you thought about the colors using my settings.

then again, as i suggested above, it is likely that the finer color settings are going to be set-to-set dependent.

anyway, everyone: enjoy your Aqui!

you should note, if it hasn't been clear already, you actually have control of red,green,blue AND cyan,magenta,yellow's hue/saturation/value.

did you find any differences in your prior set between DVE and Avia? i didn't find navigation under DVE all that bad and found it pretty complete.

Thx. Actually yes, I had noticed all 6 colors were adjustable in 3 setting. I've looked through the 26D7U's manual atleast 5/6 times within the last couple weeks during my LCD researching. But my worry was mostly red push (I despise it) and manuafactures add it deliberately.

Q: Simple question, WHY do certain tv's have RED PUSH? If everyone hates it, then why do tv's have it!?!?

A: Red push is necessary because humans are acutely attuned to flesh tone. If flesh tone is tinted incorrectly, people notice and complain. That problem automatically occurs if the display, like every single TV, comes from the factory with a too blue grayscale. If the display didn't have an opposing "error" in its color decoding to remove the blue tint from flesh tones, people would notice that skin looks too blue when the grayscale is too blue. The red push in the color decoder intentionally exaggerates anything with red in it and skin has red in its coloration. So you red push hides the skin color problem inherent with the too high color temperature that comes from the factory. Unfortunately, it also messes with everything else which has red in it and basically means that you get correct color for skin and only skin. People see that the picture is really bright and skin looks good so it MUST be a better picture. That means sales - exactly the goal of any good manufacturer.

Now, we of the home theater enlightened want accurate color for the ENTIRE scene, not only flesh tone. In that quest we take the consumer display and have its gray scale brought back down to the standard D65 color of gray. This does not correct the red push built into the display to hide its normally severely too blue factory shipped state, so you start to notice that the greater amount of red in the correctly colored grayscale causes the red push to be evident. Remember, we originally had two opposing "errors" which combined together yielded good looking flesh tones. With the too blue error of a bad gray scale removed, red push becomes more noticable because skin tones are now too red. In the ideal situation, the calibrator is also able to adjust the color decoder to remove the red push. This is possible on some displays. Others, simply don't allow their color decoder to be corrected back towards NTSC standard behavior. In such cases, one can use an external R-Y attenuator (AKA red push attenuator in the forums) to correct the red push for component video. That works great for DVD, but the internal tuner will still yield too much red.

In summary, manufacturers must build red push into the displays in order to make flesh tones look correct while still being competitive in the display brightness by boosting blue rat race.

On my 57" toshiba CRT the color decoder can't be adjusted (even in the service menu) and with Avia's color decoder test pattern green was ~0%, blue was ~3% but red was ~15%. I didn't want to compensate by turning the user menu color setting down due to reducing the oher colors also so I had to buy an adjustable RF attenuator and put on the red component inputs and adjust red closer to 0%. Maybe not the right way but it was my best option. :)

As for Avia and DVE their both great. No were near the navigation problems many complained about. Actually VE is more tricky than Avia or DVE. I like Avia's color decoder pattern better but DVE has better contrast pattern. DVE's audio signals are best but there's still debates all three discs LFE/Sub signals being acurate.

mobgre,

Same one as I got earlier this week. All I can say is WOW!!. Tried Derek's settings. Was a little too dark for me. Reverted back to my settings. See above #125.

Thx, I have no doubt I'll be calibrating and tweaking picture adjustments often for atleast the first month or so after getting the tv.

I had a doctor appointment today and had to wait on a ride at Walmart so I got to see my first LCD in person today. My worry about buying LCD was blacks. They had a Walmart/Directv HD feed (recorded demo loop) on all sets and they had a couple ILO's (walmart brand) and RCA LCD's displayed and blacks looked as good as my RPTV. I realize blacks on LCD in a well lit place like Walmart look better than in dark rooms but even I was suprised by what I saw. My worry is gone now, if the Ilo and RCA blacks looked that good the Sharp should do fine. I also notice the fast movements on HD directviews showed motion artifacts but the LCD's didn't. Another suprise. :)

properly calibrated, dark level detail is very good on the Aquos. not quite up to the standards of a good CRT and maybe a smidget inferior to a good plasma, but it's decent. in a dark room (no lights), black will show up as dark gray...that's just the way the technology works (being backlit). i've gotten used to it.

good luck.

I own a 42" Sony A10....and just tried out the Westy 37" and the Samsung 32" LNR3228....returned them both and now trying the Sharp Aquos 32DA5U....what a beautiful picture.
I'm *very* impressed w/this monitor!

Greg,

did you try my setting with your STD backlight setting? i agree that for some people -3 would be too dark (but my room is very dimly lit or lights are off for movies). i'm curious what you thought about the colors using my settingThe colors looked dead on. I will reset it tonight to your settings but bump up the backlight to std.

Tried your settings Derek, from the Panny s77 thread.

I like them, I think i'm a mid-high setting guy though b/c for some reason, whites look too yellow if i have it on mid, or mid-low settings for color temp.

or maybe i just like a bluer tint than everyone else. Other than that i used the rest of the settings. and a -1 on the backlight.

Greg and Blues-

[blues: note, my full settings for the Aquos are published here...don't know if the S77 thread contained the final version...for the S77, it's pretty simple, just brightness at +1 to get blacker than black showing up on the test patterns]

fantastic guys: i'm glad my posted settings were of some help. i think the backlight really is a matter of the ambient lighting conditions in your room as well as personal taste. if i watch sports during the daytime and am letting filter light into the room where the Aquos is, i bump it up to +1. but most of the time, both the blind and drapes are drawn and it's nighttime viewing with a single lamp on the other side of the room or complete darkness...for these cases -3 works well for me.

(actually anything in between -3 and +1 (ie,-2,-1,STD) on my set emits a low level sound which i am guess is some resonance with the potentiometer on the backlight and the dirty power coming into our house...a few others have noted this on their Aquos's too [-8,-3,+1,+5,+8 are all silent]...of course, perhaps my hearing is probably way too sensitive!)

anyway, good luck to you guys: if you haven't already, i still recommend checking out a copy of DVE when you get the chance. you may find some minor tweaks in your set from my numbers due to the set-to-set variation coming from the factory.

this is really a great tv. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that in the next few years (before i replace our big 36" CRT attached to our home theater) they will come up with a technology that is the best of all worlds: low power, low profile, great blacks (like CRT), no glare (like LCD), great low level detail, great bright level detail, and of course 1080p native all for a decent price. i know...i'm probably asking for too much, but i can't help but think that things are going to continue to evolve for the better. perhaps, more importantly, i hope this HD-DVD/Blueray debacle will get sorted out so that we have a we can start seeing what these panels are really capable of!

cheers, Derek

*ps just in case you're curious: i have the blinds for light control, but the drapes (transluscent) are for acoustic damping...the Aquos resides in my "2 channel audio room."

hmmm...it appears LC26D6U does not have this CMS. I went to picture->advanced, there is no such CMS menu. I can only set the color temp with a total of 5 different settings.

FWIW and just my opinion. Everytime I've used members settings to adjust to optimize picture quality, I've watched it for awhile and end up going back to factory default. If CMS is holding you from buying this years model I think its a shame. I think folks buy tv's to play with them and maybe Sharp should have taken this into account.

Greg and Blues-

[blues: note, my full settings for the Aquos are published here...don't know if the S77 thread contained the final version...for the S77, it's pretty simple, just brightness at +1 to get blacker than black showing up on the test patterns]

fantastic guys: i'm glad my posted settings were of some help. i think the backlight really is a matter of the ambient lighting conditions in your room as well as personal taste. if i watch sports during the daytime and am letting filter light into the room where the Aquos is, i bump it up to +1. but most of the time, both the blind and drapes are drawn and it's nighttime viewing with a single lamp on the other side of the room or complete darkness...for these cases -3 works well for me.

(actually anything in between -3 and +1 (ie,-2,-1,STD) on my set emits a low level sound which i am guess is some resonance with the potentiometer on the backlight and the dirty power coming into our house...a few others have noted this on their Aquos's too [-8,-3,+1,+5,+8 are all silent]...of course, perhaps my hearing is probably way too sensitive!)

anyway, good luck to you guys: if you haven't already, i still recommend checking out a copy of DVE when you get the chance. you may find some minor tweaks in your set from my numbers due to the set-to-set variation coming from the factory.

this is really a great tv. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that in the next few years (before i replace our big 36" CRT attached to our home theater) they will come up with a technology that is the best of all worlds: low power, low profile, great blacks (like CRT), no glare (like LCD), great low level detail, great bright level detail, and of course 1080p native all for a decent price. i know...i'm probably asking for too much, but i can't help but think that things are going to continue to evolve for the better. perhaps, more importantly, i hope this HD-DVD/Blueray debacle will get sorted out so that we have a we can start seeing what these panels are really capable of!

cheers, Derek

*ps just in case you're curious: i have the blinds for light control, but the drapes (transluscent) are for acoustic damping...the Aquos resides in my "2 channel audio room."

Thanks again for the settings Derek. I meant to get back to you earlier but they are working great for me.

hmmm...it appears LC26D6U does not have this CMS. I went to picture->advanced, there is no such CMS menu. I can only set the color temp with a total of 5 different settings.

Right, the D6U nor D4U have CMS, DVI or TVGOS. CMS is the reason I chose to ordered the 26D7U last week from VisualApex (avsforum sponsor) instead of the D6U. It was just delivered only 30 minutes ago (my first LCD). :D Can't wait to get my son over to hook her up for me. :D

biznus97, glad they worked well for you.

i can't imagine CMS costs much more to add to a panel (certainly its just a GUI for the service menu), but who knows...maybe Mike53 can comment on this.

does anyone know how to adjust the overscan on the Aquos? from my DVE disc, it looks like i'm running at a 2.5% mask or thereabouts which is probably good enough, but it would be nice to know how to get it closer to 0, if i wanted to.

Derek87. Actually 2.5% overscan is quit good and is around what most ISF calibrators recommend minumum. Most CRT's OTB is usually around 5% (ugh!).

Daryl - thanks for the reality check. i guess its good to be satisfied and just enjoy things. after tweaking this TV and the Panny S77 player over the past 6 or so weeks, i finally think i have things were i like them so i can now hopefully just enjoy having the TV. :)

Derek- I have the 32" Sharp with the S97, haha, so we have almost the identical set up. Not sure if you read the secrets shootout for the S97/77? They had the brightness at +1 and contrast -1 I think to get IRE at 0.

I use this primarily for a PC. Do you anyone you have your settings for that environment.

Kid - thanks. i didn't catch the article. i'll have to check out the contrast setting and maybe adjust my Aquos from there. the contrast was one are where i am not that confident in my self-calibration using DVE. i do have brightness at +1 on my S77 and BTB is passed nicely.

if i find any huge difference with the contrast -1, i'll post my findings.

Suzook...i don't remember exactly, but i didn't do much with mine. backlight was -3, brightness +1, and i think contrast around +20...all my color adjustements were done on the PC (actuall Mac Powerbook G4 - old Ti one).

HeHe, good questions. For basic Color and Tint adjustments you can use the red filter with the color and tint test patterns on Avia, Video Essentials, Digital Video Essentials or Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up calibration discs. If you want to adjust any red, blue, green push you would want to use the red, blue and green filters with Digital Video Essentials or Avia'coder test patterns with Sharps C.M.S setting in Menu>Picture>Advanced>C.M.S-Hue, Saturation or Value. No screwdriver required. :) When making red/blue/green color adjustments I'm still uncertain which advaced adjustment should be used, C.M.S Hue or C.M.S Saturation or C.M.S Value but I've got a pretty good feeling it's C.M.S Saturation. But I'm probably wrong. ;)

Daryl,
It looks like you're right. I've got the 45GX Sharp and the manual states:
C.M.S. Hue-- More red or blue tone
Saturation--increase or decrease color saturation
Value--Higher=Brighter and Lower= Darker

The one thing ( I think it's only one) I'm confused about is how to adjust the Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan colors. Since the color filters RBG come with the calibration discs I can see how to adjust these, but what about the others?

Daryl,
It looks like you're right. I've got the 45GX Sharp and the manual states:
C.M.S. Hue-- More red or blue tone
Saturation--increase or decrease color saturation
Value--Higher=Brighter and Lower= Darker

The one thing ( I think it's only one) I'm confused about is how to adjust the Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan colors. Since the color filters RBG come with the calibration discs I can see how to adjust these, but what about the others?

That I haven't a clue about either since my 26D7U is my first tv with this advanced color managment system. I'm tinkering a little today for the first time (hooked my tv up yesterday). :)

Also in the post you quoted I mentioned using the red filter to adjust color and tint. I ment to say blue filter. I edited my post about that.

Well, I haven't view the DVD's color decoder test patterns yet but I notice some red push in fleshtones on my 26D7U. After tinker awhile with the C.M.S adjustments while watching fleshtone, bumping C.M.S Hue:Red a little to the + (plus) side (I went to +4) reduces red push (just my personal observation by eye) making skintones look realistic. I feel comfortable with my reds now.

Now to get my greens tamed, they appear to be pushed towards a slightly bright green (barely). Looks like C.M.S Value:Green to the - (minus) side may help. I'm taking it very very slooooooooooowly. Tiny bit a day. I should be done in a month. :D

Well, no matter what Color. tint or C.M.S adjustment I made, all my green objects still drew too much attention to them. Dark scenes, shadows, greys, blue skies and B&W movies had a slightly green tint t them. It was beginning to bug me alot making me fear my purchase of the Sharp. It was only on my HDMI input though. I had already looked at the HDMI setup options but left the at default. I decided today to check them again.

Color Matrix was on Auto. Switching to ITU601 made no difference and ITU709 made the picture look like a solid green negative so I put it back on Auto.

Dynamic Range was set to Standard. Switched to to Out of Standard and bang!!, the green tint was gone. :D Now my dark scenes, grey's, blue skies and B&W movies look normal. Green objects like grass and foliage is less overly attracting but still a tad bright. Turning C.M.S Value: Green down helped that. Picture looks great now. :)

After a couple months of fiddling, I was still unable to get the colors on my 32DA5U to where I was happy with them. I borrowed the Avia disc from a friend, and I've got to say that I'm extremely pleased with the settings I have now. They're brighter than what some people have, but I live in a penthouse on top of an old factory with windows all around, so it's kind of like living in a (very bright and sunny) fishbowl. I tried OPC, but it leaves the picture too dark for my taste at night; I wish you could adjust the minimum backlight level for that feature.

Anyway, my adjustments were performed under low-light conditions and using only the blue filter--didn't have the red or green, but they say that once the blue is calibrated the others should be as well since blue is the most difficult to render. Harman Kardon DVD22 connected to component input. Here's what I ended up with:

Backlight: Variable. Maximum during the day, 0 at night.
Contrast: +30
Brightness: +1
Color: -8
Tint: +4
Sharpness: 0
Black Expansion: Off (This feature causes other problems when enabled. See earlier post)
Color Temperature: Mid-Low

After completing the Avia calibrations, I verified the settings with the THX adjustment feature and they matched perfectly. These settings may work for others with bright rooms as well, although they look stunning at night as well, IMO.

Middkid,

I have the 45" set and I can't believe how close your settings are to mine.
Here"s what I came up with:

Backlight: -4
Contrast: +30
Black: -1
Color: -7
Tint: +2
Sharp: 0
I also made some small adjustments in the C.S. M. Value menu.

Greetings,

After calibrating my lc37db5u with DVE, the picture looks fantastic but my color setting looks way off despite the colors being very true to my eye and according to all tests on DVE.

backlight -12
contrast +28
brightness +1
color -24
tint +5
sharpness -4

I can access the service menu via my Harmony universal remote, but it's a more intimidating service menu compared to other sets I've had.

Does anyone have a list of what service menu settings affect color and how to tweak them? I've looked through this thread, but I don't see anything about service menu.

solzhen,

if your colors look good to you and are confirmed by DVE, don't worry about it!

your color is about double what i set mine to, but perhaps the ranges in the menus have changed too. (old backlights only went -8 to +8) i think my color ranges from -30 to 30.

anyway, just enjoy it!

(btw, i did find the sharpness is around what you got...works well for DVD, but resulted in a slightly soft image for HDTV, so i have it at -1 for that material)

Derek,
Thanks for the reply. Since my last round with DVE was when the set only had about 10 hours of use on it, I decided to run it again. This time color and tint came out different, and now having a higher color setting doesn't muck up the image like it did before.

New settings:
contrast +28
brightness +3
color -14
tint +3
sharpness -4

Maybe the set needed a week or so to settle in? Because when I was first doing DVE, having color higher than -20 really made reds push enough to ruin the image and now there's none of that issue. I'm going to run it again in a couple days to see what comes up. But, it's surprising how much the saturation changed over the course of 7 to 10 days.

Hi all,

I have been reading up on this thread to try tweaking my Sharp LC-37db5u.

I have an HDMI connection between the TV and the HD-DVR.

For instance, when watching a regular channel (non-HD program) such as CNN, MSNBC or the local news, are you watching in TV Cable or HDMI input source?

Watching CNN via Input 4 (HDMI) gives a neater picture, but it looks a little washed out. Watching that same channel via TV Cable input gives better colors, crisper, but the picture quality is more grains.

Which input source do you use to change display settings? TV Cable or HDMI (Input 4 for me)?

Thank you! :)

Hi Sky,
What HD-DVR box do you have? I have the explorer 8300HD from scientific atlanta and I'm using the HDMI connection. I get my best results with non-HD by setting the DVR to Pass Through all signals to my Aquos in their broadcast format so the Aquos does the scaling and not the cable box. Like if I change channels to CNN, I see the Aquos display that it's getting a 480i signal. And it shows whether the HD channel I'm watching is 1080i or 720p. This yields better results than letting the cable box scale everything to 720p.

Hi Sky,
What HD-DVR box do you have? I have the explorer 8300HD from scientific atlanta and I'm using the HDMI connection. I get my best results with non-HD by setting the DVR to Pass Through all signals to my Aquos in their broadcast format so the Aquos does the scaling and not the cable box. Like if I change channels to CNN, I see the Aquos display that it's getting a 480i signal. And it shows whether the HD channel I'm watching is 1080i or 720p. This yields better results than letting the cable box scale everything to 720p.

Hi!

Thanks for replying. I do have the 8300HD as well. How do you set the signals to pass through to the Aquos?

I seem to have found that there is no Pass-Through option when there is an HDMI connection. It is instead called AutoDVI/HDMI. Is that what you are referring to?

Thank you!

I seem to have found that there is no Pass-Through option when there is an HDMI connection. It is instead called AutoDVI/HDMI. Is that what you are referring to?Yep. That's correct. Also check your box's output settings by turning off the box and pressing info+guide on the box's face to setup output.

Anyone have the LC-37D6U model? I was thinking about picking that one up and was wondering what your opinions were. Thanks.

I have the 37D6U and use the 8300 for programming connected by component cables.

When I watch programs in 480i they always are way too dark, no matter how I change the settings. Is it the TV? or the way I set it up or what?

I use 480p mainly to watch SD programs which is pretty good for Digital stations and watchable for most analog ones. However I would like to use Pass-through when switching channels in HD and it gets annoying to always have to change the settings to get a good picture.

720p programs are the best of all. I don't have ABC here so no Lost but House on Fox is the best HD I have seen. Oh and I watched parts of Star Wars on Fox over the weekend and that was some beautiful eye candy. 1080i is very very good too but for this TV and the way I set it up 720p is better.

I have the 37D6U and use the 8300 for programming connected by component cables.

When I watch programs in 480i they always are way too dark, no matter how I change the settings. Is it the TV? or the way I set it up or what?

Don't worry. That's the fault of the cable box, not your tv. It uses a different IRE level (black level) with 480i output signal than it does with a 480p, 720p and 1080i.

Anyone have the LC-37D6U model? I was thinking about picking that one up and was wondering what your opinions were. Thanks.

You are better off getting the D7U's or the D5U's. The D6U's have less for the money

Don't worry. That's the fault of the cable box, not your tv. It uses a different IRE level (black level) with 480i output signal than it does with a 480p, 720p and 1080i.
Are all 8300 boxes like this or just some of them like mine? Would using HDMI change my results. Would I get that clicking sound through my speakers like with my DVD player, the Panny S97.

I guess I could answer some of these questions myself. But I am not at home right now and when I have time to do this I would rather just watch TV.

Are all 8300 boxes like this or just some of them like mine? Would using HDMI change my results. Would I get that clicking sound through my speakers like with my DVD player, the Panny S97.

I would guess all 8300's are like that. When I connected the HDMI cable to my Sharp 26D7U's HDMI input the 8300 automaticly disabled 480i ouput and when I tried enabling 480i on my 8300 it wouldn't display a video signal, only 480p,720p & 1080i so I unchecked 480i output on my 8300.

As for the clicking I'm not sure what you mean.

Do those calibration guidelines apply to HD programs, or 4:3 programs watched on an HDTV?

It seems that when I move the color/tint sliders when watching an HD program, I can't detect any changes.

I have the 34 LCGA5U and was wondering what viewing mode do I set if I have an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen dvd? Zoom, stretch, or SStretch?

You are better off getting the D7U's or the D5U's. The D6U's have less for the money

I can not fit a 32" with side speakers. Unless one of those models comes without them. If so let me know.

hi all, i haven't been reading the forum much lately (just enjoying the TV), but i happened to run across a test pattern on one of our HD channels (a special, bonus station that is usual inactive). it wasn't the nice test pattern like in DVE, but still, it allowed me to try out the DVE filters to, by eye, get the best match for the blue, then red, then green filters.

much like i had done for my DVD player (Panasonic S77), i got the blue and red filter images to be close to "perfect" to my eye. The green, however, was the challenge. the black areas that should be there for that filter are still not quite black (look dark blue to my eyes); nevertheless, i started from scratch using this image to see how the settings compared with my DVE derived settings via an HDMI connected player.

what i list below are numbers for the DVD player, and my Comcast HD box (Motorola unit, non-DVR) using my eyes and fiddling with first color, then tint, then Advanced CMS settings. you can see, that while close, they are different. i do think qualitatively, i got them both to a comparable level of 'accuracy" in getting the filter settings right. it might be imaginary, but the HD signal looks a touch better than it did using the settings from the DVD player (as might be expected). also, things like contrast and brightness were set by eye from previous viewing over the past two months, as well as sharpness since the DVE setting seemed too low for HD images. anyway, here they are:

HDbox (comp) / Panny S77 (HDMI)
backlight -3 / -3
contrast +20 / +16
bright +1 / +2
color -12 / +13
tint -3 / -4
sharp -1 / -3
cmshue y8,c1 / y11,g-2,c5,m6
cmssat y-3,g1,c1 / all zero
cmsval y4,g14,c6 / r3,y2,g5,b7,m2

both: no black expansion and color temp is "mid-low"

(EDIT: slashes added for "clarity": it seems slashes are needed to split the columns up...my extra spaces didn't show up when i posted the note originally)

i think the S77 numbers may have been bumped a smidge in my fideling from what i posted a few weeks back, but they should be very close. i am extremely happy with the image from both sources (was before, but again, i think the HD is a bit better).

i still wish someone could explain how to use the CMS settings systematically. i'm getting better at my "tweak until i get what i want" approach, but doing that took me quite a bit of time and eye strain.

anyway, i hope this helps someone. i'm sure, as i've said before, that there is set to set variation, etc. as well as sources differences, but if someone wants somewhere, they might start with this.

as before, i highly recommend DVE. it's not too hard to use and the filter, as i've seen, is helpful if you happen along a color test pattern from your HD provider.

good luck and hope this helps. (i know i don't read much these days, but in my few months of getting into HD and this panel, you guys helped me immensely!)

ps. Panny S77 has brightness at +1 as well with all other things set flat.

I have the 34 LCGA5U and was wondering what viewing mode do I set if I have an anamorphic 16:9 widescreen dvd? Zoom, stretch, or SStretch?For an anamorphic DVD you would want stretch.

I feel there is red push also and have had to use similar settings to dstay22. I also made adjustments to the cyan and magenta. The cyan looked turquoise which means there is probably some green push also.

I noticed that making color adjustments using the CMS causes color noise (looks like the colors are moving even on a static image) on analog signals. I don't have a digital signal input into the display yet so I'm not sure if this will clear up on DVI or HDMI feeds. If this doesn't clear up on digital feeds it will be an annoyance. Anyone else experience this?

Also, I found that when using the CMS it is pretty easy to match the ideal colors (RYGCBM) by using the color swatches (next to the letters) in the menu. They do not change during adjustment and I was able to eyeball them pretty well. I am dying to calibrate using AVIA and DVE.

I just picked up the Aquos LC26DA5U 26" and have been trying to get the red to not appear so brown... I tweaked the settings for about 40 mins last night but just couldn't get the colors where I like them...
This may sound dumb, but where can I get to this CMS menu on the screen? I didn't see it at a glance when I popped up the menu options, nor did I read anything about it in the manual. I'm hoping that there is somewhere I can adjust individual colors on my unit, because while the picture quality is awesome, the colors just aren't doing it for me right now...
Help!

In my 37'' unit, there's, IIRC, an advanced section in the menu, I believe it's accessed at the bottom of the section of the menu where you adjust contrast and brightness and the like.

Guys:

I would like to connect this TV with my laptop. Can I connect using VGA as well? S-Video picture isnt that great. IS VGA picture better? Which cable do I need to connect TV to my laptop (dell inspirton 6000). Would appreciate your response.

Hey dougrapper

The lC-xx-da5u series is the newer gen of lcd tvs that no longer have the CMS settings. Sharp dropped this feature with the DVI port in order to lower the price on the tv's :(

so you pretty much cant adjust individual settings

Sharp dropped this feature with the DVI port in order to lower the price on the tv's :(I've been wondering about this - it seems kind of strange to me. Dropping the DVI port makes sense to lower costs, but aren't the CMS settings just software? Does it actually cost Sharp anything to have them in there? :confused:

My 26D5U does not allow me to change/zoom any picture size when the input is 720p or 1080i ???
This is is a useful feature when viewing 4:3 material broadcast on HD channel.
The manual shows smart stretch, zoom, stretch & dot by dot for HD content ??
I get this from both over the air HD and 720p/1080i HDMI input.

Anyone else see this ???

P.S. Still tweaking CMS settings. I'm going to use SpyderTV next week to see the effects of the 3 CMS types.

My 26D5U does not allow me to change/zoom any picture size when the input is 720p or 1080i ???
This is is a useful feature when viewing 4:3 material broadcast on HD channel.
The manual shows smart stretch, zoom, stretch & dot by dot for HD content ??
I get this from both over the air HD and 720p/1080i HDMI input.

Anyone else see this ???

P.S. Still tweaking CMS settings. I'm going to use SpyderTV next week to see the effects of the 3 CMS types.

I have the same experience with my 26D7U. The quote below is from the manual but I get no option to stretch HD material. And the quote is not from the PC modes section although the same thing is in the PC mode section.

View mode for HD Programs
The following modes are available for HD programs.
S.Stretch: Suitable for stretching 4:3 programs to fill the screen.
(Smart Stretch)

Zoom: Suitable for viewing wide-screen 2.35:1 aspect-
ratio programs in full screen.

Stretch: Suitable for viewing wide-screen 1.78:1 aspect-
ratio programs.
When viewing 1.85:1 programs, stretch mode
will still show very thin black bands at the top
and bottom of the screen.

Dot by Dot: Detects the resolution of the signal and
displays an image with the same number of
pixels on the screen.

NOTE
• When using Dot by Dot, it is possible to see noise or bars
around different outer portions of the screen. Please
change view mode to correct this.

Must be a mistake in all the manuals !!

I have read many of the posts and realize that many of you have had or are still having the same issues I am/was encountering on my new 45GD6U. Since most of you have a lot more testing equipment that I, I wanted to post my results and issues to see if anyone has any suggestions:

I have my TV connected via Monster component cables to my Verizon FIOS TV HD/DVR box (only about 3000 people currently have it in the US). At first I thought I had the clay face issue but it comes and goes depending on the channel. Most of my HD signals come in pretty good, however the SD signals need some help...

I have my Verizon box passing through the signal to the TV so all signals on the TV seem to upconvert to 1080i whether I like it or not. I either get 480i, 480p or 1080i if I don't do the passthru or I get everything at 1080i. No 720p for me.

I have been trying to calibrate the TV with some basic patterns that come on some of the DVDs as I await for my AVIA DVD to come in the mail.

Here is my situation: I purchased the TV (from Costco online) for my wife and upon arrival it had one dead pixel so I decided to ask for a replacement because the pixel was red and it sat in the black bar area and was an eye sore when the picture was not covering the entire screen. In the meantime I wanted to get aquainted with the TV's calibration so I have been playing. For the last 4 weeks I have been totally flustered about the inconsistency of the picture. Since my HD box only takes component or HDMI, I couldn't use my DVI cables so I stuck to the component ones.

Here are my current settings:

OPC - Off
Backlight -1
Contrast +23
Brightness +4
Color -11
Tint +6
Sharpness -2

Advanced Settings:
Auto Contrast - Off
Color Temp - Middle
Film - On
IP Settings - Slow

Setup:
3D Noise - Off
Mosquito Noise - Off
Quick Shot - On

I have not changed the Gamma. They are set to their default settings.

Currently the picture looks a lot better than the first couple of weeks. The clay look seemed to appear on SD channels when I had the Brightness, Contrast and Backlight set too high.

Question 1: I read about the clay face issue. I believe I had it but by reducing the contrast and brightness I believe I have been able to get rid of most of them. Is my version of the 45" one that I should be worried about? There hasn't been much talk on my version.

Question 2: Would my picture look any better with HDMI cables?

Question 3: Why do I have to change the position of certain channels. I get this flashy white line on the top of some pictures and the only way to get rid of it is by adjusting the vertical position or changing the aspect ration for that channel?

Question 4: Is it me or does the image look weird when it switches between scenes? Mine gets blurry for a second and sometimes grainy. Seems like something to do with motion.

Question 5: I hear about getting into the advanced features, is there another way vice the Advanced feature in the menu?

Final Question: On my Pioneer projection TV, I had to do the convergence which helped immensely. Is there such a thing on LCD screens?

Good luck to all. In my opinion when the Picture is nice it is really nice. But when watching SD then there is still some improvements to be made?


I will attach some pictures if you are interested later.

I just got off the phone with Sharp and it seems that my TV is one that needs the firmware upgrade for the clay face issue. They told me it could possibly be why I am not receiving consistent calibration results.

I also purchased some Monster HDMI cables and did not see any big differences from the Component cables I had.

Don't know if it is due to the firmware upgrade either.

I posted this message on the LCD and flat panel board, but haven't gotten any respones, so I'm posting it here. Sorry in advance for the length of my message.


I just bought a Sharp LC32DA5U from Best Buy. I posted another thread about whether this is the current model since Sharp has so many models in the same size? It appears that this is the entry level Sharp 32", but the only additional features on the other models are a HD tuner and cablecard. Can others confirm that this is accurate.


The picture quality on HD is excellent with nice contrast and black levels. However I have some issues with black levels on SD via digital cable. I have a HD Moxi receiver connected via component cables. When I have the Moxi upconvert SD to 1080i or 720p the picture appears washed out (gray blacks) and somewhat blurry. However, when I put the Moxi in 480i mode, and let the Sharp due the full upconversion, the blacks on SD look much blacker with a sharper picture. Should there be this big a difference in black levels when having the Moxi upconvert SD to 720p vs. allowing the Sharp to upconvert? I'd like to use the Moxi's upconversion because the black sidebars on SD are 3/4" narrower on both sides vs. the Sharp's sidebars. Have other Sharp owners observed these upconversion differenceces relating to black level and the sidebars? If so, are there any service menu adjustments to either make the sidebars narrower are fix black levels? The problem is that I've optimized the black level for HD on component and further changes for SD would compromise the HD settings.

Lastly, I've noticed certain light streaks when a bright light appears at the top of the displayed image. For example, when a light shines on a persons head, that light will sometimes reflect/streak through the image. Again, it's hard to explain without a picture, but I'm curious if it's an inherent issue with LCD technology. Sorry for the length of my post, but I want to optimize my new Sharp or search for a new set before my return period expires. In short, do you beleive I made a good purchase.

Thank you very much for your input.

On the upconversion, my opinion is that the specific TV probably does the best upconversion since it may know about any idiosyncrancies and adjustments that work the best.

Indeed I find that on both my HD TV'd (50" Sony LCD Grand Wega LCD projection) and Sharp LCD32DA5U letting the TV do the upconversion looks best than having the cable box (Motorola DCT6412 PIII on Comcast cable).

Is this usually on SD content with the sidebars? If you have the Black Level Expansion enabled, that's the issue at hand, disable it and you'll no longer see this streak, if it is infact what I believe you are experiencing.

Lastly, I've noticed certain light streaks when a bright light appears at the top of the displayed image. For example, when a light shines on a persons head, that light will sometimes reflect/streak through the image. Again, it's hard to explain without a picture, but I'm curious if it's an inherent issue with LCD technology. Sorry for the length of my post, but I want to optimize my new Sharp or search for a new set before my return period expires. In short, do you beleive I made a good purchase.

Thank you very much for your input.

Eluder,

I have the black level expansion disabled. I must say that I rarely see what I now would call "reflections", but I observe this on SD and HD. It's as if the bright image (light) spills slightly over onto the darker image. By the way, I'm using the component input if that makes a difference. It's possible that what I see is actually an intended effect from the director.

rpoffen,

I agree that my Sharp does a much better job at upconverting SD. However, I'm curious if the black bars on your set are wider with the Sharp upconverting vs. your HD receiver upconverting. I want to make sure that the bars are wider on all Sharps and not just mine! :)

I thought I would post this information here since I haven't gotten much response on the separate message:

If you use the component input, I have a possible fix for red push without having to reduce the color level or increase tint. You can reduce red levels alone by connecting a RF signal attenuator directly to the Yr component cable (at the output of your HD receiver/DVD player). You can get this attenuator at Radio Shack, along with the male and female connectors you'd need for the connection. Here is a link to the attenuator: http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ctId=2062022&cp

To my eye, this fix provides superior results compared to lowering color and raising tint. With this approach you're directly reducing red. When you adjust color and tint, you're also altering other colors that don't neccesarily require reduction. Before connecting the attenuator, I had my color temp set to med-high to compensate for the red push. With the attenuator, I changed the temp to med and the colors look more natural with better white reproduction. Most important, fleshtones look natural and reds look normal.

Current Settings on LC-32DA5U:

Backlight -3
Brightness -5
Contrast +30
Sharpness 0
Color 0
Tint 0
Black Expansion: Off
Color Temp: Med
RF signal attenuator on Yr component cable to reduce red push

Thanks

I just got the 45GD6U and was wondering what is needed to get this unit working with my PC for Gaming and HTPC options? I have been reading and found a Mac Mini using the 1080P with DVI to HDMI cable, but that was more than 6 months ago.


Thanks for the assistance.

Trying to get the red tones correct on an LC-37DB5U with component video inputs coming from a Comcast HDTV box.

When watching a DVD the colors are PERFECT.

When watching regular or HD TV I CANNOT get the red's to work! I saw a number of posts re: CMS settings under the advanced menu but I don't have those settings - I only have

- Color Temp
- Black
- 3D - Y/C
- Monochrome
- Film Mode

Please HELP!! This is driving me nuts. It seems that those CMS settings would do the trick......

Also, I saw someone mention a firmware upgrade being required for their Sharp LCD's. How in the world do you upgrade the firmward on an LCD??

rob

They have to order some piece and then they replace the piece in your TV. I am having mine replaced tomorrow. I had to wait for this piece to be shipped in from Sharp. Supposedly some of their authorized service dealers have them on hand but if not they order it from Sharp.

I guess its almost like upgrading a CPU or Motherboard on a computer.

How does one find out if they require a firmware update?

If you call 1-800-BE-Sharp they will be able to tell you if you need a firmware upgrade from the Serial Number on your set. However, when the guy came to my house he stated that the firmware was already applied to my TV. I don't know why they just couldn't tell me to enter the Service Mode to find out myself. Also the Tech did tell me that my picture was not right and it still looked like a clay face so he was going to contact Sharp to find out if they should replace one of the boards inside the TV. Some pictures are just weird. Also too much red push and it is really evident in Dark Scenes.

The tech was baffled as well. He said I was truely not receiving a 1080i picture.

You can get this attenuator at Radio Shack, along with the male and female connectors you'd need for the connection. Here is a link to the attenuator: http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ctId=2062022&cp



Andrew,

I tried your link but it only goes to the Radio Shack home page. When I tried searching for the product on their site, no product is found.

Can you provide an updated link or am I just doing something dumb? :)

Thanks.



James

Andrew,

I tried your link but it only goes to the Radio Shack home page. When I tried searching for the product on their site, no product is found.

Can you provide an updated link or am I just doing something dumb? :)

Thanks.



James

Attenuator (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062022&cp=&kw=attenuator&parentPage=search) :)

If you use the component input, I have a possible fix for red push without having to reduce the color level or increase tint. You can reduce red levels alone by connecting a RF signal attenuator directly to the Yr component cable (at the output of your HD receiver/DVD player). You can get this attenuator at Radio Shack, along with the male and female connectors you'd need for the connection. Here is a link to the attenuator: http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ctId=2062022&cp


This trick will work until you are forced to use an HDMI connection.

One really needs a way to adjust the color decoder. That's where it needs to be done.

Has anybody had theirs ISF calibrated?

Another good white level test DVD would be "THX 1138". There are some completely white scenes with just two charactors on the screen.

I have spent hours trying to tame the color saturation on my brand-new LC-32D4U. Even at the lowest possible color saturation (-29), the colors are waaay too vivid. Tweaking the backlight, contrast, and brightness does not cure this problem. Same with color temp settings, though moving up to the cooler settings helps a little. There is no CMS on this model, unfortunately.

STB is a Motorala 6416 DVR supplied by Verizon FIOS, using the HDMI connection. The color saturation is a little better with off-the-air digital, but not much. No difference using component cables instead of HDMI. No difference HD or SD. No difference using a very long cable run from the Verizon equipment to make sure my input signal isn't too "hot."

This is not what I would call "red push," as all colors are affected. The Univ of Kentucky game last week in HD was close to unwatchable because the colors (blue and yellow) were so deeply saturated as to be a distraction.

The Sharp tech I spoke with was stumped, and he agreed to have me call a local technician to come to my house (tomorrow). Obviously I'm hoping that the local tech will make a quick visit to the hidden service menus and all will be well. Are all Sharps like this? I noticed this in the store where I bought the set, but all sets are cranked up in the stores because some marketing fool thinks they are more appealing that way. I just assumed I could tone things down when I got it home. Boy, was I wrong, this color is the most unrealistic color I have ever seen. I have never before seen a TV where the "Color" adjustment has such limited effect, all the way down to where it flips to monochrome. At -30 it is monochrome, at -29 the colors are very deeply saturated, and at anything higher than that it is laughable, but I ain't laughing. Thanks.

Steve Lanich
Annandale, VA

Trying to get the red tones correct on an LC-37DB5U with component video inputs coming from a Comcast HDTV box.
rob

Was able to fix this problem by using an HDMI cable. I think that the installer screwed up the component video cables when stuffing them into a "molding" that covered the wires as they ran up the wall to the back of the TV.

What lesson did I learn? Use HDMI - nothing else!

Attenuator (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062022&cp=&kw=attenuator&parentPage=search) :)

Doh! :o

I have the Sharp LC-26D7U and I want to know if anybody using either DVE or GetGray's calibration DVD's can get any of the Sharp D7U/D5U models to display the Blacker than Black (BTB/Below Video Black) bars in the test patterns over the component inputs? I have all three of my DVD players set to Progressive out and the Black Level set to Darker/Enhanced/0 IRE and the Sharp LCD's backlight set to -4 (ranging from -8 to +8) and OPC Off with Black adjustment set to Off. I have three DVD players (two being DVR's). The Panny CP72, Toshiba RD-XS52 and Pioneer DVR420 (Costco's version of DVR520). Now I've been at this hobby of calibrating my system since ~1996/7 and although I understand the basics I'm far from even close to being an expert and am definately no EE. I started testing each scenario of setting I could think of but can not get my Sharp 26D7U to display the Below Video Black bars using DVE and GetGray's calibration DVD. Here are the scenarios I tried.

Using both DVE and GetGray Black Level pattern I tried each DVD player in Interlaced mode set to 7.5 IRE and The LCD Black option Off. Only the +1% and +2% black bars would show. Then LCD Black option On, no difference.

Using both DVE and GetGray Black Level pattern I tried each DVD player in Interlaced mode set to 0 IRE and The LCD Black option Off. No black bars would show. Then LCD Black option On, no difference.

[NOTE: This where my Toshiba showed no bars at all at first off. I forgot it was in interlace mode and it appears it automaticly plays DVD's at 0 IRE. When you hit the play button you can see the black level change one second before the dvd starts. Also it has been unofficially confirmed the Toshiba RD-XS52/32's have a Black Level error but only with DVD's recorded on the Toshiba RD-XS52/32's from external sources and played back on another brand DVD player discussed thoroughly in the DVD Recorder forum.]

Using both DVE and GetGray Black Level pattern I tried each DVD player in Progressive mode set to 7.5 IRE and The LCD Black option Off. Only the +1% and +2% black bars would show. Then LCD Black option On, no difference.

Using both DVE and GetGray Black Level pattern I tried each DVD player in Progressive mode set to 0 IRE and The LCD Black option Off. Oddly only the +2% black bars would show. Then LCD Black option On, no difference.

I tried each of these tests with all three DVD players through acoustic research component cables and a Zektor HDS4 component switcher connected to the 26D7U's component input. Same results with each player.(WITH THE EXCEPTION OF: through the HDMI input. I have HBOHD's Off Air SMPTE test pattern recorded on my HD DVR Cable box which has Below Black-4%(3.5 IRE)/Video Black 0%(7.5 IRE)/Above Black +4%(11.5 IRE) bars below the color bars and through the HDMI input the Sharp LCD will display the BTB bar). But no matter what combination of settings I use on my LCD and DVD players BTB will not display through the component inputs from the GetGray or DVE discs.

If anybody has other opinions or suggestions I'm open to trying it.

On this image from DVE, the #3 lines are the BTB lines I can't see over component.
http://img497.imageshack.us/img497/1350/btb28tg.png

Daryl,

I have an LC-37D5U and I see a similar problem. I have the Avia disc, and I see the problem when using its black level test pattern. With a DVD player set for 0 IRE and connected by component inputs, the "slightly higher than black" bar is never visible, no matter how I adjust the set (Avia doesn't use below black in its test patterns). I've only tried this with the player set to interlaced so far. I also tried the "10 IRE steps" test pattern, and the first bar above black was not visible, again no matter how I adjusted the set.

I too would be interested if anyone knows anything else about this.

I have a 32D7U and can see the Blacker than Black bar on the DVE test patterns using an old Sony NS300 interlaced player on the component input. I have contrast at +28 and brightness at +2.

JimSD,

Do you know what black level the player is using, 0 IRE or 7.5 IRE? Also, did you change any settings other than those on the main "picture" menu (such as any settings on the "advanced" menu you can get to from there)? I'm hoping I'm missing some setting that would make my set work like yours...

I have a 32D7U and can see the Blacker than Black bar on the DVE test patterns using an old Sony NS300 interlaced player on the component input. I have contrast at +28 and brightness at +2.

You can see all 3 different lines? Over component without being able to see the BTB lines I get Contrast +28 at maximum just below clipping and Brightness at +2 also. Same goes for my cable box over HDMI if the tv's HDMI Setup's Dynamic Range setting is set to Out of Standerd (7.5 IRE, unable to display BTB).

But with the HDMI Setup's Dynamic Range set to Standard (0 IRE, capable of displaying BTB) I get Contrast @ +15 and Brightness @ -8. Unfortunately the menu for the component input's don't offer a Dynamic Range setting. :(

I have one more thing I can try once my son comes by to help with. When I connected my DVR/DVD players they were set on Interlaced @ 7.5IRE output. I'm thinking/hoping maybe the tv's dynamic range on the component inputs adjust automaticlly to the first signal type it detects at first connection. I plan to have my DVD player set to output Progressive/0 IRE, disconnect them while playing, reset the tv, then reconnect the DVD player while it's playing and hope the tv detects the Progressive/0 IRE type signal and automaticlly adjusts to the proper dynamic range display. I know it's a longshot but I'm grasping for a solution.

I recently bought the LC-32D6U. I have been fiddling with the adjustments for days then found a couple of threads here with folks having the same problem. I must have the dreaded "red push." Starting out at factory settings most colors look pretty good (red, green, and blue very brilliant) except all the faces are almost pink, and most people seem to have a red tint in their hair. I figured the problem was easily fixed by turning up the tint a notch or two toward the green. If this is done, blue sky starts to get aqua and the ocean is green.

I'm using a cable card with analog, digital and high def channels. I called Sharp about it and they said, "oh, it looks like the red push issue, we'll send someone out, we can fix it." The local autorized repair dealer called me to set something up and asked me about the problem. He gave me a long song and dance about "the technology is still not perfect and you'll never get perfect colors...." Well, my old NEC tube had perfect color, you're telling me a nearly $2,000 set won't? He told me if they came out and found nothing wrong, I would have to pay for a service call. This is just the nature of the TV, he said.

I did contact Best Buy and they told me I could come in and exchange for another set. I'm hesitant to do this because this one has no dead pixels, has the cable card installed and programmed with all the channels. From what I see on here this is a trait of all these newer models, so what would I gain from getting another of the same model?

This doesn't seem to be as big of an issue on the hi-def channels, with some being very good, such as ESPN-HD and INHD1 and 2, but even on those there appears to be red trying to overpower everything.

Any advice on what option to take? Insist that the Sharp authorized repair dealer look at the set, exchange it, or just live with it? Am I unreasonable to expect a $2,000 piece of equipment to have the correct colors?

Ok, I got a call from Sharp today about the red push problem. They are aware that many of these sets do this and have the "pink face" issue. They claim to have a firmware update in the works to fix this. They gave me 2 options. Take my set to their authorized repair shop where they will put in a new LCD board, which could take 10 days, or go back to Best Buy and get another one and hope it doesn't have the issue.

I called Best Buy and they had one more LC32D6U and agreed to exchange it. They claimed they would send my old one back to Sharp. I got the new one in and it has much, much less red push. I would estimate 80% less. There are only a couple of channels (local UHF stations converted to analog cable channels) that still have pretty poor color. The colors also have much less "neon glow" look to them. And luckily, this set had no dead pixels either. So, for now, I'm happy about how it turned out, although I wish I had just received a good set the first time. For others out there with new sets, don't accept one with a bad picture!

One thing did surprise me as to how easy Best Buy just took the old one back. This is a $1900 item and they didn't even look in the box. I could have had a few bricks in the box and they wouldn't have noticed. They just wheeled it to the back and left it.

Daryl,

I have an LC-37D5U and I see a similar problem. I have the Avia disc, and I see the problem when using its black level test pattern. With a DVD player set for 0 IRE and connected by component inputs, the "slightly higher than black" bar is never visible, no matter how I adjust the set (Avia doesn't use below black in its test patterns). I've only tried this with the player set to interlaced so far. I also tried the "10 IRE steps" test pattern, and the first bar above black was not visible, again no matter how I adjusted the set.

I too would be interested if anyone knows anything else about this.

Greetings,

I too have the LC-37D5U. Could you post your settings for reference. I still have mine at the factory defaults. Many thanks.

Rick

I too have the LC-37D5U. Could you post your settings for reference. I still have mine at the factory defaults. Many thanks.I'm using a modified version of Kid Red's settings from page 2 of this thread:


Back -4
contrast +20
brightness -5
color -7
tint +1
sharp 0
color temp -medium low
CMSHUE- y +3, g -18
CMSSaturation g +30
CMS Value g+27I'm using different settings for analog and digital inputs (actually the only digital input I'm using right now is the internal tuner). For analog, the things I've changed from the above are:

Brightness: +2
Color: 0
Color Temperature: Medium

For digital:
Brightness: 0
Color: 0
Color Temperature: Medium

I set the brightness for the analog inputs using a calibration DVD, the other things I just changed "by eye" for now. I also had to change the DVD player that I have connected by component inputs to use a 7.5 IRE black level, otherwise I ran into the problem I mentioned.

I'm thinking there may be significant differences between sets, since Kid Red's ISF-calibrated brightness is definitely too low on mine.

I have one more thing I can try once my son comes by to help with. When I connected my DVR/DVD players they were set on Interlaced @ 7.5IRE output. I'm thinking/hoping maybe the tv's dynamic range on the component inputs adjust automaticlly to the first signal type it detects at first connection. I plan to have my DVD player set to output Progressive/0 IRE, disconnect them while playing, reset the tv, then reconnect the DVD player while it's playing and hope the tv detects the Progressive/0 IRE type signal and automaticlly adjusts to the proper dynamic range display. I know it's a longshot but I'm grasping for a solution.

Well, I tried this and still can't get the BTB bar to display over the component input. :(

What do you folks in this thread recommend for performing color calibration on the Sharp LCDs? Avia or DVE (not trying to start a flamewar, just trying to determine what people have had the most success with for this particular type of panel).

I have an HP LC3700N which has CMS and it's kind of daunting to use, but I have experienced some color anomalies that I want to resolve, and am just not sure about the best way to approach it.

You'll get basicly the same results with either disc. I like them both. So I say go for the cheaper disc. Or better yet, if you can burn DVD's and if possible get GetGray's Calibration Disc (http://www.calibrate.tv/). It just doesn't come with indepth instructions. But you could find some assistance in the Display Calibration forum HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=586139) and you'll need to order color filters seperately mentioned in the documentation and in the thread I linked to and discussed HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7209363#post7209363).

I've had my HP LC3700N set for a few weeks now and am starting to notice some things that I'm not sure if they are something that I have to live with, or if it's something I can adjust to my tastes.

The first thing is whenever watching certain shows, especially ones like CSI:Miami and The O.C., blues such as the sky and water seem to look very grainy. Is this a problem with the source material, or perhaps my cable box (Motorola DCT-6412 connected via component)? Is this something that digital noise reduction can reduce (and is this available under 720p?).

Secondly, whenever there's a lot moving around on the screen, say panning quickly or even slowly, the picture often times feels very jerky to me. I don't know if this is just because I'm not used to 16:9, if it's a framerate issue (I see it both on DVDs and HDTV), or if I'm just particulary sensitive to motion, but it can be very bothersome -- mainly because I don't know if it's my TV, or if it's just me (if it's just me, then hey, there's nothing I can do about it :)). Is this something that QuickShot is doing? Are there any disadvantages to using QuickShot?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Has anyone gotten into the service menu? My harmony remote can open it up, but I don't know how to navigate.

Also, the OPC when enabled causes the I/R remote sensor to not work on my Bell Express Vu 9200 receiver. Does this happen to anyone else?

Has anyone gotten into the service menu? My harmony remote can open it up, but I don't know how to navigate.

Also, the OPC when enabled causes the I/R remote sensor to not work on my Bell Express Vu 9200 receiver. Does this happen to anyone else?


what key did u press for service menu

what key did u press for service menu

There is just one button in the extras called "service", I press it and it goes into the service menu.

did u see that button on the harmony website?

http://www.bruzzi.ws/plasma-faq/showthread.php?t=153

What setting should I be using for my LC-32D40U

What setting should I be using for my LC-32D40U
libd84 -

Just bought this tv and having a hard time getting to look even as good as my flat tube zenith. What settings did you end up with? Anyone else?

I have a DVD via composite and Dish satellite via S-video.

thanks for any help.

DT

libd84 -

Just bought this tv and having a hard time getting to look even as good as my flat tube zenith. What settings did you end up with? Anyone else?

I have a DVD via composite and Dish satellite via S-video.

thanks for any help.

DT

Not surprisng, you're running two SD sources on your HD TV. There's not much you can do to make it look as good as your CRT. This is a downside of most HDTVs; HD content looks great, SD content looks worse.

For the best picture quality from your DVD player, you should use component cables, not composite. Better yet, use HDMI if your DVD player has an HDMI output.

And yes, the PQ from Dish SD channels will look a little soft and fuzzy because they compress the signal so much. But if you get an HD set top box from Dish and use HDMI or component cables it will be much better, and of course you can't display HD programming from an S-video cable.

Just got the tv today and was wondering if ne1 has had there's calibrated by a ISF calibrator? Or does ne1 have the optimal picture settings? After being calibrated!

feel free to post your settings

Thanks...Mike

Alright, this is somewhat embarrassing but true... I just got a new Harmony remote and it happened to have the "Service" menu access to my Sharp Aquos LC-37DB5U. Despite my better judgement, I couldn't keep my hands off. On page 6 of the menu there is a option called "HDTV ADJ". After selecting this option, the TV launched into some kind of automatic calibration and then errorred out with a message stating "ERROR Y OFFSET". I have since learned that a repair person has to have a certain test pattern hooked up as an input before this "HDTV ADJ" option can be selected... This makes perfect sense, and once again I'm an idiot.

My question, does anyone know how to get the Service menu values back to their default factory values via a reset of some sorts? Or, can someone tell me the values they currently have on this "Service" menu screen. My current values are:

Contrast: 208
Cb Gain: 188
Cr Gain: 183
HDTV Y Offset: 25
HDTV Cb Offset: 512
HDTV Cr Offset: 512

Any help or info on the subject would obviously would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I...I also plan on a articulating style. Also I'd like to get some suggestions too.I bought a LC52D92U recently - the set weighs about 75# - but it's so large the regular 90# cantilever mounts looked out of scale - I ended up buying this and this one would extend out 28" - so the 52" set could be almost perpendicular to the wall if desired -
after mounting mine to two non load-bearing wall studs - I lifted my whole weight ~260# with it fully extended - - It looks great - and for the extra $100 or so I got the ability to hold anything I might buy later - I am very satisfied (they do make a single wishbone for about $100 less that may actually work better for these sets - but I liked the torsional stability of the double wishbone
Circuit City has one on display - they want $600 - I bought mine thru Amazon from Electronics Expo for $319 including shipping - they seem to be about $100 more now - they don't list Electronics Expo at that price now - maybe direct though??

OmniMount-Wishbone-CL-X-cantilever-wall-mountable (http://www.amazon.com/OmniMount-Wishbone-CL-X-cantilever-wall-mountable/dp/B000BMORBA/ref=sr_1_2/103-3023757-9266260?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1174677851&sr=1-2)

Anybody have good settings for live HD football games? My set seems just a little dark during the game. At the store this set really popped (bright) during the game.

Thanks

I was talking to the folks at Best Buy and they say the sets on display are straight out of the box...no tweaking at all. Anyway, that's what they told me.

Just got the new Sharp 4664U series. Great looking picture. Has anyone got the latest tweaking settings for contrast, etc?? It looks pretty dang good out of the box, but I had to lower the brightness a good bit.

I know there is another thread for this paarticular TV, but it doesn't really touch on the settings for use with a gaming system...like PS3.

Since I also use my PS3 for Netflix and Blu Ray movies, I wanted to adjust the settings to maximize the movie viewing and game playing.

I am currently using Wd...'s sewttings from another AVS forum which are the following:

OPC - Off
Backlight - STD
Contrast - +32
Brightness - 0
Color - 0
Tint - 0
Sharpness - 0

CMS Hue
R - +6
Y - +3
G - -23
C - -2
B - +12
M - -4

CMS Saturation
R - +10
Y - +30
G - -5
C - -30
B - 0
M - +1

Color Temp - Low

Active Contrast - Off

Fine Motion - Off

Monochrome - Off

DNR - Off

Audio
Trebnile - +12
Bas - +5
Balance - 0
Surround - On
Bass Enhancer - On

Anyone have any suggestions?