Here is a picture of the problem. It is not a great picture but I believe it is good enough to see the problem.

LOL thats the dumbest thing i ever heard raouliii . YEA "blacklevel" is causing red lines on his set. Lets hide it with darkness like my tech did. Good fix! For people who don't care about quality on their TV set.If you care to read my post again you will find that I did not claim that blacklevel was causing red lines on his set. Electronics troubleshooting requires questions to be asked and answers to be given. :rolleyes:

It is a fact that a misadjusted G2 can cause this symptom. The red glow/lines can be caused by applying a G2 overvoltage. If G2 ( or screen voltage) is set too high, it is sometimes difficult to establish an appropriate brightness (black level). Hence, my question to Leonjr76 as to his ability to set his brightness level.

ClayPigeon, I'm quite sure you've heard things MUCH dumber than anything in my posts. :p

Here is a picture of the problem. It is not a great picture but I believe it is good enough to see the problem.It looks like you are seeing retrace lines, indicating the G2 level for red may be too high. This could also show during a calibration, where black or the very low IRE levels, would be plus red and the rest of the grayscale is OK.

If you care to read my post again you will find that I did not claim that blacklevel was causing red lines on his set. Electronics troubleshooting requires questions to be asked and answers to be given. :rolleyes:

It is a fact that a misadjusted G2 can cause this symptom. The red glow/lines can be caused by applying a G2 overvoltage. If G2 ( or screen voltage) is set too high, it is sometimes difficult to establish an appropriate brightness (black level). Hence, my question to Leonjr76 as to his ability to set his brightness level.

ClayPigeon, I'm quite sure you've heard things MUCH dumber than anything in my posts. :p

Sorry then! i was wrong. Didn't sound like a G2 problem tho from his posts.

Here is a picture of the problem. It is not a great picture but I believe it is good enough to see the problem.

wow tho yea that was way off from what i thought what was wrong! the pic helped! Sorry i couldn't help bro :(

I am glad the picture helped.

GlenC is this problem fixable in my home.

If this is something that I cannot do (which is what it sounds like) I would like some advice.

1. Call in warranty repair.
If I call in warranty repair would it be in my best interest to give a detailed explanation of what the problem is to help the tech coming to hopefully fix the set.

2. ISF Calibration.
Is an ISF calibrator someone that could correct this while calibrating the set. I also have an XBR960 that I would like calibrated someday.

3. Self adjustment.
Is it even possible or a choice for me to do.

If anyone has any advice on how I should proceed it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

I am glad the picture helped.

GlenC is this problem fixable in my home.

If this is something that I cannot do (which is what it sounds like) I would like some advice.

1. Call in warranty repair.
If I call in warranty repair would it be in my best interest to give a detailed explanation of what the problem is to help the tech coming to hopefully fix the set.

2. ISF Calibration.
Is an ISF calibrator someone that could correct this while calibrating the set. I also have an XBR960 that I would like calibrated someday.

3. Self adjustment.
Is it even possible or a choice for me to do.

If anyone has any advice on how I should proceed it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanceWarranty service is the first step, cheapest, if it is a repair issue. If it is adjustment of grayscale, calibration should work.

I will attempt the warranty route first.

Thanks all

I have a couple of questions on a KV-32HS420 TV 4:3 that I hope someone can answer.

When I watch HDTV using the HDMI input (Video 7) or Component input the picture is always 16:9 so I Zoom the picture to fill the screen. I do it for 16:9 and 4:3 content, it works for me. But what I'd like to know is that is if can set so it always display the FULL picture to fill the screen without having to do it everytime the TV is turned on.

I found a setting in the Service Menu: 2170P-4 26 IDSW=0 (0-7)
If I set it to 2, it displays the Full picture and this will do the trick but unfortunately this setting can't be saved (NS). Is there any other way to accomplish this?

Second question is regarding the Volume level on the HDMI input, it's way higher than the other inputs. Can I adjust the Volume level for the HDMI input only?

Thanks and yes I've searched for both questions but can't find a definitive answer.

"When I watch HDTV using the HDMI input (Video 7) or Component input the picture is always 16:9 so I Zoom the picture to fill the screen. I do it for 16:9 and 4:3 content, it works for me. But what I'd like to know is that is if can set so it always display the FULL picture to fill the screen without having to do it everytime the TV is turned on."

Setting 2170D-3 JUMP set to 0 does the trick.

/---------
______
______/
______/

One more question, I have Dish Network and everytime I go to the guide I see a couple of problems with the geometry. First one happens on the top left corner the guide kind of drops and the second one is on the bottom right corner, the lines in the guide kind of go up.

I tried to draw what I see in the guide above, it exagerates the problems but it shows what's going on.

What kind of adjustments does anyone recommends to fix the problem?

Just a little update on my kd-30xs955 red line problem.

I was told by the TV repair man that it could be a shorted picture tube or a socket.

I just hope it can be fixed and returned as soon as possible.

Update! I called the repair shop about my TV and they have a fly back transformer on order. So much for the shorted picture tube or socket.

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who has posted on this thread!

I have a new KD34XBR970 that I've had for a few weeks. I have never attempted service menu adjustments in my life but there were some nagging geometry issues that I wanted to correct. Thanks to all the fantastic resources in this thread I was able to find and tweak HPOS, HSIZ, VPOS, VSIZ and NSCO. That took care of 90% of my issues. I still have some minor vertical bowing but I'll wait and do more research before tackling that one.

It is a huge thread, and can be complex in sections, but I encourage newcomers to read through the first section and download some of the service menu charts. It looks daunting but if I can do it, most anyone can.

Again, thanks to all the experts here!

Does the 955 not have an OSDH control? According to the .pdf it should be under MID1, but it is not there on my TV.

I have been a happy 960 owner for around six months, seeking guidance and a fix for a possible set up issue (since I received TV).
I do not appear to be utilizing my entire screen. If you look at the image there is a black (as night) bar around the entire picture, top and bottom seems to be about a half of an inch, less on the sides. Is this normal? Is this the raster thing I keep reading about?
If I could increase the picture size and reduce black ring that would be great.
I have performed minor geometry fixes in the Service Menu along with color fixes so I am not afraid of it, just need a layman's understanding of the fix before I start making changes.

Thanks in advance.

So it's my lot to be stuck with a Service Menu test pattern. It arose after what I believe was a normal SM tweak for centering, using Input 6 (HDMI @ 1080i), writing, and powering off. When I switched back on, the pattern remained without any text (SM or otherwise) on the screen. The remote control also has become totally un-effective, so am currently unable to see or re-write/correct any codes. I have powered off/unplugged/waited/powered back on or otherwise retried going back into the SM numerous times - unsuccessfully. Each time it is the stuck pattern and nothing else that comes back on screen :o .

I have done what I believe is extensive research regarding this problem on this and other threads but the problem seems to be a step beyond what I have come across as solutions so far. I will illustrate with the following three quotes:
--- As discussed earlier on a few occasions, If you WRITE another setting elsewhere in SM when you have one of those patterns up, (this is an oddity I know), you will probably need to make sure your return QM/PATN value to ZERO(and WRITE the "0" value(no test pattern) before you exit SM, otherwise the test pattern you were working on will likely remain "stuck" on screen when you exit SM.......

Quote:
Originally Posted by daltonlanny
HELP ME! I went into the blue QM and QT info & test pattern section in the service menu and did some adjustments to the vertical and horizontal perimeters in D-1 and D-2 while on a test pattern.
I NOW CANNOT EXIT THIS SECTION!

I apologize for not discussing this in my recent posting on the internal test patterns. Happened to me, too.

If you WRITE your new settings while using a test pattern, you have also accidentally written that test pattern! That's incredibly stupid on Sony's part: PATN should have been a *temporary* setting, as are several other test parameters. But it isn't.

As Nitewatchman said, the solution is to go into service mode, turn any pattern off, and WRITE that. So go to PATN, reduce its value to zero (which brings back the picture), and WRITE.

By now you have also discovered that one should also turn down the audio while using the test patterns, preferably to zero!
Then this (almost scary) one:
Update:

Here's another "cautionary" tale involving a certian model of set+SM I recall from the late early mid 90's. This particluar set's Service Menu happend to have "VFREQ"(sets vertical scanning frequency) as it's FIRST SM item. It was also the case that, the "code" one needed to enter on the remote(or front panel set controls) was such that I believe it was very possible for a user to "accidently" enter SM without knowing it, and, perhaps thinking they were turning the vol down or switching channel(don't remember which), they could EASILY lower the VFREQ setting(which "stuck" immediately, you didn't have to do anything to "write" the new value) without knowing it - which would not only make it impossible to "see anything" on the screen, it would also cause the set to turn off after a few seconds. And the set would NOT work again, unless the EEPROM was reprogrammed or the EEPROM chip with the firmware on it was replaced, or perhaps a VARIAC was used to step down the A/C current to where you could enter the SM without the set turning off in a few seconds, and be able to "see" the value on the screen, and change it back to correct value.

: end update
I also came by the following very short and independent thread, but it, too, ended without a solution applicable to my case:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=751643&highlight=stuck+pattern

I would be grateful for any and all help that will help me eliminate this stuck pattern and get back on track with my 970.

TIA.

duwdu

I would be grateful for any and all help that will help me eliminate this stuck pattern and get back on track with my 970.


Perhaps you may need new batteries for remote+ you may want to See these 3 posts(as they involve someone having this problem with the same model of set you have) :

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10240527&&#post10240527

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10241098&&#post10241098

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10241361&&#post10241361

duwdu,

It sounds like you're saying that you can't get back into the service mode. If so, that's very strange - this would be the first I've heard of a TV that had previously entered service mode just fine, but now refuses to cooperate.

Make sure you're going step-by-step to get back into the service mode...

1) Turn OFF the TV

2) Make sure the remote control is set to control the TV (and not the cable box or DVD player or whatever) by pressing the "TV" function button on the remote

3) Point your remote toward the TV and enter the service mode by pressing these four keys, in order, relatively quickly (each key must be pressed within one second of the previous key):
- Display
- 5
- Volume UP
- Power

Your TV should then turn on in service mode, and you should be able to do as Nitewatchman has suggested, and navigate to the PATN parameter (within the QM menu) and set it to zero. Then "write" this new setting so the TV saves it to memory.

^yep ...

BTW, oddly enough, I've noticed that when batteries in the remote get to a certian *weakness*, *some* buttons/functions on the remote will still work (such as off/on, up/down channel, or the 1~9 buttons), but some will not ... (such as say the "screen mode" or the "." button if you're punching in"digital subchannel #'s), or "twin view button" or "display" button) ....

A few days ago, it started with just the "." button not working, so if I were to try to punch in say, "9.2", "9" was as far as I could get ... It had been long enough since I'd had this sort of thing happen before, I first thought perhaps contacts went bad in the remote+I would probably need another one ... Then, I noticed other buttons starting not to work (such as "screen mode") and tried new batteries and all was fine ....

On a previous occasion when this happened, I believe It was the "display" button I first noticed that had quit working until I replaced batteries ... One which we need to work of course to get into SM ...

Perhaps you may need new batteries for remote+ you may want to See these 3 posts(as they involve someone having this problem with the same model of set you have) :

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10240527&&#post10240527

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10241098&&#post10241098

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10241361&&#post10241361
Perhaps my statement regarding the remote control is inaccurate. The remote actually does operate the TV, it is just not effective in the service menu mode. In any case, I changed out the batteries for a fresh pack and the issue remains.

Also, I previously read the messages you referenced. None seems to address this particular problem of the SM coming back without any text on it to chose from. Perhaps you could further direct me?

Thanks.

Also, I previously read the messages you referenced. None seems to address this particular problem of the SM coming back without any text on it to chose from. Perhaps you could further direct me?


Keep in mind, The SM isn't "coming back" when you turn on the set normally, only the test pattern. So, There is/will be no text on it if you are OUTSIDE of SM+operating the set normally.

You have to enter SM so you can "see" the SM text, and move to QM/PATN and change/write the QM/PATN value to "0" (no test pattern).

As G-bull said, I've also never heard of a situation where you would not be able to re-enter SM and fix this, so, if it isn't a problem with your remote involving the capability to enter SM, afraid I can't be of any help there.

duwdu,

It sounds like you're saying that you can't get back into the service mode. If so, that's very strange - this would be the first I've heard of a TV that had previously entered service mode just fine, but now refuses to cooperate.

Make sure you're going step-by-step to get back into the service mode...

1) Turn OFF the TV

2) Make sure the remote control is set to control the TV (and not the cable box or DVD player or whatever) by pressing the "TV" function button on the remote

3) Point your remote toward the TV and enter the service mode by pressing these four keys, in order, relatively quickly (each key must be pressed within one second of the previous key):
- Display
- 5
- Volume UP
- Power

Your TV should then turn on in service mode, and you should be able to do as Nitewatchman has suggested, and navigate to the PATN parameter (within the QM menu) and set it to zero. Then "write" this new setting so the TV saves it to memory.
G-Bull,

Am actually doing as you've enumerated, and have been doing it for about three weeks now, successfully. It appears I do get into the SM, but there are no menus in the service mode to chose from, it is as if the pattern has covered up the menus! Please see the third quote I made above, the one I describe as scary... the symptons seem to fit what I am experiencing.

Thanks for any further help.

Please see the third quote I made above, the one I describe as scary... the symptons seem to fit what I am experiencing.


Oh no ... You wouldn't see a test pattern at all if something like THAT were happening ...


It appears I do get into the SM, but there are no menus in the service mode to chose from, it is as if the pattern has covered up the menus!


Have never seen that happen either(the pattern covering up the SM menus), and don't know how you would know you were in SM if you couldn't see the menus ... Turning All the guns off (2170P1/RGBS=0) is the only thing I have come across which "turns off" the SM menus (and everything else! )

What happens if you are on an input Other than HDMI when you try to enter SM ? If you haven't tried it, maybe try that -- such as the RF input (ANT button), or an S-video/Composite video input (video 1~3) ... Then, maybe you could switch to HDMI input within SM+hopefully then still be able to see the menus in order to write QM/PATN To "0" ...

Keep in mind, The SM isn't "coming back" when you turn on the set normally, only the test pattern. So, There is/will be no text on it if you are OUTSIDE of SM+operating the set normally.

You have to enter SM so you can "see" the SM text, and move to QM/PATN and change/write the QM/PATN value to "0" (no test pattern).

As G-bull said, I've also never heard of a situation where you would not be able to re-enter SM and fix this, so, if it isn't a problem with your remote involving the capability to enter SM, afraid I can't be of any help there.
Thanks Nite, am not just turning on the TV normally, am entering the SM from the standby state as G-Bull has enumerated, and have been successful before this problem started. Thanks anyways. I'll probably have to try another remote, may be indeed some of the buttons have suddenly gone bunkers, it's just that this set is so brand new...

duwdu

Oh no ... You wouldn't see a test pattern at all if something like THAT were happening ...



Have never seen that happen either(the pattern covering up the SM menus), and don't know how you would know you were in SM if you couldn't see the menus ... Turning All the guns off (2170P1/RGBS=0) is the only thing I have come across which "turns off" the SM menus (and everything else! )

What happens if you are on an input Other than HDMI when you try to enter SM ? If you haven't tried it, maybe try that -- such as the RF input (ANT button), or an S-video/Composite video input (video 1~3) ... Then, maybe you could switch to HDMI input within SM+hopefully then still be able to see the menus in order to write QM/PATN To "0" ...
You are da bomb Nite! I selected another input - just pressed the TV/Video button once after turning on the TV normally, as I had previously disabled all but the HDMI and one other input, switched off, then re-entered the SM - and Viola! my SM UI is back.

You've saved me a lot of aggravation Nitewatchman (and G-Bull). Many many thanks to you and the community.

duwdu

I was tweaking my picture using the service menu and decided to change back all of it to default values. Then i "WRITE" the UCP value back to 33 and doing so changed my screen to what looks similar to a checkers board from eye view, full size of the screen and has a black background. I can't do anything else with my remote other than going into the service menu and changing values of codes (which im definetly never touching again). What did i do? How do i get out of this! All i wanted to do was fix some geometry issues!

BTW i was using my DVE disc at the time and i noticed in the service menu its changed from 480i to 1080i.

It has taken me a few weeks, but I have finally read all 85 pages and discovered many helpful hints to fine tune my XBR970. I've been able to adjust the overscan down to about 4%, fixed a horrendous tilt problem, and the picture geometry is now pretty darn good...THANK YOU to everyone here who contributed expert advice.

However one thing I have not been able to fix is a vertical position difference between my DVD player (input #4, component cables, 480p) and my satellite receiver (input #5,component cables, 1080i).

If I center the image (up and down) from the DVD player the broadcast TV image does not go quite to the top of the screen. Is there a way to adjust the vertical position of these inputs independently?

It has taken me a few weeks, but I have finally read all 85 pages and discovered many helpful hints to fine tune my XBR970. I've been able to adjust the overscan down to about 4%, fixed a horrendous tilt problem, and the picture geometry is now pretty darn good...THANK YOU to everyone here who contributed expert advice.

However one thing I have not been able to fix is a vertical position difference between my DVD player (input #4, component cables, 480p) and my satellite receiver (input #5,component cables, 1080i).

If I center the image (up and down) from the DVD player the broadcast TV image does not go quite to the top of the screen. Is there a way to adjust the vertical position of these inputs independently?


Can you disconnect the DVD player and insert the satellite there, to see if the shift still occurs? Or the other way around? That way you can rule out a signal discrepancy.

However one thing I have not been able to fix is a vertical position difference between my DVD player (input #4, component cables, 480p) and my satellite receiver (input #5,component cables, 1080i).

If I center the image (up and down) from the DVD player the broadcast TV image does not go quite to the top of the screen. Is there a way to adjust the vertical position of these inputs independently?
I think DHVP within MID2 will do what you're trying to do, but you'll have to try it out to be sure. It has been a while since I messed around in the SM... I don't recall whether input4 and input5 can be adjusted independently, or if it adjusts both of these "component video" inputs at the same time. I do believe, however, that it treats each resolution independently, so the setting for 480p can be adjusted separately from 1080i...

Well I tried adjusting the vertical position with DHVP (in MID 2), but that moves the image up or down within the raster. It's the raster which does not reach the top of the CRT. The same thing happens when I try to fix this using SCRL or ASPT.

The only way I have found to make the raster meet the top of the picture tube is to adjust Vertical Correction in the User Menu to +4 or +5 when watching the satellite dish, then resetting Vertical Correction to 0 when watching DVD's.

This is my first post in this forum. I've been able to get a great picture from all the tips in this thread on my 34hs420 but I feel I've just dodged a bullet.

I had my set turned on and left the room for about 40 minutes. A thunderstorm caused the power to go off for about 5 seconds. When I returned to my set I noticed that colors were distorted. Normally green text was blue and there was a halo of green and pink tints surrounded the outer edges of the screen.

Searching the net I attributed this to overheating & warping of the aperture grill. Hopefully not too late I realized I should turn the set off to let the grill cool down. Luckily when I turned it back on a few minutes later the colors were back to normal.

What can I do to prevent permanent damage to the grill? Did the power suddenly turning off and then coming back on abruptly cause the set to send to much current from the electron beam and overheat the grill? Or is there a service menu contrast/white level adjustment that is possibly set too high? Thanks.

...I had my set turned on and left the room for about 40 minutes. A thunderstorm caused the power to go off for about 5 seconds. When I returned to my set I noticed that colors were distorted. Normally green text was blue and there was a halo of green and pink tints surrounded the outer edges of the screen.....Is it possible that the power bump was multiple, quick power fluctuations? If so, then its very possible that what you initially saw was an interupted cycling of the degaussing circuit. Incomplete degaussing of crts can create the symptoms you describe. The degaussing circuit operation is the surging sound heard at initial powerup.

BTW, The degaussing circuit heats up when it cycles on, therefore it has a cool down period of 5 to 10 minutes before it will cycle again.

Thanks Raouliii. I see you've helped others with their magnetic problems.

I don't think there was a rapid power cycling. The lights went off once for a very short time and then came back on. This never happened to me during a storm before but maybe a nearby lightning strike created an emp and magnetized the screen. I'm guessing the set was still "on" even though the power was out so it didn't degauss when the power came back on a few seconds later....if degaussing only occurs when you manually power up that is. I'm just guessing because I know very little about the technical side of this.

Thanks Nite, am not just turning on the TV normally, am entering the SM from the standby state as G-Bull has enumerated, and have been successful before this problem started. Thanks anyways. I'll probably have to try another remote, may be indeed some of the buttons have suddenly gone bunkers, it's just that this set is so brand new...

duwdu


Another thing to be aware of is the "Device" the remote is trying to send the commands to (ie. DVD, ANT, CABLE or TV). You will know by looking at the remote when you press the button, a red light will flash rapidly above the device it is sending commands for. (Sorry for two sentences in a row ending with prepositions! :o )

This can be a simple, yet confouding detail to note while mucking about in the SM.

Cheers,

Bryan

I was tweaking my picture using the service menu and decided to change back all of it to default values. Then i "WRITE" the UCP value back to 33 and doing so changed my screen to what looks similar to a checkers board from eye view, full size of the screen and has a black background. I can't do anything else with my remote other than going into the service menu and changing values of codes (which im definetly never touching again). What did i do? How do i get out of this! All i wanted to do was fix some geometry issues!

BTW i was using my DVE disc at the time and i noticed in the service menu its changed from 480i to 1080i.


Sounds like the classic case of an internal pattern being saved before exit.

Indulge me and enter the SM and page back (5 button) until you reach the group labled "QM" the page forward within the group (1 button) until you reach the PATN group then lower the value (6 button) until it reads zero.

Hopefully, your picture should have returned. If it has, SAVE (MUTE then ENTER)!

Let us know if this helps.....

Bryan

My Sony KDF-60XS955 took a crap today. all i can say is that the red stanby led flahes 6 times, and repeats itself. any help out there on what this may mean


John my tv did same thing. tech came in replaced the fuse in back. its a heat fuse gets too hot it burns out. It is on a wire that is about 2 ft long 1 white whire 1 gray wire. has red tape taping them together last 8 to 10 inches is black with a small black piece of plastic on the end . that is the fuse. on the wire(black part of wire) it says e30522 hi-tube-n 105c 300v vw-1 -f- hrakawa-l. its aplug in wire did not see where it plugs in. at same time they blew dust out of tv that can cause it to overheat. was also told the lamp when it burns out will do same thing. the lamp is an easy replacement. (SONY will replace within first yr) on the front of the tv, at the botttom where it says HDTV that piece of plastic pops off. lamp is behind that allen screw on left side has to be removed. new bulb comes with an allen wrench. new bulbs online for about $160

the fuse doesnt seem that hard to replace take back lower plastic of tv off look for 1 gray wire and white wire that has 3 pieces of red tape on it and the last 8 to 10 inces is black with the little black square plastic piece on the end (small) about 1/4 inch square.


hope this helps

This question may have been answered before, but it would take me forever to dig through 85 pages of text to find it...

Anyhow, when watching a 4:3 program in normal aspect mode, the vertical gray bars on each side of the picture cut off a little more than I would have like them to (the picture looks more like a 5:4 image rather than 4:3). Is there a parameter in the SM that allows me to either adjust the size of the grey bars, or remove them completely?

Thanks.

Is there a list of the service menu items that can be adjusted for the KDL46XBR2? I can see the menu items, but I can't decifer what they mean.

I'd like to adjust the vertical and horizontal size of the display a couple of pixels, in order to remove some junk at the top of the display when in "full pixel" mode. I like full pixel mode better than normal mode, because it shows quite a bit more of the actual frame on all sides.

That model does not sound like a CRT. Since this is the CRT forum, you might have better luck posting in the forum for your particular TV type.

That model does not sound like a CRT. Since this is the CRT forum, you might have better luck posting in the forum for your particular TV type.

Whoops! I saw "Service Codes" in the forum title, but didn't see the CRT Displays. I'll look for something in the LCD forums. Thanks.

Hi

I after some help with my Sony 32" running 720p from a HTPC.

I have used the service menu in the past to correct geometry and color decoding with success.

However the current problem has occurred after moving the TV to a new house. So the TV is now in a different orientation and I can see some geometry flaws due to the earth's magnetic field.

The problem that I don't know how to fix is a flickering of the image from left to right. The image flickers back and forth in the horizontal direction, and is worse in the top left and bottom right corners. At the seating position the horizontal flickering causes a flickering of intensity in the 2 corners.

It only does this in 60Hz and not in 50Hz mode.

Has anyone seen this problem before and have a potential solution?

Brad

Does this occur on all inputs?

What about when you use the TV's tuner?

How are you switching from 60hz to 50hz? From your PC?

Hopefully this interference is coming from your video source rather than the TV itself. Or maybe there is some electrical equipment nearby causing the problem. Or the electrical power in the new location is unstable.

Do you have a good power strip for protection against power surges?

Maybe someone else has some better ideas, but that's about all I can come up with ATM.

There is a guy on Ebay selling PDF files of the 970 service manual for $12. I bought one and it seems to be the real deal. Most of the manual is devoted to diassembly and physical testing and repair, but there is a nice section on the service menu. To me it was well worth $12. Just search "kd 34xbr970" and see Store results.

Does this occur on all inputs

What about when you use the TV's tuner?

How are you switching from 60hz to 50hz? From your PC?

Hopefully this interference is coming from your video source rather than the TV itself. Or maybe there is some electrical equipment nearby causing the problem. Or the electrical power in the new location is unstable.

Do you have a good power strip for protection against power surges?

Maybe someone else has some better ideas, but that's about all I can come up with ATM.


Thanks for the reply.
I only use the vga input, but can check the RF input.
It does occur on 60Hz 720p and 30Hz 1080i, but not 50Hz 720p or 25Hz 1080i from the PC.
It's possible that the power is not great, but I am using a belkin surge protector power board.
I would've thought that the most likely problem is something that is common to the 60Hz 720p and 30Hz 1080i, modes on the TV. Hence there might be something in the service menu that can be changed

Did anyone in this thread ever fully explain the DCTR (Dynamic Picture)? I recall a post or two about it by Kentech, but I don't think anyone fully explained the proper *middle* settings for DCTR. APED, and DSBO. I know that BLK? holds the different settings for these values, but I'd really like to know the proper starting point.

And help?

Quick questions:

KD-30XS955. Service menu.

I got in there and got familiar with it and exited without saving any changes. I will gain more experience before I save anything.

1- Is the only way to leave the service menu to turn off the TV?

2- If I make some changes to parameters and NEVER WRITE them to memory, what does the command [8] then [enter] do? Does this reset even things I didn't adjust to some other default values? Or does this only return anything I might have changed to the last memorized values?

Sorry if this seems basic. I hit many of the links and did quick search, but couldn't find this. Also in the post "02 - Navigating Service Menu" it says press <zero> - Enter to reset settings but this resulted in a message something like "feature not available" (I don't quite remember).

Thanks for the help. I'm confident that with a bit more research I can improve a slight convergence issue and some overscan. Nothing major. Thanks!

1- Is the only way to leave the service menu to turn off the TV?


Yes, at least that I'm aware of.


2- If I make some changes to parameters and NEVER WRITE them to memory, what does the command [8] then [enter] do?


I don't know, nor do I know why you would press [8] then enter, but then again it's been quite some time since I've worked in the Sony's SM ...

I've only used the 1+3, 2+5 and 3+6 number keys when working in SM. 7~9 keys were "off limits" for my fingers <g>

.... From KenTech's "02-navigating Service mode" post :


CAUTION: AVOID keys 7 and 9, as they are part of a key-sequence that can reset all of the deflection or image-decoding settings back to a "factory-newborn" state. If you think you’ve hit any key by accident, STOP. In a few seconds it will revert back to SERVICE mode, as you’ll see at the right side of the screen. All dangerous key-sequences are combinations of *three* keys, by the way.




Does this reset even things I didn't adjust to some other default values?


The key combination that does that is the one Ken Mentions as quoted above. Don't do it . Going from others who did make that mistake(after many warnings here cautioning them NOT to do it), The "other default values" are not the defaults as they were "adjusted" at the factory, instead they are likely some set of useless(except perhaps for those at the factory starting on every set with the "same" set of values to start with) defaults present BEFORE any factory adjustments were made.


Also in the post "02 - Navigating Service Menu" it says press <zero> - Enter to reset settings but this resulted in a message something like "feature not available" (I don't quite remember).


FWIW, I think I may have tried that once+ I think it may worked on my XBR960, but other than testing it, I never used it as I preferred, basically, not giving myself that "option", although on occasion for testing some things out(w/o writing any values) I did use the power cycling option to clear my "new" values(often on those occasions I wanted to power back up outside of SM anyway) ..... And instead, was sure to be careful enough to log everything as necessary and it was easy enough to change values back if I had already written them+ended up wanting to use something different or the "factory adjusted" default values ...

-----

Hope some of that helps ....


Sorry if this seems basic.


Not at all.

Jeff,

Thanks man - glad to see you're still enjoying being a source of help on this!

I got this from the notes at the bottom of the 34XBR910 spreadsheet: "Restore Factory Defaults = [8] - [ENTER]". So that's why I was asking about that.

Don't worry, I have NO intention of resetting to the "newborn" state with the 7 and 9 buttons - I WON'T do that! :)

^ No problem Mark -- I probably won't be too active on this thread in future as I am starting to get "rusty" on this stuff, as it has been quite a while since I've worked with any of it! I do enjoy looking at some fine looking video on the set, however+appreciating the info from this thread which helped me to get it looking like that!

Also, although I have some important stuff such as the XBR960 SM codes pages and the geometry+other pages from Service manual, as well as my notes/files on my sets factory default settings+my changes as well as important test patterns+info from this thread(Including various charts+posts from Ken), easily accessable some of the other stuff I had looked at but really didn't use has gotten archived onto DVD/CD's, and in some cases it would take quite a bit of searching to dig any of it up ....

Jeff

Not really sure if this is adding to the thread much or not, but I thought I'd talk about the ENHA settings that are on my 34xs955 and how they have helped me achieve a better focus and sharpness of my picture without having to do the manual focus adjustment.

ENHA
HSHP - settings are from 0 - 255 and I've set mine at 0 since I'm not entirely sure what this setting does. It was set at 50 from the factory.

HSFO - Seems to be a focus offest parameter. I haven't really had to time to test out some theories I have for this setting, but I do know that the settings are from 0 - 15 (blurred to focused) and 15 really helped my focus tremendously. However, I didn't find the setting until after I had done a dynamic focus adjustment, so it is entirely possible that this code could be used in conjunction with a dynamic focus to get even more precise results. For instance, you could set HSFO to 7 and then do a focus adjustment, then readjust HSFO to your liking.

HPOR - No idea what it does, but 0 seems to be off which is where I have it at.

HLTL - This one, combined with HLTM appear to be either a focus shift? or a parameter that can be used to center any doubling of lines. Excuse my terminology, but to give an example of how this worked for me...

I always saw double lines, or a faint shadow from everything that I couldn't get rid of. It was easy to spot with dark text on a white background. All of the letters had this astigmatism to them. (This may have been caused by some sharpness offsets I used in my earlier adjustments for this set) Anyway, to make a long story short, I was able to try different combinations of HLTL and HLTM until I removed the doubling of lines. HLTL is from 0 - 3 and HLTM is either 0 or 1. My settings ended up at HLTL 3 and HLTM 0.

With my new settings for this set, it's harder to see what HLTL and HLTM do. Maybe Kentech or someone can explain it, but when HLTL is set to 3 and I switch HLTM to 1 I can see any sharpness pattern I have up change from very white lines to very dark lines. It almost resembles turning the sharpness down on the user menu, but I think it is something more than that. I'm just not sure, but I'll keep experimenting.

HAPL - Seems to work like a sub picture level of some kind. 0 is off which is where I have it set for now.

HAPA - Not really sure what this does, maybe it's an Amplitude for one or some of the other ENHA settings. I have set it at 0.

HCTL - unsure, so I set it at 0

HCTM - unsure, so I set it at 0 as well.

Well, I'm happy to report that by using the service menu (D-CONV) I was able to tweak out some annoying convergence on the left side of my newly acquired 30XS955. It's not perfect, but significantly better.

I also had a go at trying to reduce the overscan. My results were mixed. I was totally able to optimize it for an Xbox set to 16:9 mode. (I compared it to my projector at 0% overscan - very close.) However, that resulted in widescreen output from a PS2 being too small with the sides of the image itself visible. So I had to compromise and increase the HSIZ and VSIZ again slightly so both would be OK.

I expect I'll have to adjust this again when I finally hook up an Xbox 360 to the set. I've heard that I might have to use the MID3 group to adjust 1080 input. (By the way, is there no way to see what the input signal format is other than being in the service menu?)

I was really glad I could adjust out that convergence error. All this is a bit more inconsistent and finicky than my 1280x720 projector, but hey this is about as good as it can get on a CRT (TV) as I understand it, so I can "put up" with small issues.

One thing I'm worried about is whether or not I have maintained a correct aspect after playing with HSIZ and VSIZ - that is, I hope circles are still truly circular! It looks fine, but I haven't measured it yet. Part of the problem is that the DVD playback from PS2 is weird. I put the THX optomizer in there from a movie and could not get the circle in the widescreen check to be circular. For some reason it was still letterboxing in my 16:9 screen - lame. Game material does not look stretched or squished (I didn't try the actual movie).

One thing I noticed last night is when I changed a PS2 game to run progressive (there are a few) the image shifted to the right so now I have a small gap of black on the left side...huh? (I was not in the service menu - no other changes than going from 480i to 480p.) This did bug me - any ideas?

Well, I'm not intending to tweak forever (addicting as it is) but sometimes I just don't get why the image is so inconsistent across inputs/sources/formats. (All the above is on component connections via inputs 5 and 6.)

I labeled PS2 input 5 "Beta" just to give Sony props (and because, yes, I actually was a Beta user...) :)

I labeled PS2 input 5 "Beta" just to give Sony props (and because, yes, I actually was a Beta user...) :)Don't be embarrassed. You should be proud!

I'm STILL using an HFR-900 Super-Beta (vintage 1984, and still working perfectly) as my "D* composite pass-through" for one of my SD TV's. It doesn't have S-video, but neither does that TV... just composite.

And I STILL use an EDV-9500 ED-Beta (vintage 1989) as my "D* S-video pass-through" for another SD TV, and an EDV-7500 (vintage 1990) in a similar use for watching D* via S-video on my PC (which has an ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI TV card, also supporting OTA via built-in ATSC tuner and amplified indoor antenna).

All of these Sony Beta machines are still working flawlessly, both electronically and mechanically. I don't use them for recording any longer but definitely still use them for the occasional playback of Super-Beta and ED-Beta recordings made many many years ago (and which still have not yet disintegrated into dust, but still play perfectly). For actual recording of SD from D* I have a Hughes E45 receiver and Hughes HDR-205 D-VHS VCR at each TV node. This gives me digitally perfect recordings and playback from D*, which is why I no longer use analog VCR's to record.

I do have JVC S-VHS VCR's (9400U and 9800U) also available on these same SD TV's and PC, so I can watch anything I want on any TV. And I have JVC D-VHS VCR's (40K and DT100U) for offloading HD content to D-VHS tape from my DCH3416 from TWC. If I'm going to be away from home for several weeks, I'll use the JVC D-VHS VCR's in LS3 mode to record SD from D*. That gives 21 hours of better-than-Svideo quality LS3 recording on a DF420 tape (which would provide 7 hours of D-VHS recording from D* on my HDR-205 machines).

So yes, I'm a Beta man too. And I even have a second "spare" EDV-9500 and EDV-7500 that are simply sitting on a shelf, in case I ever need parts (since you can't get them any longer), along with six brand new still-in-wrapper never opened ED-Beta blank tapes... maybe for some possible future use someday.

But JVC has made giant progress in the quality of their S-VHS machines over the past 10 years (although I've stopped buying them), and now with their HD D-VHS machines (which have super-fabulous S-VHS picture quality as well). So I now do any VCR recording on JVC machines, either in S-VHS or D-VHS.

One thing I noticed last night is when I changed a PS2 game to run progressive (there are a few) the image shifted to the right so now I have a small gap of black on the left side...huh? (I was not in the service menu - no other changes than going from 480i to 480p.) This did bug me - any ideas?

Try adjusting your MID2 settings as a last resort, that is what I ended up doing on my 34xs955.

I've finally accomplished what I thought would be impossible with my 34xs955. I made it look very similar to my 24"FW900 computer monitor. Took me forever and a day to get here, but now that I'm here I'll never go back to a downgrade in technology. I truly hope SED gets here soon or my tubes last forever.

These are my final~ settings for the 34xs955 HDMI input. I only use this input because that is what my Pio 91 connects to, and I like having the HDMI conversion since it forces my 480i connections to 480p with the proper 4:3 ratio with black bars, or 16:9. Most of my settings came from reading, and seeing first hand, what some of the service codes do to the image, and other settings came from the 34xs955 service manual. I tried to eliminate any instance of video source alteration to get as true and clean a signal as possible.

The key here is to get the MID1 codes right, then adjust the MID2 codes. If you have either group too far off the focus and resolution is very far off and the Sharpness = Min will not work. The ENHA settings are also key here too. Combining all of these correctly will allow you to keep the sharpness slider set to Min or off.

I don't like to add sharpness, personally, for three important reasons.
1. It makes jagged lines stand out more.
2. It alters the source material. (My FW900 computer monitor doesn't even have a sharpness slider on it.)
3. It is a bad compensator for focus.

I've attached a text file with many of the codes I use for my TV.
I will be uploading some images later to show how great this set looks, especially for video games.

Please keep in mind that these settings are for those of us that normally play video games on this TV. These settings are probably not optimal for low to medium quality broadcast material.

Nextgen, good to see you have your TV where you want it! I'm just curious as to what you mean by getting the "mid 1" settings right? From what i heard ( on my TV) the mid 1 settings shouldn't be tinkered with at all ? Mid 2 i'm not as sure about. When i put a pattern up and mess with some of the mid settings on my set, you can see that some adjusting actually effects the quality of the lines when using a test pattern. I haven't noticed these problems with setting most of the mid 2 settings like "DHHP,DHVP" But most of the other ones like in mid 1 do something to the overall picture quality ( only noticeable when viewing a static test image with white lines) i think i read in this topic that there is actually some connection between some of those settings that have to be kept the way they are. (they interact and if one is off, they are all off)

Nextgen, good to see you have your TV where you want it! I'm just curious as to what you mean by getting the "mid 1" settings right? From what i heard ( on my TV) the mid 1 settings shouldn't be tinkered with at all ? Mid 2 i'm not as sure about. When i put a pattern up and mess with some of the mid settings on my set, you can see that some adjusting actually effects the quality of the lines when using a test pattern. I haven't noticed these problems with setting most of the mid 2 settings like "DHHP,DHVP" But most of the other ones like in mid 1 do something to the overall picture quality ( only noticeable when viewing a static test image with white lines) i think i read in this topic that there is actually some connection between some of those settings that have to be kept the way they are. (they interact and if one is off, they are all off)

You right. I have left all my MID1 settings exactly as they are printed in the service manual. However, most of my MID2 settings for various display modes and resolutions had to be changed to get things like overscan, pixel cropping, vertical and horizontal centering and sizing correct. This does indeed cause some of the sharpness patterns to act strange, but I think by changing the DYSS value in the MID1 group of codes either corrects or compensates for the MID2 changes. Or maybe, based on your post, I just have something that should be on turned off or vice versa and I simply "think" I've got the right settings for my set. I'm not sure what DYSS stands for, but the factory default setting is 1, but if I change it to either 0 or 2 my sharpness patterns seem correct to my eye, and my eye is the only real measuring equipment I have been using.

*edit*
Just went back to double check everything, and based on the test patterns I'm using, movies I've watched parts of, and games I've tested out, changing the MID2 group of codes appears to be perfectly fine after adjusting the MID1 DYSS values. Here is a shot I took with my digital camera, it isn't the best quality as I'm not very skilled at photographing a tv.

After reading and re-reading the posts in this thread, I'm about to "grow a pair" and go into the service menu. But before I do, can someone briefly explain to this SM newbie when to use a test pattern from a DVD (my Avia disc), and when to use the test pattern generated from the tv itself. (I have an XBR970.) I assume the pattern generated from the tv would be best suited for global adjustments only, yes? I dunno. Thanks in advance.

After reading and re-reading the posts in this thread, I'm about to "grow a pair" and go into the service menu. But before I do, can someone briefly explain to this SM newbie when to use a test pattern from a DVD (my Avia disc), and when to use the test pattern generated from the tv itself. (I have an XBR970.) I assume the pattern generated from the tv would be best suited for global adjustments only, yes? I dunno. Thanks in advance.

I would assume the one from the TV itself will give you a more true representation to work with and it should work for all inputs and resolutions. However, I'm not sure and just taking a guess here, I would assume that if parts of your geometry, overscan, etc are out of whack then the TV's patterns will also be off, so it might be a good idea to start with a DVD. If your DVD player supports upscaling and can read from some type of memory stick you should be all set. Just write down EVERYTHING before you start, that's the key to the whole thing.

Since I'm only concerned with HDMI, I just used my PS3 and upscaled and/or double scaled my AVIA and DVE disks 99% of the time.

Hi Sony CRT´s fans
I found a site where you can download the SERVICE MANUAL FOR FREE of 30/34/36xs955 and 34xbr960(all with DA-4 chassis):go to www.schematicsforfree.com and 1)click on "Click here to see the files" in blue big letters 2) click on "Sony" 3)click on "Video" 4)click on "KD34XBR960" or "KD34XS955".It´s a Zip file.

Hi Sony CRT´s fans
I found a site where you can download the SERVICE MANUAL FOR FREE of 30/34/36xs955 and 34xbr960(all with DA-4 chassis):go to www.schematicsforfree.com and 1)click on "Click here to see the files" in blue big letters 2) click on "Sony" 3)click on "Video" 4)click on "KD34XBR960" or "KD34XS955".It´s a Zip file.
Huge thanks to you britanico for this pointer.

duwdu

I'm having a problem with underscan (I think this is what it is) on the top portion of the picture.

Everything else is more or less centered but the top is "cut off" Even if I drag the picture all the way down, part of the top is cut off.

Anyone know what service setting I'm suppose to change?

I'm having a problem with underscan (I think this is what it is) on the top portion of the picture.

Everything else is more or less centered but the top is "cut off" Even if I drag the picture all the way down, part of the top is cut off.

Anyone know what service setting I'm suppose to change?

I dealt with this over the weekend with my xbr970.

Go to the 2170D-1 and 2170D-2 groups. Decrease HSIZ and VSIZ until you can see the image borders. Then VPOS and HPOS to center the image, then resize as desired.

If you're like me though you'll notice pincushioning and bowing that you'll want to massage before resizing.

No, all those settings are done. What I'm saying is that the top is underscanned BUT the TV is cutting off the picture.

Like the TV is blacking out the top of the image. I know that there is a setting that expands the bottom of the image by REVEALING more of the image, but can't seem to find a similar option for the top of the picture.

Has anyone had success getting SD sources on a 36XS955(or a 960, etc) to look like they do on a SD native TV?

I've read every page of this thread and signifigantly improved the image of SD & HD material, but I can't seem to get the SD picture to look like it does on my 24" SD Trinitron CRT. The picture itself is very similar, but looks rather "flat". It's missing something I can't seem to quantify. (SYSM = 3, VM to 4, MID5 to KenTech recommended settings, DRC set to interlaced, 480i coming in via component cables)

I'm very interested if people are having success replicating that true SD CRT picture on this set. Mine is close, but every time I do an A/B comparison the HD CRT loses hands down to the SD set. Thanks in advance for any help.

Try adjusting your MID2 settings as a last resort, that is what I ended up doing on my 34xs955.

I have a somewhat similar problem, when playing a ps2 game on 480i on full mode, theres some black space on the 4 sides of the screen, while this is annoying I can live with it because the image from my cable box fills the screen completely and I dont want to mess with it.

However, when i switch to 480p on (on both component inputs and hdmi) the image is way too high on the screen, as if the vpos setting was off by a few values.
I can fix this with the mid2 DHVP settings but I'm a bit averse to using it from all the warnings I've read before. I guess this is more of a "should I, or should I not?" post, lol.

Thanks for all the help in this thread, I've learned lots from it and fixed most of my overscan and geometry problems. :D

I can fix this with the mid2 DHVP settings but I'm a bit averse to using it from all the warnings I've read before.

Uh oh. What warnings have you read? I just messed with DHHS and DHHP in MID2 to fix my XBox and Wii underscan issues. Did I do something wrong? ( I have an XBR970). :eek:

Evening, all.

I've been sitting here trying to tweak the 1080i HDMI input using my PS3, which I intended to transfer and test the results in the component part of the TV where my X360 is, and noticed that I had knocked the image to the left in the component portion.

I originally had used the component input of the set to adjust the image, using all the great tips I found in this thread, and after getting the PS3, I noticed the image was pushed off to the right. I was hoping that HDMI and component had separate geom. settings. But, now that I've made the adjustments, I really don't want to reset the HDMI settings.

Plus, I got the screen to look as pretty even as i could get. For now.

What I would like to know is if there was a specific set of menu setting that would let me adjust the component and HDMI inputs separate from one another.

I started to adjust in anticipation for Halo 3. Now I feel kinda dumb for screwin' around with it so close to release.

I would also like to point out that about a year and a half ago, I had to re-install my OS after I caught a virus on my PC, and lost all my default settings that I had saved.

Still using my KV30HS420.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

No, all those settings are done. What I'm saying is that the top is underscanned BUT the TV is cutting off the picture.

Like the TV is blacking out the top of the image. I know that there is a setting that expands the bottom of the image by REVEALING more of the image, but can't seem to find a similar option for the top of the picture.

It could be one of two things:

Least destructive route: Try the BLANKING adjustments. They act like masks/curtains/mattes.

Potentially more destructive: You can shrink and shift the screen so that you can see the entire picture using MID adjustments.

There are all methods of comming to what you consider a "good" picture. What's important is to write down a log of your changes so that they can be undone, if need be.

I'm sure there all manner of adjustments in the MID menu that can ruin the "scaling" of the picture. I still fiddle with these and try to create a more "dense" picture by shrinking the picture as much as possible, then working with the geometry, then resizing to the minimum ammount of overscan (covering any residual uglies with the blanking shutters.)

Blah, blah, blah....

Read and do what you feel.

Cheers,

Bryan

What are the adjustments for the right side of the screen of XBR970. Everything else is
straight but there is a pinching effect towards the right. So what are the adjustments for
that.

I have a small reddish spot in the middle right side of my KD34XS955. It's near the edge of the screen about half way up the right side. I know the Landing controls can change the red/green shift of the corners of the screen, but I haven't found a control specifically for the right center area of the screen.

Another one I've been unable to fix is a slightly downward bending of horizontal lines in the upper left corner of the screen. Any idea which service menu control would correct that?

Thanks in advance for replies.

Evening, all.

I've been sitting here trying to tweak the 1080i HDMI input using my PS3, which I intended to transfer and test the results in the component part of the TV where my X360 is, and noticed that I had knocked the image to the left in the component portion.

I originally had used the component input of the set to adjust the image, using all the great tips I found in this thread, and after getting the PS3, I noticed the image was pushed off to the right. I was hoping that HDMI and component had separate geom. settings. But, now that I've made the adjustments, I really don't want to reset the HDMI settings.

Plus, I got the screen to look as pretty even as i could get. For now.

What I would like to know is if there was a specific set of menu setting that would let me adjust the component and HDMI inputs separate from one another.

I started to adjust in anticipation for Halo 3. Now I feel kinda dumb for screwin' around with it so close to release.

I would also like to point out that about a year and a half ago, I had to re-install my OS after I caught a virus on my PC, and lost all my default settings that I had saved.

Still using my KV30HS420.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Hmmmmm. I was gonna ask a similar question in a few days. I seem to be doing the opposite of you, component first and then moving on to my PS3 / HDMI. (I have the XBR970). If it turns out that HDMI and component can't be treated separately, perhaps you can keep your PS3 at 1080i and your 360 at 720p. Surely the resolutions are treated separately, no? (I am by no means an expert, so beware my words! I'm still learning the ins and outs of the service menu.)

What are the adjustments for the right side of the screen of XBR970. Everything else is
straight but there is a pinching effect towards the right. So what are the adjustments for
that.

You mean a pincushion effect? Horizontal or vertical?

You mean a pincushion effect? Horizontal or vertical?

I know what pincushion is. I don't need the whole screen to be affected.
Everything else is straight but towards the end it has a PINCHING EFFECT.

------------\

------------/

Sorta like that but not that dramatic. Just a sense of what I am saying.

I just would like to thank all those who participated in this wonderful thread, and much respect to KenTech for creating it.

I was thinking about tinkering in the service menu back in early 2006 when I purchased my first HDTV the 34XS955 in order to fix some color errors and geometry problems I recognized when using DVE to calibrate the TV.

However I saw all this information and was admittedly overwhelmed by the information and just plain scared of messing up my new TV. But the problems really irked me whenever I tried to enjoy my TV and just yesterday started to look at the this thread again to see what could I do, nothing fancy of course, to improve the image of my set. After gathering up enough cajones to jump into the service menu, I simply adjusted such fields as RYB, RYG, GYR, GYB to get the corresponding colors practically perfect through the DVE supplied color filter and used VPOS, VSIZ, HPOS, HSIZ and HTPZ to manipulate the geometry errors I had and basically eliminated the annoying cutting off of info at the top of the right screen. I still have some vertical bowing which I understand needs the use of magnets, but it's not that bad. Plus I don't feel like shelling out the money for a minor nuisance nor do I feel like getting electricuted to death.

I will definitely be looking at the more intricute adjustments when I feel I have a full understanding of the source material contained within this thread.

Again, congrats to all who participated in this thread and to those who benefited.

I have a KV-27HS420. When I run an OTA HD tuner (Samsung) into the TV at 720p or 1080i, the top and bottom black bars on the TV cut off part of the channel's signal/picture. Is there a way to reduce the height of the bars at top and bottom via the TV's settings?
Thanks in advance.

I have a KV-27HS420. When I run an OTA HD tuner (Samsung) into the TV at 720p or 1080i, the top and bottom black bars on the TV cut off part of the channel's signal/picture. Is there a way to reduce the height of the bars at top and bottom via the TV's settings?
Thanks in advance.

Try looking for settings that are labled VPOS, VSIZ, HPOS and HSIZ.

Sounds like you have a overscan problem and those values are very good at fixing that issue.

Try looking for settings that are labled VPOS, VSIZ, HPOS and HSIZ.

Sounds like you have a overscan problem and those values are very good at fixing that issue.
Thanks. Adjusting the vertical and horizontal size and position along with the top and bottom blanking shutters (TBLK, BBLK) seemed to do the trick.

Hey guys,

I've been trying to follow this thread for a while now, and thanks to you, I've been able to ajust most of my geometry problems. But while messing around with the geometry I've managed to mess up the right bottom corner of my KV30HS420. It looks like there's a second shadow on everything. I have attached a picture with how it looks like. Notice on the word "FREE" there's an dark orange/red showdow. Any help would be appriciated.

Hey guys,

I've been trying to follow this thread for a while now, and thanks to you, I've been able to ajust most of my geometry problems. But while messing around with the geometry I've managed to mess up the right bottom corner of my KV30HS420. It looks like there's a second shadow on everything. I have attached a picture with how it looks like. Notice on the word "FREE" there's an dark orange/red showdow. Any help would be appriciated.

Ah, yes - the PS3 store home page on a CRT HDTV. I swear, if Sony had any mercy in their souls they'd do a "curved blade" look on their store page like the Xbox 360 so we CRT owners would quit being anal about geometry. I have no solutions for you, just comfort that you aren't the only one bugged by such things. I straighten one part of the screen, and the edges go bendy. I straighten the edges and .... well you get the idea. I had to compromise. The good part is I don't notice such things when playing a game. Do you?

I wish I could be more help. Good luck! :)

The good part is I don't notice such things when playing a game. Do you?

The geometry itself isn't the problem. I did compromise with that. It's the shadow effect that really driving me mad. For example, Motorstorm has a lot of red/orange/brown/dark brown colors in the menus as well as in the game (like the split times and stuff). So when I see orange onscreen to the right, I noticed the red outline around gauges that shouldnt be there, almost like a shadow. Besides, Im the type person, when I see something that bothers me, it pesters me till no end.

The geometry itself isn't the problem. I did compromise with that. It's the shadow effect that really driving me mad. For example, Motorstorm has a lot of red/orange/brown/dark brown colors in the menus as well as in the game (like the split times and stuff). So when I see orange onscreen to the right, I noticed the red outline around gauges that shouldnt be there, almost like a shadow. Besides, Im the type person, when I see something that bothers me, it pesters me till no end.
It looks like a convergence problem. Dynamic convergence adjustments are made within the DCONV menu in the service menu. The different parameters in DCONV adjust the convergence in a different part of the screen.

But, if I recall correctly (and I hope for your sake I'm wrong about this) I don't think the HS420 models have dynamic convergence adjustments. I think they have the DCONV menu, but none of the settings actually do anything at all. I think convergence can only be corrected with physical adjustments to the rings on the yoke on the back of the CRT inside the TV's case.

I have Sony 34HS420. I've used the service menu to get my set's geometry to my liking. When I did this I also got my 4x3 window opened up all the way. When I did this I noticed that the far right 2 or 3 vertical lines are in B&W and the color bleeds off the left side of the 4x3 window. It seems as if the colors are offset somehow. How do I fix this?

I have a fairly simple question.

The Sony service mode instructions state "Press 8 then ENTER on the Remote Commander to initialize". Is this something that should be done before making changes to the service mode settings?

The context of the service manual seems to imply that you should perform this step before saving.

Will it reset some sort of factory setting that may be a pain to recover?

I don't recall doing this step on my last Sony TV and I am wondering if it is something I should do or something to avoid.

I never heard of pressing 8 then enter on Sony sets. I have accidentally hit 8 with my fat sausage fingers and it said "reset" but thankfully nothing happened. I'm pretty sure most Sony sets use the same "muting and enter" to write new value data.

I have Sony 34HS420. I've used the service menu to get my set's geometry to my liking. When I did this I also got my 4x3 window opened up all the way. When I did this I noticed that the far right 2 or 3 vertical lines are in B&W and the color bleeds off the left side of the 4x3 window. It seems as if the colors are offset somehow. How do I fix this?

I have this identical problem on the side of the screen. I should add that I haven't touched the settings or geometry.

I contacted Sony about the screen and they said bring it into a shop before the 2 year screen warranty expires. I purchased mine in Jan of 06. If the thing wasn't a 1/4 ton I'd bring it in.

Is there any chance or has anyone tried running 1080p on this set. 34xbr910 . Well I did some adjustments and the picture looked so Good with direct tv hd that I decided not to sell it. this post helped me out a lot even though its for an Old school tv.


are there any settings that will improve how small text looks , in other words so I can see text clearly from my pc.

Hello all, long time Sony owner here with a question you all probably know. I have this great TV with a new 622 Dish HD-DVR they just installed last week. The problem is that on HD channels, it looks like a widescreen TV, black bars on top and bottom.

On regular (non-HD) channels, there is a significant black bar on all 4 sides of the TV, reducing the size of the picture down to about 27" ???

I can't find the dang original remote, is there anyway I can reset this so the picture goes all the way to the edges??

Many thanks in advance:cool:

Hello all, long time Sony owner here with a question you all probably know. I have this great TV with a new 622 Dish HD-DVR they just installed last week. The problem is that on HD channels, it looks like a widescreen TV, black bars on top and bottom.

On regular (non-HD) channels, there is a significant black bar on all 4 sides of the TV, reducing the size of the picture down to about 27" ???

I can't find the dang original remote, is there anyway I can reset this so the picture goes all the way to the edges??

Many thanks in advance:cool:The set is a 4:3 set, correct? If not, ignore the next two paragraphs.

The SD programming is probably being upconverted by your HD DVR. If possible, set the HD-DVR to passthrough SD programming (which is 4:3) as 480i or 480p. This should fill the screen for this type of programming.

HD programming, generally 16:9 by default, when viewed on a 4:3 set will always have black bars on top and bottom. That's one of the drawbacks to 4:3 HD sets. The only option would be to zoom the HD to fill the screen, which will reduce quality, however, the older Sony sets usually lock the screen mode (zoom feature) for HD inputs, so this may not be an option.

There should be a thread on this forum that will help with the setup of your HD DVR.

BTW, many HD channels, in particular non-primetime network programming, will be broadcasted as upconverted SD with black pillars added. Without a zoom function, there is very little that can be done for those situations.

Set is the KD30XS955. Ok, I THOUGHT I had convergence dialed in (and I did) for 480p component on Input 5 - it was great. Until I finally hooked up an Xbox 360...then I saw errors I knew I had fixed...

In the PDF chart of settings from this thread, I don't see any mention of the D-CONV settings changing based on inputs or signal format (480, 720, etc.) but that's what seems to be happening...

Inputting 720p from the 360 over component showed bad convergence in areas I KNEW I had tweaked. So I went back in and used the real signal from the 360 to dial everything back in again - looks great...until I switch inputs to the old Xbox at 480p - now it's WAY off again on the right side.

So, it appears I must compromise and have one signal MUCH better than the other. I thought the settings are global for that menu, and I think they are. But it looks like the effect on different signal types is different.

If anyone has any advice here that would be great - I think there is something fundamental I must not understand. (By the way, I DO understand the first 12 D-CONV parameters and exactly what they influence - no problem there.)

Any suggestions, or do I just have to choose between optimizing one (720p) or having both (720 AND 480) be mediocre? :(

Thanks...

.... Ok, I THOUGHT I had convergence dialed in (and I did) for 480p component on Input 5 - it was great. Until I finally hooked up an Xbox 360...then I saw errors I knew I had fixed......What kind of errors are you seeing that you thought were corrected?

.....In the PDF chart of settings from this thread, I don't see any mention of the D-CONV settings changing based on inputs or signal format (480, 720, etc.) but that's what seems to be happening......The dynamic convergence, D-CONV, service menu items are global adjustments. Viewing a cross-hatch or vertical line pattern is about the only accurate way to make these adjustments. What did you use?

.......Inputting 720p from the 360 over component showed bad convergence in areas I KNEW I had tweaked. So I went back in and used the real signal from the 360 to dial everything back in again - looks great...until I switch inputs to the old Xbox at 480p - now it's WAY off again on the right side......What exactly are you viewing while making these adjustments?

.... I thought the settings are global for that menu, and I think they are. But it looks like the effect on different signal types is different......They are global.

...... I think there is something fundamental I must not understand......There may be.

.....(By the way, I DO understand the first 12 D-CONV parameters and exactly what they influence - no problem there.)......I'm not too sure you do.

.....Any suggestions, or do I just have to choose between optimizing one (720p) or having both (720 AND 480) be mediocre? :(

Thanks...Convergence should be a global adjustment and you should not have to choose.

Raouliii (that's a lot of vowels!),
Thanks for the reply, sounds like you're trying to help! I'll answer answer your points and maybe it will reveal something...but it looks to me like the convergence adjustments can't be set for all modes perfectly... we'll see.

What kind of errors are you seeing that you thought were corrected?
When I first adjusted the D-CONV items, I did not use HD, only 480p/i. It turned out fairly good and I made the upper right and left a lot better. When I input 720p I noticed that the upper right was pretty off again, with red way shifted to the left.

The dynamic convergence, D-CONV, service menu items are global adjustments. Viewing a cross-hatch or vertical line pattern is about the only accurate way to make these adjustments. What did you use?
The first time I adjusted, I used white on black grid patterns from a memory stick and the test patterns available in the service menu itself. Then I previewed actual source material (Xbox). Even then I was noticing that there seemed to be differences when looking at test patterns or material from different sources.

What exactly are you viewing while making these adjustments?
This time I mostly used the actual source material. Mostly menu screens with small white text from Halo 3 at 720p over component. I also double checked with internal test patterns, but mostly I optimized using the actual image from the 360.

They are global.
Right, that's why I don't get why the result is changing based on input, and it certainly is.

I'm not too sure you do.
I have the service manual PDF which shows diagrams for what each of the first 12 parameters do in D-CONV. It's not really that hard to understand. I'm pretty confident I'm not confused here. (I think you just questioned my ignorance...)

Convergence should be a global adjustment and you should not have to choose.
That's what I was hoping, but it really doesn't seem that way. I used RSAP to tweak the right side more based on what I was seeing from the 360. This was a bit different than my settings at 480. When I changed inputs from video 6 (360) back to video 5 (Xbox at 480p) the result was unacceptable. The RSAP adjustment that was fine on the 360 was completely off at 480 with full separation of colors on the far right. Bogus. Switching back to the 360 showed thin white lines on the right in the same area as fairly well converged, as good as I could get them.

So, it appears that even though the settings are global, they react differently to different sources, unless there's something else I'm not understanding - which is why I'm asking you guys for help!

Thanks - let me know what you think.

Is there any chance or has anyone tried running 1080p on this set. 34xbr910 . Well I did some adjustments and the picture looked so Good with direct tv hd that I decided not to sell it. this post helped me out a lot even though its for an Old school tv.


are there any settings that will improve how small text looks , in other words so I can see text clearly from my pc.

Hmm, good questions.

For Raouliii and any others who were wondering about my posts above, I think I figured it out.

I think what happened is that when I finally hooked up an HD source (Xbox 360) to the TV, I was seeing sharper finer details (lines) which made the convergence errors stand out more.

The other thing is that when switching around between different material (patterns and images) I think I was focusing on different areas of the picture, which made me think it was changing based on the source.

I rechecked my settings with more emphasis on the white grid pattern and double checked consistency between sources (HD 720 vs 480). It seems that it does stay consistent. One caution though, sometimes when you are inside the service menu and change inputs or video signals, the settings go back to what was last written - this may have also been misleading me as I was switching around a lot back and forth...

In the end I got it the best I can, I was not able to get the upper left area to converge nicely, but the rest is fairly good. It is a trade off and sometimes you have to live with a part that's not great to get most of the frame looking good.

Thanks again.

I have a KV-36HS510 recently purchased the tv picture is awesome I love the set. The only problem well not a problem but i was wondering if it is a to disable or turn 16:9 Enhancement off?? When watching dvds i have no problems but when i am watching a hd broadcast that is already wide screen it shrinks it even more. I had a 4:3 ratio hd tv before and i could change set up on cable box to make hd signal full screen but the 16:9 Enhancement always kicks in the only options i see is auto or on not off.

I have a KV-36HS510 recently purchased the tv picture is awesome I love the set. The only problem well not a problem but i was wondering if it is a to disable or turn 16:9 Enhancement off?? When watching dvds i have no problems but when i am watching a hd broadcast that is already wide screen it shrinks it even more. I had a 4:3 ratio hd tv before and i could change set up on cable box to make hd signal full screen but the 16:9 Enhancement always kicks in the only options i see is auto or on not off.

You can't. 16:9 enhancement are there so you can accept 16:9 HD signal.
Turning that option off is like overscanning it 33% or more depending on your
CRT yoke position.

I FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO IT!!! turn the tv off hit display, 5, volume + then power. when the service codes come up hit the number one button until you see "jump" in the top right hand corner hit the 3 button to turn off the hit muting then enter turn tv off and it is gone. I saw a post in a forum where some people where fixing some lines and vertical size issues once i read that and saw how to get access codes i played around and found the correct option now when i watch a hd dvd or blu ray, or dvd upscaled to 1080i the only bars are from the movie source man i am sooooooooo happy i have been told a million times that this was not possible and it is! when i am watching a reg hd signal from tv box i disable becuase the 16:9 mode is fine when watching hd on tv/cable box the problem was when you are watching a movie that is already 16:9 it was like it was doing a double 16:9 shrink man i am soooooooo happy this tv has the best resolution and clarity i have ever seen.

Service menu is a magical thing. :o

You speak no greater truth!! i have the tweak to my specs and i am watchinh heroes in HD it is awesome Thank GOD for service menu!!

I've been reading around in these forums a lot lately and decided to try tweaking a few settings in the service menu just for the hell of it. I changed my SBRT a bit and fooled around with BCUT and such. I was messing with GAMM when all of a sudden the screen went black. The screen turned back on with a grippattern of white lines "Ill try and get a picture up as soon as possible." Im not sure if i pressed another button because being my dumb self I was looking to see what every button would do... If anyone knows what the cause of this is and how to fix it that would be greatly appreciated.

I can still access the service menu but i cant do anything else like change the channel or even go into the regular menu.

I unplugged the television but no result..

I've been reading around in these forums a lot lately and decided to try tweaking a few settings in the service menu just for the hell of it. I changed my SBRT a bit and fooled around with BCUT and such. I was messing with GAMM when all of a sudden the screen went black. The screen turned back on with a grippattern of white lines "Ill try and get a picture up as soon as possible." Im not sure if i pressed another button because being my dumb self I was looking to see what every button would do... If anyone knows what the cause of this is and how to fix it that would be greatly appreciated.

I can still access the service menu but i cant do anything else like change the channel or even go into the regular menu.

I unplugged the television but no result..That sounds like a built in pattern that is turned on. I believe that you just need to turn it off. My set doesn't have patterns but this post from earlier in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6166328&&#post6166328) may help you turn them off.

Hi. I've got a geometry problem on a 36HS420. I've read through a bunch of this thread and looked at many .pdf files. My tentative conclusion based on my research is that this issue I have is not solvable from within the service menu. However, I thought I'd go ahead and post just to be certain.

Basically, the problem is that my picture slopes down on the right side of the screen. See the attached drawing to see what I mean - it's crude, but it makes the point. Note that this downward slope occurs on 480i material as well, but it's just not really noticeable due to vertical overscan. The major exception is for channels that have a ticker, like CNN, which makes the downward slope obvious with both the line that demarcates the ticker and the text scroll itself.

Any thoughts or insight would be great. Thanks.

I've finally accomplished what I thought would be impossible with my 34xs955. I made it look very similar to my 24"FW900 computer monitor. Took me forever and a day to get here, but now that I'm here I'll never go back to a downgrade in technology. I truly hope SED gets here soon or my tubes last forever.

These are my final~ settings for the 34xs955 HDMI input. I only use this input because that is what my Pio 91 connects to, and I like having the HDMI conversion since it forces my 480i connections to 480p with the proper 4:3 ratio with black bars, or 16:9. Most of my settings came from reading, and seeing first hand, what some of the service codes do to the image, and other settings came from the 34xs955 service manual. I tried to eliminate any instance of video source alteration to get as true and clean a signal as possible.

The key here is to get the MID1 codes right, then adjust the MID2 codes. If you have either group too far off the focus and resolution is very far off and the Sharpness = Min will not work. The ENHA settings are also key here too. Combining all of these correctly will allow you to keep the sharpness slider set to Min or off.

I don't like to add sharpness, personally, for three important reasons.
1. It makes jagged lines stand out more.
2. It alters the source material. (My FW900 computer monitor doesn't even have a sharpness slider on it.)
3. It is a bad compensator for focus.

I've attached a text file with many of the codes I use for my TV.
I will be uploading some images later to show how great this set looks, especially for video games.

Please keep in mind that these settings are for those of us that normally play video games on this TV. These settings are probably not optimal for low to medium quality broadcast material.

Nextgen, I am having some issues with focus on my 30XS955 so I thought I would try your ENHA changes to see if that helped. My problem though is mostly on the sides of the screen and these changes did not seem to effect the problem very much, do you have ideas for settings I should try to change to fix the focus on the sides?

*edit* I guess I didn't mean to limit this to Nextgen...if anyone has suggestions I would gladly listen!

Anyone aware if there is a way inside the service menu to change the coax input between antenna and cable? My original remote broke and there's no way to do it with the sony universal remote or inside the menu system. My TV model is a KD-30xs955.

Hello, I just noticed recently that my old Sony model KD-34XBR2 HDTV has the defect of vertical scrolling bar that turns everything under it as it moves across the screen from pinkish to greenish tint. This problem has been discussed and reported on many various XBR models, but I was not able to find anything for my model KD-34XBR2 purchased early year 2002 (if I remember correctly).

So does anyone know of a Service Menu procedure to fix this bug on this particular model? I cannot find an HOSC parameter when I go into its Service Mode. Please someone has to have this model and had it fixed somehow, someway? I cannot enjoy viewing my new HD-DVD and BlueRay discs at 1080i via the component inputs. Depressed. I had this set all these years and never knew it had a 1080i bug/defect until just a couple of days ago when I first connected up my new HD player. BAD Sony!

I know my TV is old, but I have the SONY 30HS420 and was looking for list the best SM settings. I found some in an older thread from 05 from Nick2003 but he said to check this thread for the most up to date info. I was really happy with the one I got from his, but wanted to tweak it further.

any help or link would be great. I've searched and maybe an attachment or link doesn't exists but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

i have my own thread which ill post in but i applied the hdpt change from 1 to 0 on my 34hs420 and it made it much worse the bar was much much more pronounced,u absolutely could not miss it. needless to say i changed it back....but this is very discouraging...

I have a 34xs955 and I noticed after playing my xbox 360 that the bottom two corners of the screen are a little blurry. when looking at a cross hatch pattern on the tv I have also noticed that the the outermost lines on the left and right are a little blurry. The outermost right also bows out at the top of the screen. I am not sure if they are related but I would love to at least get the bottom corners a little clearer if possible. does anyone know what I could try messing with in the service menu to try and correct these issues? I have messed around in the service menu before and am aware of the damage that can be done.
thanks

Nextgen, I am having some issues with focus on my 30XS955 so I thought I would try your ENHA changes to see if that helped. My problem though is mostly on the sides of the screen and these changes did not seem to effect the problem very much, do you have ideas for settings I should try to change to fix the focus on the sides?

*edit* I guess I didn't mean to limit this to Nextgen...if anyone has suggestions I would gladly listen!

I have a 34xs955 and I noticed after playing my xbox 360 that the bottom two corners of the screen are a little blurry. when looking at a cross hatch pattern on the tv I have also noticed that the the outermost lines on the left and right are a little blurry. The outermost right also bows out at the top of the screen. I am not sure if they are related but I would love to at least get the bottom corners a little clearer if possible. does anyone know what I could try messing with in the service menu to try and correct these issues? I have messed around in the service menu before and am aware of the damage that can be done.
thanks

Even my TV has some blur on the outermost left and right edges of the screen. This isn't so much a focus problem as it sounds like a typical convergence problem. So, I would start by writing down all your settings, tweak the geometry a bit more, then try getting better convergence/focus, and finally try the ENHA adjustments. For myself, I had to completely start over and input the default factory MID settings first, then tweak the MID settings, then do my geometry tweaking, and so on.

For good focus adjustment, try an image with lots of medium to fine text. I actually use my PS3 web browser in 1080i to finalize my focus adjustments.

Even my TV has some blur on the outermost left and right edges of the screen. This isn't so much a focus problem as it sounds like a typical convergence problem. So, I would start by writing down all your settings, tweak the geometry a bit more, then try getting better convergence/focus, and finally try the ENHA adjustments.While there is no ENHA present in my 34XBR960 service menu, I point out that there is just so much you can do within the tweaks available through service menu. There are lots and lots of tweaks available, and lots of geometry/convergence improvement can be accomplished, but there definitely are some limitations on what you can hope to accomplish.

For example, convergence problems (especially in the corners) and "focus" problems (which might really be convergence problems) can't necessarily be fixed through service menu tweaks. Note that only horizontal convergence issues are "software-adjustable" in this way. Unfortunately, vertical convergence corrections cannot be corrected this way and can only be fixed by the application of a number of small permalloy magnets to the proper place(s) on the back of the picture tube by a service technician. These small magnets have stickum on the back, come in packages, and are standard Sony parts available for purchase.

This post from earlier in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=9111366&postcount=2174) discusses this subject, and also provides a fine overscan test pattern (from DisplayMate for Windows Video Edition) you might want to add to your arsenal of test patterns. It is also SUPERB to adjust convergence, and by implication, focus as well.

When I first bought my XBR960 several years ago I was unhappy with the delivered status of both curvature (both horizontal and vertical), as well as convergence problems in the corners. I couldn't believe the set was supposed to look that way from all that I'd read before buying it. I contacted Sony and they sent out a technician, who did some service menu adjustments and some magnet work, but even after he left I was dissatisfied. I called Sony again and they authorized my calling a local authorized service tech for a second visit, who came out and over two separate trips spent about 2 hours doing magnet work. He turned out to be amazing, and the corrected visual results were remarkable. He has been my service tech ever since for assorted other video equipment repairs.

When the magnet job was finally complete I was now able to make maximum use of the service menu to "fine tune" geometry and convergence for myself, to my own tastes. I must say, my XBR960 picture is remarkably rectangular (and un-bowed on the edges and in the corners) and has no convergence or focus issues.

Just a pitch for the possibility that a service tech visit and related magnet work might also be appropriate for your set if service menu tweaks prove inadequate.

I noticed that depending how large you have the raster ( or the mid settings DHHP etc..) If it's too small you will notice the far sides will have reflecting issues and look like convergence errors. When i went back and adjusted the mid settings so i could actually have the WHOLE picture on my xbr970 it was great, but after reading about how messing with some of them settings, especially the vertical ones, it caused the scan lines to become blurry. So i went back and readjusted my mid settings back to default, and adjusted the overscan as best as possible for the VSIZ ( which leads much to be desired) I didn't notice any changes to the scan lines when adjusting the horizontal settings such as DHHP, so i was able to get away with that. But the stretching of the picture to get to around 3-5% overscan and fit the whole picture inside the raster it caused some what looks like "barrel distortion" like when a news ticker goes across it appears to "bulge out" once it reaches a certain point on the left side of the screen. I thought this could be corrected with some linearity parameters in the service menu, but when checking to make sure each box in a hatch pattern measured the same i was shocked that they were the same across the whole screen! So it makes me wonder what can be causing this?

When i got this set the right side of my set was at 10% overscan and the left 5. The picture wasn't even aligned right with the raster! so when i lowered the overscan with Hsiz it made this black line appear at the edge of the screen, the only way to fix this was to expand the raster with the mid settings, then adjust vsiz,hsiz etc. to fit inside it and center it. But i really would like to lower the overscan more on the vertical. But i can't without causing the blurring scan line error.

So what i'm wondering, people who had these sets professional calibrated what do the calibrators do to correct this problem? did they change any of the mid settings? and do they know the mathematical equations to keep everything right when changing them? if the mid settings shouldn't be messed with at all? Just make due with what they can by only adjusting Hsiz , Vsiz?

I noticed that depending how large you have the raster ( or the mid settings DHHP etc..)... I don't know what is on the XBR970, but in the XBR960 there is no such DHHP item in the MID1 group. It's DHPH. Is that what you're referring to?

Also, as I understand things it is the MID2 items DRHP, DRHS, DRVP and DRVS which are used for 480i. And it is the MID3 items VDHP, VDHS, VDVE and VDVS which are used for 480p, 720p and 1080i. These adjust image horizontal/vertical position/size within the background raster.

The background raster position/size is adjusted with the 2170D-1 items VPOS and VSIZ (for vertical position/size) and 2170D-2 items HPOS and HSIZ (for horizontal position/size).

I've not touched the MID1 settings when tuning my XBR960. Only MID2 and MID3 (depending on input and source being adjusted), working with 2170D-1 and 2170D-2.

As far as I can tell, I've done no harm by tweaking the MID2 and MID3 values as needed (with 16x9 test patterns). I've simply accomplished what my eyes see as "near perfection" geometry based on various test patterns.

I can't get my service menu changes to save.

I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the change doesn't stick around the next time I turn the tv on.

Or if I press MUTING, ENTER (write turns red) and the press ZERO, ENTER (to read) the value reverts to the pre-changed value.

I can't get my service menu changes to save.

I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the change doesn't stick around the next time I turn the tv on.

Or if I press MUTING, ENTER (write turns red) and the press ZERO, ENTER (to read) the value reverts to the pre-changed value.I seem to recall that a Write takes a few seconds to occur. The label turns red then back to green after a successful write cycle. Is this happening for you?

Also, I believe there may be a few items that cannot be permanently saved. What are you attempting to change?

You should also consider that if you Write a new value into the service menu and then check that value in a different mode (input resolution, screen mode, zoom mode, DRC, etc.) of operation, you may not actually be seeing the value that you previously modified. Its very important to have a copy of the actual service manual listing of the service menu items, instead of the spreadsheets that are floating around. Most of the spreadsheets don't give a clear understanding of the service menu listing. The user must have a firm understanding of what is being modified.

Yes, the word "WRITE" changes from green to red and then back to "SERVICE."
I'm trying to change SBRT. I've tried with HSIZ, HPOS, HCEN, too and the same thing happens..

puzzling

Sorry I haven't been able to read the whole thread yet, but I'm hoping someone can answer a quick question.

I get a ~3-4 unit jump in VPOS for the same HDMI source in the same mode/resolution based on whether I start up in service mode or normal. Is there anything I can do about that? It worries me bit, as I wonder what else is moving around?

TV is 34xbr970, source is either sony upscaling DVD or computer at 1080i over HDMI on video6.

Thanks!
Rob

I can't get my service menu changes to save.

I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the change doesn't stick around the next time I turn the tv on.

Or if I press MUTING, ENTER (write turns red) and the press ZERO, ENTER (to read) the value reverts to the pre-changed value.

Solved.

Turns out that you need to unplug the set after saving changes. I remembered reading in one of the service manuals something about unplugging to ensure that your values were saved, so I did it after saving and the values were retained.

Powering off alone doesn't (at least in this case) cause the new values to be read into whatever working memory the set uses to obtain its values. Unplugging and powering up must force a read from non-volatile memory while simply powering down must somehow cause intermediate values to be retained. Seems wrong. I'd expect writing to mean "use these values" not "these are the values to use after unplugging the set."

Or something.

I have been watching videos from my PC on my Sony 34HS420 via s-video for about a year now. I really like how the Wide-Zoom feature can distribute a 4:3 picture across the whole screen without distorting it, unlike Full mode.

However, I recently upgraded my cables to DVI-HDMI and although the picture clarity has vastly improved, the TV locks on Full mode.

Is there a setting in the service menu I can manipulate to prevent this from happening? I have tried outputing different resolutions from my PC but the TV keeps enforcing Full mode just because it's connected by HDMI.

In other words, I would like to have a clean 4:3 picture on the TV over HDMI that I can stretch to my liking with the Zoom and Wide-Zoom modes.

Thanks for the help.

I have been watching videos from my PC on my Sony 34HS420 via s-video for about a year now. I really like how the Wide-Zoom feature can distribute a 4:3 picture across the whole screen without distorting it, unlike Full mode.

However, I recently upgraded my cables to DVI-HDMI and although the picture clarity has vastly improved, the TV locks on Full mode.

Is there a setting in the service menu I can manipulate to prevent this from happening? I have tried outputing different resolutions from my PC but the TV keeps enforcing Full mode just because it's connected by HDMI.

In other words, I would like to have a clean 4:3 picture on the TV over HDMI that I can stretch to my liking with the Zoom and Wide-Zoom modes.

Thanks for the help.

A lot of TVs lock into Full Mode and do not allow you to change aspect ratios when it sees as HD resolution (720p and above). Is the signal going out the HDMI being upconverted?

FYI, Wide Mode does distort the picture, just more so on the edges than the middle.

I have the immediate predecessor of the HS420, the HS510. Via DVI or component, my set DOES lock into FULL mode for HD resolution inputs but DOES NOT for 480i inputs.

But, if I recall correctly (and I hope for your sake I'm wrong about this) I don't think the HS420 models have dynamic convergence adjustments. I think they have the DCONV menu, but none of the settings actually do anything at all. I think convergence can only be corrected with physical adjustments to the rings on the yoke on the back of the CRT inside the TV's case.I think this is only true of the 30HS420 model. My D-CONV menu doesn't work on my 30HS420 and I know of another person with the same model TV that doesn't have his D-CONV menu work either.

.......But, if I recall correctly (and I hope for your sake I'm wrong about this) I don't think the HS420 models have dynamic convergence adjustments. I think they have the DCONV menu, but none of the settings actually do anything at all. I think convergence can only be corrected with physical adjustments to the rings on the yoke on the back of the CRT inside the TV's case.

I think this is only true of the 30HS420 model. My D-CONV menu doesn't work on my 30HS420 and I know of another person with the same model TV that doesn't have his D-CONV menu work either.I don't have a copy of the HS420 service manual, so I can't be sure but I would be VERY surprised if dynamic convergence did not exist for these models. As far back as the XBR2 CRT, up to the last model - XBR970, dynamic convergence was/is used for fine tuning of horizontal convergence.

The first step in standard convergence alignment procedure, in all of the Sony service manuals I have, is to disable dynamic convergence by unplugging a connector in the set. This connector is CN903 for the XBR800 A-board, XBR910/HS510 A-board, XBR960/XS955 AZ-board and XBR970 A-board. After static convergence is adjusted, the connector is reconnected and dynamic convergence (horizontal) is adjusted. Just an idea. Maybe the HS420 factory convergence tech made a habit of not plugging the connector back in?:o

I have the immediate predecessor of the HS420, the HS510. Via DVI or component, my set DOES lock into FULL mode for HD resolution inputs but DOES NOT for 480i inputs.

Thank you for this piece of information! I set my desktop's resolution to 640 x 480 and now it is possible to select the different screen modes on the TV.

There's one thing that keeps it from being perfect. For some reason the whole picture is kinda shaded, so it doesn't look vibrant nor clear anymore. I double checked the desktop resolution being @ 32 bits and still looks like so.

What can I try next ?

Hello, all. I have an XBR970.

I've had this issue for quite a while. My problem goes away after 30 minutes when the tv warms up, but I don't think I should accept that. Long story short, when I start up a my cold tv and display an anamorphic widescreen image in "FULL" mode (480p/480i), it appears that the right side of the screen doesn't quite reach the edge of the tv, causing a green hue. Only the top right corner reaches the edge and looks okay. Oddly enough, this is only a problem in 480i/480p FULL mode, and it goes away in about 30 minutes or so. Obviously, if the top right corner reaches the edge and the rest doesn't, the clear choice would be to correct the geometry on the lower right somehow. Unfortunately, all attempts to do so has messed up the rest of my geometry settings big time, so I don't consider that an option anymore. Looking at a crosshatch pattern, I definitely see slanting on the right border. I guess my question is this: is that slant from a damaged raster edge? If the raster is just a damaged "canvas" for an image, can I scoot the raster over a notch and move the image back to where it was with the MID settings to sit on a healthier raster part, or is that a pointless venture? I really don't wanna move the image in global settings because everything is centered quite well right now. And I'd hate to have to go to all my resolutions (including NTSC, and ATSC programming) and scoot images back to center.

(By the way, stretching the image with MID settings to push the annoying green hue off the screen isn't a healthy option at this point. It bumps icons from the Wii menu off the screen, and people's heads from DVDs look fatter than usual.)

Since it's an anamorphic widescreen issue, maybe I should concentrate on adjusting the 4x3 image in NORMAL mode somehow. I'm really confused. 720p and 1080i stuff in true widescreen don't suffer from this "tv-has-to-warm-up" problem. Any ideas? (I know this has been a long post. Sorry.)

.....and display an anamorphic widescreen image in "WIDE" mode (480p/480i), it appears that the right side of the screen doesn't quite reach the edge of the tv, causing a green hue. ....Since it's an anamorphic widescreen issue, maybe I should concentrate on adjusting the 4x3 image in NORMAL mode somehow. ....I'm a little confused about your situation. Its always been my understanding that anamorphic widescreen content, (480i and 16:9), should display correctly in FULL mode.

Are you saying that it displays correctly in WIDE mode? Did you make geometry adjustments that may have created this situation? If yes, then that may be part of the problem. Your statement that 720p and 1080i displays with no problem, in FULL mode, also tends to support this.

Hello, all. I have an XBR970.

I've had this issue for quite a while. My problem goes away after 30 minutes when the tv warms up, but I don't think I should accept that. Long story short, when I start up a my cold tv and display an anamorphic widescreen image in "WIDE" mode (480p/480i), it appears that the right side of the screen doesn't quite reach the edge of the tv, causing a green hue. Only the top right corner reaches the edge and looks okay. Oddly enough, this is only a problem in 480i/480p WIDE mode, and it goes away in about 30 minutes or so. Obviously, if the top right corner reaches the edge and the rest doesn't, the clear choice would be to correct the geometry on the lower right somehow. Unfortunately, all attempts to do so has messed up the rest of my geometry settings big time, so I don't consider that an option anymore. Looking at a crosshatch pattern, I definitely see slanting on the right border. I guess my question is this: is that slant from a damaged raster edge? If the raster is just a damaged "canvas" for an image, can I scoot the raster over a notch and move the image back to where it was with the MID settings to sit on a healthier raster part, or is that a pointless venture? I really don't wanna move the image in global settings because everything is centered quite well right now. And I'd hate to have to go to all my resolutions (including NTSC, and ATSC programming) and scoot images back to center.

(By the way, stretching the image with MID settings to push the annoying green hue off the screen isn't a healthy option at this point. It bumps icons from the Wii menu off the screen, and people's heads from DVDs look fatter than usual.)

Since it's an anamorphic widescreen issue, maybe I should concentrate on adjusting the 4x3 image in NORMAL mode somehow. I'm really confused. 720p and 1080i stuff in true widescreen don't suffer from this "tv-has-to-warm-up" problem. Any ideas? (I know this has been a long post. Sorry.)

I can't answer your primary question, but it concerns me that this is a hot/cold issue. I don't have warmup issues on my 970, but my experience with CRT monitors and TVs tells me that screen problems dependant upon temperature are usually signs of a pending hardware failure. Is it under warranty?

I'm a little confused about your situation. Its always been my understanding that anamorphic widescreen content, (480i and 16:9), should display correctly in FULL mode.

Are you saying that it displays correctly in WIDE mode? Did you make geometry adjustments that may have created this situation? If yes, then that may be part of the problem. Your statement that 720p and 1080i displays with no problem, in FULL mode, also tends to support this.

Sorry sorry sorry. You are correct. I meant to use the word FULL, not WIDE. I will edit my previous post if I can.

Honestly, I remember this problem starting after a tech made an adjustment several months ago. I was unfamiliar with the service menu at the time, so I didn't notice exactly what he did. Maybe I didn't catch it right away because I usually jump into 720p/1080i stuff right when I turn on the tv, not 480 stuff. However...I also have notes of me playing with the HPOS a long time ago. The notes say I moved the HPOS from 24 to 27, but then I hated the result so I put it back to 25...but not 24 as it originally was. Hmmmmm. I assume this was because 4x3 content looked more centered at 25 than 24. Wow. Perhaps I did mess up my tv. Any other way to move the 4x3 window around other than HPOS? I'm aware of settings to move the content around WITHIN the window, but the only way I know how to move the 4x3 display border around is with HPOS, which is a global setting and should be avoided. Am I wrong?

I just regret having to mess with geometry all over again. I kinda like where it is now except for this 1 issue. I was hoping for a quick fix, but if it takes time to do it right, I guess I will.

I can't answer your primary question, but it concerns me that this is a hot/cold issue. I don't have warmup issues on my 970, but my experience with CRT monitors and TVs tells me that screen problems dependant upon temperature are usually signs of a pending hardware failure. Is it under warranty?

Yes. It's under warranty, thank goodness. I'm just scared of service techs. They don't seem to take the time do things right - always rushing to the next appointment and leaving you high and dry with another problem to replace the problem they just fixed. The theory was proposed, however, that the hot/cold issue is the aperture grill warming up. I thought that was normal, since it's advised to wait 30 minutes before making any service adjustments. And since my issue deals with a color field just barely touching a black field as it slowly tries to reach the tv edge (thus causing a green hue for 30 minutes), the image seems to fix itself by expanding once warmed up. I agree - no tv should have to do this. It's something that should be corrected. I'm just trying to figure out how it happened and what's the best way to correct the problem. I will take a break and give it another go next week.

Uhg. 3 posts in a row. Please don't label me a problem child. I'll try to keep the drama to myself as much as possible. I've put the aforementioned problem on the back burner and labeled my Nintendo Wii an underscaning 480p backstabbing bastard. Moving on.

I have a quick question about global settings. I've always read on this forum that global adjustments affect every resolution and input, including tv reception through rabbit ears. Yet I'm freaked out to read in the XBR970 manual under HPOS, for example, that it says for 1080 FULL the default is 15 while for OTHERS it should be 22. I thought everything under 2170D-2 was global and equal for everything. Another example is PIN. It says for 1080i PIN should be 14, while for OTHERS it should be 13, and for WIDE ZOOM it should read 22. Does this mean what I think it means? Some "global" adjustments aren't 100% global at all? And what does "Vcomp" mean when it says 1080vcomp or 480Vcomp in the manual? Thanks.

....I have a quick question about global settings. I've always read on this forum that global adjustments affect every resolution and input, including tv reception through rabbit ears. Yet I'm freaked out to read in the XBR970 manual under HPOS, for example, that it says for 1080 FULL the default is 15 while for OTHERS it should be 22. I thought everything under 2170D-2 was global and equal for everything. Another example is PIN. It says for 1080i PIN should be 14, while for OTHERS it should be 13, and for WIDE ZOOM it should read 22. Does this mean what I think it means? Some "global" adjustments aren't 100% global at all? And what does "Vcomp" mean when it says 1080vcomp or 480Vcomp in the manual? Thanks.Global adjustments do effect all resolutions and inputs. However, many of the geometry parameters are not global as you have found out. This is why its critical that the service manual listing of the service menu parameters be referenced prior to making adjustments, instead of the misleading/incomplete spreadsheets that are available.

I believe Vcomp means video component, which applies to the component inputs.

Global adjustments do effect all resolutions and inputs. However, many of the geometry parameters are not global as you have found out. This is why its critical that the service manual listing of the service menu parameters be referenced prior to making adjustments, instead of the misleading/incomplete spreadsheets that are available.

I believe Vcomp means video component, which applies to the component inputs.

Ok. That makes sense. Thanks. How about the MID 2 section in the XBR970 manual? That gets really confusing to me. It divides adjustments into 7 groups. One of the groups is simply called "YC." (???) Another has 480i, 720p, and 1080i listed under a group called "expansion." What the heck does that mean?

Basically I'm hoping to do some 480p/480i size adjustments with MID2 for my component hook up, Input 5. If I understand the manual correctly, my 480i/480p MID 2 adjustments for input 5 won't affect my 480i/480p image in HDMI or tv reception, right? I found it really odd that HDMI and ATSC are "paired" up where adjustments are concerned. ATSC is the digital reception I get for tv through my rabbit ears, no? (I don't have cable).

Ok. That makes sense. Thanks. How about the MID 2 section in the XBR970 manual? That gets really confusing to me. It divides adjustments into 7 groups. One of the groups is simply called "YC." (???) Another has 480i, 720p, and 1080i listed under a group called "expansion." What the heck does that mean?......YC usually stands for luminance/chrominance. I believe this refers to composite and S-video inputs, V1, V2, V3 and V4.
.....Basically I'm hoping to do some 480p/480i size adjustments with MID2 for my component hook up, Input 5. If I understand the manual correctly, my 480i/480p MID 2 adjustments for input 5 won't affect my 480i/480p image in HDMI or tv reception, right? .....That appears to be the case. Make sure you record your initial values. You can certainly verify this afterwards by checking values in both input cases.

..... I found it really odd that HDMI and ATSC are "paired" up where adjustments are concerned. ATSC is the digital reception I get for tv through my rabbit ears, no? (I don't have cable). It does seem like an odd pairing. However, the signals do appear to have a common path in the set. Page 79 of my service manual has a signal flow diagram that indicates that the analog signals from the HDMI module and ATSC module are routed through a selection switch and they are handled as a single input, much like V5/V6, into the CXA2103, which is generally referred to as the Jungle IC.

Hey.

I just got an XBR960, and it's kind of blurry.
I notice if I turn down picture, that the blurriness goes away.

Is there a way to make the screen sharper, without making it darker?

I know how to go into the service menu and change things, but I don't really know what to change.

When my 34xs955 goes into 4:3 on the right hand side of the screen just beside the Black bar, I have a small narrow white line that runs down the black bar, Can I remove this in the Service Menu?

If so where so I can get rid of it.

I have this problem too.
Mine's on the left hand side though.

Even though many complained about the 960's geometry, I thought mine had no problems since the convergence horizontal and vertical grid lines (retained on my DVR from the INHD test patterns) were straight. However, I noticed upper left-corner bowing on graphics used by CNN (during their primary night coverage) so I decided to give a try with the service settings anyway. Natch, it was CNN and not my set but by thinking I could remember my original settings instead of jotting them down on paper I (of course) screwed everything up.

But I came across this forum and not only corrected the problem but actually improved the picture by learning how to properly adjust the overscan without messing up geometry. Before I was barely able to see the 5% safe action line and now have it down to 2 or 3 percent, making the picture much sharper than before when it was stretched.

My sincere thanks to KenTech for starting this thread, downloading the service manual and (along with others in this forum) giving us tips on making proper service adjustments.

I was trying to calibrate my 960 again the other day and for some dumb ass reason I reset the tv! I'm talking F'd up. I can no longer tune my free digital cable QAM channels and the overlay display flickers like mad. :(

Has anyone done this before? Could someone get me chronological procedures to fix this myself? I can't even imagine what it's gonna cost to have a tech come out to get this back to normal...

I can't believe I did this, I should have just stayed with RGB cuts, gains, and gamma. :o

Here are two pictures of my XBR960 screen. How do I fix this? Please note the 480I picture was taken with no cables attached to my crt, the pattern I used is in the XBR960s service menu.
[480i] (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00969ta7.jpg)
[1080i] (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00971ur8.jpg)

Here are two pictures of my XBR960 screen. How do I fix this? Please note the 480I picture was taken with no cables attached to my crt, the pattern I used is in the XBR960s service menu.
[480i] (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00969ta7.jpg)
[1080i] (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00971ur8.jpg)It may be edge enhancement causing it. Do you have clearedge VM turned on or off?

It may be edge enhancement causing it. Do you have clearedge VM turned on or off?
Clear Edge is off and sharpness is somewhere between 22 - 0 depending on picture mode.

I was trying to calibrate my 960 again the other day and for some dumb ass reason I reset the tv! I'm talking F'd up. I can no longer tune my free digital cable QAM channels and the overlay display flickers like mad. :(

Has anyone done this before? Could someone get me chronological procedures to fix this myself? I can't even imagine what it's gonna cost to have a tech come out to get this back to normal...

I can't believe I did this, I should have just stayed with RGB cuts, gains, and gamma. :o

Here is a link to the video i took of my first issue if anyone is interested. Maybe see what's going on will help.

http://www.vimeo.com/786188

I was trying to calibrate my 960 again the other day and for some dumb ass reason I reset the tv! I'm talking F'd up. I can no longer tune my free digital cable QAM channels and the overlay display flickers like mad.

Has anyone done this before? Could someone get me chronological procedures to fix this myself? I can't even imagine what it's gonna cost to have a tech come out to get this back to normal...

I can't believe I did this, I should have just stayed with RGB cuts, gains, and gamma.

In the CXA2171 section #2 FIXS needs to be 2 for OTA input, 3 for input 5,6 and 7. Input 1-4 is 1.

In the CXA2171 section #2 FIXS needs to be 2 for OTA input, 3 for input 5,6 and 7. Input 1-4 is 1.

Thank you, I will give it shot shortly.

OK, that worked! Now my issue is this:

When I'm tuned to an HD station like CBS (11.1 1080i), and have PRO mode set, the menu flickers. If I set the TV to Movie, standard, or vivid the flickering goes away and the menu is correct.

Thanks

I don't know about the flicker, my TV never did that. I suggest download the manual and check the settings.

Maybe someone can give me a hand with this one. I have the XBR970 hooked up via HDMI to a PS3 for Bluray, component for HD-DVD (HDA2), and component Directv HD. I watch a lot of black and white films and have noticed during darker scenes some vertical lines have a green color. Lowering the sharpness control to its minimum nearly eliminates the color but softens the picture beyond my liking.
Adjusting convergence settings in the service mode has no effect. I normally watch Bluray and HDDVD sharpness set at 50.

Helow. I am Vagu, from Brazil. Nice to meet you, guys of the forum. Sorry, my english is not very good.
I have a Sony brazilian model TV, 4:3, called here as KV-34XBR800. I think it´s knowed as KV-32XBR800 in USA.
Three days ago, I, ignorant, reseted the VM data of my tv with 7 + 9 + Enter in the service menu, and I "destroyed" my tv.
Here, in Brazil, this model is already out of production, and there is no chance for me to find a service manual of my tv here.

I will be frankly with you, guys: I am very sad.

I used my XBR to watch tv, Ps1, Ps2, Xbox, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Wii, VCR and DVD. It was a very important part of my life.
Im not a boy, i am a medical radiologist of 34 years old. And I missed.
If you want to help a stupid doctor, from a far country, with any hint or help... I will be very thank to all of you.

Thanks very much.

Hi Vagu. Welcome to the forums.

You might find that reading this post and the replies http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=10386738&postcount=2460 helps you get your set to a usable state again but you might want to wait to see what others think first, as I'm by no means an expert.

I actually have a question but you may find it useful.

I'm thinking of buying a service manual for my XBR800 and the only place I've found so far is www.manualuniverse.com, which has a downloadable PDF of it for $17.99. I was just wondering if this is a good price and where/how much a hard copy would be?

When I enter the service mode on my 34XBR960 the service text is very blurry and shaky. Otherwise the TV works pretty well... no other signals show this effect.

The effect is so bad I can't read the letters and numbers..

I really hope someone here has some advice.

The text looks like it has a really bad analog signal generating it. It looks really distorted, shaky, and wavy.

PLEASE HELP :(

If anyone wants the service manual for the DA-4 chassis, it can be downloaded for free from: http://www.eserviceinfo.com/index.php?what=search2&searchstring=sony+trinitron+kv-a2523e

I just bought a kv 34 420 for $340. Geometry is great! But I seem to be having some trouble with gray scale. If I calibrate brightness on DVE or using a thx dvd my black levels are good but I get no shadow detail. Often just a shadowy blob where there should be detail. I guess Im refering to the gamma of the set. How do I calibrate good gamma without having bad black levels? I bumped up the gamm setting in service menu from 0 to 1, and dropped brightness a little. I think that helped a bit. Thanks in advance for any help.

I just bought a kv 34 420 for $340. Geometry is great! But I seem to be having some trouble with gray scale. If I calibrate brightness on DVE or using a thx dvd my black levels are good but I get no shadow detail. Often just a shadowy blob where there should be detail. I guess Im refering to the gamma of the set. How do I calibrate good gamma without having bad black levels? I bumped up the gamm setting in service menu from 0 to 1, and dropped brightness a little. I think that helped a bit. Thanks in advance for any help.

are you sure you doing the brightness test patterns right? your supposed to lower brightness untill the blacker than black bar just blends into the black background..any more and you will crush shadow detail. GAMM should help but i find it way too bright if it's at anything above 0, it's best to leave that alone since it makes the whites way too bright and causes a similar effect of turning your contrast too high.

some settings to focus on in the service menu is SBRT and UBOF. SBRT is a global setting that is basically the main brightness control for all the inputs. UBOF is a brightness offset setting used to balance the black levels for each input.

are you sure you doing the brightness test patterns right? your supposed to lower brightness untill the blacker than black bar just blends into the black background..any more and you will crush shadow detail. GAMM should help but i find it way too bright if it's at anything above 0, it's best to leave that alone since it makes the whites way too bright and causes a similar effect of turning your contrast too high.

some settings to focus on in the service menu is SBRT and UBOF. SBRT is a global setting that is basically the main brightness control for all the inputs. UBOF is a brightness offset setting used to balance the black levels for each input.

Thats the problem, proper calibration of brightness using a brightness test pattern results in a good looking picture but blacks get crushed. Using a grayscale pattern and calibrating to that will result in an image thats to bright and of course causing loss of good blacks, although shadow detail is resolved. I can't figure out how to properly juggle them. I set gamm back to 0 for now. What is the difference between sbrt and brightness, because I can't seem to notice a difference.

I've attached a good gray scale chart I've been using. When I calibrate to this, shadow detail is great, but the traditional brightness chart shows that it is too bright with gray where black should be. So does your tv make out the "ribbons" in the center bar AND show like it should on a brightness test pattern with the dark bars disappearing into the background? Because I can only have 1 or the other.

I've attached a good gray scale chart I've been using. When I calibrate to this, shadow detail is great, but the traditional brightness chart shows that it is too bright with gray where black should be. So does your tv make out the "ribbons" in the center bar AND show like it should on a brightness test pattern with the dark bars disappearing into the background? Because I can only have 1 or the other.

yeah i can see the ribbons barely.onr tip i can give you is to leave BRIGHTNESS at it's default setting and adjust with SBRT untill the BTB bar just blends into the background..then check that other pattern and see if you can barely see the ribbons.

if you want you can try my settings which are perfect for black level..i have SBRT set at 25.

yeah i can see the ribbons barely.onr tip i can give you is to leave BRIGHTNESS at it's default setting and adjust with SBRT untill the BTB bar just blends into the background..then check that other pattern and see if you can barely see the ribbons.

if you want you can try my settings which are perfect for black level..i have SBRT set at 25.

Raising sbrt and lowering brightness or doing the reverse get the same results. I have discovered that my xbox 360 requires different calibration depending on whether its outputting dvd or hd games. A quick change of brightness depending on what its doing fixes my major issues, but there still is not as much shadow detail as I think there should be in both games and dvds.

Raising sbrt and lowering brightness or doing the reverse get the same results. I have discovered that my xbox 360 requires different calibration depending on whether its outputting dvd or hd games. A quick change of brightness depending on what its doing fixes my major issues, but there still is not as much shadow detail as I think there should be in both games and dvds.

so wait it's your 360 that is causing the black crush ?uh..i understand now,yeah you may have to fiddle with UBOF for that input. i used to own a 360 myself and it's pretty dark by default. At least it seems that way when viewing the 360 through component connections are dareker on my SONY 34HS420 tv. However with my PS3 using HDMI i don't seem to have any darkness issues. in fact the blacks are perfect when viewing through HDMI.

maybe it's the connections and component is darker than HDMI?

Hi,

Newbie here, forgive possible dumb or repeated questions. Tried search, and scanning through the pages of the thread, with no luck. But must admit I didn't read all 70+pages!

I'm trying to make a few tweaks to my 40XBR800. Especially on DVDs, which I play up-converted to 720p through the DVI input (From Oppo 981 player). Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

First I want to reduce overscan. I've used MID1 controls (MDVS, MDVP, MDHS, MDHP). Those work but seem to effect all inputs equally, forcing me to live with a compromise -- what gives me 100% of the DVD picture is too much adjustment for the other inputs. Is there any way to just adjust input 7 (DVI?). Is there some better way to make overscan adjustments in general?

Also, when I reduce the picture so there's almost no overscan, I get a little area of bright green discoloration on the extreme left edge of the picture towards the top when there's a rich/bright color (like orange) in that area. I can eliminate it - once again - by compromising and leaving a little more overscan, but wondered if there any adjustments to solve that that worth trying.

Last, I'd like to sharpen the picture a little in the 720p through DVI mode. I took SYSM from 3 to 2 and that really helped. (I tried taking it to 1, but it gave film DVDs an odd, almost artificially grainy look). Any other adjustments I can try to sharpen that input/image?

Thanks!!!

These are the instructions for my XBR970, and hopefully the commands are similar for the 800.

First, adjust H Raster Center. This is a universal adjustment that should be done before the resolution specific ones.
1.Go to 2170D 2 group and set HPOS and HSIZ to 31 each, or at least until you can see the sides of the raster. Then set HCEN (or HCNT).
2.Go to MID1 and reduce overscan and center. Resize to edge of raster. This is another universal adjustment group.
3.Back to 2170D-2 and set raster back out to screen edges.
4.Go to MID2 and set your scan sizes and centering. This group is resolution and input specific, so you'll have to do it for each available resolution with each group of inputs (see you TV back for groupings).

That worked for me, though someone else probably has a better solution.

Raising sbrt and lowering brightness or doing the reverse get the same results. I have discovered that my xbox 360 requires different calibration depending on whether its outputting dvd or hd games. A quick change of brightness depending on what its doing fixes my major issues, but there still is not as much shadow detail as I think there should be in both games and dvds.

hey.. just wanted to see how you made out ??

hey.. just wanted to see how you made out ??

Right now I dont have another component imput to test if its my xbox causing black detail problems, I need to borrow some cables from a friend. I do think it is the tv however
Right now Im working on tweaking geometry somewhat. Also tweaking color. I've read its best to turn off certain rgb guns instead of using filters to calibrate color. How exactley do I go about doing that?

Right now I dont have another component imput to test if its my xbox causing black detail problems, I need to borrow some cables from a friend. I do think it is the tv however
Right now Im working on tweaking geometry somewhat. Also tweaking color. I've read its best to turn off certain rgb guns instead of using filters to calibrate color. How exactley do I go about doing that?

for adjusting the rgb guns to certain colors it's RGBS in the service menu. the color decoder settings are RYR-GYB..RYR-RYB are for the reds, and GYR-GYB are for the greens.

for kicks i tried adjusting The GAMM settings to see if that would help for you but found it's waaay too bright and caused blooming galore.they are better left at 0 IMO.

if you need any help or tips let me know..i used to be in your shoes once,now it seems i'm the guy giving advice.:D

for adjusting the rgb guns to certain colors it's RGBS in the service menu. the color decoder settings are RYR-GYB..RYR-RYB are for the reds, and GYR-GYB are for the greens.

for kicks i tried adjusting The GAMM settings to see if that would help for you but found it's waaay too bright and caused blooming galore.they are better left at 0 IMO.

if you need any help or tips let me know..i used to be in your shoes once,now it seems i'm the guy giving advice.:D

I figured out the color guns and settings myself, got them perfect according to digital video essentials, all the bars are the same color when said color gun is on.
Even with my gamm settings up (I think set to 3 on the 3 main gamma settings) I can't get blooming. No matter what I do I can't get blooming. Strange I guess... Maybe its the reason my gamma is off, because I can't get to the extreme I have nothing to compare it to to make it "normal"? I'll keep tweaking it to see what I can get.

Now Im noticing my whites have a some red in them (stupid perfectionist me...) Is there a pattern or something to get whites true? The use of clouds for calibration in the original post is far too subjective for me.

Im improving the set more and more bit by bit. Thanks for your help, not too many people interested in crts anymore.

I can't really help you with greyscale since you need equipment to do it properly. i left mine alone myself since if i tried doing it by eye i would probably screw it up. you really need test equipment to do it properly.

As for your GAMM settings well it depends, try different material and see how it affects it..i just couldn't stand it since it's way overly bright.

fixing the color decoder is fairly easy though.. i ended up with 14-14-6-4. not exactly sure where to set color, i have it in the middle for the moment.

Thanks, Doveman. My tv is alive again!!!!!!!!!

Glad to have been of help, Vagu. May you enjoy your TV for a long time :)

Had a little panic situation yesterday which I was finally able to resolve.

Read in the service manual (under geometry) how to access the appropriate test patterns in the 960. I wanted to see if these might be better than using those stored on my DVR from the old INHD (was happy to see very slight adjustments were required for only one or two settings).

The problem? The pattern remained on the screen after exiting the service options. No special instructions in the service manual on how to exit from them, nor did Sony CS know how to do it (he just had me unplug the set for a minute). Returning the DTV/pattern to it's original "0" and entering "write" would only leave the original black screen; the pattern last used returned when turning the set back on. Would have to wait till this morning to call a special service number. Needless to say I was ready to kick myself for being so obsessive and afraid I was going to hear it from my better half for fooling around with something I shouldn't have.

Fortunately I found the remedy - remembered seeing a category for HDMI when skipping through the service settings. Found it and a sub-category (I forgot what) which enabled me to reset the input to the HDMI. Whew, will never go that route again (and surprised instructions on returning to the HDMI input were not written at the end of the geometric section of the service manual).

I know that at times I hit the 7 and 9 buttons but I either turned the set off or went to another service menu. Don't recall seeing "reset" but only "read" which tended to do nothing. After the problem was resolved, I did check my service settings (which all remained in-tact) and only had to re-adjust the user menu settings (also written down previously).

Funny thing. I keept the 960 unplugged for more almost ten minutes hoping it would do the trick. While that didn't work out, when the problem was resolved and the user settings re-set properly, I thought I saw a slightly better overall picture. Assumed this was wishful thinking on my part along with the relief that I finally got the picture back; but then I noticed pure white on the extreme top right hand corner of the 5% safety line of the overscan pattern whereas it was slightly blue before.

I know the 960 automaticly degauses when turned on. Could unplugging it for nearly ten minutes have done a better job and also provide the set with a "quick tune-up"?

Whatever, I learned my lesson and thanked my wife for not getting too upset and annoyed with me.

Thank you to WJonathan for your suggestion above- this seemed to work very well. I'm at about 2% overscan all around and that looks very good (down from the 8% or so when I started).

Hi all - another question -

In the very upper left hand corner of the picture on letterboxed/widescreen pictures only, I'm getting a small area of red just below the black border. (perhaps 1/4 inch thick, 3 or 4 inches long). It's there whatever the input (DVI, component) or source (tried various DVD players, cable, etc). Also, whatever the letterbox shape (1:66, 1:85, 2:35).

I tried adjusting the YBWU (Upper Ybow) control under D-CONV in the service mode, and while that lessened the red problem, it threw the rest of the picture in that area badly out of convergence. I tried (Left H Amp (offset)) and LUBW (Upper left bow), but neither seemed to have any effect at all on the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Im wondering if someone can point me in the right direction. I have recently fixed my overscan as much as possible on my 30XS955 by just changing this....
- 2170D1-
VPOS from 25 to 24
VSIZ from 32 to 29

-21702-
HCNT from 38 to 42
HSIZ from 31 to 25
at 1080i resolution

Now for the most part every thing is fine and livable, but sometimes when watching a movie thats 2.35:1 aspect ratio with the right condition I can see a brighter vertical lines on the left and right of the screen thats about 1/4" wide down the sides of the screen. This is mostly visable on the top and bottom black bars. Whats weird is they are not visable all the time, like an all black scene you cant see them but if there is the right mix of mostly black with some bright spots on the screen you can see them. I will try to post a picture tonight to show what I mean. I think this is why the display had overscan to start with, to hide these abnormalities. Any ideas?

"UPDATE"
Nevermind, I fixed it by making the HSIZ wider to 29 and adjusting the MIDE 2 settings to get the same effect but with a wider raster.

Thank you to WJonathan for your suggestion above- this seemed to work very well. I'm at about 2% overscan all around and that looks very good (down from the 8% or so when I started).

Yes, the factory settings for my 960 had the overscan just barely at 5% for the top and bottom and not even that from left to right. Could not see the entire portion of many station logos nor green side of either split screen picture, Corrected it with:

HPOS - 28
HSIZ - 43
SCRL - 28
VSIZ- 25

Didn't fool around with the raster. Everything now is centered and also about 2% - anything more and either one of the upper corners begins to curve in or grey bars begin to appear on the top or bottom. Also, by reducing the screen size the picture quality is less stretched and more sharper. :)

Hi all - another question -

In the very upper left hand corner of the picture on letterboxed/widescreen pictures only, I'm getting a small area of red just below the black border. (perhaps 1/4 inch thick, 3 or 4 inches long). It's there whatever the input (DVI, component) or source (tried various DVD players, cable, etc). Also, whatever the letterbox shape (1:66, 1:85, 2:35).

I tried adjusting the YBWU (Upper Ybow) control under D-CONV in the service mode, and while that lessened the red problem, it threw the rest of the picture in that area badly out of convergence. I tried (Left H Amp (offset)) and LUBW (Upper left bow), but neither seemed to have any effect at all on the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

A further update, in case anyone out there can help me; I did some experimenting. Using RGBS I looked the individual color guns, and found that the red looked fine, but the blue bent down slightly in that corner. leaving a small area that should have been blue, black (the exact area where I'm having the problem). So I assume what I'm seeing isn't an excess of red, but an absence of blue. Does anyone have any ideas of how to correct this? Or is it time to call in a technician?

Thanks!

You mean the horizontal blue edge in the upper left is bowing downward, right?

It's a convergence error where the 3 color guns meet. I have too in my top corner ( i was able to fix it using d-conv and really fix up my convergence ten-fold over what they did at the factory. I also have it on the bottom running horizontal, and there is nothing i can do to fix that except taking off the back of my TV case and doing it manually. Most people though who have xbr970's and other Sony TV's have the same problem though. I notice mine more when watching widescreen with the black borders. i have a picture posted in the xbr970 thread that i'll link in here if i can that shows you what i mean.

Is it like this Sidetracked?

You mean the horizontal blue edge in the upper left is bowing downward, right?

Yes, that's it exactly. The red goes straight across the whole top, but the blue horizontal bows downwards the last few inches.

I can't find any service menu adjustments to correct it - maybe because it's horizontal it means opening up the set and dealing with the magnets? That might be beyond my level of experience and confidence, unless it's much easier than I'd expect.

Are there any service menu changes worth trying?

Is it like this Sidetracked?

It's a little like that, but the lack of convergence is only right along the edge of the black border on any letterboxed frame, especially 2:35 and 1:85 (less obvious on 1:66). It's not visible at all in 4:3.

Unlike your examples, when I look at test patterns there's no obvious lack of convergence on lines inside the pattern itself, only along the very top border of the frame.

And it's only visible against a light background. With dark backgrounds (like the white-on-black test patterns you're showing) it's invisible. But if I use the reverse pattern (a white background with black cross-hatches or whatever) it's very obvious -- as it is against images of a light sky or any other light background when running an actual picture.

The only control I tried that seemed to make it any better - YBWU - helps the border, but then throws everything else immediately below it off, so the images down inside the frame are then out of convergence ala your examples. I can't yet find a way to improve the border without screwing up the picture below. Maybe a control I haven't tried? Or some combination? :(

i have a kv-34hs420 and have overscan but have never noticed it before playing gta 4 which seems to have a severe problem in regards to it. I've been reading about the tv service menu but am unwilling to try to fix the overscan for fear of severely screwing up my tv ie. geometry distortion just something I'm gonna have to live with or pay a tech a few hundred dollars to have my tv proffesionaly calibrated.

I know this thread is specifically catering to CRT displays but it is the only thread i've found that has been able to explain the service codes. Its a fantastic thread but the information is a little old and does not incorporate some of the new features found on newer models. Does anyone know of a thread that has more recent service code documents/charts for newer models and/or sony LCD displays? After 3 days of searching i haven't been able to find anything that comes close to this thread for LCD tv's.

i have a kv-34hs420 and have overscan but have never noticed it before playing gta 4 which seems to have a severe problem in regards to it. I've been reading about the tv service menu but am unwilling to try to fix the overscan for fear of severely screwing up my tv ie. geometry distortion just something I'm gonna have to live with or pay a tech a few hundred dollars to have my tv proffesionaly calibrated.

The first post in this thread has the service manual with an overview on how to change the internal settings. There is a section in the manual on adjusting the geometry which I used to resolve the overscan issue on my KD34XBR960. If you have a DVD essentials. etc. with a cross-hatch pattern there should be no problem correcting the overscan and retaining proper geometry. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A CROSS HATCH PATTERN TO REFER TO.

I was also leary about tinkering around with the service codes until I understood one could not really mess things up as long as I printed the geometry section to have in front of me and wrote down the original factory settings before making any changes (in order to return it to the way the set was first adjusted).

Although you just want to adjust the overscan, you should continue through with all the steps since size could have an effect on other geometric factors. FYI - my settings are:

HPOS 27
HSIZ 44
HTPZ 5
LANG 20
LBOW 41
LCP 45
MPIN 8
PIN 20
PPHA 21
SCRL 28
SLIN 9
UPC 35
VANG 33
VBOW 28
VCEN 17
VLIN 5
VPIN 15
VPOS 29
VSCO 7
VSIZ 25

Good luck and I'm sure everything will be OK. I'm all thumbs when it comes to anything technical and was able to do it.

thanks not sure its worth possibly messing up my tv just for one game company that didnt deem it necessary to take into account overscan have read other threads with people with my tv who screwed up their picture trying to change the settings/doesnt really seem a neccesity right now i didnt even notice it until gta 4 came out /didnt even know what it was called/it seems it would be easier for sony and microsoft to includer sliders in their game system menus to adjust for overscan/ played warhawk and it had the option in the video settings menu(top,bottom,right and left to adjust the picture)it was very simple and i dont see why they cant add it with a firmware update a lot of people have tv's that overscan /it seems like a very simple thing that would make a lot of people happy

thanks not sure its worth possibly messing up my tv just for one game company that didnt deem it necessary to take into account overscan have read other threads with people with my tv who screwed up their picture trying to change the settings/doesnt really seem a neccesity right now i didnt even notice it until gta 4 came out /didnt even know what it was called/it seems it would be easier for sony and microsoft to includer sliders in their game system menus to adjust for overscan/ played warhawk and it had the option in the video settings menu(top,bottom,right and left to adjust the picture)it was very simple and i dont see why they cant add it with a firmware update a lot of people have tv's that overscan /it seems like a very simple thing that would make a lot of people happy

Thought I saw where some LCDS have adjustments to make the picture slightly bigger or smaller to compensate for video game overscan.

This is a great thread for starting to understand the service menu codes but the info is a little out dated and refers to mainly CRT displays. Is there a thread like this that anyone knows about for LCD service codes or maybe something that includes more recent models? After searching for 3 days this is the only thread that comes even close to explaining info on the service codes for sony's.

I can't get my service menu changes to save.

I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the changes I made are lost when I cycle power.

If I press MUTING, ENTER ("write" turns red) and the press ZERO, ENTER (to read) the value reverts to the pre-changed value, proving to me that the changes didn't get stored to nvram.

Anyone else see this or have any advice?

I can't get my service menu changes to save.

I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the changes I made are lost when I cycle power.

If I press MUTING, ENTER ("write" turns red) and the press ZERO, ENTER (to read) the value reverts to the pre-changed value, proving to me that the changes didn't get stored to nvram.

Anyone else see this or have any advice?Some, but very few, items can not be permanently saved. Which service menu items is this happening to? Also, you always must consider that each service menu item can have a different sphere of influence. In other words, some are global, some are input specific, some are DRC specific, while many are input resolution specific. If you are changing a menu item but rechecking it outside of its sphere of influence then this can appear like it hasn't been written into memory.

I can't get my service menu changes to save. I press MUTING, ENTER. "Write" turns red but the changes I made are lost when I cycle power.Are you waiting long enough so that the red color changes back to green before doing anything else like pressing the power button? If it remains red and doesn't change back to green it's not being written... for some reason.

Some, but very few, items can not be permanently saved. Which service menu items is this happening to? Also, you always must consider that each service menu item can have a different sphere of influence. In other words, some are global, some are input specific, some are DRC specific, while many are input resolution specific. If you are changing a menu item but rechecking it outside of its sphere of influence then this can appear like it hasn't been written into memory.

I'm changing MID3 values DHHP, DHHS, DHVP, DHVS to try to see more from the PS3 at 1080i.

Are you waiting long enough so that the red color changes back to green before doing anything else like pressing the power button? If it remains red and doesn't change back to green it's not being written... for some reason.

I'm waiting until "write" turns red and then changes to a green "service."

I recently learned about this website and service codes for TVs. My problem is that once I changed the vertical and horizontal size and position so the whole picture is displayed; the "Initial Setup" screen is being displayed every time I turn the TV on. (I can just press the menu button and it goes away.) Does anyone know how/why this happened and how do I stop it from coming up? The TV is a KV30HS420.

I recently learned about this website and service codes for TVs. My problem is that once I changed the vertical and horizontal size and position so the whole picture is displayed; the "Initial Setup" screen is being displayed every time I turn the TV on. (I can just press the menu button and it goes away.) Does anyone know how/why this happened and how do I stop it from coming up? The TV is a KV30HS420.

"Initial Setup" usually comes up on the first use of a new set. If you just walk through the process it should be a one-shot deal. You didn't do any "reset" functions in the service menu, did you?

I didn't do any reset on purpose and I have walked through the process a couple of times and it still comes up. Any ideas?

all right i have a kv-34hs420 i want to correct the overscan how do i do it explain in detail im a novice

Is there any way to access service mode without a remote? I lost mine and the universal remote doesn't work. I saw some TVs have a switch, but either I'm looking in the wrong place or mine doesn't have one.

I searched the thread but found no answer to this.

Hello all. This is my first post. I am here to say the worst has happened and I STUPIDLY reset EVERYTHING and my set's a mess. I've tried inputing the service manual numbers and the picture's horrible and only works with 480i. This all started as an moronic attempt at fixing overscan. Should have come here first. Is my only option calling a tech to get this fixed? Thanks.

i got into the service menu and adjusted the hsize and the vsize it was very easy just write down the factory presets so you can put it back if you screw up but it was easy couldnt get rid of the overscan completely but its alot better than it was i didnt realize how much of the picture was cut off it seems the only to have 0% overscan is to get an lcd with edge to edge pixel perfect but this will do until i can afford to get something high end i dont want to get a cheap lcd just to have one and the picture on my crt kv-34hs420 is really good /thanks ken for this thread would not have been able to do it without it

ive tried everything from unplugging the tv for hours but nothing is working i was watching tv and all the sudden it turned off the service button is staying a solid red they said it was a power issue can somebody please help the model number is kp-43T90 thanks

i need help i was watching tv and it suddenly turned off i unpluged it and it still wont come back on the red service light stays solid the whole time they said it is a power issue can someone help its a sony projection tv model number kp-43T90 thanks my email is cashfloinc@yahoo.com

Hello all. This is my first post. I am here to say the worst has happened and I STUPIDLY reset EVERYTHING and my set's a mess. I've tried inputing the service manual numbers and the picture's horrible and only works with 480i. This all started as an moronic attempt at fixing overscan. Should have come here first. Is my only option calling a tech to get this fixed? Thanks.

I accidentally done the same thing. I hit 7+9+Enter and zap, everything was erased. I thought it would only erase the changes I had previously made, but I was wrong. I bought the service manual for the KV-34HS420 and input all the service screen numbers and it still doesn't work right. If anyone knows how to help or get it back to factory default settings please reply. I am a college student and can't afford to purchase another tv at the moment. All help and any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

For a complete reset, first try the obvious, which is unplug the set from the wall for a minute or two. Plug back in see if your changes got reset.
There should also be a reset in the service menu. Based on my (older) model, go into the service menu, press 8, wait 3 seconds, then press Enter.

Hey, guys, I just got a used 36XS955 this weekend and brought it home. The set is in like new shape, and the picture looks great. However, there is a slight geometry problem. The picture seems to "sag" a bit in the left side of the screen, most pronounced right near the edge. The screen shape looks something like this (though I'm exaggerating it a bit here):

112622

Not sure the cause of it. Perhaps something got bumped a little on the 4-hour ride home? Or maybe it was already there. I didn't notice when I demoed it at the seller's house, but like I said, the effect is very minor. I notice it more in widescreen (since the stripe isn't perfectly straight) or with text in the left corners of the screen (like when switching inputs). Or maybe there's just some magnetic activity somewhere at my house that wasn't present at the TV's old location. Dunno.

Anyhow, I thought I'd ask in case anybody knows: 1) What's the likely cause, and 2) is this something I can fix in the service menu, and if so, how?

I can't aim you at a specific adjustment, but rather suggest you go to page 1 and look at some of the geometric adjustments. You should find a series that starts in the middle of the screen and works it's way out to the corners, then to the sides, tweaking convergence and adjusting out the majority of geometric issues. Just note that you can't set overscan to 0 and will never get geometry perfect.
Have fun,
Frank

i had the same thing on my kv-34hs420 try adjusting the vcenter that seemed to correct it for me just write down the default before you start playing with it

On my 34hs420, my 480p image actually has better contrast and shadow detail than my 1080i image. Ive gone over the settings and don't see major changes between the 2 service menus that could account for the obvious difference. Any ideas?

The signal is processed differently for the two scan rates. It is not unusual to have differences. Calibrate for each rate.

Thank goodness for AVS Forum. I have a 32" Sony KV-32HV600. It gave a beautiful picture. It even made VHS beautiful. It had some slight geometry issues. I decided to start from scratch so being a dummy, I hit that horribly magical 7, 9 combo that resets the service menu values. BIG MISTAKE! For the past week, I have been trying to get back to where I was.

I downloaded the service manual for my TV. One thing I noticed was that the resetted value in the TV and the initial values listed in the service manual differs. Anyhow, I have several problems that I need help with.

1. The resetted TV had too reddish a picture so I reduced RDRV and RCUT value. Now I have a greenish cast to the picture. The grey is greenish grey. Should I increase the RDRV and RCUT values?

2. The 1080i picture is not displaying correctly. When I input 1080i (either through both DVI and component), I only get partial picture. It looks like I only get upper left quarter of 1080i picture. Best I can put it is that the TV shows 480i portion of 1080i.

3. The focus is off. When I run Avia, instead of one line, I get one line "ringed" by a red line. This is worse in the corners. Maybe the convergence is off?

I appreciate any help you guys can offer. Thanks.

The signal is processed differently for the two scan rates. It is not unusual to have differences. Calibrate for each rate.



But what service menu items in particular should I be looking at? Gamma settings seem to be the most obvious if your looking at fixing black crush, but the gamma settings are both the same in 480p and HD...

I do not recall if that set has the ability to differentially adjust gray scale by scan rate. AS for the other problems, start with the initial settings in the manual. Be sure to check the option codes for your model. When you reset the EEPROM, it may go to a generic setting for a series of sets and not your model. I do not know specifially what data they have the system default to, but it is often different than the values in the manual. Keep in mind that the values listed as initial in the manual are generic and your set will require calibration beyond that even when it was new. Now that it has aged, the difference between the values listed in the manual and calibrated values will be even more disparate.

I just got a 34XS955 and there is a slight problem, the black level has a blue tint to it. i have tried changing 2170P-1 [7-13] with no real success, i use to have a 34HS420 with perfect blacks.. everything about my 955 is perfect imo except this blue tint.

anyone care to enlighten me on what i need to change? much appreciated.

Rylex,
As I recall, there are two settings for each color in service mode, a drive and a cut. Drive adjusts highlights, cut the shadows. Look at your settings and see if blue cut is set differently from red and green. Mine ended up almost the same for all three in an XBR 970.
Frank

fbov,
i have changed those but it seems to unaffect the blue tint in the blacks.

these are my settings. i have tried default with them all and even messed around with them, nothing seems to help, im thinking this tv was abused? left on vivid the whole time? its still under 3y warrenty from costco from the seller i bought it from. is there any other inputs i should be looking at? thanks.

2170P-1 SBRT 27 [default 24]
RDRV 28 [default 32]
GDRV 21 [default 22]
BDRV 22 [default 20]
RCUT 32 [default 32]
GCUT 26 [default 16]
BCUT 28 [default 22]

I'm new to this forum, but I believe this is a good place for this question.

I just bought a used kd-34xs955n specifically for gaming on my xbox 360 because I am not happy with input lag and response times on LCD and plasma HDTVs.

I fiddled with the normal menus to get colors and picture acceptable. But I believe I am experiencing some mild overscan problems. When I play Halo 3 I notice that I should see slightly more around the edges of the screen. I still see all of my HUD and important info, so I cannot warrant paying someone to fix this, but I am a bit of perfectionist and it just irritates me knowing I am not seeing everything.

Also, on a much less important note, when I look at writing on the sides and corners of the screen, it seems slightly blurred (at least in comparison to writing in the center of the screen), and I think that there might be a bit of a curve to lines that should be straight. I am not sure if any of this is related to the overscan or not, but I just thought I would post it as well.

Anyway, I have searched the internet extensively and it seems like my only bets are either hiring someone to calibrate my TV, or using the service menus to try to solve the issue myself. Because it is only a minor issue, and I don't really need a whole calibration I decided to try to fix this myself with the service menus. I stumbled upon this forum, read many pages of info and downloaded the charts and things, but it is all extremely daunting because I have never even heard of a service menu until now.

So I guess what I am looking for is someone to help me with a detailed yet fairly easy to follow set of instructions for how to use the service menu on my TV to fix my overscan. As stated above I have a Sony KD-34XS955N.

Thank you in advance for your help!

these are my settings.

2170P-1 SBRT 27 [default 24]
RDRV 28 [default 32]
GDRV 21 [default 22]
BDRV 22 [default 20]
RCUT 32 [default 32]
GCUT 26 [default 16]
BCUT 28 [default 22]Just as an alternative, here are my 34XBR960 values (parenthetical values are service manual defaults, if other than my values), significantly different from yours:

SBRT 0-63 28 (24)
RDRV 0-63 32
GDRV 0-63 27 (22)
BDRV 0-63 27 (20)
RCUT 0-63 32
GCUT 0-63 24 (16)
BCUT 0-63 31 (22)


Don't forget the other crucial color-related settings in 2170P-4. Here are my values (other users will differ, of course), which work to my liking with color temp = COOL and color axis = DEFAULT:

RYR 0-15 13 (8)
RYB 0-15 15 (9)
GYR 0-15 5 (9)
GYB 0-15 4 (6)


NOTE: these isolated but important service menu items are not all there is to the way color looks. There's also very important user menu settings (I have PRO, color = 31, hue = 0) as well as color temp and color axis. And of course, there's your own tastes.

So I guess what I am looking for is someone to help me with a detailed yet fairly easy to follow set of instructions for how to use the service menu on my TV to fix my overscan. As stated above I have a Sony KD-34XS955N.Try starting from this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=8452998&postcount=2037).

You will have to click on the proper secondary links to retrieve posts from the archives from (a) 2005-2006, and also (b) prior to 2005.

While the final numbers you end up with will clearly depend on the characteristics of your particular set, the general "recipe/approach" described in the above posts is still applicable.


NOTE: my geometry/overscan adjustments included tweaking MID3, as had been talked about a long time back in this thread. Since then there's been a "difference of opinion" on this subject, but I still stand by the way my 34XBR960 looks and it couldn't have been done without tuning MID3.

DSperber,
thanks for the reply, i messed around with all the settings you gave me, nothing changes it. im thinking its a defect or abuse issue.. here is a pic of what im talking about, black is not true black. my HS420 had PERFECT blacks, couldnt tell it was on when the screen was black. guess ill have to live with it. a lot better then blurry edges of my 420, and higher res.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6688/dsci0183de6.th.jpg (http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6688/dsci0183de6.jpg)

Thank you DSperber. I will try following that link and see where I can get!

Thank you! That post had all the info I needed!

Well now that I have my overscan fixed, I feel slightly addicted to this tweaking in the service menus! So, I've noticed that it seems like writing in the center of my screen is slightly clearer then writing on the sides. Is there something in the service menu I can tweak to make the sides of the screen as focused as the center? I'm not really sure what to call this problem. It is a very minor issue, so it's not the end of the world if there isn't a fix.

Once again, I have a KD-34XS955N.

Thanks!

Hello all, It's been a while since I've been here.
I've been trying to get the output from my HTPC to my 34xs955 calibrated and have run into a problem.

I'm currently running my ATI HD3870 via DVI>HDMI to Input 7 (HDMI) of the set. Using Blu-ray discs from the LG combo drive through Powerdvd 7 Ultra my black levels seem completely crushed. A check of Dr. 1394's HD Test Patterns shows my black information stops before the last 15% of the scale (4 ramps and 2IRE bars missing). I should add that my HD-A! through the same input does the same thing now.

I can understand PC levels but it seems to be passing the white information fine. Made the mistake of referencing some old Word doc concerning settings for HDMI setting without writing my current settings down!

The menus I made changes in were: 3d-comb, 2103-1, 2170P-1 (except drive and cut settings), 2170P-2 and ENHA.

No matter what ammount of GAMMA or SBRT or UBOF I fiddle with I can't see any black info below a certain range. Is this a shortcomming of the 10-bit HDMI in thses sets or am I missing an important setting in the SM, Catalyst Control Panel or Powerdvd?

Very frustrated right now...

*UPDATE*

Appears that the HDMI input is the culprit. I ran the HD-A1 over component (Input 5) and no problems. Compared settings from Input 5 (3d-comb, 2103-1, 2170P-1 and 2170P-2) and they were nearly identical. Even attmpted to adjust the settings that didn't match, nothing made the black info reappear.

Anyone familliar with Avia, the HDMI input won't even show the moving black bars in the (Bars and Half-grey pattern)!

Is anyone aware of any HDMI specific settings that MIGHT need to be corrected? As it stands it looks like I'm down to 2 component inputs or the prospect of replacing the HDMI board.

Any suggestions for quality component switchers (on the cheap) so I can manage my 4 source devices?

*UPDATE*

Appears that the HDMI input is the culprit. I ran the HD-A1 over component (Input 5) and no problems. Compared settings from Input 5 (3d-comb, 2103-1, 2170P-1 and 2170P-2) and they were nearly identical. Even attmpted to adjust the settings that didn't match, nothing made the black info reappear.

Anyone familliar with Avia, the HDMI input won't even show the moving black bars in the (Bars and Half-grey pattern)!

Is anyone aware of any HDMI specific settings that MIGHT need to be corrected? As it stands it looks like I'm down to 2 component inputs or the prospect of replacing the HDMI board.

Any suggestions for quality component switchers (on the cheap) so I can manage my 4 source devices?On the HD-A1, make sure your "Enhanced Black Level" is set to "OFF" If you are still not seeing the black detail, increase "Brightness" to verify it is not in the signal. Some players/displays will not display the Below black bars from AVIA/DVE.

forgive me guys if this has been covered but i'm going batty. from what i gather reading over all of this info is that my problem can only be fixed by magnets. i'm setting up the geometry on my 34xs955 and i'm running into an issue. the horizontal lines on the right side of the screen are bowing up a bit...probably the last two inches or so. it kind of looks like this only with the upswing being a lot less severe:
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is there a service menu fix for this or is it magnet time? oh, and a big thanks to all of your guys hard work....the amount of info in here is amazing.

On the HD-A1, make sure your "Enhanced Black Level" is set to "OFF" If you are still not seeing the black detail, increase "Brightness" to verify it is not in the signal. Some players/displays will not display the Below black bars from AVIA/DVE.


Glen,

Thanks for the response!

Yes, I have all that "crap" turned off.;) I am aware (and o.k. with the fact) that the HD-A1 does not pass BTB via HDMI. The part that made me think it was the HDMI input was the fact that both my HTPC and the HD-A1 were showing the loss of black detail to the same degree.

Turning the "Brightness" up shows just how little of the black info is getting though. Huge swaths of the picture are just gone. I guesstimated from how many bars were missing in a 10 IRE pattern that the last 25%+ was missing.

Anyone know where a feller could purchase the board for this set? Part number?

forgive me guys if this has been covered but i'm going batty. from what i gather reading over all of this info is that my problem can only be fixed by magnets. i'm setting up the geometry on my 34xs955 and i'm running into an issue. the horizontal lines on the right side of the screen are bowing up a bit...probably the last two inches or so. it kind of looks like this only with the upswing being a lot less severe:
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is there a service menu fix for this or is it magnet time? oh, and a big thanks to all of your guys hard work....the amount of info in here is amazing.

Any chance you've been adjusting overscan?

Adjust it out and the edge of the picture is crap, and the only way to remove it is overscan. On mine, the edge of image looks like your diagram. It's part of the CRT world - that was the entire world until relatively recently you'll recall.

There are also a full range of geometry adjustments that may allow you to adjust it out. They'll also tell you what needs magnets. Look for the 955 service manual, not just service codes, on page 1's master list. Also look at focus and convergence, pages 10-15. Page 1 has specific links.

Have fun,
Frank

I need some serious help here

I have 30" Sony KV-30HS510 and i have it hooked up to my PS3 through HDMI/DVI at 1080i. I had been looking into service mode mods off and on over the years and only within the last 5 or so hours have I found enough information on the subject to actually get into the service mode.

The problem is this, after getting the overscan at 1080i exactly where I wanted it. I wrote it to memory and everything was perfect until I tried to use the "Copy" function explained at 4-1.18 in the "official help.pdf" found within the service mode help (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=36240) zip file.

After attempting to use the "copy" function (which in hindsight I must not have understood cause it certainly didn't do what I expected and right now I don't know what it does) my DVI connection froze for lack of better word at first I thought my ps3 had froze but nothing i did on its side changed the image I was seeing. I figured that I could reset the NVM data to fix it so i cleared mid and/or system NVM to see if that would fix any thing sadly it didn't. The service mode setting were a complete mess but using the service data pdfs I was able to fix the 1080i vertical and horrizontal settings but the HD connections on my TV don't do anything but display a random screen grab from channel 2(switching from an HD input to anoter input just refreshes the screen grab)

One thing that I did notice was right before the DVI died I saw something other than Service/Write/Read in the area where "SERVICE" normally is it was brief though I think it started with "IN" if I get the service mode to display that again and took note of it would that help you guys figure out what I did and how to fix it? Cause I need options when I go to sleep I'm going to unplug my tv and see if that clears up the issue with the HD input.


Note: While my PS3 is hooked up, on and in xmb or playing a video my TV in service mode says its getting a 1080i signal to bad my tv just wont display it.

*Also under every entry in the "ID" Data section is:

"M306V7MG-050FP
NVM: G"

Does that give anyone any ideas?

One thing that I did notice was right before the DVI died I saw something other than Service/Write/Read in the area where "SERVICE" normally is it was brief though I think it started with "IN" if I get the service mode to display that again and took note of it would that help you guys figure out what I did and how to fix it? Cause I need options when I go to sleep I'm going to unplug my tv and see if that clears up the issue with the HD input.


Note: While my PS3 is hooked up, on and in xmb or playing a video my TV in service mode says its getting a 1080i signal to bad my tv just wont display it.

*Also under every entry in the "ID" Data section is:

"M306V7MG-050FP
NVM: G"

Does that give anyone any ideas?
ok I know what preceeded the DVI going bust, it was my accidental clearing of mid nvm data(7-jump-enter) which causes "INIT-MID" to appear in place of SERVICE" for a moment now does anyone have any idea on how to repair/initialize the HD function of the TV. Other than that everything works fine.

I think i'm in trouble. I have a Sony KP-57WS520. I reset the service menu setting by accident and now my Flash Focus and Convergence will not work from the regular TV OSD.

Also now video 5 is HDMI, it used to be Video 7 like the back of the TV is labeled.


I need help badly please. Since I can't use convergence for some reason now, I can't fix my picture correctly :mad:

Well I got the HDMI & mostly everything else back to normal. I can't figure out how to get "Flash Focus" or convergence working again.. The screen blinks like it's trying to do something but nothing happens.

I see the Convergence overlay but not the crosses pattern at all, really odd. Flash focus just makes the screen blink and does nothing. HELP!

I think i'm in trouble. I have a Sony KP-57WS520. I reset the service menu setting by accident and now my Flash Focus and Convergence will not work from the regular TV OSD.

Also now video 5 is HDMI, it used to be Video 7 like the back of the TV is labeled.


I need help badly please. Since I can't use convergence for some reason now, I can't fix my picture correctly :mad:convergence and many of the OSD menu options are controllable in the ID string try messing around with ID7 in the service menu until you see convergence in the OSD


Now if someone could help me resynch hd on my KV30-HS510


Edit: Service Manual for KP57WS520 again I suggest skipping to the ID section and make sure you have the right settings
http://cheetatron.tripod.com/KP57WS520manual.rar

convergence and many of the OSD menu options are controllable in the ID string try messing around with ID7 in the service menu until you see convergence in the OSD


Now if someone could help me resynch hd on my KV30-HS510

I can see Convergence and Flash Focus on the menu but why try to use them, they do nothing. No patterns.

I can see Convergence and Flash Focus on the menu but why try to use them, they do nothing. No patterns.
Service Manual for KP57WS520 again I suggest skipping to the ID section and make sure you have the right settings
http://cheetatron.tripod.com/KP57WS520manual.rar

as for me I have found the service manual for my tv but I am confused as to how I should configure my mid 5 settings its just a table of numbers that don't seem to make munch sense

edit: I now understand how mid 5 configuration works. (Choose a pop setting # 0-56 than configure everything from 1-18 rinse and repeat)I would however love it if someone with experience in restoring a tv after nvm reset could tell me if proper configuration of the mid 5 will allow me to restore my tv's hd connections

Service Manual for KP57WS520 again I suggest skipping to the ID section and make sure you have the right settings
http://cheetatron.tripod.com/KP57WS520manual.rar

as for me I have found the service manual for my tv but I am confused as to how I should configure my mid 5 settings its just a table of numbers that don't seem to make munch sense

edit: I now understand how mid 5 configuration works. (Choose a pop setting # 0-56 than configure everything from 1-18 rinse and repeat)I would however love it if someone with experience in restoring a tv after nvm reset could tell me if proper configuration of the mid 5 will allow me to restore my tv's hd connections

:eek: Freaking awesome! I cannot begin to thank you enough for posting that link! :D

*bows*

:eek: Freaking awesome! I cannot begin to thank you enough for posting theat link! :D

*bows*Hey I hope it helps you out man. In order to find the service manual for my tv I had to register and subscribe to nodevice.com.


I have a month long subscription so if anyone has a user or service manual they need request it now and if the manual helps you out a small donation to my paypal won't hurt.

There are somethings I could use clarification on. In the various service menu guides terms like VDO, CV/YC come up what are they refering to exactly?

also what about Vcomp? I usually see it as a setting where FULL is also an option so I imagine Vcomp is for twinview, index, and freeze is that correct?

Hmm strange still no fix for my focus/convergence problems.

According to the service manual after service item "DDEV" I should have PJED FDIS, PJED V1CM, PJED OTVS, etc.. but my menu jump straight to item "AP"


I seem to be missing a bunch of stuff. I can't get to "PJE" Mode

Hmm strange still no fix for my focus/convergence problems.

According to the service manual after service item "DDEV" I should have PJED FDIS, PJED V1CM, PJED OTVS, etc.. but my menu jump straight to item "AP"


I seem to be missing a bunch of stuff. I can get to "PJE" ModeSorry to hear that the service manual i posted covers 4 or so models maybe your model just doesn't have those items


Woot I finally got 1080i DVI working but all is not working correctly sadly. if I hit tv/video until i get to vid 7(dvi) while id7 is set to 17 I get horrible overscan it is so bad that I cant see the top line of text in the service menu(Everything on the same line as "Service") I have to get off vid 7 go to id 7 change it to an even number go to vid 7 than change id 7 back to 17

any Ideas?

Update I got rid of the horrible overscan somehow(????) Now I am trying to resynch 720p and 480p. Does anyone know why my Mid3 changes don't appear to do anything? the definetly had an effect before I reset my nvm last saturday.

in trying to get 720p back I ended up breaking 1080i again lol that was yesterday and now I'm still working on that today. Any ideas/tips?

Suddenly noticed a quarter-inch horizontal overlap of the picture on the right side of the screen when watching non-HD material in the zoom and wide zoom modes via the HDMI. Unplugged the 960 for about five minutes but the distortion was still there. Hoped it was due to the cable company but adjusting the service mode horizontal position further right accomplished nothing. Was able to eliminate it by increasing the horizontal size by one digit (made it two just to play it safe).

Decreasing the horizontal size further toward zero (shrinking the picture) increased the overlap proportionatly.

Is this an indication that a problem could be brewing or could a slight overlap naturally develop over time necesistating an adjustment in horizontal size? Also, is there a service code that could simply eliminate overlap in the NON-HD zoom modes? Again, no overlapping appeared in full-screen HD HDMI (or component video from the DVD player in video 5).

FYI - when adjusting geomirty in the past I don't believe I ever noticed an overlap of the picture - just too much shrinkage left and right.

Thanks in advance for any help that could be provided.

- Joe

I must have fat fingered something while in the service menu of my KP-57WS520 and now the vsync/hsync is all messed up. I reset all the values I was changing to what they were before but it didn't fix it. The service manual doesn't have a complete list of the default values, it points you to a web link that is dead. I only wrote down the values that I was changing, not everything in there, so I'm SOL at this point. Does anyone have a complete list of the default values for this set or a magic way to reset it?

Does anyone else with a 30HS420 have a green tint to the black on the composite/s-video inputs? It's only on those inputs. The channels without any signal running with just the black screen you can clearly see this. Then when I switch to the component/hdmi inputs the difference is dramatic.

I must have fat fingered something while in the service menu of my KP-57WS520 and now the vsync/hsync is all messed up. I reset all the values I was changing to what they were before but it didn't fix it. The service manual doesn't have a complete list of the default values, it points you to a web link that is dead. I only wrote down the values that I was changing, not everything in there, so I'm SOL at this point. Does anyone have a complete list of the default values for this set or a magic way to reset it?

I have this set and could potentially look up some key values for you. I don't know about ALL of them, but I wouldn't mind pulling some more critical ones. It would be easier if you told me what your values were and I could point out the differences.

Do you know if there's a way to lock Video 7 to 1080i? I have an issue where very bright scenes (like the military base scene at the beginning of Transformers with all the explosions) causes it to lose signal sync for 1-2 seconds. This only happens when the screne goes completely white. I've read that the true fix is to replace the A board.. which I'm not qualified to do and don't want to pay someone for. A workaround I've heard of on other Sonys is to force your video input to 1080i. I looked for the "1080" setting in the OP category but I could not find it. Perhaps there's no way to do this with this TV? I don't have the service manual.. so I can't check.

Has anyone figured out if there is a way to decrease the amount of screen real estate taken up by the "side bars" when viewing 4x3 programming in "normal" screen mode on 16x9 DA-4 chassis sets(such as XBR960)?

I've been searching, but can't seem to find anything which will do what I want. I don't want to alter Horizontal size of the image in the 4x3 "area" which is displayed, I want to "get rid" of a portion of the "inside portion" of the side bars, which is in effect, "hiding" more than I want on the sides .... In other words, to effectively "unhide" a portion of the image which is being hidden by the "side bars".

Note that for 1080i and other 16:9 display, the video material is technically not letterboxed; that is, no black bars are added to the video (using up scan lines). Rather, the entire vertical scan is compressed to the correct aspect ratio for 16:9, and all scan llines are really there, just as they would be on a widescreen TV. You can prove the point by cranking up the Brightness slider and noting that those "bars" above and below never glow because there's no scanning there..

You can use the blanking shutters in 2170D-3, TBLK and BBLK to crop the 16:9 compressed raster as you wish. There are separate settings for 480 and 1080, and for compressed and full scan, so you should be able to customize it as you wish. The main reason for these "shutters" is to keep the electron beam from striking the side of the CRT, but in compressed mode the top and bottom shutters can act as a cropping tool.
Pertaining to this exchange from July of '06, I want to decrease the cropping of my top and bottom "shutters" when watching anamorphic DVDs on my (4:3) 36HS420. I assume that the shutters are factory set to mask the image at the 1.78:1 HD ratio, and that if I watch an anamorphic 1.66:1 DVD (such as the first two Bond films or the new 7th Voyage of Sinbad disc) that the shutters would be cutting off image information. Anybody steer me toward the right adjustment to open up these shutters?

EDIT: Sho' nuff, as KenTech said, I was able to adjust the blanking shutters in 2170D-3, using TBLK and BBLK. Opened up the screen to the entire 1.66:1 image. Perfecto! Much thanks.

Hello,

I recently purchased a used 30sx955.

I've been trying to adjust the 1080i overscan using the method outlined in this thread, but when I get to the mid3 adjustments, my mid3 menu options appear different than what is described.

Any ideas?

I am new to this forum and have searched for an explaination and fix to a problem I have on a blue screen with a red blotch in the upper left corner and a green blotch at center right side. I have read elsewhere that this may be an artifact of the earth's magnetic field and may require periodic service menu adjustments to correct.

I have had the KD-34XBR960 for two years and the blotches do not change in position. The blotches can be eliminated with magnets attached near the neck of the tube but this also creates image distortion problems. I have removed the speakers and it does not change the blotches.

Does anyone there know where to point me for resolution of the problem?

I am new to this forum and have searched for an explaination and fix to a problem I have on a blue screen with a red blotch in the upper left corner and a green blotch at center right side. I have read elsewhere that this may be an artifact of the earth's magnetic field and may require periodic service menu adjustments to correct.

I have had the KD-34XBR960 for two years and the blotches do not change in position. The blotches can be eliminated with magnets attached near the neck of the tube but this also creates image distortion problems. I have removed the speakers and it does not change the blotches.

Does anyone there know where to point me for resolution of the problem?Try the LANDING adjustments in the service menu. Write down the values before you start and DO NOT attempt a reset of ANY kind.

Good Luck

I just picked up a sony KV-27FS120 for only $50 and 3 years old and it's great.

I am having a problem with something though. I play arcade games via an RGB>NTSC converter using an s-video or component connection. The problem us that on some game boards the v sync is either above or below the TV's 60hz setting by more than 4, so I get about 3/4 of the screen and the bottom 1/4th of the screen is at the very top.

I downloaded the service manual and dont know which setting would be best to delay the v sync pulse enough to get the picture right. I have tried the obvious one to no avail.

I went through adjustment of Landing Parameters LT thru ENSW and was able to eliminate the color blotches. As follows, old values w/ parenthesis indicating new values: LT 192(14), LB 131(102), RT 150(110), RB 119(9), EWSP 5(5), ENSW 0(0). I had to use a blue screen because I could not see the blotching on a grey screen.

I started by removing all taped on magnets which appear to have been distorting the image. My focus does not appear to be as good as it was and I have lost some image brightness. I will work on these items.

This is the first time I ever changed the service codes, so, I will need to start this process in a logical order. Should I start at the beginning of this forum? Where can I find solid color screens for use with the memory stick?

Thanks for the help so far! :)

Those values range from 0-270, right? It's disturbing to me that you had to almost zero out the LT and RB values to make it acceptable. I wonder if the tube itself just needs replacement...

I found the first 11 landing adjustments to have very little effect and trying to decide where to leave them was not easily determined. Is it possible that some other parameter is way out of adjustment and making the landing settings futile. I did not touch any of the remaining landing settings.

My set is still under warranty. I had a sony repairman come before I started making changes. He used magnets to try to eliminate the blotching without complete success. The result was distortion of the geometry. I removed the magnets afterward and the geometry is pretty good except for some outward bending at the upper corners which also shows some color divergence.

I have some color blobs on the right side of my set and you are lucky, cause no matter what i set my landing settings at NOTHING gets rid of them. Plus it's hard to even adjust them with a background to try and get rid of them without my eyes adjusting and thinking that it's getting better/worse. Can't be from my speakers either since it would have to happen on the other side as well. But it has to be from something external and not the se then since it's not changing with the landing settings.

Continuing to explore the service menu on my KD-34XBR960, I decided to see what was in the overscan area of my set and I adjusted the horizontal and vertical sizing, stretch, and shutter parameters so I could see the entire crosshatch pattern. I have included here jpg's of the adjusted geometry where I cannot see the perimeter lines of the crosshatch (image1) and the image where I can see the entire perimeter (image2), almost.

I was surprised to see such distortion in the overscan area, although it explains some to the extreme geometry adjustments I am having to make. First, note the clipping in the upper left corner. It is not due to the curving of the left vertical but due to a hard to see here bending of the scanned image inward away from the left corner that blanks off the image. What is causing this and how do I correct it? Second, note the inward bowing of the right vertical. With some adjustments the far right vertical will actually fold over the second right vertical. How can I straighten this line out?

I want to correct these faults before adjusting convergence because they are interfering with the convergence adjustments. My adjusted geometry doesn't look to bad but I am having to use shutter adjustments to cut off too much of the image and although it is not easily seen in these images the horizontal convergence needs adjustment at the upper left and right areas (center is ok).

I originally removed all of the permalloy magnets installed by the Sony technician because they caused some pretty severe distortion which he said he could not correct. I have played with reattachment of the magnets but cannot correct the convergence issues. If I can improve the distortion in the overscan area, it would help a lot in making it possible to correct the convergence.

It's also kind of interesting that the upper left corner and center right distortions of the crosshatch pattern are the locations of the color blotching that I adjusted out with the landing parameters! :(

I have no knowledge of those bizarre distortions, maybe they are supposed to hide? PPHA will straighten the inward tilt, PIN will straighten curvature inward of sides, VPIN and VCEN are needed too. VPIN to lower number may help. Do you have the Service Manual for your set, maybe I can upload it somehow (large file) if you need it.

I think that the distortions on the right side are due to the beam striking the side of the tube and then folding the line over the existing image. I can shift the image to the left to reduce the effect but I then loose even more of the image in the left corner. There is a limit edge of the scan that can be seen around the outside edge of the image (when looking close-up). This shape of this limit edge is not effected by any of the service codes I have checked in 2170D-1, 2170D-2, or 2170D-3. It remains fixed even when the crosshatch pattern geometry is changed. This is probably determined by the gun alignment adjustments at the yoke of the tube. Using the shutters and resizing the image can hide the problem but it still needs to be fixed.

Does anyone have knowledge about the topic I am discussing here? This goes beyond service code adjustments if I am right.

Also, I would appreciate it if someone can point me to a copy of the service manual for the KD-34XBR960.

I have been using this forum to address service code issues with my KD-34XBR960 but I noticed that there is a separate thread for the KD-34XBR960. Does it matter where I post to?

Also, note that regarding my last message I have not yet tried adjusting the 2170D-3 parameters #6 thru #10.