I have a 50 inch A10 and my 18 month old daughter loves kissing the screena dn putting her hands on it. My question is what should i use to clean the screen. I am currently using a cotton sock to clean this off...but is there something better??

As the parent of 2 sons, you might tell her "No" in the future once you get it clean, it worked with my sons.

Best Buy is scrapping my 50"Panasonic on the lemon policy for 4 bulb replacements in 23 months, 3 in the last 11 months. Along with replacements were ballasts and other attempts at correction. I am considering the Sony 50" A10 to roll into. Does anyone have a history on maintenance, especially the bulb. Thanks

I don't believe the A10 has rampant maintenance problems, otherwise I think there would be more problems noted on this thread- that said, I will say that I think my 50-inch A10 has had a similar problem as your Panasonic-

Had a bulb "burn-out" three weeks after purchase. Sony sent a new one, which seemed ok for about 2 months, then another burn-out- realized that both bulbs were fine- there is something wrong with whatever contraption fires up the bulb. It randomly does not turn on, and the red light blinks as if the bulb is out.

I have a service appointment scheduled- already talked to them and told them about the problem, at which point they said they were going to order a ballast for me, which has not come in yet.

I am willing to think that I simply got a slightly faulty A10, but no real worries- I'm convinced that it will be fixed. It's an excellent TV- when I'm able to turn it on. :)

I fit the 42A10 in the back seat of my 2003 Grad Prix, but I needed to remove the outer cardboard box in order to get it to fit.

I left the cardboard/styrofoam base intact and just removed the sidewalls/top.

I used some of the top styrofoam to hold the TV in the upright position while I drove.

Make sure that your bracing materials are flat and wide. You do not want to hold the "screen side" of the TV with an object that has a tiny contact surface like a ball or a stick. It might bend the screen.

A nice flat piece of Styrofoam will more evenly distribute the "weight" or more accurately "acceleration forces" against the TV when you accelerate your car.

Hopefully this will be a quick question that someone can answer. My sister picked up a 42"A10 about two weeks ago. After doing some adjusting for them, the HD looks great, the digital SD channels look good but the analog channels look absolutely horrid. They have Brighthouse Digital Cable with the HD DVR. For a short time the analog station looked okay when I was tweaking them but they they reverted back to being really poor. I have no idea why this happened and spent another 30 or so minutes trying to figure it out without success. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I highly recommend that you run a separate cable (use a splitter) to the A10's RF coax input for analog cable. The NTSC analog tuner in the A10 if far better than the one in the cable box. And you should notice a big difference in PQ. Just use the cable box for SD digital and HD channels.

Thanks. I'll give that a try this weekend.

Hello Sony Members,
I own a JVC D-ILA 52z575 and am quite happy with it. I would like to ask you guys/girls about bulb issues with the 50 inch A10s. My JVC has blown the bulb it shipped with after about 2 months of use and I am now on my second bulb for about as along. If the set continues to blow bulbs at this rate I will go through several before the factory warranty is up. I find JVC support very good. When the factory warranty is up however i will have to buy $200 bulbs every couple of months and this is not a good thing, once a year i can handle no sweat. My dealer has said that if the bulb issue continues he will honor his warranty and let me swap it out and the only candidate he has is the 50 inch A10 which i have seen next to my same model JVC and find them both excellent sets, I chose the JVC because it was 52 inches and the same price as the Sony at the time. In my current config at home the set will be 9feet away from 2 slightly off-center sweet spots(couch) and the SDE is a factor in the switch. We watch a mix of HD and SD from D* on a HDTivo via HDMI. I watch a lot of DVDs and play XBOX sometimes. I know you guys seem to really like your sets. They do look quite nice. Are there many geometry errors like overscan etc.? The jvc is OOTB at about 3% which i think is great. The color decoder is almost dead on 100% though it pushes green OOTB. I have began wading through this thread and am about 90 pages in and it seems to be a solid set. How is Sony service? Do they come in house? I know the black level leaves something to be desired on both JVC and Sony sets of this type but i do not find it an issue once the set is backlit. I am not a Sony basher(XBOX rules :D ) but i would appreciate any input you guys could offer. Are the A10s easy to tweak, I am not scared of the service menu. I just want to cover my butt and protect my investment and i am glad to have the dealer i have (REX). Thanks in advance.

I have been reading this thread for a while. I have a 42A10 and I cannot figure out how to get my PC to display correctly. If i use component inputs I can mess with overscan features in Nview, but the display is nothing compared to the quality of the VGA input. Except if i use the VGA input i cannot figure out how to get rid of the "black bars" around the top and bottom of the display. If i use zoom on the TV it has too much overscan. any suggestions? I couldnt really find a straight answer in this thread.

I have a 6800 Non-Ultra and am using analog VGA cable.

I don't usually like Monster products but they make a nice screen cleaning kit.

http://www.monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=1562

I got it and i like it.

I have a 50 inch A10 and my 18 month old daughter loves kissing the screena dn putting her hands on it. My question is what should i use to clean the screen. I am currently using a cotton sock to clean this off...but is there something better??

Someone gave this to me for my birthday, but I've recently seen quite a few posts here saying how poor it looks on their A10s.

Before I take the seal off, does anyone have anything good to say about this DVD???

thnx

Best Buy is scrapping my 50"Panasonic on the lemon policy for 4 bulb replacements in 23 months, 3 in the last 11 months. Along with replacements were ballasts and other attempts at correction. I am considering the Sony 50" A10 to roll into. Does anyone have a history on maintenance, especially the bulb. Thanks

Can you expand on this Best Buy Lemon policy just bit more?
Is this a written policy did you have to hound them into it?
Or did they just offer to do it for you?

I can't answer all of your questions but, I quite like my 50" A10. I did a lot of shopping and i decided on it. I like it a lot.

I did have a lot of red push out of the box. Here is a link to a tweak thread here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=567709
After following instructions it looks awesome now. I may spring for a ISF calibration someday but i am happy now.

Looks awesome now on HD and DVD, SD not too bad either.

I sit 11 feet from the 50" and don't see any SDE at all.

Overscan looks to be 2 - 3 %. No geometry errors that i can see except on the wide zoom mode as i belive the zoom is non linerar at the edges. I think Wide Zoom is the best looking mode for 4:3.

Black levels could be a little better but with back lighting as you say it is not bad at all.

My only gripe is the lack of any signal strength indication when receiving OTA signals. Not huge but i have no idea why it was left out. Just a stupid oversight.

So all and all i give it a 4.5 stars out of 5.

Hope that helps.

Hello Sony Members,
I own a JVC D-ILA 52z575 and am quite happy with it. I would like to ask you guys/girls about bulb issues with the 50 inch A10s. My JVC has blown the bulb it shipped with after about 2 months of use and I am now on my second bulb for about as along. If the set continues to blow bulbs at this rate I will go through several before the factory warranty is up. I find JVC support very good. When the factory warranty is up however i will have to buy $200 bulbs every couple of months and this is not a good thing, once a year i can handle no sweat. My dealer has said that if the bulb issue continues he will honor his warranty and let me swap it out and the only candidate he has is the 50 inch A10 which i have seen next to my same model JVC and find them both excellent sets, I chose the JVC because it was 52 inches and the same price as the Sony at the time. In my current config at home the set will be 9feet away from 2 slightly off-center sweet spots(couch) and the SDE is a factor in the switch. We watch a mix of HD and SD from D* on a HDTivo via HDMI. I watch a lot of DVDs and play XBOX sometimes. I know you guys seem to really like your sets. They do look quite nice. Are there many geometry errors like overscan etc.? The jvc is OOTB at about 3% which i think is great. The color decoder is almost dead on 100% though it pushes green OOTB. I have began wading through this thread and am about 90 pages in and it seems to be a solid set. How is Sony service? Do they come in house? I know the black level leaves something to be desired on both JVC and Sony sets of this type but i do not find it an issue once the set is backlit. I am not a Sony basher(XBOX rules :D ) but i would appreciate any input you guys could offer. Are the A10s easy to tweak, I am not scared of the service menu. I just want to cover my butt and protect my investment and i am glad to have the dealer i have (REX). Thanks in advance.

I thought it looked ok. But it should have been a heck of a lot better PQ for a brand new movie. It may just be the look Speilberg was trying for.

Overall I liked it.


Someone gave this to me for my birthday, but I've recently seen quite a few posts here saying how poor it looks on their A10s.

Before I take the seal off, does anyone have anything good to say about this DVD???

thnx

I highly recommend that you run a separate cable (use a splitter) to the A10's RF coax input for analog cable. The NTSC analog tuner in the A10 if far better than the one in the cable box. And you should notice a big difference in PQ. Just use the cable box for SD digital and HD channels.


Dark Rain, If I hook up this coax cable, do I have to do anything else, or does the tv recognize it automatically? Thanks.

thanks egmont. anyone else?

Dark Rain, If I hook up this coax cable, do I have to do anything else, or does the tv recognize it automatically? Thanks.

Just let it Auto Program the analog channels. It may be annoying having to switch back and forth between the cable box and A10's tuner, but SD analog looks so much better that it's worth the hassle.

<snipped>

My only gripe is the lack of any signal strength indication when receiving OTA signals. Not huge but i have no idea why it was left out. Just a stupid oversight.

So all and all i give it a 4.5 stars out of 5.

Hope that helps.

There is OTA signal strength indications.

When tuned to the antenna:
Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Diagnostics

What's missing (imo) is the analogous feature for the basic cable input.
(Maybe that's what you meant?)


Mitch

Can anyone confirm whether the Sony extended warranties cover bulb replacement? Their site doesn't say it's not covered, but you never know... (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/EW_ViewExtendedWarranty-Detail?CategoryName=CE_TV)

Also, where are the 50A10's (that are sold in California) made? In Japan, the US or Mexico?

I just bought a 42" A10 for my Dad... will be delivered tomorrow. Thanks everyone for helping me out... it was a few months project to get a TV, went back and forth between Plasma ED and LCD RP... It came down to price and convinience... The Panasonic Plasma ED was definately better looking, specially in darker scenes (like Star Wars)... but it had less details and he wants to watch a lot of 4:3 channels and didnt like Zoom or stretched picture and on Plasma I need to do that most of the time.

So, finally went for one of these and I hope it looks better at home than it did in the store. Star Wars Episode III looked really washed out with blue tinted blacks...

I am wondering how can this set be optimized for best picture? Trying to reduce "Red Push" and get better details in black scenes. Any suggestions?

To be honest, I am still not 100% sure on this TV and I am afraid of the lack of Blacks, the red push and the RP nature will drive me nuts (live @ home)... Any last minute suggestions? Did I make a mistake?

Thnx a lot!

I am wondering how can this set be optimized for best picture? Trying to reduce "Red Push" and get better details in black scenes. Any suggestions?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=567709

I have been reading this thread for a while. I have a 42A10 and I cannot figure out how to get my PC to display correctly. If i use component inputs I can mess with overscan features in Nview, but the display is nothing compared to the quality of the VGA input. Except if i use the VGA input i cannot figure out how to get rid of the "black bars" around the top and bottom of the display. If i use zoom on the TV it has too much overscan. any suggestions? I couldnt really find a straight answer in this thread.

I have a 6800 Non-Ultra and am using analog VGA cable.

Try a DVI to HDMI cable and setting your resolution to 1280x720. Skip the VGA input it's junk due to the fact that none of the resolutions it accepts match the tv's native display res. Good on Sony for including VGA, bad on Sony for not allowing it to accept 1280x720.

I bought the 42A10 last night, along with the Sony DVPNS70H DVD player. I've set the TV settings similarly to what Dark Rain and others have posted.

My question is, do I also need to calibrate the DVD pictures settings to complement the TV settings? The DVD player has its own Cinema/Vivid/et al screen settings-- does the player default to the TV settings or do I need to find some sort of middle ground between the DVD player settings and the TV?

I bought the 42A10 last night, along with the Sony DVPNS70H DVD player. I've set the TV settings similarly to what Dark Rain and others have posted.

My question is, do I also need to calibrate the DVD pictures settings to complement the TV settings? The DVD player has its own Cinema/Vivid/et al screen settings-- does the player default to the TV settings or do I need to find some sort of middle ground between the DVD player settings and the TV?

I use the Cinema modes on my Sony DVD player when I come across a DVD that may have been transferred with low contrast, color, etc. I leave the general picture settings on the player at default, but you can set up a custom setting for a particular look, which will add or remove anything from the TV settings.

I use the Cinema modes on my Sony DVD player when I come across a DVD that may have been transferred with low contrast, color, etc. I leave the general picture settings on the player at default, but you can set up a custom setting for a particular look, which will add or remove anything from the TV settings.

Thanks.

Follow-up question as well-- I currently have DirecTV TiVo, and will continue to use my SD DirecTV STB DVR until I can scrape together the additional $500 that upgrading to an HD-DVR will cost.

However, in the meantime, does the presence of the HD tuner in the TV mean that I can go ahead and use an OTA antenna to pick up the local HD channels? That would be nice as it'll give me some HD channels to watch until I can make the upgrade to the STB.

Or will attempting to pick up OTA HD channels interfere with my current SD STB?

Thanks.

Follow-up question as well-- I currently have DirecTV TiVo, and will continue to use my SD DirecTV STB DVR until I can scrape together the additional $500 that upgrading to an HD-DVR will cost.

However, in the meantime, does the presence of the HD tuner in the TV mean that I can go ahead and use an OTA antenna to pick up the local HD channels? That would be nice as it'll give me some HD channels to watch until I can make the upgrade to the STB.

Or will attempting to pick up OTA HD channels interfere with my current SD STB?

If you have an antenna, then plug it into the antenna port and see what OTA HD channels you can find. There shouldn't be any problem with the STB.
You can use www.antennaweb.org to see what digital channels are in your area and how far you are from the transmission towers and where they are relative to your position.


Mitch

Could someone please answer my question regarding overall PQ, value and features for the 42A10 versus the Panny 42" 50U plasma? My parents want to make a decision by today and I want to help them finalize.

Thanks in advance.
I had to make the same decesion. The panny has a green ghost effect that you will only notice now and then. The panny picture has great detail. Bear in mind that that model was updated to the 500(?), which has 2 hdmi inputs plus fixes some supposed bugs. I have read some mention of a "hum" but I did not hear it myself. The one big reason I dropped the panny from consideration was the DVD playback. It looked terrible. But again, it is up to you. Try a non-animation DVD in the store. Make your own decision.
I think the panny has a feature that fixes burn in. Ask about it.

I have had no problems with the Sony. I have component connections from a comcast cable box and it looks fine.

Good Luck.

I'm posting this again as when I originally posted it got buried and it seems that this thread is picking up a lot.

I have a 42A10 and I don't know if this has been seen before or not. On my TV I have this small strange behavior where about 20% of the left side of my screen will change hues. Like, if I bring up my TWC DVR recorded program listings, if you look at the left side after about 3-5 seconds the color brightness and hue of JUST the left side of the screen will change.

It's a hard behavior to describe, but it seems as if my TV is having a delay and then refreshing JUST the left side portion of the screen to be a different hue or color or something. This is very distracting as it shows up whenever you watch a show. This does not seen to be any specific channel but on all different channels and in DVR menus.

Does anyone have this behavior on their TV or seen it before? Is my TV defective or a lemon?

I had to make the same decesion. The panny has a green ghost effect that you will only notice now and then. The panny picture has great detail. Bear in mind that that model was updated to the 500(?), which has 2 hdmi inputs plus fixes some supposed bugs. I have read some mention of a "hum" but I did not hear it myself. The one big reason I dropped the panny from consideration was the DVD playback. It looked terrible. But again, it is up to you. Try a non-animation DVD in the store. Make your own decision.
I think the panny has a feature that fixes burn in. Ask about it.

I have had no problems with the Sony. I have component connections from a comcast cable box and it looks fine.

Good Luck.

New Panny has only one HDMI.

If you have an antenna, then plug it into the antenna port and see what OTA HD channels you can find. There shouldn't be any problem with the STB.
You can use to see what digital channels are in your area and how far you are from the transmission towers and where they are relative to your position.


Mitch

I think I'll try an indoor antenna, since I don't really want to mess with wiring one up outside-- if it comes to that, I'll just have the DirecTV guy install it when he puts in the HD receiver and dish. I'm only about 5 miles from the transmitters, so hopefully I should get passable results with an inexpensive indoor antenna- there's not a lot of interference in my area either.

can an owner of a 50inch model please tell me what the bottom of the tv looks like in terms of a base or legs etc as I plan on putting it on a stand designed for a smaller tv and am concerned about balancing issues that might arise. Thanks

can an owner of a 50inch model please tell me what the bottom of the tv looks like in terms of a base or legs etc as I plan on putting it on a stand designed for a smaller tv and am concerned about balancing issues that might arise. Thanks

I'm doing the same thing...using a stand for a 32" Sony XBR. I'm just going to buy a piece of plywood, cut it to the footprint size of the 50A10, paint it and screw it onto the old stand.

darthrsg,

Make sure that your JVC is not connected to a component or device that cuts off the power to the tv when you turn your devices off. For example, if you have your TV's power plugged into the receiver, the moment you turn off the receiver it cuts off all the electricity to your TV. The problem with this arrangement is that the TV needs electricity to run the cooling fan to the bulb after you've turned the TV off, otherwise you'll have premature bulb failure. This is the same situation for the Sony and most if not all projector units. Some people in here have even gone as far as to prevent this from happening during black outs by adding a backup battery. If this is not the case then just disregard this newbie's advice :) All I know is that replacing TV sets is such a hassle.


Hello Sony Members,
I own a JVC D-ILA 52z575 and am quite happy with it. I would like to ask you guys/girls about bulb issues with the 50 inch A10s. My JVC has blown the bulb it shipped with after about 2 months of use and I am now on my second bulb for about as along. If the set continues to blow bulbs at this rate I will go through several before the factory warranty is up. I find JVC support very good. When the factory warranty is up however i will have to buy $200 bulbs every couple of months and this is not a good thing, once a year i can handle no sweat. My dealer has said that if the bulb issue continues he will honor his warranty and let me swap it out and the only candidate he has is the 50 inch A10 which i have seen next to my same model JVC and find them both excellent sets, I chose the JVC because it was 52 inches and the same price as the Sony at the time. In my current config at home the set will be 9feet away from 2 slightly off-center sweet spots(couch) and the SDE is a factor in the switch. We watch a mix of HD and SD from D* on a HDTivo via HDMI. I watch a lot of DVDs and play XBOX sometimes. I know you guys seem to really like your sets. They do look quite nice. Are there many geometry errors like overscan etc.? The jvc is OOTB at about 3% which i think is great. The color decoder is almost dead on 100% though it pushes green OOTB. I have began wading through this thread and am about 90 pages in and it seems to be a solid set. How is Sony service? Do they come in house? I know the black level leaves something to be desired on both JVC and Sony sets of this type but i do not find it an issue once the set is backlit. I am not a Sony basher(XBOX rules :D ) but i would appreciate any input you guys could offer. Are the A10s easy to tweak, I am not scared of the service menu. I just want to cover my butt and protect my investment and i am glad to have the dealer i have (REX). Thanks in advance.

I have the same problem. I called Sony Support and am having a guy come in next week to fix this. I'll let you know if he tells me anything specific.

I'm interested in what happens too. I have read through most of this thread and am really surprised to not have seen this come up before.

On my set the lower left has a pretty signifacant red tint, then a green streak at the top above that, and the right side is slightly blue. I was able to make the tinting mostly unnoticeable by turning the brightness down, but the problem has become worse in the past couple of weeks. The set is only 2 months old now.

The problem is very bad in dark scenes, Sin City is really unwatchable.

gimmick,
i am aware of the cooling procedure and the power thing, thanks anyway. it seems to be the bulbs themselves rather than the set as far as the jvc goes. the bulbs are backordered for weeks though. i am able to swap the jvc for a 50inch A10 if i want. i just wanted the AVS forum lowdown before i switch.

Hey,
I just purchased the Sony KDFE 42'' television as my first hdtv. Very pleased thus far with the purchase but am currently having problems with my pc connection. I purchased a dvi to hdmi converter, hooked it up to my evga 7800gt, but there is a lot of overscan in 1280 x 720 resolution... what could be wrong? :confused:

Can you correct it within nView?

SDE Lowdown...
from 9 feet how bad is it really? i keep reading varying reports that it is viewable at only 3 feet and others say at least 10. what gives? it is a set by set thing or personal tickyness? the model i saw it was viewable around 3 feet but at home where it go it would be 9 feet away and if it is not there i wouldnt worry about it. SSE doesnt bother me at all. another quick one... the reports of the screen tilting a few degrees. they say there is no fix, but on my jvc d-ila ( a very similar set ) it tilted as well but by grabbing the top of the screen in the center and gently pushing/pulling the offending corner fixed it. of course you need to display a crosshatch pattern to judge when to stop. if the sony has a similar screen and build i.e. light box it might work for those with that issue. it did not take much torque to do it just a little.

Hay, thanks for that Mitch! I totaly missed that one!
Cheers


There is OTA signal strength indications.

When tuned to the antenna:
Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Diagnostics

What's missing (imo) is the analogous feature for the basic cable input.
(Maybe that's what you meant?)


Mitch

Darthsg
About the SDE. I think it is very subjective. I don't notice it at all and it does not bother me. I cannot stand DLP sets becasue of rainbow effect. Even newer units with the faster wheel. It drives me crazy. Everyone is different. You had better just go and look for yourself.

darthrsg did you notice SSE with white scenes? I was watching the A10 for a while and every time a bright solid color would come on screen I could see SSE. Didn't seem to bad though so I'll probably end up buying the A10.

I am having part of my house remodeled and I have packed away my A10 manual.

Can someone look in it and tell me what the Image shift setting is all about?

I had it on Auto but I have been tinkering with it at Level 4 and it seems to help SD look better.

I'm a cheapskate. I have basic (analog) cable for SD programming, and OTA for HD. Anyway, lately my cable signal has been pretty crummy and it was never as nice a picture as I would have liked. So, I recently bought an Electroline drop amp (from some outfit on Ebay) to increase the signal to my TV (and DVR) and it has made a big difference. Granted some of this perceived improvement may be because of the recent signal degradation, but I do believe it's better than it was before things went rather bad. But, I found the drop amp to be a worthwhile $38 (delivered - you can do even better if you bid or go for one of the older models).

Even though this isn't specific to the A10 this is the thread I've contributed the most, so you get to read my ramblings. Besides I thought I would help my fellow basic cable A10 owners. So, if you don't like how the SD material looks and thinks it can be better, you may want to try a drop amp.
BTW, from my research, you want a quality drop amp like the Electroline (or I guess Channel Master is a good brand), and don't want to bother with products from radio shack.
Also, you may be able to get your cable company to come out an check the signal and provide a drop amp free of charge. Even though I'm a cheapskate (see above), I'm also lazy and impatient. So, I figured I would just take things into my own hands.


Mitch

Can you correct it within nView?

Tried messing around within nView, but to no avail. Still overscanning by quite a bit... but since this set is native 1280 x 720 I should be getting 1:1 pixel mapping through hdmi with minimal/no overscan right?. Strange... :confused:

darthrsg did you notice SSE with white scenes? I was watching the A10 for a while and every time a bright solid color would come on screen I could see SSE. Didn't seem to bad though so I'll probably end up buying the A10.

i dont think sse is a bigg deal personally, on my d-ila when it was new the sse was pretty obvious but after it broke in it is not even an issue. the jvc has sde but only with your nose on the screen and if can be ensured that the a10 sde is not visible at 9ft i will probably switch my jvc with the sony. as for the sony i looked at it has been on a while in the retail setting at least as long as i have had my jvc, since july, and if it had sse i did not see it. i would lose 2 inches of screen but gain a built in hd tuner with the sony. if my jvc blows its current bulb by the first of the year i will make the switch even though i have a spare bulb. i would sell it cheap to another d-ila owner in the owners thread. if i didnt have finals this week i would go look at the sony again. until then my jvc is kicking much arse.

Hi, i have had my A10 for about a month now, one thing that bothers me is when watching cartoons (futurama or family guy) on cartoon network, there is a faint set of double lines that surround parts of the animation.... i know it is due to the broadcast, b/c when i watch the same show on dvd the lines arent there... im using a comcast dvr ph 3... is there anyway to get rid of this?? turning NR up to high kinda gets rid of most of it but it also takes away from the picture's sharpness.... ive also seen it on some non animation but it really only bothers me then...

Hi, i have had my A10 for about a month now, one thing that bothers me is when watching cartoons (futurama or family guy) on cartoon network, there is a faint set of double lines that surround parts of the animation.... i know it is due to the broadcast, b/c when i watch the same show on dvd the lines arent there... im using a comcast dvr ph 3... is there anyway to get rid of this?? turning NR up to high kinda gets rid of most of it but it also takes away from the picture's sharpness.... ive also seen it on some non animation but it really only bothers me then...

Have you tried turning "sharpness" to minimum in the video settings menu?
When I ran a calibration disk one of the big surprises to me was being told by the calibration disk to turn sharpness to minimum. I'm not sure this will help, but I think it's worth a try. And even if it doesn't help with the double lines, but I would try it out for general video goodness anyway.


Mitch

i dont think sse is a bigg deal personally, on my d-ila when it was new the sse was pretty obvious but after it broke in it is not even an issue. the jvc has sde but only with your nose on the screen and if can be ensured that the a10 sde is not visible at 9ft i will probably switch my jvc with the sony. as for the sony i looked at it has been on a while in the retail setting at least as long as i have had my jvc, since july, and if it had sse i did not see it. i would lose 2 inches of screen but gain a built in hd tuner with the sony. if my jvc blows its current bulb by the first of the year i will make the switch even though i have a spare bulb. i would sell it cheap to another d-ila owner in the owners thread. if i didnt have finals this week i would go look at the sony again. until then my jvc is kicking much arse.
I sit 9ft away from the 50 a10 with no SDE

Hi guys, first post here.

I'm looking at the 42" A10 as I feel like it is the best looking TV (to me atleast) for the money I'm looking to spend. My only concern is the SDE, which when I look at the TV and BB or CC, I can see when a plain image is shown, such as the sky. Obviously for faster moving images with multiple colors it is much harder to see, you really have to be looking for it, so that doesn't bother me.

My question is, are there any tunings / tweaks that you can do to reduce the SDE, such as lowering the brightness perhaps? If there is a way to reduce that when you bring it home, then I'm sold.

Thanks

Tried messing around within nView, but to no avail. Still overscanning by quite a bit... but since this set is native 1280 x 720 I should be getting 1:1 pixel mapping through hdmi with minimal/no overscan right?. Strange... :confused:


I'm still a week away from being able to try my PC. I would think you would get a better picture thru your VGA input as your resolution is at known settings.

However, the Sony is a rear projection set. The LCD screens are 1280x720 but it would make sense that a slight over scan or projection would be needed to assure that all four sides of the front plastic screen is fully covered.

The Sony may slightly reduce the image resolution to avoid over scan but other posts seem to suggest otherwise. I'm would guess that a Plasma or direct view LCD, as my laptop, would not have this problem.

Mike

Hi guys, first post here.

I'm looking at the 42" A10 as I feel like it is the best looking TV (to me atleast) for the money I'm looking to spend. My only concern is the SDE, which when I look at the TV and BB or CC, I can see when a plain image is shown, such as the sky. Obviously for faster moving images with multiple colors it is much harder to see, you really have to be looking for it, so that doesn't bother me.

Thanks

As long as you're stitting far enough away, SDE is a non-issue. I have the 50in and I only *sometimes* see it if I sit on the floor, which puts me about 3 feet closer than sitting on the couch. On the couch I'm about 10ft away

Hi, i have had my A10 for about a month now, one thing that bothers me is when watching cartoons (futurama or family guy) on cartoon network, there is a faint set of double lines that surround parts of the animation.... i know it is due to the broadcast, b/c when i watch the same show on dvd the lines arent there... im using a comcast dvr ph 3... is there anyway to get rid of this?? turning NR up to high kinda gets rid of most of it but it also takes away from the picture's sharpness.... ive also seen it on some non animation but it really only bothers me then...


See my post above.

Image shift. Corrects doubled images.

I am looking for exactly what it does in the manual but I don't have my manual which is why I made a post asking if someone could look in the manual for the A10 and see just what Image Shift does.

Seems to make the picture better on my A10 when I have it on Level 4 instead of Auto.

I sit 9ft away from the 50 a10 with no SDE


thanks mondo. anyone else? the clock is ticking on my jvc......

How do I get the info display to show all of the program description? Sometimes the description is longer than the window allows and cuts it off with a ... at the end. I just have OTA digital/HD broadcasts right now, no cable or satellite.

See my post above.

Image shift. Corrects doubled images.

I am looking for exactly what it does in the manual but I don't have my manual which is why I made a post asking if someone could look in the manual for the A10 and see just what Image Shift does.

Seems to make the picture better on my A10 when I have it on Level 4 instead of Auto.

page 81..Manual. Image shift 1-4. select a level from 1-4 to align the images & improve the picture..

Could image shift be some sort of convergence setting for aligning the three LCD panels?

Try a DVI to HDMI cable and setting your resolution to 1280x720. Skip the VGA input it's junk due to the fact that none of the resolutions it accepts match the tv's native display res. Good on Sony for including VGA, bad on Sony for not allowing it to accept 1280x720.

Can someone tell me what resolutions were succcessfully used with this set on an HTPC setup? And if it's not the native resolution than how does it look when you play games, browse the web or watch movies?

I'm just trying to get an idea what to expect when interfacing this set with a computer (one of my main goals).

i hooked my pc up to the vga input today. it looked alright, and i was able to change the monitor resolution to 1280x720 on the desktop, but it didn't fill the screen well. there was a 3/4" black bar on the top and bottom of the screen, and a 2" black bar on the left and right side of the screen. the top bar seemed slightly higher on the right side, and the bars on the right and left side angled slightly outward at the bottom of the screen, and there was no way to completely adjust the position of the edges to cover the complete screen like a normal monitor. all in all, i wouldn't use the input for my pc, i was hoping it would look better than it did. that's just me though, and it's a shame, because the picture quality of the input seemed very good. basically, if i didn't already have an LCD monitor, i would use it as my monitor. i do though, so i probably won't...

I am going to order a DVI/HDMI cable to connect my pc to my E50A10. I have already had it into the computer input, which is OK, but doesn't fill the screen exactly. I want ot be able to have the tv use exactly 1280x720 pixels for a clearer image.

Since the HDMI contains digital audio, and DVI doesn't, how do I get the digital audio into the TV? Or should I just use the analog audio?

Thanks, Tim

Could image shift be some sort of convergence setting for aligning the three LCD panels?
No. Image Shift is for poor OTA reception.

I am having part of my house remodeled and I have packed away my A10 manual.

Can someone look in it and tell me what the Image shift setting is all about?

I had it on Auto but I have been tinkering with it at Level 4 and it seems to help SD look better.

It just says it's for correcting double images. I remember messing with this when I first got the TV and I don't remember it doing anything for DVDs or analog cable. I will have to check this again.

I ordered a dvi-hdmi cable for my 50a10 so I can hook my computer up to it. I'm going to use the tv for audio at the moment. What audio cables would you guys recommend? Thanks for the help.

Lets start by saying the 42A10 became my 3rd HDTV. I started with a Samsung 27 inch in the kitchen that I got at a rediculous price, from there I was convinced HD would end up in every room. I bought a 30 inch widescreen Sanyo, also on clearance and used it here in my living room which is about 14x10, this was nice but a little too small for the room. I got it cheap and it was to replace my aging Zenith Inteq, which in its day was a good TV, but I was spoiled by the HD. Around the time the 42A10 came out we had been looking for a TV for the living room bigger than the Sanyo. Originally we had been looking at the 34 inch XBR but wanted something bigger. Well turns our Circuit City had just received the 42A10 and had the previous model in stock on clearance. We debated about this a while then ended up with a 15% off coupon. The 42A10 had arrived at something akin to the current price, but they ran it on sale over the weekend we bought it at $200 off, and let us use the coupon so the rest is history.

Now here we are in December, I've owned this TV practically since it arrived on the shelves, and since this thread was only a few pages long. The biggest complaints can be tamed for the most part. The SDE is for the most practically impossible to notice unless you are looking for it at an abnormal viewing distance (sitting close). Actually I think its easier to notice the SSE but you still have to look for it for the most part. The red push can be pretty much quelled by adjusting the controls. The advanced Iris function can be annoyting in its factory setting, but turning ti down a notch helps and the black levels are still decent. The largest complaints I have heard on this thread like the color blotches did not seem to bother this set, but as I mentioned this was a rather early one at that. Picture quality is very good, I have it connected to the cable box via a rather cheap DVI to HDMI cable (as the cable box does not have an HDMI output).

I've compared to some of the other sets, and despite some of the complainrs I have seen about this set, at its best its not anywhere near as bad as some of the rainbow effects that plague some of the cheap DLPs. Black levels are good for an LCD, deeper than my cheap flat panel iLo 3200 (which though probably is not the best LCD, its not bad either, and looks very nice).

I don't think you'd do bad buying one of these A10 series sets, as a die hard picture tube fan, it convinced me that there is plenty of promise in some of the newer technologies, and I think LCD has the best potential from a reliability standpoint, having been around longer than plasma or DLP, which is another factor that drew me to LCDs in the first place. I won't mention what brand, but I saw a plasma set run 16 hours a day at a local store that lost noticeable amounts of color in the period of a year and a half and it was not a pretty site, needless to say they are still using the same one as a display and its almost unwatchable now, not something I want to be left with in the future.

I just got my 42" A10 on friday I like it alot I just have a few questions. I am new to rear projection screen tvs and was wondering if this was normal on this tv as well as other RP tvs. I noticed that the picture looks it's best when sitting right in front of it what I mean is I sit 8 to 9 feet away from it and the picture looks great but if I view it a little of to the side or even stand up it seems the picture gets alot darker is this normal ? It just seems the picture is alot darker any way you view it unless you are sitting right in front of it. Also does this Tv suffer from motion blur ? (lag) I will be playing alot of 360 as soon as I get a chance (Dame Work) :D And does anybody know what this feature does Game Picture (On/Off)

Thanks

That's what Rear Projection tv's do...they project the best picture to an optimal viewing area, which isn't every where in front of the screen.

I don't see any motion blur at all, but others have.

I've owned the 42A10 for a few months now with no regrets. I'd like to upgrade to an upconverting DVD player this Christmas (the Sony NS70H) but my HDMI input is already occupied by my HD Cable box.

Is my only option to purchase some sort of switch box? I assume there wouldn't be a simple hdmi to vga adaptor that would enable me to use the PC-in terminal?

I really wish they would have included an additional HD input on the TV :)

[QUOTE=EgmontMan]Darthsg
About the SDE. I think it is very subjective. I don't notice it at all and it does not bother me.


What you have to do is not focus on the surface of the screen..but look into the picture...I never see SDE when focusing my eyes past the surface of the screen but if I try to see SDE on the surface it sometimes becomes apparent.

Ive done a thread search and have read countless pages until my eyes hurt but was unable to find an answer.

I just picked up the 42 A10 as a Xmas present for my wife, but will not give it to her until Xmas. I asked the salesman about replacement lamps and the life span of the lamp. He said the bulb goes for about 200.00 from Sony but I would have to call a technician in to install for about 140.00 more. I said I'll install it myself and his reply was they won't sell you the bulb without making an appointment for a service call first. He said the lamp lasts 4,000 to 5,000 hours.

I find this not only hard to believe, but absurd that Sony mandates it be installed by only a technician. Does naybody know where on the internet these replacement lamps can be purchased, and the part #, I can't do a google search because I don't have the manual. it's in the sealed box at a relatives house and I don't want to open it.

The manual online shows the procedure of installing the lamp, but I don't have the TV yet so what do I know

hxxp://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=KDFE50A10&news_id=84

Why would the lamp be in Sony's accessory store and why would they have an installation pdf on their site if you can't order it from them?

I've been considering picking up the 42" A10 for about a month now and am really close to pulling the trigger. I plan to use it for normal TV watching, DVD playing, and next gen game playing (XBOX 360 and PS3). Quick question though. The last time I went to a store and was messing around with this TV, the PQ was of course awesome on the HD channels, however, on the regular (I assume they were regular cable) channels, they PQ was GOD AWFUL. And I mean extremely blurry and hazy, and just really REALLY BAD, worse than my current 10 year old 27" Samsung CRT. Is this because the TV is not properly calibrated or is that what I should expect on this TV with normal cable channels? ATM, I have digital cable through a cablebox and therefore plan to do a fair bit of normal digital cable watching on this set and not a lot of actual HD channel viewing (except local channels) until later down the road, so this is a very big deal for me. Anyone have any experiences in this area that could help me out?? Thanks so much!

I've been considering picking up the 42" A10 for about a month now and am really close to pulling the trigger. I plan to use it for normal TV watching, DVD playing, and next gen game playing (XBOX 360 and PS3). Quick question though. The last time I went to a store and was messing around with this TV, the PQ was of course awesome on the HD channels, however, on the regular (I assume they were regular cable) channels, they PQ was GOD AWFUL. And I mean extremely blurry and hazy, and just really REALLY BAD, worse than my current 10 year old 27" Samsung CRT. Is this because the TV is not properly calibrated or is that what I should expect on this TV with normal cable channels? ATM, I have digital cable through a cablebox and therefore plan to do a fair bit of normal digital cable watching on this set and not a lot of actual HD channel viewing (except local channels) until later down the road, so this is a very big deal for me. Anyone have any experiences in this area that could help me out?? Thanks so much!


My 42"A10 is used for DVD's and HD from Charter. I have a 32" up front for the analog SD channels. A few of my SD channels are not too bad, above 100, and digital, they are not bad at all.

All big screens are like this; garbage in, garbage out. They must have a good clean signal to do their thing.

As far as SD channels, they are the reason I never would buy a 36" TV! Have your cable company check the signal if your SD channels look bad. Buy local so you have return privileges if you find your SD channels unacceptable.

Mike

Ive done a thread search and have read countless pages until my eyes hurt but was unable to find an answer.

I just picked up the 42 A10 as a Xmas present for my wife, but will not give it to her until Xmas. I asked the salesman about replacement lamps and the life span of the lamp. He said the bulb goes for about 200.00 from Sony but I would have to call a technician in to install for about 140.00 more. I said I'll install it myself and his reply was they won't sell you the bulb without making an appointment for a service call first. He said the lamp lasts 4,000 to 5,000 hours.

I find this not only hard to believe, but absurd that Sony mandates it be installed by only a technician. Does naybody know where on the internet these replacement lamps can be purchased, and the part #, I can't do a google search because I don't have the manual. it's in the sealed box at a relatives house and I don't want to open it.

TOTAL BS :rolleyes:!

On page 86 and 87 of my manual: How to replace your lamp :cool: No Tech needed but it is so easy I'll do it for you for only $50;)

Mike

Had Charter HD receiver and service hooked up yesterday in Janesville.
I've looked through the manual but can't find anything relating to this.

My question is, I haven't been able to determine what format/quality my tv is receiving/displaying (I have a Sony kdfe42a10). There is a very noticable quality difference between the digital local stations and the same hd local stations.

Most if not all the hd channels I'm getting are supposed to be broadcast in 1080i but I'm not sure if that is what my tv is getting/displaying. The tv manual says anything above 480i will not be displayed in the 'Normal' mode, but I haven't had the 'Normal' mode not be available yet. When I hit display on the tv to see what it is receiving from the Charter HD box, it shows '4:3' and 480i all the time.

Anyone know what might be going on?

Had Charter HD receiver and service hooked up yesterday in Janesville.
I've looked through the manual but can't find anything relating to this.

My question is, I haven't been able to determine what format/quality my tv is receiving/displaying (I have a Sony kdfe42a10). There is a very noticable quality difference between the digital local stations and the same hd local stations.

Most if not all the hd channels I'm getting are supposed to be broadcast in 1080i but I'm not sure if that is what my tv is getting/displaying. The tv manual says anything above 480i will not be displayed in the 'Normal' mode, but I haven't had the 'Normal' mode not be available yet. When I hit display on the tv to see what it is receiving from the Charter HD box, it shows '4:3' and 480i all the time.

Anyone know what might be going on?


Your on the Moxi box?

Most of your SD stuff is only 480i but the Moxi will upconvert or depending on software, pass on with no conversion, as it should. Depending on signal, ie. HBO HD, the Moxi will give me 1080i even though the signal is just 480i from a DVD movie. Things look very good when I get a true HD signal from a true HD source, again the Moxi gives me 1080i.

There is a Moxi thread to check out the settings and a Moxi FAQ you need to check out. Search for the AVS Moxi forum.

If your on another brand receiver do a search on AVS.

Mike

I posted this earlier but it got lost in the shuffle...

I ordered a dvi-hdmi cable for my 50a10 so I can hook my computer up to it. I'm going to use the tv for audio at the moment. What audio cables would you guys recommend? Thanks for the help.

It just says it's for correcting double images. I remember messing with this when I first got the TV and I don't remember it doing anything for DVDs or analog cable. I will have to check this again.


Thanks for checking on that Dark Rain.

It could be all in my head, the SD looking better at level 4. I have left it on level 4 for the past few days, and I am going to switch back to auto and see if I notice anything.


How would auto setting know to change to levels 1-4? Does it sense doubled images?

Strange thing to have an Auto setting on.

Your on the Moxi box?

Most of your SD stuff is only 480i but the Moxi will upconvert or depending on software, pass on with no conversion, as it should. Depending on signal, ie. HBO HD, the Moxi will give me 1080i even though the signal is just 480i from a DVD movie. Things look very good when I get a true HD signal from a true HD source, again the Moxi gives me 1080i.

There is a Moxi thread to check out the settings and a Moxi FAQ you need to check out. Search for the AVS Moxi forum.

If your on another brand receiver do a search on AVS.

Mike

I think I've figured out a Moxi box is a motorola box?
The box Charter gave me is a Motorola.
I've been watching the HD channels, HDnet, ESPNHD, Discovery, and the local channels. 480i is listed in the details on my tv for all these channels.

I've owned the 42A10 for a few months now with no regrets. I'd like to upgrade to an upconverting DVD player this Christmas (the Sony NS70H) but my HDMI input is already occupied by my HD Cable box.

Is my only option to purchase some sort of switch box? I assume there wouldn't be a simple hdmi to vga adaptor that would enable me to use the PC-in terminal?

I really wish they would have included an additional HD input on the TV :)

Try here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6630479&highlight=grateful11#post6630479

This subject came up a few days ago. I might be going with one of these someday.
Grateful11

I just got my 42" A10 on friday I like it alot I just have a few questions. I am new to rear projection screen tvs and was wondering if this was normal on this tv as well as other RP tvs. I noticed that the picture looks it's best when sitting right in front of it what I mean is I sit 8 to 9 feet away from it and the picture looks great but if I view it a little of to the side or even stand up it seems the picture gets alot darker is this normal ? It just seems the picture is alot darker any way you view it unless you are sitting right in front of it. Also does this Tv suffer from motion blur ? (lag) I will be playing alot of 360 as soon as I get a chance (Dame Work) :D And does anybody know what this feature does Game Picture (On/Off)

Thanks


Anyone else care to take a crack at these questions please.

Thanks for checking on that Dark Rain.

It could be all in my head, the SD looking better at level 4. I have left it on level 4 for the past few days, and I am going to switch back to auto and see if I notice anything.


How would auto setting know to change to levels 1-4? Does it sense doubled images?

Strange thing to have an Auto setting on.

That's why I think it's meant for OTA signals. Sometimes you get some ghosting effects on weaker signals. Maybe the "Auto" setting can sense the signal strength and make the proper adjustment.

I've had my TV for a few months and haven't noticed any motion blur.

There's a diagram at the front of the owner's manual showing you the acceptable viewing angles for the TV. The TV has a fairly wide left to right viewing angle, and a fairly narrow viewing angle top to bottom. This is common on most rear-projection TV's I've seen (CRT, LCD, etc). To minimize the top to bottom view angle - you should setup the TV so it's close to eye level in your normal seated TV viewing position.

Well I made the plunge and picked up my new 42A10 this weekend. Thanks to all who answered my questions about this set. This my second HD set, upgrading from a Sony 32". I have to say that I couldn't be happier. I am very picky about picture quality and this set has the best HD quality I have ever seen. Even my wife, who could care less about HD and who couldn't understand why I wanted to upgrade couldn't believe the difference. I have always heard that directview CRT's still have the best overall picture quality but this blows away the HD on my old set. It is crystal clear with amazing colors and I haven't even calibrated it yet. I was very concerned with motion blur as I watch a lot of sports but I watched football all weekend and there was not even a hint of it, HD football is spectacular. One thing I find interesting was that I always thought that 1080i was the superior format because it alway looked a little better on my CRT (it's native resolution) but have switched to a 720P set it is just the opposite which I guess is to be expected.

...
I've been watching the HD channels, HDnet, ESPNHD, Discovery, and the local channels. 480i is listed in the details on my tv for all these channels.
It sounds like your box is not connected using an HD connection. Are you using an HDMI or component cable?

Well I made the plunge and picked up my new 42A10 this weekend. Thanks to all who answered my questions about this set. This my second HD set, upgrading from a Sony 32". I have to say that I couldn't be happier. I am very picky about picture quality and this set has the best HD quality I have ever seen. Even my wife, who could care less about HD and who couldn't understand why I wanted to upgrade couldn't believe the difference. I have always heard that directview CRT's still have the best overall picture quality but this blows away the HD on my old set. It is crystal clear with amazing colors and I haven't even calibrated it yet. I was very concerned with motion blur as I watch a lot of sports but I watched football all weekend and there was not even a hint of it, HD football is spectacular. One thing I find interesting was that I always thought that 1080i was the superior format because it alway looked a little better on my CRT (it's native resolution) but have switched to a 720P set it is just the opposite which I guess is to be expected.



Difference really is the "p" vs the "i". Which is why the 1080p's are the wave of the future (although something would need to be broadcast in that format first). I do agree 720p is much better than 1080i, even in panoramic shots like SunriseEarth on DiscoveryHD.

I just brought a 50" Sony A10. Don't have HD yet so I'm just running S-Video out of my Direct TV box into the set. I know the picture will not be as sharp as HD but looking to fine tune it in the meantime.

I've been reading through this post, paying particular attention to the custom settings people have offered up. After comparing a handful of them there are some definite differences. Is this just personal preference or is there one set more fine tuned than others? I've seen Dark Rain's setting getting alot of attention as being pretty good to go by.

Could anyone help direct me to ones that would work best with the S-Vid connection?

thanks.

It sounds like your box is not connected using an HD connection. Are you using an HDMI or component cable?

Yes, maybe he is using composite or such?

My Moxi had to be set up to let 720 and higher to pass thru even on component. I'm not familiar with the Motorola menu but may be the same set up.

As anyone done a pro calibration on both the Samsung 42" DLP and the Sony 42" A10? How did they compare?.............Does the Sony have a strong Red Push at lower light levels-dark scenes? If it does can it be adjusted out of the set? How is the grey scale on the set from dark to light?

I am trying to decide between the two models for the bedroom......Thanks

I just brought a 50" Sony A10. Don't have HD yet so I'm just running S-Video out of my Direct TV box into the set. I know the picture will not be as sharp as HD but looking to fine tune it in the meantime.

I've been reading through this post, paying particular attention to the custom settings people have offered up. After comparing a handful of them there are some definite differences. Is this just personal preference or is there one set more fine tuned than others? I've seen Dark Rain's setting getting alot of attention as being pretty good to go by.

Could anyone help direct me to ones that would work best with the S-Vid connection?

thanks.

I just bought the 42A10 and am also using my old non-HD DirecTV STB w/ S-video. There's really no way to make the picture look "good," particularly for high-motion viewing like sports. Most of the settings posts on here have the DRC set to 'High Density' but I actually think it looks better set to off, with Sharpness adjusted a little bit higher. Small, distant details, like players on a football or soccer field, will have a lot of 'noise' around them, but seemingly less so with DRC set to 'off.' At least that's what I've found.

But, I didn't have $650 on hand for the HD-DVR, and I don't want to give up my TiVo, so I've had to make do with the old S-vid STB.

Hello all. This is my first post here (been lurking since I bought the set about 2 weeks ago.) Apologies in advance - this one's gonna be long and all over the place.

This is my first HDTV, "upgrading" from a 27" Trinitron. I use the TV for a little bit of everything : HD Football games, SD cable watching, DVD's, and pretty much every game system.

When I was first shopping, I was pretty much set on a DLP. Several friends and family members had them and recommended them, although I hadn't really spent much time with DLP myself (so not sure if the dreaded rainbow effect would bother me.) I decided against plasma mainly because of the burn-in issue. Well, one incredible sale on the 42A10 later, I'm a semi-proud owner of a RP LCD (pretty much one of the last types I thought I would buy going into this).

I say semi-proud because there has been a string of disappointments. Now, these are not necessarily with the TV itself, but more my expectations for the technology. I was blown away by football in HD. But everything else, particularly DVD's, left me very underwhelmed. To be more specific, the DVD's looked very fuzzy and grainy to me, and the game systems (PS2 and XBOX primarily) are much more jagged than I hoped. Playing with the settings (mine are pretty similar to Dark Rain's) helped a bit.

I did go out and upgrade my DVD player to the NS70H via HDMI. I like this much better, but there are even issues here as well. Having a little Lost marathon over the weekend, I really started to notice how the blacks did not seem deep enough for me. (I am at the typical recommended settings of Iris=2, Black corrector off, Advanced iris low, etc.)

Back to the gaming, like I said my main disappointment was the jagged edges. (XBOX/PS2 via component). I don't think it's the TV, but unfortunately instead of enjoying glorious widescreen Prince of Persia on my 42 inch screen, which I should have been doing, I was actually very tempted to hook it back up to my 27" Trinitron and just play how I've been playing the last few years.

For the record, being a former Trinitron owner I don't think the "red push" really bothered me. I did the fix and set it at 003b, and to be honest everything looked a little flat to me. I'm keeping it there for now and have just jacked my color settings back up to about 48 or so.

This past Friday I also got my Comcast HD box (not sure of the model). Was extremely unhappy with the networks PQ, but luckily can just go straight to the wall for those. INHD channels seem to be fine, but others not so much. I want the guide, but I wonder if the cable card would have been better as noted a few posts back.

So here I am. Well within the 30 days to be able to return the TV (as well as a few hundred dollars worth of toys and cables I got along with it). I can't help but wonder if the black levels on a Plasma or DLP might be more to my liking. Or if the rough edges I'm seeing in the XBOX and PS2 games is normal for every TV. I'm wondering if a 50" screen would have been better (I sit about 8-9 feet away). Isn't this too many regrets and questions for a new owner? I've been obsessing since the moment I got it and that doesn't feel right . . .

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I'm gonna pull the trigger in less than a week and i wanted some pros and cons on these sets. my preference is in this order:

1 Sony kdfe50a10

2 JVC hd52g786

3 Samsung hlr 5067w

Any info would be helpful, i've been researching since september, and i just wanted the opinions of some owners of each set. Thanx in advance.

BTW: these forums are excellent!

Difference really is the "p" vs the "i". Which is why the 1080p's are the wave of the future (although something would need to be broadcast in that format first). I do agree 720p is much better than 1080i, even in panoramic shots like SunriseEarth on DiscoveryHD.


I guess I need my eyes adjusted :rolleyes: I can see the difference between 480i and 480p. But given a clean equal signal I can't see the difference between 1080i to 1080p. I would need a magnifying glass to see the scan lines?

I hear all the hype of the new TV's but would love it if I could just double my existing channels at an honest, clean 1080i! Heck a solid clean 720p would still "WOW!" most people.

Right now I have only about 8 HD channels to choose from including most that just re-broadcast 480i signals upscaled to 1080i. The live sports events are awsome in true 1080i.

I just brought a 50" Sony A10. Don't have HD yet so I'm just running S-Video out of my Direct TV box into the set. I know the picture will not be as sharp as HD but looking to fine tune it in the meantime.

I've been reading through this post, paying particular attention to the custom settings people have offered up. After comparing a handful of them there are some definite differences. Is this just personal preference or is there one set more fine tuned than others? I've seen Dark Rain's setting getting alot of attention as being pretty good to go by.

Could anyone help direct me to ones that would work best with the S-Vid connection?

thanks.

I think a lot of it has to do with personal preference, especially because you have to compromise between the channels with a nice looking signal and ones with a crummy signal - and there seems to be alot of variation on DirecTV.

The best thing you can do, as far as I can tell, is to pick a channel you watch a lot and adjust the settings to get the best picture possible, then compromise for your other frequented channels from there. I found that Comedy Central, specifically the Daily Show, had very nice signal quality - at least on my box.

I'm at work, so I don't have my exact settings on hand, but they are something like this:

Iris - Min, maybe adjusted to 1 on occasion.

Picture - Set just around 50. I found that the higher I had this setting, the more pixelation I saw in the signal, especially around text and any sort of movement.

Brightness - Around 60+ - I set this a little higher to compensate for the low Iris setting.

Sharpness - Around 30. I'm not sure if it was even making much of a difference as there is so much variation between channels.

Color - This would be more a matter of preference, but I think I set it around 40.

Hue - R3 maybe?

DRC - Progressive - Clarity 90 Reality 20 - This seemed to really improve the PQ, especially in regards to pixelation.

Advanced menu settings - All set to off, except for gamma which may have been set to the low setting.

When I get home I'll double check these, but that may be a good starting point for you.

I say semi-proud because there has been a string of disappointments. Now, these are not necessarily with the TV itself, but more my expectations for the technology. I was blown away by football in HD. But everything else, particularly DVD's, left me very underwhelmed. To be more specific, the DVD's looked very fuzzy and grainy to me, and the game systems (PS2 and XBOX primarily) are much more jagged than I hoped. Playing with the settings (mine are pretty similar to Dark Rain's) helped a bit.

I did go out and upgrade my DVD player to the NS70H via HDMI. I like this much better, but there are even issues here as well. Having a little Lost marathon over the weekend, I really started to notice how the blacks did not seem deep enough for me. (I am at the typical recommended settings of Iris=2, Black corrector off, Advanced iris low, etc.)

Back to the gaming, like I said my main disappointment was the jagged edges. (XBOX/PS2 via component). I don't think it's the TV, but unfortunately instead of enjoying glorious widescreen Prince of Persia on my 42 inch screen, which I should have been doing, I was actually very tempted to hook it back up to my 27" Trinitron and just play how I've been playing the last few years.

For the record, being a former Trinitron owner I don't think the "red push" really bothered me. I did the fix and set it at 003b, and to be honest everything looked a little flat to me. I'm keeping it there for now and have just jacked my color settings back up to about 48 or so.

This past Friday I also got my Comcast HD box (not sure of the model). Was extremely unhappy with the networks PQ, but luckily can just go straight to the wall for those. INHD channels seem to be fine, but others not so much. I want the guide, but I wonder if the cable card would have been better as noted a few posts back.

So here I am. Well within the 30 days to be able to return the TV (as well as a few hundred dollars worth of toys and cables I got along with it). I can't help but wonder if the black levels on a Plasma or DLP might be more to my liking. Or if the rough edges I'm seeing in the XBOX and PS2 games is normal for every TV. I'm wondering if a 50" screen would have been better (I sit about 8-9 feet away). Isn't this too many regrets and questions for a new owner? I've been obsessing since the moment I got it and that doesn't feel right . . .

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

The 'jaggedness' is normal for the Xbox-- it doesn't matter what type of HDTV you have-- DLP, plasma, or LCD. It's just the nature of computer graphics, especially when viewed over a 42-inch or larger screen. Remember, most Xbox games are 480p, which is just going to look blocky. Some of the Xbox's 720p games look better, but not by too much. You won't really notice the 'jaggedness' disappearing until you upgrade to the next-gen systems like the Xbox 360, where the standard is 720p and up to 1080i.

As for true black levels, that's one of the weaknesses of the RP technology-- the black levels will never be so deep to, say, blend into the black plastic edge around the screen. So in that regard, you may find the other televisions more to your liking. If you want to get blacks at their lowest, I would recommend setting the Iris to minimum-- that's what I've done when I view DVD's at night in low-light settings.

As for graininess on DVD's, a lot of that depends on how the movie was filmed, what type of film, etc. To really test out the HDMI-upconversion on the NS70H (which I also have hooked up via HDMI) use a digitally 'filmed' movie like Star Wars Episode III-- you'll notice less grain there.

Also keep in mind that DVD's are not 'true' HD, they're only 480p, and the HDMI upconversion doesn't change that by much. Your best test of true HD is to watch shows like Lost on the ABC HD channel. I've been most impressed watching OTA HD, particularly football games, on the 42A10. I'm eagerly anticipating Lost this week in HD-- it should look even better than the DVD's, because it's broadcast in a 1080i format.

Yeah I noticed that too. Different channels have better or worse signals on S-Video. Here in Atlanta, CBS is really choppy. Watched 2 different football games yesterday on FOX and CBS and there was a noticeable difference on FOX. Much cleaner picture.

I called Direct TV (we don't have Comcast in our area yet) and it's $250 for existing customers to have the HD dish, box installed. An additonal $11 a month for "some" HD channels and I'd had to get a rather large antenna for the OTA locals as I live about 30 miles from the signal. And my current Tivo box would get the boot to upstairs. And like you said, I'm not paying $650 for an HD DVR.

Sluggo - thanks for the comments. I have not tried Iris at minimum, which theoretically should help quite a bit. I'm assuming I can offset this with the picture and brightness so I can still see what's going on. As I suspected, I think my expectations for the XBOX were just a little too high (I was probably expecting a CRT quality picture with no jaggies, but blown up to 42").

I also agree that SW Ep3 is amazing on this set with the NS70H. I was previously testing with Spiderman 2 which to me just has a very grainy/back projected quality to it. The difference is pretty drastic.

I watched Lost last wednesday in HD. I can say that easily lived up to my expectations. There was no doubt in my mind of the quality of this TV at that point (or during football on Sunday for that matter). Particularly for what I paid. Along those lines, I also wonder if I'm actually expecting the performance of a $3000-$5000 TV on something I only paid a fraction of that for. I would certainly HOPE they're better!!

Hello all. This is my first post here (been lurking since I bought the set about 2 weeks ago.) Apologies in advance - this one's gonna be long and all over the place.

This is my first HDTV, "upgrading" from a 27" Trinitron. I use the TV for a little bit of everything : HD Football games, SD cable watching, DVD's, and pretty much every game system.

When I was first shopping, I was pretty much set on a DLP. Several friends and family members had them and recommended them, although I hadn't really spent much time with DLP myself (so not sure if the dreaded rainbow effect would bother me.) I decided against plasma mainly because of the burn-in issue. Well, one incredible sale on the 42A10 later, I'm a semi-proud owner of a RP LCD (pretty much one of the last types I thought I would buy going into this).

I say semi-proud because there has been a string of disappointments. Now, these are not necessarily with the TV itself, but more my expectations for the technology. I was blown away by football in HD. But everything else, particularly DVD's, left me very underwhelmed. To be more specific, the DVD's looked very fuzzy and grainy to me, and the game systems (PS2 and XBOX primarily) are much more jagged than I hoped. Playing with the settings (mine are pretty similar to Dark Rain's) helped a bit.

I did go out and upgrade my DVD player to the NS70H via HDMI. I like this much better, but there are even issues here as well. Having a little Lost marathon over the weekend, I really started to notice how the blacks did not seem deep enough for me. (I am at the typical recommended settings of Iris=2, Black corrector off, Advanced iris low, etc.)

Back to the gaming, like I said my main disappointment was the jagged edges. (XBOX/PS2 via component). I don't think it's the TV, but unfortunately instead of enjoying glorious widescreen Prince of Persia on my 42 inch screen, which I should have been doing, I was actually very tempted to hook it back up to my 27" Trinitron and just play how I've been playing the last few years.

For the record, being a former Trinitron owner I don't think the "red push" really bothered me. I did the fix and set it at 003b, and to be honest everything looked a little flat to me. I'm keeping it there for now and have just jacked my color settings back up to about 48 or so.

This past Friday I also got my Comcast HD box (not sure of the model). Was extremely unhappy with the networks PQ, but luckily can just go straight to the wall for those. INHD channels seem to be fine, but others not so much. I want the guide, but I wonder if the cable card would have been better as noted a few posts back.

So here I am. Well within the 30 days to be able to return the TV (as well as a few hundred dollars worth of toys and cables I got along with it). I can't help but wonder if the black levels on a Plasma or DLP might be more to my liking. Or if the rough edges I'm seeing in the XBOX and PS2 games is normal for every TV. I'm wondering if a 50" screen would have been better (I sit about 8-9 feet away). Isn't this too many regrets and questions for a new owner? I've been obsessing since the moment I got it and that doesn't feel right . . .

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.


Yes, If you have the time to bring it back go and check out the DLP. No mater what anyone says, only you can really judge the set in front of you.

That said, I find the blacks good enough for LCD's No, they will probally never be as good a CRT or DLP. In a DLP, I saw the rainbow when forcing myself to look for it, on a set with that little color wheel going 7K rpm. My CC had the DLP and LCD right next to each other so I spent some time with each.

When I find a 42" CRT that weighs 76 pounds and without the linearity problems, my Sony LCD or DLP are history ;)

Nothing scales better for games than a CRT but a game with a high enough resolution, look just fine on my LCD laptop. (In native resolution) When i get home, next week, I'll get to play with a 360 through the component cable :)

Either way good luck on your new screen!

Mike

Sluggo - thanks for the comments. I have not tried Iris at minimum, which theoretically should help quite a bit. I'm assuming I can offset this with the picture and brightness so I can still see what's going on. As I suspected, I think my expectations for the XBOX were just a little too high (I was probably expecting a CRT quality picture with no jaggies, but blown up to 42").

I also agree that SW Ep3 is amazing on this set with the NS70H. I was previously testing with Spiderman 2 which to me just has a very grainy/back projected quality to it. The difference is pretty drastic.

I watched Lost last wednesday in HD. I can say that easily lived up to my expectations. There was no doubt in my mind of the quality of this TV at that point (or during football on Sunday for that matter). Particularly for what I paid. Along those lines, I also wonder if I'm actually expecting the performance of a $3000-$5000 TV on something I only paid a fraction of that for. I would certainly HOPE they're better!!

After setting the Iris to minimum, run the THX setup on your Ep III DVD, which will help you get your Picture and Brightness to adequate settings to make sure you're not losing picture detail. The reason Episode III (or II for that matter) are good DVD tests is because there was no film involved in the production of those movies-- they exist totally digitally, thus you'll get none of the idiosyncracies created by film or, in many cases, specifically added to the film by directors.

I know what you mean about high expectations for the Xbox-- like yourself, I was used to playing on my old 27" Trinitron-- but we're used to seing those lines of resolution there, which actually make the jaggedness LESS noticeable. When you remove those lines of resolution, the natural result is increased awareness of the edge definition, and instant notice of jaggedy edges. I am willing, however, to adjust to that change in favor of a bigger, widescreen, and in the case of the 720p games I have like FIFA 06 and Soul Calibur 2, more hi-res picture.

Speaking of which, make sure, in your Xbox settings menu, to set your TV to 16:9, and set 480p, 720p and 1080i resolutions to Enabled.

EdS25, you have to understand that you're the proud new owner of an ENTRY LEVEL LCD TV, the A10. while i do see some of your points, i personally think you're expecting a bit too much from an entry level tv, at least at that price point. in my personal opinion, i think the A10 is the best entry level tv currently available, and that was enough to persuade me to purchase one a few weeks ago. at this price point, it's either the A10 or the entry level Samsung DLP, and the Sammy is having more than it's fair share of problems at the moment, unlike the Sony A10. that was the deal breaker for me...

good luck with it...

Yes, If you have the time to bring it back go and check out the DLP. No mater what anyone says, only you can really judge the set in front of you.

That said, I find the blacks good enough for LCD's No, they will probally never be as good a CRT or DLP. In a DLP, I saw the rainbow when forcing myself to look for it, on a set with that little color wheel going 7K rpm. My CC had the DLP and LCD right next to each other so I spent some time with each.

When I find a 42" CRT that weighs 76 pounds and without the linearity problems, my Sony LCD or DLP are history ;)

Nothing scales better for games than a CRT but a game with a high enough resolution, look just fine on my LCD laptop. (In native resolution) When i get home, next week, I'll get to play with a 360 through the component cable :)

Either way good luck on your new screen!

Mike
DLP has better black level than RPLCD but there can be an issue with dark grey on DLP. The problem is that DLP has a big first step from black to the next dark grey level. The manufacturers try to fix this with temporal/spatial dithering with results that you may not prefer to the way an A10 looks.

The latest Panasonic HD plasmas are rated as having OK blacks and minimum posterization or dithering noise in dark image areas so you might find that an HD Panny plasma is what you really want- but they are a lot more $$ than the equivalent size A10.

The Sony SXRD sets also have better blacks than the A10's but again they cost more $$.

Neither plasma nor SXRD have really deep blacks like CRTs but any technology involves compromises.

Thanks again Sluggonics and deconvovler. 516 - I am fully aware that at this price point (particularly since I paid signficantly less than MSRP), this TV is awesome. But to be honest, price isn't my main deciding factor - I'm not gonna go crazy, because I never do with a constantly evolving technology. But I have reasonable options since I can get a similar sized DLP for around this same price, or a plasma for $1000 more, I might do that if I think it's truly worth it. The true test of that being that I'm completely happy with it and not posting on forums regretting/questioning my choice. My buddy is getting a 60-inch SXRD in a few weeks, and for what he paid it better knock my freaking socks off to justify the cost.

Well, after some torturing experience with online retailer (first set was damaged on deliver, had to deal with shipper/seller back and forth...), I finally got my 42A10 arrived and setup this past weekend.

First off, I should thank everyone here for valuable information, as I was comparing among Samsung, Toshiba and SONY.

The set is great out of box - I haven't had chance to fine tune it yet. Pictures are fairly good with my SD digital satellite signal. I do have a few questions though.

1. I noticed the TV takes 10 seconds or more to reach its full brightness everytime I turned it on. This is the first projection set I ever have, so I am not sure if it's normal.

2. When it's off, I noticed a vertical whitish strip of about 3 inch in the center, with the top half brighter. I heard this migth be caused by reflection. But the room I have it setup is north-bound with a rarely low natural light. I can see the white spot even if I turn off the room light, unless it's completely dark. It doesn't seem to have any effect on picture when TV is on, though. Just thought it's annoying - looks like as if the screen is deformed and split in the middle.

So far I haven't seen any pixel or tilt issues. I will try out Dark Rain's recommendation on TV settings later this week. Again, thanks.

Well, after some torturing experience with online retailer (first set was damaged on deliver, had to deal with shipper/seller back and forth...), I finally got my 42A10 arrived and setup this past weekend.

First off, I should thank everyone here for valuable information, as I was comparing among Samsung, Toshiba and SONY.

The set is great out of box - I haven't had chance to fine tune it yet. Pictures are fairly good with my SD digital satellite signal. I do have a few questions though.

1. I noticed the TV takes 10 seconds or more to reach its full brightness everytime I turned it on. This is the first projection set I ever have, so I am not sure if it's normal.

2. When it's off, I noticed a vertical whitish strip of about 3 inch in the center, with the top half brighter. I heard this migth be caused by reflection. But the room I have it setup is north-bound with a rarely low natural light. I can see the white spot even if I turn off the room light, unless it's completely dark. It doesn't seem to have any effect on picture when TV is on, though. Just thought it's annoying - looks like as if the screen is deformed and split in the middle.

So far I haven't seen any pixel or tilt issues. I will try out Dark Rain's recommendation on TV settings later this week. Again, thanks.
1. Yes it is normal for the projector bulb to take awhile to get to final brightness and color (~60s.)
2. North facing windows still can be bright compared to interior lighting. You are probably seeing reflected light from the window.

Hello,
I am the proud owner of a 42A10 which is my first HDTV. I have read thru about half of the pages in this thread and had seen mention of some of the PC VGA input issues with black bars around the video image. I recall seeing earlier in the thread about some ideas using powerstrip but now as I have done more reading I am getting the sense that can be complicated, etc.

I guess I was curious if someone could help summarize for me the best way get my PC video output card connected to the 42A10 since I am using my PC as a HTPC (using Meedio Pro software) . With VGA input it works fine other than the black bars (unused space) outside the video picture.

From my reading thru the thread I have seen mention of some of these possibilities:
1. Use the VGA input and ignore the black bars. Nothing to do for this and the video image is still very large.
2. Use VGA and try powerstrip; could be very complicated and lots of comments about 1:1 scaling, etc.
3. Use DVI-HDMI and connect via HDMI. My assumption somehow by going this route that there is no problem with the black bars.

I think my bottom line take on things is that Sony provided the VGA but somehow didnt do a great job with it leading to the black bars. Going with VGA my options are #1 or #2. Or I can do DVI-HDMI and then since it is the HDMI input there is not the same problem. Is this correct?

Has anyone gotten the VGA input to work full screen without resorting to something like powerstrip?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Tom

tecgeek,

I'll start with the fact that I don't actually own an A10......yet. But I do plan on buying one after Christmas, and I have read every single page of this thread, and played with it at great length at the store.

My understanding is, and from my experience with other tvs and htpcs is that in this case your life will be easiest if you just buy a DVI-HDMI cable and set the resolution of your video card to 1280x720.

The VGA, is in my opinion, a great thing to include with a tv but it being their first attempt they didn't get it quite right. It uses a resolution of 1280x768 (taller than the native res) so to get it all on the screen it apparently zooms out a little bit (probably to some other resolution that was easy to convert to). IMO the VGA is really not worth bothering with unless you desperately need the HDMI input for something else, and then you still may be better off getting a component dongle for your video card and doing 1280x720 over component.

Personally, HTPC is my priority system so it will get the HDMI port, and my cable box and game systems can connect via component.

Finally got down to the source of the problem.
The motorola HD box from Charter was defective - there is a recall on certain serial #'s. I took my box into the local Charter office to exchange for a different one and whalaaaaa, 1080i resolution right after hookup.

Thanks to you that tried helping me out. This is my first venture into hdtv's, and HD on this tv is keeping me glued watching. Watched football in 1080i for the first time ever tonight and was impressed!

I still haven't been able to reduce the overscan on my dvi to hdmi connection with my pc on a 42A10, but searching through this thread it seems people have been able to reduce the overscan using nvidia video cards (I've got an evga 7800 gt), would it be through nView or otherwise? Any help is appreciated.

Does anybody here use the Sony A10 with the Panasonic DVD-S77S DVD Player?

How do you like it over component and HDMI?

How is it at 480p compared to 720p?

thanks guys

I also was wondering about component vs. HDMI.

[QUOTE]Back to the gaming, like I said my main disappointment was the jagged edges. (XBOX/PS2 via component). I don't think it's the TV, but unfortunately instead of enjoying glorious widescreen Prince of Persia on my 42 inch screen, which I should have been doing, I was actually very tempted to hook it back up to my 27" Trinitron and just play how I've been playing the last few years.


Make sure you enable everything through your xbox... I don't see any jagged edges with my xbox through the HD pack.. Everything looks fantastic! Much better then my old 27" I feel like I don't even need the 360 right now because the games look great on the xbox.

I picked up the 50" from Costco a week ago. Just had my hdtv hooked up with dvr. The stand is actually a bit small. Picked up a Panasonic S97S DVD player and XR55 receiver, and I've had to remove the small top glass shelf in order to fit everything. I'm loving the TV after using the tweeks in the Grand Wega thread, wish I could say the same for the stand.

Make sure you enable everything through your xbox... I don't see any jagged edges with my xbox through the HD pack.. Everything looks fantastic! Much better then my old 27" I feel like I don't even need the 360 right now because the games look great on the xbox.

Yes, everything is enabled. I think it varies from game to game, and sometimes within the game itself. For example, in Prince of Persia 3, the levels with the rooftops have a lot of jaggies, but the close-ups of the characters during cutscenes look fine. Halo 2 was pretty smooth all around, and I even had the sharpness jacked way up on that (as opposed to about 30 for POP3). What games have you tried? What are your settings? I feel this is starting to go off-topic so feel free to PM me or direct me elsewhere.

Just got my 50" a10 last week. The tv is great but i read that if you want to see it's full potential it should be professionally calibrated. I did notice a few very minor things with this set. All verticle and horizontal lines are perfectly straight but i noticed a tiny bit of tilt to the top and sides of the picture. I also noticed that the right side of the set is a tad bit darker than the left...barely noticeable but i can tell in some scenes. Anyone know if these minor issues can be fixed by getting it professionally calibrated?

Yes, everything is enabled. I think it varies from game to game, and sometimes within the game itself. For example, in Prince of Persia 3, the levels with the rooftops have a lot of jaggies, but the close-ups of the characters during cutscenes look fine. Halo 2 was pretty smooth all around, and I even had the sharpness jacked way up on that (as opposed to about 30 for POP3). What games have you tried? What are your settings? I feel this is starting to go off-topic so feel free to PM me or direct me elsewhere.

It's probably just the TV showing the flaws of the game; if the Xbox is outputting 480p for POP3, there's not much else you can do. Games that push the Xbox far and don't have AA are bound to have some visible jaggies ;)

I'm loving the TV after using the tweeks in the Grand Wega thread, wish I could say the same for the stand.
honesty, if you're using the Sony stand, you get something much better for much less. i originally used the Tech Craft stand made specifically for the same set, and after thinking about it i decided to change that. for some reason unknown to me, the Sony stand and the TC stand (which is the generic equivalent to the Sony stand) are same price, but i purchased the TC since the Sony wasn't available for in-store pick-up. it looked great when it was together, but but it and the Sony stand have no real room at all, at least not if you need to mount more than dvd player and cable box. my receiver BARELY fit on the bottom shelf, after you figure in the bar holding the shelf above it up, so i decided to return it...

i recently picked up the Z-line ZLN 23591S for $97.49 on the CC website, and it's MUCH better than either the Sony or TC, for 1/3 of the price. each of the 2 shelves has a width of 38.5" and a height of about 7 5/8", which is more than enough space for even the HT enthusiast. i can fit my Pioneer 1014 receiver, my dvd player, and my SA8300HD cable box all on the bottom shelf. then, i can fit my center channel (Athena AS-C1) on the top shelf. also, each of the lower shelves can hold 65 pounds, which should be more than enough. the tv hangs over the egdes, about 1 3/4" on each side, but that doesn't bother me...

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Z-Line-Designs-36-TV-Stand-2359-1S-/sem/rpsm/oid/69533/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

if want something a step up, the Z-line ZLN SLR44S has about the same dimentions, but there's about a 1/2" more in-between the shelves. it looks great, but honestly looks like it would be a pain in arse to assemble, which is why i went with the less expensive one...

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Z-line-Designs-44-TV-Stand-SLR44S-/sem/rpsm/oid/126259/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

if you want something a step up from those 2, the Z-line ZLN Z3226-1S would be the answer, but the lower shelf isn't as high as the others. the lower shelf only has a height of about 7" or so, after you figure in the bar holding the shelf above it in place, which was the deciding factor in my not getting it, it didn't have enough room for my receiver. i just found it odd that the bottom shelf was only about 7" high, and the shelf above it was about 9" high, they should have just raised the bar for the second shelf an inch and it would be perfect. the tv doesn't hand over the sides, it actually fits perfectly, but the lack of height on the lower shelf was enough for me not to get it...

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Z-Line-Designs-36-TV-Stand-Z3226-1S-/sem/rpsm/oid/82360/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

and trust me on these dimensions, i was at CC for about a half hour with a tape measure measuring everything i saw. they do have excellent prices on stands though, after looking around. and i wasn't looking for something stunning, i dropped enough on the tv, i was looking for the "best bang for the buck" stand...

I picked up the 50" from Costco a week ago. Just had my hdtv hooked up with dvr. The stand is actually a bit small. Picked up a Panasonic S97S DVD player and XR55 receiver, and I've had to remove the small top glass shelf in order to fit everything. I'm loving the TV after using the tweeks in the Grand Wega thread, wish I could say the same for the stand.

How does you DVD player look on this set? and are you using the HDMI or Component cables with it?
thanks

honesty, if you're using the Sony stand, you get something much better for much less. i originally used the Tech Craft stand made specifically for the same set, and after thinking about it i decided to change that. for some reason unknown to me, the Sony stand and the TC stand (which is the generic equivalent to the Sony stand) are same price, but i purchased the TC since the Sony wasn't available for in-store pick-up. it looked great when it was together, but but it and the Sony stand have no real room at all, at least not if you need to mount more than dvd player and cable box. my receiver BARELY fit on the bottom shelf, after you figure in the bar holding the shelf above it up, so i decided to return it...

*snip*

if you want something a step up from those 2, the Z-line ZLN Z3226-1S would be the answer, but the lower shelf isn't as high as the others. the lower shelf only has a height of about 7" or so, after you figure in the bar holding the shelf above it in place, which was the deciding factor in my not getting it, it didn't have enough room for my receiver. i just found it odd that the bottom shelf was only about 7" high, and the shelf above it was about 9" high, they should have just raised the bar for the second shelf an inch and it would be perfect. the tv doesn't hand over the sides, it actually fits perfectly, but the lack of height on the lower shelf was enough for me not to get it...

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Z-Line-Designs-36-TV-Stand-Z3226-1S-/sem/rpsm/oid/82360/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

and trust me on these dimensions, i was at CC for about a half hour with a tape measure measuring everything i saw. they do have excellent prices on stands though, after looking around. and i wasn't looking for something stunning, i dropped enough on the tv, i was looking for the "best bang for the buck" stand...

Not to derail the thread too much, but the prices on stands seem ridiculous to me. I'd like to see what the markup on those is like.

I got this one from BB:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5902222&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03116&id=1067388547668

Still $150-- when you think that it's three pieces of particle board and some metal canisters, I got a whole corner computer desk for the same price. Seems very fishy.

Nonetheless, the stand is plenty wide for the 42A10, and it's deep enough that I can set my center channel speaker in front of the TV. The shelves also easily accomodate the Sony STR-DE897 receiver and NS70H DVD player. In fact, the bottom shelf is almost large enough for multiple components.

I took home some of the various settings I found in this forum for fine tuning this set last night. I tried several, including Dark Rain's. I am still on S Video so wondering if some of the settings listed were tailored to HD signals. Anyways, I tinkered around and finally landed on cbagger01's mix. It just seemed to have the best pic quality and color based on SD connection. The biggest help I think came in altering the DRC Palette settings. Helped alot with the choppy bitmaps around some graphics and type.

thanks

Guess I'll have to readjust when I go HD. Soon hopefully.

tecgeek,
The VGA, is in my opinion, a great thing to include with a tv but it being their first attempt they didn't get it quite right. It uses a resolution of 1280x768 (taller than the native res) so to get it all on the screen it apparently zooms out a little bit (probably to some other resolution that was easy to convert to). IMO the VGA is really not worth bothering with unless you desperately need the HDMI input for something else, and then you still may be better off getting a component dongle for your video card and doing 1280x720 over component.

Personally, HTPC is my priority system so it will get the HDMI port, and my cable box and game systems can connect via component.

Yes for me also the use of my HTPC with the TV is also very important. I played more with my HTPC software (Meedio Pro) and it has an overscan adjustment where I can basically give it a seperate horizontal and vertical value in pixels and it will pull in the video picture by that amount. By doing that I was able to get my normal HTPC image to fit the TV with no borders and with nothing going off the screen. So I am still using the VGA input with 1280X768 and then in "zoom" mode which originally was going off the screen and with the overscan adjustment in my HTPC software am able to adjust. I dont know if it is perfect 1:1 scaling but for how I am using the HTPC (playing back mp3, viewing pictures, viewing recorded TV and movies, etc.) it seems fine; it sure beats the image I had via svideo on my Sony 27inch TV!

Finally my reluctance to use the HDMI port was just that I dont have the adapters to go from my VGA out from my video card to it and I thought if I could get the VGA to work then that would be better.

Good luck with your future A10 purchase!

Thanks,
tecgeek

I've been playing around a lot trying to get good settings for SD, and I thought I had some that I liked - but my approval of it only lasted for about two hours before I had to once again pull out the remote and drive my wife crazy with adjusting the settings.

I was using S-Video from my DirecTivo, and thought just for the hell of it I would try using a composite cable or an RF cable, just to see what it looked like. My theory was that a less clear signal would mean less blockyness..

Now... am I crazy for thinking that out of the 3 cables I have tried, the RF seems to look the best? I'm still tweaking picture/brightness settings, but it seems that the RF signal was giving me the best balance between having a sharp picture, but not so sharp that I can see the pixels.

Does anyone else do this, or am I a fool who deserves a flogging for suggesting such a thing?

HDTV, DVD's, and XBOX360 all look amazing on this TV - I love it but I just can't get the SD thing down.

Also - thanks to those above for stand reccomendations. Do any of you find the ones you pointed out to be a bit too tall?? That first Z-Line that was suggested seems it might be above eye-level when sitting on the couch, and the vertical viewing angle on this TV isn't really amazing. Any issues there?

Just wanted to give a heads up that Best Buy has sent out 10% and 12% w/rewards card coupons for this weekend. I believe they're good only Dec. 9th,10th,11th. The 50"A10 is on sale for $2249.00 plus take an extra 10 or 12% off. They sent out the same coupons around Thanksgiving. A buddy of mine ended up paying $1985.00 with one of these coupons. Plus no sales tax(a great benefit if you live in New Hampshire). :D

How does you DVD player look on this set? and are you using the HDMI or Component cables with it?
thanks

Keep in mind I'm new to all this hdtv stuff. I'm enjoying the player. Initially I used HDMI and it looked great! (After I used the tweeks in the grand wega tweeks thread). I'm now on component at 480p and it still looks great to me. There's no way to use hdmi and get 5.1 out to the receiver is there? (Told ya I'm new at this :D ).

Thanks for the stand suggestions Five One Six!

Just got my 50" a10 last week. The tv is great but i read that if you want to see it's full potential it should be professionally calibrated. I did notice a few very minor things with this set. All verticle and horizontal lines are perfectly straight but i noticed a tiny bit of tilt to the top and sides of the picture. I also noticed that the right side of the set is a tad bit darker than the left...barely noticeable but i can tell in some scenes. Anyone know if these minor issues can be fixed by getting it professionally calibrated?

I was told by a local TV repairman that you can't adjust geometry settings on LCD or DLP rear projection TVs. Whether he knew what he was talking about or not was another issue altogether. Anyone have more input about this? Of every TV I looked at back in January only the Sony didn't have a noticeable trapezoidal or pincushion defect, and after months of viewing my KDF-42WE655 I actually did notice a bit of a trapezoid effect. Not enough of one to bother me, but I did measure it to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. I believe what you might be seeing is the trapezoid effect.

Thanks for the stand suggestions Five One Six!
this is the stand I bought for the 50a10 It fits PERFECT . I didnt buy it here, I purchased it at the store where I got the tv for $395



http://www.dynamichometheater.com/store/merchant.mvc?page=DHT/PROD/ELITE_EL905

this is the stand I bought for the 50a10 It fits PERFECT . I didnt buy it here, I purchased it at the store where I got the tv for $395



http://www.dynamichometheater.com/store/merchant.mvc?page=DHT/PROD/ELITE_EL905

Mondo, I'd seen that stand earlier today searching through the thread and I think that's the one I'll go with. Looks like it will help with hiding cable clutter a bit too.

Whats the best price on a 42a10 right now. I really want to get one. I see good prices on sites such as Plasmabay, but I don't know how reliable they are. Can someone point me in the right direction please. Thanks.

I was told by a local TV repairman that you can't adjust geometry settings on LCD or DLP rear projection TVs. Whether he knew what he was talking about or not was another issue altogether. Anyone have more input about this? Of every TV I looked at back in January only the Sony didn't have a noticeable trapezoidal or pincushion defect, and after months of viewing my KDF-42WE655 I actually did notice a bit of a trapezoid effect. Not enough of one to bother me, but I did measure it to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. I believe what you might be seeing is the trapezoid effect.

Ya thats what it is. It's really minor and doesn't bother me either. Overall this is the best tv i've owned.

Kidsmoke, You should be able to run the optical cable from the dvd player to your receiver. If it is disabled when you use hdmi from the dvd player you have a optical out on the back of the tv.

I just bought this stand for $188 delivered for my 42A10. It is a corner unit and fits either the 42 or 50 perfectly. I have the TV sitting on a Nexxtech 32" swivel base (so that I could place the DVR at a decent level). I had to take out the shelf directly above the tv but have a center channel on the top shelf. On the bottom 2 shelves I have a DVD player, AV Receiver, and PlayStation 2. Even my wife thinks this is an awesome setup. If any of you plan on placing your TV in a corner, Check this unit out.

http://www.cjhomeandoffice.com/tv-stand-s20665.html

After a considerable amount of research, a good deal of it done here, I just pulled the trigger on an E50A10. Regardless of what my particular fortunes are with the T.V., I feel like I made a pretty educated choice, largely thanks to this site.

Went with Onecall due to the good rep.

I'm grateful to the people who've posted reviews, experiences, tweaks, etc. This is an impressive resource... Wish me luck with the "red push" tweak. ;)

Goog going! Don't worry about the red push tweak. It is easy. Just make sure you don't rush and you follow every step.


After a considerable amount of research, a good deal of it done here, I just pulled the trigger on an E50A10. Regardless of what my particular fortunes are with the T.V., I feel like I made a pretty educated choice, largely thanks to this site.

Went with Onecall due to the good rep.

I'm grateful to the people who've posted reviews, experiences, tweaks, etc. This is an impressive resource... Wish me luck with the "red push" tweak. ;)

I was told by a local TV repairman that you can't adjust geometry settings on LCD or DLP rear projection TVs. Whether he knew what he was talking about or not was another issue altogether. Anyone have more input about this? Of every TV I looked at back in January only the Sony didn't have a noticeable trapezoidal or pincushion defect, and after months of viewing my KDF-42WE655 I actually did notice a bit of a trapezoid effect. Not enough of one to bother me, but I did measure it to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. I believe what you might be seeing is the trapezoid effect.

Due to the nature of optics with microdisplays there's no way to adjust the geometry. Some will look worse than others, but in general it's not so bad to be annoying.

good price or scam? my friend is very interested in buying e50a10. I went with him to a small electronic store that sell some TV. they have e50a10 and the price on the tag was $2099. after talking with the saleman, we got the price of e50a10 with a stand to $2400 with tax and shipping. after leaving his cell number with the saleman, we left the store. now for 2 days, the saleman keep calling his cell and asking when he's going to buy the set. Now today, my friend told me that the saleman call him and told him he's willing to lower the price of e50a10 to $2000 without the stand. tax and shipping are all included. i think this is too good of a deal. i was wondering if the saleman will give my friend a open box TV. Now the question is should he go and buy the set or buy the set from a larger electronic store such as sears and bestbuy.

Mondo, I'd seen that stand earlier today searching through the thread and I think that's the one I'll go with. Looks like it will help with hiding cable clutter a bit too.
That was one of the reasons I went with this stand, to hide all the cables. It is a very clean look, and it's a nice piece of furniture. The shelf right under is plenty big for your center channel. It is a little more expensive than a lot of other stands I have seen listed, but it fits like it was made for the 50a10. I highly recomend it.

Kidsmoke, You should be able to run the optical cable from the dvd player to your receiver. If it is disabled when you use hdmi from the dvd player you have a optical out on the back of the tv.

I've got the Sony NS70H w/ HDMI, and I just run a coaxial audio from the DVD player to my receiver, and switched the TV's speakers off. Since I'm able to get audio off the coax connection via my receiver, I figure that the HDMI connection does not disable audio out through other outputs on the DVD player. The receiver indicates it is decoding a DD 5.1 signal, so that to me says that you can still get true DD 5.1 even when using the HDMI video from your DVD player to your TV.

My concern about running off the optical out from the back of the TV is whether the A10's are capable of decoding a DD 5.1 signal. For the NS70H, if you route the HDMI cable to a device that is incapable of decoding Dolby Digital, the DVD player will only output PCM 2-channel regardless of what you specify in the DVD player's settings.

So if the TV has no DD 5.1 decoding built-in, then the HDMI connection between the TV and DVD player will force a PCM 2-channel connection, meaning that the optical out from the TV to the A/V receiver will only be sending a PCM 2-channel signal.

Is that right, or am I totally insane? This is for the Sony NS70H DVD player, and the 42A10.

Anyone heard of the new DirectTV HD box coming out (or is already out)? When I purchased my 50" the sales rep told me that the new box will allow DirectTV subscribers to pick up local channels through it without the use of an OTA antenna. Which would be great.

I've been playing around a lot trying to get good settings for SD, and I thought I had some that I liked - but my approval of it only lasted for about two hours before I had to once again pull out the remote and drive my wife crazy with adjusting the settings.

I was using S-Video from my DirecTivo, and thought just for the hell of it I would try using a composite cable or an RF cable, just to see what it looked like. My theory was that a less clear signal would mean less blockyness..

Now... am I crazy for thinking that out of the 3 cables I have tried, the RF seems to look the best? I'm still tweaking picture/brightness settings, but it seems that the RF signal was giving me the best balance between having a sharp picture, but not so sharp that I can see the pixels.

Does anyone else do this, or am I a fool who deserves a flogging for suggesting such a thing?

Because I wanted the on-screen guide, my current connection for SD is coaxial from the wall to the input on the cable box. I then use the coaxial "out to TV" jack to connect to the cable input on my A10. Thus for SD viewing the A10 is always on channel C3. IMO this gives the best SD picture for my taste. I tried it with component, composite, and S-Video and was not satisfied.

For HD programming it's a different story, but I thought I'd at least share my experience with how I currently deal with SD.

I have a 42 inch Sony LCD RP, and at 10 ft away, I think it's perfect. If anything, I could probably sit about one foot more back. A 50 inch screen at 7 ft away--don't do it! It will look like crap; you'll see all the flaws in the image. I think many people make the mistake of going too large for the room. I think 42 inch is the maximum you want to go, and even that might be too large. You could probably even go 37 inch and get a better picture quality (true LCD, or perhaps even Plasma, if you like.)

That was one of the reasons I went with this stand, to hide all the cables. It is a very clean look, and it's a nice piece of furniture. The shelf right under is plenty big for your center channel. It is a little more expensive than a lot of other stands I have seen listed, but it fits like it was made for the 50a10. I highly recomend it.

Hi Mondo: That stand looks very good. But putting the A50 on a piece of glass seems to be dangerous.

I went with this stand. The 42 fits nicely, and it is quite classy looking. And the price is sweet =). It is not big enough for you guys with the 50 inchers though

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Gusdorf-36-TV-Stand-15125-/sem/rpsm/oid/125215/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Anyone heard of the new DirectTV HD box coming out (or is already out)? When I purchased my 50" the sales rep told me that the new box will allow DirectTV subscribers to pick up local channels through it without the use of an OTA antenna. Which would be great.
There is a lot of info on this in the HDTV hardware forum (look for D* MPEG 4 threads). It is already out in the first markets starting with Detroit. They will have 9 markets soon with about the first 30 markets covered by the end of next year.

I went with this stand. The 42 fits nicely, and it is quite classy looking. And the price is sweet =). It is not big enough for you guys with the 50 inchers though

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Gusdorf-36-TV-Stand-15125-/sem/rpsm/oid/125215/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

I went with this Init stand from Best Buy for my 50" A10. If you don't mind the TV being a few inches wider than the stand, I highly recommend it for the price. It has a lot of room for components and the shelves are easily removeable for even more flexibility.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6698656&type=product&id=1083712642058

This is the stand i went with for my KDF-E50A10.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Z-line-Designs-55-TV-Stand-SKYLAR55S-/sem/rpsm/oid/127870/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

The picture doesn't do the stand justice! It looks a lot better in person. The stand is about 3-4 inches wider on each size than the tv.

I went with this stand. The 42 fits nicely, and it is quite classy looking. And the price is sweet =). It is not big enough for you guys with the 50 inchers though

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Gusdorf-36-TV-Stand-15125-/sem/rpsm/oid/125215/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Any chance you could take a shot of what the 42" looks like sitting on top of this? I really like the look of that stand but it seems it might be a bit small for my tastes.

Just if you have some spare time and a digital camera, it would be a lot of help.

I'm at work right now. If i can get time I'll snap ya a pic this eveing. The 42 incher fits with no overhang. I like the look of the wood stand over the silver techie looking sony one. And at over 200 bucks less =)

How many components need to go on it?

How many components need to go on it?

Xbox360 - PS2 - Sony Amp - Center Channel (could just be placed on top of the tv)

I also have a Tivo if it will fit, but my cables won't reach where the TV is now anyway so it is kind of hidden away and doesn't really need to be in the entertainment center. I may switch to a cable card anyway.

Anyone have any links to some coupons for a place to buy the A10?

Hi Mondo: That stand looks very good. But putting the A50 on a piece of glass seems to be dangerous.
Hi Vinny, Trust me, I would not put the 50a10 on a stand that I thought may come crashing down. The stand is rated 250lbs and I think the 50a10 is in the 75lb range. Most of the stands now, especially the high end Bello stands are all tempered glass tops. the stand is exactly the width of the a10 so it looks really nice. There are a lot of nice options out there, but if anybody is interested, this stand works great with the 50

Because I wanted the on-screen guide, my current connection for SD is coaxial from the wall to the input on the cable box. I then use the coaxial "out to TV" jack to connect to the cable input on my A10. Thus for SD viewing the A10 is always on channel C3. IMO this gives the best SD picture for my taste. I tried it with component, composite, and S-Video and was not satisfied.

For HD programming it's a different story, but I thought I'd at least share my experience with how I currently deal with SD.

You are definitely not seeing things. The picture is noticeably better through coax. I have two coax lines coming in from the wall with one going into the cable box and one going into the dvd recorder. I am running s-video out of the cable box and into the dvd recorder, then running component out to the tv. I also have coax running out from the cable box and into the "Ant" input. Out of the DVD recorder I'm running the aforementioned components into the tv, I'm running s-video into the tv and running coax out into the "Cable" input.

This set up gives me numerous options to determine the best quality for sd. Without a doubt, the best is the coax running out of the dvd recorder and into the tv. It isn't even close. composite and s-video are way to grainy and the moto cable box is just crap.

Phil

I've asked this question earlier but got no reply.
Does anybody know an internet site where you can buy the XL-2400 replacement lamp for the E42A10. I figure you may get it cheaper than buying from Sony. I did a Google search but couldn't find anything.

Google the part # & you will find on ebay for $175

those of you that are running A10s and coax for SD:

here is my plan, split my coax run one directly to A10 (get a cablecard) and the other to my TiVo Series 2 (non HD).

Now should I run coax out of the TiVo and into the Ant? that won't work will it??? Currently I have TiVo hooked to my Sony CRT via S-vid, with the A10 if I cannot use coax would it be better with old school yellow video? I have a pretty bad SD signal from comcast anyway now.

Thanks for the tips fortner and sluggonics. Will have to play around with the cabling this weekend and see what works.

Hi Vinny, Trust me, I would not put the 50a10 on a stand that I thought may come crashing down. The stand is rated 250lbs and I think the 50a10 is in the 75lb range. Most of the stands now, especially the high end Bello stands are all tempered glass tops. the stand is exactly the width of the a10 so it looks really nice. There are a lot of nice options out there, but if anybody is interested, this stand works great with the 50


Definately will be ordering the Elite 905. I've had a glass coffee table for years and it's plenty durable so no worries there, plus the overall appearance will fit in with my other furniture. And more room for a new center channel (using crappy old yamaha htib speakers at the moment :D ). Plus it'll keep the cats from crawling all over the a/v equipment.

I'm just updating what the service guy said for those people who posted about wanting to know how things turned out. My TV currently has a vertical green line coming from the center of the TV that vibrates back and forth continously. This really only shows up on black backgrounds. Every person in the Sony Home Service Dept was apparently booked, so Sony told me some local places to get service.

The guy speculates that it's something wrong with the light engine. I know next to nothing about electronics so I'm not sure what that'll tell you. He plugged something into the TV and went through a whole bunch of screens with colors and the like. And was able to see that it's in the background not the foreground of the screen (which I assume means it's not dust).

He's going to order the part and then pick up my TV. Said it would only take a day (which I'm really skeptical about). A day without my TV ahh! :)

Anyway for those who care, I'm just really particular and if I paid all this money for this TV I expect it to be perfect.

Definately will be ordering the Elite 905. I've had a glass coffee table for years and it's plenty durable so no worries there, plus the overall appearance will fit in with my other furniture. And more room for a new center channel (using crappy old yamaha htib speakers at the moment :D ). Plus it'll keep the cats from crawling all over the a/v equipment.
Let me know how you like it when you get it set up

Dark Rain and crew,

I need your help!

I just got my E50A10 in the mail a couple days ago, and got it all set up, but I am having image problems on ALL inputs!

The easiest way to see the problem is when a dvd with black bars is showing...for example, using The Two Towers Extended edition.

Inputs:
HDMI to Sony 400-disc DVD changer
S-Video to Dish DVR box
component video to Xbox

Problem:
There is some sort of line image going through the horizontal image that is most noticable at the edges of highly contrasted images, like a 16:9 DVD with horizontal black bars. From where the black image starts, to where movie image begins, if I count down about 5 rows of pixels from the top black bar, there is like a line going through the image, and at the bottom of the image where the other black bar is, it is pronounced ABOVE the black bar as well, the same 5 lines.

It is especially noticeable when any type of words come on the screen that are high contrast like white, there is a hard edge line under neath all the words, just like the same problem with the image.

Remember: This happens on all 3 inputs. There is no piece of electronic equipment within 30" or more, or is there 2.4Ghz equipment nearby. In fact, I unplugged everything around the area, but the DVD player using HDMI to do the test, but got same results. I get the same issue with the XBOX. And the Image shift did nothing. I remember reading that Image Shift was for bad analog reception anyway, but I tried it and it did nothing.

What are the community thoughts on this one? I called Sony, they are going to send someone out, but I live in boon docks so it could be a challenge. It's almost as if something is off by 5 pixels or something!

Please help.
Thanks.
Steve

Yeah I noticed that too. Different channels have better or worse signals on S-Video. Here in Atlanta, CBS is really choppy. Watched 2 different football games yesterday on FOX and CBS and there was a noticeable difference on FOX. Much cleaner picture.

I called Direct TV (we don't have Comcast in our area yet) and it's $250 for existing customers to have the HD dish, box installed. An additonal $11 a month for "some" HD channels and I'd had to get a rather large antenna for the OTA locals as I live about 30 miles from the signal.

I live in Gwinnett County, about 20 miles from most of Atlanta's digital stations, and have a Terk TV-5 antenna a friend gave me. The antenna sits in my attic, and I get perfect reception on all the local HD stations. (My reception using the same antenna on my old analog set is pretty bad.) Do you have an old antenna sitting around the house? You might want to just hook it up and see what you get--you might be surprised.

Jim

I think the 42" A10 is to small so I'm taking it back to swap it for 50" A10 is there a big noticeable difference in size ? Is the picture just as good as the 42" being that it is 8" different in size with the same resolution. How do you guys with the 50" like it ? I love the 42" but it just seems to small for me.

guys, I have an old pioneer dvd player from 1998. It's hooked up to my a10 with S-video....

My question is how much of a difference does a upconverting dvd player hooked up with HDMI cables really make

I think the 42" A10 is to small so I'm taking it back to swap it for 50" A10 is there a big noticeable difference in size ? Is the picture just as good as the 42" being that it is 8" different in size with the same resolution. How do you guys with the 50" like it ? I love the 42" but it just seems to small for me.
I like the 50" size for my viewing distance of 9 to 10 feet. It seemed significantly bigger than the 42" one in the store to me. The 50" is much harder to fit into entertainment center furniture though.

Dark Rain and crew,

I need your help!

I just got my E50A10 in the mail a couple days ago, and got it all set up, but I am having image problems on ALL inputs!

The easiest way to see the problem is when a dvd with black bars is showing...for example, using The Two Towers Extended edition.

Inputs:
HDMI to Sony 400-disc DVD changer
S-Video to Dish DVR box
component video to Xbox

Problem:
There is some sort of line image going through the horizontal image that is most noticable at the edges of highly contrasted images, like a 16:9 DVD with horizontal black bars. From where the black image starts, to where movie image begins, if I count down about 5 rows of pixels from the top black bar, there is like a line going through the image, and at the bottom of the image where the other black bar is, it is pronounced ABOVE the black bar as well, the same 5 lines.

It is especially noticeable when any type of words come on the screen that are high contrast like white, there is a hard edge line under neath all the words, just like the same problem with the image.

Remember: This happens on all 3 inputs. There is no piece of electronic equipment within 30" or more, or is there 2.4Ghz equipment nearby. In fact, I unplugged everything around the area, but the DVD player using HDMI to do the test, but got same results. I get the same issue with the XBOX. And the Image shift did nothing. I remember reading that Image Shift was for bad analog reception anyway, but I tried it and it did nothing.

What are the community thoughts on this one? I called Sony, they are going to send someone out, but I live in boon docks so it could be a challenge. It's almost as if something is off by 5 pixels or something!

Please help.
Thanks.
Steve

When I first got my 42A10 I noticed it as well. I was coming from a 30" Sony CRT and didn't really notice it. Moving up to a bigger screen size is going to make ANY SD signal look worse. A lot of DVDs have edge enhancement added which shows edge halos around everything. With the 50" I'd have to say it's probably looking much worse than the 42". DVDs that are 2.35:1 with the black bars will show an edge halo where the bar meets the picture frame since it's part of the image. The original Star Wars trilogy DVDs don't seem to show this as much since minimal EE was used.

Some things that may help lessen the effect:

I originally had the SHARPNESS set at 45 for my DVD player over a component connection. This setting seemed to bring out a lot of detail but gave every DVD I tested an "edgy" look. I dropped the SHARPNESS down to 25 and it now looks much better. The edge halos are still there, but it's best to remember that they are part of the DVD and not the TV. I'd say turn it down some more if needed. Just don't take it too far down or everything will look soft.

I'd check your DVD player and make sure that the sharpness setting is off on it. Some players may have this on by default.

Turn the contrast down to 70-75 as a starting point. Too much contrast seems to add to the problem. I'm currently running it at 75 for my DVDs.

If you run your DVD player at 480i you can mess with the DRC Palette to help lessen the EE effect.

I recently tested all 3 LOTR EE DVDs and they look much better than they did when I first got the TV. Constant tweaking helped. I just might have to do another 12-hour LOTR EE movie marathon again. :D

Just to add to the above post of mine that if those lines are red, blue, or green in nature then you're also seeing misconvergence. This happens when one or more of the LCD panels is misaligned. But the color fringing around edges of text and objects is hard to see much beyond 2-3 feet from the screen.

wow, this thread sure has gotten bigger since last time I checked. I haven't been reading for awhile, so are there any new settings or new findings on making the picture better other than red push fix?

Additional info about DVDs and EE:

If you have any of the HD pay movie channels, such as Starz HD or Showtime HD, check to see if the movie they're showing is just a 480i DVD upconversion as opposed to an actual HD transfer. You can usually tell just by watching it. I never see any edge halos on true HD transfers. The upconversions don't look much better than just playing a DVD on your own player. EE can usually be seen.

Clearly, the A10 isn't at fault here.

Hello,

I just bought the 42a10 and I noticed one pixel which is stuck on the color blue about four inches from the bottom center of the screen. It is not very noticeable; however, given the money I spent on the TV I’d like to get some input on this problem’s frequency.

Long story short: If it is a common problem I’ll keep the set.
If it is an uncommon problem then I’ll return the set.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

It's common.

I have a dead pixel on mine, only because when i got it i looked at it up close. As far as viewing distance goes, I have no dead or stuck pixels. Even on an all white backgound i can't pcik it out from 6-7 feet away

wow, this thread sure has gotten bigger since last time I checked. I haven't been reading for awhile, so are there any new settings or new findings on making the picture better other than red push fix?

Whole other monster thread for that topic. Enjoy!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=567709

Anybody have a DVD player hooked up with HDMI lose picture. It happened to me twice when watching fantastic four. I had to unplug the cable from the TV and plug it back in.

Man, that movie was horrible, but Jessica Alba was wonderful

So I'm still kind of unhappy with the jaggies playing an XBOX on my 42A10. (Yes, I understand the limitations of the technology, enabling 480p, etc.)

But the strange thing is that last night I hooked up my PS2 and played some GTA:SA. It was totally smooth!! No jaggies on the buildings, etc. So far it was one of the more impressive things I've played on this TV.

Then I realized that it was 480i. So my TV was set with a low sharpness (25 or so) and an HD pallette of something like R24 C90 (Dark Rain's SD settings I believe). Could this be why? Has anyone experimented with setting the XBOX to 480i rather than 480p and using the High Density settings? (I'm not just being lazy - I'd do it myself but I'm at work and just sort of brainstorming).

I have a dead pixel on mine, only because when i got it i looked at it up close. As far as viewing distance goes, I have no dead or stuck pixels. Even on an all white backgound i can't pcik it out from 6-7 feet away


Same with me, got a stuck/dead pixel issue near the center of the screen from L to R, and about 1/4 from T to B. I don't think the pixels are actually dead but they're most likely "stuck". I can't actually tell if it's one or two but as soon as I get about 6 feet away, it's not even noticeable. And my tv is about a month or so old (50A10), so far it's been great!

Same with me, got a stuck/dead pixel issue near the center of the screen from L to R, and about 1/4 from T to B. I don't think the pixels are actually dead but they're most likely "stuck". I can't actually tell if it's one or two but as soon as I get about 6 feet away, it's not even noticeable. And my tv is about a month or so old (50A10), so far it's been great!


I had to get close to the tv while it was on for the first time a few days ago to adjust the rabbit ears. My heart sank when I saw about 3 stuck pixels in the upper right hand corner of the screen.. but when I sat back down on the couch I couldn't even see them... so I sort of view the whole thing as a non-issue for this TV so long as there aren't gigantic clumps of them missing.

Toggleswitch:

Don't bother with a picture of your setup. I took your advice and just picked up the stand, and it looks fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation.

Glad to hear it man, if you've read my rambling in the threads I've started as of late you'll notice that I still havent takin mine out of the box yet. The tv that is.

I'm glad the stand worked out though. =)

So I'm still kind of unhappy with the jaggies playing an XBOX on my 42A10. (Yes, I understand the limitations of the technology, enabling 480p, etc.)

But the strange thing is that last night I hooked up my PS2 and played some GTA:SA. It was totally smooth!! No jaggies on the buildings, etc. So far it was one of the more impressive things I've played on this TV.

Then I realized that it was 480i. So my TV was set with a low sharpness (25 or so) and an HD pallette of something like R24 C90 (Dark Rain's SD settings I believe). Could this be why? Has anyone experimented with setting the XBOX to 480i rather than 480p and using the High Density settings? (I'm not just being lazy - I'd do it myself but I'm at work and just sort of brainstorming).
Yes, you can see the same on DVDs (e.g. on animated movies). The DRC smoothes out edges in interlaced mode.

I posted this in my which TV is best for XBOX 360 Post and I am just reposting here because I am so impressed by this TV.

Just got back with the sony. I am so happy, Bestbuy has it on sale for 1799 plus I had a 10% off reward zone coupon. I have it hooked up and the difference between this and my 42 Plasma EDTV Panasonic for XBOX360 playing is night and day. I can't believe I got such a good deal at bestbuy. I thought I would have to order this TV online in order to get it for this price. Thanks everyone who responded.

Just to add to the above post of mine that if those lines are red, blue, or green in nature then you're also seeing misconvergence. This happens when one or more of the LCD panels is misaligned. But the color fringing around edges of text and objects is hard to see much beyond 2-3 feet from the screen.

Rain,

Could this be what I am seeing? it is hard to make a color out of it, but what I am seeing is this line 5 pixel rows below the convergence of black bars and where the picture begins on the DVD...any source for that mattter....5 pixel rows off, i mean it appears into the top of the picture, not just a row or two where the black bars meets the bright content on the screen.

Additional thoughts? I customized the settings and took sharpness down and it is still there considerably...5 pixel rows down (or at least going up to the TV and seeing SDE and counting down 5 rows of squares)

There is a guy coming to look at the set next Thursday...can they easily fix things like misallignment? He has never worked on the EA10 series, but he is an authorized Sony repair person.

Please share thoughts.
Steve

Hope he doesnt show up with a hammer and 3 tech manuals ;) lol

Rain,

Could this be what I am seeing? it is hard to make a color out of it, but what I am seeing is this line 5 pixel rows below the convergence of black bars and where the picture begins on the DVD...any source for that mattter....5 pixel rows off, i mean it appears into the top of the picture, not just a row or two where the black bars meets the bright content on the screen.

Additional thoughts? I customized the settings and took sharpness down and it is still there considerably...5 pixel rows down (or at least going up to the TV and seeing SDE and counting down 5 rows of squares)

There is a guy coming to look at the set next Thursday...can they easily fix things like misallignment? He has never worked on the EA10 series, but he is an authorized Sony repair person.

Please share thoughts.
Steve

If they are colored rows of pixels they will need to replace the light engine. If you have a DVD with the THX Optimizer (just look for the THX logo on front or back) on it check the crosshatch pattern for misconvergence. It's a pattern made up of white horizontal and vertical lines. The lines may show some color fringing but it shouldn't be off more than half a pixel. Ideally the white lines should have no color, but Sony must allow some tolerance for error since I've seen some on the store shelves that were off by more than a pixel. But, this is just the nature of a 3-chip design. Nothing's perfect.

Most of the complaints I've seen from others are the lines where the black bars meet the frame of the picture on movies shot beyond an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. This is normal due to EE. If you're talking about the top and bottom of the TV frame then that's not normal. There might be too little overscan which would cause that. That's something that should be fixable via the service menu. Ask the tech about it when he's there.

I posted this in my which TV is best for XBOX 360 Post and I am just reposting here because I am so impressed by this TV.

Just got back with the sony. I am so happy, Bestbuy has it on sale for 1799 plus I had a 10% off reward zone coupon. I have it hooked up and the difference between this and my 42 Plasma EDTV Panasonic for XBOX360 playing is night and day. I can't believe I got such a good deal at bestbuy. I thought I would have to order this TV online in order to get it for this price. Thanks everyone who responded.


you bought the 42 inch, right?

Yeah I got the 42 and love it.

I've seen posts recently about people "upgrading" their dvd players by purchasing a player that upconverts the signal (I assume from 480i to 480p but I don't know). These people have A10 sets.

I've also read, specific to the A10 thread, that the Sony A10s (42 and 50) have built-in "upconverting" capability.

Why are both needed? Do you need to purchase a 480p DVD player to have the best PQ? or will an old 480i player and the Sony A10 work just as well?

Best,
Bill

I've seen posts recently about people "upgrading" their dvd players by purchasing a player that upconverts the signal (I assume from 480i to 480p but I don't know). These people have A10 sets.

I've also read, specific to the A10 thread, that the Sony A10s (42 and 50) have built-in "upconverting" capability.

Why are both needed? Do you need to purchase a 480p DVD player to have the best PQ? or will an old 480i player and the Sony A10 work just as well?

Best,
Bill


Bill-
Virtually all DVD players today are progressive scan or 480p. What people are talking about are players that upconvert (within the player) from 480p to 720p or 1080i.

Just got done with a "service appointment" for my A10.

As posted before, I had problems with the TV randomly not being able to turn on. Service had diagnosed the problem as being a faulty ballast, so they ordered a replacement.

Just to confirm what previous posters had mentioned with the calibration (or lack thereof), I just don't think many service techs are as aware of the differences between this model and previous Sony's. The tech stared at the open back for roughly 15 minutes. He couldn't find the darn ballast. I couldn't blame him, of course- not his fault, and he kept shaking his head.

Finally he found the ballast, but the way it is installed, the wires literally wrap around the light engine. No way to install the new ballast without taking the whole light engine out. Long story short, he took the TV with him.

I'm a little disappointed, but I'll live. Just a word of warning if anyone else has to replace a ballast- tell your tech it literally requires gutting the whole TV.

Back to my 27 inch Trinitron for a few days. Think of me.

Back to my 27 inch Trinitron for a few days. Think of me.

Sorry to see that. Been there and it sucks.

Hi,

I'm buying the KFE42A10 and a BEV HD receiver, anyone want to talk me out of it?

Bill-
Virtually all DVD players today are progressive scan or 480p. What people are talking about are players that upconvert (within the player) from 480p to 720p or 1080i.
So would there be a difference in quality that you would really notice going from a progressive scan player to an upconverting player with this tv? I have a toshiba progressive player, but if I would see a difference, I could always buy myself a new Christmas gift.

Relating to the HDMI upconverting DVD players, If you playing a dvd that is in 4x3 480i would the HDMI upconverting dvd player make it 720p/1080i and also strecth it to 16x9 or does it stay 4x3 upconverted to 720/1080i resolution only. It is a bummer to watch 4x3 dvd even with progressive on the 16x9 42e10. I know that you can stretch but that is one of the faults of our unit. I just can't get use to the stretch modes. Thanks for any info on the HDMI up convert.

4:3 dvds will always stretch since that's the size of the picture in the dvd source. they are cropped from their original size, so you'll never get the "full" shots from the movie unless you have a widescreen format dvd. i just keep my screen settings to

wide mode- full
4:3 default- normal
display area- normal

that way, the tv will adjust to whatever settings suit the source best (full screen for HD broadcasts, black bars for SD brodacast, or full again for digital upconverts, etc.) and i don't have to worry about stretching or cropping images. there is just an inherent disadvantage to having 4:3 format dvds on a widescreen tv since they're specifically made for regular tv size screens.


also, make sure that your DVD player knows that it's outputting to a 16:9 screen at 480p- something that can be done in the setup menu of the player.

So would there be a difference in quality that you would really notice going from a progressive scan player to an upconverting player with this tv? I have a toshiba progressive player, but if I would see a difference, I could always buy myself a new Christmas gift.


My old Pany is a 480i player. I bought it right as the progressive players were hitting the market. I had bought and returned a progressive player last year. I simply could not see any "big" difference from my 480i to justify a new player.

I'm beginning to think that most of the "up-scaling" players are a bit of marketing strech to sell new players. The scaler in my A10 does a great job so no need for additional smoke and mirrors for the old 480i format.

Now if we can just get the HD camps quit buying Sony's BS and just get a HD players and HD media out the door before I'm on my third or fourth bulb :o !

Mike

I need some input:

Visted CC yesterday to check out the new Sony's. While watching the Duke basketball game I was surprised by the amount SDE. My viewing distance in my house will be about 10' from the screen. I'm I better off with a 42" unit rather than 50"?

I need some input:

Visted CC yesterday to check out the new Sony's. While watching the Duke basketball game I was surprised by the amount SDE. My viewing distance in my house will be about 10' from the screen. I'm I better off with a 42" unit rather than 50"?
it was probably a bad feed. I am 9.5ft away and upgraded from a 42 inch Toshiba rptv to the 50a10. At my distance I see no SDE. I think at 9.5ft, I really could have gone with a 55 inch, but I really liked the style of the a10.

I used to think I could see SDE at 10 feet from my 50", but it turned out to be SSE. I can only see SDE really close to the set.

My 50A10 is being delivered in two days and I want to make sure I have the right cables.
From the pdf manual I downloaded it looks like a cable for the computer is included.....is this true (just not the audio-it says "optional")

It it isn't will a standard SVGA cable do or should I get something else?

Two more sleeps :p

I may be buying a new Sony DSC-T9 Digital camera in the near future. Is is possible to hook it up to the TV from the side? The camera comes with cables, yet I don't see anything specifically about hooking a digital camera up to the TV. It seems to me that it is possible but I'm just not sure. Please let me know, either here or at: kmil123@msn.com

Thanks!!!

Hey all,

I just took delivery of my E42A10 the other day after selling my 42WE655. The main reason I sold the 655 is that it was ugly, plus I have moved recently and due to space constraints, I was sitting too close to it and with the speakers on the side and I couldn't rearrange it in an acceptable way.

Let me just say. I. Love. This. TV. Now that I have this out of the way, I do have a slight gripe. I bought the 655 because it was the only RPTV that I could find earlier this year that didn't exhibit geometry quirks. I'll take that back - the 655's picture was slightly trapezoidal, but at least the vertical lines were straight. On the 42A10, I'm seeing the sides bow in towards the center of the screen noticeably enough to irritate me a bit.

This is where it gets weird. I notice this at the top of the TV and not the bottom. I physically measured the difference by putting the channel on a 4:3 source and measuring the black bars at the top, middle and bottom. To measure the distortion at the top I just checked the sports ticker on the FOX football broadcasts. The difference between the side-middle and side-top is about 1/16" to 1/8" and the difference in the top part is about 1/16".

Now, I know geometry can't be adjusted on this TV, but I can't believe that all these TVs have this issue because I haven't seen very many people with this problem in this thread (although I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it... )

I also didn't see this in the stores. Did I get a lemon that I should exchange, or do all the 42A10s have this quirk?

Can someone who has recently taken delivery of a 50" tell me how big the box that it arrived in was? I want to know if I'll need to take a trailer to pick mine up, or if it will fit in the back of my Jeep.

Thanks,

Roger.

Hey all,

I just took delivery of my E42A10 the other day after selling my 42WE655. The main reason I sold the 655 is that it was ugly, plus I have moved recently and due to space constraints, I was sitting too close to it and with the speakers on the side and I couldn't rearrange it in an acceptable way.

Let me just say. I. Love. This. TV. Now that I have this out of the way, I do have a slight gripe. I bought the 655 because it was the only RPTV that I could find earlier this year that didn't exhibit geometry quirks. I'll take that back - the 655's picture was slightly trapezoidal, but at least the vertical lines were straight. On the 42A10, I'm seeing the sides bow in towards the center of the screen noticeably enough to irritate me a bit.

This is where it gets weird. I notice this at the top of the TV and not the bottom. I physically measured the difference by putting the channel on a 4:3 source and measuring the black bars at the top, middle and bottom. To measure the distortion at the top I just checked the sports ticker on the FOX football broadcasts. The difference between the side-middle and side-top is about 1/16" to 1/8" and the difference in the top part is about 1/16".

Now, I know geometry can't be adjusted on this TV, but I can't believe that all these TVs have this issue because I haven't seen very many people with this problem in this thread (although I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it... )

I also didn't see this in the stores. Did I get a lemon that I should exchange, or do all the 42A10s have this quirk?

Hey DK,

Yea, I got a little non linearity on mine but me..I ain't sweating it! This is a projectiontion tv so I would expect 1/8 to 1/16" deviation. The only way around this would be get an LCD direct view or plasma, IMHO. You could call Sony to see what they might say? Or bring your ruler to the store?

BTW, the linerarty of my 42"A10 blows the doors off my 32" JVC CRT.

Does nayone know if there is a way to get rid of the "Video 6" label on the screen (For about 10 seconds) when you first turn on the TV?

I may be buying a new Sony DSC-T9 Digital camera in the near future. Is is possible to hook it up to the TV from the side? The camera comes with cables, yet I don't see anything specifically about hooking a digital camera up to the TV. It seems to me that it is possible but I'm just not sure. Please let me know, either here or at: kmil123@msn.com

Thanks!!!
The camera probably comes with a composite video cable which will connect to the composite input on the back of the TV. The bad news is that a composite connection will give you a pretty lousy SD picture. I am trying to decide on the best way to get a 720p slide show on an A10 myself. A computer is one possibility; an Xbox360 or future PS-3 is another; there are probably upconverting DVD players that will display jpegs at 720p; or a future HD type of DVD player.

I just took delivery of my new A10 on saturday and I love it except there is one little problem that I seem to be having and I am not sure if it is fixable or if it is broken or if it is just a drawback of the TV (which I could probably live with). . . anyway, the bottom left hand corner of the screen seems to be "redder" for lack of a better word than the rest of the screen, when there is something that is a solid color that spans the screen (especially when things in the screen are in motion, it does not seem to be much of a problem on a static screen with the notable exception of a high def channel with gray bars on the sides, gray seems to be particularly problematic and looks quite pinksih) the bottom left hand corner looks slightly pinkish. For instance when football scores are scrolling along the bottom it seems that the numbers on the left have just a slight hint of pink in them while the numbers further to the right are pure white.

Has anyone else encountered anything like this? any ideas or suggestions?

Hey all,

I just took delivery of my E42A10 the other day after selling my 42WE655. The main reason I sold the 655 is that it was ugly, plus I have moved recently and due to space constraints, I was sitting too close to it and with the speakers on the side and I couldn't rearrange it in an acceptable way.

Let me just say. I. Love. This. TV. Now that I have this out of the way, I do have a slight gripe. I bought the 655 because it was the only RPTV that I could find earlier this year that didn't exhibit geometry quirks. I'll take that back - the 655's picture was slightly trapezoidal, but at least the vertical lines were straight. On the 42A10, I'm seeing the sides bow in towards the center of the screen noticeably enough to irritate me a bit.

This is where it gets weird. I notice this at the top of the TV and not the bottom. I physically measured the difference by putting the channel on a 4:3 source and measuring the black bars at the top, middle and bottom. To measure the distortion at the top I just checked the sports ticker on the FOX football broadcasts. The difference between the side-middle and side-top is about 1/16" to 1/8" and the difference in the top part is about 1/16".

Now, I know geometry can't be adjusted on this TV, but I can't believe that all these TVs have this issue because I haven't seen very many people with this problem in this thread (although I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it... )

I also didn't see this in the stores. Did I get a lemon that I should exchange, or do all the 42A10s have this quirk?

If it's not a hassle, I'd say exchange it while you can. My 42A10 has near-perfect geometry to my eye; I've seen many other sets and have had sets in the past with geometry problems (always bothered me when I watched), but this set is spot-on.

Hi all,
I'm thinking about buying 50A10 but I can't find the contrast ratio spec for this set? Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Scott

I need some input:

Visted CC yesterday to check out the new Sony's. While watching the Duke basketball game I was surprised by the amount SDE. My viewing distance in my house will be about 10' from the screen. I'm I better off with a 42" unit rather than 50"?

How close were you standing to the TV in the store? I have the 42 incher and sit about 7.5 feet away and do not see any SDE in normal viewing. I have to get within about 4 feet of the set to see SDE.

Does nayone know if there is a way to get rid of the "Video 6" label on the screen (For about 10 seconds) when you first turn on the TV?


Hit the display button again, that should do it.

My 50A10 is being delivered in two days and I want to make sure I have the right cables.
From the pdf manual I downloaded it looks like a cable for the computer is included.....is this true (just not the audio-it says "optional")

It it isn't will a standard SVGA cable do or should I get something else?

Two more sleeps :p

No cables are included. You need a SVGA cable.

Hi All,
I just took delivery of my 50A10 on Saturday, and I've noticed a defect right out of the box. I've got a dark blue blotch about 3 inches tall and 1-2 inches wide sitting dead center and a few inches up from the bottom. It's only visible when it has dark material over it, but holy crap is it distracting! My eyes move to it instantly during any dark scene.

I ran a search in this thread for blotches, but I didn't find any common solutions short of returning the set and hoping that the new one didn't have any defects. Has anyone had any success with having the A10's serviced for this type of defect? Is it easier to just return it? The production date is Nov 2005 if that helps any.

Also, many thanks to those of you posting over in the tweeks thread. I did the red push fix, ran DVE, and HDTV and DVD's are stunning! Except for the silly blotch, of course.

I had the same exact problem and Sony service came out and replaced the entire light engine. Took about one hour for the tech to get the job done in my home. The problem with mine was dirt got in the light engine because one screw was missing where the gasket is located.

Good as new now with no more problems.

Brad

I have the same bluish tint/cloud that sits at the top-left corner. Its mainly visible under a dark background like the 16:9 bars from ws DVDs. Looks like it could be light escaping.

Also found 2 dead pixels, but they are only noticable if you are pixel peeping.

its distracting when you watch dvds with the black bars. I'm playing the odds and having my set replaced to see if itll be different, hopefully the new set doesnt have any dead pixels or dust.


I've got a mysterious blue/green-ish tint at the top right corner of my 42. It only occurs when the screen is blacked out when switching inputs or channels (now I just saw it on a night shot in a movie. Is this normal?

I had the same exact problem and Sony service came out and replaced the entire light engine. Took about one hour for the tech to get the job done in my home. The problem with mine was dirt got in the light engine because one screw was missing where the gasket is located.


Just wondering if this was covered under warranty. I assume that it was. I have a couple of these tinted areas on my screen, each of a different color, and am planning on giving sony a call soon. Glad to hear it is such an easy fix.

Hi

I got the TV a week ago from Sears

I have a issue..... its in my screen, when the tv is off I can see like a gray line from top to botton..... its like 3 inches wide, I did notice this at first but a tough I was a light reflection from my windows but its not..... im in the verge of return the tv for a exchange or repair...Did you guys thinks this is from the inside of the screen? or its just normal for this type of tv

Hi

I got the TV a week ago from Sears

I have a issue..... its in my screen, when the tv is off I can see like a gray line from top to botton..... its like 3 inches wide, I did notice this at first but a tough I was a light reflection from my windows but its not..... im in the verge of return the tv for a exchange or repair...Did you guys thinks this is from the inside of the screen? or its just normal for this type of tv


Is it right in the middle of the screen? Can you only see it when the set is off? If so it's ambient light reflecting inside the tv, and it's normal. We have 2 in our family and they both do the same thing.

Is it right in the middle of the screen? Can you only see it when the set is off? If so it's ambient light reflecting inside the tv, and it's normal. We have 2 in our family and they both do the same thing.

Aurora,
Thanks for the fast reply, yes I can see it only when the Tv is off and yes it is on the middle of the screen, at the top is like 3 inches wide and goes all the way down to the botton (at the botton is only like a inch or so)
I dint know this type of tv can reflect light inside so easy even with my windows closed

Aside from that its a great TV

I had the same exact problem and Sony service came out and replaced the entire light engine. Took about one hour for the tech to get the job done in my home. The problem with mine was dirt got in the light engine because one screw was missing where the gasket is located.

Good as new now with no more problems.

Brad

Very good to know. Thanks!!

Nik

Has anyone experienced difficulty installing a Cablecard with the A10? The cableguy spent 2 hours trying to install mine yesterday (Cox) and never could get the digital channels to show up as authorized. He's coming back tonight to give it another shot and thinks it may be a software/firmware issue. Considering how many A10s are now out there, I am surprised by this.

FYI - the cable RF is split with one cable directly into the Sony A10 and the other to a DVD Recorder if that matters.

Has anyone experienced difficulty installing a Cablecard with the A10? The cableguy spent 2 hours trying to install mine yesterday (Cox) and never could get the digital channels to show up as authorized. He's coming back tonight to give it another shot and thinks it may be a software/firmware issue. Considering how many A10s are now out there, I am surprised by this.

FYI - the cable RF is split with one cable directly into the Sony A10 and the other to a DVD Recorder if that matters.

I highly doubt it being the A10's fault. I've read numerous posts on various threads about cable companies having difficulty with cable card installations.

Im using the cable card with mine (Time Warner) and it works fine no problems. Probably the fault was when the card was programmed.

Hey guys,

Best Buy has the 42" on sale for $1599 through TODAY, Tuesday, Dec. 13th!
I'm in Houston, but I assume it's the same price at all their stores.

The salesman said it's unadvertised. He said that what they would do, if someone came in to price match w/no ad, is call the store to verify the price.

I bought a 42" from Circuit City last week. Love it. I'm heading over there to get them to match the price at BB. Hoping they will call.

Hope some on this board can take advantage of this fantastic price by purchasing or price matching! I know I am.

Donna

Anyone know of any big Sales on the 50A10?? Trying to get the price to around 2K

Anyone know of any big Sales on the 50A10?? Trying to get the price to around 2K


Price can be found below $2000 already...look around on the net. We got our's below the Costco price (includes stand), tv came out to be $1890 or something like that.

Price can be found below $2000 already...look around on the net. We got our's below the Costco price (includes stand), tv came out to be $1890 or something like that.

Which store for this price? Do they charge tax and S&H?

Im using the cable card with mine (Time Warner) and it works fine no problems. Probably the fault was when the card was programmed.


Nimda,

by your name I am guessing you are in the IT field? Admin backwards?

Anyways, what features do you lose with the cable card? I scheduled Time Warner to come out and put mine in. 9 days I have to wait till they can come install it. Are you still able to get the 5.1 surround with the cable card? Do you just use the optical output on the TV?

Wil the harmony 520 do just fine in controling my TV, DVR, and DVD player? What is this device lacking that the 659 or 680 has that I might really want?

Will I be able to have digital channles like 6.1 or 13.2 programmed inot a remote like the 520? If so, i may be all set with the cheaper model harmony.

Thanks for the help.

Nick

Is everyone out shopping or busy watching reruns????? :rolleyes:

Which store for this price? Do they charge tax and S&H?



Wasn't too hard to look up.

http://www.shopping.com/xFS?KW=KDF-E50A10&FN=&FD=0

what color is the volume changing bar that pops up on the screen on your A10s I just got one and I think it is having a slight color problem and I figure this is a good way to test. when I go to adjust the volume the left side of my volume bar looks slightly pink is this what everyone's looks like?

Anyways, what features do you lose with the cable card? I scheduled Time Warner to come out and put mine in. 9 days I have to wait till they can come install it. Are you still able to get the 5.1 surround with the cable card? Do you just use the optical output on the TV?

With the cablecard you will lose OnDemand, PPV, and any type of tv guide. Basically anything that requires two way communication with the cable company will be lost. You will get 5.1 through the cablecard. I chose the card because IMO it allows me to have the best possible picture.

what color is the volume changing bar that pops up on the screen on your A10s I just got one and I think it is having a slight color problem and I figure this is a good way to test. when I go to adjust the volume the left side of my volume bar looks slightly pink is this what everyone's looks like?
I'm not sitting in front of it now, but from what I can remember I think it's yellowish-orangish. There has to be some crayon color that best describes it! I don't think it looks any shade of pink. Does the color on your volume bar change from left to right?

Im using the cable card with mine (Time Warner) and it works fine no problems. Probably the fault was when the card was programmed.

Well, strike 2 I guess. Cox could not get the cablecard to work last night and installed an HD-DVR until the cablecard working (which is nice by the way). The scary thing is that they want a rep from either Sony or BestBuy to meet them at my house to determine the software conflict or whatever is wrong. This sounds highly unusual, especially considering how many A10s are out there right now.

Anyone think a software conflict has occurred or had similar experiences?

Nimda,

by your name I am guessing you are in the IT field? Admin backwards?

Anyways, what features do you lose with the cable card? I scheduled Time Warner to come out and put mine in. 9 days I have to wait till they can come install it. Are you still able to get the 5.1 surround with the cable card? Do you just use the optical output on the TV?

You are correct I am in the IT field.

Someone already answered this but you loose the OnDemand stuff and PPV you also dont get the nifty Onscreen Programming guide (tv guide I miss that the most). I dont care about PPV for this tv I have another and dont care about OnDemand. I also chose CableCard because its supposed to be a better picture (havent side by side comapred) and also its only 1.70/mo instead of almost 8.00 for a box.

Well, strike 2 I guess. Cox could not get the cablecard to work last night and installed an HD-DVR until the cablecard working (which is nice by the way). The scary thing is that they want a rep from either Sony or BestBuy to meet them at my house to determine the software conflict or whatever is wrong. This sounds highly unusual, especially considering how many A10s are out there right now.

Anyone think a software conflict has occurred or had similar experiences?

Well I remember my installer stating these (cable cards) were in high demand couldnt keep them in stock, and that sometimes they arent programmed correctly and they have to come back out with a new card. Luckily for me the first time worked.

Wil the harmony 520 do just fine in controling my TV, DVR, and DVD player? What is this device lacking that the 659 or 680 has that I might really want?

Will I be able to have digital channles like 6.1 or 13.2 programmed inot a remote like the 520? If so, i may be all set with the cheaper model harmony.

Thanks for the help.

Nick

I've been using the Harmony 659 with my hardware and everything works properly. The one thing I don't care for on the Harmony 659 is the location of the fast-forward, pause and play buttons, etc. They are located near the bottom of the remote and are inconvenient to access while using just one hand.

Does your harmony cycle through all the inputs when you choose watch TV activity. I have the harmony 628. I had to set the delay to 8 sec after the TV turns on then it cycles through all the inputs.

1. I have my computer hooked up via dvi-hdmi. It looks pretty darn good for the most part. The blacks are way too dark when playing games on it. If I'm in a tunnel I cant see crap. Any suggestions??

2. What kind of adapter do I need for audio between the tv and the computer. It would be the adapter piece from the r/w av cords into the sound card on the computer.
Thanks for the help guys :)

ever since i got my tv, the remotes have been piling up. can anyone recommend a really good one remote system to work with my home theater?

im running the A10 TV, sony 885 receiver, sony dvd player, sony vcr, and a motorola/comcast cable box.

thanks for any help

mike

ever since i got my tv, the remotes have been piling up. can anyone recommend a really good one remote system to work with my home theater?

im running the A10 TV, sony 885 receiver, sony dvd player, sony vcr, and a motorola/comcast cable box.

thanks for any help

mike

The aforementioned Logitech/Harmony 659 works wonders. I looooove it. Check around online, but you can usually get it under $100 if you look for the right deal.

That being said depending on what you want there are many that work well, logitechs, home theater master, universal remote, the list goes on.

For lack of a better place to start, try here (http://cnet.search.com/search?q=remotes&nodeid=7900&format=customlayout&channel=2&cat=313&mode=products&allfields=0&k=32548803) . Good luck!

I was told I should try posting this question here. I just recently got a Sony A10 42 inch and love it. I have one of my computers hooked up to it and stream movies to it. My question is that somewhere on here I saw a post on how to stretch the image to be wide screen. Can someone link me to that please and also how do I get the Video 7 from randomly displaying in the top corner while I am using the computer. Thanks.

Bump, anyone???

Can someone who has recently taken delivery of a 50" tell me how big the box that it arrived in was? I want to know if I'll need to take a trailer to pick mine up, or if it will fit in the back of my Jeep.

Thanks,

Roger.

i recently brought a yamaha 5750 dvd player. i hook it up to my e50a10. i went and play some dvd movie, but no sound were coming out from the T.V. There's picture but there's no sound. I'm using their(yamaha) stock cable, not component. I then hook the dvd player to my old Sony T.V which doesn't have any component input port and it works. does anyone know what's wrong with it? Does the problem lies with the cable? that i need to purchase component cable instead of using yamaha's cable that come with it? I'm currently using the dvd player on my old tv. i want to use it with my e50a10!

I'm not sitting in front of it now, but from what I can remember I think it's yellowish-orangish. There has to be some crayon color that best describes it! I don't think it looks any shade of pink. Does the color on your volume bar change from left to right?

yes, the color is more pink on the left than it is on the right, and I sometimes think that i notice a pink hue in that part of the screen while watching tv but it is faint and sometimes i think that i am imagining it, but then it is definitely there on the volume bar which is why I was asking

Can someone who has recently taken delivery of a 50" tell me how big the box that it arrived in was? I want to know if I'll need to take a trailer to pick mine up, or if it will fit in the back of my Jeep.

Thanks,

Roger.
Do a search of this thread. It is near the beginning

i recently brought a yamaha 5750 dvd player. i hook it up to my e50a10. i went and play some dvd movie, but no sound were coming out from the T.V. There's picture but there's no sound. I'm using their(yamaha) stock cable, not component. I then hook the dvd player to my old Sony T.V which doesn't have any component input port and it works. does anyone know what's wrong with it? Does the problem lies with the cable? that i need to purchase component cable instead of using yamaha's cable that come with it? I'm currently using the dvd player on my old tv. i want to use it with my e50a10!
If you're using the rca cable - red-white-yellow to hook up the component ports, you will need additional audio cables. The three component jacks are all video signals.

My sony 42a10 is on its way, my wife was very generous this Christmas, I was wondering if anyone has used the Monster ups 500 and it worked good and it is a good investment for extended bulb life.
Thanks
Jdmac29

If you're using the rca cable - red-white-yellow to hook up the component ports, you will need additional audio cables. The three component jacks are all video signals.

Red and white are for audio use only. Yellow (composite) is for video. It's one of the worst choices for video quality. For component video cables, you use the red, green and blue cables and, yes, they are for video only.

Does anyone know if uneven brightness on a KDFE50A10 set can be fixed at all? It's not a huge issue but i do notice my set a bit brighter on the left side than the right. Mostly with greys.

I highly doubt it being the A10's fault. I've read numerous posts on various threads about cable companies having difficulty with cable card installations.

Two service calls by Cox and two CableCards and no luck. I called the local Sony tech who is going to replace the Q-box. Obviously, this has occurred frequently since they ordered the part after a 5 minute conversation. Just interested if anyone else has gone through this. I will keep you posted.

TV worked fine last night.
Turned it on this morning and heard sound but no picture, plus the TV would not take any commands from the remote. Not even to adjust the volume.
No WegaGate, No inputs, No nothing, only on and off.

Just a grey screen, which let me know theTV was actually on.

I turned the TV on and off 3 times and still nothing.

Took a shower and 20 minutes later tried again and the TV worked fine.
Needless to say I was pretty upset, considering the TV is only 3 months old and
I would have to go through all the hassles of dealing with Sony.

Anybody have this happen to them?

I have my iMac hooked up to my 50" and I'm getting faint horizontal band moving from bottom to top and repeating? Any rememdies for this or just a side effect of VGA?

Oh and went to Apple.com and played their HD Quicktime Trailers through my set. Nice. Surfing trailers online never looked so good.

I have my iMac hooked up to my 50" and I'm getting faint horizontal band moving from bottom to top and repeating? Any rememdies for this or just a side effect of VGA?

Oh and went to Apple.com and played their HD Quicktime Trailers through my set. Nice. Surfing trailers online never looked so good.



Get a DVI/HDMI connector (yes this means you'll have to go around back of the TV) for an even better picture. VGA connectors suck IMO.

Red and white are for audio use only. Yellow (composite) is for video. It's one of the worst choices for video quality. For component video cables, you use the red, green and blue cables and, yes, they are for video only.
Right... I was supposing he was using the 3 rca (red white yellow) in place of a standard (Y Cr Cb) component cable... which works - but isn't the intended use of the packaged cable.