LOL! Thats exactly how i got my 50 inch. It was marked down at Best Buy and i too used my 10% coupon...along with a ton of gift cards i got for christmas. got a great deal IMHO.

Ok, So i just became the newest member of the 50A10 community. It is going to be delivered next week as i am waiting to move into my new place. My question is...

So since the A10 only have 1 HDMI port and i am planning on getting HD Cable w/ a DVR I am assuming i cannot use the Cable Card BEcause i want the DVR. And if I am wrong please correct me. If i am right, what do you guys have plugged into the HDMI Port, your DVD player or the Cable Box??? I was thinking about getting the ( Wireless DVD Dream® SystemDAV-FX100W ) And that has an HDMI for the DVD player. Just wondering Everyones input on how you use your ports.

Thanks everyone for your responses to my first question about using the component and coax from the 8300hd, and all the great suggestions about hdmi cables. i feel the same way about those cables, once i saw the prices on monoprice, i was like .....hell yea!!!!! anyways heres my next question. i have the toshiba sd 5980 dvd player with an hdmi output. should i use my one hdmi input on my 50a10 for the dvd player or the 8300. and what are some of the pros and cons of each one? thanks in advance. Man.... monday cant get here fast enough!!!!!!! :D

I also have become part of the 50a10 group. I have picked mine up at costco a few days back and the picure look nice.

Welp, set number doesn't looking to promising..... stuck pixels CHECK. (which at this point I'd much rather have a couple of those than the other problem).

And this one has the blue cloud in the top left corner, and a green cloud in the top right. Its almost like it's color bleed at the top of the screen.....grrrr, f'in sh**.....come on sony.

Welp, set number doesn't looking to promising..... stuck pixels CHECK. (which at this point I'd much rather have a couple of those than the other problem).

And this one has the blue cloud in the top left corner, and a green cloud in the top right. Its almost like it's color bleed at the top of the screen.....grrrr, f'in sh**.....come on sony.

Again, this is common on LCD RPTVs. The likelihood of finding one with ZERO color uniformity problems is next to none. You either live with it or get something else like DLP.

In my case, the faint blue and pink blotches are only noticeable on b&w content. It almost looks like the upper-right part of the screen is running in with a "cool" color temperature and the lower-left part of the screen is running with "warm 1." This is with a Neutral color temp setting. What does help with b&w content is using the "Cool" color temp since it evens out the non-uniform color.

Thanks everyone for your responses to my first question about using the component and coax from the 8300hd, and all the great suggestions about hdmi cables. i feel the same way about those cables, once i saw the prices on monoprice, i was like .....hell yea!!!!! anyways heres my next question. i have the toshiba sd 5980 dvd player with an hdmi output. should i use my one hdmi input on my 50a10 for the dvd player or the 8300. and what are some of the pros and cons of each one? thanks in advance. Man.... monday cant get here fast enough!!!!!!! :D

Just in case the real experts don't answer your question, I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb is to use the HDMI with the 8300.

Did anyone consider a low-end Plasma before settling on this set (e.g Vizio/Maxent 50" or similar).

I looked at the Sony today at Costco, and while it's a few hundred cheaper than the plasmas I mentioned, it just didn't look very bright compared with the plasmas. Of course, it could be the lighting and the settings.

I'm planning to put a set in a large family room w/ lots of windows, am I better off with RP LCD over Plasma?
General problems w/ plasmas: burn in issues, they run hot and consume more power. Take this into account.

I just purchased this product and I could not get the cooldown technology to work with my tv, I contacted tech support and they stated that they have had some problems with Sony TV's working with this technology. The tech rep stated they would have a new model coming out in a few months or so which will fix this and stated I would get a new unit once it is available. I did not get this in writing but I did e-mail customer service on what was said hoping to get something back. Has anyone had any issues with Monster Warrantys?? I got this from a reputable dealer online(not a monster authorized though) I told rep that and he asked what I paid for item I said a little over $200.00 he said that was fine but I am nervous I have 20 plus days left to return the item. I only bought the monster because of the cool down technolgy. I figured my spouse would probably not turn off the tv if the power went out since it was still running so the fan would still not have time to cool down the bulb. Should I wait or return?

I just bought the KDF-E42A10 and wonder if anyone else has had any experience with the following:

I have noticed while watching football games in HD that certain things sort of flash when they are in motion. I see this with helmets, the white part of the football, yard lines, etc. I have even seen this on the American flag on the refs uniform.

Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas as to what the problem is?

I have the SA8300HD cable box from Cablevision.

I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Did anyone compare the 50" Sony with the Panasonic 52" RP's? (PT-52LCX15-B and the PT-52LCX65, which as best I can tell are identical units, except the 15-B includes the stand and is only available at Costco).

Thanks!!

Stupid question time.

In NZ I see KFE50A10 advertised.Is this the same as KDFE50A10 as I know same things often have differing model numbers in different countries.

If they're different please tell mein what way.

cheers Grant

Did anyone compare the 50" Sony with the Panasonic 52" RP's? (PT-52LCX15-B and the PT-52LCX65, which as best I can tell are identical units, except the 15-B includes the stand and is only available at Costco).

Thanks!!


Circuit City had these two tvs in the "Dark Room" sitting directly next to each other with a Hitachi on the other side of the sony. Absolutely NO comparison. The sony blew the other 2 out of the water. Seriously, no hyperbole. The Panny's colors were just off. Even after adjusting for about 15 min, it just wasnt good. Both the panny and hitachi had noticable screen door, where the sony didnt at the same distance.

Good luck.

I am going to the store to check out the E50A10 tomorrow. I know the settings at the store arent always the best. Does anyone know the optimal settings for the E50A10 so I can adjust them at the store to viw the TV properly. Thanks in advance for any help.

Stupid question time.

In NZ I see KFE50A10 advertised.Is this the same as KDFE50A10 as I know same things often have differing model numbers in different countries.

If they're different please tell mein what way.

cheers Grant
I think that one doesn't have the ATSC tuner included. At least that's the difference between KFE and KDFE in Canada.

Did anyone compare the 50" Sony with the Panasonic 52" RP's? (PT-52LCX15-B and the PT-52LCX65, which as best I can tell are identical units, except the 15-B includes the stand and is only available at Costco).

Thanks!!
Also available @ Sam's Club w/ stand. At the local store, it was positioned next to the Sony. Comparing the two, the Panny was brighter but flesh colors had a bit too much yellow. Granted, these issues can be corrected, but I came away with the same question. Although I'm still leaning heavily toward the Sony, does anyone share personal pros & cons about the Panny?

Doh.......Just found this thread, are these commonly available at Sams and Costos?

If I get it there will I likely have toruble getting it serviced if need be?

Doh.......Just found this thread, are these commonly available at Sams and Costos?

If I get it there will I likely have toruble getting it serviced if need be?

Costco in NoVa had them this week.

If it breaks, you return it - Coscto has an unlimited return policy as best I can tell.

Doh what a bumer! Just bought my unit KF-E4210 almost 5 days that I realize it doesn't have the same specs as the KDF-E4210. :(

My unit has no cable card slot & no HDTV tuner. Well, since my country hasn't into this HD broadcast yet & probably not for another 10 years...guess it's ok with my current unit until such time there are HD channel/broadcasts then it's time to get a new unit :D

Should be sufficient for the time being to watch HD thru either BD or HD-DVD in future

Last weekend watching the playoffs on my 50a10, ABC's HD picture was flawless, CBS' suffered pixelization on cable and OTA, Why?

Last weekend watching the playoffs on my 50a10, ABC's HD picture was flawless, CBS' suffered pixelization on cable and OTA, Why?

CBS network feed problems? I can't remember :)

Last weekend watching the playoffs on my 50a10, ABC's HD picture was flawless, CBS' suffered pixelization on cable and OTA, Why?

I noticed that as well with the CBS broadcast this weekend. ABC and ESPN's HD broadcasts were great however.

I noticed that as well with the CBS broadcast this weekend. ABC and ESPN's HD broadcasts were great however.

I didn't have any PQ problems with CBS this past weekend. I was watching via OTA - Dayton, OH. I don't normally watch network television on cable since Cincinnati is the source and most of those channels aren't in DD 5.1 and ABC always has PQ issues (jaggies).

After spending a couple of days with my new KDF-EA5010, I am very impressed. I am sitting about 8 feet away. First, I can see no dead or stuck pixels, nor can I see any haze or color peeking out from the corners. I have played DVDs, played the xbox, and watched a bunch of HD content. I am just in awe everytime I see an HD feed. I have not noticed any lag, in any of the content in which I have watched.

THe bottom line is that I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever. This TV has completely lived up to my expectations, thus far. I cannot say enough about how pleased I am, and I thank everyone in this forum for providing so much valuable information. I read through nearly all of the posts on this thread, as well as many others, before deciding on this unit.

Thanks Again.

After spending loads of time researching, thinking, reading this entire thread (!), I went to ABT here in Chicago and got my 42A10. Their listed price is $200 below MSRP, and I negotiated down another $160 from there. I bought the 4-yr warantee for $299, which includes bulbs and a no-lemon policy.

TV was delivered Saturday. Attached my Comcast/Morotola 6412 HDDVR with component cables (I know I should use HDMI, but I can't imagine the picture being better than it is).

I'm new to HD: aside from taking the TV out of Vivid mode, I didn't mind the out of box colors. I made a few adjustments using advice I found here, but honestly this thing looks great.

HD blew my mind. I watched the Illinois b-ball game with dropped jaw. I watched NFL playoffs all weekend. I watched a documentary about African wildlife. My eyes hurt.

SD looks so much better than I anticipated after reading all the threads. It's no HD for sure but my picture is still crisp and sweet.

I couldn't be happier....

Except....

I have the g-ddamned green blotch in the upper left corner. It's about the size of a very big thumb print: it gets bigger and smaller depending on the the broadcast, and it's always there. It blends in to bright backgrounds, but it's always there. My guess is it's the dust on the lens problem. Sony QC must really be awful. But you know what? I don't even hardly care about it. After calling ABT, they initially told me they'd send a tech out to take a look. I told them no way, I want a swap out since it's brand new. They agreed. New one's coming on Thursday. This is great, because now I can spend the next four days beating the crap out of this tv, leaving it on for hours and hours (which I did all weekend), messing with all the settings, and not really caring about f-ing it up too much. It's now like a rental car that I can drive at high speeds before returing.

And since ABT is bringing the new one to my house and taking the old one, I really don't care about the problem. If I had to load this baby into my car and take it back, or if I'd bought this on line and had to ship it back and then be without my new tv, I'd be mighty pissed. But like I said, as it is, I'm thrilled.

And if the new one has a problem, it's going back for another swap, and another, until I'm satisfied. If they tell me no swaps and they need to fix it, I'm just going to return it, get my money back and go from there. I really hope I can get a good one because I absolutely love this tv.

So thanks to everyone for all of the posts and all of the information. For the money, I don't think there's a better set out there: so long as you get a good one.

So since the A10 only have 1 HDMI port and i am planning on getting HD Cable w/ a DVR I am assuming i cannot use the Cable Card BEcause i want the DVR. And if I am wrong please correct me. If i am right, what do you guys have plugged into the HDMI Port, your DVD player or the Cable Box??? I was thinking about getting the ( Wireless DVD Dream® SystemDAV-FX100W ) And that has an HDMI for the DVD player. Just wondering Everyones input on how you use your ports.

I'll try to address these in order.

-- Most Cable set-top-boxes (DVR or otherwise) will send HD signals over component. The overall preference is to use the HDMI output if the STB has the option, but if you have something else with only an HDMI output (like an upconverting DVD player), you should be able to get by with DVD --> HDMI and Cable STB --> Component.

-- There are reports that some cable co's will try not to rent you a STB and a CableCard for the same set. Some folks want both, since in most cases the internal tuner for the TV produces higher-quality standard-def images than just about any outboard device. However, keep in mind that even if you do get both, you can only time-shift whatever you record on the DVR (anything you watch via the CableCard-enabled tuner is real-time only).

-- I'm not familiar with that device (home theater in a box?). It probably would do fine. If you're looking for an independent upconverting DVD player (not an all-in-one receiver device), a lot of folks on these boards recommend the Oppo. Just do a forum search on 'oppo' and you'll get a lot of information.

-- Regardless of what device you connect to the HDMI input on the TV, if it doesn't come with an included HDMI cable, do not waste your money on a "brand-name" cable (especially the Monster line). monoprice.com has high-quality cables for very little -- I got my DVI-to-HDMI cable from them, and it was less than 20% of what a brand-name cable at BB, CC, etc. would have run.

I just got my CC pricematch... They dropped the price $250 on the 42A10 from when I bought last Mon.

Don't know if you guys heard, but at CES TiVo announced a Series 3 DVR release this year. 6 tuners (2x NTSC, 2x ATSC, 2 HD - only 2 recording at same time, however), 2 cable card, ethernet, TiVo external SATA HD to 300 hours, HDMI. Gonna be nice

I just bought the 50" last night & love it. I still have the factory settings. Is there a way to tweek them to make them better? I read about some dvds (avia or dve). Where can I buy one of these dvd's? I currently have it running w/ my dtv dvr via s-video. Will a better(HD) dvr w/ component or dvi give a better picture? I don't have HD as there are not enough channels to justify the monthly payment. Also, what is a good dvd to go w/ this tv?

I noticed that as well with the CBS broadcast this weekend. ABC and ESPN's HD broadcasts were great however.

I actually saw the opposite. The game on CBS was fine, but I noticed a lot of noise/flashes watching the games on ABC whenever there was a lot of movement.

I bought my 50A10 at Sears (they pricematched the Costco deal, including the stand). However, I did not get the EW. I checked with Chase Visa, and they offer warranty protection. They automatically double the Sony warranty. And since the 1 year Sony warranty includes bulb replacement, I am covered on the bulb replacement for 2 years. In addition, I have the option of getting an EW through Sony within the first year of purchase or through Chase Visa.

FWIW, I just confirmed it is the same with AmEx. Thanks for saving me quite a few bux. ;)

Hello, I am brand new to this community. You all seem like a very knowledgable bunch...glad I found this board!

We purchased KDF-E42A10 this past Decemeber, and I have a few questions that perhaps someone can answer:

I notice a very slight ghosting/shadow type effect on white characters on the screen...especially noticable when credits are rolling, etc. What causes this? I have adjusted the settings similiar to DarkRain's, with some minor changes to my own taste, and did not apply the red push fix. It's not exceptionally annoying or anything, but I'm kinda picky about stuff like that.

I'm also trying to find the right settings to enjoy the NHL Center Ice package through my Dish Network satellite feed. The picture quality is pretty poor in most games. I'm not sure if this is from excessive compression or what exactly. Anyone else have this combination and found some tweaks to improve the pq?

Last question/comment, and this one is hard to explain. When watching DVD's or satellite broadcast shows with letterboxing, right along the upper and lower black bars I see a second parallel line...almost as if the black bars had a slight shadow, its only about a pixel's height, but extends across the screen with both upper and lower bars. Seems to be present in Wide Zoom, Full (when watching 16:9 content) modes...but to be honest, I cant remember if I checked 4:3 Normal.

Thanks for any tidbits or info you can provide.

Hello, I am brand new to this community. You all seem like a very knowledgable bunch...glad I found this board!

We purchased KDF-E42A10 this past Decemeber, and I have a few questions that perhaps someone can answer:

I notice a very slight ghosting/shadow type effect on white characters on the screen...especially noticable when credits are rolling, etc. What causes this? I have adjusted the settings similiar to DarkRain's, with some minor changes to my own taste, and did not apply the red push fix. It's not exceptionally annoying or anything, but I'm kinda picky about stuff like that.

I'm also trying to find the right settings to enjoy the NHL Center Ice package through my Dish Network satellite feed. The picture quality is pretty poor in most games. I'm not sure if this is from excessive compression or what exactly. Anyone else have this combination and found some tweaks to improve the pq?

Last question/comment, and this one is hard to explain. When watching DVD's or satellite broadcast shows with letterboxing, right along the upper and lower black bars I see a second parallel line...almost as if the black bars had a slight shadow, its only about a pixel's height, but extends across the screen with both upper and lower bars. Seems to be present in Wide Zoom, Full (when watching 16:9 content) modes...but to be honest, I cant remember if I checked 4:3 Normal.

Thanks for any tidbits or info you can provide.

Nah you got a defective set. return it. There is nothing wrong with A10's.

The more I read the more I think my problems are some sort of light bleeding issue than actual blobs. I dont have a defined area or small circle thats say green or blue. Its like a light/color bleeding at the top corners of the screen. Green on the right and blue on the left. The bottom of the screen is perfect, its like the light uniformity goes to crap on the top of the screen. This is especially noticable on all anamorphic dvds with letterboxing....

After spending loads of time researching, thinking, reading this entire thread (!), I went to ABT here in Chicago and got my 42A10. Their listed price is $200 below MSRP, and I negotiated down another $160 from there. I bought the 4-yr warantee for $299, which includes bulbs and a no-lemon policy.

Mind if I ask which Abt and what price you got them down to? Sounds like $1540? I'm in Chicago and will be purchasing a 42A10 soon as well; I'm currently calling around and shopping for the best price.

Insert obligatory "thanks to everyone for all their info on this thread" here. Much appreciated. ;-)

Mind if I ask which Abt and what price you got them down to? Sounds like $1540? I'm in Chicago and will be purchasing a 42A10 soon as well; I'm currently calling around and shopping for the best price.

Insert obligatory "thanks to everyone for all their info on this thread" here. Much appreciated. ;-)

You're $100 too low. There is only one ABT, in Glenview. They also do a web business but I don't know about that. Salesmen work on commission and they're of that old-school/you-need-to-buy-this-now-with warantee-and-expensive-extras/high-pressure variety.

Much like buying a car, if you do your homework, know what you want before you go in, have a good idea of whay they pay for the set, you can pretty much decide how much you will pay for it and let them know your price. And then they, not you, can take it or leave it.

That's what I did and, while the salesman was a bit pissed and surprised by my knowledge (I initially let him pull his speil on me, quoting me a price "that is as good as we can do), he didn't fight me on it. It was the end of the day last Monday, the place was more-or-less dead, and he wanted to make the sale.

And again, I am stressing this, the TV rocks. It sucks that I got one with the green blotch, but I am in the strongest possible position: I can test-drive the TV I will not keep, so when I get my new (hopefully flawless) one, I'm good to go.

I hope this helps.

I hope this helps.
It helps a LOT. Thanks very much for all the info. I may have to take a drive up to Glenview one night this week. Does Abt do any sort of 30-day price match guarantee? I called them to find out if they would match an online price (this was last week), and they said they would as long as it was a Sony authorized dealer. I currently have a price at OneCall (which is listed on SonyStyle as an authorized dealer) of $1599, so I'll probably print that out and take it in there in my back pocket if the salesman isn't willing to barter.

A couple other questions -- they have free shipping, right? Also, did you buy a stand for the television? I assume you can haggle over prices on that too in terms of getting a package deal or something like that?

Thanks again for the help.

It helps a LOT. Thanks very much for all the info. I may have to take a drive up to Glenview one night this week. Does Abt do any sort of 30-day price match guarantee? I called them to find out if they would match an online price (this was last week), and they said they would as long as it was a Sony authorized dealer. I currently have a price at OneCall (which is listed on SonyStyle as an authorized dealer) of $1599, so I'll probably print that out and take it in there in my back pocket if the salesman isn't willing to barter.

A couple other questions -- they have free shipping, right? Also, did you buy a stand for the television? I assume you can haggle over prices on that too in terms of getting a package deal or something like that?

Thanks again for the help.

I didn't buy a stand. We have a table/dresser that fits the TV perfectly. ABT will match prices like you said but they will then add whatever the on-line comanay's shipping charge is and try to make you pay that. ABT offers free shipping and are generally very good with after-sale customer satisfaction. Like I said in my earlier post, they are swapping out my tv with the green blotch with no questions asked. It remains to be seen if I get a good one on Thursday. I'll post to let the group know.

I know we're not supposed to talk about price on this forum, but you are in the right neighborhood and should be able to get your price (certainly no more than $50 higher). And don't pay more than $299 for the warantee and don't buy any expensive/overpriced cables.

I'm seeking a little advice regarding the 42" A10. Two issues, and I'd appreciate any input, as I've found this site to be very helpful. (Thanks!)

1. Given that I am limited to a 42" screen-size (NYC apartment) and a viewing distance of 8-9 feet, should I wait for an affordable 1080p set, or will the 42" A10 with 720p be sufficient? Will I even be able to tell the difference PQ-wise at my viewing distances? From all my reading here, I gather that 1080p might only really be important for screens 50"+ in size. Realistically, is it worth waiting for a 1080p set? Image quality is very important, but I'm not really willing to spend huge bucks on a TV -- the A10 seems like an ideal maximization of quality and price. However, given all the news from CES, I am wondering if I should wait (again!) for next autumn (again!) to see if there are 42" sets.

2. I have the opportunity to purchase a refurbished Sony E42A10 at almost 40% off msrp, direct from Sony, with no charge for shipping. It comes with the standard 90 day p&l warranty, and I could also purchase an extended warranty (4 years) for approx $130. New 42" A10's are currently about 25% off msrp at local bigbox retail outlets, but that doesnt include an extended warranty.

Given that the refurb price is so much less than the pricepoint of 1080p sets, I'm not sure the incremental increase in PQ would be justified for $1000+ more. Thoughts?

Is this price worth pulling the trigger, or should I (a) buy a new set or (b) wait for 1080p?

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

Take a gander a few pages back. Another guy got a refurb from sony. It ended up being a bad set. He said he was in the process of trying to get sony to fix or replace it. I'd look up his name and ask him about his experiences before taking the refurb plunge.

Usually, when muting is on, it is in a gray box in the bottom left corner of the TV. I have a MUTE on the top middle of the TV, that i cant seem to get rid of. Anyone know what to do? Thanks.

got it this afternoon at about 3:30 est. and right away i noticed the oversaturated reds. i got the red fix push from the same page as darkrains settings, and i have a few questions......

1. Is there anything i need to know before i attemt to do the red push fix?

2. Should i do the red push before or after doing my settings?

3. is the a way to reset to factory settings if i need to?

SA 8300HD tomorrow morning!! :D

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and responses.

got it this afternoon at about 3:30 est. and right away i noticed the oversaturated reds. i got the red fix push from the same page as darkrains settings, and i have a few questions......

1. Is there anything i need to know before i attemt to do the red push fix?

2. Should i do the red push before or after doing my settings?

3. is the a way to reset to factory settings if i need to?

SA 8300HD tomorrow morning!! :D

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and responses.

Before making major changes why don't you just use it and see what it's like.

I'm seeking a little advice regarding the 42" A10. Two issues, and I'd appreciate any input, as I've found this site to be very helpful. (Thanks!)

1. Given that I am limited to a 42" screen-size (NYC apartment) and a viewing distance of 8-9 feet, should I wait for an affordable 1080p set, or will the 42" A10 with 720p be sufficient? Will I even be able to tell the difference PQ-wise at my viewing distances? From all my reading here, I gather that 1080p might only really be important for screens 50"+ in size. Realistically, is it worth waiting for a 1080p set? Image quality is very important, but I'm not really willing to spend huge bucks on a TV -- the A10 seems like an ideal maximization of quality and price. However, given all the news from CES, I am wondering if I should wait (again!) for next autumn (again!) to see if there are 42" sets.

2. I have the opportunity to purchase a refurbished Sony E42A10 at almost 40% off msrp, direct from Sony, with no charge for shipping. It comes with the standard 90 day p&l warranty, and I could also purchase an extended warranty (4 years) for approx $130. New 42" A10's are currently about 25% off msrp at local bigbox retail outlets, but that doesnt include an extended warranty.

Given that the refurb price is so much less than the pricepoint of 1080p sets, I'm not sure the incremental increase in PQ would be justified for $1000+ more. Thoughts?

Is this price worth pulling the trigger, or should I (a) buy a new set or (b) wait for 1080p?

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

I wouldn't wait for a 1080p set since there isn't anything broadcast in 1080p right now or anytime soon. But, you should really go to a store and check out some of the 1080p sets and make a decision. You may not see that big of a difference to justify spending another $1-$2k for one.

The 42A10 refurb sounds like a good deal. I'd want to see it in person before I bought it, but as long as it can be returned for a refund/exchange you should have no problems.

got it this afternoon at about 3:30 est. and right away i noticed the oversaturated reds. i got the red fix push from the same page as darkrains settings, and i have a few questions......

1. Is there anything i need to know before i attemt to do the red push fix?

2. Should i do the red push before or after doing my settings?

3. is the a way to reset to factory settings if i need to?

SA 8300HD tomorrow morning!! :D

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and responses.

Just make sure to write down the default setting for each thing you change in the service menu. And this means EVERYTHING.

The red push fix can be applied at anytime.

Resetting to the factory settings could screw up the picture, so it's best not to answer that question.

Resetting to the factory settings could screw up the picture, so it's best not to answer that question.

thanks rain, on your recommendation i wont do a factory reset, but what are some of the problems that could cause to your picture? if you dont mind explaining to a noob :o cause i saw instructions in the manual after reading that show you how to do a "factory reset"

thanks rain, on your recommendation i wont do a factory reset, but what are some of the problems that could cause to your picture? if you dont mind explaining to a noob :o cause i saw instructions in the manual after reading that show you how to do a "factory reset"

I've read about people doing factory resets on other Sony TVs and it made several changes to the service menu that weren't there before. This may not apply to the A10, but I would rather be safe than sorry. It may also void your warranty if you have to call Sony to get it fixed.

I have had my 50" A10 since early November with no problems or issues. However, this morning when I turned it on all that showed on the screen were many multicolored vertical lines (stripes), and I couldnt change the video setting or make any adjustments.

I could not find any information on the manual, and since then have complety unpluged it and left it alone.

I will call Sony tonight when I get home from work, I am just hoping it isn't
screwed up somehow.

Has anyone had this problem? If so what can I do?

I'm close to purchasing a KDF-E50A10, but I do have a question about gaming lag on this set. At the moment I would be almost exclusively playing PS2 games on it. Does anyone have this TV and a PS2, and can attest to either a lack of lag or not?

I'll also eventually be getting a PS3/Xbox360, but since those already output in HD natively they shouldn't be a problem. I also have a pretty huge collection of old consoles, but I don't play them much anymore so I'm not so worried about them working properly.

Thanks!

I have the KDF-E50A10 and play PS2 and Gamcube on it. I have noticed ZERO lag. And i have been playing Guitar Hero on it for the last month and I think i would have noticed any lag since the game is timing based. I would wait to see if anyone agrees before taking the plunge though. Its a great TV.

Usually, when muting is on, it is in a gray box in the bottom left corner of the TV. I have a MUTE on the top middle of the TV, that i cant seem to get rid of. Anyone know what to do? Thanks.

That sounds like the mute from your source. Did you accidently mute your cable box or whatever you have feeding into it (you didn't specify what you're using as a source).

I'm late to the party here, but wanted to say thanks for all the info.

I just got a 42A10 yesterday and hooked up the shiny new 8300 HD DVR STB from Comcast.

All the info here made it trivial to get the modes configured on the STB and get the TV calibrated using DVE. I followed the red-push fix and set for 003b after a few trials.

The picture is simply amazing, far better than I even expected it to be. I was coming from a decent Toshiba 32" CRT and was concerned the DLP wouldn't be bright enough or have enough contrast. It's fantastic. I spent the evening drooling over the Discovery channel HD content, which makes my DVD player's 430p output look like garbage.

I did find that using the 8300 in hmm 'upsample-2' I think was the mode, made for the best channel surfing as it only sends the TV 430p or 720p signals. The TV seems to handle that better than trying to deal with all the 1080i channels on its own.

If I use pass-through mode, the TV tends to cut a bit off both sides of the image...no matter what zoom mode if any is enabled. I really couldn't see any quality difference box vs TV for doing the downsampling. I still haven't connected with an HDMI (using component) cable yet though so maybe I'll see it once I do that.

I'll post back the DVE derived picture settings I wound up with when I get home.

got it this afternoon at about 3:30 est. and right away i noticed the oversaturated reds. i got the red fix push from the same page as darkrains settings, and i have a few questions......

1. Is there anything i need to know before i attemt to do the red push fix?

Follow the instructions carefully, no guessing. If you screw it up you can damage you TV. The instructions in the tweaks thread are right on, I did it yesterday with no issues.

2. Should i do the red push before or after doing my settings?

Do it before re-calibrating, it will affect both color and tint responses.

Don't forget to turn the auto-iris off and all the other 'advanced' menu options off before you do the calibration. Pick the color temperature that is closest to 'normal' before you start too...iirc it is 'neutral'.

3. is the a way to reset to factory settings if i need to?

SA 8300HD tomorrow morning!! :D

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and responses.

Write down the settings in the service menu before you change them, that way you don't need any reset. You should really only be changing the one setting CH_AXIS1 if memory serves.

Comcast here won't give you an HDMI cable so you may want to hunt one down if you can. They will give you a component cable set though. Read the tweaks thread on the 8300 somewhere here too, it explains the HD wizard options nicely.

Anyone have all their components go into the TV then have the sound OUT from the TV to your Surround sound?

How does that sound??

I was thinking of using the optical out for sound..

thanks for the info kingsqueak and darkrain, it all worked out great and it wasnt hard or scary. got the hdmi cable free with my dvd so i used that for the 8300 and component cables for the dvd and its looking damn good! :D

I am considering purchasing the e50A10 from Sams Club. If I do, will Sony provide any support/warranty for the set, or will I have to return it if it breaks or has problems?

Thanks for the help and this thread is great.

I just found this forrum and all I can say is WOW!

I bought the 50" version of this TV in October primarily to watch Football in HD. I have none of the problems previously discussed. However, I do have a question:
I have a Sony DVD 5-disk changer that is about a year old hooked up to this TV via componet cables, when I watch a widescreen DVD, it has black bars on the top and bottom. I have looked through the TV settings as well as the settings for the DVD and can not find out how to eliminate theses bars? Any advice? There is one line in the DVD player manual that says something about the DVD disc format is fixed to this size or something like that, but the bars are there on all the widescreen DVD's that I have. Thanks in advance.
Jim

I just found this forrum and all I can say is WOW!

I bought the 50" version of this TV in October primarily to watch Football in HD. I have none of the problems previously discussed. However, I do have a question:
I have a Sony DVD 5-disk changer that is about a year old hooked up to this TV via componet cables, when I watch a widescreen DVD, it has black bars on the top and bottom. I have looked through the TV settings as well as the settings for the DVD and can not find out how to eliminate theses bars? Any advice? There is one line in the DVD player manual that says something about the DVD disc format is fixed to this size or something like that, but the bars are there on all the widescreen DVD's that I have. Thanks in advance.
Jim
I'm not an expert on this, but I'm guessing it has to do with differing aspect ratios. The TV is 16:9, or ~1.78:1. Some widescreen movies are actually 2.35:1, which would not sufficiently "fill up" all of your viewing area, just like you'd see letterboxed video when watching 16:9 signal on a 4:3 set. Again, I don't have this TV (yet), so I'll step back and let the experts correct me if necessary.

Anyone have all their components go into the TV then have the sound OUT from the TV to your Surround sound?

How does that sound??

I was thinking of using the optical out for sound..


The optical out only outputs on HD channels.

I'm not an expert on this, but I'm guessing it has to do with differing aspect ratios. The TV is 16:9, or ~1.78:1. Some widescreen movies are actually 2.35:1, which would not sufficiently "fill up" all of your viewing area, just like you'd see letterboxed video when watching 16:9 signal on a 4:3 set. Again, I don't have this TV (yet), so I'll step back and let the experts correct me if necessary.
That is correct. If you want to you can try the different zoom settings (I think that you choose them with the "wide" button on the remote) to see what they do but the TV should automatically be choosing the correct setting.

My HDMI cable just came in today. Channels that did not come in great before come in much better but it takes a loooong time to swich from HD channels to regular digital channels. It is probably because the TV is switching from 1080i to 480, is there any way to fix this hiccup while switching channels?

Also I hooked up the optical audio to from my TV to my receiver but i am not getting any sound. I go from HD cable box to TV with HDMI and from TV to receiver via optical. Is there no digital audio from HDMI cable to send out to the receiver?

I am considering purchasing the e50A10 from Sams Club. If I do, will Sony provide any support/warranty for the set, or will I have to return it if it breaks or has problems?SC will probably only be your source of support if the set is DOA and you exchange it. SC has no service/support capabilities I am aware of. Your Sony warranty would be for 12 month parts and labor. This does include replacing a bulb if necessary. If you could use a major credit card to pay for your set and you would probably extend your warranty another 12 months. But, Sams doesn't do cards, do they? ;)

I have a Sony DVD 5-disk changer that is about a year old hooked up to this TV via componet cables, when I watch a widescreen DVD, it has black bars on the top and bottom.

When playing a 'widescreen' DVD, if you hit the TV remote button labeled 'display', what is it telling you at the top right info box as far as the resolution and aspect ratio?

This tells you what the actual signal is that the DVD player is sending the TV. In order to answer your question 'we' will need to know what signal is being sent.

Make sure that the way your DVD is connected to the TV is proper, meaning either component or HDMI so the connection is capable of passing the max available signal to the TV.

Then make sure that the DVD player itself is configured to send the proper max signal.

With my DVD player, the best it will send is 430p 16:9. You'll have to check yours as I'm not the most knowledgeable with DVD signals.

With more info, people can better answer you.

I'm tired of waiting for a "big" screen TV. I want to "upgrade" [screen size wise] my Philips 34"-PW9819 [Matchline, aka Pixel Plus; HDCP DVI], to a Sony 42" A10. Just to tie me over until the NEW SXRD's are out. Here is some more background and questions for you guys if would be so kind......

Will be using this TV I would say about equally for SD and HD viewing, and for DVD's

1. I'm a gamer (play all type of games. except for sports, for PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Reg. Xbox), any major concerns I should have with gaming lag?

2. And do the A10's, MAINLY concerning the 42", suffer from the Sony TV's green glob(s) problems/has anyone actually had this problem.

3. Oh, and a little bit more important than gaming lag, is SDE/Viewing Angles.
The TV will be in a corner. We have an L-shaped couch.

There is a deal on Circuit City's site for this TV I just can't pass up. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you guys (quick responses are more than fine) in regards to these questions.

That sounds like the mute from your source. Did you accidently mute your cable box or whatever you have feeding into it (you didn't specify what you're using as a source).



Comcast 6412 DVR was recording 2 shows at same time. When that ended, the "mute" went away. I have never seen thar before. Thanks for the response.

I have built an HTPC using an nvidia 6600GT and installed the latest drivers.

I have it hooked up via the S video to component adapter (component in on the Sony).

The initial resolutions were way too low so I made a custom resolution of 1280x720 and it is way tooooo huge for the TV.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong or possibly suggest a solution.

This resolution stuff drives me crazy :confused:

Hey everyone on my 50" A10 I have the geometry problem where the top left of the screen is lower than the right side (about a 1/4 inch) when watching dvds or tv programs with the black bars on the top and bottom. I have a service guy coming out to look at it on thursday. They contacted sony and sonys says they know nothing about this problem. Do you think they will fix it ? I have had my Tv for less than a month and I can't return it because where I bought it from (The Brick in Canada) they only have a 7 day return policy. I bought a 5 year warrenty from them but they said it does not start until sonys 1 year warrenty is up. Has anyone had this problem or have had this problem fixed. All I know is they better dame well fix it. Also the service people say that sony likes to give the run around and sony said that if it is only a little lower to bad. Does anyone know how much off it has to be for sony to do something ?

Thanks Ed

Comcast 6412 DVR was recording 2 shows at same time. When that ended, the "mute" went away. I have never seen thar before. Thanks for the response.

That is a known "feature" of the 6412. If it turns itself on to record a program the volume will be muted while it records. This is not the case if the box is already on while the program starts recording. The workaround that many people use (for more reasons than just this) is to leave the box on 24/7 or you can program a spare button on the remote to unmute the box.

I have the KDF-E50A10 and play PS2 and Gamcube on it. I have noticed ZERO lag. And i have been playing Guitar Hero on it for the last month and I think i would have noticed any lag since the game is timing based. I would wait to see if anyone agrees before taking the plunge though. Its a great TV.


Thanks for the reply. I've done some searching here on the forums (not done yet,) and so far it sounds like a lot of people are having the same experience- ie, the A10's are great for gaming. Sounds good so far!

That is correct. If you want to you can try the different zoom settings (I think that you choose them with the "wide" button on the remote) to see what they do but the TV should automatically be choosing the correct setting.Hey decon (or anyone else who can help), is there something that I need to do in order to get the TV to choose the correct setting? Is the TV supposed to "figure it out" on its own? This happens w/ SD-to-HD switching as well:

In the menu, I've set the 4:3 Default to Normal and the Wide Mode to Zoom, and I am expecting the modes to switch when I change the channel from an HD channel to an SD channel. Is this an unreasonable expectation? Should I have to press the Wide button on the Sony remote a few times every time I switch back and forth between HD and SD sources? In addition, when I press the Display button while watching ESPNHD, it says that I'm getting 480i at 4:3 (which would be why I'm needing to use the "Zoom" setting). This seems like it's wrong to me but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where to make the appropriate change.

For reference, I've got the Motorola 6412 from Comcast. Also, if this is addressed elsewhere in this thread, I apologize. I did a few searches before posting this and didn't find what I was looking for.

UPDATE (ten minutes later, what a surprise):
I found out what my problem was. As most of you probably knew already and either laughed at me or were angry for wasting your time with this question, I found that I had to change the 6412 to be in 16:9 1080i mode. The thing that angers me about this the most is that I specifically called Comcast and asked them if there were any settings that I needed to change on the box since I'd switched TVs from a 4:3 to a 16:9 HD set. Obviously their techs aren't well-educated on these types of things.

Again, I apologize for cluttering this already long thread with what I'm sure is a repeat question. And while I'm on the subject, I'd like to say thanks to all for the input, opinions, suggestions, etc. I've been reading for about a month while deciding which HD set to get; I got my new 42A10 tonight and so far I'm happy with it. Thanks again, all.

Hi, I just got a Sony Grand Wega KDF-E50A10 today and after getting it up and running I thought the picture was beautiful. Watched a little Discovery HD as well as some ESPN College basketball and I was very impressed at what I saw right out of the box. Obviously some adjustments need to be made, but I don't know where to start.

First, after watching more, it looks to me that the color may be a little too rich or something as maybe some colors looked a little too strong if that makes sense. Not sure exactly what I am trying to say, but on a regular tv, I guess I would turn the color back just a tad.

DVDs looked great, although again I felt like the color was a bit strong.

The one thing where I was disappointed and don't really know what to do was when I hooked my Xbox up. This is a regular Xbox using the HD component cables. I went into the menu and enabled 480p, 720p, and 1080i and set it to "widescreen". Then I popped in College Hoops 2K6 and it looked awful. The players and the ball all looked somewhat distorted if that's the word I'm looking for. The picture wasn't sharp at all and I really didn't know what to try to get it right so I just turned it off and went back to watching TV.

So I know I definitely need to make some adjustments, but I don't know where to start. I would love some tips on getting my color just right and maybe there's a setting for the Xbox that I did not know about. To be honest, the picture from my HD cable box and my DVD looked pretty darn good, but I am lost on why the picture on the Xbox was so bad.

Anyway, it's late and I haven't really read all the way through this thread, but I will do so tomorrow. I'd appreciate any comments and tips on how to get the most out of my new tv.

This is the thread you want to look at for tweaking your settings:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=567709&page=1&pp=30&highlight=a10+calibration

Dark Rain's settings seem to be the favourite but it all depends on the lighting in your room and distance. I started with Dark Rain's and tweaked from there. I also did the red push fix.

I have to admit, my Xbox doesn't look all that great on the Sony. It may be that it picks up on all the little imperfections, especially aliasing. However my 360 looks fantastic. Halo 2 also looks better on the 360. So you may want to consider that upgrade.

This is the thread you want to look at for tweaking your settings:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=567709&page=1&pp=30&highlight=a10+calibration

I have to admit, my Xbox doesn't look all that great on the Sony. It may be that it picks up on all the little imperfections, especially aliasing. However my 360 looks fantastic, so you may want to consider that upgrade.

Well I have one 360 already, but it's set up in my gameroom system. This tv is in our den and is primarily going to be used for tv/dvd viewing. My wife did give me the go ahead to pick up another 360 if I can find one. :)

Nice ;)

Hey, I just had a look at the specs for Hoops on the Xbox and it doesn't support widescreen so maybe that's the problem. Set the Xbox & TV for 4:3 and maybe you'll get a better result.

I had said on the previous page that with my 42A10 and Comcast 8300 HD box that I was running the Comcast box in upsample-2 mode with the best results. I take that back.

Only having the set for a day, I hadn't really gotten to all the features yet and didn't play with DRC Palette settings for 480i signals.

Running the Comcast box on passthrough, sends the non HD channels through as 480i now. They look a bit pixellated/grainy. With DRC you can adjust for that easily and now the non HD signals look much better than when the Comcast box was upsampling them to 480p. The upsampled signals looked blurry, now everything is nice and sharp again.

Using a feed from a composite video switch for all the game boxes, my Playstation 2 looked awful at first. It took me a while with DRC and other settings to get it to look right again.

I'm sure that my DVD signal will now look better as well, I didn't have time to mess with it. Currently I have the DVD player set to do 480p and it's really not that great, again it looks fuzzed out and blurry. I'll most likely put that back to 480i and use DRC Palette on that input.

This set continues to amaze me, I had no idea what I was missing with the plain TV.

Could we get some user settings for the DRC?

What do you think looks best?

Nice ;)

Hey, I just had a look at the specs for Hoops on the Xbox and it doesn't support widescreen so maybe that's the problem. Set the Xbox & TV for 4:3 and maybe you'll get a better result.


Thanks, I'll try that. Off the top of your head what games do support widescreen? Just curious if I have any so I can check and see if it was just the College Hoops game that looked bad.

Halo 2 does. It should say on the back of the game box, or you can go to:

http://www.teamxbox.com/

Search for a game and it will show the specs.

Could we get some user settings for the DRC?

What do you think looks best?

I use it in high-density mode.

The Palette setting I didn't note the numbers on.

Basically if you drew a line from lower left to upper right corner, then drew a paralell line from the starting point marker you would hit where I have mine set.

It's near the center vertically and a bit above the center horizontally. This gives a pretty 'crispy' picture, you may like things a bit softer edged.

I think DRC will vary more depending on your program input (quality of local cable signal or your DVD player etc.) than other settings, just play around with it until you like what you see.

Hey everyone on my 50" A10 I have the geometry problem where the top left of the screen is lower than the right side (about a 1/4 inch) when watching dvds or tv programs with the black bars on the top and bottom. I have a service guy coming out to look at it on thursday. They contacted sony and sonys says they know nothing about this problem. Do you think they will fix it ? I have had my Tv for less than a month and I can't return it because where I bought it from (The Brick in Canada) they only have a 7 day return policy. I bought a 5 year warrenty from them but they said it does not start until sonys 1 year warrenty is up. Has anyone had this problem or have had this problem fixed. All I know is they better dame well fix it. Also the service people say that sony likes to give the run around and sony said that if it is only a little lower to bad. Does anyone know how much off it has to be for sony to do something ?

Thanks Ed

Anyone ?

Having an audio problem with HDMI on E50A10; none.

So I tried running RCA jacks from audio out of my D*H10 STB to the audio in of my a10 but still no audio throught those cables. Is that because I have HDMI input to display also???

Don't really care if I have HDMI audio but can't get any audio.

Interesting sidefact: I'm using a gefen HDMI switch and I do get audio in the A10 via HDMI from my Sony DVP-NS3100ES player.

My HDMI cable just came in today. Channels that did not come in great before come in much better but it takes a loooong time to swich from HD channels to regular digital channels. It is probably because the TV is switching from 1080i to 480, is there any way to fix this hiccup while switching channels?

Also I hooked up the optical audio to from my TV to my receiver but i am not getting any sound. I go from HD cable box to TV with HDMI and from TV to receiver via optical. Is there no digital audio from HDMI cable to send out to the receiver?


I am pretty sure the optical cable only ouputs HD audio when recieved via the built in HD tuner. I don't think it will pass and audio coming in at all, so although its digital audio from the HDMI the TV is not going to pass that out via the optical out on the TV. If you hook up an antenna or get unencypted HD channled through your cable provider, then you should get audio coming from the optical.

I am preparing my house to take delivery of my new 50A10 on Saturday. As I am still up in the air between digital cable and satellite, I can go ahead and just plug in my regular cable correct? I don't NEED a cable box or some other type of tuner do I?

I am preparing my house to take delivery of my new 50A10 on Saturday. As I am still up in the air between digital cable and satellite, I can go ahead and just plug in my regular cable correct? I don't NEED a cable box or some other type of tuner do I?

If you have reguular cable you might want to let it search and see if it can find digital channels there. If not you can buy a cheap anteanna and see if you can get your locals over the air. Check antenneaweb to see how far you are from the towers. If you want the extra HD channels (ESPNHD, Discovery HD, TNTHD, etc.) you will have to go with satellite or digital cable. If you just want and would be happy with the locals (there isn't enough HD content to justify spending $30 or more a month for digital cable for me ) then try your free options this Tv provides.

Well I've had my Kdfe50a10 for a month and I love it. Totally worth the price, which was relatively inexpensive for the quality it delivers. However, I have one major question, Has anyone figured out, besides the red push, any other adjustments in the service menu. I noticed that this service menu is alot different from previous sony menu's and it seems like its very unknown. If anyone has any info, or advice on what each menu item adjusts. Because its like reading greek, If I only knew what each menu item changed, maybe I could tweak my picture for an even more amazing result. Just trying to get the most of my TV. Thanks so much guys, I would appreciate any help that you can give on this topic.

Sincerely,
Nick
Long Island, New York

From what I was reading here the ISF or whatever the calibrator's certification body is, has put pressure on the calibrators not to share anymore info of the service menu specifics.

Sony will sell you the service manual for the TV, which evidently has the details, but I've not found them published online yet.

Be careful experimenting as some of the settings as I understand it are drive levels and you can do real damage to the set if you get them far enough out of whack.

A couple links with varying info, however beware, they don't appear very specific to 'our' models.

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/sony/sony_tips.html

http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/sonyadj.html

I am preparing my house to take delivery of my new 50A10 on Saturday. As I am still up in the air between digital cable and satellite, I can go ahead and just plug in my regular cable correct? I don't NEED a cable box or some other type of tuner do I?
The a10 is digital cable ready. As is it will receive all unencrypted content present on its cable input. To receive premium encrypted channels requires you to rent a cablecard from your cable company (this is a small PCMCIA card that plugs into your set- it usually rents for about $2/month) which will let you get all subscribed channels but can't be used to order PPV or VOD. Note that you may need to subscribe to some minimum level of service ( like digital cable) for the HD channels to be present on your cable. With just basic cable the cableco will usually put a filter on the line to prevent you from getting nearly everything without subscribing to it.

From what I was reading here the ILF or whatever the calibrator's certification body is, has put pressure on the calibrators not to share anymore info of the service menu specifics.

Sony will sell you the service manual for the TV, which evidently has the details, but I've not found them published online yet.

Be careful experimenting as some of the settings as I understand it are drive levels and you can do real damage to the set if you get them far enough out of whack.
Some posts on the tweaks thread said that the service manual gives no details on what the service menu items do so I didn't bother buying one. I suspect the ISF folks are probably encouraging its members to limit posts of service menu info to its own members-only forums.

The a10 is digital cable ready. As is it will receive all unencrypted content present on its cable input. To receive premium encrypted channels requires you to rent a cablecard from your cable company (this is a small PCMCIA card that plugs into your set- it usually rents for about $2/month) which will let you get all subscribed channels but can't be used to order PPV or VOD. Note that you may need to subscribe to some minimum level of service ( like digital cable) for the HD channels to be present on your cable. With just basic cable the cableco will usually put a filter on the line to prevent you from getting nearly everything without subscribing to it.

I completely understand that. I definitely plan on upgrading, I'm just not sure to which yet. Digital Cable or Satellite. So i was just making sure that my TV would work as is with my regular analog cable. It appears it will. So I can sit tight, get my living cleaned up after the TV install and try to figure out if I want ot go digital cable or satellite.

I am pretty sure the optical cable only ouputs HD audio when recieved via the built in HD tuner. I don't think it will pass and audio coming in at all, so although its digital audio from the HDMI the TV is not going to pass that out via the optical out on the TV. If you hook up an antenna or get unencypted HD channled through your cable provider, then you should get audio coming from the optical.

Thands Zero, your right, the optical only works from the antenna/coax input. Thanks for the reply.

Thands Zero, your right, the optical only works from the antenna/coax input. Thanks for the reply.

I used both for sending audio to my amp,, optical for HD broadcast and regular RCA plugs for non-HD audio.

Anyone have all their components go into the TV then have the sound OUT from the TV to your Surround sound?

How does that sound??

I was thinking of using the optical out for sound..


I just got my Wega 42" A10, so far I'm quite pleased.

I set it up so that all of my components are input to the Sony and then I take the single audio out of the A10 and run it directly to my AV receiver (remember, you have to turn the TV sound to either OFF or VARIABLE, first). This works great since I can simply leave the receiver set to the same source for all of my inputs (TV, satellite, DVD, XBox). The only problem, is that I can't use the Sony remote to control the sound since there's no "Receiver" program on the remote.

Logicman

if you were speaking of the optical digital out on the a10 and running it to a sony receiver then you can program it on the sony tv remote. i used the dvr button at the top of the sony remote and programed it to the sony receiver i have. i can control the volume of the receiver through the tv remote

i used the code in the a10 manual under the reciever section to program the dvr button

Couple of quick questions.

What setting do you guys use when watching standard def tv channels? Do you zoom or wide zoom to fill out the screen or do you leave it normal and deal with the bars on the side?

Also, when I watch dvds in widescreen, I sometimes get black bars a the top and bottom even if the dvd is set to widescreen. The last two that I watched, Serenity and The Cave both had black bars at the top and bottom. I have a Toshiba 5980 dvd player and it is set to 16 X 9 as is my tv. On the other hand, Finding Nemo fills out the entire screen when played in widescreen mode. So why do some dvds fill out the whole screen and others don't? I also notice this sometimes on HBO HD that sometimes I'll get the black bars and other times I won't.

Sorry for the noobish questions.

Couple of quick questions.

What setting do you guys use when watching standard def tv channels? Do you zoom or wide zoom to fill out the screen or do you leave it normal and deal with the bars on the side?

Also, when I watch dvds in widescreen, I sometimes get black bars a the top and bottom even if the dvd is set to widescreen. The last two that I watched, Serenity and The Cave both had black bars at the top and bottom. I have a Toshiba 5980 dvd player and it is set to 16 X 9 as is my tv. On the other hand, Finding Nemo fills out the entire screen when played in widescreen mode. So why do some dvds fill out the whole screen and others don't? I also notice this sometimes on HBO HD that sometimes I'll get the black bars and other times I won't.

Sorry for the noobish questions.
I recommend leaving the TV in normal for 3x4 material so you don't make the actors seem fat. There are no worries about burn in with this TV so the bars are no problem. Another advantage of not zooming is the smaller the picture the less you will notice compression artifacts on low quality SD. In fact I wish my TV had a mode to shrink SD pictures to the central 640x480 pixels to use when watching low quality SD. Movies have several aspect ratios with the most common current one being "scope" at 2.35:1 which still needs bars to fit your widescreen TV (which is 1.78:1). Another current movie format is 1.85:1 (matte) which is close enough to your widescreen TV that they don't need bars in the "enhanced for widescreen" DVD (they just re-frame it). Old movies and TV shows are in academy format which is 1.33:1 so they need the bars on the side for your TV.

Couple of quick questions.

What setting do you guys use when watching standard def tv channels? Do you zoom or wide zoom to fill out the screen or do you leave it normal and deal with the bars on the side?


I would recommend that you try using Wide Zoom for a few days and see if you like it. That's what I use most of the time for 4:3 stuff. It actually looks pretty good since it's a non-linear stretch mode and doesn't make people look too squatty. It will take some getting used to.

Only use Zoom for non-anamorphic DVDs. These are usually older DVDs and won't have any indication on them stating they are "Anamorphic" or "Enhanced for 16x9 TVs."

Got my 42A10 last night. I'm so disappointed - I have a grapefruit sized pink splotch at the bottom of the screen. Some people have mentioned these before but they don't sound as bad as mine. We watched Wedding Crashers and the pink colour overpowered everything on screen in that area. The only time you can't see it is when the TV is off.

I'm especially disillusioned because I returned a Samsung 42" DLP last week because it had wavy gray marks on the back of the screen too.

I'm sick of running back and forth to the store. Does anyone have any experience with service from Sony Canada? Or any other helpful suggestions?

Thank you!

Welp I have gone and done it guys.

Mine arrives TONITE ! =D

I could not wait any longer. I have pruchased the KFE50A10.

I was at teh store for about 2.5 hours looking at different types of TV's there. By far I liked the picture the best on the sony's.

Couple of quick questions.

What setting do you guys use when watching standard def tv channels? Do you zoom or wide zoom to fill out the screen or do you leave it normal and deal with the bars on the side?

Also, when I watch dvds in widescreen, I sometimes get black bars a the top and bottom even if the dvd is set to widescreen. The last two that I watched, Serenity and The Cave both had black bars at the top and bottom. I have a Toshiba 5980 dvd player and it is set to 16 X 9 as is my tv. On the other hand, Finding Nemo fills out the entire screen when played in widescreen mode. So why do some dvds fill out the whole screen and others don't? I also notice this sometimes on HBO HD that sometimes I'll get the black bars and other times I won't.

Sorry for the noobish questions.


Another vote for "Wide Zoom" on 4:3 content. This seems closest to true 16:9 to my eyes. Be sure to specify this as your default mode for 4:3 in the menu settings and "Full" mode as the default for 16:9 content. Othewise, you will have to change the mode every time you change channels.

Couple of quick questions.

What setting do you guys use when watching standard def tv channels? Do you zoom or wide zoom to fill out the screen or do you leave it normal and deal with the bars on the side?


Sorry for the noobish questions.


I leave mine on normal. You don't even notice the black bars after a while. With zoom the people were short and fat and wide zoom makes the picture look even less sharp than on normal...at least to my eyes. SD is made to be viewed in 4:3 so watch it that way!

Earlier this week I posted about by 42A10 that I bought from ABT here in Chicago. I love it, but unfortunately had a big green blotch in the upper left hand corner. Probably dust or something, but I wasn't going to have them fix a brand new set. I demanded a swap out.

This morning ABT delivered the replacement and took away the other one. Happy to report there is no green blotch. Thanks goodness.

However, there is one stuck green pixel about 4" from the left side and about 5" down. It's bright. I can sometimes see it (escpecially now that I'm looking for at) while seated about 10 feet away.

Question is, what should I do? I know stuck pixels are common. I can call ABT and make them bring me yet another one, but I know the next one may have similar or other problems.

I have read on line that some PSPers use a video flashing red, green and blue to unstick pixels. Can anyone comment on this? Does it work? Is there a DVD that does this?

There's also talk of massaging the stuck pixel but this tv has the glare screen so massaging the area would seem pointless, right?

Any help is appreciated. I really love everything about this set: the picture, the design, the sound, hell, I even like the remote. I'm not that hard to please, but for the money I don't want to be bothered by a tiny green dot forever.

Thanks.

Earlier this week I posted about by 42A10 that I bought from ABT here in Chicago. I love it, but unfortunately had a big green blotch in the upper left hand corner. Probably dust or something, but I wasn't going to have them fix a brand new set. I demanded a swap out.

This morning ABT delivered the replacement and took away the other one. Happy to report there is no green blotch. Thanks goodness.

However, there is one stuck green pixel about 4" from the left side and about 5" down. It's bright. I can sometimes see it (escpecially now that I'm looking for at) while seated about 10 feet away.

Question is, what should I do? I know stuck pixels are common. I can call ABT and make them bring me yet another one, but I know the next one may have similar or other problems.

I have read on line that some PSPers use a video flashing red, green and blue to unstick pixels. Can anyone comment on this? Does it work? Is there a DVD that does this?

There's also talk of massaging the stuck pixel but this tv has the glare screen so massaging the area would seem pointless, right?

Any help is appreciated. I really love everything about this set: the picture, the design, the sound, hell, I even like the remote. I'm not that hard to please, but for the money I don't want to be bothered by a tiny green dot forever.

Thanks.

The stuck pixel would be on the LCD panel, so massaging or any other handling of the screen would do nothing. The screen is no different than any other projection set's. what's different is what is used to project the image onto the screen, ie CRT vs, DLP chip set, vs LCD panel or sxrd panel. They would have to replace the chip set to eliminate the stuck pixel.

The stuck pixel would be on the LCD panel, so massaging or any other handling of the screen would do nothing. The screen is no different than any other projection set's. what's different is what is used to project the image onto the screen, ie CRT vs, DLP chip set, vs LCD panel or sxrd panel. They would have to replace the chip set to eliminate the stuck pixel.

Thanks. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, one stuck pixel is within Sony's error margin. So is it worth the effort to swap this out again? Or are the chances of getting a worse set that high?

Have you heard of the video fix? Does that even make sense, to "stimulate" the stuck pixel back to life?

Thanks again.

Well Best Buy has no more 42A10's. And the authorized Sony Technician would need to come to my house during the day, take the TV, work on it in their shop, and then return it 2-3 days later during the day. I don't think I should have to take 2 days off work just to get a working TV. So, back to Best Buy it goes. I think someone out there doesn't want me to have a big screen TV.

Thanks. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, one stuck pixel is within Sony's error margin. So is it worth the effort to swap this out again? Or are the chances of getting a worse set that high?

Have you heard of the video fix? Does that even make sense, to "stimulate" the stuck pixel back to life?

Thanks again.

What is this video fix? And I have at least one stuck/dead pixel and could be up to three (it's kind of hard to tell up close, and about 6 feet away you don't notice it anyway). TV is just about 2 months old so it's well within the one year warranty.

What is this video fix? And I have at least one stuck/dead pixel and could be up to three (it's kind of hard to tell up close, and about 6 feet away you don't notice it anyway). TV is just about 2 months old so it's well within the one year warranty.

In the PSP forums there's a rapid-fire color changing MP4 video that is supposed to revitalize stuck, not dead, pixels. I posted to find out if anyone has tried this and if it works.

And I guess I also don't know how to download an MP4 video and make that play on my DVD player.

Anyone?

Thanks. But, and correct me if I'm wrong, one stuck pixel is within Sony's error margin. So is it worth the effort to swap this out again? Or are the chances of getting a worse set that high?

Have you heard of the video fix? Does that even make sense, to "stimulate" the stuck pixel back to life?

Thanks again.

I don't know if one stuck pixel is in Sony's margin. I did have 3 stuck pixels that were 1 foot from the right side and then 10 inchs down from the top. One was bright red the others were bright green. All three were visible from the sitting area. I spoke with Sony and they had a tech come out to access the pixels. Sony ended up authorizing optics engine replacement. Needless to say the tech that performed my optics engine replacement totally botched the service. He left my tv taken apart for two weeks on my coffee table. He also stripped key wires and ended up really not knowing how to swap out the engine. After a week of going back and forth with missed appointments with the tech and arguing with Sony on the phone Sony authorized a brand new TV swap. They deleivered my new TV last week and I am happy to say there are no problems with this set. No stuck pixels or dust blobs. I am very happy now... but trust me it was a total headache for two weeks seeing my tv in shambles.


edit... btw the tech calls Sony and gives them exact locations of the pixels. Sony then calculates the error rate of the pixels in that location and if it meets there criteria they authorize a optics engine replacement.

Hey everyone on my 50" A10 I have the geometry problem where the top left of the screen is lower than the right side (about a 1/4 inch) when watching dvds or tv programs with the black bars on the top and bottom. I have a service guy coming out to look at it on thursday. They contacted sony and sonys says they know nothing about this problem. Do you think they will fix it ? I have had my Tv for less than a month and I can't return it because where I bought it from (The Brick in Canada) they only have a 7 day return policy. I bought a 5 year warrenty from them but they said it does not start until sonys 1 year warrenty is up. Has anyone had this problem or have had this problem fixed. All I know is they better dame well fix it. Also the service people say that sony likes to give the run around and sony said that if it is only a little lower to bad. Does anyone know how much off it has to be for sony to do something ?

Thanks Ed

Well the tech guy came out and measured (it was a 1/4 inch) then went back to talk to sony and they said it was within there tolerance level so I have to live with it which is bull **** but I guess there is nothing I can do. So needless to say this will be the last sony tv I ever buy or maybe even sony product. I do not feel after paying about $2900.00 Canadian after taxes for this tv I should have to live with it. So **** Sony. :mad:

Well, I'm on set number 2 and counted 5 pixels stuck blue, 3 stuck green, 2-3 red, and at least another 2 or so dead (black). Set 3 will be here tomarrow......bah

Toggle - where are you getting these from? I personally know 4 people that have gotten this set, including myself, who have had *zero* stuck/dead pixels or color blobs.

Circuit City, This is set number 2 number 3 will be delivered tomarrow hopefully. I dont know man, am I to picky or just jinxed? Set number 2 has a manufacter date of nov 2005. didnt think to look at the first one. When you say zero bad or dead pixels are you talking about from your viewing distance? Or none to be found period? All I want is a good set d*mnit lol I'm actully now wondering is number 3 will be worse than number 2. I have till the 23rd on my 30 day guarantee

I returned my first set for 1 stuck pixel. The second one had absolutly no bad pixels and is doing great 4 monthes later.

Michael

mcmoore, so you examined the whole screen and only came across 1?? Geez they must be sending me the crap sets.......

Also maybe a few of yall could do me a favor. I'm wondering if I'm crazy and just expecting to much. Or maybe seeing things (loosing my mind?)

Could some of you take a look at your set for me? If you turn it on but without a source input. Is the whole screen uniformly black (or dark grey, since this is an lcd)??? Or do you see different hues of colors in it?

On mine I have a green hue in the top right corner, blue hue in the top left. and a bit of a red hue on the bottom left a bit more towards the center. .....oh and the stuck pixels too but we've covered that LOL Set number 1 had the blue in the top left but no green in the right.

The ones on top are noticeable on anything letterboxed. My 30 days will soon be up and I think I'm about to bug out LOL

I've looked my set over pretty close - I'm at about 8-9 feet viewing distance but even up close to the screen I can't see anything out of order. My only complaint about the set is the pincushion geometry is a tad off but it's not enough for me to have it serviced unless it somehow gets worse. I also got mine from Circuit City, but I'm surprised I didn't have problems as they treat their merchandise like crap. When they brought the TV, the delivery guy plugged the power cord into the outlet on the back of my cable box. Might have been convenient if it wasn't a TV that needs to run a fan when it's shut off! Sheesh.

by pincushion you mean the lines on the side of 4:3 bow? If so ya i got a tad of that too.

clarkson what was your bu
ild date. probbably doesnt mean anything though lol

Dead/stuck pixels are the nature of LCD technology. Why are people complaining about this? Sure, if you had a whole row or cluster of them then that wouldn't be normal. I wouldn't worry about a few stray ones though.

Toggle, the issue you describe has been covered in the Grand Wega V tweaks thread. Again, it's common unless the colors are bleeding excessively. In that case I'd call Sony for a light engine replacement.

I just bought the KDF-E42A10 and wonder if anyone else has had any experience with the following:

I have noticed while watching football games in HD that certain things sort of flash when they are in motion. I see this with helmets, the white part of the football, yard lines, etc. I have even seen this on the American flag on the refs uniform.

Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas as to what the problem is?

I have the SA8300HD cable box from Cablevision.

I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

I have not seen this on mine. (42" here too).

Originally Posted by Eric23
I just bought the KDF-E42A10 and wonder if anyone else has had any experience with the following:

I have noticed while watching football games in HD that certain things sort of flash when they are in motion. I see this with helmets, the white part of the football, yard lines, etc. I have even seen this on the American flag on the refs uniform.

Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas as to what the problem is?

I have the SA8300HD cable box from Cablevision.

I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.


Last week's football games, ABC's picture was flawless, CBS' suffered pixelization on Cable and OTA.

It appears the problem was the broadcast not the RP LCD.

I don't think it's your tv. The local ABC digital channel in Cincinnati had the same problem for almost 2 years and they just resolved the problem 2 days ago? Something in their equipment was causing the signal to be reduced to 1280 x 360 resulting in jagged shimmering lines etc. Luckily I had another source for ABC to the north of me in Dayton.

our cbs in austin looks the worst out of the digital OTAs. it pixelizes quite a lot. FOX, NBC and ABC look great, though. PBS looks the best out of all of them.

...
Also maybe a few of yall could do me a favor. I'm wondering if I'm crazy and just expecting to much. Or maybe seeing things (loosing my mind?)

Could some of you take a look at your set for me? If you turn it on but without a source input. Is the whole screen uniformly black (or dark grey, since this is an lcd)??? Or do you see different hues of colors in it? ...
I checked my set out fairly carefully. For sample defects I have one stuck green pixel near the center that I can't see from normal distances so I've never noticed it during normal viewing. The no-input background is a reasonably uniform dark blue/gray. It may be very slightly brighter near the lower center but I'm not sure about that because the effect is very slight and it could just be my eyes. I don't have anything that I would call an abnormal geometry problem. For me the defects that would be common to all A10s like SSE, CR, posterization, SDE etc significantly outweigh my set's sample defects. The problems in some sources in turn are more likely to bother me than any of the set's defects. Maybe if/when Blue-Ray disks (or HD-DVD?) become my most important source the A10s' defects will trouble me enough to cause me to upgrade but right now overall the set is great but most sources aren't (but once in awhile I see an HD program that makes me go wow and wish all programs were that good).

Got my 42A10 last night. I'm so disappointed - I have a grapefruit sized pink splotch at the bottom of the screen. Some people have mentioned these before but they don't sound as bad as mine. We watched Wedding Crashers and the pink colour overpowered everything on screen in that area. The only time you can't see it is when the TV is off.

I'm especially disillusioned because I returned a Samsung 42" DLP last week because it had wavy gray marks on the back of the screen too.

I'm sick of running back and forth to the store. Does anyone have any experience with service from Sony Canada? Or any other helpful suggestions?

Thank you!

Guess what? I got home last night and the pink splotch had moved up about 10"!!! I kept messing about cycling through the various picture options, wide etc. and it seemed to move up a bit more. It was now right at the top of the screen, only half onscreen. Turned off the set and came back 30 mins later - still there. Messed around with my S Video connection, and it was gone! So it's either something to do with the cable/connection or unrelated and happened to disappear at that time. Very weird. Could an S Video connection affect all inputs? I was seeing the blob no matter which video input I was on. Scared to move the connection again... Maybe I do need Monster Cables (j/k :D)

Otehr than that the picture is very good. Only slight geometry problems in 4:3 (pincushion). Used the THX optimizer on the T2 Extreme disc and the geometry and centering of the "circle in a rectangle screen" is better than any TV I've owned.

Question:

Where an HD feed exists for an OTC channel (i.e. both 11.1 and 11) is there any reason to keep the non-HD channel in the rotation when clicking through the stations? To my eye, there doesn't appear to be a quality difference between the SD feed when viewed 11.1 or 11 so setting 11 to "skipped" would appear to reduce redundancy.

Logicman

[QUOTE=Dark Rain]Dead/stuck pixels are the nature of LCD technology. Why are people complaining about this? Sure, if you had a whole row or cluster of them then that wouldn't be normal. I wouldn't worry about a few stray ones though.
[QUOTE]

DarkRain,

I understand what you're saying: perfection is an illusion. Yes. I know that one glowing green pixel is there. As I was watching the tv last night, I kept looking for it. Sometimes I could find it, but usually I could not. I found myself looking for the green pixel rather than watching the program. OK, that tells me maybe it's not such a big deal. But then a program with a mostly black/dark background comes on, and there it is. Also, because of the way my tv sits on the stand, I'm actually watching it from just below center. When I stand up, the glowing green pixel is even brighter.

I spent 2 large on this thing (incl. the 4-yr warantee) and I want a perfect set to start with.

I call ABT this morning and they're delivering set #3 tomorrow no questions asked.

And if #3 has the blue halo or the pink bottom, back it goes. It's no skin off my back to make them keep delivering me another one until I get one that works. Thank god I didn't buy this on-line or at some crappy retailer. ABT (who's salesmen I rather dislike due to their pushiness), have the absolult best and most lenient return/exchange policy.

Question:

Where an HD feed exists for an OTC channel (i.e. both 11.1 and 11) is there any reason to keep the non-HD channel in the rotation when clicking through the stations? To my eye, there doesn't appear to be a quality difference between the SD feed when viewed 11.1 or 11 so setting 11 to "skipped" would appear to reduce redundancy.

Logicman


I may be wrong but, I think if you remove the 11 it takes the 11.1 with it.

Thats exactly how I feel about it too. I mean come on. .....That will be 2 thousand dollars sir, oh and dont mind the glowing green,blue, or red dots. They're a "feature". That for me is kind of hard to swallow.

Actully at this point I'd take a set with 1-2 stuck pixels if I couldnt see them from viewing distance and there were no blue and green clouds in the corners...

Thats exactly how I feel about it too. I mean come on. .....That will be 2 thousand dollars sir, oh and dont mind the glowing green,blue, or red dots. They're a "feature". That for me is kind of hard to swallow.

Actully at this point I'd take a set with 1-2 stuck pixels if I couldnt see them from viewing distance and there were no blue and green clouds in the corners...


I guess I should be lucky with my 1-3 stuck pixels then? I think it's 1 pixel that's dead and it's affecting a pixel to the top and to the right (stuck).


Otherwise, I've got no problems with my set.

All you veteran Microdisplay owners, please vote on lamp life here;
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=629175

Thats exactly how I feel about it too. I mean come on. .....That will be 2 thousand dollars sir, oh and dont mind the glowing green,blue, or red dots. They're a "feature". That for me is kind of hard to swallow.

Actully at this point I'd take a set with 1-2 stuck pixels if I couldnt see them from viewing distance and there were no blue and green clouds in the corners...

It might be hard to swallow, but this is a design flaw with LCDs.

DarkRain,

I understand what you're saying: perfection is an illusion. Yes. I know that one glowing green pixel is there. As I was watching the tv last night, I kept looking for it. Sometimes I could find it, but usually I could not. I found myself looking for the green pixel rather than watching the program. OK, that tells me maybe it's not such a big deal. But then a program with a mostly black/dark background comes on, and there it is. Also, because of the way my tv sits on the stand, I'm actually watching it from just below center. When I stand up, the glowing green pixel is even brighter.

I spent 2 large on this thing (incl. the 4-yr warantee) and I want a perfect set to start with.

I call ABT this morning and they're delivering set #3 tomorrow no questions asked.

And if #3 has the blue halo or the pink bottom, back it goes. It's no skin off my back to make them keep delivering me another one until I get one that works. Thank god I didn't buy this on-line or at some crappy retailer. ABT (who's salesmen I rather dislike due to their pushiness), have the absolult best and most lenient return/exchange policy.

Let us know when you get one without any stuck pixels and get one with perfect color uniformity.

Let us know when you get one without any stuck pixels and get one with perfect color uniformity.

Like I said, I know perfection is an illusion. But I will not accept a shining green glowing light eminating from my new expensive TV as long as I don't have to accept.

Am I wrong for having ABT swap it out until I'm satisfied? I think not.

Like I said, I know perfection is an illusion. But I will not accept a shining green glowing light eminating from my new expensive TV as long as I don't have to accept.

Am I wrong for having ABT swap it out until I'm satisfied? I think not.

No. But you'll eventually grow tired of the exchanges and will either accept it with all its flaws or will get something else.

No. But you'll eventually grow tired of the exchanges and will either accept it with all its flaws or will get something else.

I don't doubt that you are correct. It's just a matter of which flaws I am willing to accept.

Set #1 had a big green blotch in the upper left corner. UNACCEPTABLE.
Set #2 has a glowing green pixel interfering with my viewing experience. UNACCEPTABLE but better than Set #1.

When Set #3 shows up tomorrow, we'll fire it up and see. If there's 5 stuck pixels, if there's a blue haze, if there's a pick cloud, Set #2 stays.

DarkRain, are you living with stuck pixels? Would you exchange if you could? What other TVs in the price range did you/would you consider?

Thanks for all of your informative posts.

wish I had the time to examine my #3 before they take #2. But I cant be there when they make the dleivery....=(

Hey guys, just had my Cable Card "shield" installed to fix the reset issue. And I got a free lamp out of it! woot! :D

I noticed the two fans in the back of the unit when the service guy had it apart, does anyone know which is intake, which is exhaust (bottom left or high center)?

I have a blue stuck pixel near the upper right corner. I can't see it once I get back beyond 5 feet from the screen. I sit roughly 8 feet from my 42".

The only other TV I would consider in this price range is the Sony 34XBR960. But with that TV you are dealing with worse geometry and convergence. It also weighs close to 200 lbs. The PQ can't be beat, though.

After a long exchange process with my old Sony TV, I finally got the 50A10 delivered today. So far I don't have any out of the box issues (green blotches, pixels, etc..). My build is Nov. 2005. Just going through the picture adjustments to try and get it to look like my old WE610.

I don't doubt that you are correct. It's just a matter of which flaws I am willing to accept.

Set #1 had a big green blotch in the upper left corner. UNACCEPTABLE.
Set #2 has a glowing green pixel interfering with my viewing experience. UNACCEPTABLE but better than Set #1.

When Set #3 shows up tomorrow, we'll fire it up and see. If there's 5 stuck pixels, if there's a blue haze, if there's a pick cloud, Set #2 stays.

DarkRain, are you living with stuck pixels? Would you exchange if you could? What other TVs in the price range did you/would you consider?

Thanks for all of your informative posts.

I'm wondering if you have just one stuck green pixel or an actual cluster of them, because I have 3 or 4 stuck pixels of different colors and in different places on my set, but from the proper viewing distance they just seem to disappear even on a pure black or white screen. Yet if I get within less than a foot of the screen I can see them.

Is there a bulb timer on the 50a10?

I've had my E50A10 for 6 weeks, and have been very satisfied until last night, when I hooked up a laptop computer to the VGA input for the first time. The PC screen appears on the E50A10 as it should, but the only screen option with either the WIDE button or through the Settings menu is FULL1, regardless of what I use for VGA resolution. NORMAL, FULL2, and ZOOM (the one I want) are all grayed out.

What am I doing wrong?

When you press the "Display" button on the A10's remote it indicates in the banner the signal type of the source (480i, 720p, etc.) Is this trustworthy? I often get 720p, 1080i but the picture is definitely not showing up as HD on the screen. Also, I have a three year old progressive scan DVD player that's hooked to my A10 via component cables, but the Wega display button indicates 480i -- doesn't a progressive scan DVD player always out a "p" signal? Thanks for any input.

Toggle - check your PMs...

i finally became a member of avs forum after reading a ton of post (especially in this thread) and have bought the 42a10 a few days ago. i wanted to thank everyone for all the info! i'm extremely happy with my picture and don't notice any blotch of color or pixel problems, but then again, i'm not inches away looking for problems. i sit about 8 feet away when i watch tv and play xbox 360 (which start with a bright white screen when you turn it on, still shows nothing out of the ordinary)

i did have a question about OTA tv viewing. like logicman at the top of page 200 of this thread, i receive some hd channels and their sd counterparts. i removed the sd ones so they're skipped when i surf, but the other day i noticed that some of the hd (like 11.1) don't receive a signal while the sd (channel 11) does. does this happen often? or was it a glitch with broadcasting at that time. also, channel surfing is slower than i'm use to, this is my first projection/hd tv. i'm use to crts where changing channels is instant but my 42a10 takes a second or 2 between channels. any help is great. and thanks darkrain for the settings!

When you press the "Display" button on the A10's remote it indicates in the banner the signal type of the source (480i, 720p, etc.) Is this trustworthy? I often get 720p, 1080i but the picture is definitely not showing up as HD on the screen. Also, I have a three year old progressive scan DVD player that's hooked to my A10 via component cables, but the Wega display button indicates 480i -- doesn't a progressive scan DVD player always out a "p" signal? Thanks for any input.
The display button is correctly showing the format the set is receiving. Your local station is "helpfully" upconverting low res sources to 1080i or 720p for you. In CT the local Fox affiliate also stretches 4x3 material to fill the screen (yuck). For your DVD player there is probably some switch or menu selection you need to change to enable progressive output and of course you need to be using those component connections. The 480i on component may look better than 480p because the A10 has a very good de-interlacer.

When you press the "Display" button on the A10's remote it indicates in the banner the signal type of the source (480i, 720p, etc.) Is this trustworthy? I often get 720p, 1080i but the picture is definitely not showing up as HD on the screen. Also, I have a three year old progressive scan DVD player that's hooked to my A10 via component cables, but the Wega display button indicates 480i -- doesn't a progressive scan DVD player always out a "p" signal? Thanks for any input.
Yes it displays the correct input signal type. The cases you're refering to are most likely upconverts from the stations.
Many (most?) DVD players can be configured, which signal to output. Check you're player, whether there's such a possibility.

Who ever said CC treats thier merchandise like crap was right. The wife said when they dropped set #3 off a bit ago. They just slapped the one going back on a dolly with no box or anything!(had the box there ready for them) Man that sux for the poor schmuck who buys it as an open box tomarrow, and I'm sure he'll be told some b.s. like "it was only returned because the customer wanted to go to a bigger screen" or "it was returned because the customer decided he couldnt afford it"

That would have been me... another time about a year ago I took a 27" CRT TV back because I got it home and the geometry was unfixable, along with some severe magnetic field exposure from somewhere. Now, I know I could have had it degaussed, but that's beside the point. I took the TV back and told them it was defective and needed to be returned to the manufacturer. I watched them bring it in from my car and put it back on the shelf as an open box item...

Who ever said CC treats thier merchandise like crap was right. The wife said when they dropped set #3 off a bit ago. They just slapped the one going back on a dolly with no box or anything!(had the box there ready for them) Man that sux for the poor schmuck who buys it as an open box tomarrow, and I'm sure he'll be told some b.s. like "it was only returned because the customer wanted to go to a bigger screen" or "it was returned because the customer decided he couldnt afford it"


And.....

I'm anxious to hear if you (finally) got yourself a good one.

Toony, won't know till this evenin when I get home from the rat race ;)

I'm anxious too. If this one is a dud too, I might pull my hair out or take my sledge
to it lol

If I'm in the area this weekend I might have to stop by the store and see if they have all my returned sets sitting in the showroom lol.

Who ever said CC treats thier merchandise like crap was right. The wife said when they dropped set #3 off a bit ago. They just slapped the one going back on a dolly with no box or anything!(had the box there ready for them) Man that sux for the poor schmuck who buys it as an open box tomarrow, and I'm sure he'll be told some b.s. like "it was only returned because the customer wanted to go to a bigger screen" or "it was returned because the customer decided he couldnt afford it"

Yup, they did the same thing with my returned TV today. Carried it right out on a dolly with no box. Although I must say that the delivery men were in and out in under 10 minutes for both the pickup and delivery (unpacking, carrying up/down a flight of 20 steps).

Still tweaking picture, and can't seem to get it to look as nice in HD as my older WE610, oh well no big deal.

I just had my new 50A10 calibrated by Gary (ISF) here in NYC. I believe this was the first A10 he calibrated, and seemed impressed with the display. The picture was great before, but now it's breathtaking.

He was also impressed with the performance of the S97 over HDMI.

Anyone who lives in NY should consider giving Gary a ring...you can PM me for his info. After spending this much for a display set, it's completely worth it to get the most out of the set for a marginal cost increase.

Hi there all, thanks for the info..

i have a KDFE50A12U, is there a service menu for this unit?

and does any one else got one?

thanks

here's a silly question. Say you have a 50A10 and you are watching SDTV in the 4.3 aspect ratio. What would the approximate size of the image be? Is the size of like a 32 inch TV? Does that make sense?

I took a couple of pictures of my second 50A10 with the blue cloud in the upper left corner, One with a blank screen and the other a partial screen shot with a dark scene.
Like others have said, after spending 2 grand I think the screen uniformity should be better. I can live with a few dead/stuck pixels here and there because I don't find them to affect the overall picture
I think Sony could do better.

my 42a10 also has the blue cloud in the top left corner

I would recommend that you try using Wide Zoom for a few days and see if you like it. That's what I use most of the time for 4:3 stuff. It actually looks pretty good since it's a non-linear stretch mode and doesn't make people look too squatty. It will take some getting used to.

Only use Zoom for non-anamorphic DVDs. These are usually older DVDs and won't have any indication on them stating they are "Anamorphic" or "Enhanced for 16x9 TVs."


The Wide Zoom is great! I didn't think I'd like it but boy was I wrong. The only time
you really notice it being stretched is when something is scrolling across the screen.
99% of my DVDs are widescreen but yesterday I put an older "Spies Like Us" DVD in
that was 4:3 and hit Wide Zoom and really wasn't that bad.
Grateful11

here's a silly question. Say you have a 50A10 and you are watching SDTV in the 4.3 aspect ratio. What would the approximate size of the image be? Is the size of like a 32 inch TV? Does that make sense?

I believe it's the equivalent of a 40" 4:3 TV.

here's a silly question. Say you have a 50A10 and you are watching SDTV in the 4.3 aspect ratio. What would the approximate size of the image be? Is the size of like a 32 inch TV? Does that make sense?
The ratios of width to height to diagonal on a widescreen set are 16:9:18.3576
For a 4x3 TV the ratios are 4:3:5
So the picture on a 50A10 is 24.513" high. With 4:3 material it would be 32.684" wide and the equivalent diagonal TV measurement is 40.855 inches.

FYI. PC Richards has the 42 A10 on sale this week, at no cost to them. I took the printout from the website to both BB and CC and they would not pricematch completely but came down signigicantly. I brought the TV from BB at the same price as the labor day sale of last year. Not to mention I bought it in DE so no tax!

So if you live in NY, PA or NJ or DE you many check out this deal.

Notice: PC Richards does not allow returns on TV's over 30" and no exchanges (they force you use the warranty for defects).

Wow! All i can say is WOW! First off, bestbuy gave us a 2 hour delivery window of 8 to 10. So naturally I figured they show up at 10:30. Well imagine my surprise when they backed in at 8:15! They brought it in and hooked it up and WOW! I'm amazed. Now granted, I am connected through regular coax (no digital cable or satellite yet) but the picture is still really nice. It even pulled in some HD channels. I've yet to watch a DVD in all its widescreen glory yet, but I'm looking forward to it. WOW!

I have had a KDF-E50A10 since August and love it. However, yesterday two faint bands of color, one red and one green, appeared along the bottom of the screen. They are perfectly uniform, like stripes, with the red on the bottom and the green directly above it. They take up about an inch of space at the bottom of the picture.

I have tried every adjustment I can think of. The lines are there regardless of whether the input is cable, antenna or DVD. Has anyone else had this happen and, if so, do you know what can be done to correct it? Thanks.

I have had a KDF-E50A10 since August and love it. However, yesterday two faint bands of color, one red and one green, appeared along the bottom of the screen. They are perfectly uniform, like stripes, with the red on the bottom and the green directly above it. They take up about an inch of space at the bottom of the picture.

I have tried every adjustment I can think of. The lines are there regardless of whether the input is cable, antenna or DVD. Has anyone else had this happen and, if so, do you know what can be done to correct it? Thanks.

I've heard of this before - I'd get it serviced ASAP. If you go back through the thread you might find some people who had a similar problem and it was repaired.

I took a couple of pictures of my second 50A10 with the blue cloud in the upper left corner, One with a blank screen and the other a partial screen shot with a dark scene.
Like others have said, after spending 2 grand I think the screen uniformity should be better. I can live with a few dead/stuck pixels here and there because I don't find them to affect the overall picture
I think Sony could do better.

I'd either exchange again or have it serviced under the warranty. Getting a good set is hit-or-miss but when you hit it's fantastic. I have zero color uniformity problems or even any dead/stuck pixels with my set. Maybe I got lucky, but I'm not willing to believe others can't get a set that looks as good as mine. The bottom line is, as always, don't settle for a set if it's not satisfactory.

Well havent gotten to set it up or tunr it on yet. Family stuff lastnight. But hey I did take the top off the box to find 2 scratches on the side of the silver bezel. I 2" gouge and 1 1" gouge. Ya!

I have a SA 8300hd box, going through yamaha htr-5860 and into the a10. When I switch channels usually from SD to HD channels the tv is scrambled and wont return to normal until I shut of the tv and turn it back on again. Is this a cablebox problem? I have tried picture format set to pass through, fixed, upconvert. Same problem. I ddn't have this problem when I first got the box. It first happened about a week later. Any suggestions? I had the SA 4200HD before with no problems. Sometimes it also happens when I switch inputs to the XBOX. Picture is scrambled until I turn the tv off then back on again. ??????????????

I have a SA 8300hd box, going through yamaha htr-5860 and into the a10. When I switch channels usually from SD to HD channels the tv is scrambled and wont return to normal until I shut of the tv and turn it back on again. Is this a cablebox problem? I have tried picture format set to pass through, fixed, upconvert. Same problem. I ddn't have this problem when I first got the box. It first happened about a week later. Any suggestions? I had the SA 4200HD before with no problems. Sometimes it also happens when I switch inputs to the XBOX. Picture is scrambled until I turn the tv off then back on again. ??????????????

My 3250HD does this briefly now that I've set it to pass-through. I believe the explanation on the 3250HD thread was that the TV obviously has to change to adjust between the different resolutions. I don't know why your setup is having this problem but I would have the cable company exchange cable boxes for you. My roommates and I are using an 8300HD DVR for SD DVR use on another TV in our place and we've had to swap it out for different ones twice... it's a flaky box IMHO.

does either the 42" or 50" A10 do split screen picture in picture? i have heard that the 42 doesnt but 50 does. can anyone confirm?

No. But you'll eventually grow tired of the exchanges and will either accept it with all its flaws or will get something else.

The more I look at my TV, the more I don't care/don't see the one lit green pixel. Yes, it's visible when the set is completely dark and I'm less than 4 feet away. Even when dark and I'm in my seat, about 10 feet away, I can only see it if I'm looking, looking, looking for it.

But still, for the money I spent ($1650) I wanted perfection. But of course I know perfection on these TVs is a sliding scale. One lit pixel is way better than a blue cloud, a green blotch, or a bunch of burnt pixels.

I begin to feel a little weird about having ABT deliver set #3, but hey, I'm the customer, right. So I decide I'll have them bring the new one in, set it up, check for faults, and keep the better of the two. I was totally prepared to just keep set #2.

So ABT shows up right on time (gotta love ABT). I begin to explain the situation to the delivery guys, when he says to me, "did anyone from ABT call you? We're prepared to give you $320.00 back on your credit card if you keep this set and we don't have to open the box on the new one."

It took me all of about one second to sign the paper, tip the guys $10.00 and fully enjoy my new KDFE42A10 for the total price of $1330.00.

Warrantee's still in effect of course in case of any other problems.

Woo-hoo!!!!!

I can't believe it!

The squeaky wheel, in this case, most definitely got the grease. :D :D :D

not for nothing but you are entitled to perfection, We all lived and paid heavily for nintendo when it came out, blow in the cartridge, stuff something in to keep it down so it plays well. Anyhow after accepting that crap i vowed never again to settle. So don't stop complaining and never settle!

Good luck!

Got it at Costco, hooked it up today. Wow, pretty neat. I had debated between this one and a 42 LCD. I am pleased with my decision so far.

I don't have HD yet (waiting on Denver locals from Dish Network), but I was surprised at how good most of the SD is. When watching fast moving scenes (like basketball), it's kind of fuzzy on the fast stuff. Is this SDE? Is there any way to improve on this?

Agreed, Alan. While there's no such thing as a perfect set, there's acceptable and not acceptable. A pixel here and a pixel there isn't out of spec, if it's unacceptable to you, don't settle. That being said, having seen as many of these sets as I have without color blobs, it's one thing to say that you can tolerate it but it's preposterous to claim that this is within spec.

Also available @ Sam's Club w/ stand. At the local store, it was positioned next to the Sony. Comparing the two, the Panny was brighter but flesh colors had a bit too much yellow. Granted, these issues can be corrected, but I came away with the same question. Although I'm still leaning heavily toward the Sony, does anyone share personal pros & cons about the Panny?

I went through 5 different sets that I brought home,including the 52 inch Panny,I didn't like the Panny at all,picture didn't look rich in color no matter what I did to it.
Out of all 5 I check out,the Sony A10 was the best.
I brought home the Sony that the A10 replaced,the 50 WE655 and it was really bad,so I didn't think the A10 would be any better,but it was great,there was no comparison.

Consumer Reports gives the 50A10 a very good review,for what that is worth.

Ordered my 50A10 from my local sears dealer, and they price matched to any online retailer (suckers). Lets just say I got it for a good price way below what i would get it online. I was offered the floor model which looked extremely good, no scratches on it, uniform color, geometry and sweet with standard tv, but they didn't have the box to go with the tv :rolleyes:
So I ordered one through them and should receive it by wednesday. Wish me luck guys! :)

Have any of you fixed the so called red push this set puts out. Cnet says about the 50A10-

"Out of the box, the set exhibited some of the worst color decoding, namely red push, we've seen in a while. Fortunately, this can be fixed in the service menu, but with a TV in this price range, we doubt that many buyers will pay the $400 or so it costs for professional calibration."

"As we mentioned in Features, there are a couple of picture-affecting tweaks that can really harm image quality, but happily, you can turn them off. Let's start with Live Color, which makes the already atrocious color decoding even worse. The Clear White feature looked as though it simply made the grayscale bluer as you went up the scale from off to high; we recommend you set both of these features to off. We noted that among the four available choices for Gamma, the Low setting produced the most accurate gamma curve. The Black Corrector feature also affects gamma, and the Low setting again seemed to yield the best results."


I know I'm not paying 400 to have someone do it. I also know I probably can't access the service menu myself or would even want to. What have you all done as owners on this issue?

Here is a step by step. use setting 003b.

Originally Posted by deconvolver


Red Push Lowering:

(step -1) Start with a TV where all needed inputs have already been configured to best custom mode settings
(step 0) If necessary turn off TV and wait for bulb to turn off
(step 1) Press the following 4 key sequence without a pause:
(display) (5) (Volume +) (Power)
(step 2) Wait the normal turn on time for the debug screen to appear
(step 3) Select the desired input (ex. Press TV/Video) with a signal present- preferably a color test signal
(step 4) Press (jump) twice to get to service data screen
(step 5) Press (2) eight times to get to CST category
(step 6) Press (1) once to get to CHAXIS 1 item
(step 7) Write down current setting
(step 8) Change the item value from 46 to 45 or from 2c to 2b by pressing (6) to decrement the value by one. Observe the effect on the display, press (3) to increment setting back if desired
(step 9) To save the new value press (mute) (ent) and wait for write to complete, skip this step if no change is desired
(step 10) Press (jump) to return to the debug screen
Repeat steps 3 through 10 for each input and resolution, skipping steps 8 and 9 if the value is already decremented. I only needed to change one SD and one HD value for the other inputs to show the new value.
(step 11) From debug screen press (power) to turn the TV off and wait for the bulb to go out


After making the change I increased the Color settings for each input to 40. I have not played a wide variety of content on the TV yet so I will probably continue to adjust the user settings like color and sharpness.

[edit: changed repeat to steps 3 to 10]

Check out this link too

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

Just picked up me 50A10 today. Still getting everything set up but it looks pretty good so far (thanks to DarkRain's settings). Anyway, the one problem that I'm having is with the PC input (input 7). I tried both my HTPC and my laptop and can't ever get the TV to sense the input. I tried 640x80, 800x600, 1024x768 on both PC's. I can get the TV to work on s-video through input 1, but input 7 doesn't seem to work at all. Can someone help me out here? What should I try next?

so, I watched Red Eye yesterday and noticed what appeared to be vertical banding. Red Eye is the only movie I saw this on and even after watching Red Eye I watched something else like Hd or another dvd and I didn't see the VB. It was late so I didn't really look into it, but has anyone else seen any VB or perhaps had seen Red Eye on their A10?

Does anyone know what is the best to clean the screen?

my kids have a habot of touching it and leaving grubby marks

thanks in advance

Does anyone know what is the best to clean the screen?

my kids have a habot of touching it and leaving grubby marks

thanks in advance

Best Buy sells what you need, ask them for help. Do not use Windex window cleaner!!

Check out this link too

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

Thank you very much for the information. Although theres no way in hell I trust myself to enter any service menu. Could I simply lower or help the red push by just messing with regular menu settings?

Thank you very much for the information. Although theres no way in hell I trust myself to enter any service menu. Could I simply lower or help the red push by just messing with regular menu settings? When I first got my A10 I just set the color for most inputs at 38.

Does anyone know what is the best to clean the screen?

my kids have a habot of touching it and leaving grubby marks

thanks in advance


I bought some Monster Screen cleaning solution at Best Buy for $16.99.

Came with a microfiber cloth as well.

You just spray the solution on the cloth and gently wipe the screen. Easy as that.

Do not use windex.

http://www.monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=2350

I've seen mention of people setting a different value for color based on the different inputs.

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do this? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding?

I'd love to be able to have different settings for my 360, DVD, PS2, etc.. based on the actual input instead of the three available "picture" settings..

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Yeah. Just use wegagate.

wegagate
Change to your device in the input area.

wegagate
go to settings, adjust for that device

do it for each device.

Does anyone know what is the best to clean the screen?

my kids have a habot of touching it and leaving grubby marks

thanks in advance

Mine was 4 days old and my MIL comes in and says "Oh doesn't it look great" and smears her
hand across the screen. There's like 4 long greasy streaks across the screen.

"Relatives can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em." LOL

I used a wet and very soft cloth and some very diluted mild bath soap, worked fine. I use
a new, each time, hand Swiffer to dust it.
Grateful11

Thanks for the advice all

FYI. PC Richards has the 42 A10 on sale this week, at no cost to them. I took the printout from the website to both BB and CC and they would not pricematch completely but came down signigicantly. I brought the TV from BB at the same price as the labor day sale of last year. Not to mention I bought it in DE so no tax!

So if you live in NY, PA or NJ or DE you many check out this deal.

Notice: PC Richards does not allow returns on TV's over 30" and no exchanges (they force you use the warranty for defects).


kurtlingle , thank you VERY much. Because of you i was able to get the 42 inch A10 price matched with the additional 10% off. Had to go to 2 circuit city's. the first one did not want to price match because the PCR local to them did not have it in stock. the second one told me they could not at first because they would be selling it to me below cost to them. I explained that there advertisement says they will beat any of their competitors price. And that they are not honoring there policy by telling me they can not do it. They understood my point and decided to honor it. They also explained to me that the other CC i went to previously should have honered it. As long as the competitor is 25 miles within the store, has it in stock, they can honor it. There was another PCR within the 25m that had it in stock but they said it had to be the one closes to them. So at the second CC my salesman explained, the reason they did not want to give it to me was because they would have sold it below cost to them.. I did call to confirm the PCR they called did not have it in stock and they were right. I understand there point but it's there advertising, not mine and they SHOULD have honer it. Thankfully the other CC did and now i am a happy camper. My salesman was a very nice guy. I also picked up the 2yr warranty and a reflections entertainment group silve black stand. Thanks again to you and every one else on this great forum.

Is it worth the extra $300 to get the KDFE over the KFE. Is a built in tuner worth that? I've been researching tvs for awhile now, and i think i've settled on a 42A10. But i want to know if that extra $300 can go into a stand or something else. How would i even go about using a built in tuner anyways? I read that you need to buy an antenna or something? Thanks

Has anyone done any geometry tests on their TV? On my 42", I'm noticing a trapezoidal effect. Ie, if I have a test pattern or simply hook up my computer to VGA or HDMI, the top of the image is narrower than the bottom. I've been going over everything in the service menu, and while I can find how to control the horizontal and vertical width and position, I can't figure out how to set the upper and lower widths.

"while I can find how to control the horizontal and vertical width and position"


So are you saying you found a way in the service menu to possibly fix a geometry issue with say, one side being lower than the other with a letter boxed source?

If this is true and I'm not just reading this wrong I would love to know how.

Is it worth the extra $300 to get the KDFE over the KFE. Is a built in tuner worth that? I've been researching tvs for awhile now, and i think i've settled on a 42A10. But i want to know if that extra $300 can go into a stand or something else. How would i even go about using a built in tuner anyways? I read that you need to buy an antenna or something? Thanks

Yes, you'd need to buy an antenna. And that would give you the capability of receiving the best quality HD programming available. Live sporting events like NFL and prime time HD programming from your local networks is absolutely stunning on this television. Navigation through the guide is slower than with most OTA receivers but the tuner pulls in stations very well.

Is it worth the extra $300 to get the KDFE over the KFE. Is a built in tuner worth that? I've been researching tvs for awhile now, and i think i've settled on a 42A10. But i want to know if that extra $300 can go into a stand or something else. How would i even go about using a built in tuner anyways? I read that you need to buy an antenna or something? Thanks

Scott is correct, OTA picture and sound (DD 5.1) is awesome. Go to:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

put in your street address and zip. Drill down and it will show you where to aim your antenna. I my case all UHF channels were located 276 deg West. I purchased a Channel Master 4228, mounted it in the attic and it wooks great.

Is it worth the extra $300 to get the KDFE over the KFE. Is a built in tuner worth that? I've been researching tvs for awhile now, and i think i've settled on a 42A10. But i want to know if that extra $300 can go into a stand or something else. How would i even go about using a built in tuner anyways? I read that you need to buy an antenna or something? Thanks

Another option would be a cable card if you are using your local cable company. The card is usually under 3 bucks a month. I'm using both antenna and card, the antenna just in case the cable goes out, which doesn't happen that often anymore but it's a backup. We only have two HD local stations here, the others are still building their systems, so with the cable card I subscribe to their HD package.

Another option would be a cable card if you are using your local cable company. The card is usually under 3 bucks a month. I'm using both antenna and card, the antenna just in case the cable goes out, which doesn't happen that often anymore but it's a backup. We only have two HD local stations here, the others are still building their systems, so with the cable card I subscribe to their HD package.

Joanr any issues with Cable Card overheating? I understand in some cases Sony has to install an additional heat shield.

Joanr any issues with Cable Card overheating? I understand in some cases Sony has to install an additional heat shield.

The only issue I've had with the card is the occasional pairing mishap. It will just lose it's authorization and I'll have to reset it. If this is due to an overheating problem, I don't know, haven't heard of that problem. What are the symptoms? Does the board fry becoming unusable? I know when I do a reset I have to go through the whole blocking of unused channels again, which is a pain, but the PQ is much better using the card vs STB.

I purchased the E50A10 in early December and utilize a cablecard (Motorola). The HD and digital channels are incredibly sharp and the SD channels are very clean and clear. Shortly after getting the cablecard, my unit would occasionally forget the digital/HD channels after it was powered down. I would have to do a 'reset' of the cablecard through the menus and it would find the missing channels. I contacted Sony and was fortunate to get an actual engineer, not consumer rep. I was informed that some A10's had problems with the lamp overheating the cablecard readers. A Sony authorized repairman installed a heat shield and also a new lamp. Not certain if the new lamp is a new design that runs cooler or what but I did get a new one installed that looked slightly different in design but it has the same designation as the original lamp. All works well now. The picture is still amazingly sharp and clear and no more episodes of losing the digital/HD channels. I am finally happy with the adjustments to the set and feel I have the colors, sharpness, blacks, etc optimized for my eyes. I have a Panasonic S77 DVD player hooked up via HDMI and the pictures are very near HD quality. Overall, I am very pleased with the unit and the way Sony handled the problem with the heatshield. The service person was very good, this was the first heat shield he had installed and all went well. :)

I purchased the E50A10 in early December and utilize a cablecard (Motorola). The HD and digital channels are incredibly sharp and the SD channels are very clean and clear. Shortly after getting the cablecard, my unit would occasionally forget the digital/HD channels after it was powered down. I would have to do a 'reset' of the cablecard through the menus and it would find the missing channels. I contacted Sony and was fortunate to get an actual engineer, not consumer rep. I was informed that some A10's had problems with the lamp overheating the cablecard readers. A Sony authorized repairman installed a heat shield and also a new lamp. Not certain if the new lamp is a new design that runs cooler or what but I did get a new one installed that looked slightly different in design but it has the same designation as the original lamp. All works well now. The picture is still amazingly sharp and clear and no more episodes of losing the digital/HD channels. I am finally happy with the adjustments to the set and feel I have the colors, sharpness, blacks, etc optimized for my eyes. I have a Panasonic S77 DVD player hooked up via HDMI and the pictures are very near HD quality. Overall, I am very pleased with the unit and the way Sony handled the problem with the heatshield. The service person was very good, this was the first heat shield he had installed and all went well. :)

Seems the exact problem I have occasionally. Just curious, how did you diagnose the heat problem? Pull the card and it was hot? I'm going to contact Sony then, I've been blaming the cable company's head end for losing the info, but perhaps it's not them at all. It seems to happen only at power up and then only every 2 months or so. Any additonal info you have would be appreciated before I contact Sony about this. Thanks.

Ok, so my A10 comes on Wed! Yahoo!

I'll need component cables for the DVD player and RG-6 for my Antenna. I checked out monoprice.com and they are very cheap there. I know that others here have bought the HDMI cable from mono, how about component cables? Also, how about the RG-6? I need 25 ft or so.

Just took the plunge. However, I am having a little problem.

I have the VGA on my GeForce 6200 hooked up to the RGB input. I have about a half inch of black on the bottom and top and about 1.5 inches of black on each side in Full Mode. If I use Zoom, I have a bit of overscan. Is there something I can do so the image will fill the screen.

I am using 1280X720 for the computer resolution.

Also, I hooked up the DVI to HDMI and get the opening Windows XP screen (with the progress bar), but it never displays the anything else. Is there something I need to adjust or change?

Thanks for the help.

Initially, the cable guys thought I was losing the digital channels due to a poor signal but I actually had a strong signal up to the outlet. After trying a different cablecard, the cable company actually made initial contact with Sony about the problem. First contact I had with Sony was with the engineer who was very straightforward that it was a known problem and had a known fix. If I had used a STB rather than cablecard, never would have noticed the problem. My E50A10 has an October 2005 build date. Assume newer units now have the fix built-in. Seems only some units had this problem, not certain what was different among the released units, seems either all would have the problem or all would be okay. Anyway, this is my experience. It took the technician a little over one hour to install the head shield and replace the bulb. I have not had any instances of the unit forgetting the digital channels since the heat shield was installed. Good luck.

Picked up my KDF-E42A10 a few days ago and had Charter come out for the CableCARD installation.

All seemed to go well, a screen popped up saying "Firmware Upgrade, Please wait while your CableCARD updates. The update will take approx. 1 hour."

This screen stays up for 1 hour, then goes back to the first screen which is searching for channels, stays on that screen for about 1 minute, then goes back to the firmware screen. Charter tells me it is the TV, anyone else have this issue? I called Sony and they indicated my TV needs to be serviced, but since I bought it so recently I would just take it back to the store.

Hey Everyone,

I've been the owner of an A10 now for about a month. Generally, I think it has outstanding PQ. SD is a bit fuzzy and HD is great for the most part. But I have some questions concerning this TV and "Motion Blurr" or so I think.

When I watch football or hockey (especially hockey) there seem to be a lot of blurr or focus diffilculties during scenes where the camera swings or pans quickly and the players go out of focus but quickly return to focus. Sometime with hockey the camera doesn't even need to pan fast for this to happen. Could it be:

1. The sport is so fast that the technology to encode it can't keep up and I see all the imperfections.
2. The effect is "Motion Blurr" and the TV can't refresh the screen fast enough.
I've used my DVR to record this and when I play back in slow mo the picture looks blurry(is it the source, signal strength)
3. Cable compressing the signal.. Cablevision of L.I

Someone please explain to me what I am probably seeing. I hope it's not the TV.
Sony says they do not get calls about this TV and It's ability to show fast moving sport..It doesn't seem as bad on my friends Plasma(same source)

BTW Anyone know what the refresh rate is of the A10?

I know this is the A10 thread, but I have a 55A20 that I have had for a week and I have the same issue with watching hockey games. It is especially blurry during wide ice shots. It is not as bad during closer shots. I have the same issue when viewing DirecTV or Cablevision. I am very disappointed on how this looks. Could any settings or adjustments correct this?

Hey Everyone,


3. Cable compressing the signal.. Cablevision of L.I



I kinda think it's #3....BTW, is it SD or HD?

I have Adelphia in WNY and find the Sabres on MSG (SD) look pretty mediocre, but the occassional HD hockey game on HDTV or INHD looks pretty impressive!

Both SD and HD...

So if it's #3...what does the future hold?

Both SD and HD...

So if it's #3...what does the future hold?

If you're watching the Islanders on Cablevision of L.I., what's the difference???? :D

If i'm watching the Islanders not much..But I am watching the Blue Shirts on MSGHD..Same problem with FSNY and NBC on saturday..

Well its been a week and i must say i am totally impressed! And i feel like i may be a very lucky guy too, cause so far i've had none of the problems i've read about here.( i emphasize "so far") Well anyways its totally beautiful, the hd is incredible. Since the first time i saw football in hd last october i was hooked and now that i got my own its even more awesome! The picture overall is crisp on hd, fuzzy in sd, although sometimes even though its not an "hd" brodcast some of the sd channels look very "sharp", for sd that is. Although the sound is lacking, its definately adequate, but i'll be upgrading that soon. kinda disapointed about no pip, or split screen but hey its all about pros and cons. i thank darkrain and deconlover for thier very helpful post, it gives you a very good starting point. and now for a question.......right now im using my hdmi cable for my stb sa 8300, and component cables for my dvd. but my toshiba sd5980 dvd player only upconverts with the hdmi cable. so should i use the hdmi for that instead or should i leave it as it is. i know i'll get a few " its up to you bro" but i ask from people who may have had the same dilemma or may know which is "best". thanks in advance.

i would also like to know how to fill the screen (if possible) using the PC input. but i did have a weird problem, when i was using the PC input for the first time, every minute or so "Video 7" would pop up on the upper left part of the screen as if i changed to the PC input, has anyone else had this problem?

Have they announced a new model of this set for next year yet?

..But I am watching the Blue Shirts on MSGHD..Same problem with FSNY and NBC on saturday..

Interesting...if that was the Ranger/Red Wing game, I saw most of the 3rd period on Adelphia (NBCHD)....looked really nice!!!

Watching Sabres at Edmonton on MSG (SD) right now....just a terrible picture!!!!!!!

I know this is the A10 thread, but I have a 55A20 that I have had for a week and I have the same issue with watching hockey games. It is especially blurry during wide ice shots. It is not as bad during closer shots. I have the same issue when viewing DirecTV or Cablevision. I am very disappointed on how this looks. Could any settings or adjustments correct this?


I thinks it's based on the quality of the broadcast, around here ABC's NFL broadcast is flawless, CBS's pixels all over the place.

Hey Everyone,

When I watch football or hockey (especially hockey) there seem to be a lot of blurr or focus diffilculties during scenes where the camera swings or pans quickly and the players go out of focus but quickly return to focus. Sometime with hockey the camera doesn't even need to pan fast for this to happen.


Motion blur is affected by the source signal (progressive or interlaced) and the compression used to encode and the subsequent decode at the other end. 720p is supposed to be less prone to motion artifacts than 1080i, but from what I've seen that is not always the case. The Broncos/Patriots game on CBS (1080i) was nearly flawless (IMHO) whereas the Bears/Panthers on Fox (720p) just didn't seem as crisp and clear. It was just the opposite for the Colts/Steelers (CBS) and the Seahawks/Redskins (Fox). The skating championships on ABC (720p) was outstanding.

Our Sony TV's use LCD projection and I don't think that LCD technology really has a refresh rate associated with it since pixels are turned on/off, so I don't think that refresh rate is an issue here.

Logicman

Is it worth the extra $300 to get the KDFE over the KFE. Is a built in tuner worth that? Thanks

The built-in tuner will decode most unscrambled digital signals without the cablecard. I plugged my set in and got 73 analog and over 100 digital channels using auto scan. Granted they were mostly digital versions of the analog channels, but I did get the HD broadcast channels in my area.

I was very surprized and quite pleased. I even got those music channels they offer through digital cable.

Your milage will vary, but the A10's have three digital tuners in there, and all the signals are in that RF cable going into the back of the set. It depends on your cable company.

Mike

The built-in tuner will decode most unscrambled digital signals without the cablecard. I plugged my set in and got 73 analog and over 100 digital channels using auto scan. Granted they were mostly digital versions of the analog channels, but I did get the HD broadcast channels in my area.

I was very surprized and quite pleased. I even got those music channels they offer through digital cable.

Your milage will vary, but the A10's have three digital tuners in there, and all the signals are in that RF cable going into the back of the set. It depends on your cable company.

Mike

Got the same exact thing with my XBR 960, which surpised me 'cause, I had an HP plasma a week before and its built-in tuner didn't pick up ANYTHING. Sony's sets must have a strong tuner.

Btw, no one answered my earlier post, so I'll post it again: Is Sony making a new model of this set for next year? Was it announced at all at CES? Any pics? Anything. Thanks! :)

The built-in tuner will decode most unscrambled digital signals without the cablecard. I plugged my set in and got 73 analog and over 100 digital channels using auto scan. Granted they were mostly digital versions of the analog channels, but I did get the HD broadcast channels in my area.

I, too, was pleased that my A10 found all the analog and HD stations via autoscan when I first turned on the set. QUESTION: My local NBC station has announced they are activating HD on February 10 -- will the TV pick up the new station automatically, or will I need to rescan the channels again?

Logicman

I, too, was pleased that my A10 found all the analog and HD stations via autoscan when I first turned on the set. QUESTION: My local NBC station has announced they are activating HD on February 10 -- will the TV pick up the new station automatically, or will I need to rescan the channels again?

Logicman

If you find out what channel number they are on, just enter it directly on the remote. Then add it in the menu. That way you don't have to do the scan of all channels.

I'm sure that the networks are aware that motion blurr or artifacts exist in their broadcasts. Why isn't something done about this. Is it the technology? Will MPEG 4 solve this issue?

Do some DLP's or Plasmas handle these artifacts better than LCD's. It didn't seem as bad watching a hockey game on my buddy's plasma using the same source. I just want to make sure it's not the TV.

I talked with a sony tech and they said they didn't have any info on the refresh rate of the A10.

Still concerned...Does anyone have any other comments. please!!

Hey Everyone,

I've been the owner of an A10 now for about a month. Generally, I think it has outstanding PQ. SD is a bit fuzzy and HD is great for the most part. But I have some questions concerning this TV and "Motion Blurr" or so I think.

When I watch football or hockey (especially hockey) there seem to be a lot of blurr or focus diffilculties during scenes where the camera swings or pans quickly and the players go out of focus but quickly return to focus. Sometime with hockey the camera doesn't even need to pan fast for this to happen. Could it be:

1. The sport is so fast that the technology to encode it can't keep up and I see all the imperfections.
2. The effect is "Motion Blurr" and the TV can't refresh the screen fast enough.
I've used my DVR to record this and when I play back in slow mo the picture looks blurry(is it the source, signal strength)
3. Cable compressing the signal.. Cablevision of L.I

Someone please explain to me what I am probably seeing. I hope it's not the TV.
Sony says they do not get calls about this TV and It's ability to show fast moving sport..It doesn't seem as bad on my friends Plasma(same source)

BTW Anyone know what the refresh rate is of the A10?
You missed #4) the camera operator is having trouble holding focus while following the motion. This plus #1 and/or #3 are the most likely reasons for the blur.
I think this TV uses 60 Hz refresh.

I thought refersh rates were expressed as milliseconds such as 8ms 12ms or 16ms?

If you find out what channel number they are on, just enter it
directly on the remote. Then add it in the menu. That way you
don't have to do the scan of all channels.

If you do a complete re-scan of channels does it remove channels that no longer come in? In
other words I don't want it to remove channels that may not come in because I have turned
my antenna or reception may not be so good that day.

Thanks, Grateful11

I thought refersh rates were expressed as milliseconds such as 8ms 12ms or 16ms?


That's response time.

I, too, was pleased that my A10 found all the analog and HD stations via autoscan when I first turned on the set. QUESTION: My local NBC station has announced they are activating HD on February 10 -- will the TV pick up the new station automatically, or will I need to rescan the channels again?

Logicman


you can also tune to NBC, then go into wegagate and add/remove channels and move cursor to the right (i.e. if NBC is 24, then moving to the right will likely show you 24.1 or any other subchannels) and then add it that way.

So does anyone know the response time of the A10?

Is it possible that this "Blurr" caused by compression/encoding/camera focus be less noticable on higher end TV's such as Plasmas or non RPTV LCD's. I have friends who say they don't notice any "blurr" watching via the same source broadcasts. I'd like to have the cable tech to my house but I don't know how to explain the problem clearly. Might it be lack of signal strength to the TV?

Someone Please help me understand why some don't see a problem on their TV while I do viewing the same source on an A10.

Was wondering if you guys are getting the warranty with your TV's? I know that Circuit City is charging $259 for 2 yrs and $479 for 4 (I believe this includes the bulb). Any thoughts on these plans? Worth it?

Thanks.

Hey Everyone,

I've been the owner of an A10 now for about a month. Generally, I think it has outstanding PQ. SD is a bit fuzzy and HD is great for the most part. But I have some questions concerning this TV and "Motion Blurr" or so I think.

When I watch football or hockey (especially hockey) there seem to be a lot of blurr or focus diffilculties during scenes where the camera swings or pans quickly and the players go out of focus but quickly return to focus. Sometime with hockey the camera doesn't even need to pan fast for this to happen. Could it be:

1. The sport is so fast that the technology to encode it can't keep up and I see all the imperfections.
2. The effect is "Motion Blurr" and the TV can't refresh the screen fast enough.
I've used my DVR to record this and when I play back in slow mo the picture looks blurry(is it the source, signal strength)
3. Cable compressing the signal.. Cablevision of L.I

Someone please explain to me what I am probably seeing. I hope it's not the TV.
Sony says they do not get calls about this TV and It's ability to show fast moving sport..It doesn't seem as bad on my friends Plasma(same source)

BTW Anyone know what the refresh rate is of the A10?


It is not your TV. I noticed the same thing and I have done fairly extensive research on the web trying to decide if I should return it. I have definitely decided that it is not a problem with the display but with the source. As someone mentioned earlier it occurs when the camera focuses on the ball or the puck and can't maintain focus while panning. If the blur remains when you pause the DVR then it cannot have anything to do with refresh rate as the pixels would be able to catch up with action when it paused. You can't compare it to your friend’s plasma unless you were watching the exact same game at the same venue. I have noticed that different stadiums have different amounts of blur depending on how high the camera is placed. The higher the camera the less it has to pan in order to follow the action thus less blur. I am sure the skill and experience of the camera man is factor as well. I have paused the DVR and viewed it on both my A10 and a SD CRT (I have Dish which controls two TV's) and the CRT showed the exact same blur you just notice it more on the A10 because the normal picture is much sharper and clearer. I did read that this will get better when directors begin to frame sporting events for a 16x9 screen. Currently they frame for 4x3 so they have to pan the camera constantly to keep the action in the smaller screen area. When they go to 16x9 it will require less camera movement. Unfortunately this will probably not happen for a few years. By the way, while Sony does not publish refresh rates for the A10 I have read that it is believed to be 12ms which should be plenty fast enough for sports. Hope this helps.

Was wondering if you guys are getting the warranty with your TV's? I know that Circuit City is charging $259 for 2 yrs and $479 for 4 (I believe this includes the bulb). Any thoughts on these plans? Worth it?

Thanks.

I've NEVER been a fan of electronics stores trying to hustle their warranties in so they can bump up their margin...but when I purchased my A10 last week at Best Buy I opted for the warranty this time which was 4 years for $400.00.

It definitely put my mind at ease "just in case" for an investment such as this AND it replaces the bulb which is $200.00 bucks right there. This one is also transferable as well so down the line when it is upgrade time again, I can sell the TV with the warranty still covering it. Overall, I'd say it was worth it... :)

The built-in tuner will decode most unscrambled digital signals without the cablecard. I plugged my set in and got 73 analog and over 100 digital channels using auto scan. Granted they were mostly digital versions of the analog channels, but I did get the HD broadcast channels in my area.

I was very surprized and quite pleased. I even got those music channels they offer through digital cable.

Your milage will vary, but the A10's have three digital tuners in there, and all the signals are in that RF cable going into the back of the set. It depends on your cable company.

Mike

Do you HAVE to hook up an antenna or will some channels just come in?

"Unlike the United States, Canada doesn't have HDTV broadcasts that can be picked up by antenna. So to experience HDTV, you'll need to get the signal through another source, like a digital cable tuner."

I just read that off Shaw.ca website. They are my cable company. Is this true? Wouldnt it make alot of sense then to save the extra $300 and go for the one without the built in tuner? That is the onyl difference right?

I've NEVER been a fan of electronics stores trying to hustle their warranties in so they can bump up their margin...but when I purchased my A10 last week at Best Buy I opted for the warranty this time which was 4 years for $400.00.

It definitely put my mind at ease "just in case" for an investment such as this AND it replaces the bulb which is $200.00 bucks right there. This one is also transferable as well so down the line when it is upgrade time again, I can sell the TV with the warranty still covering it. Overall, I'd say it was worth it... :)

Has anybody purchased their warrenty from Sony direct?

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/EW_ViewExtendedWarranty-Detail?CategoryName=CE_TV&TabName=Pricing&Telesales=

"Unlike the United States, Canada doesn't have HDTV broadcasts that can be picked up by antenna. So to experience HDTV, you'll need to get the signal through another source, like a digital cable tuner."

I just read that off Shaw.ca website. They are my cable company. Is this true? Wouldnt it make alot of sense then to save the extra $300 and go for the one without the built in tuner? That is the onyl difference right?

No, that is definitely not true. Go to www.digitalhomecanada.com and look in the OTA forum. Many people receive OTA HD signals depending on where they live.

Hey there everyone,
I'm a newbie to the site, though I have been reading many of the threads for the last week or so. I have been researching for a new TV for about two months now and still can not decide. I've researched with Consumer Reports, a bunch of internet sites (though this one has been the most interesting so far, and of course going into a bunch of different stores checking out the numerous different TV's. Honestly, I have been driving myself nuts with all of the information about rainbow effect and DLP, the screendoor effect of LCD, and then of course all of the weird unique things that have been happening to all of you Sony owners (blue/green colors, grapefruit size miscolorings, vertical lines). :confused:
That being said, I thought for sure that I wanted the 50" A10, but after talking to a salesman/friend about where I would be putting the TV (kitty corner, only because for some stupid reason that's where the electrician put the only cable jack) he disuaded me from that saying that I wouldn't get top notch surround sound doing it that way. So then we decided we would add a new cable jack (on a rather large wall) but the 50" would probably then be too small. So thus we thought of the 55" A20. That guy was also going to get me a deal on the 55" (about $700 off of MSRP) which sounds great, but the warranty price is outrageous. And another super weird thing is that not one store around me has the 55" on display. I can see the 50", the 42" and the 60" but noone has the 55" and who wants to spend a crapload of money without actually seeing the pq first? Not me!
If any of you out there own either the A10 or A55 and really think it's the best thing in the world, or you have it and kind of regret you didn't go with something else, just reply and shed some light to a confused woman that doesn't know what to get.
And just an aside, I haven't been able to watch TV for almost a whole month now-I have been watching a 19", only watching rented movies since I have no signal at all and am waiting for my HD television so I can hook up all of the HD DIRECT TV Equipment just sitting in a box in my room.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me!

When I press the Display button on my remote for my 50A10 it doesn't show the resolution of the input source. Others have commented that they can see the input resolution (480i, 720p, etc.) by pressing the Display button. Am I missing something?

Hey there everyone,
I'm a newbie to the site, though I have been reading many of the threads for the last week or so. I have been researching for a new TV for about two months now and still can not decide. I've researched with Consumer Reports, a bunch of internet sites (though this one has been the most interesting so far, and of course going into a bunch of different stores checking out the numerous different TV's. Honestly, I have been driving myself nuts with all of the information about rainbow effect and DLP, the screendoor effect of LCD, and then of course all of the weird unique things that have been happening to all of you Sony owners (blue/green colors, grapefruit size miscolorings, vertical lines). :confused:
That being said, I thought for sure that I wanted the 50" A10, but after talking to a salesman/friend about where I would be putting the TV (kitty corner, only because for some stupid reason that's where the electrician put the only cable jack) he disuaded me from that saying that I wouldn't get top notch surround sound doing it that way. So then we decided we would add a new cable jack (on a rather large wall) but the 50" would probably then be too small. So thus we thought of the 55" A20. That guy was also going to get me a deal on the 55" (about $700 off of MSRP) which sounds great, but the warranty price is outrageous. And another super weird thing is that not one store around me has the 55" on display. I can see the 50", the 42" and the 60" but noone has the 55" and who wants to spend a crapload of money without actually seeing the pq first? Not me!
If any of you out there own either the A10 or A55 and really think it's the best thing in the world, or you have it and kind of regret you didn't go with something else, just reply and shed some light to a confused woman that doesn't know what to get.
And just an aside, I haven't been able to watch TV for almost a whole month now-I have been watching a 19", only watching rented movies since I have no signal at all and am waiting for my HD television so I can hook up all of the HD DIRECT TV Equipment just sitting in a box in my room.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me!

Other than the size I do not believe that there is any difference between the 55 and 60 in. A-20 sets. If you're concern is picture quality then viewing the 60 inch set should be sufficient. From my experience all these microdisplays look much larger in the home than in the store. I purchased the A-10 over the A-20 simply because I believed the image quality was better, whether that was due to the dynamic iris or not I'm not sure (The A-20 series do not have them). I'm sure others will offer their opinions as well.

Good luck.

When I press the Display button on my remote for my 50A10 it doesn't show the resolution of the input source. Others have commented that they can see the input resolution (480i, 720p, etc.) by pressing the Display button. Am I missing something?

Use the "Guide" button.

When I press the Display button on my remote for my 50A10 it doesn't show the resolution of the input source. Others have commented that they can see the input resolution (480i, 720p, etc.) by pressing the Display button. Am I missing something?

gthal, since you are in Canada, am I correct in assuming you have the KFE version and not the KDFE (with the digital tuner)? I have the KFE version myself and also do not get the specific resolutions. I think it is simply a difference in the models, as illustrated in the manuals for both: there are some slight differences in the way the Wega Gate menus work, etc. On my unit, the Guide button does nothing and is not even mentioned in the manual.

Does anyone know how, or if, the bulb timer in the service menu gets reset when you replace a lamp?
If it resets automatically, is it only when the lamp is replaced AFTER the TV itself has determined a replacement is necessary (i.e. flashing bulb timer light or "blown" bulb).

WHat happens to a guy that buys this tv and never uses custom but only standard or vivid? Without changing anything, is it just a God Awful picture or what? Because in the store when I view the 42 it looks perfect to me.

I've NEVER been a fan of electronics stores trying to hustle their warranties in so they can bump up their margin...but when I purchased my A10 last week at Best Buy I opted for the warranty this time which was 4 years for $400.00.

It definitely put my mind at ease "just in case" for an investment such as this AND it replaces the bulb which is $200.00 bucks right there. This one is also transferable as well so down the line when it is upgrade time again, I can sell the TV with the warranty still covering it. Overall, I'd say it was worth it... :)

I agree completely. I have never purchased an extended warranty or a service plan on electronics until I purchased my A-10. Though the place I purchased from had a few service plans and I chose the five year without bulb replacement. It only cost $150. Covers the set completely from in-home service to pick-up and take to the shop, the store actually services, it is not sub-contracted. I figure the bulb is a wear item and will have to be replaced throughout the lifetime or my ownership of the set. I would guess on average that would be every three to four years at two hundred bucks a pop. Most warranties would only cover one bulb replacement in that time and I would be out a couple hundred dollars if nothing else goes wrong with the set. Plus I believe Sony warranties the bulb for one year so if it is defective it will go in that time frame. Time will tell if my gamble pays off but it seemed fairly logical.

WHat happens to a guy that buys this tv and never uses custom but only standard or vivid? Without changing anything, is it just a God Awful picture or what? Because in the store when I view the 42 it looks perfect to me.


I had my set at standard for quite some time and the image is fine. You can always calibrate to a better image in the future. I never felt the standard image was hideous and unbearable, it just depends how much of a perfectionist you are and if you want to get the most out of the capabilities of the set. I would say that vivid mode is fairly unbearable.

WHat happens to a guy that buys this tv and never uses custom but only standard or vivid? Without changing anything, is it just a God Awful picture or what? Because in the store when I view the 42 it looks perfect to me.


I find myself going back to VIVID for a lot of programs ...I just tone down the color a bit.

Has anybody purchased their warrenty from Sony direct?

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/EW_ViewExtendedWarranty-Detail?CategoryName=CE_TV&TabName=Pricing&Telesales=


It looks preaty good but how do you buy it? There is no add to cart

It looks preaty good but how do you buy it? There is no add to cartYou have to call the 800 number. ;)

BTW...I explored a warranty direct from Sony and the phone rep was adamant that their extended warranty does not cover bulbs.

I just setup my 50A10 last night and I am not very happy with it. Comparing it to my 50XBR850 the picture is crap.

The SSE is contant and there is what appears to be glare on the screen on peoples faces.
I made some adjustments and the pic improved a bit but hands down my 2yr GWII blows it away.

I did the Umar tweaks on my GWII and I am hoping the same will help this unit out...As it is today I juat may be taking it back.

Any advice?

I just setup my 50A10 last night and I am not very happy with it. Comparing it to my 50XBR850 the picture is crap.

The SSE is contant and there is what appears to be glare on the screen on peoples faces.
I made some adjustments and the pic improved a bit but hands down my 2yr GWII blows it away.

I did the Umar tweaks on my GWII and I am hoping the same will help this unit out...As it is today I juat may be taking it back.

Any advice?

Obviously you bought it cause you seen it and loved it right? What happened from taking it from the store to home? Many people have posted custom settings in this thread and also a thread called Grand WEga Tweaks. Look there for all the help you can get.

i just got home with a new 42a10.

i have a quick question, when watching a dvd that is 2.35:1, can you expand or zoom in so that the entire screen is filled instead of having the bars top and bottom??

thanks
tony

i just received the kdf-e42a10, and i have a quick question. when the tv is off, you can see a nonuniformity in the screen in the center closer to the top. it's lighter there than the rest of the screen. however, when you turn on the tv, you can't tell at all that it's there. should i be concerned?

i just got home with a new 42a10.

i have a quick question, when watching a dvd that is 2.35:1, can you expand or zoom in so that the entire screen is filled instead of having the bars top and bottom??

thanks
tony

Yes. Use the ZOOM mode. But it will look worse if you do and I don't recommend it. There's a reason why you buy a widescreen TV and widescreen DVDs.

i just received the kdf-e42a10, and i have a quick question. when the tv is off, you can see a nonuniformity in the screen in the center closer to the top. it's lighter there than the rest of the screen. however, when you turn on the tv, you can't tell at all that it's there. should i be concerned?

It's just ambient light reflections hitting the projection mirror inside the TV. It's normal.

It's just ambient light reflections hitting the projection mirror inside the TV. It's normal.

sweet. thanks for the quick reply. back to enjoying the tv. :D

i did buy a widescreen tv and a widescreen dvd!

the problem is that not all widescreen dvds are formatted at 16:9, some are formatted at 2.35:1.

if you use the zoom feature, there are still bars present, they are just smaller.