I'm having a strange problem with my 970. At times it will randomly change inputs, from #6 (which is HDMI) to OTA (which is next in the input sequence). Then it begins inputing a repeating series of digits. One day it was 9's, today it was 5's. It would have one 9, then 99, then 999, etc, for a channel number. It's not a constant problem, it's only happened a few times. I'm not using the remote when it happens.

My main remote is for my HR20-700 DirecTV DVR. It also controls the 970. I have two Sony remotes in the room but they're not the problem. I took out their batteries just in case they were doing something odd but I still had the input change/repeating numerals action going.

My first thought was a neighbor had gotten a new Sony and his remote was causing the interference. However, I'm in a rural area and the nearest neighbor's house is about 50 yards away. I'm not aware of any tv remote that can work at that range.

I guess another possibility is a neighbor's garage door opener, since they have longer ranges but the nearest one with an automatic opener is probably 75 yards away and I'm not aware that garage door openers can affect tv remote receivers.

Now I'm wondering if it's a problem with the HDMI cable itself. The tv and cable are only about 6 months old and neither has been moved recently. Has anyone ever heard of such a problem with an HDMI cable.

I'm wondering how I can test this the next time it happens? I was thinking of covering the IR receiver on the tv to eliminate the possibility that it was receiving extraneous signals from whatever source. What should I use to cover it that will block out any IR signals? I tried tape and even a paperback book but my remote still punches through.

Thanks for any suggestions. The problem is so odd that it's difficult to search for it on Google.

I can't see or understand what you're talking about. Maybe you might want to turn off that XBR970 the next time you're in the store. Every minute that thing plays in the store is one less minute you'll get to watch it once it's yours :)

You know how the tv screen should be clear and see everything on screen without any other color interfering on it if it's working fine. Well half an inch stretching out on the whole top and right side has this gray shadow looking thing going over whats showing on the tv. Try looking at the pic again and you'll see the gray on the screen before seeing the black on the screen which is normal since it isn't part of what it shows on the tv. I would of took the pic better but my cell phone can't pick up the problem well from a different angle.

Lol I finally did shut it off so no one would see how good the tv displayed and saving it's lifespan.

Hey guys,

I have been in and out of this message board and was doing some service menu changes. Currently I have the over-air-hd channels and do not have a cable box. I have done adjustments to the channels that end in .1 but when I go into the regular cable channels the adjustments to size and geometry that I changed in over-air-hd channels have affected the non hd channels. I thought that each setting depending on 1080i, 720p and so on have their own settings. Got any ideas? Any help would be appreciated.

I'm having a strange problem with my 970. At times it will randomly change inputs, from #6 (which is HDMI) to OTA (which is next in the input sequence). Then it begins inputing a repeating series of digits. One day it was 9's, today it was 5's. It would have one 9, then 99, then 999, etc, for a channel number. It's not a constant problem, it's only happened a few times. I'm not using the remote when it happens.

My main remote is for my HR20-700 DirecTV DVR. It also controls the 970. I have two Sony remotes in the room but they're not the problem. I took out their batteries just in case they were doing something odd but I still had the input change/repeating numerals action going.

My first thought was a neighbor had gotten a new Sony and his remote was causing the interference. However, I'm in a rural area and the nearest neighbor's house is about 50 yards away. I'm not aware of any tv remote that can work at that range.

I guess another possibility is a neighbor's garage door opener, since they have longer ranges but the nearest one with an automatic opener is probably 75 yards away and I'm not aware that garage door openers can affect tv remote receivers.

Now I'm wondering if it's a problem with the HDMI cable itself. The tv and cable are only about 6 months old and neither has been moved recently. Has anyone ever heard of such a problem with an HDMI cable.

I'm wondering how I can test this the next time it happens? I was thinking of covering the IR receiver on the tv to eliminate the possibility that it was receiving extraneous signals from whatever source. What should I use to cover it that will block out any IR signals? I tried tape and even a paperback book but my remote still punches through.

Thanks for any suggestions. The problem is so odd that it's difficult to search for it on Google.

Semi-serious reply: Are you sure you don't have a large dog or person sitting down on another remote control that is causing this? The "999" problem sounds like a classic symptom.

That sucks. Hope it gets fixed.

Well today when I was at BB again looking at the tv I looked up closer around the edges of the tv and saw this gray line thats near 1 inch in weth (cant get the speller thing to correct it only has weight) and it covers the whole top of the tv and the right side. It isn't very bad but I'm wondering why that's there for. Anyone?


Heres a pic of it. Theres black above which is normal then the bottom left of the pic it shows the gray on the screen. The gray overshadows that part of the screen when your very close to it.

Oh I see the problem. The giant tarantula is trying to strangle the small TV inside the big TV. Seriously, I can't see squat in that picture.

Hey guys,

I have been in and out of this message board and was doing some service menu changes. Currently I have the over-air-hd channels and do not have a cable box. I have done adjustments to the channels that end in .1 but when I go into the regular cable channels the adjustments to size and geometry that I changed in over-air-hd channels have affected the non hd channels. I thought that each setting depending on 1080i, 720p and so on have their own settings. Got any ideas? Any help would be appreciated.


Only the MID2 settings are resolution specific. The MID1 and vertical/horizontal adjustments adjust all inputs and resolutions.

Oh I see the problem. The giant tarantula is trying to strangle the small TV inside the big TV. Seriously, I can't see squat in that picture.

I guess ill try to take one with a digital camera to show the gray part when it's showing a dark scene of something on the tv. It isn't anything major, but was just wondering why it's there for.

Semi-serious reply: Are you sure you don't have a large dog or person sitting down on another remote control that is causing this? The "999" problem sounds like a classic symptom.

Hehe. As I wrote earlier, I checked all the other remotes in the house by taking their batteries out. I was still getting the extraneous channel numerals. Plus, note that I'm also getting an input change from #6 (HDMI) to OTA (the next input in the sequence). A remote being sat on or under something would likely only give the channel numerals and/or the input change, but not both. I only get one input change and it stops on the OTA.

One thing I did forget to mention...if memory serves, each time it happened has been within the first 30 minutes or so of being turned on in the morning.

Although I'm not an expert, my best suspicion at this point is something to do with the HDMI cable or connector. It has only happened three times, so I don't have a lot of data to work with, but each time it happened was when I was using the HDMI input. I do know that HDMI can get squirrely, but I've never read about it with these particular symptoms.

My dad had one of those calibration DVDs all this time and didn't tell me. But since he's bought a new Panasonic plasma he told me about how he tried to use it to calibrate his TV.

So, to check my setting and to see if there's anything I can improve upon, I borrowed it. Best thing I could have done. Almost everything changed. I'm now quite sure where my bright level should be and pretty sure how my contrast should be (the contrast test was rather difficult to gauge). And it turns out I had to adjust my colors higher, contrast and brightness lower, my hue one notch toward red, and sharpness down all the way. I was most hesitant about the sharpness thing. But the calibration disc is right...it creates a more natural, cinematic picture without the artificial information that can be added when increasing sharpness. I decided to adjust the settings from all my components (by switching the various connections to my DVD player).

So my HDTV Cable Box setting (Pro):
Picture (Contrast)= 61 (out of 100)
Brightness= 66
Color= 49
Hue (Tint)= R1 (one toward red)
Sharpness= Minimum (lowest setting)

Progressive-scan DVD (Movie):
Pict= 62
Bright= 68
Color= 47
Hue= R1
Sharp= Min

HD-DVD (Movie)
Pic= 50
Bright= 80 (for some reason, HD-DVD setting is already very dark)
Color= 49
Hue= R1
Sharp= Min

VCR (Pro):
Pic= 64
Bright= 58
Color= 50
Hue= R1
Sharp= 30 (because of s-video connection, had to adjust a little higher from the test pattern)

Everything looks WAY better now! I can't wait to see one of those insect documentary-thingies on Discover HD!

Only the MID2 settings are resolution specific. The MID1 and vertical/horizontal adjustments adjust all inputs and resolutions.

so I am going to have to live with either one of them being out of spec.

If you want to make seperate adjustments for different resolutions, use the MID2 settings. They aren't input specific, but they are resolution specific.

You have to decide what you want to live with though with adjusting the mid 2 settings. All these settings interact in some way and it will take some time to get everything perfect. Like you may think you have everything adjust right, then when a 16:9 image comes on thats black bordered on the top and bottom the picture may be off and you might have more black bar on the bottom or the top. But you have to decide what you want more, more picture by adjusting these settings, or the cleanest and best possible picture but with higher overscan. Adjusting the horizontal settings (DHHP,DHHS) in mid 2 don't cause any picture degrading (cept for possible linearity issues, but they are fixable) BUT the vertical (DHVP,DHVS) cause blurring of the vertical lines as it must change the way the guns hit the screen. I never noticed anything bad when having them changed, but when viewing line patterns (especially when using the built in test patterns in the PATN service menu) when you change DHVS you will see some of the vertical lines get dull and blurry as you change.

I have since went back to default for the vertical mid 2 settings, but changed the horizontal.

Today I noticed these colors poped up on the top right of the tv. It only shows in dark scenes but dunno why. Anyone know whats causing it?

Today I noticed these colors poped up on the top right of the tv. It only shows in dark scenes but dunno why. Anyone know whats causing it?

Again, it's hard to see what's going on in that picture. But sometimes if you have a 4:3 channel, there is some video "noise" at the top of the screen from closed caption data. If this is a channel with black bars on all 4 sides, that could very well be what this is.

If this is showing up in the image area of the picture, and on every channel, then there is definitely a problem, but I just cant tell much from that picture.

Again, it's hard to see what's going on in that picture. But sometimes if you have a 4:3 channel, there is some video "noise" at the top of the screen from closed caption data. If this is a channel with black bars on all 4 sides, that could very well be what this is.

If this is showing up in the image area of the picture, and on every channel, then there is definitely a problem, but I just cant tell much from that picture.

Nothing to do with the pic from a few days ago. Its a very little purplish reddish colors at the top of the picture. Its something I know shouldn't be there but if somehow still confusing its alright.

Great thread you guys got here! I picked up this Sony KD-34XBR970 34" HDTV today for $600 new. I was looking at getting a 42" LCD(Sony/Samsung/Vizio) for the last few weeks, but I saw this sucker and to be honest I'm not ready to indulge into the LCD/Plasma market just yet, the screen sizes are sweet, but I love the PQ you get from these HD Trinitrons. Plus apparently I like Sony TV's...I have a 27" Trinitron and a 30" HD Trinitron also...I got alot of info from all of you in this thread, and I THANK YOU ALL!!!

Great thread you guys got here! I picked up this Sony KD-34XBR970 34" HDTV today for $600 new. I was looking at getting a 42" LCD(Sony/Samsung/Vizio) for the last few weeks, but I saw this sucker and to be honest I'm not ready to indulge into the LCD/Plasma market just yet, the screen sizes are sweet, but I love the PQ you get from these HD Trinitrons. Plus apparently I like Sony TV's...I have a 27" Trinitron and a 30" HD Trinitron also...I got alot of info from all of you in this thread, and I THANK YOU ALL!!!

Awesome, dude! Mnay happy years of service to your new 970. Where did you find it, BTW?

Or happy months if you're unlucky like me.

Or happy months if you're unlucky like me.

No luck on the repair yet?

Awesome, dude! Mnay happy years of service to your new 970. Where did you find it, BTW?
I got it at REX(a TV & Appliance retailer), not sure if it's nationwide. It was in this week's ad for $666 with 10% off(I can't believe I got this caliber of TV at that price...it's stupid!), and they have/had 2 in stock. Out of the box, I love it! Can't wait till I get it adjusted.

Man, she's a beast! lol

Or happy months if you're unlucky like me.I'm sorry man. I had my fingers crossed turning it on, that everything was a go.

No luck on the repair yet?


Someone else from another shop coming on Thursday to try and fix the mess the last guy made of it.

You'll love this one, it turns out it may have been a diode on the tube driver board, I still haven't got the for sure if it's the 970, but there was a memo on some model of Sony CRT TV that a diode was supposed to be replaced or added or something to fix problems like mine had. So if it is the 970, the guy replaced a $350 PT and completely screwed up the TV over a $1 diode.

Someone else from another shop coming on Thursday to try and fix the mess the last guy made of it.

You'll love this one, it turns out it may have been a diode on the tube driver board, I still haven't got the for sure if it's the 970, but there was a memo on some model of Sony CRT TV that a diode was supposed to be replaced or added or something to fix problems like mine had. So if it is the 970, the guy replaced a $350 PT and completely screwed up the TV over a $1 diode.

And when Sony's claims dept finds out, that guy will be feeling some heat.

It is the 970 that has a service memo, something about a modification to the PT stem. So the first place did replace the PT for no reason. The other guy didn't come today, some kind of problems with Sony, supposedly it's taken care of and he'll be here tomorrow. I'll post results and exactly what the modification is.

I'm still getting jerked around on this. I want to get a hammer and smash this Sony junk right now and move on to something that lasts longer than 6 months.

I'm still getting jerked around on this. I want to get a hammer and smash this Sony junk right now and move on to something that lasts longer than 6 months.


http://www.multi.fi/~mattbeck/stuff/ubb_avatar_hammer2_halloween.gif

That sucks. Hope it gets fixed.

Well today when I was at BB again looking at the tv I looked up closer around the edges of the tv and saw this gray line thats near 1 inch in weth (cant get the speller thing to correct it only has weight) and it covers the whole top of the tv and the right side. It isn't very bad but I'm wondering why that's there for. Anyone?


Heres a pic of it. Theres black above which is normal then the bottom left of the pic it shows the gray on the screen. The gray overshadows that part of the screen when your very close to it.

GhaSper, I think that what you are looking at IS a shadow. The 970's cabinet actually overhangs the screen. If there is any amount of light in the room, it will cause that. When you are watching the TV in a dark room, you should not see that. Hope that helps.

You have to decide what you want to live with though with adjusting the mid 2 settings. All these settings interact in some way and it will take some time to get everything perfect. Like you may think you have everything adjust right, then when a 16:9 image comes on thats black bordered on the top and bottom the picture may be off and you might have more black bar on the bottom or the top. But you have to decide what you want more, more picture by adjusting these settings, or the cleanest and best possible picture but with higher overscan. Adjusting the horizontal settings (DHHP,DHHS) in mid 2 don't cause any picture degrading (cept for possible linearity issues, but they are fixable) BUT the vertical (DHVP,DHVS) cause blurring of the vertical lines as it must change the way the guns hit the screen. I never noticed anything bad when having them changed, but when viewing line patterns (especially when using the built in test patterns in the PATN service menu) when you change DHVS you will see some of the vertical lines get dull and blurry as you change.

I have since went back to default for the vertical mid 2 settings, but changed the horizontal.

Yeah. I've made the mistake of messing with those in the MID menus and I'm guessing now that things must be screwed up. I use to have the defaults written down but have lost them. What really sucks about this TV is that after adjusting everything if you dare move the set everything goes out of whack again and you have to start over. It's been moved a few times and every time I have to go back in and start messing with things. I've made so many changes now that I no longer have any idea what the original settings were and logic tells me that I must have the resolution messed up at least somewhat by now if not by quite a bit.

Another thing is that my convergence is off. But I really don't know how to fix that. It is amazing to me that after all this time I still haven't seen a 970 service manual anywhere on the net. But I don't know how useful it would be anyway. I don't know if they explain things pretty well in those or if it is just a bunch of meaningless numbers.

You must not have been reading through this thread. There's a link for the manual on page 78 near the top. Only vertical convergence can be adjusted in the SM. It's pretty easy to do. The Sony service codes thread has all the convergence adjustment info in it too.

I used the THX circles that are on some DVDs to keep proportions right when messing with the MID settings. There are 2 circles, one for widescreen that works in full and zoom, the other works in normal and wide zoom. The circles should be perfectly round, so a ruler will tell you if you're off one way or the other. Wide zoom will be stretched horizontally. I had my TV with about an inch of black bars on the sides to have the picture not stretched in wide zoom.

... Only vertical convergence can be adjusted in the SM. It's pretty easy to do. The Sony service codes thread has all the convergence adjustment info in it too.
...

Horizontal actually. Vertical can only be adjusted with magnets. I get it mixed up too.

Horizontal actually. Vertical can only be adjusted with magnets. I get it mixed up too.

That's backwards, it's vertical that can be adjusted in the SM. Horizontal is either the rings on the yoke or magnets. I'm going through all this right now with the clowns Sony sent to make my TV far worse than it was to begin with.

You must not have been reading through this thread. There's a link for the manual on page 78 near the top. Only vertical convergence can be adjusted in the SM. It's pretty easy to do. The Sony service codes thread has all the convergence adjustment info in it too.

I used the THX circles that are on some DVDs to keep proportions right when messing with the MID settings. There are 2 circles, one for widescreen that works in full and zoom, the other works in normal and wide zoom. The circles should be perfectly round, so a ruler will tell you if you're off one way or the other. Wide zoom will be stretched horizontally. I had my TV with about an inch of black bars on the sides to have the picture not stretched in wide zoom.

Thanks but that doesn't help me. You have to sign up to the site for a fee to download it and if I was willing to do that I'd just order the real thing in the mail.

That same page has the 960 manual free without joining anything. The 970 manual is a total ripoff anyway, it's the 960 manual reprinted. None of the photos are the 970, they are the 960 or something else. There are many places in the manual that don't apply to the 970. Total waste of $13 or whatever I spent on the worthless manual. There is far more relevant info in this and the Sony service codes thread than there is in the manual.

That same page has the 960 manual free without joining anything. The 970 manual is a total ripoff anyway, it's the 960 manual reprinted. None of the photos are the 970, they are the 960 or something else. There are many places in the manual that don't apply to the 970. Total waste of $13 or whatever I spent on the worthless manual. There is far more relevant info in this and the Sony service codes thread than there is in the manual.

Well, I have got a ton of work to do. I was downstairs testing things and I don't have circles, I have ovals. I gotta' admit I never really payed attention to the circles. I figured if I just had the same amount of overscan all the way around everything would be fine. But apparently I should have researched more before messing with stuff. It's going to take hours and hours and hours to fix. And since I've moved I've lost all the settings I had written down. Making matters worse is that I don't have the HD version of DVE and the stupid Xbox 360 won't upscale over component so I have no test patterns for 720p and 1080i. It's all fixable I guess, but will take a monumental amount of effort.

I've just re-calibrated my XBR970 using my new DVE HD-DVD and I noticed my colors, when matched up through the blue filter, didn't match up quite as well through the red and green filters...but I had the color axis on "default". I know most of you guys turn the color axis on "monitor" but I never liked the way it looked. Yet when I switched "default" off, the colors matched up almost perfectly, especially when turning the color up a little more. And with the new calibrations, it works great, especially the HD-based material.

Yet I find film-based DVDs don't look right at all while on "monitor". I popped in the Director's Cut of Troy and not only did the color scheme look drab, but even the Warner Bros logo looked a light shade of yellow and not golden, like it should...but it looks just right on "default". However, a television-based DVD like the Doctor Who disc I'm watching right now, looks better on "monitor". It all seems strange...but looks like I'll be watching my HD cable and television-based DVDs through "monitor" and film-based DVDs through "default".

Either way, everything looks amazing!

Horizontal actually. Vertical can only be adjusted with magnets. I get it mixed up too.

That's backwards, it's vertical that can be adjusted in the SM. Horizontal is either the rings on the yoke or magnets. I'm going through all this right now with the clowns Sony sent to make my TV far worse than it was to begin with.Horizontal convergence is the process of converging the three primaries in the horizontal direction.

Vertical convergence is the process of converging the three primaries in the vertical direction.

Static convergence is generally performed by adjusting components on the picture tube yoke and is usually done with white dots on a black background.

Dynamic horizontal convergence can be done in the service menu, usually by viewing white vertical lines against a black background.

Permalloy magnets are generally needed to correct any residual vertical convergence errors seen in horizontal lines.

Well, I have got a ton of work to do. I was downstairs testing things and I don't have circles, I have ovals. I gotta' admit I never really payed attention to the circles. I figured if I just had the same amount of overscan all the way around everything would be fine. But apparently I should have researched more before messing with stuff. It's going to take hours and hours and hours to fix. And since I've moved I've lost all the settings I had written down. Making matters worse is that I don't have the HD version of DVE and the stupid Xbox 360 won't upscale over component so I have no test patterns for 720p and 1080i. It's all fixable I guess, but will take a monumental amount of effort.


I used an upconverting DVD recorder to adjust 720p and 1080i. I've got more overscan horizontally than vertically, it has to be that way because the TV stretches the picture a little horizontally as it moves out from the center. One of the circles will be oval on full and zoom mode, the other should be round. I think that one is oval in normal and wide zoom and one is round too.

Dynamic horizontal convergence can be done in the service menu, usually by viewing white vertical lines against a black background.

Again that's backwards, dynamic convergence is vertical convergence and can be done in the SM. Horizontal is done at the yoke or with magnets.

Yea. The "d-conv" in SM adjusts the vertical lines. I was able to tweak that much better than how the set came at default. With it at default they really seemed to just make sure the center most was perfect, but the left and right side had noticeable color bleeding through. Impossible to get things 100% perfect, but it is way better then how it was set up from the factory. Then again so many other things can knock it out whack, be it placement or any banging around in transit.

From hearing what some of you guys have to say I'm thinking of just taking the back off the set myself and doing horizontal convergence. Sounds like all these techs don't know what they are doing, or just pretend they do, and either say it can't be fixed, or they think it's always the picture tube. I actually did the horizontal convergence with the magnets on my old Sony, so i know how to do it, so no worries about getting "shocked" It's just going to be scary moving the set out on the stand to get in back of it. Last time i tried moving it, it almost tipped over cause it's so front heavy. It's definitely way off though, mostly on the bottom left, and i'm not being anal about it, it's so noticeable when viewing anything on the set. I know it has to be done though, cause when messing with VCEN and VPIN in SM it actualy re-aligns the lines, BUT when it's bowed like crazy! so it's definitely off.

Well, I think I basically ruined my TV. Messing around too much without keeping records has finally caught up with me. When I look at this overscan chart from DVE:

http://www.digitalvideoessentials.com/D_Theater_signals13.php

...that big circle in the middle is round and mine is oblong like a football. No matter what I try I can't get it right. I've been screwing with it a few hours and I'm still as clueless as when I started. And who knows how many settings I've changed over the past year that I shouldn't of. I'll tell you what, I will never buy a CRT again. These things are just a pain in the ass. Guys I know who have LCDs don't have to go through all this ****. I never would have messed with it in the first place if it hadn't been so utterly screwed up out of the box. I wish I could get Sony to take this thing back but I know that's impossible. Especially now since I've gone and screwed up everything. I've got everything so distorted so that the resolution and convergence are all messed up as well. And damned calibrations cost more than the TV is worth. :(

I'll post up all my settings for you in a few after i write them down so you can atleast get in the same ball park. Every Tv is different though, but everything should be pretty close, cept for the convergence settings, i'll just post the dafaults i had for those.

What do you think you changed though? I wont post up all my geometry settings and stuff like that, since they will probably be way off from your set. Is it just mostly the mid settings you need? or do you need all the geo settings as well? let me know!

I'll post up all my settings for you in a few after i write them down so you can atleast get in the same ball park. Every Tv is different though, but everything should be pretty close, cept for the convergence settings, i'll just post the dafaults i had for those.

I would very much appreciate that. :) That might actually get me in the ballpark at least.

What do you think you changed though? I wont post up all my geometry settings and stuff like that, since they will probably be way off from your set. Is it just mostly the mid settings you need? or do you need all the geo settings as well? let me know!

I can't even remember what all I've changed because I've had it a year and was careful at first but the longer I went the more lax I got and now I have no idea what I've changed before and what I haven't. I do know I've messed with a lot of stuff trying to get overscan somewhat right. I didn't find out all this stuff about the MID settings screwing things up until I'd already done it. Nor had I ever really payed attention to that circle in the middle. I figured if you've got a uniform rectangle along the outside everything would be OK. Boy, I was wrong. And it's been moved several times and every time that happens I end up having to mess with it again.

I've never even attempted adjusting color or grayscale or convergence or anything like that. If I've changed that stuff it was unknowingly or by accident. Everything I've messed with has been in an attempt to get overscan right and to do that I know I've changed way more than the few basic controls. I know I've changed things that make your screen wave clear to the one side on the bottom and I've changed things that basically draw a big dark curtain over the screen if you move them too far. I can't even remember what the stuff is because it's been so long and I lost all my paperwork when I moved. But for starters anyway probably everything in the MID and those 210D or whatever settings would help me a lot.

Dynamic horizontal convergence can be done in the service menu, usually by viewing white vertical lines against a black background.

Again that's backwards, dynamic convergence is vertical convergence and can be done in the SM. Horizontal is done at the yoke or with magnets.I'm afraid you're mistaken. The dynamic convergence performed using the service menu is considered horizontal convergence. It is the process of reducing the error between the horizontal component of the color guns. White vertical lines are used as a reference. The key to the terminology is that when the adjustment is being made, the colored line moves in the horizontal direction.

A quote of a Sony Service Manual :
"2-3.5. DYNAMIC CONVERGENCE ADJUSTMENTS
• Set dynamic convergence using the following service mode adjustment
data.
• Only H-component can be corrected, for vertical component use
permalloy to compensate"

No matter how you word it, the vertical lines are what's adjustable. Horizontal lines are done at the yoke or with magnets.

No matter how you word it, the vertical lines are what's adjustable. Horizontal lines are done at the yoke or with magnets.Yes, agreed. My posts were meant to help clear up your understanding of the terms.

Wickerman, sorry it took so long, so much to go through! Do these settings first and let me know how things look. if they are way off, then i will give you my default mid 1-2 settings, cause like i said, the defaults in the service manual were not the same as on my set! Plus th4ese settings are for my HD cable box component inputs.

all the same for all res/inputs/screen modes. BUT this is from on 480p... cept when noted with **
Mid 1. I don't use 480i at all.

DHPH-101
DVPH-40
DHAR-240
DVAR-135
DHPW-55
DVPW-5
DYCD-2
DYSD-4
MDHP-42 ** 0 on 480pfull,1080i/720p mode**
MDVP-0
MDHS-159 ** 240 on 480p/1080i full mode**
MDVS-120 ** 135 on 1080i**
DGSB-0
DGSR-0
DPSW-0
MDLO-12
BCOL-0
DYSS-1


MID 2/ 480p

DHHP-63 **45 on 480p full mode** 27 on 1080i/44 on 720p**
DHHS-173 **190 on 480p full mode** 186 on 1080i/124 on 720p**
DHVP-27 **24 on 480p full mode** 40 on 1080i/52 on 720p**
DHVS-60 **67 on 1080i** 90 on 720p**
DHVL-0 **4 on 1080i**

Then again, these settings are going to be way off on your set depending on what you have your screen size settings at, now that i think about it. BUT, those are easy to change once you have something up to test it. Let me know though and i'll post up the other settings.

Make sure you're not in wide zoom when trying to get proportions right. Wide zoom stretches everything horizontally.

No matter how you word it, the vertical lines are what's adjustable. Horizontal lines are done at the yoke or with magnets.

Vertical line R/G/B movement = horizontal convergence; horizontal line R/G/B = vertical convergence.

Wickerman, sorry it took so long, so much to go through! Do these settings first and let me know how things look. if they are way off, then i will give you my default mid 1-2 settings, cause like i said, the defaults in the service manual were not the same as on my set! Plus th4ese settings are for my HD cable box component inputs.

all the same for all res/inputs/screen modes. BUT this is from on 480p... cept when noted with **
Mid 1. I don't use 480i at all.

DHPH-101
DVPH-40
DHAR-240
DVAR-135
DHPW-55
DVPW-5
DYCD-2
DYSD-4
MDHP-42 ** 0 on 480pfull,1080i/720p mode**
MDVP-0
MDHS-159 ** 240 on 480p/1080i full mode**
MDVS-120 ** 135 on 1080i**
DGSB-0
DGSR-0
DPSW-0
MDLO-12
BCOL-0
DYSS-1


MID 2/ 480p

DHHP-63 **45 on 480p full mode** 27 on 1080i/44 on 720p**
DHHS-173 **190 on 480p full mode** 186 on 1080i/124 on 720p**
DHVP-27 **24 on 480p full mode** 40 on 1080i/52 on 720p**
DHVS-60 **67 on 1080i** 90 on 720p**
DHVL-0 **4 on 1080i**

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I wasn't on the internet anymore last night and it was late before I was able to get on today. I tried these MID 1 and MID 2 settings but it didn't help any because they don't jibe with my 2170D settings. If I had your 2170D settings that would probably get me in the ballpark since your 2107D settings correspond with your MID settings. Thanks for your help. :)

Wickerman, sorry it took so long, so much to go through! Do these settings first and let me know how things look. if they are way off, then i will give you my default mid 1-2 settings, cause like i said, the defaults in the service manual were not the same as on my set! Plus th4ese settings are for my HD cable box component inputs.

all the same for all res/inputs/screen modes. BUT this is from on 480p... cept when noted with **
Mid 1. I don't use 480i at all.

DHPH-101
DVPH-40
DHAR-240
DVAR-135
DHPW-55
DVPW-5
DYCD-2
DYSD-4
MDHP-42 ** 0 on 480pfull,1080i/720p mode**
MDVP-0
MDHS-159 ** 240 on 480p/1080i full mode**
MDVS-120 ** 135 on 1080i**
DGSB-0
DGSR-0
DPSW-0
MDLO-12
BCOL-0
DYSS-1


MID 2/ 480p

DHHP-63 **45 on 480p full mode** 27 on 1080i/44 on 720p**
DHHS-173 **190 on 480p full mode** 186 on 1080i/124 on 720p**
DHVP-27 **24 on 480p full mode** 40 on 1080i/52 on 720p**
DHVS-60 **67 on 1080i** 90 on 720p**
DHVL-0 **4 on 1080i**

I've discovered that I totally freaked out over nothing. I'll paste here what I wrote in another thread so I don't have to explain it all again:

I just found out I was losing my mind over nothing when it came to the overscan. I've been pulling my hair out the last few days since I saw this:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/assets/images/calibration/sharpness.jpg

When I saw that the first thing that came to my mind was, "That circle wasn't round when I was messing with it." So I put DVE back in and confirmed that mine definitely wasn't round, it was oval. So I thought I had everything screwed up and way out of proportion and I've been losing my mind the last few days over it. And I was trying in vein to adjust it so that the circle would be round and everything else would be in the picture as well but I just couldn't do it, hence all the talk about this being so hard. But then just a few minutes ago I saw this:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/assets/images/calibration/overscan-percent.jpg

That is actually my pattern! And it's what mine looks like. I wasn't paying enough attention, didn't notice that one said 1.78.1 and the other said 2.39:1, etc. They look so damned similar that I thought it was the same thing when I stumbled onto it and then freaked out. So no wonder its been so hard. I've been trying to do something that is impossible. I definitely do feel a lot better now. There are still plenty of tweaks that my TV needs but at least it isn't in horribly bad shape like I had started thinking.

So it was a mistake on my part. But there are still plenty of issues that need ironed out. One of the things is an issue with my convergence which became a noticeable problem after moving the set. And I've got plenty of geometry problems that I've really never tried that hard to fix yet. But before I try doing anything major I'm going to have to get the HD-DVD version of DVE because my 360 won't upscale the SD version of DVE I have.

Hi there. I'm new to this forum and just read a couple of pages of threads.

My local electronics store (non-chain) is selling a brand new 970 for $599. According to what I'm reading, that seems a bit high. Does anyone recommend buying it? What would be the going price now that it's all gone. Should I bargain down?

I won't be using it much other than just watching tv, playing dvds. No games, no special equipment in/out (i.e., theatre system, special dvd player/blu ray). I know nothing about calibration.

My last Sony 19" from the late '80s lasted well over 20 years. Just died a year ago from a worn-out tube.

Thanks to all who can give me some advice.

p.s. Should I buy a warranty?

Hi there. I'm new to this forum and just read a couple of pages of threads.

My local electronics store (non-chain) is selling a brand new 970 for $599. According to what I'm reading, that seems a bit high. Does anyone recommend buying it? What would be the going price now that it's all gone. Should I bargain down?

I won't be using it much other than just watching tv, playing dvds. No games, no special equipment in/out (i.e., theatre system, special dvd player/blu ray). I know nothing about calibration.

My last Sony 19" from the late '80s lasted well over 20 years. Just died a year ago from a worn-out tube.

Thanks to all who can give me some advice.

p.s. Should I buy a warranty?

Hmm, perhaps you can get em' down to $500 if you try.

Hi there. I'm new to this forum and just read a couple of pages of threads.

My local electronics store (non-chain) is selling a brand new 970 for $599. According to what I'm reading, that seems a bit high. Does anyone recommend buying it? What would be the going price now that it's all gone. Should I bargain down?

I won't be using it much other than just watching tv, playing dvds. No games, no special equipment in/out (i.e., theatre system, special dvd player/blu ray). I know nothing about calibration.

My last Sony 19" from the late '80s lasted well over 20 years. Just died a year ago from a worn-out tube.

Thanks to all who can give me some advice.

p.s. Should I buy a warranty?

Would be a great buy for you. the price is reasonable. Buy it.

Buy it, quick before someone else does. It is not likely you will find another one new in the box with full factory warranty (two years parts AND labor).

I will have to chime in here against it. My first 2 TVs were crap out of the box, the third one bit it in less than 5 months. Do they look good when working right? Yes, but their reliability is crap and if it doesn't look right out of the box, you can't exchange it for another one.

thanks to all for the advice.

i just came back from the store and the salesperson won't budge on the price. he says he won't go below cost (altho i forgot to ask what his cost is). $599 is his firm price.

he's also selling a 2-yr extended warranty for around $99. is that worth it? should i still buy the tv?

what type of stand do you recommend? i don't have furniture deep enough to hold this model. he's selling Sony stands for $349. kinda pricey.

You know, if you don't have a stand, that could be a deal breaker. Price of TV AND a stand could cost up around a thousand. For that price, you now have other options in the LCD/plasma category for a decent small TV. You won't get the pic quality of the 970, but as mentioned they do have their reliability issues.

Mine went back with purple corner defect in <30 days. Ended up with a small plasma instead.

Not to sound waffly, but if you're just buying the TV, I still say go for it. If you need furniture too, well, that's a whole different scenario.

thanks to all for the advice.

i just came back from the store and the salesperson won't budge on the price. he says he won't go below cost (altho i forgot to ask what his cost is). $599 is his firm price.

he's also selling a 2-yr extended warranty for around $99. is that worth it? should i still buy the tv?

what type of stand do you recommend? i don't have furniture deep enough to hold this model. he's selling Sony stands for $349. kinda pricey.

That is a very good price even if you go for the extended warranty. The stand I'm using was bought at WalMart for $59.99 and the matching AV stand for the same price.

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pyDTXCw47wymMtQxDSAbyv5_sDiJl1_jJf52zQYrMvJDEP0wH33k6BLPy7 1x8sFSOTUwWAcPSrbchttp://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pyDTXCw47wyl15EQIaNTPYMpH4fDnNZbLA6Kafv2-Qca1k28G0dw1XTjYVUkenMu8Uo_CUzWv0YQ

The XBR970 sits completely on this stand, which is rated for 240lbs top shelf, 340lbs total.

hyghwayman

Think you could give a link to the stand???

I'd like to buy it.
Mine is going to collapse any day, and the TV on it...luckily was cheap, but I don't want that to happen when I put an XBR960 or something on it.

I've had a 180 lb TV on it, but it creaks...and...it's scary. So...

$60 sounds like a nice price.

You know, if you don't have a stand, that could be a deal breaker. Price of TV AND a stand could cost up around a thousand. For that price, you now have other options in the LCD/plasma category for a decent small TV. You won't get the pic quality of the 970, but as mentioned they do have their reliability issues.

Mine went back with purple corner defect in <30 days. Ended up with a small plasma instead.

Not to sound waffly, but if you're just buying the TV, I still say go for it. If you need furniture too, well, that's a whole different scenario.

Yep, I wasted $75 on a stand for this TV that I don't need now as the TV will never be repaired to look anything like it did, if they can even repair it at all. Add to that the $600+tax I wasted on the TV and I'm in this whole thing for $700+ to have the TV last less than 5 months. Never again will I touch anything Sony. It's been 3 weeks and every time someone messes with the TV it gets far worse than it was before they started.

Yep, I wasted $75 on a stand for this TV that I don't need now as the TV will never be repaired to look anything like it did, if they can even repair it at all. Add to that the $600+tax I wasted on the TV and I'm in this whole thing for $700+ to have the TV last less than 5 months. Never again will I touch anything Sony. It's been 3 weeks and every time someone messes with the TV it gets far worse than it was before they started.

If it can't be fixed, Sony will probably give you credit back towards another purchase. I know this doesn't make things right, but within one year I don't think they're going to tell you tough luck.

Sorry to hear though.

Well, I've had my 970 for over a week now. Had to re-enforce my exsisting stand to handle the extra weight, but it's plenty sturdy now, plus I'm building a new one within the next few months. Was wondering what other people have their set-up as...distance from viewing area. Right now mines about 6-7 ft(centered couch) and the cabinet the TV is on is a tad more than 3ft high(I like it higher).

After a I read a post about green push I started to see a green on mine, but it's just on the analog tv channels(could it be the component cables?), not the HD channels, or my onkyo DVD player or my Sony Upconvert DVD player...I changed to the 13-15-5-3(RYR-GYB) setting lowered the Gcut and Gdrv, looks better! The SBRT setting was on 14...way to low, so I changed it to 28, but that seem'd a bit high, so went with 24 for now.

Yep, I wasted $75 on a stand for this TV that I don't need now as the TV will never be repaired to look anything like it did, if they can even repair it at all. Add to that the $600+tax I wasted on the TV and I'm in this whole thing for $700+ to have the TV last less than 5 months. Never again will I touch anything Sony. It's been 3 weeks and every time someone messes with the TV it gets far worse than it was before they started.

Did the new guy come in and try to fix it yet?

..... lowered the Gcut and Gdrv......I don't recommend changing cuts or drives without test equipment or after careful viewing of greyscale test patterns. Cuts and drives are for greyscale adjustment only, not for color decoder adjustment and can do weird things to your colors if not adjusted accurately. They should only be used to resolve color errors in a non-color/greyscale test pattern.

I don't recommend changing cuts or drives without test equipment or after careful viewing of greyscale test patterns. Cuts and drives are for greyscale adjustment only, not for color decoder adjustment and can do weird things to your colors if not adjusted accurately. They should only be used to resolve color errors in a non-color/greyscale test pattern.

I agree, but would add that if you are watching a black and white movie and see any noticeable green, red, or blue color skew, that's a sign you need to consider adjusting cuts. The way I have done it is to figure out the absolute minimum changes you can do to get to a neutral gray and then STOP. While there is a chance of messing things up, I think it's worth chancing that in order to get black and white movies looking like they should.

It's very easy to get carried away with this, but chances are, your set was pretty close to optimal with factory settings. Once you eliminate the color push in black and white, movies and TV shows in color will look better as well, with much "cleaner" color reproduction.

I agree, but would add that if you are watching a black and white movie and see any noticeable green, red, or blue color skew, that's a sign you need to consider adjusting cuts. The way I have done it is to figure out the absolute minimum changes you can do to get to a neutral gray and then STOP. While there is a chance of messing things up, I think it's worth chancing that in order to get black and white movies looking like they should.

It's very easy to get carried away with this, but chances are, your set was pretty close to optimal with factory settings. Once you eliminate the color push in black and white, movies and TV shows in color will look better as well, with much "cleaner" color reproduction.Agreed. It appeared to me that discvader, an owner for <2weeks, had merely matched adjustments made by others in the forum. Usually a mistake, IMHO. Certainly a mistake on drives and cut, which are for greyscale ONLY.

Did the new guy come in and try to fix it yet?


He did and he screwed it up even worse. Now they are waiting for parts to fix what was never a problem until these 2 clowns got their hands in it.

If it can't be fixed, Sony will probably give you credit back towards another purchase. I know this doesn't make things right, but within one year I don't think they're going to tell you tough luck.

Sorry to hear though.

Credit doesn't really do me much good since the only thing I could get to replace it is an LCD. I broke down and bought an LCD yesterday and returned it today. I can't believe people actually watch those things, crapola. Now I'm looking around local for a used CRT. There was a 32" Toshiba I could have got the day before yseterday for $100, but when I e-mailed him about it last night he said he just dumped it in his driveway and busted it all up.

I don't recommend changing cuts or drives without test equipment or after careful viewing of greyscale test patterns. Cuts and drives are for greyscale adjustment only, not for color decoder adjustment and can do weird things to your colors if not adjusted accurately. They should only be used to resolve color errors in a non-color/greyscale test pattern.


My TV was pretty much unwatchable out of the box. After turning the GDRV and GCUT down it looked perfect.

My TV was pretty much unwatchable out of the box. After turning the GDRV and GCUT down it looked perfect.

I have been able to fine tune greyscale by adjusting the cuts only. You should not need to adjust the drives.

Agreed. It appeared to me that discvader, an owner for <2weeks, had merely matched adjustments made by others in the forum. Usually a mistake, IMHO. Certainly a mistake on drives and cut, which are for greyscale ONLY.
Pretty much...lol, but I do have a green tint on my analog channels. Maybe I'm crazed? Here's a couple of pics... no tint on HD.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/discvader/tv002.jpghttp://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/discvader/tv004.jpg

Pretty much...lol, but I do have a green tint on my analog channels..... no tint on HD.Fairly good evidence that the tint is NOT associated with greyscale but with the color decoder and input/resolution specific offsets.

I have been able to fine tune greyscale by adjusting the cuts only. You should not need to adjust the drives.

The TV was completely green when I got it, it wasn't anything that could be fixed with the cutoffs.

Pretty much...lol, but I do have a green tint on my analog channels. Maybe I'm crazed? Here's a couple of pics... no tint on HD.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/discvader/tv002.jpghttp://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/discvader/tv004.jpg

Hate to be a snob, but who cares about analog channels? If HD and DVD's look good, they should be your priority. If you tune in an HD channel and turn the color all the way down to zero, are you getting true uncontaminated gray? If so, I would probably leave grayscale alone.

If not, then I'd mess with the cuts just enough to fix the grays.If the whole picture was green like you say, I would probably just take the set back.

But hey, it's your TV, have fun. Not trying to boss you around or anything. I just went through a period when I messed with the cuts and drives a lot, and succeeded only in messing things up and going back to factory settings after much grief..

That picture looks really good, but unfortunately every video source is different so it's easy to get the color in one movie or scene looking perfect, but then when you watch something else, you see some glaring flaw like way too much red or blue.

Hate to be a snob, but who cares about analog channels? If HD and DVD's look good, they should be your priority. If you tune in an HD channel and turn the color all the way down to zero, are you getting true uncontaminated gray? If so, I would probably leave grayscale alone.

If not, then I'd mess with the cuts just enough to fix the grays.If the whole picture was green like you say, I would probably just take the set back.

But hey, it's your TV, have fun. Not trying to boss you around or anything. I just went through a period when I messed with the cuts and drives a lot, and succeeded only in messing things up and going back to factory settings after much grief..

That picture looks really good, but unfortunately every video source is different so it's easy to get the color in one movie or scene looking perfect, but then when you watch something else, you see some glaring flaw like way too much red or blue.
Yeah, it not's that bad and as you said, it is just the analog channels, which, who cares? I put everything back to factory settings, except the SBRT which is now at 28, it was the lowest number in which the THX logo appeared in the test.

That is a very good price even if you go for the extended warranty. The stand I'm using was bought at WalMart for $59.99 and the matching AV stand for the same price.

http://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pyDTXCw47wymMtQxDSAbyv5_sDiJl1_jJf52zQYrMvJDEP0wH33k6BLPy7 1x8sFSOTUwWAcPSrbchttp://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1pyDTXCw47wyl15EQIaNTPYMpH4fDnNZbLA6Kafv2-Qca1k28G0dw1XTjYVUkenMu8Uo_CUzWv0YQ

The XBR970 sits completely on this stand, which is rated for 240lbs top shelf, 340lbs total.

hyghwayman

So what manufacturer/model stand is that?
I can't find one on the net that looks like that, for $60
Even at Walmart.

I use this one for up to 240 pounds from Walmart, with site to store it's $53.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2432285

Lots of shelf space underneath to hold everything that goes with the TV, a lot in my case.

That's what I'll probably have to go with, seeing as this guy has disappeared and took his info with him.

I use this one for up to 240 pounds from Walmart, with site to store it's $53.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2432285

Lots of shelf space underneath to hold everything that goes with the TV, a lot in my case.


I too looked at that stand but came to the conclusion it didn't provide enough ventilation for my gear:eek:.

hyghwayman

Well, I've had my 970 for over a week now. Had to re-enforce my exsisting stand to handle the extra weight, but it's plenty sturdy now, plus I'm building a new one within the next few months. Was wondering what other people have their set-up as...distance from viewing area. Right now mines about 6-7 ft(centered couch) and the cabinet the TV is on is a tad more than 3ft high(I like it higher).

After a I read a post about green push I started to see a green on mine, but it's just on the analog tv channels(could it be the component cables?), not the HD channels, or my onkyo DVD player or my Sony Upconvert DVD player...I changed to the 13-15-5-3(RYR-GYB) setting lowered the Gcut and Gdrv, looks better! The SBRT setting was on 14...way to low, so I changed it to 28, but that seem'd a bit high, so went with 24 for now.

I know exactly what your problem is and what you need to do to fix it. You need to make an adjustment in MID3 on the CCPO setting. Make sure you're watching something in 480i so you can adjust the green out. My set was set to 190. I put the value up past 200 and the green is gone. Do not bother with the driver or cut settings, it will not fix it and further screw up your picture. This is a resolution dependent adjustment. You must watch something in 480i when making the adjustment.

Ive had mine for over a year now, no complaints. I havent been screwing with all the service menu items or anything to upset its standard settings. I have it between two gigantuan Klipsche speaker systems I purchased back in the early 90s and those huge speaker magnets dont affect a thing. Family loves this television.
Only problem I have had was flakey operation of the remote which I finally resolved by simply replacing the cheap crap batteries that were included with it.
Knock on wood, this set is great.

I too looked at that stand but came to the conclusion it didn't provide enough ventilation for my gear:eek:.

hyghwayman

Is there a reason you ignored my posts and PM?

I too looked at that stand but came to the conclusion it didn't provide enough ventilation for my gear:eek:.

hyghwayman

Everything I've got that gets hot has a fan in it. There's a lot of room under there, it's not a problem. I only use anything besides the receiver and CD player for a couple of hours or so, then I turn it off and let it cool. It's served me well until the Sony, which I knew better than to buy, I've worked on enough Sony products to know they have serious reliability issues.

I know exactly what your problem is and what you need to do to fix it. You need to make an adjustment in MID3 on the CCPO setting. Make sure you're watching something in 480i so you can adjust the green out. My set was set to 190. I put the value up past 200 and the green is gone. Do not bother with the driver or cut settings, it will not fix it and further screw up your picture. This is a resolution dependent adjustment. You must watch something in 480i when making the adjustment.
Alrighty, I'll check it out. Thanks!

I've discovered that I totally freaked out over nothing. I'll paste here what I wrote in another thread so I don't have to explain it all again:



So it was a mistake on my part. But there are still plenty of issues that need ironed out. One of the things is an issue with my convergence which became a noticeable problem after moving the set. And I've got plenty of geometry problems that I've really never tried that hard to fix yet. But before I try doing anything major I'm going to have to get the HD-DVD version of DVE because my 360 won't upscale the SD version of DVE I have.


Ahh, so everything was ok the way you had your mid settings to begin with? Yea i have some convergence errors myself, that can't be fixed using D-conv settings. Thing is it's not just noticeable when viewing test patterns, i even see it when watching TV. So i'm not sure if i had a tech come out he would just say " it's up to sony specs" and tell me to live with it, since SOO many of you guys who had techs come out ended up with no fix, or they made something else worse. It's on the bottom left side and it runs across horizontally. Makes everything look red around the are of the misconvergence point. Also when watching regular TV, or anything with black borders on the top and bottom, i see a blue line right where the picture ends and the black border starts on the bottom. But that only seems to happen when the picture is bordered. I've had both of these issues since day 1. We are all still under warranty right? the ones who bought this set when Circuit city was having the sale to get rid of them? I didn't get the warranty from the store, but it's still under warranty from Sony for what 2 years? Who do you call for a tech? deal with circuit city first and they give you a number? or just go right through Sony?

...It's on the bottom left side and it runs across horizontally. Makes everything look red around the are of the misconvergence point. Also when watching regular TV, or anything with black borders on the top and bottom, i see a blue line right where the picture ends and the black border starts on the bottom. But that only seems to happen when the picture is bordered...

Same thing here. Lower left middle quadrant. Must have been a problem area for these sets.

I have my 970 crt in a small room, tilted it vertically and had a friend help me carry it to get it in the room, is it better/safer to just to put a large piece of cardboard in front of it, flip it face down, and slide it outta the room, is that safe/possible, and or can it be carried while face down?

hi all...

the last One went, at the local best buy, this week! xbr970 for $499, a floor sample and who knows how long it was there. An end of an era.
A day later, there was a huge hole in the row of tvs, someone bought the very last xbr 970, maybe the last one for sale in tallahassee!

I like mine.

I bought mine last year and mostly watch Games, I am playing final fantasy X, now, on my ps2.

the only "discouraging" note that i could give, and it is not the fault of the tv, is that I sort of gave up on attempting to calibrate this tv, even setting a "final" setting in the menu screen, as i have found a "terrible little secret" in
games-tvsettings!!
which is....

*each* game, even on the same console platform, requires a slightly different
menus setting for the "picture", contast, etc...!
why there was one game that looked to me to appear better when the Picture setting was nearly at the max setting!
Thus for each game i go into the menu and "recalibrate" the settings for the contrast...picture...brightness...etc!

I like this thread. up to the 80 pages now.....


[edit]

say!

there is something about this set that no one seems to have mentioned!

----I have watched many tvs over the years, and apparently I have a kind of "eyestrain" problem!
I first noted this years ago with just watching from a distance an old color tv from the 70s and in a minute i had a headache and a terrible eyestrain. later on, the set's tubes got better, my favorite was a series of Sylvania models.
I have a suspician that , for me, this problem is not just having issues with the light or the moving images, it had to do with the radiation, itself, coming from the tube!
So with this 970 I have expereinced NO eyestrain at all!

many of the lcds, the cheaper lcds, give to me an impression of "plasticness" to the image! as if the image, say, of a room, is only one-dimensional, as if the image is only pasted on, less 3-D than even a photo in a magizine!

freestone

...many of the lcds, the cheaper lcds, give to me an impression of "plasticness" to the image! as if the image, say, of a room, is only one-dimensional, as if the image is only pasted on, less 3-D than even a photo in a magizine!
I know what you mean.

LCDs are only watchable in a bright room and even then most of them are pretty pathetic. In a dark room like I watch TV in, they are terrible.

Whew...what a thread. I've had my 970 for about two months now. I've got a PS2 and HD cable box running through components and my new A3 HD-DVD player going through HDMI.

I've learned so much on this site, it's incredible. Finally decided to register!

Anyways...tweaked with the average joe settings and got them where I wanted. Decided to go into service mode to fix a bowing issue, I have VCEN at 11 as of right now.

I calibrated a lot of things using the only thing I had, which was the THX optimizer on the Star Wars DVDs.

My picture settings (Television/(HD)DVD)
Mode: Standard/Vivid
Picture: 75/70
Brightness: 70/75
Color: 65/62
Hue: 0/0
Color Temp: Cool/Cool
Sharpness: 45/45
ClearEdge: Medium/Medium
Color Axis: default/default


My first question relates to burn-in. My cable box won't allow me to watch 4:3 programming in anything but the 4:3. Now although I watch a lot of movies and HD programs, the majority of the time I have to deal with the black bars on the sides. Will these cause damage to the picture in the long run?

Thank you!

ah, quick edit: found the PATN option and used the two rectangle and cross pattern.

VPOS:26
VSIZ:36
VLIN:6
VSCO:4
VCEN:11
VPIN:22
NSCO:29
HCNT:23
HPOS:24
HSIZ:35
VANG:33
LANG:23
VBOW:26
LBOW:41

Now...to me, this seems to do the job. I'm sure everyone's television may have different specs, and everyone has their own pair of eyes, but I'd like to share just to make sure I don't have any settings that seem way off.

ok, i did alot of changes here...

i'm getting a slight "bowing" up on the bottom of the screen... very slight

also, i'm getting a red line, about a pixel high, at the top of the screen. i can use vertical correction and make it disappear, but is this the way to handle the problem?

...... My cable box won't allow me to watch 4:3 programming in anything but the 4:3......What type of cable box do you have? Most stbs will allow some type of passthrough of SD instead of being locked into an upconvert of SD to HD within the box.

My first question relates to burn-in. My cable box won't allow me to watch 4:3 programming in anything but the 4:3. Now although I watch a lot of movies and HD programs, the majority of the time I have to deal with the black bars on the sides. Will these cause damage to the picture in the long run?

With contrast levels as high as you have them, you could get some burn-in if you watch a lot of 4:3. It's generally recommended not more than 15% of weekly viewing time with black bars. Lowering contrast levels will help reduce the chance of burn-in. You can use wide zoom in SD modes and horizontal expand in HD modes.

i'm getting a slight "bowing" up on the bottom of the screen... very slight

This can be adjusted with HPTZ. It will adjust top and bottom both. If you go too far you may get bowing up/down in the middle of the screen.

Same thing here. Lower left middle quadrant. Must have been a problem area for these sets.

I had to compromise, since we can't do any convergence fixes for it. You can actually fix it somewhat by using the VCEN, VPIN parameters. If i change one to bow like crazy, then the convergence errors seem to vanish.. BUT no way can i leave it that way since the only thing that gets rid of it is having everything bowed up like crazy. You would think it would work the opposite way, and the straighter the line is the less convergence error, but not on my set. Seems like everything was set up at the factory and calibrated while the lines were bowing, and me trying to straighten them brought out the convergence errors.

This can be adjusted with HPTZ. It will adjust top and bottom both. If you go too far you may get bowing up/down in the middle of the screen.

You sure? when i tweaked HTPZ it mostly affected the left and right sides. Making the image lean/bow more one way or the other, especially noticeable while viewing a test pattern in 4:3 normal mode and having black borders on the left and right side. Either that or i just didn't notice if it had any affect on horizontal bowing like VCEN and VPIN. I need to check it out again.

I have my 970 crt in a small room, tilted it vertically and had a friend help me carry it to get it in the room, is it better/safer to just to put a large piece of cardboard in front of it, flip it face down, and slide it outta the room, is that safe/possible, and or can it be carried while face down?

I wouldn't slide it over a carpet nailer strip, otherwise that should work. The main thing is not to jar it suddenly, and don't push on the rear of the case. The ventilated area of the plastic shroud is pretty flimsy.

W
My first question relates to burn-in. My cable box won't allow me to watch 4:3 programming in anything but the 4:3. Now although I watch a lot of movies and HD programs, the majority of the time I have to deal with the black bars on the sides. Will these cause damage to the picture in the long run?


Nope, I wouldn't worry about it. 75 contrast isnt terribly high; I watch a fair amount of 4:3 reruns and haven't noticed any burn-in (my 970 was a year old demo model, so it was probably as burned as it will get). It's just my philosophy, but...I watch TV for pleasure, and if I have to distort an image to "save" the TV, then there's no point in watching.

Cue Blue Oyster Cult..."Burn out the night, buuuuurrrrrn out the daaaaaaay..."

You sure? when i tweaked HTPZ it mostly affected the left and right sides. Making the image lean/bow more one way or the other, especially noticeable while viewing a test pattern in 4:3 normal mode and having black borders on the left and right side. Either that or i just didn't notice if it had any affect on horizontal bowing like VCEN and VPIN. I need to check it out again.

From the manual "Complete V-PIN and V-CEN adjustments first and adjust HPTZ to straighten and parallel top and bottom lines".

I have my 970 crt in a small room, tilted it vertically and had a friend help me carry it to get it in the room, is it better/safer to just to put a large piece of cardboard in front of it, flip it face down, and slide it outta the room, is that safe/possible, and or can it be carried while face down?

I've moved mine way too many times now. The easiest way is to get it on ground level, get something under the light side, the right side when facing the set, I used a small box, then get your back against the other side and push it with your back against it using your legs to push. You need something on the opposite side of you to keep that side from digging into the carpet, the box in my case. If you're not on a carpeted floor, you'll have to set the TV on a blanket or comforter or something.

Okay, I needed to do two things.

I read up in the manual, and realized that you can't use Wide Zoom for a 1080i picture. That was my big issue.

I also took my cable box (SA 3100HD) and exchanged it for one that wasn't four years old.

Now on my new box, I can adjust the color of the sidebars or change the aspect directly from the cable remote. I just don't like using the stretch or expand modes...they distort too much. Much like WJonathan said...I'm not going to ruin my "viewing experience" just to save the TV.

Thanks for the responses!!

From the manual "Complete V-PIN and V-CEN adjustments first and adjust HPTZ to straighten and parallel top and bottom lines".

Well they should have revised the manual instead of using the xbr960 one! HPTZ does nothing for my bowing after i have vcen and vpin adjusted. If it does for your set congrats! Nothing they list adds up. Have any techs you guys known who came out used this manual ? How can i complete vcen and vpin adjustments though if everything is still bowed after? lol

They didn't even use a manual when they replaced my PT. The manual is pretty vague, I don't know if it would have done a whole lot anyway.

They finally gave up on my TV, they are going to exchange it or buy me out or whatever they do.

...
They finally gave up on my TV, they are going to exchange it or buy me out or whatever they do.

Good, at least you'll get some satisfaction from them one way or the other now. It sucks that the process took so long though.

From the manual "Complete V-PIN and V-CEN adjustments first and adjust HPTZ to straighten and parallel top and bottom lines".While I don't have my 970 service manual with me right now, a search of the 960 manual finds that exact quote, however, there is no reference to "HPTZ" anywhere else in the entire document. It may be a misprint and the actual service item referenced is HTPZ, which is the keystone or horizontal trapezoid adjustment and makes sense in that context.

The "slight "bowing" up on the bottom of the screen... very slight" reported by nsmoller can be dealt with using VCEN and VPIN. Paraphrasing from a Sony service manual:

Equalize the vertical bow at the top and bottom of the screen using VCEN.
Adjust to make the bowing of the top and bottom lines equal.

Adjust the vertical pin cushion using VPIN.
Adjust as necessary to make the horizontal lines as straight as possible.

Of course, using a crosshatch pattern is really the only way to get this right.;)

Good, at least you'll get some satisfaction from them one way or the other now. It sucks that the process took so long though.

Well, I don't know about satisfaction. They want to replace the 970 with a 37" RPTV. I think I'm going to try to get a buyout. It has to go through some approval process, another month probably, then they may or may not approve it.

While I don't have my 970 service manual with me right now, a search of the 960 manual finds that exact quote, however, there is no reference to "HPTZ" anywhere else in the entire document. It may be a misprint and the actual service item referenced is HTPZ, which is the keystone or horizontal trapezoid adjustment and makes sense in that context.


I thought that the adjustment was HTPZ, I even typed it that way at first, but I looked at the manual and it says HPTZ, a misprint I guess.

I own a 970 and have ordered the Samsung BD-UP5000 duo player due in Jan. Per Crutchfield, I won't notice the difference between 1080i and 1080p on this screen, but will on a 50" screen or greater. Is that true? At some point, when the prices drop and they become more energy efficient, I'd like to pick up a 50" plasma.

I don't know about that heat, power consumption with Plasma crap. I went with a 42" Panasonic plasma to replace the 970. Although it says 365 watts on it vs 240 on the Sony, when I tested the 2, the Sony drew 1.4 amps, the Panasonic .75 amps, the Sony was almost twice as much. The Sony also got hotter than the Panasonic. I guess under the perfect conditions, an all white screen at full contrast, the Panasonic has the potential to use more power, but in real world testing, the Panasonic used far less for me.

Today I went Christmas shopping for myself, resigned to the fact that if I wanted HD gaming, it'd be on a blur-tastic LCD or a crappy quality Samsung Slimfit. I happened across this TV, used, sitting under the Samsung. It was embarassing for Samsung how much the Sony whipped its tail.

So after an excruciating moving process I never want to experience again, the TV is on my floor, waiting for me to build a new stand for it.

My only problem so far are the blacks. They're nice and deep, but they're actually a bit overpowering. Darker tones lose detail and become murky black. I tried using the standard brightness and picture settings, but it seems like it's not helping.

Is there a service menu setting to improve this issue?

Today I went Christmas shopping for myself, resigned to the fact that if I wanted HD gaming, it'd be on a blur-tastic LCD or a crappy quality Samsung Slimfit. I happened across this TV, used, sitting onder the Samsung. It was embarassing for Samsung how much the Sony whipped its tail.

So after an excruciating moving process I never want to experience again, the TV is on my floor, waiting for me to build a new stand for it.

My only problem so far are the blacks. They're nice and deep, but they're actually a bit overpowering. Darker tones lose detail and become murky black. I tried using the standard brightness and picture settings, but it seems like it's not helping.

Is there a service menu setting to improve this issue?I would recommend you not jump straight into the service menu for resolution of this issue. Crushed blacks are usually due to misadjusted brightness (black level). A basic adjustment for black level is to increase brightness until black just becomes gray and then down a notch. A calibration DVD like Avia or DVE, or even a DVD with a calibration section can help you learn how to adjust your black levels.

Today I went Christmas shopping for myself, resigned to the fact that if I wanted HD gaming, it'd be on a blur-tastic LCD or a crappy quality Samsung Slimfit. I happened across this TV, used, sitting onder the Samsung. It was embarassing for Samsung how much the Sony whipped its tail.

So after an excruciating moving process I never want to experience again, the TV is on my floor, waiting for me to build a new stand for it.

My only problem so far are the blacks. They're nice and deep, but they're actually a bit overpowering. Darker tones lose detail and become murky black. I tried using the standard brightness and picture settings, but it seems like it's not helping.

Is there a service menu setting to improve this issue?

Brightness up and contrast (picture) down should help. Also, if you're viewing through a DVD player thru component or a next gen system don't forget to turn on any "component brightness" feature on.

Find the picture mode you like the best and adjust from there. I usually used standard.

Well, I've got problems with my week old Panasonic plasma too. The remote sensor barely works from about 9' away. Sometimes I have to hold a button for 5-10 seconds or get up and use the remote from 3'-4' away from the TV to get it to work. It does this with either of my universal remotes and the Panasonic remote. I've got rotten luck with new TVs. My 14 year old Panasonic Superflat TV still works fine.

Well, I've got problems with my week old Panasonic plasma too. The remote sensor barely works from about 9' away. Sometimes I have to hold a button for 5-10 seconds or get up and use the remote from 3'-4' away from the TV to get it to work. It does this with either of my universal remotes and the Panasonic remote. I've got rotten luck with new TVs. My 14 year old Panasonic Superflat TV still works fine.
So it just wasn't the Sony...it's new TV's in general for ya! lol Maybe try a projector next?


My 970 has been working great now! The break-in period must be over, she's been running so smooth and the picture is superb! Best purchase in a while...I'd still like a bigger screen, but the PQ is too good, I'll wait till the LCD's and Plasma's have more time to play catch up...knock on wood, hopefully this set will last a year or two.

Also, I put a light(it's a 18" fluorescent with a CRI = 94 & Kelvin = 6500) behind it and that sure made a difference on the eye strain in the dark...

Thanks for all the help!

Find the picture mode you like the best and adjust from there. I usually used standard.

Well, I've got problems with my week old Panasonic plasma too. The remote sensor barely works from about 9' away. Sometimes I have to hold a button for 5-10 seconds or get up and use the remote from 3'-4' away from the TV to get it to work. It does this with either of my universal remotes and the Panasonic remote. I've got rotten luck with new TVs. My 14 year old Panasonic Superflat TV still works fine.

What is the deal with new remotes? I have few new devices like a Panasonic LCD, a Sony DVD player, and all the remotes are AWFUL. Was there some FCC regulation passed that mandated weak remote signals or something?

What is the deal with new remotes? I have few new devices like a Panasonic LCD, a Sony DVD player, and all the remotes are AWFUL. Was there some FCC regulation passed that mandated weak remote signals or something?


It's the sensor in my case, not the remote. My universal remote I use for everything will operate my DVD player or receiver pointed almost any direction in the room. The plasma TV it has to be pointed right at the TV from close up and still sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've got remote extenders I use to start and stop recordings to DVD in the living room, the plasma is in the bedroom, since I've got an extra receiver, I put one in the bedroom right in front of the TV, the sender is only about 4' away, it helps that way, but it still doesn't work like it should.

The plasma doesn't have the vivid picture the Sony had, but it doesn't have the annoying cons the Sony had either, convergence problems, geometry problems, green lines at the edge of blacks, that one drove me crazy for months, I'd just barely started to get used to it when the TV started arcing. All in all I'm happy with the plasma, the picture is better than I expected it to be after looking at LCDs, those things don't impress me, I watch in a dark room, LCDs just don't look good in a dark room. The plasma is 8" bigger than the Sony, I wanted a bigger TV when I bought the Sony but there wasn't anything bigger. The biggest plus for the plasma, Panasonic reliability, Panasonic has always beat the crap out of Sony when it comes to reliability. Poor quality sources like VHS definitely look better on the plasma than any CRT I've used. It won't work with the DN signal sent back to the bedroom from the living room like it would with CRT TVs though, I get hum bars pretty bad. I haven't watched DN recordings yet, so I don't know what they look like on the plasma, they were terrible on the Sony, the whole screen was small squares, the high compression of mini dishes showed bad on the Sony. I got one of those BB black friday leftover TVs for $810+tax, $865 out the door, after the BF deal and a 10% off coupon. Not a bad price for a 42" Panasonic plasma.

First, let me say hi ... since I am new here :P now for being on topic sort of ...




the PS3 does a better job at 720p than 1080i. FYI I run my PS3 on 720p even though the TV is 1080i.





Well, I have a PS3 through HDMI as well on my xbr970 ... so you are suggesting that it would look better if I switched it to a 720p for everything?


Then, may I ask, should I switch my cable box and 360 to 720p as well? Do all three look better at 720p, or just the PS3 in you personal opinon (or anyone else's that may pass upon these questions and have personal experience with the devices).

I haven't really played with the settings, I just somewhat assumed the more pixels, even if interlaced, would be a bit better.

I do understand the whole fast moving objects will be cleaner aspect, but overall, 720p wouldn't reduce other artifacts, correct? (jagged edges will always be apparent until pixel size becomes so small it is invisible to the naked eye)


It is still in my personal opinion that 'HD' isn't really all that great ... that within 10 years or so, that is when the pictures will really start to pop (planned obsolescence ... and 2+ layer Blu-Ray discs will be completely necessary to store that much data when that time comes). I think we need about double the pixes or more to have a truly beautiful picture quality on these big screens.

I did read an article on company made a 7" 1080p screen ... and that is basically what I am talking about ... unless my logic is wrong ... the most pixels, on the smallest screen, will give you the best picture with the proper viewing distance and all other things being equal. Please, correct me if I am misguided.



I will say, I have always loved Sony tvs, but this xbr970 is just brilliant and I wanted it when it was more than double the price I paid. I am glad to have picked up the last of Sony's CRTs (r.i.p.). They seem to work forever. Had one of their really good 20" I bought back in the mid 90s for about as much as I paid for the 970 ... its bigger brother was a 24" xbr, but fresh out of high school, I didn't have the few extra hundred to get the better set. It still is one of the best 4:3 sets I have seen. Still have it but don't use it, also quite heavy for its size (which is HUGE for a 20").

I want to say thanks to all on this site ... I have fixed the overscan, which was beyond 10% for some reason. Tweaking all the inputs and resolutions is next ... then work on geometry and start all over!

It's the sensor in my case, not the remote. My universal remote I use for everything will operate my DVD player or receiver pointed almost any direction in the room. The plasma TV it has to be pointed right at the TV from close up and still sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've got remote extenders I use to start and stop recordings to DVD in the living room, the plasma is in the bedroom, since I've got an extra receiver, I put one in the bedroom right in front of the TV, the sender is only about 4' away, it helps that way, but it still doesn't work like it should.

The plasma doesn't have the vivid picture the Sony had, but it doesn't have the annoying cons the Sony had either, convergence problems, geometry problems, green lines at the edge of blacks, that one drove me crazy for months, I'd just barely started to get used to it when the TV started arcing. All in all I'm happy with the plasma, the picture is better than I expected it to be after looking at LCDs, those things don't impress me, I watch in a dark room, LCDs just don't look good in a dark room. The plasma is 8" bigger than the Sony, I wanted a bigger TV when I bought the Sony but there wasn't anything bigger. The biggest plus for the plasma, Panasonic reliability, Panasonic has always beat the crap out of Sony when it comes to reliability. Poor quality sources like VHS definitely look better on the plasma than any CRT I've used. It won't work with the DN signal sent back to the bedroom from the living room like it would with CRT TVs though, I get hum bars pretty bad. I haven't watched DN recordings yet, so I don't know what they look like on the plasma, they were terrible on the Sony, the whole screen was small squares, the high compression of mini dishes showed bad on the Sony. I got one of those BB black friday leftover TVs for $810+tax, $865 out the door, after the BF deal and a 10% off coupon. Not a bad price for a 42" Panasonic plasma.

you should see the picture quality on a runco projector

(970)

I've been obsessing over my tv for days...making new adjustments and going in and out of the service menu. I'd like to just put this one to bed and get a general consensus here...

I've been using test patterns 1 and 11 to get the screen size just right...with minimal overscan, but enough to cover blemishes and bends in the corners.

Basically, I have it set so there's a little more overscan on the right side and bottom of the set. You can see about half of the dotted 16:9 outline on top and right sides and all of it on the other sides under test pattern 1 (PATN). I've made it so it takes about 3 clicks down (-3) on the vertical adjustment to see the end of the picture on top.

Haha, anywhere else and I'd feel like an idiot asking for advice...but from what I've read around here, you guys are a lot like me.

Anyone use a similar technique?

EDIT: hah...okay, just read another thread about how making these "global" changes will result in some things looking great and others looking different because every source has a different size/what have you. I think I'll spend a little more time watching my tv than farting around with it.

that within 10 years or so, that is when the pictures will really start to pop (planned obsolescence ... and 2+ layer Blu-Ray discs will be completely necessary to store that much data when that time comes).
Computer geeks tend to think in terms of computer tech. The mistake with that sort of thinking is that the underlying tech for broadcast TV doesn't change that rapidly.

Has anyone hooked up an xbox 360 to this with HDMi. I can't get the the audio to pass through the coax out on the tv. Or wasn't this an option on the tv to pass digital out with coax. I can get brodcast digital out from an antenna.

Has anyone hooked up an xbox 360 to this with HDMi. I can't get the the audio to pass through the coax out on the tv. Or wasn't this an option on the tv to pass digital out with coax. I can get brodcast digital out from an antenna.


The digital out only passes broadcast audio, it won't pass audio from HDMI. Connect the digital out of the Xbox to the receiver.

Well, my TV is gone and I finally got the check for the buyout. Since I'm no longer an owner, I'm out of here. Hopefully you people will have better luck with your TVs than I had with mine.

Is there a reason you ignored my posts and PM?:eek:




Yes, I never saw your post or IM.

There is no link or info on these stands via the internet. They are however still for sale at the 2 WalMarts near my home.

hyghwayman

Hi guys i have this tv im loving it i did fix some overscan issues,the only thing it has is a purplelish blob on the right side of the screen nothing major or distracting it's only visible if the screen is all white.is there a settting to fix this thanks!

Mine has a slight green spot Kruz. I'm 99% sure it's due to my subwoofer or front right speaker. It was never there until i moved the speakers closer in. But now it wont seem to go away. I even tried tweaking the landing settings, but i noticed no change AT ALL to the color of white when trying to fix it.

First thing i would do is move any components you may have next to the Tv , unplug them one by one and see if the spot goes away after a few on/off restarts. Also if your Tv is close to a wall, and right by an outlet where you have everything plugged in that could be a factor, so try moving it away from the wall.

still lovin my 970

and still running into people all the time who wish they never bought LCD, who wish they had their old CRT standard def back

Mine has a slight green spot Kruz. I'm 99% sure it's due to my subwoofer or front right speaker. It was never there until i moved the speakers closer in. But now it wont seem to go away. I even tried tweaking the landing settings, but i noticed no change AT ALL to the color of white when trying to fix it.

First thing i would do is move any components you may have next to the Tv , unplug them one by one and see if the spot goes away after a few on/off restarts. Also if your Tv is close to a wall, and right by an outlet where you have everything plugged in that could be a factor, so try moving it away from the wall.

hmm i see,you know i do have a subwoofer on the right side lmao maybe that caused it yeah i should move it it isn't that close but still maybe your right.
The thing is that im not sure if it was always there or just noticed it a while back lol i also it's close to a window where there's no outlets near by only one a bit far.but i have it plugged in to a outlet protector? is that what is called ? thanks anyways for the tip hehe

Yeah,after looking at my bro's Panasonic plasma it makes me feel like i made a good choice.why? Because like many lcd's and plasma suffer from poor blacks and color's.Those tv's looks incredible in design,but the nasty blacks that somtimes in some tvs look either reddish or grey.It is a big turn off for me
that's why i chose this tube hdtv more color accuracy and blacks and well as refresh rate that doesn't look flickery like in some lcd's and plasmas i've seen.

Yea man could be. My sub and speakers are all shielded, but they still can cause discolorations ( noticed on my old TV when placing the center speaker on top of the set) About what you're using to plug in you mean a surge protector (UPS, conditioner) ? That wouldn't matter if something external is causing the discoloration. i only brought that up cause when i had my old Tv set up on a different wall the outlet was really high up on the wall, for some reason thats where the electricians placed it when building this house) anyways it was like directly behind my TV height wise, and it being so close to it i picked up some nasty interference on my TV.

Hello,

This is my first post on this thread so be gentle. I also posted this in the 960 thread first so I apologize in advance if that is not cool. I couldn't find an official KV-34XBR910 thread so I posted here since the 970 was the 3rd generation of my 910.

I have the dreaded TV won't turn on with blinking standby light problem (6 blinks in row that repeats). I got it to work for another week by doing a power reset but now even that doesn't work. So I brought it to my local repair shop (MS Electronics in Plano, TX).

I read the other thread on the board about this issue with another Sony model so I was expecting to have to replace the power supply card with the faulty ICs on it. What I wasn't expecting was to also have to replace the deflection module. Total repair cost is estimated to be about $550 and I paid about $2200 for it in 2004.

My question is should I pay that much to repair it or just invest in a nice flat screen TV like a Sony/Samsung LCD or Panasonic/Pioneer plasma? One thought is that I would be better off buying a new flat screen since it was more than just the PS board; a bad omen in my mind since I have had to repair two other Sony's in the past. Another thought is to fix it since the flat screen prices are falling like a stone and LED technology is still evolving.

Maybe I can fix it now, get a better LED TV next year and pocket the difference $$$? Your thoughts?

Well let me tell ya. I am a content owner of a 970 and it only costed me 600 bucks. If this thing were to die on me after the warrenty period was out, I would throw it in the trash. For me it was the cheapest way to go HD. The picture quality is jaw dropping and I would be devastated if it were to go out. However, spending that kind of money to get it back up and running to me would simply not be worth it. Mainly because I know that the TV has a 99.9% chance of never being the same as it was after a moron tech gets their hands on it. They'll get it fixed just enough to turn on and want to charge you extra money to recalibrate the picture to where it once was if they can even do that. Most technicians don't know half the adjustments in the service menu posted on this forum. I know that you paid a lot of money for your 910, but CRT technology has been defeated by plastic TVs, and nobody knows nor cares how to properly work on CRTs. If I were you, I would shop around and look at some plasma TVs and take each candidate home one at a time till you find what you can live with. The manufacturers and retailers helped push CRTs out, they can deal with all the returns for poorly engineered plastic TVs. Sorry.....but I'm a little bitter.

Hello,

This is my first post on this thread so be gentle. I also posted this in the 960 thread first so I apologize in advance if that is not cool. I couldn't find an official KV-34XBR910 thread so I posted here since the 970 was the 3rd generation of my 910.

I have the dreaded TV won't turn on with blinking standby light problem (6 blinks in row that repeats). I got it to work for another week by doing a power reset but now even that doesn't work. So I brought it to my local repair shop (MS Electronics in Plano, TX).

I read the other thread on the board about this issue with another Sony model so I was expecting to have to replace the power supply card with the faulty ICs on it. What I wasn't expecting was to also have to replace the deflection module. Total repair cost is estimated to be about $550 and I paid about $2200 for it in 2004.

My question is should I pay that much to repair it or just invest in a nice flat screen TV like a Sony/Samsung LCD or Panasonic/Pioneer plasma? One thought is that I would be better off buying a new flat screen since it was more than just the PS board; a bad omen in my mind since I have had to repair two other Sony's in the past. Another thought is to fix it since the flat screen prices are falling like a stone and LED technology is still evolving.

Maybe I can fix it now, get a better LED TV next year and pocket the difference $$$? Your thoughts?

I went with a Panasonic plasma to replace the 970, I'm very happy with it. Blacks are black, colors are rich and true. None of the drawbacks the Sony had, geometry, convergence, etc. If I'd known that Panasonic plasmas look as good as they do, I probably wouldn't have bought the Sony in the first place. Panasonic reliability is so much better than Sony. If you watch in a dark room, you'll be impressed with the Panasonic plasmas. Poor quality sources look far better on the plasma than the Sony and HD is amazing. The only drawback is the picture is a little soft.

The tech that attempted to repair my Sony ended up destroying it. You may end up with the same TV you had and you may not.

Yeah,after looking at my bro's Panasonic plasma it makes me feel like i made a good choice.why? Because like many lcd's and plasma suffer from poor blacks and color's.Those tv's looks incredible in design,but the nasty blacks that somtimes in some tvs look either reddish or grey.It is a big turn off for me
that's why i chose this tube hdtv more color accuracy and blacks and well as refresh rate that doesn't look flickery like in some lcd's and plasmas i've seen.

That must be an old Panasonic plasma. This years TVs have excellent blacks and colors. Either it's an old TV or he hasn't got it calibrated right. I love my Panasonic plasma.

Sony KD-34XBR970!

I've had mine for over 11 months now and am still very happy with everything this TV does. I bought it $300 below SRP in Feb. of 2007.

Happy New Year everyone,
hyghwayman

I'm actually glad my Sony died. 34" was just too small, even in my bedroom. 42" is about perfect for the room and I can now see many details in movies I never could see before because the TV was just too small. I had no idea that Panasonic plasmas look as good as they do. Plasma has got a bad rep it doesn't deserve. After looking at the crappy LCDs, I'm blown away at how much better plasma is. Why everyone buys LCD when plasma is far superior, I don't know. Maybe beacuse in the well lit showrooms the LCDs look better, not when you get them home. No regrets whatsoever on my Sony dying and getting the plasma.

I'm actually glad my Sony died. 34" was just too small, even in my bedroom. 42" is about perfect for the room and I can now see many details in movies I never could see before because the TV was just too small. I had no idea that Panasonic plasmas look as good as they do. Plasma has got a bad rep it doesn't deserve. After looking at the crappy LCDs, I'm blown away at how much better plasma is. Why everyone buys LCD when plasma is far superior, I don't know. Maybe beacuse in the well lit showrooms the LCDs look better, not when you get them home. No regrets whatsoever on my Sony dying and getting the plasma.

the panasonic plasmas are pretty good

then again, look at the cost difference

my 970 was delivered and brought into my home brand new in the box for $500

but if your room is too large for 34" and you have the extra thousands then panasonic plasma is the way to go

Not sure if this has already been discussed, but i stumbled upon another set of internal test patterns built into the TV. I know everyone knows about the "PATN" ones, but "GPTN" also has a set of some useful ones... Well maybe one! A convergence one that shows all three colors broken up (red,green,blue), so it's MUCH easier to mess with D-conv while viewing it! It's number 3 in GPTN. Even though i already had mine tweaked with avia, i wanted to tweak it using the internal pattern. Just for fun i put in all my default D-conv values in and let me tell you... WAY OFF! So i went and re-did them again. I feel the best order to change it CADJ first for overall convergence, then RSAP and LSAP to get everything mostly inline, then use the others for fine tuning the corners and far left and right sides.
Next time you guys are in service mode check it out and let me know how yours looks.

Hey guys I had a quick question for anyone willing to answer.

I finally got the geometry straightened out as perfectly as I could tell (for a tube tv). Theoretically...If your horizontal size and vertical size are the same value (HSIZ, VSIZ) the picture should be correct in terms of no streching/expansion?

I only ask because for awhile it seemed that I had a vertical stretch (probably just the OCD kicking in) but when I tested the screen at VSIZ=0 and HSIZ=0 the picture looked perfect (although ridiculously small). Now the size is at 34-34, and is about as good as I can get it for my cable tv, hd-dvd/blu ray and videogames, in terms of overscan.

Anyone care to chime in and ease my paranoid mind?:o

....I finally got the geometry straightened out as perfectly as I could tell (for a tube tv). Theoretically...If your horizontal size and vertical size are the same value (HSIZ, VSIZ) the picture should be correct in terms of no streching/expansion?....I don't believe there is any direct relationship between the two values. Having them equal does not guarantee a correctly sized picture. BTW, the defaults are not equivalent.

Not sure if this has already been discussed, but i stumbled upon another set of internal test patterns built into the TV. I know everyone knows about the "PATN" ones, but "GPTN" also has a set of some useful ones... Well maybe one! A convergence one that shows all three colors broken up (red,green,blue), so it's MUCH easier to mess with D-conv while viewing it! It's number 3 in GPTN. Even though i already had mine tweaked with avia, i wanted to tweak it using the internal pattern. Just for fun i put in all my default D-conv values in and let me tell you... WAY OFF! So i went and re-did them again. I feel the best order to change it CADJ first for overall convergence, then RSAP and LSAP to get everything mostly inline, then use the others for fine tuning the corners and far left and right sides.
Next time you guys are in service mode check it out and let me know how yours looks.

So did this help with your red/blue push in certain quadrants? If so maybe that's what I need to try.

I haven't really checked since tweaking it, but i doubt it. I'm also afraid to throw up a crosshatch pattern from avia and see how it looks, since i'm sure it would look different compared to with using the internal TV pattern. So i'll probably just end up redoing it all again with avia :P Nah though Johnathan, the mis convergered lines i'm having problems with go across the screen and as we all know there is no fix for that in the service menu. It's like on the bottom left, and the lines are only misconverged half way through! It doesn't make any sense. When viewing that pattern though oh boy! the red line (that is misconverged) was wayy out of alignment with the other colors. I don't know if i should even bother trying to get a hold of a tech. I'll try and take a picture of it later on.

the panasonic plasmas are pretty good

then again, look at the cost difference

my 970 was delivered and brought into my home brand new in the box for $500

but if your room is too large for 34" and you have the extra thousands then panasonic plasma is the way to go

Extra thousands? I paid about $640 total for my 970. The plasma cost $865. $225 more for an extra 8" and Panasonic reliability instead of Sony unreliability. I no longer have to worry about my TV dying shortly after the warranty. It was definitely worth that little bit more to get a larger TV I can rely on. No more geometry, convergence, overscan, green lines at the edge of blacks, etc. problems. The picture may not be quite as vivid, but it was well worth a little sacrifice to have no more problems to fix in the SM and the problems that can't be fixed in the SM. The plasma looks great out of the box, nothing more than a little user menu adjustments need to be done.

Ok i took some pics. LOL it doesn't look as bad on camera, BUT i notice it while watching movies/TV. Am i overreacting? As you can see a few of the horizontal lines are also misconvergered, I fixed all the vertical ones (or is it horizontal? i always thought horizontal was across and vertical up and down, but i guess it doesn't aply to TV's! anyways i was able to fix the lines going up and down) in D-conv, as you can see they are pretty tight(cept for a couple here and there that i couldn't get to align without messing up another part, so i had to compromise) I should go back and out the d-conv values at default then take some more pics so you guys can see how BAD the convergence was from the factory! Let me know.

Ok i took some pics. LOL it doesn't look as bad on camera, BUT i notice it while watching movies/TV. Am i overreacting? As you can see a few of the horizontal lines are also misconvergered, I fixed all the vertical ones (or is it horizontal? i always thought horizontal was across and vertical up and down, but i guess it doesn't aply to TV's! anyways i was able to fix the lines going up and down) in D-conv, as you can see they are pretty tight(cept for a couple here and there that i couldn't get to align without messing up another part, so i had to compromise) I should go back and out the d-conv values at default then take some more pics so you guys can see how BAD the convergence was from the factory! Let me know.

My TV had that same red problem in the same place, only it was at least twice that bad. There's a circuit board on top of the yoke close to the picture tube with 2 adjustments on it, one of them, possible both of them, adjust that. It also adjusts the top of the screen as it does the bottom, so you'll probably have to compromise. I think it's the left one if you're looking at the TV from the back. The only other way to make it better is the rings on the yoke, which I wouldn't suggest going anywhere near. The adjustments aren't specific to any part of the screen and as you try to adjust that it will throw something else off, unless you're very lucky, by the time you get that better you will have messed something else up to where you may never get it back to where it was.

Ok i took some pics. LOL it doesn't look as bad on camera, BUT i notice it while watching movies/TV. Am i overreacting? As you can see a few of the horizontal lines are also misconvergered, I fixed all the vertical ones (or is it horizontal? i always thought horizontal was across and vertical up and down, but i guess it doesn't aply to TV's! anyways i was able to fix the lines going up and down) in D-conv, as you can see they are pretty tight(cept for a couple here and there that i couldn't get to align without messing up another part, so i had to compromise) I should go back and out the d-conv values at default then take some more pics so you guys can see how BAD the convergence was from the factory! Let me know.

That's exactly how mine looks. Must be the standard problem areas with these sets. Oh well. In a few years I'll have a nice big 1080p plasma or LCD, but I'm enjoying my Sony right now, warts and all...

Extra thousands? I paid about $640 total for my 970. The plasma cost $865. $225 more for an extra 8" and Panasonic reliability instead of Sony unreliability. I no longer have to worry about my TV dying shortly after the warranty. It was definitely worth that little bit more to get a larger TV I can rely on. No more geometry, convergence, overscan, green lines at the edge of blacks, etc. problems. The picture may not be quite as vivid, but it was well worth a little sacrifice to have no more problems to fix in the SM and the problems that can't be fixed in the SM. The plasma looks great out of the box, nothing more than a little user menu adjustments need to be done.

I'm curious where you found a 42" Panny plasma for $865. Best Buy has them on sale currently. The 42" 1080p (model #TH-42PZ700U) is $1799, marked down from $1999. The 42" 720p (model #TH-42PX75U) is $1299, marked down from $1399.

Even their house brand Insignia is $899 for the 42" 720 version (model #NS-PDP42)

I'll stick with my gorgeous Sony 970. *IF* 42" Panny plasmas actually get into the $800 range then I might be tempted but I don't see that price for quite some time and certainly not for 1080p.

Ok i took some pics. LOL it doesn't look as bad on camera, BUT i notice it while watching movies/TV. Am i overreacting? As you can see a few of the horizontal lines are also misconvergered, I fixed all the vertical ones (or is it horizontal? i always thought horizontal was across and vertical up and down, but i guess it doesn't aply to TV's! anyways i was able to fix the lines going up and down) in D-conv, as you can see they are pretty tight(cept for a couple here and there that i couldn't get to align without messing up another part, so i had to compromise) I should go back and out the d-conv values at default then take some more pics so you guys can see how BAD the convergence was from the factory! Let me know.

do you think there will come a time when you just give up on this tv ?

I'm curious where you found a 42" Panny plasma for $865. Best Buy has them on sale currently. The 42" 1080p (model #TH-42PZ700U) is $1799, marked down from $1999. The 42" 720p (model #TH-42PX75U) is $1299, marked down from $1399.

Even their house brand Insignia is $899 for the 42" 720 version (model #NS-PDP42)

I'll stick with my gorgeous Sony 970. *IF* 42" Panny plasmas actually get into the $800 range then I might be tempted but I don't see that price for quite some time and certainly not for 1080p.

I don't have any use for a 1080p and don't want cooling fans anyway. It was a BB black Friday TV for $900 and I used a 10% off coupon. Last I knew some stores still have them in stock for that price. Sears has the 720p for $1000 pretty regularly, with a 10% off coupon and 10% of the price difference off, it would be less than $100 over what I paid for mine. Mine is the Costco model. It's minus the media card reader, has a different stand, I like my stand better, and it has 4 watts total less audio power, I don't use the TV speakers anyway and don't care about the media card reader. The new Panasonics come out in about March, so they will be $800-900 pretty soon.

Extra thousands? I paid about $640 total for my 970. The plasma cost $865. $225 more for an extra 8" and Panasonic reliability instead of Sony unreliability. I no longer have to worry about my TV dying shortly after the warranty. It was definitely worth that little bit more to get a larger TV I can rely on. No more geometry, convergence, overscan, green lines at the edge of blacks, etc. problems. The picture may not be quite as vivid, but it was well worth a little sacrifice to have no more problems to fix in the SM and the problems that can't be fixed in the SM. The plasma looks great out of the box, nothing more than a little user menu adjustments need to be done.

can you let me know where i can get a panasonic 42" plasma for $865

and "sony unreliability" ?

what do you base that on ?

i've seen good and bad from both companies and more professionals use sony

" I no longer have to worry about my TV dying shortly after the warranty"

last i heard, plasmas last about 3-4 years and CRTs kinda last forever

can you let me know where i can get a panasonic 42" plasma for $865

and "sony unreliability" ?

what do you base that on ?

i've seen good and bad from both companies and more professionals use sony

" I no longer have to worry about my TV dying shortly after the warranty"

last i heard, plasmas last about 3-4 years and CRTs kinda last forever

My last post tells where you can get the Panasonic for that price. As of a little over a week ago, there was a BB with 2 of them left less than 50 miles from me. Look back through this thread at all the people that have had problems with the Sony in only a few months. It took me 3 new ones to get one that didn't have serious problems out of the box. Plasmas dying early is a thing of the past, they now have the same 60,000 hour rating as LCDs. I've worked on electronics for a long time, believe me when I say Sony has serious reliability issues on most of what they sell at the consumer level. Professional equipment doesn't have the problems the consumer products do.

I'm curious where you found a 42" Panny plasma for $865. Best Buy has them on sale currently. The 42" 1080p (model #TH-42PZ700U) is $1799, marked down from $1999. The 42" 720p (model #TH-42PX75U) is $1299, marked down from $1399.

Even their house brand Insignia is $899 for the 42" 720 version (model #NS-PDP42)

I'll stick with my gorgeous Sony 970. *IF* 42" Panny plasmas actually get into the $800 range then I might be tempted but I don't see that price for quite some time and certainly not for 1080p.

Since the 1080p stuff is coming out now, the 720 big screens will likely be discontinued so that they don't negatively affect the pricing of the new models. I bet within 2 years, though, the 1080p 40+ inch screens will be regularly price under $1000.

I only mentioned 1080 originally because a 40+ inch 720p screen starts to show some pixellation at "average" viweing distances.

do you think there will come a time when you just give up on this tv ?


What do you mean ? Like get to the point where i feel the TV is "done" with tweaking and i just leave it as is ? or do you mean get to the point where i just get rid of it and go with something else? I only had the set for like 6 months, if even that! Knowing that most of the guys here have the same problem makes me feel better though and now i know mine isn't an isolated incident. Yea i complain about it, but i don't hate it by any means.

I don't mind doing all these tweaks and stuff, i been doing them for years, so i can't really say i would ever be "done" with tweaking, especially when other people find out other things to mess with and fix. I have OCD when it come to this stuff. I'm sure if i had this set professionally calibrated i'd be done. But If you guys all want to chip in though and buy me a Pioneer Kuro i'd be more than happy to give up on this set!

I only mentioned 1080 originally because a 40+ inch 720p screen starts to show some pixellation at "average" viweing distances.

I don't know what you're watching that you get pixellation on. I've never once seen it on the Panasonic and I've had it for over a month. I've been watching more TV than usual lately too to get through the 200 hours of break-in. Maybe the older TVs did it. That's more of an LCD problem than a plasma problem.

I don't mean motion pixellation or "motion blur", just that at 720 the blockiness of the resolution can be apparent if you sit too close. Kind of like playing a 480 res video game on a 30+ inch screen.

BTW, I had been meaning to ask this: how many times does everyone else's 970 flash before turning on? Mine has always flashed 10 times, which seems like a long time, but I've never had trouble with it. Red standby light I mean, of course.

10 blinks for me too. Although a few times after turning on after service mode it blinked for like 20 times and the picture never came back on. I had to unplug it then plug it back in to fix it.

I been reading the 960 thread on here ( on page 88 now) since our TV's are practically cousins, and i read everything in this topic already. Came across a post how they were told the 960 shouldn't be plugged into any type of surge protector, but plugged directly into the wall or a UPS. Due to the fact that a surge protector can cause the degausser not to do a full degauss when turning on the set. I wonder if this also applies to the 970? I have my set plugged into a belkin Pf30 power console.

What do you mean ? Like get to the point where i feel the TV is "done" with tweaking and i just leave it as is ? or do you mean get to the point where i just get rid of it and go with something else? I only had the set for like 6 months, if even that! Knowing that most of the guys here have the same problem makes me feel better though and now i know mine isn't an isolated incident. Yea i complain about it, but i don't hate it by any means.

I don't mind doing all these tweaks and stuff, i been doing them for years, so i can't really say i would ever be "done" with tweaking, especially when other people find out other things to mess with and fix. I have OCD when it come to this stuff. I'm sure if i had this set professionally calibrated i'd be done. But If you guys all want to chip in though and buy me a Pioneer Kuro i'd be more than happy to give up on this set!

ok, i just don't want to see you go insane over a tv :p

thank god mine looks great out of the box

all i had to do was adjust the video controls

i think some people might live in more "magnetic" areas than others or maybe some were lucky and it came from the factory set-up right

My TV looked great too out of the box! that is until i viewed some test patterns. Looks can be deceiving especially with a moving TV picture and not static images. Maybe you lucked out and have the TV facing the direction it was set up at the factory, thus your geometry errors aren't as bad, or you're just not as obsessed with trying to get everything perfect like most of us, which in that case you're lucky. I'm the kind of person who can't sit and relax knowing something can look/be better than how i have it. :( Right now though after so many tweaks i KNOW this is the best i can get everything without having a tech or ISF calibration.

Not sure how you didn't have to atleast do any overscan adjustment, or image tilt correction, since those are usually ALWAYS out of whack from the factory. Have you even checked your set with an overscan pattern? Mine was like 10% on one side and 5% on the other! I now have it set to 3%

I'm going to post my "new' settings now since readjusting the separate color guns in service menu. Also went back to R1 for hue, as this minimized all the blinking in the color boxes. Feel free to post your settings as well. All inputs calibrated with avia test disc, cept for my HD cable box, which i have no way of calibrating with any type of disc! so thats mostly guess work by eye. I tried to calibrate the input by plugging my oppo dvd player into the component input i use for my cable box, but it looked REAL bad once i plugged the box back in.

RYR-GYB in service menu = 13, 15, 5, 4

ok pro mode all around, warm also. Clear edge off.

Video 4 ( cable box) component cable input.

Picture- 37
brightness-57
Color-44
Hue-R1
sharpness-15

** note for 720p and 1080i i have UBOF set to 2, since this brightness level is perfect for 480i/p but crushes blacks on 720p/1080i.


video 5 ( xbox 360) component cable inpuit

Picture-37
brightness-50
color-44
Hue-R1
sharpness-15


Video 6 ( oppo dvd player) HDMI

Picture-35
brightness-47
color-52
Hue-R1
sharpness- min

And thats all the inputs i use. Notice how high color setting is in HDMI? what gives ? I had to put it that high to get the blue color bars the same intensity and they are perfect at that point. Must be cause it's HDMI.

My TV looked great too out of the box! that is until i viewed some test patterns. Looks can be deceiving especially with a moving TV picture and not static images. Maybe you lucked out and have the TV facing the direction it was set up at the factory, thus your geometry errors aren't as bad, or you're just not as obsessed with trying to get everything perfect like most of us, which in that case you're lucky. I'm the kind of person who can't sit and relax knowing something can look/be better than how i have it. :( Right now though after so many tweaks i KNOW this is the best i can get everything without having a tech or ISF calibration.

Not sure how you didn't have to atleast do any overscan adjustment, or image tilt correction, since those are usually ALWAYS out of whack from the factory. Have you even checked your set with an overscan pattern? Mine was like 10% on one side and 5% on the other! I now have it set to 3%

i don't look at test patterns, just movies

looks perfect to me :D

i did have to do the tilt thing -3 but that's in the regular menu, not the service menu

again, i didn't even notice the tilt was off till i saw the 2 test bars

there's the old saying, what you don't know, wont hurt you :D

I don't mean motion pixellation or "motion blur", just that at 720 the blockiness of the resolution can be apparent if you sit too close. Kind of like playing a 480 res video game on a 30+ inch screen.

I never see it from where I sit. The only times I've ever seen anything but a perfect picture is on the Lousy CW HD feed we have here, which breaks up, goes blank and drops audio.

Well I just picked up a 970 (my first HD Set) used for $350.

Everything was going well until it randomly turned off on me twice within 10 minutes. I began thinking I should contact the seller, but decided to wait it out.

That night I was watching some TV, then decided to hit the sack. About 20 minutes later the TV turned back on! I woke up pretty confused, hit the power button and went back to sleep. A short time later it turned on again!

Then today it turned off randomly and wouldn't turn back on. I remembered reading something in this thread about unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, and sure enough that fixed it.

But that, of course, still leaves the mysterious turning on problem...

Anybody else hear of anything like this? PSU on the fritz? Remote? Ghosts?

A neighbor with a Sony remote? It doesn't have to be the same model. My 27" SD remote works most of the controls on my HD 34".

Well I just picked up a 970 (my first HD Set) used for $350.

Everything was going well until it randomly turned off on me twice within 10 minutes. I began thinking I should contact the seller, but decided to wait it out.

That night I was watching some TV, then decided to hit the sack. About 20 minutes later the TV turned back on! I woke up pretty confused, hit the power button and went back to sleep. A short time later it turned on again!

Then today it turned off randomly and wouldn't turn back on. I remembered reading something in this thread about unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, and sure enough that fixed it.

But that, of course, still leaves the mysterious turning on problem...

Anybody else hear of anything like this? PSU on the fritz? Remote? Ghosts?



LOL that would freak me out. What a great price you got on it, no wonder the seller sold it to you so cheap! It comes with a ghost! I have no clue what could be causing this, cept what Bob said about anothr sony remote, or even some sort of universal, but you would know if you were using another remote when it happened some where else in the house. I wonder what the range on these remotes are and if a neighbor is close enough it could be causing it? I doubt it though. LOL the weird part is the turning back on! I could understand something going on and it shut off, but back on?!?!?

Well I just picked up a 970 (my first HD Set) used for $350.

Everything was going well until it randomly turned off on me twice within 10 minutes. I began thinking I should contact the seller, but decided to wait it out.

That night I was watching some TV, then decided to hit the sack. About 20 minutes later the TV turned back on! I woke up pretty confused, hit the power button and went back to sleep. A short time later it turned on again!

Then today it turned off randomly and wouldn't turn back on. I remembered reading something in this thread about unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, and sure enough that fixed it.

But that, of course, still leaves the mysterious turning on problem...

Anybody else hear of anything like this? PSU on the fritz? Remote? Ghosts?

I remember someone else saying their TV did pretty much that exact thing. I don't remember if it was in this thread or another forum.

Well I just picked up a 970 (my first HD Set) used for $350.

Everything was going well until it randomly turned off on me twice within 10 minutes. I began thinking I should contact the seller, but decided to wait it out.

That night I was watching some TV, then decided to hit the sack. About 20 minutes later the TV turned back on! I woke up pretty confused, hit the power button and went back to sleep. A short time later it turned on again!

Then today it turned off randomly and wouldn't turn back on. I remembered reading something in this thread about unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, and sure enough that fixed it.

But that, of course, still leaves the mysterious turning on problem...

Anybody else hear of anything like this? PSU on the fritz? Remote? Ghosts?

Check this thread. Sony CRTs from 2000+ are notorious for power supply issues.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=650457

I am betting the owner knew his set already did that. It would be a huge coincidence that it just started with you.

Even if it is something with the power supply, i wouldn't bother contacting the previous owner again, he might want it back. For $350 even after getting it fixed it would still be a steal of a price for the TV! That is unless it's a $200+ fix.

ohh, i've had that happen , the link scott posted. Only mine wouldn't turn back on, the light would just blink and then no picture. This only happened once ina while and ALWAYS after leaving the service menu. After unplugging it and plugging it back in it was fine. It wouldn't do it over and over again though, and it wouldn't turn itself back on, so i'm not sure if it's the same issue.

Well I just picked up a 970 (my first HD Set) used for $350.

Everything was going well until it randomly turned off on me twice within 10 minutes. I began thinking I should contact the seller, but decided to wait it out.

That night I was watching some TV, then decided to hit the sack. About 20 minutes later the TV turned back on! I woke up pretty confused, hit the power button and went back to sleep. A short time later it turned on again!

Then today it turned off randomly and wouldn't turn back on. I remembered reading something in this thread about unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, and sure enough that fixed it.

But that, of course, still leaves the mysterious turning on problem...

Anybody else hear of anything like this? PSU on the fritz? Remote? Ghosts?

Here's a thought - check your power quality.

My 970 is connected through a surge suppressor, and perhaps that's why it's well behaved, but we also have a 27" Sony and live where there are frequent power outages. I woke up Wednesday morning at 5:30 AM to a blaring TV. Turned it off, it came back on. Turned it off again, it came back on. Off and on, over and over until we lost power for good. 75 MPH winds will do that.

If you complain, most utilities will put a monitor on your line to see if there are any issues on their side without charging you for the test.

But it is peculiar to come home to a dark house only to hear people talking and light flickering from the upstairs bedroom ...

Have fun,
Frank

PS AVS is a phenomenal resource; thanks to all whose posts have led my wife to believe I'm obsessed with this TV - you taught me what obsession really is!

...But it is peculiar to come home to a dark house only to hear people talking and light flickering from the upstairs bedroom ...

Have fun,
Frank

...

And if you've watched too many movies like Poltergeist or Amityville it can be downright scary. :D

D'oh!

Turns out my problem was simply a sticky power button on the set itself. I hadn't even thought of checking that out.

Too bad..I was hoping to make a mint on the movie rights.

Hello, all -

It's been a while since I posted anything. My question is specific to this tv, so I thought this would be the best place to post my question. And I know a few of you have a PS3 in your home.

I got the 60GB PS3 so I could play PS2 games on it. I'm surprised to find that PS2 games that don't support progressive scan are showing up as 480p in my tv display window. (I leave the upscaling feature off.) I'm using an HDMI cable. I'm sure this is a mistake because when I DO put in a PS2 game that supports progressive scan and I turn that feature on using the in-game menu, it looks amazing in comparison to the 480i games (which show up at 480p anyhow.) As I said, I leave the upscaling feature off - upscaling my 480i PS2 games to 1080i didn't really make them look much better, so I leave it off. So if my upscaling feature is off, why is 480p hitting the tv playing 480i games?

Anyone else experience this? I read somewhere that HDMI can't transfer 480i. If not, than what the heck is it doing to my 480i games to get it through my HDMI cable and to my tv? It certainly doesn't look like 480p, but that's what my XBR970 is telling me. A true progressive scan PS2 game looks great in comparison, so something is fishy here. Thanks.

......Anyone else experience this? I read somewhere that HDMI can't transfer 480i. If not, than what the heck is it doing to my 480i games to get it through my HDMI cable and to my tv? It certainly doesn't look like 480p, but that's what my XBR970 is telling me. A true progressive scan PS2 game looks great in comparison, so something is fishy here. Thanks.HDMI can carry 480i just fine.

DRC is only active when the input is 480i. Is DRC available or is it greyed out? If its selectable, what DRC setting are you using? Does the 480p indication change when the DRC selection is changed?

That may be more of a PS3 question. I just Googled "480i hdmi output ps3" and read number of sites claiming the PS3 won't output 480i over HMDI. It does some sort of upscaling before sending the signal over the cable. "Consult your documentation." ;)

As to why the 480p games look better when switched "on" in-game, well, the graphics of those games were probably specifically built for proscan. Based on my Xbox experience, games designed for 480p look much better than 480i games upscaled by the system. Not much you can do about it.

Is DRC available or is it greyed out?

DRC is not available. Which makes sense because the TV says it's receiving 480p.

That may be more of a PS3 question. I just Googled "480i hdmi output ps3" and read number of sites claiming the PS3 won't output 480i over HMDI. It does some sort of upscaling before sending the signal over the cable. "Consult your documentation." ;)

As to why the 480p games look better when switched "on" in-game, well, the graphics of those games were probably specifically built for proscan. Based on my Xbox experience, games designed for 480p look much better than 480i games upscaled by the system. Not much you can do about it.

You're right. The PS3 manual says output via HDMI is 1080p, 1080i, 720p, and 480p only. No 480i. So I guess the XBR970 isn't lying (which was my main concern). The PS3 is doing something to my 480i PS2 games to cram it through HDMI at 480p. And without my permission! Sheesh!

I didn't know you could take a non-progressive game and force it to run progressive. But I guess that's what proscan DVD players do all the time, right? Technically, all dvds are 480i by nature, no? Anyway, that explains a lot. Thank you. I was just confused as to why both games said 480p, but one game looked poor and the other game looked really damn good. I thought 480p was 480p. But one was upscaled and one was true.

Thanks again!

....I didn't know you could take a non-progressive game and force it to run progressive. But I guess that's what proscan DVD players do all the time, right?....Deinterlacing

Deinterlacing

Gotcha. Thanks. :)

Okay, every source on my 970 is 1080i except for my playstation 2. I have this hooked up via component cables. I am experiencing about an inch of underscan on the right and left sides, and I assume it's because I tweaked HSIZ to fit my 1080i sources close to perfect.

Now, I'd like to fix the PS2 underscan, but I have my digital cable hooked up via component as well...so to my understanding, the MID2 adjustments would mess with my digital cable as well as the PS2 wouldn't they?

Maybe I should just hook up my PS2 with composite? I only have a couple games that can actually utilize progressive scan anyway.

Any help/suggestions are appreciated!

I have a question about the service menu. I've read if you press "8", then "enter" it will "restore factory defaults". Does this mean it will go back to original settings in the service menu even after you've selected "write" from an adjustment? And what does "0" and "enter" do?

I ask this because I may have over adjusted something and can't seem to get my color decoder to match as properly as it once did.

I've done some research and it appears nothing can bring back the default settings. I found something on this board that gives the default settins for another XBR model, but I'm wondering if any of the XBR970 owners here can give the default settings (or your own personal settings) for:

SCOL, SHUE, CB01, CR01, CB02, CR02 SBRT, RDRV, GDRV, BDRV, RCUT, GCUT, BCUT, WBSW, SBOF, RDOF, BDOF, RCOF,GCOF, BCOF, DCOL, UBOF, UCOF, UHOF, SPIC, SCOL, SHUE, SPIC, SPIO, SCLO and SHUO.

Sorry to ask for so much. But any help would be appreciated.

I have a 34" 34XBR970 and have been loving it for years. I still havent seen much that compares to it picture quality wise. Hands down its a beautiful picture.

there are a few things that I dont like and that being it weighs 200 pounds. And I have moved all over the place with it, up flights of stairs that nearly have literally killed myself. But she continues on.

Another is the screen size. 34" is great but who doesnt love a larger screen! And with movies in widescreen they get shrunk down even smaller.

So Im wondering if the LCD hype has gotten me because im thinking of the 71F series by samsung for awhile now. So basically what im asking

Is it worthwhile PQ etc to leave the 34" CRT for a 47" LCD samsung?



Now what Im asking is that am i falling prey to the hype of LCD screens.

I have a 34" 34XBR970 and have been loving it for years. I still havent seen much that compares to it picture quality wise. Hands down its a beautiful picture.

there are a few things that I dont like and that being it weighs 200 pounds. And I have mood all over the place with it, up flights of stairs that nearly have literally killed myself. But she continues on.

Another is the screen size. 34" is great but who doesnt love a larger screen! And with movies in widescreen they get shrunk down even smaller.

So Im wondering if the LCD hype has gotten me because im thinking of the 71F series by samsung for awhile now. So basically what im asking

Is it worthwhile PQ etc to leave the 34" CRT for a 47" LCD samsung?



Now what Im asking is that am i falling prey to the hype of LCD screens.

if you go with LCD, at least make sure it has 120hz refresh rate

here are 21 units with that feature:

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Group/ProductMenu.aspx?g=146350&c=16&tp=161&nvpair=YCScreen_Type%7cLCD&nvpair=AG_General_Features%7cFF120Hz_Refresh_Rate

I have a 34" 34XBR970 and have been loving it for years. I still havent seen much that compares to it picture quality wise. Hands down its a beautiful picture.

there are a few things that I dont like and that being it weighs 200 pounds. And I have mood all over the place with it, up flights of stairs that nearly have literally killed myself. But she continues on.

Another is the screen size. 34" is great but who doesnt love a larger screen! And with movies in widescreen they get shrunk down even smaller.

So Im wondering if the LCD hype has gotten me because im thinking of the 71F series by samsung for awhile now. So basically what im asking

Is it worthwhile PQ etc to leave the 34" CRT for a 47" LCD samsung?



Now what Im asking is that am i falling prey to the hype of LCD screens.

If you like the Sony picture, look at plasma instead of LCD. Plasmas blow LCDs away for picture quality. Panasonic or Pioneer are the best. If you've got the money, Pioneer is slightly better than Panasonic, a little blacker blacks is all. The best buy for the money is Panasonic. I went from the Sony to a 42" Panasonic plasma and am completely satisfied. In fact, I'm glad the Sony died, 34" just isn't big enough and the Panasonic looks good with any source. The Sony looked like crap with Dish Network and VHS, the Panasonic looks fine with those.

I've done some research and it appears nothing can bring back the default settings. I found something on this board that gives the default settins for another XBR model, but I'm wondering if any of the XBR970 owners here can give the default settings (or your own personal settings) for:

SCOL, SHUE, CB01, CR01, CB02, CR02 SBRT, RDRV, GDRV, BDRV, RCUT, GCUT, BCUT, WBSW, SBOF, RDOF, BDOF, RCOF,GCOF, BCOF, DCOL, UBOF, UCOF, UHOF, SPIC, SCOL, SHUE, SPIC, SPIO, SCLO and SHUO.

Sorry to ask for so much. But any help would be appreciated.

Certainly sir, Just keep in mind the drvs/cut settings (RDRV/GDRV etc.) are most likely different for each xbr970, also depending on your brightness/contrast levels, also SBRT. The only setting sout of here that i tweaked was sbrt, everything else is defaults. cept maybe DCOL if thats the dynamic color, i can't recall, if it is then i turned it off.

SCOL: 7

SHUE: 8

CBO1: 38

CRO1: 35

CBO2: 34

CRO2: 31

SBRT: 20

RDRV: 40

GDRV: 33

BDRV: 31

RCUT: 40

GCUT: 21

BCUT: 17

WBSW: 0

SBOF: 7

RDOF: 31

BDOF: 16

RCOF: 31

GCOF: 27

BCOF: 19

DCOL: 0

UBOF: 1 ( this is the user brightness offset, this way you can change brightness levels for the different Resolutions and it wont affect say the black level on 480i/p material and 720p 1080i.So i'm not sure what you want that at i have mine configured for the different res's but you cna just put it on 0 for now.

UCOF: 0

UHOF: 0

SPIC: 7

SCOL: 32

SHUE: 30

SPIC: ( again with spic? did you mean SPIO? if so spio is 0) or you may have just posted SPIC again by accident, either way it's still 7.

SPIO: 0

SCLO: 12

SHUO: 7

And done!

Certainly sir, Just keep in mind the drvs/cut settings (RDRV/GDRV etc.) are most likely different for each xbr970, also depending on your brightness/contrast levels, also SBRT. The only setting sout of here that i tweaked was sbrt, everything else is defaults. cept maybe DCOL if thats the dynamic color, i can't recall, if it is then i turned it off.

SCOL: 7

SHUE: 8

CBO1: 38

CRO1: 35

CBO2: 34

CRO2: 31

SBRT: 20

RDRV: 40

GDRV: 33

BDRV: 31

RCUT: 40

GCUT: 21

BCUT: 17

WBSW: 0

SBOF: 7

RDOF: 31

BDOF: 16

RCOF: 31

GCOF: 27

BCOF: 19

DCOL: 0

UBOF: 1 ( this is the user brightness offset, this way you can change brightness levels for the different Resolutions and it wont affect say the black level on 480i/p material and 720p 1080i.So i'm not sure what you want that at i have mine configured for the different res's but you cna just put it on 0 for now.

UCOF: 0

UHOF: 0

SPIC: 7

SCOL: 32

SHUE: 30

SPIC: ( again with spic? did you mean SPIO? if so spio is 0) or you may have just posted SPIC again by accident, either way it's still 7.

SPIO: 0

SCLO: 12

SHUO: 7

And done!
Great! Thanks man. That's just what the doctor ordered! You are always so helpful ClayPigeon! :)

Oh, ClayPigeon...I forgot about GDOF. You don't by chance remember that one? That should be the last one.

What is the code for adjusting right side pin effect? The whole screen is straight but going
towards to the right gives me a pinch when both bottow and top bows. Any additional info
might help.

Yea, GDOF is 26.

Let me know if everything works out.

What is the code for adjusting right side pin effect? The whole screen is straight but going
towards to the right gives me a pinch when both bottow and top bows. Any additional info
might help.

I don't think there is a separate pin adjustment for just the right side. I can't remember, i haven't really messed with my geometry settings in a while. But what i would do if one side seemed to lean over more to one side i would adjust HTPZ and VANG a little bit to even out the lean, like take away the lean from the right side and bring it over the left to compensate. I think? if thats what you mean, unless you are talking about corner pin? can you take a picture and jog my memory? if not i am sure someone else in here would know better than me.

I don't think there is a separate pin adjustment for just the right side. I can't remember, i haven't really messed with my geometry settings in a while. But what i would do if one side seemed to lean over more to one side i would adjust HTPZ and VANG a little bit to even out the lean, like take away the lean from the right side and bring it over the left to compensate. I think? if thats what you mean, unless you are talking about corner pin? can you take a picture and jog my memory? if not i am sure someone else in here would know better than me.


OH wait, have you already tried MPIN and PIN ? try those first if you didn't MPIN is for middle pin cushion, but i wouldn't go to crazy with that. PIN should be what you need.

Also why the heck are there geometry settings in the landing parameter?!?! seems the xbr970 has some settings in weird places! I never messed with the ones in Landing though.

Yea, GDOF is 26.

Let me know if everything works out.
Thanks again. Yeah, now it's looking back-to-normal.

BTW, I have my MPIN at 15 and PIN at 10. Looks about as straight as mine is gonna get.

I don't think there is a separate pin adjustment for just the right side. I can't remember, i haven't really messed with my geometry settings in a while. But what i would do if one side seemed to lean over more to one side i would adjust HTPZ and VANG a little bit to even out the lean, like take away the lean from the right side and bring it over the left to compensate. I think? if thats what you mean, unless you are talking about corner pin? can you take a picture and jog my memory? if not i am sure someone else in here would know better than me.

Well it goes like

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

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

Everything straight except the right side. Of course they aren't the actual
problem but to project the issue, it's something along the lines of that except
it's pinching instead of that over exaggerated dip.

I see. Definitely must be UCP/LCP issue then. cept i don't know why it would be fine on the other side, and bowed like that on the other, unless one of the PIN cushion adjustments is set up wrong, causing another setting to be set wrong. I'll check service menu in a bit and see what parameters would fix that. I still think your best bet would be HTPZ and maybe some VANG. I'll write them down too just for comparison purposes.

Ok, scratch what i said about VANG! Just went into service and was way off with that one, so don't touch it. I set up my screen so it looked like yours with the bowing. The ones you want to use to fix this are VBOW , LBOW and then HTPZ for fine tuning. If that still doesn't help then you're probably going to have to redo your MPIN/PIN UCP/LCP settings.

Thanks again. Yeah, now it's looking back-to-normal.

BTW, I have my MPIN at 15 and PIN at 10. Looks about as straight as mine is gonna get.


No problem, and FWIW i have my MPIN at 10 and PIN at 14, VCEN at 7 and VPIN at 20. You must have your TV facing a different direction as mine since they are almost opposite settings. I bet your VCEN is 20 and VPIN 7!

I wish i knew more about the ignored geo settings, and when to use them. Like i'm sure i over did something and there is something else to supplement it. I'm talking about the settings like the SLINS, ASPT, UVLN, LVLN. Like i'm sure they need to be changed in soem way too, especially since changing the other settings, no way they could still be right after changing everything else. But there has to be apoint when say a calibrator would use say a SLIN for a overscan adjustments as opposed to using HSIZ, same with ULVN/LVLN or ASPT instead of VSIZ. Who knows though! The people on here who are about to have a calibration are always like " i'll post how my settings change and what he does after" LOL then they are either never heard from again, or decide not to help ( i can't blame they though after spending all the money, but it's not like every TV is has the same settings! so who cares right? Maybe the calibrators have them sign an order of confidentiality or something. It's weird though isn't it? on the WHOLE internet you can't even find a video of a professional calibrator doing a calibration! even for entertainment purposes! you can find a video of a lochness monster, bigfoot and a ghost having a drink in a bar, But nothing exists on calibrators!

Actually scratch that, my MPIN is 12 and PIN is 9. I had something way off and realized what it was. Something still isn't right with my colors. I should never have tampered with them.

Even after putting the settings in? Maybe you messed around with your color gun settings also? Also, i have my TV set to monitor, and that lowers the red push and automatically might change a few things in the service menu. Plus it's going to look different since i probably have different picture setting then you in Pro.

I have:

RYR-13
RYB-15
GYR-5
GYB-4

In user menu (for oppo upscaling dvd player)
Color-52
Brightness-47
Picture-35
(for oppo upscaling dvd player)

For xbox360
Color-44
Brightness-50
Picture-37

FOR HD cable box
Color-44
Brightness-57
Picture-37


HUE- R1 on every input.
I mention the brightness and Picture settings since they go hand in hand with the DRV/CUT settings. BTW this is all calibrated with test disc, except for my HD box.

.....Something still isn't right with my colors. I should never have tampered with them.The drives and cuts are critical to proper color and are very seldom equivalent from set to set. They, (RDRV, GDRV, BDRV, RCUT, GCUT, BCUT) are for grayscale alignment. I would recommend you take a look at a grayscale pattern and check for any color existing in gray. The cuts effect the darker shades and drives effect lighter shades. A color decoder alignment using RYR, RYB, GYR and GYB should then be done.

Yeah, I have it on monitor as well...I have RYR at 15 and RYB at 12. The 4 red blocks (from the DVE color test) match up well enough but there are red blocks on the corners of the test that come out brighter when I try to match up the red tint (RYB)...which really shouldn't happen.

Hmm. So it must be cause our sets were set up way different from each other and what works for me wont work for you, or evne when you had your other settings was it off? what exactly happened again? you hit 8 and everything changed? or you changed them yourself and just messed the colors up? Hopefully when you hit that button it didn't change even more settings that you didn't even know about :( Do you have the service menu? atleast with those defaults you could probably get close back to where you were at, even though when i checked the defaults in the service menu weren't the defaults i had on this TV. FWIW i always have problems with trying to set the color brightness the same, even with Avia. it's pretty impossible to get it all EXACTLY the same brightness without compromising another color, if thats what you mean.

The drives and cuts are critical to proper color and are very seldom equivalent from set to set. They, (RDRV, GDRV, BDRV, RCUT, GCUT, BCUT) are for grayscale alignment. I would recommend you take a look at a grayscale pattern and check for any color existing in gray. The cuts effect the darker shades and drives effect lighter shades. A color decoder alignment using RYR, RYB, GYR and GYB should then be done.
Yeah, I'll try the grayscale thing again...I'll use the 40% amp (likes like too much blue perhaps...hard to judge).

It's pretty hard to just look though at patterns to be able to tell where the greyscale is at, unless you have equipment. Sometimes i think i see colors, then i look away then look and don't see them. The settings i gave you for the DRVs and CUTS were my default though, if we had the service manual we'd be able to see if they are the same defaults, then we'd atleast know there is some sort of medium for how they set the up, like a guideline, then they just individually change each set if it's way off.

Ugh, here I am adjusting my colors and I now depressed to hear about Heath Ledger.

Ok, scratch what i said about VANG! Just went into service and was way off with that one, so don't touch it. I set up my screen so it looked like yours with the bowing. The ones you want to use to fix this are VBOW , LBOW and then HTPZ for fine tuning. If that still doesn't help then you're probably going to have to redo your MPIN/PIN UCP/LCP settings.

Thanks, will try as soon as I have free time.

Hi everyone. I've had my 34XBR970 for about 9 months now and it has been a great TV. It's been in the same spot for the last 6 months and nothing around it has changed in regards to furniture, speakers or whatnot.

Last week a part of the screen ont he extreme upper left has a washed out appearance. It's not a big spot- maybe as big as power brick for a game console. The area is not 100% washed out, but it is there and noticeable esp. when a light image is on screen. It shows whether I use the screen for the satellite (component), game consoles (component and composite) or the PC (HDMI) display.

I tried the service menu Landing fix, but that did absolutely no good (it did provide a little placebo effect fix for a minute though...) and now the set is all back to default settings. If the set is less bright it helps- but then the set is not bright enough. I use Pro color settings except when the stupid set defaults to Vivid (my one big complaint with this thing).

Any suggestions?

hi all.

to change the subject here, I have an Observation to make, and I scatch my head a bit over this.

an aquantaince of mine did some research and he wanted a LCD 37" to 40"
that would last him for about five years.

he went with the SAMSUNG 40" 4071 with the "cinemotion" 120 htz.

The other day I stopped by to see it, and to see what this set looks like. I read that this lcd is one of the best out there, in that price range and size.
He was watching some cable standard signals, changing the channel sometimes.

Strange, I know that cable often compresses the signals but what I saw did not impress me, I might not want to watch a standard cable tv program on such a set.

The images often were blurry, I have seen this blurryness often in the stores whenever a lcd displays a sd signal!!

While I play console games a lot on my XBR970, and do not watch, YET, much tv as all I have is rabbit ears and near to a police antanna so that rabbit ear reception is not a good "test comparison"!
but I have been amazed at how clear even such signals are, on my tv!!
Seeemingly the only "screen" between me and the near-perfect scene camera-ated, is that "screen door effect" that is of the crt tubes!!

Thus I am hesitatingly saying, here, that in many ways my 970 sd tv image is better than his Samsung image!!

these new lcds are apparently MADE for only hd signals!

I might now "splurge" for the "limited" cable service, but *can* I stand 13 ads in a row, with most tv, these days!!

GAMING!!

freestone

hi all.

to change the subject here, I have an Observation to make, and I scatch my head a bit over this.

an aquantaince of mine did some research and he wanted a LCD 37" to 40"
that would last him for about five years.

he went with the SAMSUNG 40" 4071 with the "cinemotion" 120 htz.

The other day I stopped by to see it, and to see what this set looks like. I read that this lcd is one of the best out there, in that price range and size.
He was watching some cable standard signals, changing the channel sometimes.

Strange, I know that cable often compresses the signals but what I saw did not impress me, I might not want to watch a standard cable tv program on such a set.

The images often were blurry, I have seen this blurryness often in the stores whenever a lcd displays a sd signal!!

While I play console games a lot on my XBR970, and do not watch, YET, much tv as all I have is rabbit ears and near to a police antanna so that rabbit ear reception is not a good "test comparison"!
but I have been amazed at how clear even such signals are, on my tv!!
Seeemingly the only "screen" between me and the near-perfect scene camera-ated, is that "screen door effect" that is of the crt tubes!!

Thus I am hesitatingly saying, here, that in many ways my 970 sd tv image is better than his Samsung image!!

these new lcds are apparently MADE for only hd signals!

I might now "splurge" for the "limited" cable service, but *can* I stand 13 ads in a row, with most tv, these days!!

GAMING!!

freestone

any sony 16x9 CRT is better than any LCD out there

While I play console games a lot on my XBR970, and do not watch, YET, much tv as all I have is rabbit ears and near to a police antanna so that rabbit ear reception is not a good "test comparison"!
but I have been amazed at how clear even such signals are, on my tv!!


I might now "splurge" for the "limited" cable service, but *can* I stand 13 ads in a row, with most tv, these days!!

If you live where HD or digital channels are broadcast, just get a real antenna and watch the TV the way it was made to be watched for free. HD blows SD away. Digital channels don't suffer from interference like analog channels.

Go to antennaweb.org and see if there are HD channels in your area, what antenna you need and where you need to point the antenna to receive channels.

Well, after much adjusting...and hair pulling...I think I've finally corrected my stupid mistake and have my color as close to gray as I can (without profession calibration, of course). Man, it was difficult not to get flesh tones to look too green, too ashy or too red. Sometimes I actually had to use my cable box guide menu to judge, because the menu should have brown and yellow-like colors (from the mocha selection)...but just when I thought I had the color looking accurate, the menu would look too green...back to adjusting.

Now, everything looks more accurate: not too red or orange, not too green or ashy...and even the menu looks like it should.

Guys I need a quick confirmation of something:

I adjusted the MID2 settings for a videogame (input 5, 480i). I also have my cable box running through component (input 4) but it is at 1080i.

The adjustments I made for the 480i game should have no effect on the 1080i picture for my cable box, correct? It would only effect the cable box picture if I were running it at 480i?

Digital channels don't suffer from interference like analog channels.

No, but they do have their own set of issues instead.

Guys I need a quick confirmation of something:

I adjusted the MID2 settings for a videogame (input 5, 480i). I also have my cable box running through component (input 4) but it is at 1080i.

The adjustments I made for the 480i game should have no effect on the 1080i picture for my cable box, correct? It would only effect the cable box picture if I were running it at 480i?

Where sizing is concerned, I believe you are correct. MID2 sizing adjustments are resolution specific.

I wish i knew more about the ignored geo settings, and when to use them. Like i'm sure i over did something and there is something else to supplement it. I'm talking about the settings like the SLINS, ASPT, UVLN, LVLN. Like i'm sure they need to be changed in soem way too, especially since changing the other settings, no way they could still be right after changing everything else. But there has to be apoint when say a calibrator would use say a SLIN for a overscan adjustments as opposed to using HSIZ, same with ULVN/LVLN or ASPT instead of VSIZ. Who knows though! The people on here who are about to have a calibration are always like " i'll post how my settings change and what he does after" LOL then they are either never heard from again, or decide not to help ( i can't blame they though after spending all the money, but it's not like every TV is has the same settings! so who cares right? Maybe the calibrators have them sign an order of confidentiality or something. It's weird though isn't it? on the WHOLE internet you can't even find a video of a professional calibrator doing a calibration! even for entertainment purposes! you can find a video of a lochness monster, bigfoot and a ghost having a drink in a bar, But nothing exists on calibrators!

Tell me about it. I never thought the geometry issues would bug me like it does, but it drives me up the wall! My latest complaint is the damn Nintendo Wii putting out crappy anamorphic sizes from 3rd party games. 16x9?!!! Ha! While most games from Nintendo get it right (Zelda, Wii Sports, and even the Wii home screen is sized perfectly), 3rd party games supposedly supporting widescreen leave black bars on the left and right sides. Normally, I'd put up with such shenanigans, but my black-bar borders (thanks to shoddy geometry) are not straight. My right side starts fine at the top, but slopes inward as it moves down towards the bottom of the screen. My solution? - I used the MID2 settings to stretch the bugger out, finding the middle ground between filling out the game screen and not pushing the icons off the Wii home menu. This may have screwed up my 480p dvd image from another input though. I'll have to check that out today. Still, if I could only straighten out that right border, I'd put my settings back and live with it. My attempts to fix it have messed up my other geometry settings (my 4x3 black borders are very acceptable), but I haven't tried VBOW, LBOW, and HTPZ. I will give that a shot. Thanks. I'm quite close to getting a "magnet man" out here, but I'm sure Sony won't pay for it, and I'm not sure I trust anyone messing with my tv anymore.

Tell me about it. I never thought the geometry issues would bug me like it does, but it drives me up the wall! ...

I remember having the same issue with my 970 and being able to take care of it with one of those settings you mentioned. Actually came out pretty well.

Hello, everyone. Thought I'd run this by ya'll before I went to the Sony service codes thread. It's driving me crazy.

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

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

Like I said - this is a 480i/480p issue. The moment I turn on the tv, tv shows and the PS3 in 720p and 1080i reach the edges just fine, even with a cold tv. I'm stumped. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Somebody earlier in the thread mentioned some test patterns within the service menu. Perhaps I misunderstood, or remembered this post incorrectly, but if this exists how can I access these test patterns? I haven't noticed anything yet.

Geometry is driving me crazy (top of the screen is bowing).

And just so to be certain...when making adjustments in the service menu, the changes only save to the current input/resolution combination, correct?

......Geometry is driving me crazy (top of the screen is bowing).

And just so to be certain...when making adjustments in the service menu, the changes only save to the current input/resolution combination, correct?Incorrect. Many service menu parameters are input/resolution specific. However, some are input or resolution or screen mode or picture mode specific. And some are global.

The geometry parameters are global while some of the screen size parameters are global and some are input/resolution specific.

Studying a listing of the parameters, as found in the service manual, is the only way to firmly grasp the subtleties of the service menu. The spreadsheets floating around here are, IMHO, VERY unclear.

My kd-34xbr970 suddenly had the edges go green. I bought it in May of 06 and haven't had any major issues after setting it up. There is a green tint to everything approximately 7 inches from each lateral side. Is there any way to fix this or do I need to call Sony to fix it since it's still under warranty. You can still see the picture but it is majorly distracting to have a green tint on everything.

I have to step out for a couple of hours but will jump back on as soon as I get home. Please help me if you have any ideas. Thanks.

My kd-34xbr970 suddenly had the edges go green. I bought it in May of 06 and haven't had any major issues after setting it up. There is a green tint to everything approximately 7 inches from each lateral side. Is there any way to fix this or do I need to call Sony to fix it since it's still under warranty. You can still see the picture but it is majorly distracting to have a green tint on everything.

I have to step out for a couple of hours but will jump back on as soon as I get home. Please help me if you have any ideas. Thanks.

Try unplugging it for an hour os so, then replug and power up. It's probably a hard failure, though.

Thanks for the reply. I came home and it's working okay now (no green tint) but I'll check back in if it reoccurs. Thanks again.

I made a big mistake buying a 37" LCD for my kids room. They play Wii but the 3 year old cracked the panel when he tossed the remote control. The tv was three months old. In my shopping travels I try and warn people who are buying LCD's. Just tap the screen on the display models and you can see how easily they can get damaged.

I've been researching a replacement tv for a week and was in between a plasma or CRT. I still worry about the flat panels as they can tip over and I do not want a wall mounted tv. The 30" Samsung slimfits are still available at my local Sams but after reading a few comments in the thread, I'm staying away.

If anyone in central, IL has one for sale, PM me. Otherwise, I've found a few in the Chicago area in the $500 range. Looking forward to hauling this beast.

Hey guys, how do you adjust the horizontal size?

The option to do that on my TV is grayed out and I cant change it. Is there a reason why this is? I just need to squish it in like an inch. Some of things are slightly cut off over there.

I was looking for a good deal on a used XBR crt for a replacement damaged lcd. I stopped by a Rex store in Peru, IL and to my surprise they had the KD-34XBR970 on display. I told the salesperson what they were selling for used on Craigslist and to my surprise he matched the price which was about 35% off of their asking price. I was far from home so I took the display even though they offered one new in box within two days.

There were some geometry issues, the top left of the picture sagged about 1/4" but this was corrected via the service menu. I'm glad to have a 34" crt XBR with a 2 year warranty. The kids can play their Wii and watch DVD's and I don't have to worry about a remote control damaging the tv.

I was looking for a good deal on a used XBR crt for a replacement damaged lcd. I stopped by a Rex store in Peru, IL and to my surprise they had the KD-34XBR970 on display. I told the salesperson what they were selling for used on Craigslist and to my surprise he matched the price which was about 35% off of their asking price. I was far from home so I took the display even though they offered one new in box within two days.

There were some geometry issues, the top left of the picture sagged about 1/4" but this was corrected via the service menu. I'm glad to have a 34" crt XBR with a 2 year warranty. The kids can play their Wii and watch DVD's and I don't have to worry about a remote control damaging the tv.

Congrats on your find, you just got your self a great HDTV.

However don't assume that because it's a CRT the screan can't be damaged. I suggest putting up a chicken wire barrier to keep the wii-mote from hitting the screan.

hyghwayman

^

Can someone help me with regards to tuning up this television in the service menu? I've been trying to adjuct the picture sharpness and definition in the 2170-3 section of the service menu, but no matter what I always end up with a picture that is TOO smoothe, or TOO "enhanced" and so there ends up being too much background noise or grain. Anyone have any ideas?

I think i had messed with those setting before i can't remember and noticed that i moved something accidently and pic quality looked blurred .i cant remember wich setting though but i managed to fix it,I have it on standard mode and the only thing i was concered about was the "black lever" was a bit to high so i lowerd it 1 down and looks way better.I can give you my settings until i ge home later on cus i am at work but i don't think it will get you pic back cus these tvs varie on setting values.

So..I believe I may be in a heap of trouble here, and am extremely embarrassed.

I had been messing with my geometry, attempting to straighten out some very annoying issues..and got in over my head. I had not been copying down my initial values, and this obviously came back to haunt me.

Now..thats not the bad part. Last was looking through the service code thread and found a post about "resetting system nvm data". So I, assuming this would send me back to factory defaults...did it.

Now my picture is extremely distorted, and HD sources no longer produce a picture (cable box, xbox, etc). Only 480i cable works.

So...if anybody has any guidance on where I should start in my attempt to fix this TV (namely what settings I just erased)..I would appreciate it.

Well, funny how things work out. After making a potentially awful mistake, I had to go back to basics and get somebody else's default settings as a guideline (thanks again claypigeon) I finally got the TV back to where it basically was before. The worst part was getting color of gray right (or as close to right as possible using the color DRV and CUT adjustments). I had to use test patterns, black and white movies, even my cable box menu guide (and it's "hot mocha" color) to adjust.

Believe it or not, I think I have the TV looking better than ever. I have my color decoder perfect according to both my HD-DVD player and standard DVD player.

But, oddly enough, I think I finally fixed my contrast issue. I used to have to adjust contrast (or "Picture" on the XBR970) way up high. But since re-adjusting everything on my TV, I must have re-adjusted some contrast setting in my Service Menu because now, because the picture seemed much "brighter" than it did before with my contrast settings where they were (and by "brightness" I actually mean white intensity). I discovered that my contrast setting is best at 42 (out of 100). It's very difficult to judge from the calibration DVD, because the top white box never blooms like the disc illustrates and the line in the other contrast test pattern never really bends the way the disc demonstrates...

...however, if I don't look directly at the line...kinda look past it...and focus somewhere in the white backdrop next to the line, I notice that when I go from 42 to 43 the white background seems to brighten enough to slightly (really subtle) affect the vertical line. So my assumption is 42 must be where contrast is ideal on my tube. And so far, the picture looks great. Even seem more detailed in some areas.

I think I went from sorry I ever messed with the TV, to kinda glad I did.

Well, funny how things work out. After making a potentially awful mistake, I had to go back to basics and get somebody else's default settings as a guideline (thanks again claypigeon) I finally got the TV back to where it basically was before. The worst part was getting color of gray right (or as close to right as possible using the color DRV and CUT adjustments). I had to use test patterns, black and white movies, even my cable box menu guide (and it's "hot mocha" color) to adjust.

Believe it or not, I think I have the TV looking better than ever. I have my color decoder perfect according to both my HD-DVD player and standard DVD player.

But, oddly enough, I think I finally fixed my contrast issue. I used to have to adjust contrast (or "Picture" on the XBR970) way up high. But since re-adjusting everything on my TV, I must have re-adjusted some contrast setting in my Service Menu because now, because the picture seemed much "brighter" than it did before with my contrast settings where they were (and by "brightness" I actually mean white intensity). I discovered that my contrast setting is best at 42 (out of 100). It's very difficult to judge from the calibration DVD, because the top white box never blooms like the disc illustrates and the line in the other contrast test pattern never really bends the way the disc demonstrates...

...however, if I don't look directly at the line...kinda look past it...and focus somewhere in the white backdrop next to the line, I notice that when I go from 42 to 43 the white background seems to brighten enough to slightly (really subtle) affect the vertical line. So my assumption is 42 must be where contrast is ideal on my tube. And so far, the picture looks great. Even seem more detailed in some areas.

I think I went from sorry I ever messed with the TV, to kinda glad I did.


Hey so is there a setting that increases the contrast level?
My sis has a samsung slimfit and i compared it to my 970 and her samsung looks brigter than mines lol

So..I believe I may be in a heap of trouble here, and am extremely embarrassed.

I had been messing with my geometry, attempting to straighten out some very annoying issues..and got in over my head. I had not been copying down my initial values, and this obviously came back to haunt me.

Now..thats not the bad part. Last was looking through the service code thread and found a post about "resetting system nvm data". So I, assuming this would send me back to factory defaults...did it.

Now my picture is extremely distorted, and HD sources no longer produce a picture (cable box, xbox, etc). Only 480i cable works.

So...if anybody has any guidance on where I should start in my attempt to fix this TV (namely what settings I just erased)..I would appreciate it.


Gosh i wish i can help man,i woulnt know where to start,because i usualy mess witht the brigthness,color,and some geometry setting.It does not dispaly anything at all in hd?

Gosh i wish i can help man,i woulnt know where to start,because i usualy mess witht the brigthness,color,and some geometry setting.It does not dispaly anything at all in hd?

Correct, 480i sources work fine, and I've gotten the geometry largely straightened out with them, but HD sources display either a black screen, or a garbled mess.

If there is no fairly straightforward way to fix this, where would be a good place to seek professional help?

Just an update, changing "FIXS" value in the CXA2171 submenu restored my HD OTA broadcasts, but my external HD sources (cable box, xbox 360) still give a blank signal when turned on (blanking out even the green service menu information...just a totally black screen).

Edit: I now have my external HD sources working (albeit only in 720p).

Of course...I still have several issues. Pictures are worth a thousand words, though.

Left side of screen: Link (http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8145/image0023sp3.jpg)
Right side of screen: Link (http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/5716/image0071dc1.jpg)

Still can't get the geometry set correctly, especially on the right side of the screen (left side is pretty much correct)
Link (http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9941/image008cn0.jpg)

Hopefully my carelessness in the service menu serves as a bit of a warning to others who are just getting their feet wet to write down their original values. I assumed I could easily get things back to normal and paid the price (my problem was mainly that I got HCEN and VCEN mixed up with HPOS and VPOS).

hey guys, i just pretty much fixed my overscan issue but i have a question, how do i get the overscan test pattern on the screen? my second question is, this is on a ps3 running hdmi 1080i, after i adjusted the overscan, when it switches from the dashboard or what u call it to the game, it shows either a purple or red bar, its like its switching the resolution or something, but i never noticed it till i fixed the overscan issue, do i have anything to worry aboout?

hey guys, i just pretty much fixed my overscan issue but i have a question, how do i get the overscan test pattern on the screen? my second question is, this is on a ps3 running hdmi 1080i, after i adjusted the overscan, when it switches from the dashboard or what u call it to the game, it shows either a purple or red bar, its like its switching the resolution or something, but i never noticed it till i fixed the overscan issue, do i have anything to worry aboout?

is it a brief flash when changing from the menu to the game? if so it's normal, it'sjust the tv changing resolutions or the PS3 i mean.

Here are some usefull settings if you guys want to use to improve the PQ.

Make sure your in PRO mode at first and have everything in their default values since we are doing this all in the service menu.

Here are the codes..

SBRT: 25-29 (i'm using 25 currently)
UBOF: 0
VMLV: 0
VMCR: 0
VMLM: 0
VMFO: 0
VMDL: 0
SHOF: 0
VM: 0
VMH: 0
VMM: 0
VML: 0
RYR: 14
RYB: 14
GYR: 6
GYB: 4
Under MID5 settings MHLY-SVCE all at 0

And there you have it!

Keep in mind that some of these settings are global while others you will have to carry over from each input and resolution.

VPOS:26
VSIZ:36
VLIN:6
VSCO:4
VCEN:11
VPIN:22
NSCO:29
HCNT:23
HPOS:24
HSIZ:35
VANG:33
LANG:23
VBOW:26
LBOW:41

Now...to me, this seems to do the job. I'm sure everyone's television may have different specs, and everyone has their own pair of eyes, but I'd like to share just to make sure I don't have any settings that seem way off.
Not only does this look good, but you helped me get some of my geometrical issues improved. I had messed around a little too much with my service menu settings and this has made it much better. The only thing is I can't get my HSIZ and VSIZ to those settings because of my own TV's overscan issues. But I've got it reasonably close. Thanks.

Here are some usefull settings if you guys want to use to improve the PQ.
I don't have something called SVCE under MID5. But I do have MVCE, is that what you meant? And what makes them better, I wonder?

I don't have something called SVCE under MID5. But I do have MVCE, is that what you meant? And what makes them better, I wonder?

those settings starting with MVCE are edge enhancemnt settings, you can leave them on if you want but i think they are best left off since they artifically sharpen the picture for my tastes.

those settings starting with MVCE are edge enhancemnt settings, you can leave them on if you want but i think they are best left off since they artifically sharpen the picture for my tastes.
Yeah, I have not problem turning down the edge enhancements, but did you mean starting with MHLY to MVCE? Because I turned everything between those settings to zero. I can't find anything called SVCE under MID5.

Yeah, I have not problem turning down the edge enhancements, but did you mean starting with MHLY to MVCE? Because I turned everything between those settings to zero. I can't find anything called SVCE under MID5.


Yes that's what i meant, don't worry about SVCE since it's not part of the MID5 table,only the settings starting with MHLY-MVCE.

Cool, thanks!

But, oddly enough, I think I finally fixed my contrast issue. I used to have to adjust contrast (or "Picture" on the XBR970) way up high. But since re-adjusting everything on my TV, I must have re-adjusted some contrast setting in my Service Menu because now, because the picture seemed much "brighter" than it did before with my contrast settings where they were (and by "brightness" I actually mean white intensity). I discovered that my contrast setting is best at 42 (out of 100). It's very difficult to judge from the calibration DVD, because the top white box never blooms like the disc illustrates and the line in the other contrast test pattern never really bends the way the disc demonstrates...

After going back and forth with contrast in the beginning i now have had it it set to 37 for pretty much all inputs for months now. I found that most people here, even after thinking they had their contrast where it should be using test patterns, once they had a professional calibration the setting they always needed to be lowered, like i never actually heard of someone having their contrast setting too low EVER during a professional calibration, have you? So contrast is pretty much the only setting i DON'T adjust by eye, i mean don't get me wrong, i'll set it up where i THINK is low/high enough without clipping whites or dulling them and then from there i will lower it (even more after i think it's where it should be) around 3-5 more clicks. May be a silly way to do it but thats how i roll lol. I don't trust my eyes ( or the test patterns, cause like you said they never "BLOOM") with contrast, but i know i like a softer picture as opposed to bright as the sun and I'd rather be safe and go even lower rather then higher.

Yes that's what i meant, don't worry about SVCE since it's not part of the MID5 table,only the settings starting with MHLY-MVCE.

I had all my edge enhancements off as well. But then after reading the sony service codes thread and most of kentechs stuff i went back and readjusted some of them. See Surfingmatt, once i had ALL the enhancements off i checked like a color box pattern in avia or maybe i used one of kentechs ones he made. Anyway, i noticed some of the color boxes had what appeared to be like false color lines, like it kinda looked like the Y/C delay was off, but it wasn't that, and some were worse than others. It wasn't due to any sharpness issues, as i had it set perfectly, and it wasn't due to any convergence problems. But when i changed some of the enhancement settings like a few with that had "C" in them, i forgot at the moment as i haven't been in service mode in a few, but i'm guessing they are some color sharpening settings? But once i changed them i got the colors to line up perfectly and no more false dull color outlines. I'll try and take a pic with the settings off and show you what i mean. Maybe thats how they are supposed to be, or my dvd player is causing it? any ideas?

I had all my edge enhancements off as well. But then after reading the sony service codes thread and most of kentechs stuff i went back and readjusted some of them. See Surfingmatt, once i had ALL the enhancements off i checked like a color box pattern in avia or maybe i used one of kentechs ones he made. Anyway, i noticed some of the color boxes had what appeared to be like false color lines, like it kinda looked like the Y/C delay was off, but it wasn't that, and some were worse than others. It wasn't due to any sharpness issues, as i had it set perfectly, and it wasn't due to any convergence problems. But when i changed some of the enhancement settings like a few with that had "C" in them, i forgot at the moment as i haven't been in service mode in a few, but i'm guessing they are some color sharpening settings? But once i changed them i got the colors to line up perfectly and no more false dull color outlines. I'll try and take a pic with the settings off and show you what i mean. Maybe thats how they are supposed to be, or my dvd player is causing it? any ideas?

it's either your dvd player having a Y/C delay issue, (if your using component connections that's probably your issue). or i think it's just the DVE disc. because it is standard deffinition after all. i noticed some flaws in the test patterns that werent inherent to my tv when trying other test discs like THX optimizer for movies,etc.

you can leave those MID5 settings on or a few on if you like but i personally think they aren't needed since they are afterall artifically sharpening the image, and anything artificial in my book= bad for the picture.

For your contrast settings, yeah it's hard to judge with DVE or any test dvd. i just leave my contrast setting in the middle. it's not too bright and not too low it's just right.because i found that raising contrast on my set caused the convergance to screw up in the corners of the screen.plus you don't want it too high since it will cause eyestrain if you view it at night.