hello all,

i am having a problem with my Toshiba DLP 44" 720p RPTV (don't know exact model right now). especially during the day, and slightly less so at night, i have a problem making out any detail in dark areas. i have tried hitting the "video" button which switches between the preset "sports, standard, daylight, movie, etc." options but it does not help the problem much. when i watch movies it is tolerable i guess but when i am gaming via my PC or Wii it is simply just frustrating. from what i read about this particular model, it had one of the very best black levels of a RPTV when it was released.

the TV used to belong to my dad, who constantly left it on for MANY hours while he was away at work....day after day. when i found out, i explained to him that was not good because unlike his old tube TV, this one has a lamp with a very finite lifespan. i suspect the lamp is at fault, being that every source i plug in to the TV shows a similar problem when it comes to showing any detail in the dark areas of the screen. i really do not know much about these things though. playing any dark video game (ie. Doom3, Resident Evil 4, etc.) is an exercise in frustration because the picture really looks terrible.

i will buy a new bulb if that will fix the problem but i have no idea if it is! please advise.

thanks in advance

Yea, sounds like the bulb is about really to go, this would be the 1st thing to look at,with it being left on constantly.

thank you for a quick reply!

when the bulb "goes" does that just mean it quietly fades away? i thought i heard that bulbs for projectors (i don't know if that includes rear projection TVs) literally blow up when they die. is that just nonsense?

thanks again!

The bulbs are in a housing, so if the bulb does break, all the pieces will stay with the lamp unit. I've had 5 bulbs blow on my JVC HD-ILA. The picture usually dims very quickly. You'll be at about 25-50% brightness. After a few hours, the lamp with either just go out, or you'll hear a "pop" when it blows. Three of mine just went out and two actually "popped".

It's a really quick and easy installation. A new bulb will take no more than 5 minutes to install.

You would want to at least un-install the lamp and look at it closely. Typically this is a frame with a bowl shaped reflector with a somewhat tubular bulb inside. You will see a bulge about half an inch in diameter down at the center of the reflector, and you may see right off that this is blackened by metallic deposits that gradually build up as the lamp is used.

Have you adjusted the Brightness control (this often brings out shadow detail)?

Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

hello,

thanks again everyone for the help. i will check for black residue when i head home tonight. to answer your question, i have tried raising the brightness level but it seems to have a really detrimental effect on the way colors look. basically, raising the brightness to a level where it provides better detail is not really tolerable because of the way everything else ends up looking like. additionally, there is still not enough detail in the dark areas.

really, the colors look closest to the LCD i used to have my PC plugged into when the brightness is in the 30-40 range (out of 100). however, this makes it hard to see anything at all in the dark areas of the screen.

when i cycle through the "presets" (sports, standard, daylight, movie, nighttime, etc.) i have checked to see that what the TV is really doing is changing to different preset combinations of brightness/contrast/color temp in my TV's video menu. i would assume that any of these would work depending on the ambient lighting but i still use my "custom" preset with a higher brightness value.

thanks for the link! i will be checking that out as soon as i have time. at a glance, it looks to be pretty informative.

thanks again everyone for the help. i will check for black residue when i head home tonight. to answer your question, i have tried raising the brightness level but it seems to have a really detrimental effect on the way colors look. basically, raising the brightness to a level where it provides better detail is not really tolerable because of the way everything else ends up looking like. additionally, there is still not enough detail in the dark areas.


If is an issue with the bulb, that is one thing. But if your brightness is turned up your blacks may seem static and without detail.

Try turning the brightness DOWN, not up.

Sharpness is another overused feature by many users.

hello all,

i am having a problem with my Toshiba DLP 44" 720p RPTV (don't know exact model right now). especially during the day, and slightly less so at night, i have a problem making out any detail in dark areas. i have tried hitting the "video" button which switches between the preset "sports, standard, daylight, movie, etc." options but it does not help the problem much. when i watch movies it is tolerable i guess but when i am gaming via my PC or Wii it is simply just frustrating. from what i read about this particular model, it had one of the very best black levels of a RPTV when it was released.

It's not the fault of your TV. I'm not sure about Wii. But if you connect your PC to it, you will see black crush as it should. Remember all consumer TVs are made for video input, or studio standard, where black means 16 and white means 235. Your PC, on the other hand, outputs 0 as black and 255 as white as a PC should be. So, all black details below 16 are cliped by TV as well as all white details above 235. Some TVs have advanced setting that allow you to specify input range on a specific input so that you can use that input as PC input. But most TVs don't offer this at all.

yes i have read on this forum and many others about the benefits of turning the brightness down. also as i stated, i think the colors look terrible when the brightness is cranked. i will try tonight to turn the brightness down further and see if that helps the situation. i have not made it home yet to check out lamp residue but i am really curious to see the inside of this beast. i have read about people cleaning their "color wheel" on DLP machines. would this be something i could easily do? i am comfortable with electronics as i regularly build PCs from scratch. i usually use 99% isoprophyl alcohol to clean electronic things, would this work or is it even serviceable? the TV is about 4 years old.

i have also read a few posts on the forum about calibrating your display. what i was wondering is if there is an easy way to do this without buying software/camera or paying to have it professionally done. i just want the TV to display like my old LCD used to. i realize they are different technologies but surely there must be some general way to go about this.

thanks again!

foxbat, is there a way to set my computer to the color ranges that are better accepted by the TV? i am using a Nvidia 8800GTX and it has many color correction options as well as Vista's color control profiles to suit certain displays.
possibly there is a color correction profile i can download for my Toshiba display? i never really understood the point of using those controls but now i guess it makes sense from what you mentioned.

this is only the second time i have heard about the whole black level/white level numerical values and i know very little about this. however, i find this all pretty fascinating. are you saying that i will have to spring for some sort of calibration equipment? also, it would seem like i would want to calibrate my PC instead of my TV.....right? sorry for my confusion but i appreciate all the help and am learning much.

ok i have made some developments last night.

i noticed that black detail really isn't that bad with the wii and dvd player, but with the PC it is terrible. after reading foxbat's post i noticed that my DVD and RGB inputs on the TV let me select between "DTV" and "PC" mode individually on each input. is this to accommodate the different color spread?? i tried hooking my PC up via DVI cable but it refuses to pass a 720p or 1080i signal through it. lesser resolutions pass without hitch.

so i guess i have 2 questions:
1. do i need a higher quality DVI cable to pass 720p?
2. does setting the DVI input to the "PC" setting allow the black/white correction i need?

thanks for everything!

so i guess i have 2 questions:
1. do i need a higher quality DVI cable to pass 720p?


No. it's probably the limitation of your TV.


2. does setting the DVI input to the "PC" setting allow the black/white correction i need?

It definitely will help your black/white crush problem for your PC.

i forgot to mention that the DVI and component inputs list resolutions up to 1080i as the supported input. also the component video cable i use right now works with either 720p or 1080i but the TV's native resolution is 720p. sounds like i need a better cable then?

Make sure your PC video card outputs 720p at 60Hz on DVI. Some TVs are very picky at signal timings. If your DVI port is DVI-D, a cable will make no difference.