The Official Pioneer 9G non-Elite KURO Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 387

So the suggested settings that are listed on page 1, how do you enter those? I'm sorry but I really can't understand how to use this software and enter in the settings such as the RGB offsets... and where is anything about a grayscale?

First of all, I purchased a 6020 from Robert (Value Electronics) back in November. I love this TV. Everything has been working fine, and a great price from Robert - thanks! Shocked to see this thread has more than doubled since that time.

Anyway, got home last night and had problems. Suspect the HDMI ports on the TV and cable box are shot. There were some storms yesterday before I got home, but don't know for sure if there were any lightning strikes nearby. after fussing with everything for about 2 hours, here is what I know:

• Using HDMI 4, 5, or 6 on back of 6020 - neither the cable box, nor the PS3 provide any signal to the TV.
  
• Using HDMI 7 on side of 6020 - PS3 works, cable box does not.
  
• Using component cables in back of 6020 - cable box and PS3 work.
  
• Using PC connection on back of 6020 - works fine.

Tried unplugging both devices several times, then restarting. No change. So I guess the questions are:

Is there anything I am missing or that I can try to do to resolve this, or is it likely that the HDMI connections on the back of the 6020 and on the cable box are fried? Is this something covered under warranty (the 6020, not the cable box)?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

sounds like a surge traveled down the cable to your house and took out the cable box HDMI & HDMI hub in the set - it must have 2 hubs, since #7 still works
close lightning strikes usually enter the house via telephone/cable & the AC lines, the phone & cable stuff are the most susceptible
all your phone stuff is OK?

mark

i doubt storm damage is covered under warranty

Just put my brand new 6020 on the wall with a Sanus VMPL3b after reading a fair number of reviews. Comes with low profile as well as tilt, and it is solid - according to the documentation it can support up to 280lb if mounted to triple studs. I (190lbs) hung from it before putting the TV up, just to be sure. You can currently get it from Amazon for ~$150.

No problems with any phones, and no problems with the other cable box in the house. Seems to have only affected the cable box's HDMI out and the rear TV HDMI inputs.

Not sure how they could deny warranty - I wasn't home at the time of the storm, so I have no verification that there were any lightning strikes - just speculation. No other problems in the house either. Everything plugged into a surge protector and the main coming in the house has a protector on it.

Here are some links to get you started. This one is about the bundle and includes everything you need.

This one is about calibrating the NE's and shows what the profile looks like. On the last page of this thread is a link to the new 'beta' version of CC, but if I were you I would start with the original one. It's actually very easy to use and works great, provided you follow the directions EXACTLY.

i guess the HDMI connector is more susceptible (if it was lightning, consider yourself lucky that they were the only things, albeit major things!)
does the cable loop through any surge protectors on its way to the equipment?
was the cable box closer to the demarq point than other cable boxes?
it does seem strange that only 1 was affected
i had a near lightning strike take out my DSL modem last year, my VOIP router (on same phone line) that was right next to it died a month later, so even if devices aren't dead, there is a possibility that they may fail in the next while (i hope that doesn't turn out to be the case for you)

mark

Just to give some background, I have already used ControlCal with D-NICE offsets and since it really helped with the Yellow in whites and RED in caucasion faces, I have to assume it already brought my temp closer to 6500k. Let's say 6400k for an example. I personally like to watch GAME mode at times and prefer SPORT mode for Hockey. So I do want a method that allows me to continue to use those modes. It seems I may even like the bluer temps for certain viewing.

I think I am understanding it and two modes may give me all kinds of options. To attempt to put it in my words:

Let's start with Calibrating GAME or STANDARD with PC:OFF (60hz) to 6500k or even 7100k. Since GAME and STANDARD start off at about 8000k from the factory, the other modes actually become less BLue (Less Bright to my eyes but I understand) since you have dialed down the temperature in all modes. So calibrating this to may actually make the other modes better, if you prefer less blue. So calibrating this as a second mode allows new options for the other A/V modes without making them too blue.

Now if you also calibrated MOVIE with PC: Advanced, those modes (GAME & SPORT)become more blue with PC: Advanced, since MOVIE is at about 6000k - 6300k factory setting.

Since I already seem to like more blue for some viewing, if I don't like SPORT with PC:OFF because the temp dialed down, I can simply watch it with PC: Advanced, since that temp was dialed up.

Does this make sense? I'm still seeing this as the best of both worlds.

I'd love to here confirmations and opinions.

I think what was meant was AV modes, not PC modes. The PC mode determines which grayscale to use (60Hz/72Hz), but the AV mode actually determines the color temp., gamma and etc.

Movie wouldn't be the AV mode to use to try and get a brighter picture. On my set, any contrast setting above 41 starts clipping whites. Calibrating standard or performance (performance with contrast of 30 gave me ~45fL). I think you could get ~50fL without clipping, but they also aren't too forgiving with the black levels.

The cable doesn't go through surge protector, but it is grounded outside before coming in the house (I have no idea how much protection that really provides). I don't believe that box is closer to the entry point - the one that is not affected is on the main floor where cable comes down from attic, then it splits to go to basement where the 6020 is. So the unaffected cable box appears to be much closer to entry point. That main floor cable box also splits to the cable modem/router, which was also unaffected and working fine. Seems strange to me that everything is working except HDMI ports on one cable box and HDMI rear ports on TV.

Which again makes me wonder if there is something I am missing - something in the setup that just got changed somehow - some setting on the TV for HDMI that needs to be reconfigured, or reset? Or is HDMI just plug and play, nothing to set up?

kgolf78: have you already tried the obvious and tried another cable box with hdmi with the tv? Have you tried reapplying firmware upgrade on the tv? Have you tried resetting factory settings?

Unfortunately the other cable box in the house is component, not HDMI. It doesn't have HDMI output option. The component cables for the "good" box work on the 6020, but it works from the "fried" cable box as well, so that doesn't tell us anything.

Reapplying firmware - no idea how to do that - guess I'll do some digging to see how that is done.

Resetting factory settings - again, not sure how to do that, but I can look into it. What would I lose? For instance I set D-Nice's settings when I first got it, and really haven't touched anything since. Would I have to reapply those changes?

kgolf78: updating firmware is pretty easy. Download the firmware to the appropriate folder on a usb key and connect it to the tv. I'm not sure how to reset factory settings I just assumed there was such a thing

You're story really worries me. Now I want to get a good surge protector that protects both my power lines coming in and the cable line into the cable box. I've been looking at the Monster HDP 900 or the Belkin Pivot Plug Surge protector. Both do about 4000 joules. Is that enough for a lightning strike?

Does anyone have any recommendations as to how to clean the 6020's panel? Mine was delivered with a few areas that look like fingerprints or sweat marks (don't know how to better describe them), and I can't seem to get them out with just the microfiber cloth that came with the panel. They don't distort the picture, but take away from the clean, black look of the TV when it's off.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

I'm not sure if this what you meant, but for clarity's sake:

60/70Hz is the refresh rate. While a specific grayscale is associated with a given refresh rate, the grayscale does in fact modify the colour temp.

I occasionally add a very small amount of water to the cloth, so far with no apparent effects on the screen. The screen is so realistic that our cat frequently sits right in front of it and touches the screen with his nose and paws. Funny to watch him try to bat a golf ball out of the air when watching golf on TV. But annoying (and gross) that he leaves what I refer to as "cat snot" on the screen.

Interested to hear if anyone does something else.

No idea - hope someone with more knowledge of such things can chime in. However, I'm still not convinced that the damage came from the cable line. And even if it did, it didn't affect anything but the HDMI - is there such a thing as an HDMI surge protector? something you put in between the TV and the HDMI sources?

MATTHEVIL (or anyone that knows) have you ever tried calibrating GAME mode? I was wondering what A/V mode is the closest gamma to MOVIE. I've been told that MOVIE measures pretty close to 2.2 & is a smooth curve. I thought I read GAME was a pretty close gamma curve? I also read taht A/V STANDARD has more of an "S"
shaped curve.

I'm going to get it calibrated next week and want to decide if I want to calibrate GAME, STANDARD or MOVIE with Pure Cinema: OFF at 60hz.

I'll be getting MOVIE calibrated with Pure Cinema: Advanced.

I'd like to hear lots of opinions.

I don't think the gamma for game is much better than AV Standard. The benefit of using game over standard is less video processing and the game pref. option. The drawback is, just like movie, game starts clipping when a contrast of ~42 or more is set, and you won't get a bright picture before it clips (37-40fL max). With standard calibrated, performance mode should have roughly the same temperature and both can be used to obtain brighter pictures. Performance can achieve the tourch mode of many LCDs before clipping (contrast of 30 is close to 48fL). Again these modes come with their own drawbacks as well (black levels, additional processing etc.).

For my own use I intend on calibrating standard for use with the dish, which is probably deserving of the additional processing. Game will only be ~500k higher in color temp and performance will be close to standard. This will give me some modes that can be used with non-critical sources and provide brighter pictures for morning/daytime. In addition sport could still be used which will probably end up with a color temp close to game if sport is an option you like to have.

So what kind of wall mounts are suggested? I know the ones Monoprice sells for CHEAP don't work...something about the configuration of the holes not working...

PM Roman O.

The monoprice.com mounts work perfectly with my 5020...

One problem with mounts, regardless of their price, is the mounting brackets. The 6020 has extraordinarily widely spaced bolt holes so the mounting brackets must be long enough to handle the job. It's not a function of price. In August I bought a Bell'o 4850 mounting system from Amazon which came with mounting brackets too short to use on my 6020. Fortunately, when I informed Bell'o of my problem they arranged to have the right length brackets fabricated and sent to me. I can just about guarantee that nobody who has bought a Bell'o mounting system for a 6020 since then has had the same kind of problem.

I'll be in Toronto on Friday June 5 & can do a 5020/6020 calibration during the day (if you have good light control)
please contact me if you are interested

mark

Is this a problem with a NEW TV or was all this working for some period of time using the HDMI connections?

I would say it would be 99.99999% impossible for just HDMI ports to be damaged on any product from lightning.

The cable company will give you a free replacement box easily enough... just take it to one of their offices and tell them you got a new HDTV and the cable box doesn't work right with it (screen goes black sometimes and you have to turn off the box and the TV, then turn them back on to get a picture) and ask to have a replacement be the newest model box they have available. Then see if the Cable box works on the same port the PS3 works on. And if neither the cable box or PS3 will operate on the HDMI ports on the back, the circuit board containing those HDMI ports probably failed and it's unlikely it had anything to do with lightning. If lightning had damaged anything, you'd have much bigger problems than 3 HDMI ports not working on the Pioneer. It's possible there was a failure in the cable box that zapped the HDMI port board on the back of the Pioneer. Since the side HDMI port is on a different board, it appears it survived whatever failed elsewhere. It's highly unlikely a lightning strike could "blow" JUST an HDMI port(s) - there would very likely be severe damage elsewhere. Though the cable box does have 2 potential entry points for a surge from a lightining strike... the AC power cord AND the coax cable. But the coax cable goes into the tuner section and it seems VERY unlikely a surge there would manage to not damage anything in the tuner section and move right along to the HDMI port. But just to cover your bases, when you go to exchange the cable box - don't volunteer anything. As far as you know, everything worked fine with the old TV but now with the new TV you were getting this black screen problem and finally you ended up not getting anything at all, even after turning off the cable box and TV. And if everything works on the side HDMI port and nothing continues to work on the back ports, just report the problem to Pioneer without further comment.

Surge and spike protection is always a good idea for products as expensive as these - though I doubt that would have caused the problem you have now. Tripplite sells some products in the $80 price range that are well-assembled internally - avoid cheap plastic "surge suppressors" with the slots for the AC plugs molded into the plastic housing - the internal consctuction of those is abysmal. Stick with products like the Tripplite units that have separate "sockets" similar to what is in your wall outlets. There aren't many products you can trust for less than $150 to have the beefy internal construction you need to power a plasma planel plus an AVR without the potential for current limiting due to poor internal construction. I have seen the insides of the $80 (4 outlet) Tripplite produce and can confirm it is well made (decent-sized internal wiring). It's a good idea to have surge protection for the cable box or antenna connection also and there are a lot of products with that feature now (not sure what Tripplite product adds those features). There are even surge protection ports for ethernet and telephone lines built into some surge/spike protection products and those can be useful if they are connected to any products in your system.

This makes it sound even MORE like the cable box HDMI port failed and in the process of doing so, it sent something to the Pioneer that killed the HDMI board on the back of the Pioneer. I would NOT plug that cable box into anythin else at this point. If it is still outputting something that damages HDMI ports, you could end up doing just that to other ports that are working fine.

Does the surge protection for for your home (at the panel) have an indicator that tells you if the protector is still functioning? If there is a strike, those protectors are typically good for just ONE event and they have to be replaced. Likewise, many surge/spike protection products now include an indicator LED that tells you if the surge/spike protection is still working (or not) if that light goes off, the product either needs to be serviced or replaced.

Guys,

I had a big scare last night when calibrating my set via controlcal with the beta profile. I went to apply the offsets in the 72hz modes and it seemed to take all of the inputs except the SAVE. Kept erroring out. Suddenly it was unresponsive to everything besides power off and on and was stuck on the grey screen!

After about 20 mins of panicking, I figured out that pressing the mute button twice + enter (no feedback), then hitting "calibration ON" got me back in. PHEW!

I thought I'd post this in case someone else runs into the same problem.

I use an Omnimount ULPT-L for my 5020 and from what I've seen mounts do differ dramatically. I am very fond of this mount and its ruggedness, low profile, and simple tilt mechanism. Also it has a nifty kickstand when making or breaking connections from the rear. well recomended.

Did Doug Blackburn ever comment on these pictures?

for the 50" pioneers it shouldn't be much trouble finding a mount. just be careful with the 60" models because a lot of models that say they will fit actually do not. check with your pioneer dealer or the manufacturer to be sure it fits or they can send adapters like bello did for bwsat.

there was an avser just recently who got an articulating mount from monoprice and had a local sheet metal shop make up a plate adapter to fit his articulting mount to his 60" pioneer. it only cost him $30 and he's happy with it. ymmv

several avsers have used the Sanus VMDD26 articulating wall mount for their 60" Pioneer panels, ~$400. and many other good choices out there from Peerless, Chief etc..