Official 2010 Sony ...HX701 Owners Calibration thread - Page 19

thanx a lot man i connected hdfury and it worked! this tv looks amazing on vga.

I got another question. how do i activate game mode?

all I see is game on scene selections. is that it? thanx again



edit:

for those who are interested in gaming, with motion flow off street fighter 4 feels exactly the same with the hdfury (vga)

So is the hx701 more susceptible to backlight bleed and clouding than the ex500?

What you're getting out of the digital out port is stereo due to copyright issues. If you are getting sound for all speakers in a 5.1 or7.1 audio system, it's your AV Receiver that's converting stereo to simulated surround.

Your TV will output 5.1 when the source is the internal tuner, but all TVs with a digital out convert external sources to stereo.

I don't know. I never read someone complaining about clouding in the Ex500 owner thread but I experienced it first hand myself with the hx701. I'm hoping I was an isolated incident. Considering buying this TV back again. When I returned it due to clouding, they didn't have any in stock with no ETA so I ended up getting my money back.

Hi, just wondering if the HX700 and the HX701 are the same.
I can't find either listed on the Sony site. I know Costco has an HX701.
Also, what is the difference between the HX700 and HX800?
Thanks

The Canadian site (http://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs/s...3&N=4294959275) has all the info on the HX series. The 700/701 is LCD, the 800 and 909 are LEDs.

Yeah, it's like the EX700 and EX701, same thing, except 701 comes with the WiFi dongle and better warranty.

Hi! my first time here. Recommended by a friend to request assistance from you all.
Just received our following items and are having difficulty w/ setup.
KDL46HX701
HT-SF470
PS3
W/ TELUS SATELLITE RECEIVER

PROBLEMS:
Can't get Bravia sync to recognize av receiver. (yes, I have followed al the steps in the manual to correct settings on receiver) once I press the sync button, it says "no devices found"

would like to use single controller for av receiver to control everything, but no menus are displayed for it.

ps3 is hooked to tv however no sound seems to be feeding from tv to av receiver when playing dvd. if we hook it to the av receiver, we get a no signal message with no sound or picture.

Actually typing all our probs will take forever.

Quite simply....can anyone recommend the perfect setup for our components? and instructions.....

HDMI cables....does quality matter? Telus left us 3 extras for free. They are BGTech AWM 20276 VW-1 30V. Should we get better ones? Could this be interfering with our setup and signals?

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Just bought a 55" HX-701 last night at Costco (to replace my stolen 52" XBR2....F*** those thieves). Anyway, the sale price of $1599 was still going on which is funny because Costco's online store is more expensive at $1699, cheaper to buy in person.

I already changed mine to your recommended calibration. Thanks for posting your settings.

Sharpness 18 is unreal! That might have been acceptable in the old days before digital TV. Freeze a good live show and look at the edges of people and things and then decrease the sharpness all the way until you see the edges look clean, without fringing. I have mine set at 1, a lot of professional calibrations settle on Min.

Also backlight at 5 is a bit high. This will make the panel look super bright but it will "steal" from the deep black that is essential for correct contrast.

Try it, if you don't like the suggestions it's super easy to return to the previous settings.

Regards,
Hugh

I compared "Min" to 18 and I put it back to Minimum...looks better. I lowered the backlight slightly, too. Thanks for the advice!

Glad to see it made an improvement. Never hesitate to make changes, just make sure you know where you were before, in case the changes don't work out.

Now go back to settings and turn off MPEG NR. Unless you watch VCR movies with a lot of noise, you don't' need this.

Then go to MotionFlow and change it to Low. Must people can get by with the low setting.

BTW - I am a novice at this. Just trying to learn from people around here. Some of the guys at the EX500 topic are really knowledgeable and they share their settings and usually say why they make changes. One of them is serialmike...I'm using his settings from his 60EX500. That TV and my 60EX700 share the same Sharp panels. Usually, all I need to do is make a small change here or there and his settings work like a charm.

Hugh

EDIT: Here's some instructions for adjusting your TV set and explains the reason for the changes:
http://www.lyris-lite.net/quick_and_dirty_tv_setup.html

I know one personally that's frequently in error.


I based what I wrote on the copyright issue which is a pain for everyone. I don't actually know anything about your setup or your equipment. You might try a known stereo source from an external input through HDMI to your TV and then on to your A/V receiver.

For sure, with your setup, as I understand it, you will not benefit from Blu-ray lossless audio sound tracks.

If Sony failed to implement full copyright control over their TV's digital output that would surprise me. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if Sony messed up.

I very recently got a new 55HX701. I got an OK price so I can't complain about that. The Set is attractive, when turned Off the set looks great, I am not big on the plastic surround but its hardly noticable.

The set turns on quickly, already drawing a little power when off. The picture takes tweaking to your needs.

One big consideration is your input. I only have the lower model verizon cable box (WHICH i pay for monthly) so I'm don't have component video or hdmi output on the cable box ... pathetic verizon. I also don't feel like paying for a upgraded box if not getting hi-def channels because those too cost extra, pathetic verizon. I do not think much of cable providers, they just frustrate us all. I really only watch 10 stations and feel I pay WAY too much for those stations. Back to the TV.

The TV picture adjustments make a big difference when your TV signal is garbage as my standard verizon box puts out. I did notice that the cable from the pathetic box to the TV produces much better sound and slightly better picture than the rca cables from the pethetic cable box to the tv rca jacks. I had to do allot of experimenting to get my picture to look OK but that is not the TVs fault it is the cable providers.

I'm using component out from one DVD player and standard video rca out from another DVD player and notice some improvement, both look much better that what I get from the cable box. The TV starts to shine when viewing sources other than the cable company. I do notice that many things I watch with the TV or on DVD have don't FILL the screen even when I select FULL video mode on the TV settings. I am coming from a old 53 inch sony projection TV and when using the lame cable box I can honestly say that my old Sony TV picture is comparable to what I get with the new HX701 ... again that is because of the lame cable company signal not the TV. What is more the old 53 inch Sony showed everything full so never had the black above and below, it wasn't wide screen so yes maybe I could not see the extras paid to stand on the side for the main actors.

OK, so my big beef is with the cable companies, basically due to the cable company my TV experience with a NEW late model TV is no better than with a 13 year old Sony projection TV. I surely don't want to increase my already way to expensive experience on a monthly basis. So personally, I'll be watching much more DVDs and only watching TV for a football game or some show I really want to see.

As for the HX701, I don't have any problem with viewing angle, ghosting. There is major glare from windows during the daytime ... its obnoxious. At night with lights on it is NOT a problem at all. Especially with the ceiling lights on. So if you room has windows and you tend to watch in the day time ... get a different set. For some savy enterpreneur ... make an anti-glare sheet for the HX TVs that doesn't interfere with the picture.

For gaming the set is awesome, for HDMI input DVD or blueray again the picture is totally awesome.

I don't use the TV sound output, the HX701 fortunately has variable Output and I go RCA out to my vintage Marantz receiver which has both 901 series 2 speakers and Marantz HD-770 speakers going thru the Bose equilizer. All I have to do is power on the Marantz and then I control the sound via the TV remote ... AWESOME. The marantz with my special speaker setup sound totally FAT. When you watch Science Fiction ... its like you are right on the ship. Just enough surround coming for the 901s to engulf you but not so much that you head is confused with all the 5 or 7.1 sounds. I love it. Thanks to the HX701 variable out I only have to get up to turn the marantz receiver on ... after that I can use the tv remote for volume. Watching a DVD movie with the sound coming thru my old school power house is a very pleasing experiance, I think it is more enjoyable than a movie theatre. The image is bright and clear, there is no motion blue with the HX701 and the sound with my setup is pure and surrounding but not confusing and distracting. Gaming is awesome as well. Very happy with the HX701, its a great TV. Its drawbacks are its weight/thickness and the glare during the daytime. Its benefits are varible audio output, no motion blur, nice color/detail, and a reasonable price tag nowdays.
Overall it is positive.
I only hope the 55HX701 lasts as long as my 53 inch Sony projection TV which is STILL working perfectly after 13 years and STILL has a GREAT Picture ... that always fills the TV screen. I was going to sell my 53 in Sony projection but I am reconsidering.

I can also hope that the cable companies STOP charging extra for a somewhat decent cable box and charging extra for Hi-Def channels ... which is what everything is broadcast in anyway. I am old enought to remember when there was plenty good TV and it was FREE. In many ways the picture was as just as good 25 years ago with an Antenna in the cities getting 5-7 channels FREE as it is with a lame cable box today that cost way too much for the 5-10 channels you actually can stand.


The 55HX701 is a good TV, I like it allot, If you can get it for a reasonable price, go ahead, tweak the picture setting for results. If weight is a concern then you may want a different model, its a little heavy .... but NO motion Blur ... sweet!

In many ways the picture was as just as good 25 years ago with an Antenna in the cities getting 5-7 channels FREE as it is with a lame cable box today that cost way too much for the 5-10 channels you actually can stand.>>>

They are still there. Just hook-up the outside antenna and you'll be able to get hi def FREE and the PQ is usually better than cable or dish!

The problem with your cable is..."garbage in, garbage out".

As for your complain about the picture not filling out the screen, that's usually the way I watch the non-highDef channels. But, if you don't like it, just go to one of the menus and change from full to "stretch" or something similar. My TV is the Sony 60EX700 and the reason I selected it is because my viewing environment is very bright all day and even at night with lamps on. The EX700 screen does a stellar job in diffusing reflections.

Thats a good call getting the EX701 if you have a glare enviro. Fortunately for me the room is dark and lighting not an issue. The 55HX701 is fine in my enviro. There are good options in big screens these days and prices are improving for patient buyers. I didn't need the fancy internet stuff and not into 3D so the HX series is fine. I just want something that will last and not have motion blur or other artifacts. The HX is nice and smooth.

My settings are Standard, Backlight 7, color 70, sharp 6, bright 50, no noise reduction, general. If I was watching more high def content, I would likely reduce the color and backlight setting.

Cheers all

Looks to me your Backlight is too high. Try it at 2 or 3. The higher you set it, the more it will rob the TV of great blacks. To compensate, set Picture to 89-91.

To set-up Sharpness, tune in a real good live picture and freeze it. Then turn Sharpness down until the edges of objects and people is free of "frizzles". Usually, from min to 3 is the preferred setting, depending on how far you sit from the TV.

For Motion Blur, set Motion Flow to Standard.

Color 50 should suffice, 70 could cause color blurriness. I forgot one of the most important, change from Color Temp from Standard to Warm 2. That will get your Tv close to the standard 6,500 Kv.

If you don't find any settings around here, check out published settings in the EX700. Some pretty good setting there as well as on the EX500. All are Sony and close enough where you can use some of those settings to get you started. Then you can start experimenting.

Cheers,
Hugh

I finally remembered to put the tv in "Game Mode - Standard" when playing PS3 games. I think default setting is:

Backlight = 7
Brightness = 90
Sharpness = 15
Temp = Neutral
etc.

What settings do you recommend? TIA.

With the settings that I have found so far I am not pleased, but on FlatpanelsHD.com I have found a review of the Sony KDL-46Z5500 which is a previous model in the Sony range and close to the specification of the HX700 series.

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.p...&id=1265284011

Calibration settings for my KDL-46HX700:

Profile: Cinema
Backlight: 4 (depending on your viewing environment)
Contrast: 89
Brightness: 51
Colour: 50
sharpness: Min
Colour temp: Warm2
Noise reduction: Off
Mpeg NR: Off
Motionflow: Standard
Film-mode: Auto 2
Hue: 0

Advanced settings: all off
System Setings > Eco > Power Saving: Low

Gamma: +1

R-gain: -1
G-gain: -5
B-gain: -1
R-bias: 0
G-bias: 0
B-bias: 0

Does anyone know the comcast remote code for the HX 701?

Nevermind, batteries were low.

Well I ended up buying this TV back. My local futureshop were having a great price for it, even lower than anything I've seen in Canada. the reason I ended up returning my previous hx701 was because of bad clouding and view angle. I decided to live with the view angle issue after seing much worst out there.

As far as clouding goes, I still have some but it's much lower than the previous unit I had. on top of it, I made an interesting discovery, clouding seems only visible when playing videogames. After playing around with settings, when in game scene, I notice the clouding but if I switch back to Standard scene, it's pretty much gone. What I am thinking is that there must be some processing done in the background which reduce / eliminate clouding on this TV by the other scene. This picture process must be deactivated when in game mode to insure the lowest input lag possible.

anyway, it's not much compare to what I had before (and it helps that I don't need to keep the backlight at more than 2 or 3 because I usually watch in a pretty black room). Considering the low price I paid for my 46hx701, I think I'm keeping it this time. Input lag is as low as I remembered, still no hard numbers on it but I'd said it must be within the 40ms mark is enough for what I do.

Ended up getting also a great price on a BDP-370 bluray player (on sale as well) so I finally am making the jump to the bluray scene. I didn't think it was worth it previously with a 32" Samsung 720p TV which is more than 5 years old.

One thing I will add, this TV is bad with SD signal. I watch mostly HD feed so it's doesn't bother me but sometimes, commercials will be SD and you notice right away that the picture get much worst. But if the source material is good (like a good HD feed and bluray), the PQ is amazing and enough for me considering how much I paid for it.

I agree with Guibs that this tv is bad with SD signal. But then most lcd's are.

Does anyone know how to properly convert video for this tv so I can play it either via usb or preferably dlna?

Hi Guibs:

Welcome back to HX701.

I remeber reading your posts before making my purchase.
If you tried other sony models (i.e. EX500, EX700) could you share your experience with us.
I tried EX500 and it was a very good TV with deep black but end it up keeping HX due to great PQ, more features and looks of the HX701.

Please keep posting your findings it was and will be very helpful for us.

Thanks for the feedback but if I am keeping this tv, which is really possible as I am getting tired of searching, I might not have that much to report back. I considered the Ex500 as well, but could never get a test with my console regarding input lag. The one time I brought my console to my local best buy to test the ex500 to see if it was really "that bad", I could never find in the menu out to set the TV in game mode (or game scene). Unfortunately, they didn't had the remote for the TV so I could never really tested it.

Regarding clouding, it seem some people are reporting some on the Ex500 series so I am thinking it's not limited to the HX701 with Sony regarding their 2010 CCFL model.

When I bought my second HX701, I was at the store for a long time considering going back to the HX701 or going with a HX800 which was right next to it. Obviously, the thing that hit me was the better contrast on the HX800 (LED). They had a deal with the HX800 that gave the bluray player, 3d glasses and transmetter. In the end, taking the HX800 was about 1000$ more than getting the HX701. I ponder for about an hour in the store, looking at both and in the end, decided that 3D wasn't something I was about to use much anyway, so it came down to 1000$ difference for better contrast, I just couldn't justify it so I picked the HX701 and Sony's S370 bluray player and saved money (a lot).

In the end, after having bought 5 TV and returned 4 of them, I found out that I was really, but really picky about my TV. At the first sight of a flaw, I would return it. Thing is, when you get a bigger TV, you tend to notice those flaws more. I had a 32" before sitting at aout 8 feet from it. Now, even on HD feed, I notice the inperfection in the picture, but I don't think a lot of TV can compensate for it. In the end, Signal quality is king and it varies so much between sources. Some channel have better HD feed than others and sometimes, it varies from TV show to another one on the same channel. Sometimes, Adds on TV have breath taking PQ while the actual show is not on par. Buying a 3k$ TV will not make those sub par HD feed look any better.

the second thing I learn is that a TV that is great for movies, sports and videogames is almost impossible to find. You have to make sacrifices at some point. It was easy to find a TV which was good for 2 out of 3 but finding one that does great all 3 is something I have not found in my research. Currently, the HX701 is the compromise I found. Input lag is low enough that I am not noticing it when playing, even online. Motion blur is to an acceptable level to the point I'm not bugged with it when watching sports (I mostly watch hockey). Finally, CCFL are CCFL so the black, even if this Tv beats the hell out of my 5 years old samsing, remains CCFL weakness. it's not as black as a LED TV, but I'll live with it. As far as view angle goes, it mostly affect contrast, which is what seems to shift right away. Black aren't as dark as soon as you move 1 degree off center but I'll have to learn to live for that. If there isn't a dark scene on screen, you don't notice the shift in contrast that much when moving around.

So I got the TV for a good deal, 46" right need seem plenty big enough for me and maybe after I get used to this TV's size. Finally, even if it means nothing, This tv looks great when turned off. Monolith design wins point there.

history of my purchased this year:

1- Samsung C650 : returned because of horrible, horrible input lag even in game mode + bad flashlighting in both lower corners.

2- LG LD520 : Returned because of awfull, view angle. some of the worst I have ever seen. half the screen would shift with mere degrees off center. Unfortunately, it might have been a VA pannel

3- Sharp 700un : Returned because of bad motion blur issues. Not only in sports, but even in regular HDTV TV shows. Sports was simply horrible. too bad because the black were amazing on that TV.

4- First HX701: Returned because of bad clouding and poor view angle.

5- Second HX701: Repurchased months later at a much lower price than original bought which makes the view angle issue a lot less acceptable to digest. Clouding not as bad as first unit and even situational. not noticable unless dark scenes in game mode.


Other Tv I tested in store:

Sharp 810un: amazing input lag but motion blur remains inferior compared to Sony and fear of bad clouding made me stay away.

Sony EX500: Never could get accurate input lag feed without game mode

Sony HX909: I could feel a little input lag, more than the HX701 for sure even if some people on this forum says it can't be. I was in game mode yet felt some.

Panasonic G25: Plasma could have been a great solution for me, but I keep seeing flickering espicially on whites. image retention in video games scared me.

samsung C8000 plasma: Black in store wasn't great. In game mode, input lag was not noticeable to me. In the end, bad feedback about buzzing made me pass.

well my Tv really has clouding issue, very hard not to see in a dark image, espicially when playing games. My backlight is set to 2 to try to mask it as much as possible. Also, if I boost Brightness to something between 55 and 60, it helps to mask the clouding, I get some shadow details but lose black level significantly.

View angle, obviously, the problem is more noticeble when the screen is all 1 color, make it a dark scene or a commercial with a solid color in the background and some writting on it. I have a 3 seats couch in front of the TV, the TV is aligned to be right in the middle of the center seat. If you sit at either left or right seat, you notice some contrast switch start from mid screen until the end of the screen on the opposite side.

Am I the only one to notice this. The View angle problem, well you are kind of stuck with it, espicially with LCD and big screen, I can't even imagine how people with 55" screen might not notice it even more. The clouding is what bigs me more. When I play game, I have a swivel stand where my Tv is attached to, so I can turn it toward me so that view angle become less of an issue. But clouding, in dark scene bugs me. I'm trying to get my brain not to notice it, but it's hard. It's the plague of the 2010 TV for sure. I can't believe that in previous years, this issue wasn't as wide spread and was under better control.