27" HDTV Recommendations - Page 7  

You are correct, robert, that does turn VM down. Has anyone figured out a way to minimize the red push on this set? Right now I've got it on warm color temp, tinted towards green and the color is set pretty low. This looks pretty good but even now reds are exaggerated. BTW, I did get the set hooked up to my dreamcast and it looks amazing. Note: I believe I found the red adjust setting, it is RYR in the menu #2. DO NOT attempt to adjust red levels be changing RCUT or RDRIVE, this is the greyscale and without testing it myself for accuracy, I have read that these sets have pretty accurate greyscale out of the box.

Stephen,

Does your set make a buzzing noise at all? If so how noticable is it with the volume low?

Yea, there is a slight buzzing, nothing bad though and hardly noticable, not at all when I'm watching something even when the volume's low.

Can someone post their powerstrip setting for 540P? I can't get my TV to display at 540P. Currently I only have successful with 480P, 1024i or 1080i.

Thank you

anyone? 540p setting, could it be the limitation of my video card? radeon 7500

I have Geforce FX 5900 video card in my PC. With the current drivers I have installed I have a resolution setting of 1280 x 720 availble in the display settings. If I were to pickup a Zenith C27v22 and set my desktop resoltuion to 1280 x 720 at 60Hz could I likely get this to work using the VGA (or RBG) input on the C27v22? Would the set internally convert this to 1080i and how well would this likely look for gaming and video? It should detect the 1280 x 720 60Hz signal as being a 720p signal should it not?

Unfortunatley no, it will not accept 1280x720. It only accepts 1080i and 480p, and will not even convert a 720p signal.

Okay, thanks. The reason I asked, I had seen some earlier post in this thread that seemed to indicate that this set would accept a 720p signal and convert it to 1080i. I thought that if this were the case I might be able to do that. Anyway, it seems that my local circuit city has no more of these sets. So, I guess I'll have to look at something else anyway. Are there any sets out there that will accept a 720p signal (even if they internally convert it to 1080i) and that I could connect to either the VGA out or DVI out on my PC and perhaps use the 1280x 720 resolution? I'm looking for something in the 27 to 32" range and around $1000 range.

The only option meeting your needs that I can think of is a Monivision set, now availible at a special price. Just click "Once again Monivision Model# 6552SW specail" at the of this forum and it'll link you to the info. Also Monivision is constantly being discussed in this forum so you can find a wealth of info here. This set is a 32" widescreen and has the specs of sets costing at least a grand more. Based on the specs I highly recommend it, but beware, this is not a typical consumer grade set and will require a little effort to achieve the supurb picture it is capable of displaying. Think of it as a computer monitor with HD capability, not an HD monitor with PC connectivity. It is both, but the first is much more appropriate. Why do I go on about this set? Because if I had a few hundred extra I'd of bought one myself.

can you tell me what settings to hook up my c27v22 to my ati radeon 8500???

Well, I don't use a radeon card but from what I've read earlier in this post, you can set it on 960x540 or 1920x1080(interlaced). The easiest resolution that will certainly be availible is 640x480. The first two may only be availible if you download a small program called Powerstrip, again I don't really know all the resolutions supported by the radeon.

I have Radeon 7500 and powerstrip, I can't get 540p to work via VGA connection to C27v22. Can anyone post their setting for 540p? Or is it because my card can't output this res, anyway to tell?

Could someone please post all the working powerstrip timings for the C27v22 on a radeon card?

Im using a 8500 and cannot get anything to work =\\

I should rephrase that, whats the largest 4x3 res anyone has gotten on this TV? I have 640x480p 856x480p and 1920x1080i working. But I want another res other than 640x480 for games. Everything else I've tried comes up as 16x9.

640x480 is the only 4:3 mode. The other modes are 16:9 because they are HD modes - thats correct.

well I got 1280x1024i to work at 4:3, just the standard one thats in powerstrip. Thing is its just a little too large for the screen, how can I adjust that? Service menu?

Hey what's up with the silence in this thread? No posts because everybody is happy with their sets? I know I am with my Zenith c27v22, but there is one thing I need help with. The tv will turn off every time I shut down the computer with the vga cable still attached. Needless to say this drives me crazy. I have connect and disconnect the cable a million times.
Is this unusual, or has anybody experienced this?
Thanks,any help would be greatly appreciated.

By the way with my radeon 9200 i can get 640+720x480p, 960x540p, 1280x024i,1440x1080i and 1920x1080i through powerstrip. 640x480p is fine for desktop and 1280x1024i for games ( I'd sure like to try 1920x1080 in games but I can't choose this one in games except 3dmark where it looks awesome).

dario -

I've got the c27v22 and am driving it through the RGB connector. I use a Radeon 9000 at 720x480p and a MyHD 120 HD tuner card at 1440x1080i. I haven't had any problems with it shutting down when I turn off the computer, but typically I just leave the computer running and shut off the TV.

Are you running the catalyst 3.10 drivers? I need to upgrade to those from 3.8 and see how the overlay looks for interlaced settings.

I'm having trouble getting the geometry set up on my c27v22. Unless I squish the sides, I get 5% overscan on the left and 6.25 on the right. I'd like it to get pretty low, but I have tried several combinations of Hwidth and 16:9 offset, etc and all seem to leave things squished on the sides. I get more picture but everything is tall and skinny on the edges. I've baught DVE just to help with it but it seems that nothing really works. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here's an update for dario (and anyone else who cares):

I just successfully tried the 1280x960i (ati hdtv) resolution in Powerstrip on my c27v22 and it works great! Some, but not too much overscan -- just centered up the image and used it. Definitely less overscan than 1280x1024i. The task bar is usable. The desktop is too "flickery" for general use, but DVDs look great using WinDVD 4.

I'm driving the tv directly from a Radeon 9000 using the RGB connection. The tv thinks its getting 1080i.

From what I've read in the HTPC forum, thought I'd have to upgrade to catalyst 3.10, but I'm using 3.6 and the overlay appears to be working properly for the few apps I tried.

Thanks for your reply dayvo, and I'm using 3.6 drivers. I can't comment on overlay because just recently my Compaq (Pioneer oem) dvd-114 stopped reading dvds.

But hey, here is a story:
By trying to solve my shut down problem, I called zenith customer service.
A woman told me that the rgb connection is not for computers. I kinda knew that because in the manual there is no mention of computers. But I called again, and this time a guy told me that it was good for computers, but then he quickly changed his mind saying it's gonna void my warranty because it's not in the manual.
If I'd kept on calling I probably would have heard a different response everytime I called.

And I'm not messing with overscan anymore. I watch cable too and if I try anything via service menu it's gonna mess up my cable and my ps2 picture.

I'm also not too impressed with the regular cable picture. It looks almost the same as my old 27'' nonhd Sharp. And I also try my best to ignore the high pitch whine that has nothing to do with speakers, but it goes away once the TV is warm.

With all that said, it's hard to still love it. It was an open box item and I'll have to live with it.

I have a Samsung TXN2745FP that is about to head back to Circuit City due to bad geometry, color convergence that aparently can not be corrected (red shadows on the right, blue on the left), blooming, some annoyance over placement of the one and only s video input, and now a new discoloration spot appearing in the lower right but not in the corner, and the floor speaker over there is far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem.

Anyways, I've been seriously considering the Zenith c27v36 and from reading this thread it looks like it is a really good tv. The Circuit City website has a bunch of customer reviews talking about the buzzing this tv makes. For those of you who own one or have worked with one, how bad is it really? Is it really an issue at all? Or just really minor that is drowned out when there is any volume on?

-Ride_Op

ride_op:

I have the c27v22 and really don't notice any buzzing. The normal 15khz crt whine at a level I can barely perceive. I don't use the internal speakers. Then again, I'm 46 years old and ride loud Harleys all summer with my ears out in the wind -- YMMV.

Yeah when you get over 40 your higher frequency hearing starts to go, and 15Khz is a very high audio frequency!

ride_op,
I've had the C27V36 for over 4 months now. There is a slight buzz or hum from the speakers. I normally sit about 8 to 9ft from the tv. When the volume on the tv is turned up to about 8 to 10 on the dial, you cannot hear it at all.
It also seems to be worse when the tv is just turned on. It tends to dissipate after the tv has been on for about an hour. Also there has to be no other sounds in the room or you will never notice it. For me, I never knew it was there until I READ IT ON THE FORUM DAMMIT!!!!!!
The picture quality on the C27V36 is outstanding. I am only feeding it analog cable and even that looks good. DVD looks great. With a lower price tag than the Samsung, and all the extra inputs you get, it is definitely worth it.

Thanks for the replies. As my luck would have it, CC was sold out of the Zeniths. It is a very popular tv. They aren't expecting to get another one in for a couple of weeks. To hold me over I've picked up a Sony Wega analog. I already miss the 480p upconversion that was going on with the ED of the Samsung, and that I know the Zenith does also. I'll wind up returning this one for the Zenith I think in a few weeks when one comes in. Annoying that they have the TV on display without a warning that it's not availible, and they wouldn't sell the floor model.

-Ride_Op

How did you get them to take the Samsung back? Was it within the 14 day window? or did you use an extended warranty? I would like to return my Samsung because of recurring geometry problems, but I bought mine in July...


Y2J

So just the clearify, the v36 WILL NOT display anything from the DVI or component inputs at 4:3?

Is the only way to do this by buying a v22?

I have the 27v36 and watch both analog and HD through component inputs. I can configure the cable box to display analog cable at 4:3. It fills the entire screen. HD is shown in letterbox format.

What I would be doing with it is using it as an HTPC display.

Do you think it would display everything as 4:3 or 16:9??

Decisions, decisions!!!