Official Toshiba H83/H84 CRT Thread - Page 3

How do you access service menu? I have a 57H83 and I did the mute and menu keys combinationa and doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?

Toshibas convert 720p to 1080i and do it quite well. Watched MNF last night 720p ABC and couldn't tell the diference between it and the 1080i feeds on the other channels.

Varok, it will work. Make sure that the remote sensor next to the power button is seeing your signal when doing the mute sequence. There is two known ways of getting in the menu, mine works both ways , some sets only do it one way or the other. Press mute on remote 2X then 1 more and hold that third mute down.While holding the mute button down on the third press hit the menu button on the set then release both buttons at the same time. An S should appear on the screen. Then press menu again and then the #7 key and that should bring up the convergence grid.
The only difference in doing it the other way is pressing mute 3X then holding the 4th push in instead of the third one. My set gets there either way. Just make sure your not blocking the Remote signal with your hand or any thing else. And as i'm sure you've all ready read here, BE CAREFUL in service mode. It's really not difficult to do the service convergence at all but if you think you screwed any thing up by accident just turn the set off with the power button on the set and you should be O.K.

Thanks for the tip! I can access it now. I have my tv for 6 months and I havn't done the 56 point service menu convergence so any tips on doing it would be appreciated. Thanks again!

I'm in the exact same boat with a 57H83. I've only done the 9 pt probably 5 times since I got it. (late Feb.)

Does the 56pt that much more accurate? Noticeable difference?

Did I read that you can save the 56pt convergence to your touch focus button? Meaning you wouldn't have to do it again?

You mentioned we could screw it up? What exactly should I look to avoid?

THanks for the help

By screwing it up i mean not doing exactly as the instructions say. If you were to accidentally hit the wrong button, or think you did it right but a bunch of sub-menus come up or anything else other than the convergence grid. That's when it is important to power off the set instead of trying to figure out how to get out of where you accidentally got. The 56 pt. convergence is way more accurate than the 9 pt. With the 9 pt. you only have 9 little crosses at different points on the screen. There is know way of knowing what the rest of your convergence grid looks like. On the 56 pt service menu convergence there is a full grid across the screen. There is only 56 pts. at which it can be moved but you can see where it's not quite right everywhere on the grid . The 56 pts. is always enough to get every spot just right. Also the touch focus button pushed as the last step before hitting the power button to bring your set back to normal does learn your service menu convergence. It retains about 90% the first time and after 3 or 4 more times it's pretty much got it.
As far as how much difference it makes, Watch a credit roll at the end of a DVD. Pause it and see how much "bleeding" around the white letters you have. Then check it at the same spot on that DVD after the convergence.
Then remember that this amount of color bleeding(don't know what else to call it) was happening on all material whether you noticed it or not.
One more thing to add, the convergence grid is quite bright so if your convergence looks to be off quite a bit, i would maybe do it in stages starting in the center and working out from there. Maybe 20 mins. or so at a time . Calibrating your brt. and contr. has no outcome on how brt. the grid is. So in summary, yes it is worth it IMO, it's not that hard to do and just bail out with the power button on the set if something doesn't look right. Good luck.

Wow, great reply. Thanks!


I'll give it a shot this weekend.

Good Luck and enjoy your set. If you were lucky enough to get one without the white line issue then you guys got one helluva set, just as i did!

So If my tv is set at 1280x720p, I should get the same IQ when playing dvd's on 1776x1000i, correct?

I'm pretty excited about receiving my 51H84C next month, I tell you - waiting is the hardest part! It's my first HDTV purchase, replacing the 6 year old 32" Trinitron. I got a great deal on the set, you have to love the shops which retail match prices.

Many hours of research on this site among others steered me away from a GWIII purchase (although they do look sexy). I'd probably have ended up with a Hitachi S500 if they weren't over $1000 more, but I'm sure it's for the better as I hear the stretch modes on the Toshiba's are very nice.

September can't come soon enough

Varok, there are only 2 settings for your Toshiba in the menu, 1080i or 540p. I watch HD material with my set in 1080i. I watch dvds at 540p. If you are talking about computer resolutions viewing dvds you're talking to the wrong guy , i'm completely illiterate when it comes to HTPC.

Hey Jim, thanks for replying back to us Toshiba guys and being honest about the quality of the 2 sets(white line not with standing). Hitachi makes a helluva set and it's not suprising that the "f" series looks the same as the Tosh as i am pretty sure they use the same guns. Hope the Hitachi works out great for you especially considering all you've gone through. Just a heads up on that set, you might have read that tigerriot returned his second f-series Hitachi with a color problem occuring in both sets. Someone else here at AVS also reported that at "the spot" some were reporting flicker. Hopefully those problems are way less common than the CDL issue on the Toshies but i just thought i'd give you a heads up just like on the Toshiba. Besides , I've been leaning away from recommending the Toshes
to people who want an opinion(even though i love mine and don't have any problems) because of that %$#@&* line and instead have been recommending the Hitachi or Pannies. Good luck with the set and keep us informed.

Yes, I'm talking bout computer resolutions but I'm almost certain that it will still convert to 1080i. Thanks.

I'd consider getting a Hitachi F510, but I still haven't seen any decent reviews to see how it stacks up against the S500. Plus I'm getting the 51H84 for about $500 CDN cheaper than the F510 - if there's a big gap between the two sets I'd like to know Have the stretch modes on the Hitachi's caught up to the Toshiba yet?

And all H83/84 owners - I hear that you can use the set as a center channel speaker, would this be equivalant to a mid-level HTIB sattelite?

I wouldn't recommend doing that even if it were possible.

I was just wondering if anyone knows the technical differences between the H81 series and the H84 series. The reason I ask is that I have a 50H81 right now that has been serviced quite a few times and I have a service plan from best buy on it and they are going to exchange it out for me. I will get store credit back and with the prices on these sets dropping, I will be able to get a 65" with the credit I have so I was thinking about the toshiba or the mitsubishi. I have been extremely happy with the picture quality on the toshiba and even besides the service issues I would still go with that based on picture quality. So my question is mainly whether the H84 has any improvements in picture quality? My mom bought an H83 last year and the only differences I noticed was that mine had much better contrast out of the box. It took quite a bit of tweaking in the service menu to get the tv looking right. any info would be appreciated.

Dangrzne25, I own a Tosh 46H83(pics in the gallery) there is no significant difference between the 83 and 84 series sets, just some added user menu items. And i beleive they have an HDMI input where the 83 series has DVI.
I'm not familiar with that model of Tosh (50H81). It shouldn't matter what the settings are like out of the box to you. Everyone here will recomend at least calibrating your set with a dvd such as Video Essentials, Digital Video Essentials , AVIA or at the very least, THX optimizer that's on movies that have it. These discs will help you get your settings right for contrast, brightness, color, tint and sharpness as close as you can get them without a proffesional calibration from a pro and way closer than you can eyeball them. Having your settings correct will greatly help reduce the risk of burn in , bring out more detail and more of a film like experience in the picture and extend the life of your set by years. Regardless of which set you choose turn the contrast and brightness down to around 50% on both settings asap then calibrate with one of the afforementioned discs as soon as you can. If you want more info on either of those sets do a search here or start a new thread comparing the 2. Hope this helped.

Big time newbie here who has enjoyed learning from these posts.

I just purchased a 46H84 and also purchased DISH Network. I'm trying to get everything configured correctly to get the best possible picture quality.

I've got the Dish 811 hooked up to my TV with a DVI - HDMI connection. I get a lot of what seem to be 'artifacts' (which I'm guessing is from the DISH). But also what I think is 'bleeding' around letters and other things.

I ran the 56pt. convergence, but am confused on what I should be looking for. I don't see any separate blue or red crosses. but it seems to me like their is a blue haze around all of the white crosses (i could be seeing things though). When I push up or down on the remote, it doesn't seem to get any better or worse.

I should also note that the RG6 runs from the dish to my basement closet and then back up to the living room (appx. 80 - 100ft). Should I have some sort of amplifier in there?

I know some of this is a little off track for the H83/H84 thread, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thx

dredam, Where are your contrast and brightness settings? Usually when you see Blue around white it's because these are set to high. They should be around 50% for both. What you are probably seeing is called blooming. It should go away unless you have a focus issue or something else but i doubt it. Then go back in to your convergence and line them up to be all white(no blue or red bleeding around them). If you search around here you'll find references to set-up discs. They are essential for CRT sets to get everything right.

thx pittdog. I will purchase a reference disc to get everything set correctly. I'll check my contrast and brightness when I get home from work. Regarding the convergence, do you just use the arrow keys on the remote to get them to line up all white?

I own the 46H83 which is a little different in the convergence mode. It only has a 9 pt. system. I have to access the service menu of my set to get 56 pts. Your owners manual should tell you how to move the different colors around. It would be hard to tell what was going on with all of that blooming going on. When you get your settings right it should be easy to tell what you are moving and where. And yes, i would assume the arrow buttons on the remote move your guns for convergence. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

dredam, i just reread your original post. You won't see separate crosses. You want to see solid White crosses with no bleeding of red or blue either vertically or horizontally. And make sure your set is warmed up for a little bit before doing it (25 or 30 mins).

Hi pittdog1.

as you said. i should hit "touch focus" after done 56 point convergence ??

i read the instruction of 56 point convergence said that just ignore the touch focus when it's asking for it after hitting 7 , so which one should i do??

thanks.

PIB

Hitting touch focus at the end of the convergence (after hitting 7 to save your convergence) does learn your convergence as i stated earlier. This was argued in another thread not to long ago(might be able to search for it still) and MichaelTLV or another ISF calibrator posted that it does indeed learn your saved convergence from the service menu. Plus i can verify that it does as it does so on my set. My set is the H83 and i would imagine that the H84 would be the same. All that being said, i still go into the service menu to do my converging jsut to make sure it's holding well. It took about 2 or 3 months for my set to start holding convergence really well, now when i go in to do it i'm just nitpicking with it because it's always fine now.

Well tomorrow I'm going ot purchase a 51H84c at futureshop. With a deal comes out too 2g's after tax. Haven't talked about warrenty yet, still on the fence about that. Should I do the warrenty? Anyone have any major problems beside the white line? Anything else I should know before I pull the trigger?
Thanks guys, you've been a huge help with what TV too choose.

My 51H84C is still 3 weeks away, but it seems more like 3 months Chad, check your PM.

Well I didn't go with it just yet, I have one quick question. I was offered 5 year warrenty for 350. Now this guy said the bulbs/projector guns alone are worth 1250 bucks? Any truth to that?
Thanks

The extended warrenty is just another form of insurance. A waste of money if you do not use it....but great to have if you do. For the small amount of extra payment required I would recomend the warrenty.....particularly on higher priced electronics.