Official Sanyo HT32744/HT30744 thread - Page 2

I agree, let's not bring any of the off-topic over here. The only thing I wish they had done when they locked the previous thread, was send out one last post, so all those who were subscribed would have known. They didn't have to go into detail, just an FYI that it was closed, and maybe a link to this new thread. OH WELL.

However, TH3_FRB, can you copy over the very good description and various links from the very first post that ORYAN had kept up to date? There is a lot of information in that first post, and would save a bunch of repeated questions.

Thanks,

sterno3

I know what you guys are talking about "off topic" discussion and who the culprit was.

After a delay on the renovation of my new place, I'll finally be able to move tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to purchase the 30" early next week, once we're situated and once we figure out if the 30" will suffice with the size of the new living room.

It was this thread, or the original rather, that convinced me these sets were worth looking into.

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know of a sight or link were a 30" 16:9 and a 27" 4:3 are shown side to side?

Does anyone know if the remote control for either tv is programable to run other devices?

Both are universal DTV multimedia remotes that will run other devices.

I have updated this post to include some of the new info that has been posted in this thread

Currently, this set is only available at B&M Walmarts ONLY. It is not on walmart.com or anywhere else. I'll update this info if it is added to the web.

Edit: As sixdoubleseven pointed out, the 30" is now on walmart.com
Walmart.com - Sanyo HT30744

I work at Wal-Mart and we just got in a new TV that, I believe, marks the begining of true mass market HDTV.

The set is a Sanyo 32" Flat Screen HDTV Model # HT32744

Here are the specs:
Integrated HD Tuner w/ QAM (Page 17 of the manual)
HDMI input
2 Component Inputs
2 S-Video/AV inputs
1 Optical Audio Out
1 Analog audio out
2 Tuner PIP
Analog tuner for cable
3D Y/C Comb Filter

This thing sells for $747!!!!

Sanyo 32" 4:3

Here is the 30" wide version of the same thing:
Sanyo 30" 16:9

(If you want a layout of the back panel, it is page 6 of the manual.)
Sanyo Instruction Manual

This just made my job to sell HDTV to joe6pack a walk in the park. All you have to do is buy this tv and hook up an antenna and you get HDTV. Especially for the price, it is a steal. It is only 200 more than the analog flat screen 32", and this is HD with a digital tuner.

Ryan

EDIT:

I did get a chance to mess with the Sanyos today, and they do infact accept a 720p signal. I don't know (and don't know how to tell) if it is upconverted to 1080i. FWIW, when I hit the info button, it will show the information for the incomming signal, either 720p or 1080i These are the only tv's out of the 8 or so HD sets that we have that even displayed the 720p signal being output from the Dish 6000. If anyone knows how to test if it is native 720p, let me know and I'll see what i can do.

Also, the 30" wide allowed me to use all picture formats on 1080i. So I could put the 1080i signal in 4:3, full, zoom, etc. I still want to try that in 720p and 480p, but since it does it in 1080i, i assume it will do picture format changes in all modes. If i hadn't bought my Philips, the 30" Sanyo would be in my bedroom as we speak.


There is also a 27" version on the way and according to spider4re, they will be at Walmarts sometime in July.
Edit: The 27" is currently only a Canadian model as stated on the Sanyo website

Sanyo 27" 4:3

These sets should have the same feature set as the larger sets (HDMI and Digital Tuner)

Here is some info on the service menu:
About a month and a half ago, I asked on the Sanyo forums at homethearterspot.com, how to access the service menu of the sanyo's, and an ISF guy named Biloxi_MS_ISF just replied. Here is the link:
Sanyo Service Menu Thread

Some have tried it, but the service menu seems somewhat cryptic.
Edit:
here is the specifics on how to enter the service menu on these sets posted by another member:
"[text deleted.] Anyways I think I found the service menu access. I went and unplugged the TV and pushed the volume down key on the TV itself, not the remote. While holding the volume down button I plugged the TV and it came on. This TV takes a couple of seconds before you see anything on the screen, so make sure that keep that volume down button pressed until you see the service menu. I used the channel up/down key on the remote to navigate and the volume up/down on the remote to change the items. It has more than 150 parameters...

Hope that helps

Edgar"

I've typed up what is in the service menu of the set in my store. Here is a link to the post with the excel file..

Edit:
Well here is the official Sanyo Service Manual in pdf form:
Sanyo Service Manual


For discussions on using this tv with a HTPC or connecting a PC to the HDMI port, please post in this thread: Sanyo HT30744 Widescreen HDTV -- Adjusting Overscan with Powerstrip


Ryan

does this set take advantage of DVD player's with 3:2 pulldown feature?

I'm on the verge of getting this set, but I'm wondering if my DVD's would look better on the 27" Panasonic HDTV (that specifically states 3:2 pulldown), or this one...

3:2 pulldown is a process to take film material and make it 60 frames progressive, repeating a frame three times, the next two times, etc. If you have a dvd player that already does 3:2 pulldown, then the tv doesn't have to. If you only have an interlaced player, then yes, 3:2 pulldown on a tv is more important. Since dvd players that do 3:2 are so cheap now, I don't think I'd base my tv decision on that. 3:2 wont help on video material like tv shows or on video games, and correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think that it will work on stuff on cable either. So it really only helps on dvd players that are interlaced only.

Does this TV have built-in 3:2 pulldown? I picked up a progressive scan player with this set and switching between progressive scan and interlaced, I can see no difference.

I have tried blacks on light colors, lights on blacks, fast motion, slow motion...and I do not notice any of the artifacts common to an interlaced picture. Is there something I'm missing or is the TV doing all the work?

If I'm way off base here, does anyone know a particular scene in a blockbuster-type movie that would show an interlaced scene well? I'm trying to figure out if I should keep the player or just use the one (non-progressive) that I had before.

Maybe the TV has a line doubler built in

No, this TV dees not have built-in 3:2 pull-down (unless it is a very well-hidden feature). The 3:2 pull-down should be best done at the DVD player stage so most of the current TVs don't have the 3:2 pull-down feature. You should see some improvement between progressive scan and interlaced input. Read oryan_dunn's post.

I thought that it did. Didn't we all tested it by watching a widescreen dvd with black bars on top and bottom while turning the brightness up and down to see if it affects the black bars? It didn't affect the black bars on my 32", so I thought that was convincing enough to say that it does have 3:2 pull-down.

investor27
3:2 pull down is a method used to map the 24 fps of motion picture film onto the 30 fps (60 fields) of 525-line TV, so that one film frame occupies three TV fields, the next two, etc. The end-result is a smoother image. Most of the progressive DVD players today hve that feature -- via a selectable Film ot Video mode. When the 3:2 pull down feature was rare in the DVD players, some HDTVs offer the 3:2 pull down conversion feature. But now even cheap DVD players offer progressive 3:2 feature, most HDTVs just don't offer that feature anymore.

The 4:3 TV squeezing all the resolutions into a 16:9 box for 16:9 material is sometimes called Enhanced HDTV mode (or other crazy names).

Thanks, Buzzly. I knew the Sanyo has something going for it, because it does look better in widescreen mode vs 4:3 mode. Take care, Buzzly.

Could this vertical compression be the reason for the lack of artifacts I see, even when viewing an interlaced picture?

Whereas the scanlines were fairly visible in certain portions of a movie on my old television, now I see none and the player has not changed...

Has anyone tried a dvd player with HDMI connection yet?

I went out last week to Wallyworld to measure up the box to make sure it would fit in my truck. The purchase is going down this upcoming weekend.

I too watch mostly 4:3 programs. My 10yr old 25" Samsung will be retired to the 3 season porch and this new 32" will hold me over for the next year or two, while the DLP's, Plasma's and other widescreen types work the bugs out and come down in price. Then it will be moved to the bedroom.

I can't wait to pick this puppy up! There seem to be nothing but good vibes about this tv here.

I currently have a non-progressive scan toshiba. Will the Sanyo still upconvert this old source to 1080?

I have the 32" Sanyo and have noticed (especially on the dish network menu) that the white lines and words on the right 6-8 inches of the screen are yellowish looking. It can be observed occasionally during programming, but usually not. It can be easily seen when anything white is on the screen. I put up a THX video test from a dvd I rented and sure enough, the two white screens on the right were affected. I played with the contrast, brightness sharpness and colors and it still seemed to have the yellowish tint, which might change color slightly if I changed the color settings. Any ideas?, or should I just return it and get a different T.V.

dakguy:

Do you have un-shielded speakers next to the TV screen?

Thanks Buzzly for clarifying the dvi-hdmi problems with the DVB318 and these TVs. Guess I will have to hook it up via component. Hope it will look OK.

I just ordered a Harmony remote model 688 and was wondering if there are discrete on-off and discrete input (video1, video2, component1, etc.) codes for this TV somewhere that I could load once I get this remote. My wife is not too happy with all the remotes lying around the LR. Thanks.

Skallywag: check this out

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...47#post3847647

I know what you mean, but, trust me, to actually "pick this puppy up", will require at least two people! It is one heavy sucker!

As I posted in another thread, thanks to all the informative posts about this TV.

My 5 yr old 36" Toshiba was the victim of a Lightening storm, and even though I had it plugged into a APC UPS, it still got fried. First time ever for me.

I was determined to get this TV on my stand myself, so after two hours of trying to figure out a way to lift or otherwise move the set myself, I figured it out.

NOTE, it would be better to just get a helper, but sometimes another set of hands is not around, so here is what I eventually did:

I had an 8 foot ladder outside, I brought it in, used a plastic milk carton in the center of the ladder, and created a ramp, leading up to where my TV goes. Note, that the ladder was folded at all times, it just acted like a ramp.

I had a cardboard box, filled with wood (it was a stool, that was not yet assembled), and put the box at the bottom of the ramp. I was able to get the TV on top of the box, then just "pushed" the TV up the ramp, to where it's final resting place was.

It took me two hours and several "lets see if I can clean jerk it" up 3 feet before coming up with this solution.

Thanks to everyone who responded to the 3:2 DVD question. As my DVD player is 5 years old, and I want a new one that supports SACD and DVD-A, I will make sure that it also has a HDMI (or at least a DVI) connection, and a 3:2 progressive scan options as well.

This was the one question that was unanswered when I made my purchase, and the POS info and the manual did not help answer this question.

I dont mean to start a flame, or get off topic, but I did have a very positive encounter with a wal-mart employee who helped me out. He was just hired by the store, to be part of the new HT re-modeling that WM is going to be doing to the store where I live in two weeks. He had 9 years prior experience at CC. Say what you want positive or negative about CC, but I thought it was a step in the right direction to hire someone "in the industry". I think that the succss or failure of WM will be how the employees are trained.

Hey, speaking of WM associates, does anyone have any inside info as to if Sanyo will be offering a 36" version of this TV.

As I have 90 days (or is it a year on the Sanyo?) to return it, no questions asked, I would prefer a 36" version to a 32" version.

Now what I REALLY want in my living room is a 50 inch Plasma . . .

I had a pretty positive experience as well. Especially compared to a lot of the people I read about here that asked about the TV and no one could find it in the back, etc.

I know the guy that works in the jewelry dept. and I went up and asked him if there was anyone in electronics that knew anything about HDTV. He said no which is what I figured since it's usually some older lady that works back there and she always gives me a blank look when I'm looking for something. Actually I had a Wal Mart employee buy my set for me. My buddy works for Wal Mart Distribution here and he said he'd buy it and get 10% off. So he helped me out and then when he went and bought it the kid we talked to went and got the TV in record time then asked if we wanted him to take it out for us (we did it ourselves). So I guess I can't say anyone there actually knew anything about the set but were there to at least help me out when I made my own decision.

Good post, BuddTX, and congratulations on the TV! As far as I know, Sanyo is not planning to release any other TV in this series beside the 27", 30", and 32". These are Wal-Mart exclusives, so it's not a wide-released into all the electronic departments around North America.

I, too, am looking for a 3:2 DVD that is SACD and DVD-A capable and has HDMI and/or DVI input for under $200. Are you looking at anything in particular that you can recommend? I know a lot of us here on these Sanyo threads are interested as well. Please let us know.

Walmart.com ever offer coupons?

I emailed Sanyo and asked if the HT32744 performs 3:2 pulldown conversion for film based programs and whether it does vertical compression (16:9 enhanced mode) for 16:9 DVD and HDTV programs like my previous Sony High Scan HD monitor and got an affirmative response:

Yes to both items.
The HT32744 has the 3:2 pulldown frame sequencing process used to convert movie frame rate (24fps) into TV video signal display rate (30fps).
And the LetterBox PixShape mode is the enhanced vertical compression
where scanning lines are concentrated in the 16:9 area of the screen.
Sorry but I don't know the exact chip used by our scaler circuit, hope the
rest of this helps.
Thank you, ..Sanyo Customer Service


I also found the Zoom mode to work nicely for blowing up the HD pic while watching some of the olympic diving competitions last night. My guess is the camera shots are still framed for 4:3 but haven't had a chance to catch alot of the other competitions where wide screen would more benefit.

Is anyone using a stand for the 30" that really fits it well? I'm looking for either dark wood , dark wood + metal, or silver to match the TV.

Thanks,
Dave

Awesome. That's what I thought, because using the Pixshape to switch to widescreen does look better (even for non-HD feed). Thanks for reporting.

This one from Ikea looks cool. http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/s...ts=10104*10174 And it's only $59. It looks like the $79 one I purchased from Wal-Mart. The only thing I didn't like about the Wal-Mart one is that the back of the glass-top curved in a semi-circle fashion. I just wish it was a square top instead.

Too bad IKEA won't ship that item. Nearest store to me is 128miles in New Haven