Dell W4200HD? Any hands on? - Page 82  

Warranty up in a couple of weeks, haven't actually had a problem with the HDMI yet but rarely use it. Spoke with tech support tonight and they are more than happy to come out and do the upgrade if I say I've had the problem. Sooo, any reason I shouldn't have the firmware upgraded? Anyone know what all is fixed with this firmware upgrade or if there is any reason I shouldn't have the firmware upgraded?

When do you notice these lines, and are they uniform in size or are they of different sizes?

FIXED problem caused by a failing Directv receiver that I have had since day one of their service (DirecTV/USSB days). So I upgraded to a HD Receiver (Model H20) and all is better now. :D

Bump

Just got my 42 inch plasma today. I told myself that I would do the 100 hour break-in period before I played any games on it, but I had to try my Xbox 360. All I can say is wow. I was just wondering if anyone else has played much games on this yet. I consider myself to be a normal to hardcore gamer. I may play 3-5 hours a day during weekdays, and a little longer during weekends. Sometimes i'll play the same game for longer periods of time, sometimes I don't. I was just wondering if anyone has experienced any problems playing games on their plasma tv. Thanks in advance.

You shouldn't have any problems. I play a ton of madden and GT4 on mine and have had no problems....

Just out of curiosity, what do you have your settings set at, like your brightness and contrast. Thanks again.

There have been a number of good posts on contrast/brightness. Some recommend starting around 40 if that is adequate for your system. You can find lots of comments by "searching this tread" with "+brightness +contrast". One meaningful thought on this subject was Post #2380.
dean

Has anyone else noticed that when watching the set in the dark, images are retained on the screen? When I watch with the lights on, it isn't even noticeable. But with all the lights out, really bright images followed by black screens tend to be retained on the screen for a short period of time. Is this common with plasma televisions? Nothing is retained for any period of time, but it is a little annoying when watching a movie. Thoughts or comments?

I'll keep my eyes open and let you know if i notice anything....

I have seen the DellW4200HD at a a Dell Kiosk. Pretty good picture for the price. The contrast is not as good as some plasmas that sell for a grand or two more, but IMO the bright levels are more than enough. Slightly oversaturated colors. HD feeds appear very crisp and lifelike, while SD appears better than average. Menu is easy to scroll through. Good viewing angle. The speakers sound prety good even with mediocre material. If you go to a Dell kiosk at your local mall, they can actually knock off several hundred dollars off the price that you get online...they may even comp you some AV stuff or give you a coupon discount!

Searched the thread, but didn't see where anyone had found a way to make a horizontal adjustment with a DVD input via HDMI. Did I miss something or does anyone know if there is a method to move the picture about a 1/4 inch to the right?
dean

According to the 4200HD FAQ thread I think you're out of luck:

"The DVI and HDMI inputs offer no ability to adjust the image position horizontally or vertically."

Steve.

Thanks for the feedback Steve (although sorry to hear the answer). I'm not familiar with the "4200HD FAQ thread". Do you have a link to it.

dean

Dean, I surely do...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=495757

Steve.

Steve
thanks again - didn't realize it was within the AVS Forum - this thread is pretty quiet - guess many have moved on to newer issues.
dean

OK, I have a question: that thread indicates that this TV (and I assume the W4201C) has an ATSC tuner but no QAM. I can't get my mind around what this means, exactly. If I plug in the cable, and I'm lucky enough that Cox is sending unencrypted HD, do I get to see it?

You don't. The ATSC tuner is for Off-the-Air (OTA) broadcasts only. The NTSC tuner in the TV will allow you to receive the analog (SD) channels directly from your cable, but not the digital channels (which includes the HD ones). If the TV had a QAM tuner, it would then be able to receive unencrypted digital channels directly from cable. If it had CableCard it could receive the encrypted digital channels too, but not PPV or VOD since they require bi-directional transmission.

So, in short, if you want HD channels, you need an HD cable box OR an antenna connected to the ATSC tuner. If you're close to a transmission tower then all you need is a $20 set-top antenna.

And yes, this applies to the W4201C too.

Steve.

Thanks, Steve. How do I determine if I'm close to a transmission tower?

It is now almost one year since I received my W4200HD Rev 01 ... The HDMI froze twice in this year. This TV is not a buzzer , very quiet. Since the warranty will expire in a few days I called Dell to request the firmware flash but after quite awhile on the phone it was determined that there was no one contracted to do the flash update. Only solution is a replacement TV. Now that has me worried if the replacement will have more serious problems than the one I have now.

Don't understand why they couldn't send a repair agency out to provide your firmware update. It only took the QualXService representative a few minutes to hook up and install the update. I used the following procedure recommended on another forum and it worked just like the "post" said it would (except I had to stay on top of the process via phone because someway the authorization fell through the crack). Hope this works for you. Dean

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...ser.id=5780246

I posted before having my morning coffee. I forgot to mention that I am located Toronto Canada. The Dell support tried his best to find service for the in house update but concluded that it was USA only.
I called Dell on Monday and the replacement was just delivered and is now plugged in and all seems OK so far. Thank Godness it is not a BUZZER. The replacement unit looks clean and no visible burn in marks. I have read where some people got replacements that Buzzed and were dirty and worse of all with burn in on the screen.
I was very happy with my old unit and hope this one does not let me down. Rev 03

HW

Glad to hear Dell at least made an effort to support you. I can see where this might be a problem in your area. Hope you got a good one - dean

anyone still have functioning sets? Did they ever come out with a new firmware?