THE SONY SERVICE CODES - Articles, Comments, Discoveries - Page 72

That's no solution.

This ability has been there from the start. It's a fact of life in the tv industry as you already know.

Besides, the more folks that get into the SM and screw up their sets the more business for you, right?

71 pages of people getting into their service menus and tweaking it.

Some of these are the same people whose VCR's flashed 12:00 for years.

Kinda like telling folks back in the day to get into their autoexec.bat files and start typing even though most of them didn't know what they were doing.

As a servicer the last thing I'd want to do is go through line after line of data settings and try and figure out what the customer has done to screw up his set. Very, very time consuming and un-needed.

I could see how that would be a problem if someone just went through changing every value and saving it that way. I just nibbed at a value here and there to see what it did. I documented it, and managed to fix near every problem I had. If there was any other way to research those settings I would have; turtling through those settings wasn't fun for me either. Do you know of a place, or a way? Oh, and don't worry, my set won't ever see a professional. I'm a college student.

I see your point though, but I'd say that's a little selfish. My TV wouldv'e never gotten fixed.

I'd like to reiterate. Do you know how I could research what settings do before I go changing things on a TV like the 970? A lot of the S.M. is similar to the 960, but there are obviously some differences.

I searched this thread, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I have 2 SONY sets in the same room and am trying to find out if there's any way to change the remote address on one so I don't have to put up with both sets responding to remote commands. TIA.

I have two TVs in the same room too. I put a piece of electrical tape over the IR spot on the TV that was least used. Then I manually turn it on and off. That is the only thing I could think of.

I wanted to say thanks to KenTech, DSperber and RWetmore for all their tips. Using their advice and explanations I corrected overscan, a minor geometry thing, and improved on the factory settings. I am a student so thanks to the school's computer lab I was able to print out two service data charts (one for each TV) and pencil in any changes I made. I put it all into a binder along with sections containing print outs of articles listed in this thread. I feel very comfortable going into the service menu now. A few hours of research and tweaking yielded results that really made the image on the screen pop. High definiton broadcasts are just amazing and SD is much better. Thanks again!

Input 5, and it does this regardless of the material or source. All 4:3 signals in 480i are slightly wider than they should be, about 2-3 inches on each side need to be gotten rid of. 16:9 sources appear correct in Full mode. As does any other source in any other resolution. Even 480p 4:3 material is perfect, I just can't understand the deal with 480i stuff.

I recently purchased a Sony KD-27FS170 and would like to change some settings, specifically color calibration and black level. In section 3, COLOR CALIBRATION AND BLACK LEVEL, you state to leave the red settings alone. As such your RDRV is 42 and RCUT is 31. My settings are much higher. RDRV is 84 and RCUT is 100. Are those too high? Should I leave them unchanged and just adjust GDRV (default75), BDRV (default 73), GCUT (default 79), and BCUT (default 76)? Or would using lower settings for all, like you suggest, result in a better image on my TV?

With regard to the other color settings, GDOF through BCOF, you state that the offsets are zero (no effect) when the codes are set to 31. What is the maximum values on your TV? Mine max out at 127.

Thanks.

Ha. I also have two sets in the same room, and that remote problem has plagued me as well. It's not such a big deal when I'm only watching one (the remote is on top of the TV so I have to get up to turn it on anyway -- at that point I just point it real close to the sensor to avoid turning on the other set). The main problem comes when I have both TVs on at once and want to turn down the volume on just one. This is very tricky to do without getting up.

Ive found the service code for the KV-32LS65AUS - seems its radically different to the other codes in other models! - no wonder I was having a bugger of a time getting into the service menu.

Its a 2 step process. 1 - set the remote control into service mode, then set the tv into service mode (nice heh).. Seems MOtvGuy like thinking is trying to make it more difficult. Now wonder the poor tech I dragged out (under warranty) couldnt get into the service mode!

Step 1: Remote Control to Service Mode
1.1 Press the VCR/TV/DVD button until the TV LED lights
1.2 Press and hold the YELLOW button for approx 5 seconds until the TV Light flashes quickly
1.3 Press 99999 all 3 LEDs should light (on the remote)
[Remote Control now set to service mode]
1.4 To Put the Remote back into NORMAL Mode, repeat 1.1 - 1.2 then enter 00000 (instead of 99999 to enter service mode) - all 3 LED's should light
[Remote now in Normal Mode]

Step 2: Put TV into Service Mode
2.1 Set Remote to Service Mode (as above 1.1 - 1.3)
2.2 Turn TV on with Power Switch
2.3 Press the VIDEO STANDBY button on the REMOTE TWICE (its the one on the top LEFT), TT____ should now be displayed on the TV screen (and some other stuff)
[TV Now set to Service-Mode]

2.4 Press MENU on the remote to display the service-menu
2.5 use the UP/DOWN arrows to navigate up and down in the menu
2.6 Press the RIGHT arrow to enter into the required menu item
2.7 Press the MENU button on the remote to go back
2.8 Note: Turn TV OFF to really QUIT the service mode

Hope this helps!

EDITED: The service manual wasnt quite right - but this is tested on my set and works 100%

Cheers,
Bitey

hey guys, ive been searching the forum/this thread for an hour, i cant seem to gt out of the test pattern that loaded while i was tweaking in service mode. any ideas???

thanks for all the help,

Chris

hello guys,

Sorry for my english, i'm french and i never found a forum on this subject.
So i found some very interesting thing here but not on my problem.

I just buy two sony CRT TV, One is KV28FX60 and i discover that i HATE 100 HERTZ !
My old sony 50 hertz has a very beautiful image...

My question is if it's possible to disable 100 hertz and all other digital feature to increase image quality. In a word, i want to switch to standard 50 hertz.

I know how to enter service mode, but it's very difficult to understand all the options.

I hope you have understand me

Your help will be very appreciated.

RWetmore,

Thanks for the info. I've read, and learned alot more, and decided to swap my set out for another one. The new one has some mild geometry issues, and I have corrected most of them, but there is one issue that is bugging me. Everything in 16:9 is very acceptable, but when I watch something on regular TV (4:3 480I) it is not wide enough. It's narrow by almost 2 inches. Then if I watch a DVD thats 4:3, it is too wide by almost 2 inches. I can live with it too wide, but the regular TV (4:3 480I) is just annoying. If I change the Horizontal width, it changes in every mode, and to get the (4:3 480I) at the correct width it makes everything else way to wide. Is there a way to adjust the 4:3 width on a 970 independent of the other modes? I saw on the service data chart an option in MID1-2, but these aren't the same on the 970, and the MID1-3 options are different also. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks ,
Chris

I'd be grateful if you could explain how you did this. I'm using the same program and I've got my Nvidia graphics card setup in Dualview mode, with the monitor at 1024x768 and my HDTV (XBR800) at 1080i. Thing is, when I run the program it runs on the monitor and therefore uses it's resolution, so how do you get it to generate a 1920x1080i test pattern?

Two different ways will both work.


(1) Reverse monitor #1 and monitor #2, thus making the HDTV your primary monitor. Then the patterns presented by DMWVE will take on the size of your HDTV. When you boot your PC, the HDTV will be your monitor #1 and all apps (including DMWVE) that present full-screen displays will present at 1920x1080.

Of course this approach genuinely makes your HDTV the primary Windows monitor, so all program windows will launch here, etc. Yes, the desktop can be specified to span the combined real estate of both monitors, but the HDTV will definitely be where most things start and stay (when enlarged to full-screen). Takes a bit of getting used to when your keyboard is on the other side of the room and you have to look over at your HDTV which is 15 feet away.


(2) I had previously full-screen captured all of the series of test patterns produced by DMWVE (from every one of its diagnostic/setup groups), using a screen capture utility named Fullshot and having my standard 4:3 CRT monitor set to a desktop resolution of 1920x1080 so that the captured images had the same resolution and dimensions. I captured them to BMP (so as to not lose anything).

If you want (via Settings), Fullshot is smart enough to determine the color depth to be used so as to minimize the size of the BMP, so that a B/W test pattern does not require color and at 1920x1080 that would be 1036918 bytes per capture. "Primary color" captures that can be done at 16-bit color depth require 2074678 bytes per capture. "True color" captures (e.g. spectrums) require 32-bit color and take 6220854 bytes. Anyway, I have a complete set of 1920x1080 BMPs stored that exactly duplicates all of the test patterns produced by DMWVE.

These full-screen BMPs can be displayed full-screen (on either monitor #1 or Monitor #2) using any image viewer/browser worth its salt (e.g. ACDSee).


The method I actually used for my 34XBR960 adjustments was (2), because I wanted to be able to sit in from of my usual PC monitor #1 (19" IBM P96 4:3 CRT monitor, running at 1152x864) while sending the 1920x1080 BMP test pattern images (from my sets of screen captures) to monitor #2 (the XBR960) via ACDSee. If you will do this, the resulting flexibility and convenience is significant.

Without having the set of 1920x1080 BMP capture equivalents of the DMWVE test patterns, method (2) wouldn't have been available. Only method (1) would have been possible. I had actually tried that first but didn't like the hassle of having to look over at my HDTV to see the primary desktop and location for windows that got opened when programs launched, while sitting in my computer chair.


NOTE: ACDSee as a product took a steep turn south beginning with version 6, some years back. Each subsequent version (they're now up to 9) gets progressively worse and crappier. I continue to use version 5 for most of my needs, and actually use version 4 (fastest and leanest, while still fully-featured) for my most demanding volume image browsing, viewing, and processing applications (backed up by Photoshop, of course, for the real work).

Thanks for the detailed explanation. (1) is pretty obvious but I doubt I would have thought of it. doh!

My TV's right next to my PC but it's still awkward trying to view it whilst sitting at the PC. It would actually be easier if it was further away but at right angles to my PC chair. I can see why you'd want to go with (2). My brother occasionally screws up his Dualview and ends up with his desktop on his TV which is in the opposite far corner and it's a nightmare helping him to fix that over the phone!

I'm going to see if my TV looks like it needs much tweaking using (1) for now. Fingers crossed!

If, as expected, your set has non-zero and possibly excessive overscan, be prepared for your use of the HDTV as monitor #1 causing some operational problems initially (i.e. until you can adjust your overscan).

Depending on your desktop layout, if you've always only had one monitor then your taskbar will have been at the bottom of monitor #1 and at least some of your desktop shortcut icons will probably be in a vertical line down the left edge of monitor #1. Once you make monitor #1 your HDTV with its overscan, a good portion of the taskbar will appear to be "cropped out". And that left vertical edge of desktop shortcuts may similarly be in at least a somewhat awkward location very near the left edge of your screen.

Furthermore, if your set really requires convergence adjustments and has geometry issues as well, the pixel-precision you're probably used to on your PC's monitor and that is not going to look pretty on your HDTV will no doubt surprise you. Just don't forget it's all about getting the DMWVE patterns to your HDTV so that you can do your own service menu adjustments as possible.

But then that's what this project is really all about... to get test patterns onto your HDTV at 1920x1080. You will find, when you're "done", that the test patterns looks better than the Windows desktop, because any non-zero overscan directly affects the desktop which extends to the very very outer edges of the screen (assuming 0% overscan), whereas the DMWVE patterns are "TV-tolerant" and assume that you will end up with maybe 1-2% overscan which is perfectly acceptable and appropriate for watching broadcast HDTV.

I'm attaching the two primary test patterns (in BMP form), if you want to try them first (or alternatively). One is the cross-hatched overscan/geometry/linearity test pattern, and the other is the SMPTE colorbar pattern with Pluge (to adjust brightness).

 

overscan.zip 9.4423828125k . file

 

SMPTE_colorbars.zip 14.6826171875k . file

Thanks for the images. I was suprised how awkward it is trying to use my TV as the primary display. My taskbar actually stayed on my monitor for some reason, which made it slightly easier to run programs but the flickering on the TV (due to the display being interlaced I guess) makes it hard to look at for any length of time.

I heeded your advice and avoided ACDsee and found a free program called FastStone Image Viewer which allows me to display the images on the secondary display. With the cross-hatch pattern, are the dashed lines around the edges meant to be at the edge of the screen, because they're about 1-1.5" in at the moment. There's actually a non-dashed line that is visible on the right hand side and if I adjust the MID settings I can get the same at the top and bottom of the screen, but not on the left. Apart from that, it looks about right.

I've noticed that when I have the PC in Clone mode, the desktop almost fits on the TV. If I open Windows Explorer full-screen, in the Status bar at the bottom it shows "8 objects" and the 8 is chopped off. There's a slight curve inwards in the bottom left and top right corners as well.

I have to admit I was suprised how unclear text is on the TV. It's considerably better in 720p mode but still compares rather badly to my monitor.

I'm mainly going to be using the TV to watch videos from my PC (connected by DVI) or with my Xbox (composite at the moment but I'll be getting a component lead). I do intend to get a Freeview box with a component ouput but I'm waiting to see if a HD one comes out, so at the moment I'm stuck with using my VCR's tuner into a PAL->NTSC converter, which does look rather crappy but I can live with it.

I have a sony kv-32hs500

I was trying to do the convergence and now my screen shows 3 color lines across the top middle, red green and blue

i tried resetting all things in service mode but its still there

also the screen seems like wa too bright like a spotlight shining on it in the midle and corners

can anyone help?

Just hooked up my cpu to my screen and my god I never knew my screen was so jacked up! Text gets blurry when not in the middle of the screen and there is a bulge on one side that makes all the windows distorted.

Went into the service menu but didn't know what the heck i was doing!

So a service manual for the Sony KV-32FS100 would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Or at the least the default service menu settings.

Looked all over the net looking for it but couldn't find if you would have a copy of it pm me please.

The solid line surrounding the rectangle is the outer edge of a 16:9 pattern at 1920x1080. If you adjust things (first background raster, then foreground image, as has been described in detail in this and other threads) so that the solid outer edge of the rectangle is visible at all four edges of the screen, you now have 0% overscan. Anything where this outer edge is not visible is some non-zero positive overscan. And You certainly don't want "negative overscan", where you've got it so that the outer solid lines of the rectangle are "indented" from the edges of the screen. You want that outer rectangle at the extreme outer edge of the screen (at least to start) for 0% overscan.

As you can tell by counting the horizontal and vertical boxes in the pattern, the interior dotted rectangle defines 10% overscan (since there are 2 out of 20 boxes eliminated in the horizontal dimension by this inner dotted rectangle, and about 1.4 out of the 14 boxes eliminated in the vertical dimension). If you adjust things so that the dotted lines are visible at the four outer edges of the screen, you have just adjusted for 10% overscan.

Anything in between, not able to see the solid outer rectangle but with the dotted lines somewhat "indented" from each edge of the screen, is something less than 10% overscan. Halfway would be 5%, etc. Shooting for 1-2% is reasonable, in my opinion (at least that's where I've gone).

What's important of course is to get all four edges of your screen to display the same thing... some uniform constant overscan (say 1-2%) all around the four edges of the screen. That is your goal. Anything asymmetric is incorrect and your true TV images will be cropped asymmetrically.

The tiny dots in the center of each box are excellent tools to determine if you have a convergence problem (e.g. if they're not pure white, but you can easily see red, green, or blue "spray") and exactly what portion of the screen requires attention (and potentially, a Sony service call for magnet work). Same with the perfectly horizontal and vertical lines of the pattern, which are obviously supposed to be perfectly horizontal and vertical.

If they're not (e.g. if they are non-linear or bow up at the ends near the bottom of the screen, or if they are non-linear or bow down at the ends near the top of the screen, or if they are non-vertical or curved near the left and right edges or in the center) well this is what the pattern is for... to direct your attention and service menu tweaks (or magnet work for the professional) where your screen needs it.

I've been calibrating my xs955 for a while now, and it is finally starting to look pretty remarkable thanks to all the information provided here. However, my TV is being used for games and not for over the air broadcasts, and because of this I'm having some "internal conflicts" as to what the correct settings are for me. I am beginning to realize that some of the "enhancements" recommended here may not be desirable for people like me. I am arriving at this conclusion based on image quality when playing video games when using some suggested settings. Mainly anything that enhances sharpness tends to introduce more pronounced "jaggies" in many PS2/Xbox games. When using a more natural setting, such as completely disabling any form of velocity modulation, the image is more clear to my eyes. Even high quality DVD's look better as there is far less 'grain' in the image.

Does this conclusion make sense or is it just my lack of understanding on how things work? In other words, should I see some noise or grain in high quality image content like movies or video games? My way of thinking is this, even though there are things "lost" in the digital transfer of film to DVD there isn't any loss when it comes to game consoles because they are rendering everything internally on the fly as you are seeing it. Only cut scenes would be using some form of re-compressed video, correct? If so, what are the codes or settings I should use to disable all image enhancements in my set? Perhaps I can start from 0 and work my way up to suit my tastes.

And one last thing, is there a way to "flash" or update the operating system in a Sony TV? I noticed the XS955's, and probably many other sets, have a software version number. I'd like to know if there are any bugs or issues with specific versions as I would think the latest version would be the best to use.

I have a Sony XBR970 and recently I noticed some problems have gotten worse. I always had a faint outline of any image on the screen, but lately it has gotten a lot more noticeable. Also, usually on faster moving scenes I'm seeing a X like pattern. It's almost like there is a grid behind my screen that is showing up.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what these two problems might be and the service menu options that would lead me in the right direction.

Hi All,

First post... I need help with my KV-32HS510. I have a Dish 942 hooked up to it and it works great on 480p and on 1080i. However, when I switch to 720p the color is too green. I think I have the whole service manual, but I can't tell where to change the color settings for 720p or where to change the color settings at all for that matter.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Here are some of the service code settings I have decided on for now. My 34xs955 is used mainly for playing video games so I am trying to achieve the most accurate and least artificial image from the display of the game console. Based on findings from the members here I've tried to set up my tv the most transparent and least artificial way possible. The settings below either normalize or disable enhancements and offsets. Some offsets are needed, but I've tried to track down and eliminate any need for sharpness and/or enhancements.

I still get noise when watching movies, but real time content like games are amazingly clean and crisp.

Video
Mode = Standard
Picture = Max ( I may go back to 48 since it is the default value)
Brightness = 31
Color = 31
Hue = 0
Sharpness = 29 (default)
Color Temp = Off
Color Axis = Monitor

3D-COMB
VAPG = 0
VAPI = 0

2103-1
SCON, SCOL, SHUE = 7
YDLY = 0
SHAP = 0
SHFO = 0
PREO = 0
AFCG = 0
CDMD = 0
SSMD = 0
ATPD = 0
DCTR = 0


2170P-1
SBRT = 32
RDRV= 63
GDRV = 33
BDRV = 33
RCUT = 63
GCUT = 16
BCUT = 32
DCOL = 0
WBSW = 0

2170P-2
YLMT = 3

2170P-3
SYSM = 3
VMLV, VMCR, VMLM, VMFO, VMCL, SHOF = 0
SHFO = 1
PROV = 0
F1LV = 0
LTLV = 0
LTMD = 0
CTLV = 0
MIDE = 63
VM, VMH, VMM, VML = 0

217OP-4
SPIC = 7
SCOL = 7
SHUE = 31
SPIO, SCLO, SHUO = 7
RYR, RYB = 14
GYR = 6
GYB = 4
GAMM = 0
GAMS = 7
GAMR = 3
GAMG = 3
GAMB = 3

With GAMM = 1 I have GAMS = 7, GAMR = 0, GAMG = 0, GAMG = 0, and GAMB = 0.
I use GAMM = 1 for HD content.

21704-P (continued...)
DCTR = 0
APED = 0
DSBO = 7 (Appears to be some kind of offset value, 7 is middle? I use different settings for HD sources so you will just have to experiment)
ABLT = 0
ABLM = 0
DPSQ = 0
BLK = 0 (so you can manually control DSBO)


MID5
POP = 63
Everything else = 0


3DNR
#34, #45, and #61 @ 15

Thanks to Kentech, NightWatchman, Dsperber, and all the others that posted settings and findings. All of the information has really helped in my quest for great picture quality.

You're welcome!

BTW, if I haven't mentioned it before, add'l kudos to Ken for the excellent index of links added to the first post.

Does anyone know of a service menu adjustment that might fix distortion from the built in tv speakers? For example every time I turn on my Nintendo Wii the menu intro sound distorts noticeablely through my XBR960's speakers, Ive tried lowering the bass and treble ,even enabled Steady Sound but nothing works, it distorts even if the volume is very low so it looks like I'm looking for some sort of "Input gain" adjustments, does anything like that exist? I sometimes hear distortion when playing other consoles such as Xbox360 but its not very common, it never happens when watching DVDs or Cable channels , Thanks in advance.

Sorry for not replying sooner, I've not had much time to tweak in the last few days. Whilst I think I understand the theory of adjusting the background raster and then the foreground image, I'd be grateful if you could tell me if what I'm proposing makes sense.

As I'm starting from a position where I can only see the outer solid line on the right-hand side of the screen, I'm thinking why not adjust the foreground image with the MID settings first so that I can see this line on all four sides, and then adjust the raster to extend this line to the outer edges of the display.

To complicate matters, no matter what I do (on the TV at least), I'm unable to see the outer solid line on the left-hand side of the screen. Is it possible that the PC output is responsible for this and I'd need to adjust something at that end to fix this?

In the circumstances, all I can think to do is to adjust the raster so that the dashed line is at the edges of the screen and then adjust each side in by the same amount, until I reach the point where the left-hand side no longer benefits from any further adjustment.

Sorry if I'm being dumb

first off i have a 36xs955
i have been dinking around with fixing the scan and i ran into a problem...

i used the mids to twink the 480i and the everything else, however

when viewing 720p the imagine is small in the middle of the screen and doesnt fill the screen, its like watching it on a 30inch tv on my 36, anyone have any idea how to fix what i did?

I have a similiar issue with my 30" HS420

my digital cable is perfect (1080i\\480p) - HDMI
my video 6 DVD player is perfect (480p) - Component
however my ps2 -component video 5 doesn't fill the screen.
I looked at the thread for adjusting overscan however on the hs420 the mid options are different so I can't get it right either.