Maxent 42" HDTV MX-42X3 - Lets Talk! - Page 4

Chris are you worried about burn-in with such a high contrast setting?

I think it was at 80 out of the box. I used the test in Avia where you look at the sliding white bars at the bottom ("needle pulses and steps" I believe it was called). Above 70 the whites start crushing (so the bars start to dissappear). Since that was the proper calibrated level I just left it there. Are you thinking I should set it lower?

Another observation- after setting the color & tint, I noticed on the color decoder check both green & red were -5%, blue was at 0. I'm wondering if I should just leave it, or turn color saturation up until the red is at 0?

So if I just went and became a costco member today, is there any way to still get the coupon?

they hand the coupons out at the door, so no problem there.

I just joined yesterday. The person checking the cards at the entrance had a whole stack of them. The coupon is not from the Summer Passport book (like the Vizio coupon). The Maxent coupon is in the weekly coupon handout.

Initially, yes. From what I've read here on the forum and other equally knowledgable places, the infancy of plasmas is key. I've got mine at 45 right now for both contrast and brightness, and even though clearly the blacks and whites are off, until I get a nice working-in period, I think it's the safer route.

Check out the master burn in thread in this sub-forum, lots of good info there.

I just went to the costco website- i saw the 50" ~$2,500, but it doesn't have HDMI connector.{just DVI} is this an issue?
Boy at that price.... got to gooooo

Is this set better than the 42" Vizio or the 50" Vizio?

Has anyone managed to program a multi-function remote to work with theirs? I went to my remote manufacturer's website and they don't even list Maxent.

Anyone use this with a HTPC yet? I plan on feeding everything to it via RGB from my HTPC. I have a fusion HDTV+cable card and am concerned about the impact of rectangular pixels. Is it possible to get 1:1 pixel matching? This set did look great compared to the 50" vizio and also compared to the ED panasonic.

Just a note of thanks to thread starter donotremove for mentioning the Maxent. I was sitting (practically) in the audience of the Tonight Show last night I'm really happy with the purchase. I can't help you with the remote codes, but I was able to clone the Maxent remote into my Media Center remote FWIW
-Phil

Well another one drops...

Just returned from Costco and after weighing in all the input, picked up the Maxent 42". Gotta agree that the picture was clearly outstanding (read Panasonic like) compared to most other mid-level PDP's I've seen out there. It's now sitting in my laundry room unopened where it shall remain while I await a chance to see the Vizio 50" in person.

I think with the potential fan noise issue of the Vizio I'm reading about on that thread, and the fact that this set is dead quite and has an orbiter to protect against burn-in, it's likely that I'll just keep this one. All the same, I'm not going to abuse Costco's great satisfaction policy and so will wait until I can see the Vizio in person before opening the Maxent (ouch 10 days is going to be a very long time to ignore temptation). Still as it's going to be a bedroom set, noise is important as is PQ and this Maxent clearly looks like a winner (at least from what I've seen in the stores). Just wish it had a bit more design style (but for the price can deal with it).

Good luck all and keep those reviews, and input coming. The great threads have certainly helped in focusing on key points that were indispensable to making an informed decision. I'll post mine once a set actually is unboxed and mounted...

Cheers

Remember, HDMI is just DVI + sound.

So if you are like me, and run your sound through your receiver (although you can input RCAs for sound direct if you choose to), it's not an issue at all.

Any learning remote won't be a problem at all.

I wouldn't say it dead quiet, but I don't hear anything from 8' away. I have the set on a stand right now, and if I put my head behind it I can hear a slight buzzing, but it's not audible from a few feet away in front.

This is a good bit more quiet than the LCD it replaced. In fact, I can hear the HD whirring on my Comcast DVR more than this display unit!

Does anyone know for sure what panel this set has and what other sets use this same panel? Know anything about it, such as deinterlacer, electronics, etc.? I'd to know as much as I can about this set as I have return my 42" Vizio due to its issues and don't know if I should get this Maxent, another 42" Vizio, or the 50" Vizio.

Thanks for any help regarding this and picture quality comparisons with all sets for those that have viewed them. I have read all the posts on this thread it sounds good so far!

Well thanks for the update Chris! While it's really no surprise that it isn't "totally" silent, from all indications on here, it's easily a better fit for the bedroom than the 50" Vizio thread which seems to have frequent complaints of fan noise. Also, since I haven't seen the PQ on the Vizio and this set looked astounding for the money, it seems a really great deal.

I too would love to hear more of the internal specs, but the bottom line is the picture tells all (or put in marketing terms "liers figure and figures lie"). Also since this set has an orbiter feature to prevent burn in and the Vizio doesn't (it has some kind of manual screen wipe feature), I'd say the right decision was made.

Thanks for the input again...

Cheers all

Well I broke down and got one for the bedroom. Great set for the price! For now I've got contrast at 30, brightness at 50, color at 35, tint centered, sharpness at 1, noise reduction on low, temp at warm, stretching to 16:9, and image shift at 30 sec while it breaks in. For now I've only got a crappy DirecTV SD receiver hooked up via S-Video and I think it handles the upconversion pretty well, though of course the fat people in 16:9 are a bit annoying. The panorama stretch mode I think stretches the edges a bit too much; I feel like I'm watching TV on a cylinder or something, lol. I didn't pay much attention to the other zoom modes for now though I'd assume they'd be handy for letterboxed SD movies that aren't anamorphic.

Maybe I'll try my laptop on it later but I really only got this set for light-medium casual watching before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning. And I definitely need to get HD into the bedroom now too.

Edit: I can further attest that this set is pretty quiet; I believe it has no fans (or at least they don't turn on until the set's been on for quite awhile as I've had it on for around 1 1/2 hours now and there's no fan noise at all). All there is noise-wise is a slight electronic buzz / hum that you can really only hear when you have the volume extremely low or muted, so it's definitely fine for bedroom use. And yes this is ultimately the reason that made me decide on this set instead of the 50" Vizio, LOL.

Got tired of my Proview so I took it back tonight to Costco and got this Maxent. So far I am happy with it, none of the issues the Proview had...

Proview had mosquito buzzing out the speakers even with no audio input, dark looking picture in 1080i HD when you turn the set on, cured with switching inputs from HD to S-video to HD (every time the set was turned on) and some white pixels along the top scan line in 720p mode. It was also smallish for my viewing distance.

So far I have just watched some in TWC HD and some SD.
This set is much better than the BB set with the black bezel. I also have the Costco Pio 4312, and this Maxent compares quite well for something costing 40% less. I have noticed a bit of false contouring, but darks seem quite good, so far have not seen any dead pixels.
It fits in it's box in the back of a Volvo wagon (but not standing up) in the rear with the rear seats down. While the Proview could fit standing in it's box in the rear seat of a 1995 Lexus LS.
We shall see how it holds up with some time and critical viewing.
Thanks Costco!

A question for those using this monitor with component inputs and also some third party research on the MX-42X3.

First the insights. I was doing some additional web searches on this set and stumbled upon the Cnet site where I came across the following post with some interesting insights and admittedly third and fourth party news (not responsible for the information's accuracy, but promising it seems reasonable and promising all the same):

_______________

At Costco. MX-42X3 was made in June of 2005 info!
Call tech support today, the site for this TV is www.maxentusa.com

Left mess., and to my surprise the guy called me back, and said this is their newest TV out. He spoke well of it, and said they put a lot of work into making a nice one. I tried to buy 3 of them, and got 1 before they closed, the rest were up in the racks. Gonna go try and get 2 more tomorrow. Used the 300 off coupon.

Here is some info I found on another site, guys, check it out.

FYI For those questioning the Maxent name, the MX-42X3 uses the same OEM Samsung PDP panel used by many other OEMs in their high end plasma products . The PDP in this Maxent is the Samsung S42AX-XB02 which is the successor to the popular S42AX-XB01 found in the Toshiba 42HP83, 42HP84, Panasonic TH 42PHD7UY, and the Philips Ambilight 42PF9966/37 among others.

Posted by: frankie8acres (see profile) - 08/08/2005 8:53 PM
In reply to: Costco Maxent 42" by frankie8acres

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Here's the link for the whole thread if anyone's interested:

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7596-0....sageID=1348638

_______________

Now for the question: On the same site, it was mentioned several times that the Maxent will not allow the use of the screen stretch modes like panorama unless fed through the SVIDEO or HDMI ports (i.e. won't work using composite). Can anyone confirm or deny this report?

Thanks all... & enjoy your new toys!

Ok, we've decided on the Vizio over the Maxent on sale this week. Here's why:

1. Similar HD PQ, if not identical
2. Faroudja deinterlacer means the Vizio does better with DVDs and SD
3. Size!

I'm not terribly concerned about the fan noise reported in the other thread, since it doesn't seem to be an issue for everyone. Maybe we'll try and make sure we've got a July 2005 model.

The only advantage the Maxent has, AFAICT, is the Image Shift, but the Vizio has the image scrubber or whatever, and given that, the warranty and Costco's return policy, I'm not concerned about burn-in.

Anyone disagree? Let me know if you do -- I still fancy myself an ignorant n00b so could see myself being wrong.

Ugh, now to wait. I can't go back to Costco this week or I'll probably break down and nab the Maxent

J-

That was already mentioned on the first page of this thread, see post #13. That was quoted from fatwallet word for word. The poster that mentioned it doesn't give any proof of that claim. Maxent is owned by Regent USA, who also sells under the Sampo name so I'm guessing it's a Sampo panel and not Samsung.

OK I hooked up an old Sony DVD player I had laying completely idle and gave it a quick whirl through Avia through both component (480i) and composite, coming up with surprisingly moderately different settings, at least as far as tint was concerned (though keep in mind this could just be caused by differences in the DVD player's outputs). Also keep in mind that contrast seems to have a slight-to-moderate impact on all the other settings (except sharpness, which I keep at 1 regardless). Without further ado, here's what I came up with for composite and component 1 (480i) based on what is probably a relatively safe contrast of 40 (note that on my unit I wasn't actually seeing white crush problems until contrast was set above 80 but I don't want it anywhere up there for fear of burn-in):

Composite:

Contrast 40
Brightness 60
Color 33
Tint -2
Sharpness 1
Noise reduction Off
Color Temp Warm

Component:

Contrast 40
Brightness 59
Color 33
Tint +9
Noise reduction Off
Color Temp Warm

On both of the TV's inputs once I did the quick Avia calibration colors do subjectively seem about the same despite the big differences in the tint setting. The color decoder seems to be set pretty decently OOTB on this set (on the color decoder check blue of course is spot-on as is green, and red looks to be around 5% undersaturated), which is definitely a good thing if we can't figure out a way into a service menu on these.

Sorry about the re-quote mate. I have read this thread from the beginning, but it's been a while since I looked back that far and didn't recall seeing that info.

After doing some additional searches, I found some more insights on this topic in the Fatwallet forums and there were indications that while what you state about Regent USA's tie to Sampo being correct (I think there was a press release dated from 10/04 on that specific relationship), someone also referenced that this panel is stamped with a Samsung label (perhaps inside the unit) and made a reasonable argument as to why it wasn't likely a Sampo panel and was in fact "Samsung inside".

Truth is, I don't know and personally don't care. From my POV, this monitor looked ace and besides; like it's been stated so many times before in these threads, "there's much more to a good picture than simply the panel quality". Personally, I would strongly agree with that statement.

I don't wish to unnecessarily promote hearsay, but there was a request for more info on the internals and I just wanted to pass along what I had found.

Here's the link to the Fatwallet forum if anyone's interested in other perspectives (including several mentions on this issue of who makes the panel). Enjoy...


http://www.**************/forums/mess...hreadid=504937


Cheers!

I am new to HT. What is "SD" making reference to?