Sony HS-60/51A Official TWEAK Thread - Please Post Here

Welcome to the Sony HS-60/51A Official TWEAK Thread.

While there many similarities between the older 51/50 and newer 51A/60 Sony projectors, there are too many differences. So, many folks agree we should establish a tweak thread specific to the new projector.

Please post your calibration & tweaking information in this thread. Maybe we will eventually achieve sticky status.

As a starter, here are the remote commands for accessing the SERVICE and FACTORY menus.

The SERVICE mode is accessed by pressing on the remote (enter) (enter) (UP arrow) (DOWN arrow) (enter), then (UP arrow) when it asks "do you want to enter the service mode?"

The FACTORY mode is accessed by pressing on the remote (enter) (enter) (LEFT arrow) (enter), then (UP arrow) when it asks "do you want to enter the factory mode?"

Any additional menus usually pop up under the main INFORMATION menu.


***WARNING***

It is possible to damage your display if you change some factory parameters. Stay way from parameter controls you don't understand, and others that you do, like Fan Temperature Threshold. You may also void your warranty.

When you 1st access the service or factory modes, take the time to write down all of the settings, just incase you get confused and unintentionally change a setting.

In many cases, of the hundred plus service/factory parameters, there are very few worth adjusting. You may find most of the parameters which benefit the calibration process are located in the service mode, so you can avoid the factory mode all together and the associated risk.

Enjoy your display and be careful if you decided to access the service/factory menus.

Here are my factory RGB values pre-calibration. I will follow up later with how well these factory settings track grayscale as well as any new post calibration values for 6500k, 7500k and 9300k.

.......high...mid....low
RG...128...128...128
GG.....46....38.....28
BG.....61....48.....28
RB...124...122...121
GB...128...128...128
BB...139...138...134

I would note these RGB settings as well as the Gamma Shading settings in the factory menu seem to keep a fixed red value and work green & blue for color temp correction. This a definite change in calibration strategy which might help overcome some of the 50/51 red bias errors thru the 0-100 range. These setting might also contribute to the dimmer bright white output some folks have observed.

I hope to establish at what gain/bias values for red, blue and green clip. Then it should be possible to push max brightness at each color temp.

Here are some new found factory menu items which deal with EE/ringing. Both of the following items appear to be High Pass Filter (HPF) controls.

DISPLAY ENGINE

25 DE/HPF ON = 1 Setting this to (0) eliminates EE visible around dark letters & lines. You can see an apparent shift to a softer image. Setting this control to (0) appears to be the same as setting the master sharpness control to OFF.

26 DE/HPF TAP = 1 With Line 25 set to (1), this control expands or contracts the Edge Enhancement around dark letters. The expansion occurs equally to the left and right as the value is increased. Setting to (0) completely narrows the EE, while manitaining a very slight edge detail enhancement. This control appears to be a great way to adjust the aesthetic of the master sharpness control when the master sharpness is set higher than OFF.

My factory IRIS OPEN/CLOSE REG settings are 41/222.

We all know the following has been mentioned, but I thought it worth repeating for the new tweaking thread.

DISPLAY ENGINE

04 DE/UF SW = 1 Setting the value to (0) turns off the Gamma Shading function in the factory menu.

Please note I have not done any critical viewing. I simply turned on the OPPO and watched the OPPO screen while running thru the service mode settings.

I did play around with the IRIS open/close reg settings. You know how if you set the IRIS ADJ from 0-1, and then go to adjust either the close/open reg settings, the iris opens or closes? I found if I adjusted close/open to 0/190, the projected OPPO screen did not change value when switching the IRIS ADJ to 1 and making changes to close/open values. So I plan to put up a 10 & 100 IRE patterns and experiment with changing the CLOSE value from 41, as well as the OPEN value from 222. I had 40/205 as my close/open values on the 51.

I got the 51A in (1) day from NYC. Not bad for UPS Ground.

I'm still waiting on the Cliff probe swap before I can dive into calibrating. I also have a huge video project due Thursday night, so when I'm done here I will be diving back into editing. It's gonna be a couple of long days/nights.

Eric... it seems like the pixel structure is a little smoother on the 51A. I'm not sure why it's different, but I can get a little closer to the screen before I see SDE. Hmmmmm....

Since the HS-60/51A appears to run out of RED 1st, a red filter might be helpful.

I have a Hoya FL DAY filter I could try and measure if I can get any additional contrast by being able to run green/blue a little higher.

I believe the manual is only available from Sony in a printed form through the Sony parts department.

Please note I am still using the HS-51 service manual. I have not checked on a new manual for the 51A/60 yet.

I think I found something related to the bright corners issue, which the 51A/60 apparently shares with the Ruby..

Under the OTHER menu, it involves the IRIS CLOSE REG = ? control near the end of the menu range.

On the HS-51A, as I move the setting lower than 222 , I begin to see bright corners on dark black fields. Increasing the the value to just 225 cause the iris to close down just enough to eliminate the bright corners.

I still see the bright corners when going from a bright scene to a total black out, as the IRIS slowly closes down. I haven't seen an adjustment for controling the speed of the IRIS when closing down. Even setting the IRIS CLOSE REG at a maximum value doesn't affect the speed of the iris.

I also see that turning the IRIS to ON, ends up not being as dark as when in AUTO mode, and the IRIS ON mode will also produce bright corners on a black field. Does anyone know of a control for the IRIS condition when in the ON mode, as it does not seem to be fully closed?

I finally got around to some calibrating last night. I'll call it the mother load of calibrations as I calibrated for 9300K, 7500K, 6500K, at master contrast values of 70, 80 & 90.

I also calibrated for 9300K with IRIS OFF in both the HIGH & LOW lamp modes. I like to use these settings for watching sports with friends.

I have confirmed factory GAMMA 2 provides near perfect gamma 2.2 tracking, with the least amount of bump (2.8 at 40) on the bottom. I hope to try some custom GAMMA tweaks using the Sony Image Director software. Maybe I'll be able to achieve a flatter top to bottom gamma response.

Using a 100 value white screen, I found the clipping point for RED at each contrast setting. I then calibrated using only using GREEN and BLUE to achieve the color temps.

Post calibration, a contrast = 90 provided the most uniform grayscale tracking, with 80 the next best and 70 the worst. Oddly enough, contrast = 70 was marginally brighter (54 vs 52 FLs) at 100. But I'll take the flatter gray scale response over a touch more contrast at this point. I suspect this is due to the way gamma for red, blue and green track differently at different contrast settings and how red runs out on the high end differently at 70 vs 90 contrast.

One thing I tried different while calibrating the 51A versus the 51, I set the AUTO IRIS CLOSE/OPEN values at 0/255. This allowed for the gray scale patterns to be least affected by the IRIS state. Note, this is not the same as IRIS OFF, which does require a little different RGB tuning. I ran out of night, and with the sun coming up I'll have to wait to check out how the grayscale tracks when I return my IRIS CLOSE/OPEN values to normal.

I confirmed there is slight shift to RED when switching from LOW lamp to HIGH lamp. It's not much and maybe even something you would not notice as it only took a couple of (-) clicks of blue & green to compensate.

One thing I might try in the next session, is finding where GREEN clips and calibrating RED and BLUE to spec. This approach will likely let RED begin to run out at 90 and above, which makes for a little more blue at 90 & 100, but it also allows for a bit more contrast.

I think I will try to use the spreadsheet approach to posting my settings and I'll put it up when I finish up the next round.

I'm wondering if I could run an even higher contrast of 95 or 100, and still be able to achieve proper calibration and maybe see even better grayscale tracking. hmmmmm....

Hi Kris...

I hope you had a good boat ride.

OK...

Once you make your way into the service menu, pull up the main menu and look for W/B at the bottom. Inside you will see High, Mid, Low, Custom 1, Custom 2 & Custom 3. I suggest changing one of the Custom menus until you're sure you like the new settings. Note at the bottom the SAVE SETTINGS option. You will want to use that when you're done. Also note, you may have to go back to the USER menu to reset to the color temp you have elected to change. You should also note factory settings for Custom 1, 2 & 3 are equal to high, mid & low respectively.

When you click on Custom 1, the 1st of two available screens will come up. This 1st screen is for RGB GAIN settings and the 2nd screen comes up as you work down past Blue Gain. The 2nd screen is RGB Bias.

The 1st group of calibrations are for:

contrast = 80
brightness = 45
color = 50
hue = 50
Gamma 2
IRIS Auto
Low Lamp

.........6500K.......7500K.....9300K
RG......132...........132..........132
GG........28............32.............33
BG.........27...........39.............54
RB.......121.........121............117
GB.......130.........129............127
BB........136.........136...........134

The following are for Contrast = 95, the other main controls are the same.

.........6500K.......7500K.....9300K
RG......104...........105...........105
GG.......12..............16............17
BG.......14..............27............40
RB......103...........105..........104
GB......117...........122..........121
BB......123...........125..........124

Give these babies a whirl and post your thoughts.

If you want to tweak for the red push, try adjusting BB (+) 1 or 2 clicks. I would then adjust BG (-) 1 click for every (+) 2 BB clicks. If you need 3 clicks of BB, also give GB (+) 1 click as this will bring the color geometry back to the center.

If you get a minute, give the 7500 contrast = 95 calibration a whirl. I'd love to know if you see a difference. If you have Sin City, it might be a good candidate because of the dramatic B&W scene dynamics.

I am interested in your DIY masking system.

I have done some minor checking between 70, 80 & 95 contrast calibrations.

95 seems to provide a more uniform grayscale of white titles fading on a full black background. Contrast 80, and 70 even more so, has the titles shifting slightly red just before the fade to black.

I watched Zathura and Stewart Little 3 with the kids, and I also liked 95 the best. I was looking for and didn't see any negative artifacts using 95, such as any clipping of white highlights.

I'm like you Wyattsdad, I prefer 7500K over 6500K, and on occassion I don't mind 9300K. Zathura was a little better at 9300K because of the over saturation of red & orange in the film. Then when the space fileds scenes come on with the dark blue nebula mist, it feels very 3 dimensional.

I have a couple more films to check, but I'm leaning toward sticking with the 95 contrast calibrations.

I will also try recalibrating with the HOYA FL-Day filter, which should be perfect for the inherent color biasing of the 51A lamp. I'll post those numbers down the road.