The Official Sony VPL-VW50 (Pearl) Calibration/Tweak Thread - Page 17

Wow that PDF looks GREAT for OOTB!

I recently had my Pearl serviced and all of the user controls were set back to defaults and have been watching it for a week that way (no time to do any adjustments yet, other than confirm the black level is right) and my OOTB settings look better than I recall OOTB looking. Wonder if Sony service center is paying more attention to details?

So you left them at factory settings?
Which mode are you in?


Scott

Unfortunately I have a fixed screen, so I can't adjust it. Overscan is definitely off.

Lamp = High
Gamma = Off
Black Enhancment = Off
Iris = Auto 1
Color Temp = LOW
Color Mode = NORMAL

Can one harm Pearl's hardware by entering the service menu and changing some settings?
Maybe it is my imagination but after changing 'iris #1' (1 of 7 steps) from 0 to 1, the picture brightened immensely but have made the picture much worse and darker after a while.

Was watching 'Knight's Tale' blue-ray with some ambient light b4 and was impressed with bright and accurate video, but after fiddling with the service menu at night, everything was way too dark even with no ambient light. I must have destroyed this hardware... ' ' ;

I don't think it is possible. Most likely you just inadvertently adjusted some other brightness related parameter too. You may want to check how bright your hardware could be: turn off iris, go to service menu B/W ballance and set R/G/B gain to 255 . Don't forget to write down initial gain values

I'm in a quandry about setting Brightness level on my Pearl. My first time viewing of this projector I had it projecting on a wall as I don't have my screen set up ( HT room is not finished ). I was using the THX Optimizer from the SW Episode III DVD. Instructions are to adjust until drop shadow just disappears.
However, when looking at the 10 shades of black on same screen, only the 7th one is visible - 8 through 10 completely disappear. This is with Auto Iris 1, no black level enhancement, low color temp, cinema picture mode. ( I'm using a HDA2 via HDMI, 0 IRE setup ) If I raise brightness to 63, then a few more black squares appear ( recalling from memory of a few nights ago ) and technically I have much better shadow detail. But when viewing the movie I notice the image is getting washed out and not very contrasty. Switching back to another picture mode with Brightness at default or 53 shows are much more punchier, somehow more detailed and appealing picture without loosing too much detail in the dark scenes. Night scenes of Couruscant city look much better at 53 than at 63. And switching off DI did not seem to brighten up shadowy areas in dark scenes.

Where should I settle on Brightness ? Obviously, better to work on it when I have the screen up ( DaLite Pearlescent 1.5 gain 115" 2.35:1 ) Seems like most of the respected posters here recommend keeping Brightness and Contrast at their defaults.

Thanks,
Bill

I just brought the pearl all is good but green seems very high in output Is there anything I can do?

Performance
In terms of picture quality there is no doubt that resolution is seductive, and the Pearl does deliver every pixel of a 1080i/p HD source. It also has solid contrast ratio, which is arguably the most important performance parameter in a display. Where the Sony falls short is color accuracy; the primary and secondary colors are way off the mark.

In the service menu I figured out how to do color temp and grey scale tracking.
And I think I understand the thousands of gamma settings. I even found how to turn on and off the internal grey levels. But I have not a clue how to adjust anything else like:

a/d
iris
engine

Engine has a setting that turns gey scale half black and rest all red! Just curious what it's for.

And a/d I seems to be at some standard defaults and may never need touching.

But seems like auto iris calibration should be attempted but many of the controls make little sense to me. It looks like there's settings for iris mid settings, iris open pts and close pts with some need to set a hysteresis for going up or down in levels.

Then there's a mystery setting for other/synchronous?

But no info in service manual on what IRE levels these should be set to.

I did measure in manual that the iris controls just about an f stop so that would effect where the iris should start closing so it won't compress.

But that's as far as I've gotton.

And one other question I have is the regular user setting for normal or low power standby? What's it do? If normal powers up the lamp faster it is a very negligible change. No idea why I should use the normal setting for anything?

For the moment I am just happy to be rid of the red lower half of the grey bars that it was delivered with.

My screen seems pretty uniform as is, even though all gammas are just set -1.

It is quite common, when you raise brightness, you need to reduce picture (contrast). The settings do affect each other and you may need to go back and forth a few times to get it perfect.

For those of us who haven't been paying attention (ie, me) are these obvious in the service menu? I thought you could do this adjustment from the user accessible settings?

Yes, but I wanted them saved. Besides there's all that fun stuff to play with in the service menu.
I really want my user controls to be reset to what I want not what Sony puts in. After looking in the service menu it doesn't look like Sony adjusts much of it for anything beyond one standard value for all projectors.

I am currently using a Harmony 890 with a Pearl and it does have discrete codes for most of the inputs, although some of the buttons are labeled incorrectly in the default state, e.g. the S-Video 2 button selects HDMI 1. You can directly select, video (composite), S-video, component and HDMI1. I didn't find a HDMI 2 button, but since I am not using that input, I didn't try very hard to find it.

Steve Smallcombe

If you go into the Function menu and change Auto Input Search to ON then the projector will only cycle through active inputs, and if you've only got two active ones it will toggle between them.

Ken

I found discrete codes (for the inputs) using an MX700 and some Sony codes from one of their other projectors. It might be the Ruby codes.. don't remember at the moment but for HDMI-1 input it is labeled "DVI"

Still no luck finding aspect discrete codes though.

Hey Steve, glad to see you got a Pearl! I recall you talking about wanting one, last fall. I've got an old copy of your software and the light meter I bought with it for my previous projector, a Z2. Have you don't new XLS files that adapt your software for calibrating a pearl?

Nathan,

I just e-mailed you the latest spreadsheet with some comments about how you might proceed with the Pearl.

Steve

Thanks!

I just bought a used Pearl and I'm wondering if there is anyway to reset the settings in the Service Menu. I just want to make sure since I don't know if the previous owner did anything in the Service Menu.

Does the Pearls Lamp/Cover warning light come on based on the number of hours on the lamp or is there a sensor in there that detects if the lamp is getting dim?

no and no

In a bat cave, auto1 has a noticeably lower black level, and does not appear to be less "punchy" than auto2.

I am also running my Pearl in a bat-cave, screen gain 1.3, near max throw, high bulb, about 800 hours.

Maybe it's just my particular set-up or pj, but I do not use Auto1 because the picture is too dim in dark scenes. Auto2 is brighter and punchier.

I finally stopped using the AutoIris altogether, since I prefer manual iris (set at 60). Manual iris gets rid of the brightness compression and the dynamic gamma (neither of which I've ever cared for), while maintaining blacks similar to those in Auto2. This is just a personal preference of mine.

I too prefer Auto 2 over Auto 1: Auto 1 does get a bit darker, in dark scenes, which I like BUT in a mixed scene (light and dark) the light areas don't have as much punch in Auto 1. Auto 2 is the best compromise in my space.

Quick demo: When watching a credits roll (black background, white text), it is easy to see how Auto 1 and Auto 2 differ: In Auto 1, the black background is a touch darker, but the letters aren't as crispy white. In Auto 2, the black background is a touch lighter, but the white letters really pop.

Or at least that is how my setup looks. Note that I'm NOT running it in a bat cave right now: There is no light entering the room, but the ceiling is white (ugh, it's temporary).

I am going to purchase the Sony Pearl. I am aware of the convergence and color uniform issues, but recently, there are reports on the bulb premature failure (500-900 hrs). It seems that the cause is the heat. I wonder if it is due to extended play (ex. video games, news, hockey etc that last more than 2 hrs) ?

If I use it mainly for movies (2hrs max), should I expect a normal rate of failure (2000 hrs) ? Will an extra fan next to the pearl help ?

Pearl's owners, please help me make the decision by replying with your light bulb experience. Thanks a million.

I sent my unit to the assistance centre this week to replace the lamp/bulb, broken just after 150 hrs. no "intensive" usage ar all

First lamp failure at ~500 hrs. Now have ~200 hrs on second lamp.

95% of usage was movie-length or less. Occasional 3-4 hour sporting event. Virtually no video-game usage. Rarely more then 1 strike a day. Occasionally two. High lamp and normal fan setting. Only rarely would it kick in to high fan mode.

On lamp #2, I've gone to low lamp setting, again with normal fan setting. We'll see how it fares.

I replaced my lamp (the first one) at about 950 hours after it suddenly got really dim. I had run it at a high setting with a normal fan setting. I typically turned on the projector twice a day for about 2 hours each time and did not use it for video games.

I was under the impression that how often the lamp is struck, is more of a factor in wear than how long it is on for.
For example, it would be more stressful to strike it twice a day and run it for 2 hours each time, than it would to strike it once and let it run for 6 hours straight.

But If the Pearl has a problem with airflow and cooling (due to its design) than you would likely be screwed either way.

I guess I will have to lower my expectation for the Pearl light bulb. I would be very happy with 1000 hrs. I will order the Pearl next week. Thanks every one for the information.

Based on what has been reported here at AVS about other projectors, and my own experience, you are correct.

The other thing to think about: It is FAR LESS stressful to only turn the lamp on after it has been 100% cooled down (can take a couple of hours), and it is FAR LESS stressful to only turn the lamp OFF after it has been at operating temperature for a while. (IE: If you are going to want to watch again in an hour or two, just the projector on, don't turn it off and then back on. And if accidentally turn on the projector, don't turn it off right away: Let it heat up completely [1/2 hour, for example] before turning it off.)