Official Sony XBR4/XBR5 calibration thread - Page 183

_{If you entered the code correctly..(I think it's "display, 5, volume down, power"... Or something like that...it's in the owner's thread)...the 3 numbers listed at the bottom represent cycles of usage on the set. The middle number is your actual hours of use. I don't recall any headings on these though, so I'm not sure what you are seeing.}

_{Sounds like you may have hit volume up instead of volume down. The display/5/volume+/power sequence accesses the service menu. Display/5/volume-/power accesses the diagnostics page.}

Thank you Schlick. That was it! Again, just wanna say thanks to everyone on this thread thus far. It's been invaluable to get the most out of my TV.

I am SO glad to hear people are still getting genuine enjoyment out of these displays. Mine looks even better after we got a new Pioneer ELITE VSX-33 receiver. The Marvell Qdeo Video processing actually ups Blu-ray's 24-bit color (8bit x 8bit x 8bit) to 36-bit color (12bit x 12bit x 12bit) which in turn takes full advantage of the KDL-40XBR4's 10-bit Display. I am telling you, I notice the difference and I no longer get bothered by the occasional 8-bit "banding" in some Blus.

I have never been happier with ours!!!

Ok, how do I turn on deep color on my 40xbr4? Do I set the option to x.v. color on? Or do I change color space to wide instead of standard? I'm asking because my ps3 got a firmware update that enables it to have deep color.

Saw this in the news https://sonycisc.updatemytv.com/

I have them coming out on Tuesday. I am interested if this is a jimmy-rig fix or just a "its fine" stop by. Who knows.

I think it's a "we don't want to recall millions of TVs if we don't have to" check. My guess is that if they find a problem, it will need to be replaced, if not they won't do anything.

" a particular component incorporated in certain models of 40" BRAVIA LCD HDTV [Model Nos. KDL-40V3000, KDL-40VL130, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40WL135, KDL-40XBR4, and KDL-40XBR5] was damaged and as a result, may overheat and at times ignite inside of the television. This could possibly result in a hole at a part of the cabinet ceiling"

Wow. OK, so not the flashlighting effect or anything else I've heard about.

Hey guys,

This thread has been a great help over the last 4 years for hd calibrations. Does anyone have any calibration recommendations for an sd composite gamecube hook up?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

A very satisfied 52 xbr4 user here, over 4 years now.

Proud owner of a 52XBR4 since its release.

I still get compliments when ppl come over on how great it looks. I like to think its also due to my calibration skills

Curious for those who, like me, have had no display issues over the years....I'm coming up on 5 years of ownership and HEAVY use. I haven't checked the usage hours in some time, but this set has seen 4-10 hours per day of activity for 5 full years. I assumed that, by this point, I would have noticed some loss of brightness/clarify in the picture and would need to increase the BL to offset. This has not, at least to my perception, been the case. I run 3 display settings for "very dark/normal evening viewing/daylight and sports" (min/2/6 or 7 respectively). If I switch the display to VIVID, which I have never touched, it is way too bright and harsh. As a result, even after all this time, I still have not felt the need to increase the BL. I'm aware that it could be that I'm simply used to the display and not noticing any loss of brightness, but again, in VIVID mode, it's still really bright. I really don't think it's lost anything.

Has anyone else felt the need to increase the Backlight or noticed a loss of backlight brightness? Am I incorrect in assuming the LCD would eventually lose some of it's "pop"?

Again...just curious as I was fully expecting to be running the BL on Max by now.

Thoughts?

mine is still going strong with moderate use..... just the flashlights in the upper corners that have always been there....

Ive pretty much had mine since it came out and it gets gotten a lot of use over the years. Just recently i have noticed the picture hasnt really looked as good as it used to. Black levels seem to have dulled as well as the picture quality. The image does not seem as clear as once was. Ive also had issues with my HDMIs not reading very well and having to jiggle the cables a bit before i get a picture.

So I'm buying an XBR4 52" for $300 from a business that is going under... is that a solid deal for this TV? I've been doing some research and it seems like a great deal, but there is no pedestal for it and I'd have to mount this thing on the wall (not ideal) is there a place to buy a pedestal separately? call sony? any ideas? TIA!

NOT a good deal. Wait for it to go down to $200.

Just kidding. Go for it. Great set for $300.

Ok thanks

I probably could talk em down to $200 but I don't want the owner to decide to keep it!

Yeah, seeing that if you bought one when it came out at $3000+ i think $300 5 years later is a great deal.

well turns out its an XBR2, but whatever, i'm happy with it, sucks i have to pay 200 buck to buy a pedestal though

I've had my 53XBR5 for 5 years now. Ever since it came out and I paid full retail for it. It is still kicking and going strong after MANY hours of usage. I need to go into the service menu to confirm the actual number, but there have many plenty of days when the TV has been on for 24+ hours straight.

Anyway, last weekend I bought a 60" LG Plasma (60PA5500) and although it's only been ~100 hours, I still like my Sony's picture better. I'm debating whether to return the LG and just keep my Sony in place. OR go ahead and try a 70" Sharp or 65" Samsung LED set. This is my first plasma, so it still needs some break in and tweaking. But I think if I wait to long and can't return it for a refund, I may regret it. I'll make my decision by this weekend.

Thoughts?

My 40" XBR4 is still working, though one time a few weeks ago when I turned it on the entire right half of the screen was all messes up as if I was looking at it through a dirty window.  I turned the TV off and on and everything was good.  I haven't seen that since.

53? I remember a 52" one...

Working with them I've never been fond of LG's flat panels, be it plasma or LCD. I would recommend returning it and going for the Samsung (keep in mind it's "LED-backlit LCD", not just LED).
Edited by PeterTHX - 12/4/12 at 8:44am

My other current TV is a 2007 model LG 42" LCD 1080p TV (42LB5D) and it has a very nice picture for what I paid for it at the time, here's to hoping this one tops it by a mile

Quick question, can i use these XBR4/5 settings on the XBR2? Are the menu's and pictures pretty much the same?

Ours is still fine too. One thing I am doing that is giving better image quality from our PS3 is turning Deep Color to OFF on the PS3. Our Pioneer ELITE VSX-33 does the Deep Color upconversion better!

I bought the 40" XBR4 in early '08... It's still going strong with very heavy use. I'm still very happy with it!

I've read about inexperienced people getting into their service menus and locking out or severely messing up their TV's. How complicated or deep is the service menu in these sets? I'd be curious to "look" around in there but not if its easy to get lost or mess something up.

Is the service menu relatively straightforward to access and exit? I just press display, 5, volume+, power buttons in sequence and that's it?

Yes, that's it, but it's not intuitive at all, using somewhat cryptic abbreviations for calling out the function parameter. Although I've dug around and asked a few places, I was unable to find a breakout of the parameters by the abbreviation. Also, once you're in, the numeric keys come into play, to scroll through s/m items and change the values. I don't remember the exact action each key does, but can find it fairly easily if you'd like. If you do accidentally make changes, turn the set off, then back on without re-entering the service menu, and the original values will be restored. Good luck.

It took me several tries but I finally managed to bring up the service menu... for whatever reason the TV would just turn on and be on the same channel it was on before. After the six or seventh try (using the sequence) the TV came on again and I figured I wasn't doing it right, but then I pushed a button on the remote and the little box with green characters suddenly appeared. Ok then.

I used the following advice below posted long ago in the calibration thread but aside from cycling through half a dozen pages I couldn't make any sense of what I was looking at :S I could see it saying I was in "Custom mode" - which the TV was - but trying to alter any values didn't seem to do anything. Its weird.

"So here's the code sequence to enter the service menu - (TV in standby mode): "DISPLAY" "5" "VOLUME+" "POWER".

To navigate the service menu use the 1 and 4 keys, 2 and 5 are up-down for stepping thru the groups, to change the values use the 3 and 6 keys.

To save a value setting press "MUTE" then "ENTER". The words "WRITE" in red will show up in the upper right corner if saved. To exit the service menu just simply turn your tv off."