>>Sony KDS-XXA3000<< Settings/Tweaks thread - OWNERS ONLY! - Page 2

I'm running this setup until my Avia disc arrives it is a dramatic improvement from where I was at.

Here's my rundown of what I think the settings do.

Keep in mind that I'm using Power Saving = On which likely affects the Iris, Brightness/black level, and "Black Corrector" settings.

Advanced Iris - attempts to correct the overall brightness level according to the source. ?
- Auto2, seems to provide good contrast in a variety of lighting conditions.
- Auto1 a little brighter and more contrast-y than Auto2. Too much black crush in medium-daylight in my room.
- Medium and Low are good in dark conditions, very nice contrast without crushing blacks, but only in dark to very-dark rooms are you going to see all the shadow detail. Again, I have Power Saving = On, if you have that off your results may vary with the Advanced Iris settings.

Color Temperature - standard color temperature control, only who knows what settings correlate to what? I think it's safe to assume either one of the "Warm" settings is NTSC/ATSC standard (6500 K), but which one? I don't know, but I'm using
- Warm2

Sharpness - your basic edge enhancement, I think anywhere from Min to 20 is probably okay, otherwise you're just enhancing the noise/grain. It will depend on your viewing distance (and your eyes) but I'm using
- 10

Noise Reduction - some kind of smoothing? I think it's better left
- Off

MPEG Noise Reduction - tries to cure MPEG "macroblocking"? Don't know. I'm using full-bandwidth cable and Blu-ray as my main sources, so macroblocking isn't an overwhelming concern. I leave it
- Off

Advanced settings

Black Corrector - looks like it tries to darken the black level back to true-black, but at the cost of shadow detail, in my lighting anyway. No thanks, this is turned
- Off

Gamma - leaving it
- Off
for now, but might play with it some more, this has potential. Gamma can improve contrast and bring out shadow detail, without killing the absolute black level. In other words the picture will be "brighter" and yet blacks won't be gray.... will have to play with this some more.

Clear White - looks like it changes the color temperature of bright whites from "warm" back to "cool".... Yeah, why do I want this? I do not, so it will remain
- Off

Color Space - I don't know exactly what this does but it seems like colors are much better set on
- Wide

Live Color - amps the color? I think there's plenty of color... Also leave this
- Off

White Balance - you need good test equipment to calibrate this properly I think, I leave it all at 0 for now.

Detail Enhancer - some kind of sharpness filter? It seems very mild on
- Low
and brings out a little needed detail, with my 50" screen at 10 feet. I think if you have the larger model and/or sit closer than me, you may see too much grain with this, in which case turn it Off.

Edge Enhancer - more sharpness? No thanks.
-Off

Video Options
Motion Enhancer - Obviously this is the "120 hertz so good" feature on these sets I think most of the time you want it on
- Standard, seems to enhance the motion very nicely, with very few weird edge-artifacts that you sometimes see with High.
- High, can make the picture look amazingly "real" - though almost too real at times for my taste, and gives you more of those weird edge-motion artifacts.

Motion Naturalizer - inserts black frames? Seems to darken the picture, and sometimes causes unpleasant flicker, at least to my eyes. I leave it
- Off for all sources.

CineMotion - should only be useful for 480i sources and even then only when watching a "movie" - i.e. film source. Since I am usually only watching live sports (60hz material) in SD/480i, and since some people have reported weird effects with ESPN/etc sports-tickers, I leave it
- Off for all sources.

General Settings
Power Saving - lowers the bulb output. Saves power, extends the bulb life (they are $160) and enhances black level? Unless you have your A3000 in a very bright room, and/or have one of the larger 55", 60" models, this is a no-brainer, set it to
- On

Those settings were done using Avia, so hopefully you get close to the same thing. I think two of the three settings listed so far are very similar.


I believe someone in the owners thread with a colorimeter found that Warm 2 was closest to 6500, but you may want to verify that for yourself.


1 - SSE stands for Silk Screen Effect, which is a result of the screen that the image is projected onto for rear projection tv's. It is not all that bad on the A3000, but you can notice if you look at a mainly white image. It looks like a light shining through a piece of silk, with a very "sparkly" look.

2 - I have found that the most common cause for bad looking DVD's (when you have good equipment) is poor settings for your TV. I would suggest setting your TV according to the settings shown in this thread and seeing if that helps. If it does, I would highly recommend buying a copy of Avia. It is well worth the money and you would not believe how much better a decently calibrated set looks. I have found that most "Vivid" modes actually introduce a lot of noise (or at least make it more pronounced) in addition to producing a very unrealistic picture. Theater mode is probably helping you in this case because it tends to tame down some of the unrealistic settings on the Vivid and Standard picture modes.

As for upscaling, you generally want which ever device is more capable to upscale. You will have to look at both to tell which is better. Your DVD player should have a setting somewhere in the menus that allow you to set its output. Put the DVD player setting on the highest resolution it will upscale to (probably 1080i) and see how it looks. Then take the same DVD and set the DVD player to 480i output. The TV will automagically scale the 480i up to 1080p and you can see which does the scaling better.

As for the DVD's, it sounds like you are watching DVD's with different formats (as you stated 300 is fullscreen). Fullscreen DVD's are going to look like SD material in terms of aspect ratio. There is also more than one aspect ratio for "Widescreen" DVD's, which is why you see horizontal black bars. Some Widescreen formats fit a 16:9 screen perfectly, where some are wider and require horizontal black bars to display correctly.

Can anyone give me the scoped temperature of the Neutral, Warm1 and Warm2 settings? Warm2 seems a little red to me - but then, I always thought the 6500K standard was overly red to begin with. I like 6800-7000K better, which makes it more natural and not quite so warm or cool.

-Robert

Nevermind. Blah. What I meant to say came out wrong.

Obviously, a higher color temperature = more blue.

However, when adjusting color temperature (white balance) on photographs, increasing the color temperature makes the picture more red. I thought the original question referred to the effect that occurs to a photograph when its color temperature (white balance) is increased, and not what a higher color temperature actually is. Of course I assumed that adjusting white balance on TV's is the same thing and I guess it's not. I totally misunderstood because I am incompetent or something. I am sorry. I'll just stop talking now.....

Nope! Higher (hotter) temperatures are more blue (think blow torch ). If you go down in temp from 6500K, the picture will look more red.

No point in this post...

So I tried out some of the settings suggested in previous and on my 480i SD content (DirectTIVO R10 over S-Video), I find that a setting of 30 for sharpness is just too fuzzy. I am sitting about 9 feet away from the 60".

When the BB tech was here fixing my spec issue, he suggested turning the sharpness up. I haven't yet went through any calibration discs myself yet. What is the reasoning behind lowering the sharpness, does lowering it relate more to HD content?

Ummm...wrong.

Go back to the XBR5 thread, troll. Owner's only.

Thanks for the settings guys. I'm curious about what everyone thinks of the Motion Naturalizer? Is there a purpose for this because on BD and HD DVD it causes judder and on SD, I don't see an improvement? CineMotion is for 3:2 pulldown processing, but I also don't see anything to use it for except maybe movies on the satellite. Am I supposed to see an improvement with it though because it must be subtle. I like the Motion Enhancer, but only on standard because on high, everything looks unreal to me or overprocessed. I shut off Motion Enhancer on satellite TV because every now and then it causes the camera pans on TV shows to do a slow motion type movement. Any opinions or suggestions? I've been switching these enhancements on and off for the last 3 weeks and just curious if anybody is using them at all and if I'm using them correctly. My last HDTV only had DRC and pictures tweaks so this is a different way of setting up the TV now. If I get my TV calibrated, I suppose the guy will say shut it all off in the end. One last thing, has anybody found out if all the Motion Flow controls are off, is the TV is at 24hz? Therefore when they are on, is the TV at 120hz? Any help or improvements would be appreciated. Thanks

From what I have read and found in my own experience, Sharpness was brought about in the days of analog cable and was used to artificially sharpen the soft image that was typical in those days. I have found that SD content can still be soft, especially on analog channels, so there is still some merit to the Sharpness control, but you don't want to over do it. Going too far with it will introduce edges that are very artificial looking. Sharpness is less of an issue with HD because the picture is already much more sharp than SD thanks to the increased resolution and the fact that the channels are digital. I think the suggestions here of keeping it 20 or under are good. I would suggest somewhere between 10 and 20 as a good balance for all types of programming. If you have Avia or another calibration disc, there should be a test pattern where you can clearly see the effects of too much or too little Sharpness.


I too have been back and forth with the Motion Enhancer/Naturalizer and I can't really tell any difference. I have, however, seen it create some problems such as stuttering frames. To put it to the test do what I do; have someone else turn it on and off without telling you when it is on and when it is off(I do this with any setting I'm not sure about). If you can accurately distinguish between on and off several times with different material then pick the best one (on or off) and go with it. Otherwise just leave it to off. I think a lot of people are making themselves see something that isnt really there, or actually do see an improvement but only in very specific cases. Of course, this is all my opinion and it may be the best thing since sliced bread.

As for 24 Hz vs. 120Hz, I don't think the set is capable of changing its refresh rate and it is always 120Hz, regardless of any setting. However, since 120 is a multiple of 24, it CAN take 24 fps film material and display it without doing any kind of pulldown, which should result in a more natural movement. I can verify from watching Blu-Ray on my PS3 and the 1080p/24p is exceptional. It is by far the most fluid, best looking picture I have ever seen on any television. Of course, you must have a source that can supply a 1080p/24p signal.

The sharpness debate/issue:

I tried both ways turning it up all the way and down all the way and every way in between. Here is what I have found while looking at an HD image I have paused. The areas that have always caused issues with HD content i.e. a tie with a certain pattern or grass or grids with lines in them are less of an issue with the sharpness turned up over 50. If you turn that sharpness below 50 or all the way down, the pattern issue I mentioned becomes even worse. So while we may have lessened the artifacting issue it makes the pattern issue worse. I have my sharpness at 40 now.

Without writing a dissertation on it, Sharpness is artificial edge enhancment. You really want as little of this as possible, as it can actually -destroy- fine detail. There are test screens on Avia/THX DVDs/etc that can help adjust Sharpness, but ultimately you want to experiment with it using a variety of program material and find something that looks "sharp" to your eyes, yet doesn't introduce too much noise or grain.

What is everyone's opinion regarding the upconversion via the Sony vs AVR of choice?

I just got my new Pio 94 setup and I'm just now sure if I should let it upconvert my signal from my DTV receiver or let the TV do it.

To get into the Service menu ( Per garycase2001 )

The A3000 MAY be different than the A2020 ... but Sony rarely changes the Service

Menu entry codes ==> so I'd try the A2000/A2020 sequence:

[Power Off] - [Display] - [5] - [Volume Up] - [Power On]

These have to be pressed within one second of each other or the sequence won't work.


... if that gets you into the Service Menu okay, then this is what you would do on an A2020 to get to the lamp hours (the A3000 may be a bit different ... but this may give you the right idea => I suspect it's still labeled "LMP_TMP", although it may no longer be item #21):

Go into the PANEL section of the Service Menu (Press Jump until PANEL displays)

Item 21 TIMER / 0 LMP_TMP will tell you the # hours on your bulb

(index thru menus by pressing 2)

Here are my current settings, which I use for SD. Other than basic picture settings, all of the special image processing stuff seems to do little of anything for HD.

Advanced Iris - Auto2
Picture - 85
Brightness - 47
Color - 63
Hue - R1
Color Temerature - Warm1 ( I find this to be the most natural)
Sharpness - 37

Noise Reduction - Low
MPEG Noise Reduction - OFF
This setting takes away MPEG noise by smoothing over the image. It looks pretty damn blurry when I apply this to Standard def tv. Leave it off, or you may think something is wrong with your set


Advance settings:

Black Corrector - Low
Gamma - Off
Clear White - Off
Color Space - Normal
Live Color - Low


Detail Enhancer - Low
Edge Enhancer - Low

Video Options:
Motion Enhancer - Standard
Motion Naturalizer - Off
(All other options factory default)

Note - I also posted this in the regular A3000 owners' thread, but thought it might be valuable for someone here as well...

Cinemotion was the culprit!

I bought my 60" A3000 a couple of weeks ago and I bought the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player a few days after that. Since setting it up, I have been plagued with some nasty judder (frame stutter) during pans on movies. For some reason, I had it in my head that Motion Enhancer and Motion Naturalizer were the only settings to compensate for this.

I threw in the Goodfellas HD-DVD last night, determined to fix or improve this problem. I finally realized that Cinemotion was enabled for my HDMI-1 input. Disabling this instantly corrected most of the judder I was seeing! I then went back and applied Motion Enhancer at the max setting. Talk about a dramatic improvement! Next, I am going to bump the Motion Enhancer back down to standard to see if that makes it even better. A lot of guys have mentioned that Motion Enhancer at maximum looks a little "artificial". I will have to see which setting is better.

Anyway, in case you are interested, the HD-DVD add-on looks fantastic. If you have a 360, the price point is awesome. The add-on does present an inconvenience though - you will have to switch between Game Mode (or your preferred game settings) and your Cinema preference. This isn't a big deal, but it would be nice to have a dedicated set of tweaks for each input and not have to change back and forth. I guess the same issue (game vs. movie) applies to the PS3.

I find it odd that Cinemotion would cause these issues for the 360 add-on, but I guess the 3:2 pulldown from this setting somehow intereferes with the output of the 360... Any ideas on this issue?

Anyway, this has been bugging me for a while, so if you are seeing a large amount of motion judder for any of your sources, try disabling Cinemotion.

I've had my KDS-60A3000 for close to 2 weeks now. I have tried the settings posted by N3W813, hwjohn, Hughmc & walk - thanks guys! Thanks also walk for your rundown on what you think the various settings do.

I use an IR controlled Lutron dimmer and my Harmony remote in my theater room to set different lighting levels for my viewing activities. I came up with different settings for my various viewing activities (Blu-ray, DVD, TV & Gaming). Here are my settings for watching Blu-ray movies on my PS3:

GENERAL INFORMATION
Viewing Distance: 8'
TV Base Height: 14"
Lighting Conditions: Dark to very dark (Lights off, 1 window with light blocking blinds)
Source: PS3 via HDMI
Calibration Tool: Sound and Vision DVD
Power Savings: On

PICTURE SETTINGS
Picture Mode: Custom
Advanced Iris: Auto2
Picture: 85
Brightness: 47
Color 53
Hue: 0
Color Temp.: Warm2
Sharpness: 30
Noise Reduction: None

ADVANCED SETTINGS
Black Corrector: Off
Gamma: Off
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Wide
Live Color: Off
White Balance: all at 0
Detail Enhancer: Off
Edge Enhancer: Off

VIDEO OPTIONS
Motion Enhancer: Standard
Motion Naturalizer: Off
Cinemotion: Off
Game/Text Mode: Off
All the rest are set at Defaults

I need to play around with the Advanced Iris a bit more to determine if Medium or Low is better in my low lighting conditions. Motion Enhancer is amazing - I sometimes set it to High, but have noticed some strange effects around moving objects.

My settings are similar, running DVE, but I don't have nearly the contrast/picture I am seeing most run here. Most of my inputs are down around 50 +/- some for tweaking. Brightness is about the same, again depending on input it may be about 50 or slightly lower. I've had good success with DVE finding an exact brightness setting for most inputs. Standard color/hue is pretty good on this set, although some of my older DVD devices (such as the PS2) don't resolve color as well as others and so small compromises have had to be made on green/blue. Overall, it is very good, however.

As to game mode, I ran a lot of tests with it on and off with the XBOX 360, using VGA input, and with so little processing on that input, I can't tell one way or another. Therefore, I simply leave it off and calibrate as such. I do use it, however, on 480i sources, such as the PS2 or Gamecube, but even there it's hard to tell much difference UNLESS it is on Guitar Hero 1 and then only on relatively quick sequences. With Game mode on, however, I have no problem at all on that game and even leave lag calibration set to 0 on GH2. Any other timing specific games, including the fast meters in the Winning Eleven series, works well with Game Mode off. Game mode on does leave the picture a little washed out, but this is compensatable through calibration.

This is why I prefer to leave these inputs going to the TV, rather than a receiver, as there are slight adjustments needed for each input. I don't think any 2 inputs are the same, however, they tend to be pretty close. I'm still tweaking the HDMI input to the sat receiver.

All advanced modes are off, save for motion enhancer set to standard for all non gaming devices.

I don't know if there's something unusual about my set, my lighting, or my eyes... but unless I crank the brightness to 55-57 I lose too much shadow detail. It does turn the black background a tiny bit gray - only really noticeable in a very dark room, but I prefer that to having poor, clipped blacks. If I wanted that I'd have gotten an LCD....

I'm using Power Saving, and with the Picture (white level) way down around 56-58, but that shouldn't affect the black level... or does it?

I have brightness at 47. Any lower and the blacks get clipped with no improvement in black levels. I've found this setting to be mostly independent of Picture level, though higher picture levels seem to make the shadow detail harder to see (from the increased contrast). I haven't noticed any loss of shadow detail at that setting. When I calibrated with the lights on, I turned up the brightness a couple points, to 49.

Speaking of black levels... With the lights on, the black level looks pretty black. With the lights off, the black levels are noticeably "dark gray." Not pitch black.

Are these the black levels (in terms of closeness to pitch black, not in terms of setting) that you guys have noticed?

You will definitely notice a brightness difference with power saving off. Are you judging blacks by guess or with a pluge pattern from something like Avia/DVE/etc?

Are you using the same settings to come to this conclusion? You really need to calibrate both with the lights on and off with this set, and most RPTV's, for that matter. I might suggest you set your setting to standard and do your calibration and then perhaps set up a custom setting for times when you'll have the lights off. The options menu makes it very easy to quickly change settings, and the set keeps discrete settings not only per input but per input mode as well (standard, custom, vivid, etc.)

Both. Personally I'd rather use power saving and turn up the brightness a little. Less electricity, and longer bulb life.

Yes I've calibrated under both settings (light and dark). I have different inputs which are mostly watched at different light levels (ie, TV with light, DVD in the dark, etc).

It's just with lots of light the blacks are compared with the brightness of the room, so they appear darker. With less light, the blacks are compared with a pitch black and so seem lighter. At least to me. The blacks are pretty black but not pitch black. Is that what other people see?

The attached PDF includes all of my settings for my different viewing activities (PS3/Blu-ray, TV, DVD & PS2). I'm still playing around with these a bit, but it's getting close. I turned up the brightness and Iris controls on my PS2 activity because I mainly use it for playing Guitar Hero. I'm basically trying to compensate for the brightness reduction caused by standing. I also use the Game mode which successfully eliminates lag when playing GH1 & GH2.

 

KDS-60A3000 Settings-Rusty.pdf 16.8642578125k . file

Thanks ...

Thanks for the settings one question which is the settings for a hidef digital cable box? Is that what the "bell express vu" source is?

went through the linked thread. looks like the sony a3000 does not do 1:1 pixel match at all, either with vga or hdmi. guess this means that if i want to use my htpc, i'm better off with a lcd.