[TheMerk]

Hi all,


I have a 36 inch Sony XBR400 that I purchased a little over a week ago. I've got HDTV DirecTV and OTA signal going into it via an RCA DTC-100. Of course, I'm using RCA's RGB converter too. HDTV looks fabulous. DVD looks terrible though. I have a Sony DVP-S360 (non-progressive) going to the TV through component cables. I'm noticing very bad edge enhancement on almost every DVD I watch. Is this because it's an interlaced signal? I thought the TV was bad until I compared the Fantasia 2000 scenes on the 199 loop to the DVD. No edge enhancement at all on 199, but the same scenes on the DVD have edge enhancement. For those of you familiar with Fantasia 2000, any edge enhancement is particularly noticeable in the Rhapsody in Blue and Flamingo with a Yo-Yo segments.


Does this set give each input settings independent of the others? Is there a setting in the service menu that I should flip when in 480i mode? I only ask that since 1080i looks great.


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-TheMerk

 

[MonkeyMafia]

Dude, Sony's DRC in the XBR400 does not have 3:2 pulldown built in, so the "edge enhancement" you're seeing may in fact be the scalloping effect that happens when 3:2 pulldown is not implemented for playing back 24fps film source material (most dvds).


Your best bet is to either buy a progressive player, or use an external unit like the iscan which performs the 3:2 that your set can't.


Good luck,


MMAfia

 

[RScogland]

I have the same DVD player, and the 32" version of the same TV that you have. I also have the ProScan version of the DTC-100 but I havent tried DirecTV yet because I am temporarily set up in someone else's house until my house is finished being remodeled. Is it possible that my eyesight is bad enough (or that the extra 4" in your set makes a difference) that I cant notice any problems when watching DVD's? It may be possible, but if so, I would question the use of the word "terrible." The few DVD's that I have watched so far have looked great (my main problem is that I have not yet got used to the 2.35/1 ratio of some DVD's). If I have any gripe with picture quality on this set, it is when viewing analog cable. Even a VCR playback that was recorded from another TV looks better on this TV than live analog cable (for what it is worth, VCR tapes look great on this set). I really hope that I will notice an improvement with either DirecTV (if the tall trees allow) or with Digital Cable (but I know not to hold my breath for that improvement). Question to "TheMerk" ... do you have analog cable available in your house to compare that picture quality to your DirecTV picture quality?


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Rick W. Scogland

My Email: [email protected]

My Home Theater: http://www.homepagez.com/rscogland/home.html

 

[tombarry]

DVDs look great on my XBR400.


Have you got the player set for a 16:9 screen?

 

[TheMerk]

Thank you everyone for the quick responses! Maybe I was a little too quick to use the word "terrible." By no means is the DVD picture actually terrible, it just doesn't live up to my expectations I suppose. While the colors and detail are superb, the picture as a whole looks sub-par due to the ringing I'm seeing. I was expecting to not see edge enhancement on DVDs such as Gladiator and Fantasia 2000. BTW, I do love that I can put my player in 16:9 mode and the TV will automatically redraw the picture in the correct aspect ratio.


So now I'm questioning the lack of 3:2 pulldown or my interlaced player. I may have my local Circuit City connect a DVP-S360 and a progressive player to an XBR400, just to see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, I guess I'll just wait for the new XBR450 to come out this summer. I'm on very good terms with the store manager, and he'd exchange this one for me.


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-TheMerk

 

[MonkeyMafia]

Yep, the XBR450 uses the newer DRC from Sony, and that one definitely has the 3:2 pulldown.


MMafia

 

[Abdul Jalib]

Yeah, it's the SVM that's causing the ringing. You can turn it totally off in service mode, though using "movie mode" will reduce it to a negligible level.



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Abdul

Click to subscribe to Philips_HDTV discussion group

 

[AtlPaul]

As noted by John K. turn off SVM via the menu. You do not have to go into service mode to do this. Just go to the regular menu and you'll see it listed as an option.


Check your sharpness level. It may be way too high which would cause a lot of ringing.


You'll probably want to tune your set with Avia or Video Essentials DVD which will let you get your sharpness, color, etc. just right or to be very good. I know setting the sharpness on my XBR400 with Avia makes a tremendous difference in picture quality. If it is too high or low then the picture quality is seriously degraded.


Your DVD player may also be part of the ringing problem. I had an older Proscan DVD player and it exhibited ringing. My progressive Toshiba 6200 exhibits little to no ringing whatsoever in either interlaced or progressive mode.


You may want to order the service manual for the set from Sony. Its around $50 including shipping (use to be $15 - have no idea about the big price increase.) Here is the link: http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/service/homepage.htm


and the part number should be 996588802 although you may want to call Sony and confirm. Once you have the service manual you can get in an tune many settings in the service mode. You can get into service mode by having the set on. Then push Power, Display, 5, Volume+, Power (with no more than one second between each key) on your remote. To get out of service mode simply turn off the set. If the set won't turn back on then unplug it for about 10 seconds and plug it back in (always works for me at least). You can roll through settings using the 1 and 4 keys. You can roll through the menus using the 2 and 5 keys. You can change particular setting values using the 3 and 6 keys. You can save changes by pressing Muting and then Enter.


There are literally hundreds of settings subdivided into several menus in service mode. And, changing the values to the wrong ones can really screw up your set. That is why you probably want to get the service manual. Even then it can be a bit cryptic so you'll probably want to search the net for information on what settings to alter to improve picture quality. And if you do this, ALWAYS write down the original settings. I have no clue if this voids the warranty.


The changes I made were to set AXIS to 1 which is on menu 2150P-4. That gets rid of the horrendous red push. I changed CBGN on menu 2151Q from 9 down to 2 to get rid of the extreme white-level blending that occurs when the set is fed a progressive signal. Also I did a bunch of geometry adjustments on menu 2150D-1 and 2150D-2. Then I tuned the color, hue, picture and brightness levels with Avia. The results are quite spectacular in comparison to the original shipped set.


Good luck. And I strongly suggest you don't change anything in service mode unless you have the service manual and even then you need to be very cautious and write everything down. You may also want to wait for your set to break-in a bit more.


[This message has been edited by AtlPaul (edited 03-20-2001).]

 

[John Klaczynski]

Go into the XBR's setup and turn off VM.


VM (Velocity Motion) enhancement is active for 480i, but not 1080.


This should help.