[fivestarav]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyeur /forum/post/11395402


Well, I love....LOVE...my XBR970, but mine also has a couple of subtle geometrical bows. After much delay I've decided to call a tech to look at it this upcoming Monday. It's not a huge deal. But since I DID purchase the service plan, I may as well put it to use. If it can be adjusted a bit more straight, I'll be satisfied.

Good move! And what is it with Mondays and tech visits? They seem to go hand in hand on these forum posts. They DO work other days, right?

It sounds like you're going through your service plan through the store you bought it from and not Sony directly. Is this true? If so, I'd like to know how it goes, so please give us (or just me) a full report on Tuesday. I trust Sony directly, but I didn't have much faith in Circuit City, so I returned my service plan within 30 days for a full refund. Who knows - CC might have called the same Sony-approved tech I've been using through Sony. Guess I'll never know now.


Good to hear from another happy XBR970 owner!

 

[Voyeur]



Quote:
Originally Posted by fivestarav /forum/post/11396269


Good move! And what is it with Mondays and tech visits? They seem to go hand in hand on these forum posts. They DO work other days, right?

It sounds like you're going through your service plan through the store you bought it from and not Sony directly. Is this true? If so, I'd like to know how it goes, so please give us (or just me) a full report on Tuesday. I trust Sony directly, but I didn't have much faith in Circuit City, so I returned my service plan within 30 days for a full refund. Who knows - CC might have called the same Sony-approved tech I've been using through Sony. Guess I'll never know now.


Good to hear from another happy XBR970 owner!

Actually I was the one who scheduled the tech to come on Monday...I have Sundays and Mondays off work. Sears was actually willing to come on Saturday!

I'll definitely let you know how it goes. The customer service person asked me to describe the issue over-the-phone so hopefully they'll send a tech who is somewhat prepared. We shall see.

 

[hyghwayman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Voyeur /forum/post/11395402


Well, I love....LOVE...my XBR970, but mine also has a couple of subtle geometrical bows. After much delay I've decided to call a tech to look at it this upcoming Monday. It's not a huge deal. But since I DID purchase the service plan, I may as well put it to use. If it can be adjusted a bit more straight, I'll be satisfied.

I also have subtle geometrical bows on my XBR970

, which while not ultra distracting it is an annoyance. I noticed them the moment I turned the TV on but because it took a week for the dealer to locate and deliver my TV (last one in Ohio area), I told myself I could live with it. I still feel that way too. But, if this could be corrected w/ a service call that would be awesome. 2yr. Sony / 5yr. Store warranty w/ free in home service (due to size

).

I've also noticed some over scan

, can this also be corrected w/ a home service call ?


Voyeur, when you called in your request for a service visit did you have any other issues you wanted addressed? Please post the outcome of this service request.


Thank you,

hyghwayman


P.S. I love....LOVE...my XBR970 TOO

From this picture you can see some slight bowing in the top left corner.

 

[hyghwayman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by landlover /forum/post/11366643


Hi, I plan to buy a house in hopefully six months. If the 970 gets calibrated now, when I move will I have to get it calibrated again? I do not like to waste money. The bumpy ride concerns me. Also, do any of you know anyone who can calibrate the 970 for me? I live in Cincinnati, Ohio.



Thank You

Here is a link;
www.hdtvbychadb.com/


Chad is considered top notch in his field. Which means busy w/ a poss. backlog of request for his service. Well worth the wait IMO though!


hyghwayman

 

[au revoir]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hyghwayman /forum/post/11406708


I also have subtle geometrical bows on my XBR970

, which while not ultra distracting it is an annoyance. I noticed them the moment I turned the TV on but because it took a week for the dealer to locate and deliver my TV (last one in Ohio area), I told myself I could live with it. I still feel that way too. But, if this could be corrected w/ a service call that would be awesome. 2yr. Sony / 5yr. Store warranty w/ free in home service (due to size

).

I've also noticed some over scan

, can this also be corrected w/ a home service call ?


Voyeur, when you called in your request for a service visit did you have any other issues you wanted addressed? Please post the outcome of this service request.


Thank you,

hyghwayman


P.S. I love....LOVE...my XBR970 TOO

From this picture you can see some slight bowing in the top left corner.

So are all those other lines supposed to be straight? If so, the top left corner seems to be the least of your problems.


If not, then the slight bowing I see looks to be only 1/4 to 3/8th's of an inch off. Which is totally within spec for these sets. The top left corner is notorious for being bowed on Sony HD CRT's.


If you are a do-it-yourselfer with some time on your hands, I think you could fix this stuff yourself with the info from this site. However, a competent service tech should have no problem with adjusting any of the things you mentioned, except for the horizontal bowing. While my understanding of how it's fixed is a not first-hand, I do know it can't be completely eliminated in the service menu and requires taking off the back of the set and physical adjustments being made. I don't think most techs are qualified to do this, but you may find someone who is.


Thanks for posting the picture. It's a very under-used feature of this site. If you want I could post a grid pattern from my XBR 970 to show how straight the geometry on mine is. I have spent quite a few hours in the service menu fine tuning it. It's not perfect, but fortunately it was pretty good right out of the box.

 

[hyghwayman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by WJonathan /forum/post/11307279


Now a question for you...have you noticed Xbox games look AWFUL when outputted at 480p? For some reason they look horrible on my 970, with jagged lines and poor definition. If i turn 480p off, the same games look great in 480i. No amount of fiddling with the TV makes them nice in progressive for some reason. 720p games look awesome though.

Halo 2 @ 1080i via the Xbox 360 Elite w/ HDMI looks Awsome!

Most org. xbox games where made for HDTV @ 480p. What connection are you using?


hyghwayman

 

[hyghwayman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by au revoir /forum/post/11407061


So are all those other lines supposed to be straight? If so, the top left corner seems to be the least of your problems.


If not, then the slight bowing I see looks to be only 1/4 to 3/8th's of an inch off. Which is totally within spec for these sets. The top left corner is notorious for being bowed on Sony HD CRT's.


Thanks for posting the picture. It's a very under-used feature of this site. If you want I could post a grid pattern from my XBR 970 to show how straight the geometry on mine is. I have spent quite a few hours in the service menu fine tuning it. It's not perfect, but fortunately it was pretty good right out of the box.

The H lines going to left of screen are the only ones that are suppost to be straight. The V line in the middle of the screen does/is bent that way via the xbox 360 dashboard.


Your welcome and NP w/ picture posting here

. I to wish more would/could do it too.


hyghwayman

 

[Voyeur]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hyghwayman /forum/post/11406708


I also have subtle geometrical bows on my XBR970

, which while not ultra distracting it is an annoyance. I noticed them the moment I turned the TV on but because it took a week for the dealer to locate and deliver my TV (last one in Ohio area), I told myself I could live with it. I still feel that way too. But, if this could be corrected w/ a service call that would be awesome. 2yr. Sony / 5yr. Store warranty w/ free in home service (due to size

).

I've also noticed some over scan

, can this also be corrected w/ a home service call ?


Voyeur, when you called in your request for a service visit did you have any other issues you wanted addressed? Please post the outcome of this service request.


Thank you,

hyghwayman


P.S. I love....LOVE...my XBR970 TOO

No other issues...just that one. I DID have a previous XBR970 with several problems: Uneven sidebars, slightly green-ish tint from the picture and (worst of all) a green blob on the side of the screen. Well, Sears sent a tech...and he did fix the sidebars and the green-ish tint (from the service menu) but dismissed the green blob as being a magnetic effect from nearby speakers and said he couldn't fix it. Well, that's inexcusable because the effect never changed no matter where I put my speakers (I was skeptical anyway). I had Sears replace it with my current one. THIS Sony has perfectly even sidebars, just the right tint, NO GREEN BLOB!!!


So in describing this one and only problem, I'm hoping the tech will be prepared. I'll definitely post what happens...good or bad.

 

[fivestarav]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hyghwayman /forum/post/11406708


I also have subtle geometrical bows on my XBR970

, which while not ultra distracting it is an annoyance. I noticed them the moment I turned the TV on but because it took a week for the dealer to locate and deliver my TV (last one in Ohio area), I told myself I could live with it. I still feel that way too. But, if this could be corrected w/ a service call that would be awesome. 2yr. Sony / 5yr. Store warranty w/ free in home service (due to size

).

I've also noticed some over scan

, can this also be corrected w/ a home service call ?


Voyeur, when you called in your request for a service visit did you have any other issues you wanted addressed? Please post the outcome of this service request.


Thank you,

hyghwayman


P.S. I love....LOVE...my XBR970 TOO

From this picture you can see some slight bowing in the top left corner.

Having no more XBR970s left in your area to exchange it with is in your favor when asking for warranty service from Sony. A subtle, polite hint that you may choose to return the tv and *ahem* possibly exchange it for another brand if the "defect" can't be fixed is a great motivator for Sony to authorize service in your home. At least it was for me. You have nothing to lose by making the call. I refuse to go into the service menu myself for several reasons...mostly because it voids my warranty, but it does sound like your problem isn't service menu related. He'll have to pop the back, methinks. And who better to pop the back and look at your XBR970 guts than a certified tech who knows your model number like the back of his hand. And as for the overscan, after the tech fixed my horizontal woes, he adjusted the overscan while he was in the service menu like it was the "polite" thing to do. I didn't even ask. I didn't realize how bad it was until he fixed it. Now the whole station logo can be seen in the bottom right corner during HDTV programming. Before it was cut off.


Make the call.

 

[ck100]



Quote:
Originally Posted by au revoir /forum/post/11407061


So are all those other lines supposed to be straight? If so, the top left corner seems to be the least of your problems.


If not, then the slight bowing I see looks to be only 1/4 to 3/8th's of an inch off. Which is totally within spec for these sets. The top left corner is notorious for being bowed on Sony HD CRT's.


If you are a do-it-yourselfer with some time on your hands, I think you could fix this stuff yourself with the info from this site. However, a competent service tech should have no problem with adjusting any of the things you mentioned, except for the horizontal bowing. While my understanding of how it's fixed is a not first-hand, I do know it can't be completely eliminated in the service menu and requires taking off the back of the set and physical adjustments being made. I don't think most techs are qualified to do this, but you may find someone who is.


Thanks for posting the picture. It's a very under-used feature of this site. If you want I could post a grid pattern from my XBR 970 to show how straight the geometry on mine is. I have spent quite a few hours in the service menu fine tuning it. It's not perfect, but fortunately it was pretty good right out of the box.

Do you think you can post the calibrations you made in the service menu for us? I mean I know each of our TV's is different as well as the calibration, but it would be nice to have something for a reference.

 

[WJonathan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hyghwayman /forum/post/11407196


Halo 2 @ 1080i via the Xbox 360 Elite w/ HDMI looks Awsome!

Most org. xbox games where made for HDTV @ 480p. What connection are you using?


hyghwayman

Component. I have tested a number of games, and apparently some display 480 progressive better than others. Fable is beautiful for example, with minimal jaggies. Others are not so good, even when designed for progressive. And the flag signal in each game is sometimes wrong. For example I have played a few games that would tell the XBOX to send a progressive signal even though the game didnt support it. Thise usually look the worst. And I have also played a few (Red Dead Revolver and Just Cause for example) that support widescreen though not specified on the box. These games will send a widescreen aspect from the system, but the 16:9 flag isn't sent to the TV. I have to manually select fullscreen, whereas other widescreen games (Simpsons Hit n Run for example) send the correct signal and the TV auto adjusts to 16:9. It's fun experimenting.

 

[ck100]

As I've said before, my tv kind of bows down in the top left corner and I think the bottom in the middle bows up slightly. It would be nice to get it fixed, but I can live with it being the way it is since I've messed around with the service menu to get the lines as straight as I can. We all have to look at it this way. Better to have the bars be screwed up than the picture itself.

 

[au revoir]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ck100 /forum/post/11410860


Do you think you can post the calibrations you made in the service menu for us? I mean I know each of our TV's is different as well as the calibration, but it would be nice to have something for a reference.

I don't think I can remember every single thing I adjusted.And like you say, the setting numbers would be useless to use another TV.


Here's an idea though. If you could bring up the first grid pattern in the service menu (it's in one the last group of settings under "PATN") and post a picture, I could suggest what to adjust to fix it.

 

[EchoTony]

Wanted to let eveyone know that I saw 3 XBR970's (NIB) at the Sears in Mission Valley, San Deigo the other day. Price wasn't great, but they had them in stock. oh, and one display out on the floor.

 

[hyghwayman]

The Sears at Dayton Mail, in Dayton, Ohio had a floor display model going for $880.94 the other day!


I will be there tomorrow and will post if it is still for sale

.


hyghwayman

 

[ck100]

Just curious on what settings you guys have for the vertical center, size, and tilt correction stuff.


What I have done is make the vertical size at the highest level (7 I think) while keeping the vertical center at zero. With this the images on the TV don't look so stretched out on wide zoom and basically this helps make the picture look like a normal picture would on a 4:3 TV. This is just a personal preference really and lets me make the wide zoom not feel like it but like how the picture would be on regular TV. People wouldn't look so stretched out or fat. As far as the tilt correction stuff, I adjusted it based on the position of the black bars for widescreen movies and to compensate for any geometry or bowing stuff. It's not prefect, but it looks as good as I can make it. My settings are 5 and 3 from the tilt correction and that other thing (forgot what it was called)

 

[WJonathan]

I've never messed with center/size adjustments. I'm not sure if you're talking about off-air, or DVD or game inputs here. But I've found happiness using the screen size adustments, and setting them properly for each input.

 

[ClayPigeon]

Mine bows like that too. No matter what i changed in service menu i couldn't get it straight. I even tried using a ruler to line it up as straight as possible, but the only way to fix that using either VPIN or VCEN in service menu, but messing with them too much makes something else messed up, so i just got it as straight as possible and learned to live with it. I'm pretty sure ALL xbr 970's come with that bowing on the top left, so i wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[ClayPigeon]

I haven't been in the service menu in AGES though, but i'll check and see what i have my VCEN and VPIN at in a second. I'm going to need to go back in there as i just got a new oppo dvd player and finally get to use the HDMI input. But man i'm definetely not looking forward to calibrating the HDMI input

 

[ClayPigeon]

Ok, for VCEN i have 12, VPIN 18.


Now that i think about it i should just recalibrate the whole set using the oppo dvd player ( used the xbox 360 dvd player YIKES ) Like first i'll plug it into the component inputs, calibrate it then once thats calibrated, plug it into the HDMI.


I'm waiting for my set to warm up a bit then i'll take a pic so you can see the bowing. I'm pretty sure almost ALL widescreen CRT have some slight bowing. Has anybody who had their set professionally calibrated get rid of the bowing 100%? or does it still bow slightly? I think they can only fix it by taking off the back of the set.