ummester Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 I ended up getting this TV over the LG because of the lack of inputs in the LG without the tuner. $790 from GGs with 1 year warranty out of the box and a further 2 years extended at a cost of $89. These are my thoughts after playing around with the tele for 8 hrs or so. Good points - Video connectivity. PQ (when it's hooked up right). Lots of things to tinker with (if you are into playing with hardware:)). Seems to actually output 1080i (the on screen info displays differently when I change the output resolution of my HD STB) Physical appearance of unit. Very slim and reasonably light (around 50kg) for such a large CRT screen. Geometry is actually quite good considerring the angle the electrons have to work from. Bad points - Documentation sucks. Easy to hook up wrong. OSD is ugly. Seems un-calibrated out of box. No headphone outputs. I have the following hooked up to it - DSE HD STB via component (RGB) PS2 via component (RGB) LG VCR/DVD combo via AV (RCA) and S-Video (DVD only). I believe there are 2 main causes for the problems people are having with this tele (I may not know precise technical terms but I have played with a fair bit of electronic equipment in my time so have a reasonable idea). 1st problem is that the TV produces the worst image from non progressive inputs via RCA (which is what a lot of people have probably fed into it). I experienced a minor 'melting face' problem with SW Ep2 input this way. S-video did not exhibit the problem at all and switching on progressive scan also seemed to eliminate it. I am not sure if the VCR outputs progressive or not but as the only thing ever watched on it are kids cartoons it hardly matters. 2nd problem is that the spread pattern of the electrons is far more concentrated at the centre of the screen noticable enough that when I first turned the tele on the snow was ovviously more pixilated in the corners. This can be reigned in by enterring the service menu and fine tuning settings, which also can be used to adjust any geometry distortion that you may find annoying as a viewer. The service menu for this chasis is Info -> Menu -> Mute -> Power On. The service menu can be run over the top of any background image, so if you have problems with a specific image, use it for your calibration. I have changed very little and am going to try and get my hands on a prober calibration DVD (if not, I'll make my own in 3ds Max:)). So far I am happy, lets see how it goes...
ummester Posted April 15, 2007 Author Posted April 15, 2007 Update - if you go into the service menu and you don't want a headache DO NOT ALTER ANY LINEARITY OR SC SETTINGS FROM THE DEFLECTION MENU, especially when in high resolution modes. I had the AFL guys all running around with stumpy legs over udulating grass for a while and was in a panic that I couldn't get it back. I have a service manual but the high res modes don't give adjustment readouts, so it's all by eye at 720 and above. But, after much tweaking, I have really impressive geomety in the 1080 mode - no text distortion, straight borders in HD 4:3 - almost like an LCD with proper black levels:) That said, it is important that everyone realize they shouldn't really mess with the service menu. It is only for the brave, foolish or technically minded...
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