Avia and Sears Warranty Repair on TVs (1 Viewer)

[Jay Foster]

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd post my situation regarding my Hitachi 61 inch big screen with Sears Warranty Repair and see if anyone knows the answer to the "preset brightness" button. I bought the warranty because they come out and repair the tv if there is a problem (and I've had problems with tvs before) so it was worth it to buy it or so I thought.

The power went out about a month ago and since then my tv went "dark" which required me to turn the contrast and brightness up quite a bit.

The Sears guy comes out and says, it "looks good to me" and says nothing is wrong with it. The picture actually looks terrible and I explained that I should not have to crank up the contrast/brightness to see people and that I watch a lot of DVDs and I know what it is really supposed to look like versus what you see in the store.

He gets on the phone with Hitachi and they say that it may have reset the preset brightness button which is in the service menu. He cranks this up some but gets disconnected from Hitachi and never finds out what it is supposed to be set to. Does anyone know?

Also, once he did this the picture did noticeably improve but I still have the brightness/contrast cranked up way beyond what it was. I explained to the guy that I am no expert but that I did use the Avia dvd to arrive at the lower settings. The guy never heard of it and started getting upset with me about it. I did receive a commitment from him to call me back on Monday to see what the problem is with the set.

In any event, I think the problem maybe this preset brightness button, any ideas on how I access the service menu and put it at the right number?

Thanks!

 

[Jay Foster]

Hi,

Does anyone know the answer to this question or not?

What is the preset brightness setting from Hitachi?

By the way, the Sears guy called back and said the Avia test dvd was "subjective" and not valid so he refuses to come fix my tv. Anyone have any literature on this dvd that I can show to the guy?

 

[John S]

Call Hitachi, ask for help....


They should be able to assist you.


If you have the extended warranty, I would even ask that it be IFS calibrated. It does not sound like the whoever you had come out, is all that happening on it.

It is true that most IFS techs, don't use such a disc, that have some sort of hardware generator they use. Did he state that he IFS calibrated it, completely?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

You mean ISF. And this is your average sears guy, that he doesn't know what Avia is tells me he doesn't really know much, and surely isn't an ISF calibrator.

Avia is not "subjective." You can use a colorimiter and all that with the test patterns just the same, so he doesn't know what he's talking about.

As for what is actually wrong with the set, I have no idea. If it isn't looking like it should, I'd get it exchanged, or find someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[Jay Foster]

Hi everyone,

John,

I am going to definitely call Hitachi about the "preset brightness" button in the service menu (if there is one). I appreciate the suggestion.

I have the extended warranty and under the Sears "no lemon" policy, I'm trying to get it exchanged if he can't fix it.

Chris,

Where can I get a colorimiter? While I'm certainly no expert, I can follow instructions fairly well and if I can get one and understand how to use it, I want to try it so I can be armed with information the next time this guy comes out.

Do either of you think Greg Loewen (the guy on this site that calibrates tvs) would know the answer to the "preset brightness" button?

Thanks again!

 

[ChrisWiggles]

You wouldn't. (they cost quite a bit of $$$$). I was just saying the sears guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

Yes you could either contact an isfer here, or hope they post in this thread. You could also try keohi, the folks over there might be able to help with service menu stuff if some settings got messed up.

 

[Kevin Nolan]

You may want to try this question at www.avsforum.com and/or www.hometheaterspot.com
HomeTheaterSpot has a specific forum for Hitachi and many helpful folks there including ISF calibrators that look at all forums on a regular basis.
AVSForum has a RPTV forum with many helpful folks there as well with tons of experience.
JMTCW Owner of a 57TWX20B and most Sears techs are not to be trusted with our loves because they are hired to to get it "going" and to hell with back to specification.
Kevin

 

[Jay Foster]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for all your replies. As a result, I am going blind reading all the stuff here and at avs and having a lot of fun educating myself (mainly, I now know just enough to be dangerous). I've been able to get in the service menu myself by pressing input and power at the same time but I haven't been able to locate the ISF menu under the service menu (and yes I wrote down all my values that I could see at this point in case I screw something up). Since I've read so much, I have a pretty good idea of what values to change as I copied and pasted some that Michael Fusick posted. I just can't get there yet.

Michael Fusick, you out there? How do I get to the ISF Menu on an Hitachi 61SWX10B? Anyone else know?