53HS10....good, but not great...yet! (1 Viewer)

[Stacey_V]

I bought a Sony 53HS10 about 2 months ago...love it.
I have done the elec and manual focus', a bit difficult to get exactly, but I think they improved the picture a bit. I have also done a full convergence, although I don't feel it is as good as it can get. The red on the right side seems to bloom, and the green on the left side does the same. What I mean by bloom, is that the grid lines seem to grow fatter as I look towards the edge of the screen. The centre lines seem to have better definition.
Now, to my question: Why is it that any image that is centred on my screen looks great, perfectly focused, but anything that is towards the edge of the screen seems a bit out of focus? Is there something that can be done to improve this?
Thanks,
Stacey
------------------

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

quote: Why is it that any image that is centred on my screen looks great, perfectly focused, but anything that is towards the edge of the screen seems a bit out of focus?[/quote]
It's a function of the optics. If you think about it the projected light needs to travel farther to the sides of the screen than it does to the center. Monitors are typically uniformly defocused from the factory, sacrificing the main viewing area to accommodate the outer perimeter. Your electrical and mechanical focus adjustment optimized the picture for the main viewing area at the expense of the outside - a worthwhile trade off in my opinion as that's where the bulk of the activity takes place.
So you have a choice: uniformly defocused or maximizing the presentation of the main viewing area. It's all about compromise. I find the Sony sets a little soft in their presentation so tightening focus is an important tweak.
On another note, have you also corrected the oversqueeze in 16:9 mode? It's quite severe from the factory and is plainly shown when viewing the anamorphic test patterns from Avia or Video Essentials. If you have not made this adjustment (note: it's completely different than correcting 4:3 mode's geometry using Height and Width controls - you independently correct the red, blue, and green guns) then I would encourage you to search this Forum or Errol's HDTV for instructions. It really makes quite a difference.
------------------
--Jay
"No one can hear when you're screaming in digital."
My Home Theatre Pictures...
"You're no mesiah. You're, you're a movie of the week. You're a ... t-shirt, at best."

 

[Jim A. Banville]

When you adjust mchanical focus, you must do it based on viewing points that are 1/3 and 2/3 the width of the screen or else the picture in the center will be tightly focused and the edges not (as in your case). The last time I was focusing my HS10, I could clearly see that as my wife turned the lens, the center image and outer most edge image would alternate between which was sharpest. Either the center would be sharp and the edge would be blurry or vice versa.
------------------
Jim
-------
Mancow rocks! Link Removed

 

[Jeff D.]

Stacey;
As Jay has stated, this is simply a side effect of the design, and it is impossible to get the focus perfect across the entire screen area.
There are two methods when adjusting mechanical and optical focus: the first is to adjust both using the centre as your reference. The advantage: the majority of the screen (75% or more) will be properly focused, while the edges will not. As Jay pointed out, a worthwhile tradeoff - since the bulk of the activity occurs in that 75% region. Consider this also when using the 16:9 mode: the top and bottom of your screen is unused, so the focus does not matter at these points.
The other method is to not use the centre as a reference, but rather use some point in between the centre and edges. I cannot recommend this method, however. While it might give your edges a sharper focus - who cares? The point is that the main viewing area cannot be properly focused at the same time, so using this method will mean your main viewing area is not tightly focused. Again, if you think about the 16:9 mode - is it really worth it to have the edges focused when they are not part of the main viewing area?
Jay pointed out quite rightly that the Sony sets do offer a somewhat softer image, so proper focusing is a must. I would definitely recommend using the centre as your reference point for both electronic and mechanical focus.
____
Jeff
------------------
"You're a walking stick! It's funny! Now GO!"