Calibrating My Television ...? (1 Viewer)

[Mike JM]

I was reading an article in the Daily News I believe. The main article talked about HDTV and what to look for. In the article it states that there are service technicians that offer television calibrations for about $65 an hour...and it takes about an hour to finish.

I have a 36" Sony Wega ...I forget the model, manufacture date was 2000. My main problem is the black level. When I'm watching a dark scene there is a darker vertical hazy bar near the left side of the screen. This is downright annoying at times. 5 years, and I can't get use to it. I try to make my brightness darker to get rid of the problem, but to do that, scenes are too dark.

Does anyone recommend what I can do myself or who I can
get to do it for me? Money is unfortunately an issue. More then $100 would be breaking me.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Mike, you were reading the Los Angeles Times, which did a major feature on HD and after-market calibration just this past week. The paper interviewed the great Joe Kane.

And, yes, all displays can use a calibration by an experienced ISF pro, including your analog WEGA. But it costs a lot.

Since you're more concerned about white levels, you can get a copy of AVIA, and use it to help adjust your white levels properly. But to do anything regarding your grayscale requires going into the service menu.

 

[Mike JM]

I doubt it was Los Angeles Times, I live in a small town in New York and the article was really lacking. I think they said that the largest CRT tube televisions are 34", yet 36" televisions have been out for over 10 years. And what struck me was the $65 expense that I would gladly spend to get my television fixed. ...is this possible for my problem?

As far as Avia...I actually own a copy. But I don't think I can fix this problem apart from taking my television apart. ...or can I? It's a vertical hazy line about 2 inches wide and 3 inches from the left side of the tv. ...If I adjust any levels, I'm adjusting the whole tv with the defect. Correct? ....and I can only make the image so dark.

Does anyone else have this problem or similar and fixed it?
I'm just a lightweight but I'll do anything with proper step by step instructions.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Don't know where that $65 number came from. The lowest ISF SRP is $225 for a directview set. ISF calibration prices are not based on time ... but rather display type, whether it takes 15 minutes or 4 hours.

Regards

 

[Jeremy Swenson]

I think they said that the largest CRT tube televisions are 34", yet 36" televisions have been out for over 10 years.

are you thinking of regular tube hdtv's? then i think the biggest i have seen is about 34 inches, if just regular analog tube tvs then yeah the 36 inchers have been out for years

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Of course Sony Marketed a 40" 4:3 crt for quite a few years up until last year when it was dropped.

38" w/S sets were marketed by RCA and Loewe a few years back.

I bought my first 34" 16:9 TV in 1995 ... and they were first introduced in 1993 ish ... (480p capable)

Regards

 

[John S]

Hmm, Typical CRT RPTV Calibration is around $400, it takes way more than an hour.

 

[Mike JM]

I don't have a RPTV, just a 4:3 36" tube.

Could anyone point to a link that gives detailed instructions and pictures on how to adjust my problem?
Other owners of this popular television, who aren't technicians, must have had the same problem as I did and fixed it without having to pay someone $300 to do it. ...or am I alone here?

 

[Lev-S]

Owning a 27" CRT presently, I'm personally waiting until I can afford a nice big set before contracting an ISF calibrator. Until then, I'll cope with the mediocrity of my "stock" tube!

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Your problem sounds like a repair issue at best and a design flaw at worst.

ISF calibrators are not TV repairmen ... many mistakenly confuse the two.

While a repairman can become an ISF guy, an ISF guy cannot repair TV's and that is not their function.

(You will note that I said that an ISF of a set like yours is $225 ... and $225 is never rounded up to $300.) A calibrator isn't the right person to tackle your issue.

Regards

 

[Allan Jayne]

Calibration is not meant to hide defects such as a dark hazy 2 inch wide vertical bar.

You may have some interference issues causing that bar. Unplug everything, absolutely everything, from the back of the TV. Next connect one thing at a time and see when the bar comes back (if it ever disappeared).

There are too many steps in calibration to summarize in a forum thread reply here. If you go through the instructions for your AVIA disk, you should at least come close to what a professional TV calibrator can achieve.

Many consumer grade CRT TV sets require compromises. It is possible for "black" to be something different when the overall scene is bright compared with the overall scene's being dark. It is common for the amount of overscan to be more when the scene is quite light.

Video hints;
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[Mike JM]

I imagine it's just a design flaw that I'll have to live with. Man, it's the little things that drive me crazy. It does sound like an interference problem, I agree. However, it's had this bar, only noticeable during dark scenes, since I got it. And regardless of what input I'm using (cable,DVD,video game)or how I'm running the signal to the tv (component,RCA,coxial,S-Video)it's all the same.

 

[Gabriela Mendez]

I have a 36" (34" in the US?) Philips CRT HDTV(480p, 1080i). I am experiencing the same problem you've mentioned on the left side of the screen, but it's only present in 480p and it's even more noticeable @ 1080i. We've tried it with xbox games @ 1080i and zenith dvb 318 @ 1080i and it's there. A bit annoying. I believe this is a factory defect in the tube, at least that was the assesment of a Tweeter manager in San Diego. Mine was bought at a costco in mexico. It's still under warranty, but it's hard to explain this to people @ philips and costco since there's not much HDTV going on in Mexico other than Mexico city. I know I need to take back the tv for repairs, but the tv weighs a ton (exageration), and we would be out of a tv for a while... Any ideas?

 

[Mike JM]

Gabriela,
I feel your pain. I have dealt with tv repair techs before and they don't want anything to do with it. They don't determine things like that to be something that they can or would even try fixing. ....right after I bought the tv, I complained about it and sure enough they found nothing wrong with it.