Loewe Service Menu and Overscan (1 Viewer)

[Doug_L]

I've done a search and found nothing. I've got a non-HD Loewe Calida (about 2yrs old). Never been in the service menus, but enough is enough.

I want to try and cure the vertical overscan when I use the squeeze mode (side-to-side would be nice also). I don't particularly care about 4:3 full screen mode for TV/Tivo/VCR etc., but losing precious headroom on anamorphic DVD's is killing me. Is it possible to adjust the overscan in the squeeze mode only, or will it affect typical viewing as well? Also, my DVD player uses Video 2 (to take advantage of auto-squeeze feature) and is the only device on this input - not sure if this is usefull info.

If anybody can help me (and, having never ventured into the service menus, I really need help) it would be greatly appreciated. I'm well aware that I should write down ALL settings before changing anything, and I have a copy of Video Essentials (older version) to help.

Hope there's a few Loewe users out there who can shed some light on this.

Thanks.

 

[Darrel McBane]

You want to hit the menu button on the set. And then hit the menu button on the remote. This will get you to the service menu.

As you say. Take the time and write down the default settings.

I had a dealers demo Calida and it died on me after 5 months. Because I had an extended warranty the set was upgraded to the 30" Aconda. They are nice sets but like just about every set out there. It will needs some tweaking.

I never use any of the stretch modes on either the Calida or the Aconda. I'm not sure what your over scan and loss of head room on Anamorphic DVDs you refer to is? A 4x3 set will have bars on the top and bottom. Just because of the sets tube. If the bars are a problem? I'd suggest making some mattes. These are very easy to make. And window frame the picture. I use them on the Aconda set when watching cable.

 

[Doug_L]

Darrel, thanks. If you could be more specific about what values and/or settings I would adjust to reduce the overscan that would be real helpful. It may be explicitly labeled (can't say, never been in those menus), but if it's got some bizarre un-decipherable label I'll need to know what to adjust to get the desired effect.

I'm well aware of the bars necessry to present most films in their OAR on a 4:3 monitor. And since I'm using a squeeze function (not stretch), mattes are unecessary because the tube beyond the 16:9 "squeezed" window is pure black (1 of the 2 primary benefits of the squeeze).

The loss of headroom I'm referring to is that in any given scene an actor's head may be close to the top of the frame - the open area above the head (or any other object which is central to the action) is called headroom. Too much headroom looks odd to many people, and too little is noticable by most.

I'll use an example where the headroom is about 3% of the overall picture height (assuming a 16:9 frame, which is close enough to 1.85:1 to be assumed to be the same). If my TV is set for 5% overscan in the squeeze mode (where ONLY the 16:9 anamorphic frame on the DVD is shown, with bars created by the TV) then part of the actor's head will be above the top of the viewable frame. Due to overscan I will have lost about 5% of the encoded picture information.

Although a bit drastic, this is an example of the problem that I have noticed. With poorly framed scenes it become very noticiable.

Hope you can shed a little more light on the service menus.

 

[Colin A]

To enter the service mode of the Aconda 32 inch.Open the front panel, press the menu select button indicated by the circular arrow, until "service" is selectedon the screen. Within half a second press "M" on the remote control.
Then you can enter Amplitude, Geometry etc.
record the factory settings, for safetry sake. When you alter the setting you have to OK it for the TV to memorize the new setting.