New TV- How Important is manual convergance? (1 Viewer)

[Ed O'Neill]

Hi everyone
I am in the process of buying a new RPTV 55"-65" and I would like some info on the importance of manually convergance .

I don't really understand the whole covergance thing but from what I understand is crts go out of alignment and the manual convergance would be better than auto convergance.

My choices are in no particular order
Hitachi WX series (117 manual points of convergance )
Mitsubishi 511 series (64 manual points of convergance)
Pioneer Elite (53/58 manual points of convergance).

I am also willing to listen to others opinions of rptvs but I do not like toshiba and will probably never buy another one again . I bought a toshiba 32 inch tv. based on the fact that it had fewer repair problems. However since I bought the tv in 2000, I had it replaced because the tube blew 20 secounds after I plugged it in, and now the tube is gone again and needs to be replaced(thank god for extended warantees). I asked the repair man what he recommended and he said in no particular order Sony Mitsubishi and Hitachi, but when I asked him about convergance he said it wasn't that important to have the most manual convergance point. Isn't more better ?

Thanks in advance
Ed O'Neill

 

[John Royster]

Its really not that big of a factor unless say you only have 9 points to work with. I believe the hitachis "117 points" factor in a three points for red, green, blue so it is a little misleading. For example mitsubishis "64 points" is actually the number of adjustment points so if you counted red, green and blue it would actually be 192.

All of the TVs listed represent the cream of the CRT based RPTV crop so pick the one that has what you're looking for.

 

[Ed O'Neill]

Thanks John,

Are you saying that the hitachi is 39 for each color and that the mitsubishi is 64 per color?

Yes I know they are all great tvs but understanding this my help me decide. They all have their plus and minuses. Also to make matters worse I am still on the border line of being too close to the 65". They say you should be at least 1.5 x the screen size away in this case 65'x1.5=97.5 inchesw or 8.125 feet away. My couch will be will be around 9 feet away.

As I said I don't really understand this whole convergance thing but I know manual is better than auto.

Anymore input... I want to buy my tv soon, the money is burning a whole in my pocket- LOL

Signed
Ed O'Neill

 

[John Royster]

Are you saying that the hitachi is 39 for each color and that the mitsubishi is 64 per color?

I'm saying I "believe" that is the case but am not sure. I own a mits 65" and am floored by the picture at times. I do a fair amount of amatuer (sp?) tweaking/calibration and am just starting to get familiar with the hitachis.

But in all honesty the number of convergence points in these models weighs very little, a non-issue really.

All three really are great sets and can be converged to perfection. But all three will need some work to look their best, with the elite having the best out of the box picture (from what I've seen) among the bunch...it comes at a premium howerver.

-edit- on the distance issue, 9 feet is close (but not too close IMHO). spend some time with the sets in the store...bring your tape measure and replicate your viewing distance. My head is 10 feet from my 65" and I thank the TV gods every week that I bought the 65" for I would forever be kicking myself if I didn't. When it first arrived 2 years ago I thought "OMG! This is way to big...after a few weeks I am SO glad I didn't go smaller"

 

[John Sully]

Ed,

I think you need to differentiate between user mode convergence and service mode convergence. I've owned two HD sets (a Toshiba TW40X80 and a Sony KP46TW500) and I can certainly say that automatic user mode convergence is much nicer than manual user mode convergence.

Even doing a simple 9 point user mode convergence on the Tosh took 15 or 20 minutes (if you were real careful) and doing a complete service mode convergence usually took me closer to an hour. With the Sony and its auto convergence feature it takes about 30 seconds and does a better job than I could probably achieve by hand.

NB: it is important that the user mode auto convergence be applied to the service mode convergence (called learning auto convergence). Quite frankly, I would not consider purchasing a set w/o auto convergence these days.

 

[Ed O'Neill]

Thanks John Royster and John Sully,
Great 2 Johns now more confusion-LOL

John Royster,
Actually they had a price drop for the pioneer elite and if I take quality over quantity meaning the Pioneer elite 53, I would be loosing 2". The price dropped $1000. The new price I beleive is still in my price range of $3500.

note I dont know all the abbrviation lingo what is IMHO exactly?


John Sully,
Whoa hah another curveball-LOL

I thought that there was manual and automatic.

Now are you telling me there is 3 modes auto, user manual and service manual. From what I read and heard the Hitachi had 117 manual points they didn't say if it was user manual or sevice manual.

Hi-ho Hi-ho back to the store I go-LOL.

Anyone else have some input?

Thanks again
Signed
Ed O'Neill

 

[Ed O'Neill]

John Royster,

I re-read the article and it is in fact user mode 117 points for the Hitachi. Also if what you said is true about the 117 points then wouldn't the mitsubishi be the same 64 divide by 3 = 21.5 each? Then I also noticed it had 256 point auto convergance.

On a side note the Pioneer Elite is out of the picture . I took my wife with me to Circuit City and she said she thought the 57" Hitachi was too small and I am now going to buy a 65" RPTV. Still undecided on brand.

I was of course lost for words when she basically told me to spend more money-LOL

Signed
Ed O'Neill