Philips 32PT740H Service Menu and Geometry Adjustments (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Hopkins]

I just picked up a Philips 32PT740H 4:3 Non-Flat HDTV from walmart for $550 for my bedroom HT. After calibrating to the best of my ability with my Sound & Vision HT Tune Up DVD and the limited picture adjustments in the TVs menu I noticed that the image was not perfectly centered vertically and there was a bit more overscan than I would prefer.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to get in to the service menu on this set or perhaps a similar Philips set that the service menu code might carry over for. I would like to try to adjust the centering and overscan before having to call for a service tech. I know geometry is often not great on budget TVs out of the box and I'm not all that surprised or upset, just looking to get the best out of this set. I can live with the picture inadequacies if need be but hopefully I can take care of it myself or get it taken care of by a tech for free.

Thanks

 

[oryan_dunn]

Try this:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=185671

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

0-6-2-5-9-6-Status is what I found elsewhere, same as the thread you pointed me to. It really suprised me how bad the geometry was when I actually put in my S&V disc and brought up the circle and cross hatch test pattern. There wasn't as much overscan as i'd originally thought, but the overall geometry was horrible, especially near the left and right edges. I was able to improve it VASTLY but I still may put in a service call to Philips. If I'm going to have to take the set in i'll probably not worry about it, but if they'll send someone out i might as well get it taken care of 100%.

One thing that suprised me was the lack of any vertical position and vertical size adjustment. The Horizontal position and size adjustments were there, but the vertical centering is where my problem really is. It also suprised me how bad both the 480i and 480p geometies both were, but more so how they were bad in completely different ways and different ends of the spectrum. I just wish I could find a component scaling DVD player somewhere to borrow so I could dial the 1080i geometry in a little before I get HD service in the bedroom. Perhaps I can rip some of the test paterns from the S&V disc and burn them to a non-macro DVD and use my Bravo D1 from my main HT?

 

[Chad B]

Unfortunately, I doubt that taking it in for service would help at all. If you've made a dramatic improvement, you've probably got it looking as good as it can. If we were talking about a CRT projection TV, you could go in and fine tune the geometry at multiple points on the screen. However, with CRT direct views all you have is the more generalized adjustments you tweaked.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

I'm guessing you're right, but if I can get them to come out to the house and look at it for free then it's worth a shot. I'm definitely not taking it in for service. One trip up the stairs is enough. The set is 100% watchable now and I don't really notice any geometry problems at all during normal viewing, just when I have a cross hatch test pattern up. I just wish there was a vertical position and vertical size adjustment. It's not so noticeable on 4:3 because it's still within the range of overscan and nothing's really cut off at the bottom, but on 16:9 material the picture is about 1/2" lower than it should be. Not the worst problem, but still a bit annoying. All in all for $550 I don't think I could have found a better set, and definitely no other 32" HD Tube.

Any advice on how to get a test pattern coming in 1080i? Maybe rip the pattern I want and burn it to a non-copyrighted DVD then play back in 1080i w/ my Bravo D1? I know it'll upconvert non-copyrighted material over component but only upconvert copyrighted material over DVI.

Thanks

 

[Chad B]

Maybe the service tech could at least center the vertical position for you. That would be worth having him come out for free.
Would copying a copy protected or copyrighted DVD pass along the copy protection? Seems like it would, but I don't know for sure... Unfortunately, no other easy or inexpensive options are coming to mind for the 1080i test patterns.

 

[oryan_dunn]

if you can, you could use the dvd with a pc that can output 1080i, but then you'd have to be sure that the signal from the pc is correctly centered, which can be a job and a half just by itself.

 

[Chad B]

Another problem with using a PC is that a PC normally outputs an RGB signal. I believe you'd have to use a transcoder to convert the RGB to component. There's a few HDTV's that accept RGB, but not that many.

 

[oryan_dunn]

Yeah thats one way, but I've got mine hooked up with a radeon w/ component adapter. The problem that i've run into, is that I can't tell if it is my tv that is overscanning or is shifted one way or the other, or if it is my timings. I think it would be cool if some of the digital channels would broadcast test patterns on a loop in 1080i on their secondary channels at night or something. That way, I could calibrate my tv with the stb that I would normally use.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

The TV has VGA input, but my video card isn't capable of outputting 1080i. Test patterns on the high def channels at nght would indeed help. Stations used to broadcast test patterns after they went off the air, but infomercials put an end to that. Might capture the test pattern as an image and burn it to CD, use the Bravo D1's image viewing capabilities, and have it output in 1080i.

 

[Chad B]

That's interesting that your TV has VGA input. Mine does also (Mits VS-60803), but it seems to be less common on more recent models.
Yeah, the centering with computer video signals is definately questionable. I hooked my laptop up to my TV, which I had previously centered with an Accupel HD generator, and the image was shifted about 3" to the right. I was using a 960x540 60Hz progressive signal from the laptop (it won't actually do 1080i, but 540p is compatible). Oryan, I think you're right about the timing. I think HD refresh rate is actually supposed to be something like 59.94 Hz, so the 60 Hz might be a big part of the problem.
Tivo sends out an HD test pattern, but it's overscan is not accurate at face value. If your overscan is really around 4% on the sides it'll say it's something like 10%. Another calibrator spent alot of time and actually calculated the numbers on it, so it's possible to use his calculations with this test pattern to adjust your overscan.