Problem with my Sony KP57WS500 TV! (1 Viewer)

[Joe Tilley]

Rain, I'm not sure what the Y-DC may be labeled as on yours but I have been trying to find out as I will be getting the 57" WS500 in a couple of weeks. As for the other settings they should be in the regular tv menu, but I'm not completely sure how many of them are there on the 500.
As soon as I can find anything else out I'll give you a shout if you would like. It's been hard to get online for anything lately cause my work hours have been crazy & I had so much crap around to do around the house.
I'll keep you informed if I figure anything else out

 

[Rain]

As for the other settings they should be in the regular tv menu...

Nope, not on my set.
_________________________________

So the service tech. was back yesterday morning. He played around with the guns for about a half hour before finally convincing himself that I am not full of shit and the problem is actually persisting.

I asked him what the problem was and how he was going to fix it. He said he has no clue at all and will be contacting Sony for directions.

 

[Brendan B]

Just joined this group and they do have a lot of sources on tweaks and everything imaginable that you would want to do to your TV.

The only annoying thing is that this is also a newsgroup, so expect a LOT of emails in your box.

Cheers.

 

[Rain]

Well that Yahoo Group denied my request for membership. No idea why as none of the "possible reasons" given apply.
:frowning:
If anyone would care to post any of the "tips" here, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[James Brown]

Is this legal? :frowning:
Am I going to be banned for this???
KP-xxWS500 TWEAKS
Drafted November 19, 2002
By Rob Williamson
I have prepared the following guide to aid those who own the WS500 series Sony Rear Projection Television (RPTV). Yes, they are known for being great out of the box (OTB), but there is great potential for these sets. The following tweaks should aid you in achieving a more focused, soft, film-like picture with true colors.
I personally have performed the tweaks mentioned herein with great results. My original thoughts on set were the grainy, weak black levels, and significant enhancement artifacts. After applying these tweaks, my set now shows great true detail, deep blacks, great colors and a more soft (non enhanced) look. Give yourself a week to get used to the picture being soft. Also, even when the service menu, focusing and convergence tweaks are done, the final look of the set will rest heavily upon the video menu calibration performed with a calibration disc such as ‘AVIA Guide to Home Theater’ or comparable DVD.
I must give kudos to the fellow moderators and members of the Yahoo Group ‘sonhs10’. Without them I would have not been able to do anything but stare at the picture Sony intended. Ryan Dinan has put together a ‘Tips and Tweaks for the Sony xxHS10’ article that you should read before doing any of the tweaks discussed here. This file can be found in the Files/Improvements section of the Yahoo Group sonyhs10 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonyhs10. Read it and read it well…this guy knows his stuff. Thank you Ryan!
Anything in the guide that is in italic font is directly from Ryan’s Guide. Any text in regular font is my own and has been added or placed instead of his to make them applicable to the WS500 series.
Be sure that you’ve had your set on for at least a half hour before attempting any of these tweaks. Also make sure you have the service manual for your set handy (as a reference). These manuals can be purchased through Sony.
Disclaimer
Please be advised that there is no representation of the accuracy of any of the information presented herein relative to the Sony Kp-xxWS500 series RPTV maintenance or modification and that the material is presented for information purposes only. In no case will I be held liable for injury or damage (consequential or otherwise) resulting from or arising out of alterations you make to your television.
Opening your television exposes high voltage components that are very hazardous. DO NOT OPEN YOUR SET. The reader should recognize that opening your television could potentially be dangerous, resulting in injury or death, and attempting any alterations to you television outside of the user menu can severely damage or render useless your set. You are encouraged to seek qualified assistance before undertaking any of the procedures outlined herein, and are here by notified that, should you decide to proceed, you do so at your own risk.
Always…always write down the original service menu values before proceeding with changes! If you don’t understand a tweak, don’t do it. Make sure you fully understand what it is you are doing and only perform the tweaks you feel comfortable with.
1.0KEEP IT SIMPLE
Start your tweaking by changing your picture setting to Movie or Pro. I personally use Movie, but either one will give you a much improved picture. Also, change your color temperature to warm. The Warm setting is closest to the NTSC standard of 6,500 degrees Kelvin and also delivers the most accurate color reproduction. Do not use Vivid or Standard for your picture setting.
If you would rather not do any of the mentioned tweaks outlined below, I would suggest the Use of a video calibration DVD at this point. I use “AVIA – Guide to Home Theater” but Video Essentials is also a very good calibration DVD.
2.0SERVICE MENU TWEAKS
The Service Menu
You enter the service menu by using the remote. Press DISPLAY, 5, VOL+, POWER in rapid succession. Once the screen appears, you should notice green letters and numbers at the top of the screen. Your remote acts as a navigation tool to allow you to select and change values. Keys 1 and 4 change the ITEM, keys 2 and 5 change the category, and keys 3 and 6 change the value. MUTE enters the write function, and ENTER executes it. Power exits the service menu. Keep in mind that while in the convergence mode, the keys have different functions, which we’ll get to in due time. The service manual will also have this information.
1.1Center Your IMAGE
In order to get the best convergence/geometry possible, it is imperative that you have your image and convergence grid centered. First, make sure your IMAGE is centered. Use an overscan pattern from VE or AVIA to determine this. Use masking tape and tape measure to mark the center points of each side of your screen, and then use the VPOS (default value of 17) and HPOS (default value of 25) parameters to adjust left, right, up, and down. Center the pattern's centerpoint cross to the physical centerpoints marked on your screen. Write your changes to memory when you are satisfied by pressing MUTE then ENTER. Please note that changes to the VPOS and HPOS values should be confined to the very low single digit range. If more changes are required, then different techniques are needed. I can only refer you to a document outlining the procedure for physical raster centering. This document should be posted in the files section of the Yahoo group ‘sonyhs10’ in the near future.
1.2Center Your CONVERGENCE GRID
This is very important, and should only be moved after you have your image centered. The convergence grid can be moved horizontally and vertically without actually moving the image. This is done by adjusting a parameter in the PJE section called "TPHP" (test pattern horizontal phase) and” TPVP” (test pattern vertical phase). Please note that changes to the TPHP and TPVP values should be confined to the very low single digit range. If more changes are required, then different techniques are needed. I can only refer you to a document outlining the procedure for physical raster centering. This document should be posted in the files section of the Yahoo group ‘sonyhs10’ in the near future.
Put up a test pattern that shows a center point (overscan or anamorphic pattern will work). Go into the PJE section and move to the TPHP parameter (default value of 069). If you don't see a crosshair in the center of your screen, press 6. You'll want to have both the convergence grid (which you'll be adjusting) and the test pattern displayed simultaneously. Do this by pressing 9 until you have both displayed (it will cycle through crosshatch w/black, crosshatch w/image, dots w/black, and dots w/image - you’ll want the crosshatch w/image.
Now, you'll see allot of gridlines on the screen at once. Press the joystick button (left or right) to move the internal grid left or right, aligning it with the external pattern. Get this as close as you can - It's a relatively coarse adjustment, so you may not be able to get it exact.
Now go to the TPVP parameter (default value of 55) and press the joystick button (up or down) to move the internal grid up or down. I noticed that pressing the joystick up, made the grid go down and vice versa. Once you are satisfied, save your changes to memory (Mute Enter).
Now for some tweaks that will alter the look of your set. The WS500 series, as with many Sony RPTV’s, have a grainy tendency, over emphasize red and apply many supposed edge enhancing features. The following service menu changes will help you correct these issues and achieve a more true and soft picture.
Most of these need to be set for each picture mode (Vivid, Standard, Movie, and Pro) and some depend also on input type/display format (V/UHF/Composite, Component 480i, Component 480p, and Component 1080i).
Keep in mind that if you are in Pro or Movie mode, some of the items will not require changing.
1.3Disable Scan Velocity Modulation
The definition of Scan Velocity Modulation from the sonyhs10 Yahoo group:
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“SVM is one of the many tricks manufacturers use to get more light out of a picture tube, at the cost of real picture detail. It changes the speed or velocity of the beam as it is scanned from the left to the right side of the picture. In the process, it distorts real picture detail, causing dark areas of the picture on light backgrounds to be reproduced much larger than normal and light areas on dark backgrounds to be reproduced much smaller than normal. When the beam spends more time "writing" light areas, the phosphors receive more energy and produce more light output. The fact that this will contribute to phosphor blooming, as well as detail distortion seems to be lost on a number of manufacturers calling it a "feature".
The presence or absence of SVM can be easily detected by displaying the needle pulse test pattern. In it the width of the white line, on the black background, and black line, on the white background, are the same. In a set with SVM, the width of the black line will be much larger than the white line.
For optimum picture performance you should always turn SVM off.
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Category:2150P-3
Item:UVML=> 0 (disable Scan Velocity Modulation)
1.4Red Push
Most RPTV’s (including the WS500) over emphasize red, even after adjusting color (saturation) and hue (tint) in the Video service menu. Use the ‘Color Decoder Check’ video test pattern on the AVIA DVD to check your level of read push. I found my set was pushing 10% - 15% more red than it should. This is quite common. The following tweak should reduce the red push to within ± 5%.
Category:2150P-4
AXIS=> 1 (minimize red push)
1.5Improve the Soft-Look
The following teaks were originally posted in sonyhs10 Yahoo group (thanks Eric) for the HW40 series. These tweaks also apply to the WS500 series, and worked very well for me in giving the picture a soft look.
Category:2150P-3
Item:SHF0=> 1 (select highest f0 frequency for sharpness controls)
Item:SHOF => 0 (offset for USHP)
Item:F1LV => 0 (disable high frequency sharpness)
Item:CDSP=> 0 (disable sharpness increase in areas of high color saturation)
Item:LTLV=> 0 (disable edge enhancement, Luminance Transient Improvement [LTI])
Item:CTLV=> 0 (disable edge enhancement, Chrominance Transient Improvement [CTI])
Category:2150P-4
Item:UDCL=> 0 (disable dynamic color)
Item:UBLK=> 0 (select neutral base data)
ItemCTR => 1 (100% Y system DC transmission ratio)
ItemPIC=> 0 (disable dynamic picture / black expansion)
Due to the flat frequency response obtained with the above settings you may find the resulting picture "too soft". I found that playing a good clean source (DVD through component inputs) and pausing the picture on a well-detailed scene was an excellent way to see the instant improvement of each tweak as it was applied. You may decide some of the tweaks work to your liking, and some may not. Apply the ones you feel improve your picture.
2.0ELECTROSTATIC FOCUS
This is a very important tweak to perform. I thought my convergence was fine when viewing the 100 IRE Crosshatch pattern on the AVIA DVD. The lines were white with no blue, green or red edges visible to my eye. After adjusting the electrostatic focus, the 100 IRE
Crosshatch looked brutal. Way out of convergence! They Crosshatch only looked white before because the individual red, blue and green lines were so out of focus they created a blurred white line.
This procedure requires you to take the front speaker grill off the set. This is accomplished by popping two screw caps near the bottom of the front grill, one at either side (photo 1). I used a small flat head screwdriver to pop the cap off (photo 2). You will need a Philips screwdriver to take the screws out.
Photo: 1Photo: 2
To remove the grill, carefully pull the bottom out slightly towards you, then grab the sides of the grill towards near the top and gently push it towards the set and pull it in a downward motion. You will see the clips that hold the grill in at the top and why you should remove it this way. If you pull straight out it won’t come, it fit does, you’ll have broken the clips.
The speaker grill, front panel control area and Video 2 front jacks are all one assembly. As such, there are wires running form the grill to the set. Once you have the grill loose, pull it away from the TV only enough to reach in and release the twist ties holding the wires against the set. This will give you more freedom with the grill allowing you to lay it down in from of the set (photo 3). You could unplug the wires, but as the set is on and it really isn’t necessary, I would leave them alone. I suggest laying two pillows on the floor, either side of the grill to prop it up off the floor. Reason being is the remote control doesn’t function that well if the grill is flat upon the floor. The pillows will also keep the wires from being taught.
Now remove the center panel, which is held on by four screws as shown below. Behind this is the focus block (photo: 4). The WS500 has the FOCUS pots on TOP and SCREEN pots on the BOTTOM. As Ryan says, you do not even want to accidentally touch the screen pots! They are for adjusting grayscale, obviously not what we are doing here. The focus pots are arranged from left to right (looking at the set), Blue, Green, Red.
Photo: 3Photo: 4
Photo: 5
Feed the TV a progressive signal (either turn your DVD player on with Progressive scan enabled, or simply switch to DRC mode Progressive). Now lower your picture (contrast) setting to 0. This will enable you to easily see the scan lines.
Put up the 100 IRE Crosshatch pattern on the AVIA DVD (if you don’t have the AVIA or Video Essentials disc, the last paragraph of this section outlines an alternative method). Once the test pattern is up on your screen, I would suggest pressing pause on your DVD player because AVIA will proceed to the next chapter (test screen) after about 30 seconds or so. I suggest the 100 IRE Crosshatch because of the ease of visibility of the thick hatch lines as compared to the converging bracket or the internal crosshatch in the PJE category.
In the service menu go to the Category 2150P-2, item RGBS. The range of values for this item is 0-7 (The values are outlined below for reference). The values allow you to selectively turn the CRT guns on or off. Change the value to 2 (Green CRT Only). Now while looking at the crosshatch lines themselves, turn the green focus pot until you see the best focus or definite scan lines. I would suggest turning the pot in a rocking fashion (back and forth) so you can train your eye to look for the scan lines. I found looking at the vertical line, directly below the center point of the grid was the easiest (seeing as how it is right in front of your nose while turning the pot.
Category 2150P-2, Item RGBS, Default 7. Options of 0-7 are available as follows:
0 = Green OFF, Red OFF, Blue OFF (Black Screen – don’t panic)
1 = Blue ON, Green OFF, Red OFF
2 = Green ON, Blue OFF, Red OFF Use to check/converge Green CRT.
3 = Green ON, Blue ON, Red OFF (Cyan) Use to converge Blue CRT to Green CRT.
4 = Red ON, Green OFF, Blue OFF
5 = Red ON, Blue ON, Green OFF (Magenta)
6 = Green ON, Red ON, Blue OFF (Yellow) Use to converge Red CRT to Green CRT.
7 = Green ON, Red ON, Blue ON
Once you have found the optimum focus point for green, switch to the Red CRT (RGBS value of 4). Then do the same for the Blue CRT (RGBS value of 1). Blue is more difficult, but do as best as you can. This is why I suggest doing the green and red first, because your eye needs to be trained for what to look for. Your electrostatic focus is now almost done. The electrostatic focus can only be as good as the optical focus will allow it. So, now the optical focus must be done. Before we start it, switch back to the Green CRT (RGBS value of 2).
An alternate to using the AVIA DVD 100 IRE Crosshatch while focusing would be would be to simply go to the PJE category in the service menu and hit 9 to bring up a colored bracket. Pressing 3 will cycle the bracket through the colors (Red, Green, and Blue). Press 6 until you have a black background with your colored bracket. You can perform the electrostatic focus by looking at the vertical outside lines of the bracket. You won’t have to disable any CRTs, making the job easier. I personally found it difficult to discern the scan lines in the bracket as compared to the AVIA 100 IRE Crosshatch pattern….but each to his own, see what works for you. For the mechanical (optical) focus in the next section, you may want to press 6 in the PJE category until the internal grid on a black background is displayed, I can’t say for sure, but I think the bracket would be difficult to focus being so thin and small, especially when trying to focus blue.
3.0MECHANICAL (OPTICAL) FOCUS
The mechanical or optical focus requires the back of the set to be removed. The pegboard like material at the rear of the set has about 14 screws holding it on. Remove the screws and gently lift the panel up and away from the set. You will see your green CRT shining by itself (because you changed RGBS value to 2 in the previous step). If your first reaction is disbelief that your lenses are dirty, don’t worry, mine were too (photo 7) and my set is less than a month old…we’ll get to it! You have to slide the piece of angled board up and out of its slot to allow for easy access to the CRTs (photo 6).
Photo: 6Photo: 7
ON the side of the CRT assembly you will see a wing nut. This wing nut must be loosened in order to turn the CRT into focus. While turning the CRT (back and forth), look at the inside of the screen and watch as the 100 IRE Crosshatch or internal convergence grid (if you don’t have AVIA DVD) goes in and out of focus (train your eye). You will need the room to be dark. I did it a night, with no lights on, the CRT puts off enough light for you to see around the back of the set. You could try putting a blanket over the front of the set too (if the room is not dark enough), but I can’t say how well that will work. I first tried focusing by looking at the inside of the screen itself. I then tried Ryan’s method of taping (with premium grade painter tape) a piece of plain white paper to the center of the inside (fresnel) screen, and it worked well too. I think the paper created more contrast for the crosshatch and made it a little easier to see. See what works best for you.
Once you have the green CRT as good as you think you can get it, tighten the wing nut to keep it that way. I found my wing nuts were somewhat loose to start with, but probably for a reason, so don’t over tighten them, be gentle. After all, your set shouldn’t get banged around too much in your living room, so how tight do they have to be? Now go around to the front of the TV and look at your green crosshatch. I would suggest tweaking the green focus pot a bit more, as you may be able to improve the electrostatic focus now that the optical focus is improved. Once your satisfied, switch the RGBS value to 4 (Red CRT Only) and perform the same operation of optical focusing followed by tweaking of the electrostatic focus. Switch the RGBS value to 1 (Blue CRT Only) and perform the same operation of optical focusing followed by tweaking of the electrostatic focus. You may find that once that the optical focus has been done on the blue CRT, you are able to see the scan lines more easily during tweaking of the electrostatic focus.
Switch the RGBS value back to 7 and turn your picture (contrast) setting back to your usual viewing setting (usually in the 20 – 25% range).
4.0CLEAN YOUR CRTS
Since you have your CRT’s exposed, now is the perfect time to clean them. Since CRT’s are high-voltage, they ionize the air around them. This makes them very good dust-magnets. Which is unfortunate, because dust can play a huge role in what you ultimately see as a final image. So, what should you use to clean the lenses? Mr. Bob suggests that you use plain ol’ paper towels. Newspaper will also work. Crumple a piece, and moisten it lightly with water – very lightly - and gently, wipe towards you “lifting” the dust off the lens. You should never use Windex, or any other ammonia-based cleaner. These can strip the coatings off. Also, try not to use Kleenex, as allot of them have some kind of lotion in them, which will actually smear on the lens. Use the same material for the mirror and the fresnel lens, using extreme caution. The mirror and the Fresnel lens can easily be scratched (the fresnel lens is the innermost screen in the “sandwich”, followed by the lenticular, and then the glare screen).
Under normal use, cleaning should be done at least once a year or more, depending on your environment. The funny thing about dust is that it’s so gradual, you really don’t notice the effects until you clean it off and see the “refreshed” picture.
I only cleaned the CRTs, and I used a slightly moist soft cloth. The heat off the CRTs evaporated any moisture very quickly during wiping. The towards you and up motion worked the best for me!
5.0MANUAL CONVERGENCE
How to Enter the Convergence Mode
Once you’re in the service menu, you need to access the convergence mode. Press the 2 or 5 key until you see PJE in white blocky letters (you should be able to get there quickly by pressing 5 once or twice). Now press 9 on the remote. You will see a bracket appear in the middle of the screen. Press 6 and cycle through the different types of patterns until you get a white grid on a black background.
Controls
Once in the convergence mode (activated by pressing 9 in the PJE section), the buttons on the remote work differently. Keys 1 and 4 move the cursor around on the grid (convergence points) in a spiraling fashion. The joystick on the remote will adjust the position of the current color at that grid point. Key 3 cycles between red, green, and blue adjustments.
You may also depress the joystick, which will allow you to move the bracket freely around the grid. Press it again and you are back to being able to adjust the position of the current color at that grid point. Handy if you are just touching up an area and don’t want to spiral through all the pointsJ.
How to Converge the CRT’s
It’s much easier to converge the set if you can see what you’re converging. Green should be the color to converge to. The geometry (straightness of the grid) of the green CRT should be good enough – If you notice that some lines are definitely out of whack, you should straighten them.
We need to disable the red and blue CRTs. Press 2 until you get to the 2150P-2 Category. Cycle through the items until you get to RGBS. Change the value to 2 (Green CRT Only).
Move back to the PJE category by pressing 5. You should be back at the grid with a green bracket – If you don’t see one, press 3 until you do (the bracket may have been set on red or blue, which have been turned off). Navigate around the grid, correcting any obvious errors. Once you’re satisfied, turn the red CRT back on (RGBS value of 6, Red and Green CRTs on), and return to the grid. Press 3 until the crosshair is red. Now, align the red to the green, getting as close as you can. By the way, not all grid points are selectable. Keep in mind that the edges of the screen will tend to be more out of focus, and harder to get “tight”. Get it as close as you can. You also may notice that some points affect the position of other, nearby points. You’ll get the feel for it after a short period of time. Now, do the same for blue, making sure to turn off red (RGBS value of 3, Blue and Green CRTs on). When you’re all done, turn all the CRT’s back on (RGBS value of 7, All CRTs on), and look to see the results. Touch up where it is needed (if needed at all).
I found the 100 IRE Crosshatch image really showed areas that still needed convergence. I would cycle within the PJE category (pressing 6) between the convergence grid (to fix errors) and the 100 IRE Crosshatch image (to view areas with convergence problems).
Save your convergence to memory by pressing MUTE followed by ENTER.
Remember, you need to do this for each mode you use – This doesn’t mean for each input. It applies to 4:3 mode, 16:9 mode, and 1080i 16:9 mode (even though 1080i is a 16:9 mode, it requires its own convergence due to the higher scan-rate). Each mode is separate, and is saved separate, however, each one does tend to affect the other slightly.
Try not to use the Flash Focus. I know it’s very easy to use, and they put it right there on the front of the set, so it basically begs to get pressed. But realize that pressing FF will rely on the sensors to converge your set – It will pretty much re-do all your hard work. It may get close, but it will never be as good as a service mode convergence.
Now that your convergence is done, you should re-register your new convergence to Flash Focus (FF). Ryan says below don’t use Flash Focus, and I agree. However, if you do or someone else does, it shouldn’t require nearly as much touching up if the new convergence is re-registered to Flash Focus. This is simple to do…while in the PJE category, press the Flash Focus button to initiate a re-registration process to the system. If the operation fails (I’ve never had this happen), press 0, followed by enter to restore the convergence settings you last saved. You’ll need to investigate why it did not work. In the PJE category, change to item ERR and it should read a value other than 000 if your attempt at re-registering FF didn’t work. If our attempt at re-registering did work, it should read a value of 000. Typically, reasons why re-registering FF won’t work are due to overscan being reduced too much but there are other reasons too. Regardless, while you are investigating just don’t press FF and you’ll be fine.
I have read numerous forums regarding re-registering flash focus. Most say only re-register flash focus in FULL MODE. This is what I did. I only watch TV in FULL MODE anyway, so it worked well. I have read many people having troubles with other modes if they re-register flash focus in WIDE ZOOM mode so I can only say, read forums and ask questions if you do use you set in other modes before you re-register you flash focus in another mode besides FULL.
6.0BASIC VIDEO CALIBRATION
I think the last visual tweak should be one of these image calibration discs. My reasoning is this: You’ve just done cleaning, focusing, and converging, which basically changes the ‘nature’ of the set. It’s now primed for these “soft” tweaks.
If nothing else, a DVD like Pearl Harbor, Star Wars II or many others out there have a THX optimize feature (usually under special features of the DVD) that will help you with brightness, contrast, colors etc. Its not AVIA or VE, but it’s better than nothing.
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If you have any questions of comments about this guide feel free to email me at [email protected] Also, a great place to ask questions in the Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonyhs10 ************************************************** ****************************
DISCLAIMER FROM THE SONY HDTV TIPS AND HINTS YAHOO EGROUP!
By becoming a member of the group, you agree to hold Sony, Yahoo, its sponsors, members, and me harmless against damage you cause. We do not guarantee any link, file or procedure that is suggested and anyone who performs these adjustments agrees to accept total responsibility for any damage that may result.
Changing settings in the Service Menu can cause a lose of your picture and it may not come back. Sony may void your warranty if you change the Service Menu settings. Always write down all of the default settings before you change anything!
DO NOT OPEN YOUR SET! Working inside the TV could render your unit unusable and possibly KILL YOU.

 

[Rain]

Thanks.
I've managed to get the membership request accepted though.

 

[Joe Tilley]

James, Thanks for the post & the link. I have had a chance to play around with the menus on the 500 at work, in fact most of the Sony sets we sell & they are all completely different from my set & what tweaks I have found so far.
I guess now I will be off to ya-hoo to see how much more I can learn