Which to get: Akai CFT2790, Samsung TXL2791F, or Toshiba 27A41 (1 Viewer)

[Joel Ostrow]

Hi Folks.

Well, it appears at long last I can say I have bought a television set! The replacement arrived today, and it appears to be near perfect. Geometry again fine. The white text has only slight flicker/dancing sensation but far, far less than the other. Adjustments to same levels as first give superb picture. So all is a go!

Thanks to all, and if anyone figures out red push with any definitive answer let us all know!

 

[Dean DeMass]

OK, I have the same flashing problem. How do I get into the service menu on this TV? I want to adjust those three settings to see if it will fix my problem.

-Dean-

 

[Joel Ostrow]

1) Turn off the tv.

2) press mute->1->8->2->power

3) use channel down to get to video adjust 2

4) use the volume key to open video adjust 2

5) use the channel down keys to get to each of the 3 items

6) use the volume key to change the value in each

7) when done changing values, turn off the tv and turn it back on

You will have to go back to the regular menu to restore your custom picture settings, etc.

WRITE DOWN ALL INITIAL VALUES BEFORE CHANGING ANYTHING!!!

 

[Dean DeMass]

Joel,

Thanks for the info. I changed the settings and recalibrated with Video Essentials last night. I really didn't check out any DVDs to see if the flash is gone, I watched one segment form the NIN DVD and it seems OK. However, I did notice that the picture quality is even better than before since I took those three settings down to 0.

-Dean-

 

[Jeff Leeds]

Since when is Akai shipping anything to the US again? I'd think twice about buying a TV from a company that has bailed out of the US market once before...but they always made good stuff, I still have a 1979 tape deck of theirs that is soooo cool that I still own it and use it occasionally.

 

[Roel_S]

OK I just bought this TV from Tweeter. Thanks to all who posted comments on TV and for those who recommended Tweeter. Best Buy was advertising the TV for $403 but they didn't have any in 11 stores I called in my area so I poke around and found out that there was actually a Tweeter store near my place. Never heard of the store prior to coming to this forum .
Comments - I like everything I see in this TV. The picture is so great specially when I used the S video to hook up my digital cable.
The only concern I have is that when I play my DVD, the audio from the TV is still there. I have to turn the volume to 0 to watch DVD since I have the DVD Audio connected to my stereo. Any thoughts on how I should get around this? I have the Component Input connected to my DVD and the S video to my digital cable. The other A/V input is connected to my XBOX but I have to take it out every time I want to watch TV or DVD.
Love this tv!

 

[Dave Bennett]

I just set my color setting to 27 and adjusted the tint more to the green side to compensate for the red push. I don't notice a big problem at all, no bleeding or anything. I suppose you could mess around with the Red Drive and Red Cut settings in the service menu but I'm not sure exactly what those do.

 

[Alex J.]

Hello Everyone, I'm new to the forum!
Just wanted to thank you all for such great advice, esp. with the black flicker on the Samsung txl2791f. I entered into service mode and made the changes according to J. Ostrow. And it fixed the problem!!
You guys are great, look forward to reading and writing posts!

 

[Dave Bennett]

I noticed a rather odd thing tonight on my set. I have already applied the solution for the flash but tonight I noticed it for the first time. I was playing a PS2 game with the lights off and whenever the screen went dark I noticed a pulsing of varying black shades. When I turned the game off I noticed it was actually on the S-video input itself(even with no signal running to it). I'm thinking I might try reverting to my original values(which I wisely saved) to see if it goes away. I never really noticed it before I made those changes. Any ideas? I also hear a slight flickering sound that corresponds with the changes, if i put my ear close to the tv. Very bizarre indeed.

 

[Joel Ostrow]

That is bizarre ... especially the sound part. Did reverting back remove the problem?

I still see a flicker, but extremely mild after making the change in the service menu values. But I detect nothing abnormal in the sound.

Let us know what happens!

 

[Tony_La]

I just bought the Akai clone, and have experienced something odd: on about 3 separate occassions, 2 black rectangles will appear on the screen (one rectangle is about twice the size of the other). They go away when I press a button (i.e. volume). Any ideas?

 

[Chad Parks]

I have to keep this excellent thread going. I just picked this up, and I'm quite happy so far.

I was pretty damn SHOCKED how bad the video settings were by default, but with simple calibration they are much better.

Thanks to Joel for the service menu tweak. I noticed the black shift problem about 5 minutes after I had the set up and running, but I haven't seen it since...

 

[Jeff Reis]

I just got the Akai clone from Sams and am thrilled with it so far. I did notice the black adjustment issue several times...I got into the service mode and reduced all black stretch levels to 0 and have not seen it since, though I haven't watched a whole lot since making the change. Picture quality in anamorphic mode is simply superb, and I haven't noticed any red push yet. Agree that the out of box settings are absurd...get that sharpness down to 0, STAT! I'm watching this thing more often than my 60" (non HD) RPTV! This is a great set for a bedroom setup or small second HT. I also picked up that Daewoo 5800 DVD player and it is a very nice buy at $90. Never thought I'd be singing the praises of Akai or Daewoo stuff, but these are some damn nice budget products.

 

[Dave Bennett]

just an update on my issue, I ended up finding a workaround. I bumped the brightness up a few nothces (from around 37 to about 40) and I don't notice the flash anymore. I only noticed it while playing the Resident Evils games on my PS2 or Gamecube and not during DVD or TV viewing so it's not a big deal. Even when playing those games now I don't notice it so I'm fine with it now. To compensate for the slightly higher black levels, I turned the contrast down a notch or two. Anyhow, I'll keep you updated if anything changes. After having this set since February, my feelings have changed little. I still like it alot and while it's not without its quirks, they are much less bothersome than some of the problems I've heard about with the 27" Wegas.

 

[Tony_La]

Jeff - Does the Daewoo DVD play CDR/CDRW/DVDR? Thanks

 

[Jeff Reis]

Tony--Don't have any DVD-R's so I haven't tried that, but it has played everything I've thrown at it so far...vcd (standard and non), svcd, cheap and better cdr and cdrw, mp3 discs (only 8 char filenames, but it does display id3 tags). Nice player from what I've seen so far. It did break up into blocks on Jaws once, but a quick rew/ff fixed it. No other playback problems thus far. Hook it up to the Akai TV's component in, and it's a potent little combo.

 

[Tony_La]

Thanks Jeff.

A question regarding the Akai CFT2790 and progressive scan DVD players. Since the Akai is an analog TV, does that mean that it would not be able to benefit the effects of progressive scan DVD players?

Update on the black rectangle(s) problem with my set. It still happens occassionally, but I've noticed that it doesn't matter what channel it is, it happens depending on the shows. For instance - WWE Raw and Smackdown, the black rectangle(s) pop up and remain (it always happens with these 2 shows, but if I go to those channels during a commercial or another show, no problem). On another occassion, a black rectangle popped up during another program, but this one had some letters (I think they were Kh) in the upper left corner of the rectangle. It was there for only a few seconds than disappearred. So I'm guessing that it has to do with the brightness, flashing lights, and such that are coming from WWE shows, and the TV is trying to adjust for it some how? Any ideas?

 

[Jim_C]

Here's an update...

I browsed around the SPot and found that several other models have SVM settings in the service menu of 225. In my 2791, in the service menu, I have found that on the top of one of the menus, Video adjust 2, there is a option called "peaking" that has a value of 225. I turned it all the way down to zero and found that the auto contrast adjust that made it flicker disappeared or wasn't noticable anymore. Also turned off that video game melody that plays whenever you power on/off.

I followed this advice and the flicker stopped but I'm wondering if I should reset it and adjust via the black stretching values as many of you have. As I said, the flickering has stopped but I'm wondering if I've affected other settings by adjusting peaking instead of stretching.

Any thoughts?

 

[Joel Ostrow]

Good catch!

It's in Video Adjust 3 and my value is 255.

I'm wondering if this may fix another problem I see. There is a different flicker I notice, and wonder if anyone else has seen it. Any time there is an image akin to the following: someone wearing a black and white thin-striped garment, or any other situation in which there are thin stripes in the black/dark gray and white alternating arrangement, it gives me a headacke to look at. It's like the blacks and whites in that situation jump around crazily.

Perhaps this will solve that problem? I'm not sure the "peaking" and "black stretch" items are an either-or thing. I'll report if I find anything significant.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Joel,

I've noticed that but if it's what I'm thinking of it's inherent with an interlaced TV. Striped garments(especially black and white) don't look right on any interlaced TV. I'm not sure why but it's something to do with interlacing. If that's what you're seeing then don't worry about it. If it's something else, I can't say I've noticed it on my 2791. I'm gonna try adjusting that peaking value to see what it does.