My Geometry Grid Template

[Ron-P]

My new Mitsubishi 46" 16:9 had some "speed bumps" about 1/3 up from the bottom and 1/3 down from the top. I would notice these during certain scenes in movies, mainly when the camera was panning up or down a mountain or big object. No one else noticed it, but it bugged me. I went into the 64-user convergence grid and measured off some of the grid sectors and sure enough these areas had compressed sectors horziontally across the entire TV. So with some help from the guys over at the SPot, I built the following geometry grid template:








I used a piece of plexy glass, cut it to fit the screen size, took some measurements, did some calcs and drew the grid on the plexy-glass with a fine point black marker. I then placed my grid on the TV screen and taped it into place. I then went into the service menu to the fine green grid (this controls the actual grid points of the TV) and moved the points to match my grid. I then saved the new grid as the factory default. It is amazing how many points were even just a little off besides my two bad areas. The grid template worked wonders for my picture.

I also turned off SVM, did an electrical focus (this was also a substantial change in picture quality) and then redid the 64-point user convergence.

All I can say is from 6 weeks ago out of the box to now, after some tweaking, this TV is absolutey beautiful.

The 3 tweaks above, IMO, were just as important as calibrating with AVIA.


Peace Out~:D

[Micah Cohen]

This is amazing stuff, Ron.

I see this kind of thing all over the HTF and hear people talk about doing it, but I'm terrified to even fiddle with my TV's settings. I know that I would benefit from a better focus (is it "out of focus"? I don't know, but I feel like...), but how do I focus my RPTV?! I've read all sorts of stuff about tweaking my Tosh but I'm afraid to do it.

Couldn't I get someone to come and do it for me? A "calibrator"? What do you know?

MC

[RuSsMaN]

I'm too scared I'll end up buying a new TV if I was to start REALLY jackin with it. Guess I will have to try and see what happens.


NICE WORK Ron, VERY impressive, and imformative....

Cheers,
Russ

[Ron-P]

Thanks guys:)

It's fun, you don't know the adrenalin rush your missing when your just about to make a change in your TVs service menu;)

Actually, it's really not that bad. It is worth doing. My picture quality has improved so much by doing these tweaks.

Micah, you can hire an ISF claibrationist to come out and spend upwards of 5 hours on your TV doing eveyrthing imaginable. Over at the HTF in the TV section they have an icon that will search for an ISF tech in your area. The bad thing, it's expensive, about 5-6 hundred bones.


Peace Out~:D

[Micah Cohen]

Yeah, $600 is just too much. I'm obsessive, but not when it costs $600.

This is a site that I've been reading:
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/usefu...hiba_tips.html

I know you (Ron) don't have the Tosh, but there might be more info deeper in this site.

This another one:
http://www.bus.ucf.edu/cwhite/theater/ToshibaTips.htm

A dizzying amount of info about tweaking your RPTV. I'm just too scared.

MC

[Ron-P]

C'mon Micah, you don't know what you are missing.

As long as you follow the instructions, you cannot screw up. But, if you do hit the wrong button, just hit cancel and everything will reset back to factory default.

Thanks for the links. I've checked out keohi before, good stuff, but the Spot is a bit better. I'll check out the other.


Peace Out~:D

[wangotango68]

my sony has a one botton "flash focus" it goes thru the 3 tubes and then reset's the picture.

scott

[jeffeb3]

Hitachi has a "magic focus" but it takes like four lifetimes to do it, assumming 1 lifetime = 1 minute.

[CHRIS]

I kow what you mean about the rush. When I had my XBR-250 in my bedroom system I went into the service menu, to fix the geometry. I had the ISF guy cme and do the rest. The rush was like a great rollercoaster and the best horror movie combined. Down here in Florida, the guy who does ISF charges $100 to come here from Tampa and $50 a half hour forworking. I'm getting my XBR-450 and Pioneer PRO-710HD done in 3 weeks. Can't wait for them to be done. The difference is like night and day when ISF does them for you.
Chris

[polkster13]

Hey Ron,

That tweak is awesome! I love what you did with the plexi-glass. What a great idea. It sure beats "eye-balling" it.

I had an ISF calibration done to my Sony 36" XBR400 for $125.00 and it was worth every penny. The ISF technician has equipment that I can neither afford nor want to learn how to use to calibrate my set (like setting the grey scale) but there are still a lot of things that a user can do using AVIA or VE to get better results from their TV. Actually, the technician used VE for quite a bit of the calibration he did. I just didn't have the scope to do the gray scale and color temps.

If you have a RPTV, then Ron's idea will be a great help to others who want to try and get the geometery just right on their set.

Thanks again, Ron.

[Ron-P]

Thanks Polkster13

I tried the eye-ball alignment, no way. The tempalte worked like a charm.


Peace Out~:D

[Lee Bailey]

Originally posted by wangotango68
my sony has a one botton "flash focus" it goes thru the 3 tubes and then reset's the picture.

scott

I too have a Sony RPTV (KP53V80), the flash focus is great, but it does not make sure all the lines are straight. I bought the service manual, which by the way, you can buy the service manuals from Sony for any of their products, and went through the convergence procedure. The top right area of the screen would always bend upwards until I went through the convergence. Now I'm tempted to build that grid like Ron did to get a much better alignment.

The Bailey Home Theatre in our Living Room