An RPTV Tweak

[StarvingForHDTV]

I don't know how many of you have RPTV's.  I also don't know how many of those have surfaces which reflect light off of them.

Well I have a Pioneer RPTV.  It had this glassy type surface that would protect the screen from scratches or something.  It looks like plexi glass.  Well it was one of those things that even in a dimly lit room, you could see a reflection of yourself etc. in the TV when watching very dark scenes.

Someone on one of these threads pointed me to a link for I think it was the home theater spot website.  Well I forgot why I was supposed to go there, but I found some threads talking about removing the "glare" screen from Pioneer RPTVs.

I did this, and the results are remarkable.  I can now watch TV in a brightly lit room if I want.  Or even in full daylight.  No reflections at all.

I don't know if this would be wise to do for someone with kids in the house that want to draw with crayons on the tv.  Or for the other two people in the Milwaukee area that pull in Faux-DT and like to throw empty beer cans at the screen when watching their crappy picture quality.  For others, who see reflections on the tv, this is an excellent enhancement.  In my opinion.

Starving

[ReesR]

ummmmmm...so what is the fix?

[StarvingForHDTV]

The fix is to take the "plexi glass" off of the TV and put it down in the basemant where it should be.  Sorry if that wasn't clear.

The next layer behind the "plexi glass" is non-reflective.  I wish I would have done this the moment I bought the TV, but such is life.  

The process involved taking off the speaker grill, then taking out about ~10 screws which hold the screen in place.  At that point you can remove the three layers of screen material from the TV.  The outermost layer is the culprit, and needs to be removed from the stack.  This may not be the case with all RPTV's.  If yours has glare or reflection, it may be possible for you to eliminate the distraction like I did.

Starving

P.S.  How do I clean the mirror and the guns inside?  I think I read somewhere that I should use a special camera lens cloth or compressed air.  Kind of interesting seeing the insides of the TV either way.  Next up is service manual tweaking for me.

[Tom Snyder]

So what type of surface is left exposed? Is it solid, fabric or something else?

[Matt Heebner]

 www.hometheaterspot.com  has some of the best information regarding specific equipment manufacturers out there.
Anyways, when you take off the reflective protective, or "glare" screen, underneath is a somewhat fragile plastic lenticular screen. It has very fine vertical grooves, and is not at all reflective. The downside is that it is fragile, and the grooves collect dust after time. You have to be sorta careful when cleaning the lenticular screen. Use only a soft rag dipped into a bucket ofwater with maybe a drop of dish soap in it, then rinse with a clean rag and water. Finally use a lint-free rag to wipe dry...ONLY WIPING VERTICALLY!
My Mits has easy to remove and easy to put on protective screen, and it has come in handy watching football in the middle of a Sunday to be able to remove it. But it stays in place 99.99999% of the time because of my kids, and all protective screens have a degree of gray to them. I had my TV calibrated with it on (my calibrationist asked me) and he said that removing it would negatively affect my TV's greyscale after his calibration.
Check out the link, lots'o'information about all this stuff.

Matt

[This message has been edited by Matt Heebner (edited 10-30-2002).]

[Pat]

Mitsubishi's 65 inch HDTVs (at least) come with the protective "glare" screen off.  Mine has never been on.

A former RPTV came with it on, and I removed it with results that were astounding.  As Starving says, with it on, even in a darkened room, you can see faces, lamp shades, and much more.  In a daylight room, its nearly like a mirror.

MUCH better with it off.  Not all brands are easily removable, so be careful.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I'm getting ready to enter service modes on my TV to do some focusing, adjusting of overscan, service mode convergence, geometry adjustments, changing of vertical and horizontal positioning, etc.

I was wondering if anyone has a way to get a 1080i version of something like the AVIA test patterns for my TV?  Also I want to change the amount of red/green/blue in the high and low IRE's but I don't have a reference of what neutral gray looks like.  Does anyone have something like that?

On 22.1 or sometimes 22.3 they show the color bar pattern.  My yellow bar looks wrong there.  I assume I have to adjust the red/green/blue guns to correct that.  Does the yellow bar look correct to those which are ISF'd?  If anyone has had the calibrations.

Starving

[Pat]

Use HomeTheaterSpot for guidance, especially for Mitsubishi, but also for other brands.

Most service-mode tweaks are easily reversible, if you be sure to record your initial settings.  For a Mitsubishi, if you have the interface cable and software, you can download the settings to a PC.

But messing around with the gray scale without instruments is not recommended: you can get places where you can't get back.  I had trouble getting my gray scale back after having tried to refocus the blue gun's lens -- a manual operation.

The non-service-mode adjustments to hue, saturation, sharpness, contrast, and brightness should be done first, using Avia.  Lacking a proper signal for HDTV, I just "copied" my settings from DVD input to HDTV input.

The most impressive gains with the least risk are from lining the inside of the cabinet with black velvet (use the best you can find -- pretty expensive) or what is called Duvetyne (the cheapest acceptable results, but not as good as velvet).  (This would apply to any RPTV where you can readily gain access to the interior.)

Noticeable service-mode improvments can be had by turning off SVM and by eliminating red-push.  (Note that eliminating red-push should not alter your gray scale -- they're two different things.)

[This message has been edited by Pat (edited 10-31-2002).]

[StarvingForHDTV]

Thanks Pat,

I'm just going to skip adjusting the red/green/blue guns until I can figure out a way to do it properly.  Maybe I can rent some equipment or pay a calibrator for that part.

Focusing your blue gun messed with your gray scale?  I'll be as careful as I can I guess.  I did the Avia non-service mode adjustments already, a while back.  When I got the Sony HD200 for HD, the DVD settings didn't work out for me.  I adjusted them in user mode the best that I could without a test pattern 1080i source.  RGB and Component 1080i needed different settings for me than 480p component.  I'm sticking with component vs. RGB I think, so that will be the target I'm after in 1080i mode.

The inside of my Pioneer cabinet is painted black, though the paint job looks rather childish.  I might get some black velvet if I can find instructions with a search of Home Theater Spot.

I don't think my SVM has ever been on.  I could never create the condition with Avia.  I have not noticed red push.  The yellow being off on channel 22.1/22.3 has me concerned though.  I'm not going to try and fix that just yet.

Starving

[Matt Heebner]

As a former "tweaker" who spent many a hour with my Mits, and then had a professional calibrate also, I can not stress enough about writing previous setting down, and being VERY careful about what you are changing. For example, with my Mits if you were in a certain menu and you accidentally pushed a three or a four on the remote, it permanently disabled the HD input.
I did some minor tweaking of geometry, and overscan, etc., but manual focusing of guns, electostatic focusing, voltage changes, andgreyscale "cut and drive" are best left to the professionals.  And FYI, greyscale can only be properly done with a colorimeter (I think thats what it is), and changing greyscale affects all the guns color.
Anyways, happy tweaking, and just remember to be careful about what you are doing. THe cancel button is your friend!

Matt