Corecting the Color Temperature for the Sony KV34-XBR910

Recent reviews have praised the resolution and general picture quality of the
Sony 34XBR910, but some have commented on its color temperature being far from
6500 degrees Kelvin and for excessive red push.
Where I live, color analyzers are not available for rental and most of the
local dealers don't know what color temperature is.
With my current Sony, a 32XBR2, I was able to bring the color temperature
close to 6500K by adjusting each gun under the service menu, following the
advice of an experienced installer, who had replied to a message similar to
this one.
I would like to purchase a 34XBR910, but only if I can set it up correctly. I
am wondering therefore if anyone can please tell me what value to enter for
each gun under the service menu for the 34XBR910 to bring the color temperature
close to 6500K and reduce the red push
Thanks very much.
Sincerely,
Ron Kalil

Ron Kalil

"Ron Kalil" <>
<<Recent reviews have praised the resolution and general picture quality
of the Sony 34XBR910, but some have commented on its color temperature
being far from 6500 degrees Kelvin and for excessive red push. Where I
live, color analyzers are not available for rental and most of the local
dealers don't know what color temperature is. With my current Sony, a
32XBR2, I was able to bring the color temperature close to 6500K by
adjusting each gun under the service menu, following the advice of an
experienced installer, who had replied to a message similar to this one.
I would like to purchase a 34XBR910, but only if I can set it up
correctly. I am wondering therefore if anyone can please tell me what
value to enter for each gun under the service menu for the 34XBR910 to
bring the color temperature close to 6500K and reduce the red push.
Thanks very much. Sincerely, Ron Kalil>>


If only televisions were as easy to tweak as computer monitors. I can go
into the settings of my Matrox video card and adjust every conceivable
picture and color setting. Unfortunately, making these same adjustments
to a television can be very difficult.

Occasionally, there are posters to newsgroups who tell stories of how
they got into their TV's service mode, forgot to write down the original
settings and then proceed to totally screw up the picture. Then, they
ask for someone to post the typical, or default factory settings. At
this point, even the service menu for their particular TV will be of
little use. Unfortunately, the published factory settings often have
very little resemblance to the original settings of an individual TV.
There is no absolute settings-formula which will restore the original
picture or provide the ideal home-theater picture.

The ideal red-push reduction will never be obtained by using the same
settings on any of the Sony 34XBR910 models. True, the factory has
specified a list of default or typical settings. When adjusting the
picture, these settings are accurate in some geometric areas, but nearly
meaningless when adjusting color.

When I adjusted the red-push and overall color temperature of my JVC
set, I found that any reduction in the red created changes in the tint.
For example, when I took out some red, the green and blue started to
dominate. This was not as pronounced a change as adjusting the tint in
the user menu, but there are still effects.

Personally, I have found no need to purchase any test disks, since the
THX tests supplied with all of the recent Disney DVDs have all of the
necessary basics. As for color adjustments, I find that color is best
adjusted by using some of my favorite DVDs. Two titles which I used for
color adjustment are _The Ten Commandments_ and _Gigi_. But any
well-mastered, high bitrate Technicolor movie will do the job. (_Gigi_
is definitely not a reference-quality disk and is of interest only
because it has especially loud reds.)

Don't think that you can go into the service menu, adjust the color and
be done with it. If you're like me, you will be tweaking your set for
months to come until you get it exactly right.

Here are some typical Sony service menu color settings which may or may
not be present in your set:

SERVICE MODE ITEMS:

AXIS 0 Cleans up the red push & oranginess in the yellows
Y-DC 0 Improves BLACK background level retention
DCOL 0,1 Color Temperature - Select either 0 or 1 whichever
turns off the "blue tinted" whites.
AXPL 0 Cleans up Reds/Yellows
GDRV 18 (GAMP) Green Amp. - (upper level)
BDRV 14 (BAMP) Blue Amp. - (upper level)
GCUT 4 Green Cutoff - (lower level)
BCUT 1 Blue Cutoff - (lower level)
R-YR 15 Sets the amount of RED
R-YB 15 Sets the amount of RED
G-YR 11 Sets the amount of GREEN
G-YB 9 Sets the amount of GREEN (8 or 10 may be closer)
GAMP 18 0-31 Green Amp.
BAMP 14 0-31 Blue Amp.
GDRV 18 0-31 Green Driver
BDRV 14 0-31 Blue Driver
RCUT 15 Red Cutoff - (lower level)
GCUT 4 0-15 Green Cutoff - (lower level)
BCUT 1 0-15 Blue Cutoff - (lower level)
RDRV 21 Red Amp. - (upper level)
GDRV 18 Green Amp. - (upper level)
BDRV 14 Blue Amp. - (upper level)

Before going into the service menu, you might want to set all user
picture adjustments to the detent or middle range. Then you can set
brightness and contrast to reasonable levels in the service menu.

Then, find a scene in a DVD that has glaring reds, in women's dresses,
for example. My guess is that you would experiment with reducing the
values of R-YR, RCUT, RDRV and/or R-YB and see which combination tones
down the red until it stops blooming. Then, you will need to fix the
blue and green balance by focusing on faces until correct tint is
obtained. Obviously, this is going to take a lot of tinkering and a lot
of time.

And don't forget, there are always risks involved in entering the
service menu of any piece of equipment.

Check out the advice posted here:

http://members.accessus.net/~090/awh/sonyadj.html

Scot Gardner