XS955: Disabling red push via user menu?

[Katamari Damacy]

This is my first post here, so forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong area or come off sounding like a noob...

Anyway, I plan to purchase a Sony 30XS955 soon, and in anticipation of my purchase, I've downloaded the owner's manual through SonyStyle.com. The manual lists a "color axis" option under the advanced picture settings. According to the manual, you can set the color axis to "monitor" to de-emphasize red tones.

Now for my question, for those of you who own a set in the XS955 line: Does this feature essentially disable red push, or at least bring it to an acceptable level, or will I still need to access the service menu to take care of it?

[FlipFantastic]

it got rid of the red push on my XBR960, and they are essentially the same TV so i would say yes.

I havent played with the colors at all in the service menuand the TV looks good to me.

Palette setting: Standard
Color Temp: Neutral
Setting you mentioned: Monitor

Looks great.

[Dearth]

I'm sure it will make it much better but I don't think there is a TV out there that out of the box has perfect color balance. In the service menu you can really adjust the red, green and blue using something like DVE and the colored filters and test patterns they provide.

It just depends how good is good enough I suppose :)

[crg]

I have a 34xs955 and also have the color axis set to monitor.

I have all of the video setting inputs set to the following based on using Avia DVD on the video 5 input.
- Mode = Pro
- Picture = 18
- Brightness = 34
- Color = 35
- Hue = 0
- Sharpness = 28
- Color Temp = Neutral
- DRC = cinemotion
- ClearEdge = off
- Color Axis = monitor
I have not played with any Service Menu settings.

Red push seems to be under control and I am satisfied with the color renditions. I also am satisfied with the quality of the Directv feed via svideo input, but while watching OTA HD programs (Without A Trace, West Wing, et al), the picture is stunning but seem a little dark. I need to figure out a way to get test patterns via antenna input. It may be that the contrast and/or brightness settings need to be set differently for the antenna input.

Any other xs955 & 420 owners care to share their video settings?

[Katamari Damacy]

Thanks for the replies. Really looking forward to this set, especially for gaming!

[UMDMatt]

Originally posted by crg
I have a 34xs955 and also have the color axis set to monitor.

I have all of the video setting inputs set to the following based on using Avia DVD on the video 5 input.
- Mode = Pro
- Picture = 18
- Brightness = 34
- Color = 35
- Hue = 0
- Sharpness = 28
- Color Temp = Neutral
- DRC = cinemotion
- ClearEdge = off
- Color Axis = monitor
I have not played with any Service Menu settings.

Any other xs955 & 420 owners care to share their video settings?

I'm surprised your Avia calibration yielded such a low setting on the picture control. I have yet to use Avia or DVE but even with my picture set in the upper twenties I find the image to be extremely black but at the expense of detail. I will report my setting once I get DVE, perhaps I just need a better balance between contrast and brightness.

I've considered actually changing the picture settings in my DVD player as well. I know most people will say it's better to change the TVs settings but my player has fairly flexible controls for picture, brightness, color, and hue. So I haven't ruled out doing some tweaking there as well.

To the original poster: red push is not a major problem in my experience. The only service menu change that I may want to do is fixing a minor convergence problem on the far right side of the screen.

Equipment: Sony progressive five disc (year or two old) to 34XS955

[crg]

I'm surprised your Avia calibration yielded such a low setting on the picture control. I have yet to use Avia or DVE but even with my picture set in the upper twenties I find the image to be extremely black but at the expense of detail. I will report my setting once I get DVE, perhaps I just need a better balance between contrast and brightness.

UMDMatt,
I picked up a new DVD player this past weekend (Sony ns975). Installed it via component inputs, used Avia to check my levels again and this time the picture and brightness settings were quite different.
picture = 30
brightness = 42
sharpness = 22

I would not have expected such a big difference when I used my old dvd player (Sony 7700). Maybe I should have since the old player was not progressive scan? The new settings certainly have alleviated my observations of a dark picture on hd content.

[Waterbug]

^^^
interesting...

could it be because your old Sony 7700 white level is too hot, clipping on white level (passes 100 IRE)...such as 110 IRE or higher instead of 100 iRE (shade 235)?

[CrocHunter]

I have the 34" 34hs420 model, and have mine ISF calibrated to my liking so.

Sonys don't use numbers in there picture controls so i'll try and show you mine the best i can for the user picture controls.The service menu settings i don't know since the tech did it for me and it helped to a great deal with my other sources.

So here they are.

Contrast is set about 70%

Color is set in the middle, and was adjusted in the service menu to aleiviate the red push.

Brightness at around 52% and the rest was adjusted in service menu.

Hue was left alone, did'nt really mess with it.

Sharpness was set about 40-45%, and clear edge set to off, and was completely turned off in the service menu.

We tweaked from standard and pro and settled with standard and calibrated it to look exactly the same as pro, no difference what so ever.

Color temp i contemplated between cool and neutral and settled with cool, and adjusted accordingly in the service menu, the tech of coarse did this:)

And those are my settings, it looks i say 60% more clearer and the results are pretty evident compared to the out of the box settings which were'nt that far off for good picture.

Only 160-170 by the way for the ISF caqlibratio, not bad:)

[Waterbug]

did the ISF did the convergence and geometry to your set too?

[CrocHunter]

Yup, he did the works if that's how you want it put:)

Very minor by the way for the convergance, mainly just on the sides he did it.For geometry mine was ok when i bought mine, so i told him to leave that alone, since all crt directviews can never be perfect geometry wise just live with it.

But if yours is not so good geometry wise then i'd recommend he do it for you.

The set really does shine, even in the dark when you watch at night, it's black level is perfect.Keep in mind he also adjusted my settings according to my lighting conditions in the room, so others settings may differ.

Even better is i just upgraded my dvd player and bought a SONY 775 SACD player online from circuit city.com online using the store pickup option.

Can't wait to pick it up tommorow morning, since i did'nt have the time to pick it up today, but i did go to the mall today and picked up the new resident evil movie because i'm a fan of the series and played all the games.

Some people say it sucks, butm i bought it anyways since i'm a fan, and i liked and own the first one.It has options for 16:9 and 4:3 versions on one disc so that's great for the many of us that don't have a widescreen set.I of coarse have a widescreen set so i get to see more of the picture left and right:)

So far very happy with my settup, at least untill the new HD DVD's come out soon, then we will all be in for a treat:)

Enjoy your sony's everyone, "SONY" "LIKE NO OTHER"!!!

[Katamari Damacy]

Just wanted to post an update/question about this issue, as I recently received my 30XS955.

I set the color axis to monitor, which disabled the "red push." Unfortunately, while the reds appear natural in this setting, other colors do not. It seems the monitor setting overemphasizes greens and does not provide accurate yellows. I assumed the monitor setting would de-emphasize the red tones while keeping the other colors in check.

I realize accurate color decoding is not truly possible out of box or via the user menu, but I was wondering if other XS955 owners have encountered similar color errors with the color axis set to the monitor setting. I want to find out if this is something typical before I exchange my set in a week or two (due to other issues).

[UMDMatt]

Originally posted by Katamari Damacy
Just wanted to post an update/question about this issue, as I recently received my 30XS955.

I set the color axis to monitor, which disabled the "red push." Unfortunately, while the reds appear natural in this setting, other colors do not. It seems the monitor setting overemphasizes greens and does not provide accurate yellows. I assumed the monitor setting would de-emphasize the red tones while keeping the other colors in check.

I realize accurate color decoding is not truly possible out of box or via the user menu, but I was wondering if other XS955 owners have encountered similar color errors with the color axis set to the monitor setting. I want to find out if this is something typical before I exchange my set in a week or two (due to other issues).

This is exactly what I have experienced on my 34XS955. This is especially noticeable on HD sources for me. I find it better to set my color temperature to Warm and the color axis to default. Setting it to monitor almost creates a 'green push' to my eyes. I noticed this during a basketball game on TNT-HD the other night, the court had this ugly green/yellow hue to it. It appeared much more natural set to default. My best results have been with WARM, DEFAULT color axis, and the Color below the midmark a few points. I find that HD material varies so much (like some CBS dramas), that it's really tough to find one setting that is pleasing to me for everything I watch. Not so much the set I don't think, just the nature of the HD- beast.

[jlyon1515]

Forgive my ignorance, but how does one access the service menu on the 34xs955? I was watching Kill Bill 2 today and noticed that the TV is cropping off a significant chunk of the video. (I didn't notice it until the credits at the end...one of the names is cut off on the far right.)

Is it even possible to adjust this in the service menu?