51UWX20B Blurry Faces - Help!!

[ayou]

I'd purchased a Hitachi 51UWX20B from Sears Outlet a few weeks ago and got a great deal. However, after hooking it up to my Direct TV with S-Video, JVC Progressive Scan DVD Player with component video, all with Monster Cable, the faces of the picture look blurry. Calibrated with the Sound and Vision DVD, still not much better.

Thought I got a lemon and went out and bought a brand new one from Circuit City and was delivered today. Ran it for about 3 hours now and must admit it's a bit better and sharper, but the faces of people from Direct TV channels are still blurry. I thought I might have weak signal, but my Direct TV signal is at 100!!! I don't have top notch cable coming in from the dish but they are RG-6 cable.

Anyone has this experience? Is this the best I can expect, or is this a Hitachi problem? Please help.

Thanks, Allen

[kevinw]

Allen, many times NTSC programming-(anything that is not HD) will look "soft" or not as crisp. The worst offenders are your locals from cable or satelite and any heavilly compressed signal. Some improvement can be made by doing a manual convergence of the red,blue and green guns.

http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/hitachi/convergence.html

This sight will show you directions on how to do it. BUT I WARN YOU NOW..DO NOT DO IT UNLESS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE VENTURING INTO AREAS THAT A MISTAKE COULD MEAN AN EXPSENSIVE SERVICE CALL.

You can also make a service call and a tech can come out and do it.

[57U]

I believe that the new Hitachis allow you to do a 117 point manual convergence without going into the service menu. I'm not sure how to access it, but it is listed as a "user selectable" item, in the list of features, so make sure you do a good convergence on your set, it may help.

Also, as Kevin said, especially if you've moved up in screen size, the NTSC signals will not always look that great (like looking at a newspaper with a magnifying glass) if you've moved up a lot in screen size.

[ayou]

Thanks Kevinw and 57U.

I guess my beef is when I was in the store, even with a signal from the roof of Circuit City, although the picture was snowy, but the details were there. Perhaps their sets went through manual convergence?

Does anyone have experience with Circuit City techs for manual convergence? I am a bit timid to try it out and would rather call someone out to try it. Is there better instructions out there to do a manual convergence? Thanks,

Allen

[Spidey]

I have the same TV at home...you access the manual converance by:

Press 'Setup'
Press 'Video'
Press 'Magic Focus'
Press 'Manual'
Press 'Start'

And you will be there....personally I tried this and unless everything was already perfectly aligned I could not 'see' ANY deviation from the white....maybe my eyes are bad...

Spidey

[andy]

I'm having the same problem as you and when I access the manual convergence the grid looks all white to me. Maybe I'm color blind but I've been splicing telephone cables for 32 years so if that's the case I'm in big trouble! haha

[57U]

Perhaps you have not gone far enough in the menu. You should be able to go to each "point" and make the red or green or blue guns "deviate" from the white lines. If you can make them deviate, then your convergence is perfect, but most sets do not arrive perfect and the guns, especially the red near the corners need fine tuning....

[jmbrad]

I am experiencing the same problem with my 43UWX20B. I too have Direct TV. I watch the SCIFI channel alot and it is the worst. Sometimes it looks as if in closeups, that the persons face is melting.
There are other reviews on Circuit City's website by customers with the same problem. Dvds look great, but I don't watch Dvds all the time. Mine is going back to the store tommorrow.

Hope this was helpful.

[57UWX]

I have a 57UWX, Cable HD and Direct TV(non HD). Satellite is blurry, cable is not. A friend with the same set up but different TV (Panasonic) says the same.