Newbie needs advice

[Lemdaddy]

I purchased the tv two weeks ago. I haven't bought the HDTV receiver yet. The tv is HDTV compatible. It's a Toshiba 53h71.
Are their adjustments that should be made this soon? I don't think the picture is as clear as it should be. I have Dishnetwork. I also have an outdoor antenna.
I'm an A+ Certified computer tech, going for the Network + certification.
I would would be willing to help someone with computer probs in return for getting my tv to work as well as possible. Good with computers, don't know jack about tv's.
Where should I start? Read something about a cd used to tune tv, also something about getting into service mode to make adjustments. Can't figure out how to get there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[barbinmike]

You need to get avia and video essentials first-get them from amazon.com....look under here for coupons, then click hot bargins or something like that...You will be taken to that page.
Also look under tobisha, for the guys who know ur tv well for calibration (sp?). There is several people on here who can help you.
Also take a look at all the threads..Very helpful tips.
Zerodegree can help you too, he has done his own calibration on his tv, so he can help too.
Have a great week and enjoy your new tv..Admin Joe got a great price on a tuner, but i dont know where he got it.
Take care,

[zarlor]

I'd also start with the "Avia" or "Video Essentials" DVD. Those DVDs will walk you through the basic calibration of your set and setting brightness and contrast properly right now would definitely be a good thing for your set. Some of the more in-depth tweaks you could perform, including the ones that might require you to go into the service menu, should probably wait until you've been using the set for about a month or so just to give it time to break-in and get over some of the inconsistencies that it might otherwise have at this time.

There are plenty of tips in the Tweaks section of this forum, so be sure to look there. Also do not be afraid to look at the tips and tweaks for other brands of sets, as often those tweaks are just as applicable to your set as well. Finally I'd check out the Keohi HDTV site (http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/index.htm) for general and set specific tweaks and guidance. Lots of great stuff there. Again, don't be limited to looking only under the sections for your specific set as someone may describe the same or a similar procedure being done on a different set in a way that makes more sense to you.

Good luck and enjoy!

[ZeroDegreeK]

I agree with zarlor 100%. Get the Avia DVD, it will walk you through basic video calibrations. Turn contrast and brightness down NOW, try to live with them below 50%, you will probably have to set them even lower with Avia.

Your set is still new. It needs to break in. It will look better on its own in a month or so. Then you can tweak it out to look unbelievable. The thing is, you can do the tweaks now, but if you do, you will have to do them again as the set breaks in.

[hjriver]

Lemdaddy

I have been reading these posts with some interest and wonder. It strikes me as odd for someone to spend as much money for a tv set, bring it home and immediately have to start tweaking and adjusting for poor video. Something is very wrong here.

I have not had to touch my RCA F38310 since I plugged it in and started watching. OTA digital and HD quality excellent and Directv on 199 and 209 also excellent. Rest of Directv channels about the same as on my old analog tv.

When I buy something especially involving that much money, I expect it to work right the first time. If not it goes back.

[myaiyoo]

how do u like your RCA set??

I was very close to buying it before I saw the Panasonic 34".

am still going back and forth and now I've thrown the Plasma into the mix

any thoughts??

[ZeroDegreeK]

Originally posted by hjriver
Lemdaddy

I have been reading these posts with some interest and wonder. It strikes me as odd for someone to spend as much money for a tv set, bring it home and immediately have to start tweaking and adjusting for poor video. Something is very wrong here.

I have not had to touch my RCA F38310 since I plugged it in and started watching. OTA digital and HD quality excellent and Directv on 199 and 209 also excellent. Rest of Directv channels about the same as on my old analog tv.

When I buy something especially involving that much money, I expect it to work right the first time. If not it goes back.


If I am not mistaken, the F38310 is a direct view TV. Direct view TVs are not as "delicate" as Rear Projection sets and have fewer inherent problems. All RPTVs have these problems, however, they are not noticed by the average joe. Most HDTV enthusiasts try to tweak their sets to make them the best they can be, rather than sticking to the factory presets.

Even direct view sets can benefit from the proper adjustments. I am sure your set came with the contrast, sharpness, and brightness turned all the way up. This is what most people are used to. However, this actually washes out detail and color saturation, distorts the black levels. . . . . You can use Avia to adjust the levels for a better picture.

If I told you your set can look even better than it does now with the proper calibrations, would you do them? After you saw how much better your set looks, would you want to do more to make it look even better? After you improved your set so much, would you ever be satisfied again by the factory presets?

Take a look at your computer monitor. Did you stretch the image to fill the screen? Twist it a bit? Center? Or did you leave it like it was when you plugged it in?