Keohi HDTV - Brand Specific - Toshiba - Service Menu

[BRAND SPECIFIC][TOSHIBA][SERVICE MENU]

Anamorphic Squeeze on 55HX70

Tip from Paul Wather: "After experimenting on my Toshiba 55HX70 for about a week I can now do a manual anamorphic sqeeze setup in 5 minutes flat (And return to normal 4x3 in another 5 minutes).

For those of you who may have the 43, 50, 55, or 61 H70 or HX70 models, these tips may help you get there quickly, but as usual, PROCEED at your OWN RISK! I've only worked this out on a 55 inch model.

First, this method is based on the tip posted by Michael (from The Laser Video Experience) at the Keohi Toshiba Tips site. After some modification to his suggestion I am getting outstanding results in a quick, easy to repeat 5 minute process.

To get there you will need to do some initial experimenting to get the best combination of service mode parameter values to enter. Once you have these values, they're easily repeatable.

Step 1- Set your DVD player to 16x9 mode and fire up the Avia (or similar) anamorphic widescreen circle and square geometry grid.

Step 2- Go into service mode and WRITE DOWN your current parameter settings (go through them by hitting channel up/ down).

Step 3- Enter the 2nd service convergence grid (the one that leaves the service parameters adjustable on the upper left screen) by hitting 7 twice, then TURN OFF the red and blue guns.

Step 4- DO NOT start adjusting convergence, but rather start adjusting the following service parameters to begin 'squeezing down' the screen- HIT, WID, and PARA. (Channel up-down adjusts parameter, volume changes value) Exit the convergence screen once in a while to see how the Avia grid looks. Your goal is to get as good a geometry as possible on the GREEN grid WITHOUT adjusting convergence. This will make it easier and quicker to switch the set back to 4x3.

STEP 5- You will probably notice now that no matter what you do, a bit of a "football" shape is left in your geometry. At this point make the following compromise- adjust the WID control to OVER stretch width (works out to about 1 and a half inches on my 55 inch screen- I doubt you'll ever miss this amount on widescreen movies anyway). On my set I lose just the very last crescent of the left and right Avia circles. There is a point at which the green gun will become 'unstable' if you really over stretch WID; back off a tick or 2 from that amount. Now, readjust HIT and PARA to get the screen as close as you can to good geometry on the Avia grid. Most of the football look should be gone.

STEP 6- Now the fun begins. Fine tune your geometry with the LIN, VSC, CNR and VFC parameters. On my set the following values gave very good results.

HIT- from 37H, changed to 5AH
LIN- from OEH, changed to 11H
VSC- from OFH, changed to 10H
WID- from 2CH, changed to 24H
PARA- from 17H, changed to 29H
CNR- from O6H, changed to O8H
VFC- from ODH, changed to OOH

STEP 7- WRITE DOWN the values you come up with- once you get the numbers, they're easily entered again for the exact same results. Takes me 2 minutes to re-enter geometry values. Steps 1-5 DO NOT need to be done again!

STEP 8- What about the Red and Blue guns? Don't I need to do a full service convergence to align them? Because we didn't actually adjust Green in the service convergence mode, the Red and Blue are relatively linear to the Green in the amount that they differ. If you simply do a 9 point USER CONVERGENCE, everything comes together surprisingly well without having to do a full service convergence. Takes about 3 minuets. What problems remain are usually at the extreme edges, not even seen on widescreen material. A quick service mode touchup can be done to "clean up" at a penalty of about another 5 minutes if you want.

STEP 9- Watch some anamorphic movies of various ratio. On 2.35:1 movies, I still had a bit of bowing on the lower edge that I decided to get rid of. I made the decision at this point to slightly alter the green grid in service mode to better align this area. The result is a near spot on anamorphic geometry at the expense of introducing a modest geometry error when I switch the set back into 4x3 mode. Since my viewing is FAR more critical on DVDs (of which most are anamorphic), it was a good decision to make.

Final comments: Now, to watch an anamorphic film I set the DVD player to 16x9, enter the 7 service parameter numbers, and do the 9 point user convergence. Undo the same to reenter 4x3 mode. Takes 5 minutes either way. The benefit is a complete removal of downconversion artifacts, and about 30% greater resolution. Even my wife was blown away at astounding detail of our "Jurassic Park" DVD. There's no going back."