Fujitsu 42VHA30 comments.

Fishbones

Standard Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2004
Messages
127
Reaction score
1
Points
50
Age
56
Location
Madeira
Hi.
Just wanted to announce that I am now a very happy and proud owner of this model.
Arrived yesterday (shipped from the UK to Portugal) in perfect condition. Not a single dent or scratch on the box.

Spent most of the day mounting the panel, speakers on the wall and connecting everything up, so didn't have much time to explore more as I had to go work. But I can’t help feeling satisfied with with this purchase. I had no doubt that PQ with DVD would be excellent, but am also very impressed with cable TV through a sagem tuner/decoder. :thumbsup:

I would like to ask for opinions and comments of other VHA30 owners (and plasma gurus) on what I should or shouldn't be doing.

I would also like to share what I have changed from factory defaults:

-Turned down brightness and contrast from 0 to -5. Is that enough?
-Turned on orbiter for VGA.
-Tried the "fine" mode but found it too dark. I read somewhere that this is the best mode. Did I read that or was I dreaming :zonked:

Still have to run the AVIA DVD so everything else is still at factory default.

My connections are as follows:
DVD to Plasma via Scart to VGA. (RGBHV)
Sagem cable TV box to plasma via Scart to Scart. (RGB).

TKS
 
No real advice specific to the VHA30, but just be careful with the screen for the first 200 hours or so while it is 'settling in'

Congratulations and enjoy the screen!!! :smashin:

JJ
 
Question:
There is an orbiter setting for VGA D-Sub input where I can set to Mode or Time etc. There is another orbiter setting in the service menu called "V. Orbiter ON/OFF".
What is the difference between the two?

FYI:
In the service menu there is an hours counter for each input and a total hours which includes how long AC power has been applied. (either ON or STBY).

Update:
I have noticed SOME colour banding/compression artifacts with SDTV. Some channles more than others.

Still very :clap: with my Fuji :D
 
Hello My friend from Portugal !

Good to hear all arrived well from the UK. Hope you will enjoy your VHA 30 !

Cheers,

davidgilmour
 
Fishbones

Glad you are happy with your VHA30.

I have had mine for a couple of weeks now and am also very pleased with it. I found that the ‘fine’ mode appeared a little dark initially but after a bit of playing around with the levels I have found a reasonable balance.

Could I ask how you access the service menu to check the hours counter.


Michael
 
Got my VHA30 today and can say i'm very pleased with it.

Sky+ was the one I was most concerned about. My worries were unfounded.

Picture was great and started improving after about 5 mins use.

Sky+ s-video
DVD Component.

Big thankyou to MAW (Martin) and his super installer Karl.

Pictures to follow.

Any settings people recommend gladly accepted.
 
Ran through the Avia DVD calibrations for the VGA input (DVD) and these are my settings:

Ambient light = Low
Picture mode = Natural

Contrast = +3
Brightness = +5
Colour = +7
Tint = -7
Sharpness = -2

Also set user Colour Temp. to:
Red = 245
Green = 254
Blue = 241

I am using Fine Mode for SDTV via SCART input with settings:
Luminance = 80
Black Level = 0

Fine mode takes away (or hides) most of the colour banding on most channels but I am not too happy with colours yet as they do not look natural, especially skin tones.
But I still have to run the Avia DVD on the scart input.

What settings are you guys using ?
 
Picture mode = Fine

Contrast = 0
Brightness = -2
Colour = -2
Tint = -2
Sharpness = 0

Also set user Colour Temp. to:
Red = 241
Green = 249
Blue = 255


Luminance = 40
Black Level = 0

Mines only 7 hours in so I'll probably revisit these settings later on.

Very happy with it at the moment. Moved from a 32" 100hz Wega and this comes surprisingly close.

More importantly missus and son love it.

Could do with some Sky codes though...
 
Try these settings:

Fine mode, luminance 70, black level -8.

Contrast -4
Brightness -2
Colour +4
Tint +4
Sharpness -12 (-14 gives zero ringing)

R: 230
G: 240
B: 250
 
Picture mode = Natural

Contrast = +3
Brightness = +5
Colour = +7
Tint = -7
Sharpness = -2

Fishbones I think you need to adjust these asap unless you are comfortable with these settings. The fujitsu tech on avsforum believes the fine mode to have much better picture quality. On natural with contrast at +3, I would be seriously worried. This is all imho ofcourse.

It is easy to set the sharpness, avia, dve, and even the sky epg will show ringing above -14.
 
Thanks Deron & Urotsukidoji...I'll try these settings.

Urotsukidoji.... what input are you using?

Contrast at +3 was what I needed for the specific test pattern. ):confused: I also think it is too high, so for prolonged viewing I use fine mode with Contrast and brightness at -5. (especially while it is still setting in....+-20 hours)
 
Denon 3800 via Component and SKY+ via RGB scart.

The easiest thing to do is try your settings on one memory and my settings on another. Then just switch between the two.
 
Originally posted by Urotsukidoji
The fujitsu tech on avsforum believes the fine mode to have much better picture quality.

Have you got any links to this data...?

I get lost on their forums...

Got around to watching dvd and the quality once set-up is quality. Mind you I never expected problems with DVD. Sky was the big worry.

We've got a pw6 set up through rgb scart at work with sky and it frankly had me worried.
 
Very interesting to see what settings everyone is using, I have had my VHA30 for a bit over 3 weeks, was using the following

Picture mode = Fine

Contrast = 3
Brightness = 2
Colour = 0
Tint = 0
Sharpness = -2

Luminance = 55
Black Level = 0

I dont have a calibration disk just used part of the THX optimiser and then played round a bit.

I am currently trying out the following after using some of Urotsukidoji's settings then tweeking.

Picture mode = Fine

Contrast = -2
Brightness = -3
Colour = 4
Tint = 4
Sharpness = -8

Colour Temp. STD
Luminance = 75
Black Level = -5

Does anyone know what the relationship between Contrast & Brightness settings vs Luminance & Black Levels ?

ie is reducing the contrast brightness then increasing luminance self defeating in terms of screen protection ?

Cheers

DPF
 
Luminance changes white level and black level changes the brightness of blacks, rather than the entire image.

It is easy to tell if you have to much brightness or black level as you will see dithering where you should be seeing black.

My brother (TimmyB on this forum) has gone from a Panny 6, to a vha20 (5 series panny glass with avm) to a pvha30 (6/7 series panny glass).

The scart on the fujitsu is of much higher quality that the panny, and the rgb to component converter was sold (it's always better feeding it rgb than component as it's one less step in the chain).

DPF, on fine mode you don't have to worry about screen burn if you have lumincance really higher (but imho, the best greyscale is at 70). Even at 100, the other torch modes are the ones to worry about. I play xbox and gc alot:thumbsup:

DPF, I notice you didn't change your colour temperature? Changing the colour temp made the biggest difference to my picture quality. Just pause on someones face and switch between my colour temp settings and STD, and you should find that the STD makes everything look pink. Also look at whites; with standard they appear pinky, but should be white, with no hint of any colour bias.
 
Urotsukidoji,

Thanks for the info on the colour settings I guess I was just changing a few settings at a time. I will try and get hold of a calibration disk to make process a bit easier and have closer look at colour settings.

If I follow the THX optimiser (monster inc disk etc) I finish up with higher contrast and brightness settings, not really torch mode but most seem to say to turn these down. Interesting.

I use component input from Pioneer 655A (has component connections so no conversion), purchased more for SACD/DVD_A than picture at the time.

(I'm in Australia and component is far more common than scart, I think focus is more on Japanese market AV gear here.)

SD TV is via S-video from Transact (cable) STB . S-video is best connection available from the STB but PQ on the VHA30 is still great.

Do you use different settings for different inputs ?

Cheers

DPF
 
No, I don't use different settings for different inputs.

How do you new pvha30 owners feel about fujitsu bringing out the new pvha31 so soon after the release of the pvha30?
 
The VHA31 will have a samsung glass and unless samsung has made a miraculous improvement on the glass or Fujitsu has a workaround with their electronics, I wouldn't touch it.

Settings:
Interesting to see that DPF also obtained contrast at +3 with the THX test screen. Anyone try calibrating with DVE?

I will be trying Urotsukidoji's settings tonight.

Thanks
 
Fishbones, great news about the samsung glass, I wouldn't touch it either, but I had feared it was new panny glass.

Do you know the specification of the new pvha31? What contrast ratio and brightness ratio.

I have seen pdfs that say the pvha30 has 3000:1 c/r and 800 brightness, others say 4000:1 and 1000 brightness, anyone know which is correct.

Interesting to see that DPF also obtained contrast at +3 with the THX test screen. Anyone try calibrating with DVE?

How are you calibrating contrast? At the point just below clipping?
 
Urotsukidoji....
This thread mentions the samsung glass and member DPF wrote that he has the VHA31 specs.

Contrast:
I don't exactly know what you mean by clipping, but the Avia contrast calibrating test pattern is basically a black and white scene and one has to adjust to a point where white is WHITE and black is not grey.
 
Cheers for the link fishbones.

With my 3800, whites crush at +3, but this could just be my denon 3800.

With the great memory settings it's easy to compare and tweak with the vha30.
 
Originally posted by Urotsukidoji

How do you new pvha30 owners feel about fujitsu bringing out the new pvha31 so soon after the release of the pvha30?

Not fussed...

When's it due?

Best of both worlds at the mo... Panny blacks but a quality picture without an iscan.

I've just got to sort out footie on Eurosport, grass looks bad.

I've been after a plasma since the pw5 came out,and I'm happy with what I've got.
 
You can ignore my post, didn't realise they had switched from panny glass to sammy glass. No wonder they said the pvha30 was the better model when I phoned them.

My advice to anyone looking for a top quality plasma is to get the pvha30 while you still can!
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom