Philips 32 PW9618 & Geometry/Service Menu

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Hi,

Well, I returned my first Philips 32PW9618 through Geometry problems and had it replaced by a new unopened same model direct from Philips via Allders.

The exact same Geometry problems were there on the second new set.

The problem was the vertical amplitude and vertical line positioning would make the "Sky News" logo part dissapear off the left of the screen in several picture modes apart from those not rendering full screen. The "S" and the "K" would be missing as well as any banner lettering in other areas close to the left hand edge of the picture.

Sky news is a reasonable program to highlight any geometry problems on a TV for anyone without a test card generator or DVD such as "Digital Video Essential" as it has rolling banners and logos well enough positioned to illustrate some geometry problems.

Anyway, faced with the return of another set or having it taken back to the service centre for geometry adjustment I bit the bullet, entered service mode and corrected the problems. Nothing hairy, quite simple and set up in the same structure as the normal menu structures on the PW9618 models.

There is one very slight aspect that I did not correct as I was unsure of the parameter to alter. I have a very marginal bowing or indenting from the bottom left corner to the bottom right corner, ie, if one looks at a horizontal line near the bottom of the screen from left to tight, the centre part of the line is very slightly higher (2mm) than the left and right ends of the line, ie the line is marginally curved upwards. It is however only noticable on any transmission that puts a reference point (line) on screen.

If anyone knows the parameter to adjust for that effect I would be most grateful. Its very marginal & I am probably being too picky but I would like to adjust it.

Other than that the 32PW9618 set is a delight to watch and I must say the service at Allders is top notch. Perhaps not many people are aware that they give a price match service (you have to ask for it) and include a free 5 year warranty on all TV's above £400 and free delivery. With the price match & 5 year warranty it works out cheaper than most places I am aware of if you say the price of extending the standard one year warranty would be in the region of £150 to £200

Regards
moonbase
 
Hi Moonbase,

I read your post just after you had written it; I had been wondering if you had received a replacement for your geometry problems. I'm really glad you are happy with your 32PW9618. You are brave to enter the Service Menu, I wonder if I would ever pluck up courage to do that. My geometry appears to be o.k. but as soon as the sports programme has finished (my husband's choice) I will put it on Sky News and scrutinize the screen.

I am constantly tinkering with the settings on my PW9618. My husband groans when the menu appears on the screen but I also like to alter the ratio aspect for individual programmes, i.e. 14:9 movie expand for some older films and older series, such as Poirot. I know there are black bars at the sides of the screen in this ratio. 16:9 movie expand tends to miss out some detail and enlarges it. Most of the time I leave it on Auto format. Part of the pleasure is aiming for that perfect picture. I know you will agree with that!

Interesting to know that Allders do price match and a five year guarantee, I'm sure a lot of people are unaware of that.

I hope you get some help with your other small problem.
 
Hi Cynthia,

I should have said in the above that it was the Horizontal amplitude and Horizontal line shift and not vertical.

The service menu is exactly the same in appearance & operation as the normal PW9618 menus. If you are only adjusting geometry then theres nothing hairy about it at all.

The PW9618 service menu allows you to see any underlying picture from a TV or satellite station at the same time as you adjust the geometry. I simply put the "Digital Video Essentials" DVD in the DVD player and put the test cards from that on the TV screen then adjusted the geometry using the test cards as reference. I write down the preset parameters before adjusting then always have that to fall back upon.

I may or may not have another tinker, I think the last tiny picky problem is some trapezium or Lower East West Corner adjustment.

Regards
moonase
 
Hi Moonbase,

I do appreciate all the information. Now I know I can actually make service menu adjustments whilst watching the picture I may well venture into that area. You make it sound so easy.

I watched the Sky news screen and found interesting results for the various formats.
Auto format - full logo banner.
Super zoon - full logo banner
4:3 - full logo banner
14:9 Movie Expand -logo banner visible with about an 1/8" off the top.
16:9 Movie Expand - logo banner disappears!
Subtitle Zoom - lower edge of top logo banner visible, no lower news banner.

It's what I expected as Subtitle Zoom has to accommodate the subtitles. I hadn't realised Movie Expand would alter the screen so much. I suppose we are lucky to have seven ratio aspects on this television. Nothing seemed to disappear to the left as yours does.

I hope you can master your corner adjustments, that may be somewhat tricky. I'm happy with mine but it's still fun to play with the menu, good tip about looking at Sky News. An interesting thread that you originally started.

Happy Viewing!!!


One of the reasons I was hoping to get a DVD is to get the "Digital Video Essentials" DVD. I reason that it's worth improving everything as the television picture is everything
 
There are only two geometry adjustment modes in the service menu. One is for the what Philips call normal aspect of the TV (widescreen mode, ie, 16:9) and the other is for 4:3 aspect ratio.

The geometry adjustments in normal mode (widescreen) are related to the other 16:9 ratio modes so if its OK in widescreen it will display accordingly in other related 16:9 modes with whatever special features they have activated. It will cause loss of banners & logos in Auto Format mode but thats as stated in the Philips user guide.

I notice in your above post that you did not mention the general widescreen mode, thats the bottom on the selectable list of screen modes & that was the one I had the geometry trouble with.

All my other 4:3 modes were OK as the picture is compressed in screen with the vertical bars to left & right & I could see all the logos & banners etc on Sky News.

I assume the widescreen (last on the list) mode is the best one to use to adjust geometry as the other 16:9 modes seem to derive their geometry from that. I may be wrong but thats how I fathomed it out after only seing two Geometry adjustment modes in the service menu.

I am going to have another tinker today to get the last tiny quirks out & hopefully start watching things on a near perfect TV rather than looking for reference points on screen to fault the geometry.

Regards
moonbase
 
Thank you Moonbase for the reply and information.

I hadn't realised I had missed the Widescreen result on Sky News! Too many late nights watching the love of my life (not the cat, the son or the husband) - my new television!

On Widescreen on Sky News I see the full Sky news banner (top left) and any other lower banner; at the moment it says "Porton Inquest". Does that mean my horizontal amplitude and line shift are as they should be? I'm sure when I get my DVD disc there will be some areas for improvement. Truth to tell I am itching to tinker with the service menu now you have said how easy it is. I will certainly make a note of the preset parameters first.

I now keep peering at the screen to see if I can see any of the dreaded black bars, which Bazza has detected on his new Philips 9509. So far so good on this tv and I hope it's the same for you.

Regards,
Cynthia 7
 

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