Service menus

electrolyte · Oct 4, 2002

I have a budget TV, a Philips 28PW6006 that cost approx £450 last year. I have used the service menu on this TV a couple of times to change geometry faults and it is really difficult to use (all the settings are described by 3 letter acronyms that are usually difficult to decipher) Also the service menu is hidden away to stop you using it and if adjust the wrong setting it can screw up your picture....

Contrast this to a cheap £150 PC monitor - most of these have a button on the front which brings up an OSD service menu that is user friendly. All of the settings are shown as graphics so it is obvious what you are changing (horizontal position etc). This menu is easily accessible and I know of no one who has messed up their monitor picture by using the service menu....

So my questions are:

1. Are all TV service menus as difficult to use as my Philips set? Would a £1500 Philips set have a better menu with graphics?

2. If TV owners aren't supposed to mess around with service menu settings why are PC monitor owners allowed to and encouraged to do so with a button on the front??

3. Surely if PC owners can be trusted to fiddle with the geometry of their monitors why can't TV owners??

Am I being unreasonable? Any comments anyone?

juboy · Oct 4, 2002

You are not being unreasonable at all.

But this is an AV forum, frequented mainly by people with a working knowledge, or at least an interest in such things.

The VAST majority of people buying TVs don't care and don't have a clue about picture and service menus and letting them play with settings is not in the manufacturers interest... at all!

normski · Oct 4, 2002

hi
i totally agree with you 100% and i think these tv should have user adjustment just like a pc as you say it is available on very cheap pc monitors and quite rightly there are quite a few people with these monitors who have never set them up properly, as the quality of these mass produced crt tvs is very much a hit and miss affair you will be very luck to get one with acceptable geom and converg as they are not really bothered as most people will never complain these tv cost a lot of money and us folks think that if the manufactures cant be bothered to set up tvs properly no problem all they need do is build them with pc type adjustments and we will do it ourself,,, as the old saying goes if you want anything done properly do it yourself

normski

electrolyte · Oct 5, 2002

Was in Powerhouse yesterday and was watching Shrek on a £1500 Sony TV (can't recall the model number) and there was a glaring fault with the gemotry. If a £1500 TV has problems what hope is there for a cheaper TV???

If i bought that set i would have to ask them to send an engineer round to fix it. they would probably take the set away as i imagine Powerhouse engineers don't know how to use the service menus any better than we do and replace it with a brand new set as it would have been less than 28 days old. If I could have used a user friendly service menu, it would have saved Sony and Powerhouse all that trouble.....

juboy · Oct 7, 2002

Originally posted by electrolyte
If I could have used a user friendly service menu, it would have saved Sony and Powerhouse all that trouble.....

Or maybe the reason the geom was so out was BECAUSE someone had gone in and screwed with the service menus...

BTW, was in Currys yesterday looking at the TV I've ordered from the Net and noticed that they had it set to 100% on the contrast setting. That'll be left like that for the next six months, 8 hours every day, then some sucker will buy it ex-demo and pick up a TV with a knackered tube. Nice.