Sony Bravia Tips & Secrets

David Mackenzie

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http://lyris-lite.net/bravia_tips.html

A little something I wrote up.

This was made using my current "LCD WEGA" (not BRAVIA) as a reference - I'm not getting my BRAVIA for a little while yet. So if anything in there seems strange, tell me. On top of that I'll also be cleaning up any spelling mistakes and adding a few more pictures later.

Hope it has a helpful tip or two for people as it stands though!
 
Nice 1 :thumbsup: .Even though I do not have a Sony I am impressed.
I am sure this will help Sony owners no end.
 
nice one always wondered how to get in to the service menu :)
 
With regards to http://lyris-lite.net/bravia_tips_colour.html

RGB_DRIVE will affect the brighter areas of the picture, like contrast, and RGB_BKG will affect the darker areas, like a brightness control for each.

These settings are for greyscale calibration, not adjusting the colour decoder - if you see too much red in the image, lowering red here may help that, but will have a much worse effect on the overall image.

I would strongly recommend leaving these controls as they are unless you have a hardware calibration device.

A useful guide though, thanks. :)
 
Thanks for that Andrew, I'll add that to the guide.
 
Just wanted to back up what Andrew mentions here. It is almost impossible to set the drives and cuts without instrumentation or a calibrated reference. Incorrect setting will result in noticable colour tints. It is possible to take out bad tints in bright picture areas by tweaking the Drives and the impact on the picture is not so noticable. Tweaking the cuts has a much more noticable impact however and I would never reccomend altering these from the default without instrumentation and half a clue about what you are doing :)

Neil
 
I just turned the power saving to 'reduce' and its made a good difference... also feels nice that its saving power! :smashin:
 
Maybe the software update has changed something, but I have tried i+, 5, vol up, power on over and over and it doesn't work for my S32.

P.S. in the screenshot did I see another menu item after "service" which read "special"?
 
Yeah, that's my old 2004 LCD WEGA. On the new models only the "Service" item is there, but when you go into that, you get "Service" and "Special".

I've already had an email from an S-Series owner saying that they do get into the menu, but the menu is a lot different. At the start of the page I've said it's only really accurate for V-Series stuff.
 
I have a KLV-V40A10 (V series Bravia) and it doesn't work for me either. Following the instructions, (I+, 5, Vol+ and Power) my set powers on, but I don't get the Service option in the menu.
 
PhilNUK said:
I just turned the power saving to 'reduce' and its made a good difference... also feels nice that its saving power! :smashin:
Is this a feature in the service menu ?
Or is it a standard feature ?
 
Frusty said:
Is this a feature in the service menu ?
Or is it a standard feature ?
Also, are the instructions valid for the LCD rear projection Bravia models?
I would like to slightly dim the bulb.
 
The Power Saving feature is a standard one but is also repeated in the service menu called "ECO_MODE". You don't need to be in the service menu to get it.

Not sure about the Rear projection models - is there any sort of Power Saving mode on those?

Also I'm not sure why it shouldn't work on a V-Series 40" - I'm sure I tried that in the store and it worked fine...
 
Just to add to the bt about the rgb cuts and gains. These are for adjusting the white balance, not colour. If you do want to play with them....and it's best not to.....then do it while looking at white window patterns NOT colour bars and filters........

Gordon
 
thanks for that lyris, its superb. I know this isn't the right place to ask, but in the plasma forum, I don't get any replies...apart from don't get a Sony....Have you or any other person here had experience of the 50a12u plasma? I'm trying to hunt info, but its not easy...Any help is most appreciated, thanks.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll change the page I mislabelled as "colour", thanks for that Gordon.

Regarding the Sony Plasmas, as far as I'm aware they stopped making them and haven't updated the range since 2004? Which would mean that what you'd be buying would probably not be fully HD Ready (Component input at best) but would likely still be sold with the Sony premium price tag. So I'll have to give the same reply - don't buy a Sony plasma.
 
Lyris, hi and thank you for sharing.
Anyway, i´m kind of confused about putting the bravias under eco mode and raising the backlight being better on blacks(or generally)than leaving it normal and reducing backlight/gamma values.Im with you on the really disburting flashing scenes we may get when is tweaked on the bright way …so we agree on the conclusion.Can you please (re)explain the method?!
Cheers.
 
Hey there

On an LCD, I'd say the backlight's the main deciding factor over the final brightness of the screen, unless you have the Brightness turned up to a really high level that is. You can have the "Brightness" set at 0 but you still won't get a convincing, dark black colour showing if the backlight is turned up full. "Brightness" on an LCD means "what should the TV's definition of Black be" and "Backlight" means "how bright should the lamp behind the screen be shining".

Putting it into Power Saving/Eco Mode allows you to set the backlight to new lows that aren't accessible in the Normal mode. I find that with the Backlight quite low, I get a far more CRT-like picture.
 
Lyris, what setting of the Backlight (on the scale of 1-10 I think it is) do you use in the "Eco" mode ?
(As I wrote above, like you, I have the Vseries)
 
I actually don't have the V-Series, I've got a 2004 "LCD WEGA" which is more or less an older version of the same idea. I adjust the backlight all the time. Right now (daylight) I have it on 6.
 
Lyris I have to say mate that info on your site is BRILLIANT :thumbsup:

you are the sony god in my eyes well done :D

To have 3 completely editable picture modes is fantastic and added so much value to my V40 ( also adds noise reduction for HDMI input which you dont get in normal menu..not sure it will be much use but nice to know i can if I want )..also hue and saturation ( colour ) ..useful for avia callibration

I dont suppose you know how I get the tv to default to the HDMI input or the input of my choice when I turn it on instead of freeview ? :rolleyes:
 
may i ask what is the difference between the S and V series? the V series seems to be much more expensive, is that newer?
 
That one gets asked a lot Tef. The S series doesn't have the WEGA Engine processing and doesn't save individual picture settings for each input. The V Series does. The current V-Series models in Europe had their VGA input removed so if you're thinking of buying one - hold off! Updated V-Series models that have the VGA input restored as well as 2 Component inputs instead of 1 are coming in May. I think the S-Series is also getting a similar update which is fantastic news. More news on those updates here.

Thanks a lot for the comments also Turb :) That's interesting about noise reduction on HDMI. On my 2004 LCD Component inputs had hidden noise reduction turned on and it was seriously blurring the colours out of the lines. The Noise Reduction option might normally be hidden on HDMI because you might find it doesn't do anything at all. Could you look up close for me and tell me if it makes any difference turning it on or not? If it does then it's time for an update to the guide.

I think you'll also find that Hue on HDMI doesn't work either because it's not needed - ditto for Component, there'd be no point. (Are you saying that Saturation normally isn't an option on HDMI either? That's odd.)
 
Lyris said:
That one gets asked a lot Tef. The S series doesn't have the WEGA Engine processing and doesn't save individual picture settings for each input. The V Series does. The current V-Series models in Europe had their VGA input removed so if you're thinking of buying one - hold off! Updated V-Series models that have the VGA input restored as well as 2 Component inputs instead of 1 are coming in May. I think the S-Series is also getting a similar update which is fantastic news. More news on those updates here.

Thanks a lot for the comments also Turb :) That's interesting about noise reduction on HDMI. On my 2004 LCD Component inputs had hidden noise reduction turned on and it was seriously blurring the colours out of the lines. The Noise Reduction option might normally be hidden on HDMI because you might find it doesn't do anything at all. Could you look up close for me and tell me if it makes any difference turning it on or not? If it does then it's time for an update to the guide.

I think you'll also find that Hue on HDMI doesn't work either because it's not needed - ditto for Component, there'd be no point. (Are you saying that Saturation normally isn't an option on HDMI either? That's odd.)
ah i see,sorry about that. i guess i can tick it off my list then, im still sticking to the sammy LE40 at the moment. my dad said he may consider the toshiba WLT58 since he is a toshiba fan. ( we had two main TV for the last 20 years and both toshiba so far, one lasted 12 years the other lasted 8 years and still going but now need something more space saving so we switching to LCD)
 

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