I yanked that glare screen!

[WildWest]

My 1080i Sony 53HS10 had a built in glare screen that really sucked. I suppose some models of RPTV have glare screens (child resistant) that come off rather easy but this Sony was major surgery.

A year ago I found in a Yahoo forum a group of people that were into this line of TV. Whew, tons of information and tweaks. Turns out that this glare screen really causes lots of glare and hampers the picture. I can believe it too. I hated the thing but alas, big project ya know? So I copied the instructions for removal of it and finally took this long weekend to do this thing.

After removing the sandwich of screens out of the TV housing, I pulled out of the mix the almost 1/8" thick glare screen. To replace the thickness of that screen and keep the others in proper focus I was able to cut some strips of the exact same size balsa wood.

Let me tell ya, if you have a so called "glare" screen I say rip that puppy out and dispose of promply. After tweaking complete with the AVIA disk I swear I kick myself for not doing this sooner. Very nice upgrade to my viewing pleasure. Deeper colors, and much better detail. :)

[Rob]

WW,

I think my brother as that same model 53" Sony as your's and his has the protective clear sheet over the front as well. They called it a 'screen saver'. I don't like it a bit either. It catches room reflections too. When I got my Toshiba 61A60 just over a year ago I made sure it had no glare screen. It is better but I could still do improvements by adding black felt absorber inside to cut down scattered light. The lens halations are much worse in this RPTV than my FP $30K Barco, but then the Barco has much better lenses.

I have a couple of house cats and have to make sure I don't leave any TV program running on the Toshiba that has cats or birds in it on the screen or they would scratch the screen. In 16 month's I haven't had a cat-astrophy yet. :)

Rob

[THOR]

What giant TV do you pros recommend buying right now?? Please keep it around 3k . My GF's mom wants one and said she wanted one that hanged on the wall (plasma TV) she was shocked when I told her they were about $7000. So what would you cats recomend for around $3000??

[WildWest]

Yeaaahhh screen saver. That's what they called it! It does bite Rob. He should yank it out of there if he can. Sometimes people have kids though and feel better about having it in there. Sure is a trade off though. I hear that Toshiba has much better service than most. Have you had to deal with it?

PROS!? (looking around) Where? :dunno:


You know Thor, does she want a wide screen? Seems that format is becoming more and more popular. While there are people out there swearing about one brand of TV over the next, I tend to think they are all rather competitive in their construction and cost. Any number of the top brands will likely serve her well and I would do widescreen if it were me. At the 3k to 4K range there are a number of sets that would fit the bill. Will she ever consider 5.1 digital surround or just always listen to the speakers in the TV?

[Rob]

Thor,
WW.
I bought a Toshiba 61A60, 3:4. 61" RPTV about 18 months ago on sale for $2700 CDN before taxes. I also paid an extra $400 for a full coverage 6 year service/replacement warranty plan. It has performed faultlessly and I'm really pleased with it except for a slight H'Lin problem in the blue convergence which could be easily corrected with the setup codes if I could only obtain them. It isn't bad and most people aren't aware of it except fussy, perfectionist me. I live with it. I haven't had any problems per'se. The picture is still as sharp and clear as ever except the halation has increased so I'll bet it is getting a bit of dust or film inside on the optics. Not enough to warrant pulling it apart yet. I would like to get the service manual for it then I'd be all set.

I would definitely recommend this model. It was rated at 700 lines H. resolution and I believe it! It has a 3 coax input for a DVD called "Colorstream" by Toshiba. This I gather is like Luminance plus I and Q. The Toshiba DVD player I also bought has these outputs. Works well. The set also has a S-VHS in and regular RCA baseband video inputs, front panel A/V inputs (handy) , PIP with 2 tuners, full on-screen menues from the remote and good stereo surround simulation except the small 6" full range (whizzer cone) speakers are less than what us audio afficionados are used to. What the heck, if I want really good sound and a 4X bigger picture I go downstairs. I use this Toshiba to watch TV mostly and the real theater to watch canned movies only (DVD or Laserdisc) or stereo listening (CD or vinyl).

Rob

[THOR]

Thanx fellas I will pass on the advice ;)