...So I'm at it again. Trying to make my kv27fs120 look natural while not appearing dull. I know I should never have fallen for the marketing gimmicks, but what can I do, its 3 years old and out of warranty.

As I type I am watching A&E on this set, picture settings are set to 'Standard' mode, with contrast set slightly higher than brightness by default, sharpness turned completely off (by me), color temperature set at Neutral and ClearEdge SVM turned off. Nothing in the service menu has been altered at this point, since I did a complete reset of the internal memory.

My main complaints with the TV are that black-levels are never correct, its either washed out or non-existent. Getting past that (seems like I must live with it), brightness is very odd since it seems there is no 'right' setting. There are some good resources for the Sony service menu's on the web, but I still have no idea what most of the items actually adjust. Does anybody have some tips on really making one of these sets look SMOKIN'?

I feel like the WEGAs have the potential to look awesome but are just mis-tuned from the factory. Sucks, but what can one do. For the record, this set uses the BA-6 chassis which has proven quite reliable, except for a few times where it shut right down at startup. :thumbsdn: In any event, I'd love to really do a number on this set, and would REALLY appreciate any help from the group.

You may want to talk to member Duane. He sent me information on how to access the setup menus and really tweak out the parameters of the set. I did it on both my 30" and 32" wegas and the results are excellent. Like you said, they have the potential to be great sets, but they really do need to be tweaked out a bit.

Set the color temp to neutral, bright and contrast to default settings, perform the grayscale setup with a pattern generator, and then readjust the default brightness and contrast settings to your liking. I find that this works best when using the "pro" picture mode rather than standard or vivid.

I no longer own a Wega set (bought the original 36" model) nor have I kept up with the ISF calibration process for over 8 years. What I do recall with the
Wega sets is that using the Movie or Standard mode was your best choice,without getiing into the service mode and making adjustments.No matter what mode you choose,make certain that you bring down the Picture adjustment to around mid point.The brightness was also around mid point.But,most likely,the default values in the service mode may be set higher than they should.The best way to determine what the brightness level should be,is to use a test pattern (PLUGE).There are others that can do the same.

If you aquaint yourself with the specific parameters in the service mode that affect the overall picture quality (there are many of them), you could make minor adjustmets with bright,contrast,SVM,etc. to at least make it watchable. In the service mode,there are sub controls for picture,bright,color,tint and others that I do not recall.By making adjustments here,you are changing the default settings.

Keep in mind that the obtaining the correct color temperature is probably the best thing you could do but it's nearly impossible without test gear. There are people who have
had their sets adjusted and give out these adjusted numbers on the web.

Here's one place you can do some reading if you care.A lot of information,but it can be confusing.
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/sony/sony_tips.html

On a personal note. You may or may not have read that the NTSC standard for color temperature is 6500 degrees kelvin. When adjusted properly, the images may look a little on the red side. Some people don't care for this.I like to use 7200 degrees as my reference.It makes black and white pictures look more appealing to me.

What I would suggest to you as a starter is to rent(if you can) one of the video alignment discs that are out there. Video Essentials,Avia and the like.Aquaint yourself with the test patterns that are used to obtain good black levels (PLUGE) and the color adjustment (COLOR BARS).Another good pattern is the Gray Scale pattern (STAIRSTEP).

Warning:

Do not make changes in the service mode unless you know what these paramters are.Write down all parameter values prior to making any changes for your reference.Service manuals can be obtained for your specific set.The manual will have all of these parameters and some explainations as to what they are.

One nice thing about Sony TVs is that you can make changes in the service menu and they are temporary unless you use the save command (mute, enter). The new settings will remain in RAM only until the set is unplugged. When it's unplugged the old settings from the EEPROM will be loaded. If you decide you like the new settings, just go back into service mode and save the settings to the EEPROM.