Tweaking an 04 Wega Trinitron

[zenith2134]

...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. In any event, I'd love to really do a number on this set, and would REALLY appreciate any help from the group.