[ Lucky2001 @ 30.01.2004. 15:08 ] @
| Notes on how to Enter and Leave Panasonic TV Service Menu Mode, and to adjust some items. The reason for this document is that so very many of the recent crop of Panasonic TVs have poor picture pincushion adjustment. Many folks are asking about it, and how to get into and out of the service mode. The unfortunate part is that there are no real pincushion adjustments available to correct the bow-in/bow-out on the left and right side of the picture, or the display tilt and trapezoid shape. Bah Humbug! Cheap televisions built in 1960 had better picture shape adjustments than these modern Panasonics. My previous 27" Panasonic, purchased more than 10 years ago, had perfect pincushion adjustments. It is truely unfortunate that Panasonic is pinching pennies to such an extent that they are leaving out the bare necessities. Panasonic reliabilty, color and video quality are good, but the pincushion stuff is horrible. I believe that Panasonic is hurting itself by getting just a little too cheap. I doubt that I'll buy another, and never without viewing the actual one I'm buying before hauling it home. This is known to be good for Panasonic models CT27D20 and CT27D21, and it is probably relevant for many other models of Panasonic TVs as well. Huh?! If you don't know what this stuff below means then I suggest leaving it alone. Just about the only things to adjust without test equipment are the 'D' menu items which adjust (as best we can) for picture position and overscan. If you need more info then call Panasonic and order the service manual. Disclaimer: There are no guarantees here, and you are at your own risk. If you break your TV then don't blame me! There may even be mistakes in this document because I wrote it from memory and from notes, not by copying Panasonic stuff. To enter service mode: With remote or TV front panel controls. 1. Select the SETUP icon and select CABLE tuner mode 2. Select the TIMER icon and set the SLEEP time for 30 minutes. 3. Exit the Action menus. 4. Tune to Channel 124 5. Adjust volume to zero. Then with the front panel control: 6. Press the VOL < button (decrease) on the TV. A red "CHK" appears in the upper left corner of screen. You are now in service mode. Switch to video or TV/cable input and tune to a channel with something to look at. Press the POWER button on the remote to select one of several service menus. Watch the lower right screen for the menu letter, menu item #, and item value. B = SUB-DATA adjustments C = Cut-off adjustments D = Pincushion adjustments (V & H size & posn, but not real pincushion stuff goshdurnit) M = MTS adjustments P = PIP adjustments (models with PIP only) S = Options adjustments X = Comb filter adjustments. Within each menu, use the channel up/down to select the item. Use the volume up/down to adjust the value of the item. It is an EXCELLENT idea to step through EVERY item and write down ALL the existing values before you adjust ANYTHING. Really! :-) (menu item - description - default value) B0 - sub color - 31 B1 - sub tint - 31 B2 - sub brightness - 31 B3 - sub contrast - 16 B4 - sub tint video - 16 B5 - sub color video - 16 B6 - sub tint comp - 63 B7 - sub color comp - 31 B8 - sub sharp tv/video - 10 B9 - sub sharp s-vhs/comp - 31 BA - sub contrast fixed - 15 C0 - cut off R - 128 C1 - cut off G - 128 C2 - cut off B - 128 C3 - user brightness - 31 C4 - G drive - 64 C5 - B drive - 64 C6 - Drive C temp - 8 C7 - contrast C temp - 5 D0 - H position - 16 D1 - V size - 31 D2 - Vertical 'S' correction - 4 D3 - V linearity - 14 D4 - E/W Trapezium - 8 D5 - V AGC - 1 D6 - V position - 1 D7 - V centering - 63 D8 - V centering DAC SW - 0 D9 - V-Blk Start Phase - 12 DA - V-Blk stop phase - 14 M0 - Input level - 33 M1 - low level separation - 6 M2 - high level separation - 25 P0 - pip color - 92 P1 - pip tint - 54 P2 - pip bright - 22 P3 - pip contrast - 80 P4 - up 1/9 size - 26 P5 - down 1/9 - 143 P6 - left 1/9 - 10 P7 - right 1/9 - 101 P8 - up 1/16 size - 26 P9 - down 1/16 - 160 PA - left 1/16 - 10 PB - right 1/16 - 116 PC - pip freerun - n/a PD - pip YDL - 4 S0 - ABL gain - 3 S1 - ABL point - 3 S2 - RGB brightness - 8 S3 - RGB Gamma - 1 S4 - Color Gamma - 1 S5 - VSM-G - 0 S6 - BS point - 7 S7 - Clock Adjust - 128 S8 - Loudness Comp - 31 S9 - Caption Dig Filt Sw - 0 SA - Caption Scroll - 1 SB - RGB Matrix - 6 SC - RGB Matrix Comp. - 5 X0 - Clip level - 152 X1 - CSOK - 12 X2 - Comb limit - 24 X3 - Comb core - 41 X4 - Comb RF delay - 20 X5 - Comb video delay - 18 X6 - Comb VMLM - 90 X7 - Comb VMCO - 24 X8 - Comb sharpness - 123 X9 - Comb VM level - 255 XA - Comb VMPKF - 1 XB - H lock mode - 1 XC - H lock - 70 XD - H sep 1 - 313 XE - H sep 2 - 266 XF - Sub H lock mode - 0 X10 - Sub H lock - 70 X11 - Sub H sep 1 - 313 X12 - Sub H sep 2 - 266 To EXIT service mode: On the TV front panel, press the ACTION and POWER buttons simultaneously and hold for at least two seconds. When you release the buttons the TV will reset. Then you get to go back into the action menus, set the clock, make ALL your personal preference settings again, favorite channels, and any channel labels that you may have set up (what kind of stupidity is this?). Each time you leave service mode you get to do it all over again, so write down your personal preferences like color and tint settings, and favorite channels |