AKAI PT5492 (Page 4)
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John Gayleard | Robert, Andrew or someone in the know, I have been looking at the AKAI PTH5498 AT SAM'S Club. I have also looked at other HDTVs at BEST BUY & Circuit City (Wide screens 55" or larger) and they are much more expensive, almost twice as much as the PTH5498. They have more features and they are widescreen rather than the 4:3 ratio of the PTH5498. Is the PTH5498 as good as the more costly TVs and are the more costly TVs twice as good. Can a widescreen DVD be formatted to fit the entire screen of the PTH5498. Some of the 16:9 widescreen TVs can format regular programs, to fill out a widescreen, at the touch of a button. Thanks, John |
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| The others are more costly for the fact they are widescreen, and the WS versions of HDTV's tend to be twice that of a 4:3. With the PTH5498, 16:9 dvd's that are not in progressive mode can be stretched via the Aspect button.But when running a 480p progressive dvd for the best quality it cannot be done, but the same action can be done with the right dvd player that has a Zoom feature or by simply changing the aspect on the DVD player to 16:9 which stretches the video the same as the aspect button does for the TV.HDTV format in 1080i can be used with the aspect button but progressive cannot. With all that said, stretching the video is absurd.Watching WS movies on mine is fine, why one would want to see a movie in 4:3 is not acceptable to me, nor with many videophiles it ruins the aspect and visual that was intended for the picture.For the price this model cannot be beat, it is the exact same TV as the Samsung PCL5415RX which is almost 2k, and did I mention it's the same TV?And that between the two of those twins you save over 600$ getting the Akai. But if you're able to afford a widescreen TV by all means it's the better investment for it's aspect ratio.I'm not going to lie and say 4:3 is better when by 2007 that aspect ratio may not even excist anymore.But as for someone like me who likes to save money and watch his tv programming in "today's aspect" in 4:3 and still watch 16:9 at a nice 50" of the size, I'd go for the PTH5498 hands down.2007 is still a good ways to go and by then I may want to upgrade my TV but right now I'm pretty damn happy with this one.  Cheers, Robert |
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Anonymous | I purchased the AKAI PT5492 projection TV. It is a good set for the money but I have never had a projection before. Unless you are sitting right in front of the TV - you are not seeing the TV image very clearly. Also, the room in which I have the TV has alot of daylight -- if you have a room with alot of light it will "wash-out" the picture really bad and make it difficult to see it. The TV has rollers on the bottom but is very difficult to roll on carpet. I would not pay anymore the $999 for a projection (so if you want one buy this one) -- they really aren't worth more than that price. In the stores they look all fancy -- but company's still have not perfected these boxes. -Mike |
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Tom | I remember an earlier message recommending against purchasing the AKAI DVD player with progressive scan for about $99 at Sam's. What about the surround sound systems at Sam's with DVD player included that had progressive scan? I believe there were a couple models available but don't rememeber the brand names. Prices we're in the $300-$450 range. Any recommendations??? |
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| RE: Anonymous With any RPTV you must have a dim lit room without any daylight refracting on the picture.With any DLP(Front Projection) you can have no light in the room. RE: Tom I wouldn't support the Akai in their DVD players or surround systems.Their progressive is not very impressive and it carries a "chroma" bug which you can find info on in one of the previous replys in this thread.The best dvd player I've come across so far with a reasonable price, great picture quality, and no chroma bug is the Panasonic RP62 which can be found at Circuit City for 179$ and Best Buy for 169$.If you want an even better choice get the RP82, but the deal is you can only find it online because no stores carry the RP82 just yet, it runs for around 230$. Surround systems, now that is something to look into and study up for unless qiality is not an issue.A surround reciever system is one that takes alot of investigating and investing into it.You can always get the all in one box but you will suffer by not getting the dynamic range and surround envelope that was intended to be expeirenced by Dolby labs and DTS systems.If you only want the theater in a box I suggest the Kenwood, Aiwa, and Sony packages are nice and affordable. For higher end users it takes more money from the wallet.Right now even I need to upgrade my receiver seeing that the EX and ES (6.1 and 7.1) systems are really nice with that extra center channel surrounds.Panasonic and Sony makes some nice recievers as well as Pioneer and Harman Kardon.The recievers alone will probabaly run you about 450$ to 700$ depending on the fetuares and power.You can even go higher on the end and look at the 10 to 20k$ systems but that's for professional extremists who have money and losts of money to spare and I'm not one of those people. In any case as I said before, Akai makes great TV's but they still need some work in the dvd player and surround division.When it comes to sound and dvd there are many others who beat Akai in the competition, but as TV's go Akai is making a good chain of models to run hard in the race and are getting more noticable for their sets day by day. Robert |
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tom | The question I was trying to ask in my earlier message today was concerning the quality of the DVD players that came in the surround sound systems currently available at Sam's ($300-450 range). The box said they were progressive scan. Do they provide good picture qualty without the chroma bug? I need to replace an old stereo system in the room where I have the Akai big screen TV set up. Thought I could kill a few birds with one stone (i.e. DVD player for the TV, play music CD's with the DVD player, listen to AM/FM, all using the surround sound). I realize the quality one gets for $300-$450 does not compare to the high end components, but then I'm not sure I could really tell the difference. I also plan to connect a current VCR to the system. Again, thanks for the input. |
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| Most all dvd players with the progressive scan have the chroma bug.I haven't been in sams for some time so I don't know what one's you speak of unless they are on the website. The only one's I know that do NOT have the bug are the following: Old Models: Camelot Roundtable Intervideo WinDVD (CPU Software) JVC XV-723GD Panasonic A110 Panasonic H1000 Panasonic RV80 Sony DVPS7000 New Models: Panasonic RP62 Panasonic RP82 If the one you're looking at is not on the list then i have no idea if it does or does not have this bug.Best way to test it is in the store if it's set up/or take it home and put in the Toy Story dvd and look at the Toy Story logo if you see jagged stripes in the blues and reds then it has the bug(if you bought it take it back), if not then you're safe.But in any case the progressive scan dvd players will produce a much better picture than any regular interlaced player ever could.Sam's usually carries good home theater in a box packages.The best one's they have carried were the Kenwood, Hitachi, and Aiwa.Look for the power watts for them though, the more the better. Robert |
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John Gayleard | Robert, Thanks for the info on the AKAI pth5498. I agree with you, now I need to convince my wife. I believe that all the $2300-4000 HDTV sets will be much cheaper 4-5 years from now and if the analog TVs are out dated I will need to buy a new TV, anyway. Thanks again John |
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Tony | Robert, i got the 5498, connect my direct tv and vcr and everything is okay, picture perfect, and good audio from monitor out to the amplifier then dvd via component video and the audio, but then i only hear the audio in the tv and not from the amplifier, any tweaks needed? Tony |
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| RE: Tony Connect the audio into the reciever and not into the TV.The only thing I connect to my TV is the component video cables, all audio goes into my surround receiver. Robert |
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| Robert, thanks for the reply . . . for the dvd, i connect the audio to the receiver, and still connect the monitor out from tv to receiver, for some movies from direct tv . . . Tony |
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| I would connect the DirecTV to the receiver and let the receiver do all the video connections output(coaxial and svideo) to the TV and not let the TV connect to the reciever. Hope that wasn't confusing. That way all the audio is processed in the receiver and the video for that channel is selected for it's output and for the audio channel it is connected to. All the TV should have to do is turn on and let the receiver do all the work. Robert |
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Benny C | Well, so far so good with my new 5492. No black lines I have the Monster Cable Surge protector on there and I think they may have done the trick. Anyway on to other questions. I currently have analog cable. Reception is OK, but per my specs, the TV can support up to 850 lines of resolution. Will digital cable or "the dish" give me more lines of resolution and hence a better picture? I've heard that analog is only like 352*240, digital is 720*480??? Also i was told that my TV isn't progressive, but the Akai website states that even though this is an analog TV, the 5492 is "progressive scan". Is this false advertising? i have a non progressive scan dvd player and it seems to display great picture with no "banding". Sorry for the newbie questions  thanks! |
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| The progressive scan your 5492 tv model has is interlace which is analog. Progressive scan with dvdplayers is only with digital/HDTV model TV's.The only way you can benifit from a progressive scan dvd player is to have an HDTV unit.The banding you speak of mostly shows itself with interlace dvd players on HDTV models, not on analog models. Digital cable or a dish can bring you more of a higher resolution but don't expect a big difference on that big of a screen.You will still notice artifacts and compression due to the bandwidth limits of a dish, though you will have a better quality picture than the analog can deliver. Robert |
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BennyC | thanks Robert! That helped quite a bit. All this progressive scan business got me crazy. |
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John | Does the PTH5498 have zoom modes? For instance, if I have an HDTV decoder hooked up that upconverts to 1080i, and the program is only a 4:3 program, can I zoom it in to fill the screen? Or can 1080i only be displayed in 16:9 format? In this case, I would have black bars on the top and bottom AND on both sides on the image. I'd like to be able to take advantage of the whole screen when it's not an HDTV program. |
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Jackson | I have a APEX AD-5131 DVD, and would like to program the AKAI PTH-5498 remote to operate it does anybody have the code for it. |
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| RE: John Yes it has a zoom mode called the "Aspect" button, push it once for 1:75 and 1:85 formats and push it again to zoom2 for formats of 2:35.1.Push the third time and it's back to it's original 4:3 mode.It does not work in progressive modes such as 480p, works only with 1080i and 480i modes. RE:Jackson From what I understand it does not support Apex. I suggest getting a real universal remote for all components.The one for the TV does not even let dvd players that it is compatible with navigate except for "play", "next", "previous", and "stop".It's best to stick with the remote you have for the dvd, or shell out 150$ to 200$ for a good remote that can operate everything. |
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Anonymous | If you haven't yet made the purchase at Sam's Club, Do It NOW!! I paid $800 yesterday and a friend bought one also. What a deal. Thank you for all the set-up info., I'm gonna need it. |
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Jason | Anonymous, Hate to tell you, but it sounds like the TV you purchased was the PTH5492 (not an HDTV ready model) and not the PTH5498 that dominates the discussion on this forum. It normally lists for $1299. However, if you did intend to purchase the 5492, that is a price drop from the usual $900+. |
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ANONYMOUS | CAN ANYONE HELP ME??????? I HAVE THE AKAI PTH5498 HDTV AND I LOVE IT. I ALSO HAVE THEIR PROGRESSIVE SCAN DVD PLAYER WHICH IS FINE...PROBLEM IS WITH MY TV IT DID NOT HAVE A CODE FOR THE SAME BRAND DVD PLAYER. ANYONE KNOW THE PTH5498 CODE TO CONTROL THE DVPS760 DVD PLAYER???? |
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| As I stated above, if the code is not in the manual it's not supported. The remote for the Akai TV's are not a good universal remote unit. Robert |
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Anonymous | I am a going to buy the Akai 1080i at Sams tomorrow. I was gonna pick up the Tosh 50h12 today there, but seeing this for the first time in Colorado, I was knocked out. And most of my watching is 4x3 aspect anyway, since Denver is a cowtown with no HD broadcast, except for LOW POWER PBS which is too far away. Apocalypse Now on widescreen will look a lot better on this then my current Tosh 35 inch. Almost bought the Sony 40 inch 4x3 crt at the Castle Rock Outlet last week for $2149, no stand, last years model. This is a much better value.........especially knowing HD 50 inch plasmas next year will be half price. I will be sitting 11 feet away. I see a lot of post about upgrading to better cables. The analog complaints............did you ever get a better cable from the cable outlet to tv? AND.........how 'bout a Radio Shack Cable amp for $20? Would this make a difference? I'm trying to save the extra money monthly from going to digital cable..............ps....go Broncos......the horror......the horror...... |
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Charles | No, no need to do anything. Reception will be just fine trust me. Those radio shack upgrades dont do any good. Watching DVD's on this tv will be worth the money spent and analog cable will look really good at 11ft. Enjoy |
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Lee | I recently purchased a PTH5498 and have been happy with it. However, I have one question. Today I upgraded to digital cable from Time-Warner. When I view digital non-HDTV channels, the picture is smaller than normal. About ~10% of the full screen isn't being used all around the picture. I'm not talking about a letter box. There's a border around the entire screen, making it smaller than full screen. Is this normal? HDTV look fine with a letter box. Before I went digital, it was fine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is all new to me. |
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Herman Harris | This is anomyous from Denver again. Three post's ago I said I was gonna snag a HD Akai from Sams, and I got it home a few hours ago. A GREAT PURCHASE!!!!!!!! I'm watching a widescreen version of DVD Bullitt and I think its as good as it looked on a 50 inch 16x9 Tosh. And not having gray bars on 4x3 makes all the difference. Why put up with a stretch mode if ya don't have to! Anyway.......at $1300.....it's more or less disposable when MOST broadcast go HD.......and 60 inch plasmas will be this price by then...... |
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| Re Lee: You can try the "Aspect" button on your remote to stretch the picture except for progressive signals. If that doesn't work out the only way around it is to use the s-video output for 4:3 content, which is actually better in some situations regarding this problem.What's happening is that the hardware doesn't know there's vertical bars on the side because it thinks it's still a 16:9 image that's being received.I've heard the new DirecTv systems that are about to be released fixes this problem. Robert |
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DAVID VAN SLYKE | Robert, I have a PT5492 and I'm having a problem with fuzziness and horizontal lines in the picture. Especially with darker colors. Is there any adjustment I can make or you suggest that will take this fuzziness and lines out?I have had the TV for only a month and it seems to be getting worse. |
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| RE: David Questions...do you have any large electronics such as computer running at the same time not far from the TV or in a nearby room?A computer can generate allot of noise in electricity just as well as a fridge or freezer.If this is the case you may need a good surge protector with a noise filter. If not, what brand of cables are you running the video?Cables with gold connectors can produce a better picture. If not again, do you have cable/sat or regular RF programming?These big TV's can magnify all flaws in broadcasting and their compression.Or is this coming only from dvd playback? Robert |
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JorSan | Im interested in this HDTV; the other day I bought the DVD player from Akai and is a great bergain!. My problem is that I just have 10FT. between the place where the set will be and my sofa so . . . . any experiences with this short distance? is not good for long viewers to be seated less than 3 times the diagonal of the sreen?. Thanks for your help |
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| I think Robert suggested earlier 4:3 need 2 times distance & 9:16 needs 3 times the distance. Your's is pity close |
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| I'm only 8 1/2 feet away from mine. With an HDTV and a progressive scan player you can sit much closer.With the higher resolution the scanlines aren't annoying as they would be on an analog TV and is a great idea when your room for the TV is not that large.My dedicated home theater room is a 10x13 and the seating as mentioned being 8 1/2 feet away is great.If you get the analog set at 54" it be more wise to sit as close to 13.5 feet away.With an HDTV you can cut that distance almost in half which is closer to 9 feet. Robert. |
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| I have 2 question, 1. I am seeing lot of blue in my Akai 5498, even though mode/picture/ blue screen is turned off. Even in black and white, I see white shade towards blue. It was worse with AT&T analog cable, now with Dish network it is better, but we feel it still need some fine tunning for Blue color 2. I did change VML to 0 but would like to confirm the setting for RDR, the very first option in service mode/picture/, I might have screwed it up while changing VML please let me know what is the number in front of RDR Appreciate your help ASAP |
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JORSAN | Thanks Robert for your response. I need more clarification here: you mention that with your HDTV you're seating at 8 1/2 feet, but you're not always receiving HDTV right?, or are you using your room just for receving digital signals?. As you can imagine, the set will be in my family room and my idea is to have bough, digital (via dish network) and nondigital images but using the HDTV AKAI PTH5498 model. I have kids that could be seating in a lateral sofa that is position perpendicular to the set and will be much closer. Other question here is: is dangerous for people to see a movie too close or is just the quality of the images? Thanks again for your help. |
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JORSAN | Just to add something: when I use the set to watch non HDTV the aspect ratio will be 4:3 so this will reduce the size of the watchable screen a lot. Right now Im using a 36" SONY TV (4:3 ratio non HD)and want something bigger; I rent lots of movies and more and more of them are in 16:9 so the picture is too small for me. If I receive regular TV in this AKAI 57"set, the size of the image is comparable to what screen size in 4:3 ratio; 36" maybe 40"? This will let me know have a better idea of what I will have if I decide to buy the set. Thanks again |
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| Re: Dave RDR is the Red Drive, on mine it is set at 20 To tune the blue utilize the settings for BDR and BCT.(Blue Drive and Blue Cut-off)Write down these values before messing with them and tune them to your preference. Re: JORSAN With the 54" a 16:9 image would be an estimated 50" size of widescreen image.And as I said with the HDTV you can sit closer, most ppl in here that bought the 5498 sit about 6 to 10 feet away.As long as you have a progressve scan dvd player for watching movies the closeness shouldn't be that big a deal. Robert |
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JORSAN | Robert, but not always you're watching movies with a DVD or HDTV; waht about the REST of the moments (regular cable viewing). Sorry to ask so many questions but I need to clarify this. Thakns again |
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| It's all fine. Just remember with regular cable viewing you will see all the compression artifacts because it's being displayed 3 times it's original size and this is because of the compression they use on their bandwidth.It all varies by channels, but I haven't had any bad experiences with watching sat/cable on mine at my distance.Only the local channels seem to have more artifacts than others.The rest Like HBO, Comedy Central, and Cartoon Network all look great.And make sure you use the S-video connection from your cable to get the best picture quality from that signal. Robert |
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JORSAN | Thanks a lot Robert. |
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Joe | I'm buying a 5498 today--I've heard that PS2 has a built-in screensaver. Is this true? Does this mean that playing games will not hurt the TV? I usually play for no more than a couple of hours at a time, at the most. Also, Cox Cable company told me that I should make sure that the TV has a YPbPr connector. I assume that this TV has that. |
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| thanks Robert for your ideas on clearing up some of the fuzziness and horizontal lines. I had a computer running in another room which I shut off and that helped out a lot.I have one more question for you Robert, would I get better picture quality with the 5498 than the 5492 on analog cable? |
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| All HDTV and HDTV ready models have the YPbPr, or what's better kown as the "component" connection.That is the connection in where three cables that are coded as red, blue, and green distribute signals of high resolution and quality.The 5498 has 2 connections in the rear, one to be used for dvd and the other for your hdtv tuner box or vice versa. I dunno about the PS2 having a screen saver, which in turn has no capibility of saving you from burn in with games at all.What will save you from burn in when playing games is only play a couple hours a day on it(3 to 4 at the most) keep the contrast below 20%, and make sure you switch to some full programming afterward so that none of the images burn into the phosphorus.If I said games did not hurt the TV I would be lying, they will, but you have to moderate what's being played and what you're watching.Don't be paranoid over it but do keep it in mind and keep the contrast and brightness down to save the tv's life. Robert |
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| Just an off the wall question for anyone out there. We love our 5498. My kids have asked for a PS2 for Christmas. I want one of the Panny progressive scan DVD's to watch our movies with. I have heard the PS2 plays DVDs. My question is - does the PS2 play DVDs in progressive scan mode - and what about the Chroma bug, if so ? Am I better off buying the PS2 and the Panny DVD player ? Thanks, Jerry |
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| PS2 is not progressive, so therefore it couldn't have the chroma bug.That being so it will produce poor quality dvd playback on that big 54", I suggest getting a progressive dvd player for movies.PS2 is not the greatest hardware for dvd playback unless you have a 25" screen where the flaw in quality is less noticable and that it's best video output is an s-video connection.With the 5498 you'll get a great quality playback from a Panny Progressive player like the RP62 or RP82 and benifit from the component connections. Better to get both, the PS2 from Santa and the Panny dvd player for Santa. Robert |
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| Re: DAVID Yes you would get a better picture with the 5498 than the 5492 with analog cable.The 5498 has a digital comb filter and digital progressive scan to produce a better image. Robert |
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| Well put Robert ! I will pass this info onto Mrs. Claus for her approval. You guys are a veritable cornocpia of information. Thanks, and Merry Christmas ! One other question - there is a $50 rebate on the Panny RP67 - which makes it less than the RP62. The 67 has a 5 disc player - but otherwise looks the same. Can anyone confirm this ? Thanks, Jerry |
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| The RP67 is actually the same hardware as the RP62 just more silver and mirror based in color, is new on the market, and has a 5 disc changer with a 189$ price tag.If you can get a 50$ rebate on that model, that's a good deal. Robert |
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Joe | I just bought the 5498 yesterday and I have a question about the PIP. I've been trying to use the PIP to watch two different channels at once, and have been unable to figure out how to do it. The PIP just shows the same channel as the normal picture. When I press the button to change the channel, it changes the channel on both, instead of just on one. Am I missing something, or can you only use PIP on this TV to view input from two different sources (such as cable input and DVD player)? Also, I placed my TV on the carpet. Is this O.K.? The manual said to use the "caster trays", so I assume that as long as I place the caster trays under the casters, it's O.K. P.S. This site is great--without it, I probably wouldn't have bought the set b/c I could not find any solid information on it. |
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| RE: Joe To use the PIP look in your manual and you will see that you need to utilize the buttons for PIP under the top tray on the remote(the little door that opens on the top).Inside you will see color shemed areas for the buttons.the bottom 2 rows are for PIP and you will notice the color lines between the buttons are green.You have Source, Scan, Locate, Swap, Size and the channel up and down keys for the PIP.You can only watch PIP sources of av connections(video 1,2,3),the s-video connection, and your 2 antenna connections.You cannot use the PIP for dvd if it is connected through the component connections or HDTV because of the resolution differences.Now for DirecTV/DishNetwork I believe you have to buy a PIP kit at the store for those. Carpet is fine, the TV has wheels under it so I dont use those trays at all since it has wheels. PIP Buttons: Source (the source of the connection to display in the PIP) Scan (scan the channels) Locate (change the corner in where the PIP sits) Swap (change view to what has been selected in the PIP) Size (change the PIP size from small to large) Channels arrows (change channels inside the PIP only) Robert |
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Joe | Thanks, Robert--Akai should send you a sales commission! |
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