AKAI PT5492 (Page 6)
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| Kevin Sam's has removed the 5498 several times in the past from the web site. I beleive they do this when their stock gets low. It seems to always be back in a couple of weeks. Andrew |
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| How do you get into where the smv/vml options are? I tried and could not find it... |
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Chris M | I purchased one of the 5498 from Sam's Club two weeks ago and love the TV! Everyone that has seen the TV has been really impressed by the picture and sound. It's also fun watching their jaw drop when I tell them what I paid for it. One thing I've notice on the TV is what appears to be weird horizontal lines that show up arround an image as it is moving arround the screen. They only appear to show up when something is moving arround the screen very quickly and only stick arround for a fraction of a second. Does this mean there is something wrong with my Television? Should I take it back? Thanks! -Chris |
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| RE: SAMUS
You sure you have the 5498?And if so look how to get into the SERVICE menu and get into the picture settings and you will find the setting option of VML.Look up top early in this post to find the instructions on how to access and navigate the service menu. RE: Chris M
Those lines are called banding, is usually happens because of a non-progressive scan dvd player or analog cable.You need a progressive scan dvd player and digital cable to rid of those lines. Robert |
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Chris M | Robert, Thank you very much for the answer. You are actually the major reason I chose to purchase this Television. I hope you know that everyone appreciates how helpfull you've been answering everyone's questions.  I am watching the television on DTV. Is that considered an analog signal? Thanks again! -Chris |
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| Not sure if my previous post went through. Still having problem with the PTH5498. Went into the service menu and the SBT was set at 248. I adjusted it down to 24 and that seemed to help alittle. I went ahead and turned the VML to 0 but all that seemed to do was to curve the screen slightly at the bottom. Can anyone tell me what the settings should be in the "Picture" area of the 5498? I did get the Avia DVD in the mail today but have not started to use it yet. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Jim W. Rusk |
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| Also forgot to add that after I brought the SBT down to 24 it would not go back up above 63. Also..I would like to adjust the convergence, Is there a guide on the Avia disc or can anyone tell me where there is a guide for the PTH5498. Again. thank you so much!! Sincerely Jim W. Rusk |
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Chance | Thanks for all the info on this set. I bought it a few days ago. Brought it home and set it up and didn't really like the picture. My cable is crap. Yelled at my buddy (he works for TW). Then I read the whole forum and found smv/vml. THANK YOU! is all I can say. My picture is a 1000% better. |
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| I too saw the 5498 at Sam's and thought about getting it for some time. Saw this site during my searches and it pushed me over the edge. We got it as our family Christmas present about a week ago and love it. Our kids are like the deer caught in the headlights. We have to make them do something else besides watch Disney DVDs all day. I've got a question though that I haven't seen address in any of the other posts. In the setup menu under the CHANNEL section the second item is ANT/CATV. You can choose between STD, HRC, IRC and ANT. I don't see any difference between these (except for ANT). It says in the manual to ask your cable co. but the girl that answers the phone didn't know what I was talking about. Can anyone tell me what this is or does it matter if I can't see any difference between the three cable settings? (My wife is getting sick and tired of my 'tweeking' the picture settings with the info I've gotten here and is just about to hide the remote - guess I'll have to get the Avia Disk). One other thing - when we brought it home and plugged it in the first day we were pretty disappointed in the picture quality. The picture had a lot of noise, some channels worse than others. (We never really noticed on our old very small TV). After seeing some of the posts I thought I would call the cable company to have them check the strength of the signal. They came out and tested the signal and found that I had moisture in the splitter outside the house that was degrading the signal quite a bit. They installed a new one (and replaced some very old cable) and the picture is 200% better. Just something to look out for if your signal isn't the strongest. |
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jimmy k | What a nice Xmas gift!!! I just hooked up my new 5892 this morning and am very impressed! I have digital cable from TW and boy do the premium channels stand out!!! Couple of questions though: 1) I'm using the supplied A/V cables right now...should i spring for Monster cables? and what specifically should I get? (i notice there are many types) 2) My digital box only has the Red,White and Yellow RCA jacks. Does this mean I cannot use "component" cables or does TimeWarner provide a different box for this purpose? Thanks to all for the superb info (especially Robert...you really ought to have a dedicated webpage to dispense your thourough knowledge) Merry Xmas to all |
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Anonymous | I cannot find the PTH5498 on the Sams website. Does anyone know if they are still carrying it? |
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| Re: Jim W. Rusk For convergence you will find a detailed menu above in a previous post about how to get into the 54 point convergence menu and what buttons do which.And it is best to get Avia or the Sound and vision DVD to get the better convergence with their test patterns by changing the convergence and switching back to video to do corrections and follow up on. RE: Todd For the STD, HRC, or IRC settings the thing you need to do is call your cable company and ask them which one they use.Whichever one they suggest is the one that is to be used for the best signal and picture. RE: jimmy 1)Ok first off you said you got a 5892, did you mean 5492(analog) or the 5498(hdtv monitor)?If 5492(analog) it's best to use the s-video cable and monster cable can help, their budget version that is labeled THX certified Monster cables are great.If it's the 5498 refer to the same unless your cable is HDTV then grab component cables which are red, blue, and green. 2)re/white/yellow is composite which is analog and the bottom of scale for best picture.Since you have TimeWarner you can call and upgrade your box and service to HDTV(if you have the 5498) and use component re/blue/green.If the 5492(analog) then use the s-video for best picture. RE: Anonymous The Sam's Club store is more reliable than their website.Just because it's not on the website doesn't mean it's not at your local Sam's club.My local Sam's keeps the Akai 5498 in stock yet the website sometimes does and sometimes doesn't.It's all depending on the warehouse the website uses for their orders. Robert |
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Anonymous | Can anyone tell me where I can get a remote control for the Akia PT5492 bigscreen TV? |
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| Re: Anonymous You can get a replacement remote directly from Akai by calling their support and warranty line at 1-888-697-2247.As for any where local in your area I would suggest any great universal remote with Akai compatibility.And remember if it doesn't have Akai listed in the univeral input codes use the Samsung codes and they should work fine. Robert |
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| Can any one tell me how the setworks with Letter Box DVDs and what is the width of the set. |
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Tony | hi I just got my 5498 tv last week. I wondered if anyone knows how to get my remote for the tv to work with the Time Warner cable box which also has HDTV compatibilites. I did look in the book and tried all the codes listed to no avail. I have not seen anyone tell how to do this yet. thanks for your help. |
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| RE: Cedric When playing widescreen(letterbox) movies they are in the 50" of diagonal screen size.Say if you were to imagine the set to be a widescreen tv it would be a 50" 16:9 TV, and it's a 54" 4:3 TV. RE: Tony If you see no code for it then there isn't one for it.You'll just need to use the one that came with the cable box or have TimeWarner send you one if you don't already have one.I mentioned before that the Akai/Samsung remote is not great being universal, it lacks compatibility and usability issues with other components and only works best with the set itself. Robert |
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| I just purchased an Akai dvps 760 dvd player does anyone know if these are any good. and if so where can I get a owners manual. john |
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| Call Akai for any manuals you may need, you will find their number in this thread about 3 or 4 times.From what I've seen the Akai dvd players are not the best but are good at producing a good image on up to a 32" screen.But if put on a screen any larger and the picture quality suffers tremendously. Robert |
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john | thanx robert john |
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Anonymous | thanks for the input on the AKIA 5498 - HD. this site convinced me to give it a try and I am pleased with the picture after just a few days. I have my HD cable box connected to the component 2input jacks in the back - however my picture does not fill the screen. I get about a 4 inch black border all around the screen in "normal" mode. The aspect ratio is the standard 4/5 but the picture size is reduced. When I hit the aspect button for a zoom, the black bars on the top and bottom disappear but the bars remain on the sides and the picture is stretched up. When I connect the cable box to component 1, I get a scrambled picture that fills the whole screen. Also when I watch dvd movies using my kids X-box with adapter, some of the movies show up with a much thicker black bar on the top and bottom of the screen. If I zoom in on them to get the black bars reduced, the picture seem to be stretch up to the point that it looks distorted. Other movies appear to display correctly. I am new to HD and these may be dumb questions but I cant find anything in the manual. Hope someone can help. Again thanks for the imput on this site - it is greatly appreciated. |
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jimmy k | HTTP://WWW.HIFI.COM has the Onkyo DV-SP300 Progressive Scan DVD/MP3 CD player with 192 kHz/24-bit D/A converters for only $99.99 shipped free. Whaddya think Robert? |
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| All, I just got the 5498 hdtv ($1299) yesterday and upon out-of-the box setup, I too had tweak to get a clearer picture. Picked up a new video cable (Acoustic Research 6' for $24.oo @ Best Buy ) and noticed cleaner display and next turned VML (note: shows as VM-Level when selected from the service menu) using Roberts great info and things cleaned up well as I guess can be expected...nothing really worth griping about as I imagine my somewhat residual graininess etc. is from the source, not the set. So far all I can say is that I love the equipment! Robert I also took your suggestions on picture adjustments and after awhile, me and the family have become used to the slightly darker (than we are used to from out meager 27" in. viewing days)but rich picture. I know it was mentioned ot ensure that the service menu data is recorded before anything is tweaked, and I did jujst that, but I though I'd included my settings from the original service menu here just in case anyone has tweaked and forgotten to do so...maybe this will help someone. The original settings are: RDR 27, HUE 5, LTI 1, RCO 50, GDR 20, RYR 2, VML 2, GCO 40, BDR 25, RYB 10, VMD 0, BCO 25, RCT 7, GYR 10, DCT 2, BPO 160, GCT 31, GYB 5, DPI 2, BWD 61, BCT 31, GAM 12, HPF 6, SBT 14, SHP 3, VPF 6, CON 10, SFO 2, VPG 4, COL 10, POV 3, VPI 20, Also I picked up the AKAI progressive scan DVD from SAM'S but plan to return today in light of Robert's suggestion above. I never got it out of the box but the logic makes good sense and why skimp at this point? Instead, I picked up the Panasonic RP62 at Best Buy last night for $154.00 ($175.00 with $21.00 instant rebate in the store). Not knowing what the AKAI DVD player's picture would've looked like, I can only trust Robert in that in the long-run, this is the best choice. Lastly, I've attempted to perform the manual convergence but frankly, I just don't quite get it. How exactly to you perform adjustment? It just semmed that I could rotate from crosshair to crosshair around the screen, but didn't see any feedback denoting adjustment were taking place. Are the cross-like inages supposed to get lighter indicating a "cleaner" convergence adjustment is occurring? Maybe I'm missing something? Thanks to all for the great information you've shared and Robert, you've missed your calling...you should be a licensed tech (smile)! |
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Anonymous | never thought about buying hd ready tv before. so here is a really really basic question i have to ask someone who knows. do i get any benefit( better picture) using hd ready tv viewing regular programing on air or regular dish (like dish-net-work,not digital)? thank you in advance for educating me. |
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| RE: Anonymous Your HDTV reciever could have the same bug as most and that it still thinks that it's displaying a 16:9 image when it's not and it usually affects the non hdtv channels and means having to use the s-video connection for non hdtv channels.DirecTV is supposed to have it fixed on their upcoming new models last I heard. And the black bar being thicker on the top than the bottom happens on some players called the shimmer effect which is nothing major, just common in most progressive players that I've seen.If it's on all movies it could be the geometric is off of alignment but i doubt it. RE: jimmy Onkyo slacked on their new models. I still stand behind Panasonic and Denon. But for $99 and free shipping that's a great price considering it retails for $149. RE: Terry Hughes For convergence you need to get yourself an Avia or Sound And Vision DVD so that you align the grid perfectly with the patterns.Without the test patterns on the disc it will be quite hard or almost impossible to get them in perfect alignment, so that may be why you're not getting it together with the convergence just yet. And it should turn out somewhat like this example: http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/learnabout/convergence.html RE: Anonymous Somewhat, yes. You'll experience a better image with the progressive image and line doublers but nothing stunning until you get a progressive scan dvd player or an hdtv tuner but cable will turn out better none the less than an analog TV for sure. Robert |
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| I havnt seen this talked about on here. What kind of problem with the picture will convergence cause? I have the 5498 and seemed that anything in the picture that was red was too bright compared to the other colors .I went into the 52 point convergence and it did seem the red was off alot more that the other 2 colors so I set it best I could . As far as I can tell the problem with the reds are fixed. Much better picture. Also I would like to agree that the strength of the signal from channel to channel affects the picture tremendously . Premium channels are the best on mine. I have my cable box hooked with S-video and my DVD hooked up with audio/video cable {very good DVD picture}. I really think this set was a steal at $1299. |
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| RE: Chris
It will cause colors to smudge on the screen.An great exmplae would be the NBC transparent logo in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.If you see any red, blue, green bleeding from the edge of the logo or the letters then you have a convergence problem because in that corner the grid is not aligned and you have one of those colors off set.You can sometime notice in clothing as well, if you notice a white collar on a shirt that has a red or green outline, then convergence is off.It can be seen on the edge of someone's face too, if you notice a red or green outline of someone's face then convergence is off. If convergence is really bad the picture quality could look somewhat out of focus but actually it's the colors smudging over each other causing this blur like taking a painting and lightly smudging the colors on the portrait with a tissue causing this haze of colors in the wrong parts of the picture. When you have convergence aligned, the picture will look crisp and sharp and colors will look more in their place. Robert |
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Anonymous | Ipurchased a 5498 today the problem that i have is that I have not been ableto connect my surround sound up to the 5498. Can someone help me ted |
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| What am I doing wrong, please tell. I recently purchased the 5498 and I had digital cable installed, and I noticed that a lot of my channels are grainy and has noise in the background. Even some of the channels through cable look grainy. Nothing is crisp or sharp. HELP, HELP. Thanks Darlene |
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Tony | anonymous; hope some one helps you so it will help me, i just purchased a panasoic home theater system{scht95) from hhgregg $ 386.83. It has progressive scan dvd. any help .57 yrs. old and can put a turbo on a harley but can't get this thing going.{akai5498) |
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| RE: Anonymous What do you mean your surround up to your 5498? Surround doens't go into the TV it goes into a receiver. RE: Darlene Spears Make sure you use the S-video connection for the best video from your cable box, or the component if available.It can also be your signal strength and brand of cables used, please read previous threads in this post to find out more to your cable issues. RE: Tony Use the component cables to hook up the DVD system and make sure progessive is turned on.No audio goes into the TV only the video which for progressive is the component consists of red, green, and blue cables.Choose component from the video menu from using the video menu and you should be good to go.For all audio connections of the home theater system a manual that came with the product should outline all the codes of wires in an understandable step by step manner. Robert |
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| Just wanted to thank Robert and all the others for the info in the forum. I too am going to purchase the 98. This looks like one of the best deals going. If I have any concerns with the set up, it looks like I have found the place to get help. |
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| which is a better buy at Sam's Club the panasonic 56"hdtv compatible pt-56hx41 at $1499 or the akai pth5498 at $1299. |
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Anonymous | will the menu 183 service menu allow me to set the height of the screen and if it will how do I do it. my 5492 tv is showing black space at top and bottom and on top the vertical sync signal is showing as a series of white flashes. |
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| RE: Rand That's just the Panny 4:3 and not a widescreen 16:9 right?If it was the widescreen I would say jump on it but since it's not the Akai is just as good as that Panny TV and $300 cheaper.That $300 is only paying for 2 more inches of screen in reality. RE: Anonymous That would be the 182 menu(service menu) the 183 is the convergence.Now when you go into the 182 menu you will need to go into geometric BUT before you change any settings you need to write down all settings on that screen you can see.You also need Avia or the Sound and Vision dvd to set your screen's height and width as close to perfect as you can.If you don't write down the settings no one can help you if you screw it up because all TV's can sometimes have different settings in the service menu.So what one person may have may not help out yours. If you've written them all down, you only need to change the following in the service menu: VS = vertical size VA = vertical alignment HS = horizontal size HA = horizontal alignment Those and only those should be touched. Happy New Year 2003 To All. Robert |
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rand | robert it states it is both 16:9 widescreen and 4:3. can be seen on sam's club web. thankyou |
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| Hi everyone, I purchased my 5498 about 4months ago and I have nothing but good things to say about it, and it has been a great investment for our household. I strongly recommend this television to anyone out on the market for one. to ROBERT and many of you that have posted messages in this forum, I would like to thank you for all the information you have shared. also to anyone subscribing to Time warner cable, and is using their cable box made by Scientific Atlanta the "Explorer 3100HD" model. this MFG is not listed in the AKAI manual but the remote codes I was able to use were 063,073, again thanks to all. |
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rand | Sam's Club on line for its projection TV delivery by truck in up to three weeks charges app. $300. Wal Mart for its Premier Home Delivery Service which includes in home, unpacking etc. $98.00.That is a big dollar differance. Go either to Sam's Club and buy or buy another brand else where. |
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Rick | All I can say to everyone whom has already posted is a huge THANK YOU to all! You all have been a wealth of information and a confidence boost in my purchase decision. I too had come to a conclusion that $1299.00 was a great price, and that I had considered 47" WS, when in actuality I gain 50" WS in 16:9 with my 54" 4:3 Akai PTH5498. Mine has been nothing but a good experience thus far. I have made a few minor tweaks and I am using S-video with great results. I have a newer Phillips Surround system with DVD, an older Sony Direct TV reciever, and Toshiba VCR. The only item which has component out is the DVD, but presently I am just using S-video on that also. Once I went from RCA out to S-video on Sat and DVD there has been a noticeable improvement. The picture is very good at about 8 - 9 feet viewing distance. My OTA terrestial antena picture is quite good also. At 1st it was kind of grainy/not smooth. Now that all is set up and I have made a few tweaks (color, contrast, brightness, & sharpness), it has improved also. I was surprised to see that since I really hadn't done much yet. I can only think that between getting everything stabilized with cabling, minor tweaks, and some burn in time that has resulted in an over all good picture even with standard TV. Once I have more burn in time, I may try some additional Service Menu tweaks such as 56 point convergence and some video tweaks. I may just do the convergence, as like I say, the video looks pretty good right now and I am not that well versed in this area. I have yet to see DVD with Progressive Scan viewed on an HDTV monitor, so I am interested in the differences here also. I might try our new X-Box with a DVD as I have seen mention in posts that X-Box has Progressive Scan capability. I have since moved the X-Box upstairs with my 27" standard TV due to the posts about static images on an RPTV I have seen here and cautions stated both in the X-Box manual and the 5498 Owners Manual. Robert, should I avoid like the plague, X-Box and Nintendo on the RPTV's such as the 5498? I greatly appreciate all of your tecnical information and additional links on the subject and to additional products. Thanks, Rick |
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| Anyone have information regarding frequency of repair on the AKAI projection tv's?? Consumer Reports reports on many, but not AKAI. thanks, Dick |
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| Dick The 5498 and the Akai name in general has not been around enough as far as big screens go, to build the user data base to determine a frequency of repair statistic. I bought my 5498 on 9/22 and so far, so good. I am even amazed at the quality of Hi8 format home video's played back on this thing. The football games today were great. It amazes me the "new" friends you get during bowl games when they find out you have a big screen. I can't wait for NASCAR to resume in Feb. In the mean time, I may have to charge admission for the super bowl. |
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| RE: RICK I'll post what i said on another topic
From what i've seen the X-Box is not that great of a dvd player.Now the thing about X-Box that I know of is that the dvd player is not in progressive.From what I've witnessed in some discussions on this is it can be done but the X-Box has to be hacked in order for the dvd's to play in progressive mode.And hacking a system play 480p for dvd when it already doens't have a good quality image for the dvd in 480i it's just not worth it.Now for games on the PTH5498 with X-Box's HD pack, the games look stunning and are great.Just dont play them too long at a time and make sure the contrast/brightness/sharpness is turned down to safe/calibrated levels and you should be fine. RE: Dick Bayliss Never heard of any having to be repaired.Only some exchanges due to truck delivery faults.I've had mine for more than 3 months now and no problems at all. Robert |
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Anonymous | thank you robert for the information on the set up menu. |
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John Lee | Thank you all for the informative posts above. I have just purchased the PTH5498 yesterday. Although our standard cable tv is giving us a clear, sharp image, DVD is not looking anything like we expected. SVM/VML has been set to zero. I have tried RCA, S-Video, as well as component inputs from my regular non-progressive scan Sony DVD player. I notice no difference in any of these connections and the out of focus look to all of my dvd movies is starting to annoy family members. I know that there is going to be graining and smearing in the image since it is not a progressive scan dvd player, but shouldn't it look better than when it was connected to my 27" Sony Trinitron TV? I am sitting approximately 12-13 feet from the screen to compensate for the fact that the images are blown up compared to the 27 inch tv. But why do these dvd images look so blurred compared to watching even cable tv? Thanks! |
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Not really. You're taking the same image that was looking nice on that 27" and blowing it up three times it's size and you see how crummy the image quality gets.To get a better image quality, as I've said before you will need to get a progressive scan player so that it can give you a higher resolution image (480p) through component cables for that size of a screen and beleive me you will then notice a difference.
This can also be the fault of your cables and/or dvd player. Robert |
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Cliff | i am debating between 5492 & 5498. i am willing to purchase progressive dvd player ( not that i watch many dvd movies), but not hdtv tuner, yet. i am subscribing dish network with dishpro 301. what do you think? is 5498 really a better buy considering i am going to view w/o hdtv tuner? i am very appreciative of all the info's on this forum. |
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Anonymous | I don't know if I'm just lucky or what, but I get a very good picture from a cheap non progressive DVD player with component connections on a 5498. If you allready have a player with component out, try it and see how it looks. I thought I would need a progressive player for the 5498. Then I hooked up my existing player and was blown away by the picture. I think the need for a progressive player is being exaggerated here. The following link has a lot of info about progressive DVD's. Read, especially, the first 3 paragraphs under the heading "Why Are Progressive Players Better?" http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.html John |
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Jeremy & Candice | after reading for 2 hrs plus and searching the web for another hour we finally came across this page and are now sold on the 5498 and are going to sams tomorrow morning to purchase. Andrew or Robert you two sound like the experts here, so what are the exact steps from getting it home to set up i will need to know, ie. How to transport, and set up for best picture quality. We have a panasonic dvd player model number RV31 i am pretty sure it is progressive scan and hughes direct tv satelite. Any imput would be greatly appreciated Thanks |
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John Gayleard | Recently, someone posted a note about a SAMSUNG widescreen RPTV at SAM'S CLUB. Can anyone tell me in what state and city. I am very interested in that TV. Thanks, John |
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| Is the Akai PTH5498, in fact, a Samsung product? If so, which model number Samwsung? Anyone? Thanks in advance. RBell |
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