Mitsubishi TV Service Modes

These are the service modes I found while playing with my Mitsubishi TS-5053 (50 inch rear-projection, manufactured Feb 1995) TV. I've also added some attributes based on information I got from other sources (thanks).

Your Mitsubishi TV may differ. It will definitely be different if you've got a direct-view (tube) TV, as opposed to a projection unit. So some of the attributes listed may not apply to you, you may have other attributes not listed, and you may need to use one of a number of other methods for getting into Mitsubishi service modes.

A note on why I did this. The short answer is: I told my wife I was about to pay US$60 for the service manual, and she gave me one of those looks that made me realize I wasn't going to buy the service manual. I wasn't ever going to service the unit, after all; I'm a software guy. So I decided I'd map out the service codes myself.

A note on how I did this. In early 1996, I found a posting from Louis A. Carliner on rec.video that said how to get into one of the service modes from the remote control. Armed with that code, I tried lots of similar combinations, and I kept a journal of what I found.

From a time-is-money perspective, it would have been cheaper to buy the service manual. But then I wouldn't be sharing all this information with you, and isn't that what the Web is for?

Using the Service Modes

Note Well! I will NOT be responsible if you use this information and mess up your TV! To quote from one reader, an authorized Mitsubishi service tech:
You probably should leave such "fiddlin'" with these service modes to Authorized Mitsubishi technicians. Entering wrong values in some of these registers can permanently damage the EEPROM.
There are some settings that will damage your TV. Don't change anything unless you know what you are doing. The service menu codes change yearly as do the ranges of safety. If you are serious about tweaking your TV yourself, get a service manual.

The general rule is: use some combination of keys on your remote to enter a service "screen." Within a service screen, you can use the AUDIO button to cycle through different "sub-screens." On each sub-screen, using the VIDEO button, you can advance to the next "attribute." Use the up and down buttons to increase and decrease the value. Sounds complicated, but it's not.

Usually, each sub-screen has many possible attributes. In the attribute tables below, I've listed the attribute numbers and mnemonics as they appear, as well as their default value -- at least what the values were when I first got my TV. Yours will likely be different. I also list the minimum and maximum values for the attribute, and any comments. There are a lot of comments and explanations missing. If you can fill me in, I'll add the info to this list.

The notation (F) means the value is FIXED. It's possible that the adjustments can be temporarily changed, but are not written to memory.

Note that I'm not using HTML tables. That's because they are tedious and I'm not building the page with a fancy HTML editor.


The Main Screen

Point your remote control at the TV and press these buttons, one after the other: MENU 2 3 5 7.
This gets you to the main service screen.

First sub-screen: VCH

These look like standard video adjustments.

VCH      def min max  (select VIDEO to go to the next item)
 0  COL   65  00 127  Color
 1  TNT   65  00 127  Tint
 2  BRT  145  ?? 174  Brightness       0: darkest (TV shut off at 174)
 3  CNT   82  00 127? Contrast         0: most contrast (lost picture at 118)
 4  SHP   08  00 127  Sharpness        0: sharpest
 5  CTR               Red Bias / Cutoff         direct-view only
 6  CTG               Green Bias / Cutoff       direct-view only
 7  CTB               Blue Bias / Cutoff        direct-view only
 8  DHR   84  00 127  Drive High Red                     (blue/black text)
 9  DHB   73  00 127  Drive High Blue
10  VHT   57  00 127  Vertical Height  0: shortest
11  PAM   17  00  63  Pincushion       0: none          ?
12  HWD   33  00  63  Horizontal Width 0: narrowest   
13  YDL   01  00  01  Y Delay
14  DL2   00  00  01  Aperture Control Delay Volume Selection (F)
15  DCT   00  00  01  DC Transmission Volume Selection (F)

17  AFC   02  01  03  Auto Freq Control?

19  SVC               Service Switch?

24  SHN   00  00  01  Sharpness Selection (F)        projection only?

26  CRS               Cutoff Switch, Red

28  DRR               Red Drive?
29  DRB               Blue Drive?
30  CBS               Cutoff Switch, Blue

33  DL1   04  00  07  Preshoot/Overshoot (F)
34  PED   12  00  15  Black Expansion Gain (F)
35  GMA   08  00  15  White Gamma Level (F)
36  GMG   08  00  15  White Gamma Gain (F)
37  BES   07  00  07  Black Expansion Slice Position (F)
38  R-Y   22  00  31  Demodulation Axis R-Y (F)
39  B-Y   29  00  63  Demodulation Axis B-Y (F)
40  G-Y   01  01  03  G-Y Ratio Selection             direct-view only?
41  WHC   08  00  15  White Character Correction (F)
42  WHV   07  00  15  White Character Slice Position (F)
43  HPH   18  00  31  Horizontal Position
44  VSC   16  00  63  Vertical S-Correction
45  VLR   19  00  63  Vertical Linearity
46  VSF   01  00  02  Vertical Position      (screen jumps when setting changed)
47  PPH   22  00  63  Pincushion Corner Correction - phase 
48  PC1   01  00  07  Pincushion Corner Correction - corner 1
49  PC2   03  00  07  Pincushion Corner Correction - corner 2
50  VCM               Vertical Centering/Size?    direct-view only?
51  HCM               Horizontal Centering/Size?  direct-view only?

56  SCN   82  00 127?                  (black/blue text) lost picture at 110

Second sub-screen (press AUDIO): MCS

MCS = Multi-Channel Sound?

MCS 1 0 0 1 0
 0  PVC   31  00  63  SAP VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator)  (MCS 0 1 0 1 0)
 1  TVC   22  00  63  Stereo VCO              (1th MCS bit: 1 < 30, 0 => 30)
 2  INP   21  00  63  Input Level
 3  FIL   14  00  63  Filter                  (MCS 0 1 0 1 0)
 4  LSP   33  00  63  Low Sound Separation    (MCS 1 0 0 1 0)
 5  HSP   33  00  63  High Sound Separation

Third sub-screen: PIP

These are controls for Picture-In-Picture.

PIP 1 1
 0 TINT   21  00  63  PIP Tint
 1 COLR   31  00  63  Color
 2 DECD   00  00  01  Color Reset (F)
 3 SYNC   01  00  07  Sub-Picture Sync Separation Threshold (F)
 4 RVS    00  00  01  '01' turns main screen white, changes to 'PIP 0 1'
 5 BG-Y   12  00  15  BackGround Luminance Level (F)
 6 BSTB   10  00  63  Burst White Background Displayed (F)
 7 MVW    00  00  03  Sub-Picture Macrovision (F)
 8 CRTN   01  00  03  Sub-Picture Vertical Position (F)
                       All the items in this group below(F) fixed values
 9 VXA    97  91 255   Y location of PIP window
10 HXAO  130  17 139   X location of PIP window
11 ADJ9   08  00  15
12 YDL9   14  08  29
13 HPX9   45  00 255
14 VYA9  188  00 255   pip window height (cuts off bottom scan lines)
15 HYA9   59  06 255   pip window width
16 ADJ6   07  00  15   (small window)
17 YDL6   12  08  29
18 HPX6  100  00 255
19 VYA6  206  00 255
20 HYA6   46  06 255
21 VXAM  236 207 255   multi-window vert position
22 HXAM   26  15 150   multi-window horiz position
23 VXBM  233 200 255   vert spacing betw windows

Fourth sub-screen: HR

   HR      9   0  20   4 green corner boxes left or right.  This might be the
                       text overlay area for videotext & captioning services.

Nth sub-screen: Iris

This is a feature of the HD1080 (not the TS-5053).

   BR0        0   63   Brightness Level 0 - dark room
   BR1        0   63   Brightness Level 1 - lights on
   BR2        0   63   Brightness Level 2 - daylight
   CN0        0   63   Contrast Level 0 - dark room
   CN1        0   63   Contrast Level 1 - lights on
   CN2        0   63   Contrast Level 2 - daylight
   0TO1       0  255   Level 0 to Level 1 incoming light threshold
   1TO2       0  255   Level 1 to Level 2 incoming light threshold
Here is a write up of the Iris feature.

Selecting AUDIO from the last sub-screen gets you back to the VCH sub-screen.

In addition, on the HD1080, pressing "1" and "2" change some settings -- 1 seems to adjust the horizontal aspect ratio, and 2 seems to cycle through different vertical aspect ratios. The TV can correctly display a 16x9 image on the 4:3 screen, which is an exciting feature for DVD owners, unfortunately it's not clear how to get the TV to stay in this mode when you exit the service menu.


The Convergence Screen

These might not be available on direct-view TVs.

MENU 2 3 5 9 4 to make changes against an internally generated grid, or
MENU 2 3 5 9 5 to set them without a grid (useful if you've got a copy of AVS in your videodisc player).

WARNING - DO NOT SET HSTA or VSTA ABOVE 200.
This can cause your set to shut down, and there is no known way to reset it on some TVs.

 CONV Red
 0 HSTA  109  00 254   Horizontal Static Position
 1 VSTA  122  00 254   Vertical Static Position
 2 TILT  120  00 254   Tilt of Horizontal Lines (also known as Skew)
 3 BOW   128  00 254   Bow of Horizontal Lines
 4 VWID  154  00 254   Vertical Height
 5 VLIN  124           Vertical Linearity
 6 HWID  129           Horizontal Width
 7 HLIN  175           Horizontal Linearity
 8 SKEW  148           Tilt of Vertical Lines (also known as Skew)
 9 VBOW  132           Bow of Horizontal Lines
10 HSDL   49	       Left Horizontal Sides
11 HSDR   58           Left Vertical Sides
12 VKLU  164	       Vertical Keystone Left Upper
13 VKLL   86	       Vertical Keystone Left Lower
14 VKRL  140	       Vertical Keystone Right Lower
15 VKRU  120	       Vertical Keystone Right Upper
16 HKLU   91	       Horizontal Keystone Left Upper
17 HKLL  120	       Horizontal Keystone Left Lower
18 HKRL  112	       Horizontal Keystone Right Lower
19 HKRU  108	       Horizontal Keystone Right Upper
20 DA40  134           Horizontal Linearity at the middle 1
21 DA41  134           Horizontal Linearity at the middle 2
22 DA42   35
23 DA43  148           Horizontally Sloping Ends - Left
24 DA44  146           Horizontally Sloping Ends - Right
25 DA50   96
26 DA51  230
27 DA52  158
28 DA53  147           Vertically Sloping Ends - Top
29 DA54   82           Vertically Sloping Ends - Bottom

CONV Blue
30 HSTA  160  00 254   Horizontal Static Position
31 VSTA  116  00 254   Vertical Static Position
32 TILT  122  00 254   Tilt of Horizontal Lines (also known as Skew)
33 BOW   125  00 254   Bow of Horizontal Lines
34 VWID  137  00 254   Vertical Height
35 VLIN  115           Vertical Linearity
36 HWID  106           Horizontal Width
37 HLIN  169           Horizontal Linearity
38 SKEW  130           Tilt of Vertical Lines (also known as Skew)
39 VBOW  122           Bow of Horizontal Lines
40 HSDL  111	       Left Horizontal Sides
41 HSDR   57           Left Vertical Sides
42 VKLU  123	       Vertical Keystone Left Upper
43 VKLL  141	       Vertical Keystone Left Lower
44 VKRL  114	       Vertical Keystone Right Lower
45 VKRU  142	       Vertical Keystone Right Upper
46 HKLU  153	       Horizontal Keystone Left Upper
47 HKLL  131	       Horizontal Keystone Left Lower
48 HKRL  144	       Horizontal Keystone Right Lower
49 HKRU  138	       Horizontal Keystone Right Upper
50 DA40  125           Horizontal Linearity at the middle 1
51 DA41  127           Horizontal Linearity at the middle 2
52 DA42   95           Keystone Offset
53 DA43  112           Horizontally Sloping Ends - Left
54 DA44   99           Horizontally Sloping Ends - Right
55 DA50  243
56 DA51  195
57 DA52  195
58 DA53  101           Vertically Sloping Ends - Top
59 DA54  145           Vertically Sloping Ends - Bottom


The Features Screen

These turn off TV features. Press MENU 2 3 5 8 to get the screen. In general you probably don't need to mess with these, unless you get confused while tweaking and you end up with a horrible picture -- in which case you can just reset the controls back to the factory defaults.

      Initial
      E2RESET           CCD         :On
      Hotel   :Off      Auto Clock  :On
                        Call letr.  :On
                        Net name    :On
                        Prog name   :On
                        Prog descr  :On
This screen has more stuff on other TVs, like the 31 and 35-inch direct-view TVs. I know about

      PIP        :On
      Montr. Fix :Off
      Auto Turn  :Off
      Antenna    :1
      Input      :1
      System 1A  :Off
and
      Power Res               (power reset??)
E2RESET resets the EEPROM (get it? E2 == EE). Here's a quote from an authorized service tech:
Just a friendly warning. Never press E2RESET. It resets all settings to almost arbitrary values. It is very painful to have to reset the values.
Supposedly, if you want to reset the TV to somewhat sane values, select Initial (Initialize). I have not tried this.


Additional Questions

I get a fair number of additional questions via email. I've compiled a page with additional questions and their answers.
Bob Page, Last changed: January 27, 2001