A friend of mine just got ahold of a Japanese flat panel tv (I don't know if it's LCD, plasma or what . . .). He's hooked it up to his DVD and it's working, picture is solid etc. However:

1) no remote (lost?).
2) All connectors are labeled in Japanese.
3) All menus are currently in Japanese.
4) Whoever had it last set the sleep timer to go off in 90 minutes.

We don't read/write japanese. What's the easiest way for an English-speaker to use this set? Any place to get an English manual? Is there any way to completely reset the TV, like you would with some other electronics devices? I expect there to be a setup menu where there would be a language setting, despite the fact that this unit was only sold in Japan. Question is how to get there :-D

Make: JVC
Model: HV-D50LA1 "Hologram" series.
Manufactured: Sometime around 2000-2001 if Google knows anything.

This was a $6000 set back then, so it's worth figuring out I would think.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

Wow. This is a challenge.

I just searched for it, and only found a single response, and then only on JVC's japanese web site. In Japanese, of course.

This product might have a universal input voltage supply, but if not, before it is left plugged in for any more time than it has been, go out and get a transformer that will convert his local voltage into 100 Volts so he has less risk of overloading and blowing the power supply.

Call JVC in Anaheim, CA for information as to what the heck to do.

Now, putting on the linguist hat: find local talent.

Call the Japanese Embassy. Kidding, almost.

Call your local university. See if anyone teaches Japanese. Or if there are any Japanese students. In Los Angeles, there are night classes in Japanese. I bet the teacher would love to see a manual and use it for some lessons for the class...along with translating a few things for free.

Go to a local Japanese restaurant and see if you can get some kid with a Japanese accent to come to his place for some consulting. Accent to help ensure he can read the screen and the input designations, kid so he might know what the designations mean. "Component input" in Japanese might not be a word that a forty-year old Japanese person would mean, because it was not invented when they were back in Japan.