You should use the optical out (or digital coax out, your preference) on your cable box and hook that directly to your AV receiver.

leaving the tv out of the loop audio-wise is the best bet. There may be a setting in the cable box menus to turn on the optical outs, but i think on most cable boxes they are always active.

It's finally sinking in. Many thanks.

Angus

I have a question with the HDMI setup on the 4360. I'm sure this has been asked somewhere but I couldn't find it.

I have my cable box connected via component (it's an older PACE box, don't think the DVI is active), and I have a Panny S77 connected via HDMI.

Does enabling HDMI always override the component? Every time I want to watch a DVD I have to go into the menu on the 4360 and enable HDMI? Then disable it again to watch cable?

I thought on my 5050 upstairs that I could leave the HDMI enabled and the component would remain active until the S77 was turned on, then the HDMI would override it.

Anyone have a setup like this?

Jacksonian-

Do you see macroblocking with the S77 on your Pio panel? I've read that MB is a problem on plasmas (particularly the Pannys), but haven't seen any info on the Pio/S77 compatibility. Thanks.

I just finished mounting my 5060 partially in a wall, with basically about 2 inches of the display visible outside the sheetrock. It makes for an extremely neat, very inexpensive wall mount, but you have to use a wall that can be accessed from the opposite side to allow for ventilation ports. It also means scooping about an inch out of two wall studs to accomodate the deepest portion of the set. The weight of the set is distirbuted on a piece of angled metal (available at any Home Depot) lag-bolted to the studs. The normal mounting holes are used only to hold the set against the studs and have virtually no weight on them. Although cost wasn't the objective (my screen has to be as close to the wall as possible because it's in an area that people walk by) total cost of materials was less than $40, counting the two louvered vents for the other side of the wall that I also got from HD. But it takes very careful measuring and planning plus (for me) a full day to think it through and make it happen. Not to mention the pucker factor of cutting a hole in your wall and hoping it all works out . . . Anyone considering it should consult with a qualified carpenter or framer to determine whether the wall is structurally sutied for something like this (mine was not load-bearing).

If anyone's interested, I should be able to post photos of this project later this week.

Angus

Jacksonian-

Do you see macroblocking with the S77 on your Pio panel? I've read that MB is a problem on plasmas (particularly the Pannys), but haven't seen any info on the Pio/S77 compatibility. Thanks.

I didn't..........
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6616357&&#post6616357

I thought it was just me, but i remember reading a few pages back that someone else reported seeing flicker on various channels on their PDP-5060. This flicker would happen on a few channels and is noticeable at the top of the screen. The flicker or distortion (I don't know what to call it) would take up 3-4 pixels of verticle resolution.

At first i thought it only occured on a few channels in 4:3 mode, but have since noticed that it also occurs in wide mode. I wish i can state which channels but it occurs on different channels depending on the show.

I don't know if this is a defect on my plasma and if so, i should exchange it ASAP as my 30 days is near.

IS anyone else having this problem? Do you think it is from the station?

Here;s some pics to show what i mean. Have a look at the top of my screen. These are not static but look as though it flickers, but it only happens at the very top of the TV.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/scanido/images/Pioneer-5060_flicker2.jpg

http://www3.sympatico.ca/scanido/images/Pioneer-5060_flicker1.jpg

That isn't flicker....its underscan. IF its only on a few channels, those broadcasters did not setup the picture correctly. If you want, you could try to adjust the vertical position for those broadcasts that show up like that.

Hi everyone,

Has any one been successful setting 1:1 pixel mapping with 5060 with a scaler? Please share your set up method.

I am getting DVDO VP30 to get 1:1 mapping but not sure how to do it yet. I am thinking or outputting VP30 at 1280x768, which 5060's NR, and feed it to one of the HDMI input. My problem is 5060 HDMI set up only has 1080i/ 720p/ 480p/ 480i. So which resolution should I use to get 1:1 pixel mapping?

Thanks for your help.

VN2000

Hi everyone,

Has any one been successful setting 1:1 pixel mapping with 5060 with a scaler? Please share your set up method.

I am getting DVDO VP30 to get 1:1 mapping but not sure how to do it yet. I am thinking or outputting VP30 at 1280x768, which 5060's NR, and feed it to one of the HDMI input. My problem is 5060 HDMI set up only has 1080i/ 720p/ 480p/ 480i. So which resolution should I use to get 1:1 pixel mapping?

Thanks for your help.

VN2000

You will not be able to do 1:1 pixel mapping thru HDMI. You may be able to do it thru the vga port, but I doubt it.

Question on the PRO1130HD. I am sure it's in here, but couldn't find it. just got the tv, nice indeed. but on certain stations, like when the kids are watching cartoons, there seems to be some short horizontal lines on the edges of certain characters and some of the text. they move with the pictures, etc.

2nd, maybe it's just me, but when i switch back and forth from standard to HD on the same station, the difference is that noticeable . is that becuase this tv does such a great job with SD, or do I have some settings wrong?

lastly, why are some stations having grey bars on the left and right, others black.. how do i set it to black, or somehting? when i looked at espn, it had graphics, since it wasn't showing in 16:9..

I am a confused noobie!

D-Nice.... have you tried looking at 720p stuff at 1080i? Does it look the same? Worse? Better?

You know how I feel about the dreaded HDMI lag when it comes to switching stations (or, rather, formats)... just wondering if I'll be missing anything if I watch everything at 1080i.

Thanks.

D-Nice.... have you tried looking at 720p stuff at 1080i? Does it look the same? Worse? Better?

You know how I feel about the dreaded HDMI lag when it comes to switching stations (or, rather, formats)... just wondering if I'll be missing anything if I watch everything at 1080i.

Thanks.


I tried allowing my SA 8300 upconverting everything to 1080i and did not like it. The SA 8300 does not have a good scaler so I just deal with the HDMI transition lag.

Anyone have a Denon 3910 connected to their 1130 via HDMI?

How do the two units work with each other?

I have an 1130 and DV-79avi but Im having problems getting the 79avi to cooperate with my IR 7.1 via firewire so Im considering a Denon 3910. Before I jump, I wanted to know if anyone has any opions on the 3910 when connected to the 1130.

Thanks

John

That isn't flicker....its underscan. IF its only on a few channels, those broadcasters did not setup the picture correctly. If you want, you could try to adjust the vertical position for those broadcasts that show up like that.

I figured it had to do something with the broadcasters. Makes it more relieving knowing someone else thought of it that way.

THanks for your insight D-Nice!

You will not be able to do 1:1 pixel mapping thru HDMI. You may be able to do it thru the vga port, but I doubt it.

You will be able to get 1:1 pixel mapping via VGA. You may get motion issues. I was unable to get my iScan HD to lock on and pass the judder test at anything other than 70hz. It should also lock at 50 and 60, but it did not.

I currently hook up my iScan via HDMI at 720p. It looks pretty good.

-Drew

Okay guys-

I pushed the button, I placed a hold on the last PRO1130HD at the local Magnolia/Best Buy. He was kind enough to kick in a little discount. I just have to go to the store and close the deal tonight.

One thing came up that I'd like your advise on. Having never bought such a large item from this store, they offered me an extended warrenty. I knew they would. This one is a 4 year in-house type and covers the whole set and a guy who comes to the house to fix anything, covers dead pixels, etc, while he said Pio only covers parts. I have never gone for extended warrenties as I believed them to be free money for the sellers. And this warrenty would be the cost of the little discount I managed to get. So I think I will pass on that, any thoughts? I did pay with a credit card so I can see what extensions it offers.

Thanks for all the help, comments and advise here to help me decide on a new Pio! Nelson

Okay guys-

I pushed the button, I placed a hold on the last PRO1130HD at the local Magnolia/Best Buy. He was kind enough to kick in a little discount. I just have to go to the store and close the deal tonight.

One thing came up that I'd like your advise on. Having never bought such a large item from this store, they offered me an extended warrenty. I knew they would. This one is a 4 year in-house type and covers the whole set and a guy who comes to the house to fix anything, covers dead pixels, etc, while he said Pio only covers parts. I have never gone for extended warrenties as I believed them to be free money for the sellers. And this warrenty would be the cost of the little discount I managed to get. So I think I will pass on that, any thoughts? I did pay with a credit card so I can see what extensions it offers.

Thanks for all the help, comments and advise here to help me decide on a new Pio! Nelson

yea, pass on it. most visas & amex offer a one year extension to the manufacturers warranty, that's the route i went...

Okay guys-

I pushed the button, I placed a hold on the last PRO1130HD at the local Magnolia/Best Buy. He was kind enough to kick in a little discount. I just have to go to the store and close the deal tonight.

One thing came up that I'd like your advise on. Having never bought such a large item from this store, they offered me an extended warrenty. I knew they would. This one is a 4 year in-house type and covers the whole set and a guy who comes to the house to fix anything, covers dead pixels, etc, while he said Pio only covers parts. I have never gone for extended warrenties as I believed them to be free money for the sellers. And this warrenty would be the cost of the little discount I managed to get. So I think I will pass on that, any thoughts? I did pay with a credit card so I can see what extensions it offers.

Thanks for all the help, comments and advise here to help me decide on a new Pio! Nelson

I was actually in the same boat as you last week. Magnolia/BB in Milpitas were able to hold the 1130 Elite for me for a night, mind you it was the last one they had before their next shipment next year. I did indeed however purchase BB's 4yr warranty and was also contemplating whether or not I really do need it regardless if Visa offered another yr ontop of Pioneer's 1 yr warranty. I made this decision because of the discount I was given through a friend which in the end still put me a tad ahead of msrp. I also considered the in-home service coverage offered by BB's warranty versus a non extended warranty accompanied by the cost of shipping the plasma if anything were to happen.

Pioneer Elite 1130 REPRESENT! :)

Mnbri- Thanks, I think I will opt out of that. My credit card does have a Buyers Assurance program. Extends it a year.

Thanks Vinze- You gotta go with makes you comfortable. I must admit the warranty does sound mighty tempting. But sounds like you got a much better price then I did! I'm dealing with the San Carlos store by the way.

Hi everyone,

Has any one been successful setting 1:1 pixel mapping with 5060 with a scaler? Please share your set up method.

I am getting DVDO VP30 to get 1:1 mapping but not sure how to do it yet. I am thinking or outputting VP30 at 1280x768, which 5060's NR, and feed it to one of the HDMI input. My problem is 5060 HDMI set up only has 1080i/ 720p/ 480p/ 480i. So which resolution should I use to get 1:1 pixel mapping?

Thanks for your help.

VN2000

This is from an iScan HD/HD+ for Pioneer someone sent me, I have not tried it yet.

Horizontal scan rate 45.113Khz
Horizontal total active 1280
Horizontal front porch 048
Horizontal sync width 112
Horizontal back porch 248
Vertical refresh rate 56.25Hz
Vertical lines 768
Vertical front porch 001
Vertical sync width 003
Vertical back porch 030

pixel clock = 76.15 MHz

I think it's a trade off of 1:1 pixel mapping versus avoiding D/A and A/D conversion.

I think I'm sticking with 720p over DVI to HDMI and not worrying about 1:1 pixel mapping. With 720p HDMI the Pioneer processing has an easy job and can do it all digitally.

I'm still waiting for an SDI kit for a Meridian DVD player to see what it can really do with DVD.

I thought it was just me, but i remember reading a few pages back that someone else reported seeing flicker on various channels on their PDP-5060. This flicker would happen on a few channels and is noticeable at the top of the screen. The flicker or distortion (I don't know what to call it) would take up 3-4 pixels of verticle resolution.

At first i thought it only occured on a few channels in 4:3 mode, but have since noticed that it also occurs in wide mode. I wish i can state which channels but it occurs on different channels depending on the show.

I don't know if this is a defect on my plasma and if so, i should exchange it ASAP as my 30 days is near.

IS anyone else having this problem? Do you think it is from the station?

Here;s some pics to show what i mean. Have a look at the top of my screen. These are not static but look as though it flickers, but it only happens at the very top of the TV.



I see the same thing and was not concerned as I believe it's the broadcast or a minor tweak needed. Only some channels some of the time.

D-nice/lahmp

So you have your SA8300 set to "Auto"? For some reason, when I set it to auto, the 1080i light stays lit in addition to the Auto light, but none of the others ever light up. Does this sould right?

Question on the PRO1130HD. I am sure it's in here, but couldn't find it. just got the tv, nice indeed. but on certain stations, like when the kids are watching cartoons, there seems to be some short horizontal lines on the edges of certain characters and some of the text. they move with the pictures, etc.

2nd, maybe it's just me, but when i switch back and forth from standard to HD on the same station, the difference is that noticeable . is that becuase this tv does such a great job with SD, or do I have some settings wrong?

lastly, why are some stations having grey bars on the left and right, others black.. how do i set it to black, or somehting? when i looked at espn, it had graphics, since it wasn't showing in 16:9..

I am a confused noobie!

anyone care to help me with this? I'd appreciate it. also, the color seems off a little, any suggestions?

thanks.

Also, how loud are all of your media boxes? I have mine set up temporarily about 7' away and it is very noticeable.

Also, how loud are all of your media boxes? I have mine set up temporarily about 7' away and it is very noticeable.

Mines a bit noisy, but it's behind a wall so it's a non issue with me. This is one of the wonderful features available with a media center and an HDMI connection.

D-nice/lahmp

So you have your SA8300 set to "Auto"? For some reason, when I set it to auto, the 1080i light stays lit in addition to the Auto light, but none of the others ever light up. Does this sould right?

Malvoe.... did you go into the 8300 and manually set all the output options: 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i?... you have to set up the box to output all formats.

I'm not sure about the lights on the front... my box is in a cabinet across the room so I never really see it.

Wassy - HD stations will have their own bars when showing 4:3 material - which is why you see ESPN graphics in the bars on ESPN. I'm not sure about the rest - I'm new to plasmas too

Also, how loud are all of your media boxes? I have mine set up temporarily about 7' away and it is very noticeable.

I don't notice it... but that's probably because my SA 8300 is so loud... are you sure that's not what you're hearing?

lhamp - no, I haven't done that. My box came with minimal instructions, mostly for the DVR. Do you happen to remember how you set those up?

Both boxes are fairly loud - enought to be annoying. The media box has the loud fans, the SA8300 does lots of whirring and clicking. The MB is definitely louder. I may have to get an enclosed media rack b/c of them.

lhamp - no, I haven't done that. My box came with minimal instructions, mostly for the DVR. Do you happen to remember how you set those up?

Both boxes are fairly loud - enought to be annoying. The media box has the loud fans, the SA8300 does lots of whirring and clicking. The MB is definitely louder. I may have to get an enclosed media rack b/c of them.


You need to hit the settings bar (which is to the left of enter), then hit "A" which is "more settings" then scroll down to "output settings " (or something like that...I'm not home right now so I'm just wiinging it).... press enter and you'll see a list of 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i... you need to engage all of them (a dot will appear next to each format when it's been engaged)... then press "accept", "exit" and you're good to go.

Awesome - thanks. That should save me some time tonight.

anyone care to help me with this? I'd appreciate it. also, the color seems off a little, any suggestions?

thanks.


Wassey... the HD channels broadcast all their signals 16:9, even if it's non hd material... when they do that, they send out a 4:3 image with black bars on either side... your television reads it as a 16:9 image which is totall normal.... that's when you see black bars.... when they're grey, it probably means you're watching a standard def broadcast 4:3, and your plasma is adding the bars on both sides... again, this is normal... you can choose to watch it this way or stretch it (some sets let you change the bars from gray to black, or vice versa... but I don't think ours will allow that).

Espn HD broadcasts either 16:9 images (a la sunday night football)... or 4:3 images with their own graphics on either side, rather than just solid bars.

Hope this helps.

Question on the PRO1130HD. I am sure it's in here, but couldn't find it. just got the tv, nice indeed. but on certain stations, like when the kids are watching cartoons, there seems to be some short horizontal lines on the edges of certain characters and some of the text. they move with the pictures, etc.

Sounds like edge enhancement. What is your sharpness setting.



2nd, maybe it's just me, but when i switch back and forth from standard to HD on the same station, the difference is that noticeable . is that becuase this tv does such a great job with SD, or do I have some settings wrong?

Huh????



lastly, why are some stations having grey bars on the left and right, others black.. how do i set it to black, or somehting? when i looked at espn, it had graphics, since it wasn't showing in 16:9..

If the signal is 720p or 1080i and the picture is 4:3, the bars will be black. If the signal is 480i/p, the bars will be gray.

Also, how loud are all of your media boxes? I have mine set up temporarily about 7' away and it is very noticeable.

If it is annoying @ 7' and you can hear it over the SA8300's HD, then you may want to look at having the MR replaced.

For you 1130 owners, I would like to ask if the set comes with any cables other then the one from the media box to the display. I figure I'll need to have an HDMI and component video cables.

Also, in reading earlier posts, sounds like several of you owners of any plasma screen use a Panamax or other power conditioner. I suppose this could be a controversial topic, I was going to purchase a simple Panamax surge protector. My Audio system has one, but I don't feel the need to go to power conditioning. I'm more concerned for surge. Though here where I live, the main issue with AC is the occassional power failure. There are hardly any lightning storms here. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Turned on TV and it said, "Starting up, please wait." for a minute and then shut off.

I turned it on again, and it said it again and then came on.

I did some searches on this and people say it happens now and then if it had trouble finding an OTA station. One user got his firmware updated and said he never saw it again.

Any recommendations?

Sounds like edge enhancement. What is your sharpness setting.





Huh????





If the signal is 720p or 1080i and the picture is 4:3, the bars will be black. If the signal is 480i/p, the bars will be gray.

lhamp - thanks for the reply. much appreciated.

D-Nice, thanks to you too!

won't know the sharpness setting until i get home tonight. will advise. on the , when flipping from HD to SD of the same network , what I am trying to say is that the picture looks about the same. no major enhancement from SD to HD. usually, I thought you see more of the picture in HD, but with SD on PURE, it looks just about the same as the picture on HD.. follow me. there is no WOW factor when watching HDTV.. somethign may be wrong.

does anyone have 1130 settings handy they can list below, or PM me? calibrated settings would be awesome!

andy

lhamp - thanks for the reply. much appreciated.

D-Nice, thanks to you too!

won't know the sharpness setting until i get home tonight. will advise. on the , when flipping from HD to SD of the same network , what I am trying to say is that the picture looks about the same. no major enhancement from SD to HD. usually, I thought you see more of the picture in HD, but with SD on PURE, it looks just about the same as the picture on HD.. follow me. there is no WOW factor when watching HDTV.. somethign may be wrong.

does anyone have 1130 settings handy they can list below, or PM me? calibrated settings would be awesome!

andy

I see overly enhanced edges when DRE is set too high as well.

I see overly enhanced edges when DRE is set too high as well.

MaliciousBraham- I see your PRO1130HD settings, and ironically, I too have a 6412 III. Are those from ISF calibration, or from your own eyes?

Lastly, How do I get into PRO settings, or is it right there on the menu? I haven't even really toyed with setting yet, but want to tonight.

...when flipping from HD to SD of the same network , what I am trying to say is that the picture looks about the same. no major enhancement from SD to HD. usually, I thought you see more of the picture in HD, but with SD on PURE, it looks just about the same as the picture on HD.. follow me. there is no WOW factor when watching HDTV.. somethign may be wrong.

some stations broadcast standard def (or maybe ED) on their digital channels when the show in question isn't truly HD. in cases where the analog feed is really clean, there can be little to no noticeable difference.

and as for the gray/black bars, i have another data point to add. the local baltimore stations occasionally replace the black bars with gray bars for 4:3 content, probably as a kindness to us plasma owners. i think it's sweet of them.

anyone care to help me with this? I'd appreciate it. also, the color seems off a little, any suggestions?
i find that my color settings for HD and SD material need to be different. in my case, i use a little more saturation, a little more contrast and a slightly redder tint for SD material than i do for HD. i have a setting for each so it's a simple matter to switch back & forth when necessary.

Hi All,
Since I do not use the internal tuners on the 1130, I'm thinking of plugging in my MR to a switched outlet on my receiver. Has anyone tried this with good or bad results? I remember someone claiming they lost some of their settings when they power cycled their mr, but I never saw the resolution.

-Drew

I am just finishing up on my decision-making, between 3910 or 79avi.
Help understand what cables I will need.

Plasma to> DVD/SACD player----- HDMI
For SACD: 6 cables from SACDplayer to> denon 3803 - right
Power cord-

I plan to wall mount plasma and have the DVD/sacd player under the plasma
But have the denon a/v in a closet (15ft) away.
Any other cables I will need. The reason I ask is all the cables will go into the wall and come out in two different places. (I will make room for future needs)
Any issues using a RF/IF transmitter w/ the 79avi.
I am getting ready to put hole in nice walls and I had better correct on my needs.
Thanks,
db

For you 1130 owners, I would like to ask if the set comes with any cables other then the one from the media box to the display. I figure I'll need to have an HDMI and component video cables.

Also, in reading earlier posts, sounds like several of you owners of any plasma screen use a Panamax or other power conditioner. I suppose this could be a controversial topic, I was going to purchase a simple Panamax surge protector. My Audio system has one, but I don't feel the need to go to power conditioning. I'm more concerned for surge. Though here where I live, the main issue with AC is the occassional power failure. There are hardly any lightning storms here. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

My 1130 HD came with only the media-to-display and power cables.

Regarding power, I opted for the Pureav UPS because I experience frequent, momentary power drops in my area, and feared these could do harm. That unit has surge protection but, according the the vendor, not much in the way of power conditioning. My digital content (both SD & HD) over Adelphia Cable is absolutely stunning. While the analog channels do leave something to be desired, I don't believe power conditioning would help much.

That said, I guess the amount of noise on the power line would probably depend on the age and condition of your household wiring, and what noise generating sources exist in your home. The 2 Pio power cords do have built-in noise suppressors (probably magnets), which the mfg claims will provide some noise suppression. It would seem that a power conditioner, such as those made by Panamax, Pureav, or Monster, would probably be a good idea if you do notice any signs of degradation.

i set my tv to MeliciousBraham's settings, and it has made it more crisp and colorful. still a tad dark, but i might just need to get used to it. would anyone suggest ISF calibration, DVE or AVIA? are they necessary? do they work? is it a waste of money?

Also, any quick resolution to the delay when switching channels with HDMI hookups? it takes quite a while!

Turned on TV and it said, "Starting up, please wait." for a minute and then shut off.

I turned it on again, and it said it again and then came on.

I did some searches on this and people say it happens now and then if it had trouble finding an OTA station. One user got his firmware updated and said he never saw it again.

Any recommendations?

This happened again.

After getting it back on I noticed the TV guide was off a bit. Time off by 30 minutes or so). As I was scrolling around in TV Guide it hung. I shut it off and tried to turn it on and it display the Startin up message and stayed that way.

So I disconnected all inputs (in case something was bad). Still stuck on starting message.

Then I unplugged AC power for a few seconds, it displayed the startup message for a few seconds and then it came up. Every time I shut it off it was a slow start up message.

Finally I unplugged it for 15 minutes. Then plugged it in and all was fine. Off and on was no starting up message. Then I went back into TV guide and all the data was cleared.

I think the TV Guide data was corrupt and causing the problem.

seeingdouble-

Thanks for your insights and feedback!

Nelsun

This happened again.

After getting it back on I noticed the TV guide was off a bit. Time off by 30 minutes or so). As I was scrolling around in TV Guide it hung. I shut it off and tried to turn it on and it display the Startin up message and stayed that way.

Finally I unplugged it for 15 minutes. Then plugged it in and all was fine. Off and on was no starting up message. Then I went back into TV guide and all the data was cleared.

I think the TV Guide data was corrupt and causing the problem.

this happened to me a few weeks back, but with different results. i was watching a dodgy OTA station, when it "locked up". it would show a single image from the station for a second, go blank for a few seconds, then start over. wouldn't respond to the remote. i was able to shut it down by pressing the power button on the MR, but when i turned it back on it got caught in that "starting up" loop during bootup. after a few minutes i gave up on it and unplugged it for just a minute or so. when it came back, it seemed fine, except it had forgotten all its remembered stations! but for some reason, all the tv guide info was still intact. i could see what was going to be on channel 22, but i couldn't tune to channel 22!

subsequent to this, during a stereo hookup & rearrangement, i had to unplug it again to hook it into a UPS, for about the same amount of time. when it came on the next time i still had my tv guide and channels.

my suspicion is that it was so busy trying to process that station that it stopped paying attention to other inputs, until i shoved a hardware interrupt into its face (unplugging it). but i have no idea why it lost its remembered station lineup.

MaliciousBraham- I see your PRO1130HD settings, and ironically, I too have a 6412 III. Are those from ISF calibration, or from your own eyes?

Lastly, How do I get into PRO settings, or is it right there on the menu? I haven't even really toyed with setting yet, but want to tonight.

The pro section is an easy to see menu right under the basic picture control options ;)

My settings are made with the (Mark I) Eyeball.

The hd/sd channel change lag cannot be sped up as far as I know. Its an HDCP thing. I havent seen a tv that didnt have the same issues. Cable boxes are the same over digital interfaces.

You need to hit the settings bar (which is to the left of enter), then hit "A" which is "more settings" then scroll down to "output settings " (or something like that...I'm not home right now so I'm just wiinging it).... press enter and you'll see a list of 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i... you need to engage all of them (a dot will appear next to each format when it's been engaged)... then press "accept", "exit" and you're good to go.

There must be 2 versions of the 8300. I hit the settings button, and then have to hit it again to get to more settings (A exits the menu). Then, my only options are: Auto, Upconvert 1, Upconvert 2, and Fixed. However, I can't find anywhere to select 1080i, 720p, etc. Weird - it's got to be there somewhere. Any ideas?

There must be 2 versions of the 8300. I hit the settings button, and then have to hit it again to get to more settings (A exits the menu). Then, my only options are: Auto, Upconvert 1, Upconvert 2, and Fixed. However, I can't find anywhere to select 1080i, 720p, etc. Weird - it's got to be there somewhere. Any ideas?

You have the SARA 8300. Try this:

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/4004007.pdf

I've finally finished this entire thread (took me a few days) and wanted to thank everyone for all the info and other bits. I'm completely new to HDTV/plasma screens, but after reading this thread, I'm heavily leaning towards getting a PRO-1130HD.

Can people please PM me on what they paid for their set so I have a basis of comparison. I live in NYC and if someone could suggest a good place to buy it from, I'd also appreciate that.

Thanks!

Thanks D-Nice - you da man.

G'evening all,

I tried the search but can't seem to find the answer within the bazillion or so posts in this thread.

Recently purchased a 4360 - a glorious FP. Naturally though, the curtain climbers are chomping at the bit to hook the game console up to it. I've been keeping them at bay, citing "not yet, set needs to be broken in properly", but I think they are onto the ploy. They surrounded me when I got home this evening.

Can't find it in the owners manual, natch. How does one check the number of hours?

Your help is appreciated.

Dan

Another quick question, I am expecting to accept delivery of an 1130 today. I am learning now about the settings adjustments. I had posted a question about using Video Essentials, but am realizing that DVD is more about getting into the area of the TV where only the professionals should be touching to calibrate the image settings.

I think the settings that I should really be concerned with are the brightness, black level and contrast settings, correct? The goal is to set it for the first 100 hours and prevent image retention. I figure I could first try the settings that other users have posted in this thread. Plus my copy of Video Essentials is the old original one, not the new Digital Video Essentials disc, so I'll skip using that one.

Thanks for any help!

Nelsun: I have and use the older VE as well as the DVE and both have useful features. As a minimum, I would urge you to go ahead and use your VE to set black level and white level using the grey scale ramp. For what it is worth ,I just set up a friend's 1130 and white level (contrast) needed to be lowered 3 clicks and black level (brightness) need to come up 4 clicks in the "standard mode" of the Pioneer and using the componte video input of the Pio and oan old progressive scan DVD player. YMMV.

J Thomas-

That's useful feedback. I will try my old copy of VE and set those levels and compare to what you got and other's settings. Thanks! I'll be using an older Pio DVD/LD player that doesn't have progressive scan but with component video.

What is the interface between media center and display?

HDMI? DVI?

Can you drive it directly?

It looks proprietary to me

What is the interface between media center and display?

HDMI? DVI?

Can you drive it directly?

1 DVI cable and 1 DFI (20 proprietary pins) cable. You can display a picture with only the DVI cable, but you will not be able to control any picture/sound setting. Also the power light would blink red and blue....very annoying.

1 DVI cable and 1 DFI (20 proprietary pins) cable. You can display a picture with only the DVI cable, but you will not be able to control any picture/sound setting. Also the power light would blink red and blue....very annoying.

Do you know what resolutions it accepts over the DVI interface?

Do you know what resolutions it accepts over the DVI interface?


Nope, never played with it.

Nelsun: You should be fine. IF all else fails, then use the Standard or Cinema setting, lower the white level (contrast) 3 or 4 clicks, keep black bar usage to a minimum and you should be good to go. Set black level so yo are not crushing blacks.

Rich and others who have kindly responded.

Sorry, I'm new at this and need to understand the basics. Are you saying I can get a digital audio signal from my cable box to the PIO Media Ctr using HDMI, but there's no way to get a digital audio signal from the Media Ctr to my AV receiver for 5.1 playback?

Thanks.

Angus
That is correct if you are using HDMI.I was faced with the same issue and went with component so I could use the optical out to my AV2000 Reciever. Hope this helps,Rich

[Originally Posted by Angus99
Rich and others who have kindly responded.

Sorry, I'm new at this and need to understand the basics. Are you saying I can get a digital audio signal from my cable box to the PIO Media Ctr using HDMI, but there's no way to get a digital audio signal from the Media Ctr to my AV receiver for 5.1 playback?

Thanks.

Angus

I have audio going from my satellite box to my Pio media receiver and then from my Pio media receiver to my AV receiver via the optical out on the Pio media receiver. This way I can listen through either the Plasma's speakers or receiver speakers or both. I'm not sure why you can't use your existing HDMI connection and then run an optical cable from the Pio media receiver optical out to one of your receivers optical inputs?? Using this method, I also get 5.1 when viewing HD with my OTA antenna.

Edit: I probably should have paid more attention to the other response, I suppose this is a HDMI specific issue.

Nuzy

Can you completely leave out the media receiver and feed the display from a 3rd party video processor?

If not, what output settings from video processors/scalers have people found the best/what is the Pioneer's native rate? Can you avoid any additional processing in the media receiver by feeding it with native rate over HDMI?

P.S. Is this thread for 6th gen Pioneer plasmas?

Can you completely leave out the media receiver and feed the display from a 3rd party video processor?

If not, what output settings from video processors/scalers have people found the best/what is the Pioneer's native rate? Can you avoid any additional processing in the media receiver by feeding it with native rate over HDMI?

P.S. Is this thread for 6th gen Pioneer plasmas?


First question...No

Second question...depends on the scaler.

Third question...You cannot feed it native resolution over HDMI. Only over VGA.

Last question...yes 6G Pioneers.

I thought I'd share my settings too. I'm just getting familairized with the 1130. During the daytime, it looked kind of washed out due to the brightness of the room. Now that it's the evening, I've made some adjustments. I'm using an older DVD player that does not have progressive scan with component video. Using the older Video Essentials DVD, it was pretty useful afterall.

User setting:
Contrast 30
Brightness -7
Color +13
Tint 3 towards Red
Sharpness 0

These were the only settings I was concerned with in my concern to keep the settings at a safe level during break in. Colr and tint were dialed in using the Blue filter. Please chime in if these sound safe!

Overall, pretty cool to have this monster! Christmas came early. Stunning PQ so far. I'm only using this set with DVD and OTA TV. The tuner pulled in all the stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, digital and analog using my old analog fishbone antenna.

Thanks again to all who helped me with questions and this thread that helped me decide on this set!

I took the plunge!!

Well, after about a month of driving myself crazy over which t.v. to buy I finally decided. I went with the 5060 pioneer. I was debating between this...the srxd and the panasonic 50 plasma. I will be picking up on Tuesday when we close on our new home. Scheduled my cable the same day!! A couple of questions...I am just going to use the connections that come with the t.v. to connect a receiver (which I still need to purchase) and to the cable box. Oh I also will connect xbox (older version). Do I need to purchase special cables... i.e. hdmi cable? Will the ones coming with the television be adequate or will I lose picture quality?

Any recommenations on surge protectors? They range from 30 to 100 dollars but I wasn't sure if it was worth the extra money or not. I don't mind paying the extra if I do get something out of it.

Third question...should I purchase the avia disk?

fourth...if people would post there settings when they were breaking there t.v. in (would the settings be the same if I wasn't?) for the 5060 i would appreciate it.

thanks

rich

TV comes with no cables for sources.

Cable box may or may not come with one, I rather doubt it.

It's rather religious thing on deciding how much you should spend on cables.
Monster cables are rather pricey but not excessively so and reasonably good quality.

If it's long runs you might want to research more.

Read back in this thread and others on break-in definitly want to TAKE IT OUT OF DYNAMIC mode. Use movie. It's a religious thing if you want to turn it down "extra" for breakin. Oh yeah as D-Nice recommends, put it in power save mode 2.

Yes buy Avia. But be aware that it helps find the MAXIMUM dynamic range for CRT's which you don't want to do a plasma. For blacks yes. But for whites it's nice to see the limit but you probably don't want to run that high.

Surge protector, again how much is a religious thing and will always see a heated debate. Some spend $1000.00's other spend $30.00. Some buy "in wall" systems if they are gonna mount it on the wall, keep that in mind and do some searches if you are gonna mount it.

I thought I'd share my settings too. I'm just getting familairized with the 1130. During the daytime, it looked kind of washed out due to the brightness of the room. Now that it's the evening, I've made some adjustments. I'm using an older DVD player that does not have progressive scan with component video. Using the older Video Essentials DVD, it was pretty useful afterall.

User setting:
Contrast 30
Brightness -7
Color +13
Tint 3 towards Red
Sharpness 0

These were the only settings I was concerned with in my concern to keep the settings at a safe level during break in. Colr and tint were dialed in using the Blue filter. Please chime in if these sound safe!

Overall, pretty cool to have this monster! Christmas came early. Stunning PQ so far. I'm only using this set with DVD and OTA TV. The tuner pulled in all the stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, digital and analog using my old analog fishbone antenna.

Thanks again to all who helped me with questions and this thread that helped me decide on this set!

I was playing around with a DVDO iScan HD and was comparing Component from player and SDI through the DVDO to DVI to HDMI. You don't have to understand all that but when I was comparing the progressive component I couldn't believe how bad and washed out it looked. Well I forgot to that I switch the player to Interlaced for the DVDO. When I turned Progressive back on it was a HUGE difference. I'm little puzzled because I swear I tried that before I bought the DVDO. But anyway 480i into the Pioneer looked terrible. spend $200 on a panasonic S77 and you'll get a huge jump in picture quality for DVD's.

First question...No

Second question...depends on the scaler.

Third question...You cannot feed it native resolution over HDMI. Only over VGA.

Last question...yes 6G Pioneers.

D-Nice, but, but you just said a few posts back that you thought you could, not that you recommended it. Some processors allow complete control on colorm sharpness, frame rate, size etc. So it's sounds in theory you could.

Also if the media to panel DVI connection can't be native, then by definition VGA CAN'T be native. Right? I may get brave and play with the DVDO on the panel.

[QUOTE=mswlogo]TV comes with no cables for sources.


I'm sorry kinda new to all of this. What do you mean by no cables for sources? what exactly do you mean by source? dvd player..that sort of thing?

D-Nice, but, but you just said a few posts back that you thought you could, not that you recommended it. Some processors allow complete control on colorm sharpness, frame rate, size etc. So it's sounds in theory you could.

Also if the media to panel DVI connection can't be native, then by definition VGA CAN'T be native. Right? I may get brave and play with the DVDO on the panel.


No, I said that you cannot do 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. I didn't know that it was possible over VGA as atl001 pointed out.

If a processor allows you complete control over picture settings, you have to remember that it is only for it's output. You will not have any control over the Pioneer's picture controls. If you want to try it out, let me know the results.

[QUOTE=mswlogo]TV comes with no cables for sources.


I'm sorry kinda new to all of this. What do you mean by no cables for sources? what exactly do you mean by source? dvd player..that sort of thing?

Yes. pioneer comes with "cables" power, and cable from media center to display. but none for dvd etc. some sources come with inexpensive cables. for example sony dvd and pannasonic s77 dvd came with an assortment of cables.

Thanks mswlogo- My plan is to get a new DVD player. Probably in January after the Holidays. No doubt I'll be able to take better advantage of what the Pio can display!

I hope someone could indulge a newbie question about the HDMI connection to the Pio or any display. What I have now is an Elite Pio DVL-91 DVD player. Audio is going directly to the processor and video via component to the 1130. Once I upgrade to a new DVD player with HDMI, will I be able to send audio to my older processor via RCA cables as I do now? What I'm not getting, and perhaps this is better addressed in another thread about DVD audio, is with HDMI, the video and audio signal will go the media box. There's an optical output from the media box, I am guessing I can use that to send audio to the processor too. What I'd like to do is send audio from the DVD player to the processor like I am doing now. But if that's old school or no longer an option, please point me to a place where I can learn more. So many implications going with new technology! Thanks! Nelson

Hi folks, this is my first post here :)
I have one question:
I just picked up a 4360 and I am running an older Yamaha S796 DVD player. (This player is NOT progressive but is set up via component) My question is, should I pick up a newer progressive DVD player? or am I wasting my money? I thought of waiting it out for an HD player, but I want to get the best PQ possible out of my new set.

Thanks in advance.

-Aaron

note: I searched around but to no avail, especially with regard to the 6G Pioneers.

Thanks mswlogo- My plan is to get a new DVD player. Probably in January after the Holidays. No doubt I'll be able to take better advantage of what the Pio can display!

I hope someone could indulge a newbie question about the HDMI connection to the Pio or any display. What I have now is an Elite Pio DVL-91 DVD player. Audio is going directly to the processor and video via component to the 1130. Once I upgrade to a new DVD player with HDMI, will I be able to send audio to my older processor via RCA cables as I do now? What I'm not getting, and perhaps this is better addressed in another thread about DVD audio, is with HDMI, the video and audio signal will go the media box. There's an optical output from the media box, I am guessing I can use that to send audio to the processor too. What I'd like to do is send audio from the DVD player to the processor like I am doing now. But if that's old school or no longer an option, please point me to a place where I can learn more. So many implications going with new technology! Thanks! Nelson

Yes, you can do it the old way (diret rca from dvd to processor), which today is still often the best way.

Hi folks, this is my first post here :)
I have one question:
I just picked up a 4360 and I am running an older Yamaha S796 DVD player. (This player is NOT progressive but is set up via component) My question is, should I pick up a newer progressive DVD player? or am I wasting my money? I thought of waiting it out for an HD player, but I want to get the best PQ possible out of my new set.

Thanks in advance.

-Aaron

note: I searched around but to no avail, especially with regard to the 6G Pioneers.

Yes, panasonic S77 or pioneer 59avi. see http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/masterindex_video_players.html

K99

You can pick up a progressive DVD Player for the price of a video game today - let that be your stopgap until HD and BluRay - I wouldn't blow alot on an upconverting player unless you have money to burn, I own the Oppo and the Samsung 950 and they come close to HD but not quite. Save your money for the real deal and buy a cheap progressive to fill the void. :D

Decided to check out the Magnolia closest to me. Waste of time. The only difference between them and the BestBuy they're located in is their attire.

Anyway, went back to Tweeter to check out dvd players and some new speakers. My 1130 makes my current player look like crap after watching HD programming(second HD monitor but the new one is muuuch nicer). I'm considering the Oppo and the Denon 1920. Any input from those who have actual usage with our current plasma after burn-in is appreciated.

Lastly, Tweeter had a set of pair of speakers mounted to an 1130. The two replace the traditional three fronts. They are the same heighth as the monitor and look very complimentary. Sound was "eh," but I am currently nursing an ear infection. The ceiling surrounds were also firing directly down on me and were overpowering. I am interested in researching them, however, I have forgotten the manufacturer. :( I blame it on the medicine. :D I do know the name begins with an "A."

This whole experience is just like modding a car- you upgrade one thing and next thing you know, you have a second mortgage! :LOL:

Decided to check out the Magnolia closest to me. Waste of time. The only difference between them and the BestBuy they're located in is their attire.

Anyway, went back to Tweeter to check out dvd players and some new speakers. My 1130 makes my current player look like crap after watching HD programming(second HD monitor but the new one is muuuch nicer). I'm considering the Oppo and the Denon 1920. Any input from those who have actual usage with our current plasma after burn-in is appreciated.

Lastly, Tweeter had a set of pair of speakers mounted to an 1130. The two replace the traditional three fronts. They are the same heighth as the monitor and look very complimentary. Sound was "eh," but I am currently nursing an ear infection. The ceiling surrounds were also firing directly down on me and were overpowering. I am interested in researching them, however, I have forgotten the manufacturer. :( I blame it on the medicine. :D I do know the name begins with an "A."

This whole experience is just like modding a car- you upgrade one thing and next thing you know, you have a second mortgage! :LOL:

If you are speaking of Atlantic Technology speakers - they are absolutely FABULOUS!

If you are speaking of Atlantic Technologies - they are absolutely FABULOuS!

www.atlantictechnology.com

They make great speakers!

Thanks for the replies...
Has anyone compared a non-progressive player to a progressive on a newer Pioneer plasma display? If so, was the difference very noticeable? I have looked into the Oppo but from the research I have done, it doesn't seem like an up-converting DVD player is really worth the money. I think I just want a decent progressive, so all opinions are more than welcome!

-Aaron

Non progressive component into the pioneer is horrible. I can turn it on and off in the player. This is on a PDP-5060. Going from progressive component to upsampled player (DVI/HDMI) is a lot smaller gain (but today that addition cost is small change compared to the TV). The panasonic S77 is very cheap. I bought one cheap at B&H photo (return no questions asked, no restocking fee). Try it. I did return it and decided to add SDI to my existing meridian player because it supports a proprietary connection to my preamp for DVD-A. But the S77 for the money was very respectable.

Received PDP-5060 about two weeks ago. Recieved many favorable reviews on this thread amongst others. Also considered Panasonic, but absolutley wanted Firewire ports. I have about 300 hours of HD material archived on D-VHS. To prevent any MPEG artifacts, I taped the material on the highest quality seting on the D-VHS recorder. This tends to create a storage problem as each tape only holds 2.5-3.5 hours at this setting, but the HD movies blow current DVD out of the water in resolution, contrast, and color saturation. I also like the fact that many of the broadcast movies, especially on the pay networks, are shown in a aspect ratio that perfectly matches a 16:9 display. I purchased a second JVC HM-DH40000u, but neither this one nor my original that I purchased 18-24 months ago would display a picture either through the PDP-5060 firewire or component input. I spoke with pioneer customer service and they weren't able to rectify the situation. I sent back the HM-DH40000 and got the newer(and more $$$) HM-D5U. I've had no problems with it displaying through the pdp-5060 firwire port and the images are fantastic--exactly as oiginally broadcast. I got tired about waiting for Hd-DVD etc. and as soon as the firewire on my cablebox became active in August 2004 I began taping away. I have an older Toshiba CRT RPTV in the basement and while the blacks are not exactly comparable,the Pioneer does give a run for its money. I received the plasma through the Monitor Outlet and the D-VHS though Vann's and had extremely favorable experiences with both companies. Has anyone else had compatiblity issues with their D-VHSand the Pioneer?

.... I've had no problems with it displaying through the pdp-5060 firwire port and the images are fantastic--exactly as oiginally broadcast. I got tired about waiting for Hd-DVD etc. and as soon as the firewire on my cablebox became active in August 2004 I began taping away...... Has anyone else had compatiblity issues with their D-VHSand the Pioneer?

Yes but don't know enough about firewire with CP to understand what is going on. I have two 30K's and a Sammy 165 which I have hooked via component (Input 3) to my 4360 media box (same as yours I think) these three devices are hooked together via fire wire, so I can record OTA and copy other tapes which are in the clear. I ran a firewire out of the last 30K to the media box (Input 2) and the PIO saw the two 30K's (but not the Sammy 165, which BTW is what the PIO book would lead one to believe) all OK and played back from either all OK. The rub is if I tried to copy a tape (which I thought was in the clear) the media box shuts down the recording machine quickly, every time. (unplugging the fire wire going to the media box returns normal operation) I remain unsure if you can record OTA HD via the media box receiver? (I have not hooked a antenna to it yet) though the book sounds like you can. Anyone have any first hand knowledge about this, PM me if needed, thanks in advance.

D-Nice and/or other 930HD owners:

I have a new 930HD on order which should arrive just before the holidays. The first question I have is what settings I should use for the first 100-200hrs. I found this post a few weeks back in this thread:

1: Calibrate your set. You should not have the contrast above 28 for the first 100-200 hours.
2: Turn the power save mode to save2 (look in the manual if you do not know where it is)
3: View only 16:9 images on the screen for the first 100-200 hours.

Are there any other settings I should adjust as well? Are the settings quoted by D-nice on 12-04 on this thread appropriate for HD viewing during the first 100hrs?

Thanks in advance,

expo

Decided to check out the Magnolia closest to me. Waste of time. The only difference between them and the BestBuy they're located in is their attire.


I bought all my stuff from Magnolia. I picked up my Pioneer PDP-5060 Plasma from them for under $5K. I got a 17% discount on all my audio components from them too. One thing I learned is if you want a better price it pays to ask.

I went to Ultimate Electronics to check out a DVD player and it turned out that those guys didn't know a darn thing.

I was very happy with Magnolia's service.

I have a 6100hd and have a question on the connections.I have two component inputs and one is bnc connection.What the manual is unclear about is component one has 3 rca connections and component two is switchable from component to rgb.The thing i don't know is the component two has 5 bnc connections and if i were to use it as component do i just use three of the five connections and if so which ones?

Hi guys !

So what would the final settings be on this panel(after the first 100-200 hours)?

Contrast ?
Brightness ?
Color ?
Sharpness ?

And so on ........

I am no tec geek,so it would be great to get som help,even with the pro adjustments!

I bought all my stuff from Magnolia. I picked up my Pioneer PDP-5060 Plasma from them for under $5K. I got a 17% discount on all my audio components from them too. One thing I learned is if you want a better price it pays to ask.

I went to Ultimate Electronics to check out a DVD player and it turned out that those guys didn't know a darn thing.

I was very happy with Magnolia's service.
Perhaps I should have been more direct. I stated that I went to the closest one to me... not all of them. There are probably 8 or so relatively close.

As for price, I'm glad that you feel you got a good deal. :) I know I got one on my 1130 and mount. When I presented my purchase price to the Magnolia employee, he said they have a price-match guarantee + 10%. If I were to return my set and buy from them, my 1130 and mount would be under $5k.

My point was only to alert folks to what some already know. Don't necessarily expect a wealth of knowledge about the industry as a whole from the sales associates of any store really. The employees at this particular Mag store seemed only to have a vague knowledge of the products they carry/sell. I have no experience with an Ultimate Electronics.

www.atlantictechnology.com

They make great speakers!
Thank you, jtharveyjr and plasmalvr. Those do seem to be some nice speakers.

Called the store this morning and found out that the speakers in question are made by Artison. I did a search in Yahoo and came up with some articles and what-not. Testing by one columnist has the center channel creating a small or tight sweet spot. Other than that, the speaker received a good review.

With a relatively wide room when compared to length, this has me concerned. I do like the seamless look, but am not sure how they would sound mounted in the wall with the plasma. Anyone here have an in-wall setup with their plasma?

I have been lurking here for months and have been considering two 50" plasmas. The Dell for value or the 1130 for all out quality and media receiver convenience. I decided to splurge and get the 1130 last week.

Its fantastic. I have it hooked up to a scientific atlanat 4300HD, a Sony progessive scan DVD player (a few years old - no upconversion) and to my PC with a VGA cable.

Here are some of my perceptions in no particluar order:
I was actually worried the 50" might be too small becuase in the store's open showroom it gets swallowed up. But in my living room it is huge. Perfect size IMHO. The gloss bezel is classy. It shows a little fingerprints but who cares. The panel and reciever both have a blue on light and its red when in standby. THe cable that comes with it is beige for some reason and a little too short to effectively hide the media recvr. I will be getting the pricey extension cable soon. The picture thru the VGA is really very good with a old pc i had lying around with an old Geforce card. I am also going to play around with a newer 9700 ATI AIW card with component out for comparison. I played a DVD from my pc (using powerDVD) to the plasma and the quality was really very very good. I havent tried games yet but will soon b/c i love PC and console games and FPS. Looking forward to XBOX 360.

HD footbaall and movies this weekend were GREAAAT. We also watched a couple DVDs and i started worrying about burn-in. I dont think i am going to have the patience to break it in as suggested. If i watch 2 hours per day, five days a week, i will have to wait THREE FREAKIN months to watch letterbox movies? No way. I tried watching LOTR full screen and its just not the same. I am considering an Upconvertying dvd player but cant decide if its worth it. My old prog scan Sony does pretty well (but not as good as HD movies on cable).

I am now using the included rotating table stand and am soon going to mount the plasma abouve the mantle with a Chieftec tilt mount. I am using all component connections as i dont have any HDMI equipment. I might try a DVI to HDMI converter to see if that is better quality from my PC than the VGA. ANy opinions? I am pleasantly surprised at the good picture quality of regular cable stations as i was prepared for them to look awful.

If i can answer anyones questions to help them decide, please let me know. For now i will try to break it in carefully, but there is no way i can wait and watch my favorite movies full screen for the next few months. I will minimize using my PC to avoid burning in the windows logo or start button. PS: i upgraded from a Sony HD 34" XBR CRT that had a great picture but is a HUGE tv. ALso, i like the new plasma being higher up on the wall to view than the Sony which was lower to the ground.

The picture is amazing and dark and colorful. LOTR last night was perfect. Gollum and the costume colors are near perfection. I imagine watching that in HD will simply blow me away. I am playing with TV settings but dont have any DVD for configuring. Any recommendations on the DVD to use? Does anyone know where to get nice looking screensaver DVDs (beach scenese, aquarium, etc.)? How about reasonbly priced hardware/motors to build one of those picture frames that rolls up a painting to hide the plasma? I'd rather build it than spend the crazy money they want for it.

me<-----happy new plasma owner

Congrats! :)

One suggestion would be to leave the monitor on with programming that takes the entire screen(HD-specific stations) during the day or overnight with no volume. I did this a couple of days because I had no time to sit in front of it.

I don't know about OTA recording, but I have a cable card through local cable and through the firewire got perfect recording of premium channel HD material with the HM-DH5u. Is it true that good S-VHS tapes can be used to tape Hd material without MPEG atrifacts with the JVC's?

After buying the 5060 a couple of weeks ago, I finally got set up after a couple of delays in delivery. Great picture, and I can't wait till the break-in is done. SD is surprisingly good on many channels. Even the bad SD channels are passable. Cinema does not distort the picture too much. HD football is fantastic. I have a couple of questions that were likely addressed somewhere in here, but I can't find them.

I tried to hook up my SA 8300 with HDMI, but didn't get a picture or sound. It looks great with component and I have no problem leaving it that way, but I would like to see what it looks like with HDMI. A couple less cables that way also. I think I remember reading somewhere about having to enable HDMI. If so, how do you do that?

Also, my media box seems fairly loud. I don't know what "normal" is, but I can hear a high pitched sound at 12 feet when the volume is low to medium. When the set is off, the sound can be heard anywhere in the room, and its a good sized room.

Would this be abnormal and should I insist upon getting another one? Those who have returned their box, have you found a significant difference, or do most have a noticeable sound and you need to get lucky to get a quiet one? I don't want to return this one, and get another one thats even louder. Would I have go back to the retailer, or could I go through Pioneer?

If I can't get one thats any more quite, is there anything you can do to make it less intrusive? Physically moving it does not seem like the best option.

Apart from the media box noise, the set is everything I hoped it would be. Thanks for your feedback.

I think I remember reading somewhere about having to enable HDMI. If so, how do you do that?

Home Menu/Option/HDMI Input/Setting -- Enable -- you have to do this for each HDMI input. If you set the HDMI to enabled, even if you have something plugged into component and nothing in HDMI, component will be disabled.

Congrats on the new TV!

I don't know about OTA recording, but I have a cable card through local cable and through the firewire got perfect recording of premium channel HD material with the HM-DH5u. Is it true that good S-VHS tapes can be used to tape Hd material without MPEG atrifacts with the JVC's?

Interesting...... As for S-VHS tape a lot of guys here use it all the time (check out software in the HDTV section below), I don't. ;)

As for HDMI you can use the remote to turn it on or off....... better stated by the fellow above.

On my I-Link issues, latest efforts yelded this, I can control D-VHS 1 (player) with the media box OK, but it will not put D-VHS 2 (recorder) into record mode, gives an error message. However I can start D-VHS 2 in record mode with it's remote and this works. Could be you can't do two things (devices) on fire wire at the same time? As for the built in tuner, that will have to wait for the holidays. :D

Hi, I'm a relative noob who's lurked on the boards and been steered away from buying a Samsung or Philips based on all the mediocre-to-bad reviews. Right now, I'm drawn most to Pioneer and the 4312. But the 4360 is awfully tempting, given the raves I've seen here and on CNET. Is it really worth the extra $1500 to $2000? Why or why not? Price is not really an issue, but I'd still like to get good value for my money.

If not, are the extra features of the Panasonic 42PX50U worth an extra $400 over the 4312?

(if it matters, my use would be 60% HD cable, 30% SD cable, and 10% DVD)

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Hi, I'm a relative noob who's lurked on the boards and been steered away from buying a Samsung or Philips based on all the mediocre-to-bad reviews. Right now, I'm drawn most to Pioneer and the 4312. But the 4360 is awfully tempting, given the raves I've seen here and on CNET. Is it really worth the extra $1500 to $2000? Why or why not? Price is not really an issue, but I'd still like to get good value for my money.

If not, are the extra features of the Panasonic 42PX50U worth an extra $400 over the 4312?

(if it matters, my use would be 60% HD cable, 30% SD cable, and 10% DVD)

Thanks in advance for any insights.

I have had my 5060 for about two months now and am very happy with my choice. The media receiver gives you the flexibility of placing components wherever you wish and the appearance of the PDP (in my opinion) is much more attractive than the Panasonic displays.

HD content should look great on both the Pioneer and Panasonic sets. What I really like though, is the quality of SD. I am using a comcast cable box and the SD content is really good. I expected a significant drop off in image quality, which is what I saw with my old Mitsubishi RPTV. Many channels are almost DVD quality.

Anyone with experience connecting the plasma directly to speakers other than the supplied pioneer speakers? I could not get any sound out of the speakers when I tried. The speakers are supposed to be very efficient so I thought I could get output however low. I will continue to experiment since the manual says lack of output could be due to cable insulation touching the connectors and I did not check for that on my first attempt.

Also, I did a channel scan with an OTA antenna and did not detect any HD channels, only digital channels. Could be because no local channels were broadcasting in HD at the time (mid afternoon). I'll try again later. However, I am correct that the tuner should display OTA HDTV?

After searching this thread, I failed to find an answer to this this question: Has anyone had any luck using a lower-end dvd player such as the Oppo, Panasonic S77, or Denon 1920?

I guess the main concern is the macroblocking.

FF2Skip-

Search about half way down page 53 for MSWlogo's post responding to my post. He highly recommends the Panasonic S77 and there is another post a page or 2 back where the Oppo is also highly recommended.

wctug-

When my Pio was first set up by the delivery guys, it was midday, I only got SD stations OTA. After they left, about an hour later, I tried it again using ANT A/Cable where the antenna coax is attached and then redid the channel search and it picked up every station in the area in both SD and HD. It's very cool to have all those digital broadcasts and see prime time network shows in widescreen and HD; if that's what it really is in. : )

FF2Skip-

Search about half way down page 53 for MSWlogo's post responding to my post. He highly recommends the Panasonic S77 and there is another post a page or 2 back where the Oppo is also highly recommended.


Thank you, sir. :)

Here is a quote from Secrets review of the Oppo:

"This includes somewhat sluggish transitions between film and video material and the unfortunate macroblocking issue. When I used my standard A Bug's Life test, the player did show signs of the macroblocking bug, but it isn’t as bad as some other players such as the Teac Esoteric UX-1 or Samsung HD-1000. This is really the only drawback I am finding with this player on my reference playback system."

This one is from the review of the Panasonic; same source:

"Using my tried and true reference scene, Chapter 22 of A Bug’s Life, macroblocking was clearly evident through almost the entire scene. I don’t know why we haven’t seen this problem fixed yet, but it has become more and more frustrating for everyone. As with all FLI-2310 based players, I don’t recommend the S77 if you have a display that shows the issue. Unfortunately we don’t have a list of what displays those are, but we do know that Panasonic plasmas are one of the worst offenders. On a positive note, none of the Sony Cineza (HS-20, HS-50, HS-51) based projectors show the macroblocking bug at all. I cannot comment on the rest of the Sony line."


I'm wondering if anyone with our sets has used the Oppo/Panasonic and had satisfactory results in this area.

Nelsun thanks,

Are both antenna connections, A & B, interchangeable for both OTA and cable?

Skip

Someone at some point in here used the S77 on an Elite and didn't see macroblocking. I have the same setup, but haven't watched a DVD yet (both are new). I have Bugs Life, so I'll check Chapter 22 when I get a chance.

irjs - my media box is also a bit louder than I would like. I can definitely hear it from about 10'-12' away. Then again, the SA8300 is loud, too.

wctug- I don't know if the A and B antenna connections are interchangable. I just know my set-up works. I would guess though that ANT A/Cable is used for either antenna or cable and then ANT B is used for OTA only if you have cable on ANT A connected.

On the question of noise from the media box, I can only hear the sound of something spinning like a fan or hard drive when I get my ear close to it. It's there even when I shut it down and the stand-by light is flashing on the front panel. I am over 30, so my hearing may be less sensitive to high frequency, if there is any from my box.

Are both antenna connections, A & B, interchangeable for both OTA and cable?

interchangeable, except that only A supports digital channels.

Skip

Someone at some point in here used the S77 on an Elite and didn't see macroblocking. I have the same setup, but haven't watched a DVD yet (both are new). I have Bugs Life, so I'll check Chapter 22 when I get a chance.
Thank you, kind sir!

Thanks for the comments on the media box noise. I went to two stores yesterday to listen to the media box on their display models. First store had an Elite and it was very quite. I had to get my ear within inches to hear anything. I asked a salesman about the fan noise, and he said he thinks it can be toned down, but he wasn't sure how. The second store had a 5060 going, and while there was some noise, it was definitely more quite than the one I have. So it does seem a bit like the luck of the draw.

Rather than dealing with my retailer, I tried to call for service, but they told me to try my retailer first.

I was in the store today for just a minute to let them know I have an issue, and the manager said my salesman had the day off today, and I should come back tomorrow and they will take care of me. The manager did mention that he hoped they could take care of the media box issue without having to exchange the panal. I want to keep my panal since its perfect, and I'm sure the store doesn't want it back either. Does that make any sense? I presume that the media box and the panal are totally independent, right?

I like the picture more everytime I see it, even with my break in settings. When I get my humming down, I'll be a totally satisfied customer.

MaliciousBraham - Thanks for the HDMI info.

Malvo1 - Thanks for your comments. My SA8300 is much much quiter than my media box. So, I either got very lucky with my 8300, or my media box is real loud. If I can get the media box to the same level as my 8300, I'm done!

Folks,

I (and others) have recommended the S77. But it is not the end all be all player. But for what it costs, it's a very nice player. I recommended in the context of if you should upgrade an older 480i component player especially when HD DVD *might be* around in 1-2 years. Yes. The S77 cost about the price of HDMI cables.

I also tried chapter 22 of bugs life on a different player. But that chapter on my DVD is the Credits. Bugs Life (animation), in my opinion is probably not the best thing to test a DVD player either (unless that's mostly what you watch). I would base it on real films. MIB, Fifth Element are my favorites. The detail is so good on the first scene in fifth element when the robot creatures are enetering the pyramid that you can tell the robots were spray painted.

I just returned my Samsung 4272 today and exchanged it for the Pio 4360, not even compairable. this tv is amazing and i haven't even viewed any hd content on it yet!

On my I-Link issues, latest efforts yelded this, I can control D-VHS 1 (player) with the media box OK, but it will not put D-VHS 2 (recorder) into record mode, gives an error message. However I can start D-VHS 2 in record mode with it's remote and this works. Could be you can't do two things (devices) on fire wire at the same time? As for the built in tuner, that will have to wait for the holidays. :D

Hi Mikey,

I own a new 5060 and two JVC 30k's. Both 30k's recognize the 5060 (and are recognized by the 5060 in return). I can control both 30k's (not at the same time, but independently during testing of recording OTA digital content) features such as power on/off, entering record mode, rewind, ffw etc.

However, the 5060 (via firewire) refuses to send any audio or video data to the 30k (from its Media Center OTA tuner). Both home recorded and D-Theater DVHS tapes playback perfectly from either 30k. It would seem that the 5060 is not seeing something that it wants to see to send audio/video to the 30k via firewire.

I received my JVC 5u deck tonight from Vanns, and I am thrilled to report that the 5u functions perfectly when recording OTA digital signals from the tuner of the 5060. The picture rendered is amazing via either component, or firewire. I have not tried HDMI yet, as I need to purchase a cable if I decide to go that route.

I would dearly love to know why the 30k's do not receive a recordable signal from the 5060, while the 5u functions as designed. If I find any more data of interest, I will post back to this thread.

BTW, I LOVE my new Pio! I am a CRT man, and this 5060 equals my Sony 34" directview in much of its performance, and far surpasses the Sony in other areas! The Pio's two way firewire is the way it should be, not the castrated version that Sony uses. :D

Merry Christmas friends! (Happy Holidays)

irjs

Let me know how your exchange goes - sounds like I need to do the same thing.

irjs,

The media box for my 4360 is fairly quiet. I am not using the TVG so the fan only runs while the unit is on. When I first turn it on I do hear the fan spin up but once sound starts eminating from the speakers I really do not hear the fan. Frankly, the disk in my SA 8300 is louder. Every now and then, during a quiet moments I think I can hear it but I have to listen for it.

So, briefly put, from my seated distance of about 10 feet, and under normal situations, I don't really hear it at all.

I did manage to make my way into the Service Menu. The fan has - if I recall correctly, 4 settings: Low, Med, High, and Off. Mine was set to Med and I reset it to low. Even on low the media box doesn't even come close to running warm.

One other option for you - if you install permits. Since the IR receiver is located on the panel itself you can place your MB in a cabinet. Obviously this means re-cabling but may be worth while.

Good luck,

Dan

This thread has been extremely helpful in helping me choose a 50" panel. Thank you for all your insight and knowledge. I was very pleased with my initial impression of the picture after sampling a few random dvd's. The remote is great, construction of the panel and media center are excellent, and the sound is pretty good for tv speakers. I was very pleased with my purchase until my wife burst my bubble.

First off, Comcast has not brought HD to my house yet, let alone digital. We have only been there a month and the old owners of the house only had basic cable and I did not want comcast to come to the house until I got the tv. When we viewed regular tv, the picture is very grainy, and of course my wife asked me why? Now I realize Comcast HD will blow my mind, my sister has it with a 42" panasonic. But why is the picture so bad with regular cable?

After not impressing my wife, I was excited to show her a dvd, so I tossed in Spideyman2. So now I notice how grainy the screen is also. I also realize that my current dvd player is just a basic sony with no upconversion and just plays in 480, but at times the picture is not that great.

What can I do to improve the picture while veiwing basic cable or through my subpar dvd player? Comcast will not be able to bring me HD for 10 days and my wifes entire family will be staying with us through the holidays and we are throwing a huge new years party, so it would be nice if I could improve the picture a bit for the next few weeks.

Sorry about the newbie question, but this seems to be the best place for unbiased, true advise. Thank you again.

Pioneer 5060. 1/4 inch black frame ??

Is it normal when you look at the screen when viewing full mode to see a 1/4 inch black stripe in the frame of the screen on the left and right side and a bit smaller on the top and bottom.

I have seen this on many tvs but was wondering since this is my first plasma if this is normal. I just hooked up my TV and started watching DVD and took some precautions to avoid burn in but just noticed these 1/4in bars.



Thanks

This thread has been extremely helpful in helping me choose a 50" panel. Thank you for all your insight and knowledge. I was very pleased with my initial impression of the picture after sampling a few random dvd's. The remote is great, construction of the panel and media center are excellent, and the sound is pretty good for tv speakers. I was very pleased with my purchase until my wife burst my bubble.

First off, Comcast has not brought HD to my house yet, let alone digital. We have only been there a month and the old owners of the house only had basic cable and I did not want comcast to come to the house until I got the tv. When we viewed regular tv, the picture is very grainy, and of course my wife asked me why? Now I realize Comcast HD will blow my mind, my sister has it with a 42" panasonic. But why is the picture so bad with regular cable?

After not impressing my wife, I was excited to show her a dvd, so I tossed in Spideyman2. So now I notice how grainy the screen is also. I also realize that my current dvd player is just a basic sony with no upconversion and just plays in 480, but at times the picture is not that great.

What can I do to improve the picture while veiwing basic cable or through my subpar dvd player? Comcast will not be able to bring me HD for 10 days and my wifes entire family will be staying with us through the holidays and we are throwing a huge new years party, so it would be nice if I could improve the picture a bit for the next few weeks.

Sorry about the newbie question, but this seems to be the best place for unbiased, true advise. Thank you again.

If you live relatively close to a major metro area, one simple solution is to buy an indoor antenna and hook it up to antenna A on the MR to receive local HD free. The Zenith Silver Sensor is a good one and only runs around $30-$40. When you have more time you could look into a roof or attic mount antenna (or just wait until you get HD cable).

As far as DVDs, if you don't have a progressive scan DVD player you can pick one up very cheap. It should improve the DVD quality quite a bit. If you already have a progressive scan DVD player, getting a DVD player simply for the upconverting capability will not help your picture quality all that much (if you even notice it at all). A couple other notes - stretching or zooming a DVD that doesn't normally fill the screen will also degrade picture quality quite a bit. DVD's also vary in their quality. Check the DVD forum and you will find lots of discussion on which have the best picture/sound quality. Too many to list here.

As far as SD cable or Sat, stretching the 4:3 picture to full screen will degrade picture quality a great deal (although you tend to get used to it after a while). There is also a link in this thread about "polishing a turd" or something like that to help you improve the SD quality on a plasma or big screen TV.

You have an outstanding plasma as long as it's fed the right stuff, don't let the wife get you down. you wil read here that for the first 100 hours or so it doesn't hurt to watch everything in full screen or vary the picture so the set is "broken in." I did this and have never had image retention of burn in. If you are wanting to impress the family, it won't kill you to watch in normal aspect ratio for a while, just try not to keep it on the same thing for very long periods of time.

Enjoy your new plasma!!

irjs,

The media box for my 4360 is fairly quiet. I am not using the TVG so the fan only runs while the unit is on. When I first turn it on I do hear the fan spin up but once sound starts eminating from the speakers I really do not hear the fan. Frankly, the disk in my SA 8300 is louder. Every now and then, during a quiet moments I think I can hear it but I have to listen for it.

Dan

I thought the fan stays on even when the TV is turned off to download TVG data. How do you turn off TVG to keep the fan off?

Folks,

I (and others) have recommended the S77. But it is not the end all be all player. But for what it costs, it's a very nice player. I recommended in the context of if you should upgrade an older 480i component player especially when HD DVD *might be* around in 1-2 years. Yes. The S77 cost about the price of HDMI cables.

Thanks again for the responses. I currently have an older Yamaha, but it is progressive w/ components. So no appreciable difference will result from upgrading now? Is this just for this price range or in general?

Regarding the noise on the media box; I have an Elite 930 that had an intermittent fan noise problem with the media box. We have the TV in our bedroom, and the noise would sometimes get so loud that it woke us up at night. Then other times it would not be a problem. I finally swapped it out with one from our dealer, and this solved the problem, completely. The other day, I was at the dealer I purchased the set from, and he said the Pioneer repair rep had been in. He said they now have a repair bulletin about certain media boxes being a little noisy, and its an easy 3 minute fix. Just thought I would pass this on

Mark

Pioneer 5060. 1/4 inch black frame ??

Is it normal when you look at the screen when viewing full mode to see a 1/4 inch black stripe in the frame of the screen on the left and right side and a bit smaller on the top and bottom.

I have seen this on many tvs but was wondering since this is my first plasma if this is normal. I just hooked up my TV and started watching DVD and took some precautions to avoid burn in but just noticed these 1/4in bars.


Yes, its normal, it is just how the panel is constructed. If you look closely at the edges (left, right) you see small black traces running off to either side.. its just part of the manufacturing process of the panels and is nothing to worry about.


I just returned my Samsung 4272 today and exchanged it for the Pio 4360, not even compairable. this tv is amazing and i haven't even viewed any hd content on it yet!

Tell us more about the differences you noticed right away, if you dont mind. I like hearing detailed comments from people who have owned different brands. Thats where the real meaningful facts seem to pop out.

Congrats to all and enjoy your displays!

Thanks very much I was worried there for a few hours :))

Pete

Thanks again for the responses. I currently have an older Yamaha, but it is progressive w/ components. So no appreciable difference will result from upgrading now? Is this just for this price range or in general?

If it's progressive the upgrade is pretty small but there. To some people it would be worth it, to others not. I had progressive component as well but my hunch is DVD (non HD) will be around for quite some time. I won't switch until Block Buster has more HD than standard DVD's and that will probably be 5 years (optimistically). So why not get the most out of DVD's during that time. Especially after what we just spent on the TV.

Markjl and ss3964spd - Thanks for your comments. Mark, I'm glad to hear how well it worked out for you. Today, Pioneer returned my voice mail message I left for them yesterday. The person I spoke with acknowledged I had a legitimate concern and suggested I go to the Pioneer office and exchange the box, and gave me the name of a person to speak with about the exchange. Since I don't live too far from their office, I would much rather do that than have my retailer order in a new one, take that one home and hope for the best. When I go to Pioneer, I will try the replacement, and if the replacement has the same problem, I'll just ask then to go get another one until I find one that is okay.

Interestingly, as for the possible fixes you guys talked about, I mentioned to the Pioneer rep today that I heard there was a service menu adjustment you could make for the fan noise, but he wasn't aware of it. In fairness to him, he seemed like a manager who may not be up on something like that.

With things closing down for Christmas, I won't have a chance to make my exchange until the middle of next week at the earliest, but I don't really care about a few days, just so long as I know my issue is fixable. Cheers.

Just installed it last night. Big upgrade from my old Sony PFM-42B1
Looks great. Going to keep it in Fullscreen Mode for the first few weeks.
The Media Center Box is way more quiet than my SA8300HD.
So I am happy there.

Only issue so far.
Seeing the white data lines on the top on some SD station pictures.
Adjusted the picture "up" the maximum of 30.
Still see the little buggers a little. Using Component from the SA8300HD to
my Denon AVR-4806. Then HDMI to the PIO. Will fool around over the holiday
and read some more of this massive thread.

Just installed it last night. Big upgrade from my old Sony PFM-42B1
Looks great. Going to keep it in Fullscreen Mode for the first few weeks.
The Media Center Box is way more quiet than my SA8300HD.
So I am happy there.

Only issue so far.
Seeing the white data lines on the top on some SD station pictures.
Adjusted the picture "up" the maximum of 30.
Still see the little buggers a little. Using Component from the SA8300HD to
my Denon AVR-4806. Then HDMI to the PIO. Will fool around over the holiday
and read some more of this massive thread.


bltserv... for what it's worth, there are those who will tell you to maintain a consistent connection to and from your amp... ie, compenent in, component out or hdmi in, hdmi out.

The way you have it set up, you're going analgue to your amp/reciever, then digital to the Plasma... not sure that makes a lot of sense.

Also... I'm using compontent from the 8300.... I've done an A/B with component vs hdmi and I really can't see a difference... and by going component I don't have to deal with the lag from switching stations via HDMI.

Good luck with your new toy... you're going to love it.

Pioneer 5060. 1/4 inch black frame ??

Is it normal when you look at the screen when viewing full mode to see a 1/4 inch black stripe in the frame of the screen on the left and right side and a bit smaller on the top and bottom.

I have seen this on many tvs but was wondering since this is my first plasma if this is normal. I just hooked up my TV and started watching DVD and took some precautions to avoid burn in but just noticed these 1/4in bars.



Thanks


Pete... this is normal, but it isn't about how the panel is contructed... if I'm understanding your issue correctly, it has more to do with the aspect ratio of the dvd you're watching. Anything over 1.77:1 will have bars top and bottom. If the dvd you were watching was 1.85:1, the bars are minimum... like the 1/4" bars you're refering to. 2.35:1 movies will have the bigger, "letter-box" bars we're all familiar with.

Hope this helps.

Is it normal when you look at the screen when viewing full mode to see a 1/4 inch black stripe in the frame of the screen on the left and right side and a bit smaller on the top and bottom.
Pete... this is normal, but it isn't about how the panel is contructed... if I'm understanding your issue correctly, it has more to do with the aspect ratio of the dvd you're watching. Anything over 1.77:1 will have bars top and bottom. If the dvd you were watching was 1.85:1, the bars are minimum... like the 1/4" bars you're refering to. 2.35:1 movies will have the bigger, "letter-box" bars we're all familiar with.

i think on this panel it really is how the panel is constructed...every 4360/5060 i've seen out there has a small amount of "unused" panel. i don't know if it's a full 1/4", but it amounts to two rows of pixels top & bottom, and a few columns of pixels on the sides.

i think on this panel it really is how the panel is constructed...every 4360/5060 i've seen out there has a small amount of "unused" panel. i don't know if it's a full 1/4", but it amounts to two rows of pixels top & bottom, and a few columns of pixels on the sides.

ok... I just eye-balled my screen and I see what you guys are talking about... it seems more noticable on the sides... and I'm not sure it's 1/4", but it's definitely there. Funny, I never even noticed it until now... and I obsess over everything when it comes to this panel.

Recently, my wife and I visited a Tweeter to compare the Panasonic 500u and the 1130.
Of course, they had no more Panasonics and the 50" they showed us looked terrible!
The video feed was the same as the rest of the tv’s (HD), but the image was extremely grainy and text was shadowed. Needless to say everything I read about the 1130 was shot. We were much more impressed by the Sony SXRD. If that is what it looked like with HD, I would hate to see regular tv. The sales man was more interested in selling and discussing the new Sony, so I don’t know what the problem was with the TV.

I thought I had my decision made with the 1130.
Can you 1130 owners reassure me that would be the right decision?
Also, can the 1130 handle lesser quality video well?

Was it this tv you looked at? Sony KDS-R60XBR1. At cnet it was had a ratting of like 8.8 and one of the highest ratings i have ever seen. The user reviews over there give it an 8.5 and this is very high rating of 35 users.

My nieghbor just bought the KDS-R60XBR1 and I previewed it today. Very nice indeed. It's a monster, in fact. The picture looked excellent once tweaked. No convergence to play with. Though rated at 1080p, it doesn't accept a 1080p feed. Now, it's all about if you have the depth. It's still over 20" deep. If you have the room, get it (or the 50"). If you want a slim excellent looking plasma, get the Pioneer. I'm going Pioneer, just a matter of which one and when.

The media box for my 4360 is fairly quiet. I am not using the TVG so the fan only runs while the unit is on. When I first turn it on I do hear the fan spin up but once sound starts eminating from the speakers I really do not hear the fan.
i don't know if TVG has anything to do with the fan running all the time...at least not on mine. i don't use TVG but my fan runs 24/7. it is very quiet though: i didn't even notice it until i walked past it on the way to the kitchen about 2a.m., and i heard it against the dead silence of the room.

at the pioneer site, it says that the fan runs all the time because if you have a cable card it will be drawing power constantly...i don't HAVE a cable card, so you'd think the box would be smart enough to detect that.

the fan does spin up when i start the set, but within a couple of seconds it settles back down to its quiet murmur. i just wish there was a way to get it to go off when it isn't being used.

does pioneer ever issue firmware updates for their stuff? if so, how nasty is the update process? i'd love to see little annoyances like this (and the fact that you can't remove preset channels from your lineup...or add digital channels manually...or show two A/V inputs at the same time in PiP...) get patched someday.

Was it this tv you looked at? Sony KDS-R60XBR1. At cnet it was had a ratting of like 8.8 and one of the highest ratings i have ever seen. The user reviews over there give it an 8.5 and this is very high rating of 35 users.

Yes, the TV was the KDS-R60XBR1. Looked fantastic, however . . . very deep tv and very wide. The speakers stick out on the sides to an extreme with no way to remove them. Not an option for me.

Well, the 1130 has been temporarily installed. HDMI from the 79AVi is stunning (Sin City, Incredibles, Lord of the Rings). No issues running full 5.1 w/ optical coax from the 79AVi to the AVR, either. Only s-video from the DirecTV STB to the 1130 and optical to the AVR (temporary, remember? ;)). A bit of a step down from the DVDP w/ PQ, but still looking relatively fanstastic w/ SD material. Getting the speakers mounted and/or otherwise dialed in next week; adding MPEG4 HD on the 27th; and the VP30 on the 29th. I'll attach some pictures after everything is completed. Good freakin' times, man. Good times. :D

-bd

Here is a little info on the fan noise I was told today. I spoke with a Pioneer tech who told me I could bring my media box into their office next Thursday and try a couple different ones and choose the best of the bunch. I mentioned that I had heard you could lower the fan noise through the service menu. He said yes and no, because although you can lower the fan speed in the service menu, it reverts back to the default setting when you exit the service menu. You can only change the fan speed for testing purposes while in the service menu.

I'm not sure if thats really true, or if he just said that to discourage me from trying it, since they probably don't want you doing that. They might be concerned about about the product malfunctioning (eg overheating) if you mess around in the service menu. Has anyone actually tried this and noticed if it makes a difference?

Anyways, I'll hope for the best next Thursday. The guy I spoke with was very co-operative. It seems like people who have the Elite find the media box noise less of an issue. Perhaps the Elite is superior quality in this feature.

Using Component from the SA8300HD to
my Denon AVR-4806. Then HDMI to the PIO. Will fool around over the holiday
and read some more of this massive thread.

bltserv... I believe you should be consistent with your inputs/outputs to your amp... ie, componant in, component out or hdmi in, hdmi out. The way you have it configured right now, you're going analogue to your receiver then digital to your plasma... not sure that makes a lot of sense.

Also... I've got the 8300 and I A/B'd hdmi vs component... I really can't see a difference so I'm going component to the plasma... that way I don't have to deal with the HDMI lag when it comes to switching stations/formats.

Anyway... just my 2 cents... enjoy your new toy... it's an awesome monitor.

bltserv... I believe you should be consistent with your inputs/outputs to your amp... ie, componant in, component out or hdmi in, hdmi out. The way you have it configured right now, you're going analogue to your receiver then digital to your plasma... not sure that makes a lot of sense.

Also... I've got the 8300 and I A/B'd hdmi vs component... I really can't see a difference so I'm going component to the plasma... that way I don't have to deal with the HDMI lag when it comes to switching stations/formats.

Anyway... just my 2 cents... enjoy your new toy... it's an awesome monitor.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have a DVD-3910 and the AVR-4806.
Wanted to get the system up and running via HDMI and enjoy some DVD`s.
So far very nice. The Elite is a great Plasma. Wonderful right out of the box.
Got mine at Tweeter. BB and Pacific Sales were quoting Mid Jan ETA.
Wall mounted it. The bolts into the studs took a 17mm socket !
So far very impressed. Seeing stuff in my DVD collection for the first time
in movies I have watched a bunch of times. Only issue is some overscan on a couple of SD channels. Hope to figure that out later.

Going to try HDMI via the SA8300 this afternoon. From what I have read.
The SA8300 and the AVR-4806 may have issues with HDMI switching.
Need to get another HDMI cable and take the test.

Waiting for my SVS 7.1 setup. Then my Xmas present to me is complete.

To those still making the "Plasma Choice".
In my opinion.
The PIO Elite Pro-1130HD is worth the extra $$. I looked around for
a couple of months. Read for hours here.
Thanks again to this forum for all the help and reference !

Happy Holidays !!!!

bltserv

Bltserv... I have the 930 and I couldn't agree with you more... these are the best plasmas I've seen.

About the overscan/underscan issue on SD... I think it has more to do with the stations broadcasting the signal than it does your plasma... wouldn't worry about.

Also... let me know what you think about the 8300 via hdmi vs component... as I've said a few times, I see VERY little difference.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have a DVD-3910 and the AVR-4806.
Wanted to get the system up and running via HDMI and enjoy some DVD`s.
So far very nice. The Elite is a great Plasma. Wonderful right out of the box.
Got mine at Tweeter. BB and Pacific Sales were quoting Mid Jan ETA.
Wall mounted it. The bolts into the studs took a 17mm socket !
So far very impressed. Seeing stuff in my DVD collection for the first time
in movies I have watched a bunch of times. Only issue is some overscan on a couple of SD channels. Hope to figure that out later.

Going to try HDMI via the SA8300 this afternoon. From what I have read.
The SA8300 and the AVR-4806 may have issues with HDMI switching.
Need to get another HDMI cable and take the test.

Waiting for my SVS 7.1 setup. Then my Xmas present to me is complete.

To those still making the "Plasma Choice".
In my opinion.
The PIO Elite Pro-1130HD is worth the extra $$. I looked around for
a couple of months. Read for hours here.
Thanks again to this forum for all the help and reference !

Happy Holidays !!!!

bltserv

I will be swapping out my Denon 2910 with my 3910 tonight. I will post the settings I'm using with it.

I will be swapping out my Denon 2910 with my 3910 tonight. I will post the settings I'm using with it.


Swap completed. It took me about 1.5 hours to create these settings. 3910 owners, let me know what you think.

Remember, these settings are ONLY for an Elite 930/1130 with a Denon 3910(6609 firmware) and HDMI (Y Cb Cr) connection.

Pioneer 930/1130 Settings

Main Menu:
AV Selection: User
Contrast: 30
Brightness: -3
Color: 0 (DVE says +11 but my eyes say 0)
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -2

Pro Adjust
Pure Cinema: ADV

Color Detail:
Color Temp: Manual
R High: -1
G High: -4
B High: -3
R Low: -3
G Low: -7
B Low: -2
CTI: Off

Color Management:
R: +3
Y: -4
G: -1
C: +4
B: -12
M: +1

NR:
DNR: Off
MPEG NR: Low

DRE:
DRE: High
Black Level: On
ACL: Off
Gamma: 2
Others:
I-P Mode: 1

Denon 3910 Settings

HDMI Output: Output 1080i (Y Cb Cr)

Setup Menu:
HDMI Black Level: Normal
Video Out: Interlaced
Progressive Mode: Auto 1

Picture Adjust Menu: (Use memory 1)
Contrast: -2
Hue: +1
White Level: -2
Chroma Level: -4
IRE: 7.5

Everything elese should be left at factory settings.

Just a quick note.. I've been running my Pro--1130HD since about the 10th or so. Picture is awesome, set is awesome, etc. No burn in, no image retention, no nothing, and I've done nothing special to avoid it.

However, we are having tremendous difficulty coming up with a common solution to rebuidling our current custom wall unit to accomodate this. Additionally, the cost is getting close to what a new one will cost me.. So, I think our best course of action is to return the set to Magnolia, buy me some time, design something new, and go BIGGER! I think the 50" was wee bit small for us. Not bad, but a tad small. with CES a week or two away, will wait to see what comes from PIO to replace the 1410. Or, I might just opt for the Fujitsu 55" or 63"..

the bottom line. TV is great, it's everything around it that is messing us up bad.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Hello and I hope you’re all having a fine day!

I thought I’d post some experiences with the 1130HD. This is my first plasma screen TV. I have had it a bit over a week now. As has been said many times already, this is a great set and performs quite well.

I have read many posts at this site and portions of the “burn-in” FAQ and most of this thread. It was how I learned of image retention and allowing the set to have at least 100 hours of break-in time by displaying images that filled the entire screen. I was very concerned that I do the right things to calibrate the settings to lower the contrast and brightness as I mentioned in an earlier thread. Currently, the settings in the “User” mode are: Contrast: 30 and Brightness: -7, and sometimes I adjust it to -6 or -5.

What I wanted to post today was that I did see temporary image retention and I wanted to understand what the 100-hour break-in period really does. I currently have roughly 34 hours of usage. (Is there a way to find an hours-of-use gauge on this TV like the Panny’s do?)

I had been sampling various DVD’s using my older Pioneer DVL-91 DVD/LD player and it wasn’t till last night I noticed this temporary image retention happening. By the way, the 1130HD is connected via Component video at 480p.

Last evening when I first turned on the 1130, the TV Guide appears first as many of you have no doubt seen. I left it on there for about 20 seconds as I tuned on the DVD player and inserted a disc. When I selected input 1 for the DVD on the remote, the Pioneer DVD player generated blue background screen appears and I could see a faint shadow of the TV Guide grid and TV Guide Logos. Of course I was shocked to see this. But I figured it was momentary and played the movie, Dances with Wolves. I wanted to sample some scenes including the buffalo hunting sequence. Shortly after his sequence, the Intermission card appears telling you to flip the disc over and the word “Intermission” in large type is showing across the screen. I left that for about 20 seconds and after I stopped the disc, the blue screen appears and I was amazed to see the shadow of the “Intermission” typeface on the blue screen! After playing another DVD, the “Intermission” image is gone. Dances with Wolves and many films are at aspect ratios wider then the 1130’s screen. I have viewed these films in their native ratio at times. But more times then not, I’ll use the zoom screen size to fill the screen during this break in period. In those times when I viewed in OAR, I have not seen any evidence that the black bars above and below has shown any image retention.

Which brings me to the next point. What is the true point of the break-in period? I understand it as the recommended time the TV displays video images that fill the screen so that each pixel has an opportunity to age evenly. At this time the settings for contrast and brightness are lowered to levels that are not overly exaggerated and give an unnatural appearance. So after the break-in period, what happens? Can the brightness and contrast be brought up a few notches? Does the risk of image retention actually go away, or is not as much of an issue when the set is used with a fair mix of materials that have various aspect ratios?

Finally, I plan to upgrade to an upconversion DVD player with HDMI, perhaps a Denon 1920 for it’s universal playing ability. One thing an earlier post of mine mentioned that the image from DVDs tends to look a bit washed out when viewing this set during the daytime. (Of course my settings are pretty dark too!) A respondent mentioned I should upgrade the player for better PQ. My room has walls of glass on the right and left side with a cathedral ceiling that has large triangular windows above. This is the worst-case situation for plasma TV, I know. My sense is this is the nature of plasma that when in a bright room, the light will degrade the image quality. Is this true for others? Eventually, I will look into adding shades to the upper windows.

Insights are appreciated! Thanks, Nelson

wassy-Good luck with your decision, you gotta do what you gotta do. But I would look at this as an opportunity to redo the room. Maybe hang the set on the wall and remove all the furniture around the set, something like that?

Hello and I hope you’re all having a fine day!

I thought I’d post some experiences with the 1130HD. This is my first plasma screen TV. I have had it a bit over a week now. As has been said many times already, this is a great set and performs quite well.

I have read many posts at this site and portions of the “burn-in” FAQ and most of this thread. It was how I learned of image retention and allowing the set to have at least 100 hours of break-in time by displaying images that filled the entire screen. I was very concerned that I do the right things to calibrate the settings to lower the contrast and brightness as I mentioned in an earlier thread. Currently, the settings in the “User” mode are: Contrast: 30 and Brightness: -7, and sometimes I adjust it to -6 or -5.

What I wanted to post today was that I did see temporary image retention and I wanted to understand what the 100-hour break-in period really does. I currently have roughly 34 hours of usage. (Is there a way to find an hours-of-use gauge on this TV like the Panny’s do?)

I had been sampling various DVD’s using my older Pioneer DVL-91 DVD/LD player and it wasn’t till last night I noticed this temporary image retention happening. By the way, the 1130HD is connected via Component video at 480p.

Last evening when I first turned on the 1130, the TV Guide appears first as many of you have no doubt seen. I left it on there for about 20 seconds as I tuned on the DVD player and inserted a disc. When I selected input 1 for the DVD on the remote, the Pioneer DVD player generated blue background screen appears and I could see a faint shadow of the TV Guide grid and TV Guide Logos. Of course I was shocked to see this. But I figured it was momentary and played the movie, Dances with Wolves. I wanted to sample some scenes including the buffalo hunting sequence. Shortly after his sequence, the Intermission card appears telling you to flip the disc over and the word “Intermission” in large type is showing across the screen. I left that for about 20 seconds and after I stopped the disc, the blue screen appears and I was amazed to see the shadow of the “Intermission” typeface on the blue screen! After playing another DVD, the “Intermission” image is gone. Dances with Wolves and many films are at aspect ratios wider then the 1130’s screen. I have viewed these films in their native ratio at times. But more times then not, I’ll use the zoom screen size to fill the screen during this break in period. In those times when I viewed in OAR, I have not seen any evidence that the black bars above and below has shown any image retention.

Which brings me to the next point. What is the true point of the break-in period? I understand it as the recommended time the TV displays video images that fill the screen so that each pixel has an opportunity to age evenly. At this time the settings for contrast and brightness are lowered to levels that are not overly exaggerated and give an unnatural appearance. So after the break-in period, what happens? Can the brightness and contrast be brought up a few notches? Does the risk of image retention actually go away, or is not as much of an issue when the set is used with a fair mix of materials that have various aspect ratios?

Finally, I plan to upgrade to an upconversion DVD player with HDMI, perhaps a Denon 1920 for it’s universal playing ability. One thing an earlier post of mine mentioned that the image from DVDs tends to look a bit washed out when viewing this set during the daytime. (Of course my settings are pretty dark too!) A respondent mentioned I should upgrade the player for better PQ. My room has walls of glass on the right and left side with a cathedral ceiling that has large triangular windows above. This is the worst-case situation for plasma TV, I know. My sense is this is the nature of plasma that when in a bright room, the light will degrade the image quality. Is this true for others? Eventually, I will look into adding shades to the upper windows.

Insights are appreciated! Thanks, Nelson

wassy-Good luck with your decision, you gotta do what you gotta do. But I would look at this as an opportunity to redo the room. Maybe hang the set on the wall and remove all the furniture around the set, something like that?

What is the build date of your panel? If you are standing in front of your panel, it is on the back right side (inside the panel).....look between the vent holes on the back side.

D-Nice-

There are two large labels in the back on the mid section of the panel. The large label on the right side (When viewing the panel from the front) has all the Pioneer information in English. There is a small white boxed area with a bar code. Within the white box and above the barcode, I see: "MFD. Nov 2005"

Why do you ask?

D-Nice-

There are two large labels in the back on the mid section of the panel. The large label on the right side (When viewing the panel from the front) has all the Pioneer information in English. There is a small white boxed area with a bar code. Within the white box and above the barcode, I see: "MFD. Nov 2005"

Why do you ask?

Good. Your actual panel was made in Nov. The reason I asked is because there was a batch of Sept panels that had the voltage improperly setup at the factory. That issue caused major image retention.

What are your current contrast, brightness and power settings?

Try to use a contrast of 25, brightness of -1 and power save mode of save2.

Thanks for the information regarding panels built in September. I didn't know about that one.

Current settings are-

Contrast: 30
Brightness: -7
Power save mode: default factory settings.

My contrast and brightness settings were based on the Video Essentials disc with my DVD player. Yours are brighter then mine! I will try the Power save setting: save2. And if I brought the other settings up to what you suggest, the picture would be a lot brighter in darker scenes.

Your settings look ok. Definitely use the power mode of save2. I'm a little worried about that brightness setting as you may be crushing blacks.

What dvd player do you have?
Are you transferring your dvd settings to your HD STB or cable card?

D-Nice-

When you refer to "crushing blacks", does that mean that the black level or contrast is set at a point that shadow detail is lost? I am being a bit paranoid about lowering settings for the break-in period! I do believe blacks are likely crushed a bit.

I do not have a HD STB or cable. I am using this panel for OTA and DVD's. I am using the same settings for OTA TV and DVD viewing. Though I will experiement more after I feel like the set has broken in more. On network HD broadcasts of shows like CSI:Miami, the picture looks terrific, with the many warm colors that show tends to lean towards. Shadows do look a bit dark and flesh tones are on the orange side. Other shows like Desperate Housewives look more natural.

I would appreciate your advise if this is too conservative right now. I was willing to put up with some settings that were too dark till the set had 100 hours or so. Or am I being too anal?

Oh yeah, my DVD player is an old Pioneer DVL-91 DVD/LD player feeding via component.

Many thanks! Nelson.

Good. Your actual panel was made in Nov. The reason I asked is because there was a batch of Sept panels that had the voltage improperly setup at the factory. That issue caused major image retention.

What are your current contrast, brightness and power settings?

Try to use a contrast of 25, brightness of -1 and power save mode of save2.

D-Nice... my panel was manufactured in Sept 2005... and I definitely have what I think is an image retention problem... but it's not from logos or letterbox, etc... the only place I see it... and I'm in the midst of trying to get rid of it... is the vertical line that runs from top to bottom on the left side of the SA 8300's channel guide. The line is VERY, VERY faint and can only be seen on white scens... but it's there, and I see it.

So what's with this "Sept batch" and what should I be doing about it?

Thanks in advance.

D-Nice... my panel was manufactured in Sept 2005... and I definitely have what I think is an image retention problem... but it's not from logos or letterbox, etc... the only place I see it... and I'm in the midst of trying to get rid of it... is the vertical line that runs from top to bottom on the left side of the SA 8300's channel guide. The line is VERY, VERY faint and can only be seen on white scens... but it's there, and I see it.

So what's with this "Sept batch" and what should I be doing about it?

Thanks in advance.

You should contact Pioneer immediately and have them send a tech out to modify the voltage settings in the SM. DO NOT take no for an answer.

And make sure your actual panel was mfg in September. Assembled in September does not count.

I'm assuming that MFD Sept. 2005 means manufactered, not assembled. Are THEY aware of this? Do I speak to any tech or ask for a specific level when I call.

Also... does this mean I shouldn't use it at all while I wait... it could take a while.

D-Nice... how exactly does one contacdt Pioneer? Their website only gives an e-mail option... not very reassuring. Is there a number? Or do I contact them through my retailer? And most importantly, should I use the thing while I wait... it would be a huge drag to shut it down.

I'm assuming that MFD Sept. 2005 means manufactered, not assembled. Are THEY aware of this? Do I speak to any tech or ask for a specific level when I call.

Also... does this mean I shouldn't use it at all while I wait... it could take a while.


Some are aware, most are not. Try to speak to a level 2 tech. You can contact them @ 800-421-1404 or 800-421-1625

You can continue to use it until they come out. The higher than normal voltage setting does not cause burnin, just image retention.

Ok peeps,

Here are my latest settings for the TWC SA 8300 cable box. They make a big impact on the PQ. Let me know what you think....

Main Menu:
AV Selection: Pure
Contrast: 30
Brightness: -1
Color: 0
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -2

Pro Adjust
Pure Cinema: ADV

Color Detail:
Color Temp: Manual
R High: -2
G High: -4
B High: -2
R Low: -4
G Low: -5
B Low: -2
CTI: Off

Color Management:
R: -1
Y: -4
G: -7
C: +6
B: -2
M: -1

NR:
DNR: Off
MPEG NR: Low

DRE:
DRE: High
Black Level: On
ACL: Off
Gamma: 2
Others:
I-P Mode: 1

D-Nice... thanks... that's a great help... man, I'm not looking foward to talking to them... is there anything worse than talking to clueless tech-ies?

How are you aware of this issue? (this site?)... and what types of image retention have you heard about... the curious thing is that I have NO issues whatsoever other than that one line... I don't get retention on station logos, black bars, tickers, etc... that's why it's been so troubling to me....I was starting to think I have burn-in... but I couldn't imagine how I got it.

D-Nice... thanks... that's a great help... man, I'm not looking foward to talking to them... is there anything worse than talking to clueless tech-ies?

How are you aware of this issue? (this site?)... and what types of image retention have you heard about... the curious thing is that I have NO issues whatsoever other than that one line... I don't get retention on station logos, black bars, tickers, etc... that's why it's been so troubling to me....I was starting to think I have burn-in... but I couldn't imagine how I got it.


http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=276470&page=6

Post #88....good thread. You might want to read the entire thread.

D-Nice... on the lighter side of the news... I'm interested in why you changed your settings... I'm still using your previous ones (or pretty close). I tried your new ones and I'm not really liking them... it seems like something's missing... while the colors seem true, it seems like you've sucked the life out of the image... imho. In fact... it looks like your previous settings when you had them on Gamma 3.

You're setting have helped me (and I'm sure a lot of other people) a lot... so just curious what brought you to the new ones.

wassy-Good luck with your decision, you gotta do what you gotta do. But I would look at this as an opportunity to redo the room. Maybe hang the set on the wall and remove all the furniture around the set, something like that?

well, that is definitely an option, but if I am hanging it on the wall, then we are definitely going bigger. the only reason i got the 50" was to try and incorporate it into the unit.

D-Nice... on the lighter side of the news... I'm interested in why you changed your settings... I'm still using your previous ones (or pretty close). I tried your new ones and I'm not really liking them... it seems like something's missing... while the colors seem true, it seems like you've sucked the life out of the image... imho. In fact... it looks like your previous settings when you had them on Gamma 3.

You're setting have helped me (and I'm sure a lot of other people) a lot... so just curious what brought you to the new ones.

I found that my previous SA 8300 settings had a little too much blue in them.

This was proven when I sent a text message to a buddy of mine that was at the Ravens/Vikings game last night. I asked him what color the turf was. He replied light brown with green here and there. Well, my previous settings had the turf looking faded green. So it was back to the drawing board with HDNet's test patterns.

As far as "sucking the life out", that may be the color setting. Try bumping the color between +2 and +4.

I found that my previous SA 8300 settings had a little too much blue in them.

This was proven when I sent a text message to a buddy of mine that was at the Ravens/Vikings game last night. I asked him what color the turf was. He replied light brown with green here and there. Well, my previous settings had the turf looking faded green. So it was back to the drawing board with HDNet's test patterns.

As far as "sucking the life out", that may be the color setting. Try bumping the color between +2 and +4.


Will do... thanks. Also, about that volatge/image retention issue. Do you (or anyone else here) know the codes for the service menu... not that I really like the idea of going in there... but if we knew the codes we could compare voltage readings/settings.

Just a thought.

Here's how to get into the SM...

Start with the plasma turned OFF.
Press DISPLAY on the remote (just press, do not hold).
Wait 3 seconds.
Press LEFT, UP, LEFT, RIGHT then POWER (on the remote).
If done correctly, the plasma turns on and the INFORMATION page is displayed.

Press DOWN to page through each menu (for instance, to see the multiple pages that make up the INFORMATION section). Press MUTE to jump through the different menus.

Thanks... oh, and how do you exit?

Hit the power button

I found that my previous SA 8300 settings had a little too much blue in them.

This was proven when I sent a text message to a buddy of mine that was at the Ravens/Vikings game last night. I asked him what color the turf was. He replied light brown with green here and there. Well, my previous settings had the turf looking faded green. So it was back to the drawing board with HDNet's test patterns.

As far as "sucking the life out", that may be the color setting. Try bumping the color between +2 and +4.


D-Nice... I see you've already edited your settings from last night... I tried your new settings and bumped the color to 4 (also bumped the brightness a few notches... I'm in a brighter room). Picture looks awesome. Thanks again for your help.

D-Nice... I see you've already edited your settings from last night... I tried your new settings and bumped the color to 4 (also bumped the brightness a few notches... I'm in a brighter room). Picture looks awesome. Thanks again for your help.


The tinkering never stops. Enjoy.

D-Nice: Thanks for posting the info on how to access the service menu.

After flipping through the different menus I am now left feeling a little concerned.
I decided to check out how many hours I have on my 4360. Well to my supprise, I have 472hrs 20mins on the clock. The thing is I have only had the panel up and running for 2.5 weeks.
What gives?!?
I am thinking the panel was on display or returned by a previous customer. I was not informed of this prior to purchasing it. I would not have bought it if I had known this was the case.
I'm not sure what to do, as the picture looks great (aside from one dead pixel on the bottom right) Do I have a legitimate complaint? I don't know what my retailer would say if I told them I was messing around in the service menu.

Any help would be appreciated.

I asked a few questions last week regarding my new 5060. Great suggestions that led to much improved PQ. Last week Comcast told me it would be a few weeks before they could bring HD to me. So I was trying to improve my PQ on a short term basis from a crud signal. On saturday I found out that a Comcast location is near me and that I could pick up a box from them and install myself, so I did.

So far, the HD channels are amazing, everything I hoped for. I have the Comcast Motorola 6412 DVR box. I hooked it up christmas day so I was not able to get a DVI-HDMI cable, component for now, which is great.

I do have a fews questions. I am trying to watch all channels without side/top bars. All standard channels seems to "fit" nicely in FULL mode, yet most of the HD channels come across with black bars on the side. So I am confused. Let me clarify, a HD channel with a HD signal comes across great, unreal picture. Yet when the HD channel with a normal signal, comes across with bars on the side. When I click back to a normal channel, the FULL mode stretches it good. What am I missing, I have tried several of the settings in the 6412's setup screen.

The PQ from my basic Sony DVD player through component and the true HD through component are great, excellent actually. With basic tuning suggestions for the group. The only concern is the side bars still coming through on HD channels with out HD content.

Settings so far
Sttandard mode
contrast 35
bright +4
color -8
tint 0
sharpy 0
pure cinema - stand
color temp mid
cti - on
dnr mid
mpeg nr mid

Again thanks for all your great input, this board is a wealth of knowledge. I spend time on other boards (other industries, mostly motorsports) and this forums depth of knowledge is blowing me away.

D-Nice: Thanks for posting the info on how to access the service menu.

After flipping through the different menus I am now left feeling a little concerned.
I decided to check out how many hours I have on my 4360. Well to my supprise, I have 472hrs 20mins on the clock. The thing is I have only had the panel up and running for 2.5 weeks.
What gives?!?
I am thinking the panel was on display or returned by a previous customer. I was not informed of this prior to purchasing it. I would not have bought it if I had known this was the case.
I'm not sure what to do, as the picture looks great (aside from one dead pixel on the bottom right) Do I have a legitimate complaint? I don't know what my retailer would say if I told them I was messing around in the service menu.

Any help would be appreciated.

I think you were looking at the MR clock. The actual panel clock is in the panel adj menu (I think). It is called "panel fact" (Again, I think).

I do have a fews questions. I am trying to watch all channels without side/top bars. All standard channels seems to "fit" nicely in FULL mode, yet most of the HD channels come across with black bars on the side. So I am confused. Let me clarify, a HD channel with a HD signal comes across great, unreal picture. Yet when the HD channel with a normal signal, comes across with bars on the side. When I click back to a normal channel, the FULL mode stretches it good. What am I missing, I have tried several of the settings in the 6412's setup screen.

You can stretch the HD signal when the broadcast is 4:3, but remember to change it back to "Full" when there is a 16:9 broadcast.

For regular SD broadcasts, the consensus says the "Cinema" stretch mode is the best.

I think you were looking at the MR clock. The actual panel clock is in the panel adj menu (I think). It is called "panel fact" (Again, I think).


You were right :) I was ready to snap!
Anyhow, turns out it is sitting at 81hrs 45mins

Thanks for responding so quick! could have been a bad day.

-Aaron

D-Nice... thanks for the code... I actually have 209 hours on mine... and I was wondering if I had hit 100 yet!

Anyway... do you have any idea where I'd find the voltage info that was referenced in the burn in/image retention thread?

Thanks.

Hey D-Nice-

Thanks again for all the input to help us all out!

I asked in my last posting what you meant by "crushing blacks". Could you explain that please? Thanks again.

Nelson

Sure,

Crushing blacks basically means loss of detail on dark areas. Most here have found that setting the brightness less than -3 will result in black crush.

Thanks for explaining crushing blacks, D-Nice. What I'm a little confused about is whether the brightness should be at the level you suggest while the set is still so new, or in the break-in period. Is it safe now to have it set at -3 to avoid the image retention potential?

Also, I tried the remote control key sequence to get the service menu up. It worked! Though I didn't find the MR clock to see how long I've had the panel on. The panel would turn itself off after a short time.

Thanks!

You can actually have the brightness as high as you want. You just need to keep the contrast down during break-in.

Okay D-Nice, keep contrast down, brightness okay higher during break-in. Cool.

Thanks again!

Here's a dumb question for anyone willing to answer... how do I get static, aka, snow to run on my screen (to clear up any image retention).... whenever I hit the ant. imput, I get snow for about two seconds, then the screen goes black.

D-Nice.... I don't know man... I think I'm going back to your last settings. Something's missing with the latest ones.... Everything seems a bit washed out.... and even with my color pushed to 4, the picture seems less dramatic than it did with the previous settings.

Just my 2 cents.

That's cool. The goal is always to enjoy the picture.

D-Nice...

Just rechecked your new settings... here's what's bothering me... and take this with a grain of salt because I'm on the run and haven't had time to really examine it... but it seems that interior scenes have a tiny bit of a pink hue ... most noticable, obviously, on scenes with white, or off white walls. Let me know if I'm imagining it or if you see it as well.

Thanks.

D-Nice...

Just rechecked your new settings... here's what's bothering me... and take this with a grain of salt because I'm on the run and haven't had time to really examine it... but it seems that interior scenes have a tiny bit of a pink hue ... most noticable, obviously, on scenes with white, or off white walls. Let me know if I'm imagining it or if you see it as well.

Thanks.


Reduce the R-High to -2.

Reduce the R-High to -2.

Thanks... I'm out of town for a few days, but I'll check it out as soon as a get home.

Thanks... I'm out of town for a few days, but I'll check it out as soon as a get home.

Cool. You can also leave the R-High at -1 and turn down the R-Low to -4. I personally like the R-Low at -4 and R-High at -1.

firstly thanks to everyone, got a new 930HD last week and yes it is pretty good. D-Nice, using most of your settings, with the contrast at 25 for the initial period. question for you, what settings are you using for the SA 8300 box for aspect ratio?

firstly thanks to everyone, got a new 930HD last week and yes it is pretty good. D-Nice, using most of your settings, with the contrast at 25 for the initial period. question for you, what settings are you using for the SA 8300 box for aspect ratio?

I keep my box on passthrough as I know the Pioneer has a far better scaler than the 8300. For SD I use the cinema stretch mode and full for HD.

kindof a dumb question, but by passthrough you mean, switch between 4:3, 16:9 depending on whether its SD or HD?

Sort of. Passthrough mean that what ever resolution is being broadcasted (480i,720p,1080i) will be forwarded to my panel without being molested by the SA 8300 scaler.

I have all the output formats selected. Is there anything else I need to do to ensure that?

Is anyone aware of anything (manufacturing glitches, substantial demand) that would lead to long backlogs for the 1130? I've had one on order since the launch to be installed in my new home last week. I got a call from my installer the day before the scheduled installation, pushing me back a week and a half due to scheduling conflicts and installers calling in sick. I checked with several other sources (including Tweeter and two local shops), and they are all saying they won't get any for 2+ months.

Is this possible?

Is anyone aware of anything (manufacturing glitches, substantial demand) that would lead to long backlogs for the 1130? I've had one on order since the launch to be installed in my new home last week. I got a call from my installer the day before the scheduled installation, pushing me back a week and a half due to scheduling conflicts and installers calling in sick. I checked with several other sources (including Tweeter and two local shops), and they are all saying they won't get any for 2+ months.

Is this possible?

I had the same issue with Pacific Sales. Waited 2 weeks. Then they wanted 2 weeks more. Jan 15th. They had 30 on order and 17 sold.
BB kept saying another week and we get 200+ units in.
Went to the local Tweeter in Mission Viejo, CA. Salesman said if we picked it up
at the warehouse in Vista, CA. we could have same day. That was on the 22nd
of Dec. Picked it up that afternoon.

bltserv

I have all the output formats selected. Is there anything else I need to do to ensure that?


Go into your 8300 settings menu and make sure the output is set to passthrough. This is only for SARA 8300's. If you 8300 uses Passport, then you do not have to do anything.

Is anyone aware of anything (manufacturing glitches, substantial demand) that would lead to long backlogs for the 1130? I've had one on order since the launch to be installed in my new home last week. I got a call from my installer the day before the scheduled installation, pushing me back a week and a half due to scheduling conflicts and installers calling in sick. I checked with several other sources (including Tweeter and two local shops), and they are all saying they won't get any for 2+ months.

Is this possible?

I have absolutely no scientific basis for this comment, but when I started shopping in late October and early November, I was considering a Pioneer, or possibly a Panasonic. A number of dealers were already out of stock, with Panasonic 50" sets selling like hot cakes, thanks to favorable Consumer Reports Reviews. As a matter of fact, I noticed several vendors had raised the price of the 50PX500U Panny to equal the 5060 Pio price.

Sellers reported there would be no replacement Panasonics until January or February, and started putting buyers on waiting lists. Some Panny dealers were also pushing HPs as a substitute, with others pushing Pioneer as another good alternative. As a result, those inventories also evaporated very quickly. I suspect people that wanted a quality set in time for the holidays stepped up to the Elite.

Since these units probably aren't the volume sellers the 500U or the 5060s are, it is probably taking a bit more time to catch up with this demand.

Good luck

Go into your 8300 settings menu and make sure the output is set to passthrough. This is only for SARA 8300's. If you 8300 uses Passport, then you do not have to do anything.

I have the SA 8300, the problem is if I use Cinema mode and a 4:3(standard) aspect ratio on the 8300, the image seems to be partly cut. Wondering if I am doing something wrong?

Nope, that's how cinema mode works.

I ordered the 1130 today from Tweeter and expect delivery Monday. The sales person told me the Pioneer warranty would be void if I did not hook up a panamax or monster surge protector/line conditioner.

I think having one is a good idea, but which one would be the most economical and is one necessary from pioneer's standpoint?

I have absolutely no scientific basis for this comment, but when I started shopping in late October and early November, I was considering a Pioneer, or possibly a Panasonic. A number of dealers were already out of stock, with Panasonic 50" sets selling like hot cakes, thanks to favorable Consumer Reports Reviews. As a matter of fact, I noticed several vendors had raised the price of the 50PX500U Panny to equal the 5060 Pio price.

Sellers reported there would be no replacement Panasonics until January or February, and started putting buyers on waiting lists. Some Panny dealers were also pushing HPs as a substitute, with others pushing Pioneer as another good alternative. As a result, those inventories also evaporated very quickly. I suspect people that wanted a quality set in time for the holidays stepped up to the Elite.

Since these units probably aren't the volume sellers the 500U or the 5060s are, it is probably taking a bit more time to catch up with this demand.

Good luck

It was widely reported about a month ago that Pioneer would be closing 1 or 2 plasma lines due to their ongoing financial problems. This may also be part of the "unscientific" explanation for the sporadic supply problem.

Personally, I visited my local AV store today and found that I was number 13 on the waiting list for an 1130. They have 36 on order from Pioneer, but told me to expect a Febuary delivery date. Figuring that the number 13 was probably an omen, I took myself off the list.

Dave

I have a 35 day old 5060 and have posted on this forum before about the same issue. My wife watches a lot of TLC and after a few days of having the TV, I noticed the logo in the lower right hand corner. I freaked out and posted on the forum and then followed all of your advice - left it on Discovery HD for 24 hours, switched to SAVE2 power mode, made sure contrast was set low (25), etc. After 2 or 3 days of standard TV viewing and 24 hours of discover HD, it was pretty much gone.....

Well, I was running the DVE DVD and it has a white screen as part of the intro. Sure enough, the TLC is back. I can only see it on a white or grey screen, but it is obviously there. Not only that, but the ESPNHD logo is right below it (I've been watching bowl games).

I've been reading the forum, so I can tell you that the panel is manufactured in Oct '05. The rest of my settings are as follows:

AV Selections: Standard
Contrast: 25
Brightness: -4
Color +11 (had it at +2, but after DVE tonight, bumped to +11)
Tint: R6 (had it at 0, but after DVE tonight, moved to R6)
Sharpness: -4
Also, I am up to 180+ hours of viewing (checked the system menu)

Please, please, please give me some advice here. This can't be normal, can it? Am I doing something wrong? The TLC logo is bright red, but the ESPNHD logo is white / clear - I cant believe that it is being retained!!!

Thanks for your help - I read the forum every day and have learned a ton. This is a major issue (obviously) and I am getting concerned. Thaqnks in advance for your replies.

Pyle

I've had my 5060 for a few weeks now. My family has been watching all sorts of programing, I do make sure to stretch or zoom the SD content. I've sat uncomfortably thru 30 min nickolodean shows with the logo at the bottom.
We do watch at least an hour of HD every night, discovery or inhd channel.
I have not seen any image retention at all. FWIW. With your settings I don't think you should be seeing them either. But I will have to check my hours to see how far I've gotten in the "break in mode". It doesn't sound right to me.



Jeff

I have a 35 day old 5060 and have posted on this forum before about the same issue. My wife watches a lot of TLC and after a few days of having the TV, I noticed the logo in the lower right hand corner. I freaked out and posted on the forum and then followed all of your advice - left it on Discovery HD for 24 hours, switched to SAVE2 power mode, made sure contrast was set low (25), etc. After 2 or 3 days of standard TV viewing and 24 hours of discover HD, it was pretty much gone.....

Well, I was running the DVE DVD and it has a white screen as part of the intro. Sure enough, the TLC is back. I can only see it on a white or grey screen, but it is obviously there. Not only that, but the ESPNHD logo is right below it (I've been watching bowl games).

I've been reading the forum, so I can tell you that the panel is manufactured in Oct '05. The rest of my settings are as follows:

AV Selections: Standard
Contrast: 25
Brightness: -4
Color +11 (had it at +2, but after DVE tonight, bumped to +11)
Tint: R6 (had it at 0, but after DVE tonight, moved to R6)
Sharpness: -4
Also, I am up to 180+ hours of viewing (checked the system menu)

Please, please, please give me some advice here. This can't be normal, can it? Am I doing something wrong? The TLC logo is bright red, but the ESPNHD logo is white / clear - I cant believe that it is being retained!!!

Thanks for your help - I read the forum every day and have learned a ton. This is a major issue (obviously) and I am getting concerned. Thaqnks in advance for your replies.

Pyle

What is the build date of your panel? If you are standing in front of your panel, it is on the back right side (inside the panel).....look between the vent holes on the back side.

NOT the assembly date that is on the backside (outside) of the panel.

Hi everyone,

First off I have to say that I love this forum. I've been lurking in the shadows for awhile trying to figure out which plasma to buy. Last week I finally took the plunge and purchased a 930-HD. I absolutely love this set, but I do have a few questions I was hoping you guys could answer.

1. There is an audible hum coming from my media receiver. It's loud enough that I can definitely hear it when there is no other noise in the room. I've heard that some of these receivers may have a noise problem, but how loud "should" it be? I know this is entirely subjective, but the hum annoys me somewhat when I walk by the set. According to the service menu, the fan speed is set to MIN.

2. Has anyone been able to hook a PC up to the set using something other than an HDMI cable? I was slightly disappointed to read that in the manual since I would like to hook up a gaming PC to it.

Thanks.

Has anyone been able to hook a PC up to the set using something other than an HDMI cable? I was slightly disappointed to read that in the manual since I would like to hook up a gaming PC to it.I've connected my 5061 to a laptop via a VGA cable, which works fine.

What is the build date of your panel? If you are standing in front of your panel, it is on the back right side (inside the panel).....look between the vent holes on the back side.

NOT the assembly date that is on the backside (outside) of the panel.


D-Nice,

Thanks for the reply. I looked last night, as you descirbed, but could not find it. Is it engraved, or a sticker? If I am behind my panel, is it on the left side? High or low? I will check again as soon as I get home this evening.

Thanks
Pyle

D-Nice,

Thanks for the reply. I looked last night, as you descirbed, but could not find it. Is it engraved, or a sticker? If I am behind my panel, is it on the left side? High or low? I will check again as soon as I get home this evening.

Thanks
Pyle

If you are behind it, it is in the top left corner on a white sticker INSIDE the panel. You can see it through the air holes.

D-Nice,

Thanks for the reply. I looked last night, as you descirbed, but could not find it. Is it engraved, or a sticker? If I am behind my panel, is it on the left side? High or low? I will check again as soon as I get home this evening.

Thanks
Pyle

Pyleax... I'm sure you've read my posts about similar concerns (although not as severe as your's)... I'm not at home either... but on the back of my panel is a sticker that says, I believe, MFD Sept 2005.... so I'm assuming mine was manufactered in Sept. If you followed the link posted by D-Nice, you'll see there's been quite a bit of discussion (particularly in England, I think) about this very issue, with some posters stating that they've been told that early batches of the panels had voltage settings that were too high... one or two posters stated that once they had the settings adjusted, their image retention problems went away. (by the way... other posters claim that they've been told by Pioneer that this is not at all factual).

Anyway... what I've been trying to determine is if there's a way to check voltage settings in the Service Menu... that way, we can all compare settings... if they're the same then this whole "voltage" topic becomes moot.

Other than that, all I can tell you is that people have suggested running a few hours of snow (static) on their screens... or if you have a laptop you can run a white powerpoint screen... that seems to eventually get rid of any retained images.

finally got the OPPO OPDV971H dvd player for my 930HD. anybody out there with a similar set-up with suggestions/thoughts on settings?

My 1130 arrived yesterday. I spent last night tweaking settings & going ga-ga over the ESPN football games & other HD programming. Santa was a few days late but he came through!

The console is from Laurier Furniture. The speaker below the display is the Polk Surroundbar which is pretty impressive when used in conjunction with a sub. There was no reasonable way to hook up rear speakers in my room, for a variety of reasons.

finally got the OPPO OPDV971H dvd player for my 930HD. anybody out there with a similar set-up with suggestions/thoughts on settings?

No offense, but I would suggest you ditch the Oppo. It will casue MB on your display.

My 1130 arrived yesterday. I spent last night tweaking settings & going ga-ga over the ESPN football games & other HD programming. Santa was a few days late but he came through!

The console is from Laurier Furniture. The speaker below the display is the Polk Surroundbar which is pretty impressive when used in conjunction with a sub. There was no reasonable way to hook up rear speakers in my room, for a variety of reasons.


Very nice setup. Looks like you are a Tweeter's guy ;)

Can you go into more detail about the Polk soundbar? I'm interested in puchasing one.

No offense, but I would suggest you ditch the Oppo. It will casue MB on your display.

what is MB?

Very nice setup. Looks like you are a Tweeter's guy ;)

Can you go into more detail about the Polk soundbar? I'm interested in puchasing one.

No Tweeter's in my area. I bought the console online (shipped direct from the company) & the Pio + Surroundbar from a local smaller b & m.

Regarding the Surroundbar, it does a pretty nice job of simulating surround sound. You don't really pick up sound from behind but definitely from left & right. My room is pretty small (12' x 13'), has a finished basement ceiling below, old plaster walls & a sectional sofa in the corner that would make rear speaker set-up pretty much impossible without a huge ordeal. You can check out user reviews here - http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/flatscreens/surroundbar/ It works great for my needs.

Also, Polk is currently running a deal where you get a free sub with the purchase of a Surroundbar (not sure how long that offer is good).

Cool, thanks for the info.

I just got my pio 4360 set up and I havent stopped watching HDTV through comcast for one bit. I dont care what it is (i watched K-1 fighting last night and some special on volcanos or something), if its in HD i'm watching it... DVD's are beautiful!! I LOVE THIS TELEVISION!!!!!

finally got the OPPO OPDV971H dvd player for my 930HD. anybody out there with a similar set-up with suggestions/thoughts on settings?Don't listen to D-Nice, who suffers with Oppo envy.

A lot of people reported macro blocking problems with the OPDV971H and Panasonic PDPs, none of which I've experienced with my OPPO @ 720p on my 50PX50U.

If you are behind it, it is in the top left corner on a white sticker INSIDE the panel. You can see it through the air holes.

Sure enough September '05. Unbelievable. Is there anything I can do, or do I need to have a tech come out?

Pyle, If D-Nice has not beat me to it, he suggested contacting Pioneer to send out a tech to do the fix for the voltage issue and don't take no for an answer. He posted the number a few pages ago.

D-Nice-

I was reading your descriptiopn to find the manufacture date for Pyle's image retention problem. You had given me similar instructions to find the manuafacture date. I thought that I had found the label, but it is actually on a label on the outside of the panel, in the center label areas. When I read your recent description, I realized you said to find it inside the panel, looking through the ventilation holes on the top left of the panel. What I've deduced from this is that the label inside the panel is for the manufacture date of the glass itself. And the label on the outside is for the manufacture date of the whole panel including the bezel and rear enclosure. My labels on the inside say "Manufactured October 2005" and the outside label say "Manufactured November 2005". That was a scare for me, but I think I missed the bullet of the September build date.

Don't listen to D-Nice, who suffers with Oppo envy.

A lot of people reported macro blocking problems with the OPDV971H and Panasonic PDPs, none of which I've experienced with my OPPO @ 720p on my 50PX50U.


Optivity,

The Oppo971 connected to a Pioneer 4340, 5040, 4345, 5045, 4350, 5050, 4360, 5060, 910, 920, 930, 1110, 1120, or 1130 thru HDMI or component will cause MB.

If you do not own anyone of those combos, in your case you don't but I actually do, why should anyone take your post into consideration?

Pyle, If D-Nice has not beat me to it, he suggested contacting Pioneer to send out a tech to do the fix for the voltage issue and don't take no for an answer. He posted the number a few pages ago.

D-Nice-

I was reading your descriptiopn to find the manufacture date for Pyle's image retention problem. You had given me similar instructions to find the manuafacture date. I thought that I had found the label, but it is actually on a label on the outside of the panel, in the center label areas. When I read your recent description, I realized you said to find it inside the panel, looking through the ventilation holes on the top left of the panel. What I've deduced from this is that the label inside the panel is for the manufacture date of the glass itself. And the label on the outside is for the manufacture date of the whole panel including the bezel and rear enclosure. My labels on the inside say "Manufactured October 2005" and the outside label say "Manufactured November 2005". That was a scare for me, but I think I missed the bullet of the September build date.

Hey,

How are your retention woes currently going? Did you change the power save setting to save2?

Pyle, If D-Nice has not beat me to it, he suggested contacting Pioneer to send out a tech to do the fix for the voltage issue and don't take no for an answer. He posted the number a few pages ago.

D-Nice-

I was reading your descriptiopn to find the manufacture date for Pyle's image retention problem. You had given me similar instructions to find the manuafacture date. I thought that I had found the label, but it is actually on a label on the outside of the panel, in the center label areas. When I read your recent description, I realized you said to find it inside the panel, looking through the ventilation holes on the top left of the panel. What I've deduced from this is that the label inside the panel is for the manufacture date of the glass itself. And the label on the outside is for the manufacture date of the whole panel including the bezel and rear enclosure. My labels on the inside say "Manufactured October 2005" and the outside label say "Manufactured November 2005". That was a scare for me, but I think I missed the bullet of the September build date.


I have contacted them - they denied the Sept issue and said that image retention was normal and not covered under warranty. I argued that there was certainly a difference between image retention and "severe" image retention. They said I could have a tech come out and gave me the number of a local one. I have an appt scheduled for tues morning - will let you know what happens.

I'm really disappointed. Frankly, I dont see the image AT ALL when just watching TV - it's when I put something in 4:3 mode and get gray bars and then, sure enough, there it is. Yesterday, I saw it while watching the intro screen of DVE - it has a white screen that flashes up. It sucks spending so much $ on a TV and having these types of issues that everyone assures you are no longer possible before you make the purchase.

One more question - can anyone tell me how to get snow on the screen? Will that possibly help me get rid of it?

Pyle

Optivity, your comment is worthless.Given your penchant for $3500 DVD players... I'm not surprised when you make remarks like this:

I have yet to find a < $300.00 upconverting DVD player that doesn't look any better than the HK 22....and that includes the ****** Oppo 971

but since oppo DIGITAL's return policy states:

"Merchandise Return Policy

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back. OPPO offers a 30-day money back guarantee. We will provide you with full refund if you are not satisfied with the OPPO product(s) you purchased. To return the product for refund, please contact us at service@oppodigital.com to obtain a RMA# and return instructions within 30 days of your product purchase. Please note that shipping costs are non-refundable."

For the $15 one may lose in shipping fees... the OPDV971H is worth a try... You probably spend more than $15 per week on lotto tickets. If I had listened to the nay-sayers like you... I'd be coughing up another $3300 to buy one of your precious DVD-5910s.

I have contacted them - they denied the Sept issue and said that image retention was normal and not covered under warranty. I argued that there was certainly a difference between image retention and "severe" image retention. They said I could have a tech come out and gave me the number of a local one. I have an appt scheduled for tues morning - will let you know what happens.

I'm really disappointed. Frankly, I dont see the image AT ALL when just watching TV - it's when I put something in 4:3 mode and get gray bars and then, sure enough, there it is. Yesterday, I saw it while watching the intro screen of DVE - it has a white screen that flashes up. It sucks spending so much $ on a TV and having these types of issues that everyone assures you are no longer possible before you make the purchase.

One more question - can anyone tell me how to get snow on the screen? Will that possibly help me get rid of it?

Pyle

I feel your pain. I hope everything goes well with your service visit. In the meantime, try to change the power save mode to save2. That will reduce the brightness of the panel and "may" help with the retention. Have you tried to contact the dealer you bought the panel from to see if you could do an exchange?

quote from D-Nice
How are your retention woes currently going? Did you change the power save setting to save2?

D-Nice, no issues so far for image rentention I can see. I was asking since I seemed to be experiencing very temporary image retention. It went away as soon as I view some full screen programming. But I definitely switched the power saver to save2 right after I read your suggestion. So thanks for that!

I am curious to see if I can get an all white screen to see if I can see anything. So far so good, I avoid longer then 30 minutes or so of programing that has bugs and I use Cinema mode on 4:3 materials. Though I do allow myself the 2.35:1 movie for a short period.

Given your penchant for $3500 DVD players... I'm not surprised when you make remarks like this:



but since oppo DIGITAL's return policy states:

"Merchandise Return Policy

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back. OPPO offers a 30-day money back guarantee. We will provide you with full refund if you are not satisfied with the OPPO product(s) you purchased. To return the product for refund, please contact us at service@oppodigital.com to obtain a RMA# and return instructions within 30 days of your product purchase. Please note that shipping costs are non-refundable."

For the $15 one may lose in shipping fees... the OPDV971H is worth a try... You probably spend more than $15 per week on lotto tickets. If I had listened to the nay-sayers like you... I'd be coughing up another $3300 to buy one of your precious DVD-5910s.

Optivity,

Why do you continue? I've never proclaimed that everyone should get a $3500 dvd player. Hell I don't even own one...yet. Come to think of it, when you were in your quest to get a dvd player I recommended the the Sony as it was on your list, can pass 480i over HDMI (not untouched though) and does not exhibit MB. I guess you forgot about that. You act like a missionary who attempts to force what you chosen to believe on others......how many times have you preached the use of Cable Cards?

My point is this, why waste purchasing a dvd player that isn't an improvement over a regular 480p dvd player when better (Panasonic S77, Sony DVP-NS90V) exisit at the same price point and if you have the money...Denon, Onkyo, and Pioneer players are a more logical choice? The fact is the Oppo, and all Faroudja 23xx based players, produce MB in some form but the Oppo is piss poor with the Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sharp displays. My Denon 3910 even does it on some dvds but at a much reduced level than the Oppo. And my statements can have been confirmed by people who actually did side by side test between these dvd players.

quote from D-Nice


D-Nice, no issues so far for image rentention I can see. I was asking since I seemed to be experiencing very temporary image retention. It went away as soon as I view some full screen programming. But I definitely switched the power saver to save2 right after I read your suggestion. So thanks for that!

I am curious to see if I can get an all white screen to see if I can see anything. So far so good, I avoid longer then 30 minutes or so of programing that has bugs and I use Cinema mode on 4:3 materials. Though I do allow myself the 2.35:1 movie for a short period.


There are some white test patterns in the SM, but PLEASE make sure you know what you are doing before you venture into it.

You can also use a completely black screen to look for image retention.

Guys... just got off the phone with Pioneer .... very interesting conversation with a level two tech guy. He said, first off, this Sept stuff is garbage... it has nothing to do with when the panel was manufactered... but he did ackowlage there was/is a problem. Yes, it is a voltage issue, but is has nothing to do with settings... it has to do with circuit design... and, get this, there is a fix for it... but only for the 43", not the 50" yet. Apparently, they're working on that.

When I called, I was all set to get into an argument with the guy... but he was very forthcoming from the getgo. We'll see what happens from here.

By the way... is there a difference in Warranties between the regular Pioneers and the Elites? Mine is an elite Pro 930.

I'll keep you all posted.

There are some white test patterns in the SM, but PLEASE make sure you know what you are doing before you venture into it.

I agree... I'd stay away from the SM stuff. You can really mess things up in there.

Guys... just got off the phone with Pioneer .... very interesting conversation with a level two tech guy. He said, first off, this Sept stuff is garbage... it has nothing to do with when the panel was manufactered... but he did ackowlage there was/is a problem. Yes, it is a voltage issue, but is has nothing to do with settings... it has to do with circuit design... and, get this, there is a fix for it... but only for the 43", not the 50" yet. Apparently, they're working on that.

When I called, I was all set to get into an argument with the guy... but he was very forthcoming from the getgo. We'll see what happens from here.

By the way... is there a difference in Warranties between the regular Pioneers and the Elites? Mine is an elite Pro 930.

I'll keep you all posted.

2yrs vs 1yr. Great update. I still think its with a certain batch of panels. Would not make sense if it wasn't as all the panels don't have image retention issues. Keep us posted.

Optivity,

Why do you continue?Here are (4) examples of what you sent my way today...

You don't need my approval remember? Get over it and move on. The more you post the more laughs I get.

Optivity, why should anyone take your post into consideration?

Optivity, your comment is worthless.

I should have never commented on your silly postI don't know what bug crawled up your a$$ but I seem to have become your favorite target.

Here are (4) examples of what you sent my way today...

I don't know what bug crawled up your a$$ but I seem to have become your favorite target.


Still at it. Pulling pieces out of enitre postings ain't getting you anywhere.

If you have any further personal debates...be civil and send me a PM.

Trying to get a thread close isn't going to work.

D-Nice, Ihamp-

Thanks for the warning on the SM for the white screen. I'll stay away fromt there. For now, the blue screen generated by my Pioneer DVD player works. Also thanks Ihamp for your update with Pioneer tech guys.

By the way, I turned off the TV Guide, if it's up for a minute or 3, it will leave a ghost of the grid it generates to display the programing. But again, all these ghosts go away for me.

not to continue the debate, but since i already have the oppo delivered, will test it out today and report back with thoughts, did some more reading around the forum and am honestly worried about the audio sync problems.....that would definately drive me crazy. Is that a real issue just with the oppo or with other players also?

not to continue the debate, but since i already have the oppo delivered, will test it out today and report back with thoughts, did some more reading around the forum and am honestly worried about the audio sync problems.....that would definately drive me crazy. Is that a real issue just with the oppo or with other players also?

I forgot about that issue. It bugged the hell out of me also. It was very flaky and sometimes would do it thru an entire movie and other times only in the middle.

My point is this, why waste purchasing a dvd player that isn't an improvement over a regular 480p dvd player when better (Panasonic S77, Sony DVP-NS90V) exisit at the same price point and if you have the money...Denon, Onkyo, and Pioneer players are a more logical choice?

On a related note, I am about to take delivery on an 1130 in the next couple of weeks. I have an old Sony DVP NS715P. It's progressive scan, but hardly state-of-the-art. I'm not looking to break the bank on a new player at the moment, but if a reasonable one would likely be a discernible upgrade, I would certainly pick up something at the S77 price point. Given what I have already, any thoughts on whether that would be worthwhile?

Thanks for all of your advice and experiences in this thread.

Al

not to continue the debate, but since i already have the oppo delivered, will test it out today and report back with thoughts, did some more reading around the forum and am honestly worried about the audio sync problems.....that would definately drive me crazy. Is that a real issue just with the oppo or with other players also?I haven't noticed any audio sync problems with my OPDV971H & Panasonic PX50U. Per oppo DIGITAL:

"Q: What causes Audio sync issue?
A: The Audio-sync error can be caused by several factors. The most common are video source (DVD mastering) and video buffering.

How the DVD was mastered will affect the overall playback. There are many DVDs which have been mastered incorrectly and suffer from slight audio-syncing not matter what player or display unit is used. The effect of de-syncing can be so negligible it is barely noticeable, to such an extreme that whole audio bits are audible before the according visual actions.

Another common type of Audio-sync errors is the cumulative effect of video buffering. In order to produce the best possible video quality, when the Faroudja chip in the DVD player performs de-interlacing and scaling, it may need to buffer some video frames to do motion analysis. This introduces a slight delay to the video. Usually this delay is not noticeable by the viewers. Certain displays also buffer video frames for many reasons – to scale up the 720p or 1080i video to the display’s native pixel resolution, or to process the video in order to reduce the “rainbow effect” on some DLP displays, or even to do motion analysis and adaptation (duplicated effort but cannot be turned off). The buffering by displays introduces another video delay. Since normally audio is not delayed, the cumulative video delay becomes noticeable and causes the Audio-sync problem. The problem happens rarely and randomly because the time it takes the DVD player and the display to process the video depends on the complexity of the video scene.

As a rule of thumb, if the Audio-sync error occurs infrequently and at preset moments, it is a DVD mastering issue. When it occurs frequently and is not repeatable by rewinding, stopping and resuming playback, then there are several steps you can take to prevent instances of Audio-sync errors. See below.

Q: How to fix Audio-sync issue?
A: Audio syncs are DVD player, display device, and DVD dics dependent. From dvd player perspective, the solution to the Audio-sync error is to introduce an audio delay to compensate for video buffering. There are two ways to do this: 1. The OPDV971H has an audio delay feature. To access this feature, press the Setup button, then select Delay in the Audio tab. Audio delays are selectable from “no delay” to 50ms in 10ms intervals. 2. Some audio receivers can also adjust audio delays. The optimal audio delay depends on the display device so it can only be obtained by experimenting. For extreme cases, Stopping and Resuming DVD playback will stop Audio-sync errors."

I haven't noticed any audio sync problems with my OPDV971H & Panasonic PX50U. Per oppo DIGITAL:

"Q: What causes Audio sync issue?
A: The Audio-sync error can be caused by several factors. The most common are video source (DVD mastering) and video buffering.

Thanks for this information, I have a LG upconverting player hooked to a 4360 via HDMI (audio on a toslink to the receiver), and thought it was the issue. I will look for a delay option or the start / stop if needed, again thanks for passing this good information along to the group. :)

Have a good day.

I haven't noticed any audio sync problems with my OPDV971H & Panasonic PX50U. Per oppo DIGITAL:

"Q: What causes Audio sync issue?
A: The Audio-sync error can be caused by several factors. The most common are video source (DVD mastering) and video buffering.

How the DVD was mastered will affect the overall playback. There are many DVDs which have been mastered incorrectly and suffer from slight audio-syncing not matter what player or display unit is used. The effect of de-syncing can be so negligible it is barely noticeable, to such an extreme that whole audio bits are audible before the according visual actions.

Another common type of Audio-sync errors is the cumulative effect of video buffering. In order to produce the best possible video quality, when the Faroudja chip in the DVD player performs de-interlacing and scaling, it may need to buffer some video frames to do motion analysis. This introduces a slight delay to the video. Usually this delay is not noticeable by the viewers. Certain displays also buffer video frames for many reasons – to scale up the 720p or 1080i video to the display’s native pixel resolution, or to process the video in order to reduce the “rainbow effect” on some DLP displays, or even to do motion analysis and adaptation (duplicated effort but cannot be turned off). The buffering by displays introduces another video delay. Since normally audio is not delayed, the cumulative video delay becomes noticeable and causes the Audio-sync problem. The problem happens rarely and randomly because the time it takes the DVD player and the display to process the video depends on the complexity of the video scene.

As a rule of thumb, if the Audio-sync error occurs infrequently and at preset moments, it is a DVD mastering issue. When it occurs frequently and is not repeatable by rewinding, stopping and resuming playback, then there are several steps you can take to prevent instances of Audio-sync errors. See below.

Q: How to fix Audio-sync issue?
A: Audio syncs are DVD player, display device, and DVD dics dependent. From dvd player perspective, the solution to the Audio-sync error is to introduce an audio delay to compensate for video buffering. There are two ways to do this: 1. The OPDV971H has an audio delay feature. To access this feature, press the Setup button, then select Delay in the Audio tab. Audio delays are selectable from “no delay” to 50ms in 10ms intervals. 2. Some audio receivers can also adjust audio delays. The optimal audio delay depends on the display device so it can only be obtained by experimenting. For extreme cases, Stopping and Resuming DVD playback will stop Audio-sync errors."


Seems you haven't noticed alot of KNOWN issues with your current setup. Suspect if you ask me.

Here is one for ya, since you swear by the Oppo....

How do you explain DVDs that have no sync problems in a Denon 2910, 3910 or Momitsu 880VX but are out of sync in the Oppo? AND none of the other players require any audio delay settings tweaking.

Thanks for this information, I have a LG upconverting player hooked to a 4360 via HDMI (audio on a toslink to the receiver), and thought it was the issue. I will look for a delay option or the start / stop if needed, again thanks for passing this good information along to the group. :)

Have a good day.

The sync issue with the Oppo happens when you connect the video and audio to the panel and use the panel's speakers. Anytime you connect it to an audio receiver, the receiver should be able to correct the sync issue.

I've owned the sony ns90v for about three months now and have not once had any sync issues.

Exactly. The sync issue is with Oppo. It has nothing to do with a "poorly encoded DVD". It's a shame they even posted that crap on their site.

Have you tried 480i over HDMI to the Pioneer and setting Pure Cinema to ADV?

Seems you haven't noticed alot of KNOWN issues with your current setup. Suspect if you ask me.

Here is one for ya, since you swear by the Oppo....

How do you explain DVDs that have no sync problems in a Denon 2910, 3910 or Momitsu 880VX but are out of sync in the Oppo? AND none of the other players require any audio delay settings tweaking.Dude... I never professed to be an expert... so why don't you quit harassing me...?

I just received my Oppo DVD player last Tuesday and have used it to watch (2) DVDs.

If the picture looks great on my PDP (which is does) and there are no macro blocking or audio sync issues (there aren’t) then I'm happy! :)

And if I discover any "tid bits" of information... I'm willing to share.

So what exactly is your problem? :p

On a related note, I am about to take delivery on an 1130 in the next couple of weeks. I have an old Sony DVP NS715P. It's progressive scan, but hardly state-of-the-art. I'm not looking to break the bank on a new player at the moment, but if a reasonable one would likely be a discernible upgrade, I would certainly pick up something at the S77 price point. Given what I have already, any thoughts on whether that would be worthwhile?

Thanks for all of your advice and experiences in this thread.

Al


I've had the Sony ns90v for about three months now and have not once noticed an audio sync issue... picture looks awesome.... and the price keeps dropping every day.

Exactly. The sync issue is with Oppo. It has nothing to do with a "poorly encoded DVD". It's a shame they even posted that crap on their site.

Have you tried 480i over HDMI to the Pioneer and setting Pure Cinema to ADV?

Can't say that I have... should I?

Dude... I never professed to be an expert... so why don't you quit harassing me...?

I just received my Oppo DVD player last Tuesday and have used it to watch (2) DVDs.

If the picture looks great on my PDP (which is does) and there are no macro blocking or audio sync issues (there aren’t) then I'm happy! :)

And if I discover any "tid bits" of information... I'm willing to share.

So what exactly is your problem? :p

Let's squash this. I have nothing against you besides the way you present things. I'll look over it from now on.

Now, can you please stop the Ted Turner colorization of words? It's really hurting my eyes :D

Are we cool?

Can't say that I have... should I?

Try it out with Star Wars Ep III, LOTR ROTK, and Fantastic 4. Let me know how it compares to 1080i.

Let's squash this. I have nothing against you besides the way you present things. I'll look over it from now on.

Now, can you please stop the Ted Turner colorization of words? It's really hurting my eyes :D

Are we cool?No, not really... because you have this propensity to "slip in" insults like:

"I have nothing against you besides the way you present things"

and

"please stop the Ted Turner colorization of words"

with every post.

You may possess a "wee bit" of knowledge about up converting DVD players... but communicating it "tactfully" is not your forte.

Try it out with Star Wars Ep III, LOTR ROTK, and Fantastic 4. Let me know how it compares to 1080i.

Will do.... but I'm starting to believe that 720p looks best.... it's close, but that's my current setting.

You may possess a "wee bit" of knowledge about up converting DVD players... but communicating it "tactfully" is not your forte.

Dude, seriously... go to any other multitude of Panny and/or Oppo threads on this board and stop polluting this one, which in case you didn't notice is one for 6G PIONEERS! :roll:

-bd

No, not really... because you have this propensity to "slip in" insults like:

"I have nothing against you besides the way you present things"

and

"please stop the Ted Turner colorization of words"

with every post.

You may possess a "wee bit" of knowledge about up converting DVD players... but communicating it "tactfully" is not your forte.

..... you're on your own buddy.

Ignore list you go.

Last two posts deleted

guys..let's stay on topic:)