the buzz is noticable and changes pitch when going from high intensity scenes to low intensity...would the fan change speed like that so quickly? It definitely can be heard from 10ft away during quiet scenes or when muted.

I'm hoping the fan is the problem, but someone bring me back down from reality if I'm just grasping at straws due to desperation.

This is my last response to you because it is really obvious that you must have trouble reading English.

I replied to you in several posts about 1366 but obviously did not 'get it'.

Then.
That HDMI splitter cable you were about ready to buy was the eye opener for me. It clearly stated that it was a splitter for feeding 2 HDMI devices and not a switcher which is what you wanted but you were all set to buy it.

I told you that I ran the TV at 1366x768 in this post:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7022427&&#post7022427

and told you the results.


Please read things in their entirety before posting replies!

err he was replying to me...

anyways, if he could not get 1366x768 to work without overscan then i guess you gotta stick with 1280x720p (jkeener)

which probably looks good on a 50" plasma anyways

Hello fellow Z50PX2D owners!...
I am new to this forum, but have been reading this thread for a week or so and I am happy to say that you have all assisted in helping me make the decision to purchase the Zenith Z50PX2D. (which I happily took delivery of this past Saturday)...thank you all for your experiences and a forum to share them in!!! Now for my questions:

Question (1):
In keeping with the HDMI format to insure the finest HD signals, I went ahead and purchased a Samsung DVD-HD755 upconversion player (mainly due to the fact that the price was too enticing to pass up...feel free to comment on my player selection) Since the Z50PX2D has only (1) HDMI input and my Comcast STB has (1) HDMI output, my only way to utilize the upconversion capability of the DVD-HD755 is to also connect through HDMI …(dilemma…or so I thought)

Joe Q. referred to a HDMI switch. After searching the web for available choices, it seems that there are a few available…among those I’ve seen are:
1. DIGI media switches (from Monoprice),
2. HDMI Link switches (from RT Com USA),
3. Gefen Switches, and
4. Octava Switches (from Octava Inc.)
Is there any experiences out there with any of these products?...I am concerned about signal loss or drop off (reflection?)

Question (2):
With all the talk of HD-DVD’s and Blue ray, is there any word as to whether or not today’s upconversion players will be able to play HD-DVD or blue ray formatted discs? Or are we looking at yet another “paper weight” for a local garage sale…

thank you in advance...

help....anybody??? :confused:

Could it be because of some settings on the oppo? I saw in the oppo faq something about bleeding of colors in the defects list..

Do you get the blooming through other HDTV signals?

Yes. I can see it even at Comcast HD via component input. Looks like I got a lemon.

So i called Zenith customer service, and I just want to give them props...Unlike bestbuy and directv (who i've been dealing with this week), Zenith was really nice about everything. I told them about the buzzing, and the rep said, some fan noise was always going to be there...I explained how the buzzing changes pitch with screen intensity and only starts buzzing after 1+ hour of usage, and she said "oh...that's not right, that needs to be fixed", and started taking my infomation right away. She was nice and friendly...didn't talk down to me. The most pleasant customer service experience I've had in a long time.

So that just made my day, and makes me feel that I will get my TV fixed, and if it can't be fixed, Zenith will figure out a way to make it right somehow.

Companies need to make note of this, cuz its the little things like this, that just make me want to go and buy products from them.

Speaking of Customer Service, I'm curious as to whether anyone who mailed in their rebate forms back in December has gotten a check in the mail yet from Zenith/The Rebate Center? The website listed on the rebate form still isn't working so I called in to find out if my check was "in the mail" as when I'd called 2 or 3 weeks ago I was told that my rebate "was approved and would be sent out in 2 weeks". Well I was told the same thing again yesterday when I called. That it was approved and would be out to me within 2 weeks. While the woman was pleasant, I reminded her that I was told almost the same thing when I called at the beginning of January!

Anyone? :confused:

Yes. I can see it even at Comcast HD via component input. Looks like I got a lemon.


I was just at Best Buy and Circuit City checking out all the Plasma TVs. It looks like all the LGs, Philips and Zeniths had the whites with the halo effect. The only brand where I couldn't see it was Panasonic.

From the research I've done, It sounds like this is something common with Plasmas but if your contrast and brightness is as low as it is any you still see the glow, you possibly might have a problem.

I can detect it on mine as well via all inputs when up close.

Attention flashers,
I called Zenith regarding the flashing on the bottom third of the screen and a stuck blue pixel in the center of the screen. The Zenith factory service technician just left my house, and I'm getting a new tv from Zenith. The stuck blue pixel was enough to justify the replacement. It's great to see a company back their product. While he was at my house the most amazing thing happened, my tv actually began the white flashing and the tech saw it. He said the component and hdmi circuits are on the same board and the board is probably bad. Eddiwill I don't think your electrical issues are the problem, I had a good power conditioner and purchased a monster power 3500 which is awesome and it still flashed. I'd go through service.

I have no halo effect.

But I DO have that danged "flash" sounds like a call into Zenith is order! Good to know they are providing good service!

Speaking of Customer Service, I'm curious as to whether anyone who mailed in their rebate forms back in December has gotten a check in the mail yet from Zenith/The Rebate Center? The website listed on the rebate form still isn't working so I called in to find out if my check was "in the mail" as when I'd called 2 or 3 weeks ago I was told that my rebate "was approved and would be sent out in 2 weeks". Well I was told the same thing again yesterday when I called. That it was approved and would be out to me within 2 weeks. While the woman was pleasant, I reminded her that I was told almost the same thing when I called at the beginning of January!

Anyone? :confused:

Yes, I got mine last Friday and deposited on Monday. In terms of timing, I sent mine in at around 12/5 or so. I was actually surprised at how fast I got the check. I have had some rebates that took more than 5 months... :rolleyes:

.....
she said "oh...that's not right, that needs to be fixed", and started taking my infomation right away. She was nice and friendly...didn't talk down to me. The most pleasant customer service experience I've had in a long time.

Little things like this, that just make me want to go and buy products from them.

Both of those stories in here are very good to hear the oucome.

When 55" 1080P Plasma's become available and afforardable, you can be sure that Zenith/LG will be on my short list.

Question (1):

Joe Q. referred to a HDMI switch. After searching the web for available choices, it seems that there are a few available…among those I’ve seen are:
1. DIGI media switches (from Monoprice),
2. HDMI Link switches (from RT Com USA),
3. Gefen Switches, and
4. Octava Switches (from Octava Inc.)
Is there any experiences out there with any of these products?...I am concerned about signal loss or drop off (reflection?)



I have the 4 way HDMI switcher which I very recently bought from Monoprice.

It is speced to be able to handle 1080P.

I did as close to an A/B comparison as I could and I will be darned if I can tell any difference in degradation with this switch.

I know sufficient component bandwdith switching on A/V Receivers a few years ago was something that folks had to be very carefull about.
I guess the industry figured out that by spending a few extra pennies on better parts, they could eliminate that as a discriminator and concentrate on other features to make their product say "buy me"

These days, my opinion on video/audio switchers is the same as spending a zillion dollars on Monster brand cables. Makes NO difference unless you like to waste money.

Any questions on the Monoprice switch, feel free to email me.
My ONLY complaint is that the cover of the case has this garish(sp) flourescent yellow logo that covers the whole top.

I am going to sand it and paint it black.

Joe

I'm trying to decide wether or not to get an oppo upscaler dvd.. does it make a big difference in image quality? I read that the zenith electronics does not have a faroudja chip, so an upscaler should make a big difference.. Someone posted an image of their zenith with an oppo, and the pic looked awesome..

did you get your buzzing fixed? I searched for buzzing and I have a different plasma, but its doing the same thing. After the plasma is on for about an hour, the buzzing starts...its def NOT the fan or other plasma sounds that im used to when close to the unit. Even with my home theater on, I can hear it over the audio at times, its that annoying.

I was reading about some Pioneer plasma's, and I may have found some insight into what this glowing halo might be:

"Pioneer Elite 61" PureVision Plasma Monitor, Model PRO1410HD ...

... Encased Cell Structure: Each individual lamp is encased in its own “cell”, with walls on all sides so that light doesn’t bleed into neighboring cells. This energy-efficient design allows each lamp to deliver a more concentrated beam of light, for truer colors and brighter images.

I was just at Best Buy and Circuit City checking out all the Plasma TVs. It looks like all the LGs, Philips and Zeniths had the whites with the halo effect. The only brand where I couldn't see it was Panasonic.

From the research I've done, It sounds like this is something common with Plasmas but if your contrast and brightness is as low as it is any you still see the glow, you possibly might have a problem.

I can detect it on mine as well via all inputs when up close.

Not surprisingly, all of them are using LG panel AFAIK.

Circuit City will deliver a replacement this Friday. I'll report how the new one looks. I really debated whether I should exchange for a Panasonic. Side by side, the deep black and sharpness on the Panasonic surely looks delicious (**drooling**), but I cannot justify additional 1K for the PQ difference.

This article is a review for 42" Panasonic, but you can find very useful info about the halo (which it called "false contouring").

http://www.*******************.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th42px50u-review.html

Ironically, the picture for the panasonic itself showed a little bit false contouring!

Question for JoeQ or anyone else

I have had my Zenith for around two weeks. I have turned down brightness and contrast as suggested.

question, what are we accomplishing by lowering these settings for the first 200 hours or so

after the 200 hours, can they be turned up

Dead Pixels, how can i check for them

BTW, joe, thanks to your pictures, my wife supported my purchasse, i owe you...

el fedz

It's to more or less let the phosphors "age." You are far more likely to experience burn-in issues with new phosphors. Over time, the likely-hood of burn-in continues to decrease, but the fiirst 100 or so hours is an important "phosphor milestone."

The service tech is coming out on Saturday to take a look at the buzzing. My biggest fear will be the buzzing will go away right before he come in, and then comes back right after he leaves...haha.

I'm guessing it's a powersupply problem, but I'll keep everyone posted as to how it goes. Cross your fingers for me!

These days, my opinion on video/audio switchers is the same as spending a zillion dollars on Monster brand cables. Makes NO difference unless you like to waste money.

Joe

thank you Joe...your point is well taken!...I too am a firm believer in the "K.I.S.S." theory...If the DiGi worked for you than it will work for me...

regards,
Craig

Just a test post. New user. Getting mine delivered tomorrow after a week of anticipation...at least it's in time for the superbowl. Keep you fingers crossed for me that all goes well. Will be back with an update. Thanks for all the info in the previous threads.

My Zenith (one week old) is also buzzing during bright scenes. It's definately the sound of the powersupply being stressed under high load...not good. Contrast :50, Brightness: 40.

My Zenith (one week old) is also buzzing during bright scenes. It's definately the sound of the powersupply being stressed under high load...not good. Contrast :50, Brightness: 40.

I PM'd azrael1234 that his buzzing may be caused by either the cooling fan or the power supply. I can't think of any other noise source other than a random loose panel vibrating from movement of the fan. In any case, I've had my TV for 2 months now and haven't noticed any buzzing sound. I'll test mine tonight with some bright scenes...

Wow, I just came across another possible cause for the buzzing noise in another thread:

"Yes, some plasma TVs make a lot of noise at high altitudes. That noise is the mechanical 'buzz' created during the plasma's on-off imaging cycles. At low altitudes, the air pressure is sufficient to keep the glass from vibrating very much. But at high altitudes, air pressure is lower, so the glass vibrates more – and you hear it. "

Where are you guys located? Denver? :rolleyes:

This article is a review for 42" Panasonic, but you can find very useful info about the halo (which it called "false contouring").

http://www.*******************.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th42px50u-review.html

Ironically, the picture for the panasonic itself showed a little bit false contouring!

This site is known for biased "reviews". According to this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=538892
it's a front for several online sellers, which all may be the same company... ;)

Hey Cee9...good (and bad) to hear I'm not alone...it definitely isn't the fan, since the pitch changes so quickly when you go to bright screens or the white wash screen. If you can PM me your tv's info (serial numbers, date of manufacturer, etc...) maybe we can figure out if we're on the same batch of tv's.

call Zenith Tech support and have them send someone out. It'll be interesting to hear how your tech guy (zenith) does compared to mine (bestbuy).

has anyone used the Oppo OPDV971H upconverting dvd player with this plasma, if so any issues with macroblocking or any other issues?

Where are you guys located? Denver? :rolleyes:

I'm at low altitude in the SF bay area. If you've ever heard a transformer buzzing, like a step-down transformer on a power pole, it's like that but at a much smaller scale.

I called CircuitCity and they brought out a new TV within 3 hours--that's super service! I haven't had time to play with the new unit; I'll report back after I do.

Nope...I'm in Los Angeles, where the power supplies buzz close to the marina =P Yeah...I wish I had some service like that...well, maybe I could have service like that...but i don't want to give up my rebates just yet. Hopefully it'll all be settled soon.

thanks eddiwill

joeq, mfan or anyone else...

could answer the other questions below?

question, what are we accomplishing by lowering these settings for the first 200 hours or so

after the 200 hours, can they be turned up

Dead Pixels, how can i check for them

thanks

el fedz

I prefer to watch most 4:3 content at the Horizon ratio setting. It works fine for the most part once I set a 4:3 channel to Horizon, I can switch to HD content and back, and it "sticks". It does not save the setting once the TV is off, and I would prefer that it did. Does everyone/anyone else have this problem, or is there something I might be doing wrong (doesn't matter if I use the ratio button or go into the menu to set it). Thank you for you time and knowledge.

Horizon mode does a nice job and I use it often. It doesn't work when the TV thinks it's getting a HDTV signal though (like last nights Survivor episode for example). I usually use "Cinema Zoom" in that instance as the adjustable level lets you zoom just the right amount to fill the screen.

Why do the broadcasters do that fake HD crap? You end up with black sidebars instead of the usual grey for unzoomed SD. I'm trying to avoid black static while the TV is still new. I just turned the 100 hour mark yesterday.

I realize that Horizon doesn't work for the HD signal and agree that it's aggravating to have the "fake" HD with the black bars. My main concern, though, is that I can set the ratio to Horizon to watch one of the non-HD channels (say FX), and if I switch back and forth between FX and say ESPNHD, FX will be Horizon and ESPNHD will be "Set by Program". That's how I'd prefer the settings to stay unless I override them. When I turn the TV off, the ratio settings default to Set by Program. Just wondering if it does that for everyone or if there's a fault with either my TV or my settings.

So it looks like I'm really the only one who has a buzzing problem...i run my tv cold and no buzzing...then after about 1.5 hours, the buzzing starts up, and gets louder...it's only heard when I mute everything or during really quiet scenes in a show/movie, but definitely noticable to me.

I really want to do a swap, but bestbuy said that if i do this, then my rebate might not go through (since you technically return it and buy a new one) which is a substantial amount of money. They're sending a tech out saturday... you guys think this person will be able to fix it? I have my doubts.

azrael1234, the person at BestBuy who told you the rebate may not be honored because the defective item was exchanged is full of baloney. Talk to the general manager at BestBuy.

The buzzing on the new TV is not as noticeable, BUT, the picture is nowhere near as crisp as the first: picture too dark, colors don't look even/natural, looks harsh, picture is dull (and calibration doesn't help). Time for an exchange, again! Maybe I should have keep the first. :rolleyes:

I know there was a lot of talk about how the Maxent stacked up against the Zenith and I just received this email from Cnet.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Maxent_MX_50X3/4505-6482_7-31631885.html?tag=nl.e702


It does not compare the Zenith but did expalin a few things to me like why that scene in Batman does what it does and what it is called.

I was very puzzled about the comment he made about the PC input so I sent an email to the author asking this(among some other things):

(I edited my email for this post):

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In reading the article, he says that:

“There is one 15-pin VGA input for computers (as high as 1,280x1,024 resolution)”

How can a TV set that has a native resolution of 1366x768 have a better resolution on it’s PC input?

If the above statement is true then why would I not simply take the HDMI output from my Directv HDTIVO, switch it from 720P to 1080i, put an HDMI to DVI adaptor on it and then use a DVI to VGA adaptor and run that into the VGA input in the TV which would then have a better picture because this would allow the 1080 settings to use more of those pixels?

I could go from 720P (1280x720) to 720P++ (1280x1024) with that setup.

This may seem nutty to you but if I can improve the PQ by using the PC input for a grand total of well under $50 for adaptors then why not?


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe

Edit:
Here was the response from the editor at CNET:

Hi Joe,



The simple answer is that the Maxent converts all PC resolutions to its native resolution, and hence can accept PC rezzes higher than its native res. In the same vein, it can also accept HDTV rezzes (such as 1080i) that are higher than its native res. The PC input max resolution spec came from Maxent’s manual.



Personally, I think too much is made of “upconverters” and other technology that perform external scaling before delivery to the display device. All fixed-pixel HDTVs, and LCD monitors for that matter, have internal scalers that convert non-native external resolutions for display on the screen. The only time you’ll get an image quality benefit from using an external scaler is when the one built into the display is sub-par. And if the scaler delivers a non-native resolution to the display, then the display has to scale the image AGAIN, which has the potential to degrade image quality further.



In other words, users of the Maxent would be advised to set their PCs to a 768 horizontal rez – not the “maximum rez” it can accept -- to match the plasma’s native resolution. It’s just like an LCD monitor with 1024x768 resolution – sure it can accept a higher rez, but it will actually make the image look worse because of the scaling. At the end of the day, upconverters and scalers do not actually add more detail to the image.



Hope this helps,



David

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Question for JoeQ or anyone else

I have had my Zenith for around two weeks. I have turned down brightness and contrast as suggested.

question, what are we accomplishing by lowering these settings for the first 200 hours or so



question, what are we accomplishing by lowering these settings for the first 200 hours or so
Nothing except to force you to look at the settings and take them off of torch mode which can easily lead to burn in at 200 hours or 20,000 hours.




Not to start a disagreement with anyone but I NEVER said anything about a break in period.
Personally, I am not convinced that it matters at all.

I read about people saying how their speakers or their amp or their whatever sounded better after the break in.
Placebo effect is all it is.

These Plasma TV's are solid state electronic devices with only a few moving parts (the various relays and the fan).

I think this whole idea of breaking in today's modern electronics is a hold over from the way old days when stuff was driven by tubes. Those actually did get better with age (until they eventually burned out) as they were Hot as heck and I have read that they perofmed best at a certain temp.

It also comes from the fact that we are all used to the valic logic behind break in on a car.
Unlike a car, This Television only has one moving part.

On a car, if you want max performance from the car (and minimal oil lost due blow by), you have to give the rings a chance to seat properly because they ARE rubbing against the cylinder wall with such tight tolerances and each cylinder is a tad different from the other.
Same reason a bullet can be traced to the the exact barrel it was fired from just like with fingerprints.


You need to go easy on the brakes for 1000 miles so the pads seat properly(for the same reason)against the rotor or you can warp the rotors if you dont cause all rotors are slightly different.

Sorry for the ramble:) Got into one of my favorite hobbies there.

I realize that Horizon doesn't work for the HD signal and agree that it's aggravating to have the "fake" HD with the black bars. My main concern, though, is that I can set the ratio to Horizon to watch one of the non-HD channels (say FX), and if I switch back and forth between FX and say ESPNHD, FX will be Horizon and ESPNHD will be "Set by Program". That's how I'd prefer the settings to stay unless I override them. When I turn the TV off, the ratio settings default to Set by Program. Just wondering if it does that for everyone or if there's a fault with either my TV or my settings.

Sorry, didn't mean to ignore your question. My set does the same thing - after powering off the ratio also defaults to "Set by program". If there's a way to make the Horizon mode "stick", I haven't found it. Maybe in one of the hidden calibration menus?

I'm trying to decide wether or not to get an oppo upscaler dvd.. does it make a big difference in image quality? I read that the zenith electronics does not have a faroudja chip, so an upscaler should make a big difference.. Someone posted an image of their zenith with an oppo, and the pic looked awesome..

I have the OPPO connected through the HDMI to the Zenith. The biggest improvement I saw was that the jaggies were gone. On the downside, I had false contouring (posterization/solarization) problems in dark scenes; but, from what I've read on the net, going through the HMDI is more susceptible to false contouring. I lowered the Zenith Brightness to 30 to hide the banding. My old Pioneer going through the Component connection didn't display the banding. And, running the OPPO via Component would be pointless because upscaling is only supported through HDMI. I guess, how big of a difference you see with the OPPO will largely depend on which DVD player you are using now. OPPO has a liberal return policy; you might want to give it a try and see for yourself.

Plasma Break-In (from Panasonic)

Like a fine new automobile, the performance of a plasma TV can be optimized by allowing a break-in period. By properly following these simple break-in instructions, you should be rewarded with long-term enjoyment of your plasma TV.

Plasma phosphors are most susceptible to image retention in the first hundred hours of use. The panel becomes considerably less sensitive to burn-in after this period.

Very often, televisions, including plasma, are shipped from the factory with the contrast control at a high setting to provide a bright picture under typical dealer showroom lighting conditions. In your home, the room light levels are usually one half or less than that in retail showrooms. The contrast control may need to be lowered in your home for comfortable contrast levels that do not induce eye strain.

When the plasma is initially installed, videophiles say it is best to do the following:

· Make sure the display is in a viewing mode (aspect ratio) that completely

fills the screen (there are often three or more settings from which to

· choose). The panel is shipped in this condition, in what is called the

“Just” mode.

· Turn down the picture control (contrast) to 50% or less.

· Briefly engage the 4:3 mode to confirm the side bars are set to mid-gray

(there is usually an adjustment in the Set Up menu that takes the

sidebars from black to gray) to minimize the chance of burn-in.

· Return the set to a “full screen” (Just, Zoom, Full) position during the

first hundred hours of use.

· During the first hundred hours of use it is best not to view the same

channel for extended periods. This should prevent channel logos and

other fixed images found on some channels from being retained.

· Avoid any static images (video games, computer images, DVD title

screens, etc.) during the hundred-hour break-in.

After the hundred-hour break-in period, during the next nine-hundred hours:

· Continue to retain the picture setting at 50% or less.

· Limit the use of 4:3 aspect ratio mode (traditional picture size that does

not fill the entire screen) to 15% of viewing time.

· Limit the use of static images (computer, video games, etc.) to less than

10% of viewing time.

After one-thousand viewing hours, panels are much less likely to experience image burn-in.

The entire aticle can be found at http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/pressroom/cont2.asp?Filter=12&cont_id=822

joe q and cee9 thanks both for the input, great information for all the share.

can you guys or anyone else add to the following,

Dead Pixels, how can i check for them?

thanks

el fedz

After one-thousand viewing hours, panels are much less likely to experience image burn-in.


After one-thousand hours get rid of the Pansonic and buy a different brand that does not require the TLC like a Ferrari requires.

Going through all that(except for the obvious burn in stuff like turning down the Contrast that any idiot knows about) would sure turn me off to Plasma's.

I found that article you quoted and it is a marketing article dispelling the 'myths' around Plasmas.

It adds this little tidbit:
"The phosphors are never “burnt,” rather they are unevenly aged. While the possibility of uneven aging exists, it can also occur with any other phosphor-based display such as a direct-view CRT television or CRT rear projection TV."

It then starts in on the mythical break in and copmpares the TV to a 'fine automobile'.
When you see 'fine' automobile - run away as that means 'tempermental automobile'.
Not interested in owning a Triumph.

So the bottom line in that article is that almost all types of TV (don't know about any myths about LCD TV's) need to be broken in.
OOPs - bet there are a lot of surprised TV owners if they were to read that marketing fluff

Thanks for the info. I did get a chuckle out of.

I am still looking for the warning sticker on the back that says "Never watch this TV when operating a Chain Saw"

joe q and cee9 thanks both for the input, great information for all the share.

can you guys or anyone else add to the following,

Dead Pixels, how can i check for them?

thanks

el fedz

There's a dead pixel test program here:



Obviously you'll have to hook up a 'puter of some sort to run it on the plasma.

edit : Link PM'ed because forum wouldn't let me post it.

This may seem nutty to you but if I can improve the PQ by using the PC input for a grand total of well under $50 for adaptors then why not?


If only!!! I would be ALL over that!!! :)

So the tech guy came out to take a look today...said the buzzing was coming from the X-Y controller panels, and they may not be swapable with new components. He said they might be built into the panel itself. He was going to call monday to see if parts were available but told me that I might want to just do an exchange.

I talked (err...screamed) to bestbuy.com, and after 3 levels of customer service, the corporate supervisor said that if I do a return the rebates will be taken away, but they can be adjusted for after the fact. Still not sure if I should do this, or go to the bestbuy store and just do an exchange right there...but then I'd still run into the same problems most likely.

what a pain in the arse.

Hello all,

The TV got delivered Friday morning as promised and so far I'm happy with it. Yes the HD looks awsome, the SD ...welll...I can live with it. I'll probably watch SD on the regular tube tv upstairs. This one is mostly for movies and HD stuff. I'm running the cable box through the HDMI connection and the dvd through the component 1. No up conversion dvd yet so that works for now. Not sure if I'll bother with one yet since noone seems to have had major improvements with them. (Please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) I've watched a couple of movies, they look great, but I haven't checked out the Batman issue yet. In the two days I've been watching it I've seen one flash. I'm not sure if it was the tv or the cable box, I've seen similar on the regular tv too. Yes, I'm running a wireless network too about 15 feet away from the tv. I'll keep you posted. No buzzing on this one yet. Overall I'm very satisfied with it. I know it was posted back some ways (and I'll look) but how do you see the hr's used on this? was it the menu + menu combo? I haven't messed with that yet. So much to do, so little time.

If only!!! I would be ALL over that!!! :)

Well you did see my edit.
He responded that if you plug in a higher res PC settting that the TV will step down to 720P.

The answer still does not make a lot of sense to me.

Why would a manufactured support an INPUT pc resolution that is higher than the TV can handle yet merely handle it by downsampling to the TV;s native resolution.

Something is wrong with his answer.
It must be some marketing thing that eludes me.

The Zenith supporting 1024x768 on the PC input makes perfect sense since that resolution is the most common one there is. Look at the resolution of most laptop's.

Sure, we wish they supported a higher resolution like 1280x720 on the RGB input but that would add cost.

Besides, you can get around it by going HDMI or component like I did.
As I said, I am running 1280x720 into the HDMI connection from my PC.
It did cost me a DVI switch bu I needed that anyway since I have 3 HDMI sources.

Oh yeah - I cleaned out my PM box.

No up conversion dvd yet so that works for now. Not sure if I'll bother with one yet since noone seems to have had major improvements with them. (Please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) I've watched a couple of movies, they look great

This was in a post a few pages back where I emailed one of the Editors of CNET about something he had said and anted clarification.

Here was his opinion from the conversation:

"Personally, I think too much is made of “upconverters” and other technology that perform external scaling before delivery to the display device. All fixed-pixel HDTVs, and LCD monitors for that matter, have internal scalers that convert non-native external resolutions for display on the screen. The only time you’ll get an image quality benefit from using an external scaler is when the one built into the display is sub-par. And if the scaler delivers a non-native resolution to the display, then the display has to scale the image AGAIN, which has the potential to degrade image quality further."

I have the OPPO connected through the HDMI to the Zenith. The biggest improvement I saw was that the jaggies were gone. On the downside, I had false contouring (posterization/solarization) problems in dark scenes; but, from what I've read on the net, going through the HMDI is more susceptible to false contouring. I lowered the Zenith Brightness to 30 to hide the banding. My old Pioneer going through the Component connection didn't display the banding. And, running the OPPO via Component would be pointless because upscaling is only supported through HDMI. I guess, how big of a difference you see with the OPPO will largely depend on which DVD player you are using now. OPPO has a liberal return policy; you might want to give it a try and see for yourself.


I guess I will try out an oppo myself then.. I can't stand the jaggie edges in my playback.. I guess the internal scaler of the zenith isn't as good as the faroudja scaler in the oppo.. anyone know what the scaler is in the zenith?

$$$$ open box.

Hello all,

The TV got delivered Friday morning as promised and so far I'm happy with it. Yes the HD looks awsome, the SD ...welll...I can live with it. I'll probably watch SD on the regular tube tv upstairs. This one is mostly for movies and HD stuff. I'm running the cable box through the HDMI connection and the dvd through the component 1. No up conversion dvd yet so that works for now. Not sure if I'll bother with one yet since noone seems to have had major improvements with them. (Please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) I've watched a couple of movies, they look great, but I haven't checked out the Batman issue yet.

I recently hooked up the DVB318 running via Component with the Firmware rollback to allow 1080i over component...and we sat through 2 movies with the kids yesterday (ELF and Herbie Fully Loaded or some nonsense like that). Even my wife commented that the DVD playback looked better than the previous RCA progressive scan player we had. I haven't tried the Batman DVD (mainly because I don't have it ;) ) but I'm happier now that I was with my previous DVD player.

In the two days I've been watching it I've seen one flash. I'm not sure if it was the tv or the cable box, I've seen similar on the regular tv too. Yes, I'm running a wireless network too about 15 feet away from the tv. I'll keep you posted.

Ironically I have not seen ONE flash in over a week if not longer. Not sure why it disappeared but I'm not going to complain about it not occurring any longer :D


No buzzing on this one yet. Overall I'm very satisfied with it. I know it was posted back some ways (and I'll look) but how do you see the hr's used on this? was it the menu + menu combo? I haven't messed with that yet. So much to do, so little time.

I have not had a noticable issue with an overly loud buzz. AFA getting to the # of hours the TV has been used you can use the MENU/MENU method to get access to that...but there are 2 Service Menus that come up via that method. SO if you don't see the hours listed on the first menu than it will be on the 2nd menu. I haven't entered the SM in a few weeks but,IIRC, you can simply hit MENU or turn the TV off after getting into one menu and then turn the TV back on and get into the next menu.

jaypb

I noticed the the flash ONLY occurs for me if I start changing the ratios. Like cycling through them for whatever reason. If I do that, and then just leave it be to just watch the movie or show or whatever, it will begin flashing. If I just set at 16 x 9 and leave it alone...never flashes. Now that I've gotten used to viewing as is, I almost never change the ratio and therefore almost never get the flash.

I just recently bought this tv and I can not get sound on analog channels. I have the newest cable box from Time Warner using HDMI out of the box and into the tv. For some reason I only get channels on HD channels and some of the other ones. I have tried everything zenith told me to do.

1) Try using stereo audio cables in addition to the HDMI, but there is no real place to plug the cables into the TV, I tried the outside connections as well the component audio inputs but that did nothing

2) Try using a stereo audio cable to headphone cable, so I did this, I ran my HDMI and in addition I used this cable from the audio out on the cable box into the RGB audio input on the TV and still no sound on analog channels.

Does anyone else have this trouble or does anyone not have any trouble using HDMI? My cable company came out and said it is the TV. Circuit is going ot replace the TV but I would rather not deal with the hassel if its an easy fix. I tried using just component and stereo cables and this did work but the quality was much worse so I want to be able to use HDMI. Please help! Thanks in advance

I just recently bought this tv and I can not get sound on analog channels. I have the newest cable box from Time Warner using HDMI out of the box and into the tv. For some reason I only get channels on HD channels and some of the other ones. I have tried everything zenith told me to do.

1) Try using stereo audio cables in addition to the HDMI, but there is no real place to plug the cables into the TV, I tried the outside connections as well the component audio inputs but that did nothing

2) Try using a stereo audio cable to headphone cable, so I did this, I ran my HDMI and in addition I used this cable from the audio out on the cable box into the RGB audio input on the TV and still no sound on analog channels.

Does anyone else have this trouble or does anyone not have any trouble using HDMI? My cable company came out and said it is the TV. Circuit is going ot replace the TV but I would rather not deal with the hassel if its an easy fix. I tried using just component and stereo cables and this did work but the quality was much worse so I want to be able to use HDMI. Please help! Thanks in advance

IIRC somewhere in this thread there was someone else who had a similar issue with a cable box (not sure if it was TWC or not) I want to say it was a Scientific Atlanta box (8300???). If you do a search on this thread you'll come across it....if I'm recollecting correctly. If it wasn't on this thread then it was on one of the Samsung Pedestal Model TV's, which I owned before "trading up" and returning it for this sweet piece of silvery heaven electronic goodness....... :rolleyes:

jaypb

I noticed the the flash ONLY occurs for me if I start changing the ratios. Like cycling through them for whatever reason. If I do that, and then just leave it be to just watch the movie or show or whatever, it will begin flashing. If I just set at 16 x 9 and leave it alone...never flashes. Now that I've gotten used to viewing as is, I almost never change the ratio and therefore almost never get the flash.

Actually, I've NEVER even futzed with the ratio settings on the TV. For me it was straight 16x9 right out of the box from the getgo.

Either way I'm curious to know just WTF was causing the flashing.

I have my calibration for the TV set for Wednesday AM. Can't wait. :p

Is anyone else using an SA8300 cable box with this tv besides Bad107 and myself?

Just noticed it RIGHT after I switched from the OTA internal tuner back to my HDMI input (to watch the HD TIVO). I was watching the Super Bowl "live" on the internal tuner via ABC OTA and then at 1/2 time I switched to my HDTIVO via HDMI to watch other programming....and within ONE MINUTE I had the "flashes" once again. This is probably the first time I'd watched OTA programming via the internal tuner in a few weeks.

So the NEW question: Those who have seen the flashing.....were you using the internal OTA or Cable Card tuner RIGHT before seeing the flashing??? For me, that seems to be the "trigger".

Anyone ?!?!?!

:confused:

This is also "trigger" for me. In fact, I need to narrow down between that and the ratio changes. I THINK I was doing BOTH before, which I'm thinking would point more to input switching than to ratio switching.

Is anyone else using an SA8300 cable box with this tv besides Bad107 and myself?

I am. I use the SA 8300 HD DVR box with Time Warner. I've never used the HDMI output, however. Everything works great through component with the sound through the RCA cables.

I now use a sony receiver for sound using the optical digital output and direct the video through the sony receiver to the TV using component.

Svideo and RCA video work properly as well.

It took 4 SA 8300 boxes before I got one that would activate. I've also went through 3 SA 8000 boxes over the last 2 years due to malfunctioning equipment. One stopped recording sound on one of the tuners, one stopped fast forwarding and rewinding through recorded shows from one of the tuners and the other the sound was out of sync with the video on recorded shows.

Anyone know if there is a 1:1 720p mode on the zenith? somewhere in the hidden menus? xbox 360 doesn't look as crisp as I thought it would be, and thought maybe the internal scaler is doing it..

I use the SA8300 HD cable box from Time Warner as well. So far it's been pretty good and I run it to the TV with components. I'm not sure if using HDMI would make the quality any better. Right now watching SD channels it seems pretty blocky and pixeled. I have the box pass those SD channels to the tv at 1080i and they are viewed as 4:3 on the actual tv. Is this how you guys have yours setup? Would be nice if I could figure out a way to make it look a bit better and more fluid.

I use to have the black friday plasma called viore from walmart and it broke after a power blip so I took it back and bought the zenith. The Viore seemed to display Discovery HD channel really crisp compared to the zenith. Not sure what would make it seem better but the tv was a lot cheaper, more than half. It was also an ED tv. Anyone know the reason for this? *shrug*

Thanks

howdy everyone
My name is Ray and I just purchased this tv on saturday. :)
I have a few quick questions. Please excuse me as I am a bit new to the HD stuff, and just wanna make sure that I get the most from my purchase.
1. For the first 200 hours etc, what sh ould all my video settings be at? I called zenith and they said just make sure that contrast is below 85.
2. Does anyone know the proper settings to achieve the best picture?
3. Tomorrow I will pick up a HD cable box from time warner cable. For t he best pq, i assume i use my HDMI monster cable? am I wrong here?
4. How do I save video settings? i've noticed that sometimes the settings will revert to the "as shipped as" settings.

And also, any tips and tricks with this tv set would be greatly appreciated. I'm very happy with this purchase
Ray

I've had my Zen for about three months and must state that the set has an excellent picture. But about a week ago my set developed a bright vertical bar on the right side of the screen. Changing aspect ratio or input did nada. I called Zenith and got through to someone right fast.

On Friday the TV doctor arrived and replaced two boards (took him three and a half hours... there are an unbelievable number of screws in these sets). Anyhow we hooked the set up and no joy. Late Friday evening he took my child away (sniff). Friday the TV hospital called and said that Zenith was going to replace the set but it might take six to eight weeks (gasp!). I called Zenith and once again got someone almost immediately. She said that Zenith would call back in about five days with the prognosis and if a new set is called for it would not take six to eight weeks (I hope!).

Anyhow Zenith's response to this point has been appropriate and I'll let this form know how this customer service issue pans out. Still think the set is a great deal....

Byron

ToolFanRay, I'm new to this too. Have had mine for about 3 weeks. FWIW, for the first 100 hours or so, I set my brightness and contrast to 50 and the color to about 30. Sharpness was about 60 or so. I think mostly the brightness and contrast matter for the break-in period. I recently bumped both to about 60 or 65 and color to about 35. Your set-up may vary regarding color, but for me, lower color seems to keep some of the red-tone out of skin color, especially on SD channels. I also set the temperature setting to cool and push the tint 1-2 into the green. I'm using HDMI right now, but am having trouble getting 5.1 audio. Still have some testing to do on that.

I am a bit surprised that there were no posts about what folks thought of the TV's PQ during the Superbowl.

Except for some odd 'swiggly lines' on the field when they did a few shots from the ceiling, I was smiling and patting myself on the back for such a smart purchase in buying this TV over a more epensive model.

Mick Jagger had a ton of makeup on.

It was great.

I had 5 friends over, several who own HDTV's, but we watched at my place because mine is the biggest and I assured my friends that they were going to be impressed.

They were and this is was even from 2 of them who own the 42" higher end models.

During the game, I kept thinking about that comment I posted from the Editor at Cnet about resolution and scaling. Look back a page or 2 to find it.

I wanted to see if I could spot what he was talking about and with a true 'double blind test' and I did - read on.

The HDTIVO lets you togle between 720P and 1080i with a button push.
Of course, I leave my HDTIVO set to 720P.
The Superbowl was broadcast in 720P from channel 2 in Baltimore.

During a commrcial beer break, I switched the HDTIVO to 1080i when my friends were not looking.
A few minutes later after I did this, one person asked me" Did you change something on the TV? I can not put my finger on it but it just does not seem as crisp or clean looking as it was a few minutes ago"
I noticed this also.

I said "NO" and after about 15 minutes, I swiched the HDTIVO back tio 720P.
This time I got this comment: "The pciture got better again. I bet I know what happended. Channel 2 must have been having some kind of problem and they fixed it"

These friends of mine are into and understand this HDTV stuff and I told them what the editor of CNET had told me.
They agreed that this is the scaler effect is what we were seeing.

The answer is that when I switched the HDTIVO to 1080i, it fed that signal to the Zenith which had to scale it to 720P with a subsequent degradation of PQ. When I left the HDTIVO in 720P, it was feeding the native resolution (since the broadcast in Baltimore was 720P) and had to do NO scaling.
Not sure whether the souce of the effect is the HDTIVO's scaler or the one in the Zenith but this is exactly what the editor of Cnet had talked about in his email to me

Before I get jumped on, let me say that this is a VERY subtle difference and only 2 of the 5 friends could tell a difference.
I don't count because I was the one doing the test.

So don't make a big deal out of this.

It really is a very,very subtle in difference but it is there.
So I draw 3 conclusions and 2 questions:
1) If you buy an upconverting DVD player, get one that does 720P upconversion
2) The stations that broadcast in 720P are going to give the better PQ on THIS television
3) This must explain why folks are reporting in tbhuis thread that upconverting DVD brand X is not doing a good job but brand y is better. One must have the better scaler inside - again, go back and read what the CNet editor said.
4) How does one go about testing whether the HDTIVO's scaler or the Zenith scaler adds the most scalling effect degradation?
5) Is there an affordable device that can sit between the Zenith's and the HDTIVO's HDMI cnnection such that can I feed a native mode signal from the HDTIVO into the device and have IT do the 720P scaling?

I know my MYHD will do scaling on S-Video input but I need to find out if it wlll on it's DVI input/output. That I could try and see if it makes a difference becuase I already have it.

Thanks for reading - to those that made it this far into this novel:)

Joe

I am a bit surprised that there were no posts about what folks thought of the TV's PQ during the Superbowl.

Except for some odd 'swiggly lines' on the field when they did a few shots from the ceiling, I was smiling and patting myself on the back for such a smart purchase in buying this TV over a more epensive model.

Mick Jagger had a ton of makeup on.

It was great.

I had 5 friends over, several who own HDTV's, but we watched at my place because mine is the biggest and I assured my friends that they were going to be impressed.

They were and this is was even from 2 of them who own the 42" higher end models.

During the game, I kept thinking about that comment I posted from the Editor at Cnet about resolution and scaling. Look back a page or 2 to find it.

I wanted to see if I could spot what he was talking about and with a true 'double blind test' and I did - read on.

The HDTIVO lets you togle between 720P and 1080i with a button push.
Of course, I leave my HDTIVO set to 720P.
The Superbowl was broadcast in 720P from channel 2 in Baltimore.

During a commrcial beer break, I switched the HDTIVO to 1080i when my friends were not looking.
A few minutes later after I did this, one person asked me" Did you change something on the TV? I can not put my finger on it but it just does not seem as crisp or clean looking as it was a few minutes ago"
I noticed this also.

I said "NO" and after about 15 minutes, I swiched the HDTIVO back tio 720P.
This time I got this comment: "The pciture got better again. I bet I know what happended. Channel 2 must have been having some kind of problem and they fixed it"

These friends of mine are into and understand this HDTV stuff and I told them what the editor of CNET had told me.
They agreed that this is the scaler effect is what we were seeing.

The answer is that when I switched the HDTIVO to 1080i, it fed that signal to the Zenith which had to scale it to 720P with a subsequent degradation of PQ. When I left the HDTIVO in 720P, it was feeding the native resolution (since the broadcast in Baltimore was 720P) and had to do NO scaling.
Not sure whether the souce of the effect is the HDTIVO's scaler or the one in the Zenith but this is exactly what the editor of Cnet had talked about in his email to me

Before I get jumped on, let me say that this is a VERY subtle difference and only 2 of the 5 friends could tell a difference.
I don't count because I was the one doing the test.

So don't make a big deal out of this.


Joe---since you are getting your locals OTA through your HDTIVO, have you split the line to see how the PQ looks using the internal tuner on the Z50? Just curious....because to MY eyes, my locals OTA on the HDTIVO are less stellar than when I watch the locals OTA using the internal Zenith tuner. But, again, I lose the ability to pause/time shift....so I don't do it too often. But I DID do it for the SB on Sunday...and to MY eyes, I thought the PQ on the internal tuner was better than the OTA tuner on the HDTIVO......fwiw....

But, just so's I understand you: For 720p viewing (which, to my recollection on D* would be my local OTA Fox and ABC as well as the ESPN's ....correct).....I SHOULD see a subtle difference in PQ by switching the HDTIVO resolution output from 1080i to 720p?? IIRC, I have it set to 1080i for all viewing.

I'll have to do an a/b tonight....if I have time ;)

Too bad D* never gave us that software update for the HD-TiVo that would have allowed native passthrough.

Quick question, is the VGA connection for PC only, or can one use a component to VGA adapter? I have one that I used on my 43" Pioneer in the past.

Ok resonses to a couple of posts all combined into one.

My initial settings:

Contrast:50
Brightness:40
Sharpness:50
Color:35
Temp:medium

On monster cables and hdmi

Yes to the HDMI no to the monster cables. You can get the exact same cable for less money elsewhere.

On losing the settings:

I have noticed that i lose the settings if the tv is unplugged so i guess it does not retain them if there is a power loss. A shame really.

On the Superbowl:

I thought it looked great on HD delivered by our local cable box. Although I am really glad they didn't pull a close up on Keith Richards during the halftime show. I'm not sure if that's something I want to see in HD on a big screen.

Joe---since you are getting your locals OTA through your HDTIVO, have you split the line to see how the PQ looks using the internal tuner on the Z50? Just curious....




But, just so's I understand you: For 720p viewing (which, to my recollection on D* would be my local OTA Fox and ABC as well as the ESPN's ....correct).....I SHOULD see a subtle difference in PQ by switching the HDTIVO resolution output from 1080i to 720p?? IIRC, I have it set to 1080i for all viewing.

I'll have to do an a/b tonight....if I have time ;)

YES to the second question but now you got me thinking about the best way to handle 1080i material.
Now more experimenting.
This TV reminds me of my first car - a Triumph TR7 (now I have shown my age:) )that I bought when I graduated from College.
I am spending more time puzing with it than actually using it.\



Your first question is a great one and I need to try that. Must admit that I had not thought of that.
I would have of course gotten killed (plus ruin the blind study effect ) if I had done that during the superbowl but I can wait until PBS shows one of their High def demos and do it then (with my own eyball biases).

Thanks for the idea.


Still - where are are the oohs and ahs from the Superbowl viewing on this TV that I expected from the folks in this thread???

Last year I had a 52" DLP and had plenty of oohs and ahs from friends but nothing like this Sundays's on the Plasma.

I did read in the paper that this Superbowl had the highest % of High def material ever shown at recent Suprbowl's.

Even many of the commercials were in High Def.
All the replays and such were in HD. Those were NOT last year. I am sure some were not so correct me if I am wrong.

O Although I am really glad they didn't pull a close up on Keith Richards during the halftime show. I'm not sure if that's something I want to see in HD on a big screen.

All you would have noticed is that his face got fatter.
That would the 10 pounds of makeup:)

I am serious. I really like Jay Leno as a person and an entertainer since he is the real deal - not a phony and he is funny.
He is truly into cars and can run rings around most 'experts' in his knowledge of cars and has an amzing collection that he can tell you what every part does.
He does not collect cars because he is rich but becaus he loves them.

I recall that he said that the 34 (maybe 38) Ford is the most beautiful Roadster ever made

I say that as a preface to this:
I have read that due to the wonders of High definition, he has to spend a huge amount of extra time in wardrobe before the taping of the show to hide stuff that the HD camera will see in his great basset hound face.

You can imagine how much Mick Jagger and Keith Richards must have been wearing.

We went into hysterics when one of my usally quiet friends said that the reason he was not jumping and running ariound as much as he usually does on the stage is so that he won't risk having his face fall off:)

question to all...
Comcast (MidWest) came out to hook up our upgraded STB to HD-DVR...
The tech connected the TV with BOTH the HDMI and Component connections. I set up both connection settings (audio & video) to be the same...
To my surprise it seemed that there was no noticable differences between HDMI and Component in the Video aspect, yet there was a considerable difference in the Audio...the Component connection was louder and cleaner than the HDMI connection...
am I missing something here?...I thought the HDMI connection was superior to Component?

Component should not be louder; it carries no audio. He either hooked the analog audio up (red and white) or the toslink/optical digital audio up to use with the component video. HDMI does both audio and video in one cable.

When I have my directv-HDTivo set to 1080i...I get more glitches...not sure if this is coincidence or not.

elspankdog, you said ". . . or the toslink/optical digital audio up to use with the component video."

I'm a little confused. My Zenith does not have a toslink/optical input. Does yours?

elspankdog, you said ". . . or the toslink/optical digital audio up to use with the component video."

I'm a little confused. My Zenith does not have a toslink/optical input. Does yours?

My bad, I guess the toslink is an output. So I'm guessing in this scenario, he's using the TV speakers and the analog audio connections with the component video vs the HDMI connection for audio/video. The analog could be louder, and that could be on the broadcasters end. I know that my local CBS has a louder left channel on analog stuff while the 5.1 stuff is perfect. However, I don't know why the analog sound would sound cleaner. The digital audio should be better. If the TV speakers are only being used, I don't know if there should really be that much of a difference. I think a true a/v receiver and speakers would probably show more of a difference between analog and digital connections.

Joe, I had around 20 people over to watch the game. All were EXTREMELY impressed with the Zenith. It was a pretty soft audience however as none of them have a HDTV of any kind at home. Still, several wanted to know if I could find them a similar deal.

Yes, most of the commercials were in HD also. A notable exception was Pepsi's, which were pretty lame anyway.

The video was awesome, but for some reason the audio was futzed up. No matter what I tried it seemed like all the sound was coming through my center channel. I compensated as much as my receiver allows but the sound was still not up to par. I finally got fed up and used just the TV's speakers, and that actually sounded better than the surround system. First time I've had that happen.

I get my signal through the built-in QAM tuner and limited basic Comcast. I'm not close enough to any broadcasters to try off-air and see if that was any better for audio.

I think it was more ABC than your cable company or your setup. They seem to have this thing about drowning out the commentators with the crowd noise. Although sometimes in Maddens case thats not a bad thing. In addition the national anthem and the halftime show were awful. Their audio person should be fired. I guess it could have been the whole we have to make sure Mick doesn't say anything bad deal but come on get the mics up on time.

I think it was more ABC than your cable company or your setup. They seem to have this thing about drowning out the commentators with the crowd noise. Although sometimes in Maddens case thats not a bad thing. In addition the national anthem and the halftime show were awful. Their audio person should be fired. I guess it could have been the whole we have to make sure Mick doesn't say anything bad deal but come on get the mics up on time.

Interestingly, what we noticed was that when Al and Madden would cut to a pre-taped interview/sound byte we couldn't even HEAR what the player/coach was saying in that taped soundbyte/playback. The audio was SO DAMN LOW in that regard. I don't have a surround sound system set up yet for this TV, but I'm glad to see that others noticed the sound issues. I didn't bother to go to my other TV's to see how they "sounded"....I wasn't too into the game.

Also---Just curious: How many people are actually USING the internal OTA tuner? Of said people, are WE the only ones seeing the flashing? I only ask because, for ME, THAT is the trigger to actually *see* the flashing on my set. I had my calibration done yesterday by Eliab from Avical (great job, great source of info, efficient, neat and an all around pleasant dude) and for 2 hours we had the set on doing various calibrations on the HDMI input and the component input....and no flashing. Then AS SOON as we put the TV into the "antenna" mode to get some readings and came OUT of ANtenna and went BACK to HDMI/COMPONENT BOOM!!! There it was....the flashing. Even he noticed it.

So again---"FLASHERS"....are we all using the OTA input for this set? That would explain why some have it on their Component input and some have it on their HDMI input....and JOEQ, who doesn't use the OTA input but has been a WEALTH of knowledge on this set....has NO flashing!
:confused:

I am wondering of others saw this.

They must have had a camera on the roof which I guess was there attempt at simulating the GoodYear Blimp effect.

A few times, they showed the field from that roof camera,albeit briefly.
I noticed that the lines on field had the 'jaggies' where the lines were a bit blurry and looked like they had little points sticking out of them.

Best description I can give.

First time I saw that, I thought, "aw s**, this TV is not so hot after after all" but as soon as they switched to another field overhead , the lines were perfect.

It was obvious that they had camera's up high like in the upper stand area because those were used a lot but apparantly only had one as high as the top of the roof.


Did anyone see that?
Was that roof camera (they only used it a few times for a few seconds at a time) a standard def camera?
If not, I will have to find it on my recording and post the video to show you.

Thanks - this is bugging me because the picture during the whole game except for those few flukes were perfect.
I even stood 1 foot away from the TV and was quite impressed at how fine (as in no grain) the picture was.



BTW, I am not sure if this has dawned on folks but the game was very significant for another very important reason besides being the Superbowl.

We all have had time to watch HD material (things like HBOHD and CBS Sitcoms) on this Zenith but the Superbowl game was the FIRST time we got to see True, uncompressed 720P VIDEO (as opposed to FILM based) High Def material and of a subject that will show all the flaws as well as the beauty of High Def.

Since it's native resolution is 720P, the fact that it was broasdcast in 720P adds to the purity of the picture.

I hope some of you recorded this becuase you can only find one other subject that will show off the very best that this TV can do. That other subject is the Master's. That is VIDEO (not FILM) of a green field surrounded by all kinds of colorful objects like people and the plants\trees shot using Natural Sunlight and hopefully in 720P
(Olympics in the future will be top dog)

When I said uncompressed, I do hope you Directv folks realize that Directv is broadcasting their High definition material in 1280x1080i which is NOT true 1080i as that is 1920x1080i.
I do NOT pay for their high def locals so I got the game via a roof antenna and I do not know what resolution they broasdcast their high def locals inl.

Joe Q,
I have the Zenith and can't say I noticed the roof camera jaggies. Doesn't mean they weren't there. I was hosting a party, so my attention was not always focused on the screen.

My boss watched at a different place on a different TV, and he asked me if I had noticed that the lines on the field looked funny when they zoomed out to the overhead views. Sounds like the same issue on a different set.

I'm also using the ota antenna and last night I tried cycling through the inputs to see if I could get the flashing, no dice.

I'm also using the ota antenna and last night I tried cycling through the inputs to see if I could get the flashing, no dice.

With my situation, it wasn't a cycling per se that "did it". It was me leaving the OTA antenna "on" for about 10-15 minutes.....then when we went BACK to EITHER the Component input or the HDMI input the flashing was there.....and it was there for the duration of my afternoon viewing. Yet, when I got back home last night and watched TV via the HDMI input WITHOUT even going back to the OTA input I had NO flashing.

:confused:

This is probably already known, but 1024x768 (PC) using DVI->HDMI cable is much better quality than VGA cable. Unfortunately the 1280 x 720 is good just not good enough.

question to all...
I thought the HDMI connection was superior to Component?

I can't say that I can really tell the difference between HDMI and component on my Zenith in the PQ department. May it is a ad better but I think that is my imagination.

I am a bit surpriised as well because
I can REALLY tell the difference on my 20" LCD PC monitor when using DVI over the VGA (out of my entry level Nvideo card) so much so that I have totaly disconnected the VGA cable from both ends and out it in my 'parts box'

The VGA conection's picture reminds me of a Camera that is not completely focused.

Saw the same effect on the DVI connection on the predecessor which was a 52" DLP.


There are 3 tangible benefits to consider for using HDMI on this TV that immediately come to mind.

1)Aside from the cost of the cables, I do like the single cable deal with HDMI compared to 3 for Component.
I have 3 HDMI sources so 3 cables sure makes for a neater setup than having to putz with 9 cables.

2)f you are into unconverting DVD players, you need HDMI as upconversion is not supported on the component connection.

3)Since HDMI carries the audio, for those times when you don;t want to fire up the whole amp and surround system, you can lsimply isten to the audio on the TV without needing to run an extra set of RCA cables.
I do that with my HDTIVO for background music from one of their music channels.

To save the inevitable 'correction' post to #2, I said "SUPPORTED" :)

This is probably already known, but 1024x768 (PC) using DVI->HDMI cable is much better quality than VGA cable. Unfortunately the 1280 x 720 is good just not good enough.

Kind of missed what your point was.
Are you implying that you are not happy with 1280x720?

If so, then you need to get a different display technology like a DLP where some on the market can go all the way to 1080P.

Until some time late next summer, 720P is the best you are going to get on Plasma's under 70"

Kind of missed what your point was.
Are you implying that you are not happy with 1280x720?

If so, then you need to get a different display technology like a DLP where some on the market can go all the way to 1080P.

Until some time late next summer, 720P is the best you are going to get on Plasma's under 70"

Well just saying that 1024x768 in DVi/Hdmi mode looks better than it does in VGA mode, the PQ is better and fonts are softer looking. Better read-abilty.

1280 x 720 is do-able but doesnt look as good as I can get when it is in 1024x768

Hope you understand what I mean.

Hi there- I recently purchase this TV during week before the Superbowl and got in on the great deal -rebate offered then and ever since I'm in love with this set.I like everybody else on this board did research up the wahzoo about any and all 50" plasmas. I was originally looking at LCD RPTV,but after helping my friend(I'm the electronics guru of the bunch) purchase a 42" plasma and doing research for him,I realized besides 1080p sets the prices between them (LCD RPTV vs Plasma) was almost comparable. The little price more that we pay for plasma-it's for all the benefits and plasma definatly has more benefits-form factor and veiwing angle. The prices of plasmas has definatly dropped-the only reason I originally thought about LCD RPTV were because plasmas were so expensive last time I went shopping for a TV. What I love most about this TV besdes PQ is we're not paying for all the bells and whitsles. Most of them are novelties-fads,after a while we don't even use them anymore ie;PIP ,cable card slot, ambient light-come on now.It's as they made it for us gear heads and dollar for dollar-this might be the PQ Heavyweight champion.

I had this hooked up to both the SA 4200HD and the SA 8300HD-DVR. I had the 4200 already and just took it off the little HDTV to test this Z50" out. Hooked up thru component cables and totally beautiful even without color adjustments even better after. I had the the other component input hooked up to the DVD player and that picture was great. I later tested the HDMI input with the DVD player and found the picture to be slightly better meaning if you actually sit there and look for a difference you might notice it. It just the PQ overall is really high and these small increment are really neglilable I think. I did the samething with the SA 4200 with a DVI to HDMI cable since there's no HDMI output from the SA 4200. The same conclusion I got with HDMI to DVD I got with HDMI to SA 4200,but I didn't want to let the HDMI input go to waste,so I left the SA 4200 hooked up. I figured I'll watch more TV than DVD so TV it is.

I had about the same time component to TV and DVI/HDMI to TV about 6 days each before I picked up an SA 8300 and my conclusion is this.Component to TV-no flashes noticed what so ever. DVI/HDMI to TV-I noticed flashes on second day and on only one channel-HBO-HD.Like I said earlier I did my research and had an eye on this theard for a while now,so I was prepared and looking and testing things. Like an earlier poster that stated -they belived the flashes are related to the feed/source material and I think this is true.The flashes would come in-to make it simple a series -flash-flash-flash,wait a couple minutes later -flashflash-flash-flash. It would stop and come on later. So in between during flashes,I switched channels and nothing happened-PQ was great. StarsHD,ShowtimeHD-nothing. I turned back to HBO-HD and an occasional flash.This happened one day only and on HBO-HD. It looks like it's related to the feed cause we all had this happen before with cable,so I think this is the same. It nevered happened testing HDMI to DVD,so I must conclude this to be a particular feed. The only other thing is maybe copy thing associated with the HDMI connection and HBO.HBO be bugging out sometimes cause they're... HBO.You know what I mean.

Now I got the Z50" hooked up to the SA 8300 thru HDMI. I wanted the SA 8300 cause I wanted sound from the TV sometimes and not always from the reciever,which you're stuck with if you use DVI to HDMI. I picked up the SA 8300 on Saturday the day before the SuperBowl and zero flashes . The HDMI to HDMI seems to me slightly better than DVI to HDMI the color transition seems more smoother and detail a little crispier. Maybe it's me

I think the industry hyped DVI and HDMI so much that we thought that the changes were going to be incredible like when we went from SDTV to HDTV.But,yeah I think HDMI is better than components,but not by much.So, if you got components it's not that bad.But, go with HDMI if you can-it's the latest and probably the future plus in terms of form factor 1 cable is better than 3 and the added clutter that goes with more wires. Also like another poster said earlier only one HDTV output is allowed thru the SA 4200 and SA 8300 at one time. If both is hooked up-component and HDMI-only the HDMI will work.You can hook up the RF or RCAs and both work....but why??? HDTV Baby.I hope this helps,I picked up and learned so much from this theard. You got to give back,so we all learn more. Keep up the good work guys.Can't wait till HD-DVD and Blu-ray come out-we'll really going to bug out then,but more than likely it will be like-component vs. HDMI...LOL

I got a slight buzzing problem with this tv too. Have anyone got their problem solve? It's a bit annoying since I know it's there. I don't know if this buzzing is a properties of plasma. azrael1234, Did the tech get back to you with the new component? Thanks.

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you have experienced any issues with lag?I was channel surfing the HD channels when I cam across a (I'm ashamed to say it) a Britney Spears concert live from Miami on Showtime HD. I stopped to watch the bright colors and pretty girls dancing when I noticed severe lag during changes in camera shots. The picture was incredible but must have been a major strain for the amount of color and data coming through. It would pixilate and then jump to catch up. It happened several times as they changed camera shots. My guess is that it would be the motorola cable box being unable to interpret the data fast enough, but I though I would put it out here for your opinion and feedback. Anybody else have an issue like this?


Update: I checked the show on the set upstairs, it's doing the same thing there so it was definately the box and not the set. Anyone have much experience with a motorola dct6412 III? I wonder if there are firmware updates for them or if it's a lacking hardware problem.

Well just saying that 1024x768 in DVi/Hdmi mode looks better than it does in VGA mode, the PQ is better and fonts are softer looking. Better read-abilty.

1280 x 720 is do-able but doesnt look as good as I can get when it is in 1024x768

Hope you understand what I mean.


As usual NO:)

I get the first paragraph where you say that a 1204x768 PC display looks better when fed into the HDMI I/F on the Zenith than when fed into the RGB I/F.
That would be the expected outcome.

You lost me on the 1280 comment(the second paragraph).

Are you saying that the picture quality is not as good when you set the PC's graphics card to 1280x720 and feed that to the Zenith (asuming over HDMI or component) when compared to setting the graphics card to 1024x768 which you say yields a better picture.

if I got what you are saying correct (probably not because you speak Vulcan and I don't) then I would be suspicous of the method used to get the signal to the TV.

We all know that the RGB input can ONLY support 1024x768 so we can skip that in this discussion.

That leads to a discussion of HDMI and Component.

HDMI:

The newer generation of the higher end PC Graphics cards are providing 2 connections. One is the standard 15 pin VGA and the other is DVI.

Personally, I have a Radeon 9600 and an Nvidia (forget the model) which have both of those connections.
I feed the Nvidea to my 20" LCD Display using DVI because it looks so much crisper and cleaner than the VGA connection.

I feed the Zenith from another PC using the DVI output from the Radeon because the signals are 10% compatible so it is just like any other HDMI source device like the HDTIVO or an upconverting DVD Player.

Component:
Component from the Graphics card is not so straighforward.

In the case of the ATI Radeon, they make a YPB dongle that plugs into the DVI connection and provides the required Y,P,B component signals. You set some dip switches to 720P or 1080i or any of the Atsc standards as well as setting a dip switch to tell it to do 16x9 or not. The output of the dongle is the 3 wire component Y,P.B signal.

I have tried this method on the Zenth but I prefer the PQ when using HDMI (it is actually a hold over from the previous TV which was a DLP which did NOT have a DVI or HDMI input)

if you don't have that option, you can buy a transcoder from places like Key Digital which will convert the VGA signal to component Y,P.B.


So with that backgorund out of the way, back to the matter at hand.
The poster says that 1280x720 looks worse than 1024x768 on the Zenith.

Obviously, it should not (and does NOT on my TV) .
If true in his case , then it must be in one of the 2 paths discussed above.t

Perhaps it is the DVI path at fault.Wierd timings,graphics card set to a wierd colorspace,etc. could causde this so I woluld suggest plugging in a PC LCD monitor to debug the DVI path.

Perhaps it is the Component path at fault. It is well known that some TV's do not work well with some Transcoders. I would call the manufacturer and tell him what your display device is and see if he can help figure it out.
Also, some transcoders have dip switches on them, so those should be double checked for correct settings.

Please let us know what you found out was the culprit.

Joe

hi all...
I've had my Z50 for two weeks and have now noticed that the image on the right side of the screen started shrinking inwards...about 1/4" - 1/2" towards the center during start up. Then it will slowly creep back to full width...
I have a service call into CC (who won't be here until 2/28...bummer) but I wondered if anyone else has ever had this happen to them?...if so, is this a repair or a replacement issue???

(PS...thanks to elspankdog and Joe Q for your responses re: component/HDMI connections...this forum is invaluable because of guys like you...)

update: now it is shrinking from the top of the screen downward...doen't look good... :(

Hey cloudstrife...the tech came out and parts are on order. I'm going to have them replace the parts, but if the buzzing still hasn't gone by then, i'm going to either do a return through bestbuy.com and wait for a better deal, or an exchange at the store and get a zenith back in return. The tech told me the buzzing was coming from the x-y controllers.

wish me luck

I have had my Zenith about 3 weeks now, got it before the rebate ended. So far I only have 1 HD OTA channel available, but it comes in as 1080i. Is there a way to change it to 720p? It's the local NBC station and I can't wait to see the olympics in HD.

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you have experienced any issues with lag?I was channel surfing the HD channels when I cam across a (I'm ashamed to say it) a Britney Spears concert live from Miami on Showtime HD. I stopped to watch the bright colors and pretty girls dancing when I noticed severe lag during changes in camera shots. The picture was incredible but must have been a major strain for the amount of color and data coming through. It would pixilate and then jump to catch up. It happened several times as they changed camera shots. My guess is that it would be the motorola cable box being unable to interpret the data fast enough, but I though I would put it out here for your opinion and feedback. Anybody else have an issue like this?


Update: I checked the show on the set upstairs, it's doing the same thing there so it was definately the box and not the set. Anyone have much experience with a motorola dct6412 III? I wonder if there are firmware updates for them or if it's a lacking hardware problem.

I as well have Time Warner with a SA8300 box and from time to time...when scenes switch in shows I will see it will become blocky and very quickly go back to normal. I'm thinking it has to do with the bandwidth they are using and the compression isnt as great during a scene shift? Not really sure why hope others can back us up on this. Got to wait for better hardware and services for HD I suppose =(

As usual NO:)

You lost me on the 1280 comment(the second paragraph).

Joe

Oh boy, here I go. BTW I never did like Star Trek. :)

I have the 4 port HDMI switcher I got from Monoprice (which works well) and I plan to use my laptop through that.

So I use the switcher to go between Laptop and DVD, which you can see in my sig.

I am just saying that at 1024x768 it looks good, better than it did comparing how it looked going through VGA.

When I changed the resolution to 1280x720 still using DVI->HDMI and then modifying TV settings to make the screen not be stretched out, it just doesnt look right overall.
I am simply just saying when using DVI->HDMI that I prefer the 1024x768 resolution, that is all. BTW I know I am a little strange I guess, but hey aren't we all? ;)

Came across this deal on an up converting dvd player at amazon.com

amazon.com

Thought I'd post it for those interested. hope the link works :)

Oh well wasn't aware of that rule. can I put the name of it up?

Sylvania DVL1000F Up-Converting DVD Player

Wouldn't you know it... I've not only got "the flash," but now "the buzz"...This morning, I had the set on while drinking a cup, and the wife called down from upstairs. Of course, I couldn't hear her, and so turned the volume down. Just then, there was a pan to a very bright sky and...bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. They panned back down to a less bright shot and it went away. I watched about another 10 minutes or so, and every time the scene went bright, there it was, the buzz. Oh, and now my wife's P.O.'d because I was "distracted." :o

Did some searching and found several references to other plasmas with this same issue. Don't know if this is true or not, but one site explains it like this:

"A plasma TV uses the most power when it is producing full white. As a result, some 2nd tier manufactured brands of plasma TVs have an audible buzz or whining sound when displaying white or very light images."

sorry to hear you got the buzz....supposedly the parts are swapable....how long have you had your tv for? Since I'm still in my 30day warranty, I'm wondering if I should just do a return and pony up somemore money and get a higher end model

I'm past the 30 days, unfortunately. I have my doubts as to whether something like this can even be "fixed" anyway... may just be the nature of the beast.

From what I have been able to dig up, seems like a good many (and not just "2nd tier") plasmas have the buzzing issue to some degree or another when displaying very bright screens. The fact that I've been watching the set a LOT for over a month and only noticed it with the volume completely muted definitely says it's not THAT big a deal, in the grand scheme of things. I think I had the contrast up a tad higher than I had it before as well... I suffer from a bad case of tweak-itis. :D

Yeah...the problem with the buzzing though is that if you watch a lot of quiet scenes (nature, 2 people talking in a room), the buzzing can change pitch at times dependent upon the brightness. Imagine if two people are talking in a room, and one person is in the shadow and one person is by a window...anytime they switch back between the two people you'll hear the buzzing go on and off...really annoying!

The parts are swappable....contact zenith customer support and they'll send a tech out to look at it and do a switch. as long as you're still under warranty, you're golden.

Thanks azrael! Which parts are you referring to? I'm definitely under warranty!

if the right and left sides on the back of the tv buzz, then it's the XY controllers....if the middle section is where the buzzing is loudest, than it's the powersupply. At least that's what the bestbuy tech told me.

I should have the parts swapped in within a week or so. Once I do, I'll let you guys know if that solved the buzzing problem.

How long did you have your panel for eddi? Could you check your hours used, and report back...it'd be interesting to see if these parts are just shoddy and wear out quickly, or if this is something that once it's fixed, it'll stay fixed.

When I changed the resolution to 1280x720 still using DVI->HDMI and then modifying TV settings to make the screen not be stretched out, it just doesnt look right overall.



These laptops have a recommended best resolution that they say to use so I wonder if the culprit is your laptop.

My laptop manual talks about 2 resolutions.

It says to use 1280x720 when using the Laptop's built in Display and to switch to 1024x768 when using the external display connector. On my laptop, it is VGA for the output since mine does not have DVI.

Actually, I believe it must be your laptop that is the culprit since 1280x720 from my Radeon 9600 (in the HTPC) over DVI to the Zenith looks better (as it should) than when I feed it 1024x768.

NO need to respond. I was merely thinking out loud as to why a laptop when feeding a TV it's native resolution would look worse.

But there is nothing you could do about it anyway because laptops can not be modified or expanded
Also, manufacturer's have a major design challange on how to make a laptop that does not weigh a ton, handle all that heat and still be affordable so when it is used in a non-standard way, having odd behviour does not surprise me.

I'm currently at 244 hours. But it may have been doing it all along. I typically have a little Tivo drive noise and I like the volume up hugh, so it's quite possible I just never heard it before today when I muted it at a particularly bright moment.

So can anyone enligten me as to what all the service menu items are...more specifically which one tells me how long my tv has been in use.

Oh yea...on another note, I just got one of the two boards that bestbuy is going to swap out for me in an attempt to get rid of my buzzing. I checked out the invoice and the board is $270.

So the NEW question: Those who have seen the flashing.....were you using the internal OTA or Cable Card tuner RIGHT before seeing the flashing??? For me, that seems to be the "trigger".

Anyone ?!?!?!
I think you hit the nail on the head. I observed screen corruption / flashing exactly one time in 8 weeks of owning this TV. I thought it was some type of electrical interference, because I had power cords right next to my video cords, etc. It never happened again after I rearranged them. However, there was one other factor that was different that night... I'd used the OTA tuner. I was playing with it just to check it out for a while, and then switched to another input. That's when it started. I hadn't used the OTA tuner since, and hadn't experienced the flashing since either.

Well tonight I flipped over to the OTA tuner and watched it for a while. I then flipped over to satellite and immediately noticed some type of flashing phenomenon. I changed channels, which changed resolutions, and that seemed to quiet it down for a while. It didn't fix it completely, though. I still observed occasional glitches in the picture on satellite and on DVD. Shutting the TV down and restarting it seemed to fix the problem.

So, for me anyway, the only time it occurs is after watching OTA. Kind of a shame since this TV is supposed to have an awesome tuner in it (and the picture looks sweet). Hope Zenith comes up with a fix for this.

I'll be happy if Zenith just comes up with a replacement set for me:). My set has been gone for eight days now and Zenith said that if I haven't heard from them by next Friday I should give them a call.

My set is apparently the only set on this forum that developed a bright vertical stripe on the right side of the screen. An in home service call was not able to fix the problem. I was amazed by the number of screws the tech had to remove to get to the (two) IC boards that he replaced... about 3 1/2 hours of work!

I... sniff... miss my Zenith and can hardly wait to get it, or its replacement, back in action. Nice timing with the SB & Olympics...

Byron

Yo Byron,cheer up- all good things to those who wait. You're one of the few people who actually had a real problem where the service tech had to come out. From your description it seems these guys are going up to bat for us. Which is great news to hear.

To those that hear a buzzing noise, If it's low and you have to turn down the volume just to hear it I don't think it's a Zenith problem but a plasma problem(fist the longevity thing,then the heat thing and now the buzz thing-it'll all work out as time goes by-I hope). Now if it sounds like your refrigerator-call the service guy up right away!!!-My first SA 8300 before I switched it out sounded louder than the refigerater-more like a low flying airplane-now that was an experience.But I guess I didn't worry about it that much cause unlike the Zenith-I don't own it. Do any of you guys that hear a buzzing have a power conditioner of any kind hooked up? Just a thought.

azrael, press and hold the "menu" buttons on both the remote and TV panel for around 5 seconds or so. A service menu will pop up. DO NOT mess with the first menu, especially the first 2 items. You could screw up the TV but good.

Once the first menu shows, press and hold both menu buttons again. This menu will show you the hours the TV has been in use, among other things. To exit, press "menu" on the remote.

On another note I was watching Ghost Whisperer (don't laugh, I've got a thing for JLH in a nightie :p ) on CBS-HD through the built-in QAM tuner. There were several occasions where one of the characters would have a quick (1 sec. or less)flashback to a fire scene. The TV was having a very difficult time displaying the scene. It almost looked like a series of Morse code.

Not sure if the problem was the source or the TV itself.

azrael, press and hold the "menu" buttons on both the remote and TV panel for around 5 seconds or so. A service menu will pop up. DO NOT mess with the first menu, especially the first 2 items. You could screw up the TV but good.

Once the first menu shows, press and hold both menu buttons again. This menu will show you the hours the TV has been in use, among other things. To exit, press "menu" on the remote.

On another note I was watching Ghost Whisperer (don't laugh, I've got a thing for JLH in a nightie :p ) on CBS-HD through the built-in QAM tuner. There were several occasions where one of the characters would have a quick (1 sec. or less)flashback to a fire scene. The TV was having a very difficult time displaying the scene. It almost looked like a series of Morse code.

Not sure if the problem was the source or the TV itself.

HA HA! I too have to admit I've become a Horse I mean Ghost Whisperer fan since I caught JLH in her pure, unadulterated 1080i self.... :p

I just keep forgetting to set the damn HDTIVO up to record it each week!!! :D

I didn't watch this weeks episode so I can't say if what you saw was HW related or source related.

I *think* I currently have about 430 or so hours of use on my 50px2d since 12/17/04. It's basically the reason why I returned the Samsung 50" DLP that had originally bought for my living room in favor of picking up this value priced PDP.

So can anyone enligten me as to what all the service menu items are...more specifically which one tells me how long my tv has been in use.



See this theard:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=604282

for all general service menu questions

and this one in particular for the hours ON time:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6916479&&#post6916479

Look at the picture.

As noted,it is obtained from Service Mode A or B - I just forget which one and keep forgetting to check when I am at the TV.

Joe

Anyone have the OTA tuner input calibrated or the Cable input calibrated?

bump!

does anyone know if the Faroudja based dvd players , such as the oppo 971, lg lda-531, or the panny s97 causes macroblocking on this display or does anyone have experience with any of the above players with this tv, either through component or hdmi. thanks, pajer

I just bought the Z50PX2D and hooked it up to my Dish Network 301 reciever and noticed that the picture looks pixilated and blocky especially around text. I played around with the contrast/sharpness, but it doesn't make much of a difference. I was watching a movie on HBO and noticed that dark areas were really bad as it seemed to be more of a gradient than a true black, same with movie end credits. I tried connecting with an s-video input as well as standard A/V cables, and it is the same either way. I also tried a different dish network reciever and no difference. I set the view from 16:9 to 4:3 and the images still have gradient around solid colors, the size doesn't seem to make a difference.

Next I hooked up a dvd player and the image looked better, but seemed grainy? Any ideas?? The image in the store looked great, but home, it is noticibly off.

I think that Dish Network box you have is SD only. SD just isn't ever going to look very good on the vast majority of HD sets. If you look around the web at various reviews for HD sets (of all kinds, not just plasma), you'll see that most folks are quite pleased when they are able to tweak their HD set to produce simply "acceptable" viewing quality of SD material. I think most on this forum will confirm that this set really shines with a good HD feed. As for DVDs, make sure you are using a good progressive scan player and calibrate with Avia or DVE. That still won't be HD quality, but it can look very good, unlike SD broadcasts.

master44, DISH's SD picture quality has really gone downward over the years. It's really noticeable on a bigger screen, whether that screen is HD or not. You can try a PPV, which will show you the best SD you're going to get from DISH (and it's much better than the regular channels). That doesn't help you with your standard programming though.

Like eddiwill said, most SD is acceptable at best. DVD's look better (I'd call them "Good" in most cases), and HD is just awesome.

It's a shame really that SD looks so crappy though. I find myself becoming a HD junkie, surfing the 10 or so channels that are available in HD rather than the 150 or so other SD channels. Too bad they cant be up-converted somehow. Let's see if we take the 480i and scan each line twice and then crop the bottom of the top one and the top of the bottom one we've essentially doubled our scan lines and now have 960, then we compress that down to 720 and viola an upconversion for SD tv. Then we only have to worry about the cropped scan lines lining up and the degradation of using half a scan line to fill a full scan line, although with the later compression maybe that wont be an issue. Anyone like to goof around with building prototypes? :)

A7thson, I hear you! I find myself watching stuff I normally wouldn't watch just because it looks so good! A lot of it is junk, but I have discovered a few things I didn't know I liked.

I really think this is goingto be the year we see a LOT more HD being offered. I'm on DirecTV, so I think it'll be late in the year, but across the board, I do think we'll see a big improvement. The curse of early adoption (though I think this really is the tail-end of that as well)

Well if all the channels go digital by 2009, I'm sure a lot of them will make the switch to HD at the same time. No sense dragging it out. It would have been nice if they added that into the law as well.

I'm on DirecTV

Found another victim for my on going crusade against Directv :D

Except for HDNET(thanks soley to Mark Cuban) , Directv broadcasts their High Def channels in 1280x1080i aka 'HD Lite'

That is NOT 1080i.
We are paying for High definition when we signed up for the High Def channels but we are not getting it.

They are supposed to be broadcasting in 1920x1080i.

Want proof?
All re-tested within the past week.:
“Smallville” HDNET 1920x1080i
“Trading Spaces” Discovery HD Theater 1280x1080i
“Spiderman2” HBOHD 1280x1080i
“Masters of Horror” SHOHD 1280x1080i

Forgot to re-test UHD


I ask this of anyone who I find is a Directv subscriber and who seems friendly.

I would appreciate your doing the following. If NOT interested then I understand.

Could you please call them up at 1-800-494-4388 and complain that their High definition channels are not being broadcast in High definition?

Their excuse before was that they did not have enough transponders to carry full HD as well as the NFL Sunday ticket.

Football is over and they have a new bird up. So what is the newest excuse? They need the transponders for showing Synchronized Swimming?

When you call, you will merely get a CSR who is as useful as a robot so ask for his/her supervisor when you call.
Remember, they are a Robot so most of the time, the question is not in their 'programming' and they will get stuck in a loop so hang up to get another robot and give it another try.

Sometimes you can get to the right person who will actually tell you that they are working the issue with the new mpeg4 and the new bird they recently put up.

Ask him WHEN it will be rectified as you are thinking about switching to cable but are willing to wait if the time frame is reasonable.


Thanks

Playing Xbox 360 at 1080i on this Plasma and coming through my Pioneer receiver (840WATTS) is well...

FREAKIN SWEET!!!!!!

I having some serious quams with the zenith right now. I've owned the T.V. two weeks and it has all the sudden caught a rash of red glittery pixels all over the left sid of the screen. It's like red static and its really only bad when the surrounding picture color is light(grey, white). Anyone have any ideas, because otherwise this is going back in the box and getting traded for an RPLCD. Any help or insight would be much appreciated.

I having some serious quams with the zenith right now. I've owned the T.V. two weeks and it has all the sudden caught a rash of red glittery pixels all over the left sid of the screen. It's like red static and its really only bad when the surrounding picture color is light(grey, white). Anyone have any ideas, because otherwise this is going back in the box and getting traded for an RPLCD. Any help or insight would be much appreciated.


I would not necessarily return this for a Rear Projection (yuck -once you get used to a TV taking up NO space by hanging on the wall, there is NO going back) but I would get a new one.

This is classic electronic 'infant mortality' where if stuff is going to break, it does within the first few weeks.
In other words, assuming you have not done something wierd,like drop it, the TV is BROKEN so get a new one.

That is why I passed on a warranty on this TV. One year warranty is good eough to uncover the weak parts.

Thanks for the reply Joe, but there inlies the problem. I got a crazy deal on this set. I know we can't say prices, but lets just say hundreds under retail. If I return it, I'll have to pay the CC retail. I scheduled service to come out Friday, but knowing my luck, it will look perfect when they show up. I'm wondering if a RP would better suit my needs. I have the TV on the wall now, but I do use it as a PC monitor. Burn in worries me, and the manual doesn't have any specifics about the protections offered by this television i.e. how to use them/how not to abuse them. I love the TV and the picture it offers but I'm beginning to have some doubts. Just out of curiousity, do you know what life expectancy is on this set?

Thanks for the reply Joe, but there inlies the problem. I got a crazy deal on this set. I know we can't say prices, but lets just say hundreds under retail. If I return it, I'll have to pay the CC retail. I scheduled service to come out Friday, but knowing my luck, it will look perfect when they show up. I'm wondering if a RP would better suit my needs. I have the TV on the wall now, but I do use it as a PC monitor. Burn in worries me, and the manual doesn't have any specifics about the protections offered by this television i.e. how to use them/how not to abuse them. I love the TV and the picture it offers but I'm beginning to have some doubts. Just out of curiousity, do you know what life expectancy is on this set?

They list the half life at 60,000 hours I believe. That is from memory. I would have to dig out a review or I think it is buried in the manual somewhere.

I read somewhere that the new panels,like this generations', have a half life that is better than the standard CRT TV. Tells you something.

I use mine as a monitor as one of its duties also.


I have ALL the desktop icons put into 1 folder on the desktop so they screen looks 'naked'. I do not use any themes on the desktop and I have the background (the one that fills the screen)color set to black.

I made a screen saver of high definition images that kicks in after 1 minute and cycles through each picture after 10 seconds.

With all that, I have NO worries about screen burnin.

I should not worry about half life cause in that many hours, I will have replaced it anyway with a $500,70",1080P Plasma but you hear this all the time 'what if they are wrong?"

Thry have been wrong a zillion times - Thalidimide,DDT,etc.
Same reason I don't do the Lasik surgery. What if they are wrong about long term effects and cataracts 20 years from now?


Look at DVD's they started exhibiting rot like the laserdiscs until they changed the glue (well something like that). That was just one or 2 yars ago they found that one out.


I do see your dilemma because I believe the rebate and lower price ended today.

I did see this neat thing the other day at Best Buy. The concept is very commonplace but the execution and cost was what intrigued me.

It was around a 70" inexpensive screen that retracted into a a box that was the diameter of a box of alluminimum foil on the ceiling and had a projector that sat on a table which did 1024x768 (or 1280x768 as I forget) using LCOS.
Why not have that come down in front of the Plasma just for gaming and PC stuff?


The only thing that is immune from burn in is a DLP,unless I am mistaken, but then you have to deal with a $250 bulb replacement in 2 years OF AVERAGE use.

Joe

Rhino2g...
I bought my unit from CC website and I too have a service call in for what is clearly a defective unit (shrinking/shifting screen image)...CC service informed me that a defective exchange does not require you to "return" and re-purchase, so you should not be concerned about paying anymore than you have already..(this includes NO loss of rebates, too, should you have submitted one)...
as for life expectancy...Zenith spec sheet states 60,000 hours (roughly 20 years if you were to use your TV 8 hours a day!!!)
hope this helps

Ok gentleman. Some new revelations in the drama. I know prices are forbidden, but we're not talking rebate or sale price. We're talking better than a thousand under retail. and I went and talked to the slaes manager at CC(used to work there) and he told me if I return it they return value, not TV. so I would have to pay 800 more to get one at the sale price. I called and set up a zenith service appt for Friday. We'll see what he says. What I have figured out is that its the computer causing the problem. I turned my TV on this morning and watch HD cable for 3 hours. No red glitter. Came home on my lunch break and surfed the internet for 45 minutes and here comes the red. Once its there, its there on every inpt, like it's just hanging around. U turn the TV off for a while and it goes away. I come home and intentionally avoid the PC input for a couple hours and the red never shows up. I think its a PC signal problem. Don't laugh at me when I say I have a PC with onboard video running with a basic VGA cable to the TV. The new question for the pros is could a crappy signal be the cause of these waves, and if so, would upgrading the video to one with a little more memory and a DVI/Svideo output show me a noticeable gain. Thanks for all the help guys.

Joe, I hear (see?) what you're saying about the HD-Lite issue. Did some research and found a form letter that I (with editing) sent to DirecTV. I'm sure it's better to call, but their awful service of late has already taken up WAAAAY too much of my time on the phone with their "robots."

Anyway, the salient point of the email I sent then was this:

"I want to express my opinion about the decision of having HD channels that transmit naively at 1920x1080i downgraded to 1280x1080i (HD Lite) In DIRECTV?s advertising they specifically say that they offer their services in more than 2 million pixels. A 1280 x 1080I offers 1,382,400 million pixels. This number is substantially lower than what is currently advertised."

My PRICELESS reply was this:

"Thanks for asking about high-definition television (HDTV). We broadcast most of our HDTV programming in 16:9 format since most HDTVs have a widescreen display with that ratio. If we receive signals from our programmers with content in the 4:3 format, you may see black areas on the right and left edges of the screen that make the image fit the viewing area.

If you have a square (4:3 aspect ratio) HDTV, and we broadcast the HD signal in the 16:9 wide-screen format, you may see black areas at the top and bottom of your screen.

Please visit DIRECTV.com/HDTV for more information about HDTV from DIRECTV."
_____________

So, for my troubles, I got a canned primer on ASPECT RATIO(!) from someone who clearly did not read my email. I won't--actually CAN'T-- post my reply on this forum. You're all too decent for such language... :D

I saw that this set has some anti-burnin features. Does anyone know if they are any good?

The Orbiter works just fine and I use it all the time. You always have to reset it in the menu though if you do anything else in the ISM portion as it defaults to Normal. Use the Whitewash after doing something dumb like leaving DVD menus onscreen for hours or channels with letterboxing. It helps to ease the anxiety and will quickly eliminate or greatly lessen anything left onscreen, depending on the severity of the problem. In my experience, after that, simple usage with normal content will remove any remaining sticking image.

Joe,

We're obviously way OT with the DirecTV HD-Lite issue. Is there a better place here at AVS to post? I found one, but it got OT or ticked someone off or something, and now it's closed. Would love to keep this alive in the appropriate place. (BTW, I just discovered DirecTV rates an "F" from the BBB. Nice....)

Anyone get there rebate back yet? I sent mine in mid-December and still nothing. The website that was listed on it didn't work the last time I checked.

Anyone get there rebate back yet? I sent mine in mid-December and still nothing. The website that was listed on it didn't work the last time I checked.

It works now:

www.acbrebate.com/zenith

My "page" shows the rebate as being accepted as well as a check cut AND sent on 1/4/06...but an e-mail response back from zenith stated that the site is WRONG, the check HAS NOT been sent yet.

Amazing....

I think its a PC signal problem. Don't laugh at me when I say I have a PC with onboard video running with a basic VGA cable to the TV. The new question for the pros is could a crappy signal be the cause of these waves, and if so, would upgrading the video to one with a little more memory and a DVI/Svideo output show me a noticeable gain. Thanks for all the help guys.

NO and a qualified yes.

Why would we laugh? We are not talking about a 20" LCD monitor designed for a PC running at a 100Hz and displaying at 1920x1080 Progressive.

I say no to the first because I looked at the service manual but logic would have answered you any way.

There is a discrete switch in the TV which is connected to the A/D convertor.
So, if the thing is not set the RGB, then the PC signal is not going near the TV.

If you had a wacked out ground on your PC it would do something strange no matter what because the ground plane is common and if your ground shield on the VGA connector had some voltage on it rather than being at groud then sure - wierd things would happen.

But you have obviously unplugged the VGA connection from thre TV.



As far as the qualified YES to answer, you did say DVI and S-Video.
Don't mean to insult your intelligence and I am sure it was a type but S-Video would look awfull. Don't need a High def TV for that effect to happen.

The DVI connection I find is a tad better than component but it takes the Avia resolution pattrns for these eyes to be sure it is not just my imagination.

Bummer about the price issue.


EDIT:
Before you rush out and buy a graphics card, let me report back on my experiment.

My HTPC curently uses a Radean 9600 (took it from my regular PC) connected via DVI to the TV.

Because I swiped the Radeon from the 'regular PC for the HTPC, I
bought (forget the darn model right now and the grill is done) a reasonbaly high end DVI Nvidia card because my PC display is a 20" LCD monitor that supports DVI.

I immmediatly noticed that the PC monitor's picture with the DVI Nvidea card was a bit sharper than when running with the Radeon 8200 and DVI.

I am going to swap cards over the weekend and see if I can tell a difference on the Zenith.

Obviously, I will report back my findings.




Joe

_____________

So, for my troubles, I got a canned primer on ASPECT RATIO(!) from someone who clearly did not read my email. I won't--actually CAN'T-- post my reply on this forum. You're all too decent for such language... :D

That is because the letter got delivered to the 'Advanced Robotic Support Department'

I did get the A ,R and the S in the name:) Hillbilly for a***

Ever notice how the panoramic farm scenes in Smallville look so DARN great?

That is because Mark Cuban threatened to pull HDNET and HDMMV from Directv if they downrezzed his channel - at least that is what I read.

Must be right if I read it in the newspaper. After all, most of the newspapers are run by the DEMS and they never mispeak the tuth.

What I DO know it that his channels are the ONLY ones in 1080i becuase I am able to record in High def and I have a program that busts out the header contents.
One of the many things it tells you is the resolution and bit rate.
That as how I made that table a few posts back.

does anyone know what scaler the zenith has to upconvert signals?

has anyone noticed slight banding, when viewing something dark against a light background? I noticed this occasionally when viewing sporting events and a dark textbox shows up.. it looks like a band extending from the top and lower edges of the textbox..

I've noticed it again when connecting my laptop to the screen, and viewing a webpage.. As I was scrolling the screen up I noticed the bands moving up along with the webpage..

After seeing the Sony DVP-NS70H on the Zenith through the HDMI, I decided to return the OPPO OPDV971H. The colors from the Sony were so much more vivid and blacks deeper; the OPPO colors looked washed out. If you have the OPPO, try this test: connect the OPPO to the Zenith through Component and watch The Incredibles and The Iron Giant, then connect through the HDMI and see difference in color. On the downside, Sony can't play DivX, can't play PAL content, and no known region hacks...but, WOW, the picture is eyepopping! I'm going to wait a few weeks for the newer Sony DVP-NS75H.

Anyone who is still experiencing the "Flashing" while playing DVDs from an upconverting DVD player thru the HDMI input cares to comment exactly what is causing the flash? As for me, sometimes it flashes during DVDs playback and sometimes none at all. Is it simply bad circuit board built into this TV? What are some of you doing to resolve this? I've purchased this TV from BB and I'm still within the 30 days, would you recommend having BB exchange for another one or is it simply a defect with this TV? Then I would run the risk of getting the same problem down the road. I'm using an OPPO OPDV971H. If I can control the "Flashing" then I live with it but it just simply to flashing sporadically. I got a great deal on this TV and really love the features/pictures so I would hate to return it. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Haven't had the flashing for some time. I determined I only had it when cycling through inputs. Now that I have my Harmony Remote set up and I just go right to the input for each activity (instead of "cycling") I no longer get the flashing. Ever. Very sweet!

Also, regarding that Sony DVD player. I bought it solely as a test and found that it looked MUCH better with this TV than several others. Very pleased with it. Oddly enough, I can find almost no info on it, review-wise. Seems like it's a bit of a "stealth" unit. Enjoy the set and the player!

Currently, I use MYHD or TheaterTek at 1280x720 as my upconverting DVD player but I am starting to get a little frustrated with all the things that I use my HPTC for being not 100% reliable.

I do have a Pioneer standalone but that is solely used for it's DVD-A and SACD capabilities. It's PQ is kinda cruddy compared to my venerable Panasonic RP-91 (which I brought out of storage to do another A/b test on my various DVD palyers)

I am thinking about ditching those methods of DVD playback in favor of a nice reliable ie. turn it on, push button and start watching method of DVD upconversion.

I read snippets in here about this thing called an OPPO and a Sony.

Is there a consensus in this thread among the Zenith owner's regading which upconverting DVD players provide the best picture?

Thanks for any comments/opinions you all want to give out.

Joe

I have a question about the ISM method and using it in the orbiter mode...
does this actually move the entire screen image every so often from left>right>up>down etc.
every couple of minutes?
i was looking at my screen while changing DVD's and noticed about a 4 pix. left shift...scared the s*** out of me... checked later.. no shift.. then remembered i had the orbiter mode on..
is this what i saw?? thanks dmr

My Z50PX2D has been laid to rest in an unmarked grave due to a terminal vertical line on the right side of the screen. I should receive a letter authorizing BB to issue me another set this week.

I opted for the extended warranty and assumed that this was an add on to the one year Zenith warranty. BB said that this is not actually the case. They said that I should have called them and they would have arranged for the on site repair attempt and would have then directly done the swap. Woulda saved some time.

Woulda shoulda.

Well, anyway... getting through to Zenith has been pretty easy. I've made about six calls to track my 'problem child' and have always gotten a real human pretty fast.

Looks like my set is an outlier. Really miss it and can't wait to get my new Z up and running... hopefully within a week or two.

Byron

My Z50PX2D has been laid to rest in an unmarked grave

Byron

Sorry to hear, well at least you are covered, I guess I am glad I got the 4 yr warranty, cuz you never know when something bad might happen.

BTW pics of my setup, let me know what you guys think.

http://webpages.charter.net/jkeener71/HomeTheater1.JPG

http://webpages.charter.net/jkeener71/HomeTheater2.JPG

http://webpages.charter.net/jkeener71/HomeTheater3.JPG

I almost bought this tv today. I'm a little cofused though when everyone says it's the same as the LG. The LG and Zenith were right next to each other at CC. I made sure the video settings were exactly the same on the two TVs. The thing I noticed is that skin colors looked reddish on the Zenith compared to the LG. Second was the blacks. Someone on the TV was wearing a black shirt. On the LG, the blacks looked good and I could see the outline of the pockets and the buttons very clearly. The Zenith did not look as sharp. The black shirt almost looked like one solid black compared to the LG. Just wondering if something was wrong with the TV or that is how the Zeniths are. I really want to buy this TV today since it is in my budget but I'm just concerend I may not be happy with the colors.

I have a question about the ISM method and using it in the orbiter mode...
does this actually move the entire screen image every so often from left>right>up>down etc.
every couple of minutes?
i was looking at my screen while changing DVD's and noticed about a 4 pix. left shift...scared the s*** out of me... checked later.. no shift.. then remembered i had the orbiter mode on..
is this what i saw?? thanks dmr

as a matter of fact..YES...that is exactly what you are seeing...a few pages back in this tread I posted a question to all regarding a "shrinking" image issue that I was experiencing and was worried that I had a defective unit...(after having a CC tech come out and he couldn't figure it out) I went to CC, asked a few questions regarding my issue and the salesman helped me do a little experiment...we set the Orbiter mode on both the Zenith and LG units and within seconds they all "shifted" the image in all directions...this is the Orbiters function. It shifts the image in order to minimalize the chances of burn-in...it is an effective process, however, it takes a bit of getting used to on a constant basis...I recommend utilizing the Orbiter mode when watching a channel that has a stationary Channel marker (ie: ESPN, USA, TNT)

This TV is not EXACTLY the LG model, but it's really close. I don't know what's different, but there are some differences I recall reading about somewhere on the web (not this forum, I don't think).

I'llsay this: whatever is different, I do think it allows th LG for a slightly better PQ with a HORRIBLE signal (like what you get in the store). But at home, with a good signal, I think the difference would be darn near undetectable. It's a great set and an even better value, particular on sale or with a rebate.

Cyberock,

Well, I've seen the set's 'guts' and all the IC stuff that I examined had LG markings. And in the store where I saw both the LG and the Zenith, the PQ clearly favored the latter. I would bet that, if the settings were actually the same, then there were some external variants at work (i.e., the signal inputs, cables, whatever).

Anyhow, based on my experience with my recently deceased set, the blacks are very good on the Zenith. Others Zenith owners here seem to back that up.

Perhaps you can check out the Z at another store?

Byron

I actually bought the TV last night. I got it for 2418 plus tax from Best Buy by doing a price match to Ken Cranes. I'm just still debating on it. I went to two different stores to look at uit. Like I said, CC looked red heavy and not so detailed. Best Buy looked slightly reddish and not so detailed as others. Now I'm going through the shock of getting quotes to get it mounted. Best Buy wants $500 plus mounts to mount it. I started pricing around and it still looks like it's going to be costly. I wasn't ready for that extra cost so I may be returning it before getting it.

Best Buy wants $500 plus mounts to mount it. I started pricing around and it still looks like it's going to be costly. I wasn't ready for that extra cost so I may be returning it before getting it.

Or just do a TV stand like I did, yes the one (see post above) no one has commented on. :confused: :)

Well jkeener I was still busy looking for the kitchen sink in there :) I've identified the computer, the printer, the xbox 360, the xbox (with the dvd ir insert), the a/b switch box. I'm guessing the bottom left is the receiver and one (or both) of the top shelf is a dvd player. Is that a phone cradle in the middle shelf? what's the rest of the stuff? As far as the stand goes, I'd second that. Unless you have a real space issue. You still need somewhere to put all your components as JK has demonstrated :) Just kidding JK I'll try and put up a picture of my settup so you can get back at me. :) It'd be nice to see what everyone has done with the setup of this set. I know a couple of other people posted pics earlier. I picked up a home theater mag this weekend that just about made me drool with some of the setups. I will see what I can do about getting mine up this evening.

Now I'm going through the shock of getting quotes to get it mounted. Best Buy wants $500 plus mounts to mount it. I started pricing around and it still looks like it's going to be costly. I wasn't ready for that extra cost so I may be returning it before getting it.

Mount it yourself. It took me a grand total of an hour. No biggie.

Most of that time will be spent finding the dead center of each stud that you will be bolting the mounting plate to.

Mount it yourself. It took me a grand total of an hour. No biggie.

Most of that time will be spent finding the dead center of each stud that you will be bolting the mounting plate to.

Nervous about mounting it myself. I can never find the studs. I have a cheap stud finder but it never seems to work well in my house since the person we bought the house from put a thick layer of plaster on the walls to hide any imperfections. Every time I drill into these walls, plaster chips off so I want to make sure someone who knows what they're doing is putting it up.

another newbie question for the group:
1080i vs 720p when using component cables from HD cable box??
if the native res is 720, does the z50 "rescale" the picture if 1080i is the input from the box?
which should give the best PQ?
thanks again dmr

another newbie question for the group:
1080i vs 720p when using component cables from HD cable box??
if the native res is 720, does the z50 "rescale" the picture if 1080i is the input from the box?
which should give the best PQ?
thanks again dmr

I believe this has been answered in other posts DMR but the short answer if I remember correctly is yes it will rescale it, and the best picture quality depends on which item has the best converter. If you put a high quality 1080i signal through a low quality 720 converter, the picture is going to have the quality of the 720 converter. On the other hand if you pass a high quality 720 signal through a low quality 720 converter no conversion is done since it is already in native resolution, and therefore it gets the quality from the 1st source. At least thats the way I understand it. Maybe others will chime in.

Well jkeener I was still busy looking for the kitchen sink in there :) I've identified the computer, the printer, the xbox 360, the xbox (with the dvd ir insert), the a/b switch box. I'm guessing the bottom left is the receiver and one (or both) of the top shelf is a dvd player. Is that a phone cradle in the middle shelf? what's the rest of the stuff? As far as the stand goes, I'd second that. Unless you have a real space issue. You still need somewhere to put all your components as JK has demonstrated :) Just kidding JK I'll try and put up a picture of my settup so you can get back at me. :) It'd be nice to see what everyone has done with the setup of this set. I know a couple of other people posted pics earlier. I picked up a home theater mag this weekend that just about made me drool with some of the setups. I will see what I can do about getting mine up this evening.

The thing one the top shelf left side is my laptop.
DELL Inspiron XPS Gen2 which I play my Guild Wars on, the computer is really a file/print server.

I'm getting really close to returning this TV before it is even delivered. It just seems so red heavy everytime I look at it at a Circuit City. I tried going to another Best Buy buy their's was all screwed up with red dots all over the place. I also watched standard television from DirectTv at Circuit City and thought it looked horrible. I might just stick with my rear projection TV for now. I really wanted to like this since the price is right. I just might need to wait another year. :(

Cyberock, I'm not trying to be rude, but it seems you already have yourself talked into not wanting it so I doubt you are going to be happy with it regardless of how it looks. You don't like the picture. You don't like what it costs to have it mounted. You don't want to mount it yourself. The only thing you do like is the price. If all you puchased on was the price there are a lot of tv's out there that are much cheaper. I'm not sure if you are here needing vindication on a major purchase or are just here to dis the tv. Personally I think it looks great as do a lot of other people here. Also CC has a 30 day return policy. Why not get it in your house, get it adjusted to your liking, and go from there? Of course then if you do decide you don't like it, you do have the hassle of the whole return thing so if you don't want to deal with that, maybe you better wait another year.

Its not that I made up my mind. I'm just feeling really confused. I read a lot of great reviews in this forum. Then I post outside the Zenith thread and the replies are that I bought an "ok" tv. I'm just baffled when I read the reviews and then I look at the Zenith next to a Pioneer or Panasonic and wonder to myself why the skin tones look so red on this TV. for the mounting situation, I've decided to buy the same stand as jkeener71. That works perfect for me! I was worried about having the TV down on a stand since I have a newborn on the way and I'm thinking to myself that I was going to soon have a toddle putting their hand through it. Didn't realize the front is glass unlike my thin plastic front on the rear projection. I'm probably just going to take delivery and see what I think of it in my house. I've read other people complaining about the red push. did people figure out how to correct that without the suggestion of messing with the red cable?

I haven't done anything fancy to account for the red push, but I have settings more or less as follows (after the first 100 hours or so):

Color more or less at 30-35
Brightness, sharpness, and contrast around 60, give or take 5-10
Temperature - cool
Occasionally move the tint a notch or two into the green, depending upon what I'm watching.

To me, things look pretty decent like this. Possibly still a little more reddish than I'd like, but it may be that I'm looking for it. When I pay attention, even on my little 20" CRT, lots of skin tones look more red than I would expect.

cyberock.. i have had this Z50 for a month now and i am still amazed at how great the PQ is and how fantastic watching a DVD is!!! for the money, i don't think there is a better option available.... next year will be a diff. story!! there will be several sub 3K 50in plasma TV's.. and many other options including new tech.. I was not overly impressed with the "HD" feed at my local BB when i was shopping for 50in plasma's. once in my home and connected to a good feed... "WOW" is all the feedback i have been getting from all viewers.....as far as red push.. adjust it out if you think it's to much..
my ONE and ONLY complaint about this tv is not having two HDMI inputs..
other than that... BUY IT AND TRY IT! dmr

Cyberock, glad to hear that you are at least going to give it a try. Yes it does tend a little to the red but can be easily adjusted to acceptable levels. With the stand and little ones, I would probably use the wall brackets included with the set to insure it doesnt get tipped over if grabbed or climbed on. As promised here's a couple of pics of my setup. As you can see Jkeener i'm a minamalist, just the cable box, the receiver, and the dvd (soon to be switched out for the upconverting one sitting in the closet). Although I love your xbox on it, mines set up with the old tv so the grandkids dont mess with this one.


http://users.adelphia.net/~a7thson/02200005b.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~a7thson/02200006b.jpg

I can never find the studs. I have a cheap stud finder but it never seems to work well in my house since the person we bought the house from put a thick layer of plaster on the walls to hide any imperfections.

I paid something like $15 from Home Depot for a stud finder and it had 2 modes.
It is not like the old timey kinds that looked for the magnetic nail head.

It sends out some kind of sound wave and I could NOT use it on the second mode because it would find the studd 3 inches away. The package warns you to only use the powerful mode if you have Plaster walls or the kind of sheetrock used behind tile in bathrooms.

It is easy:
You simply use the thing to find each side of the stud.
Then poke holes around each side and stick a nail in to make sure you have found the exact edge of the stud.
Do that twice for each stud and then you can use a T Square(what I use anyway) and draw a line down the wall.

The beauty of this is that you can make a royal mess with the sheetrock if you want and if you made sure the work was done in the area to be hidden byu the TV, no one will ever see it.

If you sell the house, 15 minutes to spackle in the mess, 5 minutes the next day to sand and 10 minutes with a paint brush and you are done.

Trust me - My skills are in electronics. I really suck at carpentry and I was able to do this and I know it is done RIGHT.
Bet it is done better than a pro since the bolts are positively in the middle of the stud - you think they are going to be that detailed?

I hate to see you walk away from a wall hung Plasma or LCD over the cost of something that I know anyone with an IQ over 100 can do:)

I have have the big box RP HDTV's, the 14" deep DLP projection's and there is NOTHING like a Plasma (or LCD) hanging on the wall.
Asthetically.it just blends into the room. instead of taking over the room as well as being able to see a Plamsa in a biright room and from really wide angles because of their technology.

At the very least, go to Sam's Club and buy the considerably less 50" Vizio and use the savings to pay a carpenter.
Picture is not as good but the beauty of the way the mind works is that (unless it REALLY sucks) 10 minutes after you have compared a TV picture to another one, either one looks good.

Its not that I made up my mind. I'm just feeling really confused. I read a lot of great reviews in this forum. Then I post outside the Zenith thread and the replies are that I bought an "ok" tv. ?


Well, that is what it is. It is an OK tv. One that we have found to be a very good OK tv.




It is like cars.
This is much better than that (no offense to some folks - just using as an example) other Korean brand that I forget (NOT Hyundai).
Compare the good brand car that you like and are thinking of buying to a normal Acura (not talking the really high end models) and all of a sudden it does not come off so good.
Compare it to an Audi A8 and you would probably buy nothing. Course, that car is over $80K with the V8 and all the cool stuff that you can read about if interested:)

I would say, in and of itself, this is a very good, though not great TV. For the price however, I believe it is a great TV. Moving up to "truly great"requires a good bit more $$$. And to me, the PQ diference between "very good" and "great" is not worth THAT much. Now, if money were no object... but, of course, it is... You can, without a doubt, buy a better set all around. But it's gonna cost you plenty.

Maybe instead of being overly concerned with what a bunch of folks on the web say (myself included), you should ask yourself what kind of TV do YOU think you have?

I've read a lot of pros and cons regarding this set, and there's truth in both. But at the end of the day, when I watch this set, I think it's a VERY good set for the money. I get the impression that's what the majority of the folks here think. But then again, what do THEY know? :p

Cyberock, glad to hear that you are at least going to give it a try. Yes it does tend a little to the red but can be easily adjusted to acceptable levels. With the stand and little ones, I would probably use the wall brackets included with the set to insure it doesnt get tipped over if grabbed or climbed on. As promised here's a couple of pics of my setup. As you can see Jkeener i'm a minamalist, just the cable box, the receiver, and the dvd (soon to be switched out for the upconverting one sitting in the closet). Although I love your xbox on it, mines set up with the old tv so the grandkids dont mess with this one.


http://users.adelphia.net/~a7thson/02200005b.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~a7thson/02200006b.jpg


Nice setup.

I still love my old xbox, I just like my xbox 360 a little more right now. :)

Just curious as to who's still seeing "the flash" and when.

I sat down with the wife to watch "LOST" "live" on Wednesday night....they were replaying the pilot (2 hours). The opening "scene" was 20 minutes long....no commercials....so I used the internal tuner to see just how good the feed looked OTA. After the 20 minutes were up I went back to my HDMI input and started watching a movie off of my HDTIVO...and BOOM within 2 minutes the flashing was there...and STAYED there for the duration of a 2 hour movie!!!!

So, I can pretty much say that hands down, it's the OTA tuner viewing (in my case for any period of time longer than 5 minutes or so) that's causing the flashing when I go back to a different input (i've seen it on both Component inputs as well as the HDMI input---the only inputs I utilize on this TV).

I picked up one of these T.V's yesterday.. so far it's great I'm very happy. I had a question about the packaging.. do I need to keep the original box incase a problem arrose within the first year to have it fixed by Zenith?

jaypb,

Now that I have my dvd player connected via component and my Sat. box on HDMI (with my OTA antenna running into Sat box). I no longer have any flashing at all.

My Harmony remote takes me right from HDMI to Component, which eliminates the "cycling" through each input I had to do before, which ALWAYS gave me the "flashing." (Before that, I found that getting the TV to whatever input I ulimately wanted to watch and then turning the set off would leaad to no "flash" when I turned it back ona few minutes later).

Of course, now it's all good and I really like this set!

I am curious that if I were to get a universal remote could I make it so it went to the correct tv input via some code in a macro? I hate having to hit the TV input button on the remote 6 times or so when needing to go from component 2 to component 1. Am I missing something completely? This just seems retarded any insight would be helpful. Thanks =)

I am curious that if I were to get a universal remote could I make it so it went to the correct tv input via some code in a macro? I hate having to hit the TV input button on the remote 6 times or so when needing to go from component 2 to component 1. Am I missing something completely? This just seems retarded any insight would be helpful. Thanks =)

Me thinks "it is what it is" as far as using the remote to jump between inputs on the Zenith remote (button in the top RH corner...or the top LH corner for the "antenna" input control).

But, you CAN go into the menu (under Setup??) and use a few button pushes to get to the input you want by just scrolling up/down with the remote that way. But it's STILL too many button pushes for my liking.

I've *thought* about going the Harmony/OFA remote route....but I haven't been irritated enough to do that yet.

:D

FWIW, if you get the Harmony, you won't regret it. Even my mother can very easily operate the majority of my set-up using the Harmony. Plus, they have the best customer service/tech support I have EVER encountered. No hyperbole... they are truly the best.

I don't know how they can afford the phone support they provide, but it's awesome. I once spent 45 minutes with a tech just setting up and trying out all kinds of stuff-- this was for fun, as we had long before solved whatever issue we were working on. Then the guy just kept giving me ideas and info that I could take or leave. At the end of the call, I hooked up my remote to my computer, got all the new settings downloaded and tried it out. Very sweet! (plus,it solved my "flash" issue-- double bargain!)

Apparently I'm the only one with a terminally ill Zenith. Back on 2/3 (a Friday) the TV doc attempted and failed at an in-home repair attempt. On 2/6 (Monday) he sent Zenith a diagnostic report. Based on that information Zenith apparently told him that they would replace my set. And now, about 12 phone calls later Zenith CS is saying that they didn't receive a report from the repair person (refaxed today per my request), didn't receive a proof purchase from me (now faxed twice) and have not resolved my case....

...My take is that Zenith customer service is disorganized. Essentially to have a set replaced requires three steps: 1) diagnostic data from repair service, 2) proof of purchase from owner, and 3)... well, I haven't reached that step yet.

Anyhow I'm getting a might worked up and will be calling Zenith again this afternoon to confirm that they do, in fact, have items 1 and 2 above. While I really do like the set I'm to the point where I just want to get my $$ back and move on (fat chance).

Byron

Hi - bought the Zenith in January with the Best Buy sale and rebates. Couldn't be happier. No issues at all - excellent pq with TWC Houston Digital Cable. Hi-Def looks great, even the digital standard def channels look good.

Thought I would share a pic of my setup as others have done. Paired w/ my Harman Kardon 520 Receiver and matching Paradigm speakers (fronts embedded w/in the cabinets) I see no reason to ever go to the movie theater again. :)

Looking forward to picking up an XBox 360 and an upconverting dvd player - although my Harman Kardon DVD-22 via Component looks real nice. Only issue is with burned movies where the compression rate causes some artifacting.

http://home.earthlink.net/~bmagick/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/tv1_medium.jpg

Thought I would share a pic of my setup as others have done. Paired w/ my Harman Kardon 520 Receiver and matching Paradigm speakers (fronts embedded w/in the cabinets) I see no reason to ever go to the movie theater again. :)




brimagick...very sweet looking set-up you have going. I am very impressed with the sleek, simple and clean design...kudos to the designer (I give it 2 thumbs up :cool: ) ...is that store bought cabinetry or did you have it custom made?...

brimagick...very sweet looking set-up you have going. I am very impressed with the sleek, simple and clean design...kudos to the designer (I give it 2 thumbs up :cool: ) ...is that store bought cabinetry or did you have it custom made?...

It's actually the Ikea Magiker line of furniture. After stepping up from a tv that was 43 inches wide I had to get a bit creative with the center shelving. The unit used to have a two center shelves flush w/ each cabinet, but the new tv was too wide to use it. So I bought two glass shelves (rated enough to hold the paradigm center channel) and then put one left and one right to create a virtual bridge, using the tall vase to fill the gap. My friends can't believe I did this all by myself :)

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who chimed in about me giving the TV a try. It came today and I must say it looks really good. I actually started feeling better about the purchase last night when I stopped in a circuit city and saw the Lakers game on it. It looked beautiful, just as good as any of the other plasmas. I think I looked at the TV in about 6 different stores and last night was the first time I thought it looked good.

I'm just paranoid about the whole burn in thing now. My wife wanted to watch the Rent dvd on it today and I told her not until the TV has a couple hundred hours of use. Don't know how long it would take for the bars on the dvds that use that really wide format, I think it's 2.40:1 to burn in.

I actually watched Rent on it last night and it's not a problem. And I only have 66 hrs on my set. I was paranoid about burn in at first too but if you bring the levels down to what people have recommended here it doesn't seem to be a problem. There's also the orbiter and the whitewash. Use it - enjoy it - That's what you got it for right?

Nice setup brimagick. Very clean and classy. Mine looks so cluttered compared to that (see below).

http://i1.tinypic.com/op4k1i.jpg

First thing that went through my mind when I saw brimagick setup is he sure doesn't live in California. I wanted to place my center channel on a shelf above my tv but I'm so afraid of an earthquak knocking things down on my TV. The benifits of living outside of California, no worries of things falling on your TV or even your TV falling down.

http://www.rusteco.com/images/misc/tv1.jpg
http://www.rusteco.com/images/misc/tv2.jpg

great looking setups guys. I have mine in a room thats 9 by 12. Its really small but wow does it make a good theatre room!

I have the smaller 42" Zenith one and love it here is some pics of it on the wall. I"m not finished with it I'm still waiting on my glass to be cut for my rev. and cable box.

Ok, glad to see everybody chiming in on the pics. :) I like Brimagick's setup with the light wood and no door over the components, I personally always hated mine hanging open every time I was watching something. Unfortunately for me there's no Ikea anywhere near me. But I no longer have that problem with the new stand I found. It's not quite what I wanted but it does the job.
Eagles' speakers look like they would put out some serious sound, make's mine look like whimpy little things. I hope you don't move much though :) And it doesn't look cluttered at all. Where's the center channel speaker? Don't use one, or just can't see it in the pic?
I love Cyberocks' dvd stands. Where the heck did you get those? And are the contents dvd's or vhs? Either way that's quite a collection. Couldn't you mount your center channel on the wall above the tv like I did mine? If you did it right the possibility of it falling during an earthquake would be minimal. The cable would show on the white wall but I'm sure you could get something to hide it some. Luckily I have the wood trim to hide mine somewhat.
V6 Would love to see another pic when you get it done. I like the wall mounting and have been thinking of doing the same but I haven't re-done the room that it's in yet and I'm unsure of what's behind the walls. I don't think they studded out the block walls when they finished the room. my guess is just strips with styrofoam insulation. What did you mean by your rev. and cable box? I didn't quite follow that one.

Eagles' speakers look like they would put out some serious sound, make's mine look like whimpy little things. I hope you don't move much though :) And it doesn't look cluttered at all. Where's the center channel speaker? Don't use one, or just can't see it in the pic?


Those speakers are Celestion Impact 40's. They will raise the roof, but more importantly I think they sound awesome. I do have a center channel, it's hanging from a wall mount just above the top of the frame in that picture. I'll post a head-on view later sometime. The camera flash reflects from that angle, but it'll give a little better idea of the layout. The wood opening behind the TV is the stairway to the lower level. I originally planned to hang the plasma in the center of that opening with a ceiling mount of some type, but finally decided to just use the stand I already had.

I love Cyberocks' dvd stands. Where the heck did you get those? And are the contents dvd's or vhs? Either way that's quite a collection. Couldn't you mount your center channel on the wall above the tv like I did mine? If you did it right the possibility of it falling during an earthquake would be minimal. The cable would show on the white wall but I'm sure you could get something to hide it some. Luckily I have the wood trim to hide mine somewhat.
I forgot where I found those dvd stands. I had to find something since I was running out of room with those flat bookcase type of stands. those things hold I think around 500 dvds. Yes, all dvds in them. I have over 1100 dvds now. I plan on mounting that center channel soon to give myself some more room on the stand.

I love Cyberocks' dvd stands. Where the heck did you get those? And are the contents dvd's or vhs?


I got mine at BB online last July when I ordered my plasma. You can usually get Maple or Oak finish w/Black like Cyber's or all Oak or Maple like mine. I've even seen some all Black. Check out BB entertainment furniture section online. If they are sold out (quite common) do a Google on the manufacturer and product using the BB info and you should find all the vendors you need.

You will not believe the rickety-looking little plastic circular track that makes the whole thing work. I was expecting some ball bearing unit and had my doubts when I saw what came but this little sucker just works like a charm.

Here's a more widescreen view of my setup. You can see how the center channel is mounted above:


http://i2.tinypic.com/ounnya.jpg

Does anyone have the Component1 input calabrated from HDNet's pattern? If so what are your numbers?
I have a friend who has this Plasma and I'm trying to get him "close" to NSTC. Thanks!

Glad you guys are having good luck with your Z50PX2D's. I'm still working on a replacement for my sick Zenith. Customer service is easy to reach but, man, trying to get them to move is pretty annoying. Last Friday I spoke with a manager (Roger) who finally gave me the correct fax number... the wrong number was given to both me and the repair shop. That kinda slowed the process... stuff going to who-knows-where...

Anyhow, Roger said that a replacement deal would take about seven to ten working days. I hope so. Been without my Zenith for about five weeks now and I would love to wash my hands of the whole thing and buy another set... but looks like I'm married now.

Getting closer... Got a call from Sarah at Zenith telliing me that a letter has been sent authorizing a replacement set for me. I'll just have to take the letter over to Best Buy and, assuming things finally go okay, present them the letter and set up a time for a new Zenith plasma. Could the end actually be near? Will happiness finally come to the vidiot? Is that light at the end of the driveway the Best Buy delivery truck? Be sure to tune in next week.

Byron

Getting closer... Got a call from Sarah at Zenith telliing me that a letter has been sent authorizing a replacement set for me. I'll just have to take the letter over to Best Buy and, assuming things finally go okay, present them the letter and set up a time for a new Zenith plasma. Could the end actually be near? Will happiness finally come to the vidiot? Is that light at the end of the driveway the Best Buy delivery truck? Be sure to tune in next week.

Byron
Good luck! My only question is, does your Best Buy have anymore? I know I bought the last one at my local Best Buy and it seems like all the local ones are out of them now.

Anyone except me and gby experienced either of these two problems?

Well, last night it got worse, by surfing the channels using both Fav button and entering channels directly, my 4 favorite channels went to 3, then to 2, then to 1. I still haven't figured out what caused them to drop off by itself... Anyone has a thought?


I have the LG 50px1d and I am on my 3rd set and each one has been doing the dropping channel bug. This is the first time I have found any one else having this problem and LG support has never heard of this bug.

I am not sure what is causing it or how to fix it without returning it for a 3rd time and trying again. I hope someone has an answer to this problem.

Thanks.
Brad

Getting closer... Got a call from Sarah at Zenith telliing me that a letter has been sent authorizing a replacement set for me. I'll just have to take the letter over to Best Buy and, assuming things finally go okay, present them the letter and set up a time for a new Zenith plasma. Could the end actually be near? Will happiness finally come to the vidiot? Is that light at the end of the driveway the Best Buy delivery truck? Be sure to tune in next week.

Byron

Byron...
glad to hear your coming to the end of the "my Zenith done died, and I aint's got no plasma" blues ;) ...no one should have to go through what you went through, but you (like the majority of us here) will be enjoying your set soon...Although your road was long and frustrating, it is a lesson to all of us that Zenith has stood by it's product (though not in the quickest of fashions) and will come through for you with a new set...Your earlier posts of frustration and desire to purchase a different set should hopefully turn into no more than a "story" to share with your great-great grandchildren, about the time the "lights went out in plasmaville"....
best of luck to you!...look forward to your next post where you return to the glory days of happy HD plasma viewing along with the rest of us! :D

Craig

Thanks for the words, guys...

...Cyberock, the Z50PX2D is no longer available at BB... your observation is correct. Whether nor not it is a discontinued model or not, I don't know. But what that means is that I'll have to select another set. The local BB told me that they expect some of the new Panasonics in a couple of weeks and I could swap out for one of them (plus the price difference). I'm leaning that way but I noted that the BB price for the xxx60u Panny is actually above the suggested retail price (I'm pretty sure that we are not to mention exact $$$).

Anyhow, I plan to meander back with my soon-to-be authorization replacement letter and try to swing a better deal on perhaps the new Panasonic or, if the pricing is still nuts, a Pioneer. But I'd happily take another Zenith because the set is really very nice.

Brad, you seem to have run into a unusual problem... but on three sets? Hope you have luck finding a set without some sort of senility issue.

Personally my biggest regret about my tv troubles is that I'm just getting over a bug and I coulda spent all that extra time at the gym. Gotta workout hard to make up for that couch time in front of you-know-what.

BTW, this forum continues to be a source of excellent information on the AV world.

Byron

HI Byron, well its not me, actualy I just found that at least 3 other people in have posted this problem in this same zenith thread. So it is not just me but it is strange to have 3 that all do the same problem..... at least I know its not just me and that both the LG and the almost identical Zenith both have the same problem, even though LG support has said no one has ever reported this problem before. I just wonder how many sets I am going to go through untill I get one that works.

Brad,

Well, after three sets, I'd look into a 'lemon' swap. I never used that feature on my departed Zenith so it would not have been an issue. But obviously there's a bug in the electronics and since the set seems to have come to the end of its career you might have no other option than an alternative brand. And I haven't seen any information on the 'net' suggesting that Zenith is going to offer another rebadged LG.

Byron

Figured I'd mention it since I brought it up over a month ago. I mailed the forms in right after XMAS and my check (which arrived today) was dated 1/4/06....yet it arrived today 3/4...go figure. 2 months for a check to arrive!!!

HI Byron, well its not me, actualy I just found that at least 3 other people in have posted this problem in this same zenith thread. So it is not just me but it is strange to have 3 that all do the same problem..... at least I know its not just me and that both the LG and the almost identical Zenith both have the same problem, even though LG support has said no one has ever reported this problem before. I just wonder how many sets I am going to go through untill I get one that works.

Are you losing channels from your QAM tuner, OTA tuner or the regular non-digital tuner? Just curious if you notice any picture issues (see the aforementioned "Flashing" that a subset of us have experienced that is mentioned a few pages back) when you go to the other inputs on your LG (component, HDMI, etc...)

:confused:

HI Jaypb..

I have just basic cable.. run strait in to the set and I have an antena..
so it scans and gets tv, dtv, catv and cadtv channels.. it looses them from all the internal tuners.

I have not noticed the flashing problem on the current set but I also have not been watching it much.. so it might happen..when its been running longer? not sure only switch between tv and component 2 (dvd player with digial optical audio).

I am going to swap the tv on more time..CCity is doing the swap in a few days and we will see what happens with this new one. Just seems strange that the tunners in 3 tvs would be bad..on of the tvs had kind of a bad pq so I don't mis that one(grain and bit soft no matter what settings I used on the hd channel).

I got this tv at such a good price I am willing to play this swap game for a little while and if the next one is bad then I think its panasonic here I come(I will miss some of the features of the LG and the 2 year warnt. but I am haveing a hard time time beliving that this product will ever be right.

Anyone using a MYHD MDP130 with the Z50px2d? I just bought a fusion HDTV 5 light and am pissed that when I output with my vidcard to 1280x720 through hdmi, that I have to reduce the resolution to 1192x676 due to overscan..

Does the MYHD output through component work as a normal 720p signal? with no overscan?

to those with buzzing,

Got my electronic boards swaped out yesterday and the buzzing appears to be gone. If you have noticable buzzing, call up Zenith and get them to send you new boards and then a tech to install them. Another fix is just to buy some acoustic ceiling tiles at homedepot and lean them on the back of your set...just make sure not to block the air flow.

Happy camper,
Jeff

Are you losing channels from your QAM tuner, OTA tuner or the regular non-digital tuner? Just curious if you notice any picture issues (see the aforementioned "Flashing" that a subset of us have experienced that is mentioned a few pages back) when you go to the other inputs on your LG (component, HDMI, etc...)

:confused:


I'm one of the "three" that BradClark quoted as having problem of losing "Favorite" channels. I haven't used that function for a long time since it was unreliable. But, if I recalled correctly, I lost channels from both the QAM and OTA tuners.

No, I haven't noticed any of the "flashing" that some people mentioned. For what it's worth, I have OTA antenna, regular cable (not digital), DVD (component 1), and VCR (composite). I cycle thru the inputs quite regularly. I plan to get one of them programmable remotes, so I can go to each input directly...just for convenience, not because of flashing.

So did you get it fixed mfan? or what happend? did you just use an external tuner and never get it fixed?

So did you get it fixed mfan? or what happend? did you just use an external tuner and never get it fixed?

I never got it fixed. It's something nice to have, but not required. So, I'm waiting for something else to go wrong before calling for service.

I don't have any other tuner, so still using the internal tuners for basic cable and OTA signals.

I did finally mounted it on the wall though! It's great! My TV is in the master bedroom. We're watching CSI Miami last night in bed. The picture was unbelievable! Even my wife said it looked awesome! Amazing! :p The cabinet it was previously sitting on was too low. We couldn't see the lower 1/3 of the screen without sitting straight up in bed and stretching our neck up. :o

I picked up the Z50PX2D yesterday at a great price. I'm already thrilled with this set. PQ out of the box is great. I backed down the settings to "break in" levels, and I will do some more specific tweaking after I watch it for a while. For my money, I couldn't justify paying more for a pioneer or panny. Great TV!!
Anyway, as a lurker, I just wanted to say thanks to all for the great information in this thread.

Byron,

Be prepared for best buy employees to look at you strangely when you show up with your swap letter. They don't really know what to do with it (or at least they had half the store over looking at my letter to see if it was a joke or something)

I had a 42" zenith that was replaced, and I had many of the same problems that you had with getting Zenith service to take care of me with my sick Plasma.

Good luck getting a new TV...I ended up getting a Panasonic as a replacemnt because they no longer carried the Zeniths. I would have had to pay the difference for the replacement, but since it was the sam price, I ended up getting a replacement for free (after all the trouble that I went through with the original, I would argue it cost me a couple months of my life)

D

Byron,

Be prepared for best buy employees to look at you strangely when you show up with your swap letter. They don't really know what to do with it (or at least they had half the store over looking at my letter to see if it was a joke or something)

I had a 42" zenith that was replaced, and I had many of the same problems that you had with getting Zenith service to take care of me with my sick Plasma.

Good luck getting a new TV...I ended up getting a Panasonic as a replacemnt because they no longer carried the Zeniths. I would have had to pay the difference for the replacement, but since it was the sam price, I ended up getting a replacement for free (after all the trouble that I went through with the original, I would argue it cost me a couple months of my life)

D

This Friday at 9:00 I have to call the TV doctor and schedule them drop off my Zenith carcass at BB. I have to meet them to sign the death certificate. Then, since the Zen is no longer available, I have to "adopt" another plasma set. Right no its between the new 50 inch 60u Panny and the Pio 5061. And, naturally, I have to make up the price difference. At this point I'd like a set pronto. The pannies are going to be available by the end of the month. The Pio's are in stock but we all know that the BB price on the 5061 is nasty, nasty, nasty. My guess is that they'd easily knock the 5061 price down by (your guess here) that would put it within maybe $700 of the Panny. So what to do?

Frankly, if the Zenith was still available, I'd have no beef with getting another. Great picture.

And BTW, you are right. When I revealed my replacement letter to the BB crew, they were somewhat dumbstruck.

BTW, the sales guy claimed that the Pio 5061 was not the same as the 5060. He said that the 5061 got the really good premium parts, unlike the inferior (and cheaper elsewhere) 5060. Yeah, sure. Nice way to avoid a price match:)

Byron

greetings everyone.
I purchased this set the day before the super bowl, and I really love it. The only thing I have it hooked up to is an xbox 360. I have a few quick basic questions.
Please note, I have been away on vacation for about 3 weeks, so, please bear with me.

I'm going to get a Time Warner HD cable box, and hook my hdmi cables to it. Does that mean that I will have to unplug xbox 360 hdmi cables and plug in cable box hdmi cables everytime i wanna go from xbox to tv and back?

2. When I get my hdmi cable box, is there anything special I should or need to do? My thinking is just plug the hdmi cables in, put em in back of cable box, and I'm good to go.

3. I've got an old SOny dvd player(about 5 years old) and am seeing alot of people posting about upconverters etc. Am I better off watching dvd's through my xbox 360, or should i go out and get a new dvd upconverter thing?

4. Anyone have a suggestion on which brand and model of upconverter dvd player is good with this tv?

Also if anyone has any little tidbits of info that a new HDTV owner could use, please pass em my way. I really like this tv, and would like to get the max out of it.

Lastly, any xbox 360 owners out there, who wanna play, look me up. Gamertag is Tool Aenima

ToolFanRay

1. You could get an HDMI switch. Monoprice has a good one.

2. My HD cable box required minor setup. I had to pick my resolution level (540p, 720p, or 1080i) YMMV.

3. I personally have found the xbox 360 to be a mediocre progessive scan dvd player. Of course these things are subjective, so you'll know whether you like it on your tv after you watch it a little bit.

4. A lot of people like the Oppo upconverting player. I've got the Samsung HD-941 myself, and am happy with it.

Which HDMI cable are you using with the 360? I know Pelican has one, but I haven't found them to be readily available.

Bob Dob

has anyone used the 0ppo upconverting player with this t.v.? if so have you experienced any of the macroblocking issues? I have the lg lda-511 hooked up to this t.v. with the upconvert throgh component and it has a awesome picture with 1080i selected. i am not using the hdmi for the lg dvd player but for the dish network vip622 hd-dvr receiver, (also awesome picture. pajer

ah ok so it was just the fav. and not the channels that it was looseing?
p.s. 4th tv today...and still doing it, loseing the channel after I turn it off. I don't know if
it is some how me or some kind of crazyness at the factory making them but I am done.

Hey bob dob.

I am using the Microsoft brand hdmi cables for my xbox 360. Using anything but the hdmi cables will get a picture thats not nearly as good. I'd try Call of Duty 2 or Tiger woods and do the before and after and you should see a nice difference. Should be readily available at any electronics strore. I really recommend them.

ah ok so it was just the fav. and not the channels that it was looseing?
p.s. 4th tv today...and still doing it, loseing the channel after I turn it off. I don't know if
it is some how me or some kind of crazyness at the factory making them but I am done.

What do you mean by losing channels? Do you mean that after scanning and finding a set of available channels, then some drops off later when you try to watch them? Like, say, you got channels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 after scanning, then when you surf the channels later to find it goes from 2, 3, 5, 7?

If this is what you're experiencing, then does it happen on QAM, OTA, or both tuners?

TooFanRay
Are you maybe talking about the Component cables for the 360? Microsoft stated a while back that they aren't going to produce HDMI or DVI cables for the 360, and I can't find any indication that they are making them now. Pelican has an HDMI cable for the 360, but I'm not sure if it's even on the market yet.

Which upconverters have you guys used and found to be really good? This is all new to me, so i checked a few web sites, and got some good info. But, if you guys have any specific models that you found, and liked, or found that werent any good, i'd like to know.

Preferebly ones I could get at a nation chain like CC or BB. I'm a bit nervous about buying tihngs over the net, and its always easier to walk into a place and return or get a refund.

Thanks yall for all the info, its really appreciated
Ray

Which upconverters have you guys used and found to be really good? This is all new to me, so i checked a few web sites, and got some good info. But, if you guys have any specific models that you found, and liked, or found that werent any good, i'd like to know.

Preferebly ones I could get at a nation chain like CC or BB. I'm a bit nervous about buying tihngs over the net, and its always easier to walk into a place and return or get a refund.

Thanks yall for all the info, its really appreciated
Ray

Try the Sony DVP-NS70H, it should be available at any brick & mortar store; the newer Sony DVP-NS75H should be out by the end of this month. I returned my OPPO after seeing the Sony (both via HDMI) on the Zenith.

So is there a huge difference using an upconverting DVD player when using it with the Zenith? I have a panasonic hacker special dvd player (dont' remember the number, but it plays just about anything I throw at it) that outputs 480p and I'm pretty happy with it. Just wondering if I'll see a huge benefit from getting the upconverting dvd player.

Folks,

I am just one more happy recent owner of this Zenith plasma.
I have a couple of presumably stupid questions that I hope you might explain to me...

I have noticed that component input picture that I get on Zenith is actually better than the picture from HDMI input. I do observe it on both set top box (Motorola 6412 from Comcast) and on DVD player (I bought upconverting Toshiba SD-K850 at Costco). This confuses me a lot because as far as I understand HDMI picture should be better in all circumstances since it is pure digital and does not pass through analog/digital conversions.
Why is component picture better? What am I doing wrong?

Second question... My DVD player is upconverting, so that I can select 480p - 720p - 1080i modes when playing back DVDs. I understand that this upconversion should only work on HDMI output, correct? However, I do not notice any difference in picture quality (maybe very slight or just imaginary). And, regardless of what mode I select, component picture still looks better. Why does it work this way?
My guess is that possible the TV itself has the automatic upconversion feature thus negating all effects of DVD player upconverting the signal. Is it true? If yes, does it make any sense to have the upconverting DVD player then?

One more little question... I understand that "what is better - 720p or 1080i" is more a religious than technical question. However, since this Zenith has native plasma display resolution of 1366x768, I presume it displays the 1080i picture by downgrading it to fit to 768 lines. If this is true, then upconverting DVD signal to 1080i doesn't look a good idea since the TV will then downgrade the signal back to 768 lines. Therefore, it would make much more sense to use the 720p mode... Am I correct here?

Last but not least... I have about 200 hours on this TV already, so I start thinking of leaving the burn-in mode (I have currently all picture settings set to 40) and calibrating the TV for getting the best picture possible. Can you advise the calibration procedure? Is there such thing as a calibration DVD for Zenith? Any other hints?

Thank you so much in advance, I really appreciate your help. I am not the video guru but I really want to optimize my TV set as much as I can.

Well after reading all the reports that everyone has left , I have decided to join all of you and buy the Z. Considering that I have been researching and looking at sets since Sept of last year this makes me very happy (along with my wife who was ready to kill me if I said, "Hey let's go look at sets at this place" again) to finally get this done.

No real pressing questions but I was curious to know who has theirs connected to a receiver and did you bypass the set's speakers or do you have both connected? I am planning on hooking it up to my HK receiver with Paradigms all the way around but wondering if there is anything that I should be aware of first before doing so. Also going to be connecting a HTPC functioning as my dvd player and mp3 player so I know I will end up having some questions with that once I have it all set. So those of you that have done this, I would like to apoligize beforehand because I will most likely have a ton of questions when I do this.

So just would like to say thanks for all the info and once I have it all set up hopefully I will get some pics up for everyone to see! :D

Michael

Hi everyone - I got my Zenith around a month ago after reading all the great advice and intel in this thread - thanks so much! So far I am very happy with the picture quality, color, etc. with this set with one enormous but: the aspect ratio settings!

I'm on Time Warner in NYC and connect via an HDMI cable; with the exception of 16:9 programming on an HD channel, almost everything else either cuts off too much of the screen or visibly distorts the image. Between the aspect options in the cable box and those in the TV itself, I just can't seem to get things right.

Previously I had a Panny EDTV and the "Just" setting worked perfectly with the exception of a couple of shows on one station; fortunately, the Panny allowed me to both move the image up and down and stretch or shrink the image in both dimensions, so a little tweaking always ended up with a good result. Is there any way to do that with the Zenith, or are there any other suggestions on how I can fix it? Will moving back to a component cable help? Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi everyone - I got my Zenith around a month ago after reading all the great advice and intel in this thread - thanks so much! So far I am very happy with the picture quality, color, etc. with this set with one enormous but: the aspect ratio settings!

I'm on Time Warner in NYC and connect via an HDMI cable; with the exception of 16:9 programming on an HD channel, almost everything else either cuts off too much of the screen or visibly distorts the image. Between the aspect options in the cable box and those in the TV itself, I just can't seem to get things right.

Previously I had a Panny EDTV and the "Just" setting worked perfectly with the exception of a couple of shows on one station; fortunately, the Panny allowed me to both move the image up and down and stretch or shrink the image in both dimensions, so a little tweaking always ended up with a good result. Is there any way to do that with the Zenith, or are there any other suggestions on how I can fix it? Will moving back to a component cable help? Thanks for your thoughts!

I think you'd probably be most happy with the "Horizon" ratio. It stretches more on the edges than in the center of view. Much less visible distortion than the other modes IMO. The only channels it looks really bad on are ones that have a scrolling ticker (Bloomberg, etc.).

Unfortunately, this ratio isn't available over HDMI or DVI. It is usable over component though. Give it a try and see what you think.

What ratios are available in the Time Warner box?

What do you mean by losing channels? Do you mean that after scanning and finding a set of available channels, then some drops off later when you try to watch them? Like, say, you got channels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 after scanning, then when you surf the channels later to find it goes from 2, 3, 5, 7?

If this is what you're experiencing, then does it happen on QAM, OTA, or both tuners?


yes exactly only after I turn the tv of and then back on.. on all tuners.. cable or antena..digital or regualr..

4 tvs.. I don't belive that all 4 had a bad tuner it just seems imposible since no one else seems to have had this problem.

Ah well I gave up and just got a cable box so it is my tuner now and the tv is my display(really I could have paid 2x as much for a fuji and it did not have any tuner so I will just get the tech guy out some time this month to look at it).

Well, I'm still working at getting a replacement for my dead Z50. Last monday I received a letter from LG authorizing a swap. I went to BB and showed them the letter. They were unimpressed. They said that I would have to have the set shipped back from the repair shop to their location... then they'd do the 'swap'. So today off I go to BB to meet the repair guy with my stricken set and sign off. Once that's done I tell the BB service person that I want to put the price of the set towards a Panny 60u, which is now listed in their internal inventory system. She says that, no I can't do that but I must pick from what's currently in stock.

Well I think not.

We go around awhile... time passes....

But then it seems that the swap has not been cleared by the BB corp office and I can't really do a swap for anything.

So sweet....

She says try back in, oh, maybe a week. Her boss is hoovering the background and I have an instant hatred for him. I'm like going feral and I can feel the hairs on my arms starting to rise. I start having Bruce Lee fantasies. Hey, I really do do that stuff... been in hundreds of legit fights and now I want to cross that line... gotta get control... gotta fight it... no plasma TVs in the slammer, eh? Besides, by the time this gets resolved, Panasonic will have released their twelfth generation set.

Earlier today I had my nice little Audi serviced. I spent less time at the Audi dealer than I spent scowling at the floor in the BB.

Gotta stop and go kick a dog and spit on a child...

Byron

Wow, I received my $400 rebate from CC today! I submitted the rebate on Feb. 10th and it only took a month to process. Sweet! :D

Wow, I received my $400 rebate from CC today! I submitted the rebate on Feb. 10th and it only took a month to process. Sweet! :D

Wow. That's warp speed compared to the $200 rebate that it took ACREBATE (or some such BS name like that) to process for me....check was dated 1/4...and they didn't even SEND out the damn check until 3/1! I got it on 3/6 IIRC.

Amazing! But the deal is done. End of story. But another reason why I FEAR rebates :(

I'm STILL waiting for a rebate check from Linksys that was *supposedly* being processed back around Thanksgiving time!

I was considering the Z at one point in time but missed the $400 rebate. If it were black with a silver Z I would have been all over this TV! Talk about looking sharp!

Take care!

D

Hi everyone,
I recently bought the Zenith too at BBB (good price with 10% and a $400 rebate (which arived less than 4 weeks later). I am having one issue not so much with the set but with my audio reciever. when ever I turn the reciever on I get this humming noise whether the Zenith is on or off. When I unplug the Zenith from the surge it stops. I tried plugging in the Zenith directly into an outlet and I'm still getting this noise. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.
John
;)

If it were black with a silver Z I would have been all over this TV! Talk about looking sharp!
If you want something looking sharp - why don't you buy Sharp? :D

yes exactly only after I turn the tv of and then back on.. on all tuners.. cable or antena..digital or regualr..

4 tvs.. I don't belive that all 4 had a bad tuner it just seems imposible since no one else seems to have had this problem.

Ah well I gave up and just got a cable box so it is my tuner now and the tv is my display(really I could have paid 2x as much for a fuji and it did not have any tuner so I will just get the tech guy out some time this month to look at it).

Hmmm... About 2 months ago, I experienced the similar channel losing problem you described. But, it only happened on the QAM tuner with digital channels. I then noticed the problem was not the tuner, but the cable company. Comcast was redoing their channel line up and was changing them around. By redoing the search, I was able to find all missing stations. They were just remapped to different channels. It's been stable since then.

Wow, I received my $400 rebate from CC today! I submitted the rebate on Feb. 10th and it only took a month to process. Sweet! :D

ditto on the $400 rebate...4 week process from start to check in hand!!!...
FYI, if anyone is interested in a little bonus $$...submit your review at pricegrabber and enjoy... :cool:

Ok, there doesn't seem to be much happening but the rebate thing...which I missed out on...But I'm not complaining I still feel it's a good deal on a 50" plasma. so lets see if we can get some chatter going on the High Def part of the set. Here's a listing I came across http://www.tvpredictions.com/fall2005hd092605.html It has a bunch of who looks good in high def who doesn't etc. It's kinda humorous. So tell me What shows, stars etc do you think look good in HD on the Z. Personally my favorite star so far has been the new Bond Girl Eva Green in the Dreamers on Cinemax HD. The show I like best has to be Rides although some of the other stuff on Discovery HD looks really good too. I remember someone else liked JLH in ghostwhisperer. Let's see if we can get some chatter going in here and maybe create our own best/worst 10 lists.

Not too much happening? I think we're all just sitting back enjoying our nice TV!
I received my rebate by the way, not the $400 BB rebate, the $200 CC rebate. Too bad we cant discuss what we paid for this set 'cause I think many who paid the same for a 42 inch Panny would be kicking themselves.
I have my set hooked to our family computer and can surf the web on a nice 50 inch screen with my wireless mouse and keyboard. Totally removed the ugly computer table sitting on the corner of the living room.
My local cable provider doesnt offer FOX in HD. Bought a $6 antenna and pick it up just fine when the family wants to watch Idol, 24 and House.
I think I get some of the flashes that others have noticed but it doesnt bother me (yet).
3 months after purchasing this TV and I couldnt be happier! I will say it doesnt look as big as when I first took it home. Glad I didnt opt for a 42 inch set.

Aren't you glad you bought the Z now? http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060317/tc_nm/philips_plasmatv_dc

An interesting note in the article "Philips this week confirmed to Reuters that it could not meet demand for its flagship liquid crystal display (LCD) flat TV sets, due to production problems involving high-quality display panels from its key supplier LG.Philips LCD."

LG is LG it's Zenith and it seems in some part it's Philips too. How many other pots do they have their fingers into?

Well, I liked my Zenith for the three months that I had it. The BB corp office seems to have finally cleared me for replacement. In my case that means crediting my credit card for the replacement set that I picked up last week... one of the first Panasonic 50PX60U's. While the Panasonic blacks are excellent and the SD pq is impressive, I'd still say that the overall pq of the Zenith is pretty nice and is an excellent value for the price that many of us actually paid.

Fortunately for me BB lost the records of their sales to me so I provided them with the original receipt, which was not what I actually paid for the set. That will help make up for the seven weeks of foot stomping (actually I was polite).

Now it's off to the Panasonic section. Hope you guys (and gals) have good luck with the 50PX2D's!

Byron

here I am, watching the NCAA on CBS-HD and I can't help but continue to ask myself, "how black does black need to be?"...in all the forum discussions and reviews I've ever read regarding plamas, I continue to read comments refering to units like Panasonic and Pioneer that have superior "black levels" over most other plasma units on the market...
perhaps it's just my Z (yeah, right) but I can't imagine my black levels being any better than they are now...the black levels on my Z are so vivid and bold and the contrast between the blacks and the colors is amazing...the longer I have my Z the better it gets...can't imagine spending more to get the same (IMO)...

So I ask you all, how "black" is your black?...

I know what you mean.... it's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.

Clearly, the black levels of this set "go to 11." :)

here I am, watching the NCAA on CBS-HD and I can't help but continue to ask myself, "how black does black need to be?"...in all the forum discussions and reviews I've ever read regarding plamas, I continue to read comments refering to units like Panasonic and Pioneer that have superior "black levels" over most other plasma units on the market...
perhaps it's just my Z (yeah, right) but I can't imagine my black levels being any better than they are now...the black levels on my Z are so vivid and bold and the contrast between the blacks and the colors is amazing...the longer I have my Z the better it gets...can't imagine spending more to get the same (IMO)...

So I ask you all, how "black" is your black?...


I don't know about others, but when I think about good black, it's not just how dark it is, but also the amount of details that are still visible within a dark scene.

Yes, the "black" on my Zenith looks very dark and its contrast with lighter colors is very impressive. However, when I compared it with my 8-yr old Sony RPTV side by side, I noticed the Sony's black is just a dark shade of grey in comparison, but it displayed much more details in dark scenes. For example, while watching the same night scene on both. On the Zenith, the dark background would just look black with very faint outline of something that can't be distinguished... On the Sony, I could easily make out those outlines were doors and windows of a distant building and a truck parked next to it in the darkness. I had to turn up Zenith's brightness to 90+ and contrast to <30 to make some of those details visible. If I didn't have the two side by side, I would have never realized what I was missing... :(

mfan is right about some loss of detail on this (and lots of other plasmas) in the darkest areas of the picture. That said, I rarely see anything where that's a huge issue for me.

To me, it's like people (not you, mfan,just folks in general) who are singularly focused on the power rating of an amp. Yes, that's important, but that is just one part of the overall sound equation so, often, you are much better off with an amp that has lower wattage, but has better overall sound quality. Same with this TV. When I factor in everything I like about this set (and it's a lot) the loss of a bit of detail in the darkest scenes is MUCH less of an issue. Of course, for those to whom black level is the Holy Grail, well, this ain't the set for you. For an all around good viewing experience with a slim form factor and a price that won't bankrupt you, then go get yourself one of these. Heck, get two! :)

I had my Z calibrated a few months back by Eliab over at AVICAL (great job BTW...very knowledgeable, conscientious and efficient) and the greyscale on my 50px2d was WAY off in every regard. IIRC, the high end was up near 11000 or 12000k with the low end ending at around 5000k or so before calibration.

Using the service menu settings a SLEW of adjustments had to be made to get the greyscale correct. In addition, when we were done (IIRC), either the contrast or the brightness were up near 90. When he was done at every IRE, K was very close to 6500.

Look the dude up if you're interested in getting your Z calibrated. He spent about 5 hours in my hacienda...and he includes you in what he's doing every step of the way....just wished I'd paid more attention and even took notes! :)

www.avical.com

He also writes a column each month for an online mag:

http://americanwired.com/video/theviewingangle.html

I brought this TV about one and half month ago. This is the second set. I exchange the first one from Best Buy because it was having buzzing noise issue. It took me a few week to do because Best Buy won't believe me intially and believe buzzing noise is a normal plasma attribute. What a bunch of B.S. It's NOT normal when the buzzing is noticable.

Now the new set is experiencing flashing problem when I watch DVD connected via component. This is very annoying. I think this is will the last Zenith product I will buy regardless of the price. I'm having too many problems and I believe Zenith's quality control suck. I know some of you would says well buy a better brandname then. I don't expect it to the best plasma, but I didn't expect the quality to be this suck either.

Anyway, since my 30 return policy is over, can I get Zenith to service the flashing problem? I know one solution that work for some of you is to use the Harmony remote. Is there any other solution? I think this seem like a defect to me.

thanks.

...Anyway, since my 30 return policy is over, can I get Zenith to service the flashing problem? I know one solution that work for some of you is to use the Harmony remote. Is there any other solution? I think this seem like a defect to me.

thanks.

Did you get a BB extended warranty? If so, go through BB. If not be prepared to make many phone calls to Zenith/LG. My set died late in January (panel failure) and I finally things resolved this past weekend. By that I mean credit towards my current set. Luckily I snagged one of the first Panasonic 50PXU60's.

Actually I found it pretty easy to get through to customer service but I just couldn't get anyone to follow through. For example, for two weeks CS kept giving me the wrong fax number. The most helpfull person was a manager (Roger) but usually CS would blow me off, saying that I couldn't speak with him.

Sweet, eh?

Byron

got mine one week ago, really like the picture. Have no cable or disk, OTA signal has being good. Can get channel 4, 5, 7, 9, 26, 50 and some others we don't care. So far only miss channel 20.

Hi everyone
Hope your all enjoying your tv as much as Me. Anyway, to make a long story short, roomie went crazy on the house cleaning, and sprayed the tv with windex. Now, the glass on my tv is all streaky, and I have called c.s. and they have said to take a small cloth, run warm water over it, squeeze as much water out, and then wipe the tv. I've done this, and the water still leaves streaks. I called my local service center, and they said the glass isnt under warranty, and that it would cost between 250 and 500 bucks to replace it. My tv is only 2 months old, does anyone have ANY suggestions on what to do? any help is sooo greatly appreciated thank you. BTW, I got the extended warranty from CC if that helps any at all
Ray

If it seems like you've made any improvement at all, I'd try the same thing again. Maybe a few more times if needed. You might slowly but surely remove all the windex residue.

perhaps isopropal alcohol...or simply green? always test a small area first!

These always seem to work wonders. I find it odd that windex made streaks...is there a film on the glass that I don't know about?

Use an automotive glass cleaner. It is made for glass with tint and doesn't include any amonia as household windex and other glass cleaners do.

Last missing piece is the surround sound set up:

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showgallery.php/ppuser/61358/cat/500

Will probably wallmount it eventually....eventually..... :rolleyes:

Basically when i do it, i use a very very lighty damped cloth, run it over the screen, then go back over with the same material, but a dry one, and let air dry over night. I dont really see any sort of film. What i do see is loads of streaks where you can see exactly where i wiped the glass. I found out that she used Oxyclean, and NOT windex.
I've worked around with simply green before, and I know its like environmentally safe blah blah blah, but, you th ink it would work on the tv?:

I have the opportunity to get the display model at best buy for ~$1600, anyone have any thoughts that would discourage me from doing so?

Are there any methods to check the "on" time in the menu somewhere?

Thanks

I have the opportunity to get the display model at best buy for ~$1600, anyone have any thoughts that would discourage me from doing so?

Are there any methods to check the "on" time in the menu somewhere?

Thanks

You'll need the remote. Press and hold the "menu" buttons simultaneously on both the remote and the front of the TV. After 5 or 6 seconds a service menu will pop up. You need to repeat the process (hold down both "menu" buttons) and a second service menu will appear with the hours on (among other things).

Exit out of these menus by pressing "menu" on the remote only.