I feel you should stay with a good quality progressive scan DVD Player. Watch how much you pay or you might as well get the Toshiba HD-A1 that plays reg movies and HD movies. I would stay away from the upconverting DVD player as the scalers in the NEC are far better, or turn the setting to 480i out on a upconverting player.

I am awaiting delivery of a NEC 50XR5. Purchased a Peerless 660 wall mount. Also decided to ditch my 5.1 setup due to limited space and layout, as we are moving our TV viewing to another room. Bought the Yamaha YSP800 all in one speaker, so we will see how that works out for TV and movie viewing. Will be getting HD TV via cable and a Motorola 6200 box.

I have an older Sony S530D DVD player that I was going to move over for now, except it is one of those orginal "big" players. Built like a tank. The new ones are much thinner and smaller, and will fit better. It seems that you can pick up a decent player for $150 - $250 these days.

What should I be looking at for playing "regular" DVD's on the XR5? Not interested into jumping into a true HD players until things settle out. Should I be looking at a Progressive scan player, or will an "upconverting" player deliver a better picture than Progressive scan on an XR5? Any brand recommendations?

I did do some seaching on this forum as well as the DVD forum but could not come to any conclusions. Quite frankly, I have spent most of my energy and research over the last several months trying to decide on what type of TV to buy. A new DVD player was not even in my thought process until now. Thought I would ask this question in the NEC thread to get the best recommendation from NEC owners.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
I was in your extact same boat... and I did do some pretty extensive research on DVD players and by the end of the Panel Research and Buy Process then the DVD Reasearch and Buy Issue I was exhausted. In retrospect, there are a number of pretty good (not world class) DVD players for $200 or less. The DVD player forum is very active... and very opinionated.

You could save your self some headaches and just take a look at a couple.
I can vouch for:
OPPO 971
Sony NS75H

I have an XR50A and an OPPO 971 ~$200 and it is a great pair, I can answer that I am not seeing MBE with the OPPO (a possible concern). I also tried the Sony NS75H for ~$130 looked and sounded very good too. I kept the OPPO becuase of a few minor features (upgradable Firmware, and I would have had to ship it back) But I recommended to Sony NS75H to my Father in Law, and it works great. There are several other, but those of the 2 I have tried, I also tried the Denon 1720 a 480p player over component and it was fine too, but I like the OPPO and Sony better.

EDIT : BTW I leave both these players in 480p mode, and with repsect to the OPPO it has an excellent de-interlacer (480i-> 480p), and then you stay in the digital domain via DVI-> HDMI and let the NEC excellent scalar takes it from there to native, so you can see even Chris and I have slight different views/opinions here.

Another Gentlmen infocalypse that pairs his 50XR5 with the Denon 1920 (a little more expensive) and said the results were excellent.

So ...... In Short.... if you are tired an want a No Brainer... Walk down to BB or CC and buy the Sony NS75H or Order an OPPO and join "The Cult" :) for me it made a huge difference over my ancient DVD player.

Can someone using the 50XR5 on its table stand please measure the distance from the top of the cabinet (on which it rests) to the bottom of the viewscreen?

Trying to figure if there's enough height allowance for a low center channel placed right in front of it. Thank you!

I feel you should stay with a good quality progressive scan DVD Player. Watch how much you pay or you might as well get the Toshiba HD-A1 that plays reg movies and HD movies. I would stay away from the upconverting DVD player as the scalers in the NEC are far better, or turn the setting to 480i out on a upconverting player.
I'm in the same boat - don't want to spend too much $$ on a DVD player, given that highdef DVD is on the horizon. You might consider the Oppo player, then - send 480p out over its DVI port to the NEC (via DVI-to-HDMI) converter ... many folks on this forum have reported great results with this.

I was leaning in this direction myself - OTOH, I'm almost certainly not going to buy a 1st gen highdef player (meaning my current player's gonna be with me for 1+ year, at least) ... so *now* I'm thinking (since I also want a player that'll support SACD/DVDA) of the Denon 3910 ;)

Chris, a question for you - you say send 480i into the NEC panel if possible ... I agree that the NEC's internal scaler will likely do a better job than many DVD players' - but when we're talking about players like the Oppo or 3910 (which have rated very highly in Secrets' DVD benchmark), would it not be better to have the DVD player perform the deinterlacing, and send a 480p signal into the NEC?

In the case of a superior player like the 3910, in fact, I'm wondering if perhaps it'd be just as good (or better) to have *it* scale up to 720p/1080i, then send this to the NEC.

Would appreciate folks' thoughts on this, particularly those that have done A/B comparisons of these scenarios!

Can someone using the 50XR5 on its table stand please measure the distance from the top of the cabinet (on which it rests) to the bottom of the viewscreen?

Trying to figure if there's enough height allowance for a low center channel placed right in front of it. Thank you!
I think the tech specs are in one of the manuals but here are my measurements.

Measured from my cabinet.
3 3/16" to Bottom Panel
4 7/8" to Bottom of Glass
5 1/4" to Bottom of Pixels (actual Display Area)

And for Me.... Nope my center Channel is now a Slightly Off-Center Channel ;)

BTW: The stand is a Piece of Art both Engineering Wise and Aesthetically

....
I agree that the NEC's internal scaler will likely do a better job than many DVD players' - but when we're talking about players like the Oppo or 3910 (which have rated very highly in Secrets' DVD benchmark), would it not be better to have the DVD player perform the deinterlacing, and send a 480p signal into the NEC?

In the case of a superior player like the 3910, in fact, I'm wondering if perhaps it'd be just as good (or better) to have *it* scale up to 720p/1080i, then send this to the NEC.

Would appreciate folks' thoughts on this, particularly those that have done A/B comparisons of these scenarios!
Ahhh ....And so here we go again.... ;)

I can say Unequivocally and Un-Scientfically that with the OPPO and the NEC in terms of PQ from best to worst was 480p best by a Fraction over 720p and 1080i was the noticeably least best... (hows that for poor english!)

There was quite a disucssion on this a while back starting around here...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7426058&&#post7426058

an continuing over the next several pages with some good insight from several members including the knowledgable cpcat unfortunately I don't think it included the 3910... but of course that is is quite a bit more expensive DVD player than a $200 or less player.

And for Me.... Nope my center Channel is now a Slightly Off-Center Channel ;)

BTW: The stand is a Piece of Art both Engineering Wise and Aesthetically

Yup, my center channel is a 3 ft below the display channel.

I agree, the stand is quite stylish...

Chris, a question for you - you say send 480i into the NEC panel if possible ... I agree that the NEC's internal scaler will likely do a better job than many DVD players' - but when we're talking about players like the Oppo or 3910 (which have rated very highly in Secrets' DVD benchmark), would it not be better to have the DVD player perform the deinterlacing, and send a 480p signal into the NEC?

Those are good DVD players, however I trust the scalers in a high end panel more than a DVD players' scaler. Try it and do a test and see what you like better, ultimately you are the one watching :)

Those are good DVD players, however I trust the scalers in a high end panel more than a DVD players' scaler. Try it and do a test and see what you like better, ultimately you are the one watching :)
Ahhhh good point my friend...., but we need to keep in mind that there is 2 steps, De-Interlacing and Scaling when going from DVD to Panel... and the Chipset in the 3910 and OPPO are best in class Faroudja de-interlacers (I do not know what De-Interlacer the NEC uses but it clearly is very good accroding some folks and my own eys when watching 1080i HDTV)... and I would agree that then using the NEC Scalar is an excellent solutions...

Ahah! Thats what I am doing using the best in class Faroudja De-Intelacer and the Best in Class Panel Scalar to get my best PQ.... for a $200 player...that sound you hear is me patting my self on the back :cool: ...hahah... boy I am silly today!

Heres the chain....
DVD 480i -> Oppo de-interlaces to 480p using Faroudja Chipset (and some other good stuff 3:2 pulldown etc) -> 480p sent to NEC -> NEC Scales to 768p ..... ahhh life is good.

There are some other things that go on in the DVD player to be aware of like the MPEG decoder, good chips there make a difference to ... the OPPO uses MediaTek a leader not sure what Denon uses, think it might be the same.

Now there is a new much anticipated player coming from Oppo that will provide 480i over and HDMI interface... that will be an interesting test... however that player will NOT have the Best in Class de-interlacer if you desire to use the progressive output.... Plenty of threads and info on the in the DVD Players forum

Now there is a new much anticipated player coming from Oppo that will provide 480i over and HDMI interface... that will be an interesting test... however that player will NOT have the Best in Class de-interlacer if you desire to use the progressive output.... Plenty of threads and info on the in the DVD Players forum

I've been playing around with the HQV Benchmark DVD and it appears the NEC 480i processing over component is above average but not stellar. I would suspect this is the case with many high end displays as most of the design probably goes for 480p/720p/1080i processing (as it should IMO). I'll bet the 480i over HDMI is similar, but obviously I can't test that as I don't have a 480i dVI/HDMI player.

I'll try to post some results when I get the chance.

cpcat, on your new Toshiba A1 HD-DVD what have you settled on as an output resolution for STD Def DVD's to your NEC? (sorry couldn't find it in quick search)

cpcat, on your new Toshiba A1 HD-DVD what have you settled on as an output resolution for STD Def DVD's to your NEC? (sorry couldn't find it in quick search)

1080i without a doubt. This is confirmed on the HQV test disc as well. This makes it easy as you never have to change resolution on the player.

It appears to be the strength of the A1 and the NEC is no slouch at 1080i either so I think they really complement one another.

Here are my results of testing the NEC 50XR5 with the Toshiba HD-A1 using the HQV Benchmark DVD. Basically, 1080i output gives the best overall result as expected. In general, 480p/720p tests the DVD player while 480i tests the display and 1080i tests both. I kept Cinema mode "on" on the NEC and Picture mode to "auto" on the A1 for the tests which should automatically select between film/video modes on both the player and display.

---- -- 1080i 480i 480p 720p
Colbar --- 10 10 10 10
Jag1 ----- 3 3 3 3
Jag2 ----- 3 3 1 1
Flag ----- 10 10 5 5
Detail ----- 10 10 5 5
NR ------ 10 10 5 5
NR w/m --- 10 10 5 5
Film ------ 10 10 10 10
2-2 ------- 5 0 5 5
2-2-2-4 ----- 5 0 5 5
2-3-3-2 ----- 0 0 0 0
3-2-3-2-2 ---- 0 0 0 0
5-5 ------- 0 0 0 0
6-4 ------- 0 0 0 0
8-7 ------- 0 0 0 0
3-2 ------- 5 0 5 5
H-text ------ 0 0 0 0
V-text ----- 10 10 10 10
Total ------ 91 76 69 69

Sorry, what's the "HQV Benchmark DVD"?

Sorry, what's the "HQV Benchmark DVD"?

http://www.hqv.com/benchmark.cfm

The owner's manual is available for download there as well which explains the tests in detail.

I'm having trouble getting the attachment to open. It's a .txt file so it's supposed to work. Any suggestions out there?

Hi

can somebody explain what the HD SELECT means in the setup menue of the XR5.....because I feeding the display via HDMI with 1080i (via my HD sat receiver), I selected 1080i assuming that the plasma does not need to scale anymore....hoping this provides the best result....right?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have just finished reading THE ENTIRE THREAD! (I actually posted something about page 80, and had forgotten, haha.) Well, here's the deal: I saw the 42XR4 NEC in person about a week ago, and fell in love with the looks, the menu options, and the picture. I had previously considered the Pioneer 4360, but to my eyes, this thing provides as nice of a bezel, FANTASTIC picture adjustment options that I coveted from the Elite Pioneers, and that great POP of picture quality from the screen. Oh, and it has twice the HD inputs, no media box (it would only get in my way), and I'm not paying for speakers or a tuner that I don't need.

So it looks that this will be the ONE. I always had reservations about the Pioneer (high price, won't accept native res easily, availability, green push that the 4360's controls couldn't remove) and the NEC has addressed every one, it seems, and added even more that I love.

Thanks to all of you who I have canvassed about where and how they got their panels - I am going to look at it again today, and will likely make my purchase within a month. I am just getting out of college, and this is my reward to myself for saving lots of money, working hard in school, and getting a great job in the AV industry.

Now the only question is: at a 12-13 foot viewing distance, would I be happy with the 42"? I'm coming from a very mediocre 27" Tube.

Now the only question is: at a 12-13 foot viewing distance, would I be happy with the 42"? I'm coming from a very mediocre 27" Tube.
Congrats on your decision I am sure you will be happy... many of the reason you mentioned were the reasons I chose the NEC and I am very happy.

My 2 cents on the size...

I got a 50... I weighed heavily on 42 vs 50 .. I also came from a 27"... I followed the forum / technical advice even thought I might be too big... I sit at ~11ft, and do not feel like i need the "Total Immersion" that others need.

First day... Oh geeezzzz its a Monster what did I do!!! Its gonna burn my eyeballs out!!!

Second day.... Still a bit intimtated...

3rd Day ... watched the Incredibles... Wow! That was Stunning!

2 Weeks later.... Its perfect and I am soooo glad I didn't get the 42!

1.5 months later wow I really did make the right decision... My wife and I actually were commenting last night how "Easy / Low Strain" it is to watch.

BTW 10-12 feet for a 50 is perfect IMHO, thats where I sit @ ~11ft love it! so at 12-13 a 42 would definitely be a bit small... after all you are getting a Big Screen

I sit 8 feet from my 42 and I would definitely recommend getting a 50 at 12-13 feet. If I had the cash and that kind distance, I would get the 61.

Hi

can somebody explain what the HD SELECT means in the setup menue of the XR5.....because I feeding the display via HDMI with 1080i (via my HD sat receiver), I selected 1080i assuming that the plasma does not need to scale anymore....hoping this provides the best result....right?

I keep mine on 1080i. I'm not certain what it does to tell you the truth. It's possible it switches from 540p simple bob deinterlacing to 1080i motion adaptive. Bob might be better if you are seeing combing artifacts, but the 1080i motion adaptive seems so good I don't think it's a problem.


BTW, if anyone's interested, I did get the HQV results posted above. Sorry for the disorganized column format, it was the best I could do. I never could get the .txt file to work. :mad:

Definitely the 50" if you have the cash. I just got my 50" couple weeks ago. And I was also deciding between 42 and 50, I went with 50" finally.

My rationale is for some movies, you might get those black bars top & bottom which will further reduce the effective size of the screen.

Go Pistons ! :)

I too have to weigh in on the 50" over the 42" if it is financially viable.

Here's a thread to check out, it'll give you info on exactly what you're asking. The link will go directly to my post first, but you should read them all:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7680727&&#post7680727

Absolutely positively if the money isn't an issue get the 50. When I first plugged it in (coming from a 4:3 36") I said "HOLY COW this is a huge honker of a set!" About 30 minutes later I was wishing I could afford a 60!Now the only question is: at a 12-13 foot viewing distance, would I be happy with the 42"? I'm coming from a very mediocre 27" Tube.

forgiveme if this is a newbie question..i know it doesnt come with the stand..but does it come with the speakers????

forgiveme if this is a newbie question..i know it doesnt come with the stand..but does it come with the speakers????
Assuming it is a NEC 42, 50 or 61... No Speakers

Has anyone experienced problems getting their DVD to work over component? I've tried two different players (old RV31 & new NS75) with the same result. The image is present for only a couple of seconds and then gets scrambled. I get the same behavior with both component inputs (50xr5). I don't think it's the inputs themselves as they worked when I tested my STB.

Has anyone experienced problems getting their DVD to work over component? I've tried two different players (old RV31 & new NS75) with the same result. The image is present for only a couple of seconds and then gets scrambled. I get the same behavior with both component inputs (50xr5). I don't think it's the inputs themselves as they worked when I tested my STB.
I tried 2 different players over component (ancient JVC and Denon 1720) and had no trouble. If you have the NS75 you should really try the HDMI connection and set it to 480p , you will should get pretty good PQ.

Assuming it is a NEC 42, 50 or 61... No Speakers

again a newbie question...is the speaker an add on from nec?

Yes speakers are not included.

I've been playing around with the HQV Benchmark DVD and it appears the NEC 480i processing over component is above average but not stellar. I would suspect this is the case with many high end displays as most of the design probably goes for 480p/720p/1080i processing (as it should IMO). I'll bet the 480i over HDMI is similar, but obviously I can't test that as I don't have a 480i dVI/HDMI player.

I'll try to post some results when I get the chance.

I did some tests on the XR4 using the VP30 and using the Denon 3910 separately ....

connecting via Component gave the picture a very soft look and the colours were a bit dull out..... any signal via HDMI looked vastly better.... a cheaper DVD player (yamaha $200) connected via component to the DVDOvp30 (576i) and the DVDO outputting 720p via HDMI to the NEC XR4 looked stunning..... 1080i was also good, but 720p was sharper and the picture is more stable ...

The Dennon DVD player 3910 outputting 1080i was also stunning ... better picture quality then outputting 720p to the panel..... top quality DVD player.....

hence, the deinterlacer in the NEC was probably better then the Denon DVD player... however the deinterlacing of the VP30 was better then both ....

Gladiator looked amazing via the denon or the VP30.....

I keep mine on 1080i. I'm not certain what it does to tell you the truth. It's possible it switches from 540p simple bob deinterlacing to 1080i motion adaptive. Bob might be better if you are seeing combing artifacts, but the 1080i motion adaptive seems so good I don't think it's a problem.


BTW, if anyone's interested, I did get the HQV results posted above. Sorry for the disorganized column format, it was the best I could do. I never could get the .txt file to work. :mad:

I was able to download the .txt file. I had to save to desktop rather than open. Thanks!

I live in both Australia and the States. I go back and forth due to work; when and for how long I never know. The day before I was to leave Australia the last time (some time in January 2006), I picked up a 50XR4 which was used as a floor model at a high end AV store. This particular location was closing and and I got it for cost with an extended warrenty thrown in. Didn't research it or anything. It looked better than anything else they had and the price was right. I had to jump at it cause the deal would be gone when I returned from the States. About the only expensive thing I have bought on implulse. That was four months ago and I am still in the States...

My only complaint is with IR, and then only with menu items (play, stop, etc.) from my Denon 2900. I beleive it has a few hundred hours on it was otherwise properly broken in. Otherwise, I was amazed ( at least for the 4 movies I got to watch before leaving) and wondered how I went so long without a plasma.

A buddy of mine here in California just went thru the process of researching and buying a plasma. So while we're surfing the net researching whatever, I find this thread. Good info here for sure. So here is my question... How much better is the 50XR5 than the 50XR4?

Thanks for any comments.

hence, the deinterlacer in the NEC was probably better then the Denon DVD player... however the deinterlacing of the VP30 was better then both....

I would hope so, considering how much we spent on our plasmas, and especially considering how much the VP30 is. :D

I was able to download the .txt file. I had to save to desktop rather than open. Thanks!

Hmm. Well, here it is again. I can't get it to do anything for me. Strange.

Edit, you're right. If you right click on it and save it to the desktop it opens fine.

I was debating between the NEC 50XR5, Panny 50" 60u and Samsung HP-S5053. Was leaning towards the samsung for the longest time, but now looking at the NEC again.

I don't need a tuner in the TV nor speakers since I already have a 5.1 and using comcast STB and HTPC for my tuners.

SD
I'm sure this is covered in this thread, but after 102 pages, it's crazy to search for "SD" :) How is SD picture quality? Specifically I'm either going to be watching SD from my comcast digital cable box or more often through my Media Center 2005 HTPC.

I watch a fair amount of movies and HD but there are quit a few channels (e.g. FX and Sci-Fi) that are only SD where I am.

Glare
Anyone have any pictures of their NEC's with daylight coming from a window from either the left or right? this is how my room will be setup and i'm trying to get an idea of the glare on this. The Samsung is awesome for glare.
Last thing

I'm still having problems with my component inputs, intially I thought it was only related to the DVD player but now my cable STB won't work over either 2 component inputs. I'm I missing something here? Have I disabled these inputs or misconfigured them somehow? I really, really don't want to go through the process (and cost) of returning this unit.

I'm still having problems with my component inputs, intially I thought it was only related to the DVD player but now my cable STB won't work over either 2 component inputs. I'm I missing something here? Have I disabled these inputs or misconfigured them somehow? I really, really don't want to go through the process (and cost) of returning this unit.

Be sure you are selecting either HD1 or HD2 for component input. Double check your connections to be sure of the proper YPbPr connection. Double check the settings on the player/stb to be sure component output is enabled.

Check in the set up menu to be sure HD1 is set to component. You must turn advanced osm to "on" in the function menu to do this.

That's all I can think of. Good luck.

I was debating between the NEC 50XR5, Panny 50" 60u and Samsung HP-S5053. Was leaning towards the samsung for the longest time, but now looking at the NEC again.

I don't need a tuner in the TV nor speakers since I already have a 5.1 and using comcast STB and HTPC for my tuners.

SD
I'm sure this is covered in this thread, but after 102 pages, it's crazy to search for "SD" :) How is SD picture quality? Specifically I'm either going to be watching SD from my comcast digital cable box or more often through my Media Center 2005 HTPC.

I watch a fair amount of movies and HD but there are quit a few channels (e.g. FX and Sci-Fi) that are only SD where I am.

Glare
Anyone have any pictures of their NEC's with daylight coming from a window from either the left or right? this is how my room will be setup and i'm trying to get an idea of the glare on this. The Samsung is awesome for glare.
Last thing


I have had the 50 xr5 for about 2 months. I have the comcast 6412 2005 STB; using the DVI out to HDMI in on the NEC. I am in Santa Cruz, CA. I am not happy at all with SD. PQ is grainy. HD comes in very good. I am switching my coax cable ends to RG6 and trying some other tweaks, but all analog stations are bad and most digital ones are watchable but not enjoyable.

I have a bright room. Large windows immeditalty to the right of the screen. I use a high end (read expensive) wall mount lets me tilt, pan, extend... the screen to reduce the glare. WIthout this it would be hard on the eyes during certain times of day.

A buddy of mine here in California just went thru the process of researching and buying a plasma. So while we're surfing the net researching whatever, I find this thread. Good info here for sure. So here is my question... How much better is the 50XR5 than the 50XR4?

Thanks for any comments.


I can't say anything about the 50XR5 and 50XR4 but I have had my NEC 42XM2 for nearly 3 years now and I still haven't seen anything out there that is better.

Mine is missing HDMI and HDCP/DVI but using HD over components and non-protected DVI I get fantastic PQ.

I guess I'm saying that you will not regret your impulse buy.

And... Welcome to the forum !

SD
I'm sure this is covered in this thread, but after 102 pages, it's crazy to search for "SD" :) How is SD picture quality? Specifically I'm either going to be watching SD from my comcast digital cable box or more often through my Media Center 2005 HTPC.



This is always a difficult question to answer. If you are coming from a 27 inch CRT you are likely to be somewhat dissappointed in how SD looks on your 50 inch plasma. It's the nature of SD and it's why HDTV was invented. If you are comparing the SD perfromance of the XR5 to other 50 inch screens, it's excellent and the best among my 3 50 inch displays (XR5, Panny 50U, and Sony 50 LCD RP).

As far as glare is concerned, the NEC and Pio pdp's are probably among the brightest pdp's so that's an advantage in poorly controlled lighting situations. The NEC is likely to outperform the Panny in this regard and probably equal the Samsung. The best displays for poorly controlled lighting are lcd and rp microdisplay. However, they don't provide the overall pq of plasma IMO.

Cpcat; a couple days ago I traced down the NEC Tweak thread (not so easy to find...) and made adjustments to your settings. A world of Thanks. In my home I keep skrewing around with both audio and video settings and I really can't see that much change, but my wife sees/hears it right away. She noticed the improvement with your latest in a matter of seconds.

Jeez, am I lucky or blessed....?

I would hope so, considering how much we spent on our plasmas, and especially considering how much the VP30 is. :D

Yap, the VP30 cost about 65% of the price the 50 XR5 will cost me ... looking at it this way.. probably not worth it... but hey.. PQ is king right? :)

looking at the test results from cpcat and the toshiba with the NEC XR5 .... the NEC does an awesome job of 1080i deinterlacing.... saw it with the denon 3910 .... DVD (sd) never looked so good ..... can only imagine what real HD DVD would look like on the panel......

ah... can't wait....

[QUOTE=BuckaTune]Net,

I just recently purchased a 50XR5 (41 hrs on the panel as of today) and I also have a Denon 3910 Universal player. Not to hijack this thread, but I really love my DVD player, the DVD-A/SACD playback is phenomenal, and I have it connected to a Denon receiver thru Denon-Link, which works flawlessly.

But to get back to the topic, I am feeding the panel both through Component cables and HDMI. I have to say I do prefer the HDMI input over the Component as I am scaling with the DVD player's internal scaler to 1080i and inputting it to the panel. I had the same initial reaction as yourself, I had put in "The Incredibles" as my first initial movie and I was less than impressed.

I unfortunately am not sitting in front of my panel right now, but I do remember just a couple of settings after running through the new Digital Video Essentials disc.

Contrast - 37
Brightness - 4


Would you post all of your settings? Are these the settings for the "break-in?" :)

This is always a difficult question to answer. If you are coming from a 27 inch CRT you are likely to be somewhat dissappointed in how SD looks on your 50 inch plasma. It's the nature of SD and it's why HDTV was invented. If you are comparing the SD perfromance of the XR5 to other 50 inch screens, it's excellent and the best among my 3 50 inch displays (XR5, Panny 50U, and Sony 50 LCD RP).

As far as glare is concerned, the NEC and Pio pdp's are probably among the brightest pdp's so that's an advantage in poorly controlled lighting situations. The NEC is likely to outperform the Panny in this regard and probably equal the Samsung. The best displays for poorly controlled lighting are lcd and rp microdisplay. However, they don't provide the overall pq of plasma IMO.

I'm coming from a 50" Sony GWIII RP LCD so I'm trying to compare against that. My viewing distance will be the same, about 9-10'.

The samsung has had the best antiglare screen i've seen so far, compared to Hitachi, HP and Panny 60U Plasmas. To me, it's more than just the overall brightness of the screen, but also manufacturer's attempt at coating the glass with a preventative measure.

Hello everyone. Just got the 42xr4 from Chris at Cleveland. Great price and fast shipping. Solid seller! I've been looking through the thread and have found different settings for the panel. Would some of you PLEASE post your setting for the "break-in"period. Thanks allot

Hello everyone. Just got the 42xr4 from Chris at Cleveland. Great price and fast shipping. Solid seller! I've been looking through the thread and have found different settings for the panel. Would some of you PLEASE post your setting for the "break-in"period. Thanks allot
You could use these settings
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7457413&&#post7457413
Then nock down the brightness and contrast 5-10 points (depending or your needed peace of mind) and Pic Normal/Cinema 1 and/or put the PDP Saver Peak Brightness to 75%.....

Or just take the all the defaults and pull brightness / contrast down 5-10 points, put Pic Normal/Cinema1 , and put PDP saver on 75% Peak Brightness... the PQ isn't gonna be great... this is pretty conservative... others will say more others will say less.

This is basically what I did to run the Breakin DVD, When I want to watch something I would just take pop Pic Mode to Bright but still leave Peak Bright to 75% and the Brightness and Contrast where they were. BTW... I have had little or no IR... I was very concious of have the content full screen (i.e. stretch 4:3 content) as much as possble... pretty much still do Stadium mode is very good on the NEC

I'm coming from a 50" Sony GWIII RP LCD so I'm trying to compare against that. My viewing distance will be the same, about 9-10'.

The samsung has had the best antiglare screen i've seen so far, compared to Hitachi, HP and Panny 60U Plasmas. To me, it's more than just the overall brightness of the screen, but also manufacturer's attempt at coating the glass with a preventative measure.

Bobby - Good to see you again. As someone who once owned the exact same set, I can unequivocally state that the PQ for SD will be in the same - much better range. Again, it all comes down to the original signal. If it is a so-so SD signal, then you're going to get a so-so picture.

I'll be honest with you. I'm not yet a true aficionado, nor a video or audio connoisseur. My sound system consists of very inexpensive Polk speakers and a HSU subwoofer. It's powered by the lowest-rung of the new Yamaha A/V receivers.

Sure, I occasionally see imperfections in the signal, I see things that my old DVD player does that I'm not all that jazzed about, but one thing I know is this: It's all about the experience. No offense to anyone, but I don't want to become one of those people who nit-pick every single little nuance and imperfection in the PQ or audio tracks. When I start to do that, I've lost sight of why I purchased this stuff in the first place. Don't get me wrong, we all want the best possible experience we can get, but at my price range, what I have fits the bill nicely. I hope someday I'll be fortunate enough financially to post in the $20K & up equipment forum, but for now, gimmie my 50XR5, my HD-DVD player (it better ship by tomorrow :D) and my current audio setup.

The wife and I watched Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone last night for the first time. SD DVD. Nary a complaint from either of us, it looked fantastic. After that, we watched a little CSI: Miami in SD (CBS HD reception is a little spotty for me right now, a shame really, seeing as I only live 3 miles from all 3 of the local station's antennas) and I have no complaints.

Like the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". IMHO, anyone who can find serious, serious faults with the NEC line of plasmas (when using a decent source, regardless if it is SD or HD) either has much more expensive tastes than I do, or would probably find fault in almost any picture if given enough time to study it. I don't want to waste what valuable free time I do get doing that.

I'm willing to bet a steak dinner that if you purchased a 42XR4 or 50XR5 you would not be a disappointed man.

As far as the glare goes, the wife and I just close the blinds a little bit. I was never one who liked having a lot of natural light coming in when I was watching TV anyway. Reading, maybe, but not TV.

Again, good luck regardless of your decision, keep us informed either way.

Cpcat; a couple days ago I traced down the NEC Tweak thread (not so easy to find...) and made adjustments to your settings. A world of Thanks. In my home I keep skrewing around with both audio and video settings and I really can't see that much change, but my wife sees/hears it right away. She noticed the improvement with your latest in a matter of seconds.

Jeez, am I lucky or blessed....?

Those "bright" settings definitely perform well for me. I'm bothered a little by the accentuated flicker though. I go back and forth between the "bright" setting and everything else the same at "normal" but contrast/brightness at 52/37 and color temp High. I know High is probably inaccurate but it seems to make the blacks look blacker.

I'd say you're both lucky and blessed. :)

So, more advice is requested, folks:

In my last post, I was still considering the 42" vs. 50" issue. This was based off the assumption that the measurements I took of my new townhouse's living room were 20x15, with me watching across the 15' dimension.

Funny thing is, I remeasured, and apparently, my roommate and I can't operate a tape measure - the place is actually 17x13! Assuming distances from the wall, the couch, etc., my average viewing distance would be just about 10'. I know I could still do a 50" from there, but here's the real issue: the stand I have is 36" wide, and was custom built by me. It took forever. I had to build it like that because of my Paradigm CC-470 center channel, which is huge compared to the center channel slot on most premade furniture. A 50" panel, which is 48" wide would look kind of silly hanging over half a foot on each side, so I would need to buy a new stand for hundreds more dollars AND find one that fits my center channel.

So now I'm thinking 42" at 10 feet...how's my logic? Oh, and from what I'm gleaning, the 42" glass from NEC is a little more advanced than the 50. Thanks for your input.

Trent

So now I'm thinking 42" at 10 feet...how's my logic? Oh, and from what I'm gleaning, the 42" glass from NEC is a little more advanced than the 50. Thanks for your input.

Trent

FWIW, bigger is better.

I'm 9-10 feet from my 61" and let me tell you, being up close and personal is much better. I used to have a 40" CRT and in retrospect it's just too small at that distance. :)

As far as the aesthetics of the stand, that's a hard one. Since you built it yourself you could always retrofit some side panels to make it look better.

I'm a "function over form" kind of guy, so I would put the 50" plasma on a couple of saw horses and a piece of plywood if I had to. ;)

Honestly, no one can make that kind of decision for you - you have to determine whether the overall aesthetics are acceptable. One suggestion would be to get yourself some big cardboard or posterboard and make mock-ups of the 42" and 50" displays so you can see how they will look. That's a lot cheaper than spending thousands of dollars and hoping... :)

The main point is you are upgrading your Video Equipment, ...stay focused on that... furniture just provides a support role both literally and figurativly. When you are watching your favorite epic movie or some HDTV you will want the best video, don't make a choice on PQ and/or the viewing experience based on furniture, in the climactic scene you won't be thinking.... "Boy what a great piece of furniture". With a viewing distance of 10ft I can almost garauntee that you will wish you got the 50" a week later. (assuming cost is not a major factor)

61" at 10 feet, you devil! Haha, unfortunately that size isn't even an option due to that whole money issue...

Honestly, no one can make that kind of decision for you - you have to determine whether the overall aesthetics are acceptable. One suggestion would be to get yourself some big cardboard or posterboard and make mock-ups of the 42" and 50" displays so you can see how they will look. That's a lot cheaper than spending thousands of dollars and hoping... :)

This is probably the best suggestion I've gleaned over the past few months, and I will be doing so as soon as I move in this weekend, probably with painter's tape or an old box. I also watched my friend's parents' 42" LCDRP from roughly the same distance and I was satisfied - I just feel like a 50" would be awesome, but not necessarily worth the extra cash unless I can get a screaming deal on it. The jump in both PQ and size combined with finally getting to set up my surround system in a room where I can do it correctly should really improve my experience. Thanks everybody for your input - I will of course keep you posted.

... I just feel like a 50" would be awesome....

Look 50" is ~$1K more... not cheap....amortize that over 5yrs...$200 a year... amortize that say you really watch quality Video twice a week... thats about $2 a pop... :)

But really ask your self what you really want.. I think you will get your answer... I think you already have...

Good luck!

Oh, and from what I'm gleaning, the 42" glass from NEC is a little more advanced than the 50. Thanks for your input.

Trent
Since no one else addressed this question for you, the answer is "yes."

I've even read lots of speculative comments that next year's NEC glass will incorporate the bonded color filter and crystal clear panel/drive technologies (both found only in the 42" panel) across the range of sizes.

That is true. The 42,50 inch Pios have already been announced and are due in the fall which will use this glass. There is a 60 inch Pio too apparently (yes 60, not 61) so that will be brand new glass from Pio.

I'm beginning to wonder whether pdp's branded NEC will even be released.

That is true. The 42,50 inch Pios have already been announced and are due in the fall which will use this glass. There is a 60 inch Pio too apparently (yes 60, not 61) so that will be brand new glass from Pio.

I'm beginning to wonder whether pdp's branded NEC will even be released.

where have you seen info on a new 60" Pioneer?

Trent -

Don't "nickel-rocket" yourself. If you truly decide that a 42" is the best for you, then do that, but don't buy a 42" simply because you'd have to spend a couple hundred more on a stand, ect.

If a couple hundred bones is going to make waves for you on this purchase, you might want to consider waiting. There will always be unexpected costs that arise, this probably won't be a one-time "cash n carry" purchase. You'll need stuff you never though if. That definitely was the case with me, and I had already planned out for everything, and there was still a bunch of stuff I needed.

I am in the same mindset of BillyBob, I'd set up my NEC on old milk crates before I used something deep down I know I didn't want.

where have you seen info on a new 60" Pioneer?


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7713033#post7713033

I wouldn't say it's confirmed, but seems pretty firm at this point.

I'm beginning to wonder whether pdp's branded NEC will even be released.
...for the record NEC is an entirely separate and independent company from Pioneer. NEC happens to buy glass from a pdp glass factory they sold to Pioneer. I'm sure NEC is planning on releasing more NEC branded pdp's, irrespective of whatever Pioneer is doing.

I've tested 3 50 inch digital HD displays with various combinations of 3 different DVD players.

Displays were NEC 50XR5, Panasonic TH-50PX50U, and Sony KF- 50WE610 (GWIII).

Players were Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD , LG-3510a, and Sony DVP-s7000.

Thought you guys might appreciate these results especially as the 50XR5 pretty much smoked the other two. :)

480i wasn't stellar on any of them but the NEC was clearly the best performer.

Link to HQV test disc site if you'd like to download the OM .pdf for reference:
http://www.hqv.com/benchmark.cfm

I'll have to post 3 files here and then the rest in a post below.
You have to right click and save to desktop to open the .txt files.

:)

...for the record NEC is an entirely separate and independent company from Pioneer. NEC happens to buy glass from a pdp glass factory they sold to Pioneer. I'm sure NEC is planning on releasing more NEC branded pdp's, irrespective of whatever Pioneer is doing.
....for the record ;) .... there has been a significant number of very detailed posts/discusion on this subject in this thread .. including many by mr cpcat... the relationship between NEC and Pioneer WRSPT PDP's is as I understand it is a bit complex, has an interesting history and is still evloving ...

There is an ongoing discussion starting back here some where
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7518923&&#post7518923

...for the record NEC is an entirely separate and independent company from Pioneer. NEC happens to buy glass from a pdp glass factory they sold to Pioneer. I'm sure NEC is planning on releasing more NEC branded pdp's, irrespective of whatever Pioneer is doing.

Considering NEC's entire pdp division was purchased by Pio I'd say that's incorrect. I'm hopeful there will be new NEC branded panels myself, but I'm beginning to doubt it a little as Pio will obviously do as they see fit. We're just hearing about the new Pio panels now. Maybe we'll here some rumblings of new NEC offerings soon.

Chris posted here sometime back that he'd heard there would be a new 60 inch display. We all at the time questioned whether that meant 61 or 60. It looks like he was probably right to begin with. Whether that 60 will be Pio/NEC branded or maybe both we'll just have to wait and see.

How do you make that little bitty text? :)

NEC's entire pdp division was purchased by Pio
That's where the misunderstanding is. Pio did not purchase NEC's pdp division. Rather, Pio purchased from NEC a pdp glass manufacturing factory.

and I'm never telling how to get the small text. :)

I've tested 3 50 inch digital HD displays with various combinations of 3 different DVD players.

Displays were NEC 50XR5, Panasonic TH-50PX50U, and Sony KF- 50WE610 (GWIII).

Players were Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD , LG-3510a, and Sony DVP-s7000.

Thought you guys might appreciate these results especially as the 50XR5 pretty much smoked the other two. :)

480i wasn't stellar on any of them but the NEC was clearly the best performer.

Link to HQV test disc site if you'd like to download the OM .pdf for reference:
http://www.hqv.com/benchmark.cfm

I'll have to post 3 files here and then the rest in a post below.
You have to right click and save to desktop to open the .txt files.

cpcat, to be fair this analysis compares plasmas of different generations and one would expect new technology to trump older. The Panny 50U were being discontinued at about the same time the XR5 were being released last winter. I would assume the Panasonic 8UK and 60U would be better comparisons. Not saying the NEC would not smoke them as well, but at least that would be a fair (and valid) comparison ;)

I believe this years Honda Civic is better than last years model :D

cpcat, to be fair this analysis compares plasmas of different generations and one would expect new technology to trump older. The Panny 50U were being discontinued at about the same time the XR5 were being released last winter. I would assume the Panasonic 8UK and 60U would be better comparisons. Not saying the NEC would not smoke them as well, but at least that would be a fair (and valid) comparison ;)

I believe this years Honda Civic is better than last years model :D

Agreed. It's just that those are the only displays I have. :)

Maybe you could test the 8UK with your XA1 and post the results.

It would actually be nice to have a bank of these sorts of tests for reference somewhere.

Agreed. It's just that those are the only displays I have. :)

Maybe you could test the 8UK with your XA1 and post the results.

It would actually be nice to have a bank of these sorts of tests for reference somewhere.

I ordered the HQV test disk this morning!

I won't have hdmi so it'll be over component. Not sure how I'll be able to test 720p and 480i (unless the XA-1 has a 480i option) - guess I'll have to figure that out.

My hunch is that the XR5 scaler may still be a little better...

That's where the misunderstanding is. Pio did not purchase NEC's pdp division. Rather, Pio purchased from NEC a pdp glass manufacturing factory.

and I'm never telling how to get the small text. :)

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KZC/is_2004_Feb_12/ai_n15754483
http://pioneer.jp/corp/ir/pdf/press/reform/NR041001_NPD_Acquisition.pdf
http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0402/0302.html
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-3-2005_pg5_23

Happy reading!

I hope you'll tell me your secret about the tiny text now seeing as I've done your research for you. ;)

I looked at a Circuit City today, and they had the 37, 42, and 50 inch 60u Panasonics next to each other. I walked off my viewing distance, and stood between the larger ones. 50 looks great...42 will satisfy me. I believe I'll go 42. My logic is that I have the money for the bigger set, and if I truly wouldn't be satisfied with a 42, I wouldn't buy it. I've waited this long and I'm right on the brink of picking up the phone and calling in an order...

And if that 42 shrinks, I can just put it in the bedroom in a couple years...haha.

Thanks for your help folks...I believe this issue is settled, to my satisfaction.

I ordered the HQV test disk this morning!

I won't have hdmi so it'll be over component. Not sure how I'll be able to test 720p and 480i (unless the XA-1 has a 480i option) - guess I'll have to figure that out.

My hunch is that the XR5 scaler may still be a little better...

Only HDCP encrypted discs will disable the upconversion over component. The A1 will upconvert the HQV disc over component just fine.

480p, 720p, 1080i outputs are available on the A1 for HDMI.
480i,480p,720p,1080i are available for component.

To clarify, NEC is still a separate company which makes projectors, chips, disc drives, and a whole bunch of other stuff I'm sure. They are still the co-developer and backer of HD DVD with Toshiba.

NEC Plasma Display Corporation, however, is now owned by Pioneer.

To clarify, NEC is still a separate company which makes projectors, chips, disc drives, and a whole bunch of other stuff I'm sure. They are still the co-developer and backer of HD DVD with Toshiba.

NEC Plasma Display Corporation, however, is now owned by Pioneer.
I have figured out the itty bitty text mystery. :D Cpcat you can't honestly tell me that a man off your obvious intelligence hasn't figured this little mystery out. ;)

deleted

I looked at a Circuit City today, and they had the 37, 42, and 50 inch 60u Panasonics next to each other. I walked off my viewing distance, and stood between the larger ones. 50 looks great...42 will satisfy me. I believe I'll go 42. My logic is that I have the money for the bigger set, and if I truly wouldn't be satisfied with a 42, I wouldn't buy it. I've waited this long and I'm right on the brink of picking up the phone and calling in an order...

And if that 42 shrinks, I can just put it in the bedroom in a couple years...haha.

Thanks for your help folks...I believe this issue is settled, to my satisfaction.
tdavis21484,

You'll be fine with the 42". My seating distance is 11', and most source material is SD. Wanted a 50", but it would have been a much more complicated install and alot more wattage. So I got the 42" and could'nt be happier. For everyday TV, and most source material being SD, it's perfect. High Def & DVD is absolutely stunning.

When I want big, I fire up the 98" front projector!

Spend the extra money on an ISF Calibration & you'll have no regrets.

Good Luck on your decision ...

RK

Chris posted here sometime back that he'd heard there would be a new 60 inch display. We all at the time questioned whether that meant 61 or 60. It looks like he was probably right to begin with. Whether that 60 will be Pio/NEC branded or maybe both we'll just have to wait and see.

I am sure when the old 61' are done and gone the new 60" will be available from NEC and Pioneer. Of course the NEC will be comparable to the Pioneer Elite as it is now. I would pick an NEC over the Elite any day because of the Price difference, warranty, and I feel they have a slight edge in picture quality. (Of course this is my opinion.)

Aw shucks. Get the bigger/nicer unit. Don't build a whole room/experience around a compromise. Just stay home and bar-b-que three more times a year than you would otherwise have done. okay, five more times/year......

I am sure when the old 61' are done and gone the new 60" will be available from NEC and Pioneer. Of course the NEC will be comparable to the Pioneer Elite as it is now. I would pick an NEC over the Elite any day because of the Price difference, warranty, and I feel they have a slight edge in picture quality. (Of course this is my opinion.)

A slight edge in the quality of the scaler, color fidelity or something else, Chris?

When I want big, I fire up the 98" front projector!

Spend the extra money on an ISF Calibration & you'll have no regrets.

Good Luck on your decision ...

RK

D*mn, the best of both worlds!

Awesome with a capital "A"!

I have figured out the itty bitty text mystery. :D Cpcat you can't honestly tell me that a man off your obvious intelligence hasn't figured this little mystery out. ;)

Did I get it?


By Jove, I think I did!

Aw shucks. Get the bigger/nicer unit. Don't build a whole room/experience around a compromise. Just stay home and bar-b-que three more times a year than you would otherwise have done. okay, five more times/year......

I no longer feel the 42" would be a compromise. I feel the way the panel looks in the room while off is important too, and I don't demand an immersive experience, just great picture in a large size. It's my first big screen, the 42 inch glass is better than the 50, the 42 has almost no reports of image retention, the 42 has bottom inputs (the 50's side inputs would be visible and would require another small purchase of the cover), and the 50 would also squeeze the placement of my main speakers for the surround system. I believe a 42 is tailor made for me :)

Well, maybe a 45"...but I'll die before putting an LCD in as a primary movie-watching television, haha.

Thanks for your input.

Trent

Atta Boy, Cpcat!

Alright guys, the actual purchase is nearing - I ordered DVE today (it came with a free demo video, then I found another free one and added it...then I noticed I could buy one more video and get free shipping, and wind up paying less, so I did that...so three demos, plus DVE). Now I'm looking at HDMI cables.

I'm a believer that cables are cables, as long as they're good cables (especially with digital signal) so I'm not too concerned with getting some exotic model. I'll go with value for now. What are you folks using with your 42xr4s? I'm concerned about the connectors being on the bottom on that model because of having to make a hard turn with the HDMI only a few inches out of the port and therefore putting stress on the actual input. Who makes a cable that can make that turn without putting a lot of pressure on the HDMI input? What are you folks using?

Thanks again,

Trent

So, more advice is requested, folks:

In my last post, I was still considering the 42" vs. 50" issue. This was based off the assumption that the measurements I took of my new townhouse's living room were 20x15, with me watching across the 15' dimension.

Funny thing is, I remeasured, and apparently, my roommate and I can't operate a tape measure - the place is actually 17x13! Assuming distances from the wall, the couch, etc., my average viewing distance would be just about 10'. I know I could still do a 50" from there, but here's the real issue: the stand I have is 36" wide, and was custom built by me. It took forever. I had to build it like that because of my Paradigm CC-470 center channel, which is huge compared to the center channel slot on most premade furniture. A 50" panel, which is 48" wide would look kind of silly hanging over half a foot on each side, so I would need to buy a new stand for hundreds more dollars AND find one that fits my center channel.

So now I'm thinking 42" at 10 feet...how's my logic? Oh, and from what I'm gleaning, the 42" glass from NEC is a little more advanced than the 50. Thanks for your input.

Trent

If you buy a 42" you will very happy for about 5 days ... then you will wish you had a 50" instead.....

I spent some time with a 50" from 8 feet away .... you get immerse in the content... you stop thinking you are watching TV .... different then a 42" ... nice TV, but at 10 feet away you are not immersed in it... you are watching it.....

I've recently bought a 50XR5 in Italy.
I've checked all posts for using the HDMI input at 1365x768 native resolution, using a NVIDIA Card. Unfortunately I'm using using a PC with an ATI card (X850XT Platinum) + Powerstrip and timings / suggestions provided by DCyper for the NVIDIA card doesnt work for me. I'm not able to get a proper sync from the NEC. I'm currently using the VGA, but I'd like to use the HBMI input, could somebody help me?
Thanks in advance.
Regards.

Alright guys, the actual purchase is nearing - I ordered DVE today (it came with a free demo video, then I found another free one and added it...then I noticed I could buy one more video and get free shipping, and wind up paying less, so I did that...so three demos, plus DVE). Now I'm looking at HDMI cables.

I'm a believer that cables are cables, as long as they're good cables (especially with digital signal) so I'm not too concerned with getting some exotic model. I'll go with value for now. What are you folks using with your 42xr4s? I'm concerned about the connectors being on the bottom on that model because of having to make a hard turn with the HDMI only a few inches out of the port and therefore putting stress on the actual input. Who makes a cable that can make that turn without putting a lot of pressure on the HDMI input? What are you folks using?

Thanks again,

Trent
Monoprice. HDMI as a connecter is not the greatest engineered connector, you will need to take care with a sharp turn. One thing is that I have the noticed where as the super heavy duty 22 or 24 gauge is awesome it is not real flexible, you may need to go with the 28 gauge, I have one and it works great for a great price, and monoprice is quick to ship!

I'm a believer that cables are cables, as long as they're good cables (especially with digital signal) so I'm not too concerned with getting some exotic model. I'll go with value for now. What are you folks using with your 42xr4s? I'm concerned about the connectors being on the bottom on that model because of having to make a hard turn with the HDMI only a few inches out of the port and therefore putting stress on the actual input. Who makes a cable that can make that turn without putting a lot of pressure on the HDMI input? What are you folks using?

Thanks again,

Trent[/QUOTE]

Try here (http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=AQHDMI90)


Hope this is what you need.

Try here (http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=AQHDMI90)


Hope this is what you need.

Ah yes, now I remember this piece from that long ago time when I worked for BB/Magnolia...thanks for the reminder :) I will still look for a one-piece solution, however, it's good to have this option.

Trent

Try here (http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=AQHDMI90)


Hope this is what you need.

Ok thats cool! Thanks...

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KZC/is_2004_Feb_12/ai_n15754483
http://pioneer.jp/corp/ir/pdf/press/reform/NR041001_NPD_Acquisition.pdf
http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0402/0302.html
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_29-3-2005_pg5_23
Cpcat, thanks for the links, and you are correct that Pioneer bought more than just the glass factory; apparently they bought all NEC's plasma know-how (intellectual property) which I guess was necessary to continue operating the factory with all the spiffy technologies and techy secrets that the NEC elves had been using at the factory to make the plasmas turn out so magical.

In fact, Pioneer bought/acquired all the shares of the "NEC Plasma Display Corp" (which was a subsidiary of NEC Corp, consisting of basically NEC's entire plasma operation) and they have renamed "NEC Plasma Display Corp" to "Pioneer Plasma Display Corp." To me, this means that basically everybody who was working for NEC Plasma Display Corp is still sitting at their desk, but the title of the company has changed to Pioneer Plasma Display Corp (due to new corporate ownership), and the plasmas rolling off the line will bear the Pioneer name.

Pioneer Corporation today announced that it had on September 30, 2004
completed acquisition of all the shares in NEC Plasma Display Corporation (NPD), a
subsidiary of NEC Corporation, pursuant to the stock transfer agreement concluded on
July 1, 2004. NPD changed its name to “Pioneer Plasma Display Corporation” as of
September 30, 2004.

http://pioneer.jp/corp/ir/pdf/press/reform/NR041001_NPD_Acquisition.pdf
So you are quite correct to say that Pioneer acquired NEC's plasma division, including staff, factory, patents, trade secrets, the whole kit and kaboodle. However, please note that any plasma that is controlled by Pioneer will bear the Pioneer brand name; that is to say, Pioneer does not have the right to put the "NEC" brand name on any plasma. The twist is that NEC is starting a new plasma operation, which will buy plasmas from Pioneer, and put the NEC name on them. So NEC will still be marketing plasmas with the NEC brand name (NEC will buy the plasma from Pioneer, and market it as a NEC).

The following quote says it all:
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see all the shares NEC holds in NEC Plasma Display Corporation and all its plasma screen intellectual property rights transferred to Pioneer.

It does not, however, mean that NEC is pulling out of the market. It will continue to sell NEC-branded plasma displays, supplied by Pioneer on an OEM basis.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KZC/is_2004_Feb_12/ai_n15754483
OEM means basically that a company buys a product from a different company and slaps their brand name on it.

So the final result (in case anyone is still reading), is that Pioneer acquired all the NEC plasma elves, their secrets, and their workshop; the elves now receive their pay from Pioneer and sell the plasmas with the Pioneer name on them. Meanwhile, NEC, even though it sold all the elves and their workshop, is nevertheless going to buy plasmas from Pioneer and stamp the NEC name on them.

unless I am totally wrong

Meanwhile, NEC, even though it sold all the elves and their workshop, is nevertheless going to buy plasmas from Pioneer and stamp the NEC name on them.

unless I am totally wrong

Dufusyte,

I think your right on the money, with one exception. I think NEC will buy the plasma glass from Pioneer and then incorporate their internal electronics before they stamp that NEC name on them. Just my speculation....

tony17 there certainly are alot of companies that just sell the glass to other companies, such as Panasonic selling glass to Fujitsu, and in the past NEC sold glass to Pioneer and Sony.

However, in the current NEC/Pioneer situation, it looks like something more drastic has happened. When NEC sold their Plasma intellectual property to Pioneer, I believe that includes the processing internals. So I would expect the great (former) NEC processing to now be incorporated into all Pioneer panels. This may be why the new Pioneer models no longer have the separate Media Receiver, and now the processing parts are built into the plasma chassis on new Pioneer models (because Pioneer is adopting the former NEC parts). It even looks like the new Pioneers have the NEC style chassis with the silver frame around a black bezel.

http://pioneer.jp/press/images/PDP-507HX.jpg http://pioneer.jp/press/images/PDP-427HX.jpg

http://pioneer.jp/press/release164.html

There will probably be hardly any difference between the NEC and Pioneer plasmas this year, except for the name, and maybe some cosmetic difference, like detachable speakers or something.

all the rest is marketing

^^^^Good point...

I wonder how the prices will compare.

Wow, check out these pics of the new Pioneer's (http://pioneer.jp/pdp/). Even the stand is the same as the former NEC stand. :eek:

http://pioneer.jp/pdp/gallery/img/index_s1_photo.jpg http://pioneer.jp/pdp/gallery/img/index_s3_photo.jpg

Looks like a NEC, quacks like a NEC, must be...a Pioneer!

NEC's are a nicely priced product for the quality and I am sure that will continue. It will be interesting to see how similar there products will be.

Don't forget were you heard it first:

Pioneer New 42" HERE (www.clevelandplasma.com/cms_files/File/PDP-4270.pdf)
Pioneer New 50" HERE (www.clevelandplasma.com/cms_files/File/PDP-5070.pdf)

I have no idea when they will be out!!

Who nows for all we know these will pobably use the current NEC screen. The new 42" replaces the old 43" so we have to assume if nec does not release a new unit that Pioneer is using the glass based off the NEC 42XR4. If this is the case we can probably say the same about the 5070, it may be based off the 50XR5 screen. Time will tell. In either case the NEC is still comparible of the Elite line in and sells for alot less.

Great info, Chris! It looks like these Pioneer's have tuners built in. Maybe the main difference will be that the NEC's will not have a tuner.

who needs a tuner anyway?

And...what would be the difference between an industrial Pioneer model and a NEC?

the plot thickens

Those are the replacements for the 4360HD and the 5060HD.

I wonder if these Pioneers (at least the 4270) have the same glass as the NEC XR4?

^^^^ We will find out. If NEC does not release a 42XR5 then Pioneer is probably using the NEC(well Pioneer) glass. Ah who nows, it is all speculation and only Pioneer and NEC now.

NEC consumer models also have that great 3 year warranty as opposed to Pio elite's 2 years.

Don't forget were you heard it first:

Pioneer New 42" HERE (www.clevelandplasma.com/cms_files/File/PDP-4270.pdf)
Pioneer New 50" HERE (www.clevelandplasma.com/cms_files/File/PDP-5070.pdf)

I have no idea when they will be out!!

Thanks

Reggie

NEC consumer models also have that great 3 year warranty as opposed to Pio elite's 2 years.
I think that's almost true. I could be mistaken, but I believe the Elite warranty is two years on everything. NEC warrants the glass for only one year, with the remainder of the components being three years.

Please somebody could help me?

I've recently bought a 50XR5 in Italy.
I've checked all posts for using the HDMI input at 1365x768 native resolution, using a NVIDIA Card. Unfortunately I'm using using a PC with an ATI card (X850XT Platinum) + Powerstrip and timings / suggestions provided by DCyper for the NVIDIA card doesnt work for me. I'm not able to get a proper sync from the NEC. I'm currently using the VGA, but I'd like to use the HBMI input, could somebody help me?
Thanks in advance.
Regards.

Please somebody could help me?

I've recently bought a 50XR5 in Italy.
I've checked all posts for using the HDMI input at 1365x768 native resolution, using a NVIDIA Card. Unfortunately I'm using using a PC with an ATI card (X850XT Platinum) + Powerstrip and timings / suggestions provided by DCyper for the NVIDIA card doesnt work for me. I'm not able to get a proper sync from the NEC. I'm currently using the VGA, but I'd like to use the HBMI input, could somebody help me?
Thanks in advance.
Regards.

RIK -

From what I understand, there is no way to get proper 1:1 mapping using an ATI card. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro, but will be replacing it with an nVidia 6600GT as it has been verified by another NEC plasma owner to give 1:1 mapping at 1365x768 resolution.

So for the time being, it looks like VGA or purchase an nVidia card.

Don't forget were you heard it first:


I have no idea when they will be out!!

Might you have sheets on the new Elites by any chance? :D

I ordered the HQV test disk this morning!

I won't have hdmi so it'll be over component. Not sure how I'll be able to test 720p and 480i (unless the XA-1 has a 480i option) - guess I'll have to figure that out.

My hunch is that the XR5 scaler may still be a little better...

[Slaps Plaz for not having HDMI]
I still look forward to seeing what that 8UK can do! :)

[Slaps Plaz for not having HDMI]
I still look forward to seeing what that 8UK can do! :)


hey! how come you're now posting on the NEC thread!

I know what the 8UK can do in reality, I just need to see if it is backed up by HQV. I'm really testing the legitimacy of HQV for evaluating plasma picture quality (mainly), since I intend to post pictures to back up my claims - if I can figure out how!

As I see it, the pressure is on the HQV test (kinda like a rookie job interview) :D


.....just kidding. It'll be interesting to do this test. I also want to prove to my wife once and for all that the Bose DVD player is mucho crappo....

hey! how come you're now posting on the NEC thread!

I know what the 8UK can do in reality, I just need to see if it is backed up by HQV. I'm really testing the legitimacy of HQV for evaluating plasma picture quality (mainly), since I intend to post pictures to back up my claims - if I can figure out how!

As I see it, the pressure is on the HQV test (kinda like a rookie job interview) :D


.....just kidding. It'll be interesting to do this test. I also want to prove to my wife once and for all that the Bose DVD player is mucho crappo....

Because it was a response to your post and I think with the testing of the NEC, it it relevant.
[Slaps Spaz for questioning me]

I know what the 8UK can do in reality, I just need to see if it is backed up by HQV. I'm really testing the legitimacy of HQV for evaluating plasma picture quality (mainly),




Hmm.. So you'll be using your display to test the disc?

Why bother?

And you're no longer an XR5 owner either you know. I'm kicking you out of this thread officially as of now. :p

Specifications from manufacture show that the NEC XR4 or R5 are capable of 1080P is this so.I was looking at the Panasonic 8huk 50" but their specifications show only 1080i.Help........

Actually, I believe what it says is that they are capable of accepting a 1080p input. They do not have a native resolution of 1920x1080, so they are not 1080p displays.

Actually, I believe what it says is that they are capable of accepting a 1080p input. They do not have a native resolution of 1920x1080, so they are not 1080p displays.


Can somebody explain this distinction to me? Why is it valuable to accept 1080p input if a panel cannot display it? Thanks.

Can somebody explain this distinction to me? Why is it valuable to accept 1080p input if a panel cannot display it? Thanks.

Hype.

But more seriously, the real buzz is that BluRay HD-DVD will support 1080p for movies therefore your display needs 1080p. The gamer community is also pushing really hard on this because they want to game at 1080p.

However, the reality is that HD movies will be 1080p24 or at best 1080p30, both of which are easily carried via 1080i signalling so for HD movies, 1080p is a red herring.

Gaming can in fact drive 1080p60 but to be honest looking at what my Xbox 360 does at 1280x720p60, I don't see the need for spending more to get 1080p.

I'd say accepting a 1080p signal is important because it is a high data rate. Even though the panel has to scale the data down to a 768p size, it helps to have as much input data to work with as possible. The result will be a better picture quality.

in theory at least

Well folks, Wednesday I join the ranks! :D

I placed my order for a NEC 42XR4 from Plasma Concepts this morning, and it should arrive Wednesday. I got the NEC stand as well. My Monoprice HDMI cable should arrive around then, soon followed by my DVE disk!

I'm really excited - I'm going to love this TV.

Now there's just the matter of waiting forever on the phone with the cable company to get my subscription upgraded to HD...stupid Insight. They only offer 9 HD channels too...not even ESPN2 HD or INHD.

But I'm getting my NEC!

I'd say accepting a 1080p signal is important because it is a high data rate. Even though the panel has to scale the data down to a 768p size, it helps to have as much input data to work with as possible. The result will be a better picture quality.

in theory at least


This was the point I was making about 1080p24.

There is actually MORE data carried in a 1080i60 signal than a 1080p24 signal. 1080i60 and 1080p30 are the same.

You only get more data with 10080p60 and that only applies to games.

Hmm.. So you'll be using your display to test the disc?

Why bother?

And you're no longer an XR5 owner either you know. I'm kicking you out of this thread officially as of now. :p

O, no!

I guess I'll do the HQV and find the XR5 was better after all (and I'll have many sleepless nights after that) :eek:

So far I'm 'astounded' by the 8UK, so that was the reason for my testing the disk with the display comment....It was in jest. I'll post the results and you can decide :)

RIK -

From what I understand, there is no way to get proper 1:1 mapping using an ATI card. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro, but will be replacing it with an nVidia 6600GT as it has been verified by another NEC plasma owner to give 1:1 mapping at 1365x768 resolution.

So for the time being, it looks like VGA or purchase an nVidia card.


If I'll decide to upgrade from ATI to nvidia card, do I select necessarily 6600GT or could I buy a different model (e.g. 6800, 7600, 7900, ...)?

I'd like to buy it this w-e.

thanks.

This was the point I was making about 1080p24.

There is actually MORE data carried in a 1080i60 signal than a 1080p24 signal. 1080i60 and 1080p30 are the same.

You only get more data with 10080p60 and that only applies to games.
Ok so the NEC XR4,XR5 will accept 1080p24 signal in,but does the Panasonic 8HUK also accept 1080p24 signal in?

Ok so the NEC XR4,XR5 will accept 1080p24 signal in,but does the Panasonic 8HUK also accept 1080p24 signal in?

Not AFAIK with the current input boards (although the panny 60U does support 1080p input). However, the panny does have the option of swappable boards and it may be possible (especially if they start releasing hdmi 1.3 boards).

Also, does anyone know what sort of resolution difference we are talking about between 1080i and 1080p/24?

Also, does anyone know what sort of resolution difference we are talking about between 1080i and 1080p/24?

From a source perspective, there is no difference.

If you have a bad de-interlacer, you will lose half of the vertical resolution, i.e. you will end up with only 1920x540.

If I'll decide to upgrade from ATI to nvidia card, do I select necessarily 6600GT or could I buy a different model (e.g. 6800, 7600, 7900, ...)?


Lots of variables there depending on what you want to do with the card and what slot (AGP vs PCIe) you have.

If you check out the PureVideo support page on the Nvidia website they've got a matrix for what features are supported. Go for the one with the most check boxes.

Lots of variables there depending on what you want to do with the card and what slot (AGP vs PCIe) you have.

If you check out the PureVideo support page on the Nvidia website they've got a matrix for what features are supported. Go for the one with the most check boxes.

Thanks. My question was if, in order to manage 50XR5 NR 1365x768, I've to buy a 6600GT, or if I can buy another card (e.g. Series 7: 7800 or 7900). In the thread I've found mentioned only the 6600.

thx.

Thanks. My question was if, in order to manage 50XR5 NR 1365x768, I've to buy a 6600GT, or if I can buy another card (e.g. Series 7: 7800 or 7900). In the thread I've found mentioned only the 6600.

thx.

Anyway, I've the PCIe.

Thanks. My question was if, in order to manage 50XR5 NR 1365x768, I've to buy a 6600GT, or if I can buy another card (e.g. Series 7: 7800 or 7900). In the thread I've found mentioned only the 6600.

thx.

Any of the 7000 series cards should work just fine.

I think the only card to avoid is the 6200.

Any of the 7000 series cards should work just fine.

I think the only card to avoid is the 6200.

great thx a lot.

just a question, why the ATI card does'n work? whats' the difference btw the nvidia?

great thx a lot.

just a question, why the ATI card does'n work? whats' the difference btw the nvidia?

The NEC expects a very specific timing pattern over HDMI that the older ATI cards cannot produce. I'm not sure if this is a driver limitation or a H/W limitation. I believe the newer, X1y00 vintage ATI cards will work but I don't have any firsthand experience.

The Nvidia cards, via the flat panel scaling option, have the ability to produce wacky resolutions like 1365x768.

Ok so the NEC XR4,XR5 will accept 1080p24 signal in,but does the Panasonic 8HUK also accept 1080p24 signal in?

According to the 65" 8UK manual, it does, as well as 1080p30. But, it does not support 1080p 60.

Ok so the NEC XR4,XR5 will accept 1080p24 signal in,but does the Panasonic 8HUK also accept 1080p24 signal in?

Jvincent was not saying the XR5 accepts 1080p24. I tested mine and it does not. It does accept 1080p60 over component and the commercial models do 1080p60 over component and DVI.

He was saying that the original 1080p24 can be reconstructed from 1080i via inverse telecine therefore rendering 1080p24 input support moot. Assuming the IVT is done well the resulting image should be the same. 1080i input from HD discs is analogous to 480i input from DVD.

According to the specs, the 8UK will accept 1080p24 if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure if this is via HDMI/DVI/VGA or all three.

Also, does anyone know what sort of resolution difference we are talking about between 1080i and 1080p/24?

Zero difference. 1080i from a film source is simply 1080p24 which has been telecined. Inverse telecine reverses 1080i back to 1080p24.

According to the specs, the 8UK will accept 1080p24 if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure if this is via HDMI/DVI/VGA or all three.

Cpcat: The manual for the panel indicates that both 1080p24 and 1080p30 can be displayed via Component/Mini D-sub 15P (Component) and with RGB/Mini D-sub 15P (RGB). The manual for the HDMI blade does not list support for 1080p, however. Apparently, the manual for the DVI blade also does not list support for 1080p (I do not have a DVI blade), but I have read that some 8UK owners have claimed that the DVI blade can render 1080p as well as native resolution. I cannot confirm this.

I'm assuming that 1080p 30 and 1080p 24 will not be supported by HDMI on an 8UK panel, but only time will tell if my assumption proves to be correct.

Hi,

I have been advice to get the nVidia GT to drive the NECXR5 at NR. I was able to drive the NECXR5 at 1365x768 60Hz and confirmed by the NEC.

However, even after the I move the screen to make it centered, I still see small black gaps about quarter of an inch at all 4 edges; it seems that the image is somehow a little smaller than the screen. Do you see the same thing? How would you fix it?

BTW, which DVD player software do you use in your HTPC?
Do you use FFDShow? Is it any good?

Thanks.

Cpcat: The manual for the panel indicates that both 1080p24 and 1080p30 can be displayed via Component/Mini D-sub 15P (Component) and with RGB/Mini D-sub 15P (RGB). The manual for the HDMI blade does not list support for 1080p, however. Apparently, the manual for the DVI blade also does not list support for 1080p (I do not have a DVI blade), but I have read that some 8UK owners have claimed that the DVI blade can render 1080p as well as native resolution. I cannot confirm this.

I'm assuming that 1080p 30 and 1080p 24 will not be supported by HDMI on an 8UK panel, but only time will tell if my assumption proves to be correct.

Sounds like probably only component/VGA (analog) for 1080p24. DVI would be significant as that would allow 1080p24 from HD discs.

Come to think of it, I didn't try 1080p24 over analog on my XR5, but it doesn't matter anyway as it won't be available over analog.

Hi,

I have been advice to get the nVidia GT to drive the NECXR5 at NR. I was able to drive the NECXR5 at 1365x768 60Hz and confirmed by the NEC.

However, even after the I move the screen to make it centered, I still see small black gaps about quarter of an inch at all 4 edges; it seems that the image is somehow a little smaller than the screen. Do you see the same thing? How would you fix it?

BTW, which DVD player software do you use in your HTPC?
Do you use FFDShow? Is it any good?

Thanks.

This could be an issue for me. I assume that using a nvidia card I'll be able to fullfill the entire screen at NR. Currently with a VGA connection at 1360x768, I fill all the eight of the screen and I've centered the orizontal resolutin (using powerstrip) and I've only 2-3 pixel columns at left and right borders.

did you switched off the orbiting in the pdp menu? this could create centering issues. I did it and in VGA the clearness is superbe.

does anybody that is using the nvidia card, having similar issues in which is experienced ducpham (half inches not addressed pixels around the screen)?

thx. :eek:

The nvidia will allow you to do NR at 1365 x 768 over HDMI/DVI which will use all the pixels. Dcypher and a few others have confirmed this on their NECs.

1365 x 768 through my Lumagen over DVI/HDMI works perfectly with exactly zero overscan. You are correct to turn the orbiting off.

The nvidia will allow you to do NR at 1365 x 768 over HDMI/DVI which will use all the pixels. Dcypher and a few others have confirmed this on their NECs.

1365 x 768 through my Lumagen over DVI/HDMI works perfectly with exactly zero overscan. You are correct to turn the orbiting off.

ok, this is fine with me.

just another question. I've checked nvidia series 7 prices and I've seen there's a big difference between the 7600 (around 200 eur) and 7800-7900 (start from 380 eur). I'm not a gamer. It will be a difference for HT to purchase one o the other?

Using 7800-7900 do I will have a better picture and/or scaling/panning or capabilities in HD then using a 7600 (related to this card, I've also seen that there're cheaper silent cards with DDR2, instead of DDR3)?

finally I fond a post where somebody mentioned the fact that it will be issued before the end of this year (and I found a confirmation of this in a magazine) it sould be available nvidia with HDMI output. What these new cards will add?
It is better to buy now a cheaper nvidia and then upgrade it having something more with HDMI output?

thx. :rolleyes:

Jvincent or someone else probably needs to answer that question. I don't use the nvidia.

I just upgraded to the Dish 622 DVR with the Mpeg4 reception. The picture on my 50XM5 is much better than it was with High Definition Mpeg2. This upgrade was worth it as the NEC is sensitive enough to compliment the improved transmission. I am using a monster cable adaptor that fits into the HDMI slot on the 622 and this allows me to use my original DVI cable to the NEC. I was a bit worried as this system requires a feed from 4 satellites and the Dish 1000 antenna sometimes has problems getting the 129 satellite along with the other three as the 129 has the weakest signal. For me the one Dish 1000 antenna workes. For some it is better to point a seperate dish at the 129 and use the Dish 1000 for the other three. Oh, the local HD picture via Satellite is very good although the the quality OTA feeds (such as from my local PBS station) still look a bit better than on Satellite. The 622 also seems to bring in better OTA reception than did my older Dish 811. Again, the NEC is very capable of demonstrating these differences. Cpcat's settings carried over to the new box quite well. I now have 23 HD channels plus HD local channels. The Hdnet picture is awesome.

ok, this is fine with me.

just another question. I've checked nvidia series 7 prices and I've seen there's a big difference between the 7600 (around 200 eur) and 7800-7900 (start from 380 eur). I'm not a gamer. It will be a difference for HT to purchase one o the other?

Using 7800-7900 do I will have a better picture and/or scaling/panning or capabilities in HD then using a 7600 (related to this card, I've also seen that there're cheaper silent cards with DDR2, instead of DDR3)?

finally I fond a post where somebody mentioned the fact that it will be issued before the end of this year (and I found a confirmation of this in a magazine) it sould be available nvidia with HDMI output. What these new cards will add?
It is better to buy now a cheaper nvidia and then upgrade it having something more with HDMI output?

thx. :rolleyes:

In my opinion, if you aren't a gamer or even a casual one, go with a 6600 or a 6600GT for now, and wait until true HDMI/HDCP enabled video cards are released. That way if you want to add an HD DVD or Blu-Ray drive you can.

However, even after the I move the screen to make it centered, I still see small black gaps about quarter of an inch at all 4 edges; it seems that the image is somehow a little smaller than the screen. Do you see the same thing? How would you fix it?

BTW, which DVD player software do you use in your HTPC?
Do you use FFDShow? Is it any good?

Thanks.

At 1356x768 every pixel on my NEC is lit. There is a small border around the active pixel area but inside the bezel area of the panel that is always black. Is that what you are seeing?

I use TheaterTek as my DVD player. I used to use ffdshow, but with the Nvidia card I'm using DXVA + smart de-interlacing now and I'm quite pleased with the picture.

At 1356x768 every pixel on my NEC is lit. There is a small border around the active pixel area but inside the bezel area of the panel that is always black. Is that what you are seeing?

I use TheaterTek as my DVD player. I used to use ffdshow, but with the Nvidia card I'm using DXVA + smart de-interlacing now and I'm quite pleased with the picture.

At NR from PC and Orbiter at default value: Auto1, even after I center the image, I still see 2 to 4 pixels unused (black) at all borders; the effect is a smaller image compared to the image from a standard DVD player.

Per RIK2 and cpcat advice, I changed orbiter to Off and Auto2 and the image seems to be larger, I set Orbiter to Auto2 to get a slightly larger image than Off and hoping to get some orbiting thing going on. Does anyone know whether Auto2 and Off have any effect in picture quality?

I thought most people use TheaterTek paired with FFDShow. I have a demo version of TheaterTek. I tried TheaterTek without FFDShow, I can't tell a difference in PQ compared to PowerDVD. Is there any noticeable difference in PQ between them?

BTW, what's DXVA?

At NR from PC and Orbiter at default value: Auto1, even after I center the image, I still see 2 to 4 pixels unused (black) at all borders; the effect is a smaller image compared to the image from a standard DVD player.

.....

I thought most people use TheaterTek paired with FFDShow. I have a demo version of TheaterTek. I tried TheaterTek without FFDShow, I can't tell a difference in PQ compared to PowerDVD. Is there any noticeable difference in PQ between them?

BTW, what's DXVA?

The orbiter must be the reason. I have it off.

I'm not sure if most use ffdshow, but many do for sure. I find that sending native rate to the panel I don't need any extra sharpening over what the panel does and leaving TT in DXVA mode with smart de-interlacing provided the best results.

I've never used PowerDVD so I can't compare.

DXVA stands for "DirectX video acceleration" I believe. When you use DXVA you are using the H/W acceleration features of the video card for MPEG decoding so it uses less CPU. For Nvidia cards it also lets you use the H/W based de-interlacing features of the GPU.

At NR from PC and Orbiter at default value: Auto1, even after I center the image, I still see 2 to 4 pixels unused (black) at all borders; the effect is a smaller image compared to the image from a standard DVD player.

Per RIK2 and cpcat advice, I changed orbiter to Off and Auto2 and the image seems to be larger, I set Orbiter to Auto2 to get a slightly larger image than Off and hoping to get some orbiting thing going on. Does anyone know whether Auto2 and Off have any effect in picture quality?

I thought most people use TheaterTek paired with FFDShow. I have a demo version of TheaterTek. I tried TheaterTek without FFDShow, I can't tell a difference in PQ compared to PowerDVD. Is there any noticeable difference in PQ between them?

BTW, what's DXVA?

In my experience, switching orbiter to off, the image clarness strongly improved and it was stable (always positioned filling the vertical resoultion and having 3 pixels column not addressed at right and left, at 1360x768). other values (Auto 1 / 2) the still images (e.g. desktop and dvd menus) where blurred and the desktop image every time shifted some pixels.

You have to keep it off.

I just purchased a nvidia 7600GT and followed all suggestions in the forum. I was able to drive the xr5 at NR 135x768. Initially the orbiting was on and I had exactly the issues described by ducpham. then I switched it off and everything was fine. now its' perfect. I'll also try what will happen with WMD DVD. thx to all for your suggestions.

I don't know if this is the same issue as Ducpham and RIK are experiencing, but I notice an 1/8" to 1/4" pixel gap on the left or right sides of my 50XR5 when I'm watching a variety of standard def channels using my Dish 510 PVR. And depending on which channel I am watching, sometimes the gap appears on the left and sometimes it appears on the right. I notice this in STADIUM mode a lot, and I think I've seen it in ANAMORPHIC, too. It almost seems like either the signal from the PVR isn't big enough to fill the screen, or it is off center, or something like that. The gap isn't the permanent black border around the edge of the panel inside the bezel like jvincent suggests above. It's part of the signal display portion. Also, this does not occur when I watch a DVD movie. The whole screen is filled.

One time, in an attempt to fill the gap, I used the Horiz shift to move the image over an 1/8". This seemed to work initially, but after flipping through some channels and returning, the gap returned and even looked a little wider. So, I dropped that idea.

If I use the ZOOM setting, I can get the gaps to disappear, and this is what I currently do to prevent any long term image retention on the edges.

It seems to be a PVR issue I think, but does anyone have any ideas what the problem might be? I've yet to contact Dish. That's next on my list. Thanks in advance.

Wbe- How are your 510 and DVD player connected to the XR5?

It is puzzling that it happens only on some SD channels, no HD channels, and no DVDs.

Uh, why don't the NEC sets have HDMI?

Uh, why don't the NEC sets have HDMI?
Not sure of your question; NEC 50XR5, 60XR5 and 42XR4 have 2 HDMI 1.1 HDCP compliant connections.

The user manual for the 42XR4A, 50XR5A & 61XR4A shows that they have 2 HDMI ports:
http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/documents/UserManuals/usermanual_42XR4A_50XR5A_61XR4A.pdf

I agree their web site specs are very confusing and do not seem to list the HDMI ports.

Yeah, the web site had no mention of HDMI.

I'm definitely considering getting an NEC now.

It is the 50XM5 that has the DVI port and a number of analog ports. The 50XR5 has the two HDMI ports. I have a totally seperate audio system so I don't need HDMI. The 50XM5 is rated a bit better for 1080p.

Just FYI:
For all you intrested the Oppo Digital DV-970HD is being released on 05/31/06
Here are some of the key features
* HDMI 1.1 - HDCP
* Multi card reader
* USB Port
* SACD and DVD-Audio
* Upconversion via Component (720p/1080i)
* 480i via HDMI

Oppo Page
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

AVS Thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=682896

For those of you that are curious as to why I posted this in the NEC thread, NEC's have excellent de-interlacing and scaling components, and a number of members where curious about DVD players that support 480i ov HDMI to pair with the NEC's.

Wbe- How are your 510 and DVD player connected to the XR5?

It is puzzling that it happens only on some SD channels, no HD channels, and no DVDs.

510 -> coax -> VCR -> composite (Vid,R,L) -> Yamaha receiver -> video cable -> VID 1 input on XR5. Ugh! That's downright messy. Just listing it all out like that makes me realize that I should probably take out some of those in between steps. Probably time to do some rewiring.... :o

DVD -> Component -> DVD/HD1 on XR5. Whew! A lot cleaner.... :rolleyes:

I have feeling what you may suggest next.....

It is the 50XM5 that has the DVI port and a number of analog ports. The 50XR5 has the two HDMI ports. I have a totally seperate audio system so I don't need HDMI. The 50XM5 is rated a bit better for 1080p.
I could not find any info that the 50XM5 DVI supports HDCP. I suspect not - which may or may not be a issue with Blue Ray and HD DVD in the future.

Reggie

510 -> coax -> VCR -> composite (Vid,R,L) -> Yamaha receiver -> video cable -> VID 1 input on XR5. Ugh! That's downright messy. Just listing it all out like that makes me realize that I should probably take out some of those in between steps. Probably time to do some rewiring.... :o

Ouch, that hurts just reading, even all the way from here! :eek:

It's almost akin to going out and purchasing a Ferrari Enzo and then putting 87 octane in it...:eek: ;)

I don't know much about Dish as I'm DirecTV, but from what I gather, the 510 has very limited output options (composite/coax). That doesn't leave a whole lot to go on.

About the only thing I can say is you may consider upgrading to a Dish HD box. Check with a customer retention rep, they may be willing to upgrade you for free or minimal cost. If the SD content you have now in the current configuration is acceptable to you, that is all that matters. As far as the "spacing" on the screen (for lack of a better term), you've got so many variables in the equation that it might be impossible to ascertain exactly what is causing it without using the process of elimination.

DVD -> Component -> DVD/HD1 on XR5. Whew! A lot cleaner.... :rolleyes:

I have feeling what you may suggest next.....

I'm not in the business of telling other people to spend more money on stuff, because at least for me, I know how difficult that expendable income is to come by. Other than the "shift" issue, if you're happy with the PQ, that is all that matters.

Sorry I can't be of more help, maybe someone else can give a better diagnosis.

Just FYI:
For all you intrested the Oppo Digital DV-970HD is being released on 05/31/06
Here are some of the key features
* HDMI 1.1 - HDCP
* Multi card reader
* USB Port
* SACD and DVD-Audio
* Upconversion via Component (720p/1080i)
* 480i via HDMI

Oppo Page
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

AVS Thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=682896

For those of you that are curious as to why I posted this in the NEC thread, NEC's have excellent de-interlacing and scaling components, and a number of members where curious about DVD players that support 480i ov HDMI to pair with the NEC's.

I know you're all over that, right bvader? I look forward to your impressions. Funny, when I bought the XR5, I figured that I'd never need both HDMI inputs, now I'm wondering which HDMI switch I need to look at. :D

I don't know if this is the same issue as Ducpham and RIK are experiencing, but I notice an 1/8" to 1/4" pixel gap on the left or right sides of my 50XR5 when I'm watching a variety of standard def channels using my Dish 510 PVR. And depending on which channel I am watching, sometimes the gap appears on the left and sometimes it appears on the right. I notice this in STADIUM mode a lot, and I think I've seen it in ANAMORPHIC, too. It almost seems like either the signal from the PVR isn't big enough to fill the screen, or it is off center, or something like that. The gap isn't the permanent black border around the edge of the panel inside the bezel like jvincent suggests above. It's part of the signal display portion. Also, this does not occur when I watch a DVD movie. The whole screen is filled.

One time, in an attempt to fill the gap, I used the Horiz shift to move the image over an 1/8". This seemed to work initially, but after flipping through some channels and returning, the gap returned and even looked a little wider. So, I dropped that idea.

If I use the ZOOM setting, I can get the gaps to disappear, and this is what I currently do to prevent any long term image retention on the edges.

It seems to be a PVR issue I think, but does anyone have any ideas what the problem might be? I've yet to contact Dish. That's next on my list. Thanks in advance.

You might consider using an overscan test pattern like that found on AVIA. If you have an upconverting DVD player that will allow you to set overscan for 480p,720p,1080i independently. If you are going straight to the set (not using an external scaler or HTPC) usually setting to around 2 percent is about ideal. This will allow for variability in different programming and will also allow use of all orbiter settings without underscan. To set overscan initially, turn all orbiting off. Then once set, you should be able to use whatever pdp saver settings you want without problems. The auto 2 setting seems to result in slightly more while the auto 1 results in slightly less overscan.

If you are using an HTPC/external scaler at native res. then you'll have zero percent overscan on the output side by definition. Ideally, you'd crop the input slightly on all sides to give the equivalent of around 2 percent overscan to again account for source variability, closed caption data, etc. Most external scalers will allow you to do this.

The image size/position settings are saved independently per input and per aspect mode so you'll have to set each as necessary.

I know you're all over that, right bvader? I look forward to your impressions. Funny, when I bought the XR5, I figured that I'd never need both HDMI inputs, now I'm wondering which HDMI switch I need to look at. :D

I know I said the 480i processing on the XR5 was only "above average" on another post, but having tested my other two displays I'd actually say "very good" would be more accurate.

For perspective, 480i (component input) with the XR5 scored a 76 on the HQV testing while 480p only scored 64. 480i tests the display while 480p tests the player (Toshiba A1).

For 480i over component the scores were 35, 30 for the Panny 50PX50U and the Sony GWIII respectively.

The 50XM5 does support HDCP. Otherwise there would be no use for 1080p. You can Email NEC for conformation. I have no doubt of this; even though HDCP does not really exist yet. I bought the 50XM5 for this reason. I have no use for plasma audio. I am going to get the Anthem D2 A/V distribution center and I intend to use a DVI/HDMI cord and either the anthem's own digital audio or my Audio Aero Capitole for the DAC. It will be fun to play the two against each other. If you want to have a discussion on the 50XR5 and the 50XM5 call Chris at Cleveland Plasma. You might, or might not make the same choice as I.

I know you're all over that, right bvader? I look forward to your impressions. Funny, when I bought the XR5, I figured that I'd never need both HDMI inputs, now I'm wondering which HDMI switch I need to look at..

I know I said the 480i processing on the XR5 was only "above average" on another post, but having tested my other two displays I'd actually say "very good" would be more accurate.

For perspective, 480i (component input) with the XR5 scored a 76 on the HQV testing while 480p only scored 64. 480i tests the display while 480p tests the player (Toshiba A1).

For 480i over component the scores were 35, 30 for the Panny 50PX50U and the Sony GWIII respectively.
[sheepish]Yeah you would think....Well actually I have a pretty much brand new Oppo 971 which I am currently very happy with so I am not sure I am going to jump right away on it...but for the price I am trying to find an excuse...but I am curious to hear if/when someone else tries it. My next DVD player will probably be an HD/BD player.

Just as an aside I am approaching ~500 hours, and I am still in awe of this well rounded extremely worthy Panel. Watched a bunch of content over the weekend... Old 70's movies (Vanishing Point) New Movies (Sin City), and SDTV, HDTV Movies & Sports BBal and I watched some Hi Def Hockey which I heard mixed reviews about some saying problems others say "A whole new experience", well it must be the source the HD Hockey I saw... was extremely clear and crisp, in fact I found it much easier to watch... guess I fall into the whole new experience bucket. Also I am really "getting to know" which HD and SD channels are better and which are worse ... for example turns out HD Basket Ball on TNT is not the highest quality but on ABC/ESPN it is excellent. ALso Primetime SHows on HD on CBS, ABC & HBO are all excellent. I know this varies from Provider to Provider and HW to HW, but it shows... give this panel average source and it will do very well but give it good or excellent soure and it really shines.

I am still convinced that I made an excellent choice, I really haven't seen anything else out there I would prefer, certainly nothing by a "Clear Margin".

I've had my NEC 50XR5 for about 10 days and am overwhelmed at the quality.
As most of you have done, I researched for months and checked as many stores as I could to compare other brands.
At first, I was going for the Commercial Panasonic, then the 60u, then saw the Pioneer 5060 and forgot all about Panasonic. However, the Pioneer was nowhere to be found. let alone at a reasonable price, so I researched some more.
I settled on the NEC and bought it sight unseen because of everything I read about it..some here.
The out-of-the-box color, contrast, etc settings are well balanced. Perhaps the yellows are the tiniest, tiniest bit on the green side, but overall, the picture is as good or better than the Pioneers.
I can't stop watching the Discovery channel in HD with my jaw dropped in amazement at the richness of all the greens and blues!

Any DVD on my cheapie Philips Progressive Scan is as rich and sharp as can be.

I'm using a Denon 3806 to keep all the wiring nice and neat to the monitor. I've yet to try HDMI (currently using Component), but will probably give that a try in the very near future.

If you're a lurker and still undecided about what brand to buy, give the NEC some serious thought.

I could not find any info that the 50XM5 DVI supports HDCP. I suspect not - which may or may not be a issue with Blue Ray and HD DVD in the future.

Reggie

Did you look at the spec sheet on the NEC website?

RGB 3 (digital) 24-pin DVI-D HDCP (EIA/CEA-861-A) compatible

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/documents/ColorBrochures/NEC010607.pdf

Yeah, the web site had no mention of HDMI.

I'm definitely considering getting an NEC now.

Showcase SeriesTM
42XR4, 50XR5 and 61XR4 digital plasma displays.

Input/Output Terminals RGB 15-pin mini D-sub
Video 1 Composite RCA x 1
Video 2 S-Video 4-Pin DIN
HD Video 1 1 set RCA Component (Y,Pb,Pr/Y,Cb,Cr)
HD Video 2 1 set RCA Component (Y,Pb,Pr/Y,Cb,Cr)
HD Video 3 Digital HDMI with HDCP
HD Video 4 Digital HDMI with HDCP
Audio 3 sets RCA stereo + external speaker jacks

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/documents/ColorBrochures/NEC100519.pdf

Guess I'm kind of used to navigating it by now. :)

Hopefully I didn't miss this, but I know that how the XR5 compares to 7UY in terms of in terms black levels atleast. But how does an XR5 compare to a Pio 5060 in blacks levels? Has anyone been able to do a good comparison of the two?

Also, I noticed that cnet still complains on false contouring on the panasonics and says that the 6th gen pioneers have no false contouring, but how does the false contouring on the XR5 compare? Is it the same as the Panasonics or less and closer to the level of the Pioneers?

Sorry for all the questions but I have only ever played with a 42PX500u in the stores, played with the old Sony 50XS955, seen a 50PX60u without being able to touch the controls, and watch a 5060 at a friends house on a fairly regular basis. From what I have seen so far I prefer the 5060's picture quality to the panasonics I have seen, but I admit that the comparison is nowhere near fair. I really fell in love with the 50" sony when it was out (I believe it used NEC glass), but I think that 5060 level black levels are the worst I could ever accept.

I really wish I could see an XR5 in a store, but seeing as how I can't I am leaning towards the 50PHD8UK (which I also haven't seen, but hope is better than the 42PX500U I used to play with). The pioneers are unfortunately out of my price range (this is a grad gift to myself for graduating college in a couple weeks). So based on my criteria would I be better off with the panasonic? Sorry again, I would never ask questions about a display if I could see it myself, but I can't :(. I want to like the NEC so much for it's input/style/price combo, but I can only love it if the blacks are atleast as good as the pioneer. I hate indecision.

Hopefully I didn't miss this, but I know that how the XR5 compares to 7UY in terms of in terms black levels atleast. But how does an XR5 compare to a Pio 5060 in blacks levels? Has anyone been able to do a good comparison of the two?

Also, I noticed that cnet still complains on false contouring on the panasonics and says that the 6th gen pioneers have no false contouring, but how does the false contouring on the XR5 compare? Is it the same as the Panasonics or less and closer to the level of the Pioneers?

Sorry for all the questions but I have only ever played with a 42PX500u in the stores, played with the old Sony 50XS955, seen a 50PX60u without being able to touch the controls, and watch a 5060 at a friends house on a fairly regular basis. From what I have seen so far I prefer the 5060's picture quality to the panasonics I have seen, but I admit that the comparison is nowhere near fair. I really fell in love with the 50" sony when it was out (I believe it used NEC glass), but I think that 5060 level black levels are the worst I could ever accept.

I really wish I could see an XR5 in a store, but seeing as how I can't I am leaning towards the 50PHD8UK (which I also haven't seen, but hope is better than the 42PX500U I used to play with). The pioneers are unfortunately out of my price range (this is a grad gift to myself for graduating college in a couple weeks). So based on my criteria would I be better off with the panasonic? Sorry again, I would never ask questions about a display if I could see it myself, but I can't :(. I want to like the NEC so much for it's input/style/price combo, but I can only love it if the blacks are atleast as good as the pioneer. I hate indecision.

I was in your same shoes - buying myself a graduation present, and unable to see the NECs. Well, lo and behold, I walked into a dealer here and saw one...I was floored. If I'd bought it sight unseen and unpacked it in my living room, and saw that picture, I'd have been completely satisfied. Don't be afraid - Plasma Concepts has it right now with their PC promise, which waives restocking fees if you're unhappy - you just pay return shipping.

My PC-purchased NEC 42XR4 should be here today or tomorrow! Oh, and I feel the blacks are at least as good as the Pioneer, along with contrast and color vividness - that 12 bit processing takes it up a notch over Pioneer's 10 bit processing.

For perspective, 480i (component input) with the XR5 scored a 76 on the HQV testing while 480p only scored 64. 480i tests the display while 480p tests the player (Toshiba A1).

For 480i over component the scores were 35, 30 for the Panny 50PX50U and the Sony GWIII respectively.

WOW...Smoked 'em like a cheap cigar.

Any idea what the score for the A1 might be in 720p or 1080i?

WOW...Smoked 'em like a cheap cigar.

Any idea what the score for the A1 might be in 720p or 1080i?

Sure. 91 for 1080i and 64 for 720p. Here are the full results.

Right click and save to desktop to open:

[sheepish]Yeah you would think....Well actually I have a pretty much brand new Oppo 971 which I am currently very happy with so I am not sure I am going to jump right away on it...but for the price I am trying to find an excuse...but I am curious to hear if/when someone else tries it. My next DVD player will probably be an HD/BD player.

Just as an aside I am approaching ~500 hours, and I am still in awe of this well rounded extremely worthy Panel. Watched a bunch of content over the weekend... Old 70's movies (Vanishing Point) New Movies (Sin City), and SDTV, HDTV Movies & Sports BBal and I watched some Hi Def Hockey which I heard mixed reviews about some saying problems others say "A whole new experience", well it must be the source the HD Hockey I saw... was extremely clear and crisp, in fact I found it much easier to watch... guess I fall into the whole new experience bucket. Also I am really "getting to know" which HD and SD channels are better and which are worse ... for example turns out HD Basket Ball on TNT is not the highest quality but on ABC/ESPN it is excellent. ALso Primetime SHows on HD on CBS, ABC & HBO are all excellent. I know this varies from Provider to Provider and HW to HW, but it shows... give this panel average source and it will do very well but give it good or excellent soure and it really shines.

I am still convinced that I made an excellent choice, I really haven't seen anything else out there I would prefer, certainly nothing by a "Clear Margin".

I'd be interested to see how the 970 does against the HD-A1 in terms of upconverting SD disks. Or according to cpcat's post, a more accurate statement would be: I'd be interested to see how the HD-A1 stacks up agains the scaler within the XR5 when upconverting a SD DVD via a 970.

I too have to admit that the price on the 970 is quite reasonable. I'd be buying it no questions asked except we just purchased a Sony DVP-NC85H 5 DVD changer (wife wanted it - anytime she wants consumer electronics, I tend not to object :D) and I'm waiting on an A1 to be delivered sometime this week (one way or another). Once the HDMI switch is added in, the overall price becomes not so reasonable anymore. ;)

Good news is that I'm in my busy season at job#1, so I tend to get a good bit of overtime. Hopefully that'll translate into more new toys, unless other things (darn responsibilities ;)) come up.

When I checked on Sunday morning I was at about 485 hours, so I'm sure we've eclipsed the 500 mark by now, and like you, I am still in shock at how sweet this display is.

Sure. 91 for 1080i and 64 for 720p. Here are the full results.

Right click and save to desktop to open:

Thanks

I wish we had some really, really well-heeled friends to compare the XR5/4 series against comparable Fujitsu and Runco plasmas, and hell, throw in a Ruby for fun. ;)

Now, forgive my ignorance, but that 91 score, based on what you said for 480i, is that 1080i also indicative of testing the display and the 720p indicative of testing the player, or is it a combination of the two?

Jeez, considering how much I've dumped into this stuff (at least by my fiscal standards), I should know more about it. :D

Did you look at the spec sheet on the NEC website?

RGB 3 (digital) 24-pin DVI-D HDCP (EIA/CEA-861-A) compatible

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/documents/ColorBrochures/NEC010607.pdf
Thanks - I missed that there

Reggie

When I checked on Sunday morning I was at about 485 hours, so I'm sure we've eclipsed the 500 mark by now, and like you, I am still in shock at how sweet this display is.
That is impressive. I think my 50XR5 is about 350 hours and I have had it since Jan 15.

Sure. 91 for 1080i and 64 for 720p. Here are the full results.

Right click and save to desktop to open:

cpcat,

I just got my HQV disk last night and had just enough time to do a quick test of 480i and 480p on my display.

According to my test both 480i (8UK) and 480p came to identical 76 scores!

Could I be doing something wrong? I noticed that your 480p score was 64, which should be exactly what I should get, no? I am using component.

I'll do the test again, perhaps using my Bose DVD player and I would assume that 480i should be the same irrespective of players.

Thanks for any tips.

... Once the HDMI switch is added in, the overall price becomes not so reasonable anymore. ;)

What switch are you buying? I bought the simple mechanical 2x1 monoprice for my father in law... extremely basic but works great... are you getting something more sophisticated?

.
When I checked on Sunday morning I was at about 485 hours, so I'm sure we've eclipsed the 500 mark by now, and like you, I am still in shock at how sweet this display is.
Damn straight!

I am so glad I am past the whole "Panel Dating" thing, I am happily "married' now... that agonizing over which one has 1% better black levels, and "Look I think I can see a flaw... see it? ... can you see it?" stuff is a fading memory (and I was in full mode for a while)... one look at my Sweet Baby 50 and I know I made the right decision; life is good; and will be for a long time....

All you fence sitters... I feeeeel your pain...I felt your pain.... do your self a favor and jump on in the water is great!, NEC, Panny, Pio your gonna be happy... NEC is a no brainer in my book.

That is impressive. I think my 50XR5 is about 350 hours and I have had it since Jan 15.
Not sure about BOSS10L, but I work at home so I was able to rack up quite a few hours in a fairly short time with the Breakin DVD and DiscHD... easy to baby sit....my guess is that BOSS10L is a bit of a gamer ... and you know thooose guys ;)

cpcat,

I just got my HQV disk last night and had just enough time to do a quick test of 480i and 480p on my display.

According to my test both 480i (8UK) and 480p came to identical 76 scores!

Could I be doing something wrong? I noticed that your 480p score was 64, which should be exactly what I should get, no? I am using component.

I'll do the test again, perhaps using my Bose DVD player and I would assume that 480i should be the same irrespective of players.

Thanks for any tips.

Hey Plazman! (Wow really felt like Earl there saying "Hey Crabman") :D

How's that 8UK treatin' ya! Great I'm sure. I think that cpcat's 64 score was on 720p (which would really be testing the player). Your 480i and 480p identical scores would seem to point to identical internals of the player and panel IMHO, but I could be wrong. See if they are identical with the BOSE, I would guess they would be different. I'd like to see the 720p score on that 8UK if you get the chance too.

take care

That is impressive. I think my 50XR5 is about 350 hours and I have had it since Jan 15.

Well you have to remember that the first 112 hours it was running the "break-in" DVD and then I was off for 2 weeks with septoplasty surgery recuperation.

But I'd say that the wife and kids put probably 4-5 hours on it a night, and I've been playing a lot of Xbox 360 and watching a lot of movies lately. That's why I bought a plasma instead of a run of the mill RP set, I wanted to force myself to take the time to sit down and watch it.

Couldn't be happier with the set and the service. I've got a friend I grew up with that is looking at SXRDs, but he loves my XR5 and I'm going to try and get him to call you. :cool:

What switch are you buying? I bought the simple mechanical 2x1 monoprice for my father in law... extremely basic but works great... are you getting something more sophisticated?

I've got to be strictly "inexpensive" on this given how much I've spent already, probably go with either the Monoprice 2x1 mechanical or maybe even the 5x1. It's very reasonably priced. I guess I could use the old reverse psychology on her "You haaaaad to have that Sony 5-disk changer, now I need an HDMI switch!" ;)

Yeah, it was pretty funny. I was reading one of the news posts here about a week ago and it touted how some company had released "An affordable HDMI switcher". I looked it up and it was MSRP'ing for over $2K. Hardly inexpensive, but what do I know? :D

Damn straight!

I am so glad I am past the whole "Panel Dating" thing, I am happily "married' now... that agonizing over which one has 1% better black levels, and "Look I think I can see a flaw... see it? ... can you see it?" stuff is a fading memory (and I was in full mode for a while)... one look at my Sweet Baby 50 and I know I made the right decision; life is good; and will be for a long time....

All you fence sitters... I feeeeel your pain...I felt your pain.... do your self a favor and jump on in the water is great!, NEC, Panny, Pio your gonna be happy... NEC is a no brainer in my book.

Yeah, it finally came into focus for me this past long weekend. I was playing a game on the 360 for a looooooong time and it left quite a big IR right in the middle of the screen. Within 5-10 minutes of watching something else, it was completely gone. Not to mention that it only shows up if you're watching a completely black screen, and how often does that really happen?

I never really agonized per se. I knew that the panels I was looking at were all going to give me *pretty comparable* quality, I was more interested in value. I was looking local vendors and at some of the big box stores, but when everything factored in, buying locally was going to cost me more and offer less of a warranty. After that, it was just a matter of deciding between the 42XR4 and the 50XR5.

I know I made the right decision with the XR5, and my only regret is waiting as long as I did to purchase it. :cool:

BVADER,
RE: OPPO dvd player
I to have been waitong to see where/when my next DVD player would be.
HD is still some what in the near future. When will you review come out on.
1). PQ- on the NECxr5- what is the difference compared to you last dvd player
2). how does the DVD moive sound like,, w/ 5.1?
3). How is the fidility w/ SACD?

cpcat,

I just got my HQV disk last night and had just enough time to do a quick test of 480i and 480p on my display.



Plazman,
I just sent you a PM on this.
:)

BVADER,
RE: OPPO dvd player
I to have been waitong to see where/when my next DVD player would be.
HD is still some what in the near future. When will you review come out on.
1). PQ- on the NECxr5- what is the difference compared to you last dvd player
2). how does the DVD moive sound like,, w/ 5.1?
3). How is the fidility w/ SACD?
Hi DAB,
Think there is a small disconnect. I own an OPPO 971H (the previous model) and I will probably not be purchasing the 970H, so I can not answer the Oppo 970H questions, and won't be posting a Mini Review with the NEC XR5. There is a thread in the DVD Players (Standard) forum dedicated to each of these players. The 970 thread is very active right now and has a nice mini review and HQV results there.

I can say this regarding the Oppo 971,
1) PQ of Oppo 971H with NEC XR5 is excellent! I have not run the HQV, however I trust my eyes and ears and my observations seemed to be confirmed by others.. Compared to my old ancient player, it is a dramatic improvement.

I did a very unscientific review some time ago on the Oppo 971 and Sony NS75H, this too was mostly confirmed by others.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7426076#post7426076

2) Depends on your audio system, The Oppo passes RAW Digital, My experience with my Denon AV and Definitive speakers is DD 5.1 and DTS are good/very good.

3) I cannot comment on SACD, the 971H does not suport SACD

My HD-A1 shipped today, I should have it tomorrow or Friday at the latest! :cool:

My HD-A1 shipped today, I should have it tomorrow or Friday at the latest! :cool:
Dang man! Your on a roll!

My HD-A1 shipped today, I should have it tomorrow or Friday at the latest! :cool:

Congratulations! Boss. You're going to love the combination :)

Just remember....the Tosh is slow, don't give it commands over the remote while it is loading up. The appox times on my XA-1 are:

1. When I press the ON button until I get the NO DISK message - 30 seconds
2. When I load the disk to until I get the PLAY message - 20-30 seconds (depends on disk).

If you are planning on using the hdmi input (I don't see any PQ difference between hdmi and component, and most users I believe use component as well) remember to turn on the TV before the A-1. If you are using a Univeral remote like Harmony, it will take care of this in the activity setting.

Anything that I can think of? The laser on this is more sensitive than you regular DVD player so make sure to check that the disk is clean...

When playing HD DVD only, pressing the stop button will start from the begining. For regular DVD it will start from the point where you stopped. You'll remember this after the first time :)

If you are using the HDMI input (as I was with my XR5) upconverting regular DVD to 1080i gives you 'near' HD quality - probably better than most movies they show on HD channels :)

Do you have some HD DVDs ordered from Netflix or Amazon? My wife (let alone me) has become addicted to HD DVDs - once you see it, you'll know :D

you always have the 'one and only cpcat' for advice on tuning you video and audio to perfection. He's awesome :D :D

Enjoy...

Plazman,
I just sent you a PM on this.
:)

Thanks. I'll try attempt #2 tonight

Thanks. I'll try attempt #2 tonight

Hey, no secret PM stuff, you two. :p

Hey, no secret PM stuff, you two. :p

heheh....I found a fix for the 720p issue. But I only told cpcat about it :D

heheh....I found a fix for the 720p issue. But I only told cpcat about it :D

DOH..LOL!

Edit: Hey...where are those sshots. ;)

Dang man! Your on a roll!

Not really, I ordered it like 2 weeks ago. :o
I'm just glad it wasn't going to be another 2 weeks! :D
I seriously considered the XA1 just so I could have it sooner, but I worked quite a bit of OT for WAF the A1, I didn't want to press my luck.

Congratulations! Boss. You're going to love the combination :)

Just remember....the Tosh is slow, don't give it commands over the remote while it is loading up. The appox times on my XA-1 are:

1. When I press the ON button until I get the NO DISK message - 30 seconds
2. When I load the disk to until I get the PLAY message - 20-30 seconds (depends on disk).

If you are planning on using the hdmi input (I don't see any PQ difference between hdmi and component, and most users I believe use component as well) remember to turn on the TV before the A-1. If you are using a Univeral remote like Harmony, it will take care of this in the activity setting.

Anything that I can think of? The laser on this is more sensitive than you regular DVD player so make sure to check that the disk is clean...

When playing HD DVD only, pressing the stop button will start from the begining. For regular DVD it will start from the point where you stopped. You'll remember this after the first time :)

If you are using the HDMI input (as I was with my XR5) upconverting regular DVD to 1080i gives you 'near' HD quality - probably better than most movies they show on HD channels :)

Do you have some HD DVDs ordered from Netflix or Amazon? My wife (let alone me) has become addicted to HD DVDs - once you see it, you'll know :D

you always have the 'one and only cpcat' for advice on tuning you video and audio to perfection. He's awesome :D :D

Enjoy...

I've heard they're slower. No biggie really. What is a few minutes when video and audio nirvana has been achieved right in our own homes, right? ;)

I'll be using the Harmony 880, and as a matter of fact, I'm waiting on the A1 so I can finally finish with my component rack. It's been in a small state of disarray waiting for all of the stuff to come in. The A1 will seal the deal.

That's good to know, I was wondering how good the SD DVD quality was going to be with the A1. I'd really like to see a side-by-side with the A1 and the Oppo 970. I'll be running everything over HDMI if I can help it. Buying a Monoprice HDMI swich is a heckuva lot cheaper than a new A/V recevier. ;)

The wife and I have been on the fence about joining Netflix, but I think the purchase of the A1 almost makes it a necessity. Right now, there are only maybe 5 current "must have" HD DVDs, and 2 of them will be coming with the player. I'm not the type to purchase a DVD of a lousy movie simply because it is in HD, but it might definitely help broaden my viewing horizons if I have access to such a large library such as Netflix. One thing that concerns me though, I've read somewhere else on this site that Netflix has pulled the HD DVDs from rotation. Speculation abounds, but I figure we'll see them back up in short order.

I plan to go pick up Van Helsing tomorrow at lunch. That, combined with Goodfellas and The Last Samurai should help the HD fix for at least a week or two. The wife and I just bought like 15-16 DVDs at Best Buy 3 weekends ago, so we've just barely started getting into those with the kids.

Exciting times we live in people, very exciting times. And while a part of me wants to see Sony fall on their faces with BD, I can't say for certain that I will eschew the possibility of owning one of those either (but not at $1,000 - I can wait until the price drops).

Not really, I ordered it like 2 weeks ago. :o
I'm just glad it wasn't going to be another 2 weeks! :D
I seriously considered the XA1 just so I could have it sooner, but I worked quite a bit of OT for WAF the A1, I didn't want to press my luck.



I've heard they're slower. No biggie really. What is a few minutes when video and audio nirvana has been achieved right in our own homes, right? ;)

I'll be using the Harmony 880, and as a matter of fact, I'm waiting on the A1 so I can finally finish with my component rack. It's been in a small state of disarray waiting for all of the stuff to come in. The A1 will seal the deal.

That's good to know, I was wondering how good the SD DVD quality was going to be with the A1. I'd really like to see a side-by-side with the A1 and the Oppo 970. I'll be running everything over HDMI if I can help it. Buying a Monoprice HDMI swich is a heckuva lot cheaper than a new A/V recevier. ;)

The wife and I have been on the fence about joining Netflix, but I think the purchase of the A1 almost makes it a necessity. Right now, there are only maybe 5 current "must have" HD DVDs, and 2 of them will be coming with the player. I'm not the type to purchase a DVD of a lousy movie simply because it is in HD, but it might definitely help broaden my viewing horizons if I have access to such a large library such as Netflix. One thing that concerns me though, I've read somewhere else on this site that Netflix has pulled the HD DVDs from rotation. Speculation abounds, but I figure we'll see them back up in short order.

I plan to go pick up Van Helsing tomorrow at lunch. That, combined with Goodfellas and The Last Samurai should help the HD fix for at least a week or two. The wife and I just bought like 15-16 DVDs at Best Buy 3 weekends ago, so we've just barely started getting into those with the kids.

Exciting times we live in people, very exciting times. And while a part of me wants to see Sony fall on their faces with BD, I can't say for certain that I will eschew the possibility of owning one of those either (but not at $1,000 - I can wait until the price drops).

cool! Let me know if you need any help with the 880! My wife and me are pretty used to the slowness, in fact the amount of time it takes us to watch a movie compared to before is around 45 seconds more - not a big deal at all.

My wife was terrified by Van Helsing since you may be surprised by the audio on HD DVD, but Goodfellas and Last Samurai were excellent! Unforgiven is also great. My personal favorite so far is U571. Actually, if you do go the hdmi route you'll really enjoy the 1080i upconversion since the XR5 works perfectly with the A-1 at that resolution. So you can pretty much just set it at 1080i and forget it....

Also, don't place the A-1 near your sub or where it will be affected by vibration.

The reason I mention this is because I am yet to have a glitch on my XA-1 and I've seen over 50 by now (mostly SD DVDs)! I too would have got the A-1, except the store only had the XA-1. The motorized door is kinda cool, but not worth the extra $300! Overall construction I am told are the same for both....

Boss, I enjoy your postive posts :)

BOSS1OL; Netflix is fantastic. Go for it. In addition to the usual 'greatest hits' they have a really good library of alternative/european/artsy-type films available. They have yet to disappoint.

That's good to know, I was wondering how good the SD DVD quality was going to be with the A1. I'd really like to see a side-by-side with the A1 and the Oppo 970. I'll be running everything over HDMI if I can help it. Buying a Monoprice HDMI swich is a heckuva lot cheaper than a new A/V recevier. ;)



I did have the Oppo 971 before the XA-1. IMHO the XA-1 was better for both video and audio is a direct A-B comparison. With the XA-1 the colors seemed brighter and more defined. Oppo was better than any previous DVD player I had. The Oppo also plays more types of disks than the XA-1.

In my case, component works great as well...

Lost in all the techno babble. :( I used to think I had a pretty good grasp on the majority of topics that are discussed in this thread, but here lately I have been getting quite overwhelmed. Page 105 in this thread became increasingly confusing as the talk progressed. Are all of the analizations of this display really neccessary? I just don't understand the way some of the more knowledgable members pick apart this display (XR5). Is it just the HTPC guys that are interested in filling every last pixel with every source? Also, why is it so important that this display can play back all the different 1080p rates? You guys are confusing the heck out of me. I am not bashing you for being so knowledgable, but what are you really hoping to accomplish? I am more than satisfied with my Xr5's performance with every source,(along with many other people) so why does it seem that you are so desperately trying to find something that the XR5 doesn't do to your specifications? I understand that you are just informing the possible consumer of the displays capabilities, but how many average consumers even have a clue what you are discussing here lately? I consider myself to be pretty particular about my electronics, but not (over the top) like some appear to be. This is an incredible thread to read, but it becomes frustrating when you have to go and take an electronics course to comprehend some topics. :)

techjunky2,

I can answer the 1:1 pixel mapping question for HTPCs.

Although the NEC scaler is quite good, if you are feeding it from an external scaler or HTPC you will generally get the best results by sending 1:1 to the panel. In the case of the HTPC, it's really just a combination DVD player/scaler all rolled into one.

The 1080p questions are a more interesting topic because there is a lot of FUD out there and most people simply don't understand the playback chain involves. I can understand the confusion on this point because it relatively complicated.

Ultimately though, people really should just sit back and enjoy the show. After an initial flurry of customizing and tweaking after the set arrived and I updated my HTPC, I haven't touched the setting on my NEC in quite a while.

Lost in all the techno babble. :( I used to think I had a pretty good grasp on the majority of topics that are discussed in this thread, but here lately I have been getting quite overwhelmed. Page 105 in this thread became increasingly confusing as the talk progressed. Are all of the analizations of this display really neccessary? I just don't understand the way some of the more knowledgable members pick apart this display (XR5). Is it just the HTPC guys that are interested in filling every last pixel with every source? Also, why is it so important that this display can play back all the different 1080p rates? You guys are confusing the heck out of me. I am not bashing you for being so knowledgable, but what are you really hoping to accomplish? I am more than satisfied with my Xr5's performance with every source,(along with many other people) so why does it seem that you are so desperately trying to find something that the XR5 doesn't do to your specifications? I understand that you are just informing the possible consumer of the displays capabilities, but how many average consumers even have a clue what you are discussing here lately? I consider myself to be pretty particular about my electronics, but not (over the top) like some appear to be. This is an incredible thread to read, but it becomes frustrating when you have to go and take an electronics course to comprehend some topics. :)

Pssst...I'll let you in on a little secret. I have no friggin' clue about what I'm talking about. I admit that I do enjoy hearing technical specs and whatnot, but as of right now, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to put it in the proper perspective. I just know what my eyes and ears like. :D :cool:

cool! Let me know if you need any help with the 880! My wife and me are pretty used to the slowness, in fact the amount of time it takes us to watch a movie compared to before is around 45 seconds more - not a big deal at all.

My wife was terrified by Van Helsing since you may be surprised by the audio on HD DVD, but Goodfellas and Last Samurai were excellent! Unforgiven is also great. My personal favorite so far is U571. Actually, if you do go the hdmi route you'll really enjoy the 1080i upconversion since the XR5 works perfectly with the A-1 at that resolution. So you can pretty much just set it at 1080i and forget it....

Also, don't place the A-1 near your sub or where it will be affected by vibration.

The reason I mention this is because I am yet to have a glitch on my XA-1 and I've seen over 50 by now (mostly SD DVDs)! I too would have got the A-1, except the store only had the XA-1. The motorized door is kinda cool, but not worth the extra $300! Overall construction I am told are the same for both....

Boss, I enjoy your postive posts :)

Our other DVD player is a Sony 5-disk carousel, so it takes at least that long to load up. 45 seconds is just long enough for one of the boys to bring daddy a Diet Coke from the fridge. :D

I can't wait to finally use the 880 in all it's glory. I've been holding off on programming it as I've swapped out quite a few components in anticipation of the A1 becoming the new baby in the family. ;)

I saw Van Helsing at the theater with my brother (we probably go to about one movie every 2 years or so), and he's beside himself with envy over the XR5, so I have to rub it in when he sees that movie in all of it's HD goodness. This is the same brother who refused to come over to watch this past Superbowl in HD because my screen was only a "lowly" 30" WS and he has an archaic 60" RCA RP CRT TV that probably has been out of calibration for 5-6 years. :D He was over on Sunday for my youngest son's birthday party, and kept telling his fiancee, "See, look how much more room we'd get back in the den if we bought one of these! Look at that picture!" He's not going to replace the RCA until it dies, but in the meantime, I know where many games and the Superbowl is going to be watched this season. :cool:

I'm going to sign up for Netflix today, looking forward to seeing some great movies! U571 is near the top of my buy list. I've never seen it, but I am looking forward to it.

My sub is on the other side of the fireplace about 8'-10' feet away, should that suffice? I can move it further if need be, just have to run some new wire.

I came "" this close to picking up the XA1 simply because it was in stock, but the more I thought about it, the $300 I was going to save could go to buying 9-10 HD DVD titles. I like the black and silver motif (my A/V rack has a little of both and itself is silver and black), but I couldn't justify spending the extra cash on it. I'm hoping that my A1 is trouble-free, but even if there are issues, I'm keeping it and I have faith that Toshiba will be releasing a firmware update soon.

Thanks. I'm just enjoying it all, taking it in. I go into other forums here (and elsewhere) where people will sit there and nitpick every minuscule imperfection or second-guess themselves into oblivion. Or go to insane lengths to get just that minimal increase in performance. More power to them, but when it gets to become work, it is no longer fun, and that's why I got into A/V in the first place. :)

techjunky;

You are correct in that many of us do wander a bit too deep into this stuff. There is a companion tweak thread where much of this belongs. I just skip over the settings for equipment I don't own. Still, I have gained much from of the tips I found here, including Cpcat's settings,various connections and I even got a tip to update my Dish Satellite system. Really, most everyone here is an echo to your satisfaction with the NEC; even the obsessive ones.

Lost in all the techno babble. :(

It's certainly not necessary to understand all the scaling/resolution stuff to fully enjoy and appreciate your display.

Suffice it to say that at this point I've tried mulitiple configurations and tested until my face has turned blue including two other reputable displays (Panasonic 50PX50U and Sony GWIII rear projection LCD) as well as a highly regarded external scaler via HDMI/DVI at 1:1 with the XR5 (Lumagen HDP with every successive firmware update) and still the NEC 50XR5 on it's own is what I prefer.

You can rest assured you are seeing picture quality of the highest currently available.

Since the NEC handles 1080i so well, I would say 1080p input for us would likely provide no noticeable improvement. Since the XM5/XM4 accepts 1080p60 over DVI, someone here eventually should be able to test this theory.

This should also be true of other displays with high quality 1080i processing.

Lost in all the techno babble. :( I used to think I had a pretty good grasp on the majority of topics that are discussed in this thread, but here lately I have been getting quite overwhelmed. Page 105 in this thread became increasingly confusing as the talk progressed. Are all of the analizations of this display really neccessary? I just don't understand the way some of the more knowledgable members pick apart this display (XR5). Is it just the HTPC guys that are interested in filling every last pixel with every source? Also, why is it so important that this display can play back all the different 1080p rates? You guys are confusing the heck out of me. I am not bashing you for being so knowledgable, but what are you really hoping to accomplish? I am more than satisfied with my Xr5's performance with every source,(along with many other people) so why does it seem that you are so desperately trying to find something that the XR5 doesn't do to your specifications? I understand that you are justinforming the possible consumer of the displays capabilities, but how many average consumers even have a clue what you are discussing here lately? I consider myself to be pretty particular about my electronics, but not (over the top) like some appear to be. This is an incredible thread to read, but it becomes frustrating when you have to go and take an electronics course to comprehend some topics. :)
Couple things... I know you are just thinking out loud, so I will too...
It is the nature of these forums, that some will reaaallly dive deep, expecially when you get a couple of folks concetrating of analyzing/solving an issue. On the other hand these are the folks we mere mortals run to when we need help. Is it neccessary? yes for some its a process, for some its entertainment...no for others, for many... we do it on the edge of obsession and then are happy when its over. As for the HTPC guys... the tend to suit up, and get in deep and dirty... this thread just touches on it...take a look at thier dedicated threads... Oh My! And what are they trying to accomplish... thats easy... The Perfect PQ

My experience is that more often than not negatives are amplified/focused on more than positives, thats too bad, it is a product of the over analysis, our critique driven thought processes, and I think it freezes many consumers. However I contend that most "Average" consumers really don't read/participate in these forums... consumer reports, major B&M and Sales guys still drive the majority of sales.

For me... I have learned alot from these forums, and I enjoy the analysis to a point, was glad when I was done... and like the newspaper I just skip the articles I am not interested in. I also try to encourage people to step out of the anlaysis paralysis and take a chance, dive in get your feet wet, after all theses purchases should be enjoyable and be from descretionary income, and should be thought of that way.

Glad you like your panel...I do too!

...
Thanks. I'm just enjoying it all, taking it in. I go into other forums here (and elsewhere) where people will sit there and nitpick every minuscule imperfection or second-guess themselves into oblivion. Or go to insane lengths to get just that minimal increase in performance. More power to them, but when it gets to become work, it is no longer fun, and that's why I got into A/V in the first place. :)
Oh shoot! I think BOSS10L said it alot better than I did, in a lot less room ;)

Oh shoot! I think BOSS10L said it alot better than I did, in a lot less room ;)

I do have one caveat to add though. I thought about it some more, and I realized that everyone probably has something that they obsess over. Once upon a time I used to rattle my brains over which exhaust system to switch over to in order to give me that extra 10hp. Not much different than some audio/videophiles I would suppose.

I no longer own a Mustang (and miss it terribly - except when I'm fueling up ;)), but I've kinda taken on that role with one of my other loves, which is scuba diving.

So to make a long story short, I'm casting no stones. Like bvader said, I am thankful that we do have members here like cpcat to draw wisdom from. I have seen others in different threads going to excruciating lengths, but I suppose to them, it is their "Mustang". :cool:

I'm so jaded and anal in every other facet of life that when I get to my A/V, I don't have anything left in the tank to get all technical-like...at least not yet... ;)

Suffice it to say that at this point I've tried mulitiple configurations and tested until my face has turned blue including two other reputable displays (Panasonic 50PX50U and Sony GWIII rear projection LCD) as well as a highly regarded external scaler via HDMI/DVI at 1:1 with the XR5 (Lumagen HDP with every successive firmware update) and still the NEC 50XR5 on it's own is what I prefer.

You can rest assured you are seeing picture quality of the highest currently available.

That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to read stuff like that. Nice to know that the display we've chosen kicks arse. It was actually kinda funny, I had at least 3 people ask me this past weekend about NEC. "Who are they? Never heard of them, but it looks great!" I knew of them from being a PC geek from waaay back, but it was nice to help educate a little bit too. Going to a big box is occasionally useful if they are carrying something I can't get elsewhere, but I tend to try and avoid them if I can help it.


Since the NEC handles 1080i so well, I would say 1080p input for us would likely provide no noticeable improvement. Since the XM5/XM4 accepts 1080p60 over DVI, someone here eventually should be able to test this theory.

This should also be true of other displays with high quality 1080i processing.

I'm practically foaming at the mouth with anticipation for the A1. It looks like I may have jumped the gun and that it may not be delivered until tomorrow. I'm okay with that I guess, what's one more day after over 2 weeks? ;)

On a side note, anyone who wants one of these bad-boys should call Chris, I know he's got some in stock.

I'm practically foaming at the mouth with anticipation for the A1. It looks like I may have jumped the gun and that it may not be delivered until tomorrow. I'm okay with that I guess, what's one more day after over 2 weeks? ;)

On a side note, anyone who wants one of these bad-boys should call Chris, I know he's got some in stock.
Dang you guys.... cpcat, plazman, BOSS10L.... I'm warning you guys....you guys are really starting to feed my HD monster with all this A1 talk....
must.....hold......out!.......must......paint.....house..... first! :D

Lemme feed it some more. ;)

I just got back from Best Buy...I now own Van Helsing and U571. Had to completely fight the urge not to grab Riddick, Blazing Saddles and Full Metal Jacket. :D

*Edit - Just joined Netflix. Looking forward to more HD goodies!

Couple things... I know you are just thinking out loud, so I will too...
It is the nature of these forums, that some will reaaallly dive deep, expecially when you get a couple of folks concetrating of analyzing/solving an issue. On the other hand these are the folks we mere mortals run to when we need help. Is it neccessary? yes for some its a process, for some its entertainment...no for others, for many... we do it on the edge of obsession and then are happy when its over. As for the HTPC guys... the tend to suit up, and get in deep and dirty... this thread just touches on it...take a look at thier dedicated threads... Oh My! And what are they trying to accomplish... thats easy... The Perfect PQ

My experience is that more often than not negatives are amplified/focused on more than positives, thats too bad, it is a product of the over analysis, our critique driven thought processes, and I think it freezes many consumers. However I contend that most "Average" consumers really don't read/participate in these forums... consumer reports, major B&M and Sales guys still drive the majority of sales.

For me... I have learned alot from these forums, and I enjoy the analysis to a point, was glad when I was done... and like the newspaper I just skip the articles I am not interested in. I also try to encourage people to step out of the anlaysis paralysis and take a chance, dive in get your feet wet, after all theses purchases should be enjoyable and be from descretionary income, and should be thought of that way.

Glad you like your panel...I do too!
I'm glad I didn't offend anyone with my earlier comments, I was just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one that has some of this info go over my head. I really love my NEC panel and have appreciated all of the help from all of you pertaining to the purchase and setup of this awesome plasma display. :)

WOW!

I just keep saying "Holy Crap, this is amazing!"

I've hardly touched the settings. I'm watching the Superbit The Fifth Element, even stretched to fill the whole screen, and it looks so fabulous I can hardly believe it! It was even better than in the store...the DVD looks as good as HD, as far as vividness goes. My Paradigm surround setup is killer as well, finally a display that can match its quality!

I'm running HD off cable, and DVD through a DV45a Pioneer Elite model...I can't type anymore, I gotta get back to watching!

Do any retail stores even carry NEC?

Do any retail stores even carry NEC?

There is a store in my town that does...the only one in the area though.

WOW!

I just keep saying "Holy Crap, this is amazing!"

I've hardly touched the settings. I'm watching the Superbit The Fifth Element, even stretched to fill the whole screen, and it looks so fabulous I can hardly believe it! It was even better than in the store...the DVD looks as good as HD, as far as vividness goes. My Paradigm surround setup is killer as well, finally a display that can match its quality!

I'm running HD off cable, and DVD through a DV45a Pioneer Elite model...I can't type anymore, I gotta get back to watching!
You've got the NEC fever my friend. :) Terribly sorry there is no cure. ;) You've gotta love it! NEC rules!

Trent's NEC 42XR4 Impressions (or I Got My NEC)

So I finally got my jaw picked up off the floor, and figured it was time for some impressions...so here goes.

The Purchase
I bought the PX-42XR4a from Plasma Concepts (Forum Sponsor). Aric was very professional and helpful, and did not push any extra accessories or stuff like that on me. I found a fantastic price there, but the real selling point was the PC Promise, which would have allowed me to return the set without a restocking fee within 30 days. Despite the fact that I'd seen the set in person, I wanted that reassurance.

I ordered on the previous Friday, and got it today (Thursday), which counting the holiday, was three business days after the order. Box was in perfect shape (though it looked like a maniac on a forklift got ahold of the pallet it came on). Delivery guy from BAX Global carried it inside without prompting and headed out without even turning back for a tip for the extra service. Received the stand the day before the plasma...the opposite probably would have caused me to become insane with waiting!

The Equipment
The display is hooked up to a Panamax 5400 series power conditioner.

Picture:
- Pioneer Elite DV-45a player (via Component)
- Motorola 6412 (Series III) HD Box/DVR from Insight Cable (via HDMI and Component)

Sound:
-Yamaha HTR-5760 AVR
-Paradigm Studio 20s (Fronts)
-Paradigm Studio CC-470 (Center)
-Klipsch Reference RB-3s (Rear)
-Paradigm PDR-12 (Sub)

Cables:
I use a mix of mostly Monster Cable and AudioQuest (all bought on employee accomodation pricing at Best Buy/Magnolia, sorry folks :) ) A little Acoustic Research, and a Monoprice HDMI cable, which btw is the most impressive looking and performing $7 cable I've ever seen - picture is fantastic.

First Impressions
Setup was easy - it was simple to set the display on the stand properly with just me and no help. Plugs were a little difficult to reach due to the bottom mounting, but I can deal with that. I'm very impressed, overall, with NEC's extensive explanations in the manual, good ergonomic function, and all around great design...easy to use and easy on the eyes. Very impressive effort by this company.

I said WOW as soon as the picture popped on the screen via Component...and that was just the DVR menu! I turned to the spelling bee in HD on ESPN, and was blown away...until I noticed a SEAM in the picture, visible on vertical pans...I about freaked before I realized it was only on one certain camera, and only on ESPN. I relaxed finally. Picture was too red out of the box, contrast was too high, yadda yadda, but the picture was simply FANTASTIC.

I think it's important to stop here and note that I am not given to hyperbole when it comes to A/V items. I have worked with Pioneer Elite, Fujitsu, Panasonic, LG, the works, and I have simply NEVER seen a picture of this quality on a display at any price. It was that good. Oh, and this is all before ANY adjustment! Back on topic...

I watched transfixed for awhile, playing with stretch modes (holy crap, there's a lot and they're great). The remote is very intuitive - I may even keep it around instead of always dealing with my Harmony. However there was a problem...

Unfortunately...
I saw yellow flashes of light on the display. Yes, there's a thread floating around about this - I definitely see it. Something about phosphor decay rates, probably. Anyway, I was scared. Then I adjusted my brightness and contrast, and 85% of the effect faded away. This effect does happen on the screen for me, but I haven't mentioned it to my roommate and he hasn't said a word. I think it's one of those rare things, like seeing rainbows on DLP, and being able to hear CRTs when they're turned on (I'm sensitive to both). Anyway, once picture was adjusted more later, I hardly noticed this effect at all anymore.

Fortunately....
I have seen ZERO...I repeat 0, Zero, zilch, nada...image retention. None at all. Even with levels at factory defaults, I never noticed any after running onscreen menus, watching ESPN, watching 30 minutes of letterboxed movies, nothing.

HD Performance
HD picture, with a good feed, is stunning. Like, I talk out loud to myself in an empty house stunning. With a so so feed, it still looks great. Digital channels look good, even when stretched. Oh yeah, and then I switched to HDMI, and it looked literally 20% better than component...wow...a HUGE difference.

SD Performance
This is hard to gauge, since this is very dependant on cable picture quality. Most channels are fair to good, with the best barely being distinguishable from Digital 4:3. The worst are rather poor, but still watchable. That's a relief - a very big testament to the NEC's scaler.

DVD Performance
This is a huge aspect of the display's performance for me. I was blown away by the quality of the picture on The Fifth Element (Superbit). I just kept watching the first chapter over and over. I won't get into specifics, but I got the impression that the NEC was almost CREATING more detail than was contained on the disc. I know that's impossible, but it seemed like it since every nuance and detail was being pulled out of the measely 480i signal.

This is the first piece of AV equipment that I've ever purchased that made me literally talk to myself out loud about how stinkin' awesome it was an hour after I'd started watching. I had to say "Holy Crap" out loud at least five times watching HD and The Fifth Element. I am beyond impressed with this plasma, and have only begun to calibrate it to my liking. My roomate was floored...he was concerned with the "low" resolution of 1024x768, being a computer guy. He was simply amazed at the picture though. He stammered out something about "I didn't know HD was THAT good". This thing is simply impressive.

More details as they become evident...feel free to ask any questions or leave comments! I'm just glad to now join the club!

Trent

^^^^ Oh no...another one bit by the NEC bug!!! :D

Thanks for the great review. Like you said, with a high quality HD feed, I've simply not seen anything better....it's a thing of beauty. Before you know it you'll be like me.....stuck watching that thing so much you barely have time to post here anymore. ;)

There is a store in my town that does...the only one in the area though.

what is the name of the store? I'm in Lexington occassionally and would love to see to see a 42" or 50" NEC. Thanks.

Unfortunately...
I saw yellow flashes of light on the display. Yes, there's a thread floating around about this - I definitely see it. Something about phosphor decay rates, probably.
Trent

This is not caused by the plasma. ;)

The HD-A1 was delivered at 1:24pm today. Too bad I won't get to play with it until about 12 hours later when I get off from work. :(

Something tells me it's going to be an all-nighter. ;)

what is the name of the store? I'm in Lexington occassionally and would love to see to see a 42" or 50" NEC. Thanks.

Ovation A/V in Lexington, KY. They're on Nicholasville Rd, up in the shopping center by Applebees, Outback, etc. They have the 42XR4 on display. Their feed is off cable, so is sometimes shady, but the HD feed is nice. Good guys, I've bought a bunch of speakers from them.

This is not caused by the plasma. ;)

Considering I only see it on phosphor based televisions (some plasmas and some old CRT rear projectors), and with all types of different source inputs, and since I can affect its frequency of appearance by adjusting contrast and brightness controls...I'd say it's the plasma.

If you have information that says otherwise, I'd be glad to reconsider.

Considering I only see it on phosphor based televisions (some plasmas and some old CRT rear projectors), and with all types of different source inputs, and since I can affect its frequency of appearance by adjusting contrast and brightness controls...I'd say it's the plasma.

If you have information that says otherwise, I'd be glad to reconsider.

I thought phosphor decay effected the bightness of the screen where some colors were brighter than others. But I may be wrong. May be something to do with the electronics on the set....and how the gas is being charged....JMHO.

This is one of those things where if you haven't seen it, it's hard to comment on it.

Trent's NEC 42XR4 Impressions (or I Got My NEC)


Unfortunately...
I saw yellow flashes of light on the display. Yes, there's a thread floating around about this - I definitely see it. Something about phosphor decay rates, probably. Anyway, I was scared. Then I adjusted my brightness and contrast, and 85% of the effect faded away. This effect does happen on the screen for me, but I haven't mentioned it to my roommate and he hasn't said a word. I think it's one of those rare things, like seeing rainbows on DLP, and being able to hear CRTs when they're turned on (I'm sensitive to both). Anyway, once picture was adjusted more later, I hardly noticed this effect at all anymore.

...
Trent

Trent,
First congrats... nice mini review...

I am one of those folk with the CRT hearing thing...in fact if I want to I can pick out the hum of the panel from across the room...with regards to the yellow flash... Just a couple thoughts...

My guess is that you are somewhat "pre-disposed" to seeing it....This may sound silly but, try not too overly focus on it in the begining (unless you are sure it is something you wish to return the set for) ... bear with me... Get used to your panel, do an initial calibration using your choice of methods or some of the setting in the setting and tweaks thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7360508#post7360508) , then tap down the brightness and contrast, then rack up a few hours, watch at a comfortable distance in comfortable lighting.

Now I don't see the yellow flash thing, but I did notice when I first got my panel, beside the incredible PQ it took me a little time to get used to the picture intensity, clarity,refresh rate, size etc, I found myself focusing intently, moving my eyes around the screen, walking up close to it then back etc ... .in other words I was waaay over "Actively" viewing, and sometimes while doing these things I would see some strange artifacts.

In addition I do find when my eyes dart around the screen... or even if I purposely quickly pan my eyes back and forth I see some strange artifacts (which sometimes appear as yellow vertical streaks) again not a natural way to view.

However after awhile I have "relaxed" while viewing and I seem to be watching in a more passive manor, the size seems more normal and I take in the whole picture at once. I have it pretty much calibrated how I like, I adjust the Picture Mode depending on the room lighting... I have a particular level of lighting I use for movies vs Sports etc. And speaking of lighting depend on what and where they are, could effect it too. So now I am in a much more comfortable mode of viewing, viewing the panel is very easy/natural on my eyes and of course extremely enjoyable, and alot of those little things that I used to see/focus on, I really don't see anymore.

I would be curious to learn if as time goes on if you see more or less flash.
Good luck and enjoy!

This is one of those things where if you haven't seen it, it's hard to comment on it.

Maybe it's hard to comment on it because it's really not there to begin with? ;)

Just today, my 6 month old 50XR5A began intermittent video "blanking" where the panel goes black for about 1sec. It is not periodic. Happens about 4-5 times a minute, sometimes more, sometimes less. There is no pixelization evident during these events. Power light remains on, standby light remains off during the blanking. Was about ready to call the cable company, but switching from digital cable/HDMI to DVD component input did not eliminate the blanking :(

Called NEC, after brief discussion they suggested I contact local dealer/service center. Before I get too involved with service call, wanted to check here to see if there might be suggestions or ideas - perhaps a mode/setting issue?

Just today, my 6 month old 50XR5A began intermittent video "blanking" where the panel goes black for about 1sec. It is not periodic. Happens about 4-5 times a minute, sometimes more, sometimes less. There is no pixelization evident during these events. Power light remains on, standby light remains off during the blanking. Was about ready to call the cable company, but switching from digital cable/HDMI to DVD component input did not eliminate the blanking :(

Called NEC, after brief discussion they suggested I contact local dealer/service center. Before I get too involved with service call, wanted to check here to see if there might be suggestions or ideas - perhaps a mode/setting issue?

You are saying this happens with both cable over HDMI and DVD playback over component? That sounds like something wrong with the set to me. You might try the ole unplug the set and hard reboot thing and obviously double check the connections and power cord. Sorry. I've heard NEC is great with customer support though and I'm sure it will get fixed.

Just today, my 6 month old 50XR5A began intermittent video "blanking" where the panel goes black for about 1sec. It is not periodic. Happens about 4-5 times a minute, sometimes more, sometimes less. There is no pixelization evident during these events. Power light remains on, standby light remains off during the blanking. Was about ready to call the cable company, but switching from digital cable/HDMI to DVD component input did not eliminate the blanking :(

Called NEC, after brief discussion they suggested I contact local dealer/service center. Before I get too involved with service call, wanted to check here to see if there might be suggestions or ideas - perhaps a mode/setting issue?
70Runner I'm in SOCAL too, are you running a SA8300HD DVR? TWC possibly? and have you tried completely disconnecting the digital cable/HDMI connection and then try your DVD player to see if it is still happening... Try that let me know... I have seen some blanking lately ( and I seem to be able to recover from it)... but am definitely attributing it to the cable box... if you do have SA8300HD and TWC (the firmware is very flakey) the box still send a signal to the Panel even when the cablebox is "Off" (seriously for those of you elsewhere its pretty cool....not!) and the HDMI/HDCP connection/handshake is not real steady, if fact it is downright flaky, and I notice sometimes once that is "messed up/droped" it can affect my other inputs snow/blanking etc... for me mostly the other HDMI input...but switching inputs sometimes only makes it worse (i.e. the NEC and the STB don't get along real well... it could be an NEC defect that is excaberating it too)...so try totally disconecting the cable, hard power down the panel (the button on the bottom) hookup your DVD only and see if you still see it.... curious what you find...should help isolate... for me too ;)

Thx for response. Yes, my cable box is an 8300HD DVR. Will definitely try your recommendation and keep my fingers crossed. It just didn't "feel" like the panel, suddenly appearing today.

In the meantime I tried the socal service centers, all of whom require I drive the panel to them. I'm out near Riverside and most of them are in Orange or LA county.

Isn't the warranty supposed to be in-home? I'd call NEC if they won't come.

I'm not sure...maybe Chris can weigh in on this???

^^^^ I am here... If a person is not within a 50 mile radious on this list (Click Here) (http://www.necvisualsystems.com/SupportCenter/ServiceProviders/) NEC will ship out a box. The client packs it. NEC has a shipping company pick it up. The unit gets serviced. They return the unit. Here is the kicker, this is free !! Otherwise if you are within a 50 mile radious the unit is serviced in home.

70Runner I'm in SOCAL too, are you running a SA8300HD DVR? TWC possibly? and have you tried completely disconnecting the digital cable/HDMI connection and then try your DVD player to see if it is still happening... Try that let me know... I have seen some blanking lately ( and I seem to be able to recover from it)... but am definitely attributing it to the cable box... if you do have SA8300HD and TWC (the firmware is very flakey) the box still send a signal to the Panel even when the cablebox is "Off" (seriously for those of you elsewhere its pretty cool....not!) and the HDMI/HDCP connection/handshake is not real steady, if fact it is downright flaky, and I notice sometimes once that is "messed up/droped" it can affect my other inputs snow/blanking etc... for me mostly the other HDMI input...but switching inputs sometimes only makes it worse (i.e. the NEC and the STB don't get along real well... it could be an NEC defect that is excaberating it too)...so try totally disconecting the cable, hard power down the panel (the button on the bottom) hookup your DVD only and see if you still see it.... curious what you find...should help isolate... for me too ;)
bvader....u da man! Looks like you were right on. Brought up the panel with 8300HD input and blanking resumed immediately. Pulled the STB HDMI plug at the panel, popped in War of the Worlds DVD and no blanking so far for an hour. I'm an electronics engr by trade and don't understand at all how an HDMI handshake issue would impact a separate component feed. Learn something new every day.

I plan to recycle the STB and see what happens, perhaps go back to STB component feed if the HDMI continues this behavior. Will keep you posted. Thx again!

Chris...would still be interested in opinion on service matter above.

^^^^ I am here... If a person is not within a 50 mile radious on this list (Click Here) (http://www.necvisualsystems.com/SupportCenter/ServiceProviders/) NEC will ship out a box. The client packs it. NEC has a shipping company pick it up. The unit gets serviced. They return the unit. Here is the kicker, this is free !! Otherwise if you are within a 50 mile radious the unit is serviced in home.

Oddly none of the 3 service centers I talked to addressed this. All 3 are within 50mi. In each case, they stated I was "outside their service area". In one case the gal seemed not at all interested in servicing the NEC although I did confirm they were an authorized NEC service center.

Fortunately it looks like an STB HDMI handshake issue, but I'm concerned over the response I received in view of your statement.

Well, I'm officially the proud pappa of an A1. I had very little time in-between job 1 and job 2, but I was able to unpack it, hook it up to the XR5 and my A/V Receiver, and watched about 10 minutes of Van Helsing.

Few quick observations:

- The remote sucks. It looks like it should be the remote for a doomsday device that will do everything, but alas, it just feels very poorly laid out. I can't wait for my Harmony 880 to be fully set-up to deal with this. All that being said, the buttons worked perfectly, but finding them was a lot like playing "Where's Waldo"

- WOW. Just WOW. PQ is friggin' incredible. Sound is unreal. This is how movies are meant to be watched. I can't wait to delve into my other HD DVD titles as well as comparing some of my favorite SD disks.

- This thing is built like a tank. Nice and heavy, just the way I like 'em. :D

- It is slow to load. I was obviously rushed trying to get a glimpse of it in between jobs, but I don't think loading times will be a factor at all. I have much more control here than when I actually go to the theater. No more missing the beginning because somebody wanted a bag of popcorn after we sat down. ;)

- I purposely went out of my way fast forwarding, skipping chapters, ect. Both the A1 and Van Helsing played in beautiful harmony with each other. Yes, pressing the stop button will cause you to have to start from the beginning of the movie, but this is a disc issue, not a player issue from what I've heard.

The future is here and now...Thanks to everyone in this thread who has helped bring me to this video/audio "oneness". Special thanks to Chris, your service and support have been great.

bvader....u da man! Looks like you were right on. Brought up the panel with 8300HD input and blanking resumed immediately. Pulled the STB HDMI plug at the panel, popped in War of the Worlds DVD and no blanking so far for an hour. I'm an electronics engr by trade and don't understand at all how an HDMI handshake issue would impact a separate component feed. Learn something new every day.

I plan to recycle the STB and see what happens, perhaps go back to STB component feed if the HDMI continues this behavior. Will keep you posted. Thx again!

Chris...would still be interested in opinion on service matter above.

Cool Glad it is helping... I am an EE by school and Software Guy by trade, but really don't know a whole lot about this stuff... and yes I am trying to figure this one out. I have some theories and some othe data points on combinations/connections...etc...interested???? Ok I will subject you all I am sure your curious....Ok humor me then.

There may have been a FW update recently on your STB... after that... I always find the STB really unstable... or maybe you should just trade it in. There are 2 thread in the "HDTV Recorders "forum for the SA8300 depending on whether yours is a Passport or SARA box anyways....

As to why it effects other inputs I have come to the completely unscientific and probably erroneous conclusion that there is only one HDCP decoder/chip/processing unit in the NEC and it is shared accross inputs and it doesn't always "Reset/Resume/Release/Re-establish" etc when needed......

I also belive that somewhere in the electronics / signal chain the different inputs are fed into a common processor/chip/board probably prior to the scaling/deinterlacing etc (that would seem to make sense so that it is not duplicated for each input) and somehow there is some "contamination" or that some "control information" is not always reset, switched correctly etc and the poorly implement STB FW aggravates this... Hows that for pure conjecture?... I had some other similiar issues, but slightly different I have a supposedly HDCP compliant STB (SA8300) and a NON-HDcp DVD player (Oppo 971) it is DVI, that what got me diving in to all this in the first place.

so maybe cpcat or someone else more familiar with the signal processing chain can help add to the pure speculation ;)

Cool Glad it is helping... I am an EE by school and Software Guy by trade, but really don't know a whole lot about this stuff... and yes I am trying to figure this one out. I have some theories and some othe data points on combinations/connections...etc...interested???? Ok I will subject you all I am sure your curious....Ok humor me then.

There may have been a FW update recently on your STB... after that... I always find the STB really unstable... or maybe you should just trade it in. There are 2 thread in the "HDTV Recorders "forum for the SA8300 depending on whether yours is a Passport or SARA box anyways....

As to why it effects other inputs I have come to the completely unscientific and probably erroneous conclusion that there is only one HDCP decoder/chip/processing unit in the NEC and it is shared accross inputs and it doesn't always "Reset/Resume/Release/Re-establish" etc when needed......

I also belive that somewhere in the electronics / signal chain the different inputs are fed into a common processor/chip/board probably prior to the scaling/deinterlacing etc (that would seem to make sense so that it is not duplicated for each input) and somehow there is some "contamination" or that some "control information" is not always reset, switched correctly etc and the poorly implement STB FW aggravates this... Hows that for pure conjecture?... I had some other similiar issues, but slightly different I have a supposedly HDCP compliant STB (SA8300) and a NON-HDcp DVD player (Oppo 971) it is DVI, that what got me diving in to all this in the first place.

so maybe cpcat or someone else more familiar with the signal processing chain can help add to the pure speculation ;)Paged through the service menu on the 8300HD and didn't see obvious evidence of a FW update...perhaps someone fluent in 8300HD can chime in here and explain how to identify a FW upgrade. All the software versions are 05 vintage. It is a Sara unit, software V1.87.32.1. I'll redirect this portion to the HDTV Recorders forum.

I know we've ventured off the NEC thread path a bit, however, there is a useful tip in here for NEC/STB users...don't assume a multiple input behavior problem is symptomatic of a NEC issue. Although, in this case as bvader notes, the HMDI handshake involves 2 hands, one supplied by the NEC. Hence the NEC may be contributing to this issue due to design rather than a reliability issue.

I removed power from the STB for a hard reboot. I'm now back on the STB/HDMI feed (except using the 2nd HDMI input) and no sign of the "blanking" as yet (couple hours of viewing).

Paged through the service menu on the 8300HD and didn't see obvious evidence of a FW update...perhaps someone fluent in 8300HD can chime in here and explain how to identify a FW upgrade. All the software versions are 05 vintage. It is a Sara unit, software V1.87.32.1. I'll redirect this portion to the HDTV Recorders forum.

I know we've ventured off the NEC thread path a bit, however, there is a useful tip in here for NEC/STB users...don't assume a multiple input behavior problem is symptomatic of a NEC issue. Although, in this case as bvader notes, the HMDI handshake involves 2 hands, one supplied by the NEC. Hence the NEC may be contributing to this issue due to design rather than a reliability issue.

I removed power from the STB for a hard reboot. I'm now back on the STB/HDMI feed (except using the 2nd HDMI input) and no sign of the "blanking" as yet (couple hours of viewing).
Hi guys, I don't know if my problem is similar or not, but heres what happened to me. I woke up the other morning and turned on the old XR5 and no picture! :confused: Ya there was no picture on the display, but the audio through my Denon 4800 AVR was flawless Dolby Digital. I checked everything, I mean everything, and I believe the problem has something to do with the HDMI cable from the Dish Network VIP 211 HD STB. I decided to run a test by changing over to component cables instead of HDMI, and walla! Problem solved. The picture was just as good as with the HDMI cable. But why do I find myself with a useless HDMI cable now? Do I have a bad HDMI port on the STB? I have read in other forums that others have had problem with the HDMI port on this particular STB going dead, but the component connection still works fine. What gives? The picture is just as vivid and lifelike as ever with the component cable, so what is the real advantage to HDMI besides the fact that it carries audio also? Before I get bombarded with questions on what I tried to do to solve the HDMI problem, yes I did a hard restart on the cable box, and yes I even tried the other HDMI input on the XR5, still no picture. I am not really all that concerned with this issue considering I still have the same PQ via component cable, but I was just wondering if this sort of thing has happened to others. I no it's not a fault of the XR5, but does anyone know why this may have happened?

After adjusting contrast and brightness settings, I have noticed MUCH less of the yellow flashing effect. I watched The Island with friends tonight, and I barely noticed it, and was continually blown away by the PQ. I love this set...the yellow flashing was the biggest problem, but now that's only visible on about 5% of scenes, and is easy to ignore.

I agree with the earlier assessment that I may not be familiar with the set, and that I could be "overwatching". This seems to be the case. I will not be returning the set - I'm incredibly happy!

Just finished watching Van Helsing from start to end. Incredible. The XR5 and the A1 were made for each other.... :cool:

Hi guys, I don't know if my problem is similar or not, but heres what happened to me. I woke up the other morning and turned on the old XR5 and no picture! :confused: Ya there was no picture on the display, but the audio through my Denon 4800 AVR was flawless Dolby Digital. I checked everything, I mean everything, and I believe the problem has something to do with the HDMI cable from the Dish Network VIP 211 HD STB. I decided to run a test by changing over to component cables instead of HDMI, and walla! Problem solved. The picture was just as good as with the HDMI cable. But why do I find myself with a useless HDMI cable now? Do I have a bad HDMI port on the STB? I have read in other forums that others have had problem with the HDMI port on this particular STB going dead, but the component connection still works fine. What gives? The picture is just as vivid and lifelike as ever with the component cable, so what is the real advantage to HDMI besides the fact that it carries audio also? Before I get bombarded with questions on what I tried to do to solve the HDMI problem, yes I did a hard restart on the cable box, and yes I even tried the other HDMI input on the XR5, still no picture. I am not really all that concerned with this issue considering I still have the same PQ via component cable, but I was just wondering if this sort of thing has happened to others. I no it's not a fault of the XR5, but does anyone know why this may have happened?


It is the STB,
I had the same thing happen with the VIP 622 STB,
I called Dish and they sent me a replacement one and now HDMI cable is working again.

Just finished watching Van Helsing from start to end. Incredible. The XR5 and the A1 were made for each other.... :cool:


That my friend is so true.

Hope you agree with my sig now :D :D

70Runner I'm in SOCAL too, are you running a SA8300HD DVR? TWC possibly? and have you tried completely disconnecting the digital cable/HDMI connection and then try your DVD player to see if it is still happening... Try that let me know... I have seen some blanking lately ( and I seem to be able to recover from it)... but am definitely attributing it to the cable box... if you do have SA8300HD and TWC (the firmware is very flakey) the box still send a signal to the Panel even when the cablebox is "Off" (seriously for those of you elsewhere its pretty cool....not!) and the HDMI/HDCP connection/handshake is not real steady, if fact it is downright flaky, and I notice sometimes once that is "messed up/droped" it can affect my other inputs snow/blanking etc... for me mostly the other HDMI input...but switching inputs sometimes only makes it worse (i.e. the NEC and the STB don't get along real well... it could be an NEC defect that is excaberating it too)...so try totally disconecting the cable, hard power down the panel (the button on the bottom) hookup your DVD only and see if you still see it.... curious what you find...should help isolate... for me too ;)
I had the same problem....I took the easy way out and ran component from the cable box to the 50XR5. I will have to fix this though as I am building a custom cabinet to hang from the ceiling in my lower level for all my audio/video gear and computer. Using a IR sensor to run the gear in the lower level. Looks like I need 50FT HDMI cables, I am not fishing component, so it must get fixed. Well maybe not. I think I may let the 50XR5 go :confused:

60 or 61 NEC is in my future I believe. :)

Oddly none of the 3 service centers I talked to addressed this. All 3 are within 50mi. In each case, they stated I was "outside their service area". In one case the gal seemed not at all interested in servicing the NEC although I did confirm they were an authorized NEC service center.

Fortunately it looks like an STB HDMI handshake issue, but I'm concerned over the response I received in view of your statement.

I will be forwarding this to a contact at NEC and see why they did not want to work on this unit. NEC is a great company and I am sure they will be interested in this.

That my friend is so true.

Hope you agree with my sig now :D :D

Just watched The Last Samurai. Great detail. Netflix delivered U571, Sin City, and Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (had to get something for the kids). I'll watch U571 tonight after I get home from work.

Oh most definitely. Maybe tomorrow I can crank out a few favorite SD discs to compare the upconverting prowess of this monster.

For all that have the 8300HD.

There are a grab bag of bugs with the 1.87 firmware. Up here in the great white north, our cable provider is testing 1.88, which apparently fixes some of them. Some cable COs in the US have already rolled it out, but ours it due "3rd quarter".

There are several really annoying bugs with the HDMI interface which is the main reason I'm not using HDMI from my 8300HD.

For all that have the 8300HD.

There are a grab bag of bugs with the 1.87 firmware. Up here in the great white north, our cable provider is testing 1.88, which apparently fixes some of them. Some cable COs in the US have already rolled it out, but ours it due "3rd quarter".

There are several really annoying bugs with the HDMI interface which is the main reason I'm not using HDMI from my 8300HD.
totally agree, and with the 2 different FW (SARA & PASSPORT) is is a vertible bug infestation...lots of the seem to be centered around HDMI/HDCP...however when is workin' its ohh sooo good! You guys are making me think I will might try component...to add to that...technically my cable operator does not support HDMI...they wont address/support and HDMI related issues...

Just finished watching Van Helsing from start to end. Incredible. The XR5 and the A1 were made for each other.... :cool:

"Incredible" referring to HD Kate Beckinsale, I assume. ;)

"Incredible" referring to HD Kate Beckinsale, I assume. ;)

Well she surely didn't hurt PQ any, I'll tell you that! :D ;)

I can't wait to get off of work tonight and watch U571. Not as easy on the eyes as Kate, but it'll have to do. :D

Boss10L, Netflix is really great. I have not been to the brick-n-mortar rental shop in over three years. Enjoy.

Hello all -

I'm in the market for a new TV and I stummbled across this thread in my search for candidates. It seems like everyone here is very pleased with their purchase which is always promising, but I'm concerned by a review I read of the 42RX4 in Secrets of Home Theater. The reveiwer states that the set adds a considerable amount of grain to the picture.

http://www.ecoustics.com/secrets/volume_13_2/nec-42xr4-plasma-tv-4-2006-part-1.html

Anyone have any thoughts or comments on this?

Boss10L, Netflix is really great. I have not been to the brick-n-mortar rental shop in over three years. Enjoy.

Just finished with U571. Great picture, but the sound really made the difference for me. The LFE were phenomenal! It felt like those depth charges were going off all around my couch! :D

The closest Netflix processing center is right here in Rochester, so I expect turn-around to be quick and smooth.

I rarely rent from B&M anyway, but I tell you, having the convenience of Netflix, I think we're definitely going to be watching a whole lot more movies than ever before.

totally agree, and with the 2 different FW (SARA & PASSPORT) is is a vertible bug infestation...lots of the seem to be centered around HDMI/HDCP...however when is workin' its ohh sooo good! You guys are making me think I will might try component...to add to that...technically my cable operator does not support HDMI...they wont address/support and HDMI related issues...got same story from local cable co - Charter. Installer stated "HDMI isn't enabled" and promptly hooked up the STB with component. As soon as he left I plugged in HDMI...working fine for ~6mos except for the recent "blanking" bug which has not reappeared since I recycled the STB. I have the 1.87 SARA ver.

Next project is to connect external Sata drive to 8300 for additional storage. Installer said that won't work either. We'll see...