Once you have the "Classic" control panel selected you should see a button to open the custom resolution / timing panel.

[QUOTE=IncraTL]123654789

:)

Chris:
Thanks for the great advise.
For OTA and PIP, the Samsung T451 looks good, (but w/ DVI, not HDMI, bummer).

For my two zone audio, using the Toslink from the TheaterSync, I have yet to determine how I can remotely, (i.e., IR) switch the 5 and 2 channel audio.....

In either case, I'll still be able to use the XR6, (only), because of the swivel plasma lift.

FYI, I got a call from Chris yesterday telling me the new PX-50XR6A is in (I was on his call when available list) and I can tell you that you may be surprised at what you can pick one of these up for, I definitely was. Unfortunatly, Christmas has me tapped out......for now.

Once you have the "Classic" control panel selected you should see a button to open the custom resolution / timing panel.
Ok, found the issue - appears that in the current vista drivers they are not supporting custom resolutions <wtf>

Anyone else having HDCP issues with the NEC paired w/ a PS3? My 42XR4A keeps dropping the video via HDMI.

(Looks fantastic when it's working, though.)

hdmi is always dubious.

Anyone else having HDCP issues with the NEC paired w/ a PS3? My 42XR4A keeps dropping the video via HDMI.

(Looks fantastic when it's working, though.)

I have continuing HDCP issues with the NEC 42xr4 paired with my HD Dvr. I get white snow which can only be cleared by changing inputs or turning off the whole system. I have no problem with my Pioneer paired with the same cable box.

For all the NEC owners and those considering the NEC, please note that what follows is a continuing description of my personal experience with NEC's warranty service and their efforts to satisfy their customer. I have what I believe to be an overly noisy panel - something that is the exception among the owners here, not the norm. My original post can be found here:

Earlier Post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7137202&&#post7137202)

Well, the local repair shop wasn't able to help with my complaint about the buzz/hum coming from my 50XR5. I got the "according to the manufacturer,they all do that" diagnosis. The tech offered to calibrate one of my inputs at no charge and return the panel to me some time this week. When I asked about NEC's actual response, he said that they thought my smaller room size (12' x 16'), along with the wall mounting, was the reason I was hearing the noise. It was pretty obvious that nothing more would/could be done by the local tech. I told him to call me this week to set up a return date and time.

I then moved up a notch on the warranty chain by contacting NEC directly. They have a very user-friendly portal on their website for opening support tickets. And they actually follow up with prompt e-mail replies and phone calls! After a lot of questions about my room, mounting, and even ceiling height, I finally convinced the engineers (yep, engineers, that got my attention, too) that the noise was, to me, louder than their normally acceptable 20db standard. I also reiterated that the noise didn't become apparent until after I had the unit operating for a couple of weeks.

Seems that NEC is now interested in picking up my unit for testing at their facility. I suggested that the NEC engineer working on my problem might contact the local repair tech to confirm that I'm not being overly sensitive to this noise. He originally agreed with me that the buzz/hum was very noticable, and I don't want to cut him totally out of the loop. You know, the old burnt bridges thing could end up applying here.

It's nice to know that just a few phone calls and e-mails are getting all this attention. So far, the NEC warranty still seems to be a plus. And, I'm thrilled that their engineers actually tried to duplicate my situation in their lab. Now, seeing a potential problem with my panel, they're willing to ship the unit back to their lab for testing. To me, this says a lot for NEC and their products.

But, I'd really rather be putting hundreds of hours on my plasma instead of thousands of miles :rolleyes:

To be continued...

Dave
Dave ... did you ever get this issue resolved? I searched through the thread but didn't find any continuation of this .... I have a client with a 61XR4a who is experiencing a very similar buzzing issue (definitely not the fans, seems likely it's power supply-related). Wondering what the ultimate outcome of your situation was...

Hello,

If I am going to find some help with this problem it looks like this is the only place I will get the information I need. I have a PX-50XM5A Plasma. Now it has developed a solid line down the left side of the screen. The line is solid Yellow and about an inch wide. When I asked some questions about this to the service shop I was told that this is quite common for the Plasma screens (The PX-50X series) However I read the entire post here and not one word about this. The only thing close was the Ground Loop issue but this is not a ground loop. I was also told this happens all over the screen and may not travel across the whole screen you might end up with an inch wide colored bar 7 inches long, etc etc.

Now what I really need is some advice as to what to do. Has anyone been through this and what did you do. I felt it was a bad display but some people are telling me its a controller board. This is all good and well but I would like to hear what the local experts here have to say. And is it repairable?? Is it a board or the Display??

Any help here will be welcomed.
Thank you in advance.
Tympanicman,,, (Ear man or in my case Sound Man)

It could be either the board or the connections to the panel circuitry, or the panel itself.

If it's the board or the connections it should be repairable. If it's the panel, it will need to be replaced.

Hello,

If I am going to find some help with this problem it looks like this is the only place I will get the information I need. I have a PX-50XM5A Plasma. Now it has developed a solid line down the left side of the screen. The line is solid Yellow and about an inch wide. When I asked some questions about this to the service shop I was told that this is quite common for the Plasma screens (The PX-50X series) However I read the entire post here and not one word about this. The only thing close was the Ground Loop issue but this is not a ground loop. I was also told this happens all over the screen and may not travel across the whole screen you might end up with an inch wide colored bar 7 inches long, etc etc.

Now what I really need is some advice as to what to do. Has anyone been through this and what did you do. I felt it was a bad display but some people are telling me its a controller board. This is all good and well but I would like to hear what the local experts here have to say. And is it repairable?? Is it a board or the Display??

Any help here will be welcomed.
Thank you in advance.
Tympanicman,,, (Ear man or in my case Sound Man)
Aren't you still under warranty? And if you are call and make a claim...from what I hear NEC customer service is utterly fantastic. Let them fix it.

so in essence its not really worth me doing HD DVD on it cause im gonna be seeing it in 768p anyway...

so the bottom line is my tv aint as good as 1080p native sets.....

that sucks..lolno it is not, 1080p native sets all have 1920x1080 resolution "which means a more denser tighter pixel structure for a sharper more life like picture", that's what makes them TRUE 1080p sets, hope this helps you out with this matter.

Just a note that a first "full" review is in on the NEC PX-50XR6A <<<Click Here>>> (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9467723&&#post9467723)

so in essence its not really worth me doing HD DVD on it cause im gonna be seeing it in 768p anyway...
The richer the data stream, the better the final picture. By feeding a 768 panel a 1080p feed, you will give the scaler and video processor more data to work with, and the end picture will be better than an SD feed, even on a 768 panel.

Looks like the Pioneer PDP-5070HD can be had quite a bit cheaper than the NEC 50xr6a. I like the scaling features of the NEC but does anybody know how PQ, espescially standard def, stacks up?

Looks like the Pioneer PDP-5070HD can be had quite a bit cheaper than the NEC 50xr6a. I like the scaling features of the NEC but does anybody know how PQ, espescially standard def, stacks up?
From what I am told...the NEC has some of the best SD out there and that is why I am getting ready to pull the trigger. NEC also has great customer service and PIONEER is not as good in CS dept. Just what I have been told by a few different sources. GOOD LUCK

SD PQ on the my comcast feed is really quite good. to very good. I can't comment on comparing other sets. Happy. But it is the best PQ for SD i have seen. good calibration helps.
db

interesting thread on NEC Plasma but who sells them?? I looked on the nec corporate site for a dealer finder and their site does not even mention plasma tvs and hdtv like they don't want people to know they sell them.
So who are the dealers that I can check out the set with locally?

If you want one, you should talk to Chris at Clevelandplasma.com. He's a good guy to deala with.

If you want one, you should talk to Chris at Clevelandplasma.com. He's a good guy to deala with.
I won't buy anything this big and heavy over the internet. Sending it back if there is a problem is a major pain. If Best buy or circuit city or sears does not sell this who does- walmart?

lol - walmart... no. Unfortunately, if you want it, you're gonna have to talk to a custom installer or other dealer for NEC's. Not sold in the big box stores. Where are you located btw?

lol - walmart... no. Unfortunately, if you want it, you're gonna have to talk to a custom installer or other dealer for NEC's. Not sold in the big box stores. Where are you located btw?
Located in the Midwest Wisconsin fox valley to be more exact. So am not exactly in the boonies as they say. I wish the NEC site had a dealer finder.. maybe a high end TV dealer like Seuss Electronics has it otherwise the Panny 50 incher is going to have to be my choice.

Located in the Midwest Wisconsin fox valley to be more exact. So am not exactly in the boonies as they say. I wish the NEC site had a dealer finder.. maybe a high end TV dealer like Seuss Electronics has it otherwise the Panny 50 incher is going to have to be my choice.
Don't give up on NEC as it is really the best choice if you value PQ. Chris is located in the mid-west and you should definitely at least give him a call. Far too many very satisfied customers here to ignore.

Cheers, :)

Gary

I wish the NEC site had a dealer finder..

Um...

NEC Dealer Finder (http://www.necvisualsystems.com/LocateDealer/)

Did you actually find the NEC Visual Systems site, where the plasmas are located?

http://www.necvisualsystems.com

The dealer locater is there.

Good luck. My 50XR6 arrives on Friday! Woo hoo!

Um...

NEC Dealer Finder (http://www.necvisualsystems.com/LocateDealer/)

Did you actually find the NEC Visual Systems site, where the plasmas are located?

http://www.necvisualsystems.com

The dealer locater is there.

Good luck. My 50XR6 arrives on Friday! Woo hoo!
carbuff,

Congratulations on your new arrival. Please give us all the details once you have it set up. We want details!

Cheers, :)

Gary

Target.com sells some NEC plasmas online, but I do not think they have any in the stores to see. You could ask them though.

Projector Point sells NEC plasmas and they ship via UPS, so you should not have much trouble with shipping or returning, as UPS is a very high quality service. When they delivered my 42xr4a, the UPS delivery man did not wait for us to unbox it to check for damage because they are on a tight delivery schedule, but he said if there is any problem just let them know and they will come by to pick it up - and I believe them.

I won't buy anything this big and heavy over the internet. Sending it back if there is a problem is a major pain. If Best buy or circuit city or sears does not sell this who does- walmart?
Why not? If there's a problem you call Chris at Cleveland Plasma or Roman at Invision and they send a replacement and organise a pick up. Sounds easy to me considering you yourself would have to bring the unit back the the store yourself. Do a search on these Cleveland plasma, Invision Displays and Visual Apex. Not only will you get the best price but their CS is amazing. These guys dont deal like many online vendors...if they did you would read about it here and they would suffer. At least give them a call....my 2 cents.

Um...

NEC Dealer Finder (http://www.necvisualsystems.com/LocateDealer/)

Did you actually find the NEC Visual Systems site, where the plasmas are located?

http://www.necvisualsystems.com

The dealer locater is there.

Good luck. My 50XR6 arrives on Friday! Woo hoo!

THANK YOU !
That's all I needed. Necvisualsystems.com is not exactly an intuitive URL. So it loooks like the nearest dealers are 75 miles from me in Madison and Milwaukee

Why not? If there's a problem you call Chris at Cleveland Plasma or Roman at Invision and they send a replacement and organise a pick up. Sounds easy to me considering you yourself would have to bring the unit back the the store yourself. Do a search on these Cleveland plasma, Invision Displays and Visual Apex. Not only will you get the best price but their CS is amazing. These guys dont deal like many online vendors...if they did you would read about it here and they would suffer. At least give them a call....my 2 cents.

I also highly recommend buying from Chris over at Cleveland Plasma. Perfect and hassle free transaction. My TV arrived in perfect condition without any sign of damage to the box at all. I'm just another very happy customer and have been so impressed that I will use him for all future transactions.

WLSINWI,

Just because a company is listed as an NEC dealer don't expect it to have an NEC showroom or even any plasmas on premises. Call before you go.

Lew

Over four thousand posts hereabouts with lots of referances to Chris...not one complaint. Yes, I am also one very happy customer.

Question: Have you ever bought something over the internet and had the seller call twice(!) over the next few weeks just to check in and make sure everything is okay?

Chris did that.

WLSINWI,

Just because a company is listed as an NEC dealer don't expect it to have an NEC showroom or even any plasmas on premises. Call before you go.

Lew


thanks good idea. I was set on the Pioneer 5070 but after reading this forum for a few days i'm at least going to consider the NEc, but not without looking at it myself in person. Looks like there's a few spots in San Diego, hopefully they have them on display.

WLSINWI,

Just because a company is listed as an NEC dealer don't expect it to have an NEC showroom or even any plasmas on premises. Call before you go.

Lew

good point. I've got 4-5 NEC "dealers" within 25 miles, but none of them have these panels set up in a showroom type of atmosphere. WLSINWI, I've seen your name in the OTA or Comcast thread, I think.. if by any chance you can pick up the Chicago NBC local news from your wisconsin location, they have one of these NEC panels in their newscasts (when reporters are doing a story and they are standing next to one, for example). It's not much, but it's better than nuttin'! :D

Cleveland Plasma will take care of you from a customer care & "best price" standpoint, so that part of it is a "no brainer - easy choice" decision.. but I understand your desire to at least see one in person first, regardless of the fact that a gazillion people swear by them.

It's too bad NEC owners don't do what many internet-marketed speaker company customers do, i.e., offer themselves as demonstrators of the product for others within their geographic vicinity. I've even seen some of examples where the customers have banded together to prepare a sticky list/thread with names/locations of people who are willing to let potential customers demo their speakers. The same concept could be adapted by NEC panel owners.

IMAGE RETENTION

Guys I have been doing a lot of gaming on this. I just turned my tv on in the morning and there is an icon of a gun in my upper right corner. It has been 30 min and it is still there. How long before this is considered burn-in? Anyone ever had IR this long? Im paranoid now....

Try visiting http://www.jscreenfix.com/ and leaving this onscreen for 15+ minutes; that should resolve it ... or just watch some "bright" TV programming for 30+ mins and it should be fixed.

thanks ill check it out...

tv been on Disc HD for 2 hours and no sign of it going away.. this tv sucks ass if this stays here

OK guys I still see this image after 8 hours of Disc HD. Is it safe to say this will stay there? I have the wiper running as well.

Is it also a safe bet to not game anymore on here? Can I game with the wiper on?

this SUX

booyaa, I had the noggin logo for about 2 months on my NEC before it finally went away. I'd say don't game on it again. My NEC has been moved to the bedroom for that very reason. Now I have a Pio 6070 which I can game and HTPC on with no worry. I may have just been unlucky with my unit, but it's the last NEC product I ever buy.

Hey MARK and BOOYA,


What NEC models do you have?

Hey MARK and BOOYA,


What NEC models do you have?

50XM5

I have the 50Xr5

Pisses me off too cause I didnt have the game on long..

I think you need to define "long".

After a suitable break in period (~100 hours of white screen) and lowering contrast to something reasonable, our 61XR4 has had it's fair share of Xbox360 played on it. Sometimes for hours at a time with no burn-in.

I think you need to define "long".

After a suitable break in period (~100 hours of white screen) and lowering contrast to something reasonable, our 61XR4 has had it's fair share of Xbox360 played on it. Sometimes for hours at a time with no burn-in.
Is the Glass/filter (think thats what its called) on the 61XR4 the same as the 50XR5/XM5?

I believe so.

Burn-in doesn't have anything to do with the filters though. It's a function of the phosphors.

my contrast is at 47

i would say i played it for hours too... maybe as much as 8

i dont know if anyone plays gears of war.. but thats the game.. its the weapon icon in the upper right thats a very bright white inside a black box...

the rest of the screen is cool..

i left it on discovery hd over night with the wiper and its still there....

if its still there after 24 hours i would consider that burn-in

someone correct me if im wrong

What's the full range on the NEC's contrast. (I'm too lazy to walk upstairs and find out). That sounds high (47), but I am used to the Pioneer now, and it only goes to 60. I have my Pio's contrast set at 30.

my contrast is at 47

i would say i played it for hours too... maybe as much as 8

i dont know if anyone plays gears of war.. but thats the game.. its the weapon icon in the upper right thats a very bright white inside a black box...

the rest of the screen is cool..

i left it on discovery hd over night with the wiper and its still there....

if its still there after 24 hours i would consider that burn-in

someone correct me if im wrong
You are wrong. Burn-in is permenant. 24 hours is not permenant but it does sound like a bad case if IR. Sorry to hear that.

Cheers, :)

Gary

OK..

I guess my ultimate question is will this image always be here?

If I lower my contrast and never game on it again.. will it go away?

full contrast range is 72 by the way

I have a question about the 42xr4, which I have and love. Will it accept any kind of 1080p signal - either 1080p/24 or 1080p/60?

The 61XR4 will accept a 1080p/60 over component. Not sure if that also applies to the 42.

OK..

I guess my ultimate question is will this image always be here?

If I lower my contrast and never game on it again.. will it go away?

Yes, but it will take anywhere from 5-50x the amount of time you spent playing that game, viewing other content.

I'm suffering a similar problem with a PDP-4270HD. Played a game on low contrast settings, and I have burn in. After about 48 hours of washing/looped dvd, it's still there on a yellow test image, but it is beginning to fade.

Burn-in isn't a science because no plasma maker really wants to talk about it.

FWIW here is a Panny guy with some IR/Burn in issues...Noggin Logo...and Panny's are supposed to be very low on the IR complaint scale...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=791169
My Point being that
One its not just an NEC phenom...
and most plasmas can be a bit susceptible to IR/Burn In some more than others...
But I still wouldn't trade my PQ...

This panel can take a long time to get rid of some IR. Most of the time, it takes anywhere from a few minutes to much longer. I was out of town for a week on business and my wife let the children watch Nick Toons on it for several hours a day. When I got back home, the Nick Toon bug left IR on the lower left corner. It took WEEKS to completely get rid of it. I keep my contrast at 37, if I go up into the mid to high 40s, the IR is very annoying and takes more than a few minutes to go away.

The 61XR4 will accept a 1080p/60 over component. Not sure if that also applies to the 42.
42XR4 does support 1080p.

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/SupportCenter/Product/?product=90f8cb80-824a-4e8f-b636-3134a0d2df5c

Look under the specifications tab

or Click on Support Center and then choose Plasma, then choose 42XR4 from the drop-down...

For newcomers, the 2006 42" models (42xr4, 42xm4) have different glass than the 50" and 61" 2006 models, and the 42 inchers had much fewer reports of IR, if any.

The new 2007 models have the glass that was used in the 42" 2006 models, so they are expected to be IR resistent as well.

This thread had alot of discussion about IR, and I think in the end it is safe to say that there is somewhat of an IR issue with the NEC 2006 50 (and 61?) inch models. You just have to be more on your guard with those models.

For newcomers, the 2006 42" models (42xr4, 42xm4) have different glass than the 50" and 61" 2006 models, and the 42 inchers had much fewer reports of IR, if any.

The new 2007 models have the glass that was used in the 42" 2006 models, so they are expected to be IR resistent as well.

This thread had alot of discussion about IR, and I think in the end it is safe to say that there is somewhat of an IR issue with the NEC 2006 50 (and 61?) inch models. You just have to be more on your guard with those models.
Thats why I waited for the 50XR6.

So the 50XR6 is IR proof?

Should I be keeping my contrast below 40?

You are wrong. Burn-in is permenant. 24 hours is not permenant but it does sound like a bad case if IR. Sorry to hear that.

Cheers, :)

GaryBurn-in "IR" is NOT permanent, just stop what you are doing that is causing the IR, after a few months of watching HD it WILL go away.

One thing I've noticed with this panel is that the brightness fluctuates automatically. I've verified this on various material both HDTV programming and DVDs. I've verified that the PDP Saver is set to Manual and that the Orbiter is off but I still see this behavior. Have anyone else seen this on their 2006 50XR5 panels and if so is there a way to disable it?

One thing I've noticed with this panel is that the brightness fluctuates automatically. I've verified this on various material both HDTV programming and DVDs. I've verified that the PDP Saver is set to Manual and that the Orbiter is off but I still see this behavior. Have anyone else seen this on their 2006 50XR5 panels and if so is there a way to disable it?

One thing I should have made clear is that I am feeding the panel native rate which locks the following picture settings, i.e., you can't change them.

Cinema Mode: On
Picture Mode: Normal or Default ONLY

Those who have had extensive IR{ in IYHO}, Have you gone into set up and "screen swiped" for ~15min,. I did this when i 1st got my 50xr5 and a couple of time when i left an image on by mistake. I have found for my set (13 months old) it works fine- it clears the IR much faster. & IR really has not been an issue for my xr5.
db

One thing I've noticed with this panel is that the brightness fluctuates automatically. I've verified this on various material both HDTV programming and DVDs. I've verified that the PDP Saver is set to Manual
If the PeakBrightness is set to anything lower than 100%, then I noticed the panel will automatically shift the brightness of the display. You can see this especially when there is a dark scene and then a bright object enters onto the screen - the whole image will suddenly shift darker. Since I set the PeakBrightness to 100% I do not see this shifting any more. The setting is in the Function>PDPSaver section.

A good test for this is Pirates of the Carribean One, in the next to last chapter, where the scene begins with the moon shining into a cave, and as the moon comes into view brightly, the entire screen shifts darker (if you have PeakBrightness at less than 100%). There is a similar phenomenon on Hitachi plasmas, but unfortunately there is no easy setting fix for the Hitachi's.

Burn-in "IR" is NOT permanent, just stop what you are doing that is causing the IR, after a few months of watching HD it WILL go away.
You are missing the point in your terminology.

Burn-in and "IR", image retention, are two separate, disjoint, and mutually exclusive things. So "IR" is not burn-in and burn-in is not "IR".

By definition burn-in is permanent while "IR" is not. Something may start out appearing as "IR". If it fads away it was "IR" if it remains permanently it was not "IR" but rather burn-in. It is the characteristic of permanency that distinguishes the two.

I think many are overly concerned because of their reading where these two have been mis-used, interchanged.

Cheers, :)

Gary

If the PeakBrightness is set to anything lower than 100%, then I noticed the panel will automatically shift the brightness of the display. You can see this especially when there is a dark scene and then a bright object enters onto the screen - the whole image will suddenly shift darker. Since I set the PeakBrightness to 100% I do not see this shifting any more. The setting is in the Function>PDPSaver section.

A good test for this is Pirates of the Carribean One, in the next to last chapter, where the scene begins with the moon shining into a cave, and as the moon comes into view brightly, the entire screen shifts darker (if you have PeakBrightness at less than 100%). There is a similar phenomenon on Hitachi plasmas, but unfortunately there is no easy setting fix for the Hitachi's.
Is this an occurance and setting that is new to the 2007 models or is this also true of the 2006 models? (Edit: OOPS I reread the original and I think this does refer to the 2006 models - sorry)

I am trying very hard to understand the performance differences between the two.

Cheers, :)

Gary.

The NEC px-5xr6 is now shipping, and the performance in phenomenal.

I see one of the forum sponsors is offering the 50xr6 for less than the current price of the 50xr5. What a Concept!

NEC gave me a short answer on some of the changes:

"The residential plasmas (XR series) units have changed slightly from last years model. The changes are both software and hardware related. The software changes allow for better video processing and OSM control. The hardware changes provide for better video processing and scaling.

To compare to the Pioneer is kind of hard as they have different models. Some of their models are very similar to ours but we can not say whether or not they are exactly the same as we do not receive that information."

New thread is started with owners <<<CLICK HERE>>> (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=783436)

One thing I've noticed with this panel is that the brightness fluctuates automatically. I've verified this on various material both HDTV programming and DVDs. I've verified that the PDP Saver is set to Manual and that the Orbiter is off but I still see this behavior. Have anyone else seen this on their 2006 50XR5 panels and if so is there a way to disable it?

Oh yes I have. Drives me nuts. I've swapped cables, tried different settings, swapped power sources. The only thing that minimizes it is keeping my brightness and contrast levels down. I still see it on the scenes with a lot of snow or saturated white scenes, but not real bad. I've seen others use settings way higher than mine or pretty close to the factory default and I wish I knew what they had different that they can't see the flashing and I do.

Try setting Function>PDPSaver>PeakBrightness to 100%.

Try setting Function>PDPSaver>PeakBrightness to 100%.

That does not remedy the problem.

That does not remedy the problem.

Yep, that was one of the first settings I tried. I've swapped HDMI cables, moved over to component. It's there on my HTPC input as well. In fact while watching DVDs I see it even more. I wonder if there's a chance of a bad card since only a few of this have this trouble? I hate going the warrenty route because I did that with my Fujitsu and they took my display away for a little over a month. And then they scratched the bezel in the process. But they were real nice and offered to paint the scratch for me. I hear NEC is good about repairs, but Fujitsu was supposed to be good as well.

That does not remedy the problem.
Sorry to hear it did not work for you. Remember not to use the mode "Bright" in your Picture Settings, as that can also produce dynamically shifting brightness.

I think many are overly concerned because of their reading where these two have been mis-used, interchanged.


The problem with saying burn-in is not permanent is people equivocate 'not permanent' with 'will disappear overnight'

This is clearly not true

Should you continually watch a steady diet of the same IR imagery at the same viewing time ratio that caused the IR in the first place, for all intents and purposes you will have that IR for years.

Should you decide to take a break from that type of IR imagery.... depending on how bad your phosphors have unevenly wore, you will have to endure a less-than-perfect image from anywhere from 3 hours to 3 months.

Dunno about you, but I'd consider that scenario closer to permanent than temporary.

Sorry to hear it did not work for you. Remember not to use the mode "Bright" in your Picture Settings, as that can also produce dynamically shifting brightness.

I use Theater 1, brightness=32 and contrast=37.
I haven't used the "Bright" mode since the first day I got the panel. I tried all the settings other like CPCAT suggested and ended up dialing it down to where I am now. It's still a pretty darn good picture, but if I go higher on the settings, the flashing drives me crazy.

42XR4 does support 1080p.

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/SupportCenter/Product/?product=90f8cb80-824a-4e8f-b636-3134a0d2df5c

Look under the specifications tab

or Click on Support Center and then choose Plasma, then choose 42XR4 from the drop-down...

Thanks very much for this link.

^^^^Lisa, long time no see. Maybe this will help, posted this earlier.

Retorical Question: Does a panel not being able to display 1080P through an input even matter? The panel is not 1080P anyway, so set the 1080P source devise to a lower resolution, as these devises all have this option. Either way the signal is going to be lowered, either at the unit or at the 1080P devise :)

I think there is an advantage to passing the richest data signal possible, and then let the panel scale it down. This provides the scaler the richest data to work with, which lets the resulting picture be more accurate.

I would think

Hello friends! Still loving my Xr5! I was wondering if anyone here knows if the NFL network in HD is broadcast in 1080i or 720p? I'm having company over for the game and want to make sure the XR5 performs flawless. Thanks!

===================================
TJ,

Don't know if you are aware of this HD Sports Guide but this may answer your question. All sports are listed.

Link http://www.hdsportsguide.com/nfl.php
---Jerry---

I think there is an advantage to passing the richest data signal possible, and then let the panel scale it down. This provides the scaler the richest data to work with, which lets the resulting picture be more accurate.

I would think
In defense of Chris, I think he is saying that some scaler somewhere is going to have to process the signal and convert a 1080p signal to 768p resolution somewhere along the signal path so why not in the player.

I think a reasonable answer is always to let the best scaler/processor in your data path do the processing if that is possible. For many, the primary reason to purchase a NEC has been for its superior video processor and so understandably these people want the NEC to do the processing. Otherwise they might just as well have selected another brand for other reasons if the display's processor is not going to be used.

It is also desirable to limit the number of places a signal undergoes conversion and in particular scaling. If a player, for instance, scales a 1080p signal to say 720p to pass to the display, then the display will have to subsequently rescale that signal to the display's native resolution. Unlike full fledged external video processors, I don't think players have the capability of scaling directly to NEC's, or other plasmas, 768p resolution.

For these technical reasons, I think it is still valid to want to be able to either (1) pass a source signal in its originating resolution (including 1080p) to the display and let the display perform all the processing or (2) perform all processing external to the display if the external processing is superior so that native resolution can be passed to the display for 1:1 mapping. Any other scenario is a compromise, which may and probably will lose some PQ in the process.

Be advised, however, that we are beginning to see the emergence of players with vastly better processing chips, in particular the SO Reon chip. This advanced processor, the lite version of the tera-flop Realta chip, along with its accompaning Teranax algorithms is indeed superior to NEC's internal processor so allowing this chip to perform as much processing as possible makes some sense. This chip can provide a remarkable 1080p output and so it will be increasingly important to have displays that can accept this signal and either display it natively (the new 1080p displays) or do as little damage as possible downscaling it for their screens (768p).

Cheers, :)

Gary

That was my long answer, LOL....NOT. Anyway some people feel they have no options to there display not excepting 1080P, as you have noted there are plenty. Furthermore buying a display that suites a person best and may not except 1080P over any input is not a wrong answer either.

Ok, I have a question I never thought about before. If an external scaler can take a signal to 768p, can a TV accept it? I thought most sets only accept 480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p. Would a 1366X768 TV even know what to do with a signal that didn't need tweeking at all?

Yes. I am feeding my 61XR4 a 1365x768 signal via HDMI. There are specific timings that kick the panel into 1:1 pixel mapping mode.

Cool. That's good to know. I just never even thought about it before. What scaler are you using jvincent?

I'm using my HTPC for DVD playback.

I think I remeber seeing others using the Lumagen for 1:1.

I've attached the guide for 1:1 timings.

Thanks jvincent. I used my HTPC for playback for a while, but my graphics card sucks, and doesn't look as bright and the picture doesn't pop like it does with the DVD player. My HP HTPC m7060n only has onboard intel graphics, and no PCI express slot or AGP slot, so I'll have to upgrade when I want to get serious about it. I'm waiting for Vista, and the Cablecard Ready PC's before I upgrade. I knew the VGA input would accept those resolutions though, but I was wondering about HDMI and component inputs. How are you feeding your PC to your panel?

I'm using a DVI to HDMI cable connected to a 6600GT.

That's cool jvincent. I heard the 6600GT is a nice card. Do you ever have any handshaking issues with HDMI doing it the way you are?

A friend asked me this question. If he gets a good deal on the 50XR5, should he opt for it or go for the 50XR6 or PDP-5070?

I think an attempt has been made in 50XR6 to solve the IR problem that was in 50XR5 apart from the glass.

How satisfied are you 50XR5 owners?

Thanks.

jiboomba, I can only comment on my NEC since it's the only one I've seen. I have the 50XM5, and if I had it to do over, I'd go with the 5070. I bought a 6070 in November from Chris@cleveland plasma, same guy I bought the NEC. I love my 6070, and can't hardly stand to watch the NEC. Could be I got a bad one, but I had NEC's listed repair guy out, and he said that's just the way NEC is. This was in regards to my poor black levels compared to the Pioneer. Maybe the XR6 is better than last years models with black levels. For all the fellow owners of NEC's, I'm not trying to start an argument about the NEC vs Pioneer, and if you have any suggestions on how I can get the blacks not to glow flourescently, I'd be thrilled. I'm just giving him my opinion based on my ownership of both brands.

That's cool jvincent. I heard the 6600GT is a nice card. Do you ever have any handshaking issues with HDMI doing it the way you are?

Nope. I've never had any handshake issues at all with the 6600GT.

A friend asked me this question. If he gets a good deal on the 50XR5, should he opt for it or go for the 50XR6 or PDP-5070?

I think an attempt has been made in 50XR6 to solve the IR problem that was in 50XR5 apart from the glass.

How satisfied are you 50XR5 owners?

Thanks.

NEC Display Solutions was purchased awhile back by Pioneer, and I think it will be interesting to see how the new generations for both models will continue to improve with the potential of shared collaboration.

A friend asked me this question. If he gets a good deal on the 50XR5, should he opt for it or go for the 50XR6 or PDP-5070?

I think an attempt has been made in 50XR6 to solve the IR problem that was in 50XR5 apart from the glass.

How satisfied are you 50XR5 owners?

Thanks.

I have both the 42xr4 and the 5070. I think that the picture quality is very close. I have never had any IR on the NEC. The black levels on both panels are comparable. I actually like the Stadium stretch on the NEC better than the Wide mode on the Pioneer but the difference is not huge. The NEC does give you more oppportunity to tweak the picture. I'm not sure how the 42xr4 compares to the new 50xr6 but, if they are very similar, I don't think you can go wrong with either choice.

Just to be clear here- in the set up menu-- i have the > HD Imput >set at 1080i- is this better than the 720P ???? using HDMI cable


In defense of Chris, I think he is saying that some scaler somewhere is going to have to process the signal and convert a 1080p signal to 768p resolution somewhere along the signal path so why not in the player.

I think a reasonable answer is always to let the best scaler/processor in your data path do the processing if that is possible. For many, the primary reason to purchase a NEC has been for its superior video processor and so understandably these people want the NEC to do the processing. Otherwise they might just as well have selected another brand for other reasons if the display's processor is not going to be used.

It is also desirable to limit the number of places a signal undergoes conversion and in particular scaling. If a player, for instance, scales a 1080p signal to say 720p to pass to the display, then the display will have to subsequently rescale that signal to the display's native resolution. Unlike full fledged external video processors, I don't think players have the capability of scaling directly to NEC's, or other plasmas, 768p resolution.

For these technical reasons, I think it is still valid to want to be able to either (1) pass a source signal in its originating resolution (including 1080p) to the display and let the display perform all the processing or (2) perform all processing external to the display if the external processing is superior so that native resolution can be passed to the display for 1:1 mapping. Any other scenario is a compromise, which may and probably will lose some PQ in the process.

Be advised, however, that we are beginning to see the emergence of players with vastly better processing chips, in particular the SO Reon chip. This advanced processor, the lite version of the tera-flop Realta chip, along with its accompaning Teranax algorithms is indeed superior to NEC's internal processor so allowing this chip to perform as much processing as possible makes some sense. This chip can provide a remarkable 1080p output and so it will be increasingly important to have displays that can accept this signal and either display it natively (the new 1080p displays) or do as little damage as possible downscaling it for their screens (768p).

Cheers, :)

Gary

Just to be clear here- in the set up menu-- i have the > HD Imput >set at 1080i- is this better than the 720P ???? using HDMI cable
DAB can you be a little more specific about the signal path to which you refer? In what component is the referenced setup menu?

Cheers, :)

Gary

Gary, In the NECxr5 -set up window- on one line it says _ HD Select_ i can chose: 540p>1035>1080i. Is this setting for cable feed Vs. DVD feed?? I don't know-
*my oppo970, is usually at 720p- but i really can not see a big difference between 480p or 1080i.

Gary, In the NECxr5 -set up window- on one line it says _ HD Select_ i can chose: 540p>1035>1080i. Is this setting for cable feed Vs. DVD feed?? I don't know-
*my oppo970, is usually at 720p- but i really can not see a big difference between 480p or 1080i.
I just checked the reference manual. As is normal with this manual, it is more confusing to read it than not. Don't worry the 1080i setting has nothing to do with a 720p input. Set it to 1080i as the other settings are clearly for other parts of the world where broadcast standards differ. It will, however, not interfere with a 720p input. it appaprently assures that 1080i inputs are scaled correctly.

BTW with the OPPO 970 try feeding 480i and let the excellent NEC processor both scale and de-interlace. Reports are that this yields the best PQ. Try them all and please report to us what you find. I for one would love to hear you observations.

Cheers, :)

Gary

Does anyone know what the Limit-VD setting does that's in the Service Menu for the 50XR6? It's one of the few settings that can be changed. Also, on the 50XR6 I have noticed that setting Limit-PC to OFF has no effect when inputting native rate signal (1365x768). This is contrary to what some others have reported. Perhaps it's a difference in this panel vs. last years model.

Thanks, Gary. I just took a quick look at 720p & 480i. I didn't see a dynamic difference in PQ of I robot. Though skin tones look slightly more natural and the –green lights in the doctors lab look a little more accurate. So I’ll stick w/ 480i for while. But the PQ is excellent and very 3D.

Thanks, Gary. I just took a quick look at 720p & 480i. I didn't see a dynamic difference in PQ of I robot. Though skin tones look slightly more natural and the –green lights in the doctors lab look a little more accurate. So I’ll stick w/ 480i for while. But the PQ is excellent and very 3D.
Thanks for the info. Glad your experience is positive.

If you have a chance I have a request. First find material that has a full range of light to dark, particularly a lot in the middle. Then try adjusting the gamma. This should be noticable mostly in the mid-tones. Larger numbers will darken these tones and vice versa. Let me know how that goes.

Once your preference for gamma is established, find a dark movie, one with a lot of dark detail, and try the "low tone" adjustment. This should effect the dark detail but not the mid-tones or overall picture. Please let me know how much effect you see between the settings.

Both of the above, of course should be done only after you have satisfactory shadow detail from adjusting the brightness and good white detail from adjusting the contrast.

A major strength of the NEC and a big contributor to its overall PQ are these adjustment possibilities. I would like to hear how you feel they help your PQ.

I recognize you will be doing this by eye and they really deserve an instrumented calibration but they should help nevertheless.

It shouldn't take long to run through and give them a try. Thanks.

Cheers, :)

Gary

I just packed up my NEC 50xr5 to send in for service. I purchased the unit in May 06. Besides a new dead pixel, I've had increasing image problems in the 4x3 area. Even though I rarely watch anything 4x3, this area has become darker than the rest of the screen and there's an even darker band 3-4 inches wide on the left side of this area. I don't know what image IR or burn-in could have caused the bar. I tried all the PDP saver modes for days and have watched little besides HD for months. Yet, if I watch a hockey game, the dark bar looks like a new red line on the ice. :mad:

I'll let the group know what the tech heads say.

I have the same set as you (50XM5A) and my picture is stunning. I have no complaints about black levels. I have a pioneer in my bedroom and Panasonic in my game room and prefer the NEC hands down. What are your current settings?

Under the "Picture" menu:

Contrast: 35
Brightness: 25
Sharpness: 11
Color: 18
Tint: 32
Picture Mode: Normal
NR: off
Color Temp: Mid
Gamma: 1
Low Tone: Auto
Color Tune:
. Red : 29
. Green: 32
. Blue : 32
. Yellow : 32
. Magenta: 30
. Cyan : 32

Power Mode is On
Cinema Mode is On

In Long Life:
PLE: Auto
Orbiter: Auto1

That's about it. Let me know what you think. It's not that it looks "terrible", it's mostly that I expected it to be great, and when I got the Pio 6070, I became super disappointed with the NEC. Especially due to IR, and then noticed how much better the black levels of the Pio are, I thought maybe there was problem with the brightness settings in the service menu. I have contacted a few calibrators, and haven't found one that will work on the NEC yet. I'm hoping they can do something with it. For example, I can use this NEC as a light when it's on an unused input. There is a huge difference between powered on and powered off. On the Pioneer, you can hardly tell it's on if it's sitting on an unused input. When I watch a letterboxed movie on the NEC the "gray" black bars are terribly distracting. When I watch one on the Pio, they blend in to the bezel, and I can't hardly tell that I'm not looking at a 2.35:1 screen. It's amazing the difference. After hearing all the good reviews about these NEC's, I have to believe I have a problem with mine, because I can't believe anyone would watch it like this and think it was great. Anyone think of anything?

Thanks,
Mark

Marky.. I feel the same way. There are times the 50XR5 set looks really good and then others where it annoys the heck out of me.

I saw a friends panny 50" the other day.. IMHO looked MUCH better (blacklevels, scaling etc) than my 50xr5.

Just my $.02

jiboomba, I can only comment on my NEC since it's the only one I've seen. I have the 50XM5, and if I had it to do over, I'd go with the 5070. I bought a 6070 in November from Chris@cleveland plasma, same guy I bought the NEC. I love my 6070, and can't hardly stand to watch the NEC. Could be I got a bad one, but I had NEC's listed repair guy out, and he said that's just the way NEC is. This was in regards to my poor black levels compared to the Pioneer. Maybe the XR6 is better than last years models with black levels. For all the fellow owners of NEC's, I'm not trying to start an argument about the NEC vs Pioneer, and if you have any suggestions on how I can get the blacks not to glow flourescently, I'd be thrilled. I'm just giving him my opinion based on my ownership of both brands.

I just checked the reference manual. As is normal with this manual, it is more confusing to read it than not. Don't worry the 1080i setting has nothing to do with a 720p input. Set it to 1080i as the other settings are clearly for other parts of the world where broadcast standards differ. It will, however, not interfere with a 720p input. it appaprently assures that 1080i inputs are scaled correctly.

BTW with the OPPO 970 try feeding 480i and let the excellent NEC processor both scale and de-interlace. Reports are that this yields the best PQ. Try them all and please report to us what you find. I for one would love to hear you observations.

Cheers, :)

Gary

Hi itigap,

I am running an Oppo970 into a 42xr4 and after extensive calibration find that feeding native 576i over component (I runPAL) to the plasma gives me the best picture. The fine detail is fantastic. As soon as I use HDMI I lose final detail.

Cheers,

Guy

SCMGURU, I feel the same as you and Marky. I have had a 50XR5 since July of 2006 with about 800 hours on it. While the picture can look quite good, the lack of deep blacks becomes noticable when watching a letterboxed movie. More annoying is the IR which is brutal, which doesn't seem to effect any of the 42" sets. If I pause my PVR for 2 minutes I can see the IR for 30 to 40 minutes and thats with the settings turned down.
Well that ends the 50XR5 on my list. Now if I can just get some more input about the 50XR6 I would be happy. I was always under the impression that the NEC had blacks that were equal to the 5070. Then again, its hard not to look at the 5070 or the PRO1140.

Well that ends the 50XR5 on my list. Now if I can just get some more input about the 50XR6 I would be happy. I was always under the impression that the NEC had blacks that were equal to the 5070. Then again, its hard not to look at the 5070 or the PRO1140.

I've owned a 50XR6 for about 3 weeks now and I have to say the blacks are great. I previously owned a Pioneer Elite 1120HD which had so/so blacks. I've looked at the 1140HD and the Pro Panasonics (9 Series) and the 50XR6A has blacks that are as good if not better. Add to that the ability to accept native rate and first rate processing and I don't see how you can go wrong. The other thing that's nice is how easy it is to get a hold of someone in customer/technical support at NEC. I've never had to wait longer than 30 seconds, if that. Plus, the tech support staff is very good.

Just my 2 cents.

I've recently upgraded my HTPC to use BD with my NEC XR5.
One good new, moving from the previous NVidia 7600 to the new one 8800 GTX, now I'm able to address exactly the 1365x768 panel resolution with drivers 97.44 and further. below some details (unfortunately from the italian version, so I'm trying to translate as better as possible ...).
Resolution: 1365x768
H Pix: 1365, Lines: 768
Hz: 60, Bit Pix: 32
Backgorund Params (manual)
Speed: 60 V Porch: 4
H Porch 48 V active lines: 768
H active Pixels:1365 V Synch: 4
Tot H: 1526 V Polarity: *
H Sync: 48
H Polarity: +

In this way you can address, exactly the XR5 native resolution and anything is axtremely clear and detailed.


Now on bad new, I'm trying to watch a BD using PowerDVD Ultra or (the one provided with the Sony BD Driver), but unfortunately the only portion of the image I'm able to see on ther XR5 is only the top left corner portion of the image both in window mode, as well as, in full screen mode.

Why?, it seems that the rest of the image is out of the screen because the 1365x768 is too small for the BD & PowerDVD. No resizing ....

Pls, help me. Any body had this experience?

thx in advance for your help.

Rik :confused: :eek:

I've owned a 50XR6 for about 3 weeks now and I have to say the blacks are great. I previously owned a Pioneer Elite 1120HD which had so/so blacks. I've looked at the 1140HD and the Pro Panasonics (9 Series) and the 50XR6A has blacks that are as good if not better. Add to that the ability to accept native rate and first rate processing and I don't see how you can go wrong. The other thing that's nice is how easy it is to get a hold of someone in customer/technical support at NEC. I've never had to wait longer than 30 seconds, if that. Plus, the tech support staff is very good.

Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the info. Have you had any IR at all? I pm'ed you a question.

Your 2 cents are better than no sense. :D

SCMGURU, I feel the same as you and Marky. I have had a 50XR5 since July of 2006 with about 800 hours on it. While the picture can look quite good, the lack of deep blacks becomes noticable when watching a letterboxed movie. More annoying is the IR which is brutal, which doesn't seem to effect any of the 42" sets. If I pause my PVR for 2 minutes I can see the IR for 30 to 40 minutes and thats with the settings turned down.

Yeah.. the image retention is pretty disconcerting.. I remember all the posts saying it would be nearly gone/gone in 100 hours.. Well, at 1800+ hours.. still there. Not too horrible, but it is there.

I find myself marveling at how darn good my 3 year+ "old" Panny 42PWD5UY 480p plasma looks...

FWIW, I contacted a calibrator that is highly regarded on AVS, and he said the NEC would benefit greatly from calibration, and should look as good if not better than my uncalibrated Pioneer 6070. I haven't heard back from him on when he can do my NEC, but I'm willing to give him a shot at it to get this thing watchable. I told him exactly what I have said here in my posts, and he thinks he can make it look great. I hope he contacts me. His prices are very reasonable, and he travels all over the place, but from Ohio originally (yay!).

Thanks for the info. Have you had any IR at all? I pm'ed you a question.

Your 2 cents are better than no sense. :D

I haven't seen any image retention whatsoever. I was careful to set the PDP saver to 50% brightness for the 1st 150 hours and also ran the burn in DVD for 5 night straight overnight for a total of 40 hours. I only watch TV and movies on it and do not do any gaming.

Hope that helps.

Thanks

FWIW, I contacted a calibrator that is highly regarded on AVS, and he said the NEC would benefit greatly from calibration, and should look as good if not better than my uncalibrated Pioneer 6070. I haven't heard back from him on when he can do my NEC, but I'm willing to give him a shot at it to get this thing watchable. I told him exactly what I have said here in my posts, and he thinks he can make it look great. I hope he contacts me. His prices are very reasonable, and he travels all over the place, but from Ohio originally (yay!).
Thanks for the info. Please keep us informed.

Perhaps you already answered this but what have you done to set your brightness (black level)? If you felt a need to raise this in order to bring out (maintain) shadow detail thus sacrificing ultimate blacks, try instead the Low Tone setting. I believe this effects the shape (slope) of the gamma curve, at the low end only, in the shadow (near black) region. A sharper rise in the low end of this curve will alow you to anchor the black level at a lower point and still distinguish among various near-black information e.g. maintian good shadow detail with blacker blacks. This is a nice feature of the NEC that I have not seen on other displays.

Don't forget brightness affects the entire range of signal strengths. If you are able to lower it, you may need to go back and adjust the contrast accordingly to maintain the top white intensity. The contrast hinges from the point set by the brightness.

Cheers, :)

Gary

I'll let you know what happens. He's so busy though, it may be weeks before he can get to it.

try instead the Low Tone setting.

What did you set the Lone Tone Setting to?

All my settings are just a few posts back on this page. I have Low Tone set at Auto.

My personal experience suggests that "Low Tone" should be set to "3". This enables the error diffusion algorithm for dithering which I find to be the best overall.

Perhaps more important is that it is always the same so you won't get any funny effects as the scene changes.

I've tried the low tone at every setting, but it looks too washed out at 3, or 2 or 1 for that matter. I think my set is just way out of calibration. I'll just wait for the calibrator to come work on it. I like the Pioneer 60" so much better right now, I hardly ever turn the NEC on.

If it looks that bad, then you are probably right that it just way out of cal.

FWIW, I have recently calibrated my set using a sensor for the first time as opposed to using my eyes + calibration DVDs.

The first thing to note is that the actuall settings I have are very, very different than what I got from eyeballing it.

The second is that the picture has never looked better. Especially for "dark" movies. I watched Alien the other night and was amazed at how much better it looks.

Good luck with the calibration.

What sensor did you use?

EyeOne DisplayLT with the ColorHCFR software.

I think my set is just way out of calibration. I'll just wait for the calibrator to come work on it.
Is he going to work on the 6070HD to? I hear with the color managment the consumer Pioner are a real bitc* to calibrate, if it can be done at all.

I don't think he needs to work on the 6070. It looks pretty much perfect. I may talk to him about it, but if he can make the NEC look as good as the 6070, I'll be amazed.

I've been looking at the NEC 50XR6. The only point of reference I have at the moment is a Vizio P50.

The Vizio has a very nice picture for bright detailed scenes, but for dark scenes false contouring really annoys me.
Can anyone advise if the NEC has any issues with false contouring?
The only other reservation I have is that the NEC may not have blacks as good as the Vizio. Could anyone advise on relative black levels?

(I would consider Panasonic and Pioneer as well but I will be moving to a country with 240V 50Hz power supply and don't want to use a transformer with possible additional issues with going from 60 to 50 Hz).

adf2--I think the NEC will meet all of your requirements, expecially when you get a chance to tweak it to some of our settings. It scares me that you want to transport a Plasma to another country. All of us hold our breath whenever we just have one shipped from a local distributor.

How do you recall a different set of saved picture adjustments from the NEC's adjustment memories?

I know that NEC provides 6 memory banks and that each bank can store a set of picture adjustments. The NEC manual kindly tells how to store picture settings and how to reset and store different settings but it fails to specify how to simply select a set of adjustments already stored and have them applied to the current signal. Is it enough to simply scroll to the desired memory number and hit “menu” to get out?

In a related question...... have any of you programed a macro to switch memories? I would expect this to be necessary if a receiver were used for video switching and you had each source separately calibrated.

Cheers, :)

Gary

There's a "Picture memory" button on the remote that cycles through the memories.

Also, when you are in the setup menu and have the picture memory field highlighted the arrow keys change the selected memory.

There is no way that I am aware of to directly select a memory. The memories are associated with each input so when you switch inputs you switch memories.

There's a "Picture memory" button on the remote that cycles through the memories.

Also, when you are in the setup menu and have the picture memory field highlighted the arrow keys change the selected memory.

There is no way that I am aware of to directly select a memory. The memories are associated with each input so when you switch inputs you switch memories.
Thanks for your response. I see from the manual where each memory has some input associated with it when it is set. Also associated with each memory appears to be a signal type (e.g. 480p) and a text note. The impression is that several memories can be assigned to the same input connection, for example, for different signal types. I also expect that several memories could be assigned to the same input connection and have the same input signal type but be established for different sources that might be switched externally; hence the note to document which memory should be used for which source. At lease this is what I hope for. This would need to be the case when a receiver is used to switch signals say between a STB and DVD.

You say
Also, when you are in the setup menu and have the picture memory field highlighted the arrow keys change the selected memory.

There is no way that I am aware of to directly select a memory.
If more than one memory can serve an input and if more than one of these can have the same input signal type, say 720p, then I guess a macro could either enter the setup menu and select the desired memory or perhaps cycle through the memory positions if they always begin at #1 and progress through to #6.

BTW with regard to the remote cycling through the memory settings, what if a setting is selected that was not established for the current input? Does it apply those settings all the same?

Thanks for any additional info you can provide.

I am asking this because I expect each source component to have its own adjustments and want to know how to configure and use the system if I choose to route all signals through a receiver and then on the the display via a single cable. This only works well if when switching sources at the receiver a coordinated switch of adjustments is made at the display corresponding to the selected source component.

Cheers, :)

Gary

I see from the manual where each memory has some input associated with it when it is set.

The Memories only know which input is active when you are chaning it. The actual binding function is that memories are bound to inputs. In other words, when I select Memory 3 to be used with Component input 1 whenever I switch to Component1 I will get Memory 3. There is also a "Default" setting for inputs that have not been assigned a specific memory.

The text fields for signal type are simply indicators for the current received signal when the settings were saved. There is no switching based on input signal.

I.e. if a 1080i signal is present when I setup Memory 1 and I save the settings it will say "1080i". If I then switch the signal to 1080p on the same input (I actually do this with the input for my Xbox360) then it will continue to say 1080i until I re-save the settings, in which case the text changes to 1080p. None of the actual settings get changed.

If more than one memory can serve an input and if more than one of these can have the same input signal type, say 720p, then I guess a macro could either enter the setup menu and select the desired memory or perhaps cycle through the memory positions if they always begin at #1 and progress through to #6.

You can assign / switch to any memory for any input. I think that the memory button goes to the "next" memory in the sequence. I don't really use it because I take all my video sources directly to the panel.

The Memories only know which input is active when you are chaning it. The actual binding function is that memories are bound to inputs. In other words, when I select Memory 3 to be used with Component input 1 whenever I switch to Component1 I will get Memory 3. There is also a "Default" setting for inputs that have not been assigned a specific memory.

The text fields for signal type are simply indicators for the current received signal when the settings were saved. There is no switching based on input signal.

I.e. if a 1080i signal is present when I setup Memory 1 and I save the settings it will say "1080i". If I then switch the signal to 1080p on the same input (I actually do this with the input for my Xbox360) then it will continue to say 1080i until I re-save the settings, in which case the text changes to 1080p. None of the actual settings get changed.



You can assign / switch to any memory for any input. I think that the memory button goes to the "next" memory in the sequence. I don't really use it because I take all my video sources directly to the panel.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain. I really appreciate it. I see now that the resolution and notes fields just serve as notations and do not play operationally into auto memory selection.

I see that the display picks up the input you are on when it saves the settings (and that is the only way to change that parameter). I guess once you have saved a set of adjustments for an input you could then change the picture settings, switch in the set-up to another memory location, and save the second set of adjustments under another memory number. Then you would have two sets of adjustments saved for an input. This is what I would want to be able to do. I could use these for different sources or even the same source for day/night settings.

In this case, I wonder how the display decides when returning to this input which of the two sets of adjustments to apply? Perhaps the last set that was used with the input? Perhaps the set with the lowest memory number?

I am not trying to make this difficult but just trying to better understand the opperational logistics. Have you tried saving and then applying more than one set of adjustments for an input?

Cheers, :)

Gary

I believe it goes to the one that was last used for the input.

Each input has a default (non-Memory) set of settings. You can customize these default settings for the input (for each separate input). In fact, this default set of settings has several PictureModes (Normal, Bright, Theater1, Theater2 etc), and you can make a different set of settings for each picture mode for each input. That way when you change PictureModes, it loads the different set of settings.

All of this is without getting into any Memorized settings.

Now for the Memories: you have six Memorized sets of settings. You can customize these six sets of settings, and you can use them on ANY input (as opposed to the Default settings per input mentioned in the first paragraph above, which only pertain to each distinct input).

For people using a receiver and a single cable to a single input on the panel, it is not easy to make different sets of settings take effect based on which source you are using. The NEC remote has a "NextMemory" button, but does not have a discrete Memory Selection (Mem1, Mem2, etc). This would make it difficult to create a macro to select a particular Memory setting.

I would suggest:

not routing the video sources through a receiver; just run all the video cables from each source directly to the plasma
or, if you have to run the video through the receiver, then see if your receiver has more than one set of Video Out connectors, and run several sets of video cables from the receiver to several of the inputs on the plasma
or ask NEC support if they have hidden discrete Remote Codes for each Memory, although this does not appear to be the case based on the Logitech Harmony Remote database for NEC plasmas. Bug NEC to implement a discrete code for each Memory.

real men do not route video through a receiver

Each input has a default (non-Memory) set of settings. You can customize these default settings for the input (for each separate input). In fact, this default set of settings has several PictureModes (Normal, Bright, Theater1, Theater2 etc), and you can make a different set of settings for each picture mode for each input. That way when you change PictureModes, it loads the different set of settings.

All of this is without getting into any Memorized settings.

Now for the Memories: you have six Memorized sets of settings. You can customize these six sets of settings, and you can use them on ANY input (as opposed to the Default settings per input mentioned in the first paragraph above, which only pertain to each distinct input).

For people using a receiver and a single cable to a single input on the panel, it is not easy to make different sets of settings take effect based on which source you are using. The NEC remote has a "NextMemory" button, but does not have a discrete Memory Selection (Mem1, Mem2, etc). This would make it difficult to create a macro to select a particular Memory setting.

I would suggest:

not routing the video sources through a receiver; just run all the video cables from each source directly to the plasma
or, if you have to run the video through the receiver, then see if your receiver has more than one set of Video Out connectors, and run several sets of video cables from the receiver to several of the inputs on the plasma
or ask NEC support if they have hidden discrete Remote Codes for each Memory, although this does not appear to be the case based on the Logitech Harmony Remote database for NEC plasmas. Bug NEC to implement a discrete code for each Memory.

real men do not route video through a receiver
Thanks. Great information. Good to know.

I never would have guesed all this just from reading their manual. NEC, like everyone else, sure needs to upgrade their manual. Have you found adjusting and then switching among Normal, Bright, Theater1, Theater2 etc useful?

I am building a list of technical questions to ask NEC. I will add descrete memory codes to the list.

Thanks again, :)

Gary

Have you found adjusting and then switching among Normal, Bright, Theater1, Theater2 etc useful?
The various PictureModes are useful for finding what looks best, but once you settle on a setting there is usually no need to change it ever again. The "Normal" settings appears to be prone to shifting the brightness on the fly, so I leave all inputs on "Theater1" which appears to resolve this issue (also be sure to set PeakBrightness to 100%).

wow. It pays to keep watching. Over 4,000 posts and I think this is the first on memory settings.

AVSFORUM is a good place to visit!

Are the picture memories available on the XM5? I can't find anything about it in the manual...

Am I correct in that the xr4 does not support either 1080p/60 or 1080p/24 over HDMI?

Am I correct in that the xr4 does not support either 1080p/60 or 1080p/24 over HDMI?
I believe the 2006 models (42xr4, 50xr5) do not accept any 1080p over hdmi.

I was pretty sure the 2006 models do. There was some question about passing it over component however. It's been a long time since we discussed it, but I'm pretty sure they will accept some form of 1080p

My 61XR4 definitely accepts 1080p over component from my Xbox 360.

I can't remember now if I ever even tried it over HDMI.

Am I correct in that the xr4 does not support either 1080p/60 or 1080p/24 over HDMI?

Directly from the 50XR5A (42XR4)...Model Information....1080i/60 max over HDMI

*1 DVD/HD input signals supported on this system.
480P (60 Hz) 480I (60 Hz) 525P (60 Hz)
525I (60 Hz) 576P (50 Hz) 576I (50 Hz)
625P (50 Hz) 625I (50 Hz) 720P (60 Hz)
720P (50 Hz) 1035I (60 Hz) 1080I (50 Hz)
1080I (60 Hz) 1080P (50 Hz) 1080P (60 Hz)

*2 HDMI input signals supported on this system.
Supported Signals
• 640x480P @ 59.94/60Hz • 1920x1080I @ 50Hz
• 1280x720P @ 59.94/60Hz • 720x576P @ 50Hz
• 1920x1080I @ 59.94/60Hz • 1440 (720)x576I @ 50Hz
• 720x480P @ 59.94/60Hz • 1280x720P @ 50Hz
• 1440 (720)x480I @ 59.94/60Hz

*DVD/HD input signals <----This is Component
1080I (60 Hz) 1080P (50 Hz) 1080P (60 Hz)

*HDMI input signals <----This is HDMI
• 640x480P @ 59.94/60Hz • 1920x1080I @ 50Hz
• 1280x720P @ 59.94/60Hz • 720x576P @ 50Hz
• 1920x1080I @ 59.94/60Hz • 1440 (720)x576I @ 50Hz
• 720x480P @ 59.94/60Hz • 1280x720P @ 50Hz
• 1440 (720)x480I @ 59.94/60Hz
Component supports 1080p, HDMI only supports 1080i.

Component supports 1080p, HDMI only supports 1080i.
Right...just as specification states..
The "Max" I was referring to was HDMI that LisaM inquired about...
Thanks for the highlights/clarification, it makes it a bit easier to see/pickout

The 50XM5 supports 1080p over DVI.

Are the picture memories available on the XM5? I can't find anything about it in the manual...

It isn't mentioned in the manual... So I suppose that with the professional models you can't store piture settings independently (only 1 setting per input).

Does anybody know for sure?

It isn't mentioned in the manual... So I suppose that with the professional models you can't store piture settings independently (only 1 setting per input).

Does anybody know for sure?
Goes to show that you learn something everyday. I compared the manuals carfull, not just the text but the menu tree diagram as well, and it seems that the 6 picture memories are indeed left off the commercial displays. This surprises me.

Only someone with a display who goes into the menu and looks will know for sure.

Cheers, :)

Gary

I have a 2 year old commercial display (50XM4) and it does not have the picture memories. Here is the reply from NEC when I inquired about it.

Hi Pat, Thanks for contacting NEC! Although there aren't any memory settings that can be saved in memory like in the Residential, you can change the individual settings under Picture Menu Settings or change the picture mode. The Residential model does allow a little more control than the Commercial series. Best Regards NEC VSD Customer Service/Tech Support 1-800-836-0655

I have a 2 year old commercial display (50XM4) and it does not have the picture memories. Here is the reply from NEC when I inquired about it.

Hi Pat, Thanks for contacting NEC! Although there aren't any memory settings that can be saved in memory like in the Residential, you can change the individual settings under Picture Menu Settings or change the picture mode. The Residential model does allow a little more control than the Commercial series. Best Regards NEC VSD Customer Service/Tech Support 1-800-836-0655

Thanks Corrys. :)

Component supports 1080p, HDMI only supports 1080i.

Thanks very much!

DUAL POST
In Oppo 970 & NECXR5 plasma threads.
First I have had very little concerns nor viewed much IR effects on my xr5.
However, last night while watching “Lady in the Water” the Netflix DVD started to jitter.
So I ejected it and took out my diskDR. To clean, then returned it-time- 60 sec.
In the next dark scene we could still see ”OPPO” in the background.{ but not in the bright-day light scenes} It eventually faded away but it took ?~ 5 mins. I was surprise that IR happens that quickly and last that long for how a short period the Oppo logo was on. – AVIA/CP calibrated.
Any Thoughts?
db

I have the same problem DAB with my XM5. I'm hoping that a professional calibration will fix it. I am still waiting for the calibrator to make it to NW Ohio. FWIW, that Oppo screen is ugly for IR concerns, and will leave some on my Pio if I leave it on for a while, but not usually. It usually kicks over to a screen saver before it happens.

After 1.5 weeks of my unit sitting in their main tech support, they've determined the severe discolored bar on my screen was burn-in. I still can't figure out where that image originated. At first, they couldn't find anything wrong. After a week, and more than a few phone calls, I sent them screenshots of the problem.

In the past few days, they ran the screen 60+ hours straight in PDP Saver "WHITE" mode and they replaced the power supply and a circuit board (just in case). The set is being returned with the burn in "mostly gone".

When I first got my set, I thought the picture was magnificent and I was very pleased with my decision. After this experience, I don't know what to say besides "never again".

Wow! Really sorry to hear about your experience. I have generally had pretty good luck with electronics, including my NEC, but I always worry about having an experience like yours. Sounds like a plain 'ole bad unit, it is a bummer they just don't replace the whole set. Good Luck.

I have pretty significant color banding on my 50XM5 in light areas (e.g., sun in sky). Source is DirecTV HR20-500 in native mode. Are there settings I should adjust that can help with this? (I think I see it more with sat than OTA--how much of this is a DTV issue?)

Sounds like a compression issue with the satellite feed.

I have had a 42xr4 for a year now :) and I was thinking about cleaning the screen !?!?!? Yes, I know I should have done so earlier :rolleyes: , but I was wondering; What is the best way to clean the screen?

Do I use "warm soapy water" on a cloth or are those computer monitor screen wipes adequate?

TIA for any "polite" :) suggestions.

DAB, I've found the IR to be pretty inconsistent. I've had my 50XR5 for over a year now...normally IR isn't an issue at all. I might see it after watching a letterboxed movie or occasionally from an on screen logo, but it goes away pretty quick. A few months ago though, I turned the TV on and immeadiately tuned to ESPN. After watching for only about 30 seconds, I tuned away and found that the scroll bar caused IR for around 20 minutes. It was very odd and it hasn't happened again since. I'm not sure what to make of it...

I just use a microfiber cloth, and if it's really bad, ie, fingerprints from kids, I'll get one a little damp and then dry it with another one.

DAB, I've found the IR to be pretty inconsistent. I've had my 50XR5 for over a year now...normally IR isn't an issue at all. I might see it after watching a letterboxed movie or occasionally from an on screen logo, but it goes away pretty quick. A few months ago though, I turned the TV on and immeadiately tuned to ESPN. After watching for only about 30 seconds, I tuned away and found that the scroll bar caused IR for around 20 minutes. It was very odd and it hasn't happened again since. I'm not sure what to make of it...

rhoffman, I have a 42xr4 and notice that the panel is sensitive to IR when it has just been switched on and is still cold. Try the same experiment when the screen has warmed up and the IR should not appear.

Try to keep the cleaning solution as simple as possible. Start with just cold water and a smooth cloth, damp, not dripping. Rub gently so you do not take off any of the manufacturer's coating on the glass. That should get rid of fingerprints and most smudges. If you use any kind of soap, then the soap itself becomes a smeary problem on the glass.

Do a search on avs re: optix and micro cloth.
Also do not spray liquid directly on to any sealed electronic or binocular glass.
Spray the cloth- spray can get into the sealed area because of the pressure (yes it is light but for the eq it can be strong)





Try to keep the cleaning solution as simple as possible. Start with just cold water and a smooth cloth, damp, not dripping. Rub gently so you do not take off any of the manufacturer's coating on the glass. That should get rid of fingerprints and most smudges. If you use any kind of soap, then the soap itself becomes a smeary problem on the glass.

I would like to make sure I have this correct.
What setting should we have our DVD players set to? [480i-p, 720p, and 1080i > (1080p?)] Is determined by how good our displays scalar is and how good the DVD player’s scalar is, correct?
One of those DVD settings will work best with one of the various displays. Now, with the NECxr5 we have six memories setting, so we have the ability to have 6 different calibration setting.
So we can test the different PQ setting with [480i-p, 720p, 1080i]. So is there any factor that we should look at before we go all this into this? < Low temp and gamma1.1. May be quite different than: mid. Color temp w/ gamma1, NR1, and different contrast levels<
· I thought I read that one should set their DVD player {mine Oppo 970) to 720p when calibrating with AVIA. I have had my xr5>15 months now and think that I will need to recalibrate a couple of my memory setting. The PQ seems to have changed. The PQ is still great. Your thoughts?

Phosphors are constantly aging while they burn; this gives you the half life of the panel, and also the phenomenon of burn in, which is uneven aging of phosphors. As phosphors age they become less bright; moreover the blue phosphors age faster than the red and green ones, thus the image becomes less blue and needs recalibration.

The default settings out of the box on my 42xr4a looked very bright and somewhat blue, so perhaps this is the factory default so that as the panel ages it will follow a graceful aging path.

Sounds like a compression issue with the satellite feed.

I agree. I have the 50XR5 and HR10-250 and occasionally notice the same.

Could anyone tell me how to find out how many hours are on a 50XR5a/6a? I cant find it in the manual.


Thanks in advance,
Scott

You have to go into the service menu to find that number.

Afraid you were gonna say that....how do ya get to the service menu? I dont have anything that says SERVICE MENU on my 50XR6A.

Service menu codes are prohibited on the forum.

Search on "bruzzi" "service" "menu" and you will find them.

Service menu codes are prohibited on the forum.

Search on "bruzzi" "service" "menu" and you will find them.
Ill pass...I dont want to mess anything up. Thanks for the info. though.

There's actually only one setting that you can change in the service menu so there's very little chance of screwing anything up.

Thanks J

Found it and the panel still works. :D

DAB and rhoffman, I have also noticed IR on my xr5A, especially after viewing the guide for my satellite receiver, even after 3-4 minutes. It takes about 15-20 minutes to completely disappear. My set now has 830 hours on it. I was wondering if there are many posters who have this IR still happening with this many hours on their panels, and if anybody can predict if the IR will still be an issue as the panel gets older. I still have my settings turned down(contrast 37, brightness 24, sharpness 5, peak brightness 50), and with this IR still happening, can anybody give me some advice on when I can properly calibrate my panel. Other than this , I am completely satisfied with this panel other than some minimal fan noise.

I have had my 50XM4 for over two years and have many hours on logged (in the thousands) and IR is still present. It's not better and it's not worse. The DirecTv logo in their menus is by far the biggest culprit. However, there is no sign of burn-in whatsoever. If the kids leave the menu on for too long, I use the white screen for a few minutes to flush it out. IR is just part of the package like the terrific PQ, wonderful scaling and best stretch mode.

I have had my 50XM4 for over two years and have many hours on logged (in the thousands) and IR is still present. It's not better and it's not worse. The DirecTv logo in their menus is by far the biggest culprit. However, there is no sign of burn-in whatsoever. If the kids leave the menu on for too long, I use the white screen for a few minutes to flush it out. IR is just part of the package like the terrific PQ, wonderful scaling and best stretch mode.

Agreed. I've had my 50XR5 for about a year now and the IR is still present. It's quite intermittent though, doesn't usually last long, and is only noticable on a blank (all same color) screen. Other than size (I finally also added a projector and 101" screen), there are no complaints about this display, the NEC is a fine buy and very happy I did get it.

Hi
Also the Commercial Plasma does not have the IRE settings, which can be useful.
Regards
Richard

I have had my 50XR5 for almost an year now as well, and like the others, I still see IR from time to time, but it goes away. No burn in.

I am having problem with my NEC XM3 and was wondering if anyone can help me. Lately my NEC Plasma cuts off the picture automatically and after for a few minutes, the picture comes back on. Can someone tell my what is causing this problem and how can I fix this please. Thanks for your help in advance.

I am having problem with my NEC XM3 and was wondering if anyone can help me. Lately my NEC Plasma cuts off the picture automatically and after for a few minutes, the picture comes back on. Can someone tell my what is causing this problem and how can I fix this please. Thanks for your help in advance.

Is this happening on all inputs, ie dvd, cable/sat?

It is happening to all input. First I thought the bulb got burnt out but that wasn't the case because after 5-10 minutes, the picture comes back on and then flickered off after 10 seconds.

Is the XM3 a plasma? There's no bulb in a plasma. If it's a DLP, it sounds like a bad bulb or a light engine. Do you get any flashing led code?

It is a plasma and no I don't get any led code flashing and the main light is Red. I don't think it's a bad bulb (if it does have one) because if it's a bad bulb, I should not be able to see anything at all. In this case, the pictures does comes on but only for a couple of seconds and then the picture comes off. Sorry, I don't know much about Plasma and I really appreciate your help Marky.

There is no bulb, so that's not the problem. What color is the led when it's running fine? Does it change to red when the problem occurs?

The led is green when there are pictures. It becomes red when there are no pictures. This is what I have done so far to troubleshoot the prblem. Unpluged the power cord and disconnected all of the input connection to the plasma but that does not seem to resolve the problem.

To my limited knowledge, sounds like it may be a power supply problem. Probably gonna take a tech visit. :(

I guess that is what I will have to do. I hope they don't charge me an arm and a leg for this fix. I love this plasma and I would hate to throw it away if it's going to cost me lots of $$ to fix it. Thanks for your help Marky_Mark.

No problem ttran1999, sorry I couldn't help you more. Good luck.

Should I bring my plasma to a local Television repair shop or should I bring it to an authorize NEC dealer?

I'd use an NEC authorized shop. Or if you're out of warranty anyways, at least someone who is very familiar with plasmas.

whew. Your problem is really....not at all normal. Are you under warrenty? Foks at NEC do respond to Emails.

My 50XM5 is two months past warrenty and it is....perfect.

This is a really good company, and I think if you get them into the 'loop', you will get past your problem.

Trust them.

I put this in the "new" NEC thread and got no response so I thought Id try here. I am trying to find the code to enable my remote (for a SA 8300HD DVR stb) to operate my 50XR6A. I tried the codes given and they dont work and I tried to "search" for it but that was unsuccesful also. Any 50XR6A/5a owners out there that knows the 4 digit code? :)

I have a SA8300 and an 50XR5 I used one of the NEC codes in the book and some of the functionality worked. However you couldn't turn ON the TV, I could turn it off though and could do some setting stuff, but it wasn't really usable. I use a harmony and much more happy in the long run.

I have a SA8300 and an 50XR5 I used one of the NEC codes in the book and some of the functionality worked. However you couldn't turn ON the TV, I could turn it off though and could do some setting stuff, but it wasn't really usable. I use a harmony and much more happy in the long run.
Thanks for the info.

Not sure how the newer models work with HDMI, but there is a setting on mine that will auto-detect a signal on the DVI and power up and down the panel when I turn the STB on or off. I've had no luck finding NEC commands for my older Sony universal remote.

Is anyone using a Harmony remote with NEC correctly?

yes I control the following with a Harmony 720 : NEC 50XR5, SA8300, OPPO 971, Denon AVR. Have it all set up just the way I like it. Took a little work but its great...it is very easy to use once it is set up. There are some other good remotes, you can check the Remotes forum.

I use the Harmony 676 to operate my 50XR5A, Oppo 971, Yamaha YSP800, and Moto 6200. Everything works great.

welcome back, fellow NEC owners. I was sitting in my living room tonight and...just felt so good that I have my 50XM5 and to folks here at AVSFORUM, this thread in particular got me here.

Thank you!

( with honorable mention to Chris at Cleveland Plasma...)

Dear All.

I have been reading about certain displays that convert a 1080i signal to 540p and then upscaling to 768p on 768p displays. This effectively results in a loss of information. It is commonly known as bobbing.

The ideal would be to deinterlace 1080i to 1080p and then scale to 768p.

I was wondering if anyone knew wether the NEC 42xr4 used this less than ideal method of scaling?

Dear All.

I have been reading about certain displays that convert a 1080i signal to 540p and then upscaling to 768p on 768p displays. This effectively results in a loss of information. It is commonly known as bobbing.

The ideal would be to deinterlace 1080i to 1080p and then scale to 768p.

I was wondering if anyone knew wether the NEC 42xr4 used this less than ideal method of scaling?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7437346&&#post7437346
cpcat is one of this threads and AVS's very knowledgeable contributers.

In a less scientific approach, I have a 50Xr5 and installed my Buddy's 42XR4 and I can say that the 42 is an outstanding panel... IMHO

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7437346&&#post7437346
cpcat is one of this threads and AVS's very knowledgeable contributers.

In a less scientific approach, I have a 50Xr5 and installed my Buddy's 42XR4 and I can say that the 42 is an outstanding panel... IMHO

Thanks bvader. That is exactly what I was looking for!

I am extremely impressed with my XR4. It's PQ and user adjustability continue to impress me.

Apart from size what's different between 50XR6 and 60XR5?

How would NEC 50XR6 compare with Pioneer PDP-507CMX with KD Xplorer card?

How about NEC 60XR5 and Pioneer PDP-607CMX with KD Xplorer card?

Anyone from the current NEC owners actually considered Pioneer professional plasma as an alternative?
You picked NEC - why?

Thanks in advance!

The NEC and Pioneer plasmas are becoming more similar each year since Pioneer purchased the NEC plasma plant several years ago and began integrating the technologies. NEC buys hardware OEM from Pioneer. The 2007 NEC models are very similar to some Pioneer models. The 2006 NEC models used to have more distinct NEC parts, like the (legacy) NEC 12-bit processor.

Starting with the 2007 NEC models, I think it is a real toss-up between NEC and Pioneer. The difference is no longer about hardware, but it's about business issues like cost and warranty etc. The panels are almost the same; the question is which company do you want to do business with.

Apart from size what's different between 50XR6 and 60XR5?

How would NEC 50XR6 compare with Pioneer PDP-507CMX with KD Xplorer card?

How about NEC 60XR5 and Pioneer PDP-607CMX with KD Xplorer card?

Anyone from the current NEC owners actually considered Pioneer professional plasma as an alternative?
You picked NEC - why?

Thanks in advance!
One significant difference between the 50XR6 and 60XR5 is the glass. The current 50" uses the Pioneer single pane glass w/bonded filter wheras the 60" does not.

I believe between the NEC and Pioneer models you mention there are also some differences in the picture settings available and the way in which memories for those settings function.

Cheers,

Gary

edit for spelling

Is the 3 yr warranty on 50XR6 only cover the panel for 1 yr only? then what the point of 3 yr warranty? the 3 yr only on the circuit?

Guys

I just bought a Mitsubishi PD-5065 which is a rebadged NEC. I believe it is the model in the subject line but not sure. I'm trying to find out what generation it is and any other info I can find. For sure it seems to have a major IR issue!

thx

bob

There's an easy way to check. The weight of the 50XR6 (without speakers) is 78.3 lbs. Previous models (without speakers) were 97.9 lbs. The decrease in weight and apparent reduction in IR is attributed to a single pane of glass versus a double pane.

There's an easy way to check. The weight of the 50XR6 (without speakers) is 78.3 lbs. Previous models (without speakers) were 97.9 lbs. The decrease in weight and apparent reduction in IR is attributed to a single pane of glass versus a double pane.
Good suggestion and true enough for NEC's 50" consumer display (XR model), however, the NEC commercial model (XM) still uses the double pane glass.

Cheers, :)

Gary

Is the 3 yr warranty on 50XR6 only cover the panel for 1 yr only? then what the point of 3 yr warranty? the 3 yr only on the circuit?

Projectors and Plasma Displays
Sales information: 1.800.NEC.INFO
Sales fax: 1.800.356.4726
Customer Support fax: 1.800.356.2415
Service and Support
Customer Service: 1.800.836.0655
Tech Support
1.800.366.5213

:rolleyes:

however, the NEC commercial model (XM) still uses the double pane glass.

Cheers, :)

Gary

That is suprising. In the past the differences between the commercial and consumer panels were less drastic. I wonder if people who have the latest commerical units are experiencing IR since it's still the double pane.

There's an easy way to check. The weight of the 50XR6 (without speakers) is 78.3 lbs. Previous models (without speakers) were 97.9 lbs. The decrease in weight and apparent reduction in IR is attributed to a single pane of glass versus a double pane.

How about 127 pounds! It is a monitor (with speakers) Here is a link with owners' manual, as well:

http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/Mitsubishi-PD-5065.htm


I'd sure like to know what NEC gen. it really is.

Thanks for your help!


bob

Has anyone had a chance to compare the 50XR6 to the Panny 50PX77U (or 75U)? Is the NEC's picture quality $500 better than the Panny's?

Has anyone had a chance to compare the 50XR6 to the Panny 50PX77U (or 75U)? Is the NEC's picture quality $500 better than the Panny's?
Pete,

Remember a large determinate of the PQ you can actually achieve in your home is due to the variety of picture adjustment controls offered on your display and the way in which they can be managed for your various sources e.g. memories. In this area the NEC shines.

Another principal determinate is the quality of the video processing that determines the ultimate quality of the signal sent to the glass component. Here again NEC has always been very strong. True there has been confusion with this year's displays as to just what NEC did with their processors and whether it was an advancement or not. A confusion that seems will never be fully explained as I have never seen any clear facts presented. However, those that have purchased NECs this year seem to be more than pleased with their PQ and the money spent.

That being said, I have not followed NEC prices of late. With other brands new models continuing the downward price path, it seems that NEC needs to drop their prices in order to remain competitive. Because NEC sources their glass from Pioneer, I think a big question over the summer is whether they will be using Pioneer's new super dark glass components in next year's NECs along with whether they will continue to advance their video processors in house or be outsourcing that component (perhaps from Pioneer).

NEC does market an external video processor, the Theatersync, based on the Silicon Optics Realta chip. It would be very very cool to see them offer a display with this HQV processing embedded. IMO, combined with Pioneer's glass, that would be undoubtedly the best display in the world.

Cheers, :)

Gary

How good are the NEC processors? Right below Fuji?

Please check my post above and tell me what generation my NEC (Mits) is?? The processor is very clean.

thx

bob


Pete,

Remember a large determinate of the PQ you can actually achieve in your home is due to the variety of picture adjustment controls offered on your display and the way in which they can be managed for your various sources e.g. memories. In this area the NEC shines.

Another principal determinate is the quality of the video processing that determines the ultimate quality of the signal sent to the glass component. Here again NEC has always been very strong. True there has been confusion with this year's displays as to just what NEC did with their processors and whether it was an advancement or not. A confusion that seems will never be fully explained as I have never seen any clear facts presented. However, those that have purchased NECs this year seem to be more than pleased with their PQ and the money spent.

That being said, I have not followed NEC prices of late. With other brands new models continuing the downward price path, it seems that NEC needs to drop their prices in order to remain competitive. Because NEC sources their glass from Pioneer, I think a big question over the summer is whether they will be using Pioneer's new super dark glass components in next year's NECs along with whether they will continue to advance their video processors in house or be outsourcing that component (perhaps from Pioneer).

NEC does market an external video processor, the Theatersync, based on the Silicon Optics Realta chip. It would be very very cool to see them offer a display with this HQV processing embedded. IMO, combined with Pioneer's glass, that would be undoubtedly the best display in the world.

Cheers, :)

Gary

Hi,

I'll have a stab at your questions (with my subpar English :rolleyes: ).

How good are the NEC processors? Right below Fuji?
Two AVS forum members did test the deinterlacing capabilities (at 480i) of last year's NEC 50XR5 (cpcat's HQV test (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7689723&&#post7689723) and sakaike's HQV test (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7962776&&#post7962776)). It performed quite well... And, as a lot of knowledgeable posters have said, it seems that NEC displays are on par with Pioneer Elite ones. NEC and Elite processors perform similarly at 480i (see Elite HQV test (http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/televisions/flat-panels/pioneer-elite-pro-940hd/calibrating-the-television)).

NEC's processing is generally well rated by reviewers (see Ofer LaOr's review (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_13_2/nec-42xr4-plasma-tv-4-2006-part-2.html) and PC Mag's review (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1941292,00.asp)), but regarding the Fujitsu or any other high end display (or combo : display + recent external processor), well... pretty much everybody is speculating. Only a direct comparison with multiple tests would clear the matter. This is especially true of the 2007 lineup, since no reviews whatsoever has been published and no AVS forum members has done extensive testing on these models.

Please check my post above and tell me what generation my NEC (Mits) is??
To know for sure, you would have to compare the owner manual of your plasma with the ones of the 50XR4 and 50XR5, and look for clues (differences or similarities). With a quick glance, I wasn't able to determine wich one it really was. My guess would be the 50XR5 (same year as your plasma).

Hope that helped :),

db

Is the 3 yr warranty on 50XR6 only cover the panel for 1 yr only? then what the point of 3 yr warranty? the 3 yr only on the circuit?
3 year warranty covers everything else.......

3 year warranty covers everything else.......


Chris

Since you are the NEC expert here, could you look at the link for my Mits/NEC above and tell me what I have? Maybe a 50XM6A? It has just one HDMI slot, no tuner but does have a stereo amp built in (Mine has speakers in the base) and heavy 127 pounds and Made in Japan if that helps???

thx

bob

OK guys - I havent been in here in a while - but I just thought I would chime in on IR with my 50XR5...

I got a 360 in January - well past the 100 hour mark for break-in

Played Gears of War like a madman...

I have had the HUD and IR in the upper right corner of my screen and on the right side for 2 solid months...

I still play the game.. but I also leave Disc HD on overnight and I dont play for the extended durations that I once had...

QUESTION: Is this burn-in? I seem to think this would qualify....

If it is not - and is a bad case of IR - how do I get rid of it?

booyaa,

IR is a temporary problem. If you switch to Disc HD for just a few minutes any IR should go away. If you can still see the shadow of the HUD then you have burn in and there is no way to fix it.

All phoshpor based products can get burn-in if you use them harshly as it sounds like you did.

I had some nasty IR recently from the Nick toon channel when I was out of town for a week and my kids watched the channel every day for like 8 hours. The Discovery channel overnight didn't do the trick. I have a HTPC hooked up and I used MS Paint to create a few 1920 x 1080 sized solid color bitmaps. I create one each for dark grey, black, white, red, green and med blue. Then I saved them into a new My Pictures folder and pointed my slide show screen saver to run the bitmaps for like 3 minutes per a color. I also made sure I switched to the factory default picture settings. After a few days of running this for about 6 hours, the IR was completely gone. And it also evened up the "wear" look on the middle of the panel. I always stretch all my content, but the middle of my panel showed a darker color than the edges on solid white screens. No hard lines from side bars, just normal wear in the middle and not on the edges.

I always use the all white screen to clear IR. In your case, keep it on for an hour and then see if the IR diminishes.

I have the 50xr5(12/2005)
Remind me agian what is the best setting for:
1. Peak Brightness.... current 100%
2. inverse/white..... current off
3. screenswipe .. current off- i some time turn it on for 10 min sweeps
4. soft fous: off
5. PDP Saver[in function screen]

In the manual, it show how to turn them on/off but doesn't help with -WHY- they should be on way or the other..
db
]
]

I have the 50xr5(12/2005)
Remind me agian what is the best setting for:
1. Peak Brightness.... current 100%
2. inverse/white..... current off
3. screenswipe .. current off- i some time turn it on for 10 min sweeps
4. soft fous: off
5. PDP Saver[in function screen]

If PeakBrightness is less than 100%, it will cause occasional shifts in contrast when a bright objects enters a dark scene; therefore I recommend keeping PeakBrightness at 100% to avoid this. I guess the only advantage of using PeakBrightness less than 100% is it would give you a less bright picture, which helps prevent burn in.

If you set the Mode to "Bright", or have Contrast set a a low value, these can also cause sudden shifts in contrast.

My favorite test of shifting contrast is Pirates of the Carribean I, in the chapter towards the end which starts with a night sky in a cave, and slowly a full moon drifts into the sky. If you have the DVD it is easy to find this scene since it is right at the beginning of the chapter.

Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum, this is my first post. I have an older model 42" that doesn't have a HDMI connection. I've got the bug real bad to get a HD DVD player but I'm wondering if it would be worth while. I do have a DVI connection but I understand that HDMI to DVI conversions don't always work well.
Any thoughts, ideas? Any info would be appreciated.

I have a two year old 50XM4 that has a DVI input that is connected to my HD DirecTiVo via a DVI/HDMI cable. It works perfectly. Go for it, you won't be disappointed.

Do any of the NEC fans here know anything about the M40 or M46? I know these are LCD panels, but I can't seem to elicit any response in the LCD forum. I'm particularly interested in comments from anyone who may have actually seen one.

Remind me agian what is the best setting for:


You know it has been over 1 year with my NEC PX-50XR5A. I still feel there is nothing that touches this panel besides the runco and fujitsu. I still have not touched one setting, maybe I should before I sell it for a 60" screen :)

You know it has been over 1 year with my NEC PX-50XR5A. I still feel there is nothing that touches this panel besides the runco and fujitsu. I still have not touched one setting, maybe I should before I sell it for a 60" screen :)


Chris

I have a rebadged NEC (MITS PD-5065) and still need to know what generation NEC it is? It does have 1 HDMI input if that helps. The picture is glorious, not as 3D as the Panny but the color and processing make up for it. I call it a smooth look.

Biggest problem is CR; staed at 1000:1 and looks about like that. Do the NEC's all have low CR?

Also, IR is really sensitive, just a few minutes of the guide or side bars but so far it does go away.

Can you help me ID this set since I have not been successful with many attempts.

thx

bob

You know it has been over 1 year with my NEC PX-50XR5A. I still feel there is nothing that touches this panel besides the runco and fujitsu. I still have not touched one setting, maybe I should before I sell it for a 60" screen :)
I will second that... I look at all the new sets...can't say I have seen anything that beats it hands down...

Amend...have seen some of the new 1080p panels....hmmmmm ;)

[QUOTE=RIK2]I've recently upgraded my HTPC to use BD with my NEC XR5.
One good new, moving from the previous NVidia 7600 to the new one 8800 GTX, now I'm able to address exactly the 1365x768 panel resolution with drivers 97.44 and further. below some details (unfortunately from the italian version, so I'm trying to translate as better as possible ...).
Resolution: 1365x768
H Pix: 1365, Lines: 768
Hz: 60, Bit Pix: 32
Backgorund Params (manual)
Speed: 60 V Porch: 4
H Porch 48 V active lines: 768
H active Pixels:1365 V Synch: 4
Tot H: 1526 V Polarity: *
H Sync: 48
H Polarity: +

What about the Total V pixels?

I am trying the same thing and I can't get it to work. I have the 50XR5, hooked up to my nVidia 8500gt. I am playing around with the nVidia's Custom timings and its not working. Could be because I don't know what to put in the "Vertical Total" Slot?

Can someone please help!
thanks,

Do NEC's suffer from IR worse than other new models like Panny and Pioneer?


bob

Do NEC's suffer from IR worse than other new models like Panny and Pioneer?


bob


I have had no IR at all on my 50XR6. Not when I first powered it up, not during the break in period, not when my wife left Days of Our lives paused on screen for six hours, not ever.

I have had no IR at all on my 50XR6. Not when I first powered it up, not during the break in period, not when my wife left Days of Our lives paused on screen for six hours, not ever.


My rebadged NEC (Mitsubishi) has it real bad. So far it does go away. I wish I knew what generation NEC panel my Mits uses :o


bob

The newer models with the single pane of glass do not experience IR. I have an older 50XM4 that consistently exhibits IR, but never permanently. I haven't checked the hours in quite awhile, but it's been heavily used the last 2.5 years, so Bob you shouldn't worry about the IR degarding to burn-in. Hopefully, the positives of the NEC (PQ, scaling, stretch modes) greatly outweigh the IR annoyance for us "double paners" !!

It's a shame that NEC hasn't kept pace with the other manufacturers regarding price. That's the only reason, that I can fathom that is attributing to so little NEC discussion.

I have had a 50xr5a for the past 18 months or so, and just had a problem with it. Turns out it's a part that NEC doesn't usually fix, so they are just shipping me a new set. I'm not sure if it's a new model or not, won't know until i get it.

In any case, I'm thinking about selling it once I get it.
Assuming it's a new 50xR5 model (not the newer xr6), how much do you think it's worth?

Thanks,
Jeff

what was the -problem.. ??

I have had a 50xr5a for the past 18 months or so, and just had a problem with it. Turns out it's a part that NEC doesn't usually fix, so they are just shipping me a new set. I'm not sure if it's a new model or not, won't know until i get it.

In any case, I'm thinking about selling it once I get it.
Assuming it's a new 50xR5 model (not the newer xr6), how much do you think it's worth?

Thanks,
Jeff

what was the -problem.. ??

Described here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=859702

Rather than fix it, NEC just decided to send me a new TV.
Not sure if they are replacing with same model or newer one. If it's the same one, I don't feel like going thru the break-in period again... perfect time to sell - someone will get a nice new plasma for a lot less money...

-J

The newer models with the single pane of glass do not experience IR. I have an older 50XM4 that consistently exhibits IR, but never permanently. I haven't checked the hours in quite awhile, but it's been heavily used the last 2.5 years, so Bob you shouldn't worry about the IR degarding to burn-in. Hopefully, the positives of the NEC (PQ, scaling, stretch modes) greatly outweigh the IR annoyance for us "double paners" !!

It's a shame that NEC hasn't kept pace with the other manufacturers regarding price. That's the only reason, that I can fathom that is attributing to so little NEC discussion.

Thanks, Corrys

So far the IR does go away. We just got a Nintendo wii and I'm a little freaked :)

The PQ is amazing, Best color I have ever seen. Only problem is I can't watch 480P in 4:3 from my DTV HR20-700. It is stretched or zoomed no matter where I adjust the formats (DTV box or TV) All other resolutions are fine?


bob

Don't worry about the Nintendo wii. There is a setting for burn - in. I forget the exact name, but turn it on, it greatly helps with IR.

I also have the HR20-100. Turn the Native setting on. If you set the output to 480P Stretch for SD channels, it should send an unstretched signal to your display. On your Mits set the stretch mode to STADIUM.
You can also experiment with 480i Stretch from the HR20 and let the Mits deinterlace.

I just received the HR20 last week and I am finding the SD PQ a step or two down from the DirecTiVo HR10. I seem to be alone with this opinion, however.

Don't worry about the Nintendo wii. There is a setting for burn - in. I forget the exact name, but turn it on, it greatly helps with IR.

I also have the HR20-100. Turn the Native setting on. If you set the output to 480P Stretch for SD channels, it should send an unstretched signal to your display. On your Mits set the stretch mode to STADIUM.
You can also experiment with 480i Stretch from the HR20 and let the Mits deinterlace.

I just received the HR20 last week and I am finding the SD PQ a step or two down from the DirecTiVo HR10. I seem to be alone with this opinion, however.


Found the wii setting... thanks

My mits doesn't have stadium, I have std/expand/zoom/14:9?/ and narrow.


bob

I always use the all white screen to clear IR. In your case, keep it on for an hour and then see if the IR diminishes.

That is what I'm doing. So far so good!


bob

bob,
regarding my quote from your last post, that was in response to someone who had severe IR. I usually put the white screen on for a few minutes to clear IR.

If anyone is interested, I will have a brand new 50XR5 for sale. PM me if you are interested and preferably in the Boston / North shore area...

-J

You know it has been over 1 year with my NEC PX-50XR5A. I still feel there is nothing that touches this panel besides the runco and fujitsu. I still have not touched one setting, maybe I should before I sell it for a 60" screen :)

I still have my XR4 that I bought from Chris....I'v set it up using CPAT's setting..I can certianly tell when I switch between them and the 'stock' settings...The whites are 'whiter' (less blue), and greens (like a football feild) seem a little more true..But..it's sure subjective.

and I sure haven't seen anything else I like better :)

The newer models with the single pane of glass do not experience IR. I have an older 50XM4 that consistently exhibits IR, but never permanently. I haven't checked the hours in quite awhile, but it's been heavily used the last 2.5 years, so Bob you shouldn't worry about the IR degarding to burn-in. Hopefully, the positives of the NEC (PQ, scaling, stretch modes) greatly outweigh the IR annoyance for us "double paners" !!

It's a shame that NEC hasn't kept pace with the other manufacturers regarding price. That's the only reason, that I can fathom that is attributing to so little NEC discussion.


How do I check the hours?


thx

bob

Follow the links my friend....

http://www.bruzziforum.com/vbf/showthread.php?t=26

then page through the settings...

I have an 50XR5 and very happy with it. I think this is the best choice I ever made. However, once in a while I notice color banding where the color has slight shades, i.e. mist crawling over blue sky, in anime movies where there is a gradient coloring, sometimes in skin colors. Is this a TV or HDMI thing? I put my money on the limited colors that can be rendered in a pre 1.3 environment.

What say you? I wanted to find out if anyone else has noticed this.

I appreciate your input to this question.

However, once in a while I notice color banding where the color has slight shades, i.e. mist crawling over blue sky, in anime movies where there is a gradient coloring, sometimes in skin colors.

What is the source? DVD, HD broadcast/cable, or SD broadcast/cable?

Banding, especially at low intensities, is a drawback of plasma technology. It's most noticeable on SD sources.

With a properly calibrated TV and good DVD player or HD source it is rare to see it but is still there sometimes.

I have an 50XR5 and very happy with it. I think this is the best choice I ever made. However, once in a while I notice color banding where the color has slight shades, i.e. mist crawling over blue sky, in anime movies where there is a gradient coloring, sometimes in skin colors. Is this a TV or HDMI thing? I put my money on the limited colors that can be rendered in a pre 1.3 environment.

What say you? I wanted to find out if anyone else has noticed this.

I appreciate your input to this question.

Some of the experts here can correct me, but I believe you are referring to "false contouring." I see it myself on occasion, and it is caused by a combination of factors, including source material, calibration, etc.

Calibration can minimize its effects, but if it's in the source then you're stuck with it.

I just want everybody to know that the Home Run Derby looks AMAZING on my NEC 42XR4!

Hope you're all enjoying yours as well.

Ya Know... I ~2400 hours on my 50XR5....and I was telling my friends...how good the baseball looks...and your right .... the Derby looks pretty darned good!...switched to FiOS recently ...made my PQ even better...

I watched Chinatown on HDnet the other day it was Outstanding!!!!

but of course...I am counting done to FOOTBALL! :D