which resolution for my pana px80

1024x768.

Always go with the native resolutions.

That set like many older plasmas uses rectangular pixels to get a 16:9 picture from a 4:3 resolution. If you want a crystal clear desktop you need to feed it a 1024x768 signal. It probably doesn't accept anything but 1280x720 or 1920x1080 over HDMI and both of these will be scaled to 1024x768 by the TV. I have 2 of these older plasmas and I get the best picture using VGA at 1024x768. HDMI @ 1280x720 is pretty good for video and gaming, but the desktop text is a bit blurred because of scaling. Give vga a try.


BB

in fact, you are NOT always best served by outputting the "native resolution" when running a panny plasma tv with a htpc.

the reason is that the tv incorporates overscan, which will render the edges of your image outside the viewable area on the screen.

every tv is alittle different. my experience (with 2 panny plasma's) is that you should abandon any hope of getting 1:1 pixel matching between your htpc, and your plasma. forget about native resolution. what you want is the best viewable image.

get the latest catalyst drivers for your vid card, and find the section that allows you to set up custom resolution..this area lets you increase and decrease the image displayed on your screen, and generate a custom resolution for you...pick the resolution that gives you the most pleasing image in windows, that does not cut off the edges. it may turn out to be some completely wacky resolution (like 1248X700 on a 720P panny plasma).

use the catalyst control center to generate a custom resolution for you that gives you the best image...what ever that resolution is.

That set has a VGA input that will accept 1024x768 and will give 1:1 pixel mapping = crystal clear desktop. If you insist on using HDMI, you can't get 1:1 mapping but you can get a pretty good image with CCC 8.9 or > by adjusting the overscan to zero and letting the TV scale the image. Also, I believe that if you are doing BR, you will have to use HDMI because VGA doesn't support 1080p.

FWIW,I have the exact same video card and have it hooked up to my 1024x768 plasma by both VGA and HDMI. Both are good, I really can't see that one is better than the other for video but for desktop text, VGA is far superior. So I use VGA for everything.

YMMV, but give VGA a try and let us know how it works for you.

BB

Listen to BB on this one - if you'd run any kind of search at all about this issue you'd see his name all over the posts. I've got an older plasma as well and can speak from long experience that he is correct.
Just run the vga at 1024x768 and leave it at that