Philips 42PF9630A HD Plasma - Page 53

I have the same setup. I don't get 'snow', what I do get is 1 or 2 seconds of multiple images as in PIP. It's of such short duration it doesn't bother me. There is also a slight delay in audio when changing channels. No bother either, one or two words are unimportant. Maybe I'm more tolerant of TV (not TV shows),after more than 50 years of looking at it.

I get it also with an SA4250HD box anytime there is a different resolution. I have it set on passthrough. It will even show up when going from ESPNHD (720P) to CBSHD (1080i). The same thing happens with another (non-philips) hd tv I have.

I was wondering what wall mounts everyone is using with the 42PF9630A?

I am going to use a Digicom DC-A650 that can be seen here
http://www.digitalmegastore.com/product/?02005&
and
http://www.centraldigital.com/product/?2005&

can't seem to find a list of compatible tvs but I gues its supposed to work with everything and is universal. The online merchant I bought it from was also who I got the tv from and though their site first said they were selling me a Peerless wall mount I then got this one though they did tell me ahead of time and I think they said this was what everyone got with the 42PF9630A so its not a matter of them switching product on me necessarily and they have been accomdating and i can return it but want to make sure it will work and is a good choice for this PDP

As can be seen @
http://common.csnstores.com/common/s...et/pe_pswt.asp
by scrolling down or searching to Philips 42PF9630A the PSWT PH50 is the peerless model wall mount that works with it while thier site originally just said PSWT and i wanted to make sure it was the PH50 but now that I got this Digicom DC-A650 I dont know for sure if it will work and is best.

Also a note of importance is that I am mounting this on a tv stand wall unit with back panel meant for mounting plasmas up to 60". I am worried about the heavy weight of the 42PF630A but figure even being heavy for a 42" it can't be more then even a light 60" so it should hold it but it is just wood with laminate over it which is why i'm thinking of getting a professional install so that they can be responsible if they break it instead of me so i can get a replacement back panel because when i ordered the piece of furniture the back panel came broken and i had to wait for a replacment so i know its breakable.

Regardless it fits perfectly in my bedroom and is a great wall unit with nice component shelves and storage cabinets as well as the great idea of the back panel to mount plasma so you dont have to go into your wall and it easily hides the cords without having to fish those through the wall though i'm worried about drilling the extra hole for cords in the right place and without splitting the wood etc.

Also the wall unit has a cool glass shelf above where you mount the plasma
here is a link to it
http://store.ardinfurniture.com/Deta...ma%20Furniture

I got it in white to match other stuff in room and best reflect the ambilights. I can recommend it so far but will have to see how the mounting goes.

Please let me know what mounts everyone is using and if anyone has used this DigiCom DC-A650 and if you think it will work on the 42PF9630A

Can somebody post a link to the next to last firmware? I upgraded my plasma to the newest version before I found out about the hidden TV Guide and would like to enable it. Also, has anyone tried to enable dual PiP tuner or is it locked at single tuner PiP? The stereo Ambilight II is cool.

Does anyone have an opinion on what the best settings for ACTIVE CONTROL, DNR, and Dynamic contrast are?

So should I assume that the additions of RRT (Region Rating Table) in previous firmwares which can now be turned on in the latest and the deletion of Gemstar TV Guide and addition of EPG which cannot be turned on (yet) means that Philips has opted to abandon Gemstar TV Guide in favor of the PSIP standard???

Also, has anyone figured out how to manually name channels that didn't automatically detect the names yet? That's pretty annoying.

I've had my unit for a week and still haven't seen the Black screen of death (I have the 50" model that went on sale @ CC), but I am not using HDMI...only standard NTSC/M and ATSC and ATSC/HD channels over RF and a progressive DVD player via component. I'm wondering if the BSOD has something to do with all of your cable boxes???

Finally, is there any way to monitor the cable signal strength? In the Scientific Atlanta (now Cisco I guess) Explorer boxes you could go into the service menu and it would tell you the S/N ratio, signal strength in db upstream and down, and current packet decompression error statistics. Does such a menu exist on the Philips? I think my cable signal is weak because a lot of the digital channels are not tuning in and some days some channels work and other days they are just black which to me indicates too weak of a signal to properly decompress the packets. I know my analog channels have a lot of noise in them regardless of which tv I watch them on in my house (and yes, my Plasma gets the first cut and all the other TV's share the 2nd feed).

Does anybody have recommendations for a surge protector that will fit behind a wall-mounted TV?

what is the TV guide exactly and i'm assuming its something you wouldn't need/want if you have a dstb with a guide already.

i've seen ppl mention the stereo ambilights before but never saw it as an option and not sure what it does exactly.

I had the second to newest firmware on my set but I had to exchange that one for a new one because I had major black and green screen problems.

so I do have the second to newest firmware if you can't find it anywhere and still need it.

I was going to just skip to the newest one that came out 4/19/06 or somethign right on my new replacement set which so far doesnt' have any major problems.

Is there any reason why I wouldn't want the newest like how you seem to want to revert back?

where is link to the newest, heh, i'm lazy.

i forgot to mention that my old slightly defective set was an 05 model YA1A05 and my new one is a YA1A06 and seems fine.

I just upgraded to the new firmware on it and looking good.

Hello,

I posted on the main forum page, and probably realized I should've came here instead. I'm new to HDTV and large screen tv's so I was extremely excited to see the circuit city delivery guy drop by with my brand new Philips 50PF9630a.

Upon powering up the tv, I hear a couple clicks, the screen turns greyish and then clicks off. And nothing happens. I haven't gotten anything hooked up yet except my trusty old antenna. I can hear audio from the tv shows that it picks up, but no video. I can change channels, ambilight is on and changes color, and my guess is that it's picking up the signal, but still no video on the screen. I can't even see the menus on the screen to see what settings the tv is set for. It doesn't have the red flashing LED that some have had in this forum with the "black screen" problem.

I could tell that with ambilight, it really could enhance the viewing experience, but with no picture, there isn't a viewing experience...

Anyone seen anything like this? Appreciate any help/direction! Thanks!

Tom

This went away for about a month and now it is back again! It happened last night. Same thing, TV was off for a while and when I turned it on I get green screen on both HDMI inputs (one Cable and one DVD upconverted). When I run my cable thru an extra S-Video cable I see the picture fine. I turn it off and walk away for about an hour and come back and it is working fine....GRRRRRRR

I have the same setup as you and I do get the quick flashing of snow and/or green when switching from SD to HD. It only lasts for a fraction of a second to a full second at most for me and I don't even notice it anymore because I got used to it. Before the September '05 firmware update, the TV would get stuck in a snow/green state and I could only get out of it by powering down the TV and turning it back on or doing the same to my cable box. I figured it was an HDCP handshaking problem.

I wonder if Philips has tweaked something in the new firmware. I used to get the snow/green flashes to but they've disappeared for about a month now.

I was wondering if someone could help with something - I'm trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to need to buy to hook up my current devices.

1) Does the set pass through 5.1 audio from the HDMI inputs on the digital output?

2) Does the set convert analog sound (ie. from the built-in NTSC tuner or a VCR) to digital, or will I also need to hook up analog out to a receiver?

3) Is there any way to combine HDMI video in and analog audio, such as for a PC (the manual only mentions HDMI + separate digital in, but my laptop doesn't offer digital out).

Don't know about 1 or 3 because I don't have any HDMI items, but #2, the digital out will transfer sound to the receiverno matter what is showing, SD, or HD. It woun't be dolby digital or anything, but the standard will transfer without a separate analog hook up.

Yes.


Yes, normal analog inputs are converted into digital.


Not as far as I could figure out. There's a single digital in which can be assigned to any of the inputs, so I ended up buying a usb soundcard with digital out so I could use the hdmi connectors.

Alternatively you could use an rgbhv/vga cable and connect in via analog, the picture won't be quite as crisp but you'll be able to use analog audio.

Thanks for the answers - I plan on hooking things up to an audio receiver for slightly better sound, however I was hoping to get away with a "little" digital receiver and those don't tend to have much in the way of inputs. Passing through all digital and converting analog to digital actually makes things a whole lot easier for me, especially since a few of the models I've been looking at only have two auxiliary inputs (gives me one for everything hooked up to the TV and one direct to the PC). Although I'll probably still go for something a little more versatile.

Continuing the thread on digital audio, I recently tried to connect the TV to my receiver using the digital output but found to my chagrin that the input to the receiver had a different shaped plug than the output from the TV. The TV digital out is circular while the digital audio input on the receiver has a flat side. The latter is the same as the output from my DVD and my STB. So what gives? Am I doing something wrong?

The digital inputs and outputs are just coaxal spdif -- in other words it's an rca connector sending pcm data.

I have my dvd player hooked up through the HDMI connectors and I can get full DTS via the TV's digital out. My only complaint so far is that when the tv guide interface is enabled the tv will occasionally go into a standby mode to download data with the screen and speakers off but the digital out live. It took my by surprise the first few times -- my tv was "off" but the external digital speakers were playing PBS.

As mentioned, you need Coaxial Digital for the TV (basically a standard RCA composite video cable), but your receiver seems to only have Optical Digital (AKA Toslink). What brand/model is it? Coaxial digital is pretty commonplace stuff...

Hi all,

I finally got my 50pf9630a working after several returns from Circuit City and finally got one built in Feb 06 (previous returns gave me September/October 05 build dates). Not on the recall list, no buzzing, ambilight looks better than I thought, and the PQ looks great!!! I love this plasma!

Fiddling around with what this beau is capable of, I come across something I'm not sure works as it should. Does anyone here know if the PIP function only works with HDMI input? I'm trying to get PIP with AV1/2/3's but get a signal not available. Don't have HDMI inputs currently, and was hoping if someone could shed some light.

Thanks!

Tom

I have the 42 inch, and the PIP will work as long as one of the inputs is digital. I don't have HDMI either, put I have the cable plugged directly into the set. If I am on a HD channel, I can view SD from the VCR on an AUX input, but if I am viewing a SD channel on the TV through cable, then PIP won't work on AUX inputs.

I have an HDMI DVD player, and it can do PIP with regular TV. It seems like the PIP can't display 2 inputs of the same type- I can show HD and SD cable, SD cable and HDMI etc, but I can't show 2 SD channels, or SD and the VCR at the same time.

Hope that helps!

I am planning to buy Phillips 42 inch 42PF9630A/37 model. I have no or little idea about the plasma telivision in the market. The reason why I am inclined to get this model is I can get this TV for less than 1900 through my epp. Please someone advise me if this is a good purchase or not as this is going to be a huge investment for my pocket.

The only brand(s) I see consistently ranked higher (though slightly) in various reviews are mainly the Panasonic brand and a couple of Pioneer models. I have the 42PF9630A/37 hooked to a Comcast DCT6412-III cable box via an HDMI cable and have had good luck with it so far over the last couple of months. Most reviews I have seen (both professional and user reviews) rank this TV as a good to very good model. There is a recall by Philips out on the 9630 series, but it affects mainly the 50 inch models. If you do get this TV, be sure to download the latest firmware from the Philips website and flash load it on the TV.

Anybody have any thoughts on this surge receptacle for behind a wall mounted flat panel?

http://www.smarthome.com/865130.html

Just a word of caution. When displaying two screens using the PIP(one on left one on right) a yellow line separates the two images. I know at least one person left it in that mode for a fairly long time and had a real bad case of image retention.

That was me, and I can still see the ghost image of it months later, though it has seemed to fade some.

I'm somewhat more careful about my electronics. I feel that would be insufficient, especially if your electrical service is in any way unstable, at some time it will be.. Mine is pretty clean, yet I sometimes get low or high voltages. My power supply intercepts and corrects it. I'm not about to trust a unit costing 3k to a $39.00 item. I use an APC H-15.

I appreciate your thoughts, but I need something that will fit behind the wall mounted TV. I know there are others in this forum that have wall mounted TV's. I'd appreciate their input on what surge protector they used and with what wall mount. Thanks for any help.