NEC new plasma thread!!! - 42xr4, 50xr5, 61xr4 - Page 21

Hmmmmm

This topic has been floating around the forum without any hits being taken by NEC (AFAIK).

Please do report back on whether you need to introduce audio delay, and whether it is source specific.

TIA

I notice no delay either when viewing SD from my satellite STB or when I viewed a movie on my new Pio 59avi (see post above). The 59avi is connected via HDMI and the STB is connected via s-video. However, even if I had noticed lip synch issues, I would not consider that a "fault" of the plasma, and there are several ways to cure the problem, especially if one owns a recent vintage AVR. Most of them can delay the audio to allow video to catch up.

I'll be very interested in your thoughts. I just got my 50Xr5 and I've had a 59avi for about a year now. I haven't received my wall mount yet so I can't really do much with the plasma yet. I did run it a few minutes from the shipping box bottom with the superbit Fifth Element and I tried, 1080i, 720p and 480i output from the 59avi via HDMI. No tweaking of the picture settings. I was running the in the stadium and 2:35 to 1 modes. I haven't decided if 720p or 480i is better yet. Need more watching time... I did run 720p for a minute without any zoom mode... wow... Wife was floored how good it looked compared to my old rptv that was running the svideo from 59avi at the same time...

/Rob

I am not the an expert like others out here on this forum. But is it really a minus that the NECs don't have built-in tuner since almost every other consumer plasma has one built-in? Also, can I get away with using the tuner that the cable company provides or do I have to invest more $$ for a tuner? A retailer even told me that TVs with built-in tuners have better pictures since you don't have to deal with wires...

What are the pros and cons of having a built-in tuner? Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

Well, I received my 50xr5 today, and managed to get it on the wall. I haven't played with it yet, but I wanted to post a HUGE THANK YOU TO CHRIS at Cleveland Plasma.


This was my first major purchase that was sight unseen and from someone in another state that I couldn't meet in a store, and yet, Chris has managed to make it a great purchasing experience - and one that I would gladly repeat in a heartbeat. Let me tell you all how.

I ordered my plasma about a week and a half ago. It arrived late Tuesday (3 days ago). Unfortunately, there was shipping damage, and the screen was shattered upon delivery. I called Chris, and in less than 20 minutes, another plasma was on its way, and he went the extra mile to expedite the shipping and made sure it got here today! This one arrived with no physical damage

Today, Chris followed up with a phone call to make sure the shipping company had contacted me and delivered my plasma. And spent plenty of time with me as I was contemplating various ways to mount this thing - which went pretty smooth BTW.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this review of Chris! Anyone can sell a plasma; however, when things went wrong, Chris' response was exceptional!!

Thanks Chris!
Marc

Whatr shipping company was used?

As many of you know, words cannot describe the image produced by these NEC panels. I'll try, but first a sincere thanks to Chris at Cleveland Plasma. He is professional, courteous, and informative. Most importantly, he executes. I ordered my 42XR4A last Saturday, and the only thing Chris didn't deliver that I asked for was a Patriots win... All week, Chris kept in touch with me via email and provided tracking information on Wednesday (everyone lost a day to the Monday holiday...) and I was called Thursday to schedule delivery... for Friday between 12-3.

Like a ten year old the night before Christmas, I tossed and turned with visions of tiny pixels dancing in my head. After a quick morning in the office, I sped home wondering what time the "big boy" would arrive. As I pulled up, I wondered no more, for there he was, right at my door! It took me about an hour to set up the stand, position the panel on it and connect cables for a Comcast DVR, LG LDA-511 DVD and Yamaha receiver. If possible, I suggest attaching cables with the panel flat on a soft surface. In particular, the HDMI cables were tough to attach as they are underneath the panel. fyi, I ran digital optical audio from the DVD to the receiver and digital coax from the Comcast box. With all systems go, I turned on the DVR, receiver and panel. Wow. Like Dave, the astronaut in "2001 - A Space Odyssey," I'm sure my face was full of wonder as this amazing image overwhelmed my senses...

When I finally came to, I wanted to test every DVD I owned... I did check out "Batman Begins," "Austin Powers - Goldmember," and "Jaws" when my son came home. All looked very good, but I think the "upconverting" feature of the DVD is somewhat hype. I couldn't tell much difference between 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i... I think I'll be investing in a higher-end DVD like a Denon. Any suggestions? Anyway, HDTV is what really rocks this panel. The INHD channels on Comcast show stunning images made for HD. I felt like I was there as the cameras raced through the canals of Venice and slowly toured the great museums of Europe. I've seen HD on a 42" LG panel and on a 42" Samsung DLP set. To my eyes, they simply do not compare to the 42XR4A. Colors are vibrant and lifelike. Black is black. Resolution is crystal clear. The glass reflection is really not noticable. Even SDTV looks great! That surprised me as I've seen it look less than stellar on the other sets.

All that aside, I got this thing primarily for sports and movies. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback is the lack of HD content available, even with the premium channel feeds Comcast threw in for a free teaser. I mean, ESPNHD was broadcasting a late game and it wasn't in HD! What's up with that? As I headlined, the Celtics game was amazing! It was like I had a seat looking out the window of a luxury box, except there was no window on the box because I could hear every sneaker squeak. I don't think it was the HD, but the young Celtics beat the Nets, 99-96. It was the first game of the season I really paid attention to. The image is that good. Anyway, I'm hopeful HD content will increase rapidly and I can't wait for the NFL conference championships tomorrow.

Until then, it will be last season's "24" on DVD, "Million Dollar Baby" in HD that I recorded last night at midnight, "Son Volt in Concert" that I recorded while watching "Sideways," and finally, shopping for a Harmony remote. Any suggestions for that?

For those of you considering this panel, I'll answer any questions I can... It rocks!

Built in tuner's offer limited advantages. The only real advantage is you lose the box. I have a hard time believing that a cable card device designed in cooperation with the cable industry will actually produce a better picture than a STB/tuner from Sony, Samsung, or LG. 2 way Cablecard is not yet available so DVR/VOD functions will not work anyway and still require a STB. The OTA tuner inside my Panasonic was mediocre and had bad ergonomic design (couldn't manually add channels, channels drop off of list and you have to constantly rescan).

It's like everything else, since the internal tuner's have only been in place for a few generations, they're more immature in their implementation at this point than what you'll get from a nice STB.

.
Great
I have the newest harmony 890. It works great . Large number of functions .I would recommend to check out other touch screen universal remote . Logitech's s screen is small . You will have the TV functions spread in 7 pages. That 's lot of buttons and is annouying at times. It does have infra red remote . You can shut off devices without being physically in the room .
The new XR5 series NEC is not in logitech's database . I have named my TV as XR5.
The channel numbers are at bottom and it is painful to hold and press the cahnnel at the same time . I would also recommend looking at Marantz and phillips remotes as well.
Logitech needs to make the screen size bigger.

It was mach1air. Tis may have been 1 in a thousand cases, and I got the unlucky draw - it happens. I will say that even though both deliveries were "curbside," the drivers helped me carry the box inside and were very patient, helping me open the box and unpack enough to check for damage.

Mine was delivered by mach 1 air . Great service .
This may have been an isolated incidence.

Can somebody PM me with 1) cleveland chris's phone # and 2) the price you paid for this baby? I need to pull the trigger soon. Thanks!

Got my 50xr5 yesterday. I am a first time plasma owner moving up from a 36 inch Panasonic HDTV capable CRT. I am very happy so far with the xr5. Thank you to everyone on the forum for all the great information and reviews. I bought the xr5 without seeing it at a store and I wouldn't have been able to do this without this forum. The panel has first class build quality and is very sophisticated looking. Picture quality is excellent. I am particularly happy with the flexibility of PIP and stretch features. The ability to customize the picture and save multiple settings is also a plus. Also, I am using the built in audio amplifier to drive my infinity bookshelf speakers which saves me the cost of buying a separate amplifier. The amplifier is probably not enough to drive power hungry speakers but is enough in my system.

I want to thank Chris at Cleveland Plasma. The level of customer service could not have been better. He was very patient with me and answered all the questions that I had as a first time plasma buyer. He arranged delivery for me with a shipping company that would help me to bring the set into my apt. The driver actually helped me to unbox the set and put it on the stand. Chris was excellent in communicating the status of the order from start to end. He made sure that I would have the stand (which was sent from a different location) before the plasma was delivered by sending it out 2nd-day delivery. I highly recommend Chris to others on this forum.

If Chris hasn't already contacted you, look at the bottom of this screen - there's a link to his site in the Text Sponsors bar.

While I have a few minute before heading out for the evening, I thought I'd post some links to pictures I promised earlier of the PIP and PBP screenshots I took today. Please ignore the poor quality - as I mentioned in an earlier post, I only have a 2.1 mp digicam. However, for those that were interested in this feature, here you go

PIP VGA on main with HDMI HD in window

PIP component HD on main with HDMI HD in window

Worth noting here: while you can move the PIP window to any of the 4 corners, you cannot resize it. And, yes, it's borderless as someone else mentioned earlier.

Side by Side VGA and HDMI HD

Side by Side component HD and HDMI HD

While I personally never found a lot of use for these features, they do make better use of the NEC's inputs than some of the other panels out there.

Dave

Okay, here's my report back. No problems with delay. I don't know if it is just because I don't notice it, or if the SA8300HD autmatically introduces delay whether you are using the digital or analog audio outputs. But in any case, the audio and video match enough that I don't notice anything. Is there a better test than just lip reading?

Also, PS2 over component has no delay as well. As soon as I hit a button on my controller, the video response is instant. I wish I could get my hands on an xbox360 to test out the HD resolutions... but since the NEC does such a good job at displaying SD, I'm just fine until the PS3 comes out!

There aren't a whole lot of NEC "in home" pictures, so I thought I'd share mine. It's incomplete (cabinet underneath still shipping), but should give you a good idea of what a 50XR5 looks like flat mounted on the wall. Sheesh, my polk satellites sure look puny.

That' s neat.

Does anyone think it will be worth it to get this thing professionally calibrated? Also does anyone have any good out of box tested settings they can give me for an immediate good picture?

Thanks so much I am counting the days till mine arrives and hopefully screens will be on the way.

Yeah, let's get some more pics on here to pull some people off the fences and get those triggers pulled!!

Here's my setup from the couch viewing position (click for larger version):





From the kitchen with the Chief mount extended 3 feet:





Extend from the side (cable management needs a little work). This mount fricken rocks:





Here's my RTI T3 remote, which puts everything into perspective (and all those remotes in the drawer):



Enjoy!!


Aaron

cpcat, posted a couple of settings awhile back too, but out of the box they're really not too bad. I would just bump the contrast and brightness down a bit, switch it to theatre 1 (a little darker) and make sure to ramp the sharpness down really low. I am not really sure why they have it so high from the factory but the sharpness introduced many unwanted artifacts in my opinion. I have mine set at around 3 or 4 (16 is default I think).

If you start messing with the bias and gain colors under the color temp setting you can tweak the pic a little more too.

good luck and post some pics when you can

Sweet!!
That 's an expensive but great remote .
Did you try others as well.
I like the thick hand buttons and a large LCD.

I didn't try any others. I horse-traded for this one. I've wanted it ever since I saw it at CEDIA...

You're right, the buttons on the T3 are excellent, and the touchscreen is just the right size. One other positive is the software that you can use to really personalize the interface.

Thanks for the compliment

I've experimented quite a bit with this. Use AVIA or THX optimizer to set brightness/contrast. Hue at the defailt setting seems to be about correct.
Theater 1 or Normal pic modes both seem good. I agree with turning sharpness all the way down if you are using HDMI/DVI. I use an external scaler and my contrast/bightness will be different than yours, but right now here are my other setttings:

Pic mode normal
Temperature settings
*RG 30
*GG 32
*BG 29
*BR 50
*BG 49
*BB 54
Gamma 2.2
Low tone auto
Pedestal 0

I set my color saturation through the scaler. It seems to look the best to me slightly undersaturated if you go by the AVIA blue color bars.

Look at the vertical and horizontal grey ramps on AVIA and the temp settings above should provide smoother ramps. The best default temperature mode seems to be middle low if you want a quick and dirty setup.

As an aside, I'm typing this with a wireless keyboard and looking at my pdp as I type. It's a nice picture for surfing the forum as well.

Is there any overscan with the nec 50xr5 and if there is how can we correct it?

There's not much overscan. It's around 2 percent as I remember for various sources, but you can adjust as necessary through the image size/position controls.

The PIP & side-by-side are actually adjustable/resizeable, although the manual is pretty confusing at describing the specifics.

Once you turn on PIP, pressing "down" on the position control will cycle through the different sizes of the PIP window, up to several sizes larger than those in Dave's useful pictures. Pressing L/R will move the PIP window to other corners.

When side-by-side mode is in use, pushing the position control buttons will expand the selected window vertically or horizontally, so you aren't locked in to 2 windows exactly the same size.

Is anyone in the Southeastern Michigan area able to show me their NEC 50XR5 in action? I'd like to see it in person if possible, if only for a few minutes.

Thanks

Thanks for the report motley. This thing keeps lookin better 'n better!

This is really strange, but I've noticed the same thing. I haven't made any picture setting changes since the first day, but it really does seem like the picture has a slightly better PQ now than it did when I first got it. It hasn't even been a week, but I've been leaving the white screen on when I'm sleeping.

Is this for real, or just an illusion?

I think I'm close to the 100 hour mark. I think cpcat mentioned you can view the number of hours the panel has been on from the service menu..... need to look into that.

Wow just got my nec 50xr5 with stand and all I can say is wow. The colors are so bright. If anyone can tell me how to post some pics I will for everyone.