Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 125

I have the sony SXRD 55" rear projection..

I beleive it has be said that the YUV 4:4:4(think that is what it is called) is the best option to send to the t.v.

Now, for setting up colours (using a spydertvpro), does one hook up the dvd player to the T.V. direct then do the process, then after check brightness, contrast thru D2 from sources??

or

Is it better to run the process thru the D2 (running at 1080i from oppo dvd player) ??

The whole RGB / YUV setting thing is a litte confusing.. What should one use in source dvd player (if upconverting to 1080i), and one use for output of scaler??

Thanx all

You can't do that with your CD input, but you CAN do that with your 6-chan input!

Go to Setup / Source Setup and select the 6-chan input. Set up as follows:

SCALER INPUT = Component
COMPONENT VIDEO IN = whichever Component video input you are using
AUDIO IN = whichever optical digital audio input you are using
AUTO DIG = YES

If the optical input has a signal, then the digital audio from the optical input will be processed and played.

If the optical input has no signal, then the 6-chan analog audio will be processed and played. Note that Analog-DSP mode will be used rather than Analog-Dir. You have no choice in this when doing AUTO DIG switching.

To get this to work, of course, you will need to shut off the optical digital signal from your media server when you want to listen to SACDs. Of course you can do that by powering off the media server, but muting it should be sufficient.

The AUTO DIG function is in there because some cable TV boxes only output digital audio for some channels. For others they output only analog audio. But it can also be used for the type of thing you are trying to do.
--Bob

It is best to calibrate your TV using the test charts generated by the Anthem itself (in the Video Source Adjust menu).

If your Spydertvpro product has a sensing mode independent of its own test charts just use that to measure the gray scale and color bar patterns the Anthem will generate. These test patterns are independent of any source device. Make adjustments using your TV's level controls: Brightness for black levels, Contrast for white levels, Color and Tint for color levels, and Sharpness for vertical edge enhancement levels.

Your Spyder product may also offer a way to measure the "color temperature" of white. If so, you can select the color temperature setting in your TV which is closest to 6500K (SMPTE Standard).

When done, your TV's levels are now properly set for the video that the Anthem generates. It is the Anthem's job to convert each and every one of your video sources to that same output signal you just measured.

Now run your test DVD through the D2 to the TV and measure again. The DVD player should be setup they way you would normally use it to play DVDs through the D2. For example, the Oppo player should be set to send HDMI 480i to the D2. Any adjustments that need to be made at this point according to this second set of measurements should *NOT* be made by changing the TV's level controls. They are already "perfect".

Instead make adjustments using the ANTHEM'S level controls. The Anthem provides controls for each input in the Video Source Adjust menu when that input is selected. Once you have done that, this input is calibrated for playing standard DVDs.

The "best" Anthem video input levels may vary a bit for your other input sources. However the Anthem output levels will always match what you have set in your TV during the first stage above, so your TV's controls should stay the same for all inputs.


That said, some people find it convenient to set up two different sets of levels in their TV -- one for critical viewing in a dimly lit room, and another for casual viewing in a more brightly lit room.

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You can set YCbCr 4:4:4 data format, and HDTV color space, in the Anthem's Setup / Video Output menu. These would be quite normal as default settings for HDMI connection to a modern HDTV.

I wrote some detailed posts on YCbCr and RGB just a few pages back in this thread if you need more background on them.
--Bob

I'm glad to hear that you are finding a noticeable difference, but with mine I have not noticed any. On DVD's, the picture is fantastic. I don't know if it is significanly better using the Anthem either though. Where is this stretch mode you are referring to? I recall a zoom feature, but is it something new with 1.11b? Perhaps I don't have it yet since I couldn't get a complete install.

Thanx Bob..

Awesome advice..

I beleive with the spydertvpro, you have to use their test patterns (supplied on dvd)..

If this is the case, would you then just connect dvd player to tv direct, do the process, and repeat with Anthem??

Thanx again,

Yes, I thought of this while I was lying in my bed last night. I had a feeling I needed to switch over to the 6-Ch input.

Thanks for the confirmation!!

There's not much value in doing this with the DVD connected directly to the TV because there's no reason to presume the signal coming from the DVD player will match that coming from the Anthem. So setting your TV's levels for the DVD's signal doesn't really help.

If there is no way to use the Spyder product with the Anthem's own test charts, then you should do the Anthem output side of the calibration MANUALLY. Afterwards, you can do the Anthem input side of the calibration using the Spyder and with the test DVD played through the Anthem.

Here's a post I made earlier in this thread which details one way to do the calibration manually for the output side of the Anthem's video:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3&#post9277613

However, if you look carefully, I think it likely you will find a way to use much, if not all of the Spyder features using the test charts generated by the Anthem.

For example, look at what the test DVD puts on screen during that process and find which Anthem charts have the same sort of gray scale or color ranges. The sensor won't actually know whether the DVD is playing, as it just sees the image on the screen. You will likely need to manually move the sensor to point at the correct portion of each Anthem chart.
--Bob

I just recieved an e-mail from nick addressing this issue, included is the latest firmware 1.11c.

Hi,

Beta software attached.

v1.11b that was sent on 16 Jan didn't fix all 1080i problems, particularly
1080i via component from Hughes boxes (DirecTV). Thanks to everyone who
provided feedback on this. To our knowledge, v1.11c fixes the remaining
1080i issues, but if not please let us know the model number of the source.

Other change in v1.11c:
When surfing from 480i to 1080i channel, there should be less picture loss
(where it had been occurring), however, this issue is ongoing.

Best Regards,
Nick P., Technical Support

Just loaded 1.11c and still came back with message saying cannot connect to new OKI boot loader in external flash. This is the same message I got when loading 1.11b. I'm not sure what this means, but we will continue to try.

All...what suggestions do you have for someone trying to use 2 displays in the same room using the AVM 50 or D2?

I am contemplating installing an overhead in addition to the TV and have all running throught the AVM 50. Any ideas of how best to achieve this making the use of it as simple as possible.

I was considering running component to the TV (as it can only display 1080i or 720p native) and running HDMI to a projector thereby utilizing both video out sources. Anyhow, just looking for suggestions....Thanks! - David

When contacting tech support regarding HDMI connection problems, please keep the observation to premature conclusion ratio high and we'll walk through the rest efficiently.

Finding the causes of never-seen-before problems often requires tools such as a data analyzer and knowledge of specs that would fill a big-city phone book.

To illustrate, some problems that weren't Anthem's fault, contrary to initial user impressions:

- source freezes when preamp ID has more video formats than source can count

- source doesn't connect unless it gets ID info in the order it wants

- HTPC refuses to put out unless ID from preamp says it prefers a progressive format (note that there are more variations of HTPC than easily counted)

- well-known now: cable/sat boxes that only connect to displays

- well-known but not well enough: connecting source straight to display and seeing an image only shows that the cable can carry the video format and resolution coming from that source (not necessarily the video plus audio, nor higher video formats)

To reach tech support, click on the tech support page at anthemav dot com.

Thank you for your time.

Nick... all I can say is THANKS

Thanks for indicating some better ways to get user feedback to you, important to keep revisions rolling forward. No switching video drop outs yet for me, which was the last major issue I had (the switching and loosing HDMI audio being fixed).

Any "hints" at greater than 5 Channel PCM cap[ability or does the architecture limit to 5 "channels" of audio data???

I would still argue for stability before new features, but it would be good to get your Anthem zealots (me included) some nuggets

This was a major fix for me.

What is the best way to connect a PS3 to ones projector?

As the PS3 is outputting a 1080p signal via HDMI should this go direct to projector in order to avoid any transient delay in gaming induced by the Anthems pass-thru. Or is there no appreciable delays caused by the AnthemD2 when passing the video component of the HDMI signal to the projector making this the prefered pathway?

The soon to be relesaed JVC HD1 has 2 HDMI inputs, and allows me to perseverate whether I should have one dedicated to the D2 with the other going from the PS3 direct. I would probably prefer a sigle cable but would do what is best.

Sorry if this has been covered before (I can't find it). Thanks.

perseverate - psychology: repeat a response after the cessation of the original stimulus; "The subjects in this study perseverated"

Cool.

I'm not a gamer & went through the Anthem and it was fine for movies. Blue Tooth for the remote and rigging a PS2 transceiver was a hassle and ultimately I brought it back and got the Pio...BUT I'm not a gamer ...

Also you MAY want to go through the ANTHEM to peel off the higher def audio using 5.1 PCM (even though the PS3 outputs up to 7.1 PCM and you have to shut off the extra channels in the PS3

Bottom line is the PS3 puts out a great picture for films and movies, and even though passed through video wise, you do have some advantages going through the ANTHEM (eg switch centrally vs introducing switching at the Set, but that may be easier for you.

I'd be surprised if you can detect a delay here.

The one spec we have is that the video processing that takes place inside the Anthem adds less than 1 frame of video delay (compared to audio).
--Bob

I received version 1.11c today from Anthem and loaded it. It seems to have resolved all of my 1080i issues. However, occasionally still, when surfing from channel to channel and switching from 480i to 1080i and so on - I still sometimes get the dreaded blue screen. After this, I have to re-start the Anthem, or switch video inputs - and then switch back to the cable box and the picture reappears.

If this is fixed by merely switching inputs and back then odds are you can eliminate it by upgrading and/or shortening the HDMI cable from your set top box to the Anthem.

If it requires an Anthem power cycle to fix that is a known problem that Anthem is still working on.

Both problems are caused by the set top box doing the wrong thing, but it is more likely to do the wrong thing if the cable is not "perfect".
--Bob

I also installed 1.11c and had mixed results. If my H10 is set to native output it no longer scrambles the signal to my Oppo 970 or Toshiba XA1 at 1080i and they display fine. However the signal for all channels on my tv will not display until I switch H10 back to 720p. Nick is aware of thisand they are working on it. Can't say enough good things about their response and help.

Dick

Things are definitely moving in the right direction and I am appreciative of their response as well. I love the product and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone even in light of these issues which I am 100% confident will be overcome.

Do you have Directv or cable. I think most of the problem is with sat set top boxes from what I have heard. Not reallyy an Anthem problem but they are the ones taking the initative to fix it. I also would buy another one or recommend to anyone.

Dick

Cable...a Motorola 6412 DVR I believe.

Bob: Great tips as usual. However, the situation you describe, above, has always been confusing. All displays and STBs will stretch 4:3 formatted programs when being broadcast in 480i/480p (SDTV channels). I think this is the situation you are describing. Your tips are great under those circumstances.

I've always found that watching 4:3 programming OTA on an HD (720p/1080i) channel offers better PQ and SQ than watching it on a digital only (480i) channel. For me, the problem has always been that very few STBs will allow stretching of 4:3 programming being broadcast over an HD channel (OTA or otherwise). The side black/grey bars are broadcast with the 4:3 programming.

The D* Sony HD200 allows you to *force* a 4:3 formatted program being broadcast on a 720p/1080i channel down to 480p. The program can then be nicely stretched, from the sides, to fill the 16:9 screen. The HD 300 allows this without down-rezzing the output resolution. Although an anamorphically perfect stretch is not possible, the Sony does an excellent job. I greatly perfer this to the side bars. I still watch a lot of 4:3 programming over HD channels.

Will the D2 stretch a 4:3 formatted program from a source, such as the D* HR20, which does *not* allow stretching of 4:3 material being broadcast over an HD channel? If so how? Thanks.

The short answer is yes! I'll tell you how in a moment (grin!). But here's a hint: It doesn't involve forcing downscaling to 480i or 480p!

First understand that the issue of who does the pillar box bar generation *ONLY* matters if the resolution is still 480i or 480p. If the SDTV has already been scaled up to 720p or 1080i there are plenty of extra pixels per line already. So using some on either side as pillar box bars still leaves enough in the center of each line to carry the entire original information content of the SDTV image embedded in that 16:9 frame.

So for example if you decide you want to use a scaling standard DVD player set to 720p or 1080i output (not recommended, of course since the Anthem scaler is so good) then it is just fine to let the player do pillar box bar generation when watching a 4:3 content disc (as for example a DVD of a TV show).

Similarly if you decide for whatever reason that you want to watch SDTV from your HDTV cable or satellite box with that box doing the scaling to 720p or 1080i (DEFINITELY not recommended since the scalers in these boxes are awful) then it also does no harm to let the set top box generate pillar box bars.

But if the SDTV signal is coming in to the Anthem at 480i or 480p, you do NOT want the source device to generate pillar box bars. Let the Anthem do it using the Scale Out option because, again, that happens AFTER the image has been scaled up.

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What I'm leading to here is that there is no problem when an HD station sends you a 1080i or 720p 4:3 program which is pillar boxed. The pillar box bars are added AFTER the image has been scaled up to 720p or 1080i.

And generally the reason it looks better is that their HD transmission is technically cleaner than their SD transmission. OTA SDTV is damaged by the way the signal is modulated into TV transmission frequencies and then demodulated in the TV tuner. And SDTV via cable or satellite is often either over-compressed or damaged in other ways in the video chain from the station to your TV. It could be as simple as the quality of the video tape they are playing or the player they are using.

[DirecTV is a major offender here -- dramatically over-compressing many of its SDTV channels.]

One of the more subtle improvements is that the HD "color space" is richer than the SD "color space".

So yes, watching SDTV on HDTV channels can lead to good results. Although if you are seeing DRAMATICALLY better results that indicates the corresponding SDTV channels have problems.

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OK back to your question.

The trick is to set the Anthem's Crop Input setting to 4:3 in the Video Source Adjust menu! There is also a shortcut to this available under the Mode key on the remote.

Having done that, the 4:3 image embedded in the 16:9 HDTV frame is extracted (by cropping the sides) just as if 4:3 content had been sent to the Anthem in the first place.

And having done THAT, you can now set the Anthem's Scale Out to Anamorphic and the image will be uniformly stretched to fill the 16:9 screen!

Or you could set the Anthem's Scale Out to Panoramic to get the non-uniform stretch that also (almost) fills the screen but leaves the center of the image less distorted because the stretching is non-uniform.

But wait there's more! You could set the Anthem's Scale Out to Letter/Pillar Box and get a 4:3 image embedded in a pillar boxed 16:9 frame! Urh why would you want to do that, you ask? Isn't that what you started with?

Yes, except THESE pillar box bars are generated by the Anthem instead of by the source station -- which means you get to contol their color! Cool, eh?

Next, as an excercise for the reader: Try experimenting with the combination of Crop Input / Edges On as part of this. There are some useful tricks here for cleaning up the edges of noisy 4:3 content embedded this way.

Your Anthem Video Source Adjust options! Collect them all!
--Bob

Now if we could get some one or two button pushes to execute some of the defaults, e.g.,

1) SD letterbox (not anamorphic) to 16x9 fill (as much as possible w/o losing content or marginal on sides.
2) SD Pillarboxed per above.

Then I would actually use the true capabilities, understanding garbage in = better processed garbage out.

I actually do (1) rather a lot since my cable service happens to have some good quality SDTV feeds that show wide screen movies embedded in the 4:3 SDTV frame.

(1) is achieved by setting Crop Input = 16:9. Scale Out can be left at whatever you like -- I usually leave it at Letter/Pillar Box.

The wide screen movie embedded in the 4:3 SDTV frame will be extracted as a 16:9 frame that is scaled to fill the screen from left to right. Top to bottom may or may not be filled depending upon whether the movie is actually wide screen or wider than wide screen. There is no distortion in this -- original aspect ratio of the film is preserved.

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Crop Input has a short cut under the Mode key. Hold the Mode key for a few seconds and it will switch to the Scale Out short cut. View you current Scale Out setting and modify it using the up or down arrows. Release the Mode key, pause briefly, and press and release the Mode key once again and this will change to the Crop Input short cut. View your current Crop Input setting and modify it using the up or down arrows.
--Bob

After loading 1.11c, I lost the video to the display altogether. I tried shutting everything off and back on and still no display. Also tried switching video out preferred to component and still nothing. Sometimes when I shut off and on, video to display will work and other times I only get black screen. I've ended up going back to 1.11b and all is working fine again.

I've notified Nick and hopefully they come up with a solution for this new issue.

Did you actually get a V1.11c install to work without any error messages such as the OKI message? That is, is your loss of video the result of a V1.11c that appeared to install properly? Or did this install also produce errors.

I'm trying to get a handle on whether your problem is more of an install problem or of a failure even after the install seemed to work correctly.
--Bob

Bob:

Still getting the "cannot connect to OKI" with 1.11b and 1.11c, but only the loss of video with 1.11c. So, with both of these I am not getting complete install, however, with 1.11b, I don't notice any significant issues so far which is why I reinstalled it.

Bob,
Your the best. I could have came out and asked about how to do the mode, but I knew your answer would be so complete, I didn't have to show how little I know
Thanks!
Tim