Official Pioneer PRO-1540HD/1140HD/940HD Owner's thread/merged thread - Page 93

What is an Pioneer PRO-1140 worth on the used market? Mint condition, low hours, no dead or stuck pixels.

I would venture to say less than $1000, based on where the technology has gone and the way prices have dropped just since the set was discontinued.

Not to mention that Pio has gotten out of the business. I'd say it would take a real Pio devotee to even be interested in it at this point. Warranty ?

After buying a 50" Kuro I did some rearranging of TVs and now I find myself in need of a 60". I regret not buying the 60 when I bought the 50. Now, if buy a 60, I simply have no place for the extra 50" 1140, so I'd sell it in a second if I could get 1000. Paid close to 4000 with tax and that was after a big price drop and 10% off coupon. I think I am realistically looking at 800 or so for a picked up price or nearly 1000 with shipping included.

Keep in mind that the 1140 is NOT a Kuro.
Still no mantion of a warranty and that will make a big difference in the price.

I have a dead 1140, whacked by a Wii Remote, which I used to love. 8 hrs later I had a new Pro111 on the wall, but I would really like to find a nice used 1140 to replace the old one and put that in the basement.
Bottom line, fanboi tho I am, I wouldn't pay more than $750 for a used 1140. Maybe if it had an extended warranty package, I could see $900. And to be honest, this is partially because, as a basement TV upgrade, the kids won't know the difference between the PQ of the 1140 and a mid-range LCD.
My 2 cents

I don't have an extended warranty. It came with 2 years and AMEX added another year so I have til March next year. I've had it since MAR/2007, NOV/2006 build date, and to this day, the panel has never given me any problems. Out of 3 plasmas i've owned, the 1140 is the only one with no dead or stuck pixels.

I finally got around to to getting a blu-ray playerand converted to DISH network which downloads 1080p/24fps movies to the DVR.

My problem is trying to decipher the Pioneer manual with regard to the "PURE CINEMA" settings.. which do you use to watch Blu Ray 1080/24??? The paragraph seems contradictory....any suggestions????

thanks

As far as I know, the 1140 only accepts a 1080/24p signal, but being a 768p set, it downconverts to 768. Still looks best at that setting. My BD player always sends 1080/24p if available. I always set PureCinema to ADV to take advantage of the 24p. I get the best results that way.

Anybody know if the 1140 sets can use an M-card cablecard? I am about to order one for my set, but I hear Verizon Fios only has M-Cards. I think this set can only accept an S-card. I used to have an S-card in it with Comcast. I scoured the manual and it doesn't say anything about weather it can use either or M/S-Cards.

When I lived in NY, I had Fios....its fantastic!!! I used their M card with fine results... but understand you forgo duplexing channel control...its not interactive.... and they won't let you install it yourself.... they send out quasi techs.. Who in my view don't really understand it....If your set has been ISF"d aligned... Don't let these folks get into your master menu and screw things up....

Thanks Gino wine.
Good to know that the M-card works with this TV. Of course since the TV only has a single tuner on ANT-A, you can only see 1 channel at a time. Too bad you couldn't do PIP with the M-card or even use an OTA broadcast signal. I have my 1140 hardwired to an antenna outdoors, getting a kicka$$ signal on all the Boston locals and even getting most of the Providence R.I. channels.

The thing that I am shocked at is that the TV guide is working really well OTA. I fully expected that to go away after the analog shutdown. I wonder if it will work at all if I convert to Fios Cablecard.

Anybody know if the guide works with Fios cablecard, post analog?

1140HD:

I tried updating the firmware last night from "1.0.121" to "1.0.126" and after some time writing the screen went blank and started s series of blinking blue lights. I turned the panel off and on again, but after 6 minutes the panel would turn off itself and it will blink 14 times, pause for a second or so and blinking (14x) set again.

The Home Media Gallery Option is now disabled and I cannot retry the firmware update again. I followed the factory reset instructions but the menu to select yes in step #4 is not working, its not letting me change the final setup option to Yes or No.

Any help is much appreciated.

Hi,

a couple of years back I came across some side mounted surround speakers to replace the factory installed ones on my pro-1140. As I have very limited space, I need to have the speakers mounted on the TV and I was hoping to get the surround experience by replacing the two speakers. I remember you could buy the speakers and then you could match the grills to your tv so the tv and speakers looked as one (as it is with the factory speakers).

I don't remember the brand and I can not find anything similar doing google search.

Can someone help?

I am taking my 1140 off a wall mount, and in order to put it on a cabinet, I need a stand. I can get a PDK-TS23 Pioneer stand, which is compatible with the KRP-500M plasma.

Does anyone know for sure whether that stand will be OK for my 1140?

Thanks in advance,

Ron

Hi, this is my first post here on the forums, and I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most of you, so be kind

My problem is this - I can't seem to get audio from my 42" Pioneer Pro940HD plasma to my old Yamaha RX-V496 receiver using a toslink digital optical audio cable while using sources connected via HDMI.

What's confusing is I DO get audio to the receiver when using my Roku, which is connected (at the moment) to the plasma via component cables, but I DO NOT get audio to the receiver when watching comcast digital cable or DVD player (both connected via HDMI). Audio is fine from the plasma's speakers while watching cable or DVD, but the audio signal does NOT make it from plasma to receiver via the optical cable (yet it does for Roku?).

So why does 940HD audio flow through the optical digital cable to receiver for my Roku - but NOT my DVD/cable sources? The optical cable clearly is working, and I had hoped that would be my digital audio bridge from the plasma to receiver for all input sources (as I used to connect audio using old RCA connectors and that left a delay). So is there some reason the 940HD will not relay audio to my receiver via optical cable from sources connected via HDMI?

And no, I can't connect my cable/DVD directly to receiver because my old Yamaha does not have HDMI inputs, and I am just powering a pair of speakers and a subwoofer and really didn't think I needed a sophisticated receiver.

Sorry this is so wordy and thanks for your help!

Jim

Have you tried playing with the audio settings of your other sources? You might try telling them to only output Stereo audio if that's an option.

There may be some DRM reason the Pioneer won't pass along the audio.

Thanks for your thoughts...may I ask what DRM stands for?

DRM = digital rights management ... or copy protection.

I sent D-Nice a PM, but I am posting here in the hope that he will see one or the other. My 1140 is still a fantastic display IMHO. When I got the set, I had Comcast service, and using D-Nice's settings with the Comcast box produced a superb picture. Recently, after cursing Comcast's rotten customer service for years, I had AT&T U-Verse installed. Functionally, the new service leaves Comcast in the dust. Internet, phones, wireless network, DVR, everything works great. Unfortunately, the TV picture seems not as good as the Comcast Motorola box, which is a surprise, as I thought U-Verse was supposed to have much greater bandwidth, etc.

I have the Cisco DVR box, running into the HDMI input on the 1140. I am hoping D-Nice or someone can give me new recommended settings. I don't want to muck around with it unless I have recommended settings from someone who knows what they are doing. I apologize if this has already been posted, but I was unable to find it. Thanks!

Jim Thomas

When I lived in the New York, I had Cablevision/Optonline for TV service and I suffered their crummy broadcast lack of quality for too many years. when Verizon FIOS came onto Long Island, I was right there with open arms. Not only did my picture quality improve by quantum leaps on both my 1140hd , and my Pannie 50x600U, but my internet service speed went through the roof! I was finally able to watch streaming programming without slowing down the other computers in the home. It was nirvana!

WE moved to Colorado about 7 months ago and my first mistake was putting in COMCAST TV followed by internet. Their signal stunk worst than Optonline!!! the best they could tell me," this is not New York". After "interveiwing" both Direct TV and Dish Network and matching prices. I dumped Comcast and brought in DISH Network.....Oh my god! If you think, Verizon FIOS signal is great.... DISH goes 2 steps further with 1080P signal on most movies! Their HD DVR (722k)holds 55hrs of HD recording and 350 sd hours!

Their customer service has been great, knowledgeable,courteous and freidndly, Not like those slugs at Cablevision. Best of all, I got the top tier of service on 4 TV's, 3 of which are HD...2 HD DVRS, 150+ HD channels, 300 channels, XM & Sirius radio, overall all for under $90 per month!

As I don't have a choice for internet, I remain with Comcast. Things are getting better with them , they now offer speeds up to 20meg down and 7 meg up, but they are pricy compared to Optonline & Verizon. Verizon is on the Horizon and Google is looking to test the GIGABIT service in a test market out here.

Direct TV were nasty ( Like Optonline) would'nt do business without a 2 year contract. As I come to find out, the are among the worst folks to do business with..forget the B>S> they tell you in their commercials... the downright defraud their customers.... the radio talk shows out here are filled with complains about them.

Sos, all in all... I am a satisfied dude for now

D-Nice's settings for the Moto boxes were a very good start. I used them and they served me well. But, there are so many variables with STB/DVR's that it is really painting with broad strokes.

I highly suspect that the PQ problems you are experiencing will NOT be improved with a "settings adjustment". Rather, they are most probably due to either the quality of picture that is being delivered by U-Verse and/or your STB/DVR.

The first may or may not be correctable by AT&T. You could have a bad connection somewhere, or the feed to your house is bad. It is also quite possible that you have a bad STB/DVR. They are notoriously infamous for "less than stellar" performance. With FIOS, it took me 3 DVR's to get one that was right.

Making adjustments to brightness/contrast/color/etc to an inherently bad picture will most likely not help. Plus or minus a few MINOR tweaks to these settings may make some changes that will work better with your current set up, but even major changes will not fix bad PQ from your provider.

Since you didn't really say what exactly was worse than Comcast, it's hard to speculate. My first suggestion would be to contact AT&T and get someone back out there to check things out with your line and equipment. Make sure they bring another STB/DVR!!!

Once you get to the bottom of that, you could always record the calibration patterns that are broadcast on HDNET (check your guide for when) and use them to dial in your display. This is no substitute for a calibration, but at least you'll be using your gear and your eyes to dial in what looks right (and measures correctly).

Good luck!

I may have made things sound worse than they are. The picture is not dramatically worse, but just noticeable. First, it seems slightly too red and slightly too saturated. This should be fixable with a slight tweak. Second, it seems ever so slightly softer or less crisp. Not huge, but just a little. This is what I am most concerned with, as it is the exact opposite of what I expected when switching to U-verse, since I thought it had higher bandwidth. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. The test pattern is a great idea for the color, as I was not aware of that. Thanks!

That sounds like just a STB thing... I'd still try another box. Also, see if there are settings in the box that are not correct - RGB mode, color space, etc. Search these forums for a thread on your STB and see what people are saying there.

If not, then color is really tough to adjust properly. Make small changes to the "COLOR" control. Don't mess with the individual controls, unless you have to. That should calm down the saturation. You can also make small adjustments to the sharpness control (don't overdo this one, either) to "season to taste". The HDNET patterns are especially good for this adjustment, since you can easily see where you are.

Bandwidth shouldn't affect these things. What you'd most likely see with bandwidth issues are things like macroblocking and stuttering.

Good suggestions; thanks. Comcast often had issues with stuttering when their signal strength was low. When the signal was up to par, however, I am forced to admit that the picture looked very good. The wife is going to happily return the Comcast boxes today. She hates them even worse than I do. Cheers.

I think you got U-Verse mixed up with FiOS U-Verse sucks. The only thing I can recommend is that you play with the noise reduction settings to see if you can clean up the image.

Oops. My bad. I assumed that since U-verse ran over fiber, it would have to be superior to cable. I guess I should have done more research. Once again, the image is not bad per se, just very slightly softer than Comcast, with a slight reddish cast. Will the red be fairly easy to take out using the HDnet test patter someone recommended?

At any rate, thanks for your past settings. They have produced a superb picture on my 1140, which I am in no hurry to replace.

Totally agree. I had Comcast for less then a month and nothing worked. Their customer service was the worst i have ever seen, from the day I signed up to the time I canceled the service. To make matters worse, they didn't cancel my bill correctly and I started getting letters from collections agencies saying I was not paying my bills! What a nightmare. My advice to anyone is to STAY AWAY FROM COMCAST. Nothing is worth having to deal with them, not even a cheaper price. I am now a happy Dish Network customer. Their DVR is so much better it's no even funny. I did have to sign for a 2 year contract, but 2 years of great service is much better than 1 month with Comcast!

Its coincidental that you bring up the 2 year contract issue. among the many reasons I chose NOT to go with DIRECT TV was their insistence that a 2 year contract was required to cover the cost of the basic installation. However, after further discussion I came to find out they still charged nearly $150 more if you required more than one TV!!! Go figure.

In discussions with DISH, they were more than willing to forgo the 2 year contract as long as I paid for installation ($99.00), which was a no brainer.

They did miss installing SHOWTIME, which I originally ordered and when I pressed them, the gave it to me for free for one year! The next 7 months has been great (putting aside snow storms which play havoc on the signal ("sometimes"). Small price to pay for this great picture quality.

I took the plunge and ordered a 2nd HD-DVR for the bedroom, as my wife enjoys using the DVR feature for watching "her" favorites.

During my negotiations from the entry level to eventually reaching a supervisor, as they wouldn't allow me to get another DVR without signing a 2 year contract.
We came to an agreement, I would sign a 2 year contract (which terms were much better than DIRECT TV: Where, if you cancel, you pay $400 regardless if you have 23 months or 2 months remaining on the contract).

DISH has a declining balance method, where you pay only for those months remaining of the contract: $14 per month, ergo 10 months =$140, and 2 months = $28.00!

That made so much sense.

Furthermore, they picked up the total cost of the new HD-DVR for the length of the 2 year contract AND, there was NO additional service/installation charges!!!

Oh... forgot to mention, In my chat with them, I told them with so many HD channels and free movies to choose from, I rarely select any movies from Showtime (which I'm getting for free by them issuing me a $12 credit per month).

They suggested using the $12 credit I get for Showtime to purchase "On-Demand" movies instead. So the spouse and I can watch a 1st release 2x a month or several of the older movies 3-5x a month. So bye-bye Showtime!

More common sense ideas!

Oh...btw, the new 722k HD-DVR (old unit 222) has actually improved the signal to the Bedroom TV and the picture signal is pristine for an "uncalibrated" Panasonic th50px600u. My wife even noticed the difference.

That's what I call outstanding customer service

My apologies for this stream of consciousness, but I'm so satisfied with the performance and service I've received so far, I'm almost glad COMCAST drove me to this!

I'm no tech, is it possible the slightly "soft" image you are viewing is because Comcast's signal runs over "copper" along with Internet and thereby they use compression because of lack of bandwidth. Thus when you get the COMCAST signal its like turning UP the sharpness control on you set. Where AT&T has no Internet service of any size and may not be using compression to squeeze more customers into the limited Copper pipe?

I may not be explaining this issue correctly, but when I changed from Copper to Fiber optic(FIOS), it was like looking through a newly replaced and cleaned window. Maybe D-NICE can explain this better.