[chaneya]

I recently purchased my first Plasma. I researched for about 2 months and had decided upon the Hitachi 42HDT50. It received a recommended buy from The Perfect Vision Magazine and Consumer Reports. It looked great at Ultimate Electronics here in Tulsa, OK. on all sources. (They can switch between DVD, cable and HDTV on the fly). Anyway I was ready to buy until I saw the newer Pioneer Elite 910HD. It had better connection capabilities and I really liked the ability to alter color settings (temp and color) manually instead of just presets. Due to the many fans of Panasonic in this forum, I also considered their models but could not find a set that looked as good as the Hitachi or Pioneer. Of course I realize with Plasmas settings are everything. And that brings me to the point of my message.


I was wondering if owners of the Pio 910HD and 1110HD would share their picture settings by source. I have DVD, Satelite(DirecTV), HDTV OTA and Cable for locals.


I removed the greenish hue per rlee's message by changing the color temp in the manual settings. Excellent! Thanks rlee!! I also turned off MPEG NR. I can't see any difference with DNR. (Has anyone seen any change with this setting?) Also DRE makes a big difference but I'm not sure what it's doing exactly. The manual is sorely lacking explaining these setting features.


For DVDs, the Movie preset looks great except I turn off MPEG NR and I remove the greens with high green set to -7 and low green at -7.


I've been tweaking for about 4 days and could really use some help with HDTV OTA, Satelite, cable and although DVD looks amazing, I'd like to see your settings with DVD as well.


Thanks

 

[kyad02]

I have my high green at -2, low green at -2 contrast at 30 brightness and color at -2. Sharpness at +2. Everything else on factory settings. I have a bright room and the picture is still plenty bright. At night watching dark DVDs I see no green push or milky black at all. To me the blacks look fantastic. I figure dialing down brightness, contrast and color will prolonge the life of the Plasma. What is your contrast, brightness and color set at? Also avoid "Dynamic" mode this gives a terrible picture with unnatural colors.

 

[Randu]

Settings on HD910

No direct sunlight on screen, moderate light in day, fully manageable at night with halogen spots on sliding rheostats. Slightly back-lit with a pair of wall sconce that set about 4' to the sides and about 6" behind.


Contrast +43 (factory = 40)

Brightness -7 (factory = 0)

Color -8 (factory = 0)

Sharpness +2 (factory = 0)


In Color Temp/Manual


Hi Green -1

Lo Green -5

Lo Blue +1


In Color Management


Yellow +1

Green -1

Magenta -1


DRE - I switch back & forth from MID to HI depending on the source.

If watching something with a lot of blacks, try HI, otherwise MID is fine.

 

[jcasperjr]

Settings on Pro 1110HD

No direct sunlight on screen, Ideal Lume bias lighting.

I asked Randu for his settings a week or so ago, which he graciously gave to me (they were a quantum leap forward from the settings I ended up with after a DVE calibration). They are truly excellent and made a dramatic improvement.


- Thanks again Randu!!


I've made a few (very minimal) changes as follows:

Contrast 38

Brightness -7

Color -7

Sharpness-2


Pro Adjust/Color Temp/Manual:

G High -1

G Low -4

B Low +1


Color Mgt:

Y +1

G -1

M -1


MPEG NR Off

DNR Mid

CTI On

DRE High (encouraging detail in black)


...I'm still battling with some artifacting (?) in motion of solid-colored areas. For instance, as characters walk down a white hallway: they (the characters) are very sharp and detailed but the white wall behind shows some pixelation as it pans behind the characters. This is why I've turned the sharpness down (still workin on it). Can't seem to get this to my satisfaction just yet. ...suggestions?!

 

[Randu]

Quote:

Originally posted by jcasperjr DRE High (encouraging detail in black) ...I'm still battling with some artifacting (?) in motion of solid-colored areas. For instance, as characters walk down a white hallway: they (the characters) are very sharp and detailed but the white wall behind shows some pixelation as it pans behind the characters. This is why I've turned the sharpness down (still workin on it). Can't seem to get this to my satisfaction just yet. ...suggestions?!

jcasperjr

I'm glad you were able to find the info useful!


As far as the comment above, you might want to set the DRE to MID for most viewing. I think the HI setting causes some of the noise you see. Reserve that for the really dark stuff.

 

[chaneya]

Excellent suggestions!!


I hope owners of our models keep the settings coming. This has been tremendously helpful. Below are my new settings based upon input.


Contrast 36

Brightness 0

Color - 8

Tint 0

Sharpness -1 (By reducing this just below 0, I eliminated pixelization in smoky dark scenes such as the mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings. Anything over 0 and I get pixelization)


Color Temp Manual

G High -5 (I found I still had some green in dark smoky scenes until I hit about -5 on this setting)

G Low -7 (Same here. -7 seemed to eliminate all eliments of green in dark smoky or hazy scenes)

B Low -1

All else is 0


MPEG NR OFF

DNR Off

Citi On

DRE Mid


Color Management Manual

Yellow +1

Green -1

Magenta -1



Thanks Randu. I like your color settings a lot. I still seem to get some green unless I crank those color temp settings down however.


I've only been testing this with DVDs (Spider Man and Lord of the Rings).


Keep the settings coming. It's been very helpful.

 

[Randu]

chaneya

That's great.


I think leaving the Brightness setting up may be the difference in needing to go down that far in the Color Temp on the greens. Sounds like it can work both ways, but you may want to re-look at that for OTA or cable feeds.

I like the Lo Blue at +1 myself, it seems to blacken the blacks for me. (like Superman's hair I guess )


I'll take another look at dropping the sharpness down to -1.

I know there is a trade off between better sharpness & more noise.


Thanks for starting this thread, I'm sure we'll all benefit.


BTW is anyone running Cable AND OTA?

I'm having trouble picking up some HD OTA channels and want to bounce my hook up off someone.

The manual is not real clear on the best way to set that up...

 

[chaneya]

Randu,


My mistake on the Blue setting. I actually misread your previous post. I reset Lo Blue to +1 as suggested.


I'll play around a little more with the brightness vs. DRE. DRE makes such a big difference, it's hard to balance. I'll lower the brightness but I hate feeling like I'm missing things in darker scenes.


I have cable and OTA HDTV.


For OTA, I simply have an attic antenae with RG6 coax running to the Pioneer. Channel changing is very slow and the EPG Display is worthless since it has to download every time you choose it. So far I've found the OTA HD receiver somewhat finicky. It takes forever to change channels if it can't get the channel signal. On my Sony HD200 HDTV OTA and Directv receiver, I use the guide to go to a channel before I choose it. But even then it doesn't hang like this Pioneer does. The fact is I view the OTA HDTV receiver on this unit to be more of a novelty than anything else since the guide feature is sorely lacking. My plan is to get the upcoming DirectTv HD Tivo unit and then I won't be using the Pioneer recevier at all.


For Cable, every channel is so different in quality, I have'nt even begun to adjust settings for that source.


Chaneya

 

[kyad02]

Will cranking up the contrast Ratio to 45 or so shorten the lifespan of the Plasma? I've heard that brightness and color reduction help extend the lifespan. Thanks.

 

[hollywood53]

building custom stand and need height and width including side mounted speakers and table top stand for both 910 and the 1110 need to finish template


thanks

tom

 

[chaneya]

Hollywood,


Check out Pioneer's website for full specs on the screens.


I am unable to post provide the website because I don't have enough posts yet. But you can do a Pioneer google search. Choose Pioneer Electronics and then brush your cursor over Home at the top of the screen and click plasma.


The speakers for the 910HD are 4 1/4 wide X 25 5/8 long. They can be side or bottom mounted. I haven't tried bottom mount and once I build my home theater cabinetry I plan not to use them at all. Right now I do have them mounted on the side.


Chaneya

 

[hollywood53]

the web sight does not give the spreaker or tabletop stand dimensions,

the speaker info you gave me is definely a help. I would assume that for the 1110 the width of the speakers are the same, now i just need the stand height

 

[chaneya]

Hollywood,


Good point in regards to the speakers.


I have the plasma sitting on a table top on it's stand. The bottom edge of the plasma screen is exactly 3 inches from the surface of the table. So the stand height is 3 inches.


Hope that helps out.

 

[Tulsa1]

Tom,

I still have the documentation that came with the stand for the 1110,

I can add any deminsions on it not shown, scan it in and email it to

you if you like.


Alan,

Good to see another fellow Tulsan with fine taste.

 

[Tulsa1]

I have a 1110 in a room with moderate lighting(no full sun) in the

daytime and indirect lighting moderate level for night.

Viewing distance is typically 9-10ft.

Current settings:

Pic Mode - Standard

Contrast 40

Brightness -1

Color -5

Sharpness-0


Pro Adjust/Color Temp/Manual:

G High -2

G Low -2

B Low +1


Color Mgt:

Y +1

G -1

M -1


Cinema - ADV for film based source(DVD,SAT) 3:3:3 mode

Cinema - Std for video based source(esp SD)

MPEG NR Mid

DNR off

CTI On

DRE Mid


I do have some variations of this in the USER option of each input.

I have a friend here that has done the ISF cal on two of the 1110s

and one of the 910 and he said that it results in two additional modes

we don't see now, being day and night viewing. Still having the options

as before. I will probably get this after burn in.


Thanks for all the info,

Martin


Note: you may get a flashing or flickering if Cinema-ADV is selected

while viewing video based material.

 

[rlee]

Martin, What do you mean by "SAT"? I would have thought it meant DirecTV or Dish, but those wouldn't be film based.


Also, does anyone know if ADV works properly for all the HDMI input formats (480p, 720p, 1080i)?


I use different settings for all my inputs (1110HD), but one constant that's different from everyone else is I have Sharpness at -4. This setting is from my DVE calibration. I plan to get an ISF calibration soon.

 

[Tulsa1]

Quote:

Originally posted by rlee Martin, What do you mean by "SAT"? I would have thought it meant DirecTV or Dish, but those wouldn't be film based. Also, does anyone know if ADV works properly for all the HDMI input formats (480p, 720p, 1080i)? I

SAT being Directv but when they are broadcasting material that was

originally film based is where I seem to notice improvement with the

Cinema-ADV mode. My Zenith HD520 is connected DVI>HDMI to the

Pio 1110 with the 520 set to native, passing on the broadcasters

resolution. I keep the DV-59AVi HDMI>HDMI set to 720P and the

Cinema- ADV mode works well here too when the 3:3:3 pull down

is appropriate. I have found the results to be quite impressive.

 

[jcasperjr]

The settings that I posted above look really good for HD material, as I'm sure everyone has noticed, but...


Has anyone tried to 'Polish the Turd', as RHarkness so eloquently put it?


...I'm curious if a different user setting for SD material can improve PQ in that area.

 

[chaneya]

Jcasperjr,


I agree. I realy struggle with the SD settings.


Is this just an inherent problem with Plasmas? I told Ultimate Electronics that the only reason why I would return my 910HD within 30 days would be if I was completely unsatisfied with the SD performance. I realize all HDTVs have a hard time with SD PQ but my Mitsubishi WS-65907 2000-2001 Projection HDTV does a better job with SD. Granted I think the Plasma is better with DVDs and HDTV.


One thing that bothers me a lot on SD signals (cable or Sat), are the pixel jiggles whenever you have a crawl or scrolling data on the screen. Such as CNBC or other programs. It looks as if the Plasma can't seem to render the movement correctly. On the crawl, there is a glow of upset pixels on the border that can't seem to decide what to do. Are we on off or both.


Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is this just the tradeoff for Plasma ownership? Or is there a setting to improve this.


The Sat receiver I have connected to my plasma is an old model DirecTV that uses S-video for connection.


Thanks

 

[Tulsa1]

I have the 1110 with a Zenith SATHD520 connected to it via DVI and the

SD is very good. I also have a Zenith HDR230 connected via component

and the SD on it is very good also. I have not seen any of the distortion

you are discribing.