Please Help - Nubee confused!!!!

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Do you have a SA8300HD-DVR? What are the model numbers of your PDP and DVD/VCR player? The first thing any new PDP owner should do "before" turning on their TV is to read these white papers from Panasonic & IDC:


Plasma Facts and Myths Panasonic Presents Advice From the Video Purist Perspective

Myth busting - Just the Facts on Plasma TV Performance


During the first 100 hours of operation be careful when you watch your new PDP. While the TV is new it’s best to turn your brightness and contrast settings down and do not display any black bars on the PDP. After 100 hours you can begin to turn your picture settings up and display black bars for 15% of the time. After 1000 hours there is a low risk for burn in to occur to your PDP and you can safely watch it as you like.

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As you see you have a lot of connectivity options. It's usually a good idea to indicate the model number of your Plasma when asking questions about it, but you gave enough info to figure out how to help so no biggie. About that SA4300HD - there is no such model so is it possible that it's an SA8300HD? If so, the first thing i would do is connect the S-Video output and corresponding R/L Audio to one of the two S-Video inputs on the TV, then connect the Component output to the TV. Then go into the SA8300HD's Output Format menu and select 480i and 1080i and disable 480p and 720p. Later you can experiment with these settings but this is what i use on my SA8000HD and Panny plasma. Having 480i selected ensures that you'll be able to use the TV's stretch modes for the non-HD channels on the TV's Component input, but they may or may not work over HDMI.


For the unidentified VCR/DVD Combo unit, you should be able to connect it either with S-Video or Composite (yellow jack) or even Component (if the Combo even has Componenent outputs). I'd try S-Video first just to get things up and running, that typically has the best picture quality for SD stuff. Then when you want to watch a DVD or VHS tape just switch the TV to this input.

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HDMI is an alternative to Component (Red/Blue/Green). Many people report that HDMI gives them a slightly sharper picture, while Component gives them slightly better color, while some people can't tell the difference. HDMI can sometimes introduce HDCP handshake issues where the 8300HD doesn't always properly communicate with the TV and you get no picture. Maybe for the time being just connect your 8300HD to the TV with Component, then play with HDMI later once you get familiar with the TV. It would be simpler this way. You should be able to watch all your SD and HD channels over Component. And by having the S-Video connected, you can watch all the non-HD channels over this connection and it will often look better than on the Component or HDMI connection. This works better for my setup.

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HDMI is for HD boxes or DVRs and the newer DVD players that have HDMI outputs.


S-Video and A/V (Composite) is for SD sources like VCRs, and DVD players.


Air would be for connecting to a Roof Antenna. If you're close enough to the broadcasting towers you should be able to tune the local HD channels with the TV's internal tuner.


Cable presumably is the regular RF input where you can connect cable from the wall directly to the TV. You should be able to get the local HD channels that your cable company includes with basic service.

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As long as you use the TV's Aspect control to fill the screen so there are no black bars you should be ok. I think the Sammy has a Panorama mode which is what you should use for all the non-HD channels. If you have your 8300HD connected with HDMI then you may or may not be able to use the TV's stretch modes, you'll have to check that yourself. But in a perfect world, you should be able to stretch any non-HD channel regardless of which input your using, so you can watch all your cable channels on the Component input and keep it simple. But in my case, SD looks better over S-Video than Component. I've never tried HDMI so i can't comment on that.

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Hopefully this will get you going even though it probably looks a little confusing. If you have any questions just come back and post em, and try to include the model numbers of the TV and HD cable box/DVR or whatever it is . . . .