[GregAMeyer]

I've finally talked my wife into the upgrade to a Plasma, probably the 50" Panasonic HD. I'm further planning on getting an HD-TIVO unit (probably the HR10-250), and a scalar.


We watch DirecTV or TIVOed content most weeknights, and DVD Movies over the weekend. I have an OTA antenna and get good HD reception for the local HD channels.


I really want to make the new setup very easy to use for my wife...


I'm quite certain the HD content will be great on the plasma, what I'm concerned about is SD content, and getting the image to look right on the plasma, I’m sure we’ll watch in full 16:9 mode.


I'm pretty sure the new HD TIVOs will let me have a guide with SD, HD and OTA HD channels all in one... but what I'm wondering is, will we be forced to change the "input type" every time we change from an HD station to a SD Station? Is there a way to make this easier?


Also considering my concerns about SD content on the Plasma, any thoughts on weather the Vision HCP or the iScan HD+ will be a better processor for my situation?


Thanks for your comments

 

[adamsfbay]

First of all, if you get an HDR10-250 DirecTV Tivo that works properly, your OTA digital, and satellite SD and HD sources will all be fully integrated in the guide.


The HD TiVo can be set for 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i. SD broadcasts are originally 480i, and all HD is 1080i originally except for ABC, FOX, and ESPN which are 720p.


Your set takes 1080i natively for HD sources. You can either do one of a few things:


1. Leave the TiVo on 1080i all the time. This will feed most native HD broadcasts to your set at native, and it will use the TiVo's scaler to convert 480i and 720p native sources to 1080i. On a 50" Panny plasma, this is a perfectly good, and simple, solution. Of course, use the HDMI output.


2. You can use your "knowledge" of the source material and change the output of the TiVo manually each time (SD = 480i, most HD = 1080i, FOX/ABC/ESPN = 720p) and let your set's scalar, which is probably superior, do the scaling. This will produce a better picture, but not an enormously better one.


3. You could get the iScan HD+ and run HDMI from the HD TiVo to the DVI input. To get the best picture, you'd want to get the iScan HD+ to 1:1 pixel match it's output to the Panny plasma. You could also tinker with optimal Frame Rate output for 3:2 pulldown material for (I'm assuming) 60 Hz (NTSC) sources. Tips on how to do this are on the thread called "Native Rate" under the scaler section of this forum. I believe they have the exact settings to get 1:1 for the 50" Panny. You'd still need to change the TiVo HDMI output for each source based on SD, HD, or FOX/ABC/ESPN HD to gain the max benefits. A lot more work for more PQ, which will really show on SD sources, much less so on HD material. If you go this route, might as well get an SDI-modded DVD player and an SDI board for the iScan HD+ and go whole hog.


WARNING: the HD TiVo's have had a HIGH rate of HDMI output failure. I had to go through three units, and my dad three as well before I got one that worked. He STILL hasn't. He has the 50" Panny plasma, and there MAY be an incompatibility between the HDMI out of the HD TiVo and that particular model, remains to be seen.


If you want to do this - you're going to be an early adopter. That means you'll have to have patience and the willingness to persever through technologies that were released to market before they were fully baked.


I did, I put in my time, and I'm REALLY happy. I have the 55" Fujitsu, the iScan HD with SDI (to be an HD+ shortly), a DirecTV TiVo. and an SDI-modded Denon 3910 DVD player.


Best,


-Adam

 

[GregAMeyer]

Wow thanks a lot for your post, I'm quite certain I'll go with option 3.


Since it sounds like you are doing this, I was wondering, are there descrete IR codes for the various output options on the HD Tivo you have? (so I can at least make this a simple button push)


---Greg