[bumtious]

Ok by request here we go. more later

Lets keep in in one thread so we can all help each other and just look in one place of reference.

I have now attached 6 sets of setting text files for each type of source as promised, this is a calaboration between myself and Andrew Fee.

The HDMI settings are perfect D65, the others track the HDMI setting as close posible we found differences between sources using scart. There are 2 scart settings, try them both but the Sky one works for Sky SD.

Check back weekly as they may change, the first line is the date they were issued.

AMENDED 22nd February 2008 SONY PS3 SETTINGS text file added

The HDMI Video setting of auto will now work as Sony have fixed a bug with the ps3.

Review of the Pioneer 4280
Review of the Pioneer 508XD

************DO NOT PLAY WITH THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING**************

The get into the service menu do the following..

Enter the Service Menu
Start with the plasma turned OFF
Make sure you point the remote directly at the IR sensor in the tv

Press the i button (directly below 9) on the remote (just press, do not hold)
Wait 3 seconds
Press LEFT, UP, LEFT, RIGHT then POWER

If done correctly, the plasma turns on and the INFORMATION page is displayed, will change 3 times on its own quickly.


*********TO MAKE 4:3 SIDE BARS BLACK ONCE IN THE SERVIVE MENU**************

Press MUTE 3 times until the side bar screen is displayed at the bottom.

Press ENTER

Set:
Standard is set to 115 use left button to set to 0

*************************************

Next to show hours meter

once into the menu press mute to show panel factory

press enter

Then press down and you will see the hours.

Press HOME MENU to exit

************************************************** ***********************

[ozzzy189]

A good idea. Do i have to have one to post ?

[BYF]

wow great blacks there!

even looks nice and vibrant next to that window.

its probably too early to ask, but how does this TV handle fast motion, especially the quick panning shot? is it as good as CRT for retaining detail during these scenes?

[bumtious]

Originally Posted by BYF

wow great blacks there!

even looks nice and vibrant next to that window.

its probably too early to ask, but how does this TV handle fast motion, especially the quick panning shot? is it as good as CRT for retaining detail during these scenes?

Yes and no, the smooth images are via 1080P/24, this is awesome, things like footy which is a 1080i source still suffer from deinterlacing lag ie double image on fast scrolling text.

[mwomwell]

Okay, it's going to be great on HD material, the big question however is whats it like with SD material? - Freeview ITV quality etc.

[JeffD]

According to the manual, native res without overscan (so should be 1:1 pixel mapping) is supported over HDMI, although it appears only 60Hz might be supported, if someone has the time could they test this with a PC or scaler and also verify whether or not it supports native res at 50Hz as well.

[mark800]

My first impressions are:

• Black levels and contrast levels. These hit you first. Images just pop off the screen. Even when you turn the contrast right down, it's still better than the Panasonic at full contrast.
  
• Colours. Amazing. I'm sure the TV will stand out from the crowd in the show room.
  
• Ease of use. Not very good. There are too many settings, which need to be changed. For example, the HDMI inputs are not on as default, until you switch them on.
  
• Aesthetics. Compared to my Panasonic, it's a beautiful piece of kit.
  
• Blu-ray. This is THE TV for Blu-ray. With no motion judder, the picture quality is awesome. Very film-like and detail is amazing.
  
• Blurring/panning. While some have claimed greater clarity with camera pans, I cannot see it. It seems just the same as my Panasonic (which is better than LCD). On some settings, you see a bit of judder on fast pans. I will have to experiment further.
  
• Reflections. I sit in a light lounge and my Panasonic was a nightmare in the day. The new TV is a revelation.
  
• Halos. No halos on text. As clean as a whistle.
  
• Posterisation. With the Panasonic, you can often see distinct bands of colour. However, the Pioneer appears very clean, and I haven't seen anything.

So, overall, the only concern is with the de-interlacing/motion handling of the TV. Other that that, it seems great.

Edit: please note that the judder has been solved - see later posts. It's now silky smooth.

Here are the latest reviews:



http://blog.homecinemachoice.com/pag..._web_exclusive

[andrewfee]

Disappointing about the motion handling - I thought these resolved nearly the full panel resolution now with quick motion (whereas the Panasonics apparently lose at least 100 lines of resolution)

Have you tested for / noticed any of the plasma "rainbow" artefacts yet? Basically it's green trails behind bright moving objects, or blue/yellow flashes with big contrast changes. (it's much easier to spot if you turn colour to 0 on a TV - that way if you see any colour on the screen you know it still suffers from this problem)

[gizlaroc]

Originally Posted by mark800

So, overall, the only concern is with the de-interlacing/motion handling of the TV. Other that that, it seems great.

The motion used to really annoy me on previous generations of Pioneer too, I was hoping this was sorted.
The one thing that made me go with a Panasonic PW6 a few years ago was the way it looked like a big CRT compared with the Pioneer sat next to it, that hit me before the black levels.
How does it compare to your PX60? Motion I mean.

[ozzzy189]

Fast movement. Perhaps that's the other models forte ? The 'elites' or whatever they're calling them here, i read something about some kind of extra processing or summat. Then again, i could be way off.

[KennyMo1]

even tho you are disappointed with the fast motion, it's still much better than an lcd right?

[KennyMo1]

cheers mark, thats great news.

[D-Nice]

Originally Posted by mark800

[*]Blurring/panning. While some have claimed greater clarity with camera pans, I cannot see it. It seems just the same as my Panasonic (which is better than LCD). On some settings, you see a bit of judder on fast pans. I will have to experiment further.

What Pure Cinema setting are you using?

[enator]

Originally Posted by D-Nice

What Pure Cinema setting are you using?

Nice D-Nice is here

[CottonEye]

Great pics! Mark thanks -

Not to take you guys off topic but I want to place an order for the 5080XD, is the panel the same i.e. video pic processing with comparison to the 508XD?

[D-Nice]

Originally Posted by mark800

I was watching Sky HD with 1080i, and Pure Cinema was switched off.

Try "Smooth" and see if it helps.

[Anjou]

Originally Posted by mark800

I was watching Sky HD with 1080i, and Pure Cinema was switched off.

Mark,

I've just ordered a PDP-428XD and am very excited. You mentioned settings need to be changed. Care to post some settings for owners to try? In particular any suggestions re: contrast for run in. Bit daft about the HDMI!

I don't know what camera you have but those pics really pop. Can you do some on the internal freeview?

Anj
(the demanding one)

[gizlaroc]

Originally Posted by D-Nice

Try "Smooth" and see if it helps.

Hi D-Nice, don't often see you over here?!

[D-Nice]

Originally Posted by gizlaroc

Hi D-Nice, don't often see you over here?!

I know. I'll try to do better

[dpgs]

Originally Posted by mark800

I thought the Elites were the 508XDs.

As far as I know, you are right. The 508XD is the Elite. With the extra calibration configuration etc etc.

The 5080XD is the lesser model with added stand and speaker. And no calibration option.

[dpgs]

Originally Posted by D-Nice

I know. I'll try to do better

Welcome D-Nice. Your reputation precedes you...

[D-Nice]

Originally Posted by mark800

Hi. I tried Smooth, and the picture flickered a lot.

What about Standard and ADV?

[CottonEye]

Originally Posted by dpgs

As far as I know, you are right. The 508XD is the Elite. With the extra calibration configuration etc etc.

The 5080XD is the lesser model with added stand and speaker. And no calibration option.

I assume one can still choose preset/modes pic options like smooth pure cinema etc just not have access to the ISF bits

[Meridius]

what are the diffrences in the 508 and 5080 ????? the 508 is more cash than the 5080 but the 5080 has better picture filter

508 Direct Colour Filter 2
5080 Direct Colour Filter 3

or am i missing something ???? is it not the same panel ??? what are the diffrences is one panel have better picture than the other or just the same is there any diffrence in the calibration option ?? to the other set is it worth having

is there no speaker on the 508 version ? if not how do you get sound for this tv as i dont want to keep using my amp to watch normal tv stuff

any rainbow effect on these tv sets

[CottonEye]

I've been trying to find out the same...

As far as I can see the 508XD has the following additions:

- Plasma Drive 2HD ?
- ISF C3 (Custom Calibration Configuration) Ability
- Split Screen & Picture in Picture Modes
- Ambient Light Sensor & Optimum Picture mode

Not sure important “plasma drive 2HD” is to the picture output

The 5080 has Direct Colour Filter 3 where as the 508 has Direct Colour Filter 2

[Screamer]

Hi all - i'm now over here in the plasma corner having had the world's worst experience with the Samsung M87 1080p LCD (and then the world's biggest argument in the M87 thread about the fact that I've been suggesting to a lot of users there that a Pioneer plasma would do a better job of basically everything - games, SD, HD, the lot!).

Anyways, I hope I'm welcome over here

First question has to be (and i'm sorry if I've missed the answer elsewhere) when are we expecting the 428XD and 4280XD to be available to buy?

Second (not anywhere near as important) question: Did I read that these 8th gen sets will accept 1080p at all refresh rates, rather than just the 24hz of older-gen models? As a PS3 gamer, that might boost quality even further beyond the M87 with 1080p games (amazingly, even 1080p games, it seems, all 1080p LCDs - M87 included - are completely outdone by the same games running at 720p on 1024*768 plasmas - on our current Pioneer 426XDE that's definately the case, anyway - especially at close viewing-range, where the M87 shows very jaggy edges!). I can see room for improvement over the current 1080i sets though (despite their dominance anyway), because I've noticed that 1080p games, when not able to run at 1080p, ofter choose to run at 720p rather than 1080i. My guess as to why the plasmas do a much better job than the 1080p LCDs already (all this is relevant!) is that the LCD has to show the image as it receives it, while plasmas are able to downscale the image, and thus add (in the 436XDE's case, very well) their own antialiasing and general image-flaw-removal processing. Given the 1024 pixel-width to a plasma, this still happens with a 720p input horizonally (720p is 1280 pixels wide), although the image unfortunately does have to be stretched vertically from 720 lines to the 768 lines of the plasma. Of course, if the plasma could have accepted 1080p (therefore 1080 lines), then 1080p games would play at that resolution, and the plasma would be able to downscale the image both horizontally and vertically, presumably resulting in a (slightly) even better image. On that basis, I would have bought a Panasonic PX70, but the lack of 24hz BluRay/HD DVD playback is a bigger downer than 1080p for games is a positive for me (so I'd still take the 1080p24 only on all current and past Pioneers, over the 1080p50 and 1080p60 only on the Panasonic). Would be great if the new ones do 1080p24, 1080p50 and 1080p60!

Thanks!

[KennyMo1]

Originally Posted by mark800

I'll have some more time in a couple of days to do more extensive testing, and I should have my TV stand by then. Once I've got some settings that I'm happy with, I will post.

please take some pics of the games and tell us about the motion in the games too. cheers mark!

[ozzzy189]

Some models have an 'Advanced mode' and another one i can't remember.

[ozzzy189]

I know about an ambient light thingy, but i thought there was something for keeping objects totally in focus with movement, but is it only on the higher end models ? Oh, too much going on ! I'm getting my 508 soon i hope, the pics are good, played any 360 on it yet ?

[Screamer]

Originally Posted by mark800

They are starting to be available now.

They support 1080p 24Hz, 50Hz and 60Hz through HDMI.

Fantastic! Anyone know of any retailers who now have the 42" models, or who'll be the first to get stock (presumably in the next few days)?