[JoseD]

Hi mates. Something I want to share

This is not a theory, I've managed to get this resolution and tested it with test patters.
Here's how:
1- Get a VGA to component adapter, but one of those that only convert the color space and leave the rest of the signal the same, this is critical. I found them on some american videophile forums by accident. The Thomson RCA VHDC300 and the Audio Authority 9A60 seem to have been the most common models, specially the Audio Authority one. I found another much more expensive one but apparently it produces the same results, can't remember the name. I got the VHDC300 off eBay for 25$ (US).
2- Get the PowerStrip or a similar program for your PC, or an equivalent for other platforms. Alternatively it seems that some more recent NVidia drivers allow custom resolutions, which achieves the same result.
3- Connect the VGA output of your gfx card to the transcoder and the transcoder's component output to the Toshiba's. It's much more handy if your gfx card has dual output ...
4- Tweak the signal with Powerstrip to any horizontal refresh rate between 30Khz and 33Khz and near and above 50Hz. A little bellow 50Hz seems to work too, but it becomes too flickery. Check the results in the TV. From my tests you can leave the TV and transcoder on. My gfx card only has one VGA output and no DVI/HDMI so I have to constantly disconnect and reconnect the VGA cables between the TV and monitor, which was a complete pain. I think that with a dual output gfx card one can avoid that.
Getting used to the PowerStrip program took it's time, it's interface is not straightforward IMHO. I'll post about it later if anyone asks, but right now I want to go to bed I'll only add that some gfx card's drivers (like mine) don't allow custom resolutions at all, so the only option is to adjust the frequencies of more frequent resolutions to values accepted by the TV. The transcoder manuals have some hints on using PowerStrip and you can also use it's online help.

Some of my findings regarding the signal (my gfx card doesn't allow custom resolutions so if someone else wants to give it a try with different resolutions it should work):
1- It seems that the component input bypasses the scanning module of the TV (which does 50Hz to 100Hz conversion / processing) completely when the frequency of the input signal is 30Khz or more. 15Khz, meaning that it's interlaced, targets the scanning module.
2- It doesn't matter if the signal is interlaced or progressive, as long as it's between 33Khz and 30Khz and near 50Hz or above the TV will accept it. Please note that values close to 34Khz, as well as values close to 29Khz, were not accepted.
3- With this low margin of horizontal refresh (30-33Khz) it's not possible to get a 720p signal at an acceptable refresh rate (Hz), even lowering the sync signals and front and back porch to minimal accepted values (doing this allows for lowering Khz with same Hz but the extent of maneouvre is small) in theory. Couldn't get a picture either, maybe lowering the resolution a bit (if you gfx card driver allows) ...
4- Signals I managed: 800x600p@53Hz, 1024x768i and 1920x1080i (can't remember what frequencies). Don't get excited about 1080i, the tube is not up to it, test patters showed that vertical lines are not distinguishable at all. But at 768i they were By the way, I fired up my old Commodore Amiga 4000 in a long time, which I once updated with a gfx card and this system is very free in custom resolutions. I managed 1024x720i and same vertical res with other variations of horizontal resolution up to 1200 without problems, all at 80Hz
5- Horizontal resolution is independent of the refresh rate, does make some sense if you think about it, but from the test patters I've only found 1024 to be usefull. And this is already almost completely fuzzy (if you back up from the screen I think you can still notice lines thought), eventhough the test pattern is probably an extreme test.
From what I've read in the past, using higher resolutions in displays (projectors etc.) that can't resolve them might make the picture blurry so it's probably not worth it to go higher. As a side note I found out 1080i had thinner lines on the grids, but they were not bold or white, they were grey, as oposed to the more brighter ones of lower resolutions, which probaly means that the tube is not up to it. On the other hand I've also seen a few times top end computer CRT monitors choke with test patterns way before the advertised horizontal resolution, I'll leave this for experienced techs to comment...

Final note: I spent a few too many hours with this stuff and got a bit tired of it, but I don't think there's margin to improvements.
This is probably also usefull for owners of other TV's with component inputs, I remember the Panasonic PD30/50's had a good tube too and there's a mode in them that upscales/processes SD images to 833i, so if someone wants to give it a try with this method it would be interesting.

Finally if someone has any ideas or even just to say they liked my post please put out a comment

Cheers
José

[GGTVBD]

Good work.

[JoseD]

I've done some more huge searches like trying to find the type of tube through the service manual (which I managed to find too...) and discovered that this is the same tube used on the Toshiba models 34HD81, 34HD82 or the 34HDX82.
Now check this out, these are american models which accept 1080i natively I've also found out that my above comment about the tube not being able to resolve 1080i lines is not that accurate. This was caused by the flicker, I've meanwhile managed to raise the refresh to 60Hz (using Powerstrip) and tweaked individual timing settings a bit more. Individual lines become more visible near 60Hz and above. If you have the contrast set to stupid values it kills it though.
The american models also accepted 720p but it was converted internally to 1080i.

Regarding the horizontal resolution I've seen some older adds regarding the above mentioned american TVs that the horizontal resolution is just above 1000 lines, which actually confirms my findings.
Still, 1024x1080 is not such a bad resolution the only problem is that it will flicker on bright images.

On the other hand this TV accepts the same mode as the Panasonic PD50 's Acuity processing which, if anyone remembers, produced very good results processing and upscaling DVD's to 833i at 75Hz. I find this might be a good mode cause the flicker's completely acceptable and much less than at 50hz. But I need to get a filter on the PC to do the right processing.

I'm considering getting an HDFury2 because it accepts custom resolutions. This way I'd get a pretty decent HTPC with satellite, TDT, internet...
The black level on this set gives a depth of field that LCD's can only dream of, even if other aspects of the image don't match a decent LCD or Plasma.

[Muad'Dib]

Keep up the good work!

Do you know if the same tube is in the 36zp38 model?

Please excuse my ignorance, but would this be of any benefit, or even possible, with PS3/Xbox360 input via component?

Cheers
Muad'Dib

[pelago]

Cool. Do you think this will work with a 32ZP48P too?

[JoseD]

@Muad'Dib

I checked the manual again and the service manual I managed to find is actually for the 36zp38! So one question for me now is if the ZP48 has the same tube. I remember a post by GumpyOldTroll (he services these sets) saying that the chassis is the same, including the processing (deinterlacer/motion processing etc..) module but I don't know about the tube.

Regarding the 360/PS3, what I found is that my set accepts frequencies just until about 34Khz maximum and even this is pushing it a bit (image starts to act weird and menus show up are screwed up). Above that I just get a black screen. I don't know the offical Khz for the 1080i HD standard but it seems that some devices output a frequency just a tid bit above 34Khz which explains why nothing shows up on some devices.
It could also be that this is not exactly the same on all sets but the differences are probably few.
I've seen a post in here by a 360 user that got 1080i on the Toshiba36ZP48 but the image was oversized. You'd need to make size adjustments in the service menu, not that easy but probably doable. I haven't tried and haven't seen anyone trying despite searching everywhere for it.
A PC with powerstrip allows you to tweak the signal while with those external devices (PS3/XBox360 etc.) the signal can't be changed without a video processor which is too expensive.

@pelago
"Cool. Do you think this will work with a 32ZP48P too? "
There's only one way to find out

[JonhyAV]

@Jose

I've just spent the afternoon remodeling my AV stuff at my house and tried to connect a satellite receiver running Linux (Kathrein UFS910) using component at 1080i. My PS3, again using component at 1080i didn't work either. Also my friends upscaling DVD player, 1080i component didn't work!

[JoseD]

@JonhyAV

Like I said above, the signal needs to be tweaked a bit and you can't raise/lower the Khz by a few decimals with most settopboxes/game consoles. The best option if you already have a decent TV might be getting an HDFury, but I suggest checking with the authors if the latest firmware has that functionality, they might even add it if it doesn't.