Method to use Pioneer PDP-506PE panel without the media box?

mascot

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Like a few other Pioneer PDP-506PE owners, my media box has finally reverted to 'flashing blue light' stasis, rendering the whole system inoperable.
The TV owes me nothing after 17-odd years of impeccable performance but I'd like to keep it as a Sky Q mini box screen in my garage gym.
Is it possible to use the panel in this way without the media box, maybe with a DVI-HDMI adapter plug?
As I understand it, with the black and white 'twin cable' setup between the panel and media box, the black cable carries audio only and the white (which looks like DVI) carries video. My audio is piped directly to side-mounted speakers on the panel so I think I only need the video feed, but my question is... would this work? Has anyone managed to get it to work like this, or does the media box do some further inline black magic before outputting to HDMI?
Thanks in advance folks, I'd hate to have to retire this panel while it's still in working order.
 
If you are sure its just the media box why don't you buy a replacement from eBay?
 
If you are sure its just the media box why don't you buy a replacement from eBay?
A few reasons - ones I've seen on eBay tend to be 'untested' so might be broken like mine, they're quite expensive for such a risk, and I don't need the other connections, TV signals etc from the media box and I'd much prefer doing without the bulk of the box. I just want to connect one HDMI source directly to the panel, if that's possible.
I guess I could just buy an adapter for a few quid and give it a go, but was wondering if anyone had tried it already with success. I was all set to drive to the tip today before bypassing the media box suddenly occurred to me.

xx.jpg
 
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A few reasons - ones I've seen on eBay tend to be 'untested' so might be broken like mine, they're quite expensive for such a risk, and I don't need the other connections, TV signals etc from the media box and I'd much prefer doing without the bulk of the box. I just want to connect one HDMI source directly to the panel, if that's possible.
I guess I could just buy an adapter for a few quid and give it a go, but was wondering if anyone had tried it already with success. I was all set to drive to the tip today before bypassing the media box suddenly occurred to me.

View attachment 1578848
If it is any help, I have an ancient Sharp clone of the 503 working via direct DVI to the screen. It is used as a pc monitor so would say it is likely to work as you planned.
 
If it is any help, I have an ancient Sharp clone of the 503 working via direct DVI to the screen. It is used as a pc monitor so would say it is likely to work as you planned.
Thanks - that's given me just the nudge I need to try it. I'll report back in a week or so once the dongle turns up.
 
Had a chance to test the DVI-HDMI adapter today and unfortunately it doesn't work. I get an image on the screen but it's scrambled. This was using Sky as the source.
Bah!
 
According to the service manual, it looks like there are two ways to use the monitor/TV without the media box as shown in the attached screen shot.

The first method requires use of a serial connection with a PC and some high tech tweaking of serial protocols. But the second method states that by simply powering up the unit with only DVI connected, it should display after 5 seconds. If it doesn't display, it could be an issue with the resolution. Try to make sure the source signal is 720P (1366 x 768) and not 1080P.

f_fR_Screenshot_20230.png
 
According to the service manual, it looks like there are two ways to use the monitor/TV without the media box as shown in the attached screen shot.

The first method requires use of a serial connection with a PC and some high tech tweaking of serial protocols. But the second method states that by simply powering up the unit with only DVI connected, it should display after 5 seconds. If it doesn't display, it could be an issue with the resolution. Try to make sure the source signal is 720P (1366 x 768) and not 1080P.

f_fR_Screenshot_20230.png
Thanks for that. Unfortunately the panel is long sold so I can't test this, but hopefully it'll come in useful for someone else.
 

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