Panasonic 50PV500 1:1 Mapping Guide

[fuzzb]

I have written this guide as no one else seems to have done so, and it took me hours to figure this out so I thought I would share the info

You will need the files in this archive: http://www.myfootballonline.com/Plasma/50PV500Mapping.zip

1) Update monitor driver - select custom 50PV500 driver (50PV500Driver.inf)
2) Set up PowerStrip, paste in settings below:

PowerStrip timing parameters:
1368x768=1368,192,96,248,768,10,6,23,91125,2054

Generic timing details for 1368x768:
HFP=192 HSW=96 HBP=248 kHz=48 VFP=10 VSW=6 VBP=23 Hz=59

Linux modeline parameters:
"1368x768" 91.125 1368 1560 1656 1904 768 778 784 807 -hsync -vsync

3) Use the Nokia Monitor Test application (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download960.html) to adjust your TV H & V positioning until it is perfectly centered. You may find that you are missing 2 vertical lines. This is completely normal as the TV resolution is 1366 and the resolution we are configuring is 1368.

4) Set up your desktop background as '2 Stripe Background.bmp', then set mode to 'Tile'. Your desktop should now be pinstripe black/white.

5) At this point you may notice some interference on the pinstripe pattern, like wavy lines etc. This is normal and means you need to adjust your clock and/or phase on the 50PV500's setup menu. As you adjust either of these you will notice the pinstripe picture improve or go worse. You need to configure it so that the pinstripe image is solid black & white with no interference.

Voila! Your plasma should now be mapped 1:1 with a crystal clear picture.

 

[gizlaroc]

Great post mate.


How do you get to the H and V settings on the PV500?

 

[fuzzb]

Great post mate.


How do you get to the H and V settings on the PV500?

You can adjust the H & V position from the PV500 setup menu. If you need to adjust the H & V size then you can adjust that from within PowerStrip by changing the front porch and back porch values. This has the effect of expanding or shrinking the picture.

You can also adjust these values for the Crystalio scaler to get perfect 1:1 mapping.

Thanks for the offer to get it all setup, but I couldn't find a way to adjust the H & V sizing through the TV, so went about finding an alternate way

 

[gizlaroc]

I think if you have powerstrip it is far easier to get the timings than trying to do it in a scaler. But both should give you the same end result.
With powerstrip you click the right arrow and you reduce H front porch, sync width and back porch.

On a scaler you have to go in and manually adjust each bit by entering different figures then saving it, then checking it, then adjust again etc. etc.
Total pain in the arse! And very, very, very time consuming too!

 

[fuzzb]

I think if you have powerstrip it is far easier to get the timings than trying to do it in a scaler. But both should give you the same end result.
With powerstrip you click the right arrow and you reduce H front porch, sync width and back porch.

On a scaler you have to go in and manually adjust each bit by entering different figures then saving it, then checking it, then adjust again etc. etc.
Total pain in the arse! And very, very, very time consuming too!

Tell me about it But I was determined not to be put off by the lack of H & V sizing on the PV500!

 

[Jim_Fear]

If someone was to say, try to adapt this for a 37PV500 would the timings be much the same? If the timings were wrong would this cause any damage to the screen?

 

[fuzzb]

If someone was to say, try to adapt this for a 37PV500 would the timings be much the same? If the timings were wrong would this cause any damage to the screen?

The timings would be very different as the resolution is not the same. The 37" has a 1024x720 resolution, so you would have to change the settings quite drastically.

Having said that you should be able to get a 1024x720 resolution as both are evenly divisible by 8, unlike 1366.

Messing around with the settings won't damage the display so long as you keep the H and V refresh rates within the manufacturers reccomendations which are printed at the back of the manual.

 

[Jim_Fear]

Good good, hopefully i'll be able to get this working as I would really like to use my PC with my 37PV500 once it eventually finishes meandering towards me

 

[Orangelo]

Since you mention track and phase adjustments, I assume this is through VGA. Any chances with DVI?

Also, this is 59Hz, anyone tried 50Hz?

Many thanks

 

[Jim_Fear]

For those of you with a Radeon, i've just found a pretty sweet option for setting custom resolutions which would be handy for the 37" version, maybe the same could be done for the 42" and 50" versions. I've managed to set up 1024x720 fine after picking 1280x720 and then creating a custom profile from it, so now I have this option in the resoltuion settings, if anyone want sto give this a try on theirs then give me a shout

 

[k0rn]

For those of you with a Radeon, i've just found a pretty sweet option for setting custom resolutions which would be handy for the 37" version

I have the 37PV500 and got it connected via HDMI/DVI to my PC.... (720P / 60hz)

When setting the resolution to 1024x720 you'll end up with a picture that isn´t dissorted but smaller than the screen size. I suspect this happens because the screen simply just doesn't understand anything else but 720P and 1080i via HDMI. (with VGA, this is a completely other story...)

BUT I think this function is still very useful because you can minimize the overscan... it does make a difference e.g. when some US TV shows get their logo cut on the bottom whereas the "tuned" picture with next to zero overscan shows the logo completely.

So, this is really nice function. The question is how this technology works... technically it compares to scaling. So what the TV is getting when feeding via HDMI is 720P but the video card scales the desktop to whatever resolution you choose. Thus, the TV shows the new "virtual" resolution within view while the other areas of the picture get cropped by the overscan but this time they don't actually contain any picture data other than a black border making the picture fit the screen nearly without overscan)

Am I right about this? If yes, then there has to be some (even if minimal) scaling involved... and that wouldn´t be good.

 

[puntograle]

For those of you with a Radeon, i've just found a pretty sweet option for setting custom resolutions which would be handy for the 37" version, maybe the same could be done for the 42" and 50" versions. I've managed to set up 1024x720 fine after picking 1280x720 and then creating a custom profile from it, so now I have this option in the resoltuion settings, if anyone want sto give this a try on theirs then give me a shout

I have a 37PV500 and tried many times to get it working 1:1 over VGA. The problem is that even though the screen is 1024x720, it scales the input signal as if it is expecting 1024x768. So what does this mean?

A 1024x768 signal is scaled to full height on the 720 row screen (i.e. it is automatically scaled by 0.9375 in the vertical domain)
A 1024x720 signal is also scaled by 0.9375 to cover 675 rows of the 720 row screen. Therefore you get blank rows at the bottom.

It seems that you cannot switch off the internal scaler to accept a native 720 row signal.

I understand that HDMI/DVI also does not work due to overscan, etc

So the only other option is over component as demonstrated in the Panny shops. This seems to produce the great picture that we have witnessed.

Is there a way of connected from VGA to component? anyone tried this?

 

[Jim_Fear]

Is there no way to bypass the internal processing? I swear i've heard it mentioned before. The problem I think i'll find is that DVI will not do less than 60Hz from what I hear, this means if watching any normal TV through my computer i'll suffer the 60 to 50Hz judder that people complain of (I think)

Using the same method I used to get the 1024x720 I could possibly tweak the resolution and poisitoning of the screen to get it to snap into place. I'm slowly deciding to think that if my PV500 doesn't come by the end of the month then i'm swapping it for a PWD8

 

[k0rn]

Some corrections on your thoughts:

a) 50hz IS possible via DVI. If you think about it for a sec, you'll come to the conclusion that it even HAS to work because HDReady requires both 50 and 60hz. That said, it does indeed work with DVI. But as most HDTV-material is available in 60hz, I prefer that over 50hz.

b) HDMI/DVI DOES work very very nicely. The overscan isn't really that big. If you compare it to an optimized setting, it's a matter of a couple of pixels... nothing stunning. I use DVI/HDMI all the time to play back HD movies and it's awesome!

 

[Jim_Fear]

*slaps forehead*

Good point!

Thats made me feel a little easier about it now

 

[mine]

Some corrections on your thoughts:

a) 50hz IS possible via DVI. If you think about it for a sec, you'll come to the conclusion that it even HAS to work because HDReady requires both 50 and 60hz. That said, it does indeed work with DVI. But as most HDTV-material is available in 60hz, I prefer that over 50hz.

since now noone was able to get 50 Hz @native resolution over the
DVI or HDMI board, not with the 42", not with the 50" including one of
our well recognized ISF calibrators.
[email protected] Hz works with the 8 gen.
not with the 7 gen over DVI.

I got my HD8 working with 50,000 [email protected] native resolution 1024x768 over VGA a.t.m.
with a nVidia 6600GT graphiccard .

m

 

[Jim_Fear]

since now noone was able to get 50 Hz @native resolution over the
DVI or HDMI board, not with the 42", not with the 50" including one of
our well recognized ISF calibrators.


My HD8 works with 50,000 [email protected] native resolution 1024x768 over VGA a.t.m.
with a nVidia 6600GT graphiccard .

m

AAG! Confusing, see thats what I thought

 

[mine]

AAG! Confusing, see thats what I thought

Hi jim ... nice work with powerstrip

but 60 Hz is no problem

even 1366x768 (not 1368) is possible @60Hz with the new nVidia cards and the new drivers (not with ATI).

the challenge is Native resolution[email protected],000 Hz over DVI or HDMI

 

[Jim_Fear]

I didn't use powerstrip, I used the custom HD res feature in Catalyst Control Center. And 50,000Hz?!

 

[mine]

I didn't use powerstrip, I used the custom HD res feature in Catalyst Control Center. And 50,000Hz?!

sorry , i related this to the first post [email protected]

yes - if you want absolutely judderfree , perfect smooth pans, and no motion artefacts with dvds and a htpc the holy gral is 50,000 Hz (three digits exactly) , then reclock is able to sync graphic- and sound card perfectly.
you will have some ac3 framedrops every hour at its best though.
try it for yourself - take a dvd and look at smooth camerapans (lotr has a lot of it)

this is one of the problems configuring even a fast G 5 Mac htpc.
the only tool at the moment (displayconfigx) to change timings and resolutions
on this platform allows only 50,00 Hz. And reclock is not rewritten for the Macplatform.

live tv with a htpc dvb/s card is another problem, its technically impossible to get judderfree
reproduction - best you can achieve is one framedrop every 3 or four minutes
you can`t manipulate the speed , datas are delivered by the tvstation , so reclock
makes no sense.

there are ideas here in germany (dvbviewer-forum) to jump over this obstacle
with permanent timeshift and manipulating latency and pcr lead time , but this is in the beginnings.

in real life for 70 % of people these are no issues. But once you are used to it.....
you see judder everywhere. For me its a showstopper , so I try to get as close to
judderfree reproduction as possible .
it`s amazing watching a good tv station in combination with a highend mpeg2 software decoder and anamorphic content directly over dvi and a fine plasma ...best of all worlds , i.m.h.o. its hard to touch that kind of quality with a scaler in the same price league.
but the time and know how you have to invest in an almost perfect htpc has to be considered as well.

best
mine



best
m

 

[Jim_Fear]

I have some good results using the latest nVidia drivers with the special underscanning tool for 720p

I now have AMAZING results and you can look at some of the images running HL2 Lost Coast below...the images are a very large but have nothing compared to how amazing they actually look.

http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1476.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1477.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1478.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1479.jpg

 

[k0rn]

I have some good results using the latest nVidia drivers with the special underscanning tool for 720p

I now have AMAZING results and you can look at some of the images running HL2 Lost Coast below...the images are a very large but have nothing compared to how amazing they actually look.

http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1476.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1477.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1478.jpg
http://www.doomedpc.com/files/Max/DSCF1479.jpg

Jim, I also have a 37PV500 connected via HDMI/DVI.

I used the ATI "underscan" tool and it works pretty well. But it just resizes the picture to fit the desktop nearly 100%. This is not actually feeding it with a native res... you can still see the scaling on e.g. the Windows Fonts.

Anyone managed to drive the 37" version with native resolution via VGA? Closest I managed to do was 1024x768...

I'm still curious if there would be a difference in HD quality compared to 720P and DVI... though even this just looks amazing.

 

[Jim_Fear]

Hey k0rn, I'm aware of that, but it gets a picture to fill the screen with no overscanning, and I know it looks a little weird with text but its the closest you can get without some extreme experimentation. To get a 1:1 pixel mapping would be a bit tricky because the internal scaler loves being a pain in the ass.

I'll have a more in depth poke about tonight and see what I can conjour up

Also, forgot to say i'm actually going over component and not DVI-HDMI

 

[avman69]

Also, forgot to say i'm actually going over component and not DVI-HDMI

I to have my pv500 connected via dvi to hdmi & am underscanning using nvidia drivers. Yes you can notice very slight scaling on the desktop icons, but for internet pages, hi-def clips & pc games there is no evidence of this scaling effect, so overall you are gaining using the better quality digital feed from the graphics card.

Jim i am interested in how you are connected over component, is that vga to component or dvi-i to component cable? Do you need a special vga converter box? Do you think the quality is as good as dvi to hdmi? I am interested in trying through component as you cant use the (picture in picture function) with vga or hdmi, only through the component.

 

[Jim_Fear]

I'm using a smal breakout box that came with my 7800GT. I haven't tried DVI-HDMI because I didn't have the cable, but I did have a component cable I wanted to use so I just hooked it all up. As for quality, I have to say it looks utterly fantastic, I was gobsmacked at how beautiful HL2:Lost Coast looks, Quake 3 looks amazing too, the image is very crisp and i've be shocked to find it could be any better.

The good thing now is that i've got all my games set up to run at the right res for my plasma which is a clone of my main display, but I leave my desktop hooked to my LCD monitor at 1280x1024, so when I want to play a game I just switch the plasma over to component, turn off my LCD and game to my hearts content

 

[avman69]

sorry Jim, are you going in component to component to the pv500 then? Unfortunately I wish to try either dvi-i to component or vga to component which is a bit different, I believe you need some sort of vga box to achieve this, but certainly im very happy with the dvi to hdmi results im getting

 

[Jim_Fear]

Yeah you'll need to use a swish conversion box I think, I dont remember seeing any about though, and yeah mine is component to component, you can use a special dongle with certain ATi cards but i'm not sure of compatibility and I have seen nothing similar for nVidia cards.

http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvadapter/index.html

Do you not have a special S-Video like output on your graphics card?

 

[gizlaroc]

I have a component adapter with my nVidia card, not sure what card it is though, 6600 sounds familar but they are avaiilable.

 

[Jim_Fear]

Is it a DVI to Component adapter though?

 

[k0rn]

Is it a DVI to Component adapter though?

I think those Component-dongles are actually VGA to component...