Panasonic PWD6 Connectivity (Long)

RemotecUK

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Hi,

Can anyone give me some advice on what's the best way to set up my proposed system? Ive had a few ideas from various people/groups but Im just trying to research it all more fully at the moment so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

The system will be centered around a Panasonic TH42PWD6 and I need to understand how to connect the rest of my system to it for best results. I plan to fit the TY42TM6YB board to this screen.

The inputs to the screen will be as follows
- progressive scan DVD player (not sure which yet)
- Pace Twin Freeview box.
- Video recorder

Questions are as follows:

1. I plan to use the component output of the DVD player to link to the screen. Am I best going via my AV amp (Yamaha 740) for the on screen display or cabling the DVD player straight to the screen? Will I loose any quality going via the amp?

2. I understand from various research that its likely (dependant on DVD player) that I will have to switch the output of the player to progressive?

3. The Freeview has both scart and S-Video output, whats the best output to use to drive the screen? If I use scart can this just be plugged straight into the screen? Id prefer if possible to route through the my amp so I get the OSD so I guess S-Video is the way to go on this?

4. My video recorder has scart output. Again Id prefer to go via the amp but what/how should the scart output be converted to? Composite?

5. Is there any auto switching on the screen or do you have to switch over the input signal?

6. I understand that the TY42TM6YB board will fit into any PWD6. Is this correct?

The way I see this looking is as follows:

- DVD player connected directly to screen via component for maximum quality.
- Freeview S-Video into amp and then S-Video back out of amp into screen.
- Video converted into 1 x composite and 2 x audio via a scart/composite converter and then a single composite running from the amp to the screen.

I understand that the TY42TM6YB card can accept all of these inputs and that this should be no problem. Ive just had my fire place taken out in preperation but I'll "bench" test the set up before I get the cables put into the walls.

Cheers,

Tim.
 
Tim,

I have the same screen and video board and have tried quite a few combinations :D

In answer to your questions, here are my thoughts, hope they help:

1. Cabling straight to the screen will give you the cleanest signal, but routing via the AV amp may be easier for you. and from what I have heard there is very little in it degradation wise. Bear in mind that the TM6Y card has BNC inputs so you will need a RCA=>BNC cable of RCA=>BNC converters. It might also be worth noting that the PWD6 has a built in VGA port which can be configured for component so you could also use this with a 3RCA=>DB15 (VGA) cable for the DVD player. You could then maybe purchase the screen with a scart board if this makes things easier??

2. It is very dependant on your DVD player whether the prog scan side of things will be better in the player or the screen. Normally a decent DVD player like the Denon 2900 or so would be best configured for progressive scan. The best thing to do is try the player on interlaced and progressive output and then choose which YOU think gives the better picture.

3. If your freeview supports scart with RGB output this is probs best picturewise, but you will lose routing via the amp unless you use converters. Svideo is not always the poor cousin that people make out though...

4. You should be able to daisychain the freeview and video together and piggyback off of a single connection

5. I assume you mean widescreen switching? If so, then the scart input supports widescreen switching using the Auto option. However, the TM6Y board doesn't auto switch, so you would need to do this manually.

6. Yes, the TM6Y board is the correct board for the PWD6, it is a dual slot board with composite/Svid/component/RGBHV..check out my pics here if this helps: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jasonjo/guides/index.html

Something else you need to aware of IIRC is that Panny plasma terminal boards do not support both composite and svideo at once. As soon as you plug in a svideo connection then the composite input is auto disabled.

Also, to be honest if you are going for a plasma I would strongly suggest you avoid composite at all costs, even for convenience sake, as the pictures will look pretty poor!! ;)

Hopefully Joe will chip in, as he is used to amp routing for video sources...

Good Luck!!! :)

JJ
 
Thanks for the information and the link to the informative web site

In regard to point 5 (freeview RGB output), I presume its possible to get scart to svideo converters? So I could output my Freeview and VHS via the scart straight into the amp and then use the s-video output of the amp to drive the screen?

Cheers,

Tim.
 
You need a composite to s-video converter? I think there's one in your amp, read the book. If not, Maplins do one, it's about £14. Works well, we have a VHS in our demo setup just to show how c***p they look on a plasma. You have been warned! S-vhs is better, and of course needs no conversion, and costs £100 ish. Of corse DVD and HDD recording solutions are best, think Pace twin and disc upgrade to 60-80gB
 
Maw, you say its possible to upgrade the Pace twin's hard disk? Do you know who/where does this conversion or can you DIY it?

I know that the video is going to look rubbish on the plasma but Ive got some much stuff on old VHS tapes that Im going to want to watch :)

Ill have a look at the book for the amp.

Cheers,

Tim.
 
You can DIY it, I can do it, it's not that hard. Simply confidence.There is a long thread on it in the pvr forum
 

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