Panasonic TX32PL10 & Pioneer DV656A with RGB: Can someone help solve this problem?

kipper15

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I have a Panny TX32PL10 32" widescreen CRT and a Pioneer "Universal" DV-656A player (capable of playing DVD-A/SACD as well as DVD), both of which I've owned since I bought them new way back in 2003.

The Pioneer is connected to the Panny's AV1 (RGB) input via a fully-wired (non-directional) QED Performance Scart cable. Connected to the Pioneer's 2nd SCART (pass-through) is a Sky box, and connected to that unit's pass-through is my Xbox console, again via SCART...the reason for all the SCART loop throughs is to enable RGB from DVD, SKY and Xbox.

The problem I have is when the Pioneer DVD player's output is set to RGB, I get this really annoying, slightly wavy horizontal band across the top of the screen. It is most noticeable when watching DVDs with 1:85:1 pictures. It is also most noticeable when the main image on the screen is of light colours. When watching DVDs with black bars (e.g. 2:35:1) is is not as noticeable, if at all.

I was watching the DVD of Chicago over the weekend with my wife, and for most of the movie I ended up looking at the top of the TV screen because the band is so distracting. We also watched World Trade Center and the scenes with the guys trapped underground use a lot of grey, it was really noticeable and annoying.

It doesn't take the picture away, but it produces a band that is visible all along the top of the screen. Darned annoying and I whilst know it's been there since day one I thought that's it, I really need to sort this out before it drives me totally crazy! Much as I'd like to buy a new LCD TV set (I'm convinced it's the TV not the DVD player), I cannot justify this to my wife at the moment.

This problem does not occur when watching Sky, neither does it occur when using the Xbox (games or DVDs). Interestingly enough, the problem goes away when I switch the Pioneer's DVD video output from RGB to Video. The banding goes away completely but I lose the RGB.

This is just one of these things that I've never got round to sorting out, but after watching DVDs recently where this problem was evident a lot of the time, it really was driving me mad both during the movie and afterwards. Some scratching around on these forums leads me to believe that others have experienced similar problems, but I'm finding it difficult to ascertain exactly what the fix is.

From what I can gather on these forums, there were some well-known RGB problems on Panny CRTs of the same vintage as mine. I would hope they've fixed them by now with newer LCD sets, but that's not an option for me right now. I've read about DVCO menus and stuff, or cutting pins from the SCART connections, etc, etc, but what I need is to know exactly how to fix this problem.

HELP! :lease:
 
This problem does not occur when watching Sky, neither does it occur when using the Xbox (games or DVDs). Interestingly enough, the problem goes away when I switch the Pioneer's DVD video output from RGB to Video. The banding goes away completely but I lose the RGB.

From that statement any TV technician would conclude the TV is not to blame and the fault lies with the DVD player...can you beg/steal :D or borrow another DVD player and try it...even the cheapest ones have RGB out nowadays.
Crosstalk in a scart lead can cause a faint outline in the background from the TVs tuner and possibly sound as well but you would normally see it all over the screen not just at the top...you would also be aware of it with Sky switched on...so I would rule out the scart lead.
At the end of the day it may just be a slight incompatibility between the TV and DVD player.
 
At the end of the day it may just be a slight incompatibility between the TV and DVD player.

I would be inclined to agree this is most likely the case, otherwise I'd see the problem with Xbox and Sky but I don't. This kind of thing is really annoying, it should just work and work without problems.

I could use S-Video out from the Pioneer player but I would have to mess about with all the connections and I simply can't face doing that. Also, I don't like the idea of losing RGB and with the amount of kit and cables spread across two racks, changing cables around and so on is definitely something I want to avoid. I would love to replace the bulky Panasonic CRT set with a new LCD one but that's going to be a tough call right now...my wife would have kittens if I brought a new TV home!

I have read on here some threads going way way back (c.2002/03), that people had (and probably still ahve) similar issues using Panny TV sets from that era and RGB DVD players (mostly Pioneers funnily enough). I have seen posts that had info on using the Service Menu / DVCO on the Panasonics to get rid of the problem but I'm a little nervous about doing it in case I completely screw the set up...also it seems this approach did not work for everyone.

It seems I try the Service Menu fix to see if that works, if it doesn't I'm stuck with it until I can justify to my wife getting a new set. I am kind of hoping that the tube or something will go this year, after all the set is 5 years old, and that will be justification for a new set.
 
Non-now, let's be more positive :). First try JayCee's suggestion to make sure another DVD player does not fix the problem. If it does, you have a cheaper fix than a new telly. Even cheaper, try to swap cables around to see if an even cheaper fix is available.

If it is a problem with the TV, you can always ask an engineer what they think about fixing it. I don't believe, despite your wishes, that a Panasonic TV will give up the ghost in 4-5 years. I know that's not what you want to hear, but I am sure a lot of others do ;)

Finally, if you decide that you want another TV, make sure you find one you like before you kick the Panny out; you may find it harder than you think.
 

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