Panny PWD8 optimum FFDShow settings?

dinoprada2003

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Hello,

Just got my brand new panny PWD8 and am wondering what is the best res for DVD playback via my HCPC and FFDShow? Hence a couple of quick questions. :thumbsup:

1.)Native res of the panny is 852x480 would this be the idea res to set the panny to in power-strip in that case?

2.)For the FFDShow settings what should I scale to currently at 1440x
1152 for pal material? and 1440x960 for NTSC.

Cheers Guys,

DINO.
 
dinoprada2003 said:
Hello,

Just got my brand new panny PWD8 and am wondering what is the best res for DVD playback via my HCPC and FFDShow? Hence a couple of quick questions. :thumbsup:

1.)Native res of the panny is 852x480 would this be the idea res to set the panny to in power-strip in that case?

2.)For the FFDShow settings what should I scale to currently at 1440x
1152 for pal material? and 1440x960 for NTSC.

Cheers Guys,

DINO.

Hope you're as pleased with your Panny as I was!

1) Depending upon your graphics card you may find that even with Powerstrip getting a 852x480 resolution is impossible. It may tell you that the graphics card has accepted that resolution but actually Nvidia and ATI cards can only switch to horiz resolutions that are multiples of 8, i.e. 848 or 856. I personally use 848. Once the card is outputting this resolution you need to go into the size/position setup menu on the panny and fiddle about with the horiz and vertical size (dont worry about the position too much yet). Once you hit the 'sweetspot' you can see the display 'flick' into place, i.e. native resoultion. All your on screen text should be very clear and readable. Then use the position controls to centralise the image. There is a downloadable app which you can use to display a set of single pixel lines, this makes the whole process a lot easier.

2) Why would you want to use a resoultion other than the native one? You cannot make the final image any higher resolution than 852x480 (or 848x480) at the end of the day so why upscale just to downscale? I run all my apps at this resolution (848x480) and the PQ is excellent.

Boez
 
boez said:
Hope you're as pleased with your Panny as I was!

1) Depending upon your graphics card you may find that even with Powerstrip getting a 852x480 resolution is impossible. It may tell you that the graphics card has accepted that resolution but actually Nvidia and ATI cards can only switch to horiz resolutions that are multiples of 8, i.e. 848 or 856. I personally use 848. Once the card is outputting this resolution you need to go into the size/position setup menu on the panny and fiddle about with the horiz and vertical size (dont worry about the position too much yet). Once you hit the 'sweetspot' you can see the display 'flick' into place, i.e. native resoultion. All your on screen text should be very clear and readable. Then use the position controls to centralise the image. There is a downloadable app which you can use to display a set of single pixel lines, this makes the whole process a lot easier.

2) Why would you want to use a resoultion other than the native one? You cannot make the final image any higher resolution than 852x480 (or 848x480) at the end of the day so why upscale just to downscale? I run all my apps at this resolution (848x480) and the PQ is excellent.

Boez

Hello Boez,

Thanks for the reply.


1.)I switched to 852x480 with powerstrip which caused a lot of overscan so I adjusted picture position via power-strip is this the same thing as doing it via the panny? I.E correct

2.)Im confused I thought the idea of FFDSHOW was to scale to higher resoultions to improve picture quality?
 
True.... ffdshow can be used to scale up images and also sharpen then and improve quality. I have had excellent results with ffdshow and only watched with it enabled.

But like boez said. Why scale up to have it scaled down by the plasma. You only have 852x480 = 408960 pixels. Anything you scale past native resolutionto the screen will get resized to fit onto the available pixels the screen supports.

If you want a more common res perhaps try 1280x720. Resizing occurs I kow but it's practicaly a 50% resize so I think it adjust quite nicely and both ATI and Nvidia support it these days.

Bare in mind the plasma will resize it down again. but might help with getting it setup easier than finding 852x480 settings.
 
Tainted said:
True.... ffdshow can be used to scale up images and also sharpen then and improve quality. I have had excellent results with ffdshow and only watched with it enabled.

But like boez said. Why scale up to have it scaled down by the plasma. You only have 852x480 = 408960 pixels. Anything you scale past native resolutionto the screen will get resized to fit onto the available pixels the screen supports.

If you want a more common res perhaps try 1280x720. Resizing occurs I kow but it's practicaly a 50% resize so I think it adjust quite nicely and both ATI and Nvidia support it these days.

Bare in mind the plasma will resize it down again. but might help with getting it setup easier than finding 852x480 settings.

Hello and thank's Tainted,

Ok so common consensus is not to resise on my panny via FFDSHOW.Would that also then apply to my PJ? it's native is 1280x720? if so when would someone use resize then :confused:
 
Dino, no I would not use ffdshow for DVD's really nothing to resize upto on this screen. For any divx movies you have it's a must. With the right tweaking it can make a huge difference and something you can't live without.

For your PJ (??) go ahead play around with and by all means use it DVD can be upscaled and looked better with ffdshow do it's job here. I have a preset for ffdshow if you want. I have mine set to resize to 1280x720 with sharpen enable and it makes a noticeable difference on divx movies.

please explain what a PJ is?
 
Tainted said:
Dino, no I would not use ffdshow for DVD's really nothing to resize upto on this screen. For any divx movies you have it's a must. With the right tweaking it can make a huge difference and something you can't live without.

For your PJ (??) go ahead play around with and by all means use it DVD can be upscaled and looked better with ffdshow do it's job here. I have a preset for ffdshow if you want. I have mine set to resize to 1280x720 with sharpen enable and it makes a noticeable difference on divx movies.

please explain what a PJ is?

1.)It's good to know that DivX can be improved upon with FFDSHOW thanks for the tip :) PJ=Projector :D Ok well I'll take your good advice and use FFDSHOW resize for DivX and via my Projector only then.

2.)For getting my panel to display 852x480 am I doing it the right way via powerstrip? I cant seem to set it to 852x480 via powerstrip so that it' overscans and I can then do the image adjust with the pannys menu rather than powerstrips horizontal and vertical sync.It' just comes out at the correct Aspect ratio since I adjusted it originally the first time with powerstrip.

Cheer's

Dino.
 
dinoprada2003 said:
2.)For getting my panel to display 852x480 am I doing it the right way via powerstrip? I cant seem to set it to 852x480 via powerstrip so that it' overscans and I can then do the image adjust with the pannys menu rather than powerstrips horizontal and vertical sync.It' just comes out at the correct Aspect ratio since I adjusted it originally the first time with powerstrip.

I personally used Powerstrip to set the resolution to 848x480 and the horiz refresh rate to 50hz (otherwise I got terrible stutter on 50hz sources). I then used the panny set up to re-size and position. I've got native resolution with this approach (its so obvious when it kicks in!!) and I'm happy with PQ. I guess doing it all via Powerstrip may get just as good a PQ, I'll maybe try it one day.

BTW, as I said above, according to a post on avsforums (sorry cannot find reference) the graphics display hardware wont allow 852 horiz pixels (even though it says it does), but will switch to 848 or 856. Havent got round to counting them to see if this is true or not!!

Boez
 
boez said:
I personally used Powerstrip to set the resolution to 848x480 and the horiz refresh rate to 50hz (otherwise I got terrible stutter on 50hz sources). I then used the panny set up to re-size and position. I've got native resolution with this approach (its so obvious when it kicks in!!) and I'm happy with PQ. I guess doing it all via Powerstrip may get just as good a PQ, I'll maybe try it one day.

BTW, as I said above, according to a post on avsforums (sorry cannot find reference) the graphics display hardware wont allow 852 horiz pixels (even though it says it does), but will switch to 848 or 856. Havent got round to counting them to see if this is true or not!!

Boez


Thanks Boez,

Ok I did as you said changing res to 848x480 via powertrip and the panny to set up and resize the resulting image.

1.)But how do I set Power-Strip for 50hz refresh rate?

2.You mention that it's obvious when you get native res! but how can I tell I have? I mean it looks like 1024x769 to me but the text is clearer and the display is larger.
 
Lol! It sounds like you havent managed to get native resolution if you have to ask! Once you get it its so obvious you'll know. A line of text becomes pin sharp, no blurred edges (asumming you've not got clear type turned on). This sized text in the forum will be only one pixel wide.

Came across this thread in another section of avforums:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221274

Its talking about the PWD7 but thats not a problem. Mid way down there are settings and instructions for setting Powerstrip to a variety of resolutions.

Boez
 
boez said:
Lol! It sounds like you havent managed to get native resolution if you have to ask! Once you get it its so obvious you'll know. A line of text becomes pin sharp, no blurred edges (asumming you've not got clear type turned on). This sized text in the forum will be only one pixel wide.

Came across this thread in another section of avforums:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221274

Its talking about the PWD7 but thats not a problem. Mid way down there are settings and instructions for setting Powerstrip to a variety of resolutions.

Boez


Ok im a bit confused as to whether Iv'e done this right? but here is how I went about it.

First I set resoultion via Power-Strip to 856x480 then I did the following..

Power-Strip-Display Profiles-Configure-Advanced Timimng options

Then I copyied this exaclty as it is and pasted it in one go using the advanced timing options post button.

856x480=856,64,56,88,480,1,3,12,26386,2054

HFP=64 HSW=56 HBP=88 kHz=25 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=12 Hz=50

856x480 26.386 856 920 976 1064 480 481 484 496 -hsync -vsync

Is this correct? :confused:
 
dinoprada2003 said:
Ok im a bit confused as to whether Iv'e done this right? but here is how I went about it.

First I set resoultion via Power-Strip to 856x480 then I did the following..

Power-Strip-Display Profiles-Configure-Advanced Timimng options

Then I copyied this exaclty as it is and pasted it in one go using the advanced timing options post button.

856x480=856,64,56,88,480,1,3,12,26386,2054

HFP=64 HSW=56 HBP=88 kHz=25 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=12 Hz=50

856x480 26.386 856 920 976 1064 480 481 484 496 -hsync -vsync

Is this correct? :confused:

Sorry, didnt actually need to do it this way myself. I'll have a go tonight and report back :)
 
boez said:
Sorry, didnt actually need to do it this way myself. I'll have a go tonight and report back :)


Thank's Boez :smashin:
 
I think alot of people make out getting 1:1 mapping is a lot harder than it actually is, I agree with Boez, just enter the standard vesa timings for 852x480 and then adjust the Horizontal and Vertical size using the plasma adjustments whilst the Nokia Test pattern is on screen till you see it snap into place. Do it for 59.94 first and then 50Hz.
You will find that there is zero overscan which may cause problems, is there an option to zoom the image out slightly? 4% should be enough.
 
gizlaroc said:
I think alot of people make out getting 1:1 mapping is a lot harder than it actually is, I agree with Boez, just enter the standard vesa timings for 852x480 and then adjust the Horizontal and Vertical size using the plasma adjustments whilst the Nokia Test pattern is on screen till you see it snap into place. Do it for 59.94 first and then 50Hz.
You will find that there is zero overscan which may cause problems, is there an option to zoom the image out slightly? 4% should be enough.


Gizlaroc,

Ok enter the timings via powerstrip for 852x480 but what nokia test pattern? are you refering to mate.I dont have one? just the Pc's background as the image to adjust.
 
http://freepctech.com/rode/004.shtml

There is this really cool webpage on the interweb called Goggle, you can type crazy things in a box like "Nokia test pattern" and it gives you a list of places you can get it! ;) :)
 
I would suggest that anyone using an LCD monitor runs this too and adjusts the size/position and clock phase to get their monitor 1:1 mapped too, you may not even realise it is out.
 
gizlaroc said:
http://freepctech.com/rode/004.shtml

There is this really cool webpage on the interweb called Goggle, you can type crazy things in a box like "Nokia test pattern" and it gives you a list of places you can get it! ;) :)

Lol thanks I didnt know I needed it till you mentioned it! :D
 
You don't need it but it makes it really obvious when you are 1:1 mapped.
The internal scaler on the Panny makes the picture look alot softer than if you go straight in and bypass it, this pattern helps you acheive this.
 
Ok dinoprada2003 got a chance to try out those timing parameters last night. Its fairly straight forward. You say you managed to get them into Powerstrip (I presume you cut the setting from this forum and clicked the paste from clipboard on the Powerstrip main screen?). I did this and after being asked to reboot for some reason I cant remember at the moment(!) it was added to my custom resolutions. I then used the slider at the top of the main screen to get to the 856x480 resolution and clicked apply. Voila.

Gizlaroc's advice on the test pattern generator is also very valuable cos as has been said a couple of times on this thread, once you hit 1:1 mapping you'll know! So..



1) Get powerstrip to set up the 856x480 @ 50Hz display.

(actually the 50Hz is not too important at the moment - just aim for 1:1, you can repeat this process at 50Hz later as once you've done it once you'll see how straight forward it is).

You may find that the plasma is now fuzzy and offset - dont panic! We'll correct that next.



2) Run the test pattern generator and select the option to generate vertical, single pixel pin stripe pattern. Look how fuzzy it is!



3) Run your setup menu on the Panny, the "Size/Pos" one on the remote.



4) Move the Horiz size (not position!) slider all the way from left to right and back again (you cant break it!) using the remote. At one point the pixels will magically jump into place! If this doesnt happen then something is wrong - so repeat from 1. Note that some 'noise' may still be seen but that can be removed later with the trigger edge(?) slider (from memory this is the last slider on that screen).



5) Change the display to the horizontal test pin stripe pattern and repeat (4) using the Vert size slider.



6) Remove any noise. See (4)



7) Position the screen centrally with the horiz and vert position sliders
(carefull not to knock the size sliders!).



8) Recheck (4) and (5) with the test patterns.



9) Exit setup menu and test pattern generator.



Phew, sit back and enjoy no internal scaler!!!



It really is worth the effort to achieve this as the display is much, much sharper. Just make sure you use applications to play DVD's/watch TV etc that dont change the screen resoultion!!!

Finally, you can check the frequency of the signal being received by the plasma in the 'set up' menu from the remote, just click on the Signal option. It will show you the horiz and vert frequencies. Look in your Panny handbook.

Finally, finally, this is all from memory so I hope I've mentioned everything!

Boez
 
boez said:
Ok dinoprada2003 got a chance to try out those timing parameters last night. Its fairly straight forward. You say you managed to get them into Powerstrip (I presume you cut the setting from this forum and clicked the paste from clipboard on the Powerstrip main screen?). I did this and after being asked to reboot for some reason I cant remember at the moment(!) it was added to my custom resolutions. I then used the slider at the top of the main screen to get to the 856x480 resolution and clicked apply. Voila.

Gizlaroc's advice on the test pattern generator is also very valuable cos as has been said a couple of times on this thread, once you hit 1:1 mapping you'll know! So..



1) Get powerstrip to set up the 856x480 @ 50Hz display.

(actually the 50Hz is not too important at the moment - just aim for 1:1, you can repeat this process at 50Hz later as once you've done it once you'll see how straight forward it is).

You may find that the plasma is now fuzzy and offset - dont panic! We'll correct that next.



2) Run the test pattern generator and select the option to generate vertical, single pixel pin stripe pattern. Look how fuzzy it is!



3) Run your setup menu on the Panny, the "Size/Pos" one on the remote.



4) Move the Horiz size (not position!) slider all the way from left to right and back again (you cant break it!) using the remote. At one point the pixels will magically jump into place! If this doesnt happen then something is wrong - so repeat from 1. Note that some 'noise' may still be seen but that can be removed later with the trigger edge(?) slider (from memory this is the last slider on that screen).



5) Change the display to the horizontal test pin stripe pattern and repeat (4) using the Vert size slider.



6) Remove any noise. See (4)



7) Position the screen centrally with the horiz and vert position sliders
(carefull not to knock the size sliders!).



8) Recheck (4) and (5) with the test patterns.



9) Exit setup menu and test pattern generator.



Phew, sit back and enjoy no internal scaler!!!



It really is worth the effort to achieve this as the display is much, much sharper. Just make sure you use applications to play DVD's/watch TV etc that dont change the screen resoultion!!!

Finally, you can check the frequency of the signal being received by the plasma in the 'set up' menu from the remote, just click on the Signal option. It will show you the horiz and vert frequencies. Look in your Panny handbook.

Finally, finally, this is all from memory so I hope I've mentioned everything!

Boez


Boez,

Wow! thanks boez will try tonight and post progress.

1.)Ok for step (2) the vertical pixel pin stripe pattern are you talking about the one that is the main menu?

2.)For step (4) Horizontal pin stripe pattern is that the one with a white bar and a black background??

Just want to make sure im reading from the same page before I start! :smashin:
 
dinoprada2003 said:
Boez,

Wow! thanks boez will try tonight and post progress.

1.)Ok for step (2) the vertical pixel pin stripe pattern are you talking about the one that is the main menu?

2.)For step (4) Horizontal pin stripe pattern is that the one with a white bar and a black background??

Just want to make sure im reading from the same page before I start! :smashin:

From the Nokia application main page there are a number of 'TV' screens just below the black and white bars and above the current screen resolution indicator. You want the 3rd one along. When the pin strip screen comes up a left mouse click swaps between single and double pixel width bars, a right mouse click takes you to the next pattern, i.e. horizontal bars.

Boez
 
I thought 1280 x 720 @ 50hz was the best res to feed a PWD8 from a PC?
 
Walter Sobchak said:
I thought 1280 x 720 @ 50hz was the best res to feed a PWD8 from a PC?

Well the native resolution of the PWD8 is 852x480 so if you dont want the internal scaler to kick in then feed it this. It is generally accepted that bypassing the internal scaler by using a HTPC or a standalone external scaler is the way to go. At least I'm happy with this route! The refresh rate should match the source material you are watching.
 
Hornydragon said that the PWD8 actually looks better when fed a 720p feed. I know PAL is 60hz and NTSC is 50Hz, how do you find out what the refresh rate for divx xvid clips is?
 

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