Panny TH50PHD8 Colour banding question

Madders

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Hi Guys,

I'm considering getting one of these but my biggest bugbear with the PW6 I used to own was the colour banding. Can any owners of this or the 42" version let me know if this has been improved 2 generations on?

Also, can I just hook a scaler (HD Leeza) straight into this screen and bypass all Panny scaling.

Thanks,
Steve
 
The colour banding on the PW6 was quite noticebale, however on my HD6 it is virtually non existent. I will have my 50PHD8 on the wall this afternoon so I will let you know how that compares.

Yeah hooking the Leeza up at 1024x768/50/60 will be fine, you just adjust the H and V size to get it to snap in and bypass the internal processing.
 
can't see any banding on the 50PHD8 either!. :smashin:

Also, just been to my mates, he has just sent his Hitachi 6600 back and got the PW8 and there soesn't seem to be any banding on that either, also the scart input looks alot sharper going into the 8 series compared with before.
He is really impressed with the PW8, he said he didn't realise the problems the Hitachi had until he sat in front of the PW8.
 
No where near as good as my 42PHD6! :(

But I won't judge until I have given it a few hours to bed in, but first impressions seem as if it is not as analogue like if that makes sense.
 
One thing I will say is there is absolutely no fan noise, and even with my ear against the glass no buzzing at all.
I can hear something when I put my ear behind the panel, but that is never going to happen.
That is obviouly in the room with only the panel on.
 
give it a couple of days to settle in. :)
hopefully, it should be a step forward, not backward.
looking forward to hear more impressions. also interested to hear if you manage native res on hdmi/dvi cards in 50hz, if you've bought any of those.
 
gizlaroc said:
No where near as good as my 42PHD6! :(

But I won't judge until I have given it a few hours to bed in, but first impressions seem as if it is not as analogue like if that makes sense.

I thought you were joking! :eek:
 
Ok, left it on around 2.30 and just got back in now, 7.30pm, and it is looking alot better already, it is looking more like the 6 series now and has lost that digital fizz. I was a bit worried as if it had stayed like that it would have had to go, so a big sigh of relief! :)

I have a DVI board, seems that it likes more resolutions than the HDMI board so I will have a play over the next couple of days.
 
gizlaroc,

Can you tell us what other equipment and connections you have with panel ? I'm particularly interested in this model and am looking to blow some obscene amounts of dosh on the best kit.... :thumbsup:
 
@gizlaroc, I'm very interested in the results of your native resolution experiments... :D

A side question: What viewing distance did you like best with your old 42" and which do you like best with your new 50"?
 
madshi said:
@gizlaroc, I'm very interested in the results of your native resolution experiments... :D
Likewise on the native resolution via DVI question... I'll be very disappointed if it won't do 1366 x 768 via a digital connection...
 
1366x768 with 60Hz should be no problem. But 1366x768 with 50Hz? Hmmm...
 
madshi said:
1366x768 with 60Hz should be no problem...
You would think so, but it has been reported as not working on another thread...
 
Phil,

I am using a Crystalio scaler, sdi sky box and sdi philips 963 dvd player.
This is going abck top the screen with DVI and RGBhv to the 5 bnc board.


OK I had a bit of a play last night with the DVI input, set it up with the Pixel magic disc to get 1:1 mapping and with the preinstalled settings for the 50PHD6 that is built into the Crystalio, this is obviously at 60Hz, and all I had to do was adjust the position and cloock phase. Easy! :)

I spent just under an hour last night trying to get the DVI to look as good as RGBhv, I just couldn't do it. Black detail was lost compared to the RGB, and the whites seemed to look more digital, that sort of annoying tizz you get on cheaper plasmas.
As I was using the Crystalio I could switch between RGBhv and DVI really quickly and it was obvious the analogue is so much better than DVI.

On the Samsung LCD I tried the DVI was so much better than analogue, but I still think that hdmi/dvi is a crappy interface.
I am sure the people who designed HDMI sat there and thought "lets come up with an all in one digital solution that includes hi-def copy protection" and not "Let's come up with a new interface that beats analogue at every level quality wise!".

I quickly tried 720p at 50Hz and didn't have any joy with that, but to be honest by that point I had lost all interest in the digital input so didn't persue past the preset 720p/50 built into the scaler. Same with 1080i @ 50Hz.

For now I Just don't think anthing can beat the analogue inputs, they are that good on the Panny, also lack of native res makes the digital inputs useless anyway, the difference between getting it 1:1 mapped and not quite (ie inputting native but not adjusting the size so it snaps in) is very apparent.
 
So would you say with a HDP and a PHD8 its worth getting the additional component out BNC board and output to the VGA(Component) or a component card on the panel?
 
Guy,

Do you know if the Crystalio is outputting 14bit resolution over DVI? Perhaps the DVI spec. doesn't even allow this? I guess internally Panasonic can make full use of the 14bits when converting Analogue to Digital to drive the display?
Just thinking aloud!

Guy, have you noticed any problems with black level fluctuations? From what I have read the 50 is better than the 42 in this respect anyway. This is currently my only concern with the Panny. (Sorry for wrong thread.)

Cheers,

Chris
 
madshi said:
The problem is that with BluRay + HD-DVD analog is no go.

Officially yeah! But that won't stop anyone. ;)


Saltrock said:
So would you say with a HDP and a PHD8 its worth getting the additional component out BNC board and output to the VGA(Component) or a component card on the panel?

Definitely, or even just go out VGA to the VGA on the panel.

Treworgey said:
Guy,

Do you know if the Crystalio is outputting 14bit resolution over DVI? Perhaps the DVI spec. doesn't even allow this? I guess internally Panasonic can make full use of the 14bits when converting Analogue to Digital to drive the display?
Just thinking aloud!

Guy, have you noticed any problems with black level fluctuations? From what I have read the 50 is better than the 42 in this respect anyway. This is currently my only concern with the Panny. (Sorry for wrong thread.)

Cheers,

Chris

I don't know mate, I wouldn't have thought it is, however I would have thought that was more to do with banding than anything, that didn't seem to be too much of a problem, the image just didn't look right. If you had never seen analogue it probably wouldn't bother you, but I have been looking at analogue on a Panny PHD6 for a while now so notice straight away when something is not as good.

No Black level fluctuations at all as far as I can see, seems rock solid, I saw it straight away on the 42PHD7.
 
You need a VGA-5BNC cable yeah. Your link doesn't work but I think you are meaning the Supra vga-bnc cable.
 
gizlaroc said:
You need a VGA-5BNC cable yeah. Your link doesn't work but I think you are meaning the Supra vga-bnc cable.
Links work now ;)

Would there be any difference in pq if I got a component board, instead of using the vga-input?
 
No not really, the best one to get is the RGBhv board with 5 BNC connectors on it.
Then get a 5 bnc to 5 bnc cable made up using Belden 75ohm cable and Canare crimped plugs.
May not look any better but you know you have a good connection so you won't be wondering, what if....?
 
gizlaroc said:
No not really, the best one to get is the RGBhv board with 5 BNC connectors on it.
Then get a 5 bnc to 5 bnc cable made up using Belden 75ohm cable and Canare crimped plugs.
May not look any better but you know you have a good connection so you won't be wondering, what if....?
If there isn't any difference (except for the natural "what if" doubt) I will save the money on a RGBhv board and stick with the supra cable. :)
 

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