alistaln
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Pioneer PDP Plasma 434/435/436/504/505/506 - HDE/SXE/RXE/FDE/XDE - Frequently Asked Questions
Use THREAD TOOLS => SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THREAD to get updates when the FAQ is changed.
Happy to cover other Pioneer plasmas - just send me a personal message with updates.
Many people's comments in existing posts and direct to me have helped to make this FAQ what it is - so my thanks go out to these folk: Gordon @ Convergent AV, TheDoctor, damo_in_Sale, Reaperman, TrevorG, Deepcore, lyserman, Piers, jakal, zmaster007, StooMonster, Mighty Chipster, choddo 2006, gizlaroc, bix, huntere, mateybloke, Neil Fellows, andymyles, mmahmed, sikenny, p203557, JackMan, Attu, sbowler, Dave-S, Seek, dthong, k0rn, loalq, blossom, sathelp, en6jwrs2, mateybloke, chedmaster, k0rn, TekHousE, PDP-434HDE, MAW, Jeffers01, JenSh, coolbox, churchwa, fredman2005, allgabi, allenweeden, MJG1985, netherne.
General Model/Purchase Questions
Q: When did these models come out?
A: Pioneer series 5 (435/505) released in UK in Sept 2004. Pioneer series 6 (436/506) released in Sept 2005. The 436 RXE/SXE were released in early 2006.
Q: When are the next models coming out?
A: Upcoming:
A: 60,000+ hours in the Series 5 models (i.e. approximately 13 years @ 12 hours/day). This means that after this time the screen will go to about 50% brightness.
Q: How does the SXE/RXE differ from the FDE/XDE? How can I decide between them?
A: As follows:
Picture Quality
The plasma screens are the same.
For the FDE/XDE you need to buy a separated speaker set. The RXE/SXE both have integrated speakers.
Connections
The SXE/RXE is an all-in-one panel with connections on the panel itself. The XDE/FDE comes with a separate receiver box (see below) that connects to the plasma with a dual cable. In other words, the SXE/RXE has all the cables plugged into the back of it. The FDE/XDE have all the cables plugged into the receiver box, which then connects to the plasma using a dual-cable. This means that the FDE/XDE when wall mounted only needs the dual-cable feed + a power cable. This is why the RXE/SXE is a box that is designed for use with the stand and not wall mounting.
A quick summary would look like this for the 6 Series:
A: The number of connections and thus the number of options. If you look at the pictures below you will see that the SXE has a Digital tuner and a digital audio optical out, for example.
Photos of the front connections for the RXE and SXE are the same and are shown here.
Photos of the RXE rear connections are here and here.
Photos of the SXE rear connections are here and here.
Q: What is the difference between the FDE and the XDE?
A: The difference is in the media receiver box that connects to the panel. The media box for the XDE is the PDP-R06XE and for the FDE is the PDP-R06FE. The XDE has more connections and thus supports more options (e.g. XDE has digital tuner, supports display of photos on a memory card via Home Gallery).
Pictures showing connections of the PDP-R06XE are here and here. Pictures of the PDP-R06FE showing connections are here and here.
Q: Do Pioneer provide any online manuals?
A: Yes:
Buying New and Second Hand
Q: Where can I get a new Pioneer cheap?
A: Have a look at my post here. This one shows stores not matched by John Lewis Reading on that specific day, and as such indicates stores that deliver low prices via the web.
Note that LE Concepts give a total of 3 years warranty I think and John Lewis give a total of 5 years.
Also beware of scams as indicated in the thread here.
Q: I have an opportunity to buy a model second-hand - what do you think?
A:You need to find out the following information:
Running In, Screen Settings, Retention, and Screen Burn
Q: How long do I run it in for?
A: Between 200 and 500 hours. Some folk at Pioneer have been stating 1000 hours
Q: How can I see how many hours I've watched it?
A: You need to use the installer menu - see later section.
Q: I hear loads of bad things about screen retention or burn in these plasmas - what is the situation?
A: Screen burn is permanent damage. Screen retention is temporary and is due to pixels still holding charge that needs to be released. Burn is very rare on any plasma - Pioneer included.
Three things seem to have been causing retention problems:
Q: What does Pioneer say about screen retention?
Pioneer give the same advice to 436/506 FDE/XDE/RXE/SXE owners.
Taken direct from page 7 of the XDE manual it says:
A: Check the rear of the panel for a small sticker.
Q: If I suffer screen retention - what can I do?
A: Don't Panic! Run a snow channel on your screen, ideally overnight whilst you're in bed. A snow channel is an analogue channel tuned to get only the fast moving white dots onto the black background. This is how:
Q: Should I run the panel in?
A: Yes. It prolongs the life of the plasma and makes it less likely to have problems.
Q: But someone in my house complains that the run-in settings make it look absolutely rubbish and too dark!
A: So run the snow screen (or a channel without a fixed image/logo/DOG) overnight or during the day to get through the first few hundred hours faster.
Q: So what are the shipping settings and recommended run-in settings?
A: It is likely that the box is delivered with settings like Contrast at 40 The recommendation is to run the box in using these settings. Items in RED are the most important. Be warned that EACH INPUT SOURCE WILL NEED TO BE SET SEPARATELY! That means do this for INPUT1, then do it for INPUT2, and so on. These are also contained in an attached text file to this post.
Note that you have profiles for STANDARD, DYNAMIC, MOVIE, GAME, and USER (as well as ISF DAY and ISF NIGHT for ISF calibration). If you change the defaults of STANDARD, DYNAMIC, MOVIE, & GAME - these will be changed for all inputs simultaneously. However, we recommend that you change those for USER, which is what they are designed for - USER configuration - and if you do this, you need to change the settings for all of your inputs separately. This is important to remember. Note that it is unlikely that ISF DAY and ISF NIGHT will be used by whosoever does your ISF calibration due to some limitations in these modes, and so it's likely that your calibration guy will use the USER modes anyway.
The following recommendations also seem useful during running in, but your mileage may vary:
Q: What settings could I change after running in for 200+ hours?
A: You can slowly alter your settings as you use the box more (i.e. you could slowly adjust settings every hundred hours or so). Exact choices depend on the light settings for your room and how your sources output to your box. Everyone has different settings. Recommending how to setup your box for your specific house doesn't really work. You really need to use a DVE disk yourself (cheaper) or get someone in to do a professional ISF callibration (more expensive) - for more details see the GENERAL PLASMA FAQ
However, there are discussions running round on how to set things up, so these are included here for information only. Things that forum folk have changed after runnning are as follows - but there is no guarantee these will look good in your room :
Q: Hang on! What about Dynamic Contrast? Can I turn that on?
A: Errrr...no. This setting is to make it look very bright in a large shop filled with fluorescent tube lighting. Folk recommend that you calibrate with a DVD (or ISF) or adjust other settings other than this one.
Q: Can I use a product to "wash away" screen retention?
A: See details in this thread
Picture Quality
Q: Tell me about how I can try and calibrate this myself without going to the expense of ISF?
A: Your options are:
Q: All these manual settings are too much hard work! If I wanted to pay someone to ISF calibrate my display to get the best out of my sources and light levels in my room - what sort of cost am I looking at and when can it be done?
A: Average price from the forums seems to be between £250 to £300 including travelling expenses. More details in the GENERAL PLASMA FAQ. You can get it done any time after the running in period.
Note that the FDE/XDE have "ISF day" and "ISF night" modes as user selectable "picture modes" once they have been set up by an ISF calibration technician. However, you do not have to use the ISF Day / ISF night modes, and a number of UK calibration folk steer away from them. All Pioneer plasma's can be ISF calibrated to highly accurate standards with no reference to the ISF modes at all. This is why there is nothing stopping an ISF tech calibrating the other modes (even modes on the SXE/RXE) but they obviously won't say "ISF day" or "ISF night".
Q: I'm seeing DVD judder / scrolling text ticker tapes with interlace lines through it making it unreadable / seeing a slowdown effect on things like Football - how do I fix this?
A: This relates to Pure Cinema settings. In the normal course of events, Pure Cinema should be OFF (for progressive source) & STANDARD (for interlaced source). If you see scrolling text with interlaced lines, try switching to one of these settings. Also make sure you're using the 100Hz screen refresh setting below.
However, in certain cases, you can set the Pure Cinema setting to ADV (Advanced) as it is likely to stop judder with NTSC DVDs (and won't effect PAL anyway and so is effectively off).
Pure Cinema essentially automatically detects a film-based source (originally encoded at 24 frames/second), analyses it, then recreates each still film frame for high-definition picture quality. Settings are as follows:
Q: I have dead pixels - can I get the screen replaced?
A: Quote from XDE instruction manual (page 8):
Q: I have a Set Top Box and a SCART and the picture isn't very good - what can I do?
A: Try an RGB-enabled SCART, setting the screen input to RGB, and setting your set top box to output RGB.
For Sky:
A: First, you have to go through the receiver. It is not possible to bypass the receiver box and try and drive the panel directly via the DVI - there was a thread on this here.
You essentially have two choices:
If you use the other inputs, you will be subject to the fact that the XDE receiver box overscans images by 5% from all inputs, except analogue-VGA, so you lose the edge of the screen. Thus none of these offer pixel perfect options. Overscan is not adjustable - this is a hardware limitation. If you want to eliminate overscan, you need to change the output resolution from your graphics card. To do that depends on your graphics card as to how you can fix this:
Q: My Windows XP Media Centre Edition (MCE) PC / Home Theatre PC (HTPC) is looking bad (motion blurring and/or lag) when it outputs to the plasma - what can I do?
A: Your MCE may be defaulting to 60Hz and you need to force it to 50Hz. First make sure it's setup in PowerStrip to 50Hz. You could also try an MCE Customiser to force it to 50Hz. Alternatively you could try this Registry hack here.
Q: I'm seeing motion blurring on fast moving scenes from my XBOX360 - can I fix it?
A: This is part of the game. It's a special effect written into the code to make it seem more realistic. Honestly. Don't ask us why, but they did it on purpose.
Q: Anyone seen a rainbow effect on their plasma?
A: See this thread here.
[Q: For Pioneer 435 owners only - Screen covered with marks??? - Poll
A: See this thread and poll here
Connectivity Questions
Q: What options do I have for the cable between Media Receiver and Panel?
A: Pioneer produce four cables that provide both MDR & DVI-Dtogether. They are:
Some Wireworld examples are available from places like this.
Some BetterCables examples are available from places like this.
To find others, just do a search for DVI MDR cables using a search engine. There is no reason why you can't buy these cables separately if you like.
Q: Do I need an expensive HDMI cable to get the best quality out of this plasma?
A: No. It's a digital signal. If the 1s and 0s get through, then they get through. TV editing and the like doesn't user uber-quality cable to transmit digital bits around. The standard lead that comes with your DVD player or SkyHD should be perfectly fine. If you want to get a cable with a custom length, take a look at Mark Grant for cables.
Q: How can I connect XBOX360 to my Plasma?
A: There is an article in the Pioneer Customer Services FAQ - the link is in the last question in this FAQ.
Please remember to use GAME mode when playing games, and the recommendation is to limit to less than 2 hours at a time during running in.
Q: What video component lead will match this panel?
A: Try a Mark Grant component lead or see the forums area for connections and leads.
Q: I want to use more than one component lead. Does the XDE take component via VGA? I'd like to plug a component lead in via a VGA converter. Can it do 720p this way?
A: VGA-PC only and not 720p (which is supported from component and HDMI only). Why not get a component video switch (either via an AV amp or standalone from somewhere like John Sim who does an automatic one).
Installer Menus & System Settings
CAVEAT: Many people recommend not even entering the installer menu as you can make your plasma inoperable. Unless you know exactly what you are doing - change nothing.
Q: How can I access the installer menu?
A: Bring up the information service-installers screen as follows:
Q: How can I see the hours used?
A: Access the installer menu main page and press up/down to get to the hours usage display.
Q: Can you tell me about firmware in the plasma and how it gets updated?
A: You can tell your current firmware version from the installer menu first screen by looking at the item called MAIN, which is the software version. The version most recently known about is 58 on a 505XDE (as of 7th April 2006) or MAIN -05E = 01E on a 506XDE (as of 16th April 2006). Anyone who has a higher version on any panel - please Private Mail me the details and I'll update the FAQ.
Your plasma will attempt to download updates to itself over the air using the aerial, so if one is not connected, this will never happen. If an aerial is connected, then it updates according to this schedule page here, if there are any updates scheduled for Pioneer. If no aerial is connected, then it will log the number of times it tried to download any updates (or check for updates) in the installer's screens.
The way the Pioneer works with updates is to delete it's current software, attempt a download, and if it fails then you have no original software to return to. This means you will have a non-functional device and need Pioneer to help by having a Pioneer engineer bring round a PC and upload new firmware.
Q: How can I do a factory reset?
A: Home Menu => Setup => DTV Setup => Installation => Restore System Defaults => OK.
General Questions
Q: What is the Sky code for controlling the Pioneer 435 / 436 / 505 / 506 with the Sky remote?
A: The code is 0194. For instructions on how to apply the code - see here.
Q: I want to display photos on my Pioneer using the Home Gallery option. What do I need to do?
A: First, you need an XDE and not an FDE as the receiver box for the XDE is the one with the right slot for the PCMCIA card reader you need to buy.
Second, buy and insert a PCMCIA type-2 card adapter that functions as a memory card reader into the receiver box. The PCMCIA card reader must support the memory card media your camera can use In other words if your digital camera uses SmartMedia, buy a PCMCIA device that you can put the SmartMedia card into. These are some recommendations (but this isn't an exclusive list):
The best bet is to shrink your photos to a max resolution of 4.3MP (i.e. a max of 2400 x 1800) on the card before you try to display them.
More here from Pioneer (if link fails try the link in this last question in the FAQ to get there).
Q: What about if I have a fault with my power supply (i.e. a loud bang and the screen going dead or similar)?
A: This should be replaced free of charge under a lifetime warranty. Some people outside of the UK have complained of faulty power supply problems - more info on this thread here.
Q: Anyone having tuner/EPG problems?
A: Discussion on this thread here.
Q: How do the aspect ratios work - the manual isn't clear?
A: FULL is normal 16:9 whereas WIDE stretches 4:3 sources to 16:9 size, but progressively stretches the picture (i.e. stretches less in the middle but more to the sides) and zooms in a little bit.
Q: Why when I select 720p in my DVD player connected via HDMI does my Pioneer say 750p in the info banner? Same with 1080i showing 1125i? Same with 576i showing 625i?
A: You're not getting extra resolution, this relates to the hidden lines of data that are being added to the number.
Q: There is a GREY side mask in 4:3 mode. Can you explain why the side mask bars are grey?
A: The grey side bars prevent image retention and screen burn. If the side bars were black (i.e. no burn at all) there would be uneven wear across the screen and you would end up with the 4:3 section having more wear and hence more burn than the edges.
If you want a worse idea, try changing from FIXED (i.e. grey) to AUTO in the menus. This will replicate an inch wide strip from either side of the 4:3 picture in monochrome continually to the edge of the screen
Q: If I have a plasma with one HDMI input (like the 505XDE) - how can I get more HDMI inputs?
A: Buy an HDMI switch (see this thread here discussing them for SkyHD) or an AV amplifier/receiver that has HDMI inputs and an output to the screen.
Q: Is there any danger to the panel if I clean it with different types of cloth?
A: Yes you can scratch it. On "piano black" screens this is noticable. To make sure that this never happens, get a MicroFibre cloth (like the one made by 3M) from Tescos (or similar), costing less than £5. Most folk seem to replace the supplied cloth with one of these. Use the cloth dry. Washing the cloth regularly to get rid of dirt, is all that seems to be needed. You could also go with Monster cleaning solution and the like if you really wanted to, but the following comes straight from the manual:
Q: Occasionally my screen clicks - is this a problem?
A: This appears to be thermal expansion/contraction of components and depends on heating in the room. Consensus is this isn't a problem. See here for an example thread.
Q: I can hear some small noises from my plasma/receiver - is this normal?
A: From page 8 of the PDP506XDE manual:
Q: I can hear a very annoying ringing/buzzing background sound when my panel is on - what can I do?
A: This sounds like (no pun intended) it is the coils resonating. You may need a new power supply. Contact Pioneer.
Q: Can I change the input names from INPUT1, INPUT2, INPUT3, etc.
A: Not as far as we can tell.
Q: I have an analogue and a digital tuner in my Pioneer receiver box but can't get Free to Air Digital TV channels (e.g. Freeview in the UK) to work at all. Normal analogue TV works fine (i.e. channels 1 to 5 in the UK), but tuning to Freeview gives me 0% on all frequencies, and thus can't find any channels. What am I doing wrong?
A: If you can only get analogue channels only, then your cabling is almost certainly wrong. Check the manual for wiring of the antenna - this is an easy step to get wrong without checking that page.
On boxes with a digital tuner, there is an RF in for the digital + an RF-out to the analogue-RF-in for analogue as well. Do not plug your aerial feed straight into the analogue RF input Put the RF lead into the digital RF-input then from the digital RF-output wire another lead to the analog RF-input
Q: Can you clarify how Picture-in-Picture (PiP)works?
A: PiP is all about displaying two pictures side by side (Left and Right) on the screen, or displaying one image full size, and one very small in the bottom right corner of the screen. PiP tends to work on the following combinations:
A: It is possible to get round this and use PiP with TWO external sources, by essentially "tricking" the TV into thinking Input1 is one of the internal sources. You do this by setting Input1 as Analogue TV and then can use PiP with any other external input and DTV together, but not with another Analogue TV channel.
To set this up, one of the sources has to be INPUT1, and the other doesn't matter. Do the following:
Do this by pressing the Splitscreen button (probably just below and left of button 0 on the remote) and then use the button to the next of it to swap the split screens. Then you can choose one of the other input sources for the image if you wish by pressing the input source button.
Q: I get this error "'Aerial short circuited turn off DC and check cables'" - what can I do?
A: Turn off the Aerial power in the settings menu.
Q: Where can I find my serial numbers?
A: The serial numbers for registration & support for most panels can be found both on the screen (rear and top) and - if you have one - on the media receiver box (rear and inside silver front panel).
Q: I NEED MORE HELP! Is there anywhere else that has other useful FAQ information that might help me further?
A: Some FAQ answers are available via Pioneer Customer Services here.
Use THREAD TOOLS => SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THREAD to get updates when the FAQ is changed.
Happy to cover other Pioneer plasmas - just send me a personal message with updates.
Many people's comments in existing posts and direct to me have helped to make this FAQ what it is - so my thanks go out to these folk: Gordon @ Convergent AV, TheDoctor, damo_in_Sale, Reaperman, TrevorG, Deepcore, lyserman, Piers, jakal, zmaster007, StooMonster, Mighty Chipster, choddo 2006, gizlaroc, bix, huntere, mateybloke, Neil Fellows, andymyles, mmahmed, sikenny, p203557, JackMan, Attu, sbowler, Dave-S, Seek, dthong, k0rn, loalq, blossom, sathelp, en6jwrs2, mateybloke, chedmaster, k0rn, TekHousE, PDP-434HDE, MAW, Jeffers01, JenSh, coolbox, churchwa, fredman2005, allgabi, allenweeden, MJG1985, netherne.
General Model/Purchase Questions
Q: When did these models come out?
A: Pioneer series 5 (435/505) released in UK in Sept 2004. Pioneer series 6 (436/506) released in Sept 2005. The 436 RXE/SXE were released in early 2006.
Q: When are the next models coming out?
A: Upcoming:
- Pioneer PDP-5000EX: There is a £5,000 new 50" coming out around July with a 1920x1080 native resolution at 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. It will be display only (i.e. no built in tuner). The official press release is here.
- PDP-507HX (1365x768) - stand model with integral connections and tuners (no seperate box) - details here. Expected in the UK in October 2006.
- PDP-427HX (1024x768) - stand model with integral connections and tuners (no seperate box) - details here. Expected in the UK in October 2006.
- It is expected that there will be a 42"/43" model supporting 1080p natively coming in mid-2007.
A: 60,000+ hours in the Series 5 models (i.e. approximately 13 years @ 12 hours/day). This means that after this time the screen will go to about 50% brightness.
Q: How does the SXE/RXE differ from the FDE/XDE? How can I decide between them?
A: As follows:
Picture Quality
The plasma screens are the same.
- 50" FDE/XDE is the same display
- 43" RXE/SXE/FDE/XDE all use the same display so the image quality is exactly the same.
For the FDE/XDE you need to buy a separated speaker set. The RXE/SXE both have integrated speakers.
Connections
The SXE/RXE is an all-in-one panel with connections on the panel itself. The XDE/FDE comes with a separate receiver box (see below) that connects to the plasma with a dual cable. In other words, the SXE/RXE has all the cables plugged into the back of it. The FDE/XDE have all the cables plugged into the receiver box, which then connects to the plasma using a dual-cable. This means that the FDE/XDE when wall mounted only needs the dual-cable feed + a power cable. This is why the RXE/SXE is a box that is designed for use with the stand and not wall mounting.
A quick summary would look like this for the 6 Series:
- XDE - Seperate Media Box - Digital & Analogue Tuner - 2 HDMI - no speakers
- FDE - Seperate Media Box - Analogue Tuner - 1 HDMI - no speakers
- SXE - Connections built in - Digital & Analogue Tuner - 1 HDMI - integral 13w speakers
- RXE - Connections built in - Analogue Tuner - 1 HDMI - integral 13w speakers
A: The number of connections and thus the number of options. If you look at the pictures below you will see that the SXE has a Digital tuner and a digital audio optical out, for example.
Photos of the front connections for the RXE and SXE are the same and are shown here.
Photos of the RXE rear connections are here and here.
Photos of the SXE rear connections are here and here.
Q: What is the difference between the FDE and the XDE?
A: The difference is in the media receiver box that connects to the panel. The media box for the XDE is the PDP-R06XE and for the FDE is the PDP-R06FE. The XDE has more connections and thus supports more options (e.g. XDE has digital tuner, supports display of photos on a memory card via Home Gallery).
Pictures showing connections of the PDP-R06XE are here and here. Pictures of the PDP-R06FE showing connections are here and here.
Q: Do Pioneer provide any online manuals?
A: Yes:
Buying New and Second Hand
Q: Where can I get a new Pioneer cheap?
A: Have a look at my post here. This one shows stores not matched by John Lewis Reading on that specific day, and as such indicates stores that deliver low prices via the web.
Note that LE Concepts give a total of 3 years warranty I think and John Lewis give a total of 5 years.
Also beware of scams as indicated in the thread here.
Q: I have an opportunity to buy a model second-hand - what do you think?
A:You need to find out the following information:
- How many hours does it have on it?
[*]This is like the number of miles on the clock for buying a second-hand car. - What picture settings have been set for each of the 4 inputs (or at least for the inputs most likely to have been used as some may not have been)?
[*]This is like working out how hard the second-hand car has been thrashed whilst it's been driven or whether it's been run-in properly. If you're looking at about 40 on the contrast, Gamma above 1, Dynamic Contrast = on, etc. for every input (or those that were used), then the chances are the TV has never been altered from factory settings. This means it hasn't been run in properly. However, just because it has lower settings doesn't mean it has been run-in properly. These are areas that can send warning signals about how well it has been used and how likely it is to suffer retention/burn issues later. - How does it look when it is connected to an HDMI source? Does it have any retention or burn issues? Any stuck pixels?
[*]You need to get a view of how this looks under the best source quality you can get - so try it to see how the picture looks. Whether this is a DVD player or a PC graphics card using DVI-to-HDMI (and overscan correction); use the best connection you can
[*] If there is no HDMI connection, then use the best quality analogue connection you can after that to test (component, RGB, S-Video, Composite).
Running In, Screen Settings, Retention, and Screen Burn
Q: How long do I run it in for?
A: Between 200 and 500 hours. Some folk at Pioneer have been stating 1000 hours
Q: How can I see how many hours I've watched it?
A: You need to use the installer menu - see later section.
Q: I hear loads of bad things about screen retention or burn in these plasmas - what is the situation?
A: Screen burn is permanent damage. Screen retention is temporary and is due to pixels still holding charge that needs to be released. Burn is very rare on any plasma - Pioneer included.
Three things seem to have been causing retention problems:
- Your plasma TV needs running-in whether it's a Pioneer or something else. This will reduce retention. Unfortunately the screen default settings aren't recommended for the running in period - mostly because of the very high CONTRAST setting - so people using the defaults have had problems
- Pioneer make some recommendations at the front of the manual, but don't highlight the need for running-in well enough so many users just use the same settings that it ships with
- There was a problem in earlier editions of the 436 where the voltages were set too high. Pioneer engineers can patch the 436 with new firmware to reduce the voltages, but only if the screen has run less than 200 hours. New models shipping since Feb 2006 (see next question) now have the voltages reduced.
Q: What does Pioneer say about screen retention?
Pioneer give the same advice to 436/506 FDE/XDE/RXE/SXE owners.
Taken direct from page 7 of the XDE manual it says:
Taken direct from page 8 of the XDE manual it says:
Taken direct from page 9 of the XDE manual it says:
Q: How can I see when my panel was made?
A: Check the rear of the panel for a small sticker.
Q: If I suffer screen retention - what can I do?
A: Don't Panic!
Run a snow channel on your screen, ideally overnight whilst you're in bed. A snow channel is an analogue channel tuned to get only the fast moving white dots onto the black background. This is how:- Within the power menu disable the no signal auto power off feature
- Select an analogue TV channel and pull the aerial out of the Media box/wall to get the snow signal
- Set your screen to Dynamic as this helps the pixel to go from high power (brightness) to none, and therefore facilitates to release the excess of energy that causes the retention
- Wait a few hours and this normally fixes it
Q: Should I run the panel in?
A: Yes. It prolongs the life of the plasma and makes it less likely to have problems.
Q: But someone in my house complains that the run-in settings make it look absolutely rubbish and too dark!
A: So run the snow screen (or a channel without a fixed image/logo/DOG) overnight or during the day to get through the first few hundred hours faster.
Q: So what are the shipping settings and recommended run-in settings?
A: It is likely that the box is delivered with settings like Contrast at 40
The recommendation is to run the box in using these settings. Items in RED are the most important. Be warned that EACH INPUT SOURCE WILL NEED TO BE SET SEPARATELY! That means do this for INPUT1, then do it for INPUT2, and so on. These are also contained in an attached text file to this post.Note that you have profiles for STANDARD, DYNAMIC, MOVIE, GAME, and USER (as well as ISF DAY and ISF NIGHT for ISF calibration). If you change the defaults of STANDARD, DYNAMIC, MOVIE, & GAME - these will be changed for all inputs simultaneously. However, we recommend that you change those for USER, which is what they are designed for - USER configuration - and if you do this, you need to change the settings for all of your inputs separately. This is important to remember. Note that it is unlikely that ISF DAY and ISF NIGHT will be used by whosoever does your ISF calibration due to some limitations in these modes, and so it's likely that your calibration guy will use the USER modes anyway.
- Picture / AV Selection = USER
[*] Contrast = 15 to 20 (this is the killer bit for running in)
[*] Brightness = -10 to 0 (lower is better, but it's your call as to what is reasonable to watch). Brightness should be set to the point where you can't see the pixels starting to emit light in dark parts of the image. Having brightness too high is unlikely to cause any issues during run in except make the image look washed out. Contrast is the killer not brightness.
[*] Colour = -10 to -5 (lower is better, but it's your call as to what is reasonable to watch). Most people never go below -10.
[*] Tint = 0
[*] Sharpness = -9 to -3
[*] Pro Adjust
[*] Pure Cinema OFF (for progressive source) & STANDARD (for interlaced source), but see the question dealing with judder/interlacing in the Picture Quality section. It doesn't matter what this is for running in.
[*] Colour Detail
[*] Colour Temp = MID-LOW or if you want to MID depending on preference for white balance (the default colour temp is very cyan)[*] NR (Noise Reduction)
[*] CTI (Colour Transient Improvement) = OFF
[*] DRE (Dynamic Range Expander)
[*] DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) = OFF or LOW
[*] MPEG NR = OFF or LOW
[*] Others
[*] Dynamic Contrast = OFF (very important)
[*] Black Level = OFF
[*] ACL = OFF
[*] Gamma = 2. The gamma tends to flip between 2 or 3 dependant on the source. Some people swear by GAMMA 1, although there's a feeling that 2 is likely to be most accurate most of the time.
[*] Power Control
[*] I-P Mode = 1
[*] Energy Save = Save 2
- Option
[*] Drive Mode = 100Hz (DVD and PC input should be 75Hz)
The following recommendations also seem useful during running in, but your mileage may vary:
- Play video games using the "GAME" mode (under AV Selection) for the screen, and try not to play them for more than a couple of hours at a time
- Don't leave static images on the screen, and definitely for less than 2 hours at a time
Q: What settings could I change after running in for 200+ hours?
A: You can slowly alter your settings as you use the box more (i.e. you could slowly adjust settings every hundred hours or so). Exact choices depend on the light settings for your room and how your sources output to your box. Everyone has different settings. Recommending how to setup your box for your specific house doesn't really work. You really need to use a DVE disk yourself (cheaper) or get someone in to do a professional ISF callibration (more expensive) - for more details see the GENERAL PLASMA FAQ
However, there are discussions running round on how to set things up, so these are included here for information only. Things that forum folk have changed after runnning are as follows - but there is no guarantee these will look good in your room
:- Contrast = 27 to 34 (although some say above 30 is still on the high side). As this is the major setting that can cause problems, it's better to increase this in small increments bit by bit (say every hundred hours or so)
- Brightness = -1 to +2
- Colour = nothing lower than -10 (although some people have set this as low as -18)
- Tint 0
- Sharpness 0 to +1
- Black Level ON
- CTI = ON
Q: Hang on! What about Dynamic Contrast? Can I turn that on?
A: Errrr...no.
This setting is to make it look very bright in a large shop filled with fluorescent tube lighting. Folk recommend that you calibrate with a DVD (or ISF) or adjust other settings other than this one.Q: Can I use a product to "wash away" screen retention?
A: See details in this thread
Picture Quality
Q: Tell me about how I can try and calibrate this myself without going to the expense of ISF?
A: Your options are:
- Use THX Optimode to calibrate both video and audio on your system for a specific THX disc. Example discs that include this are Toy Story 2, Fight Club, and Star Wars.
- Use a proper calibration DVD like Digital Video Essentials (DVE) or Avia Guide to Home Theatre. These can be bought from places like Amazon for less than £10 (or rented from most DVD rental services, so you could always join one for a free trial and grab the disk that way ). Note that whilst good, it is said that the DVE menus and content are not as easy to use if you don't take the time to really listen to the disk and follow what it says.
- If you want to go one stage further look into a Colorvision Spyder TV calibrator that uses a PC and a sensor that you attach to the screen to calibrate your plasma.
Q: All these manual settings are too much hard work! If I wanted to pay someone to ISF calibrate my display to get the best out of my sources and light levels in my room - what sort of cost am I looking at and when can it be done?
A: Average price from the forums seems to be between £250 to £300 including travelling expenses. More details in the GENERAL PLASMA FAQ. You can get it done any time after the running in period.
Note that the FDE/XDE have "ISF day" and "ISF night" modes as user selectable "picture modes" once they have been set up by an ISF calibration technician. However, you do not have to use the ISF Day / ISF night modes, and a number of UK calibration folk steer away from them. All Pioneer plasma's can be ISF calibrated to highly accurate standards with no reference to the ISF modes at all. This is why there is nothing stopping an ISF tech calibrating the other modes (even modes on the SXE/RXE) but they obviously won't say "ISF day" or "ISF night".
Q: I'm seeing DVD judder / scrolling text ticker tapes with interlace lines through it making it unreadable / seeing a slowdown effect on things like Football - how do I fix this?
A: This relates to Pure Cinema settings. In the normal course of events, Pure Cinema should be OFF (for progressive source) & STANDARD (for interlaced source). If you see scrolling text with interlaced lines, try switching to one of these settings. Also make sure you're using the 100Hz screen refresh setting below.
However, in certain cases, you can set the Pure Cinema setting to ADV (Advanced) as it is likely to stop judder with NTSC DVDs (and won't effect PAL anyway and so is effectively off).
Pure Cinema essentially automatically detects a film-based source (originally encoded at 24 frames/second), analyses it, then recreates each still film frame for high-definition picture quality. Settings are as follows:
- OFF - Turns it off
- STANDARD - Produces smooth and vivid moving images (film specific) by automatically detecting recorded image information when displaying DVD or high-definition images (e.g., movies) having 24 frames per second. It helps prevent interlacing artefacts on, for example, SKY/Freeview, and is greyed out when watching PAL DVDs.
- ADVANCED - Produces smooth and quality moving images (as shown on theatre screens) by converting to 72 Hz when displaying DVD images (e.g., movies) having 24 frames per second. When watching NTSC DVDs this stops judder by converting 75Hz to 72Hz. 72 divided into 24 (fps) = 3, so there is no 3/2 pulldown taking place.
- "Standard" is not selectable when 480p or [email protected] signals are input.
- "ADV" is not selectable when PAL, SECAM, 576i, or [email protected] signals are input.
- Neither Standard nor ADV is selectable when 576p, [email protected], or [email protected] signals are input.
Q: I have dead pixels - can I get the screen replaced?
A: Quote from XDE instruction manual (page 8):
Q: I have a Set Top Box and a SCART and the picture isn't very good - what can I do?
A: Try an RGB-enabled SCART, setting the screen input to RGB, and setting your set top box to output RGB.
For Sky:
- Services => System Setup => Picture Settings => Video Output
- Settings & Services => Display & Audio => Set TV Output Colour Format <RGB>
A: First, you have to go through the receiver. It is not possible to bypass the receiver box and try and drive the panel directly via the DVI - there was a thread on this here.
You essentially have two choices:
- Connect over a standard 15-pin analogue VGA via the receiver box front socket and a standard male-to-male video cable
- Connect via a graphics card to one of the inputs on the back of the receiver box, for example:
[*] Get a PC graphics card with DVI output and an inexpensive DVI-to-HDMI cable via the receiver box rear HDMI input.
[*] Get a PC graphics card with HDMI output and an inexpensive HDMI cable via the receiver box rear HDMI input
[*]Please note that Pioneer state: The HDMI connection on the 4th and later generation screens can be used with a DVI to HDMI converter but the DVI signal must include HDCP (Hi Definition Copy Protection) signals. Without HDCP the HDMI link will shut down, you can only use a DVI to HDMI converter with PCs that have DVI outputs and feature HDCP.
[*]This has been disputed now and may not be an accurate statement. We have now heard of a 505XDE (5th gen) panel working with a 4 year old ATI card via DVI-HDMI that does not support HDCP either in the card or in the drivers. We also know of a 436XDE working over DVI-HDMI with a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB 8xAGP, again without HDCP.
[*] Get a PC graphics card with component and a component cable via the receiver box rear component input
If you use the other inputs, you will be subject to the fact that the XDE receiver box overscans images by 5% from all inputs, except analogue-VGA, so you lose the edge of the screen. Thus none of these offer pixel perfect options. Overscan is not adjustable - this is a hardware limitation. If you want to eliminate overscan, you need to change the output resolution from your graphics card. To do that depends on your graphics card as to how you can fix this:
- If you have a new nVidia graphics card, nVidia have adjustments you can make to compensate for the 5% overscan
- For other graphics cards, you need to see if your card is supported by a shareware Windows utility called PowerStrip. This allows detailed control of graphics cards' display modes and enables you to create a new custom resolution within the existing one and adjust the discrete H & V timings. For example, if you had an ATI Radion 7800XT connected via component to a 50" screen, PowerStrip could create a custom resolution of 1218 x 684 (1280 x 768 minus 5%), which means no loss of screen edge.
Q: My Windows XP Media Centre Edition (MCE) PC / Home Theatre PC (HTPC) is looking bad (motion blurring and/or lag) when it outputs to the plasma - what can I do?
A: Your MCE may be defaulting to 60Hz and you need to force it to 50Hz. First make sure it's setup in PowerStrip to 50Hz. You could also try an MCE Customiser to force it to 50Hz. Alternatively you could try this Registry hack here.
Q: I'm seeing motion blurring on fast moving scenes from my XBOX360 - can I fix it?
A: This is part of the game. It's a special effect written into the code to make it seem more realistic. Honestly. Don't ask us why, but they did it on purpose.
Q: Anyone seen a rainbow effect on their plasma?
A: See this thread here.
[Q: For Pioneer 435 owners only - Screen covered with marks??? - Poll
A: See this thread and poll here
Connectivity Questions
Q: What options do I have for the cable between Media Receiver and Panel?
A: Pioneer produce four cables that provide both MDR & DVI-Dtogether. They are:
- PDAH01 - 3m (approx £100)
- PDAH02 - 7m (approx £190)
- PDAH03 - 10m (approx £200)
- PDAH04 - 30m System Cable & Repeaters (approx £650)
Some Wireworld examples are available from places like this.
Some BetterCables examples are available from places like this.
To find others, just do a search for DVI MDR cables using a search engine. There is no reason why you can't buy these cables separately if you like.
Q: Do I need an expensive HDMI cable to get the best quality out of this plasma?
A: No. It's a digital signal. If the 1s and 0s get through, then they get through. TV editing and the like doesn't user uber-quality cable to transmit digital bits around. The standard lead that comes with your DVD player or SkyHD should be perfectly fine. If you want to get a cable with a custom length, take a look at Mark Grant for cables.
Q: How can I connect XBOX360 to my Plasma?
A: There is an article in the Pioneer Customer Services FAQ - the link is in the last question in this FAQ.
Please remember to use GAME mode when playing games, and the recommendation is to limit to less than 2 hours at a time during running in.
Q: What video component lead will match this panel?
A: Try a Mark Grant component lead or see the forums area for connections and leads.
Q: I want to use more than one component lead. Does the XDE take component via VGA? I'd like to plug a component lead in via a VGA converter. Can it do 720p this way?
A: VGA-PC only and not 720p (which is supported from component and HDMI only). Why not get a component video switch (either via an AV amp or standalone from somewhere like John Sim who does an automatic one).
Installer Menus & System Settings
CAVEAT: Many people recommend not even entering the installer menu as you can make your plasma inoperable. Unless you know exactly what you are doing - change nothing.
Q: How can I access the installer menu?
A: Bring up the information service-installers screen as follows:
- Switch to normal TV, through an aerial (you do not need one connected), by pressing a channel on your remote - say channel 2. Note that this does not work if you put it in standby from an input source, you must switch it to TV - even if you don't have an aerial connected - and then put it in standby for this to work.
- Put the plasma and the media box is in standby.
- Press and release the following button BEFORE THE SCREEN CLICKS:
[*] 435XDE/505XDE/436FDE/506FDE: Display/Info button below 4 button
[*] 436XDE: Display/Info button below 9 button
[*] 436SXE/436RXE: TV/External input mode button (i+) below 7 button
- wait for 3 seconds
- press Left, Up, Left, Right, Power On to get the INFORMATION page.
Q: How can I see the hours used?
A: Access the installer menu main page and press up/down to get to the hours usage display.
Q: Can you tell me about firmware in the plasma and how it gets updated?
A: You can tell your current firmware version from the installer menu first screen by looking at the item called MAIN, which is the software version. The version most recently known about is 58 on a 505XDE (as of 7th April 2006) or MAIN -05E = 01E on a 506XDE (as of 16th April 2006). Anyone who has a higher version on any panel - please Private Mail me the details and I'll update the FAQ.
Your plasma will attempt to download updates to itself over the air using the aerial, so if one is not connected, this will never happen. If an aerial is connected, then it updates according to this schedule page here, if there are any updates scheduled for Pioneer. If no aerial is connected, then it will log the number of times it tried to download any updates (or check for updates) in the installer's screens.
The way the Pioneer works with updates is to delete it's current software, attempt a download, and if it fails then you have no original software to return to. This means you will have a non-functional device and need Pioneer to help by having a Pioneer engineer bring round a PC and upload new firmware.
Q: How can I do a factory reset?
A: Home Menu => Setup => DTV Setup => Installation => Restore System Defaults => OK.
General Questions
Q: What is the Sky code for controlling the Pioneer 435 / 436 / 505 / 506 with the Sky remote?
A: The code is 0194. For instructions on how to apply the code - see here.
Q: I want to display photos on my Pioneer using the Home Gallery option. What do I need to do?
A: First, you need an XDE and not an FDE as the receiver box for the XDE is the one with the right slot for the PCMCIA card reader you need to buy.
Second, buy and insert a PCMCIA type-2 card adapter that functions as a memory card reader into the receiver box. The PCMCIA card reader must support the memory card media your camera can use
In other words if your digital camera uses SmartMedia, buy a PCMCIA device that you can put the SmartMedia card into. These are some recommendations (but this isn't an exclusive list):- Do not buy a SANDISK 6-in-1 as these don't work
- Pioneer recommend this RV29G one from Maplins @ £25
- Others have tried the Sitecom model number PC-200V2 from various places
The best bet is to shrink your photos to a max resolution of 4.3MP (i.e. a max of 2400 x 1800) on the card before you try to display them.More here from Pioneer (if link fails try the link in this last question in the FAQ to get there).
Q: What about if I have a fault with my power supply (i.e. a loud bang and the screen going dead or similar)?
A: This should be replaced free of charge under a lifetime warranty. Some people outside of the UK have complained of faulty power supply problems - more info on this thread here.
Q: Anyone having tuner/EPG problems?
A: Discussion on this thread here.
Q: How do the aspect ratios work - the manual isn't clear?
A: FULL is normal 16:9 whereas WIDE stretches 4:3 sources to 16:9 size, but progressively stretches the picture (i.e. stretches less in the middle but more to the sides) and zooms in a little bit.
Q: Why when I select 720p in my DVD player connected via HDMI does my Pioneer say 750p in the info banner? Same with 1080i showing 1125i? Same with 576i showing 625i?
A: You're not getting extra resolution, this relates to the hidden lines of data that are being added to the number.
Q: There is a GREY side mask in 4:3 mode. Can you explain why the side mask bars are grey?
A: The grey side bars prevent image retention and screen burn. If the side bars were black (i.e. no burn at all) there would be uneven wear across the screen and you would end up with the 4:3 section having more wear and hence more burn than the edges.
If you want a worse idea, try changing from FIXED (i.e. grey) to AUTO in the menus. This will replicate an inch wide strip from either side of the 4:3 picture in monochrome continually to the edge of the screen
Q: If I have a plasma with one HDMI input (like the 505XDE) - how can I get more HDMI inputs?
A: Buy an HDMI switch (see this thread here discussing them for SkyHD) or an AV amplifier/receiver that has HDMI inputs and an output to the screen.
Q: Is there any danger to the panel if I clean it with different types of cloth?
A: Yes you can scratch it. On "piano black" screens this is noticable. To make sure that this never happens, get a MicroFibre cloth (like the one made by 3M) from Tescos (or similar), costing less than £5. Most folk seem to replace the supplied cloth with one of these. Use the cloth dry. Washing the cloth regularly to get rid of dirt, is all that seems to be needed. You could also go with Monster cleaning solution and the like if you really wanted to, but the following comes straight from the manual:
And the following comes from the little pink A5 leaflet that comes with the screens now:
And from a post by Jeffers01:
If we go on any further on this topic, it will end up being the saddest question in the FAQ if it isn't already.Jeffers01 said:
Q: Occasionally my screen clicks - is this a problem?
A: This appears to be thermal expansion/contraction of components and depends on heating in the room. Consensus is this isn't a problem. See here for an example thread.
Q: I can hear some small noises from my plasma/receiver - is this normal?
A: From page 8 of the PDP506XDE manual:
Q: I can hear a very annoying ringing/buzzing background sound when my panel is on - what can I do?
A: This sounds like (no pun intended) it is the coils resonating. You may need a new power supply. Contact Pioneer.
Q: Can I change the input names from INPUT1, INPUT2, INPUT3, etc.
A: Not as far as we can tell.
Q: I have an analogue and a digital tuner in my Pioneer receiver box but can't get Free to Air Digital TV channels (e.g. Freeview in the UK) to work at all. Normal analogue TV works fine (i.e. channels 1 to 5 in the UK), but tuning to Freeview gives me 0% on all frequencies, and thus can't find any channels. What am I doing wrong?
A: If you can only get analogue channels only, then your cabling is almost certainly wrong. Check the manual for wiring of the antenna - this is an easy step to get wrong without checking that page.
On boxes with a digital tuner, there is an RF in for the digital + an RF-out to the analogue-RF-in for analogue as well. Do not plug your aerial feed straight into the analogue RF input
Put the RF lead into the digital RF-input then from the digital RF-output wire another lead to the analog RF-input Q: Can you clarify how Picture-in-Picture (PiP)works?
A: PiP is all about displaying two pictures side by side (Left and Right) on the screen, or displaying one image full size, and one very small in the bottom right corner of the screen. PiP tends to work on the following combinations:
- Analogue TV and Digital TV
- Analogue TV (or Digital TV) and any external source e.g. inputs 1-5 or PC
A: It is possible to get round this and use PiP with TWO external sources, by essentially "tricking" the TV into thinking Input1 is one of the internal sources. You do this by setting Input1 as Analogue TV and then can use PiP with any other external input and DTV together, but not with another Analogue TV channel.
To set this up, one of the sources has to be INPUT1, and the other doesn't matter. Do the following:
- Plug a picture source into INPUT1 and show a programme
- Go into HOME MENU => SETUP => ANALOGUE TV SETUP => (password normally 1234) => MANUAL ADJUST => PROGRAMME ENTRY => (choose a programme number say 99 or 01 or whatever) => and then make sure that DECODER is set to INPUT1. Leave everything else the same. Name the channel with a label if you wish.
Do this by pressing the Splitscreen button (probably just below and left of button 0 on the remote) and then use the button to the next of it to swap the split screens. Then you can choose one of the other input sources for the image if you wish by pressing the input source button.
Q: I get this error "'Aerial short circuited turn off DC and check cables'" - what can I do?
A: Turn off the Aerial power in the settings menu.
Q: Where can I find my serial numbers?
A: The serial numbers for registration & support for most panels can be found both on the screen (rear and top) and - if you have one - on the media receiver box (rear and inside silver front panel).
Q: I NEED MORE HELP!
Is there anywhere else that has other useful FAQ information that might help me further?A: Some FAQ answers are available via Pioneer Customer Services here.
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