Pioneer 436XDS - PC connect DVI to HDMI probs.

[TivoUK]

Just got the beauty today, very pleased with it on normal TV (on the decent quality Sky stations!) and thought it was time to connect it to the PC and watch some of the HD files.

Sometime ago, I borrowed LG LCD HD capable screen, which I connected to the PC via DVI to DVI cable, turned on PC and watched it auto-detect the screen and set the resolution. The Win XP desktop looked cracking on it, as did the HD.

This time, connected the DVI cable to Pioneer HDMI socket and turned on. May have missed it but never saw it say it had detected new screen, but it did boot up and display my desktop.

However, looks rather poor, letters are poorly defined and the edges of the applications are off screen. If I run an application the FILE menu is just off screen if I go full screen, the bottom half of the task bar is off screen - that type of thing.

Go into XP settings and it just has a PLUG & PLAY monitor as the display device, and try as I might I cannot get it to "detect" the Pioneer. nor can I res the resolution to the native for my panel.

Tried using the nVideo desktop control video (for my FX 5600 Pro card) and try as I might, I could not get the crisp display I had on the LCD I borrowed. I could make the display larger or smaller in overall size, but could not get the detail I expected - the lettering on icons still looked p*s poor. Changing the resolution here had no effect apart from making the overall picture bigger or smaller.

Each time I made a change in the nVidea software and the screen updated, the Pioneer "on screen" display popped on to say it was 720p, 1080i - but all that did was make overall display bigger or smaller.

Frustrated - I turn to the good people here for help

Am guessing I need to tell XP the monitor type I have plugged it into, but how???

 

[tscotsman]

with the pv500 i just set the desktop resolution to 1024x768 and then adjust WMP or Theatertek to suit. Have you tried setting it to that resolution?

 

[TivoUK]

I have, but the quality still looks pish, letters blocky and poorly defined.

Does your PC recognise the screen as a Panny, or as a default p&p monitor?

 

[MAW]

Tscotsman, you've connected via VGA, no problems. HDMI is not a computer interface TivoUK, you are running in to the same old problems everyone else has already done with this poxy screen, a quick search would turn up about 1000 threads like this. The Pioneer does not take native res on HDMI, (neither does the PV500) It overscans by 5-7% as you see at 1280/720, which is what has been set, ie non native which is why your desktop looks a bit poor. Some folks swear it's pin sharp, this is total b-s, it's always poop on HDMI. People who say otherwise have simply never seen a correctly set up windows desktop. I see all sorts of rubbish on monitors in my customers houses, wrong size, wrong res, wrong position, it's a wonder they don't all go blind! You obviously know what you are looking for, and you ain't gonna find it where you are looking. You need to use VGA, or get anotherr screen. LG's have brilliant signal compatibility, it's their best feature. Woe betide you if your LG has a fault, and it seems huge numbers of them do, I reckon you are still better off with Pioneer. This Pioneer is not the one for PC enthusiasts though.

 

[TivoUK]

MAW - thanks for the info, connecting it via the PC socket on media box sorted it for me. Can now view, b*mmer on the HDMI not being PC though.

 

[Munin]

With the 506XDE it's possible to get a perfect pixelmatch at [email protected],25Hz and [email protected],94Hz on VGA(will try harder on different scan rates later).
I'm using powerstrip to set those.
Then, using Nokia test pattern and(or) the dila test pattern from Mark Rejhon, you can fit the pixels perfect to your screen(I use both).
A little bit of work, but huge different on the windows desktop when you're there.
Don't know if the 436XDE 1024x768 does the same, but at least [email protected],25Hz(not optimal for film and video, I know) should give you a perfect desktop on VGA with a little tweaking in powerstrip, and the clock, phase and screen adjustments in the options menu of the XDE though...

 

[MAW]

Yep, it's a piece of cake on VGA, the bummer is not being able to use digital video. For determined PC users, the business model, the MXE1 is the dogs danglies, native at 50 and 60Hz, internal processing to match, on digital, it's shattering. With a good PC, you may never have seen anything like it. Of course it doesn't look as smart on your wall though. That gloss black surround seduces you to the dark side. When all is said and done, the XDE is just a telly, nothing special at all.

 

[Munin]

Well, I see your not very fond of the XDE MAW . I respect that, but I think it's a stunning telly if scalers and PC's are not your first options.
Had my 506XDE for a couple of weeks now and I'm very satisfied.
I use a Pio 868 and feed it 576i and 480i through HDMI. I think I get a sharper and better picture that way, instead of 720p scaled first in the DVD player and then some more scaling in the media box. It really gives me an exelent picture.
First time I saw it I was really, really impressed and still am.
Can't wait to get a HD signal through HDMI, and here in Norway we are just about to get it. Maybe this week already.
Also, our national channels are giving us some great bitrates through sattelite. I have a bitrate viewer on my dreambox, and bitrates on movies and footy are sometimes 7000-7500kb/s and even higher. It really is comparable to DVD with a Dreambox sat. receiver connected to scart RGB at these bitrates.

 

[kev777]

I tried using powerstip using the DVI-HDMI on my 506XDE using powerstrip, with an Nvidia 6600 but still couldn't get a perfect pixel match,i.e. text looked a bit out.. What vid card and what other PS settings did you use Munin??

 

[MAW]

Kev, read again!!!!! Use the VGA port, front panel of media box. Pixel matching is impossible on XDEs, always has been, it simply does not accept native res, hence scales the signal 1280/720 to fit it's 1280/768 res. This gives the slight blurring you see. It does it on DVD signals too of course, but it's much less noticeable there, and that kind of 720p is already scaled, so already blurred unless you have a class DVD player, top end Denon or Onkyo are the only ones to come close to a dedicated scaler. 1280/768 is available from most graphics cards these days, try 60Hz to start, you should get a pretty sharp picture immediately. Then it's just a bit of tinkering both ends for as near perfection as you can get.

 

[gettingthefear]

have you tried switching it off then back on again?

 

[Munin]

I tried using powerstip using the DVI-HDMI on my 506XDE using powerstrip, with an Nvidia 6600 but still couldn't get a perfect pixel match,i.e. text looked a bit out.. What vid card and what other PS settings did you use Munin??

It's like MAW says mate. You have to go VGA to get it perfect for PC XGA signals.

 

[TivoUK]

Munin - went and got Powerstrip - but there are loads of settings in there I have no idea about, and the guides I have seen assume some level of knowledge on the subject.

Any tips you can give, or location of real good guides for the numpty

I have a GeForce FX5600 Ultra graphics card - just in case that helps.

 

[Munin]

If you had a 506XDE you could only copy and paste my settings into Powerstrip. But since you got a 436 it's not going to work, beacause of the different resolutions 1280x768 vs. 1024x768. You can make yourself a new resolution at once, but the simplest way is to simply set the resolution to 1024x768(slider up right in Powerstrip) and refresh rate to 60Hz and press apply. After this your screen is [email protected] To do some more adjusting you have to go into Advanced timings menu. Here you can change refresh rates and many other things. When you're satisfied you can press apply to make Powerstrip set your timings.
Try to get the refresh rate set to exactly 56,25Hz or 59,94(60Hz) in the Advanced timings menu. When you have done that, download the patterns I mentioned above. The dila pattern is here(read the guide):
http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90884.
Go into options menu on the XDE and do a auto adjust with one of the patterns on your screen. If it's not spot on you can adjust phase, clock and screen adjustments manually to get it right.
Hope this helps .

 

[sonofon]

Just found this!!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254955

 

[MAW]

Yes, everyone says it's fabulous, best ever, clap, hurrah, grin etc. The overscan feature is very useful for inputs which have a bucket load of non-adjustable overscan, basically it puts a border round the desktop, while maintaining the signal as 720p, which the plasma needs.

 

[TivoUK]

I setup XP with the settings the manual said, 1280x768 as native resolution in the specs on the back page. Started PC up and looked fine, I used the Auto Setup feature on the screen to get round the veryh edges of the XP desktop being off screen.

Put on a high def .ts file of womens tennis from this years US Open and started to view. Viewing through Media Player Classic, dble clicked to go full screen. Looked very nice, but noticed that the moving ball looked a touch blurry, and when the camera panned over the crowd, there was a thin horizontal line that appeared to move down the screen, creating 2 halves to the picture. Put on a clip of shuttle in orbit, still got this “line” on occasion.

Looked as if the PC could not update the picture quick enough, what do I know, so went to check the settings in the book.

Fool, I put the piggin, 50” screen settings in, sounds like I have found my fault I think! Reset the XP desktop to 1024x768, restarted XP.

Hmmmm, the vga quality XP startup screen has shifted quite markedly to the right of the screen, no longer centered. Login screen appears, centered (phew!) But the proportions are wrong, screen looks stretched.

Get into XP (yep, still looks stretched) and start up Media Player Classic, load up tennis and dble click the window to go full screen. When I had wrong resolution set, dble clicking filled the screen nicely, but now I do it there is a boarder and the picture is out of proportion. Checked the picture settings, still set to the right dimensions for my panel.

Ran the auto screen setup on the Pionner and it did not fix.

Any ideas folks? Have not tried Powerstrip yet I have to say

 

[TarPot]

Try this.
Go into media player and play the clip in full screen.
Right click and then click on, plug-ins, options, devices, display.
You'll have a circle. Use the slider to get it right. I think set it 1.33. I think this will sort out you problem.
Give it a go.

 

[sonofon]

Try this.
Go into media player and play the clip in full screen.
Right click and then click on, plug-ins, options, devices, display.
You'll have a circle. Use the slider to get it right. I think set it 1.33. I think this will sort out you problem.
Give it a go.

I do not have the menu "device" and "display"??

 

[MAW]

Tools, options, devices tab, click display, then properties. That will do it for you.

 

[sonofon]

Tools, options, devices tab, click display, then properties. That will do it for you.

Thank you Sir!!

 

[MAW]

My pleasure.

 

[sonofon]

Yes, everyone says it's fabulous, best ever, clap, hurrah, grin etc. The overscan feature is very useful for inputs which have a bucket load of non-adjustable overscan, basically it puts a border round the desktop, while maintaining the signal as 720p, which the plasma needs.

I'm confused?


Is that good or bad?

 

[MAW]

What I mean is that 95% the owners of this screen think the PC image is as good as it gets via HDMI. You are using the correct port, yours is better.

 

[TarPot]

I do not have the menu "device" and "display"??

Sorry I let you down. But I was in the right area. I think!!!!