Pioneer Plasma - upscale, DVI, resolution blah blah, all goes over me head

rags

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I am thinking of buying the 43" HDE model and need some advice. I know that the mxe will be cheaper but with kids etc I need a tuner box and speakers.

I currently have an Arcam DV88 - does this plasma have component in ? If so is this fed via the tuner box. I have also read that the tuner box upscales all feeds or something like that. Sorry but although I have a reasonable handle on the sound side of HC im a muppet when it comes to the picture.

Also whats the current best price for this model ? I have been given a price of £2900 with a wall bracket.
 
£2'900?. . . i hope your contact was legit. . . as the lowest i saw for internet shop with bricks & mortar store recently was just under £3'600 2 weeks ago . . . same store is now saying £3'925.01

i'm still trying to pick between pw6 & 434 like many i guess . . .decisions decisions :confused:


cheers
Dave
 
Yes it does have component in, & it is via the media box.

B.
 
rags

I'm sure you'll be up to speed quick enough - after a few visits to the Forums you can add another badge to your HiFi anorak :)

PDP-434HDE - uses the R04 Media Box as an interface to any video sources you have.

R04 Media Box - has RF, Composite, S-Video, RGB and YUV Analogue video inputs along with an HDMI input for Digital RGB plus a VGA input for Analogue RGBHV* (PC) signals.

(*This input is also used if you want to run an external Analogue video processor between your video sources and the Media Box)

The YUV and HDMI input will accept Interlaced or Progressive video signals and the other inputs (which are all be definition Interlaced) are all automatically converted internally to Progressive signals; with a user selectable option to also include a Cinema mode which recognises if the incoming video signal was originated on Film not Video and applies additional processing where applicable.

All incoming video signals are either up or down converted to match the 1024x768 pixels on the plasma array and all incoming video signals have 'frame rate conversion' applied to match the frequency of the video signal (50 or 60Hz) with the panels 'native' frame rate.

If, like the majority of our customers, you end up with two 'modes' of operation I'd suggest you also include the S13 loudspeakers in your plans - I find 'family' mode is the HDE/S13 plus SKY Digibox with the SKY remote turning the TV on/off and controlling the TV volume and all functions of the Digibox (leaving the multi channel AV Receiver and DVD for Mum or Dad to fiddle with in 'Movie' mode).

The price you have is unrealistically low (in my experience) I'd suggest it may not include VAT, and even then when you consider these units are in short supply there's not really a great incentive to have heavy discounting.

If you want literature please drop me a line - I have printed and PDF files; the printed brochure is good as it folds out 'life size' and along with a bit of blu-tack is handy for getting an idea of how the screen will 'look' in your room.

Best regards

Joe
 
Originally posted by rags
I am thinking of buying the 43" HDE model and need some advice. I know that the mxe will be cheaper but with kids etc I need a tuner box and speakers.

me thinks this is the 433 rather than the 434 :)
 
Just checked again - yup the price does not include VAT ! It comes out at £3,400 inc VAT but does not include the speakers - how much are they extra ? The supplier is another parent at my sons school who supplies Plasmas to exhibitions etc.

Joe,
Thanks for info - that was very helpful and sorted a few bits out in my head. Your right about the speakers - I will definately need them as I dont want the kids switching on the sound system to watch something like cartoon network !!
Will component from my Arcam DVD player give similar picture quality to a HDMI player such as the Pioneer 868AVI - I am loathed to change as I just purchased the Arcam and its quite a good machine.
Yes please to the brochure - I will PM you my addy - how can I contact you. Can you supply to the London area ?

Thanks
 
rags

The Arcam DV89 will be absolutely fine with the PlasmaTV (I use an Arcam myself) if you didn't have a DVD player then the Pioneer DV-868AVi would have been one of three or four players in a shortlist vying for your cash; having HDMI or not would be one of many deciding factors.

I'll PM you regarding the fold out brochure.

Best regards

Joe
 
Originally posted by Joe Fernand
All incoming video signals are either up or down converted to match the 1024x768 pixels on the plasma array and all incoming video signals have 'frame rate conversion' applied to match the frequency of the video signal (50 or 60Hz) with the panels 'native' frame rate.

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I came across this one whilst searching for an answer to my other question (see new thread 504 HDMI/Component).

This isn't strictly true in my experience -

The feeds from both my Sky+ box and Tivo are going into a Meridian G91 DVD player, which then converts the signals to 720p and outputs via HDMI.

Interestingly, there appears to be no vertical scaling of this signal by the plasma/media-box - I get thin black bars top and bottom (I'm guessing that they are 24 pixels each, but I haven't got out a ruler to check!).

The other odd thing I've noticed is that on certain segments of certain programs (some clips in the local news program is the one that springs to mind) I get a small black border around the entire image - haven't a clue what's going on here!!
 
Hi togad,

Regarding the problem where you are getting black bars at the sides of your screen, this is down to the local broadcaster putting out a compromised 14:9 ratio signal (basically cutting some off the top and bottom of the 4:3 picture) instead of the full 16:9 broadcast nationally. I think the regional ITV companies and the BBC need to invest in some 16:9 equipment, as do ITN . :rolleyes: Hope this helps.

Steve
 
Are you saying that your Meridian is sticking out 1280X720 and the plasma is only scaling it in horizontal direction. If so I would suggest this requires investigation by finding an alternate HDMI 1280x720 source and another 434HDE as one would appear to be not functioning correctly. (unless of course there is a some weird aspect ratio option on the 434hde that's doing this). If what you say is true then you are presumably watching everything in the wrong aspect ratio?

Gordon

p.s. perhaps we can start a thread for other 434 owners to get their comments about this anomaly?
 
Originally posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV
Are you saying that your Meridian is sticking out 1280X720 and the plasma is only scaling it in horizontal direction. If so I would suggest this requires investigation by finding an alternate HDMI 1280x720 source and another 434HDE as one would appear to be not functioning correctly. (unless of course there is a some weird aspect ratio option on the 434hde that's doing this). If what you say is true then you are presumably watching everything in the wrong aspect ratio?

Gordon

p.s. perhaps we can start a thread for other 434 owners to get their comments about this anomaly?

Not quite sure I follow you fully.

My understanding is as follows -

The Sky/TiVo inputs to my G91 are set to 16:9 and upscaled to 720p (which is 1280x720 I think?).

1280x720=16:9

504HDE resolution = 1280x768 (I think)

No further horizontal scaling necessary.

It appears not to scale vertically (I've got thin black bars top and bottom).

No aspect ratio problems at all.

Edit -

I think I see the confusion here.
The original thread was talking about the 434 which has reduced resolution to the 504.

I originally posted because the inference appeared to be that all sources are scaled both horizontally and vertically on Pioneer plasmas, and this is apparently not the case for the 504 being fed an externally generated 16:9 signal via HDMI.
 
Indeed I was talking about the 434. However we now have another intruiging question.

So I guess you are saying that your plasma is not 16:9 in viewable image? ....or perhaps the pixels are not actually square, in which case you have a problem.

Looking forward to finding out when I next get to spend some time with one of these.

Gordon

You may also want to edit your post to state that it doesn't appear to be the case with your Meridian using 720P output of HDMI as it will scale other resolutions going in HDMI ( I know you understand this but others reading this for the first time might be confused)
 
Ahh - silly me. Had completely forgotten about the pixel shape (as MAW also pointed out).

But it does raise an interesting (I guess very subjective) question -

What's better - to have a 720p source shown natively on pixels that are not quite square (~6% off), or the same 720p source digitally scaled to 768 pixels high?

I have to admit I've never noticed any apparent vertical compression of the picture.

Reply to your edit -

To be honest, I haven't even got around to trying other outputs from the G91. A bit silly I know, as there could be an improvement, but to be honest, the subjective improvement over the original set-up of having Sky/Tivo fed into the media box as analogue sources is so great I've never tried 1080i, or the lower resolutions.
 
Im slowly starting to understand the complex world of plasmaslike Rags and am trying to improve the picture I get with mine. I understand from this thread that the Meridian can upscale pictures to HDMI which seems very useful. I have a pioneer DVD which I beleive outputs sound via HDMI im not 100% sure. My question is how long untill we see this technology trickle down to av amps? Will for example the replacemnet to the ax10i have this. I have been looking to get a scaler but if their is an AV amp that can upscale I may wait for this. Will it be possible to connect one HDMI cable to the amp which extracts the sound and picture or can the cable only carry picture and sound seperately. I may have got the wrong end of the stick but would like to know if it is possible to just have two cables into the amp i.e one from sky(component) the other from dvd(HDMI)) and have just one to the screen i.e. HDMI.
 
You are holding the stick firmly by the buisness end, your AV amp scenario is one of the hopeful developments that will make HDMI actually useful, instead of a marketing tool and hollywood protection scheme. 99% of members here do not listen to their DVD soundtrack on the stereo speakers you can connect to most plasmas, why have a digital audio connection to a display? If you want the speakers for backup, family use etc, perfectly viable, you only need analogue stereo, and send the digital to the amp where it belongs. I think the Denon AVC-A1 does what you want, but sit down before reading the price tag! We need this in a slightly more affordable package.
 
Does the denon actually upscale? If so i would be intrested but I thought it was just switching inputs i.e. converting.
 
Fortunately it does not upscale. With your screen you don't want it to. The screen has to scale anyway, best let it do the job just once.
 
What about upscaling the sky feed?
 
update:
Now I've upgraded the G91 to the latest firmware, I no longer have the thin black bars.
 

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