PW6 Colour Banding

[smartie]

Hi all - first post so be gentle !

I've had my Panny PW6 for a few weeks now and overall I'm very happy with the picture quality. My only gripe is the occasional colour banding I see on certain images from both Sky+ and DVD.

Sky+ is connected with an (old) IXOS scart cable to the panny scart board and my aged sony DVD is connected via a Thor S Video cable to the dual slot rgb/component board (this will eventually be replaced with a prog scan player connected via component when my bank balance recovers )

Is this just a feature of the PW6 , the quality of the source material, or the rest of the kit (cables etc) ?

I'm not convinced it's a limitation of the display as it copes admirably with certain images which have gradual colour degradations - e.g. underwater shots in The Natural World on BBC2 the other day had huge expanses of varying shades of blue and this looked simply stunning with no colour banding at all, yet in the same program in a number of sunset scenes , the sun clearly had distinct bands of colour around it.

Is this just something I'll have to live with or is there anything I can do to improve things ? I'm still experimenting with the picture settings but am yet to find a happy medium!

Would something like a JS Scart to VGA converter help (not sure If this is a goer as eventually I want to hook up a PC to the screen).

 

[Jasonjo]

Smartie,

I think banding is pretty normal on the Panny's whereas the Pioneer's seem to be able to cope a little better with colour graduation (especially the 434 IIRC).

From what I remember, the banding can be reduced by ensuring that you are using a good mains feed with good mains cables/filters and good quality connections/cabling.

TBH I have only really noticed banding on normal TV (not DVD) but is has not been that offensive for me...I appreciate it is very subjective...

JJ

 

[Jasonjo]

Also, have a look here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=367940

JJ

 

[Timmy B]

I think banding is to do with how plasmas work with subfield processing. It is not to do with a lack of colour depth.

As far as I can tell there are two types of banding:

Banding when there is movement (pans) when using 50hz
This is happens @ 50 hz, mostly with poor quality material like sky. Happens alot on skin tones. Can be avoided by changing the refresh rate to 60hz or above.

Banding when displaying the new line and marvel intros, flashlights etc, where gradation of a specific colour occurs.
This can happen at 60hz or 50hz and can not be improved. Thankfully it does not happen often.

 

[smartie]

Thanks for the replies so far (these forums are great by the way - very informative !)

Timmy B - You say cetain type of banding can be avoided by upping the refresh rate to 60hz - how ? Does this mean using an external processor (e.g. an Iscan ) ?

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Yes,

Using a processor that can do frame rate conversion will help with some of this but will add other artifacts. Iscan does not do frame rate conversion. HTPC, Lumagen, TAW Rock, HD-Leeza will all do frame rate conversion.

Gordon

 

[Timmy B]

The new iscan ultra hd can. Hopefully the lumagen will shed a few hundred pounds when it is released as it has many more inputs inc dvi and possibly sdi.

 

[PosiXX]

This is exactly my problem too. I want to try the DVI-board with my PW6 because of the double gray-shade specification. Should this also help reducing the color banding? I'm using the standard VGA input presently.

My source is the PSM192R from TAG McLaren

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

The last time I tried the DVI input on my D6 it resulted in similar banding to the 60Hz analogue feed. It was better than 50Hz analogue

Gordon

 

[smartie]

So in conclusion:

- the banding will never disappear completely
- better cables and an external processor should help minimise it

I'll consider all this when budget allows.

Gordon - you say a processor will "add other artifacts" - what do you mean exactly ? Are you talking about lip synch issues - presumably adding another piece of processing into the chain from source to screen will add some kind of audio delay ?

 

[Timmy B]

Gordon, would these artifacts still be apparent at 75hz? Does using PAL at 75hz minimize banding in the same way PAL 60hz does?