connecting video to panasonic th-42pwd8uk

[mogambo]

not sure if this is the right forum for this question:

in another thread i mentioned the panasonic th-42pwd8uk that is on its way to me. this monitor has a component board installed, a s-video input and also a vga input. i will have only two video sources to connect to it: a hd set-top box from comcast, and a new dvd player. my receiver is a denon avr-3300 which has two component inputs and one component output. is it preferable to connect each video source directly to the display or will i be okay hooking both up to the component ins on the receiver and using it to switch to the component board on the display? (i've never actually used the component switching on the receiver--i assume it works well.) my other option is to connect one of the sources to the display's component input and the other to the vga input via a component/vga cable. in an ideal world i would buy and install a second component board but don't want to do that right now--want to wait to decide if it will be worth to upgrade to hdmi later.

thanks in advance!

[tangfoot]

If you need/want two component inputs, there is no need to add a component board. The vga port handles component natively. Simply get the ~$10 adapter and plug it in.

Personaly, I would prefer having my receiver do the switching so that I only have to power on the display and do nothing else. You are already using the receiver for your speakers, so using it to do video switching seems to be a no brainer to me.

[mogambo]

thank you--so no advantage to going directly from the video sources to the display?

[tangfoot]

I don't think you would notice it, no. But try it and see. If you think one way or the other looks better, then run with it.

[mule65]

[QUOTE=mogambo]is it preferable to connect each video source directly to the display or will i be okay hooking both up to the component ins on the receiver and using it to switch to the component board on the display?[/QUOTE]

You should connect each input directly to the display. There are 2 component inputs available on the PWD8UK -- you need a VGA to 3 RCA component cable for one of your component connections. I would not run video through your receiver.

http://images.monoprice.com/productlargeimages/21701.jpg

[mogambo]

could you explain why?

do you own this tv, by the way? can't tell from your signature if you're recommending or dissing it.

[mule65]

You couldn't tell? I own one and am a big fan! Everything I've read says to plug the source straight into the display. The VGA cable only costs a few bucks. I have my DVD on the VGA component and HD-STB on the regular component -- works great! Running through a receiver might be fine but it's another middle-man and your picture and sound could get out of sync.

[jimvad]

[QUOTE=mogambo]could you explain why?

do you own this tv, by the way? can't tell from your signature if you're recommending or dissing it.[/QUOTE]

It took me a while to figure it out, but he is expressing WHY one should buy a 42PWD8UK. Everything in his signature is a link, including the link to the Panny web site, three WHY questions (one link to a message in three different threads about why to buy) and BYE if you want to ignore somebody in this forum.

I purchased this model and have had it hanging on the wall (unless it decided to fall off since I left this morning) for less than 24 hours. I'm very, very excited about it so far. I am using the S-Video in slot 2 for my DTV receiver and component in slot 3 for DVD. That is until I decide to up my way to HD, then we could be talking the VGA/Component cable that he is talking about.

[Hothersale]

I believe running it through the receiver could potentially introduce additional signal loss. Still, if it significantly simplifies your setup, might as well test it out.

[mogambo]

(i thought the "why, why, why, bye" thing was all one link)

great. are the bnc-component adapters and component/vga cables easily available? what would be a good price and a good place to get them?

with comcast the hd package is only $5 more and there's no charge for the receiver--plus they include a component cable for the receiver to tv. can't wait for it to show up. and so it is simpler for me to connect things directly--one less cable to buy. otherwise i'd have to buy a dvd-receiver cable and a receiver-display cable.

can you also say what you did/are doing about break-in? and did you get it calibrated professionally, from a disk or not at all?

[martyj19]

The tradeoff with going through the receiver is convenience of switching the audio/video with one button press vs. signal loss.

Conventional wisdom is that you run your source directly to the display when possible.

The component switch in the receiver is an amplifier, which if of poor quality or not designed for HD will degrade the high frequencies in the component signal. You would probably first notice this as fuzziness.

[mule65]

[QUOTE=mogambo](i thought the "why, why, why, bye" thing was all one link)[/QUOTE]

I found those particular links very helpful in deciding on this display. You get a lot of bang for the buck. Here's my review. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7816710&&#post7816710)

[mogambo]

got it. checked them all out and am now even happier that i purchased this display.

a question about your review. you say: "Can't get rid of black bars on HD content"

why is this? is this a problem during the break-in period?

[mule65]

[QUOTE=mogambo]a question about your review. you say: "Can't get rid of black bars on HD content"

why is this? is this a problem during the break-in period?[/QUOTE]

You don't want to have black bars on your screen during break-in. There is still a lot of HD content that comes across in 4:3 with black side bars. I think I could stretch it with my HD-STB but stretching looks bad IMHO. The Aspect button on the remote can't change from "Full" when viewing HD. When watching DVD or SD, however, the Aspect button cycles through zoom-full-just-normal modes. Some day, everything will be wide screen HD but we're far from that today.

[mule65]

[QUOTE=mogambo]are the bnc-component adapters and component/vga cables easily available?[/QUOTE]

Yes! Dirt cheap! monoprice.com.

[Hothersale]

[QUOTE=mule65]Yes! Dirt cheap! monoprice.com.[/QUOTE]
Heck, I've got a set he can have for free if he sends me a self-addressed, stamped enevelope!

Finally got my PWD8UK yesterday, BTW. Freakin' awesome. You know, I really do prefer its image over the PHD8UK that it replaced. Best of all, it's completely, totally, 100% silent. Thank. God. :D

[mogambo]

and thanks again.

is this (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023503&p_id=2173&style=&seq=1&format=4#feedback) the vga/component cable i need?

[Hothersale]

[QUOTE=mogambo]and thanks again.

is this (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023503&p_id=2173&style=&seq=1&format=4#feedback) the vga/component cable i need?[/QUOTE]
That's the one, although I'd always get the shortest one possible. 12' is probably longer than you need. Most of mine are 3-4' to cut down on possible interference / signal loss.

[mule65]

[QUOTE=Hothersale]Heck, I've got a set he can have for free if he sends me a self-addressed, stamped enevelope!

Finally got my PWD8UK yesterday, BTW. Freakin' awesome. You know, I really do prefer its image over the PHD8UK that it replaced. Best of all, it's completely, totally, 100% silent. Thank. God. :D[/QUOTE]
So, how does it compare to your old set?

[mogambo]

okay, the tv is here, it is hooked up, it is mounted on the wall, it is beautiful. excellent picture quality, even with the contrast and brightness turned down for the break in period. i have everything in the "picture" menu turned down to -6 or -5 and it still looks great. (by the way, is this adequate for the break-in?)

a couple of questions: i have it on "just" mode right now to make sure the entire screen is filled in during the break-in period. however, i was flipping channels and i noticed that even the hd channels have side-bars in "normal" mode and have to be viewed in "just" or "full" to fill up the screen. ditto for a 1.85:1 dvd ("signs")--yes, the dvd player has been set to widescreen and 16:9. when i select "normal" with the dvd it gives me the sidebars again.

is there a setting i need to tweak or is all of the above normal? i have the hd box going into the component board and the dvd player going into the vga board.

[kylebisme]

[QUOTE=mogambo]okay, the tv is here, it is hooked up, it is mounted on the wall, it is beautiful. excellent picture quality, even with the contrast and brightness turned down for the break in period. i have everything in the "picture" menu turned down to -6 or -5 and it still looks great. (by the way, is this adequate for the break-in?)[/QUOTE]
"picture" is the contrast setting and having a low contrast keeps the bright parts of the screen from being so much brighter than the dark ones so that you don't fade the pixels running brighter so quickly. If you are watching stuff with a bright while logo or other fixed image on part of the screen it is good to have that set low as you do for break-in, but with full screen moving images it isn't a big deal what it is set at as far as break-in goes and should be set were it looks best to you or better yet properly calibrated with test screens.

Having the brightness turned down on the other hand is just going to make it take longer to break-in past the initial quick fading phase, though again if you are watching stuff with high contrast fixed portions of the image a lower brightness will keep those pixels from wearing down unevenly as quickly.

[QUOTE=mogambo]a couple of questions: i have it on "just" mode right now to make sure the entire screen is filled in during the break-in period. however, i was flipping channels and i noticed that even the hd channels have side-bars in "normal" mode and have to be viewed in "just" or "full" to fill up the screen. ditto for a 1.85:1 dvd ("signs")--yes, the dvd player has been set to widescreen and 16:9. when i select "normal" with the dvd it gives me the sidebars again. [/QUOTE]
You aren't watching an HD signal if you can set it to "just" mode, check your cable box configuration and set the output for HD to either 720p or 1080i, 1080i will probably look better as many cable boxes don't do a good job deinterlacing the signal but you might as well try both and see what looks best to you. Granted, you won't be able to get rid of the black bars in HD and you don't want to watch anything like that for very long during the initial breaking-in.

As for other channels and DVDs and such, if you go into the settings menu on your display you can find a "screensaver" section on page 2 of that, and under that is an option called "side bar adjust" where you can turn the black sidebars to "mid" gray so that they wear down even with the rest of the screen instead of having to watch distorted images.

Also handy in the "screensaver" section is the "function" option which can be set to "negative" if you do accidently get image retention. That "negative" makes what is black turn white and vice versa, so if the center of your screen fades more noticeably more than the sides from watching content with black bars too long then you can turn on that "negative" setting and run the same content for an equal amount of time to reverse the problem.

I've been using the previous model of your display, the TH-42PWD7UY, for nearly two years now; and while I was fairly cautious at first, I've broken mine in well enough to where I can not only watch movie after movie with black letterboxing, but I also play a lot of video games with static screen elements and use the display as my primary desktop as well without every coming across any image retention. So by understanding what causes image retention and exercising common sense your display you should come out fine.

[mule65]

[QUOTE=kylebisme]You aren't watching an HD signal if you can set it to "just" mode, check your cable box configuration and set the output for HD to either 720p or 1080i, 1080i will probably look better as many cable boxes don't do a good job deinterlacing the signal but you might as well try both and see what looks best to you. Granted, you won't be able to get rid of the black bars in HD and you don't want to watch anything like that for very long during the initial breaking-in. [/QUOTE]

Good catch! I've been using "Peak Limit - ON" in the Screensaver section during break-in. It softens the bright whites and is easier on the eyes at night.

[mogambo]

great! figured out how to get into the cable box's setup menu and switching to 720p and 16:9 there fixed the hd issue. but, during the break-in period when not watching a hd source i should probably switch it back to 480 so i can fill the whole screen. it would be good if the image could be stretched via just for sd channels without changing the cable box settings--i guess that might be a common complaint.

for the image settings during break-in, can others who own this tv or related models recommend settings for picture, brightness and sharpness?

[bri1270]

The cable box may also have a "stretch" or "Zoom" mode. No need to miss out on HD stuff. I have the same set, and all I did was turn down the settings and avoided static images for extended periods. Don't sweat this too much, just be aware.

[kylebisme]

[QUOTE=mogambo]great! figured out how to get into the cable box's setup menu and switching to 720p and 16:9 there fixed the hd issue.[/QUOTE]
Did you try 1080i at the cable box as well? At least on my Motorola box the deinterlacing of 1080i signals when converting to 720p looks like crap compared to what my display can do when just passing the 1080i singals on.

[QUOTE=mogambo]but, during the break-in period when not watching a hd source i should probably switch it back to 480 so i can fill the whole screen.[/QUOTE]
There might be an option to pass though no-HD sources at their orignal 480i, I use such an option on my own cable box.

[QUOTE=mogambo]
for the image settings during break-in, can others who own this tv or related models recommend settings for picture, brightness and sharpness?[/QUOTE]
I just used the defualt "cinema" settings from the start and the calabrated from there after a bit of break-in on my 7UY.

[Hothersale]

[QUOTE=mogambo]...but, during the break-in period when not watching a hd source i should probably switch it back to 480 so i can fill the whole screen. it would be good if the image could be stretched via just for sd channels without changing the cable box settings--i guess that might be a common complaint.

for the image settings during break-in, can others who own this tv or related models recommend settings for picture, brightness and sharpness?[/QUOTE]
Something tells me you haven't got the STB set up right. With my Moto 6200, I can watch an HD channel and then switch to an SD channel and use all the stretch modes without having to change any settings on the STB.

Your STB will likely have one setting for HD output (which I set to 1080i) and another for SD output (which I set to 480i) -- on my STB, the SD setting is called "4:3 Override." If you have this setting any higher than 480p, you will lose the ability to use the aspect control, which I think is what is happening in your case.

For break-in, I've got all the inputs on Cinema and all values set to zero. If you use Standard instead of Cinema, you should probably go lower than zero.

Once I get to 100 hours, I'm going to pop in Video Essentials and calibrate my Component and S-Video inputs. I only wish I had a DVD player with a DVI/HDMI output so I could calibrate my HDMI input too!

[mogambo]

i figured out the 4:3 override thing just after posting that last message. now to find the cinema mode.

so, hothersale, when did you get yours?

[Hothersale]

[QUOTE=mogambo]i figured out the 4:3 override thing just after posting that last message. now to find the cinema mode.

so, hothersale, when did you get yours?[/QUOTE]
About three weeks ago, but I returned a 37PHD8UK (too small, bad pixels) and TWO 42PHD8UKs (bad noises) before falling in love with the oh-so-silent 42PWD8UK. It feels wrong to a love a TV this much. ;)

The Cinema mode is one of the Picture presets. It is certainly the least VIVID, but apparently it is the preset that is closest to what a proper calibration would yield. It's a good place to start, especially if you're worried about burn-in.

[mogambo]

here's my next dumb question: i just connected a sony ns55p dvd player to the tv. pressed the progressive button on the front panel to select progressive video output. changed the tv type to 16:9. now, what aspect do i select on the tv? i'm still getting choices for normal, zoom, full and just. is it the same situation as with the set-top box? i.e. if i'm getting these choices does this mean i'm not getting the right signal?

in the dvd player setup there is also an option for 4:3 output. this can be set to either full or normal. in the manual it says that if the tv can change the aspect ratio then i should set it to full, if not to normal. but for "normal" it says "shows a 16:9 aspect ratio signal with black bands on left and right side of image". i can't really tell which one i want to select.

any and all help appreciated.

[mogambo]

anyone? bueller?

[kylebisme]

DVD player to 16:9, TV on Full.

[mogambo]

thanks.