Latest Addition to the HDGURU.com, An Interactive Connections Guide

We just purchased a Mitsubishi DLP 57″ 1080I 733 Series TV. Is it safe to use an X-Box 360 on this tevevision. I have done a little research which says it it safe, but since it is rear projection I am a little leary. Putting a 360 on our last TV is what broke it.

Thanks.

Set up Samsung 1080i HD CRT with a HDMI to a cable box with VDI. Used a cable with HDMI to DVI cable and RCA audio connections. The TV has 4:3 aspect ratio. Why does the picture have the black sides? I thought this only happened when viewing a 480p on a wide screen TV.

Check your TV aspect settings on your cable box using the owner’s manual or call your cable provider. It must be set to 16:9 (widescreen) Also make sure your TV’s aspect is set to “Full”.

HD Guru 

2 questions, one specific, one general:

Specific: any thoughts on the new 9631 line from Philips? I have the 42PF9631 and I really like the picture and features. I won’t say it’s quite in the class of the Panasonic or Pioneers, but for a bit less money and with features I like (including Ambilight), I’m very happy with the HD and SD picture quality via cable.

General: any thoughts on getting an ISF technician to do a Service Menu calibration? Is it something that can make a difference to the average HD viewer, or just the video nuts? Is this kind of calibration as important on a 42″ TV as it is on a larger 60″ or larger TV? I’m smart enought not do fool around in the SM myself, but have heard from others that even small tweaks and calibrations there can really improve your picture quality as well as make your regular controls (contrast, brightness, color, etc) easier to use.

My wife and I purchased a Hitachi Plasma, 55HDS69 two months ago. When watching non-HDTV channels, we sometimes get a vertical line of smeared pixels from the top to the bottom of the picture (not always in the same place). This does not happen when watching HDTV or when we hook the TV up directly to the cable (bypassing the DVR/Cable Box. It only happens when the TV is hooked up to the DVR/Cable Box. We had the TV looked at by an authorized Hitachi repair facility and they could not duplicate the problem. We also replaced the DVR/Cable Box, but it still happes. Is this common for Plasmas or do you think there is something wrong with the TV? Also, our DVR/Cable Box is a Motorola and it is not an HD receiver. Could it simply be a bad signal from this DVR/Cable Box?
Thanks and Merry Christmas,
Mike

It appears the problem is occuring within the cable box, otherwise it would appear using other source boxes with the same input. Contact your cable provider for help.

The HD Guru 

Thank you for the answer to my last question. If what you said is true though, then how come the games and DVD’s I play on my Playstation 2 look superior to the regular TV signal? Is it because I am using a Component Video (Red, Green, Blue) Cable on the PS2? When I switch to the PS2, in the upper right hand corner of the TV it says “Video: 480i” I didn’t think 480i was HD. If the DirecTV box accepted component cables, would the image look superior as well?

Thank you for the website. I have learned more in 30 minutes of reading your comments than all the literature available on HDTV. Costco sells many different brands of HD and they have a customer satisfaction policy. If a plasma or LCD TV goes bad after the normal policy expires, Costco will accept the defective TV and either return your money or exchangefor a like model. When a Costco sales rep is asked what their return policy is for HDTV’s, his response is “100% customer satisfaction”. I even asked about the time limit for returns and the sales rep just repeats,”100% customer satisfaction”. If this is the case, why would anyone buy their HDTV any place but Costco?

You have to be member, Costco does not deliver, they have a limited selection of makes and modes, sometimes they are speical club  modelproducts with less features not found in normal B&M retailers. They sell a number of discontinued last year’s models. You need to know what you are buying to avoid headaches and returns. 

The HD Guru 

Hello, love your site! A quick question, we have a Sharp LC-40C45U LCD TV connected to a DirectTV (Standard def) Box with an S-Video Cable and the picture quality is really bad. Is this HDTV not be able to show SDTV images in high quality?

Good upconversion of SD to HD is difficult to perform well, requiring a very good scaler chip, however if the actual signal is fair to poor, it will look bad on  an HDTV no matter how good the upconversion chip is. What can you do? Trying the HD Directv box, set to upconvert may (or may not) make an improvement, its all trial and error. Why have a standard def box connected to an HDTV?  Another alternative is cable or over the air reception. Sorry there is no simple answer.

The HD Guru   

I just added a Sony DAV-X1 to my Panasonic plasm TV with an HD cable source. My current set up is DVI to HDVI (video) RCA-RCA (Audio) Set Top To TV.
Introducing the Sony into the mix, I used HDMI-HDMI for DVD to TV & switched the audio cables to be from the set top box to the Sony.
I got no sound, so switched back for the night! My problem may have been that I did not “tell the TV” that I was using an alternate speaker system.
Am I on the right track, or have I missed something?

I am not 100% clear about what your describing. However you are correct if you are on the right track if you are using the same input. The Panasonic needs to know the audio is being sent over HDMI with the video, not externally as it is with DVI (DVI is video only)

Consult your Panasonic owner’s manual for instructions on making the switch to HDMI without external audio active

The HD Guru

Just wanted to repost this…Really curious about whether or not it is worth a HD player on a TV w/out HDMI inputs.

I want to get either a HD DVD player or Blu-Ray Player. Which format is gonna be around? Also, I have a Toshiba 57HD Projection TV(480i/p, 720p, 1080i). It only has componet inputs, no HDMI. My question is is it worth purchasing a HD/Blu Ray player if your TV doesen’t have HDMI inputs?

Thank You

Right now it is not an issue. The studios are not using image constrant token (ICT, it means downrezzing over analog) and wouldn’t for at least a couple more years  (maybe never) . By then HDTVs will be so inexpensive you may find them in your local supermarket.

The HD Guru 

THOUGHT I WOULD CHECK TO SEE IF I AM IN THE WRONG SECTION. ON 12/12 I INQUIRED WHETHER MY TH42PX60U WAS COMPERABLE TO THE 50″600U BOBBY’S PANNY HAS IN RELATION TO DEINTERLACING,THE ONE PIXEL ON/OFF PATERN
AND DEEP BLACK.

THANKS FOR THE BEST HD SITE.BENNY

All the panasonics properly deinterlace. The the 50″ has enough bandwidth to display full 720p signals. The HD Guru only tests 1080 bandwidth with 1080p displays. The 50″ panasonics are 133×768.

The HD Guru 

 

I have a Sony KDF-E50A10 and just got a BlueRay player that has a HDMI option to choose either RGB output or Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr output. Which is best for my TV?

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Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr mode

The HD Guru 

Great site!
i’m reading a lot on panasonic. I have aTH42px60u,i would like to know if my model is up to speed with the TH50PX600U in the specs.Your review was great on Bobby’s 50″ I hope my review is as good.

I purchased a Panasonic th50px600 in september. I love it, it has a great picture and hd is terrific. Can you tell meif it passed the bandwith test.Reading all the recent coments,makes me wonder if I got my moneys worth.

Bobby

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The Bbndwidth tests were only conducted using 1080i signals on  1080p displays, the 50″ Panasonic you have is 1365x768p. I did test it with 720p signals and it does fully resolve the one pixel on/off pattern. Enjoy the plasma.

The HD Guru

DOES THE PANNY TH50PX600 PASS BOTH DEINTERLACE AND3.2 TESTS. IF NOT WOULD, YOU STILL PUT IT WITH THE UPPER TV’S TO PURCHASE IN THAT SIZE.

THANKS JOHNNY R.

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It has the best black level  of any of the 50 sets I have tested. My other choice is Pioneer, not  quite as good black level but does pass both tests. These are the two top 768p 50″ plasmas

The HD Guru

 

Hello What Do You Think About The Hitachi 42hp69

The HD Guru has top rated a Hitachi plasma.All current models use the same 1024 x1080i panel but the HD Guru has not test this specific model .Check the Hitachii website for all the similarities to the top rated Director series 42″ plasma

The HD Guru

What TV you would pick, Sony Grand WEGA 50″ 1080p Rear-Projection SXRD HDTV or Samsung 50″dlp 1080p.

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The HD Guru plans to post his rear projection picks this weekend, stay tuned.