I have a Panasonic PT47X-54 CRT RPTV and it can display 1080i and 540p.
http://www.dealtime.com/xGS-pt47x54
I have a Sony Progressive Scan DVD Player that is sending a 480p signal to the TV. I also have a voom receiver getting OTA HD signals and that's at 1080i. Both are connected via Component. The 1080i voom connection is nicer than the 480p DVD signal and the colors are more vibrant.
I have a few questions:
#1: How do I get my TV to display the DVDs at 540p instead of 480p? Or does my TV do this automatically or something? I've been in the service menu for all inputs and none of the options are ever 540p.
#2: If I turn off the progressive function on the player and output at 480i will my TV then scale the image to 540p automatically and in turn look better than sending the 480p progressive signal?
#3: Should I connect my Voom 1080i to the HDMI port instead of component? Will I see much of a difference? I haven't done this yet because I was contemplating an up-converting DVD player that would use the HDMI port. Or perhaps HD-DVD a couple of years down the road.
I've read a bunch of threads about people complaining the the up-converting players don't improve much, and most responses were that the TV was scaling on it's own and doing a better job than the player. That's why I'm mostly confused.
Spiky
04-21-06, 03:12 PM
Without having read the manual, I would hazard these guesses:
1) Usually these TVs direct all 480i/p input to the 540p output. And all HD input comes out as 1080i.
2) See #1. But you'll have to try it to see which is best.
3) Try both. Use whichever looks best for now. With my HDTivo, for instance, I found virtually zero difference between component and HDMI. I am using HDMI for hookup convenience.
danicus007
04-21-06, 03:18 PM
Without having read the manual, I would hazard these guesses:
1) Usually these TVs direct all 480i/p input to the 540p output. And all HD input comes out as 1080i.
2) See #1. But you'll have to try it to see which is best.
3) Try both. Use whichever looks best for now. With my HDTivo, for instance, I found virtually zero difference between component and HDMI. I am using HDMI for hookup convenience.
Thanks Spiky, I knew you'd be around eventually :)
I've looked through the manual but I don't see anything that mentions how to output at 540p. Like I said when I go into the advanced service menu it shows you what you're outputting for each input device and my dvd player shows 480p, but I'm curious if the tv is in fact outputting 540p. There doesn't seem to be a way to tell the tv to do 540p or any other indication if it is upscaling to 540p or not.
mbs
04-21-06, 04:07 PM
I checked out the manual and, yeah, it doesn't say too much (http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/PT53TW54.PDF).
It does seem to indicate that 480p is displayed as 480p (page 9). It's pretty clear there is no option to change the output, unless they are deliberately hiding it.
You said that 480p shows as displaying 480p and there are also reports on AVS that 720p is downconverted to 480p using your set. These two points make me wonder if the TV has a scaler at all. It sounds like it will display 540p or 1080i only if you give it the exact source you want to display.
An upscaling player would likely not do much. Going from 480p to 540p probably is not worth the cost. But you could always get a player that outputs 540p (the Oppo does) or 1080i and check it out. If you don't like it, return it.
Your original questions (and my answers):
1 - I don't think you can.
2 - According to page 9 of the manual, 480i will be shown as 480p. The manual does mention a de-interlacer and is clear that all 480i signals will be output as progressive. I don't think this TV will scale to 540p, but could be wrong.
3 - Using decent cables, you likely won't see any difference between HDMI or component (at 1080i). Use whichever is more convienent.
danicus007
04-21-06, 04:24 PM
I checked out the manual and, yeah, it doesn't say too much (http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/PT53TW54.PDF).
It does seem to indicate that 480p is displayed as 480p (page 9). It's pretty clear there is no option to change the output, unless they are deliberately hiding it.
You said that 480p shows as displaying 480p and there are also reports on AVS that 720p is downconverted to 480p using your set. These two points make me wonder if the TV has a scaler at all. It sounds like it will display 540p or 1080i only if you give it the exact source you want to display.
An upscaling player would likely not do much. Going from 480p to 540p probably is not worth the cost. But you could always get a player that outputs 540p (the Oppo does) or 1080i and check it out. If you don't like it, return it.
Your original questions (and my answers):
1 - I don't think you can.
2 - According to page 9 of the manual, 480i will be shown as 480p. The manual does mention a de-interlacer and is clear that all 480i signals will be output as progressive. I don't think this TV will scale to 540p, but could be wrong.
3 - Using decent cables, you likely won't see any difference between HDMI or component (at 1080i). Use whichever is more convienent.
Thanks for the answers. I had a feeling this was the case, but was needing some more expertise on the situation. I guess I'll just stick to the current setup I have now. It doesn't sound like an upconverting player to 1080i will be much better. But HD-DVD at true 1080i should be pretty nice right?
Edit: forgot to mention when I put the Voom receiver at 720p my tv won't even display it, so I don't think it down scales to 540p. 720p just shows all garbage on the screen.
Josh Z
04-21-06, 05:09 PM
Upscaling of DVD content has less relevance on a CRT display than on a fixed-pixel digital display, especially if you only plan to scale from 480p to 540p. Basically, if you're satisfied with your current DVD performance, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're not satisfied, a new DVD player with a better MPEG decoder and deinterlacing is likely to make more of a difference than upscaling to 540p.
Buy: