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  1. #1
    Rep points are my LIFE!! Groundbeef's Avatar
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    Whooo Got New Plasma On Saturday

    Well, I finally got the basement to a point where I could get the new TV mounted. Walls are painted, now only have to get some trim up, and carpet.

    The plasma is a Pioneer PDP-5071HD

    I just uploaded the images to the photo gallery:

    http://gallery.audioreview.com/showg...&ppuser=246919

    Any tips on calibration for the new Plasma? I hear that a HD-DVD calibration disk will be coming out at the end of the month, but would a DVD calibration disk work ok?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    guitar mongoose icarus's Avatar
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    Congrats on the new TV Groundbeef, looks great...
    that makes as much sense as a drunken mongoose playing the piano

  3. #3
    Forum Regular elapsed's Avatar
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    Looks great! But why is she mounted so high? I hope you're using a tilting wall bracket!

  4. #4
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Very nice plasma. The sheer surface area of the wall makes it look smaller than it really is but I'm sure you have the couch close enough to have the best seat in the house, as it were.
    The real question is: "Does the 360 go on the plasma, or do you have another system for gaming?" Personally, I prefer to keep my 360 on an lcd and I'm curious as to other's choice.

  5. #5
    Rep points are my LIFE!! Groundbeef's Avatar
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    Yes, in the picture it is rather high on the wall. After our first movie, the wife suggested that she didn't enjoy the "first row at the theater" experience. I removed the TV, and lowered the bracket about 8 inches.

    The wall run is approximatly 45'. We also have 9' ceilings in the basement. Its a massive wall, and the wife is currently deciding what pictures to hang.

    I may move it another 6 inches lower. And yes, it is on a tiltable mount.

    As far as the 360 goes, it plays AWESOME on the 50". Originally, I had it upstairs on the 37", and it was great there as well. Part of the reason is that I popped for the HD-DVD add on. I even got it on sale at CC for $159, not to bad for a bonified HD-DVD player.

    Although I don't get the full 1080p experience because the Plasma doesn't have 1080p, it is still an unbeliveable picture.

    I am not to much for the LCD to be quite honest. Most of it probably is a bad left over taste I got when I was shopping for my first Plasma. At the time the LCD's artifact(ed) badly, and I just lost my appitite for them.

    With the DirecTV HD reciever discount, and the BB installation discount I got the TV for just under $2600, not to shabby for a Pioneer Plasma 50".

  6. #6
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    Cool deal. I have been a bit fearful about burn in from scoreboards on the games so I've kept it off the plasma. I would imagine that the Pioneer has the newest protection and should afford you more security than my older model Philips.
    I too got the HD DVD, though not at the bargain price that you wrangled. Ya gotta see Jet Li's Fearless. It's just a visual tour-de-force.

    Cheers

  7. #7
    Forum Regular KaiWinters's Avatar
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    Nice tv....enjoy.
    I used the DVE calibration dvd for my plasma and thought it worked very well. Navigation of the dvd is another thing...sheesh what a royal pain in the ass...very clumsy...or perhaps I am though others report the same annoyance.
    I carried over the dvd calibration settings to tv watching and have no complaints.
    Burn In and Image Retention are pretty much old technology problems. I lowered my brightness and contrast from "torch mode" to about 50% for the first 100 hours. This is based on recommendations for plasma break in one thread or another.
    I do nothing special and have no burn in or IR problems at all.
    TV: LG 50PC3D plasma tv
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  8. #8
    Crackhead Extraordinaire Dusty Chalk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Groundbeef
    Any tips on calibration for the new Plasma? I hear that a HD-DVD calibration disk will be coming out at the end of the month, but would a DVD calibration disk work ok?
    I can't think of anything in the calibration DVD that I use that wouldn't also apply to HD. It does things like help you dial in your hues and contrasts just right, and that would still apply to HD. I'm trying to think of something that would be appropriate to HD that isn't appropriate to regular resolution, and I just can't think of any. That said, I haven't seen the HD calibration disk, so I could be wrong.

    The one I use is the Avia Guide to Home Theater.

    Alright, now that I think about it -- there's a part where you're trying to get some crosshatch stuff, that might translate to HD pretty well. In other words, it might be easier to discern. Maybe -- but this disk will still help you to dial in your system to film quality.
    Eschew fascism.
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  9. #9
    Suspended PeruvianSkies's Avatar
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    color calibration should be the same regardless of the definition. if you don't want to get an actual setup calibration disc, than put in a DVD that you might have with the THX optimizer on it already. if you use that you can get color correction and sharpness. that should get you started and for further refinement look into a calibration disc.

  10. #10
    Oldest join date recoveryone's Avatar
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    Nice room Beef, Did you consider going with projector with a wall that size? Any who, if this is a dedicate HT/gaming room get a head start on the wife and find some movie posters or audio gear banners to give it that HT feel.
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  11. #11
    His and Her Room! westcott's Avatar
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    At that screen size, a standard calibration DVD like DVE should work just as well. You may get a little better calibration from an HD DVD calibration disk, but only for sharpness settings (which is usually set to zero or one anyway) and better would be iffy.

    And the speakers are way too close to the ceiling. They should be mounted at ear level for a more natural sound and better performance.

    I hate to rain on anyones parade but you really should have set the display on the short wall for better acoustics, more seating area at the right distance, and it would make your display look larger than it is.

    I am jealous. I wish I had a dedicated room that big. Good Luck with your home theater and keep us posted on your progress.

  12. #12
    Rep points are my LIFE!! Groundbeef's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by westcott
    At that screen size, a standard calibration DVD like DVE should work just as well. You may get a little better calibration from an HD DVD calibration disk, but only for sharpness settings (which is usually set to zero or one anyway) and better would be iffy.
    Thanks. I did a little searching on the net, and found that my "Monsters Inc" DVD has a THX calibrator on the disc. Granted, its not the best, but for general tweaking it worked out great. Has about 5 calibration steps, and got the TV much better than factory settings. I will look around for a more robust package later, but for now I am happy with the picture.


    Quote Originally Posted by westcott
    And the speakers are way too close to the ceiling. They should be mounted at ear level for a more natural sound and better performance.
    It would be impractical for the back speakers to be lowered as the ceiling is 8' where I put them. I didn't want speaker stands in the rear either, as I don't want wires running on the floor. In the front, the wife would not allow speaker placement 5' off the ground, and again I didn't want speaker stands. As it is now, the Pioneer receiver I have set it all up nicely, and auto detected the distance. I had the mic set up roughly at ear level where we sit, and it sounds great.


    Quote Originally Posted by westcott
    I hate to rain on anyones parade but you really should have set the display on the short wall for better acoustics, more seating area at the right distance, and it would make your display look larger than it is.
    I always wear my rainsuit when on these boards. No matter what the setup or gear, there is always something better, less expensive ( or more expensive), and a better way to do it.

    As for the short wall, I see your point, but disagree for 2 reasons. 1. It is on the eastern wall, and gets tons o' sunlight for most of the day. I don't want to have to shade the window all day to watch TV. Thats a waste of a window. 2. Because of the length of the room, the back wall would be 30' from the TV. And there is no northern wall, as the "wall" is only 1' down from the ceiling. Again, I don't want speaker stands, nor do I want to have to put a console for my AV equipement up. Thats why its all in the fireplace cutout in the foundation. Sort of a "built"in setup. Cant wait for the cabinet to be finished.

    Quote Originally Posted by westcott
    I am jealous. I wish I had a dedicated room that big. Good Luck with your home theater and keep us posted on your progress.
    Thanks, and thanks for your input.

  13. #13
    Forum Regular Woochifer's Avatar
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    Congrats on the new display! I'd been looking into the Pioneer plasmas as well, so I'll be very curious to hear how your experience goes with that set.

    I'll concur with the others, definitely get a calibration disc like DVE or Avia or the Sound & Vision Home Theater Setup Disc. Since you're using an upscaling HD-DVD player, you can simply go with the 1080i mode and use the battery of tests on those discs. You might also want to verify that the results stay consistent in the 720p and 480p modes.

    The THX Optimizer is okay to start with, since after all it's free of charge and some of your DVDs already have it. But, it does not give you the kind of consistency that a dedicated calibration disc provides, because it does not use a color filter. Plus, I've gotten some inconsistent results from the THX Optimizer's audio tests, which can actually vary from title to title (purportedly the audio tests are specific to an individual DVD title, which IMO makes no sense since the whole goal of calibration is to ensure that all speakers output at equal levels after taking your room and setup into account).

    All in all, it looks like your media room's coming together very nicely. As Westcott mentioned, you can further optimize your setup by lowering the speakers closer to ear level (the surrounds are fine above ear level). But, that's for another day and another time. Enjoy the setup in the meantime!
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  14. #14
    Rep points are my LIFE!! Groundbeef's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Woochifer
    Congrats on the new display! I'd been looking into the Pioneer plasmas as well, so I'll be very curious to hear how your experience goes with that set.


    All in all, it looks like your media room's coming together very nicely. As Westcott mentioned, you can further optimize your setup by lowering the speakers closer to ear level (the surrounds are fine above ear level). But, that's for another day and another time. Enjoy the setup in the meantime!
    Thanks! All told, I am very satisfied with the Pioneer. I picked up an additional DirectTV HD reciever, and got $150 off the set, and got another $150 off when i had BB install the TV. (After watching, I would do it myself next time. I had expected much more effort, and complications, but frankly it wasn't difficult to do.) After discounts and the like it was about $2500, and BB is nice enough to finanace for 0% until 2010.

    I paid about $3700 for my Sony 37" 3 years ago, so I feel pretty good about the 50" now. The Pioneer 60" is like Plasma Porn...but I couldn't justify $5300 for the extra size. The picture on both were phenomonal, and even display SD broadcasts quite nicely. The processors on the Pioneer are supposed to be better than LG and Samsung, so the SD picture doesn't look "bad".

  15. #15
    His and Her Room! westcott's Avatar
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    I too have been looking at flat panels too for the bedrooms. I am giving up on SED technology since its release at reasonable prices does not appear to by happening any time soon. My research pretty much has eliminated all the competion except for the Pioneer and Panasonic displays. It seems both have their strong points when it comes to picture quality and the consensus seems to be that video processing and black levels are the distinguishing differences. Both are important but from the few displays I have seen (not saying much considering the calibration and viewing conditions in a retail store), it seems to be a toss up.

    I think you made a very good choice and I hope you enjoy your acquistion for years to come. Congratulations!!!

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