gamecube progressive scan problem on plasma screen

[t-dog]

hello all,

i've just bought a plasma screen, panasonic th-42pa50(same as th-42pe50), and i got this weird problem. When i'm playing gamecube games in progressive scan, the screen produces small vertical bars on far left and right side of the picture. but when i change to interlace signal, there's no black bars, and the gamecube picture covers the entire screen.
it's not my gamecube that's faulty,as i've tried it with other tvs, and there were no black bars.
the bars are about 4-5 cm on each side.
Anybody have a clue? It's damn irritating!!

[dj898]

i don't have your particular PDP but it sounds like with prog-signal your panel is going to 4:3 mode instead of 16:9... play with setting for prog-signal or PrPbY/CrCbY setting of your panel...

[gIzzE]

I beleive the panel, as do most, when using a progressive signal is set up for zero overscan, and the PS2 and GC also use zero overscan and really on the TV being set up for it, this is why you see the black bars.

Simply stretch your image slightly on that input, you are just doing what is sometimes done in the engineers menu.
It is good that this is done if you think about it, more manufacturers should take note.

[t-dog]

gizze, what do you mean by gc using zero overscan, and the tv being set up for it?
it sounds like this is not an unusual thing to experience?

but as said, when in interlaced mode, the picture's fine and fill the entire screen, it's only in prog scan mode the bars appear. And you can see that they're not supposed to be there, as it makes the 16:9 picture look slightly squashed ,horizontally (and i have chosen the widescreen mode, f.ex. in f-zero gc). And this is the case for all the zoom modes,16:9, 14:9, zoom1 & 2 & 3 etc. so i've accessed the service menu, and currently trying to figure out how to adjust the the screen horizontally.

[gIzzE]

On TVs they set them up so some of the picture goes over the edge of the screen, this hides any text info ect. from being seen by the viewer, normally around 5%.
However for a progressive input they expect you to be using a DVD where this does not matter as the DVD will (should) be framed properly, so they don't use overscan, they get the picture to fit perectly.
If you use a console though there will be an image within the 720x480 frame, games developers do not say lets make teh res 730x490 to account for overscan, so you sometmies see slight borders.

You should not need to go into the service menu, there should be an option for size and position within the user menu, this will also remeber the position for each input and each resolution on the input, so if you adjust it with a 60hz progressive image it will save it, buty then you will need to do it again for a 50Hz progressive image too.

[t-dog]

i can't find any size and position options anywhere.. This viera is very limited in option selection. if you're thinking about the pwd7 or phd7, i think they have options like this.
Unless you know for sure that my plasma have these options,which i then would really like to know how to access them.

edit: although you're right about your statement above, it doesn't really explain why, when the gamecube outputs interlace signal, it fills the entire screen, and when progressive is activated, it gets squashed horiontally.
Unless prog signal and int signals have different picture adjustment settings?

[gIzzE]

I have sent you a PM saying I would have thought it was in the set up menu somewhere, I have the HD panel and not the Viera.

Asked on av forums for you, here is the link.......

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...41#post1664941

[t-dog]

yeah, that's the downside of this viera compared to the hd, there's practically nothing you can adjust here. But, i'll figure out the service menu somehow..

thx

[Uli]

hi t-dog!

i've encountered the same promlem with my US Gamecube + Jap component cable + 42" Hyundai plasma tv! the whole screen is covered with brighter vertical lines which looking similar to static EM interference lines! i found this to be a common problem. see my post on hdtvarcade.com:

http://www.hdtvarcade.com/hdtvforum/viewtopic.php?t=1422

i switched the component cable twice and eliminated EM sources but with no effect! especially resident evil 4 looks terrible in prog scan mode. eventually i was clueless and sold my component cable. surprisingly, i now recognize brighter bars even in my s-video signal! strange!

maybe, and like some fellow members said, one can overcome this problem by trying to adjust the pitch and frequency of the screen. but unfourtunately i am also not able to do this in any of my video modes (except for PC VGA mode)! i've tried to find the hidden service menu codes for my Hynudai HQP 421SR in the web but had no luck.

please let me know if you manage to solve this riddle!

[t-dog]

hi uli,

i've experienced similar stripes, but only with wind waker (as far as i remember), and that was appearently a wind waker gfx engine glitch thing, according to somebody here.
but do you experience the white stripes with all gc games? as i've just tested several gc games in prog scan, and, although the black vertical borders are there to the far left and right(but as i've mentioned, this is probably due to the screen not correctly adjusted horizontally), i didn't see any white stripes whatsoever, and everything looked crystal clear.
And since you've tried with other component cables, there's really only 2 options left:
It's the gc's digital out that's faulty, or your hyundai plasma.
Maybe there are some adjustments to the plasma you can do to improve the picture/decrease the obvious stripes, or there -may- be something wrong internally with your plasma. Which would be a drag.
One way to exclude the fact that your plasma is wrong, could be to try another component source, a dvd prog scan player or xbox or ps2. If there's no stripes, then it can't be anything else but the cube.

t-dog

edit: regarding the black bars issue, i've just contacted a local panasonic center which will try and see if they can adjust their 42pa50 horizontally in the service menu, and they will check back with me tomorrow for a report on their findings. Funny thing is, you cant contact Panasonic directly, they have NO clue about the matter whatsoever, and i could call back in a week or something, and maybe there would be one guy there then that perhaps knew what a plasma was or something..
gawd..

[Uli]

t-dog,

unfourtunately the stripes that i encountered are even in s-video (GC) and rgb component (PS2) interlaced signals recognizeable. also it doesn't matter what game i play. source of the problem is most certainly my plasma tv, which for whatever reason can't be adjusted in any of the video modes. i'm sure if i had the service menu codes i could do something about it, as it's a matter of a button press to adjust the screen in PC VGA mode.

how is your xbox connected to your plasma, via vga box or component cable?

[t-dog]

i don't have a xbox. but my ps2,gc,pc and dvd player are all hooked up via component. shame there's only 1 comp. input, and i don't have vga or dvi/hdmi.
uli, if i were you, i'd call hyundai service center or something and ask for the service menu codes. or ask if the white stripes is something that can be fixed in the service menu.if they say yes, but don't want to hand out the codes, send it for repair. if it were me, i wouldn't be able to stand the stripes, and the repair cost would be worth it.

[dj898]

I went all the way to Hitachi USA west coast regional manager to kicj our Hitachi AU ass and pick up my panel. It was UK spec and missing some of component circuit and after much of curse and bitching they picked up and gave me the new US spec panel. Took me bloody four months though for this to happen...

[t-dog]

sounds like a real uphill struggle allright.. glad you got the panel in the end!

it seems like many company's regional centers are really useless, and the people working there have no idea whatsoever about their company's products, or what they're about.
I increasingly turn to internet forums for proper help and advice, as they seem to have more knowledge(ANY knowledge) about certain products than the regional centers themselves have.
Probably just a bunch of undergraduates in business or something.

[gIzzE]

t-dog,

unfourtunately the stripes that i encountered are even in s-video (GC) and rgb component (PS2) interlaced signals recognizeable.

Sounds like the timings on your panel are not quite right.
I have a scaler before my Panasonic and if I change the timings slightly going into the screen trying to get the image scaled to exactly 1024x768 and it is not right I get vertical banding. This would suggest that the timings that your panel is looking for is not quite standard, so when it does get a standard signal it looks slightly odd.

You need to get them to come out and sort it or swap the panel for one that works.
I had an LCD projector at home for a few days that did the same thing.