Settings-Settings-Settings

[sawzalot]

I need some help with the settings in my HD box here is what I have:
Motorola DCH 3200 HD Box Comcast Cable going to my Pio500M thru HDMI I don't think that the settings in the HD box were ever set up correctly if at all. I was fooling with the menu (box) and realized that I have three choices , 4-4-4 , RGB , 4-2-2 and then there is the over ride setting in the box as well any idea where to put that one ?

Thanks for any help and or thoughts in regards to these settings, sawz.

 

[jostenmeat]

I am pretty clueless, but if the override actually means a defeating of internal chroma upsampling, that's what I would do, because I simply assume that a Pioneer Kuro will do better with that than a POS cable box. I believe that much, if not all*, of our video starts as 4:2:0, like with DVD (mpeg2, etc), BD (VC1, etc), HDDVD. Therefore, I am guessing outta my butt that in your STB, 4:2:2 is like a halfway upsampling, and that 4:4:4 is all the way.

 

[Hi Ho]

Which override setting are you talking about? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the 4:3 override which simply lets you set the aspect/resolution of standard definition content. If you set it to 480i SD content will pass through the box untouched. Any other setting means the box will be scaling SD content. I usually set it to "Off" for customers because the change in resolution can make for quite a long wait time when switching between HD/SD stations and I can't see any difference in picture quality between off and 480i.

720p and 480p are the worst resolutions to choose on these boxes. I always set it to 1080i and let the TV do the deinterlacing. On certain stations that broadcast in 720p (ABC/ESPN, etc) the box will be converting it to 1080i but I have been able to detect any image degradation using these settings.

 

[zildjian]

4:2:2 should be chosen as that will work best with your Pioneer display.

 

[sawzalot]

Which override setting are you talking about? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the 4:3 override which simply lets you set the aspect/resolution of standard definition content. If you set it to 480i SD content will pass through the box untouched. Any other setting means the box will be scaling SD content. I usually set it to "Off" for customers because the change in resolution can make for quite a long wait time when switching between HD/SD stations and I can't see any difference in picture quality between off and 480i.

720p and 480p are the worst resolutions to choose on these boxes. I always set it to 1080i and let the TV do the deinterlacing. On certain stations that broadcast in 720p (ABC/ESPN, etc) the box will be converting it to 1080i but I have been able to detect any image degradation using these settings.

4:2:2 should be chosen as that will work best with your Pioneer display.

So are you both in agreement with the setting 4:2:2 as opposed to 4:4:4, and should I upgrade this HD box to the latest addition to comcast DCX3400 which has auto settings to match content. 480,720, 1080 , it is supposed to match the program so that I dont have to go into the box and do it manually every time I change from Fox to NBC for example, but my HD box is supposed to be of better quality and better components , IDK this is a part of the HT that I simply over looked, thanks , sawz.

 

[jostenmeat]

I think only zildjian was. HiHo was talking about what he suspected override to mean, which had to with ARs, which is only pertinent when we speak of resolutions as far as TV, and so he spoke of resolution settings.

What I'd like to know is the reasoning behind sending 4:2:2 to a Pio (I'm sure there must be one, and like I said, I'm pretty clueless too here).

I have come across devices that can upconvert better when they deinterlace before doing any chroma upsampling at all.

I also know that pros will do a chroma test with TVs, some sort of color decoder test I think, or something. Oh I don't know.

What do all of the settings look like to you?

 

[sawzalot]

The 4:4:4 seems to be the best, and keeping the HD Box at 720 P (even if the native on the movie or sports is being broadcast in 1080 I) seems to look the best as well, more realistic or natural if you will. I just might go and get the newest box so it will auto detect the resolution as being broadcast , that should take the guess work out of this whole setting question, sawz.

 

[zildjian]

I would use either RGB or 4:2:2, but as I said earlier, 4:2:2 will yield the better/more reliable result. Pioneers displays do no benefit from the 4:4:4 color space selection. Neither do they benefit from Deep Color from blu-ray players. The main thing is to have the display and source on the same color space setting, and while many devices are auto and do this nicely with each other, some will often incorrectly judge the color space of the other device and change from setting to another and cause less than ideal video on your screen and sometimes can cause significant color issues.

The end result/the picture on the screen is a RGB signal being displayed by your television panel. The cable box (or DVD / Blu-ray player) can perform the conversion of video signal to RGB if you set it to RGB, or the television can do the conversion (if you have the source set to 4:2:2). The Pioneer television would be a hands down choice IMO for performing this task better than the cable box, so... set the box to 4:2:2 and let the Pioneer video processor do the conversion to RGB.
Hope this helps.
-Brad

 

[sawzalot]

thanks Z. I appreciate your response, so I set to 720P then went to do the color spacing and lo and behold the 4-2-2- is no longer a choice now it gives me RGB or 4-4-4 the 4-2-2- is only there when I set to 1080I and most of my channels are 720P so I set it to RGB in the cable box, is this correct thanks sawz.

 

[jostenmeat]

I believe most channels are actually 1080i.

However, most channels that YOU probably watch are 720p, ahem, ESPN (sports), ABC (more sports), FOX (WS baseball, football).

But, seriously I think just about any other channel will be 1080i after those few. Oh, I think Nat Geographic could* be 720?

 

[zildjian]

thanks Z. I appreciate your response, so I set to 720P then went to do the color spacing and lo and behold the 4-2-2- is no longer a choice now it gives me RGB or 4-4-4 the 4-2-2- is only there when I set to 1080I and most of my channels are 720P so I set it to RGB in the cable box, is this correct thanks sawz.

HA! Yes then I'd choose RGB.

Actually, I think you should just go replace that 500M with a Panasonic and next time I'm in Philly, I'll get that 500M out of your way and you won't have to worry about any of this...