Pioneer Elite VSX-84TXSi AV Receiver
Pioneer Elite DV-79 AVi DVD
Panasonic HD Television 32" CT-32HL42
B&W 704 (s) -- Front speakers
B&W LCR60S3 -- Center speaker
B&W DM600S3 (s) -- Rear Speakers
Velodyne DLS3750R -- 10" Subwoofer
Panamax Power Conditioner
I am having an unusual problem with my display. My video is connected from an HD Time Warner Cable box as well as my DVD with audio/video switching through my Pioneer Elite VSX-84TXSi AV Receiver. The video side is cabled at each stage via component video (3 cables). The audio side is via Digital Coax, except for my DVD player where I am using firewire for audio. When I use the on-screen display, such as for menu functions or with my IPOD, the display quality is poor. I have I light grey screen with annoying purple vertical lines in the display. Worse yet, when I attempt to use the built-in Faroudja DCDi HD Video Scaler to upconvert video I end up with degraded video quality with a noticably lower quality image, which likewise contains vertical lines in the display. In pass through mode, when playing a cable source (either SD or HD) or a DVD source (480P) I have good quality video without noticable lines or defects. When I turn on the video converter, the quality is then significantly degraded.
If I route a VCR video signal though the Pioneer 84-TXSi, the quality is particularly poor, much, much lower quality then if the video signal is sent directly to the TV. I am using high quality cables throughout and have swap tested them. My TV, a Panasonic HD Television 32" CT-32HL42, is a 1080i, (2003 model) HD TV. It is a CRT display with 4:3 aspect ratio. The video signal is passed via component, in that the TV does not have HDMI, and it is my understanding that I cannot pass video via HDMI unless the end display unit has HDMI.
As a test, I borrowed a Sharp HD LCD Widescreen TV. This was an inexpensive base model displaying 768P with choice of component or HDMI for video. I hooked up the Sharp with the same component video connections as with my Panasonic. The Sharp did not have the vertcal line defects in the on screen menu display modes or IPOD modes. When I utilized the Pioneer's VSX-84TXSi's built-in Faroudja DCDi HD Video Scaler DCDi , the Pioneer appeared to process and upscale the video without visual lines or defects. The Faroudja DCDi HD Video Scaler actually significantly enhanced the image. As a second test I hooked up my VCR and routed the video through the Pioneer's Video Scaler and to the Sharp LCD. The video quality enhancement was dramatic and without defect.
It does not appear to me that my Panasonic display is per se defective. In pure pass through mode through the Pioneer VSX-84-TXSI (Video Conversion Set to Off), the picture quality is quite good and is in fact significantly superior to that of the Sharp LCD. The on-screen displays of the Pioneer VSX-84-TXSI , of course still contains the above mentioned defects.
ANY IDEAS or SUGGESTIONS.
ROBERT MONROE
