The Panasonic TH42-PHD8 With Media Center Edition
After waiting a while, I've now taken delivery of a Panasonic TH42-PHD8 - a 42" , 1024x768 plasma display monitor. The intention was to link this to my Media Center PC and to the existing sound system to produce a complete high-definition setup. This page shows the PHD8 and its setting up. After reading this you may want to take a look at another of my notes - connecting a large LCD panel to a Media Center PC – supported resolutions beware!.
The PH8 panel is intended for display-only applications, for example in airports or communal lounges and is not a TV by default. This may seem a limitation but in fact for media center use this has the following advantages:
The unit is slimmer without any speakers at the side.
The display software is more readily able to switch on at the PC input, i.e. no need to turn the display on and then press 'AV'.
The display modes are focussed on the PC output, thus it should be possible to achieve native panel resolution easily and with a digital connection.
By default, the unit is supplied with analogue S-video / composite in, and a VGA 15W 'D' PC input. These connectors can be seen below. The connectors are provided in a slot bay with two blanking plates fitted across unused slots. Additional input modules can be obtained for other input formats such as DVI. (I believe that a tuner module is also available if you really want a TV function in the panel).
To provide the unit with a digital video input, the DVI module is required, show below.
This modules fits in a spare input slot and provides DVI input and an audio input. (The panel has in-built stereo amplifier for speakers if they are fitted). The DVI input is HDCP aware, which means that it can take content-protected material if necessary.
So, after removing the slot blanking panel, the DVI module has to be fitted into a spare slot - don't do what I did and mount the panel on its stand first, then you can't slide the module in! I spread a blanket on the floor, checked carefully for hard objects trapped under the blanket and then carefully laid the panel on its face. The module is a sloppy fit into the slot with no actual guides but you can carefully feel around for the rear connector to engage and press it gently home. Finally, four screws are fitted to retain the module.
Finally, the panel is on the stand and in position - mounted on an old teak drinks cabinet pressed into service - Alphason eat your heart out!.
Setting up the panel was quite easy. Using another DVI monitor I powered-up the PC and set the desktop to 1024x768. This proved that the PC was outputting the correct format. Then, turn on the panel, select the DVI input using 'input' on the remote and hey presto a picture!.
So what about the picture then? Well, simply stunning rendition of HD material and even ordinalry material looks better when you have in your head that the delivery is digital all the way from the studio to your eye!. The photo below is a 1080i trailer 'The Discoverers' and I've selected a shot within a mosque with a lot of detail. In fact the camera does not do it justice because of aliasing between the display pixels and the camera imaging device, leading to some vertical lines that you can see. Click here to see the full resolution photo.
I'm almost ashamed to show a Freeview picture below, although it looks quite good.
