Panny thx question

[acritzer]

Why does the thx setting on panny plasmas shrink the screen more so than normal widescreen? Popped in a blu just to try the picture and noticed larger black bands on the top and bottom. Switched to a different picture setting and it went to what I normally expected.

[allstar780]

Zero overscan.

The "normal" mode (STANDARD) has a default setting of 5% overscan (or 2.5% maybe), meaning 5% of the picture on each side is cut off... the reason this is done is to eliminate certain artifacting and noise issues that exist on some TV channels... on the THX mode there is 0% overscan so you see the whole picture

[xneox]

What ^ he said.

In Panasonic plasmas, it's called 'HD Size', and it's a setting available in the 'Advanced' menu. 1 is 5% (slight zoom - some info loss), and 2 is 0% (no zoom - you see everything).

THX mode forces HD Size 2 (you'll see it greyed out in the Advanced menu). Other modes allow you to choose. If you choose Size 2 in other modes, then swap back & forth, you'll see there is no difference.

Personally, I don't like that they force it. It prevents me from using THX mode while watching broadcast programs (OTA or Dish) because they don't consistently fill a 0% overscan screen. The only thing 0% overscan is good for IMO is blu-ray.

[acritzer]

Originally Posted by xneox

What ^ he said.

In Panasonic plasmas, it's called 'HD Size', and it's a setting available in the 'Advanced' menu. 1 is 5% (slight zoom - some info loss), and 2 is 0% (no zoom - you see everything).

THX mode forces HD Size 2 (you'll see it greyed out in the Advanced menu). Other modes allow you to choose. If you choose Size 2 in other modes, then swap back & forth, you'll see there is no difference.

Personally, I don't like that they force it. It prevents me from using THX mode while watching broadcast programs (OTA or Dish) because they don't consistently fill a 0% overscan screen. The only thing 0% overscan is good for IMO is blu-ray.

Ah, good info. I was also wondering what the HD size was, this helps clear it up. So, using THX mode, which forces HD size 2, while watching a cable broadcast may possibly show some issue at the top/bottom of the screen? I may have noticed this already, but not understood why it was there...looked like a small screen tear just at the very top.

I agree, the forcing is frustrating. I'd love to go ahead and use the THX settings, it looks great! But...the larger black bars do seem a bit much for me. It might only be a little change, but it sure seems noticeable to me. Maybe I'll get used to it?

[allstar780]

I use the THX mode (with tweaked settings) and I think its better to have no overscan because you see the whole image