TANDBERG 6000 MXP and HD

[crsaze]

Okay, guys. This should be easy. We recently had a system installed. I noticed "Allow 720p" was not checked in the settings. I checked it. When I hit selfview, the image on our 50" plasma went black. The designer said it was because they were running VGA to the monitor, and it didn't support 720p. I choked and sputtered a bit... How much did we just spend on an HD system that can't display 720p? On 50" dual plasmas????? WHAT???? So my theory is that all they need to do is run DVI to both monitors, and problem is solved, right? I'm sure TANDBERG has set it up so that the codec will scale and convert everything else including the computer, right? What exactly is the point of an HD system that is not showing HD. Their answer was "It will still look much better than the old systems". Yes. Any time you put a better lens on a camera, the image will be better. That's not the point... but I digress. Any info from you TANDBERG folks appreciated.

Chris

[Sean Lessman]

The designer said...

Who is 'the designer'? Feel free to drop me a note offline.

'Allow720p' just allows the output to display up to 720p. By default the output will display the native video signal coming from the input (i.e. XGA if you have PC connected, the codec menu system etc). If your monitor does not support XGA, then it will turn black.

If you want to force the output of the codec to always scale the image to 720p regardless of the input, you have to change the setting in the user interface (above the 'allow720p') called Video Output Quality (single/dual) from auto to 720p.

Hope that helps.

Sean

[robertk]

Any info from you TANDBERG folks appreciated.

Chris

Are the Plasma display capable of displaying 720p resolution? Or is it just made for data resolutions?

Maybe you have to configure the monitor to handle 720p.

This is the reason why you should buy a complete system such as the 6000 MXP PROFILE, all the parts are designed to work together, withouth the need for any extra configuration.

//Robert

[Sean Lessman]

is the reason why you should buy a complete system such as the 6000 MXP PROFILE, all the parts are designed to work together, withouth the need for any extra configuration.//Robert

Agreed. :) or at least make sure the room designer is up to speed on TANDBERG gear if it is a custom system you want.

Sean

[crsaze]

These monitors are capable of 1080p, so I don't think that's the issue. It's a matter of an integrator cutting corners because they don't think most users would notice a difference. Good thing I'm not "most users". I'm sure this can be resolved with the correct cabling.


Edit: These are 63" plasmas, by the way. Not 50". Samsung Samsung PPM63M7FB

[Sean Lessman]

Hey Guys
Also remember as well that the P in 720P stands for Progressive, which a lot of plasma's will not do, most will do the standard i for interlace such as 480i.

I think you might have that backwards.

Sean

[Sean Lessman]

Sean
No.. prgressive format still are not available on a lot of plasma's believe or not...

I don't think I believe that. I have never seen a plasma that had a native resolution that was interlaced -- I haven't been following plasmas for 22 years, so anything is possible I suppose. Always open to learning something new if you can point me to some sources on that claim. Quite a few will accept an interlaced format (1080i etc) but will scale to progressive (720p) before the plasma even processes the information for display.

Sean

[MDTV]

I also have never seen nor heard of a plasma display that is not natively progressive-scanning.

[Shawn Jones]

Perhaps the cable run from the MXP to the displays would have been too costly to do DVI?

[haneyr]

Looking at your original comment, I see you state that when you went to self view you saw a black screen. Does this mean that you can see the menu and start up screen? If so then the problem is not with the codec or cable. Are you using the HD camera? Have you checked to make sure that the "main cam" is selected as your start up source? Try using your "presentation" button to select the main cam or PC source to see what happens. Are you using a dual display? what is being shown on each monitor?

Answers to these questions will help narrow the problem down.

[Burt.Kloppers]

Looking at your original comment, I see you state that when you went to self view you saw a black screen. Does this mean that you can see the menu and start up screen? If so then the problem is not with the codec or cable. Are you using the HD camera? Have you checked to make sure that the "main cam" is selected as your start up source? Try using your "presentation" button to select the main cam or PC source to see what happens. Are you using a dual display? what is being shown on each monitor?

Answers to these questions will help narrow the problem down.
Always start at the simple troubleshooting I always say, I have replaced cables before to solve such an issue and it ended up being that the system was on the wrong source, one feels a little imbarrised after that but that is the only way you learn.

I will never make that mistake again.

[wareagle1980]

So the 6000 doesnt have DVI outputs to the monitor???

[Burt.Kloppers]

It does have 2 DVI outputs to the monitors!

[sjuris]

I have some level of interest in this topic and wanted to add my .02
Tandberg or other experts please correct me if I mis-speak...

The Tandberg 6000MXP has two DVI-I outputs
(The I in DVI-I means that it is capable of an Analog mode and a Digital Mode and based on what the Tandberg see's and feels connected to the DVI connector it will output differant signals)

In the analog mode it is essentially an analog VGA/XGA signal that is being passed through a DVI connector. Tandberg ships a DVI to HD15/VGA cable with the system. Use of this cable allows use of any analog CRT based monitor or a Plasma/LCD with a HD15 input.
I think System Integraters use this mode because you can connect a breakout cable to get a 5 wire RGBHV on BNCs to connect to an Extron RGBHV switcher.
No power management signals are sent by the Tandberg in the analog mode. However some LCD/Plasma monitors will go into sleep mode based on the absence or presence of the analog VGA signal(poor man's power management IMHO)

In the digital mode the Tandberg will pass a pure digital signal (same signal as used over a HDMI connection) In this digital mode it uses VESA-EDID (Extended Display Identification Data)
This allows the Tandberg to determine the highest supported resolution the LCD/Plasma will support.
This digital mode also allows for better power management via VESA DPMS digital signal sent to the display, I believe this is how the Tandberg Profile series of systems manage the display so well.

I and others think Tandberg did some nice engineering to have all this flexability....... However, I have found that many LCD/Plasma monitors do not have a DVI-D interface standard, but do have a analog HD15 so most installers will use the analog HD15.
(I works it must be right....:-)

I had previously gone through the trouble to buy the DVI-D add-in module for a Panasonic Plasma that I installed to use it instead of the HD15, but then the DPMS power management was not support by Panasonic......
Now I think DVI-D interfaces are being replaced by HDMI.....
This is easy enough with a DVI-HDMI adapter or cable, but you have to make sure that the display has separate analog audio inputs for the HDMI and the ability to select audio from the digital HDMI audio or the outboard analog audio input....

I guess my point is that old habit die hard....
System integrators, I think are used to using a RGBHV switcher for all audio and video in/out. (Single RGBHV connection to plasma)
In this case it would appear that a DVI-D connection from the T6000 to each plasma would be best for the Tandberg VTC...... However
a second connection to each plasma would be required to display other sources on the plasma...... and the control system would need to do some input switching on the plasmas....
It does add some complexity to a custom room configuration..

I guess my question is....
Is anyone running 1280 x 720 (Native 720P) resolution in an analog mode from the Tandberg....... If I had a 60' run from a T3000MXP to a projector, can I use the existing 5 wire RGBHV or should I run a new DVI-D cable run ?

[bba01]

I haven't heard that before.Plasma are capable displaying of 750P resoulation.