Is THIS 4:4:4 downsampling? Game screenshots on Panasonic tv

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mr-freeman

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OK, can somebody please advise if what I'm seeing on my tv is 444 downsampling? Here are screenshots from Trine, Just Cause 2 and some Windows themes on my Panasonic TX-L39B6B :

http://s1272.photobucket.com/user/mr-freeman/media/Trine2_zps179cc9ab.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

My system is Win7 64-bit, AMD Radeon 7950, Catalyst 13.4, and the exact same games and pictures on this same PC with the SAME settings look fine on my Dell monitor U2311H. So I'm sure it's not the PC. I just wanted to know if anyone can tell me if this is an example of 444 downsampling? I have the same problem whether connected by HDMI or DVI, and I have renamed the HDMI inputs on the tv to PC. The windows themes I'm not too bothered about, but the dark blue border around red light sources is especially irritating in games as it catches your eye and looks odd. The sky in Just Cause 2 looks terrible, blotchy and bandy, plus the red lights have a dark blue border around them (which happens in other games as well). I have tried changing every setting on the tv but nothing fixes the problem.

What driver do most people use when hooked up to a tv? I am using the generic pnp driver because obviously Panasonic don't make 1 for PC's, but is there a better driver anywhere? I'm sure this is some mismatch between AMD and the tv. I tried the EDID override routine, but it didn't alter the weird colours in the games. So 444 or some other problem? Thx
 
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is there a mode option on the tv? like "game mode" or "pc" mode or sumthing?

driver....I'm not sure what to say here, I don't run any specific "driver". It either works and looks awesome, like a real pc monitor, or it doesnt and looks...well blurry.

read the threads about how people have done their setting, game mode, pc mode renaming a mode to pc or game mode etc. edid override is just one solution. Are you running hdmi > dvi or?


link to more info, if you haven't read it...http://www.avsforum.com/t/1381724/official-4-4-4-chroma-subsampling-thread
 
Not very wise thing to upload 4:2:0 JPG (and horribly compressed one - although fotofucket ruins everything you upload, at least by default) and ask if it's 4:4:4 or not... ;) Give use PNG and upload it to some place that doesn't convert it to jpg. The camera most likely doesn't use 4:4:4 subsampling so if you or image host save(s) it again to jpg, it will look quite bad and it's going to be hard to say what it actually is. If I use jpg, I always use 4:4:4 chroma subsampling.
 
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Sorry I know the screenshots are poor quality but they do show the colour problems how they actually look on screen! There is a dark border around red light sources, so what I'm asking is that what people see when they don't have 444? Surely somebody can answer that simple question?

Tiatt, no I don't have a PC Mode to select on the tv, just input source HDMI 1,2,AV 1,2 and TV (aerial). I have renamed HDMI 1 and 2 to PC but it doesn't make much difference. I've tried both HDMI and DVI cables but no change.
 
I've got a Panasonic ET60 and on mine the "1080p Pixel direct" switches between 4:4:4 and what I'm guessing is 4:2:2. The difference is more subtle than the issues in your pictures, from what I can tell at least. The picture quality is pretty horrendous on the images, but things like banding and black borders around light sources shouldn't be caused by lack of 4:4:4. It's much more subtle than that.
 
mr-freeman said:
Sorry I know the screenshots are poor quality but they do show the colour problems how they actually look on screen! There is a dark border around red light sources, so what I'm asking is that what people see when they don't have 444? Surely somebody can answer that simple question?

Tiatt, no I don't have a PC Mode to select on the tv, just input source HDMI 1,2,AV 1,2 and TV (aerial). I have renamed HDMI 1 and 2 to PC but it doesn't make much difference. I've tried both HDMI and DVI cables but no change.
Click to expand...

How does red and purple text look on your TV? If it looks somewhat like this:
yv127ojv3.png

(4:2:0) then it definitely isn't 4:4:4.

but if it looks like this:
444u2jrn.png

(RGB) then it is.

Also notice the difference in white text on red. Remember that any post process stuff you have enabled in your TV will make difference in the image.
 
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Thx for the replies guys, so you think my problem is not 444 but something else or maybe a faulty screen? I can see the very slight difference in those two boxes above, the bottom one is slightly sharper and I can read coloured text on this forum no problem! However if I search google for "red text on blue background", it does appear smudged. (The same blue border around the red text, similar to the effect in the games). There is an image of "Lorem Ipsum" on google image search (under red text on blue background) which is solid red text on my Dell monitor. But when I view it on the tv and zoom in, there is solid red in the middle of the letter, surrounded by light pink, then a dark blue border. This is the exact same problem as the games. So it looks like my tv is having difficulty resolving red on blue, like the red information is being distorted somehow.

So I can't imagine what else is causing the issue in those games. I have 1080p pixel direct turned ON, but everything else turned off. Only thing I'm unsure of is Auto Detail setting (for Graphics, Photos, Cinema), what do you guys do with that? It doesn't seem to make much difference on or off for me.

I have a second pc so I'm installing Trine and JC2 on that and will see what that looks like hooked up to this tv.
 
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To test if 4:4:4 is working you can open up Paint, fill the background in red and then paint with green or blue on the red background. If you google images they might be compressed and not have full 4:4:4 resolution.
 
OMG I don't beelllliiiieeeve this, I just turned 1080p pixel direct OFF, and I think it has fixed the whole mess! Just Cause 2 finally looks better, the horrendous banding in the sky is much better and the dark borders around the red lights are not quite as noticeable! Plus my windows backgrounds are less pixelated! And Trine seems a bit better aswell. I definitely tried that before but it didn't make any difference. Maybe because I renamed the HDMI input to PC it helped? And why would 1080p pixel direct cause banding and pixelation?? You would think it wouldn't make any difference if the source was 1080p and the screen is 1080p aswell.

Whaaaattt a nightmare lol! I have wasted so much time on this, but thank you guys for feedback and ideas. Have any of you noticed if better or worse with pixel direct on/off? But why have that setting at all, it's completely unnecessary? Anyway I am so relieved that this tv seems ok after all! I still don't know whether this tv does 444 or not but I don't even care now lol! :)
 
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