On channel 282 (one of the higher frequencies), I'm currently seeing about -17 strength and 32 or so S/N. No dropouts.

Has anybody else noticed that the 3250HD has the "chroma bug" on digital SD channels?

Has anybody else noticed that the 3250HD has the "chroma bug" on digital SD channels?

What do you mean by "chroma bug"?

look here (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_2/dvd-benchmark-special-report-chroma-bug-4-2001.html)

I think we can all say that items 1, 2 & 3 in the original issue post have been "resolved". If not perfectly, pretty well...

Good Job Rogers.

The other issues are less major and we hope they also are resolved soon.

I think we can all say that items 1, 2 & 3 in the original issue post have been "resolved". If not perfectly, pretty well...

Good Job Rogers.

The other issues are less major and we hope they also are resolved soon.

I'm sorry, but I'm completely disagree. I have the latest firmware on my 3250HD and the picture quality is not as good as the 3100HD. The black level is off so much so that you just do not see much detail in anything that is dark coloured. I had a Pioneer technician at my house this morning for a non-related issue with my TV. We he was done he asked me to turn on the cable box so we could inspect the colours. The picture lacked so much detail on the dark images that he asked if we could use a couple DVDs to check the picture instead. Even he commented that the Rogers box was throwing the colour way off. Immediately changing over to a dark DVD (Gladiator) without any further adjustment (and on the same input on the TV), the detail in the dark colours was fine.

I really like the 3250HD's added benefits over the 3100HD: stretching 4:3 HD material to widescreen, only using component video cable for everything, only using digital coax for all audio, etc. but the fact that the picture quality is worse is really bothering me. I'm actually considering returning the 3250HD instead of the 3100HD.

Is there any news of another firmware update to correct the black level to the same level it was in the 3100HD (where it should be)?

Your TV has different internal 'offset' values for different input resolutions, so your picture settings for 480i or 480p DVD are not necessarily accurate for 1080i input. Unfortunately, unless you can feed the set 1080i test patterns, it's all guesswork on your part to get the levels correct.

JohnnyG,
That makes perfect sense that the TV would have different offset values for the different input resolutions, and therefore the DVD images I was looking at are then not necessarily accurate for 1080i. However, there is nothing else I could do about this. The only device we had that could generate 1080i signals was the Rogers box and it is clearly not colour accurate.

The technician I had at my house was not there to calibrate my TV, he just wanted to verify that my greyscale wasn't totally out of wack after the work he had to do. He reset the voltages on each of my CRTs to what they were at before the work he did, and then we just wanted to take a look at the picture and specifically the detail in dark coloured scenes. We couldn't see any detail in the dark colours through the 3250HD.

JohnnyG,
However, there is nothing else I could do about this. The only device we had that could generate 1080i signals was the Rogers box and it is clearly not colour accurate.



You should be able to fix this either by changing the user configuration for the HD input OR by going into the service mode of the TV.

Assuming it hasn't changed much from the 500 series of Elites you can adjust the brightness/contrast/etc for 1080i (33.75 kHz in Pioneer speak) so that the output of the 3250HD looks right.

As anecdotal evidence, when I first got my 3100HD I had to go in an fix the 1080i modes for my Toshiba. As it turns out the 3100HD levels were also slightly off because when I attached my HTPC and sent test patterns that were scoped to have proper ranges (a poor man's test pattern generator) I had to make adjustments. The 3100HD was not nearly as far off as the 3250HD was though.

Once they fixed the black level on the 3250HD I noticed things were much better. Still not perfect as others have mentioned but still better.

So what you're saying is that if I were to crank up my brightness, I should see all of the details I'm missing? - It's not that the black level details have been 'crushed' by the box itself? I don't know if my TV will have different brightness/contrast/etc for 1080i, 480p, etc, but I'll look into that. If it does I suppose it wouldn't be a big deal to pull up the brightness for 1080i, as long as this doesn't mean that the brightness for 480p (DVDs) would also go up.

I'll take a look when I get home from work.

So what you're saying is that if I were to crank up my brightness, I should see all of the details I'm missing? - It's not that the black level details have been 'crushed' by the box itself? I don't know if my TV will have different brightness/contrast/etc for 1080i, 480p, etc, but I'll look into that. If it does I suppose it wouldn't be a big deal to pull up the brightness for 1080i, as long as this doesn't mean that the brightness for 480p (DVDs) would also go up.

I'll take a look when I get home from work.

Correct. Up until the F/W fix the 3250HD was crushing the blacks. That has been fixed, more or less. The 1080i settings are now too low on your TV since the 3250HD is sending "correct" levels.

So what you're saying is that if I were to crank up my brightness, I should see all of the details I'm missing?
I know I could have been more clear, but this is exactly what I meant....you likely need different settings for 1080i than for 480i and/or 480p. In this case, raising the Brightness is in order.

slyboy, you can adjust brightness and all other parameters in the USER menu of the TV for each input. In the service menu it goes by signal type but that's not neccessary to mess with until you get a real calibration.

Also you can set your player to interlaced and set the TV to upconvert to 1080i instead of 480p, and run AVIA or VE.

I dare say my 3250 is running great, better than the 3100 now. 24 on FOXED yesterday was back to normal (as good as it was on the 3100 at least).

Except yesterday my STB was on "Fixed" again. :evil:

Something I didn't make clear in my original comments is the fact that I basically only use Input 1 on my Elite TV. I run a high-grade long Component video cable from my monitor out on my receiver over to the TV's input 1. My equipment is on a side wall; only the TV and my front speakers are on the front wall. Besides, my receiver has more than enough bandwidth to pass the HD video signal, so it's really convienent to use video switching.

As for the other comments made by you guys: I don't know how to get into the service menu to change anything there. All I've done is slightly increase the "black level" setting in the user menu. There doesn't seem to be a "brightness" setting in the Elite user menu so I guess they just call it "black level" instead. This has helped the picture a little but I still believe that there is some black being 'crushed' by this box. It's better than it was though.

Another thing - I'm watching CityHD right now with a 1080i program showing. I go into the user menu of the TV and I alter a setting, and the same setting pop up (same values) if I go into the TV menu while playing a DVD. I don't seem to be getting separate setting with the TV, even though they're different resolutions (one is 1080i and the other 480p). Is this because I'm using the same Componet Input 1 on the TV?

Yes, exactly, in the USER menu it goes by INPUT.

slyboy, you can adjust brightness and all other parameters in the USER menu of the TV for each input. In the service menu it goes by signal type but that's not neccessary to mess with until you get a real calibration.

Also you can set your player to interlaced and set the TV to upconvert to 1080i instead of 480p, and run AVIA or VE.

If you must have everything on one input then you need to get into the service menu to calibrate all your modes. Time for a paid Spottie membership so you can reap the Pioneer Tweaks forum.

However you're saying the 3100 looked vastly better than the updated 3250 which has me stumped. Note: I think a good DVD player is still the absolute best for shadow detail but not a great deal.

Except yesterday my STB was on "Fixed" again. :evil:
Yup...happened to me again too when I turned it on Tuesday night.

so I guess they just call it "black level" instead
Which is really the correct terminology.

I bet if every maker used the correct term "black level" instead of "brightness" people would play with the control a lot less.