Adjustments for Pioneer PDP-V402E

[PascalP]

So I recently acquired a Pioneer PDP-V402E to accompany my PVM’s and BVM’s and it is just gorgeous (despite the greyish blacks).

Only thing I’m struggling with a bit is to get the geometry/screen size to correctly fill the complete screen. I can adjust the CLK.FRQ and HOR.POS to get it OK horizontal, but vertical I can only adjust the VER.POS and the black bars above and below the image remain.
Is there a way to adjust the vertical size somehow?

I connected multiple different sources via RGB (e.g. NTSC SNES, PS1, Dreamcast etc.) and they all show the same symptom.
One strange thing however, when connecting a (PAL) Gamecube with Mario Kart Double Dash, the screen is completely filled during the 50/60Hz selection screen, and after selecting 60Hz there are black bars around the screen again.

Also, what does the CLK.PHS do? I see no change when I adjust it.

Perhaps some of you guys who own the same unit can also post your preferred settings for RGB, Contrast and Brightness etc. so I can check how this works for me.

[Fudoh]

but vertical I can only adjust the VER.POS and the black bars above and below the image remain.
Is there a way to adjust the vertical size somehow?

you can't. Wouldn't make sense, since you'd lose the source/pixel alignment. If your source just has 224 pixels, then you'll get 448 lines instead of 480p after doubling. Most 480p systems have visible underscan as well, especially the PS2. If you really wanted fullscreen you'd need an external scaler, but rescaling on a low resolution like this costs a lot of quality.

Also, what does the CLK.PHS do? I see no change when I adjust it.

if you bring up a 1:1 pixel checkerboard pattern, you'll see....

[PascalP]

Thanks Fudoh,

I thought something like that, of course I do not want to change my aspect ratio and keep it as is.
I also have the other (horizontal) settings to the default values so the screen is as it is intended by the source connected to it.
just need to learn to live with it that with some consoles/games there are more or less visible black bars available

I have the 240p testsuite available and will check with some of the patters in there.

[Guspaz]

but vertical I can only adjust the VER.POS and the black bars above and below the image remain.
Is there a way to adjust the vertical size somehow?

you can't. Wouldn't make sense, since you'd lose the source/pixel alignment. If your source just has 224 pixels, then you'll get 448 lines instead of 480p after doubling. Most 480p systems have visible underscan as well, especially the PS2. If you really wanted fullscreen you'd need an external scaler, but rescaling on a low resolution like this costs a lot of quality.

Also, what does the CLK.PHS do? I see no change when I adjust it.

if you bring up a 1:1 pixel checkerboard pattern, you'll see....

That does mean that you'll never be able to play most 240p consoles at their native 4:3 aspect ratio, though...

I still wish I had one of those displays. It looks fantastic, and low (or no?) lag proper handling of 240p content on a relatively lightweight (compared to CRT) and large screen? Wow. No idea where to find them, though.

[Fudoh]

That does mean that you'll never be able to play most 240p consoles at their native 4:3 aspect ratio, though...

you can, since you can easily adjust the horizontal width. With a source with 256 pixel columns you won't aim at 1:1 pixel mapping anyway. With a 320 column source I would aim at full width though. Yes, you end up with a picture that's a little wider than 4:3, but you get pretty much perfect 1:4 pixel mapping in return.

[Guspaz]

That's what I mean, if you want 4:3 on an NES/SNES/etc, you'd have to give up the 2x2 pixel mapping, because you need to stretch 256 pixels to a 640 pixel wide display, which is a 2.5x scale. So either you get some softness from interpolation, or you'd get uneven nearest-neighbour scaling. I don't know which the PDP-V402 does.

Of course, you could argue that having soft horizontal detail and very sharp vertical detail is much like a CRT, after all

[waiwainl]

I still wish I had one of those displays. It looks fantastic, and low (or no?) lag proper handling of 240p content on a relatively lightweight (compared to CRT) and large screen? Wow. No idea where to find them, though.

There is one for sale here for $230 ex shipment.

[Guspaz]

The shipping costs to get something that large shipped overseas would surely be enormous. It cost me like $26 in shipping just to get a small scart switch from the netherlands

[R2-2D]

There is also a sort of "secret menu" in which you can make some extra adjustments.
Hold the menu button while turning the Pioneer on and hold it for a few seconds.
It's a bit tricky to get this to work , but should pop-up after trying a few times.

[PascalP]

There is also a sort of "secret menu" in which you can make some extra adjustments.
Hold the menu button while turning the Pioneer on and hold it for a few seconds.
It's a bit tricky to get this to work , but should pop-up after trying a few times.

I think you are referring to the service menu?
While the unit is on standby, press the menu button and turn ON the unit within 3 seconds, here you can adjust also RGB color settings etc.

[Fudoh]

yep, no holding of the buttons, just press the two after each other.