How to get 1080p/24p running smooth on a Panasonic Plasma
#1
I'll try my best since the last years but im not really able to get usual 1080p/24p movies running smooth on my home equipment.

there are no hardware limitations - the mac mini with macosx and dharma rc1 takes only 5% cpu

the bigger thing seems to be the plasma. on my mac i can switch between 24Hz/50Hz and 60Hz. When i switch to 24Hz every 1080p BluRay-Rip runs nice and smooth but standard tv-ripped-series do not because (ithink) they where encoded with 50Hz. When i switch back 50 or 60 Hz the TV-Rips running well but every HD-movie stutters.

is there any possibility to get the whole stuff working? like automaticly switching the display-frequency in xbmc from 24 to 50 or so?

im really tired of trying and hoping. maybe somene can help`?
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#2
You know there has been an option to match the display refresh to source fps right? Go into settings and look. Well, that is if your running Dharma.
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#3
Hi

I own a panasonic plasma and a Mac Mini. Adjust refreshrate is nog supported in Mac OSX

My setup is like this and all is played smooth. PM me is you need more assistance.

Setup.
  • TV connected to mac mini with Mini-DVI - DVI to HDMI to HDMI 1 input on TV

  • Mac mini is running 10.6.3. ONLY THIS VERSION runs 1080p with VDA correct.

  • Mac desktop is set to 60hz and overscan enabled.

  • Only VDA is enabled is XBMC the rest is turned off in playback settings. No auto adjust and sync

  • I run RC1

  • I can play everything smooth.
I suspect that putting XBMC in standby and waking up againg causes XBMC to drop frames but I cant prove it. So for now I would advice to turn standby off until you get smooth playback.

I also own a Harmony one so the setup is almost identical.

Good luck !
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#4
Exclamation 
idioteque Wrote:Hi

I own a panasonic plasma and a Mac Mini. Adjust refreshrate is nog supported in Mac OSX

My setup is like this and all is played smooth. PM me is you need more assistance.

Setup.
  • TV connected to mac mini with Mini-DVI - DVI to HDMI to HDMI 2 input on TV

  • Mac mini is running 10.6.3. ONLY THIS VERSION runs 1080p with VDA correct.

  • Mac desktop is set to 60hz and overscan enabled.

  • Only VDA is enabled is XBMC the rest is turned off in playback settings. No auto adjust and sync

  • I run RC1

  • I can play everything smooth.
I suspect that putting XBMC in standby and waking up againg causes XBMC to drop frames but I cant prove it. So for now I would advice to turn standby off until you get smooth playback.

I also own a Harmony one so the setup is almost identical.

Good luck !

thanx man. will try it tonight. im really stuck with this problem over the last 4 years and WANT TO GET IT SOLVED.

by side i read and talk in the largest german TV-forum (hifi-forum.de). There i read f.i. that the panasonic usuallky encode 24p sources (24Hz) to 96Hz (4x24Hz), 25p to 100Hz. seems not possible with the mac, because i cab only set 24/50/60 Hz. When i know more i come back here. i think many more ppl have this problem but cannot imagine Wink
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#5
One more thing

The tv MUST be turned on BEFORE turning on th Mac. Otherwise frames are dropped
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#6
idioteque Wrote:One more thing

The tv MUST be turned on BEFORE turning on th Mac. Otherwise frames are dropped

how did you know this?
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#7
If not massive frames are dropped and it appears no openGL acceleration is available due to no canvas found to render to

Another note on this:

XBMC MUST be started while the tv is on. So starting XBMC via remote vnc will not work

It is OK if the tv is in standby mode but not if 100% turned off
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#8
idioteque Wrote:If not massive frames are dropped and it appears no openGL acceleration is available due to no canvas found to render to

Another note on this:

XBMC MUST be started while the tv is on. So starting XBMC via remote vnc will not work

It is OK if the tv is in standby mode but not if 100% turned off

There are a couple of other options to this issue, if you're running Linux. You can run custom modelines and tell XOrg to ignore edid flags from the TV. OR you can pull an EDID file from your TV and point to it from the XOrg file which forces XOrg to run with those settings, even if the TV isn't responding at the time.

For OSX there is SwitchResX and DisplayConfigX which should also be capable of handling this situation without the monitor being turned on. Basically it should read the info while it is on, and save it for when it's not. Give em a shot.

One of my TVs does this, one doesn't. I use a custom modeline and tell X to ignore everything else and it starts up and works great even if the monitor isn't hooked up at the time.
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#9
@idioteque:

i tried it right now. but no luck.

a 24p movie runs much smoother, when i set the the macmini to 24Hz. while trieing 60Hz the movie stutters.

for testing purposes i activated logging in xbmc and as i thought - a 24p movie runs @24Hz in both cases (60Hz and 24Hz frequency). but - and this is the problem - the mac mini itself gives 60Hz to the plasma all the time.

suxx ;(

idioteque, could you please try 24Hz for me? is the movie as smooth as on 60Hz for you?

is there a possibility to see the plasma frequency when a movie plays? maybe in a system menu?

PS: im running MacOS X 10.6.5 -> should have no effect
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#10
PS: im running MacOS X 10.6.5 -> should have no effect

Wrong.

Trust me. 10.6.3 IS the only build. Ask Davilla

Press Info on the panasonic remot to see refreshrate

And yes

24fps at 60hz plays fine
24fps at 24hz plays fine

Trust me. Plz try 10.6.3 before any other options
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#11
idioteque Wrote:PS: im running MacOS X 10.6.5 -> should have no effect

Wrong.

Trust me. 10.6.3 IS the only build. Ask Davilla

Press Info on the panasonic remot to see refreshrate

And yes

24fps at 60hz plays fine
24fps at 24hz plays fine

Trust me. Plz try 10.6.3 before any other options

oh maaan. so i have to check out how i can downgrade to 10.6.3 Wink

thx man for your very good help.

*testing*
http://appletoolbox.com/2010/03/downgrad...y-options/
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#12
Use an external drive to do a timemachine backup. I always advise a clean install if possible. Then restore user homedir and apps with timemachine backup

Goodluck
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#13
idioteque Wrote:Use an external drive to do a timemachine backup. I always advise a clean install if possible. Then restore user homedir and apps with timemachine backup

Goodluck

thanx again. im not that familiar with apple - use the mac mini only for xbmcing Wink so every advice is worth
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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#14
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask
MBP late 2009 - TimeCapsule 2TB - Harmony One+ - Readynas NV+ 8TB RAID5 - Mac Mini late 2009 with 10.9.0 and VDA - Panasonic TX-PG420ES -
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#15
so im back. after a complete downgrade from 10.6.5 to 10.6.1 to 10.6.3 i cannot see any difference. the movie issnt smooth with 60Hz ;( same show like on 10.6.5

strange thing ;(
-= XBMC Lover © 2006 =-
---------------------------------------
XBMC @ Lenovo Q180, harmony one, Sony Bravia KDL-55W905, Marantz SR5006, MySQL XBMC Database @ Synology DS-409+ (thx Firnsy)
XBMC @ Lenovo Q150 and a Panasonic Plasma for bedrooming ;)
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How to get 1080p/24p running smooth on a Panasonic Plasma1