Toppy - Image quality issue

[Ext User(Steffen Kluge)]

When I got the Topfield 5000 quite a while back I only had a 4:3 TV with
S-Video inputs. All was good.

Then, I upgraded to a 16:9 CRT with component inputs. I spent a lot of
time calibrating the picture and it looked great when playing DVD's. The
Toppy however, now connected via component (YUV), showed somewhat weird
colours, I googled, found it to be a known issue, got the RGB-to-YUV
converter from Hantrex, set the Toppy to RGB.

Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red
areas have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With
filmed material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with
big red banners look outright shabby.

Is there anything else I need to do? Is there a firmware fix for that?
Or is the RGB-to-YUV converter not good enough? I'm using a SCART-to-RGB
cable (looks cheap, from Hantrex) between Toppy and converter and
as-good-as-it-gets RG6 quad with compression connectors between
converter and receiver/TV.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Ext User(Fish! - THE Aristocrat.)]

In article <Ja44g.17612$vy1.3138@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
kluge@dotnet.org says...
> When I got the Topfield 5000 quite a while back I only had a 4:3 TV with
> S-Video inputs. All was good.
>
> Then, I upgraded to a 16:9 CRT with component inputs. I spent a lot of
> time calibrating the picture and it looked great when playing DVD's. The
> Toppy however, now connected via component (YUV), showed somewhat weird
> colours, I googled, found it to be a known issue, got the RGB-to-YUV
> converter from Hantrex, set the Toppy to RGB.
>
> Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red
> areas have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With
> filmed material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with
> big red banners look outright shabby.
>
> Is there anything else I need to do? Is there a firmware fix for that?
> Or is the RGB-to-YUV converter not good enough? I'm using a SCART-to-RGB
> cable (looks cheap, from Hantrex) between Toppy and converter and
> as-good-as-it-gets RG6 quad with compression connectors between
> converter and receiver/TV.
>
> Cheers
> Steffen.
>

go to www.topfield-australia.com.au, and join their forums.

[Ext User(Saus29)]

I connect by s-vid and avoid those issues.

"Steffen Kluge" <kluge@dotnet.org> wrote in message
news:Ja44g.17612$vy1.3138@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> When I got the Topfield 5000 quite a while back I only had a 4:3 TV with
> S-Video inputs. All was good.
>
> Then, I upgraded to a 16:9 CRT with component inputs. I spent a lot of
> time calibrating the picture and it looked great when playing DVD's. The
> Toppy however, now connected via component (YUV), showed somewhat weird
> colours, I googled, found it to be a known issue, got the RGB-to-YUV
> converter from Hantrex, set the Toppy to RGB.
>
> Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red areas
> have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With filmed
> material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with big red
> banners look outright shabby.
>
> Is there anything else I need to do? Is there a firmware fix for that? Or
> is the RGB-to-YUV converter not good enough? I'm using a SCART-to-RGB
> cable (looks cheap, from Hantrex) between Toppy and converter and
> as-good-as-it-gets RG6 quad with compression connectors between converter
> and receiver/TV.
>
> Cheers
> Steffen.

[Ext User(Glenn Dowling)]

"Steffen Kluge" <kluge@dotnet.org> wrote in message
news:Ja44g.17612$vy1.3138@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red areas
> have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With filmed
> material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with big red
> banners look outright shabby.

The firmware update will not solve this problem, but instead you should
contact Topfield Australia. I believe that there is a simple hardware fix that
they can do, and I have heard one guy say that Topfield did this as a warranty
issue. This would be the preferable solution, as the less that you are stuff
around with the signal the better.

I do not have the problem myself, as the later models have had the fix done
already.

{GaD}

[Ext User(Malcolm Taylor)]

"Steffen Kluge" <kluge@dotnet.org> wrote in message
news:Ja44g.17612$vy1.3138@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> When I got the Topfield 5000 quite a while back I only had a 4:3 TV with
> S-Video inputs. All was good.
>
> Then, I upgraded to a 16:9 CRT with component inputs. I spent a lot of
> time calibrating the picture and it looked great when playing DVD's. The
> Toppy however, now connected via component (YUV), showed somewhat weird
> colours, I googled, found it to be a known issue, got the RGB-to-YUV
> converter from Hantrex, set the Toppy to RGB.
>
> Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red areas
> have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With filmed
> material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with big red
> banners look outright shabby.
>
> Is there anything else I need to do? Is there a firmware fix for that? Or
> is the RGB-to-YUV converter not good enough? I'm using a SCART-to-RGB
> cable (looks cheap, from Hantrex) between Toppy and converter and
> as-good-as-it-gets RG6 quad with compression connectors between converter
> and receiver/TV.
>
> Cheers
> Steffen.

I had the same problems with the Toppy component output and the Cypress
converter from Hantrex (on a Panasonic CRT). On this TV, red bleeds to the
right and looks particularly bad on a white background. I now have a
converter built by a local electronics technician, which is much better.

[Ext User(Malcolm Taylor)]

"Glenn Dowling" <glenn@nospam.com.au> wrote in message
news:4451f94c$0$15626$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...
> "Steffen Kluge" <kluge@dotnet.org> wrote in message
> news:Ja44g.17612$vy1.3138@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>> Now the colours look fine, with just one remaining niggle: solid red
>> areas have shadowy edges, it looks a bit like overdone sharpening. With
>> filmed material this isn't usually visible, but red text, and ads with
>> big red banners look outright shabby.
>
> The firmware update will not solve this problem, but instead you should
> contact Topfield Australia. I believe that there is a simple hardware fix
> that they can do, and I have heard one guy say that Topfield did this as a
> warranty issue. This would be the preferable solution, as the less that
> you are stuff around with the signal the better.
>
> I do not have the problem myself, as the later models have had the fix
> done already.
>
> {GaD}
>

Not true. The hardware fix was for a different issue with component. This is
certainly fixed on later Toppies, but Toppies still have problems with
over-saturated color on the component output with some TVs, and this is
quite different from his problem with the RGB-to-YUV converter.

[Ext User(Steffen Kluge)]

Malcolm Taylor wrote:
> I had the same problems with the Toppy component output and the Cypress
> converter from Hantrex (on a Panasonic CRT). On this TV, red bleeds to the
> right and looks particularly bad on a white background. I now have a
> converter built by a local electronics technician, which is much better.

Thanks for the reply, Malcolm. Interestingly, my TV is a Panasonic CRT,
too. Do you know whether the Cypress converter can be modified or
adjusted? How did you find someone who makes RGB-to-YUV converters??

Maybe the TV needs to be adjusted? It is still under warranty.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Ext User(mark)]

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 10:58:30 +0000, Steffen Kluge wrote:
> Thanks for the reply, Malcolm. Interestingly, my TV is a Panasonic CRT,
> too. Do you know whether the Cypress converter can be modified or
> adjusted? How did you find someone who makes RGB-to-YUV converters??

I have Panasonic TX-76PW100A with a toppy and the cypress converter but
I don't see this? If you have the Panasonic 200A or 300A then they are
just the newer versions of my model.