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Which providers have boxes that provide PIP? I know DirecTV doesnt and I really hope they add it at some point. They could go a long way towards interactivity for things like NFL Sunday Ticket or MLB Extra Innings with built-in PIP functionality. We also have Fios and Time Warner in our area and neither of them offer built-in PIP for their boxes either. I've never had DishNetwork so don't know what their boxes provide.I recently purchased a Planar 8150 for my HT rebuild and part of the reason was because it has its own PIP. I had to bite the bullet and get an extra DirecTV receiver, but I missed it and am glad I got it!

I have Dish Network and Charter cable, and both provide PIP, which is ironic, since I never use it. I contacted Verizon and verified that FiOS does not provide PIP, which is really strange, since the FiOS DVR provides more than one tuner (watch one channel while recording another), so it would be trivial to add this feature.

Regarding the discussion on bi-amplification, Mr. Norton stated:"For one thing, the tweeter and midrange consume very little power compared with the woofer, so much of the 200W available from the amp that's currently driving those elements is probably going unused."I believe this is inaccurate. Without an electronic crossover preceding the amplifiers, both amplifiers are receiving a full range signal. If a low frequency transient generates a clipped signal, the distortion products will be evident for both amplifiers and will affect the high and low frequency ranges.There is a way to address this situation. You can use you a high quality electronic crossover ahead of your existing amplification. The electronic crossover will not be used to perform a true crossover function. It will simply remove the signal demands outside of the crossover region. i.e. set the low pass filter well above and the high pass filter well below the passive speaker crossover frequency. Say at least one octave o

Just wanted to add that I have a Panasonic G10 (50 inch model) and I was watching PIP last night through a time warner cable box, so it is possible to do so on that panasonic TV (said in the article that panasonic didn't have PIP capabilities).

I disagree in your burn in comment...I have owned Pioneer Kuro 5020 for about a year and have the DISH HD only programming package. I now have faint burn-in of the black SD pillar bars. Luckily I do not notice it on normal programming but they are there are obvious on black screen, my wife even noticed it. Like I said I have HD only programming so I watch very little content with pillarbars. I now have enabled pioneers auto-gray pillarboxing in hopes of removing the current burn-in. I have always run the orbiter too.

Mark, I suspect you were using the PIP capabilities of the TW cable box, not the Panasonic. According to the company, their current sets do not have PIP.Jeff, have you run the Pioneer's screen-wipe function? That should help as well. Personally, I hate gray pillarbox bars. I haven't been using my Pioneer for a year yet, so I'll stay on the lookout for image retention. I still say it's nowhere near the problem it used to be.

Scott Snyder: The input section of the mid-high amp will indeed receive a full range signal, as you say. But this section's job is relatively easy. The amp's output stage, however, will be working through the high-pass section of the speaker's internal crossover network. The impedance of this network increases rapidly as we drop below the crossover point simply due to the nature of passive crossover networks. And the higher the load impedance, the less power drawn from the amp. Except in unusual circumstances, such as a very low speaker sensitivity or a low woofer-mid crossover point (say below 400-500Hz), the mid-tweeter amp is unlikely to be called on to produce anywhere near its full 200W rating. I consulted with Home Theater's Audio Tech Editor Mark J. Peterson and he added that putting another crossover ahead of the amp as you suggest, while sounding logical, will not only serve no useful purpose but might cause other audible issues from cascading two high-pas

Hi Tom:I generally agree with where you are going in your response and at the same time, still feel their is some validity to my comments. The character limits prevent a lot of caveats, in my prior comments. One, I don't know about the "unusual circumstances" you mentioned. I would venture that many systems powered by four 200 watt mono blocks are inefficient and may be three-way systems with lower crossovers. For example, PSB Goldi speakers. As to Mr. Peterson's comment, I offer the following example. 400 hz passive crossover, active high pass filter set at least one octave below 400 hz, depending on the passive filter slope. If the passive crossover is 18 db/ octave or higher, 1-2 octaves below the passive crossover point is not likely to create adverse audible impact. If 12 db/octave, 2-3 octaves lower should be safe. I would not recommend this for 6 db/octave crossovers, as implemented on Thiel or similar speakers. The useful purpose is eliminating the low freq. demands from the high

Yes, I bi-amp the conventional way using the twin pair of binding posts on my Mirage M3si speakers, so the tweeter/midrange gets an amp, the woofer gets one. The signal goes direct from the preamp to the amps; no external crossovers are involved.At one point I did use only one pair while one of the other pair was getting repaired (whew!). I heard no appreciable difference, except that recordings which were light on bass to start with were a bit lighter. I heard no difference in recordings with heavier/fuller bass.

The bottom line here is that the possible benefits of bi-amping, where possible, will vary from system to system. You should not expect miracles. That said, I must note that I have not logged much bi-amping time myself. My comments here are based primarily on the technical realities of bi-amping with audiophile speakers. In the original inquiry the four required amps were already in place, so experimenting with a single pair would be relatively simple. But when the amp purchase is still under consideration, a single more powerful pair of amps might be a better bet than four lesser ones. But there are a lot of variables involved on the user end, including the characteristics of the amps themselves, the listening level, the speaker, the room, and the program material. I would not recommend buying an extra pair of amps on the assumption that bi-amping will produce a significant improvement. Borrow first if you can, and listen for yourself, in you own system, before pulling out your checkbook.

My 2 cents regarding the Bi-amping question... Generally bi-amping most improves bass performance. So to get an "equivalent" single amp to replace your bi-amp setup, look for high-power amps (but not necessarily double) with good bass characteristics, and hopefully the rest will follow suit. Generally speaking, an amp with a high damping factor has better control over the low frequencies, and again, generally speaking, higher power amps tend to have more bass "slam".

On burn-in or image retention, I've had my Pioneer 111FD for just over a year, watching everything, and seen no evidence of it. Today's plasmas are supposed to be better at avoiding this. During the break-in prior to an ISF calibration (at 162.5 hours), I stuck to HD channels mostly, but watched a variety of content. Now, a year later, I've seen no evidence of image retention. Obviously, my experience may be different from someone else's, but suffice it to say image retention is not guaranteed to happen. I do use Orbiter 1 and gray sidebars on 4:3 material, which doesn't bother me.On bi-amping, perhaps when I'm ready to buy something I'll revisit the single-pair test with the current setup, especially since I have new front-end equipment and the result may be different for that reason.

As for the potential new amps (if I decide to go that route) I was looking at Emotiva's XPA-1 monos, at 500 watts per channel. One pair to replace my two B&K pair. That could well be overkill, but bass, dynamics, etc. would not be an issue. I'd have to watch the volume, though; I wouldn't want to feed the Mirages anything like the full 500 watts, since I dont want to blow anything out (the M3si rated at 100 to 300 watts).I'm in no hurry to buy anything, so I can think about this a while longer.

For plasma owners, when you get your plasma display reduce the contrast to about 65% and/or take it out of "Factory Torch' (Vivid) mode! It's ideal to keep things full screen, the higher the contrast the greater the chance for image retention which is temporary at best. "Burn-in" is for the most part permanent! If left in "Factory Torch' mode (high 100% contrast) you will greatly shorten the life of your plasma panel and after a time have permanent "Burn-in". DougIf you limit the time you spend viewing still images, avoid ultra-bright modes like Vivid, and are extra cautious during the first 100 to 200 hours of the set’s life (the phosphors are most prone to permanent burn-in when they’re new), you shouldn’t experience any problems. Quote from right here at Home Theater Magazine! Doug

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