My only other HD set has been a 1080P DLP. Late last week my old tube tV crapped out in the bedroom. I went online and without much research at all I purchased the Panasonic TH42PZ80U (the deal...from an authorized Panny dealer....sure seemed to be a great one). Anyway, now it's been delivered and directv has been out to hook me up with a HD DVR....but....I've got no idea of the proper settings and the "100 break in" guidelines that I've heard about. By chance, can somebody direct me to a quick reference on the proper settings as well as break-in guidelines? I'm really trying to avoid having to read through the thousands of posts in the "owners thread" if at all possible.

One last thing....is there such a thing as "motion blur" with plasmas? I was doing some late night TV watching the other night on the new set and could have sworn the pixels were breaking up from time to time.

Thanks!

Why not use search in the owners thread? Or ask in the owners thread? I find this part of the forum doesnt see many visitors or posts.

My only other HD set has been a 1080P DLP. Late last week my old tube tV crapped out in the bedroom. I went online and without much research at all I purchased the Panasonic TH42PZ80U (the deal...from an authorized Panny dealer....sure seemed to be a great one). Anyway, now it's been delivered and directv has been out to hook me up with a HD DVR....but....I've got no idea of the proper settings and the "100 break in" guidelines that I've heard about. By chance, can somebody direct me to a quick reference on the proper settings as well as break-in guidelines? I'm really trying to avoid having to read through the thousands of posts in the "owners thread" if at all possible.

One last thing....is there such a thing as "motion blur" with plasmas? I was doing some late night TV watching the other night on the new set and could have sworn the pixels were breaking up from time to time.

Thanks!

Pixels breaking up is typically source related and likely coming from the signal the dish box is sending to the TV. I occassionally have that issue with Comcast Cable. How do you like the set so far as that's the model that I've pretty much decided to get also.

Yep, no motion blur with plasmas:D

BTW, I too would like to know how you like your set. How does it compare to your DLP?

I was doing some late night TV watching the other night on the new set and could have sworn the pixels were breaking up from time to time.
The first thing you should do, if you have not done so already, is take the set out of "Vivid" mode in the picture settings menu. Standard or Cinema will work. Ideally you should use a calibration disc. If you still have problems with macro blocking (pixel breakup) then try turning on "MPEG NR" in the advanced settings. While you're in the advanced settings menu make sure "Black Level" is set to "Light"

Motion artifacts you see after proper setup are most likely from the source.

The first thing you should do, if you have not done so already, is take the set out of "Vivid" mode in the picture settings menu. Standard or Cinema will work. Ideally you should use a calibration disc. If you still have problems with macro blocking (pixel breakup) then try turning on "MPEG NR" in the advanced settings. While you're in the advanced settings menu make sure "Black Level" is set to "Light"

Motion artifacts you see after proper setup are most likely from the source.As already mentioned...true macroblocking is something that comes from the source (cable box/dvd player etc..) and can't be fixed with any setting on the tv. Any sort of noise reduction circuitry will do little for poor sources while harming the PQ of good/HD feeds. Most people leave all such processing off..

Any sort of noise reduction circuitry will do little for poor sources while harming the PQ of good/HD feeds. Most people leave all such processing off..
Some sets MPEG NR circuits are terrible and simply seem to blur the picture. I have compared the on and off positions of the MPEG NR setting on the Panasonic displays many times on my own PZ77u and I have never been able to see any negative effects from that circuit. I leave it off on my set because it doesn't make any difference. I'm on Dish.

I have installed many Panasonic displays for customers on Comcast and the picture quality in this area leaves much to be desired. I have found that the MPEG NR option on Panasonic displays does improve the picture with sub-par HD sources without affecting the good quality sources. It does little to curb true macro blocking but it helps eliminate mosquito noise other motion artifacts.

I do not recommend turning it on arbitrarily but it is worth seeing if it helps.

One last thing....is there such a thing as "motion blur" with plasmas? I was doing some late night TV watching the other night on the new set and could have sworn the pixels were breaking up from time to time.

Thanks!

Broadcasts vary from sorry to excellent. You'll just have to live with that. You'll experience the same on other technologies, even CRT.
Pop open that new BD movie and play it at 1080p/24...:D