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New Panasonic THX Certified 42PZ800U, 46PZ800U, and 50PZ800U Thread!

1M views 8K replies 980 participants last post by  vando45 
#1 ·
I'm so tired of waiting for them checking the stores and not seeing them.

Let's discuss them while waiting for them to show up in stores.

I'm probably going to buy the 42PZ800U for my bedroom as I only have a 5 foot viewing distance, it would be perfect. I'm also going to get a bluray player and probably a 4 year service plan on the Plasma.

I only wish I had something like a Onkyo 605 to go along with it, but unfortunately I have an Onkyo 504 which is 7.1, but only TRUE 6.1.
 
#7,254 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zookster /forum/post/15878546


You beat me to it.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=#post15778143


I have to say that I may have to go back your user settings over the ones I came up with using my old AVIA disc. Last night watching Sarah Connor, I think I actually prefered daMaster's THX settings to your callibrated Custom mode changes.
(but not by much
)

I have tried various settings since I bought 50pz800. I thought that the best settings I ever tried was the John's settings, but that was before I tried daMaster's settings!


The picture looks like it is on a good old crt. I have a feeling like I'm watching the tv on a big crt display. John's settings are very good, but since my tv is bigger I feel that daMaster's settings are better for 50pz800. I must admit that I was afraid of picture (contrast) which is 100, but like I said the picture quality is very good.


I was very pleased with the quality of the picture when I saw the hockey game between Flyers and Pens. The best picture quality I ever have obtained with sm and "normal" menu settings and I'm watching hockey every day. I'm talking about daMaster's settings.


His settings are for the 58" model. The picture setting is at 100 and cNet's settings for this set are 100 for picture (contrast). But they's picture settings for 50" model are at 80.


The only thing which I do not like with these settings is the picture. I can try to lower down to 80 but will not thouch another settings. Overall I'm very satisfied with daMasters settings.


I have contacted my calibrator and I will get my set calibrated soon. The only thing calibrator said about my set was that the best color temp is at warm and the best mode is cinema (thx). That is the nearest d65. There fore I'm using and tweaking daMaster's settings at the moment.


John's settings are perfect for his model, which is 46". DaMaster's settings are perfect for his model which is 58". My model is 50" so I must find something in the middle temporarly and soon calibrate my display.
 
#7,255 ·
My 46pz800u got delivered today!....bad news is I didnt realize this thing would be so big and heavy (94lbs) so I don't think my old stand would be strong enough to hold it. It held my 17" tube tv thats about 50lbs but I dont want to risk it. Where should I buy a stand from? I dont care how it looks as long as its sturdy enough.
 
#7,256 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rjones416 /forum/post/15880937


My 46pz800u got delivered today!....bad news is I didnt realize this thing would be so big and heavy (94lbs) so I don't think my old stand would be strong enough to hold it. It held my 17" tube tv thats about 50lbs but I dont want to risk it. Where should I buy a stand from? I dont care how it looks as long as its sturdy enough.

Stores like Best Buy have a much better selection online than what they have on display. I got a Pinnacle TV50201 for my 46" 800U.
 
#7,258 ·
I'm using a Panasonic LS75 Lumix 7.2 megapixel camera(~$100 over a year ago...) Normal picture mode, Auto White Balance, ISO 100(as low as it will go,) 16:9 aspect ratio, high quality(low compression,) five area focusing, Stabilizer off, Auto Focus assist lamp off, neither wide angle or zoom, Standard color mode, flash off, two second self timer, and a tripod. No additional adjustments or tweaks were made for the above seven screenshots.


My heartfelt thanks to my ISF calibrator Bill Hergonson of Coast Calibration!:
http://www.coastcalibration.com


The Custom-normal mode ISF calibration report for my set(click on each thumbnail, then click on the magnifying glass icon for a clearer/larger view):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2213859...7612063712960/


A note from my calibrator to all of you: ""Custom" mode with "Normal" color temperature is the best choice for White Balance adjustability, brightness, contrast, and general picture quality. (you MAY quote me)"(post #7233)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4#post15863584


Thanks for your patience! I hope you're all getting as much satisfaction from your sets as I am from mine!



Best regards,

John E. Schuyler
 
#7,259 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rjones416 /forum/post/15880937


My 46pz800u got delivered today!....bad news is I didnt realize this thing would be so big and heavy (94lbs) so I don't think my old stand would be strong enough to hold it. It held my 17" tube tv thats about 50lbs but I dont want to risk it. Where should I buy a stand from? I dont care how it looks as long as its sturdy enough.

I'm looking at Target and Wal-mart for a new stand myself. There are a couple I really like, ones that I can mount my TV onto allowing room for a large center speaker on the top shelf. I'm just waiting for them to go on sale again as I missed it last time. This one I've seen for as low as $139:

http://www.target.com/Stealth-TV-Sta...e=1&rh=&page=1


My old stand does fine for now fortunately.
 
#7,260 ·
How's it going guys. I have been a long long time lurker...haven't posted much but figured I would since I'm getting my 50PZ800U calibrated.


I actually have an appointment with Bill to come out and do this on the 15th of March, was the soonest weekend I could get.


I'll throw out the question to him about THX being cinema in the service menu. Overall after my emails back and forth with him he seems to know his stuff and has tons of experience. So if he is saying that custom is the way to go then given his experience I really have no reason to question him.


I am curious though why Normal as opposed to Warm in his calibration
 
#7,261 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammie2980 /forum/post/15886526


How's it going guys. I have been a long long time lurker...haven't posted much but figured I would since I'm getting my 50PZ800U calibrated.


I actually have an appointment with Bill to come out and do this on the 15th of March, was the soonest weekend I could get.


I'll throw out the question to him about THX being cinema in the service menu. Overall after my emails back and forth with him he seems to know his stuff and has tons of experience. So if he is saying that custom is the way to go then given his experience I really have no reason to question him.


I am curious though why Normal as opposed to Warm in his calibration

Bill loves to share, but don't press him too hard during the calibration, he's juggling a lot of data. He's going to need some physical space also, significant others and pets out of the room if at all possible. You WILL be blown away, stock up on silly grin remover!
 
#7,262 ·
Oh yeah from looking at your pics you posted I'm already impressed, which is why I called him up. He is doing the whole set up for me. Video and sound. Waiting for my sub to come in and the 15th to roll around and I'm good.
 
#7,263 ·
Well I was too excited to have to wait for a stand before setting up the tv. So I just set it up on my big computer desk. Its great and I dont notice any of the problems that other people are talking about but I had a couple questions.


I thought xbox360 could accept 1080p through component? The highest it would let me choose is 1080i. If I pick 1080p the screen just goes black and returns to previous resolution. I tried my vga cable but it wont let me choose the 1920x1080 either. Plus for some reason I cant get any sound when using vga I tried plugging them in all the audio inputs.


The second thing is standard def cable looks really fuzzy is there something I can do to help that? thanks
 
#7,265 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rjones416 /forum/post/15888339


Well I was too excited to have to wait for a stand before setting up the tv. So I just set it up on my big computer desk. Its great and I dont notice any of the problems that other people are talking about but I had a couple questions.


I thought xbox360 could accept 1080p through component? The highest it would let me choose is 1080i. If I pick 1080p the screen just goes black and returns to previous resolution. I tried my vga cable but it wont let me choose the 1920x1080 either. Plus for some reason I cant get any sound when using vga I tried plugging them in all the audio inputs.


The second thing is standard def cable looks really fuzzy is there something I can do to help that? thanks

The 360 can send 1080p through component video but unfortunately the Panasonic will not accept 1080p via component. I wish my 360 had HDMI for this reason.
 
#7,266 ·
I have been in contact with my calibrator today and got confirmed that he will come to my house in the next week and calibrate my 50PZ800. I'm looking forward to it!


I'm tired of adjusting my settings every day and never be completely satisfied. The best solution is to get tv calibrated and forget about settings, adjusting, service menu etc and enjoy the tv.


My calibrator is very well known and experienced. He is doing tests and reviews for magasines and tv stations. So I'm looking forward to next week.


Here is a calibration report he has done for a magasine here in Norway, and the model is TH-50PZ800. Set was calibrated in THX mode and temerature was set at warm. http://media.aftenposten.no/archive/...80_856859a.pdf


They are ISF certified and are using the best equipment for calibration. www.edgead.no
 
#7,267 ·
He didn't bring the Peak White up, it's only ~30ftL compared to the 34-35ftL daMaster and others are getting. Print out daMaster's 800U calibration info(he has a link after his signature when he posts,) for your calibrator's reference___you're wasting your money if all your going to get is 30ftL!


The ISF has a private forum for it's calibrators to exchange calibration info, ask him to check there(my calibrator might even have posted there how to do Custom-normal...
 
#7,269 ·
My ISF calibrator came and calibrated my 50PZ800U last Friday (in Custom mode). It looks awesome
, at least with all the cartoons and SD that the kids watch. If you PM me, I will provide my new settings. He works hard for the money and I'm not going to publish what he did in an open forum. His specs:

http://www.imagingscience.com/isf_re...dlr_status=CAL


Interestingly, I asked him why he recommended this unit. He said I was already focused on plasma, and he thought this unit was the best. When I asked what he has at home, he said Samsung DLP units were tremendous, but now hard to find and I had already focused on plasma.


BTW, the electronic buzzing seems to have disipated, so we're keeping it. Still need to get a new stand, though. I'll post the link for what my wife is recommending later.
 
#7,273 ·
i just calibrated my pz800 with an eyeone d2. Fantastic. I was able to get the everthing good expect my gamma rose to 2.26......is this making me lose detail or is it insignificant. also i got my ftL to 33.5 in thx warm. I aslo ran measurements on normal after i calibrated warm and found that everything is still right on but the gamma and the color temp lowers just slightly


i was able to get the ftL up to 34.5 by raising the picture setting to 100 but it increased the gamma to 2.28
 
#7,274 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by cgreenlee /forum/post/15891904


i just calibrated my pz800 with an eyeone d2. Fantastic. I was able to get the everthing good expect my gamma rose to 2.26......is this making me lose detail or is it insignificant.

2.26 is very reasonable. You may want to try bringing it down to 2.20 to get back a bit more shadow detail. Have a look at my 58" 800U calibration (in my signature) and try the percentage of light output I went with when comparing 100% gray to 10% gray.
 
#7,275 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by cgreenlee /forum/post/15891904


i just calibrated my pz800 with an eyeone d2. Fantastic. I was able to get the everthing good expect my gamma rose to 2.26......is this making me lose detail or is it insignificant.

Insignificant, and minor dips and rises are insignificant also, but larger dips and rises than daMaster has posted for his set should be avoided.


Check out this short thread for more info:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post15520680
 
#7,276 ·
i will post my results when i get off work tonight. i can get it to come down to 2.23 but it throws the colors off farther. What i settled on was a happy medium. I just dont know that much about gamma i didnt know if my eye could see the .05 difference.


i also tried to calibrate the custom mode and i couldnt get the red drive high enough to balance things out. Also the gamma seems to have more pronounced spikes.....it came out to be 2.26 but if you compared the charts between the custom and thx the line on the thx is more smooth.
 
#7,278 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rt-man /forum/post/15891681


My ISF calibrator came and calibrated my 50PZ800U last Friday (in Custom mode).

Thanks for your calibration report. I've included it in the flat panel (Post#2) list that's linked at the bottom of my post.
 
#7,279 ·
hi guys

Why would you use custom mode?

The THX mode is the only mode with a "some what correct" color gamut.
 
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