Panasonic PZ80/PZ85 Owners Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 276

Just unboxed my brand spankin new TH-50PZ85U, I'm so freaking excited. I haven't even turned it on yet (letting it warm up from the cold truck ride.) So I'm getting it all set up and ready for break-in. Couple of questions.

1) Is there a benefit to running the break in from SD as opposed to DVD. I notice a ton of people seem to run it from SD.

2) I have my Pscan DVD player (non-upconverting) hooked up via component cable to the TV. Anything I should be worried about running the break in from this source?

I'm new to all this too but I would guess the big benefit would be 100 less hours of use on your DVD player.

rob
sounddude

HD is an option available on XBOX 360's Live marketplace for the old Star Trek and yeah, the quality is amazing from what I have seen.

I was considering re-signing up to Netflix again to try out the 360's streaming of that service but I don't know how well or even if the HD stuff available is worthwhile yet.

Maybe i'll try routing the audio through optical.

Either way, im going to try and get some video proof for you guys up on youtube. Just trying to find some lip sync tests online so I can run it from my laptop monitor and cloned onto the tv via VGA. If there really is a delay on the plasma, I think that test would expose it.

I have been trying out the new Netflix stuff through my S3 and have been quite happy! I have always heard good things about 30 Rock but never watched it...so now I am watching season 1, in HD, all included in my regular ol' Netflix subscription...talk about convenient! I had some pretty severe audio sync issues on the first episode I tried, but since then it has worked quite well...I'm definitely pleased with this new use for the TiVo and my Panny 80U!

Randy

1. Ditto what Rob said. Also, no chance of a stuck disc, paused disc, etc.

2. No, other than what we said.

I have tried unplugging and let sit for a while. I did try OTA and the static looked like red and pink marching ants. I have to laugh to stop from being so pissed LOL... Oh well anyway I have contacted panny customer care they want be able to get a repair person out until Wednesday.

But I am torn on whether I want to keep this set or return it for another one now. If a part is bad right out of the box it makes me wonder what else is possible going to go wrong.

If it were me I'd let them come out. If it's a purely digital part i.e. a board or something similar I'd let them swap it out, it's bound to heppen once in a while. I certainly wouldn't consider that scenario indicative of overall poor quality control so it wouldn't bother me to have it done.

On the other hand if the guy comes out and says it's going to need a several new boards, or somehow the panel is no good, then back it goes to the store. Get another.

your experience would be better than mine, as i dont own one, and everyone knows any tv is better off with a professional doing the calibration, but i wouldnt say this tv wasnt fine without a calibration, as iv seen it in a living room without a calibration on FACTORY settings, and i must say, to the average person, it still looked good....im not saying it was at its best, but not everyone is as nit picky as alot of people here....most people would be just fine without the calibration.....im no expert, and the average person doesnt pick every little flaw out like people on this forum...kinda makes me regret being a member, now im nit picky as well...not trying to start anything, just my opinion

im interested in the costco set too, it doesnt have the glossy bezel

Good point, the DVD player is a cheepo one but I went ahead and found an SD card lying around. 1hr down 99hrs to go. Man even solid color pictures look pretty on this thing.

Cheers to my first plasma!

You're overreacting again.

Look, the 85u is a great tv, but has some color issues(no they arent that big of an issue for most), this is a FACT. For the price diff, an 800u is worth it IF you can afford it.

Its like a v6 truck vs a 4cyl, the 4cyl is fine, but if you need power, the v6 is better. Being someone who's saved a couple hundred bucks before, against recommendation, Ive learned its best to spend the xtra dough if you can.

There is no evidence that 800u has better color unless ran thru its component. HDMI has exactly the same color gamut (wide) as 85u.

Interestingly 85u has better contrast ratio as a result of lower black level.

85u also has better gray scale tracking in which 800u exhibits a noticeable red boost in the midle of scale.

For reference read the measurements provided by Ultimate AV and HTmag.


THe only reason I would consider the 800u is for its 58" size.
I looked into these and ended up with 50"85u.

Actually, TomHuffman, who is a respected calibrator, found the THX mode to be very good with test equipment, and better than a stock 85u. Check your facts.

Blacks between the two are the same. So, once again, if you want more accurate color out of the box, buy a 800u. Im done talking about it, especially since people are obviously bothered and need to justify their purchase.


The THX mode offers more accurate color out of the box than other Panny models, plain and simple. So if you want the most accurate color and dont plan on calibrating, buy a 800u.

I for one dont see why someone would not want to pay a measly $290 more for more accurate color settings.

Unless Hometheatermag.com and Ultimate are both wrong, the claim that 800 has better color is a matter of opinion not facts. I post what I have read and both mags provide color gamut and gray scale tracking graphs for both units. I am not here to justify my purchase rather to provide/share info's that have been floating around with some backing. I can buy anything I like based on pro reports and user's.

AFA black level they are not the same either again based on measurements.
800u black level is measured to be .015 vs .005 for 85U.

I have mine measured by Minolta and it read .009 out of box and .007 after D65 clibreation.

measly 290? HMMM 300 bucks isnt measly to alot of us...you seem to be all hung up about what calibrators say, as im sure they know their stuff, but if seems you feel you need to defend your calibration, if it works for you, fine....the 800u is obviously the better tv, but the average viewer probably couldnt tell the difference

All Panasonics and most others flat panels have wide color gamut. None are accurate.
The only one is Pioneer Elite that can be dialed in near perfection.
You pay for features and my guess is that all three 80, 85 and 800 use the same color decoder as Panny hardly would design a better color decoder for $300 more. Most likely the difference are due to unit to unit than model to model.

you cant tell people that, as they need to defend their purchases....i feel that the differences between the 85u and 800u arent enough to pay 300 bucks more, iv seen them both, and the colors weren't really different to me

Anybody have any extra Measly(s) they don't want?

Hi, all! New member here.

Amazing number of posts here! I am a new owner of a PZ80 and have yet to finish break-in on the machine. I've several questions I hope you can help me with -

1. I get a distinct hum that is pronounced when the machine shows very bright pics such as cartoons on full screen. Lowering the Pic and Brightness seems to help, but its still there. Do I have a problem?

2. I got a real scare this morning when the TV wouldn't turn on, just blinking on the front. Then I researched this forum which lead me to remove the HDMI cable connected to the PC's video card and plugged it to the HDMI 3 (game) input. If I hook up a PS3 or XBox to play games to HDMI 2, will I have the same problem? (My HDMI 1 is plugged into my Panny Blu-Ray player)

3. I'm thinking of getting a dedicated HTPC like those from Shuttle or maybe one of those boxes with a hard drive that plug in to your TV. Will those work OK on HDMI 2?

Hope you guys have some input =)

I did but don't have it anymore because I spent it on my 50pz800u.

Can someone please help me out with a problem i have with the break-in images on my SD card?

I put the images on the card but when i get to the thumbnails on my PZ85, i get one CANNOT READ FILE after each color slide. They're either called ._Slide0, ._Slide1, or ._Slide2.

I'm not seeing these files when uploading them from my computer and there's no way to delete them on the tv.

Can someone tell me what i might be doing wrong here? Thanks in advance.

If you used a MAC instead of a PC that's a part of the breadcrumbs that MAC uses to keep track of files. I did a google search on hidden MAC files and found a way to remove them. I think I found a free program called Houdini that lets you toggle the hidden files on and off. When you toggle them on you can remove them. You can also use someone's PC to remove them. Showing hidden files is actually easier on a PC. I did this a while ago so it's not really fresh in my mind, sorry.

Another trick that seems to work for many of us is to format the card in a camera and then put the break-in images in the cameras images folder (take a pic and then put the images in the same folder where the pic resides, then delete that shot).

This is what I did and many others, seems to work.

Hi
need help, I don't know if my pz80u has a problem or its normal. i am having a color issue when i am watching a movie or tonight show or news like last night i was watching jay Leno i couldnt tell the color of is suit weather it was blue or green sometime oh its green oh wait its blue oh no its multi color blue and green can this be fixed or that's the way Panasonic tv is or something is wrong with my tv I don't have hd yet , I went to cc yesterday and watching panny next o samsung any at cc i could see the same problem , I bought mine from sears 10 days ago and its driving me crazy,rest of the color looks fine i am also doing a break-inn and everything is below 50 like pic and brightness etc, please help thanks

Most of these TV's have over saturated green and red. So if there are shades of green/red it appears somewhat hot. It is all normal for these sets. I would think the Sammy would do the same thing.

I should add this to the Break-in FAQ. You really shouldn't judge panel performance based on SD content of any kind, except perhaps an exceptional transfer via a very good upscaler. You really need to check your performance via some kind of HD signal. You can always try OTA if you have no other options.

Yes! A reference signal is needed to evaluate color even then it is hard to do it by eye. It is even worthless to judge a TV color performance if the set is not calibrated. Even if there are variations between two sets it would be subtle let alone comparing them on the show room floor. My advice..don't get too picky and enjoy your set.

i agree, you cant judge true performance unless properly calibrated, but if you're like me and cant really afford it, you can't be picky....find some good settings and enjoy

Just wanted to report, break-in period using sd card color slide show is over (YAY!) and my wife and I watched a SD movie last night, over our terrible Brighthouse analog cable (going to Verizon Fios Digi very soon) and I just have to say, even at SD, even at only 480i, and at just over the 100 hours break in period, the 50PZ80U just looked incredible!

The movie was Mission Impossible 3 on TNT, and even with all of the above against it, it still jumped out at us on the Panny, especially with all the explosions and special effects. I so look forward to having all channels delivered digitally and to the many HD channels we'll get with Fios, not to mention the very much faster internet connection.

Thanks again for all the help. This forum is absolutely invaluable, especially for us first time Plasma owners.

Rob
sounddude