The Official Panasonic TC-PXXS1 Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 13

It should be repeated that at least the S1 shows a ton of graininess whenever the set is under vivid mode. When I saw the set at Sears I was really disappointed by this graininess and another forum member pointed out that terrible vivid mode. Well I went back and changed the set to cinema and the graininess magically (ok not magically), disappeared.

Of course the problem with plasmas in stores is that they are not bright so the display wasn't as bright and the blacks looked grey. My gf has a plasma though and I can compare to what it looks like in normal indoors lighting and a store. I remember setting the tv to cnet's recommendations and I never touched it after that. I should try vivid mode on it as it's a panny though, just to see the grain.

I just asked Sears to hook up a BD player to the 50S1 that I was looking at. I bought it right after that. I have it connected to Directv HD and BD player and the picture is awesome. I have had it for about 2 1/2 weeks now. The shadow detail and color is fantastic. I couldn't be happier with the picture quality.

Hey guys, I saw a few posts up that someone was hearing a buzzing sound from the fans, but I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing a low buzzing sound from their S1. I've had my 42S1 for about 3 weeks and I'm very happy with it except for this buzzing sound. It's not coming from the fans and increases with the brightness of the screen (an all white image makes the loudest buzz). I usually don't notice it much with the volume up, but with quiet scenes it's definitely audible from 7-8 ft away.

Since this is my first plasma, I'm not sure how much sound to expect from the TV (except for the fans of course).

Well after running D-Nice's recommended break-in, I'm finally getting a chance to have a look at my 46S1. After running the slideshow, I've set it up with Cnet's recommended settings until D-Nice has a chance to post his. I've been watching golf on NBC, Nascar on Fox and hoops on CBS. I'm extremely happy with the picture so far. I've yet to fire up the PS3 or the HD-DVD player, but I need to see the end of the golf tourney first. To my eyes, the picture is excellent. I'm not sure I'd change a thing. This is also my first foray into OTA HD (my last display had no tuner) and I'm very surprised how good it looks in comparison to TWC. Greens look natural, skin tones are good and cinema mode is plenty bright. I have two large windows on the side of my viewing room (90* from the S1) with Southern exposure, so late afternoon can be problematic unless I close the shades. We had some clouds today, so it wasn't a true torture test, but I thought the display did very well. I actually checked the picture settings once or twice as I was flipping between OTA and cable to see if somehow it switched back to standard or vivid from cinema mode. Alright, Tiger just rolled in a bird. Time to pour a bourbon and watch the end of this. Oh, to the previous poster, I've noticed no buzz or fan noise, now or as I was running the breakin slideshow.

i thought i would share a few more pics from my 42S1. i am 3/4 done with the breakin , running the color slide show @ 8-10 hours at a time. i have watch a little b-ball and played a little ps3 in between the break in. as far as noise like mentioned a few post back mine makes none. overall i am very happy with my 42S1 and i am even happier that i will be getting $90 back do to price protection from 6ave.com. anyway here are a few pics from kill bill 2 and dark night and sorry a couple are not as sharp do to not having a tripod for the camera lol

Thanks for the reports adrman and thebigdaddye. I must have a bad example. I've arranged for a replacement, so hopefully that one will be buzz-free.

I'm taking a wild stab here, but I would make sure your power source isn't "dirty". Try hooking it up directly to the outlet, and maybe try two different surge protectors, and if it's not too much of a hassle, a second wall outlet. See if that has any effect on the buzz.

Just picked up a 50" S1 last week from Sears, as for being the first plat panel I have ever owned, I am impressed (previous TV for was a 22" CRT from 1985)

I was leaning towards this plasma but still wanted to compare it to LCD's with 120hz and the wife and I both agreed that the LCD's just doesn't look natural to us. She even stated it looks like objects are being fast forwarded and then slowed down. Sears was playing 1960's Winnie the Pooh cartoons on it (not really showing off the picture quality) but once I got it home and hooked up my WD HD TV and watched some 720p movies, it looks amazing. Need to get some 1080p movies to fully show it off still.

I read the reviews with the neon green problems and I have not noticed anything of the sorts. I have just left it at the factory settings and have been watching SD TV at fullscreen for a week for a makeshift burn in period. Will probably switch the settings to the previously described settings on the CNet post to see how that looks. SD TV doesn't look any worse on this TV than my old CRT, just a little stretched (naturally because of the wide screnn). We will probably get HD cable at some point.

When viewing black scenes, I can barely notice a difference between the screen and the black bezel.

Maybe I am a little biased towards the TV because I am still overwhelmed by it, but I have yet to see any weaknesses with it.

Hey Big D, you might have posted this somewhere else, but what settings are you running at when you watch these movies? Just curious, because those blacks look great. That's Blu Ray right?

QUOTE: "the wife and I both agreed that the LCD's just doesn't look natural to us. She even stated it looks like objects are being fast forwarded and then slowed down. "

Hmmm I wonder if that's why I get a headache and motion sickness if I watch an LCD. It doesn't happen with a plasma....

Some TC-P42S1 observations for having it since last Thursday. Loving the TV, upgraded from a 5 year old Sony 34" WS HDTV that crapped out. I really enjoyed the picture on that, especially for gaming on the 360 Though I'm not necessarily sad to see that beast go.

• For those that see grain in-store. It certainly does display this on VIVID mode. Dialed down to Standard or Cinema settings it is non-existent.
• I find it does a great job with both HD and SD Digital content from my cable box. For the first sixty or so analog SD channels I have through COMCAST it looks just "meh", this was the same on my CRT and expected.
• I've only done a few minutes of gaming on the 360 so far. Visuals were excellent. I found that during RE5 if I looked for the green trails in high contrast areas and during fast movement they were present. When in the zone and and just playing they did not stick out to me.
• Regarding the green tint mentioned in the CNET review I watched a lot of NCAA basketball this weekend and it was certainly present, mostly in skin tones. Would I have not noticed had I not been aware? Maybe, but I am fairly nit-picky when it comes to checking for faults.
• So far zero image retention noticed, even when watching 4:3 content with grey bars set from my cable box.
• Speakers are more than adequate for the space its in.
• I have not experienced any buzzing or noise from the fans yet.

Overall very pleased with the purchase thus far.

yes it's blu-ray, off hand i'm pretty sure my setting are on either custom or standard and are as follows contrast 55, brightness 50 , color 45, sharpness 15 , color balance -3 to the red side and all other noise reduction ect.. settings are off or not changed. i would check ,but i'm still finishing up the break in slide show with only a few hours to go. i don't really care for the cinema picture setting to much red for me and i stay away from vivid as it's way to bright and unnatural looking. i will check my setting later to make sure and post them ,but i think those are it or very close. i use game picture mode just for gaming and i have contrast set at 50, bightness 45 and all other the same as above. hope this help

hey man the word on the street is break it in with the images on the 12g panasonic plasma page and it helps green stretch.

What exactly are you guys referring to with "grain", the dithering green sparkle effect that shows up in very close examination of dark colors and blacks? It's impossible to tell what exactly these anecdotal reports are referring to, macro blocking, film grain, dithering?

Not sure if this is posted some place but on the tc-p50s1 model. How does one get into the Service menu to see amount of hours viewed?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=407154

Thanks for the suggestion. Plugging it directly into the wall outlet or a different surge protector didn't make any difference, it still buzzes. I'll see what happens when the replacement arrives Saturday.

Felt I should give an update now that I've had the set fully broken in for a few days.

Color accuracy remains this sets biggest problem. It cannot be fixed with simple picture adjustments, the green push/yellowish tint is uncorrectable outside of service menu tweaks. Sometimes things look great, other times they just look off. You move the tint/color one way and you correct for some situations but then others look out of whack. Trying to set the color via AVIA produces strange results, the color setting I end up with is way too high in Custom mode.

It's a shame because this set is nearly flawless in all other categories. I'm planning on ISF calibrating this set so the issue is moot for me, but if you're not planning on doing that then I would have to advise against getting this set if you are a stickler for good PQ.

this doesn't make much sense, first you say this set is nearly flawless, then you advise against getting one because your plasma tv has poor color accuracy. i have read on here from some about green push, you say you have yellow tint. i personally don't have either on my TC-P42S1 (from what i can tell ). i have read this before so i will repeat it every set it slightly different and i thank that this is true, so for you to say i don't think someone should purchase this because your's has bad color accuracy is a little overkill. not trying to start anything just pointing out that every tv even in the same series is slightly different, even the material (cable, sat, dvd ect.. ) that the tv is receiving will be different from the user and that will have some differences to the overall color/pic. i love my color on my tv, doesn't mean someone else will. look at my pics above i think the color accuracy is pretty good , doesn't mean someone else will ,but i'm happy so that's what matters and one of the best parts of this tv is it's black levels. now get yours ISF calibrated and enjoy lol

Although I'm sure they're not to spec, I'm still happy with the cnet settings. My biggest complaint with the 46S1 is the amount of time it takes to accept its second command from the remote after power-up. It's in the vicinity of 10 seconds. Thankfully, I'm using RF on my URC.

I got my first look at a P42S1 at Sears yesterday. It sat with a LG 50PG30, Sammy 50A550 and 46A850. My first impression was "look at the blue snow", but then for the last 12 years I have been watching a calibrated 32" Toshiba "Cinema Series" CRT. So the whites were too blue on all the sets. But, to those that think plasmas need more brightness the S1 is a step in the right direction. It was brighter than both the LG and550, though not quite as bright as the 850. Blacks in store conditions are not as easy to judge but the 850 appeared to be the darkest followed by the S1,LG and 550 in that order. Of course get off axis and the 850 fell off. Also to me the 850s black seemed to have a slight purplish color to it. About the reported green push on the S1, I didn't see it. I saw a slight red push on skin tones compared to the 550, which I thought had the best colors. I did manage to get the S1 and 550 into their respective cinema and movie modes before I was approached and asked if I needed help. At least that was the words she spoke, but I would swear her tone said "What do you think you are doing to my TVs?" While the S1 did not have the brightest whites nor darkest blacks compared to the 850, it did have more details in both (I know not best conditions for this comparison). One big plus for me that I saw on the S1 was reflections on the screen. I had to look hard to see any on the S1 the other three were very visable, something that will mean alot to me in my livingroom. I am no expert and the conditions were not the best, but for other in the boonies like me that are slow to get new products in their area maybe it can help.

"I saw a slight red push on skin tones compared to the 550, which I thought had the best colors ROY G." the only time i have seen a slight red push is on a couple of network shows, last night it had some on the NBC show chuck, i changed it to a show on cbs or abc and it was not present so i'm pretty sure it was the show itself. i know cinema color setting gives the pic a slight red push wish i do not like. like i said in the post above though each tv is slightly different.

warm up time. my old panny rear projection LCD took about 9-10 seconds as well

Yeah, I know there's no getting around it. I was just surprised that my old Sammy dlp was quicker by half in that department. The other odd remote related issue (that applies to all Pannys) is that there is no discrete code available for TV/ANT. I came up with the solution of programming in a "channel up" command in my macro for OTA viewing.

Some people are more sensitive to color decoding errors than others. For me I know what natural skin tones SHOULD look like and I can tell right away when something looks off.

The fact that my results after an AVIA calibration produce settings that completely oversaturate the picture shows me this set has serious color decoding problems that cannot be corrected unless you go into the service menu. Something (R/G/B) is being pushed way too high and throwing things out of whack.

I don't have the technical knowledge to comment anymore than that. Just my 2 cents.

As this forum has proven again and again, notable red or green pushes are deal-breakers for many. Everybody notices unnatural skin tones, and few can tolerate them being consistently off.

I'm looking for a secondary, bedroom TV and I'm not paying for ISF calibration. A green push that's not otherwise correctible would be a deal-breaker for me.

It's quite sad that these companies can't get their color decoders right after all these years. Simply pathetic.

Apparently the work needed for getting the color exact will be in custom mode and delving into the service menu. Wish D-nice was working on it but I think he's still using a G-10.

Does anybody know how this compares to the Z80 and Z85 series? Has this problem with colour (primaries?) been found so far only on one particular size of S1 plasma? Very likely other sizes will have the same issue, but not a garantee. Let's hope this isn't indicative of all of the models and sizes.

D-NICE has stated that there are no HW differences between the S/G/V panels. It's all in the driver/firmware.

If that is indeed the case then AND if D-NICE calibrates his G series in Custom mode (like Chad B ended up doing) we could presumably use those same offsets on an S series set.

Presumably