Chad B's TV rankings - Page 5

What all this means is that the early adopters have wasted much time (or money) calibrating their displays.

Significantly, both Cnet and HDguru still rated rated the buggy Panasonic as da-best. Chad rightfully downgraded it harshly.

So what does all this distill down too? Chad B called it right at every step.

Congratulations Chad! Your have earned my technical respect and trust
(but do note that I already had ordered the V10 before reading this wonderful news)

Well, a lot of people might still prefer custom mode due to the fact that THX mode is still relatively dim.

I think of Thx mode as being ISF night.

Was I supposed to state this?

This also explains why the Panasonic's have been in short supply, as the factory implemented the fix.

Umm, riiight... rolling your eyes at me because I simply brought up a point in regards to this comment:

Here we finally see the results of the new Panasonic (Pioneer) engineers. Credit must go to Thx engineers too for ensuring compliance.

Isn't it nice when people start working together as a team and care about quality and refinement?

Now Pioneer gets to retire without worry as the NeoPDP comes very close at 1/3 the price.

I did not mean this about you. You actually raised an important point.

The common perception is Thx mode is too dim - Well it is for daylight viewing!

Every display should have a day and nighttime setting.
The ISF night solution is to lock it up to consumers to simply increase their profit.
Panasonic/Thx rightfully makes it just another mode and ensures that owners (or even calibrators) can't screw it up. This also implies that display-to-display variations should be negligible. And lastly make calibration largely not needed for the majority of owners.

I didn't ask about a THX update, was pretty confident that wouldn't be in their general CS database yet (if ever). I have an Onkyo AVR and told them I was having the HDMI handshake issue with it and I understand there's a firmware update for it--which is the nearest approximation I could come up with for what the V10 owner did.

And because most of us do not have access to the upgrade that fixes THX mode.

When are they installing the update?

I'll be very very interested to see if it includes the THX fix. If so, I may need to get me an Onkyo.

I honestly do not think that the THX fix comes with the HDMI handshake update. My personal opinion is that G10/V10's manufactured during June/July already have the update installed.

I wonder when Panasonic plans to release the THX update on their website, "if ever" like someone else already stated.

What version number is the update that is currently installed on your V10 T Morris? btw, congrats on having your set professionally calibrated, i am sure that Chad B did an excellent job.

I agree that it's unlikely the THX fix was included as there's no indication that any settings were changed because of the update.

As far as my current SW version goes, when I checked it showed as 1.250.

Cnet called it wrong again in their review of the Panasonic TC-P50V10:

"The bad: Expensive; less accurate primary and secondary colors in non-THX modes"

Sorry Cnet but Chad B and calibrators stated the THX mode colors were off too.

Now Panasonic has issued a Thx fix. Since Cnet already rated it the best display this year will it now be rated 5 stars?

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...in;contentBody

OK - I'd really like to know how we can get to the facts about this THX fix.

Facts we know:

1. Chad calibrated a V10 and the THX mode had significantly improved properties over the THX mode in previous G10/V10s.

2. The owner of the V10 Chad calibrated had a firmware update right before Chad showed up, said update being the one that Panasonic is selectively providing for the HDMI handshake issue.

What we don't know (without more data or clarifications)

1. Did the V10 that Chad calibrated already have a "fixed" THX mode before the firmware update? I.e. do V10s (and G10s) rolling off the line at Panasonic today already have this fix? Or did the firmware update include the fix?

2. Is this firmware update (ostensibly for the HDMI handshake issue) something available for all V10 and G10 owners, and will it fix the THX mode for everyone?

3. Will Panasonic make this update available via the standard Vieracast update mode or will everyone have to call and have it installed on a case by case basis?

Comments?

The color correction is already in production. Anyone with a 58V10 or 65V10 should already have the color correction. As far as this update improving the grayscale, I'm not sure nor does anyone at Panasonic state that it does. I've calibrated 2 65V10s in the past 1.5 weeks and both had the "good" THX mode but the grayscale performance was very different between the two.

I'll see if I can find out what is going on with the newer batches of Panasonics and, hopefully, relay that information to you guys.

If you've calibrated Custom mode on one of the newer batches, has that mode changed in any noticeable way?

Thanks a lot, D-Nice. Really want to figure out how those of us with G10s that are a few months old can get the "fixed" THX. Also, I have a 50G10 on order (backordered from OneCall) - does this mean this new one should have the THX fix built in?

So looking at the rankings...does the Pioneer KRP-500m fall under Elite Kuro since it shares features of the Signature 101 or a regular 9G Kuro?

what's the latest build date of the g10?

Just spoke with Pnasonic Concierge. Related Chad's findings and the European input. Guess what? They have no clue (went to 2nd level) regarding a V10 or G10 update....

not surprising.

As did I today. Thier tier 2 response......(drums rollin)

People write anythign they want on the internet....sigh.

From the V10 owners manual:
Select “Software update” Press OK to start the software update screen.
Follow directions of the screen.
MAC address 12-34-56-78-80-ab
LAN speed setting Automatic
LAN speed 10BASE half duplex
Software update
select ok

So it would seem if there was just a firmware update that Panasonic would let current owners download it through the Ethernet port.
If the update requests more than just a firmware update (manufactures have a standard disclosure which allows them to make continuing improvements) then everyone is being kept ignorant. In other words you bought what you bought.
I do know that the calibration settings posted will largely be useless as I will not know if their version of the V10 matches mine.
Next up will be members decoding serial numbers. Enjoy!

I can't imagine Panasonic wants people returning their TVs because they got an older firmware.

Some times there are circuitry/hardware changes made in conjunction with a firmware update. It usually depends upon which board/revision in your particular display.
Buying hi-technology is always risky when it is first introduced, even from the most reliable of companies.

On the other hand reviews samples can be tweaked to make them as perfect as possible. So it can be hard to tell the real situation and how it will effect what you actually get to buy.
After you get burned, you hopefully learned to be patience to gain the knowledge to make an informed buying decision.

Further don't trust the reviewers completely as Cnet reported the Samsung B860 to have "extremely dark blacks". This is simply not true. (Again I ask that they start providing measurements to prevent this type of mishap from occurring again.) Not to worry as I had already had a plan to return it before purchase, as spin/lobbying efforts exerting undue influence are all too common today.

Although i do not disagree with your theory, i strongly believe that Panasonic wont do such a thing. People who know of this "THX color correction update" will start looking for sets manufactured after a certain date, or for a certain serial number. Kind of like the whole SAMSUNG S/A/C LCD Panel lottery, this won't benefit them at all IMO, they are just better off releasing a patch.

As some of you already know i said that i e-mailed Panasonic regarding this "update" and their reply today was

"Dear XXXXX (X'd out my real name)

Thank you for your inquiry.

We will send you the firmware. Allow one week for the disk to arrive.

Thank you for contacting Panasonic.

Thank You,
Panasonic Consumer Support"

In my original inquiry to them i linked this thread and gave them an in depth explanation about the THX color decoding issues before the update. Let's see what happens, i will keep you updated.

I hope I get my firmware update soon.

Would you post your letter and the email address you sent to? I think we would all like the new firmware!