The Official Panasonic G20/25 Owner's Discussion Thread [no price talk] - Page 195

Hi i bought a 54 g20. at costco today less than 10 benjamin., doing the 100 hrs photos slide. hurry up!

I talked to Panasonic today and they said that it is a known issue with the P54G25 model buzzing. They have not figured it out but apparently they are working on two new boards to fix the issue. So I will have a service tech come evaluate on Friday and then see where it goes from there.

Has anybody gotten a phone call from Panasonic regarding the buzz? I got a call a couple days ago regarding my buzz that I submitted in April. They said the technicians found a fix or something, I haven't called back yet.

See my post above, they have been working on a new board for these TV 's.

Has anyone done any DVD upscaling with the PS3 on these TV's? If so what settings did you set on the PS3?

Nice.... Does Costco usually carry the same price from state to state? I'd like to pick one up for under a grand. Where do you live?

I've checked Costco's website before and have never found the G20 series. Are these in-store specials only?

I just picked up 2 instore and I can vouch for the deal above.

I find myself in a strange situation regarding HD/SD. My current provider Verizon Fios is showing my favorite channel in SD only. I probably watch Fox Soccer Channel 75% of the time I watch television. It looks awful on my Vizio SV420M. Not much sense buying a 50" plasma for close to 10 Bens if the picture looks bad. So how does the G25 handle SD?

You can read about sd quality from this review for example:

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panas...0100308169.htm

This a review of european g20, but I think that it has the same scaling\\deinterlacing chip than american versions of g20/g25 have.

Thanks. It looks like the pic would be acceptable.

Bought the 54 g20 yesterday at Costco. The sale on this unit ends on 11/28. I got it in Holbrook, NY. They had two left. FYI

Hi All,

I posted back in the 180s of this thread regarding Pandora connectivity/lockup issues.

Since then I have examined my network and indeed determined I do NOT have an issue with the TV. I relocated my modem and wireless router next to the TV. When the G5 is connected directly to the cable modem Pandora and all apps work flawlessly. As soon as I connect the TV to one of the switches on the back of the wireless modem, the apps work, but they lock up.

Does anyone know if there is a setting that I need to change in the linksys g wireless router to better communicate with the TV?

Honestly loving the TV since Sept...if I can get the Vieracast to work without switching cables it will be perfect.

Thanks for the help!

Question what is one to do for watching movies that have a 2:35:1 aspect ratio? do the black bars caused IR over time for watching blurays

I wonder the same thing myself. If you zoom or stretch the pic to fill the screen I guess that would be fine. I dunno. Would make sense though.

I was leaning towards the 50G25/20 until I saw the below review which slams it:
http://reviews.*******************.c...-tcp54g25.html

But the British review seems to say the SD is better. Is the SD any worse on this than the S2? I want the ethernet and PC connections that the S2 is lacking. Is the PC connection simply VGA? I suppose HDMI is all I really need to hook up an HTPC anyway, but having direct ethernet connection to my 100Mbps CAT5/6 LAN would be nice. Are any of the Vieracast options free or do they all require paid subscriptions? Is the anti-reflective technology in the G20/25 any better than that in the S2? The much higher contrast ratio (5 million v. 2 million) is the main difference I see between the G20/25 and S2.

Today's Best Buy advertises the G20 with a Blu-ray DVD/home theater system for $1100! I don't have a BR player, however don't need the HT system as I have a superior A/V Denon receiver and full range speakers that I route my A/V processing via HDMI. The bundle is only $55 more than Amazon's price for the G25 although Amazon's price seems to have gone up from $970 last week.

[quote=HDTimeShifter;19486615]I was leaning towards the 50G25/20 until I saw the below review which slams it:
http://reviews.*******************.c...-tcp54g25.htmlQUOTE]

Don't rely on just one review. Here are some others:


http://hometheatermag.com/flat-panel...0_plasma_hdtv/

https://clevelandplasma.com/store/20...g20__tc_pxxg25

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-t...lso#cnetReview

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366126,00.asp

From the Home Theater Mag review: "While HDTV manufacturers aren’t giving a lot of love these days to standard-definition performance, the Panasonic performed reasonably well on some of the most grungy-looking channels on my cable box’s analog band. However, apart from 24/7 news and an occasional program on the Syfy channel, I don’t get around much there anymore.

The digital SD cable channels where I spend more time, such as History International and National Geographic, often looked impressive enough to fool some viewers into thinking they are watching HD—apart from some occasional jaggies."

My experience has been that the SD performance has allot to do with the source material.

I remember your post, you fixed the original problem by setting up a new Pandora account which is what an owner of a Panasonic BD85 had to do as well.

More info would be helpful. Which Linksys router do you have, WRT54GL? It would be best if you let us know what your router settings are, rather than us guessing what setting could be creating an issue. Maybe you could do a printscreen of each page from the management interface and post the gifs/jpgs here?

That said, I assume the basic router and TV LAN settings are OK ...

Do all the Vieracast apps eventually "freeze"? What is the nature of the freeze, does the TV lock up, application lock up, or does it just appear like the connection has been lost?

Have you checked the router's management interface for any odd settings (e.g. access restrictions turned on, QOS setting giving your TV low priority, etc.)? Tried toggling power on the router? Is someone else in the house engaging in heavy internet usage? Do other devices (e.g. a PC) work OK off a wired port?

Is anyone using the set for skype?

just as a heads up, Best Buy has the 50" G20 bundled with a 5.1ch Panasonic BluRay home theater set up. I bought my G20 60 days ago, but they let me return and rebuy on paper today to get the bundle. YMMV.

Day 3 with the new TV and the Buzz is getting progressively worse. If it wasnt just me at the house I would box it up and send it back but no way I can do that with this TV alone. Guess I will wait or the tech to come and tell me there isnt anything he can do.

I use it for Skype. It works fairly well. What I like is the fact that the camera is wide angle and I have a fairly large field of view. This means that my wife an kids don't need to huddle in front of the computer when I call home. The kids can just stand in front of the TV and I can see my whole living room. The USB cable is long enough that you can really place it anywhere and you don't have to put it on top of the TV, although that's the ideal position for it.

The app works pretty well and is usually smooth. I have wireless on my TV so I wonder if that contributes to the occasional lag, or it could just be a Skype thing. My computer often acts the same way.

One downside is that the in-call volume works only though the TV speakers. I have my TV set up through my home theater and though I could hear the incoming call alert (the ringing) through my receiver, once I answered the call I couldn't hear anything. I had to enable the TV speaker and turn up the volume to get it to work. When I called Panasonic, they told me that it was behaving normally. In fact, they went as far as to tell me that the limitation is Skype's doing.

The other downside (if you consider it a downside) is that it only works with the Panasonic Skype cam. There are no other cameras that work. The Panasonic Skype cam is expensive unless you're lucky enough to find a seller who's willing to sell it for a bargain price. I was able to find one at a bargain price, about $50. I would not have shelled out the $170 they want for the skype cam.

I'd like to thank those of you that mentioned the deal at Costco. I was on the fence about this set, but at that price it became a no-brainer!
Picked up the second to the last 54G20 for less than a grand!

I tried using the new logitech webcam on it, but it didn't work. Then I shelled out the $$ for the panasonic one, but it wouldn't stay on top of the tv. I tried for an hour to get it to work. For that amount, it should be rock tight. I'm taking it back tomorrow.

Mine fits pretty snugly and doesn't move around. Too bad it didn't work out for you. Unfortunately, the Panasonic cam is the ONLY one that works, there are no third part cams that work.

Me too. I was about to pull the trigger on a P50G25 on Amazon, until they bumped the price UP about $70 this week.
Saw the info here this morning about the P54G20 deal at Costco, and now I have a 54" in my living room. Even the Costco employees were stunned at how low the price was!
Thanks for sharing the information.

For those of you who haven't wall mounted your TVs does anyone have a good stand recommendation? I just bought the 42 incher.


Also I need help figuring out a networking scheme that makes sense. I have a cable line down on the bottom floor and a wireless router hooked up (WRT54G). I would stay wireless but the DirecTV receiver requires a wired connection. I also have a PS3 and plan on building a media server. I saw some thread chatter about something similar and want help figuring out what makes the most sense.

Should I just go with a new N router and use the G as a wireless bridge? Should I get a powerline set up and hook up a router to connect the other devices? If so which power line kit is best?

Amen... now if I can just sneak it into the basement and break it in before my wife finds out.

Ditto, clamps snug on the top. Kinda have to straighten it with Skype on so your picture is straight.

I have both a Netgear powerline adapter and a WRT54G set up as a repeater. I think I get more consistent stream from the WRT54G. That said, right now I am using the wireless dongle that came free with my BDP85. It does 2.4 ghz & 5ghz 802.11n and has given me the best performance in Amazon VOD. Both are capable of streaming HD Netflix.

I'm maybe possibly thinking about picking up this plasma.

I'm a big Wii gamer.....does anyone know if any pics of a Wii game have been taken? During the daytime? (I'm somewhere in the mid 50's now.....)

North facing sliding glass door either behind the television or to the left of the viewer, or somewhere in between. Problem?

Why are all the pictures taken with the lights out? Any pictures with the lights on? Glare/Reflection during the daytime would keep me from making a purchase. Any users who use it without direct sunlight, but a window full of ambient light?

Does anyone even use this TV during the daytime?

This review:http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panas...0100308169.htm

says the EXACT opposite of what CNET said about SD content. UHG! SD is still very important for me (read: Wii)