The Official Panasonic TC-PXXS2 Owner's Discussion Thread [NO Price talk] - Page 5

Is this TV worth keeping?

My initial impression with this TV wasn't that great, seeing as how the image was really grainy in any picture mode but Cinema.

My first good expereince with it, is when I borrowed a PS3, set it to 1080p, put it in Cinema and watched Avatar on Bluray.

Personally though, I don't see much of a difference in Cinema when I drop the sharpness to 0.

Overall I was very impressed with the performance with full hd content.

But becuase of my initial impression and others reported problems with its grainyness, im unsure about going and exchanging it for a LCD.

In my opinion, the grainyness is not above normal. Any film based content is going to have grain. 300 for example has a lot of grain - that's the way it's supposed to be. I've been watching Planet Earth on my S2 recently and it looks fantastic. I wouldn't be concerned about the "excess grain" unless you are going to sit 6 inches from it.

Public Enemies blu-ray looks a bit grainy, but again, that's just how it looks on disc. I-Robot looks fantastic as well. In fact, if you remove all the grain, it will look unatural. Grain is normal and I don't think the S2 has an exessive amount. I'm pretty picky about how things look and I have no complaints with the picture quality of this screen - minus the floating blacks!!

However, I haven't compared it to other plasma screens either.

I have my HTPC connected to my S2 with a DVI to HDMI cable (Geforce 8500 GT). Have had no issues whatsoever.

I am about to purchase a TV for my parents and had settled on the 54S2 until I read this thread about image problems with S2 models, most of which were with the 50 inch and smaller models. I think I saw only about 3 different people in this thread mention that they had purchased the 54" S2. All of these people seemed to be very satisfied with the image quality, as far as I can tell.

My question is, does your set exhibit the "grainy" image problems noted in a lot of posts in this thread? Obviously, the 54" must be a different panel than the 50" units, so maybe that makes a difference. I noticed on my 42" Panny 1080P plasma that there is some grainy texture that I don't observe on my several year old Toshiba 50HP66 720P plasma.

My mom is very observant and picky, so I think I better check into this before I order one. I had planned to order off of Best Buy today, while it is on sale with free delivery.

I have a 54S1 wall mounted in my basement. I purchased it in November at Sears during that crazy sale. I feel the same as you. I can't hear any buzzing whatsoever and like you say, it's plenty bright!

I have it hooked up to Fios and a Panny BD-60. I'm very happy with the pq and its performance. I'm not sure why so many people nit pick every little detail. Just kick back and enjoy!

Too bad the only thing noted being fixed are audio issues. Here is the link.
http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e....TC-P50S2.D#ts
Now how about that fix for FB?

im planning on ordering the P54S2 seems like its the best value/quality plasma out there

whats the process for updating the TV with updates?

For everyone that keeps complaining and saying that they're going to return this tv..

What on earth are you going to trade it for?
In all of my research, the S2 was the best plasma tv for around this price range

What would be a comparable Samsung?

I got this plasma for a nifty sale today.. picked up a Panny blu ray player for really cheap as part of a 'bundle' with the tv.. Would be sad to see it all go, but if there's really something better (without spending 300 more, which idk, maybe I should do?) -- I want to know about it

I'm pretty much movies 60%, games 20%, tv 20%
So that's why I picked plasma.. I like to watch movies.


I haven't opened it up yet, so I haven't seen anything that people say about the graininess or the other complaints.. so I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

let me know what you think after watching it and playing games on it etc. im in the same boat...getting the P54S2 but at the same time concerned whether im gonna want to return it in the 30 day window. btw how much did u pay?

Thanks a lot it went very smoothly on our 50s2. Also it could be just my imagination but our moxi seems to sound a little better/stronger. Nothing worth mentioning to be honest. New firmware info from tv is;

TV: 0120-3010
Status 1: 11003-10011
Status 2: 00000-00000
HDAVI: 5

@Rich510
There is an instruction download link along with the one for the file(s). Its very easy

Alright, will do.
I'll probably set it up here pretty soon, watch a bit of a movie, then just run the break in slides for a few hours..

I'll report on what all I see/find out

I have 29 days and counting, so I need to know what (if any) set I'll replace my S2 with before that time.
Mine might end up being fine, we'll see.

I got my 42 for $100 off
the Panny DMP-BD65 for $130 off (part of that 'package')


Again, anyone know of a better set around(ish) this price range?
I thought that the S2 was about the top for what I was looking for at this point in time..
--Maybe one of last year's models or something?
And I can't/don't want to wait another year before I get my tv



EDIT: And of course, the day after I buy the tv for as cheap as I can find it anywhere online, it goes on a better sale..
Getting the blu ray with it still makes it worthwhile though, got them about the same as I could separately right now it looks like..


EDIT2: Got rid of exact numbers

Another question for you guys while I'm the only one in here..

How do you guys feel about the extended warranty for the tv? Worth it?
(I wasn't planning on it, but with everyone complaining in here...)

I'll search around the forums to see what the general opinion is..
I've never had a tv/anything too expensive break on me past the manufacturer's warranty, so I don't really buy them anymore.
-- Forced upgrades may or may not be considered a problem

i bought a 3yr square trade warranty with my tv. it was 99 bucks so it will be worth it if it breaks or somethin goes wrong

I put it on the AMEX card to extend the warranty to 2 years, but it's been over a month and I'm very happy with this TV.

Edit: 54S2

Thanks, I've purchased the S2 and it indeed works great with a DVI > HDMI converter. Thanks guys. I only had one issue and that was with some silly feature to remove noise around the edges. It was enabled when I got the TV and it removed a lot, so much so that I couldn't see the taskbar.

Regarding the graininess, it will indeed hamper your first impression. It is not a film grain like I saw someone suggest. It looks like random static on an old analog TV, but much finer and within the color. I suppose this is an anti-burn in technology...? Putting the TV on Cinema & cool like others suggested made things pleasant.

It's a good TV, you just have to work around the "features". Like the ones mentioned above and the "vierra tools" button that I keep pressing instead of up.

are u seeing the floating black issue? if so does it bother you

Month into a 54S2. It is awesome. I stressed over floating blacks, grainyness, and break-in. Shouldn't have. I am no expert, but I am pretty selective. Display looks awful out of the box. Alarmingly 'grainy' in Standard. Easily fixed. Just pick Cinema or Custom and tweak it after 100 hours. D-nice settings look great and can be easily found on AVS.

I used the D-nice break in procedure with maybe 20 hours of cable without bars in between. I understand why D-nice says 100 hours straight slides to get the same results using the posted settings. I also understand that I will never be that ridiculously hardcore about PQ.

I have not seen floating blacks and I am completely satisfied with the TV. Bluray looks fantastic. BTW, I considered the G25, but the cost difference allowed me to pick up the BD65 Bluray (also great), build a cheap HTPC, and a new set of 5.1 speakers all while enjoying a 54" screen from 12 feet away.

Went to Best Buy last night after work to check out the 42S2 as it was one of the top models on my list. It was noticeably dimmer than the LCDs in torch-mode around it, but it had the best color and contrast--the LCDs were way too high, you could tell.

I wasn't able to mess with it and I didn't ask for a remote, but what I saw was nice enough. It was easy to pick out each time I walked by the wall of displays, as it was the dimmest one in a sea of LCDs.

I figured, YUP, I'm going to get this tv and the BR combo deal. Came home, log into this thread and other places on AVS and I wound up staying up late looking at threads and thinking I might have to pass. The only reason I didn't buy it right there in the store was because I wanted to do the Bing Cashback and then pick-up in store. And I had my car instead of the SUV, so it would have made bringing it home impossible.

What worries me from this thread is the following:

-I'm going to be gaming on this exclusively over HDMI. That's pretty much it. The comments that it's grainy have me worried, and people have discussed 360 issues. I wanted plasma over LCD this time for better hz and colors/blacks. But this picture issue has me worried. I understand Cinema mode makes it better, but I don't know.

-The set was dim and had a great AR coating. Better than my glossy-screen Samsung LNT4665f (which I think looks like a plasm--with the clear panel it's so beautiful). But I'll be playing this in the living room, pretty much between two windows. Most sun is in the afternoon, as we live in a cape surrounded by trees and the living room tends to be on the darker side most of the day. I'm still worried that with minimal sun in the room it might be too dim for me. I am a multi-LCD owner and have never owned a plasma or seen a game running on one, especially in a semi-bright area.

-No VGA port irritates me as my PC doesn't have HDMI/DVI (it's from 2003 and not a gaming PC) and having optical out only means I'll have to get new headphones. I don't want to buy a HT or receiver or anything just to use standard headphones, and headphones are a necessity as this is a secondary tv in a family living room.

So I'm a bit scared now and I might just hold off. It's too bad as Best Buy has the 36-months-no-interest thing right now. I could get the tv, take it back if I hate it, but I wouldn't be able to get another television for that promo if I took it back a couple weeks later. Promo ends tomorrow.

Sounds like the set you're considering lacks some of the features you want. Personally, I would not buy a set that left me wanting on features to get a financing deal.

BB offers these financing deals on a rotating basis, so it will be back around soon.

I basically want a great gaming tv that is priced right. I want roughly 40-42", so that means the Panasonic is my only option unless I get the 1024 x 728 models, which I'm not really keen on. Basically at this size it looks like LCD is going to have to be my avenue. I wanted plasma for colors and blacks and the increased hz (playing on a 240hz LCD lately and the increased smoothness could be nice).

Back to gaming on the 32" Westinghouse I guess in the meantime, bad blacks and all.

what do you mean by "cable without bars" do u mean u just avoided channels without imprints/logos in the corners? did you do the slides for 100+ hours straight

Cable TV signal and set the display format on the set to Full, which removes any sidebars. I tried to avoid logos, but translucent ones I did not worry about too much. Slides were running whenever I was not watching, which was most of the time. Like I said, don't stress too much about the decision to buy or how you break it in. Use that worry time to enjoy watching your new TV instead. My only regret is that I did not make the purchase sooner.

I'm curious, could someone measure how much the base boosts the TV off the surface? I'm wondering how much I'm going to have to boost my TV up so my center channel doesn't block the view. My center channel is 155mm high. Any thoughts on the best way to do this? I figure I'll just get some 2x4s or something. Thanks

Whoops, I just realized the page I was looking at with dimensions had the height with and without the base, so by process of elimination looks like it's only 1.9", in case anyone else cares. [Edit: this is for the 50" version]

http://panasonic.net/avc/viera/us201...#prddimensions

Just picked up the 42S2 over the weekend, the tube in the bedroom went up in smoke.... darn. Saw someone mentioning firmware upgrade, haven't checked mine yet, any benefit from the new firware?

UPS just delivered my P46S2... now I have to wait till tonight to unbox it knowing that it is sitting upstairs while I'm "at work" down in the basement (I work from home).

Well what's it like then? I'm torn in-between getting an S2 or old G10.. This is for a bedroom Plasma.. I have the G25 in my living room.

Been upstairs in the bonus room with it all night... initial impressions are very good, but with two possible issues: I definitely see very small shifts in black level... sometimes fairly often (every few seconds) and sometimes with much longer intervals between shifts. I'm assuming this is the "floating black" issue I've seen mentioned here. The other issue doesn't effect actual video (even completely black video), but when there is no input (as when switching between inputs), the black background has horizontal streaks running through it. As I said... there is no evidence of this with actual video, but it does seem unusual to me.

Exactly my set up just put the 42S2 in the bedroom this weekend, have a G25 in our living room. Haven't had a chance to calibrate or give it a critical look yet.