The Official Panasonic TC-PXXC2 Owner's Thread - Page 2

thanks.
contacted panasonic earlier today and while they couldn't recommend settings other than standard during break-in period, they did say to keep aspect ration at 16:9 (full screen) with picture at Full or Just. (If use 4:3 on movies, then make sure to dim re: sidebars.) The real isse is fixed images (i.e. logos for channels that are not transparent. They simply recommend to not keep any stale images such as this for longer than 15% of viewing time during a week's worth of watching TV. Kind of hard to keep track of that other than simply not watching those channels much at all for first 50-100 hours.) Basically, don't leave Wii on main settings too for long (or TV overnight etc) with stale image stuck and it should be fine...

Not considering any break-in DVD or other software as a result of this call...keeping fingers crossed ! :0

just bought the 46" version of this panel yesterday. I am using it in my bedroom, replacing my 42" 60u panny plasma that is going into my sons room. I have pro-151fd and a 600M Kuro, and even coming from watching them, this panny is a bargain at 600 bucks!.

Both my kuro's are chad b calibrated and they look awesome.... in comparison I am more than happy with the new panny's cinema setting for my bedroom display.

IMHO, you can't get beat the price/peformance ratio on this display. I had planned on getting a 50" 3D display, but after factoring I could by 3-4 of these, it just doesn't seem worth it for the 3D..... especially with the required goofy glasses

Did Panasonic say how long is the "break-in period"? is the 50 -100 hours from Panasonic?

I don't think she really said it was 50-100 hours, but when I asked about the break-in period confirmation being that long, she said a general 'yes'. In my view, they weren't that specific, so after a couple weeks, I plan on changing the settings to my likings some more (and raising brightness, color etc.)

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping Panansonic will give a better guideline for such an important topic. I saw a documentation where Panasonic said image retention is not considered a malfunction and is not covered by their warranty.

Got the 46-inch version for $599. Ended up settling with the Cinema preset settings. Seems good enough, but as it's my first HDTV my opinion isn't really valid. :P

My 42" is still kicking fine and looks very good with my Pioneer 51FD bluray player.

I am about to pull the trigger on this TV (46" C2). My only concern is, viewing from about 7.5-8 ft, will I notice SDE?
Also, if you are watching blu ray on this TV, 1080p will be scaled to 768p (if I am not mistaken). So will it be a better decision to get a blu ray player with a good scaler (Panasonic 65K or samsung 6500) or is the scaler on the TV good enough?

Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it.

I just got a really good deal on the P42C2 from Sears. Looking forward to having it delivered in a couple of days. I'm glad Panasonic came out with this 46" size because I think that will be perfect for my room and ~9' viewing distance. I watch mostly sports and movies, so a 720 plasma should be perfect!

I am having a hard time trying to decide between the 46C2 and the 46S2. The price difference is considerable, but at approximately 7.5-8ft viewing distance, I am not sure whether the extra resolution will benefit me. Any advice on this?
Thanks a lot.

I also just bought the tc-p46c2, can someone tell me the best settings for calibration? thanks

so, i currently own a tc-p50s2 and i am considering exchanging it for a 46" c2. the 50" just seems too big - otherwise i like it. we sit 10-11 feet away and my wife and son watch mostly non-hd stuff. i will be watching most of the hd and my son will play his wii.

i could tell the difference between this 720 vs 1080 side by side at BB. will be connecting to Uverse. sounds like everyone is pretty happy with this. my other option would be to get the 46" s2, but i got such a great deal on the original 50", i would end up spending more for the 46" and that burns me...

you think i should pull the trigger and do the exchange?

We bought the 46" C2 for our family room. So far I love it. I primarily use it to watch Uverse and it looks great. There is no 1080P content on Uverse so the 720 looks just as good. I have a Panasonic TH-50PX80U in my living room which is also 720P (though a better quality TV than the C2). I have a blue ray player hooked up to it and the movies look fantastic. I'm sure they would look a little better on a 1080P set but for now I'm very satisfied.

hello DayTrader. What is your viewing distance? Have you experienced any sort of SDE ? How bad are the reflections on the set?
Thanks for your help.

My viewing distance is about 9 feet. I don't know what SDE is but I have noticed that the glare on this TV is more noticeable than my other Panasonic. Luckily we have recessed lighting in my family room and it doesn't get much direct sunlight so its not too bad. By the way, my current picture settings are as follows:

Picture Mode: Custom
Contrast: 76
Brightness: 65
Color: 46
Tint: -4
Sharpness: 0
Color Temp.: Warm
x.v. color: Off
CATS: Off
Video NR: Off
MPEG NR: On
Black Level: Light

Thanks for the reply DayTrader. That will also be my viewing distance. Do you notice any sort of pixellation from that distance? How does blu-ray/upconverted DVD look after applying your settings? I am planning to get the BD-85 blu-ray player from Panasonic which has built-in wifi.
The windows in my apartment will be on one side of the TV, so I hope glare will not be a very big issue. I usually watch with the lights dimmed or turned off. I guess will just pull the curtains during the day.

Thanks again for all the info. I really appreciate it.

I've noticed just a little bit of pixellation when watching TV. Its very seldom and very minor and is isolated to watching TV. I notice it on both Panasonic TV's so I'm blaming it on Uverse. I have a conventional DVD player on my 46" and the Blue-Ray player is hooked up to my 50" Panasonic. Both TV's are 720p and the picture is great on both. The Blue-ray is obviously better quality but the Sony DVD player actually displays a very nice picture on the 46" C2.

By the way, if you are in the market for a new Blue-ray player I would definitely recommend the LG BD-570. It has both wireless and wired network connectivity, DLNA support to stream media from a networked computer, internet connectivity to stream Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Roxio CinemaNow, Pandora, Internet Radio, Picasa, MLB Network, Napster and AccuWeather. I love mine and I would highly recommend it. Its on sale at Best Buy for $220.

I just picked the TC-P42C2 up, and so far, I'm loving this plasma. At about 58 hours of break-in at the moment. We've watched a few movies on it so far, I've played a little Mass Effect 2, and we've watched a few hours of television in between break-in sessions.

One thing I have noticed is that while using the following settings, which have been pretty widely recommended, that most blues can take on a pretty heavy Teal look to them:

Mode: Cinema
Contrast: 71
Brightness: 60
Color: 47
Tint: -6
Sharpness: 0
Temp: Warm
x.v. Color: off
Video NR: off
C.A.T.S.: off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: On

All other colors look really great. I've noticed that the greens can look REALLY blown out sometimes too (specifically while playing Xbox 360, but colors on the system are set to Standard, not Intermediate or Advanced).

Has anyone else noticed the blues looking more teal-ish in Cinema mode? I've tried adjusting the Tint, Color, etc., and nothing seems to lessen the effect. Of course, changing the Temp to Natural or Cool improves this, but all other colors are significantly more distorted to that 'blue lens' look (ala Twilight, Underworld, etc.). I've also noticed that when using a color temp. of Warm in all of the other picture modes, the blues all look significantly less teal, and much more naturally blue. Overall, save for this one nag, I'd say the Cinema mode is still probably the best picture mode to use for movies and tv.

Can anyone confirm if the 46 and 50 inch C2 has been reduced to a 1024 x 768 panel from 1366 x 768? There seems to be conflicting views on this in another thread.

Mike

1,024 x 768 per Panasonic's website. Sorry if this is redundant.

What is the difference?

1024 is the number of horizontal lines of resolution. Presently most, if not all, 720p plasma monitors display a resolution of 1024 lines of pixels (horizontal) by 768 lines of pixels (vertical). I don't know of any currently available plasma monitors that display a 1366 by 768 resolution. Hope this helps.

It seems to make sense but I don't understand how a wide screen display can have a resolution of 1024x768. Any computer monitor I've ever ran at 1024x768 runs at a 4x3 aspect ratio. 1280x768 would be a 16x9 aspect ratio.

The pixels are elongated, from what I understand. I find this type of 768p panel looks pretty outstanding. It handles 1280x720p pretty well, but looks even better with 1920x1080p/i content.

That's right. On a 1024 X 768 monitor that has an aspect ration of 16:9, the pixels are rectangular. If you run that same resolution on a monitor with an aspect ratio of 4:3, the pixels are square.

I also think 1920 X 1080 images look pretty fantastic being downconverted on this plasma. To be honest, unless the size of the monitor is over 50", the human eye has a hard time telling the difference between 720p accepting a downconverted 1080p signal, and a native 1080p monitor displaying the same content (at least my eye can't tell the difference). I'm really happy with this monitor so far.

I think that is an excellent point. It kills me when I hear people overspend on a 1080P LCD TV because they think that 1080P is so much better than 720P. I think a Plasma 720P beats out a mid-level quality 1080P LCD every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Lol, agreed!

I actually got the TC-P42C2 on a "No Lemon" warranty exchange from Best Buy for my old 30" Samsung Slim Fit 1080i CRT tv. They couldn't fix it because Samsung doesn't manufacture parts for the model I had anymore. They exchange for "Similar Model," not an even dollar exchange for what you paid on "No Lemon" exchanges. And since they don't make CRT's anymore, they tried pushing a 60 hz 1080p Sammy LCD on me. I kindly told them that PQ matters most to me, especially deep blacks and no motion blur, so I wouldn't accept an LCD or an Insignia tv. I started suggesting Panny plasmas, and they agreed to exchange for the TC-P42C2 almost instantly. I was surprised they were willing to work with me.

Anyway, this plasma blows the old CRT out of the water. Even the blacks look just as deep as the CRT's did. And with the 600 hz refresh rate, motion blur is a non-issue! I don't mind the extra foot in screen size either. Overall, totally satisfied with the exchange.

You really made out in that deal. Congrats!

Thanks DayTrader!

I almost couldn't believe how easy Best Buy was to deal with. I had read so many horror stories online about their warranty exchange policy. I was sure I was going to get screwed at first. But Best Buy definitely earned a loyal customer that day. Well, that particular Best Buy anyway.

Will this TV beat out a ln46a650 1080p samsung LCD i bought 2 years ago.