The Official LG xxPK950 Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 38

I see the slight halo. YMMV

Hi JN , i have the exact same problem with my set ! I just wanted to ask if u might've found a solution. Is this problem big enough to be able to return it. To me it's a damn shame, i went from lcd to plasma to have the better black levels. They are better, but, these artifacts completely ruin it for me. In my case they are very blue though...

Any solutions ??

I did not find a solution and I have had 2 sets that underwent considerable tweaking as well as spent time with two others in the store plus a 550 and PX950 3D model. They all had the problem.

For me it's something I can't live with so this second one is going back (screen's chipped on a corner anyway) and I am switching to Samsung. From all the tweaking I did I came to the conclusion that it's a general flaw with LG plasmas and not a defect in just some sets and some people don't mind or notice.

You can minimize it by lowering brightness but you lose shadow detail (and the the problem just shifts to darker areas of the image) or you can increase brightness so it's more uniform but then you'll have a washed out looking picture (like the THX bright room setting). Lastly you can play with the 5 IRE settings in the 20 pt. IRE adjustment and see if that helps.

looks like plasma dithering... which is pretty much common on all plasmas. switching to Samsung won't help. I have a Samsung Plasma and it is the same thing. Although some higher end plasma minimizes it better. Try lowering the contrast.

I was wondering if I should still use the break in slides with this set.

I purchased a display model this past Sunday that, although functions fine, has over 1300 hours on it.

Everything plays fine but it looks obvious that the store only played HD movie trailers in letterbox because the outline of the black bars are noticeable as a lighter shade on the top and bottom of the screen.

It's noticeable when the screen goes black or if for example I fire up the PS3 and it looks lighter on the top and bottom of the menu screen (I use a blue background for the PS3 menu)

Secondly, I knew that this set had issues with IR but it's apparent with a stationary icon or object within only a few minutes. Either a game HUD or for example, a desktop background.

Looks like this set never had any stationary objects on it before despite the hours is has, only full motion video.

Should I still use the break in slides at all? I still have the set under warranty if I can't get rid of the letterbox black bars IR

no need to run breakin sides, panel is done. Once you have a uneven phosper wear, you can never fix it. Just buy a new tv and don't risk it on a demo.

Well, I can still exchange it at least.

I love the TV otherwise, picture is awesome except for the uneven phosphors. It's only noticeable on a complete colored screen but otherwise, even on full screen video, you can't see it.

Still, it's a shame that this can happen with letterboxed FMV, plasmas a more delicate than I thought.

Yea, you can try running break-in slides for 24h in Vivid mode with max contrast. straight and see if it fixed it, but if not, return it.

Has anyone noticed a 'dirty screen' affect. It happens when I have a solid image up, like the white wash, or the break-in images. It just looks like there are darker areas of the screen. Completely unnoticeable during normal viewing however...

Always so negative. Try posting something positive.

The question is whether or not the edge enhancement feature is controllable by the user. It is. The edge enhancement is clearly seen when turned on and absent when turned off. I just tested edge enhancement on the high contrast cable box menus, and the difference between on and off is like night and day.

Anyone who says that the edge enhancement is not user-configurable is wrong.

DelJ

I have encountered a strange issue that only seems to have occured post-firmware update (6.02.02). I still run color slides from time-to-time (especially after prolonged gaming sessions), and for some reason now when I play the color slides, the transition from one slide to another does not fade out and in to the next color like it used too. Oddly enough the screen goes completely dark for a fraction of a second, and then the next color appears. I figured maybe the data on my USB stick somehow became corrupt, and so I tried another USB stick I have that also has slides on it - and the same issues exists! Has anyone else experienced this issue when running break-in slides? There is no way of managing how pictures move from one image to the next, so its not like it is a settings issue within user controls.

Completely agree...I have had this t.v since August and I have tinkered a little with the settings - to me, the Flatpanels HD settings yield a much more positive result in achieving deeper blacks while at the same time maintaining good 'punch' and accurate color temperature(s).
It really is a shame the 20pt IRE does not function as intended, I would like to think that if it did the picture could be dialed into near-perfection when you consider the sheer amount of user controllable picture settings.

"slightly tweaked"...in what way exactly?

hi

switching from a panasonic 50g20 to an lg 50pk950
might not have been my best choice
although i really could stand the floating blacks, this set has its own problems
line bleeding really is worse sometimes when watching tv
IR is noticeable but doenst bother me that bad
yesterday i was sitting a bit closer
reached 200 hours viewing, so i pumped contrast and brightness up, even using thx mode
when watching sherlock holmes bluray
i saw these "green dancing pixels" especially in dark parts of the picture

anyone know something about this?
is it normal? can i reduce it?
sitting bit farther makes them less noticeable

again, i hated floating blacks on the g20 but this sets has it flows too
sometimes i wish i had the pana g20 again (less ir, less reflection) but then problems with banding, panning etc etc and by far crazy horrible floating blacks... ! so i come back to this set again
argh
for me it seems 2010 really is a bad year !

I also want to say i think its a shame that reviews dont mention all this stuff

No review on flatpanels, cent, avforum etc etc dont even mention floating blacks on g20, nothing about green pixel dancing or much line bleeding on the pk950
this is really a shame!

Many of us have not noticed the green pixels, but then I do not watch letterbox movies. Or more precisely, I use the zoom function to avoid the letterbox black bars. Better for me and better for the TV screen.

Even then, my black scenes are just that: black.

Hopefully you bought from a store that accepts 30-day returns. This is the only way to buy a TV, IMHO.

DelJ

OK, you've convinced me - I want to buy this set. But I just hungup the phone with OneCall (Sunday afternoon) and it can't be delivered in time for Xmas. Can you recommend any retailers that might carry this set in the Charlotte-Atlanta area? I've checked BB, Sears, HHGregg... pulling my hair out! Why is it so difficult to find it?

Anybody know why this model is easily found everywhere but the PX models are virtually impossible to find and hardly anybody even carries it??

I think that they are closing out inventory on this particular model. Seems like fewer and fewer sellers have them in stock.

Love my 50.

I called LG and got a list of big boxers, called them all, none had it. So I called OneCall back and placed the order. Maybe I'll print a picture and put in a box for the kids to open on Xmas!

Anyone having any issues with the big remote? It'll respond to one setting click and then get stuck there and I have to exit out of the menu to be able to move down to the other settings.

Its probably too late now but Frys has it if there is one enar you. You can check their store inventory online by chosing 'in store pick up' for the item

I'm sorry some of you guys are experiencing problems. I'm at 700 hours and loving this TV. No noticable IR, no remote problems, I've never seen the dancing green pixels and gaming simply rocks.

No problems here either! I have never had any IR since purchase and I'm really happy about this fact alone. I feel bad for one reason only; I didn't get the 60 inch!

any idea how i can get youtube videos to play in HD? i have only hd vids on my youtube account, but when i play 'em on my px950 they look horrible. tv is directly connected to my LAN, Fios 25/15mbps.

My only regret is that I don't have space in my home for a second PK950.

DelJ

Very likely all you need to do is slightly lower your brightness setting. I have the PK550 and see exactly this effect shown in your pictures if I have the brightness slightly too high. Set up the set like when you took the picture, then slowly decrease brightness one click at a time. When you get to the point where it is supposed to be all the sparkeling pixels will suddenly disappear in one click. What you are doing, actually, is setting the black level to 16, it is a basic step in calibration. The LGs are very sensitive in this adjustment.

I've had the dancing green pixels as well, but they were never a problem due to my viewing distance. That said, the advice by rpauls absolutely works. I just tried it and one or two clicks down on the brightness was all it took to eliminate them.

Good to hear that this really isn't a defect. I think that the nominal brightness setting is 50. What is your new brightness setting?

I just ran a little experiment where I ran my brightness setting up past 80 on a letterboxed image and still didn't see the dancing green pixels, so there may be other settings involved.

DelJ

Doing this only moves the green dots to darker sections of the scene - they cannot be elimintated. Additionally, getting them to an acceptable level, i.e. not seen from normal viewing distance requires brightness to be dimmed too low, beyond where it shodl be to produce accurate shadow detail.

Living with this set required too big a compromise with pq for me so I moved on to a Samsung C8000 series and couldn't be happier.

Contrast is a matter of personal preference, but brightness is not. There is only one correct setting for brightness. Strictly speaking it is the setting when an input value of digital 16 looks as black as all the values 0-15 do.

It makes little difference what other people's brightness is set to. You have to adjust your own set. Every one will be different. If you don't have a dvd with a test pattern simply put on any dvd that does not fill the entire screen (black bars at top and bottom), push pause (optional), then adjust the brightness until the sparkling effect just disappears from the black bars above the picture. This is your optimal brightness setting.

FYI, it tends to be in the 46 - 52 range on this set.

What is your viewing distance? I'm near the far end for a 60" set at 14'. If you can see the green pixels from there you should be in the USAF Top Gun program.