The Official LG xxPK950 Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 9

Originally Posted by robyneil


Good stuff. I don't have a desktop right now to use but started shopping for a cheap one yesterday to use a as a file server as you described. I'll definitely try your setup and scale down to 720p video files instead of 1080p video files. I can't hardly tell the difference sometimes between 720p and 1080p streaming. File server seems to be the best way to go.

For the IR issue, I think the plasma break-in DVD is giving me good results now and haven't seen any temporary IR (only had temp IR on 2 occasions) even if I watch a 3 hour movie with letter-box aspect ratio or 4:3 ratio.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by exhumis

No problem-glad I could help. You could put the shares on your laptop, or maybe a NAS. If you have a PS3, I have heard people using them to share files, although I am not sure how but I'm sure it could be figured out how to do it. I admit I haven't tried streaming any 1080p files, but the 720p files looked pretty good.
You could also try putting the files you want/need onto a USB flash drive and plugging that into the TV; however, there is a size limitation to the size of the USB drive you can use. I guess that would be a pain to constant swap out drives, right? Maybe you could mount a hub to the backside of the tv and run multiple flash drives? Just throwing out low cost solutions.
For what its worth, I'm loving windows 7. It makes sharing sooo easy (except if you have some OSX boxes on your network like I do, but that is a well documented problem). You can enable media sharing from within WMP 12, and voilÃ*!! All your shared files pop up. My PS3 can even see them. Shiny! Anyway, there's a few suggestions. If you need more help let me know. I worked long and hard to make my media shares KISS so my wife wouldn't get frustrated-she can just point and click.

Originally Posted by pvpnguyen

Hello, I just got my PK950 yesterday. And now I am running the break-in DVD-R. I notice that it has 1 dead pixel near the bottom left corner (about 7 inches from the left, 5 inches from bottom), about 2 stuck pixels near the top right corner (about 8 inches from the right and 6 inches from the top. These are not next to each other). Is this considered a faulty TV? Is it worth a try of exchanging for another? Anyone here has the same problem?

Originally Posted by mikeyraw

also curious as is there ANY picture difference between this and the 550 besides what people "think".......like has anyone confirmed that the 950 is indeed a better picture?

im talking just picture, not reflections or anything like that, i wanna know strictly related to PQ

Originally Posted by filthgrinder

Yes, I first had the 550, but traded up for the 950. 950 has better blacks, so it gave me a better picture impression.

Originally Posted by mikeyraw

worth the extra cash? places im seeing are charging 4-5 hundred more

Originally Posted by robyneil

Agree on the WMP 12 on Windows 7. It's so easy and guaranteed to see all files you want to share...same with Nero. Didn't have the same reliability with some DLNA devices like a NAS and NAS adapter. My goal is the same as yours...to make it easy for wife and kids to play movies and see family pictures.

Originally Posted by exhumis

Not sure about the price difference on the 550, but my local BB was charging $1K more for the 60PK950 than the 50PK950. I still feel like I got a pretty good deal, and I don't intend on purchasing another set any time soon, so it was the "60 for me.

Originally Posted by mikeyraw

worth the extra cash? places im seeing are charging 4-5 hundred more

Originally Posted by filthgrinder

I think so, yes. Also it does not have any edges, so no dust gathers. The filter/glare is better. And frankly I find the 950 to be a much better looking TV than the 550.

I was lucky, the 950 costs the same here, and oddly even less in some places. I have seen the PK550 sell for 20k NOK(Norwegian Kroner) in some stores, and the PK950 go for 16k NOK in others...so it was a no-brainer for me.

Originally Posted by exhumis

I do want to say one thing though: I kinda make it sound like roses, but it can be a hassle. AV decides it HAS to scan right in the middle of streaming a video, no matter that I had the schedule set at 1 AM.
Also, for whatever reason, PS3MS has a "mood" and decides to crash without warning.
Or, a piece of software will decide to upgrade and then the box restarts. Even though I have PS3MS set as a service and set to start up automatically, it doesn't always work.
All of the above usually occurs: A)when I am not around to fix it and B)when the wife wants to stream something.
I run my server with the bare minimal install, but it's not error free. I think if I had to do it all over again I would go with a NAS. Hell, I still might. Less hassle and maintenance.

Originally Posted by tlopes

I've got a 60pk950 but can't get any of the DirecTV remote codes to work. I've gone through all of them twice, but none work. Has anyone found a code that will work with these TV's? Many thanks!

Originally Posted by exhumis

Does anyone have a problem with the remote? Occasionally mine will stop responding to button presses, especially when watching netflix. Sometimes the down button beneath the enter button won't respond, and sometimes left and right doesn't either.

Originally Posted by robyneil

Update on playing/streaming media on LG PK950:

I finally bought a used desktop from ebay for around $100. It's a pre-installed Windows 7 with a 2.33Ghz dual core cpu, 80GB and 2GB memory (hopefully it's functioning). I'll attach an external hard drive and I'm planning to overclock it to around 3Ghz and buy CoreAVC codec. It's main purpose will be as a FileServer/DLNA media server. I'll connect it to the PK950 directly so that I can also hopefully play backup 1080p movies as well. At least it should be able to play 720p movies reliably and be able to avoid the image sharpening using a VGA D-sub connection or even an HDMI connection from a new video card.

For anyone who's interested, I'll post updates on how this goes.

Originally Posted by robyneil


The remote's been good so far. My son who's turning 3 this Sept knows how to navigate to Netcast>Netflix and play kid videos by himself. With the Netflix UI there's a Windows-XP-explorer-link-navigation-complete-click like sound after you press enter, left, right, up, down. So we know that the remote is working. Do you also not get the clicking sound when you press the button and it fails? Maybe you can get a replacement for the remote.

We also have the Roku Netflix box but mostly use the LG Netflix since it's convenient using a single remote.

We occasionally do get a long "Loading" progress display when playing media files and cannot force the TV to "EXIT" or "BACK" with the remote while "Loading" is displayed. We just wait it out until it finishes.

Originally Posted by FlatPanelNoob

So... as you can tell... I'm a newbie to the whole flat panel thing as well as this site. Had a Sony KV-36XBR800 that up and died on me about a month ago. Was NOT happy about this, as that TV had one of the best pictures I have ever seen - flat panel or otherwise.

Anyway - I have spent the past month researching EVERYWHERE for info about which type (LCD vs. Plasma) and which brand I should go with. I figured out pretty quickly that Plasma is the way to go (not sure why anybody would do LCD), and then it came down to which brand.

My budget limit was $1500, as set by my wife (Grrr...). I pretty much narrowed it down to the Panasonic G25 vs. the 50pk950. I spent hours upon hours doing comparisons of the two, and I could hardly find a difference between them, at least based on the reviews (many posted on here - thanks everybody!) that I was reading.

I FINALLY went with the 50pk950, based pretty much on 2 factors:
1) Correct handling of 1080p/24 sources. Sorry, but if I'm dropping that much on a TV, it BETTER handle Blu-ray correctly. Seems kinda lame if the TV doesn't.
2) The whole "Panasonic flicker" thing. I saw it at both Best Buy and HH Gregg, and even in the bright showroom with their stupid bright settings it bothered the hell out of my. There is simply no way I could deal with that.

Ordered it yesterday from Crutchfield, getting it Friday. I'm a little worried about the dead pixel issue, but I have faith that Crutchfield will take care of me. Other than that, I cannot WAIT to get this thing in my house and see what it looks like in my room. I want to thank everybody on here who had both good and bad reviews of both the LG and the Panny, and I will let you guys know how this thing performs once I get it in the house.

Originally Posted by mikeyraw

the 1080p/24 issue really isnt, most people cant even tell the difference......the flicker issue is also related to the 1080p/24 issue....the real reason you shouldnt want a panny is because all you read about on these forums is how they all have some sort of blinking light issue, certainly i read about them having more issues than most other brands

Originally Posted by FlatPanelNoob

Yeah, those issues made me a little leery of the Pannys as well. Seeing as how my Sony had a wonderful blinking red light when it died, I wanted nothing to do with another TV that might end up being a blinking piece of decoration.

In all honesty, every TV has issues. The PK950 seems to have some dead pixel problems, and the Panny has it's problems. I think it's a crapshoot sometimes when you buy these things. I just wish there could be a TV that would blow everybody away with picture/features/reliability.

That being said, I just have a gut feeling that the PK950 is better than the G25. I may be wrong, and I may end up really regretting my decision, but football season starts soon so I had to make a decision one way or the other. I bought it from Crutchfield so I have faith that they will take care of me if I end up hating this thing.

**Fingers crossed** I really hope I end up loving it.

Originally Posted by exhumis

Since you mentioned the Kroner, I am assuming you are located in Norway? Or somewhere in Europe? Tell us, does the PK series have the same widgets and features as the sets here in the States?

Originally Posted by jcorwin

Variable audio output level?
Hello PK950 owners. I'm planning to buy a 60PK950 within the next few days, and will probably buy a ZVOX 550HSD speaker system to accompany it. Can the PK950 provide variable output from the optical audio output jack to drive the sound system? That way, I could use the volume control on the remote to control the audio level.

Originally Posted by filthgrinder

Sadly no, and I was VERY disapointed.

We get Weather, YouTube, and Picasa...thats it...

Originally Posted by jcorwin

Variable audio output level?
Hello PK950 owners. I'm planning to buy a 60PK950 within the next few days, and will probably buy a ZVOX 550HSD speaker system to accompany it. Can the PK950 provide variable output from the optical audio output jack to drive the sound system? That way, I could use the volume control on the remote to control the audio level.

Originally Posted by mocolo

So I've had my 50PK950 for less than a week and it was working beautifully. I wake up this morning and I see white marks on the tv, beneath the glass. I turn on the tv and they're still there. I really have no idea what they are. I've been watching stuff on the tv for the past few hours and these white dots slowly disappear/reappear and slightly change shape. I called the dealer where I got the TV from and he told me to contact LG support. So I contacted LG and he told me to send him pictures of the problem, which I am now waiting for his response from.

Do you guys have any ideawhat this could be? Dead pixels? It's just odd because these white spots still show when the TV is off. It's definitely not burn-in or image retention.

Originally Posted by exhumis

Well that sux. You guys don't even get netflix? You got robbed.