Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxST30 Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 104

The C.A.T.S. Function freaked me out when I didn't know what it was. I thought I had an issue with the brightness right out of the box. I would walk up to the tv and it would get brighter, I'd walk away and it would dim. My wife had me freaking out for a few minutes.

I don't particularly want to scroll through the arguing in this thread to find all the information (I will over time though). Should I be brave and buy a plasma TV instead of an LCD. I was looking at buying the P42ST30 of this line (instead of possibly the LG 42LK450).

brave? it's the better picture

What about the heat output of a Plasma? You can stand next to a Plasma and just feel the heat coming off of it (at least that's how I remember it back in 2002-2004).

My Samsung LN40A550 that I bought back in March 2009 (and then was subsequently stolen in Oct 2010, along with my computer) was my first flat panel TV after owning a 27" JVC flat CRT for about 6 years.

i guess there is some heat, same as any electronic device. Maybe more than LCD, but these days probably negligible. Why is that a problem for you? Do you sit 6 inches from the display on hot days? haha.

Honestly not sure why it's even a consideration.

what about the heat? how does the heat emitted from the plasma affect your TV purchase?

it's not hot enough to do any harm to people or any neighbouring electronics.


not sure where you're going with this comment...

Haha... No, I don't sit that close. More like 8 feet away. One of the original reasons I had for not going Plasma in the first place was because of the life span (originally 30k hours, then 60k and now 100k with the Panasonics - this shouldn't matter any more), screen burn-in, and the power usage. Apparently plasma TVs use less than some LCD TVs now.

--EDIT--
Does the Viera Link only work with other Panasonic items, or can it work with my LG BD630 I just bought?

After I applied d-nice's setting the heat output dropped dramatically. I don't even look at the life span of these new panels. Who of us will keep our Panasonics for 10+ years?

Good question. More than likely not for that long. Something new and better will come along (like OLED finally being affordable) and everyone go and buy that.

me

I skipped the manual entry and used the WPS button on my router, and the WPS connection option on the ST30. Just push the WPS button on the router, when the light starts flashing, select WPS connection on the TV. Voila!

Supposedly these panels have a 100,000 half-life. So one would have to watch the TV for 100,000 hours before the panel is half its original brightness. In other words, these panels can last three+ decades of extensive use as long as something else doesn't break along the way. As you state, many of us will move on far before this occurs.

Quick question guys...

I'm sure this has been touched on, but I haven't been here in awhile and would like to hear from those who have experience with both the Samsung C8000 and ST/VT30. I'm particularly interested in frame interpolation. The MJC feature on the Samsung was really nice for me. So much so that I finally was able to ignore LCDs altogether. So I'm hearing Panny has incorporated interpolation in the 2011 panels and am very curious how it stacks up. I'm hoping it's just as nice, or nicer than last year's Samsung plasmas.

I realize I'm in the minority, and that's okay. I'm just looking for a current plasma that can offer me as much 'realism' as possible for blu-rays (without too much artifact). I know first hand the C8000 could do this. When they updated the firmware, they backed off the interpolation slightly with much fewer artifacts. It was very nice, and still realistic. As good as any LCD IMO.

So will I be happy with the ST/VT30?

Thanks man. Yea, deal on Amazon for 50ST30 was too good to pass up, and two days ago, I canceled my 60ST30 order and upgraded to 65ST30. Didn't want to regret that I didn't buy a bigger TV and the difference was less than $300 on Amazon (after price match with buy.com).

I don't have an iphone, using Android. Will check if they have similar app, because that can be real handy like you mentioned. Thanks for the heads-up though.

I've one question though...running the slides for the last 13.5 hrs straight. Do I need to give it a rest for couple hours in between, or it doesn't matter?

In my opinion, plasma is the way to go, and if you're going Plasma - Panasonic is the one! I always had LCDs before my last week's purchase, but every time I saw a Plasma at my friend's house or my cousin's house - I was amazed by it's quality - and they both bought their Plasmas back in 2006-2007.

I've stopped buying Samsung products because of their customer service. It's useless. Also, when I looked at Panasonic plasma next to Samsung plasma - I liked the picture quality of Plasma a LOT better - though Samsung has an elegant frame. (GT30 vs. D7000) and (ST30 vs. D6500)

It was basically the same for me. After the 2.16 firmware update to the Samsung BD-P1600 bluray player made it where it won't play 2/3 of my blurays, Samsung told me to just wait for the next firmware update.

I bought a LG BD630 to replace it because I was going to go the LG route for TV and bluray, but then I then decided to look again (influenced by the regular Amazon e-mail I get for TVs) and thought maybe I ought to go with Panasoncs (partly because the bezel is so much nicer than the LG TVs, particularly the 42LK450)

sweet. well done on the upgrade to the 65" over the 60". there's no such thing as a TV that's too big! i couldn't be happier with my 55".

i ran the slides for 100 hrs straight mostly, maybe turning it off for 30-60 mins once or twice. plenty of people have done it for a straight 100+ hrs and i'm sure they're fine. i'm no plasma expert though, just reciting some of the stuff i've read. as long as the TV is pretty well ventilated, then i'm sure it can handle 100+ hrs straight. i might get a bit concerned if the TV was tucked away inside some cabinet, and having the heat accumulate for the 100+hrs though.

This is my last day to return the 50ST30.

I was thinking of getting the 50GT30.

But I have no problems with the ST30, just heard the GT30 had better black levels. I am on the fence as to weather I should do this.

Are most of you happy with the ST30?

Thanks

CNET reported more issues with the GT30 than with the ST or VT. things like floating blacks and fluctuating brightness. check the GT30 review on CNET. if you haven't noticed fluctuating brightness (FBr) on your ST, consider yourself lucky. mine has minor FBr, but it's very very subtle, and a billion times better than the FB on my previous G20 i returned for this ST. some times i can replicate the FBr on specific scenes, sometimes i can't. it seems to depend on the settings, which wasn't the case for the FB from the 2010 Panny's.

the black levels are almost identical between the ST and the GT, and if you're gonna upgrade from the ST, i'd recommend going up to the VT if you can afford it.

good luck.

So are you saying there is no fluctuating brightness or floating blacks with the VT30? I'm talking absolutely ZERO? I don't want any problems with brightness or black levels and want them to easily match my Pioneer 5020 or no buy from me.

Can someone confirm to me that the VT30 is the hot ticket today, even for a Kuro owner? I'm used to having no issues with my Kuro, but looking to replace it with a bigger set and don't feel like waiting another year (it's what I'm told to do every year and its getting irritating).

The VT30 is the best set, but it does have fluctuating/floating brightness, as with all 2011 Panasonics. This is definitely a problem you would want to consider. Forum users from Europe are reporting a selective firmware update fixing floating brightness, but it has only been given to complaining customers; however, Panasonic has not formally recognized the issue or given any helpful information that would make you sleep easier. North American Panasonic employees aren't even aware firmware was prepared in Europe, let alone being released.

If you buy a set, buy it from a company with a good return policy. My ST30 should be coming in tomorrow and it will be returned if Panasonic has not fixed the fluctuating brightness issue within my return period.

As long as your set is operating in a normal environment there is no reason that I know of to rest it. The worst time for any electronic device is power on from a cold start.

that is interesting information, i did not know that. thank you.

i notice FBr like once or twice in TDK, and Kung Fu Panda, but it's not the entire screen, and only parts of an image, and it's very subtle. to me, it's not distracting, and it doesn't take me "out" of the movie. i watched Battle Los Angeles on the weekend, and didn't see any FBr, but at the same time, when i watched that movie, i didn't think my set had the FBr issue. i still think my set is borderline, b/c i can't always replicate the issue when watching the same scenes on blu ray.

i feel like the right thing to do is call Panasonic, but at the same time, when i called them about the FB issue with my previous G20, they basically told me to eff off, b/c FB was a designed "feature". i told them had i known the set did that, i wouldn't have bought it, and they said "sorry to hear", and essentially hung up on me. this is Panasonic Canada btw.

anyways, that's interesting that a fw update can fix this. and as you mentioned this does affect all 2011 Panasonic Plasmas, at least it does on the 3D models. there have been reports that it's less visible on certain sets, and specifically less visible on the ST and VT for some reason, and more pronounced on the GT.

at the same time... for me... i'm wondering if it's worth losing sleep about (which i did on the FB for the G20). i see something similar on my 1 yr old LCD, when it does some picture processing business, even though i've turned off all the features. it doesn't bother me at all on my LCD, so why should it bother me on my Panasonic?

is it b/c my LCD was a cheap 40" Philips? or is it b/c it's happening on my more expensive, and prized (prized to me at least) ST?

^You're right that less ST30 owners have complained about it so far, and I hope that I don't notice it either, but it seems that most do notice it. The GT30 and VT30 owner threads in this forum and highdefjunky (had to misspell the forum, apparently AVS views other forums as curse words) are full of owners who see it.

I haven't experienced any crazy fluctuations with my ST30 that I received yesterday. I quick calibrated my TV with the Cinema setting... it looks phenomenal. For some odd reason, Cinema was brighter than Standard, lol. In any case, I DO have one issue with this set.



The darkest boxes (especially those closest to the 0 black backround) exhibit quite a bit of noise. I set my Cinema brightness to 56 (the point where the background is as dark as it can get without crushing any of the other boxes.... it's also the darkest it gets on a 0-255 chart, TV on RGB Nonstandard, with my PS3 settings at RGB Full Range. If I set it to Limited, the Brightness value on the TV changes, but once I set it back to where the background is the correct 0 black, the noise is still there for the other darker boxes).

Can anyone else download this image, and set their brightness accordingly and see if the noise in the darker boxes is noticeable from up close? I've done it with 3 different inputs and 3 different hdmi branded cables. Same issue.

It's not just on this image but on anything on screen with that dark gray. For example when my XBox 360 goes to screen saver mode and dims the screen, the noise is EVERYWHERE.

It's a 65ST30 I got from Amazon, and I'm not sure how they do exchanges. I REALLY don't wanna deal with repacking everything.... it was quite a torturous hour trying to get this thing hooked up... and I'm sure it will be an even bigger pain repacking everything... not to mention this won't fit my car for returns... sigh.

I'll never understand why people like stretching the image to get rid of the black bars. It makes everything wonky and ugly when you do.

is that noise also referred to as "dither"?

i sit about 7 feet away from my 55, and it's extremely difficult to spot the noise/dithering from sitting distance.

i've mentioned it before, but to me it's more prominent in Cinema mode as well. in letterbox movies, the black bars have noise/dithering in Cinema, but absolutely zero in Custom (and one or two of the other modes too). in the actual picture, Custom has noise/dither in black areas, but much less than in Cinema mode.

i can't see any of this noise/dither from sitting distance, but they're definitely there when i pause the scene and go up close (like 2 inches from the screen) and inspect for it.

i also noticed standard was a lot dimmer than Cinema.

Heh, I sit 7 feet from my 65 inch. Its not noticeable there either, but certainly when I get close to it, and its somewhat noticeable when the entire screen has it. It looks like sparklies/noise when up close, that it even has colors, somewhat like having a bad cable, except it just happens in those dark grays. It will happen in any Picture Mode, as long as you set the brightness accordingly. If you're not noticing it from other modes, you're probably crushing those grays.

I do remember having this issue with my 67" LED Samsung DLP, but to a lesser extent. It that's dithering... then damn...

FWIW, my 55ST30 will heat up my room to well above what the rest of the house is at, even with the A/C running. Room is about 12x12.

The infamous sparkles. I had this same question/concern when I first bought a plasma (reference...search for "spark" - many of us were scared of sparkles back then; I now laugh at myself). It's how shading is done, and you can only see it up close, on a bad source, or if settings are incorrect.

Also, I believe PS3 should be set to limited, not full. Haven't looked at my settings in a while, so hopefully someone else will comment. If you are going to do some basic self-calibrations, make sure to use a blu-ray to do so (ex. Disney WOW, DVE, Spears & Munsil, etc.).