Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxST30 Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 268

Might think about it if budget was tight enough at the moment.

How "old" is the set - that is, when was it purchased, and what is Panasonic's policy toward Warranty Transfer? Without assurance FROM PANASONIC that the warranty would transfer, would not touch it - at least at that price.

You can get a new 2012 LG 60" PA6550 for under a grand (+ tax...) from CostCo, and have a 2-year warranty included in the purchase price.

OTOH, 300 hours is still Almost New - although that also makes the IR/Burn-in all the more worrisome...

Difficult call. Would at least take some program material you are Very Familiar with - Blu-rays preferred - and "test" the panel to see how it looks overall.

In the end, only YOU know what Glitches you can live with - and it is YOUR $$ that will be spent!

Purchased in February. I have the original Amazon receipt. I am also a Costco member so I can get a 4 yr Square trade for about $75.

Unless they've changed their policy, Costco will give you 60-days After Purchasing the set to buy the Square Trade warranty.

The warranty will add 3-years, which would give you a total of 4, and price will be based upon the cost of the TV, as shown on the Original Receipt: $100 for a unit priced over $1K...

And I don't THINK that IR is covered...

Costco gives a two year warranty standard. So 5 years total for $100.

IF you bought the panel from Costco.

However, if you purchased the set elsewhere, you would presumably be adding 3 years to the manufacturers standard warranty - which is usually 1 year....

Whoops, sorry. Didn't see he bought it at Amazon. I also didn't realize Costco sold warranties for TV's bought elsewhere.

So my local Costco was out of stock as they are clearing the units out. Swapped the unit at another Costco and got another XX13XX serial. Screen looks good so far. If there are green blobs I couldn't see it in the Pens/Flyers game on Wed. Grabbed the SquareTrade warranty for $99.

I'm running the break-in slides again - am I paranoid for NOT wanting to run the slides when I'm asleep/at work? I'm nervous about leaving it unattended and the slideshow stops for some reason.

Does the ST30 come with the wi-fi dongle included or do you have to purchase it separately (or use a different solution for connectivity)? I am getting mixed reports. It says "wi-fi ready" int he spec but that could mean anything. And the local retailers are listing the dongles for the ST and GT's as a separate purchase.

Thanks.

It comes with it.

Thanks. I thought so. Kind of slimy (or just dumb) of PC Richard to be advertising it as only an extra $50 specifically with sets that already have it.

Considering buying this TV for gaming. Anyone have any input?

It runs for 15 minutes I believe.

Had this 55ST30 for 3 months now, and it just started buzzing for the first 5 minutes of viewing, then stops buzzing. Very audible, even over stereo content, anyone else have this issue?

I bought this TV (42") with HD gaming in mind as one of the main functions, and have not been disappointed. I did an intense break-in with slides, calibrated as per dnice's settings, and it is awesome for XB360 and PS3 via HDMI.

I notice lag on other devices in general more than any of my gamer friends, though possibly not as much as some very perceptive players, and when properly set up, I notice no lag at all on my 42ST30. I've actually even tried hooking up PS2, Sega Genesis, etc, and though they look unimpressive after deinterlacing and scaling, I still don't think I notice any input lag.

I'm also a CRT fan, and have no regrets after buying this unit, other than (not quite a regret) I wish I had gone larger, but the 42" is still a good fit for my tiny living room. The ways in which it is inferior to a CRT (few) are far outweighed by the ways in which it is similar/better. I've actually convinced a gamer friend of mine to get the same model I bought, but we're finding it difficult to get one now through an online seller that we know we can trust. Anyway, if your gaming is going to be HD consoles or pc with 1080p via HDMI, I think you'll be very happy with this model.

I have had my 55st30 for a year now and it started doing this about a month ago. Doesn't do it every time and it always quits after a few minutes. It is very loud, audible over the stereo.

Mine started buzzing loudly after about four months, but it never quit. I contacted Panasonic who said some buzzing was normal but I argued there was zero noise up to that point. The service guy replaced a board and now there is zero buzzing again.

dumb question of the day, but movies that show the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen - is this potential for for image retention? should i be using the zoom format or is it safe to watch in full mode?

thanks.

You should avoid the bars for the first 250 hours. After that I wouldn't worry about it.

I've had my st30 for about 4 months now & I think I have burn in.

I was getting slightly frustrated when using my PC browser because when the pixel orbiting happens the text goes fuzzy then back to clear so I did the one thing I shouldn't have. I went in & disabled orbiting. I know it was stupid but I thought eh, I'll turn it back on later. A few days of web browsing & clear text & I now have a browser horizontal line near the top of the screen & one near the bottom with a few task bar icons for good measure. They are noticable on a white or light colored screen & they look kind of greenish. This bugs me worse than the orbiting.
I've played some video games & ran some full screen stuff for a few nights while I slept but it's still there. It's not quite as bad as it was. I have enabled orbiter.

My question is...
What are some things I can do to fix this if it's possible to fix?

I'm currently running the Dnice break in slides & settings just to see if that works.
You think a hundred hours would go toward diminishing the burn in?

Needless to say I have learned my lesson about leaving the orbiting enabled.

Well, i got the dreaded 7 flashes of death last week. Set is in the shop, and they replaced several things before figuring out that the panel is bad. The guy said its on backorder and that the supplier doesn't even know when/if it won't be anymore.

The guy said something like that Panasonic would replace the TV if it takes longer than 30 days to fix. Does anyone know anything about this?

I have this weird issue when I have Pixel Orbiter enable on my "60. There is this white/grayish 1/2 inch vertical lines that goes down the edge of my screen. The line will move eventually across on the other side of the screen. Its very noticeable when I am watching a movie with black bars (2.35 1 aspect ratio). Thought it was my Pioneer Receiver. I then plugged the devices straight to the hdmi input and the line shows up again. I was able to call Panasonic for service.

Last night I turned off Pixel Orbiter and guess what the line does not show up anymore. The weird thing is that I never noticed this line until 1 month ago. I had my "60 since Oct. From day one, I had Orbiter enable. Should this be happening when Orbiter is enable? I am scare of turning off Orbiter (IR)

it happens if you have black extension on, and the brightness turned up. The BE doesn't apply to the pixel orbiter border, so the brightness setting applies to it as it would the screen without BE on.

Thanks. You know what this all started when I was messing with the picture setting. My brightness was cranked up (from 50 to 77) As far as the black extension it was always on but right now its set to 5. I will drop the BE and brightness down. Thanks

Many of us are using +4 and 71 and don't see the effect you describe. Let us know what you find. I hope that is what it is and not some other problem.

It does it on mine for sure. Though if you watch a lot of 16:9 content you probably wouldn't ever notice it. The only time i notice it is when I'm watching a movie, and the orbiter shifts up/down to where the border is on the top or bottom edge of the letterbox bars. I just turn off the orbiter when I'm watching movies.

On my set at least, it's clear that the problem has to do with the BE not applying to the orbiter border. When you turn the brightness back down into the 50's like you would without BE on, it changes the brightness of it.

I just did some testing and it looks like the line is there if my brightness is set to 57 or higher...... Or I could keep my brightness set at higher then 57 but I then will need set BE down to 2.... Setting the BE down to 2 makes the black bar look gray...... My last result will be to turn off Pixel orbiter and then I could keep brightness to 65 and BE at 5. I guess it really depends on each panel...Kinda sucks that I need to turn off orbiter to avoid this issue.

It must be a panel difference. I checked last night and the problem you guys are explaining is not happening on mine. It could be when you lower the BE and brightness, it is just masking a problem. There are a lot of folks using higher BE and brightness settings, along with other settings that have to be tweaked as well, and they have not reported such a problem yet. Maybe they will see your post and start checking and report. Sorry you have the problem. That sucks.

I use Jimmy's settings and it shows up on mine as well. Only noticeable with certain content. I've just accepted it as protecting the screen. It wasn't worth it to me to turn orbiter off to get rid of it but with added IR risk. It doesn't bother me.

Interestingly I've never mentioned it to the wife and I keep waiting for her to say something when it is more noticeable but she hasn't yet. I don't think she sees it.

Well that's good and bad news. I do watch a lot of full content but there are many commercials that are not. We also watch BD's on the weekends. I'll play around with it some more. My set is a 42". Maybe that has something to do with it.

Clearance ST30s are probably the best value out there. Recently I bought one to replace my LG plasma and the blacks are much better. I guess I could have tweaked the LG for better blacks but I just didn't want to mess with the internal parts. However, I found it's a too dim for daytime viewing even with all my windows closed. I could only calibrate it to around 23ftL with 10% window. I could increase the light output to around 36 or 37ftL but the colors, grayscale and gamma all messed up and I couldn't find a way to get the grayscale and gamma right. Giving up in frustration, I decided to live with it. I know 2011 models are know for being pretty dim but not sure if anybody had better luck?
I'm thinking about upgrading to a 2012 ST50. The new model seems to have major improvements, especially the light output.

The ST30 pictures are amazing though. Here are some screenshots:


From Kill Bill Vol.1









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From BBC's Life: