Official Panasonic GT30 Series Discussion Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 124

i got a 65 gt 30 2 weeks ago looked great enjoyed it very much and then today a 4 inch vertical black bar about a third of the way from the left showed up. can this be fixed or does tv need to be replaced?

Sucks! What's the build date???

Thanks a lot for posting the pics!
It is getting mounted on a brick wall so that kit that you posted will not work.
Can you post a pic of the side view from further away?
Looks nice btw

More than likely it's either the X or Y Sustain Boards and it can be replaced. Being just two weeks old though you shouldn't have an issue getting the whole set replaced. Call Panasonic and get the ball rolling.

I have both a 65 inch GT30 and a 50 GT30. They were both purchased in the last month from Amazon. I wanted to see if any of you can assist with the issues I'm having.

Here's the thread...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1395410

Thanks in advance for the help.

it is a june 2011 build date

Thank you, Dr.DTS.

I did changed the FW to 2.1 successfully, I guess.
I ran the AVIA video adjustment procedure with their patterns. I found the default (most middle settings at 50) of THX mode has very accurate color already. Even in Custom mode, the Brightness, color and tint are quite good without messing around the pro settings according to AVIA measurements. In my Custom mode, I have Brightness stays at +50, color at +51, Tint at -2. I like the Custom mode better than THX for only one reason, THX is a bit flat compared to Custom. Custom mode has better depth. I don't know if you notice.

- May I ask how to change FW to 2.2? And do I need to change it to 2.2?
- How to confirm which FW is running?

Thanks again!

Finally got my a board swapped after waiting 3-4 weeks for backorder. I tried to test the tv before the tech left and noticed some numbers in red on the right side of the tv, he said it was just doing some checks and this would go away. Well it hasn't gone away and of course they are closed now so I can't call. It seems that if I turn off the tv it restarts in the advanced adjustment menu, the only thing that works on the remote is pressing exit but then the red numbers come up again, the values are CHK, CATS, EDGE PDA and a few others, they move from the top right to the bottom right of the screen.

Can someone please tell me how to get this to stop? Thanks in advance

Is there an SD card in the slot? Is this displayed on top of regular programing? Maybe when the tv is running just unplug it like they tell you to when in the service menu.

Go to ....Menu > Setup > About > Version. It'll tell you what you have. The latest will actually show something like.....TV --2200-1000

If your set is connect by network then it's easy....
Menu >Setup > Network > Software Update....it'll then search and get the latest and yes you want 2.2.

I finally got it to return to normal by doing a self check / reset, hold vol - on the tv and menu on the remote. I'm still not sure why it was automatically going into the service adjustment menu. There was no SD card inserted, and I tried unplugging while in service menu. Ohwell. TV looks great now, applied the 2.1 update and so far no more FBR.

Glad you got it working

Ok, I have done some reading here about my new 65GT30 and I have been trying to find out if I should be doing some kind of break in procedure or not. It seems that some say yes and some say no. With the thread being as long as it is it would take me a very long time to read it all. Can someone bring me up to speed as to what I should do for my new TV? This is my first plasma and I want to damage it in any way. Also can I use Dave-O's settings right out of the box?

Well, I have one and just watched the tv and enjoyed it. I did not allow any black bars for about 150 hours. I then had D-Nice calibrate the beast. It was a challenge and it really came out great. If you are going to use his settings, you need to run the slides and nothing else for 125 or so hours straight. I just picked up two 42X3's and will run the slides for 125-150 hours. If not, use Dave-O' setting after you are around 125-150 hours of mixed content. Enjoy your tv. I do not game and watch only HD or BD content. Avatar in 2D and 3D on BD was unbelievable after the calibration. If you are on the fence about paying for a calibration, get off the fence and do it. If not, use Dave-O's setting and tweak to your room conditions. If you have FBr, get it fixed now, and then download and install the 2.1 firmware update. Good luck and welcome the the club!!!

Am I reading this wrong? After the 2.1 patch there's supposed to be new pro settings?

Nope....the 2.1 Patch opens up access to the "Pro Settings". It adds a new window in the TV settings settings called...Pro Settings for using either D-Nice or Dave_O's settings or someone elses.

The one thing you "Don't Want To Do' is run programming of any kind with static images like logos (ESPN, certain channels with their logos at the bottom, tickers ESPN, business, sports with scores and such) for extnded periods. Keep the contrast down and using either Cinema or THX for awhile is ok. In fact turn down the contrast in THX to around 70-80.

I didn't do the slides but was careful for the first 40-50 hrs. No gaming during then and ran something like the media player thru Xbox using full screen visualizations for a few hours each day. Then pick certain movies that did exibit certain levels of colors better than others. Like Avatar, Underworld, any animation and such. Just make sure everything takes up the whole screen. No bars at the top and sides. I've even ran the sildes a few hours here & there. I'm close to 90 hrs and zero screen glitches, blobs or other issues.

I wouldn't bother. I decided not to do it because it would have been a massive pain to have my main TV not usable for 5 days or so. I'm into week 3 with the TV, probably have roughly 150+ hours or so on it and I haven't had a single issue with IR or Burn In. I tried to really limit logo's and black bars the first week, but honestly, it becomes annoying to do it for every program. I'd highly recommend running the TV in THX out of the box with all settings under 50.

Also when watching BluRay, I will zoom it to full screen for a minute after 20-30 minutes of regular formatting. Lastly, take advantage of your warranty. 30 days is a really long time when you are "breaking in" the unit even with regular use. If a problem comes up, exchange/return it.

Usually I get it... but this time I'm confused

I have the 65GT30. Do you have a VT or a GT?

I've always had "pro settings" within the Custom Mode.

Nothing changed after the 2.1 patch.

Should I re-install it?

Hi all.
I tried the search feature but, its not working from my cell phone.
Quick question...... is the TV able to display incoming source information? I hit the "info" button but it doesn't display anything other than the hdmi input, screen format and picture mode.
Thanks.

My 65GT30 was built in December 2011. Before updating to FW2.1 using the SD card, my set has Pro Settings available in custom mode. After the 2.1 upgrade, nothing seems to change, Pro Setting still only available in custom mode. Are you saying Pro Setting shall be available for other mode as well after 2.1 installed?
Thanks for your advice.

2.1 changed nothing in the user menus for me.

Mine does.

Just the name of the show + what you said. Kind of annoying. I've had at least 5 different TVs over the last 6 years and it still amazes me how a TV like this cannot give me more info. In the past I would get the duration, a synopsis, etc., etc.

However, the pic is epic - can't complain about that...

PS: I miss pic in pic. Never thought I'd care about it until I had it on an old Vizio, and fell in love with it. My wife (who's very hot by the way, lol) could watch her American Idol, while I did A few things on my connected PC.

The good old days

I agree, the picture is "epic"
I like to check the info to make sure the tv is displaying what I set the external device to output, for example ; 1080/24.
Its no biggie as long as it looks good, I was just used to seeing it.

Yeah, no 24p descript. I generally get that from my source infos (pc: 1080 60hz, 24hz, etc.), but not the TV.

I've decided to return this set to Amazon due to the terrible banding\\false contouring\\whatever you call it that I'm experiencing in darker scenes in movies. There is no way I can enjoy this set when no amount of tweaking fixes things like these attached pictures show.

In the olden days, like 2003-2008, a lot of TV manufacturers used to license TV Guide On-Screen Guide. So when someone would plug an OTA antenna or coax (clear-QAM) they'd get a full guide data information on screen. The actual guide data metadata/information is usually carried by your local PBS station in the MPEG stream on a separate PID, the so-called PSIP data. FCC actually requires that cable companies pass it through. That's the reason why when you press INFO on remote control you get the show name, rating, whether it has SAP and CC, etc.

The sad fact is that most TV manufacturers stopped licensing TVGuide's On-Screen Guide and that is why you don't get more information, like synopsis, what's next, what's available on other channels.

That is pretty ugly. Is your TV broken in yet, atleast 100hrs? I've had mine for almost a week and I have to admit, my eyes do see a difference.

Yep, did the 100 hours and then used D-Nice's settngs.