Panasonic S30 Series (NOT ST) Picture Settings - Page 5

Sage, just curious..Did you go ahead and give up on this set? Finally I will be able to do some critical viewing tonight to see what I think...Have had for a week and a half but due to construction in room could only setup to make sure it worked then unplugged and moved it..From what I saw in store(Magnolia) and a little at home, the picture was stunning. But reading around these threads has me a little worried. Gonna have to cram in some serious,critical viewing inn 2 weeks just in case it has to back to Best Buy. God, I hope that doesn't happen.

brickie

I'm curious -- has anyone tried backlighting with this set to see whether it improves the perceived picture quality? By backlighting, I mean something like this. I use the set in a dark basement in front of a dark-paneled wall and have read that backlighting can improve the viewing experience in dark environments. FWIW, I notice the white color fluctuations when I first got the set, particularly when watching hockey, but have not seen it recently (and I watch a lot of hockey!). Also, the picture quality in a dark environment is fantastic so far.

Never thought personally to try this with any of my sets although I have seen it before..Was always under the impression it was really to prevent eye fatigue or something to that effect.

I plan on putting this set thru a workout in next few days. Need to know what I'm up against to make a choice on if I should keep it or not.

For me,i don't think brightness will be an issue..In Magnolias main room it simply looked outstanding!! And the room where it will be at has room darkening blinds at the windows. So while it's not dark, it's most definitely controlled.

brickie

i've got this set and i am very pleased with it. but i'm also not as picky / well-informed as some. will have to read through this thread and apply some settings when i get home

Don't get me wrong, this set has some admirable qualities ESPECIALLY for the price. Most of my issues with this set-- red/green push, green tint, lack of brightness and eff'd gamma-- could be said about ANY of the 2011 models (save maybe the VT). So, in that regard, I'm happy I didn't pay any more than I did for these issues.

But, yes, at the end of the day I feel this set has a bit of a split personality. On one hand, this set is a killer media room display: the deep black and excellent motion make watching bluray a joy and gameplay is fast and furious thanks to the 16ms of lag. On the other hand, this set perpetuates the stereotypes that plasma is dim, buzzy, and prone to IR-- traits that are absolutely nonexistent on my 2008 Panasonic! Further, the lack of adequate picture adjustments makes some of the basic picture issues infuriatingly more detrimental than they need be.

Bottom line, if you can control light in your viewing room enough to watch in cinema and/or you aren't bothered by the unadjustable gamma and low saturation due to having to nerf your color control to avoid everyone looking sunburnt and sick... You'll be happy with this set. At this point, the price I paid combined with the the too-good-for-it's-class cinema picture quality has me hanging on even though I'm dissatisfied in other areas.

I mean, can I really complain when this 50" Panasonic cost me about as much as a crappy off-brand LCD? Seriously-- this set was CHEAP! Really, the only display that would likely make me happy would be an ST50: it doesn't push red/green, it has better picture adjustments as well as better gamma, and it's BRIGHTER! Unfortunately, it's also exactly twice the price I paid for my S! Some might call that a bargain... We'll see!


Edit: I should make a reminder here: my purchase of the S30 was largely an impulse based on price and needing a new smaller tv in our other room. At the price I scored the S I was willing to replace our 2008 panasonic 46pz800u that had broken my heart when it experienced the black rise. I am still wary of paying too much for a display as I really feel burned about my experience with that set-- but the price of the S was such that it didn't make sense to purchase something smaller when I could get an upgrade and move my large tv into the other room!

I've decided to cancel my uverse tv. Surprise surprise: OTA tv looks great on this set. My confusion continues... Although skin tones are still WAY too red. Still, the lack of saturation is less jarring on OTA than highly compressed cable.

I use Ikea Dioder LED lights http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20119418/# on the back of my 42S30 in my bedroom and my Pioneer 5020FD in the living room. IMO, it helps.

A proper 6500K indirect light source appropriately dim can give a bump in perceived contrast and lowers the strain on your eyes. With the black levels as dark as they are on the S, though, I like to rock bluray in a pitch black room. I like to watch movies like I'm at the cineplex.

Well, have been living with my 60S30 set now for 4 days and must say I like it.Is it the perfect plasma,no. But I think I could live with it's faults. Which are most of what have been discussed here. I have not seen any FBR as of yet. Have been watching basketball games,but haven't noticed it. The green blob issue I have not seen as well, so once again another check mark in the plus category. I also don't find a lack of brightness to be a problem either... I'm using some modified settings by Toshibaman, I believe..Will have to check..I just adjusted a few settings for my room. I do know I'm using the custom setting.. the others I just didn't care for,but will explore them more to see if this is where I'm going to leave it. The only real issue I have with this set is the "red push". Yes, everyone looks like they got a little too much sun! Gotta be a way to dial this down. but if I can conquer this,then this will be quite a damn good bargain.Actually will be anyway.Oh yeah, if you buy this set,plan on getting a sound bar at the least. I find the volume to be way worst than my Vizio that's 6 yrs old.

But in the end,still a great set,and for the right price, a no brainer to me...

brickie

I plan to mount some sconces on the wall on either side of my tv to light the room a little to reduce the eyestrain. This will prevent reflection on the screen at the same time.

Short of accessing the service menu there are 2 ways to solve the red/green push. One, lower your color-- 42 is the max I can keep it at to be watchable. I should mention that this will severely de-saturate color and make the set look 'dull'-- but it's better than the alternative. Two, use cinema-- cinema is vastly more accurate than the other picture modes. In fact, I keep cinema at it's default setting and simply adjust color temp depending on what I'm watching. Again, dimness is the name of the game here-- cinema is barely watchable (IMO) in even a dark room.

Other than that, you can get into the SM and start tweaking. Without proper tools or training I would avoid that route, however, as it's very possible to brick your set.

Okay, settled on settings that I think I'm going to run with for now..I did not use any calibration software.Started with those from post 100,(thanks Toshibaman). And just made changes based on what I saw. Normally I would use some type of disc myself,but just figured I'd try some here and go from there. Of course will state these are probably not accurate,but I like them so far..Very important for me to find a balance that I could live with for daytime viewing and night time as well. If I had to switch between modes based on time of day I would take tv back. Here goes..

Custom
Contrast +85
Brightness +75
color +40
Tint +4
sharpness +15
Color Temp Normal
Color mgmt on
CATS OFF
Video nr off
Content type graphics
Black level light

Hope this covers the ones of importance....I will say that most definitely this set benefits from a dark room.It's got some shortcomings,but for the money really is a bargain and can throw out an incredible image.

Sage, i most definitely went with the lowering the color.And actually don't find it too bad at all.Not as vibrant,but more realistic I would say...Just depends on what you like. I find the color good without nearly as much red push,which was really driving me crazy for awhile there..Great for animation I suppose,but not much else. Well gonna try to sit back and just enjoy the set now.

brickie

One thing, Brickie, moving your brightness up that far will turn your black levels to grey levels! I would try to keep your brightness at 59 or under to preserve the deep black this set is capable of. Remember, brightness controls black extension and contrast controls white (at least on this set).

Thanks Sage...Will most definitely take a look at that..I figured what may appear to be good,may in actuality have some associated flaws..Stay tuned!

brickie

The most accurate/pleasing image I've found on this set is cinema. My settings? Default... Well, almost:

Contrast: 100 -- the ABL will cap white peak anyway so mine as well keep it default
Brightness: 58 -- default
Color: 50 -- default and spot on according to DVE... Or as close as we're going to get.
Tint: 0 -- default, same as above.
Sharpness: 0 -- anywhere between 0 and 65 seems to be fine so I just leave it at 0
Color temp: warm 1 -- warm 2 seems a little too red.
Color management: ON -- this actually helps blue from becoming desaturated on higher peak brightness scenes. I like to leave it on.
CATS: OFF
Video NR: LOW -- yeah, I know, but turning it off affects color... Weird.
Size 2 -- no overscan
Mosquito NR: OFF
HDMI type: auto

Out of the box, cinema has the most accurate gamma and color and the default settings are just about perfect. It's almost anti-climatic but I've found that this is still the best picture mode/settings available on this set. It's important to remember that color temp will not affect gamma or color accuracy so feel free to adjust to your personal preference (although anything normal to cool looks REALLY blue to my eye).

Overall, I find this mode to be my choice when watching in a dimly lit/dark room. I use this mode when watching bluray on my PS3 or DVD on my Oppo 980 (note: I use edge enhancement on my oppo which is one of the reasons i keep sharpness set to 0 on my display). I'm still wrestling with game/custom so I'll post again when I'm satisfied that I have the least compromised picture for bright room watching that this set will allow.

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Sage, gonna try those settings to see what I come up with..Mainly trying to find some settings that I can "set and forget"..Where have we heard that famous saying.LOL I figure there will be some compromises with this set ,but for the money I just can't see it being anything but a bargain!!In a good way. In a light controlled environment(doesn't have to be totally dark), the picture it can produce really is gorgeous.

brickie

sage, I'm with you! After trying many different settings I finally went back to default cinema settings myself.This setting pleased me right out of the box. Same with default game setting for ps3.

Well, plugged in those settings to see what I had..I did like the image,but felt it was just lacking in the brightness area a little for my taste. Thanks Sage,but for now gonna stick with Custom.

Has anybody actually went into the service menu and did any real useful adjustments? I mean is there a way too bump the brightness on Cinema thru the service menu? Now that might be a winner in my book.

brickie

For me I'm going to try to just live with the set for awhile and appreciate what it can do well and go from there..I do know that a certain point you'll constantly be adjusting and fiddling that you'll never enjoy sitting back watching a movie. One reason why my Sony 1031, ol school front projector had to go.Decent image but wife got tired of fiddling as did I.

There was a gentleman in the other thread that was able to calibrate his set to 40fl... But his ability and level of understanding of these things far out weighed my own.

Yeah, that's pretty damn good!! We need him to chime in and share some secrets. All things considered I'm really impressed with this set. Could have went the refurb route for an lcd or possibly an led. But in the end the image from plasma is just so much smoother and more film like,to me anyway..I know others may feel differently.

brickie

Hey fellas who is the other guy with these settings? And what are the settings?

He has his own calibration tools and software-- his settings involved service menu adjustment. Go check out the official S30 thread.

Are you talking about babin

Brickie, here are my current bright room custom settings (used primarily for tv/sports):

Contrast: 80
Brightness: 59
Color: 42
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 65
Color temp: normal or warm 1 (your choice)
Color management: ON
CATS: OFF
Video NR: LOW
Size 2
Mosquito NR: OFF
Block NR: OFF
HDMI type: AUTO

Color is a little under saturated but it seems to be a good compromise with the red push to obtain a brighter picture. You'll lose a little shadow detail and clip some white but for the intent-- bright room viewing-- you're likely not to notice anyway. Warm1 seems to hide some flaws in a less-than-pristine video feed. Sharpness keeps the picture crisp without over enhancement. Adjust NR for your source.

Wow! Similar to what I have except my contrast is 75. Do you use this for gaming to?

My game setting is similar :

Contrast: 75
Brightness: 59
Color: 42
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0
Color temp: normal
Everything else OFF
Hdmi graphics

Actually I'm hoping to settle on one setting to rule them all shall we say. We have room darkening blinds in the family room but because back of house faces west,that room gets FULL afternoon sun terribly! The blinds help,but still probably a little too bright for this set in the daytime..Yeah, led would have won that battle. But in the evening on, this set is wonderful!!! Yup, that will be the next thing I do. Put up some room darkening tint to control the light a little better.now just to convince wife this is the thing to do!

brickie

Also wanted to comment on the wireless adapter for these sets..If you have Dish network,the same wireless adapter they install for free will work on these sets. It's a Netgear 3100 v2. Works like a charm. When i picked up a trial of BB at home they installed the wireless adapter for free,and since I don't need it anymore for Dish network just unplugged it and moved it right over to my 60s30. Just in case anyone else has one laying around and haven't tried it.

brickie

So brickie what's your final settings. I would like to compare them to mines & sage