Panasonic S30 Series (NOT ST) Picture Settings - Page 6

Okay my settings i'm running with are as follows..Also need to throw in I started with you guys settings and went from there..Normally I will do a full calibration using DVE or something but just took the easy way out so to speak. That said picture is awesome,too me.

Custom
Contrast +85
Brightness +65
color +40
Tint -2
sharpness +15
Color Temp Normal
Color mgmt on
CATS OFF
Video nr off
Content type graphics
Black level light

Probably still running brightness a little high but I can't see it in the inage.Blacks looks very nice and black. Very satisfied with this set.

brickie

I'm still not sold on the graphics hdmi setting... Maybe I could write someone within Panasonic to figure out what that control is REALLY doing.

Go ahead sage that would be great

I fixed the sunburn flesh tone problem by changing the tint and color in the service menu. And now the picture is unbelievable. Dont be afraid of the service menu. Aslong as you pay attention and dont close your eyes and randomly press buttons you'll be fine and amazed at the results.

Myhometheater, do you mind sharing your settings that you're using, and the adjustments that you made in the service menu? And yes i do agree with all who have these sets that they are amazing values!

brickie

Would be even nicer if the media player was ready for prime time. It actually plays all my mkvs fine as far as the video is concerned.but on DTS encoded movies it won't play the audio.Which sucks since all I do is pass it on thru the optical out to a Panasonic sound bar setup. When I use a WD media player it plays EVERYTHING flawless of course. I run everything straight into the tv then use the optical pass thru.

Here are my settings - Very happy with them Blu-ray, Directv, DVDs and Wii look incredible.

Custom
Contrast - 98
Brightness - 58
Color - 55
Tint - (-1)
Sharpness - 25
Color Temp - Cool 1
Color Mgmt - OFF
CATS - OFF
Video NR - OFF
HDMI/DVI RGB Range - AUTO
Content type - OFF
Mosquito NR - OFF
Black Level - Light
24p Direct In - 60hz

Service Menu Changes -

Tint - 03
Color - 3c

I adjusted by eye then used Disney WOW to fine tune.

Thanks! going to take a look at it. May try to adjust the service menu settings as well AFTER writing down originals of course.

brickie

The optical out will down-mix everything you pump into the tv down to 2 channel stereo. The only time you'll get surround sound (true 5.1) out of that plug is by using the internal tuner. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the same goes for the hdmi audio return channel as well.

I find that statement not to be true. I feed my bluray player into the tv via HDMI. The tv optical out then goes to my ten year old Bose Lifestyle 5.1 system. A test disc played in the bluray identifies each channel perfectly. If the optical out was simple 2 channel stereo, my system would try to create a "surround experience" and not play each channel perfectly independent of the others.

Not sure what to tell you there-- I don't have a Bose system but I know from playing with my grandfathers lifestyle setup that Bose does not support Dolby or DTS in favor of their own protocol. What affect that may add I'm not sure but my S30 will not pass a discrete 5.1 output from either my PS3, Xbox 360, Samsung 2500, toshiba A3 or oppo 980.

Which model do you have? Only reason I ask is there appears to be a substantial difference between the 42" and 50" S30s and the 60" model. I'm starting to take that into consideration with the folks here as some of the posted picture settings from 60" owners are so completely absurd that variations in panel manufacturing or personal preference simply doesn't explain it-- there HAS to be significant differences other than the size. It's either that or I'm just getting screwed! lol!

I've got a P50S30 manufactured in September 2011. I'll have to test my XBox360 to see if it too is passing a discrete 5.1 through to my speakers.

Ugh I've got DNice slides running right now, can't wait for Sunday night so I can actually watch this thing!

Make sure while running those slides your tv is facing due south! Very important that the set is orientated in line with the magnet poles!! Also, it helps to hang a rabbits foot from the RF connection....

As far as the audio goes,I run everything into the tv first then pass it out thru optical to a Panasonic sound bar setup. When I do this eveything works and I get DD and DTS sound.It's on;y when I try to let the tv thru the built in media player do the work,it won't play the sound from DTS encoded mkv's. Which really is to bad becaus ebesides that it does a damn good job.

brickie

I hate DTS. Seriously, the world would be a better place without it...

I'm curious as to why my set won't pass 5.1. Maybe I'm missing something-- not sure. I guess I'm not too worried about it. My onkyo hasn't any hdmi handshake issues and I route all my components through there. Although I have been struggling with my ps3 lately as I can't seem to get my onkyo to accept LPCM at anything over the entry 48k when it accepts higher bit rates from my oppo just fine!

Sage, I don't know...DTS sounds so much better than DD to me..All things being equal they both are great. But I just try to us eit whenever possible. I f Panasonic ever updates their built in media player to decode DTS, then that is going to be really awesome!!!! I wouldn't need to keep a WD media player on it anymore.

brickie

Froget DTS 'and' DD...

DTS HD Master and Dolby True HD blow them completely out of the water. What a complete night and day difference in quality, pretty outstanding stuff!

WALL E on Bluray blew me away...
Running DTS Master HD in 96hz via HDMI(the only way you 'can' get DTS HD Master) is how i have it set with my 5.1 set up.

Let me help: DTS sounds so much LOUDER than DD to you.

You know... There was an article on audioholics some time ago that claimed that even trained sound engineers from DTS and Dolby labs listening on audio systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in acoustically perfect listening environments for hours on end could not discern the difference between a properly encoded/decoded lossy track and it's lossless counterpart.

I for one will go on record to state that my very humble HT audio system which consists of 3 voice matched front speakers, two di-polar rear speakers and an acoustic suspension subwoofer in a very acoustically imperfect room is simply unable to resolve the difference between DD and DD true HD (assuming the DD encode is of high quality, of course).

Sage, you are correct...DTS does tend to sounf like it's mixed alot louder. But in mkvs I can get 1.5 mbps, whereas with DD You get 768 at the high end if i'm not mistaken. Now the whole High resolution flavors of blu ray are a different animal. At this time as good as they may sound, I find regular DD or DTS to be enough. I'm sure the higher res versions are great but just not needed for me.

I always laugh.. Not to long ago we were amazed at the sound tracks of dvd,and the pic quality. Now they are junk to so many of us.

brickie

You're making a classic mistake: assuming that the higher bitrate of the DTS soundtrack equates to higher quality sound over the more efficiently packaged Dolby track. That's simply not the case-- as each format uses their own codec the discussion becomes the actual encode/decode and NOT the bitrate. (the bitrates you cited are actually the standard caps for each respective format)

Either way-- this is getting way off topic. I'll sum up my feelings on DTS by pointing out that Dolby has built-in metadata to support a wide variety of consumer needs and listening environments while DTS is simply providing a transport for the original soundtrack with no thought to HOW it will be consumed in the home. IMO, it's lazy and thoughtless and is one of the reasons I still harbor reservations about bluray.

Sage, I hear you...This is one that we will probably disagree on.Which is cool. As for bluray, I didn't want to except it right away. In fact was hoping that hd dvd would have won the battle. But it's now all water under the bridge as they say. Bluray is an incredible format. Actually I hope it lasts awhile as many believe that streaming is the way of the future. Actually I was surprised at the quality of streaming thru Dishnetwork. This was my first foray into it..I've always believed in owning the physical media. But yeah I'm way off topic..LOL

We do agree we got some great Plasma sets!

brickie

Funny thing is.... it is mounted on the wall facing due south... lol.

Brb, running to the mall to get a rabbit's foot though.... will my tv look like **** if I can't find one????

Yes. And the screen might start bleeding REAL plasma... As in blood.
The only option then is to sacrifice a virgin...

...to me.

That is all.

Streaming will continue to gain popularity but the dire situation of American broadband will keep DVD and bluray on the shelf for years to come. It's why I laugh every time I read speculation that the next Xbox or PS will shun physical media-- it's just not possible yet and any video game company that limited itself in that way would basically be ceding the market to it's competitors.

As for the DTS observations, I wasn't arguing with you. I've been fighting misconceptions about DD/DTS since I started posting here. No offense but I've accepted that there is really no point in trying to convince anyone that there is in fact ZERO difference in fidelity between a properly encoded/decoded DD and DTS track-- the argument will always boil down to DTS' higher bit rate and greater volume despite the fact that neither of these affects actual sound quality! Bottom line: even if DTS offered improved fidelity (which it doesn't) I would still bemoan it's strangle hold on the English bluray market as it a narrow minded and inflexible product compared to Dolby.

Didn't take is as arguing..LOL After all you're a Panny brother of mine! I do know how you feel though. Reason i left Apple for Android devices.

brickie

BTW, I tested my XBox360. It too passes discrete 5.1 channels via HDMI into my 50S30 and out its optical output in to my surround sound audio system.

Ha! Well, can't tell you then. Perhaps my onkyo is responsible for it not passing? I do notice that my ps3 goes from 2 channel LPCM to 5.1 channel LPCM when the receiver is switched on or off... Who knows. Either way it doesn't bother me as I don't new the toslink for anything but OTA anyway and the only other connection is Wii and that's stereo (pro logic).

Don't feel alone sage,
My 60" doesn't either, my Marantz only gets 2 channels when I use pass-thru the TV
When I first tested this, and discovered that I wasn't getting 5.1, I did some research, and all indicators were that it only passes two channels.
Though i haven't seen anything official from Panasonic, I'd love it if this was not the case.

Yeah, mine only passes two channels as well. I don't understand why either.