Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxS30 Thread - Page 5

I updated to the latest firmware last week. What a waste, still not fixed.

I've got a TC-P46S30, new in September 2011. Though I was surprised that my Bose Cinemate (original with RCA plugs) had nowhere to plug in, some research found that I could bridge the optical audio out on the TV to the RCA inputs on the Bose control box with a Gefen Digital Audio Decoder (GTV-DD-2-AA), which is about $85 (they have a cheaper version, but it will not work for the Panasonic optical audio out). With the TV internal speakers off and the Bose (or similar older setup) on, you will get 2.1 channel stereo (which is all the external setup would deliver to begin with.

HOWEVER, I recently tweaked my comcast remote to fully control my Motorola HD DVR cable box, the Panasonic TV and the Bose Cinemate and have noticed that the sound from the optical audio out is very temperamental. Sometimes, when I turn everything on, Bose sound is fine and other times, there is no Bose sound or it has a delayed start of up to a minute or more or not at all - until I power the TV on/off. Troubleshooting suggests that the Bose system is fine (works ok with separate cd player) and cable box/hdmi connect is fine since there is no problem with the sound when TV speakers are engaged. So possible problems are the Gefen converter (Gefen says that sporadic problems are unusual and if they are bad, they quit working). Panasonic says consistent sound from internal speakers suggest no problem with their audio (which is not necessarily logical). That leaves the optical cable. On one occasion as I was trying things today, I did touch the cable near the TV connector end and the sound cut out. Maybe I do have a bad/dirty cable or a bad/dirty female end on the TV (though it has visible laser light even when there's no Bose sound).

So, I have ordered a new optical cable from amazon and will try a switch on the existing setup as step one. If that doesn't work, next test will be to run the optical cable from the cable box to the Bose via the Gefen (also removing the hdmi from the cable box so as not to overtake the optical signal) to see if there is sporadic sound with the TV out of the mix. If sound is constantly okay that way, there may be a software and/or hardware problem in the TV and I hate the idea of trying to get it fixed only to invite new problems. Perhaps I will also start looking at a home entertainment system which relies on hdmi and has the 5.1 audio and viera link ( I had this setup in my prior equipment and it worked great).

Any ideas from readers would be much appreciated, particularly if you've had and/or solved this problem.

Would like some input on this set from actual owners. I have one on the way and really excited about it. What are some really good picture settings? Thanks in advance.

Thanks. Trying these now.

I am having a couple of issues.

I cannot make these two changes:

HD Size = Size 2 (grayed out and set at 1)
Black Level = Light (grayed out and set at dark)

also - what is your setting for H size under aspect Adjustments?

Looking at possibly getting this set or an LED Lcd? Such as the LG 42LV5500? Any help would be great!

Mostly for PS3 and Blu-rays.

Get another one?

I got one of these from Costco for Christmas 12/2011, model TC-P60S34, around $1100.

1. All of a sudden the picture would go crappy, it would get brighter and all the colors are distorted even when you were just on the Viera Menus almost like it lost half of the pixels when displaying something. If you would switch inputs, the TV would then turn off. After that, the power button on the remote would not work anymore. You would have to physically unplug/plug the TV back in to get it to power on again. We ended up taking it back last week but they had no more on the floor. Apparently more are due back in.

2. Buzz, do your TVs have a slight buzz near zero volume. Seems if the picture is brighter, you can hear the buzz more near zero volume or when watching something and there is no audio, like a long pause between a conversation. You can definitely hear the buzz if you stand behind the unit at zero volume.

Now we are torn on whether to get another one or go to LCD. LCDs we were looking at the:

Sharp LC60E79U - LCD CCFL Lit $999 - good reviews
Sharp LC60E69U - LCD CCFL Lit - No X-Gen Panel $899
Sharp AQUOS LC-60LE632U - Edge Lit $1199 - problems with corners?
Sharp AQUOS LC-60LE633U - Edge Lit $1399 ( little more than we wanted to spend)

Main use would be primarly for PS3 gaming (fast games like Call of Duty, BF3, MX vs ATV Alive, Madden, etc.) and occasional TV Viewing standard channels. The room lighting can be set to either light or dark.

I have recently purchased a 60" st30 panny. never owned a plasma before. read reviews from everyone who posted here and really appreciate the insight since i was leaning towards a s30 but after reading and researching went with the st30 instead.
I have read multiple views on breaking in plasma tvs and was wondering if it would be ok to play video games and watch regular tv during the breaking in process? Typically 2-4 hrs of either one a day. Really want to try and avoid any IR but still want to enjoy my plasma at the same time. Any info from experience users will be much appreciated.

If you're going to go non-plasma, I'd step up to the LED TVs, skip LCDs, they're inferior, IMO.

So, does the 50S30 contain the neo plasma panel or not?

No, the Neo starts at the ST model. The next models up, GT and VT also have it.

whats the difference between the neo and fast switching phosphurs?

5 Items about the Neo:

#3 - The phosphor materials themselves have also been improved to raise efficiency.

So it still has Fast Switching Phosphors just better ones supposably.

http://panasonic.net/avc/viera/technologies/index.html

so basically its on 3d panasonic sets only.

Does the S30 have the same green discoloration blob issue that the ST/GT/VT models have?

Never got anywhere with Panasonic support on the fluctuating brightness issue on my 50" S30. So, I returned it to Best Buy today in exchange for another that will be delivered next Sunday.

I'm crossing my fingers that it won't have the same problem. Otherwise, I either have to go higher (to an ST30 and work through the fixing of the issue) or find a different manufacturer (I hear LG's 400 or 450 aren't too bad and offer a ton more tweakable settings than the S30).

Are you guys serious when you come up with these green blobs, rainbows, glitter and etc effects on these sets? It seems like everybody has to come up with something to post about. I own this set and have seen no weird discolorations or defects and the screen hasnt cracked either.

and Costco's selling a ton of them this month for a good price. They wouldn't want to be getting so many returns. I wonder what the percentages are with this issue?

Ours was a serious issue. The picture would be good then bam, the entire picture went crappy not to mention the power on/off issue along with that.


Me too. We were ready to pick up another on but they didn't have anymore. I asked about the floor model (Costco will sell the floor model at a reduced cost once they determine they are not restocking). They said they expect more in. It's down to $999 now but still no more in as of yesterday at our local Costco.

$799.99 at BestBuy with free shipping.
BTW, mine is great. No issues at all after about 110 hours use so far.

It would be great if we had more people following this thread. Some professional calibrated settings would be awesome

Hey guys, have been messing around with the service menu and didn't realize there is no reset or default. Can anyone please be kind enough to post the defaults in the WB-ADJ menu? I would mess with it more, but I have work in the morning. Also, anyone else notice the lack in detail when there are shadows, or even a dark suit someone is wearing? Kind of bummed out over this.

See attached pic for default service menu setting for my P60S30 WB-ADJ

PS: I'm not 100% certain with Movie mode warm settings, for R-Drv and B-Drv
if someone else could confirm those it would be great.

I find that default movie mode (warm2) is the closest to a good calibration, if you don't like that you can try my calibration settings (see pics).

Thanks for that, but does it matter how all the other settings are? I see it just simply says warm in the menu, no warm1 or warm2. Still can't believe there's no reset for the settings. Now my normal, cool1 and cool2 are really messed up. Sorry to be a pain, but that really caught me off guard. Thanks again.

Thanks for the pic, that helped me out a lot. It's a shame they made the menu in code, the sharp aquos I had was awesome, you can change the hue of red, green, blue and yellow right from the regular menu. I wish they made plasmas. Thanks again.

hey guys and gals,

Anybody using an ARC capable receiver with this set? I had a Pio 921 and could not get ARC working, now I have a Denon 2311 and cannot get ARC working. Passthrough works but no audio?

If anybody is using this tv with a ARC capable receiver and wouldn't mind sharing their settings, it would be greatly appreciated.

I read both manuals, but they are pretty vague other than stating the obvious like "make sure the HDMI controls in set to ON"

cheers

If I understand you correctly, you're asking if it matters what the other settings are if you only use it in one mode?
No they don't matter, but why leave them messed up?
One day you might use them and wonder why they're off.


Right, there's only warm, no 1 or 2,
same for cool.


NP

You're welcome
I believe had we bought the more expensive models ST, VT, GT, the color controls would have been in the menu.
Just don't quote me with that as I don't have those models.

didn't anyone have to change the hdmi setting - hdmi/dvi rgb range to Nonstandard for the calibration to take effect???

you have to set the Screen format to Full in order to change the HD Size. Not sure about Black level.

H size is the horizontal adjustment