Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxS30 Thread - Page 6

BB has the 60S30 on sale for $1099...I may have to pull the trigger.

I didn't,
honestly I don't know the difference between the 3 modes
Auto
Standard
nonstandard

so left it at default Auto.

I didn't see any noticeable (to the naked eye) difference.
Would love to read about it if there are any references.

if you're using HDMI cable than you should change it to nonstandard. (maybe because I'm using a cheap HDMI cable ) To the naked eye you won't know the difference until you use a calibration disc.

bought mine during boxing week for $999

If you don't see it, don't go looking for it...

We are about to return a 60" ST30 because it suffers from BOTH Green Blobs AND Pinkish Tint. And with two other Pan Plasmas IN THE HOUSE it is very easy to confirm that the problem belongs to the ST, NOT the source material.

Have been thinking about replacing the ST with a 60" S30, as a couple of reviewers have given those two sets nearly equal overall PQ ratings - although were it NOT for the Green & Pink the ST would certainly be a Keeper.

FWIW, both flaws only show up in certain material, and can sometimes be subtle even when they do: but when I can watch an "older" movie and Sidney Poitier's face has GREEN Shadows on one side, and PINKISH Shadows on the other, or when Johnny Depp, as Ed Wood, shows the same effect - to say nothing about the Pink Sleeves on Flynn Senior's "White" Robe in "Tron" - it is time to throw in the towel & try a different set.

OTOH, our No. 2 Son has a 55" GT30 that does not Visibly show either flaw in normal viewing - so there are either some sets that do not display unwanted Green and/or Pink, or at least only do so at the margins of visibility. (But our PINK CAST - at first - was limited to the very edges of the panel. Alas, it has grown in both area & visibility as the panel has aged.)

No matter what settings I try the picture doesn't look like it or I think it should. Cinema setting is the only setting that looks natural and not over the top. I've contacted panasonic and also been getting brightness pops/fluctuations on the 50S30. I had a 4year old 42" hitachi plasma that looked as good and sometimes better than this set. I'm going to try to return it to the online retailer I purchased it from and get the Samsung PN51D6500.

Anyone know if the red power light can be turned off while watching the tv

Is anyone really satisfied with this set???

I bought the 50"($700 after tax) from Costco a couple weeks ago to use as a bedroom tv. The PQ is very mediocre with any ambient lighting at all washing everything out. In a dark room the PQ is barely acceptable. I am looking for a replacement before I decide to return it. I guess u do get what u pay for.

I agree completely. In a dark room the picture is actually good but any light and it looks dull and washed out. I've read on multiple websites how this set has multiple flaws with colors, motion and overall peak brightness but sites that mention this still give it a high rating... How is that? This tv is ranked 1st in consumer reports for plasma and second is the LG 50PV450, which everywhere I've read has horrible reviews. I don't understand it. Here is a link for the contrast on the panny: http://www.televisioninfo.com/conten...and-Whites.htm

Honestly, I'm not at all happy with it, but I'm stuck with it. My sharp (AQUOS LC-40LE810UN) led tv blew this thing away as far as picture quality, but this does handle motion way better. which is why I switched to plasma.

Damn straight-I just got a 42S30 a few days ago and after caliberating it I am TOTALLY satisfied with it. I looked at quite a few plasmas-all these people who say spend 2 or 3 hundred dollars more and get an ST really don't know what they are talking about. Besides I didn't an extra $300 to spend-I got my 42S30 for $630 at BB. My settings are a lot more conservative-Contrast +45, Brightness +55, Color +55 Tint 0, Sharpness +67, Temperature Normal, Noise Reduction off.

Very dull compared to other plasmas costing the same or less.

Sorry-I have to completely disagree wtih you, I looked at about 20 other plasmas from Samjunk, LG and some other Pannys and this one-IN THIS PRICE RANGE-was the best of the lot by a country mile.

It's unfortunate to hear that a few people are having some problems with their TVs. Never a good thing a big investment. I am still very happy with my 60-S30 as it is by far one of the nicest screens I've seen at this price. Hopefully everyone that is having problems, finds a set that does them right with few problems. I will be at home enjoying mine.

Got the 60"
Thank goodness there's more to it than "Standard."
If Starbucks sold "standard" coffee, it'd be watered down yuck in a small cup.
I ended up on Game, and dialed contrast way down, and brightness way up in order to try and recover some deep grey tones (mens suits, etc.)
It's okay. Prime time network HD content looks stellar. But I may have to go in deeper than the standard menus allow and see what I can do about the darks.

I've been ripping my DVD collection to Mp4 now that I have this DLNA device- the screen. But I'm appalled at the issues I'm having with in-screen playback: several videos that play fine on my computer have audio a second or two ahead of the video on the Plasma.

Iron Man started fine, but about 7 or so minutes in, there was a glitch and the sync drifted. Legend of the Guardians, off by over a second- unwatchable. Tested watching Gone With the Wind, disc 1, and after a few moments, it quits out and I'm watching TV without pressing a button. I tried several times, fast forwarding to different places to try and test for audio sync. Each time, kicked back out to watching the RF input.

I think I'll have to raise the bitrate for my MP4 rips because the color banding in the skies/darks is aweful at under 2 Mbps. But how do I fix the audio sync problems in the screen? The audio drift is not constantly off by the same amount. And the quitting out of playback has me stumped.

vary happy with set so far ,got at costco , only brightness flux has been during pro basketball games? not college ,may be due to all the flash pic being taken? other than that set is great

I know I'm late to the party but I've been reading through this thread as I decided to pick up an S30 over the weekend.

The statement above is FUD, pure and simple. First, LED IS LCD. Second, most led backlit LCDs are edge-lit (I have yet to see an edge-lit LCD that doesn't have uniformity issues).

Personally I would select a CCFL backlit LCD over an led edge-lit LCD. However, as led sells with a wider margin, most manufacturers have focused the bulk of their features and enhancements on those higher priced models-- which is a shame.

Costco isn't carrying the TC-P60S34 anymore. We went back and they were selling the floor model but it had a couple of scratches on the screen. HHGreg has it (P60S30) for $997 beginning on 1/29/12. Best Buy has it now for $1100. HHGreg did have the P60ST30 for $1349. I've been looking at the P60ST30 now vs the LG 60PZ550.

I've read about the Fluctuating Brightness Problem, FBr, but thought that has all been fixed or can be fixed with the pannys.

Absolutely extremely satisfied (I bought the P60S30)

Out of box settings sucks, so does the standard mode.

For the first two weeks, I had kept the plastic cover on the TV with the mindset that I would return the TV, it didn't even fare at par against my 6 year old 50" Panasonic.

However going over the threads here and calibrating the TV in cinema mode (see my settings above), this TV absolutely sizzles,
There are details in the highlights and great depth and details in the shadows, if the feed is of good quality, it's a joy watching it on this TV.

Needless to say, the plastic cover has been removed, and the return box put away

Your mileage may vary.

Baba what are your settings?

Baba, please post your settings-- I'd love to give them a look.

I'm glad to see something positive about this display. For the money I'm not expecting Kuro here, but I AM expecting a decent picture considering the volume of positive press this display is getting (consumer reports, hometheatermag, plasma buying guide, hdtvtest...). One of the past virtues of Panasonic's sets is that they have retained a level of picture quality in their entry level category that most manufacturers abandon. I have yet to get mine setup-- maybe this weekend-- but I'll be sure to post back with my amateur review.


Couple of observations right off the bat (I plugged the tv in on the floor to make sure it worked):

Black level is LEAGUES deeper than my post-rise 46" 1080p that I bought just a couple years ago (this isn't really that hard to accomplish as the 46" black has gone to sh^t since I bought it). My father and I agreed that dim-room black level looked all but the same as his 60" st30.
Color temp and brightness out-of-the-box (standard) is terrible. Flipped over to cinema and things immediately took a turn for the better.

The panel itself is grey (lights on, tv off)-- now, I know this is pretty standard fare for plasma but it was amazing just how much lighter the s30 is from my old 46". My 46 always looked 'grayer' than my ancient olevia LCD (which is BLACK when it's off and everything but when it's on), but it looks positively dark next to the s30! Me thinks this may have a lot to do with the bright room contrast issues people have complained about.

Lastly, this thing weighs nothing! My old 46" is over 80lbs WITHOUT the stand! And I have to say I like the styling-- sure it's not as slim as an led LCD but it's hardly "chunky". Think the silver accent helps a lot-- my fathers st looks a bit plain.

Hey guys I have some settings for cinema that I got from using WOW calibration disks. Cinema definitely has more detailed whites and blacks without clipping. The other modes I calibrated as well but could not achieve the same level of detail or have success with all test patterns like I did in Cinema.

I chose Cool1 because I found (especially with some cable feeds) that the red push was a little much on skin tones which caused some awkward looking faces. Especially some shadows on faces. I believe we are in need of a gamma or white balance settings and we will be more than satisfied. Anyway here are my settings. (Edit: Should be noted that I have 202 hours on this set) I wanted to exceed 200 prior to dialing anything in.)

Cinema
Cool1
48 contrast
61 brightness
49 color
0 tint
35 sharpness (personal preference really)

color management ON (again personal preference as this did not effect color calibration with blue filter at all)

Everything else OFF even 3:2 pulldown this has a negative effect on shadow detail around faces when they are moving and dosent work all that well anyhow. I would rather notice a tiny bit of artifacting in movement than have the effect it produces when attempting to smooth it out. This is my experience with the set at least.

Contrast can go higher here without clipping much in cinema I found 80 was about ceiling here. And Contrast will not effect your brightness level on this set to the extent you would need to recalibrate it.

Try them for a bit especially at night they work fantastic but these types of settings are usually a required taste. You will often notice the lack of color POP before you will begin to appreciate the added depth of the picture.

Agree. Cinema mode has much better dark details.

One more thing I noticed with my (very) brief look at my set: the display seems to exhibit the same strange dithering noise that affects my 46"; and just like my 46" it is totally absent when operating in the cinema preset! This was strange on my 46" and I'm wondering if this is just a blanket issue with panasonics near the low end of the price range. It's really not noticeable unless you're running a full black screen (PS3 menu often exhibits it)-- but it's present none the less.

I posted my settings in earlier posts (posts 142 and 143 in this same thread)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post21502660

How do you even access the options in Advanced Picture?? They are greyed out no matter what I tried. The only options that aren't grayed out are "black Level" and "mosquito NR". Also, I've been using these settings:

Cinema
Contrast - 67
Brightness - 55
color - 53
Everything else off

Doesn't look bad, but in cinema I'm getting the brightness thing I've been reading about. Not in any other mode though.

New member second post. I just bought the P60S30 to go with my:

1. TH-42PX60U bought Feb 2007 located in our Master Bedroom
2. TC-P65V10 bought Aug 2009 located in our Family Room

I spent the better part of the hoildays viewing EVERY LCD/LED/Plasma available in b&m stores in/around St Louis. While I wanted to like the new LCD/LED's I kept coming back to the Panasonic plasma's.

The 60' S30 will go in my Man Cave as a casual movie/gamer for when I have been brandished to the basement

Cheers

Tom

Hello all New to this forum, but I've owned a P50S30 since August of 2011. First off, let me just say that I love the picture quality of this display! Admittedly, during the initial "break in" period I found the PQ a bit lacking, but I had deliberately run the panel at reduced settings. After 150 hours or so of 16x9 full screen, moving content (a mix of broadcast TV and movies), I calibrated the set using a Spears and Munsil dvd. The moment the calibration was done (I entered all new settings under "Custom") I was blown away by the exceptional performance! Colors are well rendered, motion is great, small details pop!! If anyone is disappointed with how their display looks, I would highly recommend moving away from any of the factory presets. A very minor investment in a calibration dvd or even browsing some of the settings posted throughout AVS will most likely result in a tremendous, noticeable difference. Also, if you are viewing blurays, check out the settings on your player, these can impact how well your display looks. I went through with the purchase of this panel knowing that I was getting into "entry level" home entertainment, if someone is expecting a display costing around $700-1000 to equal the performance of a $2000+ display then (naturally), you may well never be satisfied with the S30 series. However for me, blurays look fantastic and football has never been better.

Fabes - can you post your settings from custom? Thanks