Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxVT30 Series Thread Discussion Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 74

joefar,

Not in my opinion.

Before I ran my break in slides the day I got my set. I was setting up my new receiver as well.

Stupid ass me left the damn OSD on the receiver ON while listening to Siriously Sinatra. I honestly forgot all about it. Ate dinner , came back downstairs and turned it OFF.

I saw VERY LITTLE IR and NO burn in. I'm running slides now and see nothing.

I had desert AND coffee too. Must have been gone for an hour.

I noticed this as well and posted on it.. Standard picture mode adds noise.. Just turn on your panasonic blu-ray player to the blue splash screen and toggle through the picture settings. THX is super clean, Standard is noisy as can be. I use THX and Custom only.. If I had to guess what I was seeing, it is "similar" to Standard picture mode turning off some kind of 3D comb filter. This is just an example and most likely not what it's actually going on. Whatever is happening is beyond me.. I wish an expert calibrator would look into this and give his thoughts.

Perhaps this will put your mind at ease. My six year old Fujitsu plasma has never had an issue with burn in. I have never even seen image retention. From day one, I watched the TV normally (not on torch mode, obviously) with all material in its original aspect ratio.

Bottom line, burn in is simply not something you need to be concerned about. It's amazing to me that this canard is still around.

I personally have never bought something like an HDTV from Amazon even though I buy many other items from them including the HDTV wall mount recently. It seems many others here told me recently that their BB won't price match with the internet and even with stores like Fry's sometimes. I am very fortunate in this regard since the BB by me even match the awesome price of Abe's from Main that was lower than anyone else. Oh, Amazon as of this morning was out of stock on the VT30 55", at least when I looked a few hours ago, maybe this has changed. Anyway you should make sure if your BB will price match Amazon or even Abe's from Main like they did for me. My wife has the midas touch so I always have her ask for this, works every time.

For the slides, you can download them. I'll try and send you a PM on this since I was helped by someone recently with the same. I can't comment on the floating black issue. Seems many have posted not having problems with this or noise or green blobs or colors so hard to say, hopefully you get a VT30 with a s/n later than the one just posted for the FB issue. That is the main thing to me if buying now. Panasonic was very good with firmware releases on two blu-ray players I have so hoping they will be the same on the VT30.

Robert

That sounds pretty good. As far as gaming with PS3,would you know if there are any known problems? And also would you know of the correct break in content to use? It does stink a little that we have to break a tv in but i guess thats where we are today. I dont know of any consumer product that has to be broken in.

robert,

Im pretty sure the S/N is NOT on the box. I was curious too about the build date of my set.

Now that it is wall-mounted relatively tight to the wall there is no way in telling.

Maybe when D'nice hooks up his laptop to it I will have a look. But I checked ALL OVER that box and found nothing w/ a S/N on it.

joefaro,

It is NOT necessary to "break" your TV in.

I never did with my 6020 and it still looks marvelous. ( although D-nice had something to do with that )

Just be careful of what you are watching and don't game on it until after 100 or so hours.

Avoid 4:3 content at all times during the first 300 hours.

I have been a little cautious. I also spoke with an "industry expert" many might know but i don't think it's fair to name drop. Anyways...he said that Panasonic unofficially came to a select few experts to test that new firmware for the color decoding fix. Supposedly it was ok but still not quite right, so they are back to work on perfecting it which should make this the Ultimate TV without question. Just trying to find a local dealer who can call a Panasonic sales rep to verify ETA because tech support has no info as this is unofficial like anything in a beta-test stage.

Also told it will not be an auto update straight to tv. Will need to download from Panasonic's website and load yourself because it will be something that would wipe out any calibration. Users who paid top dollar for calibration might be a little upset if it was automatic.

Hoping this works out so I can clear up that slight remaining doubt about the VT30 vs the HX929 I had been very torn about.

Lod80k,

I was told that if you have your TV ISF calibrated by a professional there is NO NEED to use the update of which you speak.

Thanks. Is there a dvd that is used for so called break in if i chose to do that? iwould assume that iwould run this for a few days non stop. Would you recommend doing that? As you can see im concerned.

100 hours some say 150 but D-nice says 100 in the HDJ forums under "Panel Prep" settings for 2011 Panasonic models.

USB is your best bet / flashdrive.

Use Evangelo's 2 USB/SD Break in slides.

The individual I spoke with did mention this. He said it would be 99% of the way there. However since I haven't had calibration yet and i'm not sure of one in my area yet I sure would feel better having the fix.

Like you said though if you are already calibrated and know how to get in and tweak those ISF settings more power to ya.

My wife actually looked at the back of the display to get the MJ s/n so I'm good to go. Wow, your display must really be right up against the wall. I guess the s/n isn't coded in the software any place that can be accessed via the display's menu? Typically the s/n is listed on the sticker on most electronics I've purchased over the years so guess not helpful Panasonic didn't put it there for whatever reason. If you got your VT30 in August then you should be okay I'm thinking. Well, if you got your display recently I should say then chances are it is an August or later build.

Robert

May be worth calling Panasonic's Plasma division which thankfully is in the US based out of Virginia 800-211-7262. They can verify your S/N. Most of the threads i have read say anything that is a September build date and after are the ones free of the FB issue.

Yeah Robert,

I don't think you have anything to worry about. I just got mine a week ago and you are getting yours now so the chances are with us.

Yeah I'm really tight against the wall. I mean, I had a hell of a time just getting the USB inserted into the side while not scratching anything or jamming anything in place.

My wife said she heard me cussing from upstairs.

That's funny only because I can fully relate. I was a little there last night when clearing my speakers and other things out of the way making room for the display to sit on a table until it can be wall mounted on Saturday. Everything I have weighs a ton with speakers, sub and one of two amps weighing around 100 lbs each. Definitely not fun when trying to move by yourself. Now I need to buy a table that I found that can hold my monster amp in on the bottom shelf with the center channel on the top shelf. I have been use to having the center speaker sit on top of my CRT RPTV for the past 11 years. Still I'm looking forward to the end result, just not the work to get there. Sure my verbal expressions at times will be heard by my wife as well.

Robert

Which wall mount are you using?

If you're looking for one, a great place to go is Sanus, believe it is Sanus.com. There is a field to type the m/n of your display. It will provide all wall mounts they sell that can be used to wall mount your display.

Hope this helps.

Robert

Why would I do this. I've read many posts on here that state an August or later build month eliminates this problem. I'm sure the September build month started since folks will typically think well when in August is the fix good....is it actually on the 1st or later in August. Still with the recent post from the person that called Panasonic directly with them providing the s/n starting with "LL" for seeing if a display has a s/n later than this to know the fix is in place, that is pretty concrete enough for me and very specific, much more than mentioning a build month. My s/n is MJ which is later / greater than LL so that means my display has the fix.........no worries and no reason to call, easy peasy lemon squeesy as the corny saying goes. Any reason to call and try to verify when someone else just did for the same FB problem is what leads to excessive worry and hyperbole.......time to grab a beer or glass of wine and start to enjoy!

Cheers!
Robert

was just throwing it out there

Really confused now since I just realized you were the one that posted the above so why would you follow-up a reply to me telling me to call with my s/n??? Did you not get accurate information when Panasonic told you the LL s/n to use? Just wondering since I felt that was great information to post for everyone to simply look at their s/n on the back of the display to check. Wondering why you telling me to call myself now?.....strange.

Robert

Well I have had my 55VT30 for almost 4 months now, and I hate it. The reason why? I think the picture sucks. I have an old Panasonic 42" that is almost 8 years old and the picture is so much better. Anyways, with all the reviews saying Samsung this, samsung that, just the latest sound and vision gave it rave reviews, that is where I'm going next. I'm still waiting for Panasonic to fix my FBR issues now been >3 weeks, still waiting for the part. Anyways, just thought I would share my frustrations.

Okay, I understand. I'm a fairly trusting guy for the most part on things so I'm taking your word for it about what Panasonic told you regarding the FB fix for later/great than the "LL" s/n you provided unless you feel the information wasn't reliable or from a person on the other end that sounded clueless. Just asking to be sure.

Robert

sanus VMPL3

What specifically don't you like besides the FB issue? Sounds like you just were unlucky and got a lemon. Plenty of folks and even more on the Samsung threads saying even worse things so saying that Samsung is where to go may not be fool proof. Anyway all the excellent reviews by professionals and on this thread seem to state otherwise. Maybe you are in a very well lit room. I believe many buy plasma and then are very upset when they think the PQ looks washed out not realizing that plasmas do best in a dark environment thus reason LCD TV's are made......just a thought.

Good luck!

mohanman,

Just wondering what you do not like most about the picture.


Thanks,
Kyle

Hey guys,
Thanks for asking why.. it seems like the picture is always washed out, like fade to the entire scene. For example in Avatar, it just doesn't look crisp, it looks blah, and the motion not so great either. I have good hdmi cables, 1080p hookup, and I've tried so many settings. I'm still waiting for FBR to be fixed before professionally calibration, but it just doesn't cut it:

1) I've tried Cnets settings.. both THX and Custom mode
2) I've tried D-nices settings
3) I've tried my own settings, I thought I was close on custom mode, now I'm just using standard mode:
Contrast 84
Brightness 50
Color 45
Sharpness 50
Warm 1
no other changes, and this is the best so far that I've ever gotten it, but still doesn't please me, and its driving me crazy as I sit there for hours and hours messing with the settings. Why can't they just have had 1 or 2 settings? Its enveloping my life, and my wife is sick of me messing with it too. AghHH!!!

Mo

One more thing, I think I'm about 10 feet away from the TV, that should be plenty no? Then if I use xbox 360, picture doesn't look that great from time to time with the same settings, I don't want to use game mode, I already have a receiver with hdmi switcher on it.

I would also recommend checking your local Magnolia store for pricing and not relying on the BestBuy.com pricing. The price in store can be lower and more in line with what Amazon may be at.

Here is a pic of my Vt30