Official Panasonic 2011 TC-PxxVT30 Series Thread Discussion Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 159

This is exactly what I am wondering. Are D-Nice settings (after panel prep) still a starting point for further adjustment with 'callibration' disks (Spears and Munsil, AVD HD 709, Disney WOW)?

How many others have done the panel prep and used D-Nice's setting and then run some patterns from the disks to see if they look correct or if the settings need further adjustment?

I also watch in a completely black room - which has been fine for my current TV.

(one other comment I would have thought that being in a completely dark room would result in a lower brightness setting - not higher. So even if you add a light in the room I doubt you will want to lower the brightness setting closer to the recommended settings)

Does a brightness setting of 57 cause dither noise on a blank screen? If yes, then 57 is wrong. If no, then keep the setting.

Showing 252 in the S&M disc is irrelevant. There is nothing beyond junk data that exist in a video signal beyond 240 for 99.9999% of content you will watch on your display.

DVE, S&M, etc will not get you anywhere near 85% of a full calibration on a VT30. Its more like 40%.

My settings are not a substitute for a real calibration. They are only designed to give you better performance compared to using calibration adjustment discs (i.e. S&M, DVE, etc.) and/or the OOTB video modes.

The science behind the panel aging procedure and my settings have been discussed to nausea. Please search this and the 2011 Settings/Issues thread to answer your questions.

I have always viewed D-Nice's recommended settings as a great preset which is superior to what manufacturers provide. By no means does it supersede the necessity of proper calibration if one desires the optimal picture quality for their own viewing environment.

It is not an all encompassing One Presetting To Rule Them All.

The numerous variables that affect optimal picture quality cannot be addressed by one presetting that has not been optimized for you own specific viewing space but it will provide a better starting point.

Whenever you have the funds and want the peace of mind of the utmost picture quality, contract one of the Calibrators who frequent the forums and enjoy.

Best Regards
KvE

Bingo!

... and if anyone is interested in owner's reports about having a professional calibration just mossy on down to the link at the bottom of my post. For flat panel reports organized by model and calibrator check out post number two.

Happy New Year!

Exactly...

That cord would be more than adequate.

I have about 300 hours on my set and it looks great, running DNice's settings. Any recommendations for settings while playing games on PS3 such as Uncharted 3 etc..???

Finally got my vt30 55" December build, eeprom 64.47, MJ series. Couldn't wait to start watching tv so watched a bluray movie and some regular cable channels all in full screen with no top or side bars. I did turn down the contrast and brightness in custom mode and thx to 30 color to 35. Overall got about 11hrs usage I was wondering if I could still run the break in slides or is this just for a tv out of the box with no usage?

Kinda late now. Just keep doing what you have been doing for another 140hours.

It doesn't hurt to run the slides when the set is new but if you were planning on using D-NICE's picture settings, you were supposed to start them right out of the box (without watching anything) for however many hours he recommended earlier in this thread.

The slides should still be useful to "age" or break in all the pixels uniformly but you just won't get the added benefit of getting the most out of D-NICE's post break in picture adjustments after running them.

Similar question as above. I have several hundred hours on my vt. I did not use the break in slides. Is there any reason I cannot use D-nice's post slide custom settings? Will it cause any damage?

My settings are incapable of damaging any display (that includes the panel prep settings). You are more than welcome to try my settings but if you did not follow my procedure, I have no idea how the settings will perform or your display.

How do you check how many hours have been logged on the tv? I know it's on the service menu, but I can't select it. I have 65vt30

Thanks again to D-Nice for all his helpful guidance. I've used his settings on my 4-year old Pioneer 50 inch plasma since new and have a fabulous picture.

FWIW -- Here is my experience going to D-Nice's settings on the 65VT30 after not starting with the break-in slides:
My MJ1213XXXX set was delivered on December 14th. Hung it on the wall before thinking of looking for build date, so don't know build date. (TV is very close to wall -- top edge is just 2.75 inches out from wall.)
Started running Pixar media and the BBC earth series full screen, in THX mode, and a few other DVDs for about 80 hours. THEN I found this thread and break-in slides. Downloaded the slides to my Macbook and pasted them into a 8 Gig flash drive. Ran the flash drive slides from the new Panny 210 DVD player to the VT30 for 85 hours continuously, using D-Nice's break-in settings.

Set up three HDMI inputs for D-Nice's settings (took a bit to figure out exactly how to find each adjustment, but found them all) and have now watched cable movies, a football game and my own DVDs. Colors are fabulous -- great colors, especially flesh tones, extensive details in shadow areas, and inky-velvet blacks. A bit dark, so I clicked the brightness up a couple of notches. Very happy with picture and wife keeps exclaiming about how beautiful the picture is.

You can't expect to achieve the his results if you don't follow D-Nice's procedure exactly, but I believe it is still worth doing both the break-in slides and use his settings, even if you have already started using this great new plasma on other material.

BTW, I also like old tube gear, and am running the audio from the U-Verse box and BluRay into a classic McIntosh/Marantz/Altec-Lansing stereo system. Sounds great!

My hat is off to D-Nice for his extremely useful contributions to this and other AVS forums.

Picked up a 55vt30 yesteray for the bedroom. My comparison tv is a samsung 62 dlp rear projection.
Really like the tv, very impressed withe picture and it can only get better. Downloaded a break in dvd.
Im having problems searching the forum via my tablet. If someone would be so kind as to either send me d-nice break in settings or paste a link, much appreciated.

Anyone experiencing random power cycling while watching the 65" VT30?
It seems to occur randomly 1-2 times per week. TV will shutdown then immediately power back up. It has occurred on different inputs but seems to occur more on DLNA content. Have also had instances of screen to black then picture comes back up. DLNA source is MKV x264. My set is an LJ model with an October build date and has the latest EPROM and firmware.

Also very noticeable pink and green shading on white and light gray slides which shows up in sky scenes. The pink/green wasn't present at first but became more pronounced the longer the slides ran. Ran the slides and applied settings for post EPROM as instructed.

Coming up on 30 days from Amazon and will probably return for replacement.

I asked this a few weeks ago but didn't get an answer. My 55VT30 is being delivered by Best Buy Tuesday (they are replacing a 55LE8500 under warranty).

I am sure they will want to connect the TV and check it is working before leaving.

So do I really need to really need 'to run the slides and settings out of the box' - or will a few minutes with the BB delivery people be OK and then revert to the slides and settings be OK.

Sorry to seem dumb - but D-Nice and others say follow the recommendations 'exactly' - and without understanding the underlying 'science' here I want to check if if a few minutes before changing the setting and running slides could really make a difference (seems to me it shouldn't - but people say follow the recommendations exactly....)

First make sure that you have a working set. That's a given.

Then make the recommended changes to your new display's settings by following D-Nice's instruction.

Then run the slides for the number of hours recommended by D-Nice.

After that, change the settings to D-Nice's calibrated settings for your display.

Now enjoy.

I really do understand they are more like adjustment disks - I searched both this 2011 Settings/Issues threads but don't see any real information on the 'science' - lots of opinions but nothing I could find on 'why it works'

D-Nice - I really appreciate what you are doing here - sorry for the repeated questions.

I got the VT30 55" about two weeks ago after a lot of reading. But I'm not sure that I like it and I'm even thinking of returning it. Don't know what I should choose instead though.

I'm actually considering LCD/LED since I can't stand the plasma related issues that the VT30 is having.

My issues with VT30 55" is the following:

Fan noise
Starting the set up with low volume settings instantly reveals the fan noise. The fans doesn't seem to be well controlled either. Revs up high, then settles down. After a couple of minutes, they may stop for 30 seconds, just to rev up again.

Flicker
I notice much more flicker with this Plasma than my very old (and very cheap) 42" plasma. I have looked some at different older 42" Panasonic plasmas and they don't flicker as much either. The flickering makes the image appears as less calm and exhausts my eyes.

Rainbows
I see lots of rainbows, especially on dark movies with bright subtitles. I see DLP rainbows and can see rainbows on all plasmas if I want too, but on my VT30 I see it all the time.

Brightness
I thought that the panel should be brighter, I think (without comparing) that this is the dimmest plasma I've seen, compared to some mixed 42" plasmas. Could this be due to the 55" size? I've read that bigger plasma panels has less brightness.

Pink tint on the left and right border
The panel has pink tint on both the left and right border of the screen. This also seem to make the picture a bit less sharp in these areas.

DavidHir posted two pictures that shows the same issue as my panel, I have a bit less though:
http://larchive.avsforum.com/www.avs...0&d=1324514089
http://larchive.avsforum.com/www.avs...4&d=1324514485

In almost 3 months of ownership (55VT30/August build/MJ seriel #) I've never experienced any power cycling at all. That sounds like a defective set to me.

Also, I haven't seen any pink shading but have noticed some green shading a few times in gray, cloudy sky scenes although these instances seem to be less and less frequent on my set. The worst I saw was in the movie 'The Book Of Eli' in all the gray cloudy scenes but haven't really seen it since or otherwise.

Wow, it really sucks that you've had such a poor experience with your set.

I gotta say, although I've been lucky enough to not have experienced most of the problems others, yourself included, have had and posted in this thread, its a complete bummer reading about how many and how varied the issues this set has are. I have noticed minor flickering in certain scenes and certain situations but they're few and far between. Overall picture quality has often been awesome and at times even breathtaking with some scenes but I have noticed its not always been perfect. I've seen some minor line bleed and that minor flickering you stated. At these prices and with today's technology, all these televisions should just be better. Period.

How do I start the break in slides, found the settings to start but don't know how.

This link is extremely helpful for new VT30 owners. I just loaded the images to an empty jump drive, entered D-Nice's settings to run the slide show and let it go.

The flicker issue is really a downer for me too. I have posted on here about it before, and nobody either notices it on their set, or cares too much about it. When comparing to the Samsung equivalent I see much less flicker, but have had really bad experiences with the Samsung quality control in the past. I also have a 55 inch Samsung LED in another room that is incredible when viewed straight on, but even a couple of feet to one side or the other and the picture goes downhill fast. I think this is just something I'll deal with until OLED technology gets out there in a few years. Hopefully sooner than later. I'm sure it will have it's own set of issues though. What I find funny about the flicker issue is that everyone constantly talks about the black levels of this TV, and while they are really great, it is the bright scenes that are the worst. The white level on this set flickers like a 48hz signal for some reason. I have had two ISF calibrations as well, and although it helped, the flicker problem is very distracting for me.

Anyone has an idea on when the replacement is due?
VT 40?

Okay started running the break in slides, top left hand corner I notice a pixel that flickers on some of the slides. You have to be real close to notice it as you step back it becomes harder to notice. Is this a concern? Is it a dead pixel? Should I consider on returning the tv?

Does the manual tell you not to watch movies in letterbox too?