Panasonic ST30 DIY Calibration and Settings Thread - Page 33

I'll be doing my first calibration tonight on my 55ST30 but never in a million years would I think I can achieve the same results as a professional with 1000's of reps, training and years of experience.

No problem... that's what these forums are for. I don't recall if Gremmy posted any Pro settings either so I'll be curious what he says. Although now he has a VP but maybe he still knows his Pro settings from before.

I really think what limited the quality of my display before were the Pro settings. I never changed them and after seeing Blue needed cut back by 29, I think that's what has been preventing me from having the color quality I was looking for.

I know what you're trying to say but it's a broad statement. What percentage of plumbers would you actually want to work on your house... same for remodelers, electricians, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to use DNice, Chad and others which have been highly praised on this forum, but the numbers pale in comparison to the number of so called professionals out there... forget what stores like Best Buy will send out, and that list goes on and on. It also depends on how far off the display is to begin with... some sets may require changes in the Service Menu... they will either require a professional or a lot of studying on our part, but it's not impossible. Personally I love the challenge.

Let us know what you use and how it comes out.

I'm in agreement there. Chad has done two of my tv's in the past and wow what a job he did ! But going thru the calibration experience got me more interested in the actual process, enough so that I have decided to give it a shot myself. I have an inferior meter to yours but have Calman so I will let you know how it turns out.

I was more refering to Chad and Dnice in my post should have been more clear, I've experienced a Best Buy calibration and it paled in results to what I got from Chad.

Given the variances of these sets , and the green/magenta push ever present.
Would it be useful to post a screenshot of a given film scene or still picture with settings people are trying ?
(preferably everyone using the same one)

As Ive stated I know I like to desaturate a bit. Others want "POP". Im curious as to what a meter accurate shot would like like compared to other settings. Just to see how far off the baseline we have it or enjoy it.


((and yes i know our monitors and the cameras used will result in variances but still curious))

This is exactly what I did Jimmy. Only difference is that I have found due to Cobra's great pro settings, I did not need black extension set to 4, and brought it back to 0.

Rus, if you turned your BE down, you might want to lower your Brightness setting down somewhere between CareyP's and Cobra's and see if you like it. BE @ +4 allows the use of a higher Brightness setting. I think you said once that you use a darker room. Our BE settings allow to raise brightness.

I went back and checked again, going to go back to BE @ +4 for a while.

I have tried to like Mid, but I just don't like it as much as Low. I have worked with WoW a little more and this is what I like on my 50ST30:

Picture: Custom
Contrast: 80
Brightness: 55
Color: 51
Tint: 0
Sharpness: +50
Color Temp: Warm 1
Photo Enhan: Off
Cats: Off
Video NR: Off

Pro-Settings
Black Extention : 0
Gamma: 2.2
Panel Bright: Low

To me, this looks the most realistic on my set. I will say that source material makes a big difference. On really bland-looking movies, I can always revert to Mid to get back some pop.

Yeah, Jim I think your are right, I really got this TV looking good, staying with BE @ 4.

I'm glad for you but I have some bad news coming out of the Jimmy household. Cobra's pro settings are not being that well liked. I still think they look good but after a night of viewing and comparing with our main TV (the VT25), it is the opinion that Cobra's settings are too warm, even in normal mode. Maybe this is because blue is knocked down so much. I think that on some material, the settings are spectacular. Then on something else, they are a little underwhelming, dark and dreary. I put D-Nice's pro settings back in and the PQ becomes universally great again across most material and inputs. Universal may be the key word with the D-Nice settings and why they are most able to be shared by so many with good results. I'm going to play around with both settings a little more. I am going to edit my post and add the D-Nice settings as well. I think one or the other will suite most likes.

Liking the Jimmy/cobra combo so far
Obviously just eyeballing it
Colors look accurate and rich

Anyone else?

Another attempt at 10 secs of fame. Here's what I'm using at the moment - a modified Dnice/Jimmy/Cobra setting:

Picture: Custom
Contrast: 80
Brightness: 71
Color: 47
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 40
Color Temp: Normal
Photo Enhan: Off
Cats: Off
Video NR: Off

Pro-Settings
Color Space: Norm
WB High R. +8
WB High G. 0
WB High B. +10
WB Low R. + 2
WB Low G. 0
WB Low B. -8

Black Extention : +4
Gamma: 2.2
Panel Bright: Mid
Contour Emp: Off
AGC: Off

HDMI Content: Graphics

Advanced Picture
Block NR: Off
Mosquito: Off
Motion Smoother: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: On
24p Direct In. 60Hz

Screen Format: Full
HD Size: 2

Hi Carey, looks good but I can't detect a difference between +8 and +10. I can use either one. Did you see something specific or result you were looking for? BTW, I did find gremmy's pro settings and they were quite different than Cobra's. Cobra said his metered settings were quite different than D-Nice's. Gremmy's metered settings appear to be quite different than Cobra's. Which bears out what we have been saying about display differences. I'm wondering about meter differences as well. It's amazing that D-Nice (Pro) settings work well with so many changes in the other basic picture mode settings.

Well, it was fun while it lasted

So here is my response to Jimmy... "Oh Yeah???"

Although I reduced Blue a lot, that's what it took to bring it in line with Red and Green... and the RGB levels were very close after the calibration. But again, we are dealing with the variances between displays which have been haunting us for months.

Maybe what I should do is post all my settings just in case there is some particular setting on my display that is causing an issue. I almost hate going through those screens... I'm getting sick of looking at them.

As Arnold would say "I'll be back"

Hey, I'm not that bad am I? Laughing

I know what you mean about going back over and over. Sooner or later we must stop obsessing. Afraid my wife is going to find something for me to do.

Okay, here is my complete list of settings for Custom mode.

Unfortunately, resetting Custom to it's default settings is a mixed bag as it doesn't reset everything... meaning I'm not sure what they were when I purchased my display. So, before I started the calibration, I turned off every enhancement and noise reduction feature, but left certain settings alone.

To clarify, Color Temp (Normal), Colorspace (Normal), Gamma (2.2), Panel Brightness (Mid), HDMI (Graphics) and Black Level (Light) were at those same settings prior to my calibration.

Another way to explain this is, my calibration only affected Contrast, Brightness, and the six W/B fields, so obviously I have a lot of tweaking ahead of me... meaning I could set HDMI to Photo and redo my calibration to see the final result.

Picture Settings:
• Picture Mode............... Custom
• Contrast..................... +100
• Brightness.................. +67
• Color......................... +50
• Tint........................... 0
• Sharpness.................. +50
• Color Temp................ Normal
• Photo Enhancement..... Off
• C.A.T.S...................... Off
• Video NR.................... Off

Pro Settings:
• Colorspace................. Normal
• W/B High R................ +12
• W/B High G................ 0
• W/B High B................ -19
• W/B Low R................. -2
• W/B Low G................. 0
• W/B Low B................. -8
• Black Extension........... 0
• Gamma Adjustment..... 2.2
• Panel Brightness......... Mid
• Contour Emphasis....... Off
• AGC.......................... 0

HDMI/DVI RGB Range
• HDMI........................ Auto
Content Type:
• HDMI........................ Graphics

Advance Picture:
• Block NR................... Off
• Mosquito NR.............. Off
• Motion Smoother........ Off
• Black Level................ Light
• 3:2 PullDown............. On
• 24p Direct In.............. 60Hz

First you Giveth... Then you Taketh Away

So... YES

Brightness at 67? With Black Extension at 0 and Gamma at 2.2 having Brightness at 67 is about 12 clicks too high on my display.

What part of your settings is Cobra?, lol

I am the one who suggested Normal color temp, so my name should in there somewhere, lol

I been going back and forth, and realized that Jimmy's pro settings, or should I say D-Nice, looks brighter. Cobra's settings almost has the same affect as changing the color temperature to Warm, which I did not like in Jimmy's original settings, which I convinced him to change (cough, hint, lol). Jimmy's settings have grown on me.

You absolutely did officially move us to normal They are now D-Nice, gremmy, Jimmy/ rlh2173 settings. You better come up with something big Cobra. What happened to CareyP?

CareyP basically adopted your settings, with a notch change here and there, but just as you, l cannot see any differences of such minute differences.

Although, I don't have the experience, expertise, or equipment, I am glad I was able to assist in our common endeavor in improving our viewing pleasure.

Well, I guess you can replace Cobra with Russell in my settings. I did have BE set to 0 and Brightness at 64 but then decided that the whole "pop" thing was coming from BE=4 and Brightness=71. I think Jimmy noticed this difference too.
I turned down the WB HighR to +8 because I was seeing a bit too much red in faces. In addition, I set Tint back to 0 for same reason, even though it was teetering on the green side. It also helped to eliminate pink in bright white backgrounds.

Back to Jimmy's settings with 2 clicks down re brightness
Greatvstuff

Answer: The Tint.

I realize now my settings are basically Jimmy and DNice's with slight improvements to match characteristics of my 60ST30. I dont think I can improve the picture much further. Watching Final 4, the skin tones are spot on and contrast and shadow detail superb, plenty of pop and color. Very impressed. Thanks to all the obsessive tweakers here. Great work!

I agree, we all got this TV singing now. I am pleased.

I agree too. My set is as good as I require or expect it to be. I think I would only notice if it got worse, not better. I'm going to stop now, and just watch. Thanks everybody for coming out to play.